@Le 3:1-17. THE PEACE OFFERING OF THE HERD.
1. if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering--"Peace" being
used in Scripture to denote prosperity and happiness generally, a peace
offering was a voluntary tribute of gratitude for health or other
benefits. In this view it was eucharistic, being a token of
thanksgiving for benefits already received, or it was sometimes votive,
presented in prayer for benefits wished for in the future.
of the herd--This kind of offering being of a festive character, either
male or female, if without blemish, might be used, as both of them were
equally good for food, and, if the circumstances of the offerer allowed
it, it might be a calf.
2. he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering--Having performed this significant act, he killed it before the door of the tabernacle, and the priests sprinkled the blood round about upon the altar.
3. he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering--The peace
offering differed from the oblations formerly mentioned in this
respect: while the burnt offering was wholly consumed on the altar, and
the freewill offering was partly consumed and partly assigned to the
priests; in this offering the fat alone was burnt; only a small part
was allotted to the priests while the rest was granted to the offerer
and his friends, thus forming a sacred feast of which the Lord, His
priests, and people conjointly partook, and which was symbolical of the
spiritual feast, the sacred communion which, through Christ, the great
peace offering, believers enjoy. (See further on @Le 19:1-37 22:1-33).
the fat that covereth the inwards--that is, the web work that presents
itself first to the eye on opening the belly of a cow.
the fat . . . upon the inwards--adhering to the intestines, but
easily removable from them; or, according to some, that which was next
the ventricle.
4-11. the two kidneys . . . of the flock . . . the whole rump--There is, in Eastern countries, a species of sheep the tails of which are not less than four feet and a half in length. These tails are of a substance between fat and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs sixty or seventy English pounds weight, of which the tail usually weighs fifteen pounds and upwards. This species is by far the most numerous in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, and, forming probably a large portion in the flocks of the Israelites, it seems to have been the kind that usually bled on the Jewish altars. The extraordinary size and deliciousness of their tails give additional importance to this law. To command by an express law the tail of a certain sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God, might well surprise us; but the wonder ceases, when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of the extreme delicacy of that part which was so particularly specified in the statute [PAXTON].
12. if his offering be a goat--Whether this or any of the other two animals were chosen, the same general directions were to be followed in the ceremony of offering.
17. ye eat neither fat nor blood--The details given above distinctly define the fat in animals which was not to be eaten, so that all the rest, whatever adhered to other parts, or was intermixed with them, might be used. The prohibition of blood rested on a different foundation, being intended to preserve their reverence for the Messiah, who was to shed His blood as an stoning sacrifice for the sins of the world [BROWN].