Priest’s Special Instructions on how to Officiate the Burnt Offering

Leviticus 6:8-13:

^8]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 

⁹ “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it. 

¹⁰ The priest is to put on his linen robe, and he shall put on undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire reduces the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. 

¹¹ Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 

¹² The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 

¹³ Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.

Thoughts on the Passage

Earlier in the book of Leviticus Moses shared with the people the instructions God had given him for various types of offerings to be made under various circumstances.  Here in this passage we have some instructions specifically for the priests officiating at burnt offerings.  But more specifically, the instruction is for the two daily burnt offerings that are to be made regularly by the priests.

Robert Jamieson tells us this daily service “consisted of two lambs, one offered in the morning at sunrise, the other in the evening, when the day began to decline.” A slow fire was to be used with the pieces of the sacrifice so placed that they would feed the fire until the next sacrifice at night or in the morning. It was not allowed to go out. These sacrifices were a “daily expression of national repentance and faith.”  This was a special fire and later in the book we learn of it being kindled from the Lord Himself (see Leviticus 9:24), and so there were special instructions regarding how to dispose of the ashes and what clothing was to be worn – certainly nothing that were not officially “holy”.

David Guzik adds that the fire had to be tended by the priest at all times. He suggests that the long-burning character of the burnt offering is an appropriate illustration of the work of giving ourselves completely to God.  He writes, “Coming to God as a living sacrifice is not a quick work and we may feel that we are roasted on the fire for a long time.”

One supposes that because these fires were to be keept alive continuously, then the burnt offerings of individuals would simply be placed on the altar in the process – almost like a continuous assembly line of sacrifices if people were waiting to make their offerings. If so, this reminds me of my visit to the Hershey Chocolate factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania with my grandson last summer. There we got to design and make our own chocolate bar and our product had to merge in on the assembly line with the products of so many others. Such may have been the way things worked at the Tabernacle.  

Matthew Henry reminds us that the priests, even though they were rulers in the house of God, they too had to be ruled. Oh how I wished that many church leaders today would realize this and save themselves the disgrace that often accompanies that are not subject to others in authority or to God Himself, although they claim He alone is their overseer and no one else. Those that have the command of others must also be commanded, says Henry. Aaron and his sons had rules they had to follow.

The ashes of the burnt offerings had to be properly disposed of. Every morning the altar had to cleared of the ashes and put on the east side of the altar.  [This reminds me of the fancy barbecues today, that unlike those my parents used, have side-areas for dishes, etc.] And this step was to be taken in the priest’s linen garment – a garment the priest always wore when doing service at the altar.

Once that was done, his more everyday clothes or perhaps less praiseworthy priestly garbs had to be donned in order to carry the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.

Henry says that “some think this care which was taken of the ashes of the sacrifice typified the burial of our Savior; His dead body (the ashes of his sacrifice) was carefully laid up in a garden, in a new sepulchre, which was a clean place.”

Back at the altar, the priest himself must not only keep the fire going, but he cleans the hearth, and carries out the ashes. I often think of how this compares to what goes on in many households today – one prepares the meal (the one who is best at barbecuing), someone else usually cleans up the barbecue, and some is asked to take the refuse out.  But not when it came to God’s servants doing the Lord’s work – they oversaw the sacrifice; they cleaned up the altar; and they took ashes to their final site. A great lesson to help us all remember that as we serve God, in any capacity, we must think of nothing as being below our ‘pay grade’, to use a reversal of the common excuse people have today for not doing more challenging work – as in “sorry, that’s above my pay grade”.  Well, I believe when we are God’s servants, there’s nothing below our pay grade and with His help, there’s nothing above it.

Returning to the ever-burning fire on that altar, Henry says “the Jews tell us that fire never did go out upon the altar, till the captivity in Babylon.” Their reference is Isaiah 31:9 where God is said to have His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.

But what about us?  Have we kept that “fire from heaven” eternally burning in our own hearts?  Do we need to stir the coals up at times? Do we need to ask for His help in so doing?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Who Defines Restoration In The Case of A Wrong?

Leviticus 6:1-7:

¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 

² “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, 

³ or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; 

⁴ then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, ⁵ or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. 

⁶ Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, 

⁷ and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”

Thoughts on the Passage

The beginning of chapter six (first seven verses) offers us more instances where the guilt offering is required. (It could easily have been included in chapter five.) And then the rest of chapter six and all of chapter seven deal with instructions on administering the various offerings (The Burnt Offering – 6:8-13; the Meal Offering – 6:14-23; The Sin Offering – 6:24-30; The Guilt Offering – 7:1-10; and The Peace Offering – 7:11-36). The last few verses of chapter 7 (verses 37 and 38) give us a neat Summary of the Offerings.

But our current passage is still talking about other occasions when the Guilt Offering is to be made.

God, through Moses, turns His attention, to business inter-relationships between people.  There is to be no lying between seller and buyer; loaner and borrower; between the person effecting fraud and the victim; etc. The deception can be as a result of one self-admitting it or when on is caught-lying. Confession, restoration (full amount plus 20%), and then the guilt offering is required. Then the forgiveness is guaranteed.

However, I note in verse 7 that the phrase is “forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt”.  It is possible that if I have cheated someone, or stole several things from someone, etc. – that is, I committed several acts of this kind of sin referred to here – then I have to confess each one, make restoration plus 20% for each one, and offer a guilt offering for each one.  This seems to go along with earlier thoughts that God does not just want us to say “forgive me, I have sinned” but He wants us to be fully aware of our specific sins and to repent in each case.  People come to us, especially children, and say, “I’m sorry.”  What is our natural response?  “What exactly are you sorry for?”  And God, in whose image we are made, is like that too.

Matthew Henry points out that we need to observe that while these types of sins relate to our neighbor, they are rightly called sins “against the Lord”. The neighbor suffers the immediate consequence, but the offence is against your neighbor’s Maker – regardless of who your neighbor is what he thinks or does not think of God.

Henry also suggests the concept of the extra 20% to be paid back is to get across the idea that restoration is not restoration until the person receiving it feels his/her loss has been restored.

What is the lesson for us? Well, we know what restoration looks like when we have been wronged, but do we think about what restoration looks like when we wrong others?

Similarly, we as human beings cannot dictate to God what He accepts as ‘restoration’ for our sins agains Him. Only He can set the terms.  And in this case, we can’t meet them.  So, He provided another Way through His own Son.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

No Defence Cuts It When It Comes to Desecrating What God Has Called Holy

Leviticus 5:14-19:

¹⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 

¹⁵ “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the Lord’s holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 

¹⁶ He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.

¹⁷ “Now if a person sins and does any of the things ^[a]which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. 

¹⁸ He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. 

¹⁹ It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the Lord.”

Thoughts on the Passage

Before we jump into this current passage, I wanted to add a note on the issue of why the Jews do not sacrifice animals today.  We also need to remember that the temple in Jerusalem was (once the Tabernacle, that was the precursor of the Temple, had served them in the desert) the only place that God dwelt.   And when it was destroyed by the Romans in the first century, there could be no more sacrifices.  Synagogues were the place for sacrifices.  And that’s another reason the Jews want the Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem – so that they can offer their sacrifices to God.

Now, let’s study The Guilt Offering as described in our current passage.

David Guzik offers that the guilt offering was used when someone had sinned in regard to the holy things. Perhaps with respect to some type of desecration of the tabernacle or its associated items. In this case a mere sin offering was not enough.  Guzik says restitution was also required, paying back what was lost plus twenty percent (see verse 16).  Interesting that in these cases, not only was the wrong to be put right, but an additional one-fifth had to be added. That’s twice the amount suggested for tithing elsewhere in scripture. That’s how seriously God’s perspective on this kind of sin was.

What comes to mind for me is all the desecration that is going on around the world these days – of churches and synagogues. Surely God does not look lightly upon these things.

Here also we have the situation that even when a person does not know he has sinned in regard to the holy things, a guilt offering is still required for otherwise the person is still guilty and will bear his punishment (verse 17). “I didn’t know” did not cut it.  Just like “I didn’t know the speed limit was only 50 m.p.h. here” does not cut when one is stopped for speeding by an officer today. Or put another way, ignorance is no excuse of the law.

Matthew Henry reminds us that sin-offerings and trespass-offerings were one and the same. The first part of Chapter 5 deals with trespasses against others. Our current passage deals with, as we mentioned above, trespasses against holy things.

One way this would happen was if a man took anything dedicated to God or set aside for the priests and used it for himself or for his own purposes. This was a trespass. But again, it was to be that the offender did not do it intentionally. Henry reminds us that where the offender did do it presumptuously and in contempt of the law, he was put to death without mercy in accordance with Hebrews 10:28 and its associated references.

Robert Jamieson suggests the kind of other sins covered here would include not paying the full due of tithes, or offering sufficient first-fruits, etc.

The bottom is that the desecration of things that are holy is an abominable sin in God’s eyes. We can’t just say that was the Old Testament Law and we need not worry about it.  As I have said elsewhere, the principles on which those Old Testament laws were based often do apply to us today.  I again believe this is one case in point.

Now I understand that today’s “Church” is not the building or the furniture of the place wherein we worship. No argument there. But still it is often a place where we do worship – were believers gather together and expect the Holy Spirit to speak to them there. In fact, we invite Him to such a place as a congregation. If that’s true, then we owe it to ourselves to stop and assess our actions in such environments. If we are making something holy unholy, we are guilty of what God was talking to the Hebrews about in this chapter.

If we are involved in that, then we need to admit, confess, repent, and change our ways. If others are, we are to speak up. If they listen, all fine and good.  If they don’t, perhaps it is time for us to move on – but not give up.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.