How Priests/Pastors Should Relate Among Themselves

The Guilt Offering

Leviticus 7:1-10:

‘Now this is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy. ² In the place where they slay the burnt offering, they are to slay the guilt offering, and he shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. ³ Then he shall offer from it all its fat: the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, ⁴ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe on the liver he shall remove with the kidneys.⁵ The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as an offering by fire to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. ⁶ Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. ⁷ The guilt offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for them; the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it.⁸ Also, the priest who presents any man’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has presented. ⁹ Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in the oven and everything prepared in a pan or on a griddle shall belong to the priest who presents it. ¹⁰ Every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all the sons of Aaron, to all alike.

Thoughts on the Passage

This chapter is, to a great extent, a repetition of earlier instructions, although for most of these offerings, although with more details and perhaps greater explanations – if we seek to have them.

What struck me to be of interest (especially as I read Matthew Henry on this passage), was the relationship between the work involved in offering the offerings and who got to reap the tangible benefits, in this case, the meat involved.  Look closely at verses 7 and 8.

Henry writes: 

“As to the flesh of the trespass-offering, the right to it belonged to the priest that offered it, v. 7. He that did the work must have the wages. This was an encouragement to the priests to give diligent attendance on the altar; the more ready and busy they were the more they got. Note, The more diligent we are in the services of religion the more we shall reap of the advantages of it. But any of the priests and the males of their families might be invited by him to whom it belonged to partake with him: Every male among the priests shall eat thereof, that is, may eat thereof, in the holy place, v. 6. And, no doubt, it was the usage to treat one another with those perquisites of their office, by which friendship and fellowship were kept up among the priests. Freely they had received, and must freely give. It seems the offerer was not himself to have any share of his trespass-offering, as he was to have of his peace-offering; but it was all divided between the altar and the priest.”

The Scriptures, Henry suggests, indicate that priests are to have their ‘wages’. But in return, they were to work diligently at their duties. And the benefits they were to receive were also extendable to their families. Of course, we can debate to great lengths what that “diligence” looks like for pastors and priests today.

Also, of great interest here is the fact that these priests worked together sharing the gains of their work – they operated as Henry points out with “friendship” and “fellowship” among them. Today, many of our senior priests often pull rank over their colleagues and while accountability is a must especially in the Lord’s work, it seldom seems to be pursued with excellence, let alone in a “friendship” and “fellowship” environment. The end result being the priests/pastors lose out on the blessing, the church loses good men (and women) and the Body takes another hit.

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