Journal Through the Bible: Week 18 Monday

Note: This post was updated. Additional material appears in purple below.

source

Leviticus chapter 7 

Not only did God tell the priests the proper manner for offering the sacrifices but He told them that these meat and grain offerings were also to be used to feed them. God used the offerings of the people to supply the needs of their ministers. As a pastor's wife, I appreciate God's method of provision. I also appreciate the special relationship that such a system engenders. The ministers help provide spiritual food for people's souls and the people help provide physical food for ministers' families.

Does God make any promises in this chapter?

• He promised to cut off anyone who desecrated the sacrifices, including those used as food. The obverse is obviously implied: God would provide for those who followed His plan of provision. 

Are there any references to Jesus?

• Jesus was not only our sacrifice, but He was our total provision. He was our meat, our bread, our water. We feast on His word and are told that we shall neither suffer hunger or be thirsty. The physical provisions of these offerings were the type of the spiritual provisions that Jesus said He provides for us.
• The priests were to destroy any uneaten sacrificial meat on the third day. Besides the food poisoning issue mentioned in the notes below, it was also because the animal sacrifices were a picture of the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who was dead three days before being resurrected. The picture of death could not last longer than the event it represented! That's why the penalty for disobedience was to void the atonement and bear one's own sins. (See verse 11)

Are there any references to future events?

•  God always provides for His people. He gave them manna in the wilderness and He gave His ministers (the Levites and priests) provisions out of His own storehouse (the offerings given by the people to Him). Jesus miraculously provided meals for large crowds of people even when in a desert. It isn't stated specifically in this passage, but the principle is here: God will provide food for His people forever!

Does God issue any commands? 

• God continued instructions for the trespass offering. It was to be killed in the same place as the burnt offering. The fat was to be taken away and burnt upon the altar. The rest of it should be eaten by all of the male priests. The priests were also to have part of the burnt offering, sin offering, and meat offering (unleavened bread) for their food.
• God gave further instructions concerning the peace offering. If it was given as a thanksgiving offering it was to be given with unleavened cakes,  fried wafers, and leavened loaves of bread. Part of it was to be used as a heave offering and the rest given to feed the priests' families. 
• There were stipulations concerning when certain sacrifices had to be eaten and when the rest had to be destroyed by fire as well as rules for keeping the sacrifices used for food clean (think botulism!).
• God commanded that fat not be eaten of oxen, sheep, or goats.
• God commanded that no blood be eaten.