In The Word
Read: Leviticus 6:8-7:38
The Priest’s Part in the Offerings
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 linen undergarments next to his body; and he shall take up the fatty 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 fatty 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.
14 ‘Now this is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall present it before the Lord in front of the altar. 15 Then one of them shall lift up from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering, with its oil and all the incense that is on the grain offering, and he shall offer it up in smoke on the altar, a soothing aroma, as its memorial offering to the Lord. 16 And Aaron and his sons are to eat what is left of it. It shall be eaten as unleavened cakes in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their share from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. 18 Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it; it is a permanent ordinance throughout your generations, from the offerings by fire to the Lord. Whoever touches them will become consecrated.’”
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 20 “This is the offering which Aaron and his sons are to present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed; the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. 21 It shall be prepared with oil on a griddle. When it is well stirred, you shall bring it. You shall present the grain offering in baked pieces as a soothing aroma to the Lord. 22 The anointed priest who will be in his place among his sons shall offer it. By a permanent ordinance it shall be entirely offered up in smoke to the Lord. 23 So every grain offering of the priest shall be burned entirely. It shall not be eaten.”
24 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 25 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the Lord; it is most holy.26 The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 27 Whoever touches its flesh will become consecrated; and when any of its blood spatters on a garment, you shall wash what spattered on it in a holy place. 28 Also the earthenware vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; and if it was boiled in a bronze vessel, then it shall be scoured and rinsed in water. 29 Every male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy. 30 But no sin offering of which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place shall be eaten; it shall be burned with fire.
The Priest’s Part in the Offerings
7 ‘Now this is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy. 2 In the place where they slaughter the burnt offering they are to slaughter the guilt offering, and the priestshall 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 he shall remove the lobe on the liver 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 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 anyone’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the hide 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.
11 ‘Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be presented to the Lord. 12 If he offers it by way of thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil. 13 With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread. 14 Of this he shall present one of every offering as a contribution to the Lord; it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.
15 ‘Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning.16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten; 17 but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. 18 So if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is ever eaten on the third day, he who offers it will not be accepted, andit will not be credited to him. It will be an unclean thing, and the person who eats it shall bear his punishment.
19 ‘Also the flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh. 20 But the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the Lord, when he is unclean, that person shall be cut off from his people.21 When anyone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.’”
22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep, or a goat. 24 Also the fat of an animal which dies and the fat of an animal torn by animals may be put to any otheruse, but you certainly are not to eat it. 25 For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the Lord, the person who eats it shall also be cut off from his people. 26 And you are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings. 27 Any person who eats any blood, that person shall also be cut off from his people.’”
28 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 29 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30 His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord. He shall bring the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be presented as a wave offering before the Lord. 31 And the priest shall offer up the fat in smoke on the altar, but the breast shall belong to Aaron and to his sons. 32 And you shall give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. 33 The one among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat, the right thigh shall be his as his portion. 34 For I have taken from the sons of Israel the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their allotted portion forever from the sons of Israel.
35 ‘This is the allotment to Aaron and the allotment to his sons from the offerings by fire to the Lord, on that day when he presented them to serve as priests to the Lord. 36 These the Lord had commanded to be given them from the sons of Israel on the day that He anointed them. It is their allotted portion forever throughout their generations.’”
37 This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the ordination offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings,38 which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
The priests were instructed to keep the fire burning on the altar. The flame was not allowed to go out. They were to stoke the fire and add wood every morning to make sure that the fire was kept burning continually.
How would you describe your daily time with God? Is it something you passionately look forward to, or is it something you do to check off a list? Do you run to God every morning, or do you just run to get out the door? In the movie War Room, Ms. Clara asks her real estate agent to describe her time with God. The lady said that her time with God was not really hot or cold. So Ms. Clara made her some coffee that was not really hot or cold, just lukewarm, room temperature coffee. The lady almost spit it out of her mouth. Jesus feels the same way about being lukewarm for Him. In Revelation 3, He says, “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
Romans 12:11 says that we are not to lag behind in our diligence, but instead we should be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. How’s your fire? Do you want to know Him more today than you did yesterday? Ask Him today to come and light a fire down in your soul that you can’t contain and that you can’t control. Then keep the fire burning by stoking it (spending time with God) and adding wood (the Word of God) every morning.