Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:16-18

16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

17 It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.

18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.

We have heard a few times already of the priests eating a portion of the offering. I have described this as God sharing His bounty with His servants, them being able to partake in the fruit of His kingdom. I do believe that is a main meaning of this symbol, but perhaps there are other representations we can find in it as well.

One thing that stands out this time is the specification that the meat offering had to be eaten in the holy place, meaning within the tabernacle courtyard. The priests had their own homes and families and lives outside of their ritual duties, but this offering was not meant for them to take home and eat there. It was not just provisions. The priests eating it was actually a part of the ritual itself. It was as much an obligation of the priests as it was a privilege. That which the offeror gave had to be consumed, whether by flame or by mouth, and the priest was responsible to ensure that that occurred.

Given that perspective, another representation in the priests eating of the meat offering emerges. Remember that this offering was a celebratory one, given as a show of gratitude and thanks for God’s blessings. That show of thanks had two destinations, one was purely to give glory and memorial to God, the other was to nourish and sustain God’s servants. We see in this dual consumption the proper channels for our abundance. If I am greatly increased by God in my life, I should return some of that back to Him, and some of it I should pay forward to my fellow man.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:16-18

16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

17 It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.

18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.

We have heard a few times already of the priests eating a portion of the offering. I have described this as God sharing His bounty with His servants, them being able to partake in the fruit of His kingdom. I do believe that is a main meaning of this symbol, but perhaps there are other representations we can find in it as well.

One thing that stands out this time is how it specified that the meat offering had to be eaten in the holy place, meaning the tabernacle where the offerings took place. The priests had their own homes and families and lives outside of their tabernacle duties, but this offering was not meant for them to take home and eat there. It was not just provisions. The priests eating it was actually a part of the ritual itself. It was as much an obligation of the priests as it was a privilege. That which the offeror gave had to be consumed, whether by flame or mouth, and the priest was responsible to ensure that both of those methods occurred.

Given that perspective, another representation in the priests eating the meat offering emerges. Remember that this offering was a celebratory one, given as a show of gratitude and thanks for God’s blessings. That show of thanks had two destinations, one was purely to give glory and memorial to God, the other was to nourish and sustain God’s people. We see in this dual consumption the proper overflow channels for our abundance. If I am greatly increased by God in my life, I should return some of that back to Him, and some of it I should pay forward to my fellow man.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:14-15

14 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord, before the altar.

15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the Lord.

We now hear God describing more of the meat offering, this time not from the perspective of the person making the offering, but from the perspective of the priest who carried out the ritual. As we have already heard, the flour was to be mixed with flour and frankincense, then burned upon the altar. Verse 15 mentions that the purpose of burning the treated flour was to create a sweet savor, a pleasant aroma that would raise to the Lord. It is interesting to note that this scent would be “the memorial” of the offering. There once was something physical, the flour and the ointment. When they were burned, the physical thing was lost, but the aroma remained as a reminder of what once was.

This is an excellent allegory for memory and spirit. We have moments in our lives that are very real, very tangible and meaningful, but they only exist for a brief instant, then are relegated to the past. Afterwards, though, there still remains the memory of them. We no longer have the actual occurrence, but its spirit can continue on with us. Thus, this meat offering could serve as a reminder of this link between the physical and the spiritual world, a lesson that though things become unseen they can live on in another manner.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:12-13

12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.

13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Once again, we are reminded that this is meant to be a perpetual flame to the Lord, it’s light should always shine bright for all of Israel to see, probably flickering and diffused through the linen courtyard walls like a heavenly glow. Obviously, this perpetual flame is symbolic, but to properly appreciate its meanings, I think we have to acknowledge that this was not the flame of the Lord, this was the flame for the Lord.

The pillar of fire that would guide Israel in their journeys was the flame of the Lord, created and maintained by His own divine power. This fire upon the altar was created and maintained by the priests as an offering for the Lord. Thus, I would say it is not limited to representing God’s shining presence, there were other symbols for that. Arguably, it better represented our perpetual effort to reach and reconcile with God. It represented our need to make continual sacrifice to keep our fervor burning brightly. It represented the fact that our faith will go out without constant fuel.

Knowing that God will always be there for us is essential but knowing that we will always strive for Him is the next level of spiritual surety.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:10-11

10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.

11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.

The priest was to arise in the morning, put on the clothing of his office, and collect the ashes off the altar. Then he had to change his clothes and carry the ashes out of the camp and dispose of them. This seems unusual. Why two different sets of clothes for the same chore? The general understanding is that the priest could not interact with the holy altar without wearing the official clothes of his office, but also he could not leave the tabernacle while wearing those holy garments. Thus, he wore the holy garments for the part that involved the altar and then had to wear his everyday clothes for carrying the ashes out of the camp.

This, of course, is not to say that we are meant to be two-faced disciples, faithful and religious in church, then carnal and sinful when we leave. But there is a special gravity when we commune with the Almighty, which is absent in our other business. We should have a seriousness in our sacred works, and a levity in our mortal labor. The two parts are connected, and each affects how we show up for the other, but they are also distinct.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:8-9

8 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.

Today begins a new section of ritual instructions. This part is related to the perpetual burnt offering that the priests were to offer through the whole night. At the close of the day, after the needs of the common Israelite had been seen to, the priests would make one more overnight burnt offering.

This is presumably a repeat of the command we already read in Exodus, in which a lamb was to be offered each night, and another lamb each morning. There are multiple meanings and symbols to be found in this practice. In my previous post on the subject, I noted how the perpetual offering can be seen as representing the path of the disciple, largely defined by its daily, quiet surrender to the Lord.

Another symbol is that even when the world would go dark, the perpetual flame of the Lord’s altar would still be burning, still providing a mark and a guide to God’s people. So, too, when the world becomes confused and apostate, the Spirit of the Lord can still guide us through the dark.

A third symbol is the sacrifice of a lamb closing one period of time and also ushering in the beginning of a new one. This seems to echo the change from the Old Testament to the New, where John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, was slain at the close of one era, and Jesus was slain to usher in the next.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Own Our Virtues

It is only when we are able to do what is right when we stand to lose the most that we gain full ownership of the virtue. At this point, no one can deny that we live and die by that truth. So long as the maintaining of our virtue is untested, it isn’t fully ours.

And so, if we are ever to truly own our virtues, each must be tested in the most trying of circumstances. God does not give these trials to hurt us; He gives them so that we can fully own something good.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The First to Take the High Road

It’s not uncommon to wish that the people in our lives would treat us better than they do, even that they would treat us as well as we know we ought to treat them. We wish our friends would be the ones to reach out instead of us, that our spouse would say “sorry” first, and that our enemies would forgive us before we forgive them. But we know that we’re supposed to do the right things on our own, regardless of what the people around us do. This can seem unfair, as it might see us always being the bigger person first, always doing for others the things that we wish were done for us.

But really this is only a limited view. If we widen our perspective, we realize that before we ever showed unreciprocated good to someone else, Jesus did so first to us. Jesus was the bigger person who fought for our hearts when we didn’t deserve it. Jesus was the one that took the high road when we were selfish and sinful. Jesus was the one who loved us before we loved him. Thus, any lopsided good that we now put out into the world is only paying it forward.

Some might say that maturity is being willing to do what’s right even when there isn’t any reward, but deeper wisdom is recognizing the reward was already given long before.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 6:1-7

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;

3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:

4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,

5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:

7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.

A few days ago we started examining what I have called the “higher trespass offering,” and the offenses described for it seemed ambiguous. I mentioned in that initial post that the descriptions become much clearer in this chapter. Here we see that if an Israelite cheated something away from his neighbor, in any way, that would make him guilty of having “deceitfully gotten,” and he would remain guilty until this higher trespass offering was made.

There are many ways in which a man might be guilty of this, and the verses go at some length to describe them, but what is most important is that principle of “deceitfully gotten.” In whatever way you managed to acquire your neighbor’s possession, if it was “deceitfully gotten,” you are in the wrong.

It is interesting to note that a cost was applied to the sin itself in how the perpetrator must “add the fifth part” of the item’s value to its restoration. This is different from the laws of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” where the restitution was meant to be exactly equal to the offense. The key difference between those laws and these is that “an eye for an eye” applied to the destruction and replacement of another person’s property. In today’s case, no permanent destruction took place, so the original item could be returned without replacement. If that was the end of it, then there would be no consideration for the inconvenience to the victim or the ill-gotten benefit of the perpetrator. By telling the perpetrator to “add the fifth part,” you essentially turned the theft into a pricey loan, and the victim gets a rich return.

I have included these first seven verses with my analysis of Chapter 5 because they clearly belong with the second half of that chapter. Verse 8 begins an entirely new subject, and so ought to be considered the true beginning of the next chapter. Thus, I will take my usual intra-chapter interlude here and resume my scriptural analysis next week.

SacrificeEligible oblationStepsExplanation
Higher trespass offeringRam, moneyRestitution for taking from one’s neighbor. Possibly other special cases also.
Ram presumably slaughtered and burnedPresumably spiritual cleansing or restoration
Payment of moneyRestitution for damage and a fine
Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 5:17-19

17 And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

18 And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.

19 It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the Lord.

At the start of the chapter we were shown smaller offenses, primarily sins of omission. Here at the end, it now talks about the actual breaking of the commandments, which would be a sin of commission, though still done in ignorance.

Perhaps an example of this would be when we are caught in a shameful situation and immediately minimize it out of a self-preservation instinct, only realizing later that we have told a lie. Or perhaps we bore witness that we actually thought was true, only to learn later that we had propagated falsehoods. Or we might have a culture that insists that fornication is common, expected, and shameless, and it is only after reaping the painful consequences of such choices that we start to realize that we have sinned.

There is an important lesson here: intent is not all that matters, sometimes an act is just wrong. That isn’t to say that intent does not matter at all. Malicious harm is worse than accidental harm, but both are harm either way. We can both give special weight to intent, while also acknowledging the fundamental wrongness of the act regardless of intent. And that is what the sacrifice in these verses seems to be for. Atoning for the act, even in absence of intent.

SacrificeEligible oblationStepsExplanation
Higher trespass offeringRam, moneyFor special trespass cases
Ram presumably slaughtered and burnedPresumably spiritual cleansing or restoration
A “one fifth” payment of moneyPresumably a fine or restitution of damage