12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy:

13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons’ due, of the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire: for so I am commanded.

14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy sons’ due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel.

15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be thine, and thy sons’ with thee, by a statute for ever; as the Lord hath commanded.

Moses gave Aaron and his sons some instructions on eating their portion of the sacrifices. Some of this information we already knew, and some of it is new. First, they were told that the portion of the meat offering that fell to them was required to be eaten in the tabernacle courtyard, beside the altar. As we have already seen, the priests eating their portion was not only a privilege, but an obligation, a part of the ritual itself, and with strict guidelines as to how it could be performed.

Their portion for the wave breast and heave shoulder had a different set of instructions, though. As a reminder, the wave and heave offerings were separate from the meat offerings, first introduced to us in connection with the peace offering. The most distinctive quality we learned earlier about the wave and heave offerings were that the offeror would also eat a portion of. It thus became a shared meal between God and offeror, a symbol of unity and peace.

But that was for the common Israelite. Today’s verses seem to be continuing the initial rituals that Aaron and his sons performed for themselves. They are not offering a wave and a heave offering for another Israelite, but on their own behalf. And this was not required to be eaten within the tabernacle courtyard beside the altar, it just needed to be eaten in a clean place. And the priests did not have to eat it alone, their families, sons and daughters, could partake of it as well. This makes it even more clear that the wave and the heave offerings were a blessing in the lives of those who made it. Other offerings may have been focused on atonement or glorification of God, but this one was about being one with God and rejoicing in that, and one’s own household could take part in that same joy.