Verses 1-5 And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. 2 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 3 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 5 And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
This chapter deals with the peace offering. The Hebrew word translated as “peace” is “shelem” and it means that the offering was a voluntary sacrifice of thanks or a sacrifice for friendship. So the person giving a peace offering was doing so out of thanks to the LORD and out of friendship.
The sacrifice could be either a female or a male animal, but it had to be without blemish. It had to be complete, whole, entire and sound with no diseases or infirmities. Why? Because the animals were representative of the LORD Jesus Christ who was perfect and without sin and who was sacrificed for the sins of mankind. “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
The owner of the animal had to kill it and be responsible for its death. Why? Because this represented how each and every person that has lived or is living on the Earth is responsible for their relationship with Jesus and for His death. Through sin, mankind was responsible for the death of the LORD Jesus Christ as He became the only way of redemption for sins and the way to access the spiritual kingdom of the LORD. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Note that the parts of the animals that contained the fat or the organs that detoxified the body were taken away. These were not to be eaten as they contained the stored waste products that were not healthy to consume.
Verses 6-11 And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD. 8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. 9 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 10 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 11 And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.
The rules for offering a sheep were the same as those for offering a cow. The owner had to kill the animal and the fat and organs that cleansed the blood were taken away and what remained was burnt on the altar and was pleasing to the LORD. The “caul” was a lobe of the liver.
Verses 12-17 And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. 13 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. 14 And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 15 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 16 And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’S. 17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.
Again, the rules for offering a goat were the same as offering a cow or a sheep. However, note that verse 17 clearly states that the Hebrew people were never to eat fat or blood. Why? One reason was because this was a disease preventative commandment on the part of the LORD. Microorganism travel in the blood and fat stores the toxins that are in the animal’s body.
Application: So what did the precise sacrificial ritual mean? The blood that was sprinkled by the priest was representative of atonement. The fat and kidneys and liver which collected toxins or waste matter were taken away. This represented cleansing. What was left was an acceptable offering to God. Through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross, the toxic, sin ladened soul was left acceptable to God.
Everything being said, this writer needs to share that there may be more that one way to read the text above. It could be that the fat, kidneys and liver are taken away from the animal but that they are what is burnt on the altar. Verses 1-5 state that these parts are taken away and then “it” is burnt on the altar, indicating one thing. Verse 6-11 states “it” is burnt on the altar, again indicating one thing and not multiple things. But verses 12-17 states that the priest shall burn “them” upon the altar, indicating that the “them” is the fat, the kidneys and the caul. So you, the reader, decide whether the carcass of the animal is burnt without these body parts, or whether just the fat, kidneys and liver are burnt. Regardless, the imagery of this ritual remains the same and atonement was made by the blood and the the cleansing occurred regardless of whether it was through burning or just being discarded.