The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 22

Meat and drink offerings accompanied this form of sacrifice, one of the cakes of the- meal offering always falling to the priest." Three occasions for the presentation of peace offerings are expressly mentioned: they might be made at special seasons of gratitude, and were then called thank offerings; they were presented when vows wer& made before the Lord, and were then called votive offerings ; or they were voluntarily made at any time when there was a longing for the fellowship of Jehovah, being then called voluntary offerings. The laws of thn peace offering are given in ohs. iii, and vii. 11-36. Tlw Bin offerings, Some of the characteristic futures of the sin offering have been 11.lroady passed under review in connection with thti national and official offerings, and it has already become evident that the differenti,a of this class of sacrifices was tow found in a peculiar manipulation of the blood of the animal slaughtered, This fact becomes very evident indeed when we turn to the regulations concerning the individual sin offerings. "When a ruler or common Israelite ~inned through ignorance, they were ordered to bring, on becoming conscious of their fault, the ruler an immaculate he-goat, and the Israelite an i=aculate shaggy she-goat; in both cases the offerer then went through the customary process of laying on the hand and slaying, upon. which the priest, having collected the blood, smeared some upon the horns of the altar, poured out the rest at the foot, and burnt the whole of the fat upon the hearth ; the carcase fell to the priest. The sin offerings were slain where the burnt offerings were. It is also noteworthy that, whilst many victims might be offered as a burnt offering, the sin offering might never consist of more animals than one." It will be perceived upon a comparison of the several forms of sin offering, that the ritual observed was always the same in certain important points, such as the manipulation with the blood, the burning of the fatty portions, and the destination of the carcaoo (which always fell to the priest, either for his own use or to_ bum without the camp), For the law of the sin offering, consult eh. iv. The trespass offerings. However similar in name, these formed a class quite distinct from the preceding class, and this distinction must be considered later on. At present it is sufficient to tabulate, as has been done in the other three classes, the sort of victims presenw:l and the manner of their presentation. "In all cases the offering consisted of a ram, the blood of which, after the customary presentation, imposition of hands, and slaughtering, instead of being smeared upon the horns of the altar or taken into the holy place like the blood of the sin offerings, was simply swung against the side of the altar, the ritual being thenceforth the same as for the sin offering either of a ruler or common Ismelite. This class of sacrifice was always accompanied by a recompense, which was considered as due to God and man; the discharge of the debt to God being effected by the placing by the priest of a fancy value upon the offered ram equivalent to the wrong done; and the human liability being discharged by the payment to the party wronged of the whole amount of the fraud, increased by a retri- butory fifth.'' The laws of the trespass offerings are given in chs. v. 14, etc., and vi. 1-7. 2. The bwodless a<JCT'ificu. These include the so-called meat offerings, the tithes and the firstfruits, both of which were solemnly presented before the Lord at the altar of burnt offering and consecrated by a solemn dedication by fire of part to the Lord, and the other bloodless sacrifices which were not presented at the altar, Of these only the first class call for any further remarks. The meat offering, were so called in the Authorized Veroion because meal was the staple food of the sixteenth century. Times and custoII111 have now changed, and the word" meat" refers now to animal rather than vegetablo food. It is now, therefore,  THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED. xi