FEBRUARY 3 LEVITICUS 4-7

Leviticus 4-7

More offerings!

Over the weekend, we were introduced to three voluntary offerings:

• The burnt offering, an animal sacrifice serving as an act of atonement for unintentional sins.
• The grain offering, a voluntary act of worship, saying “thanks” for God’s good provision.
• And the fellowship offering, a voluntary act of worship focusing on the restored fellowship that exists when our sins have been atoned for.

In today’s reading, we discover two more offerings, but these are mandatory:

• The sin offering, an atoning sacrifice made for specific unintentional sins. I love the words at the end of many of the paragraphs in Chapter 4, “And he will be forgiven.” Forgiveness is the goal. And just to help, God gives us some sample sins to peruse in Leviticus 5:1-4.
• The guilt offering is very similar to the sin offering. It, too, is a mandatory atoning sacrifice for unintentional sins for the purpose of finding forgiveness. The one variation is that these sins involve restitution (See Leviticus 5:16). 

God expands on these offerings in Leviticus 6-7, and, in these chapters, we find some interesting “tidbits” (pun intended). First, the altar fire must be kept burning (Leviticus 6:9,13); this perpetual fire represents the continuous appeal to God on behalf of the people! Second, take note of this fact: some of these offerings may be eaten! The offering-giver was encouraged to eat a portion of the fellowship offering. Portions of the fellowship offering and other offerings were to be given to the priests as a kind of compensation. The carnal (pun intended) side of me has always wondered if the tabernacle smelled like barbeque!

Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary