The Expositor's Bible: The Book of LeviticusKellogg, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry)
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Leviticus
Kellogg, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry)
Bible. Leviticus -- Commentaries; Bible. Leviticus -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the
people: and Aaron's sons delivered unto him the blood, and he
sprinkled it upon the altar round about, and the fat of the ox;
and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covered the inwards,
and the kidneys, and the caul of the liver: and they put the fat
upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar: and the
breast and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before
the Lord; as Moses commanded."
Verses 7-21 detail the way in which this commandment of Moses was
carried out in the offerings, first, for Aaron and his sons, and then
for all the people; but, as the peculiarities of these several
offerings have been already explained, they need not here detain us.
That which is new, and of profound spiritual and typical meaning, is
the _order_ of the sacrifices as here enjoined; an order, which as we
learn from many Scriptures, represented what was intended to be the
permanent and invariable law. The appointed order of the offerings was
as follows: first, whenever presented, came the sin-offering, as here;
then, the burnt-offering, with its meal-offering; and last, always,
the peace-offering, with its characteristic sacrificial feast.
The significance of this order will readily appear if we consider the
distinctive meaning of each of these offerings. The sin-offering had
for its central thought, expiation of sin by the shedding of blood;
the burnt-offering, the full surrender of the person symbolised by the
victim, to God; the meal-offering, in like manner, the consecration of
the fruit of his labours; the peace-offering, sustenance of life from
God's table, and fellowship in peace and joy with God and with one
another. And the great lesson for us now from this model tabernacle
service is this: that this order is determined by a law of the
spiritual life.
So much as this, even without clear prevision of the Antitype of all
these sacrifices, the thoughtful Israelite might have discerned; and
even though the truth thus symbolised is placed before us no more in
rite and symbol, yet it abides, and ever will abide, a truth. Man
everywhere needs fellowship with God, and cannot rest without it; to
attain such fellowship is the object of all religions which recognise
the being of a God at all. Even among the heathen, we are truly told,
there are many who are feeling after God "if haply they may find Him;"
and, among ourselves in Christian lands, and even in the external
fellowship of Christian churches, there are many who with aching
hearts are seeking after an unrealised experience of peace and
fellowship with God. And yet God is "not far from any one of us;" and
the whole Scripture represents Him as longing on His part with an
incomprehensible condescension and love after fellowship with us,
desiring to communicate to us His fulness; and still so many seek and
find not!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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