Leviticus 3 - Introduction

III. Peace Offerings. This properly follows ch. 1, and describes the ritual of the next great class of sacrifices, the peace offerings. These are familiar in the narrative parts of the OT, and the Book of the Covenant. The root of the Heb. term for peace offering denotes not simply peace in our sense, but being quits with another. In the OT generally, the peace offering is a common meal, wherein God, priest, and worshippers sit down, as it were, together, in token that there is nothing which separates them, and that all causes of displeasure on the part of God are at an end. This offering is often spoken of as sacrifice par excellence (cf. 1 Samuel 11:15; 1 Kings 1:19). It often takes the form of a family or communal commemoration, of a joyous and festal character (1 Samuel 20:29). In the Levitical system, each personage at the banquet has his own portion; to Yahweh belong the blood and the fat (the former as sacred or taboo too dangerous for mortals to consume; the latter for the same reason or as being the special delicacy); the rest of the victim is boiled (cf. 1 Samuel 2:13 ff.); to the priest go the breast and shoulder; to the worshippers the rest (Leviticus 7:12 ff., Numbers 15:17 ff.). Here, however, only Yahweh's portions are mentioned. Originally this would seem to have been the commonest form of sacrifice; by P it is subordinated to the burnt offering.