1. Recognition of Peace with God,
    • This sacrifice nowhere mentions atonement for sin, thus, it may not bring people into peace with God who formerly were at enmity, as much as it may bring those already in peace with God to recognize the peace they already have.
  2. Peace with others, especially God’s people

Lev. 3 – How to offer a peace offering:

Lev. 3 focuses on peace with God (see Rom. 5:1-11), other chapters extend this to peace with others.

  1. Take animal from herd, flock, or a goat:
    1. Birds aren’t part of peace offering, because you need food for a group of people (speaks to fellowship with others, in addition to God)
    2. Goat: Matt. 25:31-46: all humanity is either a “sheep” or “goat”.  Christ (typified as both) took on sins of everyone.
    3. Without blemish
      • Speaks of Christ as sinless (1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22)
    4. Male or Female (for herd/flock)
      • “male or female” shows that Jesus took sins of all humanity—male and female. Also shows God’s nature in both sexes (Ge. 1:28)
  2. Kill at entrance of tent of meeting
    1. Brings you into fellowship with God (name and place offered show this). Along with burnt offering, peace offering is fundamental offering needed to meet with God (see Lev. 9:3-4).
    2. Israelites forbidden from sacrificing anywhere other than tabernacle entrance; cut off from doing so (Lev. 17:1-9): thus, only by God’s means done God’s way can we be welcomed into His presence (cf. Lev. 16).
    3. Lay hand on head
      • Hand on head: by faith, sins lie on Jesus (‘the head,’ Col. 1:18); His head cursed (Ge. 3:18-19; Mt. 27:29; Lk. 22:44)
  3. Priest throws blood against sides of altar
    • Priests introduced after sacrifice is killed: ministry begins after (and as a result of) Christ’s death
    • See Heb. 12:24.
    • “sides of altar”: There’s no area the blood doesn’t cleanse (see 1 John 1:9)
  4. God eats fat (it is pleasing aroma to Him)—burnt by priests on altar, atop burnt offering:
    1. “God eats”: Not that God literally eats the food, but it is consumed by His fire, and after it is consumed He (His wrath) is satisfied.
    2. Fat = good/blessed/abundant life separated to God. It’s the most pleasing/acceptable portion (see Gen. 4:4; 45:18; Lk. 15:23), and peace offering was celebrated with “fattened animals” (Amos 5:22). Fat is “abundant life” because: (1) it stores abundant nutrients in body, (2) surrounds various blood organs (kidneys – organs that filter blood), and blood=life (cf. Lev. 17:11), (3) micronutrients of life are heavily concentrated in reproductive organs, macronutrients are stored in the fat, (4) comes from (and stored in) loins, place of childbearing and birth (note: women lacking fat stores on hips and reproductive organs struggle to bear full term children and have lower fertility rates; in Nazi death camps, women were below 10% body fat, very few pregnancies occurred since they struggled to produce eggs), (5) eating “fat of the land” is seen as eating a feast/surplus (Gen. 45:17-18). Like the fat, Jesus is: good, blessed, special, pleasing, set apart, and a life-giver (1 Cor. 15:45). His life was abundant life and He came to give this to others (John 10:10). His life was lived solely for the Father (fat is only for God), and His death was the finished work (Ex. 23:18 – the fat could not remain), received by God.
    3. Aroma = specific scent/smell, received through the nose/nostrils. God’s nostrils associated with His wrath (Ps. 18:8; Job 4:9; etc.). Heb. for, “slow to anger,” is “long of nose,” (Ex. 34:6; Ps. 103:8), i.e. nostrils don’t quickly flare. This offering is pleasing to God’s nostrils, appeasing His wrath (pointing to Jesus’ sacrifice that appeases God’s wrath—see Rom. 3). God’s “nostrils” flare up when there is a rotten stench of sin (Gen. 19:13; Is. 65:5), and are appeased by sacrifice of Jesus (as well as incense of prayers we offer on basis of Jesus’ sacrifice: Heb. 10:19-22; Rev. 5:8). In contrast, God’s mouth breathes out His Spirit and Word, both immutable and never affected or changed by us (Psalm 119:89).
    4. Burnt by ‘unending’ fire (Lev. 6:12-13) – allusion to eternal fire/judgment of God. Jesus’ death was a “burnt offering” that was “burned” by God’s eternal wrath, and brings peace with God (as a “peace offering”).
    5. Peace offerings are frequently grouped with burnt offerings as the most fundamental offerings (e.g. Ex. 20:24; 24:5; 32:6; Lev. 22:18-25; Judges 20:26; 1 Sam. 10:8; 2 Sam. 6:17; Eze. 46:12). In 2 Sam. 24:25 these 2 offerings ended God’s curse on the land. Jesus’ death and the peace it brings with God is fundamental to Christianity, and puts an end to God’s curse on sinners.
    6. Fat covering entrails
      • Entrails may speak to Christ’s soul/human element (see notes on ch. 1), while fat speaks to the divine life that covers the human (like gold covering wood in the tabernacle).
    7. Fat on entrails
    8. 2 kidneys with fat on them at the loins
      • The Heb. Word for “kidney” is also used for “inner mind,” “inner self”. A kidney filters the blood to produce urine. The life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and thus kidneys are the purifying agent of that life. May speak of Jesus’ divine life (inside His “flesh tent”: John 1:14), that is the only pure/purifying life.
    9. Long lobe of liver removed with kidneys
    10. (for lamb: fat tail, cut off close to backbone)
      • Of all sacrificial animals, Jesus is most readily identified with the lamb (cf. John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7; Rev. 5:6; etc.)
      • The fat tail is only included with the lamb; may reveal that God honors the “base” elements (1 Cor. 1:28; 12:23), and remind that even God’s hind parts are of greater glory than anything of this world (see Ex. 33:17-23). Also, Jesus, like the tail, is offensive to the world, but fully pleases God.
  5. The person giving the offering brings to the LORD and priest with “his own hands” (Lev. 7:30):
    1. “his own hands” = You must receive Christ directly; it can’t come through “another’s hands”.
    2. Fat with breast: wave offering to God
      • The breast for the wave offering is “prepared” from the peace offering, and given to God through waving, then eaten by the priest. The breast represents the heart. In 1 Thes. 5:8, the breastplate is faith and love, and in Eph. 6:14 it’s righteousness. In N.T., righteousness comes through heart-faith, and is evidenced by love (see Rom. 5:5; 10:9-10; Gal. 5:6, 22)—toward God, then His people, then others (Matt. 22:38-39; 1 John 3:14).
      • The wave offering is waved, as opposed to raised (see Ex. 29:27). Represents and evidences the new life offered to God.
      • Priest burns fat on altar
      • Breast eaten by Aaron and sons
        • When we believe Christ paid for sins (“peace offering”), we get new heart, and are commanded to give it 100% over to God (“wave offering” of breast, see Matt. 22:38). After presenting it to God, we get love for others (Mt. 22:39; 1 John 3:14); that love is foundation of growth of the body (Eph. 4:16). This is represented by the breast of the wave offering being eaten by the priests.
    3. Right thigh: heave offering
      • Right = place of strength/favor/blessing (Gen. 48:14; Mt. 25:33)
      • Thigh is area Jacob was touched by God and limped (Gen. 32:25,31-32); represents strength (strongest muscle). We give this strength to God in service.
      • The heave offering is raised, as opposed to waved (see Ex. 29:27). Represents the service given to God.
      • Priest that offers blood and fat eats right thigh
        • We are given strength when we seek after and focus on God’s life (blood and fat).
  6. Rest of offering is presumably eaten as feast with Israelites (Lev. 19:1-8; Deut. 12:1, 17-18; 2 Chr. 30:22)
    • Peace/Fellowship offering 1st brings peace with God, then peace/fellowship with others (see 1 Sam. 11:12-15, for instance).

Misc. notes: 

  1. “All fat is the LORD’s…a statute forever…that you eat neither fat nor blood.” (Lev. 3:16-17)
    • If you eat fat or blood, you are cut off from God’s people (see Lev. 7:25-27).
    • The fat of animals that die naturally or are torn by other animals may be used in other ways, but not eaten (see Lev. 7:24).
    • Blood = life (Lev. 17:11). Thus, life [blood] and abundant life [fat] are given by God and are for His purposes and glory alone (John 10:10; Rom. 6:13; etc.)
  2. Only place peace offering is commanded is at Pentecost (“Feast of Weeks”), see Lev. 23:19.
    • Pentecost is birth of church (Acts 2). Must receive peace/fellowship with God, which brings you into fellowship with His people (the church). Peter’s message commanded people to worship the crucified Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit (in antitype, he commanded the peace offering) – Acts 2.
  3. Nazarite vow includes different offerings. The hair cut off must be burned with the peace offering (Num. 6:14, 18).
    • Hair of Nazarite vow represents being set apart/consecrated, and so is burned up with the fat offering as something consecrated for God.

Types of Peace Offerings:

  1. Thanksgiving (Lev. 7:12-15):
    • Thanksgiving offering is in context of Peace Offering. This infers that you had to be restored to God/man (immediately) and thankfulness is result.
    • Add (1) unleavened cakes w/ oil, (2) unleavened wafers anointed w/ oil, or (3) cakes of blended flour w/ oil
      • All of these are grain offerings (Lev. 2:4-5); our thankfulness is only possible with new life of Christ (cf. Rom. 1:21 – unregenerate people not “thankful”).
    • Add leavened bread 
      • Leaven = sinful nature, and ability to spread; we must remember what we were saved from to be thankful and spread true peace to others (Tit. 3:2-8).
    • Offer one cake as a heave offering to the LORD
      • The cakes used are the grain offerings, representing the resurrected life of Christ.
      • “heave offering” = The work we offer the Lord can only be done with His life in us, see previous footnote and 1 Cor. 15:10
      • Belongs to priest who sprinkles the blood
        • We are all priests of God (1 Peter 2:9). God gives His life to us to serve Him (see Ex. 30:31-33 on purposes of anointing oil for priestly service).
        • Those who most focus on Christ’s sacrifice are most fruitful for His service (see 2 Pet. 1:5-11, for instance).
    • Must eat the same day, leave none until morning
      1. Our restored peace with God and others, and the thankfulness that ensues, is a matter of immediacy (Mt. 18:15; 2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 4:26).
      2. Flesh touching unclean thing: burned; not eaten
      3. Clean flesh: eaten only by those who are clean
        1. Those unclean (or touching unclean) who eat will be cut off from others
    • Leg lengths of sacrifice must be uniform (inferred from Lev. 22:23)
  2. Vow (Lev. 7:16-18; 22:21-25; Prov. 7:14)
    1. Burnt offerings and Peace offerings can be given as vows (e.g. Lev. 22:18).
    2. Can eat on 1st or 2nd day of sacrifice.
      • Vow and Freewill Peace Offerings have flexibility not allowed in Thanksgiving offering. This may be because vow and freewill our initiated by people, and God gives grace to us, whereas thanksgiving is initiated by God and prompted to be done immediately (see footnote 36).
      • On 3rd day, sacrifice must be burned with fire
        1. Christ resurrected on 3rd day, and this is evidence that we have peace with God and the penalty has been finished. Anyone who sees added work for peace with God/others on top of Christ’s finished work is anathema to God. On the 3rd day, the work is finished.
        2. If any flesh is eaten the 3rd day, it will not be accepted/imputed; abomination to the one offering; person eating bears guilt (cf. Lev. 19:18)
    3. Leg lengths of sacrifice must be uniform (Lev. 22:23)
  3. Voluntary/Free will (Lev. 7:16-18; 22:21-25)
    1. Burnt offerings and Peace offerings can be given of free will (e.g. Lev. 1:3; 22:18; Eze. 46:12). They are spontaneous offerings.
    2. Same as Vow, except:
    3. Bull or lamb with differing leg lengths are accepted (Lev. 22:23)
      • Legs speak to the mediation between heaven and earth, and differing leg lengths may point to Christians pursuing Christ (the mediator) with differing intensities (like Matt. 13:8), but still pursuing God on their own accord (“freewill offering”). Vow and thanksgiving offerings do not allow this flexibility, because of the different ends being achieved.