The Shalamim Offerings: Leading the Celebration of Peace
7: 11-21
The shelamim offering DIG: How do Pesach and the Lord’s Supper describe a fellowship offering today? When you are particularly thankful to God, how do you show it? In what ways is this like the thanksgiving offering depicted in verses 12-14? For what are you particularly thankful for today? How will you express this thankfulness to ADONAI?
REFLECT: When have you felt most alienated from God? How important is it to you that all barriers between yourself and God be removed? Why? What do you do to rebuild a relationship with Him: Say your prayers? Read the Bible? Give more money? Give more of yourself? Or what? How does this compare to the peace offering?
The peace offerings from the perspective of the priests.
The culmination of worship, and its greatest joy, is to enter the presence of God and celebrate being at peace with Him. It is the great privilege of the priests to lead people in this; but it is also the great responsibility of the spiritual leader to make sure that it was done correctly, that purity and generosity characterized the celebration. At the heart of the spiritual life of the community, both ancient and modern, is the spontaneous, personal worship of believers. The emphasis in Leviticus 7 on spontaneous praise, payment of vow and fellowship offerings reflects true, spiritual worship. Without these, worship becomes stagnant and mere ritual; with these, however, the faith of the congregation is alive, people are encouraged and strengthened in their pilgrimage, and ADONAI is glorified.77
Thus far I have presented the average priest’s work day in a rather tiring, or cumbersome way. I stressed some of the more difficult jobs he had to do on a daily basis. But it was not like that all the time. As our passage indicates it was not all blood and guts for the priests. Our parashah reminds us that one of the offerings which was brought daily was the shalamim offerings, or more commonly known as the peace offerings (to see link click Ak – The Peace Offerings). This portion teaches that there were actually three different kinds of salami offerings. The first was called the todah or thanksgiving offering; the second and third were called the vow and fellowship offerings respectively.78
A blood offering always preceded any of the peace offerings, because the basis of peace between man and God is always a blood sacrifice. However, the Torah was very precise about not eating the fat or the blood of meat associated with the shelamim offering. This was very important because YHVH tells us that the life of the animal is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the bronze altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life (17:11). It is a matter of life for life. When the Isrealites killed an animal outside of the Tabernacle they were told to spill its blood on the ground and cover it with earth because blood symbolizes life. Today there is no bronze altar or Temple, but the blood of Yeshua makes atonement for us. The offering portion of the animal was not designated as most holy. Thus, it could have been eaten outside of the Tabernacle by members of the priests’ family within the camp of Isra’el (see the commentary on Numbers Am – The Camp of the Twelve Tribes of Isra’el). However, everyone who ate the offering had to be in a state of ritual purity.
First, there was the thanksgiving offering. When people brought the shelamim offerings for praise, they were expected to declare to the congregation what God had done for them. It was simply part of their mentality that they should not receive anything from God without publicly acknowledging Him and offering a gift in return. It can be called a thanksgiving offering to capture the idea of the worshiper’s gratitude; but the thanksgiving that accompanied the offering was more a declaration of praise given to the congregation. When the gift, the shelamim offering, was given to ADONAI, it was given back to the worshiper as a communal meal.
As an expression of his praise, then along with his thanksgiving offering he was to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil before cooking, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil after the cooking, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil before and after cooking. Since the offerings were made without yeast, the priest apparently offered a “memorial portion,” or a small portion of the offering, on the bronze altar. In the case of the grain offerings, the “memorial portion” would be a handful of grain, but here with the shelamim offering, it consisted of some of the unleavened cakes of bread.
However, along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he was to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast, because it was not to be burned on the bronze altar. It was only used for eating. He was to bring one of each of the three kinds of peace offerings as a contribution to ADONAI; it belonged to the priest who sprinkled the blood of the meat portion of the peace offerings. The cakes of bread made with yeast were then shared with the priest, the worshiper, his family and friends (7:12-14).
The Torah was very specific about when the meat accompanying a shelamim offering could be eaten. The meat of the thanksgiving offering had to be eaten on the day it was offered; he couldn’t leave any of it till morning (7:15b). If, however, his offering was the result of the second kind of peace offering, the vow offering, then, while it was to be eaten on the day of the sacrifice, what remained could be eaten on the next day (7:16a). The vow offering was brought by the worshiper to fulfill a vow. Vows might arise in various situations, for example a person in danger might make a vow to bring a sacrifice at the Tabernacle if ADONAI would rescue him from immediate danger. The Psalms often make reference to the repayment of vows. They were probably sung in conjunction with the sacrifice of a vow offering (Psalms 22:25, 66:13, 116:14, 76:11). The Nazarite vow required very specific sacrifices. It was also possible to make a vow to bring a particular type of sacrifice or donation to the Tabernacle.
We learn from the vow offering that it was not inappropriate to make vows to ADONAI. However, the one who did so needed to be sure to fulfill such a vow. Wisdom would discourage the custom of making vows without seriously thinking about it beforehand. Perhaps one might make a vow and then find himself unable or unwilling to fulfill it. In that case, it would have been better if he had never made the vow at all. The Master’s warning against taking an oath should be measured in regard to making a vow as well.
Thirdly, the fellowship offering was simply a generous, voluntary gesture. It might be brought for the pure joy of sacrificing to the LORD and drawing closer to Him (7:15a). The fellowship offering reminds us that we never need a particular reason to worship ADONAI. It is always appropriate to render Him what is due. It is always proper to seek fellowship with Him because we love Him and want to draw near to Him. In addition, if they, whose only comfort was that God would pass over their sins and cover them up (Psalm 32:1) until the Messiah comes, could render thanks unto the Holy One, how much more so can it be for us who know Him who loved us and freed us from our sin once-and-for-all, to give thanks to Him.79
In both cases, the sacrifice had to be eaten on the day he offered it, but anything left over could be eaten on the next day. On the third day the meat would begin to turn rancid. Therefore, any meat of the sacrifice left over till the third day must be burned up because ADONAI would not accept it. It would not be credited to the one who offered it, for it was impure, or pigul, literally meaning a stench (Leviticus 19:7; Isaiah 65:4; Ezeki’el 4:14). The person who ate any of it was held responsible for their own punishment (7:16b-18).
Anyone who ate of a sacrifice from the bronze altar on the third day or later, invalidated the sacrifice. Better that the meat should be burned up than decompose and become ritually unclean. Meat which touches something unclean is not to be eaten but burned up completely. As for the meat, everyone who is clean may eat it; but a person in a state of uncleanness who eats any meat from the sacrifice of peace offerings made to ADONAI will be cut off from his people. Anyone who touches something unclean – whether the uncleanness be from a person, from an unclean animal or from some other unclean detestable thing – and then eats the meat from the sacrifice of peace offerings for ADONAI, that person will be cut off from his people (7:19-21). The sacrifices and the worship in the Tabernacle were all about life, the imperishable world and the worship of the Immortal One. That is why they were kept separate from death, corruption, and human mortality.80
We encounter, for the first time in Leviticus, explicit references to the penalty of being cut off in Chapter 7 (also see 7:20-21 and 25-27). This penalty is usually formulated in terms of being cut off from his kin. In rabbinic literature the penalty is called karet, or “cutting off.” In priestly literature, the penalty of karet was understood to include a series of related punishments at the hand of God, ranging from the immediate death of an offender, as in 20:17, to his premature death at a later time, and even to the death of his descendants. In Mishnah Sanhedrin 9:6 and Mishnah Keritot 1:2, this penalty was characterized as mitah biydei shamayim, or “death at the hands of heaven.” Since in 7:20-21 karet is mentioned in the context as childlessness, there is the implication that it took that course as well.81
Can you picture the scene? A man comes to the Tabernacle bursting with joy because of something ADONAI has just blessed him with. There is his family and invited guests all waiting in the background as he offers up his sheep with tears of joy. The priest who assisted him was ready to call it quits after a long day of slaughtering in the hot sun. He has heard his fill of confessions of sin. He has seen enough blood to last for several lifetimes. But now the worshiper arrives, desiring just to render thanks to YHVH. All of the sudden the priest is revived. For the joy of ADONAI is his strength (Psalm 28:7). Then, after the blood sacrifice is over, the priest sits down with the happy family. They eat fresh roasted sheep and cakes to their fill. When the meal is over, perhaps with the coolness of dusk settling in and the deep blues, radiant oranges and pinks of the sunset over them, together they all sing Psalm 107, “Oh give thanks to ADONAI, for His mercies endure forever.” 82
The Messianic significance: The significance of the Master’s resurrection on the third day is linked to the peace offerings. The third day was the day the sacrifice would become invalid because decomposition would begin (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ia – The Resurrection of Lazarus: The First Sign of Jonah). In this regard, the worship system of the Tabernacle foreshadows our transformation in Messiah. In Messiah our bodies will be changed from corruptible to incorruptible. We pass from the mortal to the immortal. Our uncleanness is washed away and we enter the presence of ADONAI in perfect purity (see the commentary on First Corinthians Dw – The Rapture: Victory Over Death).
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your awesome grace that willingly brought peace to all who love you, Jews and Gentile. For He is our Shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation (Ephesians 2:14). Amazing that You so loving offered peace to both Jews and Gentiles and then made the huge blessing of Your Holy Ruach to live within each believer. So that we, who were first to put our hope in Messiah, might be for His glorious praise. After you heard the message of truth – the Good News of your salvation – and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach Ha’Kodesh. (Ephesians 1:12-13). We love and worship You with our hearts. In Your Holy Jesus’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen
Therefore, we have learned that the Master has, in one regard or another, answered to each of the sacrifices. The sacrificial system foreshadows Him and His work on our behalf. He is our korban ‘Olah, completely dedicated to God the Father (see Ao – The ‘Olah Offering); He is our korban Minhah, the bread of life (see Ap – The Minhah Offering); He is our korban Chatta’t, our means of purification (see Aq – The Chatta’t Offering); He is our korban Asham, repaying the debt we could never pay (see Ar – The Asham Offering); He is our korban Shalamim, our peace and fellowship with God (see As – The Shelamim Offering).
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