Leviticus Blog

Leviticus: Chapters 1 – 3

Chapters one through three of Leviticus deal primarily with ritual sacrifice. Have you ever broken a commandment? As it turns out, you can be forgiven for your sin if you sacrifice an animal. No need for prayers or apologies! But how should you go about sacrificing your animal? What if you intend to eat the animal? What about sacrificing a bread product instead? Leviticus provides the binding, divine answers to all of these questions!

Chapter One: How to sacrifice an animal

So you want to sacrifice an animal. Congratulations. You are not alone! It is a great honor to present “an offer by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.” Just be sure you follow all the guidelines! The unblemished bull is the greatest of sacrifices. You can also sacrifice a sheep or goat, but it must be an unblemished male. Pretty straightforward. You can also sacrifice a turtledove or a pigeon, but don’t get greedy. These are the only animals you can sacrifice to the LORD. So leave Foo Foo alone! The blood of the animal should always be drained against the side of the altar. It should be cut into pieces, but only by the priests; its entrails and legs should be washed, its feathers removed (if a bird) and it should be burnt entirely.

Chapter Two: How to sacrifice grain

Have you ever wondered how to properly offer your grain to the LORD? I ask this question every time there’s leftover bread at the table. Luckily, the answers are here in Chapter Two! You can bring pretty much any grain product to the altar – whether it is plain flour or something you’ve cooked in a griddle, pan or oven – but it must be unleavened and must be drizzled with oil (and frankincense, in the case of plain flour or firstfruits.) All grain offerings must consist of “choice flour” (I am assuming they mean locally-sourced whole grain flour bought from Whole Foods or at the farmer’s market.) The priests get to eat whatever is left over. Bonus!

Chapter Three: How to kill an animal as an offering of communion

An offering of communion can be a male or female cow, ox, sheep or goat. You should cut off its tail, remove its kidneys and liver, and take out all of the fat, as “All fat is the LORD’s.” (This would be a great concept for a weight-loss reality TV show!) Be sure to drain its blood against the side of the altar because “you must not eat any fat or any blood.” You hear that?! No blood. Sorry, Dracula. And no fat. Sorry, Kirstie Alley.

Summary of Chapters One through Three:

1) God likes the smell of a good burnt sacrifice.

2) Bulls are the most valuable sacrifice, followed by sheep and goats, then birds, and, if all else fails, grain.

3) Always drain the blood of an animal you are going to sacrifice and remove the fat, kidneys, and liver. Be sure to remove all the fat, including the fat around the entrails.

4) If you are to sacrifice grain, you should never offer leavened bread to be sacrificed.

5) Priests get to eat leftovers from grain sacrifices! Go Priests!

6) You should never eat blood or fat. Ever. (Get yourself a George Foreman Grill to be safe.)

We haven’t got to any of the good stuff yet. I have to admit, I’m sort of getting excited to see what comes next.

This was written by leviticus. Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010, at 12:49 am. Filed under Chapter Reviews. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback.

Leviticus: Chapters 1 – 3

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