Leviticus 7:8 Kommentar

Here is, I. The law of the trespass-offering (Lev 7:1-7), with some further directions concerning the burnt-offering and the meat-offering (Lev 7:8-10). II. The law of the peace-offering. The eating of it (Lev 7:11-21), on which occasion the prohibition of eating fat or blood is repeated (Lev 7:22-27), and the priests' share of it (Lev 7:28-34). III. The conclusion of those institutions (Lev 7:35, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 7 The several things contained in this chapter are the law of the trespass offering, Lev 7:1 the portion the priests had in the burnt offerings and meat offerings, Lev 7:8 the law of the peace offerings, whether by way of thanksgiving, or a vow, or voluntary oblation, Lev 7:11 the prohibition of fat and blood, Lev 7:22 the parts the priests should have in the peace offerings, the breast and right shoulder, Lev 7:28 and the chapter is concluded with a recapitulation of the various things contained in this and the preceding chapters, Lev 7:37.

And the priest that offereth any man's burnt offering,.... In which the flesh was wholly burnt, and nothing of it remained to requite the priest for his trouble, as in other offerings: even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering, which he hath offered; in some cases the skin itself was burnt, and then he could have nothing, see Lev 4:11 but in others the skin was reserved for the priest. There seems to be an emphasis upon the phrase "to himself", and may signify, that though in other things other priests might partake with him, yet not in this; and so Maimonides (z) observes, that the skin was not given to every priest, but to him that offered the sacrifice; and elsewhere (a) he says, the skins of light holy things are the owner's, but the skins of the most holy things are the priest's. And some have thought this law has some respect to the case of Adam, and is agreeable thereunto; who having offered sacrifice according to divine directions given him, had coats made for him and his wife of the skins of the slain beasts; and it was usual with the Heathen priests to have the skins of the sacrifices, and in which they slept in their temples and others also were desirous of the same, in order by dreams or otherwise to get knowledge of things future; See Gill on Amo 2:8. (z) In Misn. Challah, c. 4. sect. 9. (a) In Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 3.

The law of the trespass-offering, and the priest's portion in it, Lev 7:1-7. As also in the sin-offerings and meat-offerings, Lev 7:8-10. The law of the sacrifice of peace-offering, Lev 7:11, whether it was a thanksgiving - offering, Lev 7:12-15; or a Vow or voluntary offering, Lev 7:16-18. Concerning the flesh that touched any unclean thing, Lev 7:19, Lev 7:20, and the person who touched any thing unclean, Lev 7:21. Laws concerning eating of fat, Lev 7:22-25, and concerning eating of blood, Lev 7:26, Lev 7:27. Farther ordinances concerning the peace-offerings and the priest's portion in them, Lev 7:28-36. Conclusion of the laws and ordinances relative to burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, sin-offerings, and peace-offerings, delivered in this and the preceding chapters, Lev 7:37, Lev 7:38.

The priest shall have to himself the skin - Bishop Patrick supposes that this right of the priest to the skin commenced with the offering of Adam, "for it is probable," says he, "that Adam himself offered the first sacrifice, and had the skin given him by God to make garments for him and his wife; in conformity to which the priests ever after had the skin of the whole burnt-offerings for their portion, which was a custom among the Gentiles as well as the Jews, who gave the skins of their sacrifices to their priests, when they were not burnt with the sacrifices, as in some sin-offerings they were among the Jews, see Lev 4:11. And they employed them to a superstitious use, by lying upon them in their temples, in hopes to have future things revealed to them in their dreams. Of this we have a proof in Virgil, Aen. lib. vii., ver. 86-95. " - huc dona sacerdos Cum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit; Multa modus simulncra videt volitantia miris, Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorum Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis. Hic et tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus Centum lanigeras mactabat rite bidentes, Atque harum effultus tergo stratisque jacebat Velleribus. Subita ex alto vox reddita luco est." First, on the fleeces of the slaughter'd sheep By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep, When in a train, before his slumbering eye, Thin airy forms and wondrous visions fly. He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods, And talks, inspired, familiar with the gods. To this dread oracle the prince withdrew, And first a hundred sheep the monarch slew; Then on their fleeces lay; and from the wood He heard, distinct, these accents of the god. - Pitt. The same superstition, practiced precisely in the same way and for the same purposes, prevail to the present day in the Highlands of Scotland, as the reader may see from the following note of Sir Walter Scott, in his Lady of the Lake: - "The Highlanders of Scotland, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the togharm. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and deposited beside a water-fall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed; and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits who haunt these desolate recesses. One way of consulting this oracle was by a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and there they singled out one of their number, and wrapt him in a big cow's hide, which they folded about him; his whole body was covered with it except his head, and so left in this posture all night, until his invisible friends relieved him by giving a proper answer to the question in hand; which he received, as he fancied, from several persons that he found about him all that time. His consorts returned to him at day-break; and then he communicated his news to them, which often proved fatal to those concerned in such unwarrantable inquiries. "Mr. Alexander Cooper, present minister of North Virt, told me that one John Erach, in the Isle of Lewis, assured him it was his fate to have been led by his curiosity with some who consulted this oracle, and that he was a night within the hide above mentioned, during which time he felt and heard such terrible things that he could not express them: the impression made on him was such as could never go off; and he said, for a thousand worlds he would never again be concerned in the like performance, for it had disordered him to a high degree. He confessed it ingenuously, and with an air of great remorse, and seemed to be very penitent under a just sense of so great a crime: he declared this about five years since, and is still living in the Isle of Lewis for any thing I know." - Description of the Western Isles, p. 110. See also Pennant's Scottish Tour, vol. ii., p. 301; and Sir W. Scott's Lady of the Lake.

THE LAW OF THE TRESPASS OFFERING. (Lev. 7:1-27) Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering--This chapter is a continuation of the laws that were to regulate the duty of the priests respecting the trespass offerings. The same regulations obtained in this case as in the burnt offerings--part was to be consumed on the altar, while the other part was a perquisite of the priests--some fell exclusively to the officiating minister, and was the fee for his services; others were the common share of all the priestly order, who lived upon them as their provision, and whose meetings at a common table would tend to promote brotherly harmony and friendship.

the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered--All the flesh and the fat of the burnt offerings being consumed, nothing remained to the priest but the skin. It has been thought that this was a patriarchal usage, incorporated with the Mosaic law, and that the right of the sacrificer to the skin of the victim was transmitted from the example of Adam (see on Gen 3:21).