The trespass offering

Leviticus 7: 1-10, “Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar. And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul that is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away: And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering. Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy. As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it. And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered. And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it. And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another.”

When Laban chased after his son in law Jacob, he was looking for his household gods (this episode is recorded in Gen 31). Jacob didn’t know that Rachel, his favourite wife, had stolen the gods and he told Laban to kill the person who had the gods. When Laban didn’t find the gods Jacob asked Laban “What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?” (Gen 31: 36) We can see from this that a trespass is something personal. When a person committed a personal sin against the Lord there was still a way of finding reconciliation by offering a trespass offering. The priest was to burn specific parts of the offering but then he was free to eat other parts of the offering in payment. The priest represented the person who had sinned against the Lord and it was important that the priest be paid for acting as mediator. Not only was the priest able to eat part of the offering, he was able to take items, like the skin, that could be sold so that he could have some money to take home for his family as well. The offering was mixed with oil meaning that it was not just the bare minimum but the priest was given some of the wealth of the person he was representing.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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The sin offering

Leviticus 6: 24-30, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.”

When a priest was first ordained he would offer a sin offering (Ex 29: 14, “But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.”) This was done to acknowledge that the priest was a sinner and his sin had to be dealt with before he could act for other people. Every time a person offered a sin offering they had to acknowledge that they had sinned and then they could continue with their ceremonial relationship with the Lord. Anyone who wants to maintain a relationship with the Lord, at any time, had to acknowledge that they are sinners. We can trust that the sin offering made by the Lord Jesus Christ is effective and sufficient to deal with our sins but we can never come without first identifying with the fact that we are sinners and need to come to the Lord for forgiveness. The priests job was to represent the Lord to the people and the people to the Lord so when he offered the sin offering he was doing his job. This meant that he could accept a payment for this service and eat part of the offering. However, because the life is in the blood, (Gen 9: 4, “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.’) the blood was sprinkled to show that a life was taken to atone for sin.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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The meat offering

Leviticus 6: 14-23, “And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar. And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the LORD. And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt. For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten.”

This offering was offered by the people or by priests when they were consecrated. This offering wasn’t to be completely burnt but only a token, that is, a handful of the offering was burnt and the rest was to be eaten by the priests. Even though there are many today who think that serving the Lord is a good way of becoming very rich, it is important to remember that people who are serving the Lord on behalf of other people need to be supported. They need to eat as do their families. However, this kind of offering was to be holy and the people who were to eat it were set apart to serve the Lord. However, when a priest made this kind of offering it was to be completely burnt because the priest gave it to the Lord from his earnings and it was not proper for him to keep some part of it for himself.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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The burnt offering

Leviticus 6: 8-13, “8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

The burnt offering was a on offering that was given on a daily basis. However, it is impossible to burn anything entirely without leaving some residue. It is possible, under the right circumstances, to use extreme heat to burn something entirely but this is an expensive process and was not available to Israel while they were in the desert after the Exodus. In order to remove the residue, so that the process could continue on a regular basis, the priest had to follow the proper procedure. Before he could approach the altar, he had to put on special clothes to keep his clean body away from the ashes. They he would collect the ashes and put them away from the altar. After that he would change out of those clothes and take the ashes away to a place that had not been defiled but death in any way and leave them there. Even while the priest was involved in this process the fire had to be kept burning because the fire was never to go out. This was to show that Israel understood that their God was alive at all times and He didn’t ever lose focus as far as caring for them was concerned. (Compare 1 Kings 18: 27, “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”)

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Lie unto his neighbour

Leviticus 6: 1-7, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.”

Sometimes one person trusts another person to look after something on his behalf. This is quite legitimate, especially when a person wants to go away but has animals to care for. However, it is conceivable that a person might steal or sell the animal and then pretend that the animal was killed by wild animals or died for some other reason. Animals can even run away. In these circumstances it was important to have some way of telling is the person who was trusted was telling the truth or not. If the person was found to be lying then he was forced to make retribution but, as a penalty, he had to add a fifth, or twenty percent, to the value of the animal. As well as that the person who told the lie had to make an offering to the Lord to atone for his sin.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Sins through ignorance

Leviticus 5: 14-19, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering: And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him. And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him. It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the LORD.”

While it is possible to commit sins through ignorance it doesn’t stop that activity from being a sin. Sometimes a person might do something without a proper understanding of what the Lord requires in those circumstances while at other times a person may think that they are doing one thing but they are really doing something else because they haven’t investigated all the circumstances fully. Whatever the reason, when the person discovered that they had sinned they were expected to do something about it. That person had the opportunity to bring an offering to the Lord when they discovered they had sinned. They also had to add a fifth of the value to any other thing that they had damaged in order to cover the costs to the proper owner. However, once the proper procedures had been followed then that person could be forgiven. We can face similar problems today as we seek to bring honour to the Name of the Lord. We all have practices that are primarily acceptable in our culture but, on examination of the Bible, may not bring honour to the Lord’s Name, under those circumstances it is appropriate to give up those practices and adapt our way of behaviour to a way that is expedient to our claim to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 6: 12, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”). Any habit that we have which controls our thoughts and behaviour is not appropriate for a person who desires to follow the Lord.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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If he be not able to bring a lamb

Leviticus 5: 7-13, “And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder: And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering. And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him. But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering. Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, even a memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: it is a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest’s, as a meat offering.”

We should take some time to distinguish between burnt offerings and sin offerings before we continue with Leviticus. The most common form of sacrifice was a burnt offering; it was performed every morning and every evening when the Israeli ceremonial religion was functioning as it was designed. This was part of the continual offering. The sin offering was offered for sin, the flesh of an animal was burnt outside the Temple, sometimes it was eaten by the priests. The blood of the animal was sprinkled in certain places in the Temple area. There were allowances for the poor to bring a lesser offering if they couldn’t offer the prescribed offering. Poverty was never a reason for refusing a person the right to bring an offering to the Lord. When the Lord Jesus Christ was alive He commended a woman for bringing two of the smallest coins in the Land for her entire offering. The issue with an offering, in God’s sight, is not how much you give but how much you have left after you have given.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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The voice of swearing

Leviticus 5: 1-6, “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.”

We often think that swearing is using “television language”. The sort of language that people were ashamed to use in the last century but everyone uses on television these days and the kids grow up thinking it is normal rather than a sign of someone who is inarticulate. However, swearing in the Bible is making a promise and using the Lord’s Name to back that promise up. We still have a remnant of true swearing in court where people swear to tell the truth. If a person swears to do something then that person knows God is a witness to his promise and he is bound to do what he said. If a person makes an oath and then doesn’t keep that oath the person should expect some kind of consequences. If there is a witness to an oath the witness needs to understand that they have a sacred duty as well. The next issue concerns a person who is ceremonially clean and touches something that is unclean. The principle is simple: unclean makes clean unclean. We know this is true today when a person is infected with a disease and they come into contact with a person who is not infected then the non infected person is in danger of being infected. If a person hears someone else say that they are going to act unlawfully then the person who hears has a responsibility to pass that information or he he becomes guilty as well. Edmund Burke said that evil triumphs when good men do nothing, he got that idea from the Bible.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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When a ruler hath sinned

Leviticus 4: 22-26, “When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.”

We know that an entire organisation will be influenced by the morals of the leader. Any ruler cannot rule without, at least, some compliance from the people. If the people refuse to tolerate a bad leader then the leader will soon be forced out of office (compare Eccl 10: 5, “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:”) However, a nation with an evil rules needs to have some way of dealing with the issue before the whole nation is destroyed (see Prov 14: 34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”) The Lord, in His grace, established a method whereby a ruler could deal with his own sin, if he really didn’t know what he was doing, and so save the nation from destruction. When it was discovered that the ruler had sinned, the rules was to bring an offering for his sin and offering was to be sacrificed in the approved way so that atonement could be made for the sin and forgiveness effected.

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The whole congregation

Leviticus 4: 13-21, “And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail. And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar. And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.”

There were times when the nation forgot who they were and Who they belonged to and at those times they went astray and forgot the Law of the Lord. There is a good example of this in Numbers 25: 1-15 but the problem was solved, at that stage, when Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, dealt with the issue and solved the problem with great courage. However, it was also possible that no one realised that there was sin in the community and then the Lord would have to deal with the situation. The example of this situation can be found in 2 Samuel 21: 1-14 where Saul killed the Gibeonites even though Joshua had made a treaty with them many years before. If there was in then it had to be dealt with before Israel could resume their role as God’s representatives in the process of blessing all the families of the earth (See Gen 12: 3). If this happened then the Lord established a process whereby the nation could affect reconciliation with the Lord when the discovered the error. This was a sign of the Lord’s gracious way in dealing with His people and with sin in general.

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Sin through ignorance

Leviticus 4: 1-12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away, As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.”

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of sin: sins of commission and sins of omission. We can sin by doing things and we can sin by not doing things. One example of this second kind of sin is found in James 4: 17 (“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”) This means that it is not right to sit back when we can do some good for another person. On the other hand, sometimes we sin deliberately while on other occasions we don’t mean to sin but it happens anyway. A deliberate sin should be dealt with much more harshly that an sin that happens by mistake. The Law allowed for people who sinned through ignorance to have a way of dealing with that sin. When they found out they could bring a sacrifice for that sin. This was also available to a priest. The priest had to identify with his own sin before he could deal with it properly. It is always important for us to remember that we cannot deal effectively without sin unless we, first, acknowledge that there is sin and we are responsible. It is wrong to blame other people for sins that we have committed.

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Without blemish

Leviticus 3: 6-17, “And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD. And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’S. It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.”

Sin can be compared to a blemish in a person’s life. When Adam and Eve first sinned they marked the perfect relationship they had with the Lord with a blemish. From that time forward every person is stained by sin. When someone wanted to bring a peace offering to the Lord it was vital that the offering have no blemish or stain. An animal that had a blemish was not satisfactory because the person looking for peace with God needed to do something about the animal’s problem rather than offer it on his behalf. There is a reminder that the person needed to identify with the animal to be killed because the wages of sin is death (Rom 6: 23). The person offering the peace offering deserved to die but the Lord graciously accepted the animal in his place. When the animal was killed the blood was sprinkled around the altar because the life is in the blood (Gen 9: 4) and this blood was given as a substitute for the sinner’s blood. The rich and valuable part of the animal were burnt because it was important that no one else profit from the sins of another person.

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peace offering

Leviticus 3: 1-5, “And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.”

When Adam and Eve sinned they were no longer at peace with the Lord. After the Lord delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt He made peace possible through the keeping of the Law. However, people would sin from time to time so it was necessary to restore this peace by dealing with sin. The peace offering was made by an individual to restore his place of peace with God. In order for this to proceed in the proper way the person would put his hand on the head of his sacrifice. In this way, that person would identify with his sin, making peace possible. The same is true today, if we want to make peace with God then we have to identify with our sin and confess that we have sinned. There is no other way to make peace with God.

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Burn no leaven

Leviticus 2: 11-16, “No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”

When Israel came out of the land of slavery they were told to eat bread that didn’t contain yeast, or leaven. This was because they were to leave in a hurry and couldn’t wait for the yeast to rise in the bread. When someone puts yeast into bread they only use a small amount of yeast compared to a large amount of other ingredients. Sin is like yeast, only a small amount of sin will take over the whole of a person’s life and will cause that person to focus on himself and not be useful to God. When a person wanted to bring an offering to the Lord he was told not to bring any leaven as a reminder of the fact that the Lord took them out of Egypt and they had to leave in a hurry. They were also to bring salt because salt was precious and valuable and we need to bring our best to God because He has given us the best.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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