We begin Chapter Seven today. This chapter concludes the regulations for the various types of offerings before moving on into Chapter Eight to tell us about the ordination ceremony of Aaron and his sons as priests. In today's passage we'll look at the regulations for the guilt offering.
You'll recall from Chapter Five that a guilt offering was to be offered when someone became aware they had sinned. "These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy: The guilt offering is to be slaughtered, and its blood is to be splashed against the sides of the altar. All its fat shall be offered: the fat tail and the fat that covers the internal organs, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. It is a guilt offering." (Leviticus 7:1-5)
The Lord was offered the parts considered most special by the ancient cultures. We've already learned that the Israelites were forbidden to eat blood or fat because these substances were too holy for common use since they were devoted to the Lord. I believe also the Lord intended to protect the Israelites from the many ailments that can be contracted by drinking blood or eating a high fat diet. Some of the pagan cultures around them would drink blood and contract zoonotic diseases or develop a serious, potentially fatal condition in which too much iron is stored in the liver. Pagan cultures sometimes ate the fatty portions of animals because they considered it a delicacy. Wealthy people also subsisted on a high fat diet in ancient times because the fatty portions were the most expensive to purchase in the marketplace. In our modern times we are well aware of the dangers of eating a high fat diet. It was impossible to remove all blood or fat content from the meat the people ate (it's impossible in our own day) but the majority of the blood was drained and the majority of the fat was trimmed away. This helped to protect the health of the people whom God is going to make into a great nation.
The meat from the offering belongs to the priest who slaughtered the animal for the person who brought it. He may share it with any male relative. "Any male in the priest's family may eat it, but it must be eaten in the sanctuary area; it is most holy." (Leviticus 7:6) Because the animal was offered to the Lord, the meat is considered consecrated and it must be eaten on consecrated ground. It can't be taken to the priest's home and eaten in an ordinary setting.
The hide of the animal belongs to the priest who slaughtered it. Hides were valuable commodities in ancient times. "The same law applies to both the sin offering and the guilt offering: They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them. The priest who offers a burnt offering for anyone may keep its hide for himself." (Leviticus 7:7-8)
When we studied the guilt offering in Chapter Five we read that a person who could not afford to bring an animal for the offering could bring a grain offering instead. A portion of the grain offering would be burned on the altar but the remainder belonged to the priest. If the offering was brought in the form of thin unleavened bread cakes, the remainder of these cakes belonged to the priest who officiated over the offering. If the offering was brought as loose flour, the remainder belonged to all the priests equally but the priest who officiated over the offering was responsible for distributing it to them. "Every grain offering baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who offers it, and every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron." (Leviticus 7:9-10)
Multiple priests were needed at the tabernacle at the same time to handle all the offerings that were brought. Aaron and his four sons began the work but as time went on his sons had sons, then their sons had sons, and on and on. They worked on rotation, compared to what we might call "shift work" in our day. After David of Bethlehem becomes king he organizes the priests into twenty-four "courses" (groups) and each group served at the tabernacle for an entire week before swapping out with the next course. The exception to this was during a festival week when all the courses of the priests must be present at the same time. An example of this would be at Passover. Later, when David's son Solomon built the temple, this tradition of dividing the priests into twenty-four courses continued. Each course had a head priest over it.
We'll close today by talking about what these courses of priests have to do with the church. In the book of Revelation we find a group encircling the throne of God who are called the twenty-four elders. The prevailing theory as to their identity has always been, by the majority of scholars, that they represent the church who has been taken to heaven by Christ prior to the unfolding of the Great Tribulation on earth. Just as twenty-four head priests represented the entire priesthood (all twenty-four courses of priests) these twenty-four elders are believed to represent the church as a whole. They almost certainly do not represent Israel because, for one thing, Israel is always symbolized by the number twelve. For another thing, Israel is clearly marked out in Revelation as a group separate from the church, with the exception of those of Jewish heritage who have accepted Christ as the Messiah and who have become part of the Lord's church. But we are given two very important clues that the twenty-four elders represent the church and we will take a look at these clues below.
The first clue is found in several verses of Revelation in which the people who make up the church are referred to as priests. In writing to the churches, the Apostle John begins his letter to them with a doxology in which he praises the Lord Jesus Christ and says of Him, "To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father---to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen." (Revelation 1:5b-6) Who is the "us" John is speaking of? The church. The Lord Jesus has made the members of the church into priests to serve God the Father. Again John points out to us our position as priests in Revelation 5:10 by telling us that the twenty-four elders fall to their knees before God the Father and praise Him for making those who are redeemed by the Lamb "a kingdom and priests to serve our God". Once again, in Revelation 20:6, John refers to the redeemed who have been raised by the dead by Christ as "priests of God and of Christ".
The second clue is found in how these elders are dressed when we first meet them in Revelation 4. In Revelation 4:10 we are told that they are dressed in white and have crowns of gold on their heads. No group, other than the church, is promised white robes and crowns in the Bible. The church is dressed in white because she is the bride of Christ and because His blood has made her spotless and pure. (Revelation 19:18) The church is given a crown, not a royal crown (the Greek diadem) but the type of crown that is given to one who triumphs and overcomes (the Greek stephanos). (1 Corinthians 9:25, 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Revelation 2:10, Revelation 3:11) How did the church triumph and overcome? Through Christ! The church owes her victory to Him, and because of this we find the church (as represented by the twenty-four elders) bowing and casting those crowns at His feet in Revelation 4:10.
We owe all to the One who cleaned us up and dressed us in the fine white linen of the bride of Christ. We owe all to the One who gave us the victory over sin and death and hell. That's why we find the elders (the church) casting their crowns at His feet and giving Him all the glory and honor and praise for everything they have and for everything they are. We can begin our praise today; we don't have to wait til we're encircling the throne in heaven. Let's give Him thanks for redeeming us and making us a part of the group who will forever be with Him and praise Him in eternity.
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