Leviticus 3

Chapter 3 deals with fellowship offerings also known as peace offerings. The fellowship offering was an optional offering that could be used as an offering of thanksgiving, to fulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering.

The only animal that could be eaten by the Israelites was one that was offered as a fellowship offering. We see in other places in scripture that if an animal was slaughtered but was not offered as a fellowship offering it at the tent of meeting was guilty of shedding blood. (Leviticus 17). Blood and the fat was God’s. So if anyone wanted to have meat for dinner they were to first offer the animal as a sacrifice to the LORD. We see twice in this chapter that it says about these offerings of being food.

There are animals that were offered for fellowship offerings, cattle, sheep, and goat. There were slight differences in each but the general offering was of throwing the blood against the altar and removing the fat, the two kidneys and the lobe of the liver as the burnt offering. In verse 17 we see it says that the Israelites were not to eat any fat or blood.

The Application

When we look at the various offerings and sacrifices that there are it took all those sacrifices to equal the one offering of Jesus. The Israelites maintained fellowship with God because of this sacrifice. They make peace with God through this sacrifice. We have Jesus that through his death and resurrection is our peace offering. We have fellowship with the God the father because Jesus is our advocate.