Which offerings may the priests eat, and which must be burned?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Aaron’s male descendants eat the remaining flour and permitted sin-offering flesh in the stated holy place. Every priest’s sacrifice must be wholly burned, and a sin victim whose blood enters the tabernacle for atonement must not be eaten.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord tells Moses about a person who sins and despises the Lord by denying a neighbor something entrusted for safekeeping, extorting something by force, committing oppression, or denying a found lost thing and swearing falsely. The rule also includes the many other things in which people commonly sin. On being convicted, the person must restore to the wronged owner everything sought by fraud: the principal and an added fifth. The person must also bring a ram from the flock without blemish and give it to the priest according to the estimation and measure of the offense. The priest prays before the Lord, and the person receives forgiveness for everything in which he sinned.

The Lord commands Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons about the burnt offering. It burns on the altar all night until morning, with the fire of that altar. Wearing a tunic and linen breeches, the priest takes up the ashes left by the devouring fire and places them beside the altar. He removes those garments, puts on others and carries the ashes outside the camp, where they are to be consumed to dust in a very clean place. The altar fire must always burn. Every morning the priest feeds it with wood, lays on the burnt offering and burns the fat of peace offerings upon it. This perpetual altar fire must never go out.

Challoner says that this fire came from heaven, referring to chapter 9:24, and was kept burning on the altar as a figure of the heavenly fire of divine love, which should always burn in a Christian’s heart. This origin and interpretation belong to the edition’s note.

Aaron’s children offer the sacrifice and libations before the Lord and the altar. The priest takes a handful of flour mixed with oil and all the frankincense on it, and burns it on the altar as a memorial of most sweet odor to the Lord. Aaron and his sons eat the remaining flour without leaven in the holy place of the tabernacle court. It must not be leavened because part is offered for the Lord’s burnt sacrifice. It is most holy, like the offerings for sin and trespass. Only males of Aaron’s family eat it, under an everlasting ordinance for their generations concerning the Lord’s sacrifices. Everyone who touches them is sanctified.

The Lord tells Moses the offering Aaron and his sons must bring on the day of their anointing: a tenth of an ephi of flour as a perpetual sacrifice, half in the morning and half in the evening. It is mixed with oil and fried in a fryingpan. The priest who rightfully succeeds his father offers it hot for a most sweet odor to the Lord, and it is wholly burned on the altar. Every sacrifice of the priest must be consumed with fire; no one may eat it.

The Lord tells Moses to give Aaron and his sons the law for the sin victim. It is killed before the Lord where burnt offerings are offered, and is holy of holies. The priest who offers it eats it in a holy place in the tabernacle court. Whatever touches its flesh is sanctified. A garment sprinkled with its blood must be washed in a holy place. An earthen vessel in which the flesh was boiled must be broken; a brass vessel must be scoured and washed with water. Every male of the priestly family eats the flesh because it is holy of holies.

A sin victim whose blood is carried into the tabernacle of the testimony to make atonement in the sanctuary must not be eaten. It must be burned with fire.

The story inside

The chapter moves from a wronged neighbor to the duties of Aaron and his sons. The property rule names repayment of the principal and a fifth to the owner, together with a ram and priestly prayer. The altar rules then specify all-night burning, garment changes for the ashes and daily morning feeding of a fire that must not go out. The food rules distinguish the priests’ permitted portions from sacrifices they may not eat. Remaining flour is eaten without leaven by Aaron’s male descendants in the tabernacle court, while a priest’s sacrifice is wholly burned. Sin-offering flesh has rules for eating, contact, garments and vessels, followed by an exception for victims whose blood enters the tabernacle for atonement. The chapter states these requirements without explaining them through an invented theory of vessel porosity or a priest benefiting from his own sacrifice.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Repayment is directed to the wronged owner. The rule includes entrusted property, extortion, oppression and false denial of lost goods. The principal and a fifth must be restored, and an unblemished ram is given to the priest according to the offense.
2
The fire and ashes have distinct instructions. Wood is added every morning to the fire that must never go out. Ash removal requires a tunic and linen breeches, followed by a change into other clothes for carrying ashes outside the camp. The text gives no separate morning time for removing ashes.
3
Permitted eating has an explicit exception. Male priests eat the allowed sin-offering flesh in the holy place, but must burn a victim whose blood enters the tabernacle for atonement. Earthen and brass cooking vessels also receive different treatment: breaking, or scouring and washing.

Test your recall

What distinguishes the sin offering that may be eaten from the one that must be burned, and how are earthen and brass cooking vessels treated?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 11070–11096
Leviticus Chapter 6 Oblation for sins of injustice: ordinances concerning the holocausts and the perpetual fire: the sacrifices of the priests, and the sin offerings. 6:1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:2. Whosoever shall sin, and despising the Lord, shall deny to his neighbour the thing delivered to his keeping, which was committed to his trust; or shall by force extort any thing, or commit oppression; 6:3. Or shall find a thing lost, and denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any other of the many things, wherein men are wont to sin: 6:4. Being convicted of the offence, he shall restore 6:5. All that he would have gotten by fraud, in the principal, and the fifth part besides, to the owner, whom he wronged. 6:6. Moreover for his sin he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock: and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence. 6:7. And he shall pray for him before the Lord: and he shall have forgiveness for every thing in doing of which he bath sinned.
Lines 11098–11116
6:8. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:9. Command Aaron and his sons: This is the law of a holocaust. It shall be burnt upon the altar, all night until morning: the fire shall be of the same altar. 6:10. The priest shall be vested with the tunick and the linen breeches; and he shall take up the ashes of that which the devouring fire hath burnt: and putting them beside the altar, 6:11. Shall put off his former vestments, and being clothed with others, shall carry them forth without the camp, and shall cause them to be consumed to dust in a very clean place. 6:12. And the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning: and laying on the holocaust, shall burn thereupon the fat of the peace offerings. 6:13. This is the perpetual fire which shall never go out on the altar.
Lines 11118–11121
The perpetual fire.... This fire came from heaven, (infra. chap. 9.24,) and was always kept burning on the altar, as a figure of the heavenly fire of divine love, which ought to be always burning in the heart of a Christian.
Lines 11123–11140
6:14. This is the law of the sacrifice and libations, which the children of Aaron shall offer before the Lord, and before the altar. 6:15. The priest shall take a handful of the flour that is tempered with oil, and all the frankincense that is put upon the flour: and he shall burn on the altar for a memorial of most sweet odour to the Lord. 6:16. And the part of the flour that is left, Aaron and his sons shall eat, without leaven: and he shall eat it in the holy place of the court of the tabernacle. 6:17. And therefore it shall not be leavened, because part thereof is offered for the burnt sacrifice of the Lord. It shall be most holy, as that which is offered for sin and for trespass. 6:18. The males only of the race of Aaron shall eat it. It shall be an ordinance everlasting in your generations concerning the sacrifices of the Lord: Every one that toucheth them shall be sanctified.
Lines 11142–11156
6:19. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:20. This is the oblation of Aaron, and of his sons, which they must offer to the Lord, in the day of their anointing. They shall offer the tenth part of an ephi of flour for a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening. 6:21. It shall be tempered with oil, and shall be fried in a fryingpan. 6:22. And the priest that rightfully succeedeth his father, shall offer it hot, for a most sweet odour to the Lord: and it shall be wholly burnt on the altar. 6:23. For every sacrifice of the priest shall be consumed with fire: neither shall any man eat thereof.
Lines 11158–11176
6:24. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:25. Say to Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the victim for sin. In the place where the holocaust is offered, it shall be immolated before the Lord. It is holy of holies. 6:26. The priest that offereth it, shall eat it in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle. 6:27. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof, shall be sanctified. If a garment be sprinkled with the blood thereof, it shall be washed in a holy place. 6:28. And the earthen vessel, wherein it was sodden, shall be broken: but if the vessel be of brass, it shall be scoured, and washed with water. 6:29. Every male of the priestly race shall eat of the flesh thereof, because it is holy of holies.
Lines 11178–11180
6:30. For the victim that is slain for sin, the blood of which is carried into the tabernacle of the testimony to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall not be eaten, but shall be burnt with fire.