Leviticus 7:15

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) And the flesh of the sacrifice.—That is, after the priest had the breast and the shoulder, the share of the victim which belongs to the offerer, together with the remaining loaves, he with his family and poor guests (see Deuteronomy 12:11-18) are to eat up before the morning, which at the time of the second Temple was limited to midnight. This limitation of time was designed both to encourage liberality to the poor, and to impress upon those who partook of it that it was a sacrificial and sacred feast, so as to prevent its being turned into unseemly conviviality.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 7:15. The flesh shall be eaten the same day — This was partly that none of it might be exposed to corruption, (for by the third day it might easily, in those hot countries, putrefy,) and partly that the offerer might not be sordidly saving of this sacred banquet, but be taught to show his piety to God by his love to his fellow-creatures, forthwith inviting his friends to partake of it with him; and in case he and they could not eat it up, by distributing the remains among the poor. This law might also be intended to prevent their spending many days in feasting under the pretence of religion. It may be observed further here, that the longest time allowed for eating the flesh of any of the sacrifices enjoined by Moses, was the day after that on which they were killed; the eating of it on the third day is declared to be an abomination.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:11-27 As to the peace-offerings, in the expression of their sense of mercy, God left them more at liberty, than in the expression of their sense of sin; that their sacrifices, being free-will offerings, might be the more acceptable, while, by obliging them to bring the sacrifices of atonement, God shows the necessity of the great Propitiation. The main reason why blood was forbidden of old, was because the Lord had appointed blood for an atonement. This use, being figurative, had its end in Christ, who by his death and blood-shedding caused the sacrifices to cease. Therefore this law is not now in force on believers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Out of the whole oblation - Rather, out of each offering. That is, one loaf or cake out of each kind of meat-offering was to be a heave-offering Leviticus 7:32 for the officiating priest. According to Jewish tradition, there were to be ten cakes of each kind of bread in every thank-offering. The other cakes were returned to the sacrificer.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15-17. the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings … shall be eaten the same day that it is offered—The flesh of the sacrifices was eaten on the day of the offering or on the day following. But if any part of it remained till the third day, it was, instead of being made use of, to be burned with fire. In the East, butcher-meat is generally eaten the day it is killed, and it is rarely kept a second day, so that as a prohibition was issued against any of the flesh in the peace offerings being used on the third day, it has been thought, not without reason, that this injunction must have been given to prevent a superstitious notion arising that there was some virtue or holiness belonging to it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By the priests and offerers this flesh was eaten, Leviticus 22:30.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving,.... Having given directions about the cakes and bread that went along with the peace offerings, offered in thankfulness for mercies received; instructions are next given about eating the flesh of them; and the order is, that that

shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; partly by him that brought them, and his family, and partly by the poor he was to invite to eat thereof; and also by the priests and Levites, who were to have their share of it; see Deuteronomy 12:11.

he shall not leave any of it until the morning; which was ordered to encourage liberality to the priests, Levites, and others, since all must be eaten up before morning: according to the Jewish canons, they might eat it no longer than midnight; by that time it was to be all consumed; and it is said (k), the wise men made an hedge to the law to keep men from sin.

(k) Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15–18. Limits of time within which the Peace-Offerings must be consumed. When they are for thanksgiving, the whole of the flesh must be eaten on the day they are offered; before midnight is the traditional rule. A similar condition is prescribed in Exodus 23:18, which is taken by some as referring to the festivals mentioned in Leviticus 7:14-17; another view limits the injunction to the passover, as in Exodus 34:25. In many ancient heathen rites, the flesh of the victim was consumed as soon as possible (Rel. Sem.2, p. 387). When the offering is made in fulfilment of a vow, or as a freewill offering (Leviticus 7:16), two days are allowed for consuming the remainder. In no case may the flesh be eaten on the third day (Leviticus 7:17-18). Such eating rendered the sacrifice unacceptable, and the offerer had to bring a fresh sacrifice, while anyone so eating incurred punishment (Leviticus 19:6-8). The words following ‘the morrow’ in Leviticus 7:16 are omitted in the LXX.; with this omission the passage more closely resembles Leviticus 19:6 f. In Leviticus 22:17-25 further rules are given concerning those animals which may be offered for a vow or as a freewill-offering, and in Leviticus 22:29 a sacrifice of thanksgiving, though not called a Peace-Offering, is described as one of which the flesh must be consumed on the same day that it is offered (see note there).

Leviticus 7:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The flesh of the praise-offering was to be eaten on the day of presentation, and none of it was to be left till the next morning (cf. Leviticus 22:29-30); but that of the vow and freewill-offerings might be eaten on both the first and second days. Whatever remained after that was to be burnt on the third day, i.e., to be destroyed by burning. If any was eaten on the third day, it was not well-pleasing (ירצה "good pleasure," see Leviticus 1:4), and was "not reckoned to the offerer," sc., as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God; it was "an abomination." פּגּוּל, an abomination, is only applied to the flesh of the sacrifices (Leviticus 19:7; Ezekiel 4:14; Isaiah 65:4), and signifies properly a stench; - compare the talmudic word פּגּל faetidum reddere. Whoever ate thereof would bear his sin (see Leviticus 5:1). "The soul that eateth" is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the other participators in the sacrificial meal, but applies to the offerer also, in fact to every one who partook of such flesh. The burning on the third day was commanded, not to compel the offerer to invite the poor to share in the meal (Theodoret, Clericus, etc.), but to guard against the danger of a desecration of the meal. The sacrificial flesh was holy (Exodus 29:34); and in Leviticus 19:8, where this command is repeated,

(Note: There is no foundation for Knobel's assertion, that in Leviticus 19:5. another early lawgiver introduces a milder regulation with regard to the thank-offering, and allows all the thank-offerings to be eaten on the second day. For Leviticus 19:5. does not profess to lay down a universal rule with regard to all the thank-offerings, but presupposes our law, and simply enforces its regulations with regard to the vow and freewill-offerings, and threatens transgressors with severe punishment.)

eating it on the third day is called a profanation of that which was holy to Jehovah, and ordered to be punished with extermination. It became a desecration of what was holy, through the fact that in warm countries, if flesh is not most carefully preserved by artificial means, it begins to putrefy, or becomes offensive (פּגּוּל) on the third day. But to eat flesh that was putrid or stinking, would be like eating unclean carrion, or the נבלה with which putrid flesh is associated in Ezekiel 4:14. It was for this reason that burning was commanded, as Philo (de vict. p. 842) and Maimonides (More Neboch iii. 46) admit; though the former also associates with this the purpose mentioned above, which we decidedly reject (cf. Outram l.c. p. 185 seq., and Bhr, ii. pp. 375-6).