In this chapter we wrap up requirements for the guilt, sin and fellowship offerings.
Leviticus 7:1-6, Guilt offering
"`These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy: The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides. All its fat shall be offered: the fat tail and the fat that covers the inner parts, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the covering of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is a guilt offering. Any male in a priest's family may eat it, but it must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.
The guilt offering, recognizing an sin against someone else, involves a bloody killing of the animal before the altar and the blood of the animal then sprinkled across the sides of the altar. All the fat is to be burned and then, now that the sacrifice has made the place holy, the men in the priest's family may eat the slaughtered animal.
Leviticus 7:7-10, Both sin and guilt offering belong to the priest
"`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. 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 oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.
Both sin and guilt offerings go to the priests. In the days of the wilderness wanderings, these priests were the sons of Aaron.
The "sin offering" (chapters 4 and 5) and the "guilt offering" (chapter 6) were very similar and implemented the same way.
Leviticus 7:11-15, Thank offering
"`These are the regulations for the fellowship offering a person may present to the LORD: "`If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil. Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast. He is to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the LORD; it belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings. The meat of his fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; he must leave none of it till morning.
The fellowship offering, an offering of communion with both God and priests, included an offering of thankfulness, with cakes and bread. All of these were to be cooked without yeast and eaten on the day it was offered.
Leviticus 7:16-18, Vow or freewill offering
"`If, however, his offering is the result of a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day he offers it, but anything left over may be eaten on the next day. Any meat of the sacrifice left over till the third day must be burned up. If any meat of the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who offered it, for it is impure; the person who eats any of it will be held responsible.
A fellowship offering might be made because of a vow made or as an act of free will worship. This offering was similar to the previous one but the meal could be eaten on the first or second day.
Leviticus 7:19-21,
"`Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up. As for other meat, anyone ceremonially clean may eat it. But if anyone who is unclean eats any meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people. If anyone touches something unclean--whether human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean, detestable thing--and then eats any of the meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.'"
Touching something unclean makes the second object (here, the meat) unclean. And the individual eating unclean meat must be separated from the congregation, as he is also unclean. (Presumably this is an example of an unintentional sin?)
Leviticus 7:22-27, Do not eat the fat
The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD must be cut off from his people. And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.'"
The fat is reserved for burning. It is not to be eaten. And especially important, one was not to eat the blood of any animal. This prohibition was especially strong and even shows upin the New Testament as Gentiles begin to enter the early church (see Acts 15:28-29.)
Leviticus 7:28-35, With his own hands...
The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the LORD is to bring part of it as his sacrifice to the LORD. With his own hands he is to bring the offering made to the LORD by fire; he is to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the LORD as a wave offering. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share.
From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share from the Israelites.'" This is the portion of the offerings made to the LORD by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.
Someone offering a fellowship offering is to be brought by an individual, with his own hands, and he it personally wave the breast of the meat before the altar.
Leviticus 7:36-38, Offerings for all of Israel
On the day they were anointed, the LORD commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their regular share for the generations to come. These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the LORD, in the Desert of Sinai.
We have now completed seven chapters of descriptions of ritual sacrifices. Versions of this will continue into Jesus's day.
First published August 7, 2025; updated August 7, 2025
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