Leviticus 22:17-33--Acceptable Offerings

Leviticus 22:17-33
English Standard Version

Acceptable Offerings
17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. 22 Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar. 23 You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. 24 Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, 25 neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. 28 But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep and her young in one day. 29 And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30 It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.
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31 “So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. 32 And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”

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I actually referenced these requirements yesterday as the ideas are closely connected for the qualification as serving as priests (those who are to be "living sacrifices" as we are told in the New Testament) and the requirements for the sacrifices that would be made on the altar for the atonement of the people of God.  No matter the reason for the offering, the requirements were the same--perfection without spot or blemish!

Any animal that is blind, disabled, mutilated or unclean because of a discharge or an itch or scabs could not be offered to the LORD and would not be an acceptable sacrifice for any of the offerings in which a portion was saved as food for the priests.  God does allow for lambs and bulls with one leg longer than the others to be given as a "freewill" offering, but not as an offering for a vow.

Any animal with bruised, crushed, torn or cut testicles could not be offered as a sacrifice to the LORD.  We saw a similar requirement for the priests.  In fact, I think you can see that so far all the requirements have been identical with the exception that freewill offerings were allowed to have limbs of different lengths, and we don't see any requirements for animals on marriage for obvious reasons.

All of the animals that they were to offer must come from their own herds and flocks.  They were not to offer any animal that was obtained form a foreigner.  My guess here is that these animals were branded with something that scarred the animal and therefore these animals were no longer acceptable sacrifices because they were not without blemish.

For oxen and sheep, God commanded that none of their young be offered as a sacrifices until after the eighth day, after they had been weaned from their mother.  God forbid that the mother and its offspring be both offered as sacrifices the same day.  God reminds them that when they offer one of these animals as a sacrifice of thanksgiving that they are to eat their potion of the sacrifice on the same day and leave none of it until morning.

We wrap up this section with reminders that these requirements and all the Laws so far are reflections of who the Lord is and His righteous requirements are there to satisfy His holiness.  These commands and decrees will make His name great among the nations and will keep His name holy among His people.  They are to remember that He is the one who makes them holy and the LORD who redeemed them and saved them when He led them out of Egypt.  It is similar for us, though our salvation and redemption was from our slavery to sin.  We too have been bought with a price--the blood of our Passover Lamb.