Scripture Daily

Context No. 1463 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 7:7-15: in context

7“‘As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with them shall have it. 8The priest who offers any man’s burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered. 9Every meal offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is prepared in the pan and on the griddle, shall be the priest’s who offers it. 10Every meal offering, mixed with oil or dry, belongs to all the sons of Aaron, one as well as another. 11“‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer to the LORD: 12If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mixed with oil. 13He shall offer his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving with cakes of leavened bread. 14Of it he shall offer one out of each offering for a heave offering to the LORD. It shall be the priest’s who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings. 15The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.

These are laws for the various offerings, including the peace offering brought in thanksgiving. When a person offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving, they are to bring it with cakes and wafers, and part goes to the priest. And then a particular rule for the thanksgiving offering: the flesh of the sacrifice of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; none of it is to be left until morning. The thank offering, unlike some others, could not be kept overnight.

That small rule, that the thanksgiving offering must be eaten the same day and nothing left until morning, carries a quiet lesson about gratitude. Thanksgiving, the law suggests, is meant to be fresh, offered and enjoyed at once, not stored up, deferred, or put off for later. There is an immediacy proper to gratitude; the thank offering was to be brought and shared while the mercy that prompted it was still fresh, and consumed that very day, not saved for a more convenient time. We are prone to defer our thanksgiving. We mean to give thanks, we intend to acknowledge the mercy we have received, but we put it off, let the moment pass, and the gratitude cools and is forgotten. The freshness fades; what would have been a warm thank offering on the day becomes, if we get to it at all, a stale acknowledgment long after. The law's insistence that the thank offering be eaten the same day gently corrects this. Gratitude has a season, and the season is now, while the mercy is fresh and the heart still warm with it. To give thanks promptly, to acknowledge God's goodness while we still feel it rather than filing it away for later, is to keep our thanksgiving fresh as the law required. Do not leave your thanksgiving until morning; give thanks today, for today's mercy, while it is still today.

Do I defer my thanksgiving, meaning to give thanks later and letting the gratitude cool and be forgotten, or do I offer it fresh, giving thanks promptly for God's mercy while my heart is still warm with it, not leaving it until morning?

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