Scripture Daily

Context No. 286 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 22:14-25: in context

14“‘If a man eats something holy unwittingly, then he shall add the fifth part of its value to it, and shall give the holy thing to the priest. 15The priests shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the LORD, 16and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt when they eat their holy things; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’” 17The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18“Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘Whoever is of the house of Israel, or of the foreigners in Israel, who offers his offering, whether it is any of their vows or any of their free will offerings, which they offer to the LORD for a burnt offering: 19that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without defect, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats. 20But you shall not offer whatever has a defect, for it shall not be acceptable for you. 21Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to accomplish a vow, or for a free will offering of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall have no defect. 22You shall not offer what is blind, is injured, is maimed, has a wart, is festering, or has a running sore to the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the LORD. 23Either a bull or a lamb that has any deformity or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a free will offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted. 24You must not offer to the LORD that which has its testicles bruised, crushed, broken, or cut. You must not do this in your land. 25You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a defect in them. They shall not be accepted for you.’”

This is a stretch of law about what may be brought to God as an offering, and after some rules about eating holy food by mistake, it settles on one firm principle, repeated over and over. The animal you offer must be without defect. You shall not bring what is blind, or injured, or maimed, or covered in sores, or mutilated. A sacrifice for a vow, especially, has to be perfect, or, the text says plainly, it will not be accepted.

The rule exists because of a very natural temptation, and it is one the prophets later name directly. When a farmer had an animal that was sick or lame or failing, an animal he was going to lose or cull anyway, it was tempting to send that one to the altar. Let the offering be the reject, the one already headed for the discard pile, and keep the healthy ones for himself. That way the sacrifice costs him nothing, because he was giving up something he did not want in the first place. God's law refuses the arrangement. An offering made of what you were about to throw out is not an offering at all, and it will not be received. A real gift to God comes from the good animals, the ones you would rather have kept.

The principle reaches well past livestock. It asks what I actually hand to God, of my time and my attention and my resources, and whether it is my best or simply my leftovers. Is what I give God the unblemished thing I would have wanted to keep, or the tired remainder I was not really using anyway?

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