Scripture Daily

Context No. 3667 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 3:12-17: in context

12“‘If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. 13He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 14He shall offer from it as his offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 15and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 16The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s. 17“‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’”

In the peace offering, the fat, the prized portion, is burned on the altar to God, and the law states the principle plainly: all the fat is the LORD's. The prime portion belongs to God. And the people are forbidden to eat the fat or the blood, reserving these for God alone.

There is a principle here that runs through all of Israel's worship: God is to receive the prime of what we have, not the leftovers. The fat, the prized part, was his by right. It taught the people, in a tangible way, to give God the prime of what they had, and not merely what they could spare. Behind the ritual is a truth for all our giving and living: God deserves the prime of our time, our resources, and our devotion, not merely the scraps that remain after we have taken our fill. To honor him is to give him the prime portion, acknowledging with the gift that what is best belongs to him.

Do I give God the prime of what I have, my finest hours and fullest devotion, rather than the leftovers, acknowledging that the prime portion belongs to him?

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