Scripture Daily

Context No. 42 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 22:26-33: in context

26The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27“When a bull, a sheep, or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother. From the eighth day on it shall be accepted for the offering of an offering made by fire to the LORD. 28Whether it is a cow or ewe, you shall not kill it and its young both in one day. 29“When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until the morning. I am the LORD. 31“Therefore you shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am the LORD. 32You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy among the children of Israel. I am the LORD who makes you holy, 33who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am the LORD.”

Leviticus is the priests' handbook, chapter after chapter of rules for offerings and holiness. This passage sets conditions on which animals may be sacrificed, and two of them concern mothers and their young.

A newborn calf, lamb, or kid must stay with its mother for seven days, and can only be offered from the eighth day on. And an animal and its young may not be killed on the same day. Neither rule makes the sacrifice more effective. They are constraints on the worshipper, laid down in the middle of a system built on animal death, insisting that even here a mother and her offspring are not to be wiped out together in an afternoon. The related law about a thanksgiving offering points the other way, requiring that it be eaten the same day, with nothing kept back to hoard.

The passage closes by grounding all of it in one claim, repeated: I am the LORD who makes you holy, who brought you out of Egypt. The rules are tied to a rescue. A people who had been slaves are told to observe limits even in what they are permitted to kill. Where do I have permission to do something, and no limit on it except the one I set myself?

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