Leviticus

The concept of guilt occurring "after" knowledge of one's sin, begins the chapter. A person is unclean when they touch something unclean, whether they know they've touched it or not. But if they were unaware of having become unclean and later become aware of their uncleanliness, at the point of revelation, they "will be guilty" (vv1,2,3,4,5). There is a salvation message that I believe we are to consider here relating to a status of accountability. As with the previous chapter, either a lamb or goat is acceptable for this guilt offering. In both chapters, no clear distinction is made between one being more or less valuable than the other. Whether lamb or goat, the sacrifice is required to be the more valuable female from the flock, yet if these passages are to reflect a future understanding of what Christ later uses to explain how He will divide the righteous from the unrighteous at the Final Judgement (cf. Mt 25:31-46; Rev 20:12-15), there is not to be a distinction between the value of a lamb or goat. Both are to be considered of equal value before God here in the Old Testament. When we consider Christ, we must understand that God's nature is unchanging, and therefore, His unwillingness that any should perish (2 Pet 3:9) and His grace being sufficient for all (Jn 3:16-17; 1 Jn 4:9-10) would therefore mean He values and loves the lost equally with the redeemed. As His bride, the church, today we must diligently labor for the redemption of the lost, whom Christ loves just as desperately as He loves us. We, lambs and goats, are so valuable to God, that He sent His own Son as the atoning guilt offering for our sins. We can never consider ourselves of greater value to God than the lost. The price He paid was for "all." The consequences of not accepting His atoning sacrifice are beyond comparison to anything we can comprehend. "He went once for all into the Holy Place [the Holy of Holies of heaven, into the presence of God], and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, having obtained and secured eternal redemption [that is, the salvation of all who personally believe in Him as Savior]." (Heb 9:12 Amplified Bible)

After a section dealing with theft and recompense (vv1-6), the laws (תּוֹרָה Torah is the exact word used for law here vv9,14,25) for burnt, grain, and sin offerings are proscribed for the priests. The fire of the altar was never to go out (vv9,13). This would have served as a constant reminder of Yahweh's greatness and the people's need for His forgiveness, favor, and help. Keeping the fire and the sacrifices constant would have understandably been considered expensive, but also served as a constant expression of costly praise. The priests, after presenting a tenth of the offering to Yahweh on the altar to be consumed by fire, would then consume the remaining portion as their meal in the courtyard of the Tabernacle (v26). There are considerations of fellowship with Yahweh in eating before Him here, but also, we read from the closing verses of this chapter that the meat of the sacrifices of the sin offerings has another distinction beyond what was first identified in chapter four. The meat of the bulls sacrificed for the sins of the high priest and for the congregation of Israel was brought before Yahweh in the Holy Place. This meat was not to be consumed at all by any of the priests. This meat, which entered into the presence of God in His holy place, is to be totally consumed by fire. All of the sacrificed offerings for sin were to be considered most holy (vv25,29), but no part of the atoning sacrifice for the sins which had been brought directly before God, was to be taken from Him, or out of His sanctuary. Anything that was most holy, even the implements of preparation, had to be treated with specific care. The meats eaten by the priests were most likely boiled. The clay pots, made of porous material that would have absorbed blood and juices, had to be broken, and the bronze cooking vessels had to be scoured (v28). Thus "no piece" of the most holy offering could leave the Holy Place, and thus be profaned.

The first ordinance of the "most holy" guilt offering, is that the most valuable portions of the sacrifice are to be gathered unto Yahweh. The fat from the tail and the entrails (v3), the kidneys with the fat on them, and the lobe on the liver with the kidneys (v4) are offered to Yahweh in smoke as a guilt offering (v5). This was the most desirable portion of the animal to eat. As such, it was to be set aside for devotion and honor exclusively to God. The oil of the fat burned on the altar would also ensure the sacrifice was entirely consumed in the flames. The guilt and sin offerings (Chs4-5) are alike and have one law (v7). God gives Moses specific instructions to say to the people (v22) that they are not to eat the fat of an ox, sheep, or goat that dies, has been torn apart by beasts, or offered to Yahweh, lest they be cut off from the people (exiled) (vv25,27). The same prohibition is extended for any person eating blood "in their places of habitation" under the same penalty (vv26-27). We learn two things from this direction about where they would be prohibited from eating. The food taken from these sacrifices would have been eaten by the common person outside of the Tabernacle (in their places of habitation). Also, the law of this precept would be taught in the home to the sons and daughters of Israel. While the priests are to be given specific portions of the offerings made to Yahweh (vv7,8,9,14,32), the law also proscribes how the remaining portions are to be allotted equally among all the sons of Aaron (all the Levites who serve in the Tabernacle) (vv10,31). The final verses of this chapter give a clear conclusion to the law and ordinances for the four offerings to Yahweh (burnt, grain, sin, and guilt).

It was back in Exodus 29 that Moses received the initial decree to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. It would make more sense for this chapter to have immediately followed that decree - except that Moses had not yet been instructed on the sacrificial procedures that were required to proceed with the consecration. Having now received this (chs 1-7), Moses again receives instructions (v1) to fulfill the decree first delivered prior to the building of the Tabernacle. Now that the Tabernacle has been built, and consecrated, and Moses understands the procedures of sacrifice necessary for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, here Is the correct place for this chapter of the Bible. The act of smearing the blood of the sacrifice on the altar (v15) and on the right ear lobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe of Aaron and his sons (vv23-24) is better understood through the corresponding ritual performed in Ezekiel 43:22ff, explained in Ezekiel 43:20,26. “And you shall decontaminate it and thus purge it” (20); “they shall purge the altar and thus purify it” (26). In verse 29, Moses should have received nothing: he is not a priest. Yet the right thigh, which normally would have been given directly to the officiant by the offerors, is instead given over to God and burned on the altar (vv. 25, 28), and Moses receives this "prebend" from God. The breast is transferred to Yahweh's authority so that He might award it to Moses, (Milgrom). Aaron and his sons' requirement to remain at the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days (v35) is a rite by which they pass from the house of commoners to the house of priests. The penalty of death for not remaining suggests extreme vulnerability to human sin and impurity during this time of passage.
Jacob Milgrom, A Continental Commentary: Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004), 86.