Peace Corpse
- Depending on the translation, the sacrifice in this chapter might be called the peace offering, well-being offering, fellowship offering, shared offering or, for Wall Streeters who don't have time to look at a Bible, initial public offering.
- Wait, why so many choices?
- In Hebrew, the word here is the shelamim offering. If this word looks a little familiar, that's because it's from the Hebrew root sh-l-m, from which we get shalom, or peace.
- If anything, it makes for a cool t-shirt.
- Remember that contract with God mentioned in the last chapter? (2:13) That's the kind of shalom going on here.
- God promises to keep the Israelites safe and give them fertile livestock, and they acknowledge this by giving God mad props when he sends good stuff their way.
- To keep things simple (ha!), from here on out we're going to go with the folks who call this a peace offering. Please don't tell other translators, or they might get their feelings hurt.
- While the burnt offering allows only the sacrifice of males (1:3, 3:1), both male and female animals are okay for a peace offering.
- Now it's time for priests to use the surgical skills they've learned by playing Operation. The only parts of the animal that get sacrificed in the peace offering are the kidneys, the lobe on the liver, and certain kinds of fat.
- The last verse of the chapter warns everyone not to eat any fat or blood. Does that mean that the rest of the animal can be eaten?
- SPOILER ALERT: Yes, and not just by priests.