THE PEACE OFFERING In the burnt offering, God smells in His church, enflamed with the fire of love, a sweet aroma, through, our Head, the slain Jesus Christ, who presented His whole life a burnt offering in obedience to the Father. And in the grain offering, the church rejoices in her crucified Groom, as a source of spiritual satisfaction for her. In the sacrifice of the peace offering, however, the Father rejoices with the church with all her ranks of priests and congregation, through fellowship together: The Father proclaims His pleasure through the sacrifice, and the church proclaims her joy and thanksgiving. That is why this sacrifice is characterized by offering a part of it on the altar, while the rest is divided between the priests who offered the sacrifice and the guests. 1- An introduction to the peace offering 2- A peace offering of a bulls 1 - 5 3- A peace offering of a lamb 6 - 11 4- A peace offering of a goat 12 – 17 1- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PEACE OFFERING: a- According to the scholar Origen , In the sacrifice of peace offering, no birds are offered as it is in the burnt offering; and no offering of grains nor cakes, as it is in the grain offering; But here, a big and complete sacrifice has to be offered; about which the apostle says: “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age” (Hebrew 5: 14). The peace offering, according to the scholar Origen, is that of the spiritually mature, namely, the perfect man who enjoys the perfect peace of God in his inner life and inner relationship, being an abundance of peace and thanksgiving, through the Lord Christ Himself, the Grantor of peace. The source of peace is the Lord Christ, by whose blood, He reconciled us with the Father, and brought back to us peace with the Father, with ourselves, and with our brethren, which we have lost because of sin. According to St. Augustine, the Lord Christ, is not only the source of peace, but He, Himself is our true peace. He says: [Peace is Christ, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us” (Ephesians 2: 14). Christ, the Son of God is Peace, who came to gather together those who are His, and to separate between them and evil. b- As the peace offering is the most expressive of the inner joy and the life of thanksgiving, it was called ‘the perfect sacrifice’, optionally offered by the whole congregation or by any of its members, in certain joyful occasions, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for His care and love. The Jewish families used to chose a day or several days in the year to offer it in its name (1 Samuel 20: 6). And this sacrifice is offered, as well, as a commitment , like the sacrifice that was offered in the consecration of priests (Exodus 29: 19-280; Leviticus 8: 22-32); and the sacrifice of peace offered on the day of the Pentecost (23: 19, 20). c- The sacrifice of the Eucharist is the sacrifice of peace and thanksgiving offered by the church of the new covenant, as the word ‘Eucharist’ in the Greek language means (thanksgiving). In the divine liturgy, when we enjoy the given body and blood of the Lord, we enjoy abiding in Him, to get the nature of inner thanksgiving; so that our thanksgiving would not be mere expressions through the praises and prayers, but an inner nature that touches our whole inner depths. Our fathers the bishops, on entering any city, before going into any other place, are used to raise up the prayer of thanksgiving, as a sacrifice of peace for the sake of God’s care for them on the way. 2- A PEACE OFFERING OF A BULL: Looking carefully at the peace offering, we shall realize magnificent aspects of the sacrifice of Christ, beside those revealed by the burnt offering. Now, beside those mutual aspects which I have already interpreted in the first chapter, I shall here add the following other aspects: a- While in the burnt offering, the sacrifice has to be a blameless male; In the peace offering, a male or a female sacrifice could be offered; with one condition, to be blameless (1, 6). The reason for this, is that the burnt offering is completely offered as a burnt offering to the Lord on the altar, as a reference to the Lord Christ offering His life in its whole perfection as obedience to the Father; Whereas in the peace offering, even though it also refers to the sacrifice of the Lord Christ, the Grantor of reconciliation and peace, yet it represents, as well, a fellowship between God and men through the reconciliation and peace. Receiving a female sacrifice may probably refer to the entrance of the church as a bride to enjoy unity with Him, and His exalted peace. It is the sacrifice of the whole church that, rejoicing in the cross, she would offer her life as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. b- No one is allowed to eat any part of the burnt offering, but is completely burnt after being skinned, cut, and washed with water, and then placed on the altar, as a reference to that it is offered whole to the Father, who, alone, perceives the blameless inside of His Son. But here, man shares with the altar the enjoyment of the sacrifice, without hearing anything about skinning, cutting, nor washing. It is the sacrifice of the true fellowship, a sweet aroma to God; and at the same time it is offered as a delicious feast to man, to say: “You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23: 5); and as said by the prophet Isaiah: “And in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces” (Isaiah 25: 6); And as said by the Lord Christ: “See, I have prepared My dinner, My oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready” (Matthew 22: 1-4). c- Putting the hand on the head of the sacrifice is most probably for thanksgiving and joy; Man utters no words by which to confess his sins, but proclaims his thanksgiving for the goodness of God toward him. According to St. Augustine: [Confession has two integrated sides: Confession of our sins, and confession of God’s goodness on us; God is glorified in us through our weakness, as well as in proclaiming His works with us. …. If concerning the disobedient, it was said: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We mourned to you, and you did not weep” (Luke 7: 32); It is befitting of us through the cross, when we hear the flute of the gospel, to dance spiritually, rejoicing in the salvation works of God; and when we hear the mourning, to weep on our sins. By that, joy is mixed with hope, together with the grief of repentance, with no contradiction. 3- A PEACE OFFERING OF A LAMB: It does not differ much from the peace offering of a bull in all its rites; except for adding the whole fat tail which is removed close to the last vertebra of the backbone, to be offered on the altar. 4- A PEACE OFFERING OF A GOAT: It is almost the same in its rites to that of a bull. Finally he ends his talk concerning the peace offering by confirming: “This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, you shall eat neither fat nor blood” (17). He does not mean here the fat that goes in between the flesh, but that which covers the entrails, and on the kidneys (4). Banning eating the fat and the blood, could be explained as follows: a- As to the fat, health-wise, it is rich in cholesterol that may cause several illnesses, like high blood pressure, and obstruction of blood vessels. b- As to the blood, medical scholars confirm that certain illnesses and microbes may be got by drinking tinted blood. c- The Jewish law banned drinking blood on account of that it represents the soul; hence it is presented to God alone in the sacrifice for the sake of reconciliation; when the soul is presented instead of a soul. That is beside that, because drinking blood entails violence, there was fear that man would get used to the hardness of heart even toward his own brother. As according to St. John Chrysostom: [The reason of banning the drinking of blood is that it is dedicated to be offered to God alone in the sacrifice for the sake of reconciliation; and probable also because that would make them gradually fall into the sin of shedding human blood. How often did we hear someone threatens his adversary, saying: I shall kill you and drink your blood! When the first Ecumenical Council convened in Jerusalem by the apostles and the disciples, It issued a decree demanding from the Gentile catechumen to refrain from eating strangled animals, and from blood (Acts 19: 2o – 29); And so came the apostolic laws to confirm that both the clerik or the laic should abstain from eating an animal with its blood (Genesis 9: 4); which was strictly followed several centuries all over the world; then started to relax gradually with time, until it was forgotten, at least in the Western world.
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