Leviticus 6

Chapters 1–7 of Leviticus form a collection of sacrificial regulations. Chapter 6 continues the trespass offering regulations of Leviticus 5 and addresses wrongs committed against a neighbor. From verse 8 onward, a new section introduced by the words "Command Aaron and his sons" sets out ordinances for the priests, which continue through Leviticus 7. The Hebrew text (the Masoretic Text) numbers verses 1–7 of this chapter as 5:20–26 and verses 8–30 as 6:1–23.

Outline

• Verses 1–7 address cases in which a person denies having received something entrusted to him or having taken something by force, or finds something lost and swears falsely about it. The offender must restore the original item to its owner with a fifth part added and offer a ram without blemish as a trespass offering (a sacrifice accompanied by restitution).
• Verses 8–13 give the ordinance of the burnt offering (a sacrifice in which the offering is wholly burned). The offering remains on the altar until morning. The priest, wearing linen garments, places the ashes beside the altar, then changes his garments and carries the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar must never be allowed to go out.
• Verses 14–18 give the ordinance of the grain offering (called the "meat offering" in the KJV). A handful, together with the frankincense, is burned as a memorial. The remainder is eaten without leaven by the male descendants of Aaron in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.
• Verses 19–23 describe the grain offering presented on the day a priest is anointed. A tenth part of an ephah of fine flour is offered, half in the morning and half in the evening. The priest's grain offering is wholly burned and is not eaten.
• Verses 24–30 give the ordinance of the sin offering. The offering is killed in the place where the burnt offering is killed, and the priest eats it in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Garments spattered with its blood are to be washed, earthen vessels in which its flesh was boiled are to be broken, and brazen vessels are to be scoured and rinsed. A sin offering whose blood has been brought into the sanctuary is not eaten but burned.

Key Verses

• Leviticus 6:5 "He shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto" — this verse illustrates the principle that restitution must be made to the injured party before forgiveness is sought.
• Leviticus 6:13 "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out." — this well-known verse speaks of the perpetual fire on the altar of burnt offering.

People and Places

• Moses: The one who receives and transmits the ordinances of the LORD.
• Aaron and his sons: The priests responsible for the sacrifices.
• The court of the tabernacle of the congregation: The forecourt of the tabernacle, where the priests eat the holy offerings.
• Altar of burnt offering: The altar whose fire must be kept from going out.

Points for Reflection

• Interpretations differ on the statement in verses 18 and 27 that whatever touches the offerings "shall be holy." Some read it to mean that holiness is transmitted to whatever comes into contact with them; others read it to mean that only those who are holy may touch them.
• Verse 20 speaks both of "the day when he is anointed" and of an offering that is "perpetual." Rabbinic tradition in Judaism reportedly understood this as both an offering brought by an ordinary priest on the day he begins his service and an offering presented daily by the high priest.
• The requirement of restitution with an added fifth is often compared with the declaration of Zacchaeus that he would restore fourfold (Luke 19:8).
• The regulation in verse 30, under which an offering whose blood has been brought into the sanctuary is burned outside the camp, is connected in Hebrews 13:11–12 with Jesus' suffering outside the gate.
• Christianity generally understands such Old Testament sacrifices to have been fulfilled in Christ's once-for-all atonement.

In the Korean Church

The "fire that shall never go out" of verse 13 is often cited in sermons on prayer or revival as an exhortation not to let one's zeal for the faith be extinguished.