Peace Offering

Biblical Text and Content

The peace offering is one of the five sacrifices described in Leviticus 1–7: the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. The procedure for presenting it appears in Leviticus 3, and the regulations for eating the sacrificial meat appear in Leviticus 7:11-36. The sacrificial system as a whole is treated in the article Old Testament sacrifices.

• Offering: An unblemished animal from the cattle, sheep, or goats was presented. Unlike the burnt offering, either a male or a female could be used (Leviticus 3:1, 6).
• Procedure: The offerer laid his hand on the head of the animal and slaughtered it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. The priest sprinkled its blood on the altar on all sides. The fat covering the inner parts, the kidneys, and the caul above the liver were burned on the altar. The text declares that "all the fat is the LORD's" and forbids eating either fat or blood (Leviticus 3:16-17).
• Distribution: The breast was waved before the LORD (the wave offering) and then became the portion of the priests. The right thigh was lifted up (the heave offering) and given to the priest who officiated at the sacrifice (Leviticus 7:30-34). The remaining meat was eaten by the offerer.
• Types: There were three kinds: the thank offering, presented in gratitude; the vow offering, presented in fulfillment of a vow; and the freewill offering, presented voluntarily (Leviticus 7:12-16). The meat of the thank offering had to be eaten on the day it was offered. The meat of vow and freewill offerings could be eaten through the following day, and whatever remained on the third day was to be burned. Anyone who ate this meat while ceremonially unclean was to be cut off from his people (Leviticus 7:20).

Terminology and Background

The original term is the Hebrew shelamim, which shares a root with shalom, meaning "peace." Scholars differ on the precise meaning of the word. Some take it to mean "peace" or "wholeness," others "fellowship," and still others "repayment" of a vow or debt. English Bible translations are likewise divided, rendering it as "peace offering," "fellowship offering," "offering of well-being," and so on.

The most distinctive feature of the peace offering is that the worshiper ate most of the sacrificial animal. It therefore had the character of a festive meal shared in the presence of God.

In the Old Testament as a Whole

• The Sinai covenant: When the Sinai covenant was ratified, peace offerings were sacrificed together with burnt offerings (Exodus 24:5). Afterward the elders saw God and ate and drank (Exodus 24:11).
• Nazirites: At the end of the period of his vow, a Nazirite offered a ram as a peace offering. He then burned the hair he had shaved in the fire under the sacrifice of the peace offering (Numbers 6:14, 18).
• Major national occasions: Peace offerings were presented when David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:17-18) and when Solomon dedicated the temple (1 Kings 8:63).
• Prophetic critique: The prophets also declared that God does not accept peace offerings presented without justice (Amos 5:22).

Connection with the New Testament

The New Testament does not explicitly mention the peace offering of Leviticus. Nevertheless, various interpreters read the following passages in connection with it:

• The statement that Christ "is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14) and that He made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).
• Paul's statement that those who eat of the sacrifices are partakers of the altar (1 Corinthians 10:16-18). On the basis of this passage, some interpreters locate the background of the Lord's Supper in the peace-offering meal.
• "The sacrifice of praise" (Hebrews 13:15), which some interpreters read in connection with the thank offering.

Interpretation and Issues

• Distinction from "propitiation": The Korean term hwamokjemul, used in the New Korean Revised Version for Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 (rendered "propitiation" in the KJV), translates the Greek hilasterion and hilasmos. These original terms differ from the Hebrew word for the peace offering (shelamim) of Leviticus. In the Septuagint, hilasterion was used to refer to the mercy seat. For this reason these verses are often read in connection with the Day of Atonement (Romans 3:21-26, 1 John 2:1-2). Views also differ on the meaning of this word. Evangelical and Reformed scholars generally emphasize the appeasing of God's wrath, whereas some scholars stress the cleansing and removal of sin.
• Atoning function: Leviticus 3 does not state that atonement is accomplished by presenting the peace offering. Many interpreters therefore regard the peace offering as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and fellowship offered within an already established relationship with God. Others hold that, because the procedure included the sprinkling of blood, it also carried an atoning significance.
• Typological reading: One interpretive approach (typology) reads the five sacrifices as foreshadowing various aspects of the work of Christ. In this reading, the peace offering represents peace between God and humanity. This approach is widely used in preaching, but it is not an explanation the text itself directly provides.

In the Korean Church

The peace offering is commonly treated as one of the "five great sacrifices" in expository preaching on Leviticus and in Bible studies. Expressions frequently heard in Korean sermons and hymns, such as "Jesus who became our hwamokjemul," usually derive from the "propitiation" language of Romans and 1 John rather than from the peace offering of Leviticus.