His own hands shall bring Jehovah's offerings by fire, the fat with the breast shall he bring the breast, that it may be waved as a wave-offering before Jehovah.
Leviticus 7:30 ends the rules for the peace offering by saying who carries what to the altar. The worshipper brings the fat and the breast himself, which raises two questions: why his own hands, and what do the two portions stand for?
The stress falls on one detail: the offerer's own hands do the carrying.
This passage speaks in picture form of presenting the excellencies of Christ to God the Father. That is something which cannot be done second-hand. It calls for personal exercise of heart, pictured by the stress laid on the offerer's own hands.
There is a limit to how far he goes:
"The law" of this offering says that the offerer must bring the portions that are to be burnt to the altar with his own hands. This is special to the peace offering. He is not to put these on the altar — the priest must do that — but bring them to it. It is the nearest approach for the Israelite (who is not a priest) to God. The breast was given to Aaron and his sons; the rest belonged to the offerer, for himself and his household.
The verse names the fat before the breast. Commentators read that order as deliberate.
The fat speaks of the excellency of the offerings, and it always goes to God; the fat comes first. Before we can help other believers, we must be going on with our own souls before God. We must present the thing to God Himself — the excellencies of that offering — if the people of God are going to get the benefit of a food offering in that circle.
Commentators differ on what the fat pictures. One answers two rival readings head-on:
The offering is called "the food" or "bread" of the fire offering to the Lord. How wonderful that He and we enjoy the same offering! How far from the truth of Christ it is, then, to find in this burning of the fat "the offering up of our good affections to God in all our prayers and praises." Far worse still is to call it "the putting to death of our corrupt affections and lusts, and the burning up of them by the fire of divine grace." … No; it was neither our good offered up, nor our bad put to death, but the inward energy of Christ Himself, as the perfect and lasting ground of communion for God and His family.
The wave offering was a motion, not a burning, and the motion had a recognised shape and sense.
The rabbis explain that the heave shoulder was moved up and down, and the wave breast waved from side to side. The actions were done "before the Lord." They seem to picture those who moved the offerings as really in His presence, with their hands filled with Christ.
Waving and heaving are not interchangeable terms:
The idea in a heave-offering was the taking up of a part to offer it to God. The idea of the wave-offering is wider: it implies consecration to God, for it was waved before the Lord.
The breast is waved before God, then handed back as the portion of Aaron and his sons. It stands for the love of Christ.
The priest waved the breast before it was eaten by "Aaron and his sons." The waving would speak of our grasp and enjoyment of the love of Christ. It matches the delight that God has in it. None of the priestly sons are shut out from enjoying "the love of Christ"; it was the portion of all to feed on the breast.
The offerer carries what others will feed on. Commentators apply this to what each believer brings to God's people.
We should all bring something to that company that is of help to them; it is not only what we gain from others, but what do they gain from us? … There may be testing about it — the offerings of the Lord are "made by fire," tested by holy discernment in the power of the Spirit of God. It is called a sacrifice, and that means it may cost us a little to keep the thing going. It costs time and opportunity we could have used on ourselves, but which we are quite prepared to give to the company for the blessing of all.
- Own hands. The offerer carries his own offering. This is the nearest a non-priest comes to God, and no one can do it for him.
- Fat first. God's portion goes up before anyone feeds. It stands for the inward energy of Christ — not our good offered up, and not our bad burned away.
- Waved, not burned. The breast is moved before the Lord. That gesture means consecration, made by people in His presence with hands full of Christ.
- Given back. What is waved before God returns as food for Aaron and his sons. No member of the priestly family is shut out of it.
- Costing something. The verse asks what each person brings to enrich others. Such an offering is tested by fire, and it costs time and self.
And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar; and the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'.
This verse belongs to the rules for the peace offering. That sacrifice fed everyone connected with it: part burned for God, part given to the priests, the rest eaten by the worshipper. So why does God keep the fat, and why does He hand the breast to Aaron and his sons?
The fat was burned, not eaten. Writers link it to what only God could measure in Christ.
The fat stood for the inner excellence and energy of the sacrifice offered to Jehovah. So it was not for the priests to use. It was a fragrance of rest to Him who alone could fully value it in the One that sacrifice pictured.
The burning comes first in the verse; the breast comes after. One writer draws a lesson from that order.
Notice here that the LORD (Jehovah) had His part first. That part was the inward worth and excellencies of the victim. He alone knew, or could measure, the real worth and inward energy and affection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an important point. We may be sure that those who walk in fellowship with the Father seek His glory and His things first. Those who make a rule of attending to the things of God after they have done their own things know little of communion, even if they do know peace.
The breast did not go straight to the priests. It was first waved — a gesture the writers describe from the rabbis and read as a picture of standing in God's presence.
The rabbis explain that the heave shoulder was moved up and down, and the wave breast waved from side to side. They did these actions "before the Lord." This seems to picture those who moved the offerings as truly in His presence, with their hands full of Christ.
Commentators also pair the breast with the right shoulder of the heave offering. The order of the two carries its own lesson.
The wave breast speaks of the movement of affection. The heave shoulder speaks of the movement of strength. But the wave breast always came before the heave shoulder. That is, love lies under the vertical heave offering. The ability behind the movement of strength is love.
Why the breast? Commentators take it as the place of affection — the love of Christ, given to His people as their portion forever.
Aaron and his sons typify all believers. The breast was their portion. What does the breast speak to us of? The place of affection. The love of the Lord Jesus to us is beyond words, and it is our portion forever. We must always remember that the blessed Lord Jesus loves all His people. As individuals we say, He "loved me and gave Himself for me." As one people we say, He "loved the church and gave Himself up for her."
Commentators differ on who Aaron and his sons picture. Kingscote takes them together as all believers. Another writer separates them, and reads the waving as pointing to Christ in heaven.
Aaron is typical of Christ, and his sons speak of God's saints as worshipers. When the offering came to the Lord, the breast was waved as a wave offering to the Lord and then given to Aaron and his sons. The sacrifice of course speaks of Christ sacrificed on Calvary. But the wave breast reminds us of His exaltation in heaven. The breast shows the warmth of His love flowing out now, and that is wonderful food for true worshipers.
The verse divides the animal, but it does not divide the people. Every party fed on the same sacrifice.
So God, the offering priest, Aaron and his sons, and the person who brought the animal all fed on the same thing — the same animal. It becomes, then, a very simple picture of communion with God, with the Lord Jesus Christ — the offering Priest — and with one another as believers.
The priests ate the breast, and food changes the one who eats.
The breast was the common portion of Aaron and his sons. Eating it shaped the one who ate. So today the love of Christ is the common portion of all the saints, together with Christ. When a believer takes that love in, it forms and nourishes him. We shall love in the way that Christ loved.
- God's portion. The fat goes to the altar first — the inward excellence of Christ, given back to the only One who can fully value it.
- God's order. He takes His part before His people take theirs. Reverse that order and you may know peace, but you will know little of communion.
- God's gift. What He takes, He also gives. The breast, waved in His presence, becomes the portion of Aaron's family.
- God's reach. The breast is the seat of affection — the love of Christ, held in common by all His people, not rationed to a few.
- God's result. Eaten, that love forms the eater; those fed on Christ's affection begin to love as He loved.
And the right shoulder of the sacrifices of your peace-offerings shall ye give as a heave-offering unto the priest.
The law of the peace offering ends by sharing one animal among everyone involved. So why does the right shoulder — the ESV's "right thigh" — go to the priest who served at the altar, and why must the worshipper be the one to hand it over?
Each party connected with the sacrifice received a portion of the same animal.
Put these verses together, and it becomes very clear. First, the fat was God's, and it was burned on the altar as a sweet savour. Second, the breast belonged to Aaron and his sons. Third, the right shoulder belonged to the offering priest — a picture of the Lord Jesus. As I said before, the one who brought the animal ate the rest of it with his friends. So God, the offering priest, Aaron and his sons, and the person who brought the animal in sacrifice all fed upon the same thing — the same animal. It becomes, therefore, a very simple picture of communion with God, and with the Lord Jesus Christ — the offering Priest — and with one another as believers.
The ESV's word "contribution" is what other versions call a "heave offering." Heaving and waving were two different motions, and both took place in God's presence.
The rabbis explain that the heave shoulder was moved up and down, while the wave breast was waved from side to side. Both actions were done 'before the Lord.' They seem to show that those who moved the offerings stood in His presence, with their hands full of Christ.
The two words can overlap, but one of them carries more weight.
The heave offering was more absolute than the wave offering, though the same offering could sometimes be called by either name, depending on the aspect in view. The heave offering was not the whole of what was offered, but a part offered to Jehovah. The whole breast was waved, and the right shoulder was heaved. The breast stood for the affections as a whole, and the shoulder for the strength that could best carry the burden. Christ and His own, near to God, enjoy the love together; and He, as the Priest who offered, has His special joy in what stood for the support of the weak.
One writer asks why God claimed only one shoulder, but claimed the whole breast.
God claimed in this way a portion of what the shoulders symbolize, while all that the breast pictured was declared to belong to Him. The shoulder seems to stand for capability for service; and the right shoulder means that what was best able to bear the burden should be given up to Him.
One writer ties that strength to the cross.
The right shoulder stood for strength, and it went to the one who pictured the Lord Jesus. Who but the One who gave up His life on the cross could know what strength that took?
The worshipper hands the portion over, but it is never his to keep back or to grant as a favour.
It was the priest's due; but God would not leave him to claim it. The person who brought the sacrifice was to give him the right shoulder. To Aaron and his sons, the males of the holy priesthood, he was to give the breast. The Lord claimed these portions, the right shoulder to be heaved, and the breast to be waved; and then, as His, gave them to the priests. This rule for the officiating priest was never to be abolished.
Commentators differ on who the offering priest stands for. Others apply the shoulder to the believer who brings Christ before God. For them, eating the portion is where strength for daily life comes from.
The right shoulder was the portion of the priest who offered the blood and the fat of the peace offering. As we present Christ to God in communion, we can feed on Him. In His walk down here He was always for the will and pleasure of God, and in this way we would gain the strength to walk "even as He walked."
- Claimed. God takes the right shoulder first; the worshipper gives it, but the portion is God's before it is the priest's.
- Heaved. Waving moved the breast from side to side. Heaving lifted the shoulder up and down, and it is the more absolute act of the two.
- Strength. The breast stands for the affections, and God takes all of it. The shoulder stands for the power to carry a load, and God claims one of the two.
- Given back. What God claims, He hands to the priest as food. The strength pictured in the shoulder becomes something a person lives on.
- Shared. God, the offering priest, Aaron's sons and the worshipper all eat from one animal. That shared meal is a picture of communion.
He of the sons of Aaron that presenteth the blood of the peace-offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for [his] part.
Leviticus 7 divides the peace offering among everyone connected with it, and this verse names one man's share: the priest who handled the blood and the fat. Why does he receive what the other priests do not, and what does the right thigh — called the "right shoulder" in older translations — stand for?
The peace offering was never eaten by one party alone. Each share went to a different person, and each person stands for someone in the picture.
If we turn to the law of the offerings, we find that the rest was eaten. The breast was for Aaron and his sons, a picture of the whole church. The right shoulder was for the priest who sprinkled the blood, and he is more especially a picture of Christ as the offering priest. The rest of the animal was eaten by the man who presented it, and by those he invited.
The verse names a due, yet the worshipper is the one told to hand it over — and that due never ran out.
When the peace offering had been dealt with correctly at the altar, the priest who offered it received his appointed portion. The person who brought the offering had to give it to him. It was the priest's due; but God would not leave him to claim it: the person who brought the sacrifice was to give him the right shoulder... This rule about the officiating priest was never to be cancelled. In the wilderness the portion was his, and in the land too (Deut. 18:3); once they were in the land, the two cheeks and the stomach are named as his portion as well. The right shoulder pictures strength, and it went to the man who pictured the Lord Jesus. For who but the One who gave up His life on the cross could really know what strength that took?
The verse ties the portion to a specific act — offering the blood and the fat. Those two items never belonged to any priest; they were God's. The priest's own share is something else, and it is his for ever.
The whole breast was waved and the right shoulder was heaved. The breast stands for the affections as a whole, and the shoulder for the strength that could best carry the burden. Christ and His own enjoy the love together in nearness to God. He, as the Priest who offered, has His own special joy in what stood for the support of the weak. But the fat, or inward energy, like the blood, was Jehovah's portion. So while all shared communion in Christ, each one had what was specially due to him, on unchanging grounds and for ever.
Another writer names the reason this priest must have a share.
The offering priest is a picture of the Lord Jesus, who offered Himself without spot to God. He must surely have His part in all this blessed communion and joy and worship, because it has all come about through Him.
Every portion came off one animal, and four parties ate from it.
So God, the offering priest, Aaron and his sons, and the person who brought the animal as a sacrifice all fed on the same thing – the same animal. It becomes, then, a very simple picture of communion with God, with the Lord Jesus Christ – the offering Priest – and with one another as believers.
The writers above read the right shoulder as Christ's portion, the offering priest. Another carries the application further, to strength passed on to the one who eats.
But the right shoulder became the portion of the priest that offered the blood of the peace offering (Lev. 7:33). So that the offerer was reinforced in his strength for walk by eating. There is thus a singular reflex action between our assimilation of Christ and our strength for right conduct in the responsible sphere of our lives.
A similar line appears elsewhere, tying the shoulder to those who bring Christ before God:
But the right shoulder was the portion of the priest who offered the blood and the fat of the peace offering. As we present Christ to God in communion, we can feed on Him who, in His walk down here, always lived for the will and pleasure of God. In this way we would gain the strength to walk "even as He walked" (1 John 2:6).
- One victim. God, the offering priest, Aaron's household and the worshipper all ate from the same animal. That one source is what makes the offering a picture of communion.
- One act qualifies. The portion goes to the priest who handled the blood and the fat; the fat and blood themselves stayed God's and were never any priest's food.
- One symbol. The right shoulder stands for strength — the strength it took to give up life on the cross. Only the One who did it knew that fully.
- One gift. God told the worshipper to hand the portion over. The priest never had to claim what was already his due.
- One permanence. Each party received what was specially theirs, on unchanging grounds and for ever. This priest's due was never cancelled, in the wilderness or in the land. Commentators differ on whether the worshipper also feeds on that strength for daily walk.
For the breast of the wave-offering, and the shoulder of the heave-offering, have I taken of the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons from the children of Israel by an everlasting statute.
This verse closes the law of the peace offering with a transfer: God takes two parts of every peace offering and hands them to Aaron and his sons. Why these two parts, why give them away instead of just keeping them, and what does a share fixed "as a perpetual due" tell us about God?
The breast and the shoulder — the ESV calls it the thigh — never pass straight from the worshipper to the priest. They go up to God first and come back as His gift. So the priest never has to demand his share.
It was the priest's due, but God would not leave him to claim it… The Lord claimed these portions — the right shoulder to be heaved, the breast to be waved. Then, as His own, He gave them to the priests.
The two parts chosen are not random cuts of meat. Each pictures something in Christ that the worshipper needs.
What are we to learn from this rich and generous gift of "the wave breast and heave shoulder" as the priests' food? Only this: that all the unsearchable, perfect love of Christ, and His almighty power too, are laid open to us for the everlasting comfort and strength of our souls. The breast is the seat of the affections, the shoulder the source of power; both are set before us here. And as we feed, the need of our souls is met in the most precious way. It spreads out before us both the affections and the strength of Him who made peace for us by the blood of His cross.
Each part moved a different way, and the order never changed.
The wave offering was waved from side to side. After that, the right shoulder of the heave offering was lifted up and down. One is the movement of affection, the other the movement of strength. But the wave breast always came before the heave shoulder. Love lies under the upward heave offering: the ability behind the movement of strength is love.
The verse names Aaron and his sons together. Yet the two parts go to different people, and each carries its own picture.
The breast speaks of the affections, the right shoulder of a person's strength, which in Christ were both consecrated to God. The breast was for Aaron and his sons. God gave it to them; and what it pictures God has given us — the love of Christ to share in. The right shoulder was for the priest who offered, the type of the Lord Himself. For who knew as He did the strength needed to do God's will! The rest of the animal the offerer could feast on at home with all his friends who were clean, a picture of Israel's communion with God in the sacrifice of Christ in a day to come. So Christ Himself, Christians, and Israel all have fellowship with God in the death and life of Christ.
The animal died, yet the breast was lifted and waved before God. That action points beyond the death.
The sacrifice of course speaks of Christ sacrificed on Calvary, but the wave breast reminds us of His exaltation in heaven, the breast indicating the warmth of His love flowing out now, which is wonderful food for true worshipers to feed upon.
The words "a perpetual due" make this more than a temporary arrangement. No one can lose his share.
The whole breast was waved and the right shoulder heaved — the symbols of the affections as a whole, and of the strength best able to carry the burden. Christ and His own, near to God, enjoy the love together. As the Priest who offered, He has His special joy in the part that stood for the support of the weak. So while all had their communion in Christ, each one had what was due to him in particular, on unchangeable ground and for ever.
God provided generously for the priests. Some of them still grabbed more than their share.
How great was their sin! They profaned the sacrifices of the people, and to that they added shameless gluttony, though God had made ample provision to support them. But no, this was not enough. They had to have more. If the poor, bullied people of God did not give it willingly, they would take it by force… They stopped at nothing to satisfy their appetites, and robbed both God and His people in their shameless greed.
- Taken — God claims the breast and shoulder first. What reaches the priest comes as God's gift, not as a debt he must chase.
- Given — the two parts picture the love and the power of Christ, spread out as food for His people's comfort and strength.
- Ordered — the breast is waved before the shoulder is heaved. Love lies underneath the strength.
- Shared — the breast goes to Aaron and his sons, the shoulder to the priest who offered, the rest to the worshipper. Christ, Christians and Israel all have fellowship in the one sacrifice.
- Secured — the share is held "as a perpetual due," on unchangeable ground. Only greed can spoil a provision so settled.