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The Offerings in Leviticus 1 - 7
– Their Typical Teaching

Ministry by C. A. Coates
– Part Five

 
Introduction
Introductory
The Burnt Offering
The Oblation
The Peace Offering
The Sin Offering
The Trespass Offering
The Law of the Offerings

- Leviticus 1
- Leviticus 1
- Leviticus 2
- Leviticus 3
- Leviticus 4: 1 - 5: 13
- Leviticus 5: 14 - 6: 7
- Leviticus 6: 8 - 7: 37
 



INTRODUCTION
THE OFFERINGS IN LEVITICUS 1 - 7
Outline of Leviticus
Ministry by C. A. Coates 3: 1-99
PREFATORY NOTE:
It was the writer's privilege to be present at a series of readings on the Book of Leviticus during the years 1921-22. The substance of what came out in those readings – after free revision in view of puhlication – is contained in this "Outline".
Quotations from Scripture are generally, throughout this book, from the New Translation by J. N. Darby.

C. A. COATES

Mr. Coates' closing words on this page are

Our Lord Himself gave the two on the way to Emmaus understanding"

G.A.R.

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THE  OFFERINGS  –  INTRODUCTORY
Leviticus 1 - 7
C. A. Coates (1862-1945)

The Book of Leviticus has in view a people in covenant relations with God, in whose midst God dwells, and who have movements of heart Godward. God had said to Moses,

What we get here about the offerings has its place in the forty-nine days during which the cloud rested on the tabernacle. see Numbers 10: 11; a time typical of the complete period of tabernacle service in the wilderness.

The instruction in Leviticus is for us; it is doubtful if the children of Israel ever carried it out.

God speaks from the "tent of meeting"; the appointed centre to which His people gathered, where He met them, and where they came into contact with one another in relation to His things. The communication of His mind was found there.

"The assembling of ourselves together", Hebrews 10: 25, answers, I think, to the "tent of meeting". We also get many references to saints coming together in 1 Corinthians 11, 14.

If we think of our own times it is as saints have come together in love to one another as being of God's assembly that there have been communications of God's mind; great light has been given in regard to Christ and the assembly.

The "tent of meeting" suggests the coming together of saints according to divine order, not human arrangement or organization.

These early chapters of Leviticus have to do with movements of heart towards God on the part of His people. They suppose that Christ has been received, for if one is not in possession of Christ he has nothing to bring.

But on our side we have been the subjects of divine working, and the result of this is that certain exercises have been produced in our souls to which Christ is the answer.

The consideration of this will make it apparent that every acceptable offering has cost the offerer something. David said,

I have often thought of the people we read of in the Gospels who came on the scene with appreciation of Christ. What a volume of spiritual history lies behind the record of each incident!

There is a beautiful word in Jeremiah 30: 21-22.

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THE  BURNT  OFFERING
Leviticus 1

The burnt-offering comes first, the offering for acceptance. The sin-offering comes last; it is only as we know Christ as set forth in the previous offerings that we can rightly estimate sin.

The offerer in this chapter has the consciousness that he approaches God in divine favour.

"He shall present it a male without blemish: at the entrance of the tent of meeting shall he present it, for his acceptance before Jehovah", Leviticus 1: 3.

And, blessed be God, it is possible for us to do so in the deepest spiritual reality. We do not need to hide from ourselves the truth as to what we are according to the flesh.

The offerer kills the bullock, and flays it, and cuts it up into pieces. Verses 5-6. What holy and spiritual exercises are here suggested!

But if we approach God with the appreciation of Christ in our hearts it involves the displacement of self.

But saints are privileged to be priests as well as offerers. These types run one into another; the man in conscious acceptance becomes a priest, for he only has it in nearness to God, and one who is there is a priest.

Each individual brings his offering – his apprehension and appreciation of Christ – but the fact that all bring their offerings to a common meeting-place would indicate that the bearing of it is collective.

I suppose we all look to get some good out of our personal exercises and discipline, but it is well to have before us that the saints are to benefit by the fruit of those exercises. The assembly is the centre to which all the varied lines of private exercise converge.

There is priestly ability in spiritual persons to take up every apprehension of Christ and present it to God in praise so that it is fragrant before Him, and at the same time is helped and enlarged in the souls of the saints. Thus the service ministers to God's pleasure, and at the same time edifies the saints.

The priest is one with spiritual intelligence, and apprehension of what is for God. He has spiritual affections and capability, and knows how to handle what is pleasurable to God.

Every spiritual apprehension of Christ can be brought to the Altar, for it is holy, but nothing can be placed on the Altar that does not accord with it.

Then the fire and the burning on the altar suggest priestly understanding of the intensity of the test which was applied to Christ. He was in the place of sin and death, and all that God is as "a consuming fire" was there.

The bullock is what we might call the normal offering, but, alas! how few are possessed of such a large appreciation of Christ as the bullock would set forth.

Then when we come to the fowls it is feebler still. The priest has to do almost everything in this case.

What we see in this type is that a priest knows how to make the best of the offering of a poor person!

But, while increase should be desired and looked for, it is very blessed to see that the turtle-dove or the young pigeon is spoken of in precisely the same terms as the sheep or even the bullock.

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THE  OBLATION
Leviticus 2
Compare Ministry by J. N. Darby - Part 1 - The Oblation.

This chapter brings before us the saints' apprehension of Christ in His personal perfection.

We may notice as to the "oblation" that it suggests preparation at home. It was there the Israelite had his flour and oil and frankincense; it was there the cakes were baked; all was prepared before it was brought to the tent of meeting.

"Fine flour" is the basis of the oblation in each case, save that of the first-fruits, which stands by itself.

There is a difference between Christ viewed as the "manna" and Christ as typified in the "oblation".

When at the baptism of Jesus the voice came out of heaven,

But the "fine flour" of the oblation speaks of what has sprung up here and come to maturity, in the Person of Jesus, for the delight of God. It is viewed in this type as apprehended in the minute detail of its perfection and evenness.

We may trace it in numberless features in the Gospels; the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms are full of presentations in detail of that which is for God's delight in man; and every exhortation which the Epistles contain as to the spirit and walk which are comely in saints is an unfolding of the perfections of Jesus.

We lose a great deal by not paying more attention to the perfection of Christ in detail. We should make it the study of our hearts.

As born into this world He was "the holy thing ", Luke 1: 35, and could truly be presented as holy to Jehovah. Luke 2: 22, 23.

Then, at the age of thirty, we see Him going along with those in whom grace had wrought repentance, and being baptized.

Then it was characteristic of Him that He should be seen as praying at the time of His baptism. It was no new attitude of spirit for Him, for His language, as given prophetically, was,

How fragrant to God was this entire dependence of One who took up every detail of His path and every exercise in the affections proper to a Son!

"And he shall pour oil on it". God would have us to recognize the perfect suitability of that blessed Man to be anointed by the Holy Spirit.

The offerer pouring oil on the fine flour is typical of the saint coming, as divinely taught, into the apprehension and appreciation of Christ as the blessed Man marked by perfection in every minute detail, and thus suitable to be anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Then in verses 4 - 10 we get a further aspect of the oblation as baken or prepared in different ways under the action of fire "in the oven", "on the pan", or "in the cauldron".

One would suggest that the most complete apprehension of Christ in oblation character is set forth in that which is "baken in the oven".

The feeding on Christ as thus known would give us priestly sensibilities.

For example, to enter into how He "suffered, being tempted", Hebrews 2: 18 requires great spirituality. The positive suffering that it was to Him to be tempted could only be understood by one who was, at least in measure, a partaker of God's holiness.

These things would all belong, as it seems to me, to the "oven" character of the oblation.

Then the "oblation on the pan" would have reference to such testings as were more public, requiring less spirituality for their apprehension.

And, finally, the offering prepared "in the cauldron" lacks the definiteness and discrimination of the two previous forms of the oblation.

Then no oblation was to be made with leaven;

"The offering of the first-fruits" refers to the two wave-loaves of Pentecost. Leviticus 23: 15-17 which were baken with leaven.

"And every offering of thine oblation shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thine oblation; with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt".

The "oblation of thy first-fruits" seems to come in as a kind of appendix, and I think it presents Christ as apprehended by Israel as their First-fruits. God had looked for His pleasure in a peculiar way in Israel; as regards the earth Israel was to be, and will yet be,

The "green ears of corn" would suggest the freshness and vigour of life in which everything wherein Israel had failed to answer to the pleasure of God was found here in Christ.

We may repeat, What a day it will be for Israel when they see that the very intensity of their hatred and rejection has brought out the holy perfection of Him whom they will then gladly recognize as their First-fruits!

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THE  PEACE  OFFERING
Leviticus 3

The offerer of a peace-offering desired to be in communion with the altar.

To be an offerer supposes some degree of spiritual wealth in the apprehension of Christ, and an energy in the affections Godward that brings one near the altar to present to God that which has been found in Christ through death for Him.

All who have broken bread have committed themselves to this, that they have done with the world as a source of happiness.

If we consider the intense holiness of the altar, how absolutely exclusive it is of all that is not in accord with it, we must understand that there can be no playing fast and loose as to communion with it.,P>

The burnt-offering for acceptance, whether of the herd or of the flock, must be "a male without blemish". For conscious acceptance there must be the apprehension of Christ in the energetic activity in which He was found here to do the will of God.

The spiritual action typified in this chapter is of great importance, for it is the basis of fellowship in the souls of saints. It is only hearts that have Christ before them that can know what fellowship is in any true or divine sense.

A faithful God has called us into the "fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord", 1 Corinthians 1: 9. That shows the greatness and dignity of the fellowship into which we are called.

If Christ has become our consciously enjoyed portion with God it kindles desire for the fellowship of saints – for participation in a holy partnership here in which we can feed on Christ together.

The offerer's purpose in offering is that he and others may eat together in communion with the altar. He desires a fellowship that is uncontaminated by the selfish and idolatrous associations of the world. He has found that which he can hold and enjoy with God.

Then the priests "sprinkle the blood on the altar round about". This implies spiritual intelligence as to the import of the act, for "the priests' lips should keep knowledge", Malachi 2: 7.

The blood presented on man's side Godward is for atonement; it is wholly for God. Hence "no blood shall ye eat". So long as man is on the earth he must own the rights of God over life. The blood is for atonement, and therefore reserved for God.

Those who have to do with God in relation to Christ in peace-offering character can bring near to Him their apprehension of how the death and blood of Christ have made possible for men a new and divine joy in the blessing of God.

Then there is the presentation and burning of the fat of the peace-offering. It is that which the blessed God feeds upon, and in which none other can participate.

Think of the Person who said, "Lo, I come to do, O God, thy will": His was a perfect and holy will, but it was surrendered in devoted obedience, at all possible cost to Himself. We see something of the cost in Gethsemane.

There is infinitely much that we can enjoy together, and that we can appropriate as the food of our souls, in that holy Person who offered Himself,

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THE  SIN  OFFERING
Leviticus 4: 1 - 5: 13

This chapter sets forth exercises which we all have to take up personally, for James tells us that "we all often offend".

"The priest that is anointed" is the first case considered.

Do we always remember the peculiar and blessed place that we have as being anointed? I like to remind myself sometimes as I go along that I belong to the Man at God's right hand! I am of that Man, and I have His Spirit!

It is noticeable that in connection with the priest it does not speak – as in the case of the assembly, the prince or one of the people – of his sin becoming known.

When there have been actions or words or feelings that are of the flesh it is often some time before there is any true movement of self-judgment.

If a priest sins he cannot go on with the service of God, but to a sensitive priestly heart restoration is not necessarily a long process.

The moment there is the consciousness of having sinned the divine provision is available. Christ is at once introduced in sin-offering character.

The first movement in regard to the sin of a believer is on the part of Jesus Christ the righteous. We have Him as

The sin-offering in each case is brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, or to the place of the burnt-offering. This seems to indicate a readiness to be perfectly open and candid about the matter.

Think of the impression that would be made on all Israel as the anointed priest was seen bringing his sin-offering

If I became possessed before God of Christ in sin-offering character I am sure it would give candour and transparency. I should be ready to listen to James, who says,

If I have done wrong there is moral elevation in owning it, but the flesh regards it as degradation.

The priest laying his hand on the bullock's head and slaughtering it expresses the sense that he has of the necessity for Christ and His death in relation to the sin committed.

Christ has borne the judgment of sin; He has died to close the history sacrificially of the man who is only evil continually.

The priest brings the blood into the tent of meeting, and sprinkles it seven times

The blood put "on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense" would intimate that the offerer returns to liberty and confidence in prayer, which he could not do while his heart condemned him.

I have heard that a broken bone when healed is stronger in that place than anywhere else, and this seems to be suggested as the fruit of a sin-offering exercise by David asking

Then all the blood of the bullock being poured out

If we have sinned, the way to get right with God, and to please God, is to avail ourselves of Christ as the sin-offering.

The complete consumption in holy judgment of what was offensive to God is seen typically in the burning of the whole bullock outside the camp. This implies a deep sense in the soul of God's entire rejection of the man from whom the sin proceeded.

The case of the priest comes before that of "the whole assembly",

The sin of "the whole assembly" is a very serious matter, because, like the sin of the anointed priest, it interferes with the service of God.

I doubt whether we are sufficiently exercised about the sin of "the whole assembly". Revelation 2 and 3 shows us the sin of the whole assembly.

Many will admit that things are not what they ought to be, but will excuse them on the ground of human infirmity, or errors in judgment, or want of light.

I would put it to any heart that loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, Would you like to go on with something of which He disapproves?

Those who own the sin of the whole assembly, and avail themselves of Christ as the "sin-offering of the congregation", can truly "call on the Lord out of a pure heart"; and I do not doubt that such can know something of forgiveness in an assembly sense.

There is such a thing as assembly exercise as well as individual exercise, and it is deeper than anything purely individual could be, because it is connected with what is suitable to God in His house.

We cannot go on carelessly with the things of God. There is a tendency to make light of things which are really movements of the flesh, but if we make light of such things God does not.

"A prince" or "ruler" represents one prominent in the congregation – one who has cared for the order of the people of God.

In the case of one who has been a "prince" this would be justly looked for in view of restoration of confidence and fellowship, when his sin had been such as to interfere with these. The offering must be in proportion to the offerer.

David is the great example in Scripture of a "prince" who sinned; it is very instructive for us to observe the sin-offering exercises of David. They are fully detailed for us in what are called the penitential Psalms. Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.

Christ is always available as the sin-offering, and the sooner we avail ourselves of Him the better. It is good to be so established in grace that when we sin we avail ourselves at once of Christ as the sin-offering.

Grace is the true power of holiness. Grace never excuses sin or makes light of it, but it shows me the holy One of God going to the cross and being made sin.

If the sin of a believer is of such a nature as to suspend the confidence and fellowship of his brethren, that confidence cannot be restored without evidence that he has judged himself.

The blood being put on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering, and the fat burned on the altar, links the sin-offering with the burnt-offering. I do not think anyone would go truly through the exercise of the sin-offering with God without reaching the burnt-offering.

If a brother has sinned God would encourage him to avail himself of Christ as the sin-offering. That is the first thing to be concerned about.

Little needs to be added as to the sin-offering of "one of the people of the land", save to note that the offerer in this case brings typically a weaker apprehension of Christ than I the "prince"; he brings a female goat or sheep.

It is noticeable that the section of this book referring to the sin-offering is longer than that referring to the other offerings; it extends from chapter 4: 1 to chapter 5: 13.

  1. The first is failure in respect of witness;

  2. the second is failure as to the maintenance of separation;

  3. and the third is failure as to sobriety or self-control.

The first instance of guilt is that of one who refrains from uttering that of which he should bear witness. It shows that such a thing is likely to occur among the people of God.

But there is another side of things to which this would apply. We are left here in the place of witness for Christ, and there are times when we are directly challenged –

True confession is in answer to a challenge. At school, or in the office, or at the works, you are asked to do something, or to go somewhere, and you are obliged to decline because you know that it would not please the Lord Jesus.

Our witness is to be of what we have "seen or known" in Christ.

I suppose most of us know what it is to have sinned by failing to utter what was in our hearts!

Then in verses 2 and 3 it is a question of touching what is unclean.

The third form of specific sin. verse 4 is "talking rashly with the lips, to do evil or to do good, in everything that a man shall say rashly with an oath".

If one has sinned in any of the three ways here spoken of, the moment comes "when he knoweth it".

It is very encouraging to see the grace that makes provision for one who is not able to bring a sheep or a goat.

There is an even smaller measure in one who brings "the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour".

It is wonderful how God accepts any measure of true exercise, and any measure in which a soul apprehends Christ and judges himself in the light of Christ, and this ought to have its answer in what we look for in one another.

These provisions made in grace do not in any way excuse carelessness or lightness as to sin. No one can say, It does not matter whether I judge myself deeply or not.

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THE  TRESPASS  OFFERING
Leviticus 5: 14 - 6: 7

We come to the trespass-offering in verses 14-26.

"If any one act unfaithfully and sin through inadvertence in the holy things of Jehovah". Such a one has failed to render what was due to God.

One cannot doubt that there is much unfaithful acting "in the holy things of Jehovah". But a soul really conscious of having sinned in this way would be exercised to make up the deficiency, and even to go beyond.

If there has been unfaithfulness in the "holy things" one must get to the Lord about it, and get His valuation.

Moses is a type of Christ as Son over God's house; every trespass must be valued by Him.

Getting the valuation of Christ leads to bringing an offering of full maturity and strength, and this secures a corresponding energy of self-judgment.

If we have sinned in regard to the "holy things", a wonderful measure of restoration is open to us through the grace of God.

After Mark's failure and restoration Paul could say that he was "serviceable to me for ministry", and his Gospel indicates a very energetic appreciation of Christ.

If some divine principle has been ignored by the people of God, the trespass will not be put right until they accept that principle and act on it.

The trespass-offering involves restitution. Grace comes in to enable one to make full reparation.

'An entrusted thing or a deposit'. verse 6: 2 may suggest that we hold a good deal on trust for the people of God, and it is a serious exercise as to whether we are true to the trust, and discharging its obligations.