Thursday, Oct. 24
Leviticus 7:1-38 Read it here
One kind of offering needs a little explanation. Verse 7:30 refers to a “wave offering.”
While I can’t hear the term without thinking of the “wave” sometimes done by the fans at a football game, that’s not what it is.
A wave offering is a designated offering, or part of an offering, that is literally waved back and forth as a symbol of giving it to God, but instead of being burned it is given to the priest for consumption.
In this way offerings can serve two purposes: the primary purpose of allowing the giver to show devotion to God and the secondary purpose of supporting the priests who are set apart to administer the sacrificial system.
It’s important to keep in mind that both of these purposes are still with us. Giving is itself a discipline that leads to blessings even beyond whatever benefit comes from the use of the gift.
Elsewhere there is also mention of heave offerings (the King James Version uses the term in this chapter, but the New International Version does not). Like the wave offering, it is an offering that is symbolically lifted up to God as a gift, but retained for the use of the priests. It is lifted up rather than waved back and forth.