Leviticus 7:38

Which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 7:38. In mount Sinai — Rather, by mount Sinai; for Moses had been some time come down from the mount, and these commands were given him from the tabernacle, Leviticus 1:1. He and the people, however, were still in the wilderness of Sinai, or in that tract of land adjoining to the mount, which, being desert and thinly inhabited, is termed a wilderness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:35-38 Solemn acts of religious worship are not things which we may do or not do at our pleasure; it is at our peril if we omit them. An observance of the laws of Christ cannot be less necessary than of the laws of Moses.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

wilderness of Sinai - Compare Exodus 19:1.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35-38. This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron—These verses contain a general summing up of the laws which regulate the privileges and duties of the priests. The word "anointing" is often used as synonymous with "office" or "dignity." So that the "portion of the anointing of Aaron" probably means the provision made for the maintenance of the high priest and the numerous body of functionaries which composed the sacerdotal order.

in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord, &c.—that is, from the day they approached the Lord in the duties of their ministry.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which the Lord commanded Moses in Mount Sinai,.... Or "by" or "near" (t) Mount Sinai; for the above laws were not given to Moses when on the mount, but after the tabernacle was erected, and out of it, as appears from Leviticus 1:1 and to which what follows agrees:

in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; where they were when the above laws were delivered to them, and which wilderness had its name from the mount near to which they now were, and where the tabernacle was pitched, from whence the Lord spoke; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,"in the tabernacle which they made for him in the wilderness of Sinai;''there they were ordered to offer their oblations of every sort, as before directed. It should be observed, that this is to be understood of the command given in the wilderness to offer sacrifices, but not of the sacrifices themselves then offered, which were not done while there; see Jeremiah 7:22.

(t) "by the mount"; so Patrick in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

Which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 7:38

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With Leviticus 7:37 and Leviticus 7:38 the whole of the sacrificial law (ch. 1-7) is brought to a close. Among the sacrifices appointed, the fill-offering (המּלּוּאים) is also mentioned here; though it is not first instituted in these chapters, but in Exodus 29:19-20 (Exodus 29:22, Exodus 29:26, Exodus 29:27, Exodus 29:31). The name may be explained from the phrase to "fill the hand," which is not used in the sense of installing a man, or giving him authority, like בּיד נתן "commit into his hand" in Isaiah 22:21 (Knobel), but was applied primarily to the ceremony of consecrating the priests, as described in Leviticus 8:25., and was restricted to the idea of investiture with the priesthood (cf. Leviticus 8:33; Leviticus 16:32; Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:9, Exodus 29:29, Exodus 29:33, Exodus 29:35; Numbers 3:3; Judges 17:5, Judges 17:12). This gave rise to the expression "to fill the hand for Jehovah," i.e., to provide something to offer to Jehovah (1 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Chronicles 29:31, cf. Exodus 32:29). Hence מלּוּאים denotes the filling of the hand with sacrificial gifts to be offered to Jehovah, and as used primarily of the particular sacrifice through which the priests were symbolically invested at their consecration with the gifts they were to offer, and were empowered, by virtue of this investiture, to officiate at the sacrifices; and secondly, in a less restricted sense, of priestly consecration generally (Leviticus 8:33, "the days of your consecration"). The allusion to the place in Leviticus 7:38, viz., "in the wilderness of Sinai," points on the one hand back to Exodus 19:1, and on the other hand forward to Numbers 26:63-64, and Numbers 36:13, "in the plains of Moab" (cf. Numbers 1:1, Numbers 1:19, etc.).

The sacrificial law, therefore, with the five species of sacrifices which it enjoins, embraces every aspect in which Israel was to manifest its true relation to the Lord its God. Whilst the sanctification of the whole man in self-surrender to the Lord was shadowed forth in the burnt-offerings, the fruits of this sanctification in the meat-offerings, and the blessedness of the possession and enjoyment of saving grace in the peace-offerings, the expiatory sacrifices furnished the means of removing the barrier which sins and trespasses had set up between the sinner and the holy God, and procured the forgiveness of sin and guilt, so that the sinner could attain once more to the unrestricted enjoyment of the covenant grace. For, provided only that the people of God drew near to their God with sacrificial gifts, in obedience to His commandments and in firm reliance upon His word, which had connected the forgiveness of sin, strength for sanctification, and the peace of fellowship with Him, with these manifestations of their piety, the offerers would receive in truth the blessings promised them by the Lord. Nevertheless these sacrifices could not make those who drew near to God with them and in them "perfect as pertaining to the conscience" (Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 10:1), because the blood of bulls and of goats could not possibly take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). The forgiveness of sin which the atoning sacrifices procured, was only a πάρεσις of past sins through the forbearance of God (Romans 3:25-26), in anticipation of the true sacrifice of Christ, of which the animal sacrifices were only a type, and by which the justice of God is satisfied, and the way opened fore the full forgiveness of sin and complete reconciliation with God. So also the sanctification and fellowship set forth by the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, were simply a sanctification of the fellowship already established by the covenant of the law between Israel and its covenant God, which pointed forward to the true sanctification and blessedness that grow out of the righteousness of faith, and expand through the operation of the Holy Spirit into the true righteousness and blessedness of the divine peace of reconciliation. The effect of the sacrifices was in harmony with the nature of the old covenant. The fellowship with God, established by this covenant, was simply a faint copy of that true and living fellowship with God, which consists in God's dwelling in our hearts through His Spirit, transforming our spirit, soul, and body more and more into His own image and His divine nature, and making us partakers of the glory and blessedness of His divine life. However intimately the infinite and holy God connected Himself with His people in the earthly sanctuary of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt-offering, yet so long as this sanctuary stood, the God who was enthroned in the most holy place was separated by the veil from His people, who could only appear before Him in the fore-court, as a proof that the sin which separates unholy man from the holy God had not yet been taken out of the way. Just as the old covenant generally was not intended to secure redemption from sin, but the law was designed to produce the knowledge of sin; so the desire for reconciliation with God was not to be truly satisfied by its sacrificial ordinances, but a desire was to be awakened for that true sacrifice which cleanses from all sins, and the way to be prepared for the appearing of the Son of God, who would exalt the shadows of the Mosaic sacrifices into a substantial reality by giving up His own life as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and thus through the one offering of His own holy body would perfect all the manifold sacrifices of the Old Testament economy.