Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 3:1
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
The Peace-Offerings. - The third kind of sacrifice is called שׁלמים זבח, commonly rendered thank-offering, but more correctly a saving-offering (Heilsopfer: Angl. peace-offering). Besides this fuller form, which is the one most commonly employed in Leviticus, we meet with the abbreviated forms זבחים and שׁלמים: e.g., זבח in Lev 7:16-17; Lev 23:37, more especially in combination with עלה, Lev 17:8 cf. Exo 10:25; Exo 18:12; Num 15:3, Num 15:5; Deu 12:27; Jos 22:27; Sa1 6:15; Sa1 15:22; Kg2 5:17; Kg2 10:24; Isa 56:7; Jer 6:20; Jer 7:21; Jer 17:26, etc., - and שׁלמים in Lev 9:22; Exo 20:24; Exo 32:6; Deu 27:7; Jos 8:31; Jdg 20:26; Jdg 21:4; Sa1 13:9; Sa2 6:17-18; Sa2 24:25; Kg1 3:15, etc. זבח is derived from זבח, which is not applied to slaughtering generally (שׁחט), but, with the exception of Deu 12:15, where the use of זבח for slaughtering is occasioned by the retrospective reference to Lev 17:3-4, is always used for slaying as a sacrifice, or sacrificing; and even in Sa1 28:24; Eze 34:3 and Eze 39:17, it is only used in a figurative sense. The real meaning, therefore, is sacrificial slaughtering, or slaughtered sacrifice. It is sometimes used in a wider sense, and applied to every kind of bleeding sacrifice ( Sa1 1:21; Sa1 2:19), especially in connection with minchah ( Sa1 2:29; Psa 40:7; Isa 19:21; Dan 9:27, etc.); but it is mostly used in a more restricted sense, and applied to the peace-offerings, or slain offerings, which culminated in a sacrificial meal, as distinguished from the burnt and sin-offerings, in which case it is synonymous with שׁלמים or שׁלמים זבח. The word shelamim, the singular of which (Shelem) is only met with in Amo 5:22, is applied exclusively to these sacrifices, and is derived from שׁלם to be whole, uninjured. It does not mean "compensation or restitution," for which we find the nouns שׁלּם ( Deu 32:35), שׁלּוּם ( Hos 9:7), and שׁלּוּמה ( Psa 91:8), formed from the Piel שׁלּם, but integritas completa, pacifica, beata, answering to the Sept. rendering σωτήριον. The plural denotes the entire round of blessings and powers, by which the salvation or integrity of man in his relation to God is established and secured. The object of the shelamim was invariably salvation: sometimes they were offered as an embodiment of thanksgiving for salvation already received, sometimes as a prayer for the salvation desired; so that they embraced both supplicatory offerings and thank-offerings, and were offered even in times of misfortune, or on the day on which supplication was offered for the help of God ( Jdg 20:26; Jdg 21:4; Sa1 13:9; Sa2 24:25). (Note: Cf. Hengstenberg, Dissertations. Outram's explanation is quite correct: Sacrificia salutaria in sacris litteris shelamim dicta, ut quae semper de rebus prosperis fieri solerent, impetratis utique aut impetrandis.) The law distinguishes three different kinds: praise-offerings, vow-offerings, and freewill-offerings ( Lev 7:12, Lev 7:16). They were all restricted to oxen, sheep, and goats, either male or female, pigeons not being allowed, as they were always accompanied with a common sacrificial meal, for which a pair of pigeons did not suffice. Lev 3:1-2 In the act of sacrificing, the presentation of the animal before Jehovah, the laying on of hands, the slaughtering, and the sprinkling of the blood were the same as in the case of the burnt-offering ( Lev 1:3-5). It was in the application of the flesh that the difference first appeared. Lev 3:3-4 The person presenting the sacrif…
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