Leviticus 3:2

2 You must press your hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the meeting tent's entrance. Aaron's sons the priests will toss the blood against every side of the altar.

Leviticus 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 3:2

And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering
"His right hand with strength", the Targum of Jonathan says; perhaps both his hands were imposed; the Septuagint and Arabic versions read it in the plural number, "hands"; this same rite was used in the sacrifice of burnt offering, (See Gill on Leviticus 1:4); which might be done in any place in the court where it was slain, only with this difference: according to Maimonides F4, there was no confession of sin made at laying on of hands upon the peace offerings, but words of praise were spoken:

and kill it at the door of the congregation;
it seems as if it was not the priest, but the owner that brought it, and laid his hands on it, that killed it; and so the last mentioned writer says, that slaying the peace offering by a stranger was right; and as he and others F5 say, it might be slain in any part of the court; it was not obliged to be slain in the north part of it, as the burnt offering was, ( Leviticus 1:11 )

and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the
altar round about;
in like manner as the blood of the burnt offering was, and it was done with two sprinklings, which were as four {f}; (See Gill on Leviticus 1:5) this was typical of the blood of Christ, called "the blood of sprinkling".


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 3. sect. 15.
F5 Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 7.
F6 Misn. ib.

Leviticus 3:2 In-Context

1 If the offering is a communal sacrifice of well-being, the one who offers the herd animal—whether it is male or female—must present a flawless specimen before the LORD.
2 You must press your hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the meeting tent's entrance. Aaron's sons the priests will toss the blood against every side of the altar.
3 Then you can offer a food gift to the LORD from the communal sacrifice of well-being: the fat that covers and surrounds the insides;
4 the two kidneys and the fat around them at the loins; and the lobe on the liver, which should be removed with the kidneys.
5 Aaron's sons will completely burn all of this on the altar—along with the entirely burned offering on the wood that is on the altar fire—as a food gift of soothing smell to the LORD.
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