The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord’s.
Leviticus 3:16 (NIV)

I saw an adorable post on social media the other day. A young child had been given the assignment to draw what it means to be “safe.” The child made a rudimentary sketch of himself in bed between his dad and mom. Such a simple childlike understanding. “If I’m with dad and mom, all is right with the world. I’m loved, provided for, and protected.”

The Hebrews had a word for that sense of wholeness, peace, and well-being: Shalom. While the word is literally translated as “peace,” it has a much broader definition that envelopes experiencing that feeling of “God is good. Life is good. I’m good.“

It is difficult for a modern reader to understand how radical the instructions God was giving to Moses and the Hebrew people was at the time it was given. The world in which the Hebrews lived was filled with thousands of gods. Egypt alone had well over a thousand gods in their religious pantheon. The gods were often attached to a place. Every town and city-state had its own god. So when you left that town, you left that god and would go visit the god of the next town. In ancient Mesopotamian religions, the gods inhabited their own spirit world and had little regard for human beings who were lesser than and relatively unimportant to them and their world.

The God of Moses is so very different.

God initiated the relationship with Moses and the Hebrews. He heard their cries from slavery, showed up, and delivered them. He’s led them into the wilderness and now God initiates the establishment of an ongoing daily life and relationship with them. They don’t have a place yet. Thus, God has Moses create a tent temple that they can carry with them. Wherever they camp, they set up God’s tent temple smack-dab in the center of camp. The people set-up camp around it. God isn’t associated with a place, He is associating Himself with a people. He is Immanuel: “God with us.”

This is important in understanding the third of the five different sacrifices God establishes for His people to make on the altar of His tent temple in today’s chapter. It is known as a “fellowship” offering, but also as a “peace” offering because the word used for this offering is rooted in the Hebrew word “shalom.”

What makes the Fellowship offering unique is that it is the only one of the five offerings in which the person or persons bringing it get to participate in consuming the food that is burnt on the altar. All of the other offerings are handed to the priests, the priests then handle the sacrifice and, at that point, everything is between the priest and God. With the “fellowship” offering, everyone is involved in sharing the offering together. It is, in a sense a communal meal together with the individual, the priest, and God. It foreshadows a day when God Himself will come to the table, make Himself the offering, and say to us, “Take this and eat. It’s my body broken for you. Take this and drink it. It’s my blood shed for you. Do this whenever you get together an remember.”

But humanity isn’t there yet. They are just infants and toddlers in their understanding of this One God, this Creator God, who is also a parent. God is providing simple ways to show the ancient children so that they might understand. He is with them. He loves them. He is protecting them. He will provide for them. “I’m right here in the center of your world, your community, and your family. Cuddle in next to me, my child. Be safe. Find shalom.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.