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Leviticus 3 · a question people ask

The chapter calls it "food". Did God eat it?

In the text

The chapter calls what is burned "the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD" (3:11, also 3:16), and Numbers has the LORD say, "See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire" (Numbers 28:2). But the part called food isn't eaten by anyone: "The priest shall burn it on the altar" (3:11). A psalm has God say, "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Will I eat the meat of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" (Psalm 50:12-13).

The verses

“The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.”
Leviticus 3:11 · World English Bible
“The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s.”
Leviticus 3:16 · World English Bible
““Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’”
Numbers 28:2 · World English Bible
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Will I eat the meat of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”
Psalm 50:12-13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Leviticus 3

Leviticus 3: All the fat is the LORD's

A peace offering could be male or female, from the herd or the flock (3:1, 3:6), and only its fat, kidneys and the cover on the liver went on the altar (3:3-5): "all the fat is the LORD’s" (3:16). Leviticus 7 says what happened to the rest: the priest had his share and the rest was eaten (7:15-16, 7:31-32).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions