Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 7:8
And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, [even] the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.
8. The rule that the skin of the Burnt-Offering belongs to the priest who offers it is extended in the Mishna to the skins of the ‘most holy,’ i.e. the Sin- and Guilt-Offerings. Perhaps this is implied in Lev 7:7. We gather from Zebaim 103 b (Tal. Bab.) that the skin of the Peace-Offering belonged to the offerer. It is doubtful whether the skin of a priest’s Burnt-Offering is here included: after the analogy of the priestly minah (Lev 6:23) the whole of a priest’s sacrifice must be burnt.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The skin of the burnt offering – It is most likely that the skins of the sin-offering and the trespass-offering also fell to the lot of the officiating priest.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. The priest shall have to himself the skin] Bishop Patrick supposes that this right of the priest to the skin commenced with the offering of Adam, “for it is probable,” says he, “that Adam himself offered the first sacrifice, and had the skin given him by God to make garments for him and his wife; in conformity to which the priests ever after had the skin of the whole burnt-offerings for their portion, which was a custom among the Gentiles as well as the Jews, who gave the skins of their sacrifices to their priests, when they were not burnt with the sacrifices, as in some sin-offerings they were among the Jews, see Le 4:11. And they employed them to a superstitious use, by lying upon them in their temples, in hopes to have future things revealed to them in their dreams.
Of this we have a proof in Virgil, AEn. lib. vii., ver. 86-95.
“————-huc dona sacerdos
Cum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti
Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit;
Multa modus simulncra videt volitantia miris,
Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorum
Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis.
Hic et tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus
Centum lanigeras mactabat rite bidentes,
Atque harum effultus tergo stratisque jacebat
Velleribus. Subita ex alto vox reddita luco est.”
First, on the fleeces of the slaughter’d sheep
By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep,
When in a train, before his slumbering eye,
Thin airy forms and wondrous visions fly.
He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods,
And talks, inspired, familiar with the gods.
To this dread oracle the prince withdrew,
And first a hundred sheep the monarch slew;
Then on their fleeces lay; and from the wood
He heard, distinct, these accents of the god.
-PITT.
The same superstition, practised precisely in the same way and for the same purposes, prevail to the present day in the Highlands of Scotland, as the reader may see from the following note of Sir Walter Scott, in his Lady of the Lake: –
“The Highlanders of Scotland, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the togharm. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and deposited beside a water-fall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed; and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits who haunt these desolate recesses. One way of consulting this oracle was by a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and there they singled out one of their number, and wrapt him in a big cow’s hide, which they folded about him; his whole body was covered with it except his head, and so left in this posture all night, until his invisible friends relieved him by giving a proper answer to the question in hand; which he received, as he fancied, from several persons that he found about him all that time. His consorts returned to him at day-break; and then he communicated his news to them, which often proved fatal to those concerned in such unwarrantable inquiries.
“Mr. Alexander Cooper, present minister of North Virt, told me that one John Erach, in the Isle of Lewis, assured him it was his fate to have been led by his curiosity with some who consulted this oracle, and that he was a night within the hide above mentioned, during which time he felt and heard such terrible things that he could not express them: the impression made on him was such as could never go off; and he said, for a thousand worlds he would never again be concerned in the like performance, for it had disordered him to a high degree. He confessed it ingenuously, and with an air of great remorse, and seemed to be very penitent under a just sense of so great a crime: he declared this about five years since, and is still living in the Isle of Lewis for any thing I know.” – Description of the Western Isles, p. 110. See also Pennant’s Scottish Tour, vol. ii., p. 301; and Sir W. Scott’s Lady of the Lake.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
8. the priest shall have to himselfthe skin of the burnt offering which he hath offeredAll theflesh and the fat of the burnt offerings being consumed, nothingremained to the priest but the skin. It has been thought that thiswas a patriarchal usage, incorporated with the Mosaic law, and thatthe right of the sacrificer to the skin of the victim was transmittedfrom the example of Adam (see on Ge3:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering,…. In which the flesh was wholly burnt, and nothing of it remained to requite the priest for his trouble, as in other offerings:
even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering, which he hath offered; in some cases the skin itself was burnt, and then he could have nothing, see Le 4:11 but in others the skin was reserved for the priest. There seems to be an emphasis upon the phrase “to himself”, and may signify, that though in other things other priests might partake with him, yet not in this; and so Maimonides z observes, that the skin was not given to every priest, but to him that offered the sacrifice; and elsewhere a he says, the skins of light holy things are the owner’s, but the skins of the most holy things are the priest’s. And some have thought this law has some respect to the case of Adam, and is agreeable thereunto; who having offered sacrifice according to divine directions given him, had coats made for him and his wife of the skins of the slain beasts; and it was usual with the Heathen priests to have the skins of the sacrifices, and in which they slept in their temples and others also were desirous of the same, in order by dreams or otherwise to get knowledge of things future; [See comments on Am 2:8].
z In Misn. Challah, c. 4. sect. 9. a In Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) The priest shall have to himself the skin.As the skin was the only part not consumed by the fire, in the case of the burnt offering, it fell to the share of the officiating priest. According to the rule which obtained during the second Temple, all the skins of the most holy things belonged to the officiating priestsi.e., those of the trespass offering, the sin offerings of the laity, &c.whereas those of the holy thingsi.e., those of the peace offeringsbelonged to the owners of the victims. These skins, which accumulated during the week, the priests whose course it was to serve divided between them every Sabbath evening.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The skin of the burnt offering This was a perquisite of the priest, to be kept or sold at his pleasure. Bishop Patrick suggests that Adam was the first priest who offered a burnt offering, and that the presentation of the skin to him by the Creator established the precedent here ratified by the ceremonial law. The same custom is found among pagans, whose priests superstitiously thought that by lying upon these skins they would be endowed with the gift of prescience. See Virgil’s AEneid, book vii, 7:86-95. The same superstition lingers to this day in the Highlands of Scotland.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Brief Comments About The Whole Burnt Offering and the Grain Offering ( Lev 7:8-10 ).
Spurred on by reference to the guilt offering meat as being the priest’s portion, this summary concludes by describing what belongs to the priests of the other offerings.
Lev 7:8
‘And the priest who offers any man’s whole burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the whole burnt offering which he has offered.’
In the case of the whole burnt offering the priest who offers the offering receives the animal’s skin or hide. These skins were very valuable and were later a source of great revenue for the priests.
It would seem that the priests received the skins of most whole burnt offerings, purification for sin offering, and guilt offerings, but not the skin of peace sacrifices which went to the offerer.
Lev 7:9-10
‘And every grain offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying-pan, and on the baking-pan, shall be the priest’s who offers it. And every grain offering, mingled with oil, or dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as well as another.’
All that remains of the grain offerings after the burning of the memorial part were also intended for the priests. The cooked ones went to the priest who offered them, the uncooked ones to all the priests. The latter could be kept longer.
All these provisions meant that the priests did not have to concern themselves about obtaining a living. Their living was provided for them, and their families would be provided for from the tithe of the firstfruits. As Paul said, ‘those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar’ (1Co 9:13). They could thus devote themselves entirely to their duties.
And as Paul was pointing out, these provisions are a reminder to us that we too should make sure that those whom we acknowledge to have been called by God to full time ministry are provide for materially by those who benefit from their ministry. This includes missionaries, for they serve there on our behalf.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 7:8. The priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering I subjoin here the learned note of Bishop Patrick: “All the flesh of the burnt-offerings being wholly consumed, as well as the fat, upon the altar, (ch. Lev 1:8-9.) there was nothing that could fall to the share of the priest, but the skin; which is here given him for his pains. I observed upon Gen 3:21 that it is probable Adam himself offered the first sacrifice, and had the skin given him by GOD, to make the garments for him and his wife. In conformity to which, the priests ever after had the skin of the whole burnt-offerings, for their portion; which was a custom among the Gentiles, (as well as the Jews,) who gave the skins of their sacrifices to their priests, when they were not burnt with the sacrifices, as in some sin-offerings they were among the Jews; (see ch. Lev 4:11.) and they employed them to a superstitious use, by lying upon them in their temples, in hopes to have future things revealed to them in their dreams. Of this we have a proof in Virgil’s 7th AEneid, ver. 127 of Dryden’s translation:
The priest on skins of offerings takes his ease, And nightly visions in his slumbers sees; A swarm of thin aerial shapes appears, And, fluttering round his temples, deafs his ears: There he consults, the future fates to know From powers above, and from the fiends below.
And in the Eleusinia, the Daduchus put on the skin of the beasts which had been sacrificed to Jupiter; and which was called , the fleece of Jupiter.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 7:8 And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, [even] the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.
Ver. 8. The priest shall have to himself. ] It is a sign of gasping devotion when men are so straithanded to their ministers, who should have part of all. Gal 6:6
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
even the priest: All the flesh of the burnt offerings being consumed upon the altar, as well as the fat, there could nothing fall to the share of the priest but the skin; which must have been very valuable, as they were used as mattresses – Lev 15:17, or as carpets to sit upon in the day. They are still used for the same purpose by some of the inhabitants and dervishes of the East. Bishop Patrick remarks, that Adam himself offered the first sacrifice, and had the skin given him by God, to make garments for him and his wife; in conformity with which, the priests ever after had the skin of the whole burnt offerings for their portion.
skin: Lev 1:6, Lev 4:11, Gen 3:21, Exo 29:14, Num 19:5, Rom 13:14
Reciprocal: Num 18:20 – General Deu 18:8 – like portions 1Sa 2:28 – did I give