Leviticus 22:17-33 – Let us offer our best to God

From Leviticus 21:1 - 22:16, the Lord was addressing the priests specifically, giving them instructions on how to conduct their lives and service in holiness. Now in these next eighteen verses, He included the Israelites as well in His instructions. So, the first part of verse 18 reads thus: “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or of the aliens in Israel….’” Hence, we shall deal with this section separately from those that addressed the priesthood exclusively.

In these verses, God was concerned for the quality of offerings that one brought to present to Him.  Firstly, any offering to God, whether it be from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats, must be without blemish. So, verse 22 says, “Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord.” No animal with a defect would be a worthy gift to the Lord. However, we see in verse 23 an exception. Only in making freewill offering was a stunted or deformed animal allowed. Even then it would not be allowed when one was making a pledge to the Lord.

Secondly, verse 25 insists the same rule of not offering any unblemished animal to the LORD must also be enforced if a foreigner was making the offering. There should be no concession given to them. They must also offer no defective animal as their offering. And thirdly, the age of the animal for sacrifice was also stipulated. The age of the animal should not be less than eight days old. Besides, it should not be slaughtered with the mother on the same day. The closing verses once again refer to the basis for the instructions. They say, “So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord. “You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord.”

God is worthy of our best. Our offering to Him must be of the best standard. We don’t give to God the fading ashes of our hearts, time or our energy. We must offer to Him the best version of ourselves. To such a great God, only the best will do. Anything less would be disrespectful. We must seek to honor Him with the best.