16 and he shall take away its crop with its filth, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
His crop with his feathers - The weight of authority is in favor of the marginal rendering. It is most probable that the feathers were burned with the body, and that the wings, mentioned in Leviticus 1:17, were not mutilated.
The place of the ashes - The ashes were daily removed from the altar (except on certain holy days) and thrown into a heap on its eastern side. When the heap became inconveniently large, it was removed in vessels appropriated to the purpose (see Exodus 27:3) to a spot without the camp. Leviticus 4:12; Leviticus 6:11.
Pluck away his crop with his feathers - In this sacrifice of fowls the head was violently wrung off, then the blood was poured out, then the feathers were plucked off, the breast was cut open, and the crop, stomach, and intestines taken out, and then the body was burnt. Though the bird was split up, yet it was not divided asunder. This circumstance is particularly remarked in Abram's sacrifice, Genesis 15:10. See Clarke's note Genesis 15:10. See Ainsworth. We have already seen, on Leviticus 1:2, that four kinds of animals might be made burnt-offerings to the Lord.
1. Neat cattle, such as bulls, oxen, cows, and calves.
2. He-goats, she-goats, and kids.
3. Rams, ewes, and lambs.
4. Pigeons and turtle-doves; and in one case, viz., the cleansing of the leper, sparrows or some small bird.
All these must be without spot or blemish - the most perfect of their respective kinds, and be wholly consumed by fire. The Rich were to bring the most costly; the Poor, those of least price. Even in this requisition of justice how much mercy was mingled! If a man could not bring a bullock or a heifer, a goat or a sheep, let him bring a calf, a kid, or a lamb. If he could not bring any of these because of his poverty, let him bring a turtle-dove, or a young pigeon, (see Leviticus 5:7); and it appears that in cases of extreme poverty, even a little meal or fine flour was accepted by the bountiful Lord as a sufficient oblation; see Leviticus 5:11. This brought down the benefits of the sacrificial service within the reach of the poorest of the poor; as we may take for granted that every person, however low in his circumstances, might be able to provide the tenth part of an ephah, about three quarts of meal, to make an offering for his soul unto the Lord. But every man must bring something; the law stooped to the lowest circumstances of the poorest of the people, but every man must sacrifice, because every man had sinned. Reader, what sort of a sacrifice dost thou bring to God? To Him thou owest thy whole body, soul, and substance; are all these consecrated to his service? Or has he the refuse of thy time, and the offal of thy estate? God requires thee to sacrifice as his providence has blessed thee. If thou have much, thou shouldst give liberally to God and the poor; If thou have but little, do thy diligence to give of that little. God's justice requires a measure of that which his mercy has bestowed. But remember that as thou hast sinned, thou needest a Savior. Jesus is that lamb without spot which has been offered to God for the sin of the world, and which thou must offer to him for thy sin; and it is only through Him that thou canst be accepted, even when thou dedicatest thy whole body, soul, and substance to thy Maker. Even when we present ourselves a living sacrifice to God, we are accepted for his sake who carried our sins, and bore our sorrows. Thanks be to God, the rich and the poor have equal access unto him through the Son of his love, and equal right to claim the benefits of the great sacrifice!
And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the (k) east part, by the place of the ashes:
(k) On the side of the court gate in the pans which stood with ashes; (Exodus 27:3).
And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers,.... Or "with its meat", or "dung", as Onkelos renders it, meaning that which was in its crop; and so the Jerusalem Targum interprets it, "with its dung"; and Jonathan's paraphrase is, "with its collection", or what was gathered together in the crop; it includes the entrails, as Gersom observes:
and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes; where the ashes of the burnt offering were put every day, and every time such an offering was made; and all this answered to the washing of the inwards, and legs of the other burnt offerings, and signified the same thing, the cleanness and purity of Christ, and of his people by him.
He then took out בּנצתהּ את־מראתו, i.e., according to the probable explanation of these obscure words, "its crop in (with) the foeces thereof,"
(Note: This is the rendering adopted by Onkelos. The lxx, on the contrary, render it ἀφελεῖ τὸν πρόλοβον σὺν τοῖς πτεροῖς, and this rendering is followed by Luther (and the English Version, Tr.), "its crop with its feathers." But the Hebrew for this would have been ונצתו. In Mishnah, Sebach. vi. 5, the instructions are the following: "et removet ingluviem et pennas et viscera egredentia cum illa." This interpretation may be substantially correct, although the reference of בנוצתה to the feathers of the pigeon cannot be sustained on the ground assigned. For if the bird's crop was taken out, the intestines with their contents would unquestionably come out along with it. The plucking off of the feathers, however, follows from the analogy of the flaying of the animal. Only, in the text neither intestines nor feathers are mentioned; they are passed over as subordinate matters, that could readily be understood from the analogy of the other instructions.)
and threw it "at the side of the altar eastwards," i.e., on the eastern side of the altar, "on the ash-place," where the ashes were thrown when taken from the altar (Leviticus 6:3). He then made an incision in the wings of the pigeon, but without severing them, and burned them on the altar-fire (Leviticus 1:17, cf. Leviticus 1:9).
The burnt-offerings all culminated in the presentation of the whole sacrifice upon the altar, that it might ascend to heaven, transformed into smoke and fragrance. Hence it is not only called עלה, the ascending (see Genesis 8:20), but כּליל, a whole-offering (Deuteronomy 33:10; Ps. 51:21; 1-Samuel 7:9). If the burning and sending up in the altar-fire shadowed forth the self-surrender of the offerer to the purifying fire of the Holy Ghost; the burnt-offering was an embodiment of the idea of the consecration and self-surrender of the whole man to the Lord, to be pervaded by the refining and sanctifying power of divine grace. This self-surrender was to be vigorous and energetic in its character; and this was embodied in the instructions to choose male animals for the burnt-offering, the male sex being stronger and more vigorous than the female. To render the self-sacrifice perfect, it was necessary that the offerer should spiritually die, and that through the mediator of his salvation he should put his soul into a living fellowship with the Lord by sinking it as it were into the death of the sacrifice that had died for him, and should also bring his bodily members within the operations of the gracious Spirit of God, that thus he might be renewed and sanctified both body and soul, and enter into union with God.
With its feathers - Or, with its dung or filth, contained in the crop and in the guts. On the east - Of the Tabernacle. Here the filth was cast, because this was the remotest place from the holy of holies, which was in the west - end; to teach us, that impure things and persons should not presume to approach to God, and that they should be banished from his presence. The place of the ashes - Where the ashes fell down and lay, whence they were afterwards removed without the camp.
*More commentary available at chapter level.