If someone's offering is a fellowship offering, and they offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, they are to present before the Lord an animal without defect. The fellowship offering — shelem, from the root shalom, peace or wholeness — is the offering of covenant communion: the animal is partly burned on the altar for God, partly given to the priests, and partly eaten by the offerer and their household. Unlike the burnt offering that is entirely consumed, the fellowship offering creates a shared meal. The male-or-female specification (unlike the burnt offering's male-only requirement) and the without defect standard establish the range and the quality of what is acceptable for covenant communion.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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