Leviticus 3:2

2 and he hath laid his hand on the head of his offering, and hath slaughtered it at the opening of the tent of meeting, and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled the blood on the altar round about.

Leviticus 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 3:2

And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering
"His right hand with strength", the Targum of Jonathan says; perhaps both his hands were imposed; the Septuagint and Arabic versions read it in the plural number, "hands"; this same rite was used in the sacrifice of burnt offering, (See Gill on Leviticus 1:4); which might be done in any place in the court where it was slain, only with this difference: according to Maimonides F4, there was no confession of sin made at laying on of hands upon the peace offerings, but words of praise were spoken:

and kill it at the door of the congregation;
it seems as if it was not the priest, but the owner that brought it, and laid his hands on it, that killed it; and so the last mentioned writer says, that slaying the peace offering by a stranger was right; and as he and others F5 say, it might be slain in any part of the court; it was not obliged to be slain in the north part of it, as the burnt offering was, ( Leviticus 1:11 )

and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the
altar round about;
in like manner as the blood of the burnt offering was, and it was done with two sprinklings, which were as four {f}; (See Gill on Leviticus 1:5) this was typical of the blood of Christ, called "the blood of sprinkling".


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 3. sect. 15.
F5 Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 7.
F6 Misn. ib.

Leviticus 3:2 In-Context

1 `And if his offering [is] a sacrifice of peace-offerings, if out of the herd he is bringing near, whether male or female, a perfect one he doth bring near before Jehovah,
2 and he hath laid his hand on the head of his offering, and hath slaughtered it at the opening of the tent of meeting, and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled the blood on the altar round about.
3 `And he hath brought near from the sacrifice of the peace-offerings a fire-offering to Jehovah, the fat which is covering the inwards, and all the fat which [is] on the inwards,
4 and the two kidneys, and the fat which [is] on them, which [is] on the flanks, and the redundance above the liver, (beside the kidneys he doth turn it aside),
5 and sons of Aaron have made it a perfume on the altar, on the burnt-offering which [is] on the wood, which [is] on the fire -- a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.