Leviticus 7:8

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}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered--All the flesh and the fat of the burnt offerings being consumed, nothing remained to the priest but the skin. It has been thought that this was a patriarchal usage, incorporated with the Mosaic law, and that the right of the sacrificer to the skin of the victim was transmitted from the example of Adam (see on Gen 3:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 priests—i.e., those of the trespass offering, the sin offerings of the laity, &c.—whereas those of the holy things—i.e., those of the peace offerings—belonged 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Zebaḥim 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 minḥah (Lev_6:23) the whole of a priest’s sacrifice must be burnt.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Lev 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 Gill on Amo 2:8.

(z) In Misn. Challah, c. 4. sect. 9. (a) In Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Skin. Of these skins a great profit was made. (Philo, de Præm. Sacerd.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

עור העלה אשר הקריב לכהן לו יהיה [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 — thus excluding the טבול יום, the מחוסר כפורים and the אונן (cf. Rashi on v. 7) — that these have no share in the skins of burnt offerings (Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 9 5; Zevachim 103b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THE PRIEST THAT OFFERETH ANY MAN’S BURNT-OFFERING, EVEN THE PRIEST SHALL HAVE TO HIMSELF THE SKIN OF THE BURNT-OFFERING. This law applies to all offerings, and although Scripture mentions only the burnt-offering, it holds good of the sin-offering and guilt-offering mentioned above. Such is not the case, however, in reference to the peace-offerings [the skin of which belongs to the owner]; therefore Scripture mentioned the law of the priests’ due in the middle of the offerings, before it speaks of the peace-offerings [further on in Verses 11-21].The interpretation of the Rabbis as found in the Torath Kohanim is as follows: 9:2. “[From the verse here] I know only that the skin of the burnt-offering [belongs to the priest]. Whence do I know that the same law applies to the skins of [the other] most holy offerings? Scripture therefore says, that offereth. Or perhaps I might think that I am to include [also] the skins of the offerings which are holy to a lesser degree [such as the peace-offering etc.]; Scripture therefore says, burnt-offering, thus teaching that just as the burnt-offering is distinguished by being of the most holy degree of offerings, [so also this law holds good of all most holy offerings], thus excluding those which are holy in a minor degree.”By way of the plain meaning of Scripture, it was not necessary to state this law [that the skin of the animal belongs to the priest] in connection with the sin-offering and guilt-offering, since they are part of the gifts given to the priests, and the priests thus are entitled to the meat and also the skin, but in the case of the burnt-offering [where the priests do not receive any of the meat, since it is wholly burnt on the altar], it was necessary for Scripture to say that they do acquire the skin. This is the interpretation of Rabbi [Yehuda Hanasi] who says, “Essentially we need this verse only for the skin of the burnt-offering [to teach that it belongs to the priest], since the skin always follows the meat” (further, 16:27) (Torath Kohanim, Tzav 9:5). Hence the Torah had to explain that the burnt-offering is different; but in the case of the sin-offering and the guilt-offering, it was not necessary to mention that the skin belongs to the priest, for since he acquired the right to the meat, the skin naturally came with it. [and here Scripture tells us that it is not to be burnt with the meat]. So also is it explained in the Torath Kohanim. (further, 16:27) (Torath Kohanim, Tzav 9:5). Hence the Torah had to explain that the burnt-offering is different; but in the case of the sin-offering and the guilt-offering, it was not necessary to mention that the skin belongs to the priest, for since he acquired the right to the meat, the skin naturally came with it.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.