But even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, "Give the priest some meat to roast; he won't accept boiled meat from you, but only raw." – 1 Samuel 2:15

Today's Scripture Reading (March 21, 2022): 1 Samuel 2

Once upon a time (because all of the best stories start with once upon a time), three pastors sat down to talk about how they were paid. The first pastor said that he drew a circle on the ground and then threw the offering up into the air. Whatever money landed inside the circle he kept as his salary; whatever landed outside the circle belonged to God. The second pastor smiled and said that his church had a similar system. They drew a circle on the ground and whatever landed inside the circle belonged to God, and whatever landed outside the ring the pastor kept as his salary. The third pastor just shook his head. He smiled; "You people are just too complicated. I throw the money up in the air, and what God wants, God keeps."

Actually, if you didn't know, Pastors have a negotiated salary, so don't bother coming by my office to watch me throw the money around. And it has always been that way. In the early days of Israel, many of the sacrifices were divided into three portions. The priest received a part of the breast and shoulder. The rest of the sacrifice was divided into an amount given to God as a burnt offering and another portion given back to the one bringing the offering. But according to the Mosaic Law, the order was important. First, the choicest cuts and the animal's fat belonged to God and were burned as a pleasing sacrifice to him. Next, a portion of the breast and shoulder was given to the priest. And then the remainder was given to the worshipper.   

But evidently, after four hundred years, the custom had changed. The sacrifice was boiled, and the priest would take a fork or a fleshhook and drive it into the boiling sacrifice. Whatever the hook grabbed onto belonged to the priest (an old version of drawing a circle on the ground and throwing the offering up into the air).

But during the time of Eli, the priesthood had become even more corrupt. Whatever a fleshhook grabbed hold of as the meat boiled was not enough. They started to demand the choicest cuts of meat straight from the one bringing the sacrifice. And the order changed. The priest wanted their cuts first, with the fat still attached. After the priest received his cut, then a portion was burned to God, and the rest was left with the worshipper.

And more evidence of the priesthood's corruption at the end of the era of the Judges was that if the worshipper insisted on doing it differently, wanting to follow the Mosaic instructions, then the priest would take the sacrifice by force (1 Samuel 2:16). The reality was that in this Israel, the center of worship had become the priest instead of God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 11