John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 7:16

"But if the sacrifice of his oblation be a vow, or a freewill-offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offereth his sacrifice; and on the morrow that which remaineth of it shall be eaten:" — Leviticus 7:16 (ASV)

But if the sacrifice of his offering. I have observed a little earlier that it is not a conditional but a simple vow that is meant here. If a person were under the obligation of a vow,²⁸⁷ his payment was an act of thanksgiving, and thus his sacrifice was included in the first category. However, it would be absurd to distinguish similar things as if they differed.

Since many made voluntary vows, Moses combines this kind of sacrifice with the free-will offering, as standing in the same rank. It has also been stated that the consecrated meats were not kept too long, so that they would not become tainted or putrid, and thus religion would fall into contempt.

Perhaps, too, vainglory was prevented in this way; for if it had been permissible to eat the meats salted, many would have made ostentatious offerings without cost. God, therefore, imposed a restriction, so that they would offer their sacrifices more sparingly and reverently.

The penalty is added: the sacrifice would not be acceptable to God, but rather abominable, and therefore all who ate of them would be guilty. Moreover, when Moses says that polluted sacrifices would not be “imputed,” we may infer that those which are properly offered are taken into account by God, so that He considers them as things spent for Himself.

Still, we must not imagine them to be merits that place Him under obligation; but because He condescends to deal so generously with us, no duty we perform for Him is useless.

²⁸⁷ Lat., “damnatus esset.” Fr., “.” Fr., “si quelqu’un avoit voue, et obtenu ce qu’il demandoit;” if any one had vowed, and obtained what he asked.;” if any one had vowed, and obtained what he asked.