15 The priest must bring the fowl to the Altar, partially nip off its head by cutting through the nape of the neck, the neck bone, the esophagus, and the trachea, all with his fingernail—which he must let grow long for this purpose. He must then cut off the rest of the fowl’s head completely, even with a knife, and burn up the head on the Altar. But first, the fowl’s blood must be made to exude from its neck onto the wall of the Altar—not directly, by squeezing the fowl’s neck, but indirectly, by pressing its neck against the Altar wall.
16 He must then cut into the fowl’s body and remove its crop, along with its entrails and along with the flesh and feathers opposite the crop, and then discard these pieces on the east side of the ramp next to the Altar, at the place where the ashes removed from the Altar each morning are deposited.
The digestive organs of cattle, sheep, and goats are offered up on the Altar, whereas the digestive organs of fowl are discarded, because livestock only eat their masters’ or ownerless food, whereas fowl fly into other people’s property and “rob” them in order to eat.
17 He must then, with his hands, rip open the body of the fowl from behind with its feathers intact, but he must not tear it completely apart. The priest must then burn up the fowl’s body, with its feathers, on the Altar, on top of the wood on the fire. He must burn it specifically with the intention that it be an ascent-offering. Similarly, the slaughtering must be done with the intention that the fowl be a fire-offering, i.e., destined to be consumed by fire, and that it be pleasing to God. Once the sacrificial rites are completed and the animal has caught fire, Divine fire will descend from heaven and consume the sacrifice.
Even though the smell of burning feathers is revolting, God insists that the feathers be burned because since it is usually poor people who offer up fowl as ascent-offerings (instead of cattle, sheep, or goats, which are much larger and far more expensive), He wants their sacrifice to look substantial so they should not feel embarrassed. Similarly, although a turtledove or pigeon is much smaller than a bull, sheep, or goat, God still considers it “pleasing” as long as the poor person has offered it up with the proper intentions.
The remainder of the laws concerning ascent-offerings will be given later.
