13 but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
The Bible, at times, pictures God as a consuming fire. The consuming of the animal communicates that the wrath of God is turned away from the worshipper, who is now free to enter into the Lord’s presence. To put it another way, God’s judgment against human sin was symbolized and the animal suffered in man's place. As the animal was being burned, the worshipper knew that his sacrifice had been accepted. To emphasize this, the passage says that the burnt offering was a pleasing aroma (rêªh nîḥôḥ) to God (see also Leviticus 2:12; Leviticus 3:16; Leviticus 8:21).
9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.