"And they shall eat [the sacrifices] with which atonement was made"—Exodus 29:33.
The kohanim (priests) are commanded to eat the flesh of the sacrifices. This includes the flesh of the Sin and Guilt Offerings—for which the priests' consumption actually effects the desired atonement—as well as all the other sacrifices and even the Terumah tithe.
There are two types of sacrifices: the "holy of holies" and the "holy." [Examples of the "holy of holies" are the Sin and Guilt Offerings. Examples of the "holy" are the Peace Offering and the Firstborn.] The former class of sacrifices must be eaten by male priests only, on the day when the sacrifice was offered or the night that follows. The latter class can be eaten by priests and their wives and children, until the nightfall of the day following the offering of the sacrifice (with the exception of the Thanksgiving Offering and the Nazirite Ram, which though they are of the "holy" class, they share the more stringent time restriction of the "holy of holies").
