Leviticus 2:
The Meal Offerings
Here begins
our discussion of the meal, or as the KJV puts it, “meat” offering. This too is
a Korban offering, which consists of flour, oil, frankincense and sometimes a
little water is added. This offering is brought by an extremely impoverished
person to show us that no one is exempt from sacrifice.
1 And when any will offer a meat
offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour
oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon:
Though this
particular offering has nothing to do with atonement an anti-missionary may
point to passages that seem to indicate that other things could atone besides
blood. For example, in Lev. 5:11-15 it speaks of the poor that are unable to
bring the required sin offering of a lamb, goat, turtledove, etc., could offer
flour instead. But a careful reading will reveal that the handful of flour
burned as a memorial portion upon the altar is coupled with previous blood
sacrifices already on the altar and that that blood atones for the poor person.
Nowhere in Torah does it speak of or hint that flour has any atoning power for
sin.
2 And he shall bring it to Aaron's
sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof,
and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall
burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a
sweet savour unto the LORD: 3 And the remnant of the meat offering shall be
Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD
made by fire.
As we can
read, not all the wheat flour offered is burnt on the altar, but a memorial
portion, which is said to be by the Rabbis and Sages and the translation of the
Stone’s Tanak, using the fingers as a spoon, an index middle and ring finger,
three fingers full of flour. The rest is given to the Priests to use as food
seeing as they have no inheritance in Israel but ADONAI Himself. Despite ones
poverty the Kohen (Priests) must live too. The lack of sacrifice not only hurts
one’s self spiritually, but dooms one’s self by starving the Kohen. Some
sacrifices that were not wholly consumed on the Altar provide food, materials
and income for the Priests and their families (Leviticus 5-10). God said they
(the sacrifices) are a sweet savor, all these sacrifices are the same in God’s
eyes whether little or much.
Lev. 6:14-18 And this is the law of
the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the
altar. And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering,
and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat
offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the
memorial of it, unto the LORD. And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his
sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court
of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be baken
with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made
by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.
All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a
statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made
by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.
Now we move
onto regulations regarding the meal offerings that comes oven baked, pan and
deep pan baked.
Lev. 2:4 And if thou bring an
oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of
fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. 5 And if
thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour
unleavened, mingled with oil. 7 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in
the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And thou shalt bring
the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is
presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar. 9 And the priest
shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon
the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
It is to be
unleavened, because this symbolizes purity, unblemishedness and sinlessness of
the offering. Yeast, leaven always represents sin, we get this from the story
of Passover in the Exodus:
Exd. 12:15-20 Seven days shall ye eat
unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your
houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the
seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day [there
shall be] an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy
convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save [that] which
every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe [the
feast of] unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies
out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your
generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first [month], on the fourteenth
day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and
twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found
in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul
shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or
born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall
ye eat unleavened bread.
The
symbolism is further backed up by the testimony of the Brit Chadasha (New
Testament).
Gal. 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump. 1Cor. 5:6-8 Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven that
ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened
[bread] of sincerity and truth.
It is torn
in pieces to represent an animal sacrifice and even brings to mind the Covenant
Between the Parts between Abraham and ADONAI (Gen. 15).
Lev. 2:6 Thou shalt part it in
pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.
Though
Yeshua was not torn asunder the scourging acted as a knife and torn his flesh
apart.
John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took
Jesus, and scourged [him].
The oil sets
it apart as holy offering as does anything anointed with oil. Yeshua too was
anointed prior to His sacrificial death.
Matt. 26:6-13 Now when Jesus was in
Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an
alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat
[at meat]. But when his disciples saw [it], they had indignation, saying, To
what purpose [is] this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much,
and given to the poor. When Jesus understood [it], he said unto them, Why
trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the
poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured
this ointment on my body, she did [it] for my burial. Verily I say unto you,
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, [there] shall
also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
And again we
see the Priest are permitted to take what is left after the memorial portion
has been taken an offered on the Altar and eat it.
This is like
Yeshua, was He not called the “Bread of Life” (John 6), was He not born in Beit
Lechem (Bethlehem) being translated the “City of Bread” (Matt. 2:1), and was He
not laid in a manger, a feeding trough usually filled with grain for animals to
eat (Luke 2:7)? We begin to see, even in the early parts of the sacrificial
instructions of Leviticus that Yeshua fits somehow into every one of them.
“This offering typifies Christ as the
perfect and sinless Man and presents to us His wonderful Person and His
spotless life which was ever an offering of a sweet savour unto God. There was
no shedding of blood in this offering so it speaks of the perfections of
Christ's Person and life rather than of His death. The fine flour pictures His
sinless humanity with its evenness of moral qualities, the oil pictures the
grace and power of the Holy Spirit which characterized His life, while the
frankincense is emblematic of the sweetness and fragrance of His Person and
life.” – RK Campbell
Lev.2:10
And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it
is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 11 No meat
offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye
shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.
12 As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD:
but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.
As mentioned
before, Leaven is symbolic of sin and in sacrifices represents a contamination
rendering the sacrifice unacceptable.
Honey,
Leaven, Fruit represent it being processed, not pure, profaned and tainted by
the human element. Not only that, but these things act as a leavening agent and
cause such dough to rise, rendering the offering contaminated and useless.
According to the Kotzk Rebbe, “Ultra-sweet honey and ultra-sour leaven are
opposite extremes; God does not like extremes.”
Lev.2:13
And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither
shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy
meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
Num. 18:19 All the heave offerings of
the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given
thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it [is]
a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with
thee.
Historically
and by tradition, salt was shared to seal a truce or a peace agreement between
former enemies and or as a symbol of alliance between close friends. Treaties
and or friendships were often formalized by the partaking of a lick of salt to
seal the deal or heal the difference between them. Salt is a preservative and a
purifier, it is and has been used to sanitize cuts.
Matt. 5:13 Ye are the salt of the
earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it
is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under
foot of men.
And we are
to be the salt on the sacrifice and burn like the fire of such a sacrifice to
produce light for all to see as well.
Matt. 5:14 Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Remember
that we are to be a Living Sacrifice and our labor of love in this comes about
by blood, sweat and tears, all of which contain salt.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
Here is what
the Rabbis and Sages say on this matter:
“All sacrifices must be offered with
salt. We are not allowed to present a sacrifice or meal offering which does not
contain salt. The Torah calls the addition of salt to the sacrifice "the
covenant of your G-d." A covenant is a treaty or pact made between two
parties. The Torah uses salt to symbolize HaShem's covenant with the Jewish
people. Salt does not spoil and it retains taste for a very long time, so, too,
HaShem's bond with the Jewish people will never be broken.” --
http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/8750/jewish/Negative-Commandment99.htm
“When G-d separated the supernal
waters from the lower waters (see Genesis 1:6- 8), He made a covenant with the
lower waters that their salt will be offered on the Altar.” – Rashi
“The world is one part wilderness, one
part settled land, and one part sea. Said the sea to G-d: "Master of the
Universe! The Torah will be given in the wilderness; the Holy Temple will be
built on settled land; and what about me?" Said G-d: "The people of
Israel will offer your salt upon the Altar."” -- Yalkut HaReuveni
“The korban, which was the vehicle of
the elevation of the world to G-d, had to include "representatives"
of all four sectors of the creation: the inanimate world, the vegetable world,
the animal world, and the human world. Thus the korban was offered by a human
being, and consisted of an animal, grain, and salt.” -- Rabbi Isaac Luria
When Yeshua
was executed and martyred on the Roman cross, there was salt in His blood,
sweat and tears and He being a sacrifice refused any sweet or bitter thing, or
anything that may have been intoxicating by a leavening style process, so He
would not become a tainted and unacceptable offering.
Matt. 27:34 They gave him vinegar to
drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted [thereof], he would not drink.
Moving on…
Lev.2:14 And if thou offer a meat
offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat
offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn
beaten out of full ears. 15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay
frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. 16 And the priest shall burn the
memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof,
with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the
LORD.
According to
the Stone’s Tanak this passage refers to the Omer which was taken from the new
barley crop to the Altar to be burnt as an offering the second day of Passover.
Prior to the given of this offering no grain from the new crops could be eaten.
Leviticus 23:9-14 And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When
ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest
thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto
the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for
you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall
offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first
year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the meat offering thereof shall be
two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto
the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine,
the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn,
nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto
your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all
your dwellings.
