L
E V I T I C U S
CHAP. II.
In
this chapter we have the law concerning the meat-offering. I. The matter of
it; whether of raw flour with oil and incense (ver. 1), or baked in the oven
(ver. 4), or upon a plate (ver. 5, 6), or in a frying pan, ver. 7. II. The
management of it, of the flour (ver. 2, 3), of the cakes, ver. 8-10. III. Some
particular rules concerning it, That leaven and honey must never be admitted
(ver. 11, 12), and salt never omitted in the meat-offering, ver. 13. IV. The
law concerning the offering of firstfruits in the ear, ver. 14, &c.
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The
Law of the Meat-Offering.
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B.
C. 1490.
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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: 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. 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. 6 Thou shalt part it in
pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. 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.
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.
There were some meat-offerings that were only appendices to the
burnt-offerings, as that which was offered with the daily sacrifice (Exod.
xxix. 38, 39) and with the peace-offerings; these had drink-offerings joined
with them (see Num. xv. 4, 7, 9, 10), and in these the quantity was appointed.
But the law of this chapter concerns those meat-offerings that were offered by
themselves, whenever a man saw cause thus to express his devotion. The first
offering we read of in scripture was of this kind (Gen. iv. 3): Cain
brought of the fruit of the ground an offering.
I. This sort of offerings was appointed, 1. In condescension to the poor, and
their ability, that those who themselves lived only upon bread and cakes might
offer an acceptable offering to God out of that which was their own coarse and
homely fare, and by making for God's altar, as the widow of Sarepta for his
prophet, a little cake first, might procure such a blessing upon the handful
of meal in the barrel, and the oil in the cruse, as that it should not fail.
2. As a proper acknowledgment of the mercy of God to them in their food. This
was like a quitrent, by which they testified their dependence upon God, their
thankfulness to him, and their expectations from him as their owner and
bountiful benefactor, who giveth to all life, and breath, and food convenient.
Thus must they honour the Lord with their substance, and, in token of their
eating and drinking to his glory, must consecrate some of their meat and drink
to his immediate service. Those that now, with a grateful charitable heart,
deal out their bread to the hungry, and provide for the necessities of those
that are destitute of daily food, and when they eat the fat and drink the
sweet themselves send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, offer
unto God an acceptable meat-offering. The prophet laments it as one of the
direful effects of famine that thereby the meat-offering and drink-offering
were cut off from the house of the Lord (Joel i. 9), and reckoned it the
greatest blessing of plenty that it would be the revival of them, Joel ii. 14.
II. The laws of the meat-offerings were these:-- 1. The ingredients must
always be fine flour and oil, two staple commodities of the land of Canaan,
Deut. viii. 8. Oil was to them then in their food what butter is now to us. If
it was undressed, the oil must be poured upon the flour (v. 1); if
cooked, it must be mingled with the flour, v. 4, &c. 2. If it was
flour unbaked, besides the oil it must have frankincense put upon it, which
was to be burnt with it (v. 1, 2), for the perfuming of the altar; in
allusion to this, gospel ministers are said to be a sweet savour unto God,
2 Cor. ii. 15. 3. If it was prepared, this might be done in various ways; the
offerer might bake it, or fry it, or mix the flour and oil upon a plate, for
the doing of which conveniences were provided about the tabernacle. The law
was very exact even about those offerings that were least costly, to intimate
the cognizance God takes of the religious services performed with a devout
mind, even by the poor of his people. 4. It was to be presented by the offerer
to the priest, which is called bringing it to the Lord (v. 8),
for the priests were God's receivers, and were ordained to offer gifts. 5.
Part of it was to be burnt upon the altar, for a memorial, that is, in token
of their mindfulness of God's bounty to them, in giving them all things richly
to enjoy. It was an offering made by fire, v. 2, 9. The
consuming of it by fire might remind them that they deserved to have all the
fruits of the earth thus burnt up, and that it was of the Lord's mercies that
they were not. They might also learn that as meats are for the belly, and
the belly for meats, so God shall destroy both it and them (1 Cor.
vi. 13), and that man lives not by bread alone. This offering made by
fire is here said to be of a sweet savour unto the Lord; and so are our
spiritual offerings, which are made by the fire of holy love, particularly
that of almsgiving, which is said to be an odour of a sweet smell, a
sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God (Phil. iv. 18), and with
such sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb. xiii. 16. 6. The remainder of
the meat-offering was to be given to the priests, v. 3, 10. It is a
thing most holy, not to be eaten by the offerers, as the peace-offerings
(which, though holy, were not most holy), but by the priests only, and their
families. Thus God provided that those who served at the altar should live
upon the altar, and live comfortably.
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. 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. 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.
Here, I. Leaven and honey are forbidden to be put in any of their
meat-offerings: No leaven, nor any honey, in any offering made by fire,
v. 11. 1. The leaven was forbidden in remembrance of the unleavened
bread they ate when they came out of Egypt. So much despatch was required in
the offerings they made that it was not convenient they should stay for the
leavening of them. The New Testament comparing pride and hypocrisy to leaven
because they swell like leaven, comparing also malice and wickedness to leaven
because they sour like leaven, we are to understand and improve this as a
caution to take heed of those sins which will certainly spoil the
acceptableness of our spiritual sacrifices. Pure hands must be lifted up
without wrath, and all our gospel feasts kept with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth. 2. Honey was forbidden, though Canaan flowed with it,
because to eat much honey is not good (Prov. xxv. 16, 27); it turns to
choler and bitterness in the stomach, though luscious to the taste. Some think
the chief reason why those two things, leaven and honey, were forbidden, was
because the Gentiles used them very much in their sacrifices, and God's people
must not learn or use the way of the heathen, but his services must be the
reverse of their idolatrous services; see Deut. xii. 30, 31. Some make this
application of this double prohibition: leaven signifies grief and sadness of
spirit (Ps. lxxiii. 21), My heart was leavened; honey signifies sensual
pleasure and mirth. In our service of God both these must be avoided, and a
mean observed between those extremes; for the sorrow of the world worketh
death, and a love to the delights of sense is a great enemy to holy love.
II. Salt is required in all their offerings, v. 13. The altar was the
table of the Lord; and therefore, salt being always set on our tables, God
would have it always used at his. It is called the salt of the covenant,
because, as men confirmed their covenants with each other by eating and
drinking together, at all which collations salt was used, so God, by accepting
his people's gifts and feasting them upon his sacrifices, supping with them
and they with him (Rev. iii. 20), did confirm his covenant with them. Among
the ancients salt was a symbol of friendship. The salt for the sacrifice was
not brought by the offerers, but was provided at the public charge, as the
wood was, Ezra vii. 20-22. And there was a chamber in the court of the temple
called the chamber of salt, in which they laid it up. Can that which
is unsavoury be eaten without salt? God would hereby intimate to them that
their sacrifices in themselves were unsavoury. The saints, who are living
sacrifices to God, must have salt in themselves, for every sacrifice must
be salted with salt (Mark ix. 49, 50), and our speech must be always
with grace (Col. iv. 6), so must all our religious performances be
seasoned with that salt. Christianity is the salt of the earth.
III. Directions are given about the first-fruits. 1. The oblation of their
first-fruits at harvest, of which we read, Deut. xxvi. 2. These were offered
to the Lord, not to be burnt upon the altar, but to be given to the priests as
perquisites of their office, v. 12. And you shall offer them
(that is, leaven and honey) in the oblation of the first-fruits, though they
were forbidden in other meat-offerings; for they were proper enough to be
eaten by the priests, though not to be burnt upon the altar. The loaves of the
first-fruits are particularly ordered to be baked with leaven, Lev.
xxiii. 17. And we read of the first-fruits of honey brought to the house of
God, 2 Chron. xxxi. 5. 2. A meat-offering of their first-fruits. The former
was required by the law; this was a free-will offering, v. 14-16. If a
man, with a thankful sense of God's goodness to him in giving him hopes of a
plentiful crop, was disposed to bring an offering in kind immediately out of
his field, and present it to God, owning thereby his dependence upon God and
obligations to him, (1.) Let him be sure to bring the first ripe and full
ears, not such as were small and half-withered. Whatever was brought for an
offering to God must be the best in its kind, though it were but green ears of
corn. We mock God, and deceive ourselves, if we think to put him off with a
corrupt thing while we have in our flock a male, Mal. i. 14. (2.) These green
ears must be dried by the fire, that the corn, such as it was, might be beaten
out of them. That is not expected from green ears which one may justly look
for from those that have been left to grow fully ripe. If those that are young
do God's work as well as they can, they shall be accepted, though they cannot
do it so well as those that are aged and experienced. God makes the best of
green ears of corn, and so must we. (3.) Oil and frankincense must be put upon
it. Thus (as some allude to this) wisdom and humility must soften and sweeten
the spirits and services of young people, and then their green ears of corn
shall be acceptable. God takes a particular delight in the first ripe fruits
of the Spirit and the expressions of early piety and devotion. Those that can
but think and speak as children, yet, if they think and speak well, God will
be well pleased with their buds and blossoms, and will never forget the
kindness of their youth. (4.) It must be used as other meat-offerings, v.
16, compare v. 9. He shall offer all the frankincense; it is an
offering made by fire. The fire and the frankincense seem to have had a
special significancy. [1.] The fire denotes the fervency of spirit which ought
to be in all our religious services. In every good thing we must be zealously
affected. Holy love to God is the fire by which all our offerings must be
made; else they are not of a sweet savour to God. [2.] The frankincense
denotes the mediation and intercession of Christ, by which all our services
are perfumed and recommended to God's gracious acceptance. Blessed be God that
we have the substance of which all these observances were but shadows, the
fruit that was hid under these leaves.
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