Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Leviticus 3:1) "'And if his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD.'"
In the first couple of chapters of Leviticus, God had been telling Moses to instruct the children of Israel on how they were to offer their sacrifices. Chapter 3 begins with instructions for a peace offering. The peace offering was sometimes referred to as a thank offering, according to the old commentaries I read. The 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes described it as a "sacrifice of thanksgiving offered for peace and prosperity, either generally or particularly". Strong's defined the original word "shelem" as a "voluntary sacrifice in thanks, a peace offering". A peace offering "of the herd" meant of cattle, as in the burnt offerings in chapter 1. This offering could be either male or female, but it had to be without blemish. Whereas the burnt offering had to be male, I believe because that represented Christ, the peace or thank offering could be either male or female, indicating that there is no distinction of male and female with respect to blessings from the Lord (Galatians 3:28).
(2) "‘And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.'"
The person offering this peace offering was to lay his hand on the head of the animal he was offering, signifying that this sacrifice was his own, and that he was sort of transferring his own thankfulness and also unworthiness onto the animal. He was to kill the animal at the door of the tabernacle, and then Aaron's sons, the priests, were to sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.
(3) "'And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the LORD; the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is on the inwards, (4) And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, he shall remove. (5) And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the LORD.'"
"He" seems to refer to the one offering the sacrifice, but it was actually Aaron's sons who did the burning of the sacrifice. What was to be offered was all the fat on the "inwards", the two kidneys and their fat, and the caul above the liver. I covered a little more in depth than here what these parts probably were in the study on Exodus, chapter 29, Consecration of the Priests, specifically verse 13. Basically, I believe these made up the "gut" or middle section of the animal, perhaps representing the center of emotion. These were to be removed from the animal to be burned in an offering made by fire. Aaron's sons then burned this offering on the altar "upon the burnt sacrifice", which referred to the ashes of the continual burnt offering referred to in Exodus 29:38, where daily an offering was made, keeping the fire burning continually. This offering would then be considered a sweet aroma to the Lord, an acceptable sacrifice.
(6) "'And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD is of the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. (7) If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD.'"
A peace offering could also be a sacrifice "of the flock", which meant of the sheep or goats. It could be male or female, but must be one without blemish. If a lamb was offered, as opposed to a goat (verse 12), that lamb would be sacrificed as a peace offering before the Lord. There may be significance in the word "lamb", but I'm not certain that it was a mandatory condition. Strong's says the word "keseb" means a "young sheep". Dr. John Gill wrote that according to Maimonides, a Jewish physician and philosopher, and an important figure in the history of Torah scholarship, "lamb" meant one of the flock in its first year and that "that where ever this word is used in the law, it signifies one of the first year".
(8) "‘And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.'"
As with the offering of the herd, the person offering the animal was to lay his hand on the head of the animal and then kill it "before the tabernacle", which probably meant somewhere in the court before the door of the tabernacle. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, were to sprinkle the animal's blood all around on the altar.
(9) "'And he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the LORD, its fat and the whole fat tail which he shall remove by the backbone; and the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is on the inwards, (10) And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, he shall remove. (11) And the priest shall burn it on the altar; it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.'"
The parts of the lamb that were to be burned on the altar were much the same as those of an animal from the herd, except that the fat tail of the lamb was also burned. The tails of the eastern sheep were said to be very large and fat, alone weighing 15 pounds and more. These parts were considered the "food" of the offering made by fire to the Lord. It was the Lord's food or bread burned to and for Him, whereas the rest fell to the priests, as we are told elsewhere.
(12) "'And if his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD.'"
A goat could also be offered as an offering of the flock, and could be male or female, but either must be without blemish, according to verse 6.
(13) "'And he shall lay his hand on its head and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.'"
Like the lamb, the person offering the goat, was to place his hand on the goat's head and then kill it in front of the tabernacle, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, were to sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.
(14) "'And he shall offer from it his offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is on the inwards, (15) And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, he shall remove.'"
The same parts of the goat as the parts of the animal offered from the herd, were to be offered and burned. Nothing is said of the tail, which was peculiar to the sheep.
(16) "'And the priest shall burn them on the altar; it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s.'"
These parts were to be burned on the altar by the priest, and was considered the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord, or acceptable and pleasing to Him. All the fat on the animals, especially as described in the parts that were to be burned on the altar, were to be the Lord's.
(17) "'It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that you eat neither fat nor blood.’”
It was to be an everlasting statute throughout their generations, not only of the animals they sacrificed at the tabernacle, but throughout their personal dwellings of the animals they killed for their personal use, that they should eat neither fat nor blood. It is believed that the fat meant was the fat that had been described in the passages above, that it was not meant to include every bit of fat that is marbled in the meat of an animal. The blood was considered the life of the flesh (Gen. 9:4, Lev. 17:14, Deu. 12:23), and was forbidden to be eaten.
The peace offering was a voluntary offering made to God that appears to have been either in thanksgiving for peace and prosperity or as a vow to make peace and reconciliation with God (Lev., chap. 7). Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that the peace offering, the burnt offering from chapter 1, and the grain offering from chapter 2, were all spoken of as "if it was familiarly known before the giving of the Law". The next chapter will begin to discuss a new kind of offering instituted by the Law.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Sunday, March 20, 2016
The Law of the Grain Offering
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Leviticus 2:1) "'And when any will offer a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.'"
Chapter 1 of Leviticus began with the Lord talking to Moses and telling him what to tell the people. The Lord continued speaking to Moses in the second chapter. The first chapter dealt with burnt animal sacrifices and this one begins with instructions for grain offerings. It is interesting to note that the KJV translated it as a "meat offering" (rather than "grain offering") and I was rather amused at how one old commentary explained it. John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, wrote that "meat offering" should have read "meal offering", and was "an ancient false print, which has run thro' many editions of our bible". The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and others, stated that it was rendered "meat offering" "because the term meat in their time was the general name for food". The original word used was "minchah" and its meaning according to Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs, referred to the offering itself (gift, offering, tribute, oblation, sacrifice) rather than what kind of offering it was. However, it is clear from the verse that since the offering was to be of "fine flour" that some sort of grain was intended. At least grain was a part of it; it could be read that this "meat offering" was of three things--fine flour, oil, and frankincense. Some of the old commentators that I read were in agreement that "fine flour" represented wheat flour because of scriptures that spoke of wheat or wheaten flour for a meat offering (Ex. 29:2, 1 Chron. 21:23). Dr. John Gill wrote in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, that "the Jews say, there is no fine flour but wheat". Whether "fine flour" meant finely ground or fine in quality, I am still not certain, but maybe they are one and the same. Oil was to be poured on this fine flour and frankincense was also to be put on it.
(2) "'And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and one of them shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense; and the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.'"
The person offering the grain offering to the Lord was to bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and one of them was to take a handful of the fine flour, oil, and frankincense. Note that the scripture said that he was to take a handful of flour and oil, and all the frankincense. As we'll see that the remainder of the grain offering after this ceremony was given to the priests, it makes sense that the priest would have no need for the frankincense other than burning it on the altar. This handful portion of the offering was to be burned on the altar as a memorial of the entire offering that was given as acknowledgement that all was the Lord's and that the giver was deserving of death by fire were it not for the gracious mercy of the Lord. This was said to be a sweet aroma to the Lord, accepted by the Lord as a suitable sacrifice for atonement of sins.
(3) "'And the rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is most holy of the offerings to the LORD made by fire.'"
The rest of the grain offering not burned on the altar was to be given to Aaron and his sons, the priests, demonstrating the care taken by the Lord for the maintenance of the priests. This was a most holy offering to the Lord to be eaten by the priests only.
(4) "‘And if you bring an oblation of a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.'"
If the grain of the offering was already baked in an oven, it was to be baked into unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers smeared with oil, "unleavened" meaning having no leaven or yeast.
(5) "'And if your oblation is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. (6) You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.'"
I was not quite sure how the baking of cakes was different in the oven versus the pan until I realized the original words both translated as "baked" were not the same. In verse 4, referring to "baked in the oven", the word was "maapheh", meaning "baked". In verse 5, the word "baked" as in "baked in a pan" was actually supplied by the translators and never in the original text. The translators thought they were making it easier for us to understand, because to them the original text seemed to leave out a word. The original actually read "if your oblation is a grain offering in a pan", and that would mean it was cooked in a pan rather than baked. If the grain offering was cooked in a pan, it was also to be of fine flour, unleavened and mixed with oil. It was to be broken into pieces, not cut, with oil poured on it. It was considered a grain offering just as the flour and oil and the cakes baked in the oven were grain offerings.
(7) "'And if your offering is a grain offering baked in the frying pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.'"
Once again the word "baked" was added by the translators. Rather than "baked", it would have been better to use "prepared". Prepared in a frying pan rather than prepared in a pan probably means it was pan-fried. Again the grain offering was to be of fine flour with oil.
(8) "'And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the LORD; and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar.'"
The one offering the prepared cake of grain to the Lord was to bring it to the priest, who would then bring it to the altar.
(9) "'And the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion, and shall burn it on the altar; it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the LORD. (10) And what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is a thing most holy of the offerings to the LORD made by fire.'"
Once again, the priest was just to take a small (handful) memorial portion of the offering and burn that on the altar. It would be an acceptable and pleasing offering to the Lord. What was left over from what was burned was again to be given to the priests; it was once again called a most holy offering to the Lord to be eaten by the priests only.
(11) "‘No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire.'"
In any of the aforementioned grain offerings, there was to be none made with leaven. Leaven produced fermentation and swelling as the root of the original word "seor" actually means--"to swell up". Leaven is referred to in the New Testament as hypocrisy (Luke 12:1) and malice and wickedness (1 Cor. 5:8); Christians are to be unleavened with the old leaven purged out (1 Cor. 5:7) and they are "to keep the feast...with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor.5:8). There are two schools of thought on why honey was forbidden to be burned. One is that it could also be used to produce fermentation, and it could have a bitter and purgative effect in the stomach. Another school of thought really just expands on the bitter effect of honey in the stomach. Honey was a good thing; Canaan flowed with it. However, too much honey was not good (Prov. 25:16 & 27). Perhaps honey represented excessive sensual pleasure, and that, too, must be avoided as an offering to be burned as a grain offering.
(12) "‘As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the LORD, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma.'"
An offering of the first fruits was different than a grain offering that was to be burned on the altar. Verse 12 may actually be a continuation of verse 11 meaning that while leaven and honey were forbidden in the grain offering that was to be burned on the altar, "you shall offer them (leaven and honey) to the Lord" in the offering of the first fruits, but they were not to be burned on the altar and would not be considered a pleasing sacrifice or sweet aroma to the Lord.
(13) "'And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.'"
Salt had the opposite effect from leaven. Whereas leaven produced fermentation and sourness, salt preserved from putrefaction, and therefore signified purity and perfection. Every grain offering, as well as "with all your offerings", was to be seasoned with salt, a symbol of every living sacrifice to God that is to be seasoned with salt, as told us several times in the New Testament:
“For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." - Mark 9:49
“Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” - Mark 9:50
"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." - Colossians 4:6
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be salted? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." - Matthew 5:13
(14) "'And if you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain dried by the fire, grain beaten out of full ears.'"
If the first fruits were being offered as this grain offering to be burned on the altar, then green or not fully ripened ears of grain were to be offered. Perhaps the best were to be offered before they had a chance to be defiled by men, as the first fruits of man are described in Revelation 14:4: "These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." These green ears were to be dried by the fire and the grain beaten out of them. Note that the grain was to be beaten out of "full ears", so these were not green ears too young and green so as not to have lots of grain. They were likely the finest and freshest ears just before they were fully ripe and beginning the process of withering.
(15) "‘And you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. (16) And the priest shall burn the memorial portion of its beaten grain and of its oil, with all its frankincense; it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.'"
As with the offering of fine flour in verse 1 above, oil and frankincense were to be put on the first fruits grain offering. The priest would then burn a memorial portion of the offering that included a portion of the grain and a portion of the oil, but with all of the frankincense, as in verse 2 above.
Although this is a relatively short chapter, as it discussed one type of offering and the next chapter begins with another, I will close here for now, with this thought expressed by Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, that we are blessed by God to "have the substance of which all these observances were but shadows, the fruit that was hid under these leaves", that is, Christ Jesus, who was called the first fruits in 1 Corinthians 15:23.
(Leviticus 2:1) "'And when any will offer a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.'"
Chapter 1 of Leviticus began with the Lord talking to Moses and telling him what to tell the people. The Lord continued speaking to Moses in the second chapter. The first chapter dealt with burnt animal sacrifices and this one begins with instructions for grain offerings. It is interesting to note that the KJV translated it as a "meat offering" (rather than "grain offering") and I was rather amused at how one old commentary explained it. John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, wrote that "meat offering" should have read "meal offering", and was "an ancient false print, which has run thro' many editions of our bible". The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and others, stated that it was rendered "meat offering" "because the term meat in their time was the general name for food". The original word used was "minchah" and its meaning according to Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs, referred to the offering itself (gift, offering, tribute, oblation, sacrifice) rather than what kind of offering it was. However, it is clear from the verse that since the offering was to be of "fine flour" that some sort of grain was intended. At least grain was a part of it; it could be read that this "meat offering" was of three things--fine flour, oil, and frankincense. Some of the old commentators that I read were in agreement that "fine flour" represented wheat flour because of scriptures that spoke of wheat or wheaten flour for a meat offering (Ex. 29:2, 1 Chron. 21:23). Dr. John Gill wrote in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, that "the Jews say, there is no fine flour but wheat". Whether "fine flour" meant finely ground or fine in quality, I am still not certain, but maybe they are one and the same. Oil was to be poured on this fine flour and frankincense was also to be put on it.
(2) "'And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and one of them shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense; and the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.'"
The person offering the grain offering to the Lord was to bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and one of them was to take a handful of the fine flour, oil, and frankincense. Note that the scripture said that he was to take a handful of flour and oil, and all the frankincense. As we'll see that the remainder of the grain offering after this ceremony was given to the priests, it makes sense that the priest would have no need for the frankincense other than burning it on the altar. This handful portion of the offering was to be burned on the altar as a memorial of the entire offering that was given as acknowledgement that all was the Lord's and that the giver was deserving of death by fire were it not for the gracious mercy of the Lord. This was said to be a sweet aroma to the Lord, accepted by the Lord as a suitable sacrifice for atonement of sins.
(3) "'And the rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is most holy of the offerings to the LORD made by fire.'"
The rest of the grain offering not burned on the altar was to be given to Aaron and his sons, the priests, demonstrating the care taken by the Lord for the maintenance of the priests. This was a most holy offering to the Lord to be eaten by the priests only.
(4) "‘And if you bring an oblation of a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.'"
If the grain of the offering was already baked in an oven, it was to be baked into unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers smeared with oil, "unleavened" meaning having no leaven or yeast.
(5) "'And if your oblation is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. (6) You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.'"
I was not quite sure how the baking of cakes was different in the oven versus the pan until I realized the original words both translated as "baked" were not the same. In verse 4, referring to "baked in the oven", the word was "maapheh", meaning "baked". In verse 5, the word "baked" as in "baked in a pan" was actually supplied by the translators and never in the original text. The translators thought they were making it easier for us to understand, because to them the original text seemed to leave out a word. The original actually read "if your oblation is a grain offering in a pan", and that would mean it was cooked in a pan rather than baked. If the grain offering was cooked in a pan, it was also to be of fine flour, unleavened and mixed with oil. It was to be broken into pieces, not cut, with oil poured on it. It was considered a grain offering just as the flour and oil and the cakes baked in the oven were grain offerings.
(7) "'And if your offering is a grain offering baked in the frying pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.'"
Once again the word "baked" was added by the translators. Rather than "baked", it would have been better to use "prepared". Prepared in a frying pan rather than prepared in a pan probably means it was pan-fried. Again the grain offering was to be of fine flour with oil.
(8) "'And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the LORD; and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar.'"
The one offering the prepared cake of grain to the Lord was to bring it to the priest, who would then bring it to the altar.
(9) "'And the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion, and shall burn it on the altar; it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the LORD. (10) And what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is a thing most holy of the offerings to the LORD made by fire.'"
Once again, the priest was just to take a small (handful) memorial portion of the offering and burn that on the altar. It would be an acceptable and pleasing offering to the Lord. What was left over from what was burned was again to be given to the priests; it was once again called a most holy offering to the Lord to be eaten by the priests only.
(11) "‘No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire.'"
In any of the aforementioned grain offerings, there was to be none made with leaven. Leaven produced fermentation and swelling as the root of the original word "seor" actually means--"to swell up". Leaven is referred to in the New Testament as hypocrisy (Luke 12:1) and malice and wickedness (1 Cor. 5:8); Christians are to be unleavened with the old leaven purged out (1 Cor. 5:7) and they are "to keep the feast...with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor.5:8). There are two schools of thought on why honey was forbidden to be burned. One is that it could also be used to produce fermentation, and it could have a bitter and purgative effect in the stomach. Another school of thought really just expands on the bitter effect of honey in the stomach. Honey was a good thing; Canaan flowed with it. However, too much honey was not good (Prov. 25:16 & 27). Perhaps honey represented excessive sensual pleasure, and that, too, must be avoided as an offering to be burned as a grain offering.
(12) "‘As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the LORD, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma.'"
An offering of the first fruits was different than a grain offering that was to be burned on the altar. Verse 12 may actually be a continuation of verse 11 meaning that while leaven and honey were forbidden in the grain offering that was to be burned on the altar, "you shall offer them (leaven and honey) to the Lord" in the offering of the first fruits, but they were not to be burned on the altar and would not be considered a pleasing sacrifice or sweet aroma to the Lord.
(13) "'And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.'"
Salt had the opposite effect from leaven. Whereas leaven produced fermentation and sourness, salt preserved from putrefaction, and therefore signified purity and perfection. Every grain offering, as well as "with all your offerings", was to be seasoned with salt, a symbol of every living sacrifice to God that is to be seasoned with salt, as told us several times in the New Testament:
“For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." - Mark 9:49
“Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” - Mark 9:50
"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." - Colossians 4:6
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be salted? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." - Matthew 5:13
(14) "'And if you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain dried by the fire, grain beaten out of full ears.'"
If the first fruits were being offered as this grain offering to be burned on the altar, then green or not fully ripened ears of grain were to be offered. Perhaps the best were to be offered before they had a chance to be defiled by men, as the first fruits of man are described in Revelation 14:4: "These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." These green ears were to be dried by the fire and the grain beaten out of them. Note that the grain was to be beaten out of "full ears", so these were not green ears too young and green so as not to have lots of grain. They were likely the finest and freshest ears just before they were fully ripe and beginning the process of withering.
(15) "‘And you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. (16) And the priest shall burn the memorial portion of its beaten grain and of its oil, with all its frankincense; it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.'"
As with the offering of fine flour in verse 1 above, oil and frankincense were to be put on the first fruits grain offering. The priest would then burn a memorial portion of the offering that included a portion of the grain and a portion of the oil, but with all of the frankincense, as in verse 2 above.
Although this is a relatively short chapter, as it discussed one type of offering and the next chapter begins with another, I will close here for now, with this thought expressed by Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, that we are blessed by God to "have the substance of which all these observances were but shadows, the fruit that was hid under these leaves", that is, Christ Jesus, who was called the first fruits in 1 Corinthians 15:23.
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