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.