Remember This – The Grain Offering.
(Leviticus 2:1-16)
As you are well aware, God gave ancient Israel a series of sacrifices, which are recorded in Leviticus chapters one through seven. While there are other places where additional sacrifices are listed, these chapters serve as the main references for them.
In yesterday’s episode, we discussed the offerings in Leviticus, focusing mainly on the burnt offering mentioned in chapter one. In the subsequent chapters, Moses detailed some remarkably simple offerings that God wanted the children of Israel to understand and remember. These offerings were to serve as memorials, reminding the Israelites of essential aspects.The offering are divided into two parts: the offerings that are meal offerings, and the animal sacrifices. The animal sacrifices were covered in chapter one, and the meal offerings made of flour and similar ingredients are discussed here in chapter two.
‘When anyone offers 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. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom 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 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.
(Lev 2: 1-3)
In the first verse, we learn that when someone offers a grain offering, it should consist of fine flour with oil and frankincense poured on it. This offering was brought to Aaron's son, the priest, and a handful of fine flour mixed with oil and frankincense was burned on the altar as a memorial, producing a sweet aroma. The remainder of the grain offering was for Aaron and his sons. This non-cooked offering, made of fine flour, oil, and frankincense, symbolized the stuff of life and the toil of the one offering it. Olive oil, a symbol of God's enduring spirit, was used to bind the flour into a cake, enhancing the richness and desirability of the offering. Additionally, salt was specified for this offering, symbolizing the covenant promise. The ingredients were chosen deliberately to create a pleasing offering for the Lord. A portion of this mixture is given to the priest, who would then place it on the altar as a memorial offering. This offering was a way for the worshipper to remember and acknowledge God's graciousness and blessings. After the Lord received His portion, the rest of the grain offering was designated for Aaron and his sons again, emphasizing that the one bringing the offering did not receive any part of it. The offering was exclusively for the Lord and the priests, and thereby underscores its sacredness and purpose.
It is emphasized that this offering is "most holy," signifying its designation as set apart. This notion of holiness, central in Leviticus, denotes being set apart from sin and from the ordinary. God, being holy, is distinct and separate from sin and humanity. Leviticus emphasizes that to draw near to this holy God, the individuals must be holy in this way and that is the essential message conveyed throughout the book. Various things in this book set the Israelites apart. The Lord made them holy, like He is holy, so they could have a relationship. With that in mind, look at verse four:
4 ‘And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. 5 But if your offering 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. 7 ‘If your offering is a grain offering baked in a covered pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 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. 9 Then the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. It is an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. 10 And what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire. 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. 12 As for the offering of the first fruits, you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. 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.
(Lev 1: 4-13)
The second kind of covenant was a salt covenant. The idea of a salt covenant was that everybody carried around a pouch of salt. In the ancient world, the idea was if we made an agreement, I would take a pinch of salt out of my little salt bag and put it in your salt bag. And you would take a pinch of salt out of your salt bag and put it in my salt bag. The idea is this covenant, this arrangement that we have made, is as permanent as the grains of salt in your bag and mine, in yourself, and in my pack. In other words, until we can separate my grains of salt from yours, the covenant is in force. So, this is a much more permanent covenant than the shoe covenant. As a matter of fact, as far as the ancients were concerned, salt was indestructible. So, they thought of a salt covenant as being an enduring, permanent, eternal covenant. The Lord says, 'This is a meal offering, but just put salt on it because I want you to know about me. Remember the covenant I'm making with you.' And His covenant was to give them the land and through them, the world of Messiah.
I mentioned there were three covenants. The third is a blood covenant. And the one place this is mentioned in the book of Genesis is when God made a covenant with Abraham, he made a blood covenant. He took animals and killed them and divided them and laid their two parts out on the ground, put Abraham to sleep, and the Lord, symbolizing in smoke, walked through the divided animals. The significance of that covenant was the covenant is in force until the blood flows back through those animals again. Obviously, that's never going to happen. And that's the point. But what is particularly interesting is that in the shoe covenant, I get your shoe, you get my shoe; in the salt covenant, you get my salt, I get your salt; in the blood covenant, Abraham gave nothing. This was an unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham.
I don't have to tell this anyone listening today that we are saved by a covenant. In fact, the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the Mosaic Law, which is what we're going to look at in the book of Leviticus. But we're not under the old covenant; we're under the new covenant. Is the new covenant a shoe covenant, a salt covenant, or a blood covenant? Well I can tell you, it is a blood covenant and in light of the meaning of a salt covenant, it really becomes significant that the blood covenant is irrevocable, eternal, and permanent. And the Lord has given us a memorial of the blood covenant. In fact, when we observe the Lord's Supper, there are four passages in the New Testament that describe the Lord's Supper, There's one in Matthew, one in Mark, one in Luke, and one in First Corinthians. And the Lord's supper is a new covenant, in fact in all of those texts is quotes Jesus as saying 'This is the covenant in my blood,'.
So, the new covenant is that we are forgiven of our sins because Christ shed His blood, died in our place to pay for our sin. Now, He gave us the Lord's Supper to remind us, as a memorial, that we're saved by the blood of Christ. Now, that is something of what's going on here in verse 13. He calls what's going on a memorial. It's a memorial of a covenant.
Verse 13 is to remind them that they have an unbreakable, irrevocable, permanent, and eternal covenant with the Lord, that He is going to be their God, He is going to give them the land. So, there is this simple little memorial meal offering, grain, but to remind them of a deeply profound spiritual truth.
14 ‘If you offer a grain offering of your first fruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your first fruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads. 15 And you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it. It is a grain offering. 16 Then the priest shall burn the memorial portion: part of its beaten grain and part of its oil, with all the frankincense, as an offering made by fire to the Lord.
(Lev 2: 14-16)
This could be called the third offering in this chapter. It's the first fruits. That is, when you harvested your crops, you took the first part of the crops, and you gave it as an offering. First fruits were given to the Lord, and you put oil on it and frankincense. You gave it to the priest and the priest was to burn the memorial portion, that is, the portion given to the Lord. And you are to do this as a memorial. And there is no blood connected with this ritual. It is in the form of the first fruits offering, and because it's fruit there's no blood. It constitutes a recognition of God's covenant mercies and an affirmation of the loyalty of the Lord to his covenant who brought Israel into the land.
Chapter 1, we had animal offerings - a bull, goat, sheep, bird, pigeon, turtle dove. In chapter 2, we have cooked and uncooked flour, grain offering. So, the sum of chapter 2 is simply as part of Israel's religious ritual in a variety of ways. Everyone, anyone could offer a memorial of a grain offering consisting of grain, oil, and frankincense, symbolizing God's provision and bringing a sweet aroma to the Lord. Now, we've covered chapter 2
One of the things you could do with this chapter is focus on the procedure. There was an order. If you look at this chapter carefully, you would see there were four different steps. The first was the one offering the sacrifice prepared. You put oil and frankincense in the flour. The second step was he gave it to the priest. We're told elsewhere in Leviticus 7 that he put it in a bowl. The bowl is not mentioned in this chapter, but later we're told he mixed all of this in a bowl, and he took the bowl to the priest. The priest then took a handful of this concoction and put it on the brazen altar of the Tabernacle, and that's called the memorial portion. We can add to that that the priest got a portion of this. But the basic idea is that these offerings were vegetable in nature versus animal. It could be fine flour, flour baked into cakes. It could be a dry ear of corn. Sometimes it was presented raw, sometimes it was cooked. But there was no blood in this offering. The fire only consumed a portion - that portion that was given to the Lord. The rest was given to the priest. So, to the Jews in Moses' day, this was probably an act of worship - giving a gift to the Lord as a memorial and being thankful for what he has given to me."
Now, you could break this down and think about things like the offering reminding people that God gave them their basic food; this is the bread. In giving it to the Lord, the Lord has given us the ability to raise the crops and make the bread, the cakes. So, we're acknowledging His grace, benefit, and provision, and we're giving it back to Him, recognizing He gave us our basic food. It would be similar to us saying grace over our meal. At the same time, it's saying we're giving a portion of our lives to Him. It took time and effort for us to put this together, so it's acknowledging that our labour also belongs to the Lord, and it symbolizes, of course, that God made that possible.
So, let me break this down really simply in the application to us. I think, for one thing, it's a gift to the Lord. I mean, that's very clear. The word used means gift. I'm presenting the Lord with the gift. I guess that might be like us passing the offering plate and we give money to the Lord. What does the Lord do with it?
Now, in the Old Testament, when they gave this gift, it was burned up. But when we give money to the Lord, what do we do with it? What does the Lord do with the money we give Him? In the 1st century, they didn't have buildings as far as we can determine, did not come for a long time after the church was founded. They met in homes, and we even know they were meeting in the catacombs, which were underground graveyards. As far back into the end of the 2nd century, they state, we have now some archaeological evidences that they were building buildings. So, I guess that the Lord has a building. And He did in the Old Testament, called the Tabernacle and later the temple. And they had to keep up the temple. When you have a building like a church someone has to pay the bills, you have to keep up the property. And so, when we give money to the Lord, some of it goes to that.
The second thing I would say is, who got the rest of it? The priests. Now, this is interesting. God gave the land of Palestine to the Jews people,, the 12 tribes, and he broke the land up, and he gave each tribe a portion of the land. Remember, the Levites did not get a portion of the land. How did the tribe of Levi get their support? They were the priesthood, and they were to take care of the Tabernacle. They were the ones who burnt the burnt offerings. So, the Lord supported the priests by the offerings of the people. So, part of what's going on here, which I think is significant, is that they, I hesitate to say this, but this amounts to they paid for someone to minister to them. The New Testament says, 'He that labours in the word should be paid.' And Paul supports that by quoting a very interesting verse in the book of Numbers, where it says that the Levites were allowed to eat part of the grain as they pulled the flour whatever, around the field. So, Paul says in Galatians that you should minister to those that have taught you the word.
Here in the Old Testament, that symbolized and literally, the priests ate the offering. This is part of the way that the ancient Israelites supplied and supported the needs of the priests. So it's a gift to the Lord, it supports the priest. And the third thing I would say about this is that it was an offering of the people. Some say this is the way they worshiped the Lord. They were acknowledging that the Lord had enabled them, and they were giving a portion of what they were able to produce, like first fruits, back to the Lord. So, we work, we make money, and we give a portion of that to the Lord. That's the kind of thing that went on then. They didn't give money; they gave part of the products. They were agricultural; they were herdsmen and so, they gave what they had. In this case, what they produced.
In that regard, let me make a suggestion. It seems to me you need to put chapter one and chapter two together. In chapter one, as now I’ve mentioned several times, they gave a male cow, a bull, a sheep, a goat, a turtle dove, a pigeon. Now, I pointed out in chapter one that a cow was expensive, and everybody couldn't afford to do that. So, the Lord gave them the option of giving a sheep that wasn't nearly as expensive as the bull. And if they couldn't afford the sheep, they gave a goat that wasn't nearly as expensive as the cow. In other words, what I'm trying to say is that everybody could give something. They didn't have just one offering, the bull. And if you wanted to, you could cook it, and you didn't even have to do that. But it just seems to me that the way this is laid out, it allows for anybody to give something to the Lord. So, the issue is not the amount; it's not the value of the gift. It's the attitude. So, it just seems to me there's a lesson here that we just need to give things to.
Now, I assume that if you're interested enough in the Bible to listen to a Bible study today, so I assume most of you give to the Lord. So, I'm probably preaching to the choir, right? You’re probably not the sort of person that isn't giving anything to the Lord. We give our effort, our work, and we give money. But the amount of money isn't the issue. It's the attitude with which you do it. So, the widow who gave the mite got commended by the Lord. He didn't look down and say, 'Haha, he gave a bull; he's more valuable than this guy that gave the goat.' He said, 'I just want you to give.' I just want you to give.