Leviticus 2: 1 – 16
Hey, wait a minute
2 ‘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. 2 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. 3 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. 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. 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.
I am sure you have used the term, ‘Hey, wait a minute.’ So what does this statement mean? People often use expressions such as wait a minute or just a minute when they want to stop you doing or saying something.
We learned from the start of our Bibles that Abel brought God an offering from his flock and it was accepted yet Cain brought a sacrifice to God from the harvest of crops and fruit and it was rejected. Now we come to the book of Leviticus and one of the acceptable offerings seems to be the same that Cain brought. So, we naturally get the statement, ‘Hey, wait a minute, how come this is now okay yet it wasn’t when Cain seems to have brought the same for his offering?
This question comes from Genesis 4.3-7 where Cain, the firstborn of Eve and Adam, takes an offering of his crops to the Lord and Abel took a first-born lamb. God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's. In the course of the story Cain becomes angry and was apparently saddened, but God offers no explanation of why the offering wasn't accepted. Instead God says to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?" (Genesis 4.6-7). In the end, Cain's anger and jealousy gets the best of him and he murders his brother Abel.
So, why was Cain's offering not acceptable? You see in truth Cain’s offering and the first fruit offerings which our Holy Lord God accepts are not the same.
We turn to both the Old and the New Testaments to find our answer. Cain and his deed is mentioned three other times in the Bible, outside of the Genesis story.
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 verse 4 attributes Cain's lack of faith as the reason for God's rejection of the offering. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
John attributes Cain's acts as a result of his evil disposition (1 John 3.12). 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Finally, Jude implies the offering was rejected because Cain's motivation was greed (1.11). Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
The complete answer is alluded to in the Genesis passage. In Genesis 4.3-4 we read, "In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions." Here Abel brings an offering of, what would later be called, "first fruits" while Cain brought simple an "offering of the fruit of the ground." Implied here is that Abel obeyed the yet non-existent law, while Cain did not.
The laws of giving a first fruit offering are outlined in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The essence of the law is that the first fruits of any harvest, whether it is grain, fruit, or animal is to be offered to God and brought to the priests (Deuteronomy 18.4). The law is clear that the first fruits are just that, the very first born, first harvested, etc. They are considered the best of the best (Numbers 18.8-14). Apparently, Abel brought this sort of offering, since he brought the "firstlings of his flock"; however, Cain did not. This is likely what made Cain's offering unacceptable he brought God the "left-over" instead of the first and the best.
Now wait a minute, how was Cain to know what God required, since Moses hadn't been born and there was no law yet?
God deserves the best period. Cain should have known that, as should we all.
The first fruit offering is to God a way of demonstrating the principle of putting Him first in all things. It shows the act of loving the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind. [Matthew 22:32-38]. The first fruit simply refers to the initial or the first harvest of one’s labor and does not necessarily refer to agricultural produce, but whatsoever benefits come to us as a result of our labor or service rendered.
We read in this chapter that a variety of grain offerings could be offered to The Only Living Great God Yahweh, symbolizing a complete giving of themselves and of their daily lives to Him, together with their worship and praise, and a reminder to God of their dependence on Him for the rain that encouraged the growth of the grain. All described here were to be made of unleavened milled grain, with oil poured on it, and then with frankincense placed on it. The mixing of grain and olive oil was usual in a grain offering, but the frankincense was special, indicating a worship offering, a sweet odor.
The mixture was brought and a handful of the grain and oil, and all the frankincense was then taken and offered by the priests on the altar as ‘a memorial’ before Lord Yahweh, with the idea that God would be made aware of the offering and of the love and worship that lay behind it. The memorial was a fire-offering and was a pleasing odor to Yahweh God. His heart was satisfied with His people. The remainder belonged to the priests for their consumption in the tabernacle. But it was most holy and could not be taken out of the tabernacle. Such offerings could not be treated lightly. They belonged to Yahweh, and He chose to feed from them His anointed priests, who also belonged to Him. In a sense the priests were an extension of Him reaching out to men.
2 ‘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. 2 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 bringing of a grain-offering was to be of milled grain, not just the bare grain but the grain as worked on by man. It thus had ‘added value’. It was mixed with olive oil to make it more edible and pleasant, but the oil in itself was an important product in its own right. Frankincense was not something to add to its edibility but was offered in worship, a valuable and sweet-smelling direct offering. Thus God was being offered a portion of men’s produce in the grain, together with their work in preparing it, as made edible through another product, olive oil, which was also man’s produce. A proportion would then be extracted by the priest, together with all the frankincense, a costly and sweet smelling addition. That was Yahweh’s portion and was offered by fire to Him as a ‘memorial’, something that reminded God of the worshippers and of their offering. It was a fire-offering and a pleasing odor to Yahweh.
Part of the thought behind the frankincense, apart from the fact that it was precious, was probably that it had been obtained at great effort. It had been brought from a long way away in order to give pleasure to Yahweh.
So the idea behind the offering was of gratitude for prosperity and an acknowledgement of God’s provision, revealed in tribute given, and worship and love offered. Milled grain was basic to their diet and an important commodity. It was as their lifeblood. Olive oil was also important in the life of Israel. It was later a prominent export and was used in paying tribute and making treaties. Along with milled grain and honey it was a symbol of prosperity. It was often sometimes offered by itself in worship
3 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 remainder of the grain-offering was for Aaron and his sons. But the value that God placed on it is indicated by the fact that it was ‘most holy’. It must therefore be eaten, in a holy place, in the tabernacle. It was looked on as an important offering of great sanctity.
We can see in the offering of milled grain and oil a reminder of our Lord Jesus as the bread of life (John 6.35) and as the anointed One (‘Christos’), and the frankincense as the symbol of His Godhood, come from outside in order to perfect our offering to God. Thus are we to ‘offer up’ The Lamb of God Jesus to God as our offering, that we might be acceptable to God, and offer our praise and thanksgiving through Him. And we are to see Him as provided by God that He might be partaken of by all who are set apart as His. For having ‘offered Him up’ we can then partake of Him. It is also an indication that all that is most important to us, including our labor, should be given to Him.
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.
The various ways in which the offering can be enhanced are here outlined, with the women especially seeking to show their dedication to and love for Yahweh by presenting to Him the best of their handiwork. Here it is stressed that the grain should be unleavened. Leavening was a fermenting process, while what was offered to God must be pure and uncorrupted by earthly transformation. So they offered of themselves in purity and love, free from any corrupting influence.
These varied grain offerings, representing the skills of the person bring the offering are a reminder that we too can bring of our skills to God as an offering so that they may be used in His service, and offered up to Him as a pleasing odor.
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.
This repeats the procedures for the grain offering to stress its importance. Each grain offering of whatever kind was brought and presented to the priests, who brought it to the altar and took out the memorial portion and burnt it on the altar. Notice the emphasis made here on the smooth progression of the whole procedure from start to finish, from the first bringing of the grain offering to its finally going up in the flames. Then the priests partook of the remainder within the tabernacle as Yahweh’s anointed. Lunch was ‘on the Lord’.
It is now pointed out that the Grain Offering must not contain anything that ferments neither leaven nor honey. Rather it must positively be seasoned with salt as a preservative. The emphasis is on its unalloyed purity and its continual permanence in that state.
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.
The change to the plural verb emphasizes the overall coverage of this provision. It applies to all. Yahweh is so pure and holy that nothing that ferments and thus corrupts inwardly must be offered to Him by fire. It is not acceptable to Him offered in such a way. This reminds us that the fire is not seen as destroying but as ‘preserving’ and lifting up to the spiritual realm. It goes up in the smoke as a pleasing odor.
The lesson that we can glean from this instruction is that the idea would appear to be that the offering must be pristine as God gave it, without earthly influence having altered it (their own labor was not looked on in this way, for they were made in the image of God). It must be pure and unaffected by the world. By this provision He brought home a warning of the danger of a person becoming corrupted within by what was corrupting in the world, and of retaining within thoughts and aims that would produce corruption. It reminded them that He required holiness, (likeness to Himself as those separated to Him), and that any corruption would make them unacceptable to Him. They, like the offering, must ensure that in dedicating themselves to Him they removed from themselves all that was corrupt (1 Corinthians 5.6-8). In mind may have been Adam, created pure but ‘fermenting’ within and becoming sinful. Or the fermented wine that made men behave so unworthily (Genesis 9.20-23), and the ‘strong drink’ which did so even more. The leaven used for leavening was a piece of old dough retained and allowed to ferment so that it could be used to ferment new dough, thus lightening the pastry.
However we should note that both leaven and honey can be offered as first-fruits, which suggests that we are here dealing with domesticated honey. They are not forbidden for food, and gratitude should be shown for them, as for all that God has given us. But their unacceptability as a fire-offering and as a pleasing odor is a pointed symbol that nothing that corrupts brings pleasure to God because of what it symbolizes about the state of the world, about the state of men and women, and about the sin that has marred and caused corruption in creation. It cannot therefore be offered in pure worship as something wholly pleasing to God. A sacrifice of thanksgiving, however, could be offered with leavened bread along with unleavened cakes because like the first-fruits it was an expression of gratitude for God’s gifts, not something totally for God’s enjoyment and benefit. Man partook of the peace sacrifice, and of the cereal offerings offered with them. They were not exclusive. They were not as ‘holy’. This emphasizes that the holiness of something very much depends on the motive and purpose.
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.
In contrast the grain offering should be seasoned with salt in all circumstances. A supply of salt would be kept by for that purpose. Salt preserves and prevents corruption. It was therefore an important symbol of faithfulness to the covenant. Its introduction indicated a heart that intended to be true to the covenant. Each person must therefore always offer salt with their grain offering, as a sign of their dedication to the permanent maintenance of God’s covenant requirements by obedience to His will, and as a symbol of God’s own faithfulness to His promises in the covenant. Salt seals the promises on both sides and ensures their preservation. It is ‘the salt of the covenant of your God’.
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.
Having forbidden the offering of leaven and honey on the altar, even though they can be offered as first-fruits, he now indicates what first-fruit can be offered on the altar. The early ears of grain, which being green and moist were parched with fire to make them more edible, and bruised by threshing/grinding to remove the chaff and prepare them for eating, were offer able, with oil put on them and frankincense laid on top.
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.
This too, so offered, is a fire-offering acceptable to Yahweh. The first-fruit here is offered along with man’s labor indicating full gratitude for God’s provision in response to man’s efforts. To it is added the frankincense as an expression of appreciation and worship.
Again some see the milled grain as indicating Him Who, as the bread of life (John 6.35) was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53.4), and Who went through the fires of testing and trial on our behalf. Who as the grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die that life might result (John 12.24).
This act might also be seen as an offering of ourselves as first fruits, as willing to be His and to serve Him with our whole beings, enduring, if necessary, fiery trial and committing ourselves to the removing of the chaff from sin. This is in contrast to unbelievers who are often described as chaff as Psalm 1.4 that are empty and fruitless. “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
