"God continues to speak with Moses at the tent of meeting. God tells him to instruct the Israelites about how to bring a grain offering of fine flour as a gift to the Lord."
Leviticus 2 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Law of Grain Offerings
The Law of Grain Offerings
- CONSISTENT SYMBOLISM. It's interesting how several things mentioned in the Bible is repeatedly referred to other stories in the Bible; the Oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit ("The Parable of the Ten Virgins" in Matthew 25, etc.) and the frankincense as one of the gifts to Lord Jesus upon being born.
"The favorite preaching point about the gifts is their mystical meaning. The preacher will tell us that gold stands for the Christ child's kingly status, frankincense for his divinity, and myrrh for the anointing at his sacrificial death." https://theimaginativeconservative.org
4 ‘When you bring an offering of grain baked in the oven, it shall be [b]unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil. 5 If your offering is grain baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine unleavened flour, mixed with oil.
- LEAVENING / YEAST. Here, we get reminded again of the 'unleavened' bread or bread that is without yeast. Leavening agent on the bread symbolizes sin, and God's desire and design was for us to live without sin. That was the original plan with Adam and Eve, but then, sin happened because of disobedience and rejection of God. So God sent His one and only Son to be the ultimate sacrifice and offering for all our sins.
"I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed." 1 Corinthians 5:5-7
"A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough." Galatians 5:9
"And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Matthew 16:6
"And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." Mark 8:15
- HOLY SPIRIT. The unleavened breads 'mixed with oil' or 'spread with oil' to me, means, living a life without sin with the empowerment and help of the Holy Spirit, that is from God.
"But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." John 14:26
"The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." Romans 8:11-14
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will." Romans 8:26-27
"Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." Romans 8:5-6
"So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." Zechariah 4:6
6 You are to break it into pieces, and you shall pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7 Now if your offering is grain cooked in a lidded pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 When you bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, it shall be presented to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar [of burnt offering]. 9 The priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar. It is an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord. 10 What is left of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings to the Lord by fire.
- BREAKING THE BREAD. The unleavened bread being broken in pieces, perfectly symbolizes or foreshadows what will happen to Jesus,and what Jesus will also say to His disciples. That His body, the Bread of Life, will be broken to make us whole again.
"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
11 ‘No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven [which symbolizes the spread of sin] or any honey [which, like leaven, is subject to fermentation] in any offering by fire to the Lord. 12 As an offering of first fruits you may offer them [leaven and honey] to the Lord, but they shall not go up [in smoke] on the altar as a sweet and soothing aroma. 13 You shall season every grain offering with salt so that the salt (preservation) of the covenant of your God will not be missing from your grain offering. You shall offer salt with all your offerings.
- SEASONED WITH SALT. Seasoned with salt, reminds of the verse, 'You are the light and the
salt of the earth'. Salt is used to preserve and add taste to foods, so
symbolically a Christian or follower of Lord Jesus Christ must be
someone who helps prevent corruption because of sin, instead he/she
preserves goodness or freshness, amidst the corrupted/fallen world.
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Matthew 5:13
"Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Mark 9:50
"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? "It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Luke 14:34-35
14 ‘If you bring a grain offering of early ripened things to the Lord, you shall bring fresh heads of grain roasted in the fire, crushed grain of new growth, for the grain offering of your early ripened things. 15 You shall put oil on it and lay incense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 The priest shall offer up in smoke its memorial portion, part of the crushed grain and part of its oil with all its incense; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.
Footnotes: Leviticus 2:1 Lit a soul.
Leviticus 2:4 Leaven (yeast) symbolized corruption and sin.
After reading, I always check out the Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik (very helpful!):
God allowed and received this bloodless sacrifice as an expression of thanksgiving, not as atonement for sin. In an agrarian society this was a fitting symbol of thanks for God's faithful provision.
Leaven was prohibited because it was a type of sin. This leaven wasn't merely yeast, but a pinch of dough left over from the previous batch, as in the making of sourdough bread.
i. This was how bread was commonly leavened in the ancient world, and a little pinch of dough from the old lump could make a whole new lump of dough rise and puff up. Therefore the work of leaven was considered an illustration of the work of sin and pride. The presence of a little can corrupt a large amount.
ii. "Sometimes the Jew used the word leaven much as we would use the term original sin, or the natural evil of human nature." (Barclay in his commentary on Mark)
Honey was not allowed because it was a favorite sacrifice to pagan deities. God did not want to be worshipped after the customs of the pagans.
i. Leaven can make things artificially sour and honey can make things artificially sweet. God did not want either of these in sacrifice. When we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice He wants us to come just as we are, without artificially making ourselves more sour or sweet.
Salt was an important part of the offering because it spoke of purity, of preservation, and of expense. Every sacrifice offered to God should be pure, should be enduring, and should cost something. In this one verse God repeated the idea three times.
i. As a preservative salt will arrest the normal operations of the flesh. It is the nature of flesh to spoil, but salt-cured meats stay good.
ii. Salt also spoke of friendship. According to ancient custom, a bond of friendship was established through the eating of salt. It was said that once you had eaten a man's salt, you were his friend for life. God wanted every sacrifice to be a reminder of relationship.
b. The salt of the covenant of your God: Therefore a covenant of salt had specific characteristics. It was:
- A pure covenant (salt stays pure as a chemical compound).
- An enduring covenant (salt makes things preserve and endure).
- A valuable covenant (salt was expensive).
i. Spurgeon on the covenant of salt: "By which was meant that it was an unchangeable, incorruptible covenant, which would endure as salt makes a thing to endure, so that it is not liable to putrefy or corrupt."
ii. The idea of the covenant of salt is repeated in Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5.
Reference and credits to https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Lev/Lev-2.cfm ©2013 David Guzik
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