Leviticus 2
McGeeCHAPTER 2THEME: Offerings mixed but unbaked; offerings mixed and baked; offering of firstfruits; the law of the meal offeringThe offerings speak of the person of Christ and of the work of Christ. The burnt offering was a picture of Christ in depth as well as in death. The meal offering reveals the humanity of Jesus in all its perfection and loveliness. As you read this, you will see it is like a recipe for bread. That is exactly what it is. It is really the meal offering. The Authorized Version calls it a meat offering, which is a misleading term for us today, as no meat was connected with it at all. There is no shedding of blood; so this offering was different from the others. However, it was generally offered with some offering in which there was the shedding of blood. This meal offering could be offered either baked or unbaked. Aaron and his sons received a portion of this offering for themselves. It was to be eaten by all the males in the family of Aaron. The meal or food offering sets forth the humanity of Jesus in all His perfections. His deity is not in view here. He was perfectly human, and He was the perfect human. God’s goal for man is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the second man, but the last Adam. There will be no more Adams, but there will be some more men who are made just like Him. He is the last Adam, the Head of a new people. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn_3:2). Friends, man as he is in the world today is the most colossal failure in God’s universe. Have you ever stopped to think about that? The Scriptures are outspoken and specific at this point. “They are all gone out of the way, [the original here suggests that they are a wreck] they are together become unprofitable …” and “…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom_3:12, Rom_3:23). God cannot save us on the basis of our keeping His Law for the very simple reason that God sees our imperfections. We cannot fulfill or keep the Law. We cannot render perfection to Him. God can’t save us in our imperfections because He is a holy God and demands absolute righteousness and perfection. Imperfection is the very best that we can do. Therefore, mankind is a failure. “The way of peace they have not known” is confirmed in every morning newspaper. Why is this? Because war and violence are in the very heart of man. It is almost amusing to hear about the peace demonstrations that end up in a brawl! With feverish energy man is presently trying to perfect fiendish instruments of frightful destruction. Surely this is not the goal of man! God has another purpose in view for man and if you want to see what He has in mind, look at Jesus. Here is the Man who pleased God. There was a glory in His manhood. The loveliness of Jesus was truly a sweet perfume. His coming was a doxology; His stay was a blessing; His departure was a benediction. His winsomeness has filled the world with a new hope and ideal concerning man. There are two important aspects of this offering: the ingredients which are included and the ingredients which are excluded.
Leviticus 2:1
OFFERINGS MIXED BUT UNBAKEDThe offering was to be made of fine flour and fine flour in that day was a little unusual. They didn’t have the great mills as we have today in Minneapolis. Actually, they ground it by hand in a kind of rock bowl. They used a pestle, with which they just beat the grain down. It was often very coarse and uneven if the grinder was careless or in a hurry. If the flour was to be very fine, it meant they must spend a great deal of time with it. This offering had to be made of very fine flour which means that it was well beaten. This sets before us the Lord Jesus in His personality. Today I am sure we would use the expression that He had a well-integrated personality. He was a normal person. Actually, I think He was the only normal person who has ever been on this earth. Sin has made all of the human race lumpy, one-sided, abnormal. One part of our personality has overdeveloped at the expense of some other area of our personality. In college I studied abnormal psychology. In my last year of college I went to see the professor of the department and said that I needed to talk to him. I told him that when we looked at the etiology of the disease of every form of abnormality that we had been studying, I found that I had symptoms of all these forms of abnormality. He broke out in laughter and said to me, “I was wondering when you would come. All the rest of the class has been here. They all have it, and I have it, too.” You see, all of us do. Recently a leading psychologist made the statement that all of mankind today is a little “off.” We are all just a little off-center. Jesus was the only normal person. Notice how uneven were the characters of men of the Bible. Samson was enabled to perform great physical feats, but he seems to have been weak both in will and mind. In fact, he was a sissy. Paul was a mental giant, but he appeared to be weak in body. Simon Peter was moved by his emotions, even declaring that he would die for Jesus, yet he denied Him, which reveals a definite weakness in the area of the volition. King Saul was self-willed and stubborn, unable to bow the knee in obedience to God. This led to his dismissal and then to his death. All of these men were lumpy. They had over and underdeveloped personalities. In contrast to them and all of us, Jesus was well balanced. He had equal poise in all areas of His personality. He could drive the money changers from the temple, and He could take the little children into His arms. When He was twelve years old, the religious rulers marvelled at His wisdom. When He began to teach, the people were amazed, saying, “…How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh_7:15). Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus never appealed to His intellect as the basis for any judgment. Have you ever noticed that this was never the criterion for His conduct? He came to do the Father’s will, and that was the motive for His actions. Jesus could weep at the tomb of Lazarus or over the indifferent city of Jerusalem. At the same time, He would raise Lazarus from the dead, and He would pronounce a severe judgment on Jerusalem (which was literally fulfilled). He wasn’t swayed or guided by His emotions. He was never self-willed, yet nothing could hinder Him from going to Jerusalem to die. At all times He could say, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (Joh_6:38). His own volitional nature was not the guideline for His action. He was even; all of us are lumpy. “He shall pour oil upon it"olive oil speaks of the Holy Spirit. You will notice that here it is “oil upon it.” In verses Lev_2:4 and Lev_2:5 it is “mingled with oil”; in verse Lev_2:6 it is “pour oil thereon”; in verse Lev_2:7 it is “with oil.” The offering was drenched with oil. The oil was a very important part of the offering and was applied in many different ways. The prominence of the Holy Spirit in the human life of Jesus is very noticeable. He was born of the Spirit"mingled with oil” (Luk_1:35). He was baptized of the Spirit"oil upon it" (Mat_3:16-17). He was led of the Spirit"pour oil thereon" (Mar_1:12). He taught, performed miracles, and offered Himself in the power of the Holy Spirit"with oil" (Joh_3:34; Mat_12:28). If the Lord Jesus in His perfect humanity needed the Holy Spirit, surely you and I need Him to an even greater extent. We can do nothing of ourselves. Frankincense was made from a secret formula. There evidently was a form of incense with which it was mixed (Exo_30:34), but was distinguished from it. It was made from some part of a plant or tree, perhaps the bark or leaves, and it exuded its fragrance only when crushed, beaten, burned, or put under pressure. This speaks of the life of the Lord Jesus as He manifested the fragrance of His life under the fires of tension, pressures, and persecution. This is what the Father saw in Him as the One in whom He delighted. There was a special fragrance about His life, and there should be a fragrance in our lives also, since we belong to Him.
Leviticus 2:2
The priests received a portion of the meal offering. They were to take out a percentage of each item. Apparently the remainder was mixed and then burnt upon the altar.
Leviticus 2:3
Emphasis is laid upon the fact that this offering was burnt upon the altar although no blood was shed in connection with it. Great emphasis is placed upon the fire (verses Lev_2:2, Lev_2:9, Lev_2:16 and chapter Lev_6:15, Lev_6:17-18).
Leviticus 2:4
OFFERINGS MIXED AND BAKEDThese are detailed instructions for the ritual of the meal offering and it sounds, very frankly, like a recipe for making bread. The emphasis upon the fine flour and the oil is repeated again and again. Also, the fire is mentioned over and over. I want to say with great emphasis that the fire here does not symbolize hell under any circumstance. It is God’s purifying energy and power which brought out the sweetness in the life of Christ. In verse Lev_2:9 it is specifically declared to be a “sweet savour unto the Lord.” The final and full meaning of this offering is what God sees in Christ. His sweetness came out under pressure. In your experience and mine sweetness doesn’t always come out from us when we are under pressure. I’ve heard some Christians say some very ugly things when they were under tension. But as more tension was placed on Him, the sweeter He was. The Lord Jesus could say, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (Joh_8:29). What was left of the meal offering was to be Aaron’s and his sons’. Believers have the high privilege of sharing Christ with God the Father. What do you see in Him? Is there sweetness about Him? Have you smelled the sweetness and fragrance of His life? “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (Joh_6:53-58).
If you want any sweetness in your life, and if I want any, we must partake of Christ. Not literally, of course. We are not cannibals. We partake of Him by faith and we appropriate Him into our lives. As we partake of Him, the sweetness of His life should come into our lives.
Leviticus 2:11
The ingredients excluded in this offering are as prominent as the ingredients included. The two mentioned here by name are leaven and honey. Leaven will be mentioned in the Scriptures again and again. Leaven in Scripture is everywhere presented as a principle of evil. The Lord Jesus Christ warned His disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees. He was talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees, their teaching. That is the leaven. Evil teaching is the leaven. Leaven is the principle of evil. Leaven is to be excluded from the offering. This speaks of the fact that there is no evil in Christ. There is no sin in the life of Christ. Honey was also excluded. It represents natural sweetness. It will sour, just as leaven is a souring thing. There are Christians who assume a pious pose in public. They wear a Sunday smile. They call everyone “brother” and “my dear So-and-So.” Their halo is polished with the latest miracle cleanser. Yet these same folk can and do engage in vicious slander and malicious gossip. They are more dangerous than a killer with a gun. May I say to you that there are a lot of folk who have honey in their lives. The Lord Jesus told it like it is, friends. There was no corrupting principle in the life of Jesus. He did not exhibit honey sweetness, nor was there any leaven in His speech that made it acceptable to the natural man.
Leviticus 2:12
This offering was a sweet savor sacrifice, but it was not to derive its sweetness from the palatable ingredient of leaven nor the natural sweetness of honey.
Leviticus 2:13
Salt is the final ingredient which was included in the meal offering. Salt is a preservative and is the opposite of leaven. Leaven produces decay; salt preserves from corruption. “The salt of the covenant” is still eaten among Arabs as a seal to bind one in faithful obedience to a covenant. Salt was the token of faithfulness between the offerer and God. Christ is faithful. This is one of His many-faceted names. He is Faithful and True (Rev_19:11). He is the Lord Jesus. Christ offered Himself to God. We can offer ourselves to God because of His mercy. We ought to be found faithful. Christians are to be the salt in the world. We do this by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God (Rom_12:1-2).
Leviticus 2:14
OFFERING OF FIRSTFRUITSThe Feast of Firstfruits, as given in Lev_23:9-14, was a meal offering as well as the Feast of Pentecost. THE LAW OF THE MEAL OFFERINGThe law of the meal offering is given in Lev_6:14-23. It reveals that with every burnt sacrifice in the morning and in the evening, a meal offering was also made. (See Exo_29:39-40.) The meal offering sets forth Christ in His consecration. It also represents the consecration of believers in Christ. It pictures the perfect humanity of Christ.