March 6

1 And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon.

2 And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests; and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

3 And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with heaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

12 As for the obliteration of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD; but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.

13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shall thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering; with all thine offering they shall offer salt.

14 And if thou offer a meat offering of thy heafruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits given ears of corn

dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.

15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon, it is a meat offering.

16 And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

In the Meat Offering we have the thought of a pure and holy walk, and service rendered to man. In the two—the Burnt Offering and the Meat Offering—we recognize the fulfilment of the requirements of the Law; loving God with all our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves.

This offering was a grateful acknowledgment of the dependence of man upon God for his daily food. A portion of it was given back to God as a sign that he was entitled to the whole. And thus in the meat-offering appears the idea of consecration.

The meat offering had to be prepared in a certain way in order to be acceptable. 1. It was to be unleavened. Leaven meant corruption. Nothing of that could enter into the idea of consecration to God. Beware of the "leaven of hypocrisy." 2. It was to be "mingled with oil." And oil is a symbol of divine grace. It is by divine grace that men are enabled to make the dedication of themselves to God—it is by divine grace that they are enabled to keep the vow which they thus have made. 3. "He shall—put frankincense thereon." Incense represents prayer. A consecration unaccompanied by prayer is no consecration at all. 4. "The meat offering shalt thou season with salt." That, in the same passage, is termed, "the salt of the covenant." The flavor of the covenant enters into all dedicatory pledges. The act of consecration on the part of man, and the acceptance of the consecration on the part of God, imply the existence of covenant relations between them.

Closet Promise.—Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits—Psalm lxviii. 19.

And to be true, and speak my soul, when I survey the occurrences of my life, and call into account the finger of God, I can perceive nothing but an abyss and mass of mercies, either in general to mankind, or in particular to myself; and whether out of the prejudice of my affection, or an inverting and partial concert of His mercies, I know not; but those which others term crosses, afflictions, judgments, misfortunes, to me, who inquire farther into them than their visible effects, they both appear, and in event have ever proved, the secret and dissembled favors of His affection.—Sir T. Browne.