Although He Promised Them a Land Flowing With Honey, God Wanted None of It In Their Sacrifices -- Why?

The Grain or Meal Offering

Leviticus 2:1-16:

This chapter covers the Meal Offering, the second of four main types of offerings God required of the Israelites. Again, there are instructions and requirements to be followed. And there are some key differences between this offering and the first one – the Burnt or total offering, which left, at least in Leviticus chapter 1, nothing for the priests.

Thoughts on the Passage

In the Burnt offering what was being offered was the work of the Creator. In this second offering, the Meal offering, God is to be presented with the work of man – fine flour, mixed with oil and frankincense and made into dough, put on a fire to bake unto the Lord. Chuck Smith goes on to ask, “where did he get the flour?” And of course, the answer is “he had to till the soil, plant the seed, harvest it, thresh it and grind it into flour itself.” So, it is the work of man’s own hands.  Smith does the same with how the oil used here came about.

It is so much the work of man, that in this offering man is giving to God his service, “dedicating the work of [his] hands unto God.”  Thus, this too was a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord. (Nothing smells better than home-baked bread.)

Some translators may use the word “meat” here rather than the word “meal” or “grain” to refer to these offerings. Robert Jamieson says that “meat” is improper for us today than it did at the time of early English translations. He says, “It was then applied not to ‘flesh’, but ‘food’, generally, and here it is applied to the flour of wheat.”

In verse 11, we read that no leaven and no honey was ever to be included in the mixture of the flour for this dough. Leaven, in Scripture, always represents sin. Leaven causes decay, making things artificially sour. Honey makes things artificially sweet and was also used, according to Guzik, in the pagan sacrifices to idols. God wants us to offer ourselves [and our service to Him] “just as I am”.

On the other hand, salt had to be added every time (verse 13). Salt has the opposite effect of putrefaction (rotting or decaying). It was used as a preservative.

David Guzik points that only a portion of what the offerer brought was offered unto the Lord, the “remainder” (verse 3) went to the priests for their own use in making bread for themselves and their families.

This Meal offering was a “bloodless” sacrifice (unlike the Burnt offering) which God accepted as an expression of thanksgiving, not as an atonement for sin. In what ultimately was an agricultural society, this had special meaning. So, this offering, to me at least, could be thought of the original Thanksgiving practice.

We also note that the Meal offering was to be prepared in one of three ways: in the oven; on a flat griddle; or in a covered pan. But always prepared at home. Guzik sees the symbolism here – the expression of devotion to God begins at home.

Another writer, Harrison (as quoted by Guzik) says the covered pan worked like a modern deep fat fryer and that some authorities suggest the cereal offering cooked in it would look rather like a modern deep-fried donut.

In verse 12 we have the “offering of first-fruits”, a version of the Meal Offering. This was to be offered to the Lord but not burned on the altar. It too had to include salt, which spoke of purity, preservation, and expense.  Our offerings to God should reflect these qualities – offered with a pure heart, sincere and lasting, and costly to us.

The well-known preacher Charles Spurgeon (and some commentators) refer to salt as the ingredient that holds a relationship together. For example, Spurgeon speaks of the ‘covenant of salt’ when he says, “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.” God wanted our sacrifice to be about our relationships with Him, reminding us of their everlasting quality.

Verse 12 also tells us that first-fruit meal offerings were to be presented differently than grain offerings. First-fruit offerings (be they of the harvest or of the livestock) involved a certain financial and practical risk for the offerer, as there was no guarantee that the harvest or livestock would keep on producing. Yet, they were to go to the Lord. In fact, later in Scripture, in Proverbs 3:9-10 we are told that if we honor the Lord with our first-fruits, he will keep our barns full.

Oil and frankincense were to be added to the grain offering (verse 15) to sweeten the sacrifice and to make it costlier.

Matthew Henry suggests that while there were some offerings that were accompanied by drink offerings, etc., this second chapter of Leviticus focuses on meat-offerings [or grain-offerings] that were offered by themselves, whenever a man had the urge to express his devotion to God. And the first example of that was when Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering (Genesis 4:3).

Henry says this offering served two purposes:

1.     It made it possible for the poor to be involved (vs. the offering of more costly animals).

2.     It was an acknowledgment of the mercy of God to them in their food and a testimony to their dependence upon Him, their thankfulness to Him, and their expectations from Him as their owner and bountiful benefactor.

Matthew Henry also draws our attention to the fact that these ‘green ears’ [of corn] must be dried by the fire. He writes: “If those that are young do God’s work as well as they can, they shall be accepted, though they cannot do it so well as those that are aged and experienced. God makes the best of green ears of corn, and so must we.” Perhaps a call that we recognize youth on our team for God’s service.

The chapter ends by stating that these are offerings “by fire to the Lord”.  Again, Henry says the fire denotes the fervency of spirit which ought to be in all our religious services. “In every good thing, we must be zealously affected. Holy love to God is the fire by which all our offerings must be made; else they are not of a sweet savor to God.”

No one expects us to set up an altar in our homes today, or even in our churches, and make such sacrifices.  Rather God wants us to give Him sacrifices of spiritual devotion, service, trust, and obedience. He wants us to live in a way that has us be ever conscious of what He has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and what we can do in the service of our fellow man.  But in all our deliberations in so doing, the principles God established in these animal and/or meal offerings can still be applied, and must not be ignored, if we want our spiritual sacrifices to be accepted.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.