Leviticus 2:1–16
Leviticus Chapters 1-3 are connected together as all part of God’s initial call to Moses in Chapter 1.
Leviticus 1:1–2 (ESV)
1 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
Our section for today is included in God’s words to Moses.
This Chapter covers what has become known as a tribute offering. It is an offering showing love to God by paying homage, respect and veneration to Him. In this offering there is paying respect to the superior Being by those who are dependent upon Him.
Before we examine the text, I want to be very clear. The theme of Chapter Two is this…God is the King and Israel is His people. The people offer this grain offering to God voluntarily enjoying communion with Him around His table. That’s the picture this section presents.
Leviticus is not so much stilted mechanics and commands but teaching aids for the people.
Remember last time we saw the burnt offering and how the worshipper brought his best lamb to the courtyard and in the presence of the priest killed it himself. We saw that while the lamb was dying, the priest gathers the blood to throw against the side of the altar and then cut up the animal to burn on the altar. All this is a teaching aid. Sin is costly. Sin is never worth it. Sin causes great loss. Sin affects others. The blood is the life of the animal. For us we also see more than they did. We see the death, struggle, shed blood of Jesus our Lord.
The aim of this Chapter is that God is creating deep relational experience between Himself as King and the Israelites as His people. He wants to teach them that under the right circumstances they are welcome to sit at the King’s table and eat with Him. They publicly acknowledge His majesty by giving Him tribute and He welcomes them into His presence around the table of fellowship.
2 “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it 2 and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 3 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord’s food offerings.
4 “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 5 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, 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 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And 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 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord’s food offerings.
11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.
1. The Tribute Offering, the Uncooked Minhah (2:1-3)
2 “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it 2 and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 3 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord’s food offerings.
Two important Hebrew words found in the first verse of Chapter 2…
When anyone (adam) means human life or soul. God desires to have a people. His people are created in His image. God has a tie to these sinful people. He has made a covenant with them and they are made in His image.
Here we are introduced to a very important Hebrew word, it’s the word minhah. It is translated as grain offering.
The word minhah is something given to a superior to show that the person is pledging his ongoing support. So, minhah doesn’t only mean the grain offering but any offering given in tribute by the lesser to the greater or to show great respect to the other.
Example of Jacob sending a minhah to Esau…
Genesis 32:13–18 (ESV)
13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’ ”
The tribute offering was to be of fine flour. This was the best flour and cost more than the course more common flour.
The ingredients were fine flour, oil, and frankincense. This was very pleasing to God. The priest would take a small portion and burn it on the altar as a tribute offering to God and the rest remained as food for the priests.
As tribute the people are reminded to love and serve God alone, that He is the Creator and supplier of all things they need. It is all by grace that God supplies His people with their necessities.
God was honored and those who serve Him as His priests were given food to eat. Forgiven covenant people gave out of love for their King. The King is honored for His greatness and the workers also given a portion.
As we turn to the NT, we see Paul referring to this very passage in Leviticus 2 when he writes to the Corinthians…
1 Corinthians 9:13–14 (ESV)
13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
The OT scholar Walter Kaiser writes this, to fail in this responsibility to spiritual leaders or to comply in a half-hearted manner ultimately demeans both the Lord and those who serve as Elders that He has put in place.
2. The Tribute Offering, the Cooked Minhah (2:4-10)
4 “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 5 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, 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 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And 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 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord’s food offerings.
We see there were different ways to prepare the cooked offering. Here fine flour is used and we see the different methods whether it was cooked in and oven, made on a griddle or baked in a pan. There was to be no leaven. No leaven was allowed to be offered on the altar. The offering of fine flour unleavened was like saying the animal offer was to be the best lamb without spot of blemish. The best flour without leaven.
We see here too that the remainder or called the memorial portion was to go to Aaron and his sons as food.
3. The Firstfruits Offering and Jesus’ Resurrection (2:11-16)
11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.
We see the further regulations of the grain offerings. No leaven or honey was to be added to the flour. Many have speculated and say that leaven and honey were ingredients in the pagan offerings and that is why God had forbidden it. We know that leaven is symbolic for sin and see why it is forbidden.
They could however, be included in the first fruits offering. This offering was not burned on the altar but was given to the Lord. This offering came as a thanks offering from the first fruits of the harvest. These first crops were dedicated to God. The first crops given to God was an act of faith by the giver to say that he has faith that God will supply his needs as these first crops are but a foretaste of the rest of the harvest.
This offering is referred to when Paul teaches us about the resurrection. He calls Jesus the firstfruit of the resurrection. Let’s see if we can discover why he would refer to Jesus and call Him the firstfuit.
1 Corinthians 15:12–26 (ESV)
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
So, Paul reaches back to Leviticus and the firstfuits offering to explain that just like the offering came by faith and trust that God would also give the full harvest to the farmer so too, Jesus as our Firstfruit of the resurrection is proof that we too will one day also be raised.
In John 12:24, Jesus makes a similar comparison when He speaks about a grain of wheat…
John 12:24 (ESV)
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Here Jesus is using a metaphor of a seed being planted into the ground and covered up. It’s like it’s dead. Then in a few days 7 or 8 days or so the seed sprouts and grows into a wheat plant with the head of wheat producing much fruit.
Jesus dies and is buried and He too will rise from the dead like a seed sprouting to life and He will bear much fruit.
The Firstfruit offering was used by Jesus and Paul to teach on the resurrection.
I pray you believe that Jesus is the Firstfruit and just as He was raised so too we who believe will also be raised from the dead to join Him in His Kingdom…
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