Skip to main content

Leviticus 2

Leviticus 2

The Grain Offering

This chapter describes the regulations for the grain offering. Further details are given in Lev 6:14–23. 


Verse 1

“When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it, 

This offering was a sign of homage (public respect) to God and acknowledging his staple gifts which had been given to the offerer. It did not make atonement as there was no blood shed (Heb 9:22); however, it was to accompany the animal sacrifices (Num 15:1-10). 

The word grain (or cereal in the RSV) is a translator’s convenience as the Hebrew simply calls it an “offering” or donation (מִנחָה minchah). This word implies a “token of homage” (Kidner, p. 6). In the sections of the law, it is used as a technical term for offerings that don’t involve an animal’s blood. However, minchah is used to describe both Cain’s and Abel’s sacrifices in Gen 4:3-5. There are other verses where it can be used to describe animal sacrifices (e.g. 1 Sam 2:17, Ps 141:2). In a civil context, it was used to describe tribute or a formal gift (e.g. Gen 33:10, 2 Kgs 17:3-4, Ps 45:12). 

The KJV refers to this as a “meat offering”, which creates further confusion for the modern reader. In the 1600s when the KJV was translated, “meat” could mean any type of food. 

The offering was anointed with olive oil as a reminder of its consecration. God was presented with his own gifts, but in the form that humans used them rather than in their natural state - fine flour rather than grain; olive oil rather than olives (Kidner, p. 6). There were also firstfruit sacrifices which were presented in their natural state (see Lev 2:12, 23:10). 


Verse 2

and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 

The memorial portion was set aside for God as a token. It was burnt on the altar, unlike pagan sacrifices which were left for the gods to “eat”. Acts 10:4 refers to the practical piety of Cornelius as a “memorial offering”, clearly with this in mind. 

The frankincense was burnt up and ascended as a pleasing aroma of incense to God (Ps 141:2). 


Verse 3

The remainder of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings to the LORD. 

In addition to offering the sacrifice to God, this was a way in which he provided for the physical needs of his priests; Aaron and his sons. 


Verse 4

Now if you bring an offering of grain baked in an oven, it must consist of fine flour, either unleavened cakes mixed with oil or unleavened wafers coated with oil. 

There is a strong feel of domesticity in vv. 4-7 (e.g. baked in an oven, prepared on a griddle, cooked in a pan), with descriptions of recipes and utensils. The idea was setting aside (consecrating) ordinary things in their best state as a token for God (the ‘memorial portion’) and for his priests to eat. Kidner (p. 6) sees here “the unspoken language of hospitality”, similar to when Abraham and Sarah unwittingly entertained angels in Gen 18:6-8. 


Verse 5

If your offering is a grain offering prepared on a griddle, it must be unleavened bread made of fine flour mixed with oil. 

A griddle is a shallow pan for baking or frying; in Biblical times it likely referred to a metal baking-plate (Kidner, p. 6). 


Verse 6

Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 

The griddle-cooked offering was similarly anointed with oil (v. 1). 


Verse 7

If your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it must consist of fine flour with oil. 

Pan refers to a deep pan or stew pan. 


Verse 8

When you bring to the LORD the grain offering made in any of these ways, it is to be presented to the priest, and he shall take it to the altar. 


Verse 9

The priest is to remove the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 


Verse 10

But the remainder of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings to the LORD. 


Verse 11

No grain offering that you present to the LORD may be made with leaven, for you are not to burn any leaven or honey as a food offering to the LORD. 

Leaven and honey were only prohibited in fire-offerings, reminding the offerer that he must follow God’s instructions about what he would and would not accept. 


Verse 12

You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they must not go up on the altar as a pleasing aroma. 

Leaven and honey were both acceptable as a firstfruit offering, as long as they were not burned (v. 11). They were some of the minor luxuries in life. Giving these back to God was a reminder that his generosity and provision was far greater than his demands (see Ex 12:39, 13:7-9, Prov 25:16). 

See also Lev 23:10 where it describes the wave offering for grain firstfruits. 


Verse 13

And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings. 

Kidner (p. 6) suggests that the salt of the covenant is a reminder of the ‘table fellowship’ that had confirmed the covenant between God and his people (Ex 24:8-11). In this way, every sacrifice contained an allusion to this host-and-guest relationship (Ezra 4:14). There are references to a “covenant of salt” in Num 18:19 and 2 Chr 13:5. These are a reminder of God’s everlasting fidelity. Mark 9:50 seems to indicate that we should have similar fidelity between one another. 

Col 4:6 says that our speech should be “seasoned with salt”, which seems to be a clear reference to this sacrifice. 


Verse 14

If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire. 


Verse 15

And you are to put oil and frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 


Verse 16

The priest shall then burn the memorial portion of the crushed grain and the oil, together with all its frankincense, as a food offering to the LORD.

Popular posts from this blog

How I added a custom domain to Blogger (for free)

I will preface this post by saying that I am not a web expert by any means. Most of this is compiled from reading various tutorials/forum posts and trial & error. However, it may hopefully save you a bit of time if you are also trying to add a custom domain to your Blogger site.  The Domain Name The first step is to purchase your custom domain. Again, I haven't done a detailed investigation into the best places to purchase domain names from. However, it seems that the 'big name' sellers (e.g. GoDaddy) will often have more expensive prices compared to less well known domain sellers. You could try somewhere like  https://www.namecheap.com .  Because I live in Australia, I was able to get a free .com.au domain from VentraIP for 12 months. They give away 5000 of these domains per year ( https://ventraip.com.au/domain-giveaway ) - because I found it in April, they had only given away about 3000 domains for the year and so I could easily snag one. The continuing domain cost...
Read more

My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” (Mt 27:46) At this point, Jesus had been on the cross for up to 6 hours (Mk 15:25; Mt 27:45-46 but see Jn 19:14). The previous night, he had suffered such extreme agony and stress in the garden that He began to sweat blood – a rare medical condition known as hematohidrosis. Modern medical observations have found that this condition is often caused by extreme distress or fear. The fine capillaries near the skin burst and haemorrhage into the sweat glands. As a result, blood actually comes out with the sweat. Although it does not normally cause a significant amount of blood loss, it has the effect of making the skin fragile and tender. Before daybreak, he was spat upon and struck in the face while blindfolded at the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:67; Mk 14:65; Lk 22:64). The ch...
Read more

Movie Review: The Forge

The Forge is the latest movie by the Kendrick brothers, following on from their 2015 box office hit War Room . It was released on the 23rd August in the United States, where it finished fifth at the box office (grossing $6.6 million for the weekend). The movie will be released in Australia on the 29th of August and is screening in 109 cinemas across most major cinema chains, including Hoyts, Event Cinemas and Cineplex.  I recently attended a pre-screening of The Forge ; these are my observations and thoughts.  Overview The Forge follows Isaiah Wright (played by Aspen Kennedy), a 19 year old boy from Charlotte, NC, who is a year out of high school and is still floating around with no plans for his life. I say “boy” intentionally, because that is made very clear by the opening of film - he may be 19, but Isaiah is not a man.  When his single mother finally tells him to get a job or get out, Isaiah is rudely jolted into the “growing up” process. During this process, he giv...
Read more