And when any one will present an oblation to Jehovah, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense thereon.
Leviticus 2 moves from the burnt offering of chapter 1 to a very different gift: no animal, no blood, just flour, oil and frankincense brought to the altar. The older translations call it a "meat offering," and the question is what those three simple things picture.
Notice first what is missing. Chapter 1 pictures Christ's death; chapter 2 pictures His life.
Leviticus 2 shows what this offering is in itself, though a meat offering was also added when the burnt offering was brought. Here no blood was shed, and so there was no atonement. The burnt offering pictured the Lord Jesus in His devotion even to death; the meat offering shows Him in His life — the pure humanity of Christ — in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit.
That missing blood sets a limit.
Throughout this chapter the word "meat" should read "meal." This offering is closely tied to the burnt offering. No doubt no one could bring it apart from the sacrificial animal. The meal offering pictures Christ in His perfect humanity and holy, devoted character. It was not for atonement, just as the holy humanity of Christ and the devotion of His life could not atone for sins.
If this offering pictures a life and chapter 1 pictures a death, the order looks backwards.
Our own minds would have put the grain offering before the burnt offering, since that is the order history would make natural. But Scripture gives us God's wisdom in a way we never expect, and faith bows to it and so takes hold of the truth... These pictures of Christ and His work came in after man had fallen. That is why the burnt offering had to come first, when Jehovah was making known to His people the resources of His grace in Christ.
Grinding leaves nothing coarse in fine flour. That evenness pictures a life that never varied.
The shadow of this perfect man passes before us in the "fine flour" that formed the base of the meat offering. There was not so much as a single coarse grain. There was nothing uneven — nothing unequal — nothing rough to the touch. No matter what pressure came from outside, there was always an even surface. He was never ruffled by any circumstance or set of circumstances. He never had to retrace a step, or recall a word.
Another writer looks at how flour is made.
With flour, the harder the grind and the greater the pressure, the finer the result. So it was with our Lord. Where was the pressure on Him hardest? In the garden of Gethsemane. What did it produce? "Not my will, but yours, be done." With us, pressure usually brings out the grit and shows up our ugly parts, but with Him it only brought His perfect Manhood more clearly into view.
The chapter uses the oil in two ways: mixed into the flour, and poured over it. The difference is deliberate.
The "oil" in the meat offering pictures the Holy Spirit. The fine flour was "mingled" with oil, and oil was "poured" on it. That was the picture. In the One it pictured, we see the blessed Lord Jesus Christ first "conceived," and then "anointed," by the Holy Spirit.
From the anointing comes a warning about how we serve.
How ready we are to run when we were never sent! How ready to act in the mere energy of the flesh! How much of what looks like ministry is only the restless, unholy activity of a nature that has never been measured and judged in God's presence! We really do need to look more closely at our divine "meat offering."
All the frankincense went to the altar, and oil and frankincense each say something different.
The "oil" pictures the power of Christ's ministry; the "frankincense" pictures its object. The first teaches us that He did everything by the Spirit of God; the second, that He did everything to the glory of God... In the picture, the "fire of the altar" drew out the sweet smell of the frankincense. So with Christ: the more He was tried, in every scene of His blessed life, the more fully it was shown that in His manhood there was nothing that could not rise to God.
What was left over became food, and the order matters.
The offering had to be brought to God first, and the memorial with all the frankincense had to go up to God, before anything was left as food for the priest who offered it... Only as I learn to appreciate what Christ is to the delight of the heart of God can I begin to grasp what that same blessed Man can be to me — food to keep me going in the wilderness.
No quantity was fixed for this offering.
Whatever the offerer could bring, or wanted to bring, the Lord was willing to receive... And when anyone brought a cooked meat-offering to God, the law's requirements put it within the reach of the poorest.
- Bloodless — no blood, so no atonement. This offering shows Christ's life, not His death, and no one could bring it apart from the sacrificial animal.
- Flour — ground fine and even. Pressure only refined Him, where it brings out the grit in us.
- Oil — mixed in, then poured on: conceived by the Spirit, then anointed by Him. He served in that power, never in mere human energy.
- Frankincense — all of it burned. Oil shows the power of His ministry, frankincense its object, and the fire of trial only drew the fragrance out.
- The rest — God takes His portion first. Only then does that same perfect life become food for His priests, and even the poorest could bring it.
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 thereof on the altar, an offering by fire to Jehovah of a sweet odour.
Leviticus 2 moves from an animal burnt offering to a gift of flour, oil and frankincense. The priest burns only a handful of it, yet all the frankincense goes to God — why, and what does this bloodless gift picture?
The Hebrew word behind this offering is not a technical sacrificial term at all. It is the ordinary word for a present brought to someone.
In Hebrew the word minchah just means a present. It is always used of what our translators call a meat offering, but it is not limited to that. So Moses gives this name to the offerings of Cain and Abel, using a term that could describe them both. As a rule minchah covers offerings without blood... Israel could bring such gifts to the Lord. Yet until God acknowledged them as His people, we hear of no such offering being acceptable to Jehovah. Cain tried to approach the Lord with such a gift, and God rejected him. Israel could draw near with such gifts, as offerings made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord... In symbolic language, the burnt offering must be on the altar before the meat offering itself can be presented to God.
The older translation "meat offering" meant food. The ESV calls it a food offering.
Each element of the offering carries its own meaning, and the fire tests all three together.
The fine flour was a fitting symbol of His humanity, sinless and in harmony with God. Oil is the well-known figure of the power of the Spirit. It does not stand for His cleansing work, which man's impurity demands. It stands for His energy, set against the self-will of sinful and selfish man. And frankincense stands for the fragrance that God the Father alone valued, and valued perfectly, in His Son as a Man on earth. His Son was the object of a delight beyond words... The fire tests as nothing else can. Out of this offering it brought one thing only, and brought it out fully: an aroma of rest to Jehovah.
The priest burned only a handful of the flour, but all of the frankincense. That marks off the part of Christ's life that was for God alone.
The "oil" typifies the power of Christ's ministry; the "frankincense" typifies the object of it. The first teaches us that He did everything by the Spirit of God; the second that He did everything to the glory of God. The frankincense presents what in the life of Christ was exclusively for God... Every thought, every word, every look, every act of His gave off a fragrance that went up at once to God. In the picture, the fire of the altar drew out the sweet aroma of the frankincense. The same holds for the One it pictures. The more He was tested, in every scene and circumstance of His blessed life, the more clearly this showed: in His manhood there was nothing that could not rise to God.
Verse 2 calls the handful a memorial. That word is rare, and its other uses fill out its meaning.
Of this offering, the priest burnt a handful of the flour, with all the frankincense, on the altar as a "memorial." That word is used elsewhere only of the very similar showbread (Lev. 24) and of the jealousy offering (Num. 5). A beautiful word in relation to this one perfect life on earth: will God ever forget it? Tested by the fire of God's holiness, it was nothing but sweet aroma. The rest became the portion of the priest — the worshipper.
The order of verse 2 and verse 3 matters. The priests eat nothing until God has had His share.
The offering had to be presented to God first. The memorial, with all the frankincense, had to go up to God. Only then could anything be left as food for the priest who offered it... First I am led to appreciate what Christ is to the delight of God's heart. Only then do I realize in some measure what that same blessed Man can be to me. He is food to sustain me in wilderness conditions.
The frankincense went up to God, but the people nearby still smelled it. One writer draws a practical lesson from that.
It is a miserable thing for a Christian to be acting for a testimony. God may make what I do turn into a testimony. While all the frankincense (Lev. 2:2) was burned on the altar to the Lord, those around smelled the sweet aroma. But a testimony is not my object. Those who set up for a testimony will soon make a show of themselves.
- Gift — the offering is a present with no blood in it, brought by a people God has acknowledged as His own.
- Person — flour, oil and frankincense picture a sinless human life, lived in the Spirit's power and fragrant to God.
- Fire — testing did not spoil the offering; it drew the fragrance out.
- Memorial — the burnt handful is God's lasting remembrance of a life lived wholly for Him.
- Food — the priests eat only after God has His portion. See Christ as God's delight first, and He becomes your food.