| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Leviticus
Chapter Two
Leviticus 2
Chapter Contents
The meat-offering of flour. (1-11) The offering of
first-fruits. (12-16)
Commentary on Leviticus 2:1-11
Meat-offerings may typify Christ, as presented to God for
us, and as being the Bread of life to our souls; but they rather seem to denote
our obligation to God for the blessings of providence, and those good works
which are acceptable to God. The term "meat" was, and still is,
properly given to any kind of provision, and the greater part of this offering
was to be eaten for food, not burned. These meat-offerings are mentioned after
the burnt-offerings: without an interest in the sacrifice of Christ, and
devotedness of heart to God, such services cannot be accepted. Leaven is the
emblem of pride, malice, and hypocrisy, and honey of sensual pleasure. The
former are directly opposed to the graces of humility, love, and sincerity,
which God approves; the latter takes men from the exercises of devotion, and
the practice of good works. Christ, in his character and sacrifice, was wholly
free from the things denoted by leaven; and his suffering life and agonizing
death were the very opposites to worldly pleasure. His people are called to
follow, and to be like him.
Commentary on Leviticus 2:12-16
Salt is required in all the offerings. God hereby
intimates to them that their sacrifices, in themselves, were unsavoury. All
religious services must be seasoned with grace. Christianity is the salt of the
earth. Directions are given about offering their first-fruits at harvest. If a
man, with a thankful sense of God's goodness in giving him a plentiful crop,
was disposed to present an offering to God, let him bring the first ripe and
full ears. Whatever was brought to God must be the best in its kind, though it
were but green ears of corn. Oil and frankincense must be put upon it. Wisdom
and humility soften and sweeten the spirits and services of young people, and
their green ears of corn shall be acceptable. God takes delight in the first
ripe fruits of the Spirit, and the expressions of early piety and devotion.
Holy love to God is the fire by which all our offerings must be made. The
frankincense denotes the mediation and intercession of Christ, by which our
services are accepted. Blessed be God that we have the substance, of which
these observances were but shadows. There is that excellency in Christ, and in
his work as Mediator, which no types and shadows can fully represent. And our
dependence thereon must be so entire, that we must never lose sight of it in
any thing we do, if we would be accepted of God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 2
Verse 1
[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:
A meal-offering —
(Not meat-offering, an ancient false print, which has run thro' many editions
of our bible.) This was of two kinds, the one joined with other offerings, Numbers 15:4,7,10, which was prescribed,
together with the measure or proportion of it: the other, of which this place
speaks, was left to the offerer's good will both for the thing, and for the
quantity. And the matter for this offering was things without life, as meal,
corn, or cakes. Now this sort of sacrifices were appointed, 1. because these
are things of greatest necessity and benefit to man, and therefore it is meet
that God should be served with them, and owned and praised as the giver of
them. 2. In condescension to the poor, that they might not want an offering for
God, and to shew that God would accept even the meanest services, when offered
with a sincere mind. 3. These were necessary provisions for the feast which was
to be presented to God, and for the use of the priests, who were to attend upon
these holy ministrations.
He shall pour oil —
This may note the graces of the Holy Ghost, which are compared to oil, and
anointing with it, Psalms 45:7; 1 John 2:20, and which are necessary to make any
offering acceptable to God.
Frankincense —
Manifestly designed Christ's satisfaction and intercession, which is compared
to a sweet odour, Ephesians 5:2.
Verse 2
[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:
He shall take —
That priest to whom he brought it, and who is appointed to offer it.
The memorial —
That part thus selected and offered; which is called a memorial, either 1. to
the offerer, who by offering this part is minded, that the whole of that he
brought, and of all which he hath of that kind, is God's to whom this part was
paid as an acknowledgment. Or 2. to God, whom (to speak after the manner of
men) this did put in mind of his gracious covenant and promises of favour, and
acceptance of the offerer and his offering.
A sweet savour unto the Lord — And so are our spiritual offerings, which are made by the fire of holy
love, particularly that of almsgiving. With such sacrifices God is
well-pleased.
Verse 3
[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.
Sons — To
be eaten by them, Leviticus 6:16.
Most holy — Or
such as were to be eaten only by the priests, and that only in the holy place
near the altar.
Verse 4
[4] And
if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be
unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed
with oil.
In the oven —
Made in the sanctuary for that use.
Verse 6
[6] Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.
In pieces —
Because part of it was offered to God, and part given to the priests.
Verse 11
[11] No
meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven:
for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by
fire.
No leaven —
Namely, in that which is offered of free-will; for in other offerings it might
be used, Leviticus 7:13; 23:17. This was forbidden, partly to mind them
of their deliverance out of Egypt, when they were forced thro' haste to bring
away their meal or dough (which was the matter of this oblation) unleavened;
partly to signify what Christ would be, and what they should be, pure and free
from all error in the faith and worship of God, and from all hypocrisy, and malice
or wickedness, all which are signified by leaven.
Nor any honey —
Either, 1. because it hath the same effect with leaven in paste or dough,
making it sour, and swelling. Or, 2. in opposition to the sacrifices of the
Gentiles, in which the use of honey was most frequent. Or, 3. to teach us, that
God's worship is not to be governed by men's fancies and appetites but by God's
will.
Verse 12
[12] As
for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but
they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.
Ye may offer them — Or
either of them, leaven or honey.
They shall not be burnt — But reserved for the priests.
Verse 13
[13] And
every oblation of thy meat offering shalt 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 offerings thou shalt offer salt.
Salt — To
signify that incorruption of mind, and sincerity of grace, which in scripture
is signified by salt, Mark 9:49; Colossians 4:6, and which is necessary in all
them that would offer an acceptable offering to God. Or in testimony of that
communion which they had with God in these exercises of worship; salt being the
great symbol of friendship in all nations is called, either, 1. because it
represented the perpetuity of God's covenant with them, which is designed by
salt, Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5. Or, 2. because it was so
particularly required as a condition of their covenant with God; this being
made absolutely necessary in all their offerings; and as the neglect of
sacrifices was a breach of covenant on their part, so also was the neglect of
salt in their sacrifices.
Verse 14
[14] And
if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt
offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the
fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.
First-fruits — Of
thine own free-will; for there were other first-fruits, and that of several
sorts, which were prescribed, and the time, quality, and proportion of them
appointed by God.
Verse 16
[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.
Made by fire —
The fire denotes that fervency of spirit, which ought to be in all our
religious services. Holy love is the fire, by which all our offerings must be
made: else they are not of a sweet savour to God.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-16
A meat-offering.
The meat-offering
It is only when we have received Christ in His character of
a sacrifice for our sins, that we are in a condition to render ourselves a
living sacrifice, so as to be acceptable to God. The meat-offering illustrates
the second great step in the process of salvation.
I. The Jew, for the
substance of his meat-offering, was directed to bring fine flour, or cakes or
wafers of fine flour, or fine flour baked on a plate, or fine flour fried in
oil, or the firstfruits in advance of the harvest beaten out of full ears dried
by the fire. Either wheat or barley would answer; but the requirement reached
the very best grain, either whole, as in the case of the firstfruits, or in its
very finest and best preparations. Thus are we to offer our very best to the
Lord--our bodies and souls, our faculties and attainments--and in the highest
perfection to which we can bring them. Holiness is not the mere saying of a few
prayers, or the paying of a few weekly visits to the sanctuary, or the giving
of a few pennies now and then for the Church or the poor. It is the rendering
of fresh grain and fine flour to the Lord, our God and Benefactor. It is the
presentation of our entire selves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is our reasonable service.
II. Oil was to be
poured upon, or mingled with, the flour of the meat-offering. This was not
common oil, but the oil of unction, or holy oil. It was a material used in
consecrating, or setting apart. It refers to the Holy Spirit, and the
operations of that Spirit in setting apart whom He pleases. It typifies that
“unction of the Holy One,” of which John speaks so largely. No offering of
ourselves to God, no true sanctification can occur, without the oil of Divine
grace, the principle of holiness and sacred power which is poured upon the
believer by the Holy Ghost.
III. There was
frankincense to be put on it. This circumstance identifies it at once with the
burnt-offering, or holocaust. That burnt-offering represented Christ as the Sacrifice for our
sins. The frankincense therefore plays the part here of representing the
mediation and intercession of the Saviour--the grateful fragrance which comes
up before God from the altar of burnt sacrifice. Our consecration to God, even
with the gracious operations of the Spirit, could not be acceptable, except through
Christ, and the sweet intercessorial perfume which arises from His offering in
our behalf.
IV. It was to be
kept clear of heaven and honey. Leaven indicates corruption. Its principle is a
species of putrefaction. It tends to spoil and decay. We must be honest in
these sacred things, and in real earnest, and not deal deceitfully with others
or with ourselves. But wily keep away honey? Simply because it is a fermenter,
a corrupter, and carries in it the principle of putrefaction. And as leaven
represents the ugly, offensive, sour elements of depravity, so honey is the
emblem of such as are sweet and attractive to the taste--“the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Sensual indulgences
and worldly pleasures, as well as hypocrisy and malice, will corrupt and
destroy our best oblations.
V. Salt was to be
used in it. What did this mean? Salt is just the opposite of leaven. The one
corrupts, the other preserves. The one taints and hastens putrefaction, the
other purifies and keeps wholesome. It was the custom in ancient times to
ratify and confirm nearly every important bargain or contract by the eating
together of the parties. This, of course, required the use of salt as an
article invariably present on all such occasions. It thus, or in some other
way, came to be regarded as a symbol of agreement and pure abiding friendship.
If we are true in presenting ourselves to God, we come into harmony with God.
We become His friends, and He our Friend. As we move to Him, He moves to us. As
we come to terms with Him, He comes to terms with us. We agree to be His
obedient and loving children, and He agrees to be our protecting and loving
Father. We give ourselves up to be His people, and He brings Himself down to be
our God. But this same salt tells also of a pure, healthful, pervading savour
of virtue and grace. It was the principle of savoury purification to the
sacrifice; and so the Saviour requires of us to “have salt in ourselves.” As
every Christian is to be a living sacrifice--an accepted oblation unto God, he
must comply with the law of sacrifice, and “be salted with salt”; that is, made
savoury and incorruptible by being pervaded with unfaltering principles of
righteousness.
VI. Its eucharistic
nature. It was not so much a sacrifice as an oblation of praise. Many are the
obligations by which we are bound to present ourselves as living sacrifices
unto God. Viewed in whatever light, it is our “reasonable service.” But of all
the great arguments which bind and move us to this surrender to our Maker, none
stand out with a prominence so full and commanding as that drawn from “the
mercies of God.” We were wrapped up with them in our Creator’s thought before
our life began. They were present, breathing their blessings with our very
substance, when we were fashioned into men. Before our appearance in the world,
they had been at work preparing many fond affections for our reception, and
arranging many a soft cushion to come between this hard earth and our youthful
tenderness. They have tempered the seasons for our good, and filled the horn of
plenty to make us blessed. Every day is a handful of sunbeams, kindled and cast
down by the mercies of God, to gladden the place of our abode, and to light us
to the paths of peace. Every night is a pavilion of the same making, set around
us to give us rest, whilst God touches His fingers to our eyelids, saying,
“Sleep, My children, sleep.” (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The meat-offering; or the Father honoured
Whereas in burnt-offering Christ is seen glorifying God in His
death, in--
I. Meat-offering
(or meal-offering, R.V.), the chief feature is Jesus honouring the Father in
His life, each alike a “sweet savour unto the Lord.” The Blessed One must live
as man before He could die for men; and here we have the perfect character of
the sinless, holy “Man Christ Jesus” (Acts 10:38; John 9:4). See, then, how the holy life
and sacrificial death are inseparably connected; how former must culminate in
latter. Hence meat-offering is found constantly in conjunction with “burnt” and
“peace” offerings (Numbers 15:3-4; Numbers 15:9; Numbers 15:11; Numbers 15:24; Numbers 28:4-5; Numbers 28:12-13; Numbers 28:27-28; Numbers 29:6; Leviticus 7:12), but never with sin or
trespass-offerings, each of which shadows forth some aspect of the death, and
both are “sweet savour” offerings. Observe, too, that while life, not death, is
the prominent feature in meat-offering, there is a thought of latter in
“memorial” burned upon brazen altar (Leviticus 2:2; Leviticus 2:9; Leviticus 2:16), upon and around which
blood had been sprinkled, and on which burnt and peace-offerings were consumed.
Hebrew word. Mincha, translated meat-offering, signifies gift or
“present” could any offer to the holy God that would be acceptable save His own
“unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15), Jesus?
Component parts of meat-offering were most significant.
1. Fine flour (Leviticus 2:1; Leviticus 2:4-5; Leviticus 2:7), well sifted, free from
every unevenness, coarseness, or speck; or could not have typified Jesus, who
was (1 Peter 1:19); every grace alike
perfect; perfect evenness of character and temperament; every quality perfectly
adjusted and evenly balanced; and this from birth, for He was “the Holy One of
God.”
2. Oil, both mingled with and poured upon (Leviticus 2:4-6). Jesus filled with
Spirit from birth (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20). Spirit filled the human
body that veiled Divinity, imbuing the whole nature with His graces; yet was
Jesus “anointed” for service on earth (Acts 10:38; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18) at His baptism, when Spirit
descended and abode upon Him (Luke 3:22; John 1:33-34). Given not “by measure,”
but in sevenfold power (John 3:34; Isaiah 11:2).
3. Frankincense further illustrates this. It was white and fragrant.
White betokens purity, innocence; striking characteristics of the Blessed One (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22-23). His judge could
find “no cause of death in Him,” and the centurion “glorified God,” and
pronounced the Crucified One a “righteous man” (Acts 13:28; Luke 23:4; Luke 23:47). Fragrance was what Jesus
truly ever shed around, as He spake the words (Song of Solomon 5:13) and did the works
of Him that sent Him (Luke 4:40-44 : John 17:8; John 8:28; John 12:49-50; John 14:10). The name of Jesus “is as
ointment poured forth” (Song of Solomon 1:3), and when He dwells
within, the heart is filled with sweet fragrance--as was the house at Bethany (John 12:3)--and He is to that soul, as to
the Father, “a savour of rest” (Genesis 8:21, mar.); and truly the Father
could “rest” in the love and devotion of His beloved Son.
II. “memorial,”
burned upon the altar, shows this still more. Fire brings forth more fully the
sweetness, and tells of the Father’s delight in Jesus, and acceptance of that
holy, consecrated life of devotion to His service, laid on His altar. Observe,
too, that all the frankincense was to be burnt (Leviticus 2:2; Leviticus 2:16; Leviticus 6:15), telling of the special
fragrance, intended only for the Father, in whose service He was consumed by
zeal (John 2:17), and whom He “glorified on the
earth” (John 17:4; John 13:31). The burning, as before said,
seems likewise to point to death, in which the holy life culminated; but no
question of judgment because no question of sin, as shown by word used for
burning. Still, though judgment is not portrayed in meat-offering, yet is Jesus
there seen as “a Man of sorrows . . . ” (Isaiah 53:3), and such expressions as
“Baken in the oven,” “in the frying-pan,” “the firstfruits, green ears of corn
dried by the fire,” “corn beaten out” (Leviticus 2:4; Leviticus 2:7; Leviticus 2:14), surely tell of the grief
and sufferings of the Holy One. But the more He was tried, the sweeter the
fragrance that ascended, as in all things He showed Himself submissive to His
Father’s will. Observe further--
III. “the salt of
the covenant” must not be lacking from the meat-offering (Leviticus 2:13). Salt typified both the
incorruption and incorruptibility of our Blessed Lord (Psalms 16:10; Acts 2:27). Salt thus betokens
perpetuity. Hence the “covenant of salt” (Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5) tells of the
enduring character of Jehovah’s “everlasting covenant ordered in all things and
sure” (2 Samuel 23:5-7; Isaiah 55:3). Assured in Jesus--given
“for a covenant . . . ” (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:8), and Himself “the Amen” of
God’s covenant promises (Luke 1:72; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Revelation 3:14). Again, see “speech,. .
. with grace seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6), exemplified in Him of
whom it is written, “Grace is poured . . . ” (Psalms 45:2). Truly gracious words
proceeded out of His mouth (Luke 4:22), but ever seasoned with salt,
its pungency, its enduring and incorrupting influence. See how He gave right
answers to each, so that no man could “entangle Him . . . ” (Matthew 2:15-23). The like is enjoined to
His people (Colossians 3:16; Mark 9:50), whom He calls “the salt of
the earth” (Matthew 5:13; see Proverbs 12:18); and while He would have
them follow His example in this, as in all else, He Himself--the
Unchangeable--preserves them from corrupting influences; He would have them
pure (1 Peter 1:14-16), “filled with the
Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), testifying of Jesus, and
thus made “unto God a sweet savour of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:15).
IV. Two things
forbidden in meat-offering.
1. Leaven. Used in Scripture as type of evil, of false doctrine (Matthew 16:6; Matthew 16:12; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8); hence strictly
forbidden in every Levitical type of our Lord. It also indicates sourness of
temper and puffing up, not uncommon in man; but impossible in the perfect,
spotless “Man Christ Jesus,” “the second Man, the Lord from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47).
2. Honey. Sweet to taste, but producing sourness afterwards, as
sometimes is the case with the words and ways of man; and likewise with Satan’s
tempting baits, by which he seeks to lure men to their destruction; but as
impossible as the characteristics of leaven in the God-man of whom the
meat-offering is type. Lastly, an important question arises: Who are--
V. Partakers of
the meat-offering? Aaron and sons (Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 2:10; Leviticus 6:16-18). They represent the
Church; and the “Church of God” is to feast on Jesus, “the Bread of Life”; to
feed on His words (John 6:35; John 6:47-54; John 6:63; Jeremiah 15:16); to meditate on details
of holy life of Him who was the Father’s delight. The “remnant” of the
acceptable “memorial” burnt upon the altar of the Lord was given to the
priests; that is, all that is not specially appropriated to the Father, who
joys in the Son, is bestowed for the-sustenance of His people. Further mark,
the priests were to feed on the meat-offering “in the holy place”(Leviticus 6:16), consecrated to the
service of God. How can any feed on Jesus in places devoted to the world? (Lady
Beaujolois Dent)
.
The meat-offering
I. THE MATERIALS.
1. Bread, corn, wheat, or barley (1 Chronicles 21:23; Ezekiel 45:13; Ezekiel 45:15).
2. Oil. This signified in general the Spirit of God in His graces and
comforts (Isaiah 61:1), which Spirit Jesus Christ
did receive above measure, and from Him all believers do partake of His
anointing. There is, and must be, this sacred oil in all our offerings, the
influence of the Spirit of God.
3. Frankincense. Signifying the acceptableness unto God of the
persons and services of His people, through the mediation and intercession of
Jesus Christ.
4. Salt. The perpetuity of the covenant of grace, and the wholesome
and savoury carriage and walking of God’s people.
II. The actions to
be performed about it.
1. It must be brought to the priest. Imports a voluntary act of the
offerer, and a making use of Christ for acceptance in all our services and
approaches unto God.
2. The priest is to burn the memorial of it upon the altar, before
the Lord (see Psalms 20:3; Acts 10:4).
3. The remnant was Aaron’s and his sons’.
III. The meaning.
1. It prefigured and shadowed forth the atonement or expiation of sin
by the righteousness of Jesus Christ--both by His sufferings and actings, His
active and passive obedience.
2. It signified also the persons of believers, who, through Christ,
are sanctified and cleansed to be a pure oblation to God (Isaiah 66:20; Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6).
3. It signified those fruits of grace and good works that believers
perform, whether towards God or towards man.
4. It shadowed forth the acceptance of our persons and services with
the Lord (Philippians 4:17-18; Malachi 1:10-11).
IV. The additions
forbidden.
1. Leaven argues corruption.
2. Honey cloys and loads the stomach, and turns to choler and
bitterness.
V. The
appurtenance of drink-offerings.
1. Wine, in typical and allegorical Scriptures, sometimes signifies
the joys and consolations of the Holy Ghost.
2. We find the saints pouring out their blood in the cause of Christ,
compared to a drink-offering (Philippians 2:27; 2 Timothy 4:6). And so, in a much
higher sense, the blood of Christ is represented by wine in the Holy Communion.
3. It shadowed forth the Lord’s acceptance of His people. (S.
Mather.)
Homage graced with excellencies
I. Every element
of worth and attractiveness should concentrate in our worship and service of
god. “Fine flour”--“oil”--“frankincense.” By all these combined ingredients a
total result would be produced which constituted the offering one “of a sweet
savour unto the Lord.”
1. Solitary graces are not despised by Him we worship.
2. Yet worship should he the outflow of all noble affections and
aspirations of the soul.
3. Preparation for such a blending of graces in worship is our evident duty.
II. Adorable
presentations to god secure his gracious appreciation and lavish praise. “Sweet
savour.” “A thing most holy.”
1. No poverty of approval ever repels a fervent worshipper.
2. Offering such excellency of homage, we shall assuredly realise
that God is well pleased.
III. Excellencies in
typical offerings foreshadowed the beauties and worthiness of Jesus.
1. The quality of the flour bespeaks the intrinsic excellence of Christ.
2. The pouring oil thereon denotes the anointing of the Spirit.
3. The added frankincense tells of the delightfulness of Christ. (W.
H. Jellie.)
The meat-offering typical of Christ and His people
I. Consider the
principal ingredient of it. There were two things of which it consisted, one of
which was fine flour. This fine flour was of wheat, as is clear from various
accounts we have of this offering.
1. This may denote the excellency of Christ: the superior excellency
of Him to all others, not only as a Divine person, but as God-man and Mediator;
He is preferable to angels and to men.
2. But this meat-offering, being of fine flour, of wheat the choicest
of grain, may also denote the purity of Christ: fine flour of wheat being the
purest and cleanest of all others. As He is a Divine person, He is a rock and
His work is perfect: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and true is He.
As man, His human nature was entirely free from all contagion and corruption of
sin: from original taint, as the fine flour of which this meat-offering was,
free from all bran, so He was free from the bran of original corruption. Pure
and free was He
from any iniquity in life: He did none, neither was guile found in His mouth.
3. Moreover, as fine flour of wheat is the principal part of human
sustenance, and what strengthens the heart of man, and nourishes him, and is
the means of maintaining and supporting life, it may fitly shadow and figure
out our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the bread of God, which came down from heaven.
The bread of God’s preparing, the bread of God’s giving, and the bread which
God blesses for the nourishment of His people. Thus this meat-offering, as to
the substance of it, being of fine flour of wheat, is a very special and
particular representation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. It may also, with great propriety be applied unto His people, who
are represented in Scripture frequently as wheat. These may be signified
hereby, because of their peculiar choiceness; being the excellent in the earth,
in whom is the delight of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as of His Divine
Father, whom He has chosen from all others, to be His peculiar people. And they
being compared to wheat, may denote also their purity. Not as considered in
themselves, but in Christ.
II. Consider the
things which were to be made use of along with this meat-offering; and the
things which were forbidden to be used in it. There were some things to be made use of in
it, such as oil, frankincense, and salt. Oil was to be poured upon it,
frankincense put thereon, and every oblation was to be seasoned with salt. The
oil that was poured upon the meat-offering, or to be mingled with it, may
denote, either the grace of God in Christ, or the grace of God communicated to,
and bestowed upon His people. Frankincense put upon the meat-offering, may
denote either the acceptableness of the Lord Jesus Christ to God and His
people, or the acceptableness of His people unto God and to Christ. Salt was
another thing that was used in it, which makes food savoury, and preserves from
putrefaction, and may denote the savouriness of the Lord Jesus Christ to
believers. “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt?” says Job (Job 6:6). Now Christ, as a meat-offering,
is to His people savoury food, such as their souls love: pleasing, delightful,
comfortable, refreshing, nourishing, and strengthening. Salt is an emblem of
perpetuity. Now this may denote the perpetuity of Christ’s sacrifice, which always
remains; and the perpetuity of Him, as the meat-offering. For He is that meat
which endures to everlasting life; and Him has God the Father sealed. And this,
as it respects the people of God, may be an emblem of the savour of their life
and conversation. There were two things which the Jews were forbidden to use in
the meat-offering; the one was leaven, and the other was honey. There was to be
no leaven in it. This, as it may respect our Lord Jesus Christ, the Antitype of
the meat-offering, may denote His freedom from hypocrisy, and all false
doctrines, which were the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. He is truth
itself--the Way, the Truth, and the Life: and the doctrines preached by Him
were grace and truth. To apply this to the people of God, as no meat-offering
was to be made with leaven, it may denote that they should take heed of
communing with profane and scandalous persons. And it may denote that they
should be clear of malice and wickedness; they ought to lay aside, as new-born
babes, all superfluity and naughtiness. Another thing forbidden in the
meat-offering is honey. The reason of this is because it was made use of among the heathens in
their offerings, and the people of God were not to walk in their ordinances,
but in the ordinances appointed of the Lord. Besides, honey, like leaven, is of
a fermenting nature,, and which, when burned, gives an ill smell; and no ill
smell was to be in the offering. It was to be, as our text says, “of a sweet
savour unto the Lord”; which it could not have been if the honey had been in
it. Besides, it is of a cloying nature, it causes a loathing when persons eat
too freely of it. Now there, is nothing of this to be found in the antitypical
Meat-offering, our Lord Jesus Christ. No, the true believer that feeds by faith
upon Him, the language of his soul is, “Lord, evermore give us this bread”; let
me always feed upon this provision. Moreover, honey may be considered as an
emblem of sin, and sinful pleasures; which are as a sweet morsel rolled under
the tongue of a wicked man, though it proves the poison of asps within him at
last: and so denotes unto us, that such who would feed by faith on Christ ought
to relinquish sinful lusts and pleasures. As well it may also further denote
that the people of God must not expect their sweets without their bitters. They
that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution of one kind or
another. So the passover was to be eaten with bitter herbs as the
representation of the same thing.
III. As to the
composition thereof, and the different manner of dressing this meat-offering. It was to be made of fine flour,
made of wheat, beaten out of the husk, and ground; it was to be mingled with
oil, kneaded, baked in an oven, fried in pans; or parched by the fire. Now all
this may be an emblem of the dolorous sorrows and sufferings of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And as it may be applied to the people of God, it may denote not only
their separation from others, but the trials and exercises they meet with,
which are sometimes called fiery trials.
IV. The use that
was made of this offering. Part of it was burnt as a memorial unto the Lord,
either to put the Lord in mind of His loving-kindness to His people, and of His
covenant with them, and promises unto them, to which the allusion is (Psalms 20:3), or to put the offerer in
mind of the great sacrifice of Christ, who was to be offered for his sins, and
to be a
meat-offering to him. And the other part of it was to be eaten by the priests,
which shows the care taken by the Lord for the maintenance of the priests, and
from whence the apostle argues for the support of the ministers of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:13-14). And this may
denote that such who are made priests unto God by Christ have a right to feed
upon Christ, the meat-offering by faith; who is the altar and meat-offering,
which none but such have a right to eat of.
V. The
acceptableness of it. It is said to be “of a sweet savour unto the Lord,” as
Christ’s sacrifice is said to be (Ephesians 5:2). And so His people also,
their persons are an offering of a sweet-smelling savour to God, in Christ;
being accepted in Him the Beloved and as are their sacrifices both of prayer
and praise. (John Gill, D. D.)
The meat-offering
The meat-offering (or rather bread-offering, for the word
“meat” has changed its meaning since our translation was made) was an
accompaniment of the burnt-offering, and therefore must be looked at in its
connection with it. It consisted in the offering of fine flour (Leviticus 2:1), or bread made of fine
flour (Leviticus 2:4-5; Leviticus 2:7), with oil and frankincense
(Leviticus 2:1), and salt (Leviticus 2:13). Its symbolic meaning is
quite obvious. Just as the burnt-offering symbolised the dedication of the man
himself to God, with all his powers and faculties, the bread-offering signified
the dedication to God of the fruit of his labours, the produce of his industry.
In its fullest sense it symbolised the dedication of his life-energy to God in
holy obedience. The close association of bread with, life throughout the
Scriptures is quite familiar to us, and perhaps our Lord had this offering in
mind when He said: “My meat” (bread) “is to do the will of Him that sent Me,
and to finish His work” (John 4:34). But while in its fullest
sense the bread-offering may be understood as symbolising the entire new life
which is the result of our dedicating of ourselves to God, its most obvious application
is to the dedication of our substance to Him, to whom we have dedicated
ourselves. The oil to be poured upon the offering has here its invariable
significance of heavenly grace, and the frankincense the devotional spirit in
which the offering should be presented. The salt is spoken of as “the salt of
the covenant of thy God” (Leviticus 2:13); and the caution never to
allow it to be lacking seems to guard against the danger of supposing that our
gifts to the Lord can find acceptance in any other way than through the
provisions of the covenant which He has made with us by sacrifice (Psalms 50:5). The things prohibited are
equally suggestive with the things enjoined. They are leaven and honey: leaven,
the symbol of corruption, and honey, of a sweetness which was in the Hebrew
mind especially associated with fermentation. The disposal of the offering was
also significant. Part of it was to be burnt upon the altar “as a memorial” (Leviticus 2:2; Leviticus 2:6): the rest was set apart
for use by the priests (Leviticus 2:3). Inasmuch as the priests
in these transactions represented the people, while the altar represented God,
the idea of fellowship or sharing is here conveyed, as if to suggest the
thought that while all our energies and all our substance should be consecrated
to God in the first place, the sum is nevertheless in the issue divided between
the more sacred and the more personal uses. In the matter of property, for
instance, the true idea is not to give a portion to the Lord and to keep the
rest for ourselves, but to give all to God; and then, with His approval, to
expend so much on personal use, and set aside so much for consumption on the
altar. But while The offering is to be thus divided, the frankincense is to be
all burnt upon the altar (Leviticus 2:2). The devotional element is
for God alone. You have heard, perhaps, of the newspaper writer who, referring
to the devotional part of the service in one of the churches in Boston, spoke
of his having had the privilege of listening to “the most eloquent prayer that
was ever addressed to a Boston audience.” We are too apt to forget that our
prayers are not for Boston audiences or London audiences, but for the audience
of Heaven, for the ear of God. The frankincense was all to be burnt upon
the altar. (J. M. Gibson, D. D.)
The meat-offering
First, the meat-offering was one of the offerings commanded by the
law of God; it consisted of fine flour, oil, and frankincense. A handful of
this flour, with the oil and all the frankincense, was to be burnt by the
priest on the altar as an offering to God, the remainder of the flour and oil
was to belong to the priest. Afterwards we read of three kinds of
meat-offerings, of which the first was baked in an oven, the second in a pan,
the third in a frying-pan, which is thought by some expositors not to mean what
we call a frying-pan, but a coarse earthen pot in which the poorer sort in the
East cook their food. These three kinds of meat-offerings were all of the same
materials, but probably different in quantity from one another, as well as in
mode of preparation. The meat-offering in the oven was intended as the offering
of the rich; that in the pan for the middling class; that in the frying-pan for
the poorest sort. God requires an offering from all, both rich and poor, and
will accept the offering of the poorest as well as that of the richest. The meat-offering
seems to mean the entire giving up of a man, his body and soul, and all he has
to God, which follows his believing acceptance of Christ’s work and sacrifice.
The man looks with faith to Christ’s sacrifice (this is the burnt-offering),
this sight of Christ crucified fills all his heart with love and gratitude to
his kind and loving Saviour, this causes him to give himself and all that he
has to God and His service (this is the meat-offering). The fine flour,
probably meant the man’s self, his property and services. It was not only
flour, but fine flour, the best part of the flour, the flour cleansed from
bran, dirt, &c. When the believer offers himself to God, he offers that new
man which is created in him by the Holy Spirit, and which is most pleasing and
precious in God’s sight through Christ. The remains of sin in the believer are
like the bran, dirt, &c., in the flour; these are cleansed out of and
destroyed in the believer by the Spirit, and are not offered to God. The oil in
the meat-offering probably denoted the Holy Spirit. He was poured without
measure on Christ the Head of the Church, and flows down to the skirts of His
clothing, so that the meanest believer shares in this Divine oil which adorns
and beautifies the soul. Frankincense was also a part of the meat-offering.
Now, frankincense was a type of the prayers of Christ and His intercession, by
which the sacrifices and services of believers are offered to, and accepted by
the Father. Just as man is delighted with the sweet smell of frankincense, so
the Father is most delighted with Christ, and His prayers for believers, which
are always sweet smelling and fragrant to Him. The man was to offer the whole
quantity of the meat-offering, but the priest was only to take a handful of it
for the Lord. The part that God took was to be offered up as a memorial, to
teach a man that all he had belonged to God, and that He had a right to take
the whole, or any part of it He pleased. All the frankincense was to be taken,
since the prayers of Christ are all so precious to the Father that not one of
them can be left out by Him from His own peculiar offering. All the remainder
that was not offered on the altar became most holy. This teaches us that when
once we have offered ourselves to the Lord, everything of ours becomes
separated from the world and sin, and set apart to God’s service, and though He
returns it to us, yet we must remember that it is most holy, and though it may
be used by us, yet it must be used as a most holy thing, and not for ungodly or
sinful uses. Secondly, let us consider the two things that were forbidden to be
used in meat-offerings, and in most sacrifices. They were
Leaven is a striking figure of decay and corruption. It is often
used in Scripture as a figure of sin, which is the corruption and decay of the
soul from the original state of righteousness and holiness in which man was
created to a state of ungodliness and wickedness. Any sin, then, wilfully
indulged and allowed is the leaven which is positively forbidden to be offered
in any of our spiritual sacrifices to God. The second thing forbidden to be
offered in the meat-offering was honey. And by honey being forbidden in the
sacrifices, we are taught that in all our spiritual sacrifices of praise and
prayer and good works and all others, we should carefully avoid set, king the
pleasure or gratification of the natural heart, instead of or in addition to
God’s glory and approval. Thirdly, let us observe what was to be put not only
in the meat-offering, but in every Jewish sacrifice--that was salt. Whatever
else was wanting, the salt was never to be wanting from any sacrifice made to
God. By salt is meant grace in Scripture, and that work of the Spirit in the
heart which is a fruit and effect of the grace or undeserved love of the Godhead.
Just as salt preserves from natural corruption, so the Holy Spirit and His
grace preserves from spiritual corruption--that is, the departure of the heart
from the love and fear of God. It was not only salt that was to be in the
meat-offering and other sacrifices, but the salt of the covenant of thy God.
The salt in believers must be the salt of the covenant--the Holy Spirit--not
mere human principles of endurance, temperance, philosophy, and virtue. This
covenant is the covenant of grace made between the Father and the Son, its
object is to give eternal life and blessings to those who are in it, who are
all true believers on account of and in consideration of the work of Christ in
His life and death. God gives believers the Spirit as the certain mark and sign
of the covenant of grace into which He has admitted them through Christ.
Lastly, consider the application of this to ourselves. Take heed that there is
no leaven, no tolerated, or indulged, or ruling sin in your heart or conduct,
or God will abhor and curse your offerings and sacrifices, for the “sacrifice
of the wicked is abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 15:8). Weakness and sins of
infirmity there will always be in all your offerings to God; but the blood of
Christ will wash out all these if you go to that fountain. But no sin must be
wilfully indulged, or suffered to rule in your heart or life; no sin must be
inwardly loved and cherished by you. Take heed also that there is nothing of
what the law of
God condemns as honey in your offerings to God. Many only seek to please
themselves, or to get the praise of men in their service or worship of God; but
this is the honey God forbids in the sacrifices. Above all, take heed that you
have the Holy Spirit. (C. S. Taylor, M. A.)
The meat-offering
I. In its contrast
to the other offerings. Five points here at once present themselves, which
bring out what is distinctive in this offering. The apprehension of these will
enable us to see the particular relation which Jesus filled for man as
Meat-offering.
1. The first point is that the meat-offering was “a sweet savour.” In
this particular it stands in contrast to the sin-offering, but in exact
accordance with the burnt-offering.
2. The second point in which the meat-offering differed from the
others is seen in the materials of which it was composed. These were “flour,
oil, and frankincense”; there is no giving up of life here. It is in this
particular, especially, that the meat-offering differs from the burnt-offering.
Life is that which from the beginning God claimed as His part in creation: as
an emblem, therefore, it represents what the creature owes to God. Corn, the
fruit of the earth,
on the other hand, is man’s part in creation; as such, it stands the emblem of
man’s claim, or of what we owe to man. What we owe to God or to man is
respectively our duty to either. Thus in the burnt-offering the surrender of life to
God represents the fulfilment of man’s duty to God; man yielding to God His
portion to satisfy all His claim. In the meat-offering the gift of corn and oil
represents the fulfilment of man’s duty to his neighbour: man in his offering
surrendering himself to God, but doing so that he may give to man his portion.
Thus the burnt-offering is the perfect fulfilment of the laws of the first
table; the meat-offering the perfect fulfilment of the second. Of course, in
both cases the offering is but one--that offering is “the body” of Jesus; but
that body is seen offered in different aspects: here in the meat-offering as
fulfilling man’s duty to man. The one case is man satisfying God, giving Him
His portion, and receiving testimony that it is acceptable. The other is man
satisfying his neighbour, giving man his portion as an offering to the Lord.
3. The meat-offering was “not wholly burnt.” In this it differed from
the burnt-offering. Christ as performing
man’s duty to God--that is, the burnt-offering--was wholly the food of God,
wholly put upon His altar, wholly consumed by Him. But Christ as performing His duty to
man--that is, the meat-offering--is also man’s meat, the food of the priests:
“The remnant of the meat-offering shall be Aaron’s and h s sons’; it is a thing
most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.” Yet even here He
satisfies God. “A handful, the memorial of the offering,” is put upon the altar
to teach us, that even in fulfilling man’s duty to his neighbour, Christ
fulfilled it as “an offering unto the Lord.” But though God had thus a portion
in the meat-offering, it is nevertheless specially the food of man; primarily
to be viewed as offered for us to God, but also as given to us, as priests, to
feed on. For us, as meat-offering, Jesus fulfilled what was due to man. He did
this as our representative, as the substitute of those who trust Him--in this
aspect of the offering our souls find peace; here is our acceptance--but this,
though securing peace, is but a part of our blessed portion. If Jesus did all
this for us, will He not do it to us? As righteous in Him, we still have wants,
we need daily food and anointing; and for these as much as for righteousness,
we are debtors to His abounding grace. The law is that the priests should be
fed at the altar; they may not work for their bread as others. The faithful
Israelite is the appointed channel of their subsistence; on his faithfulness,
under God, do they depend for their food. Jesus, as the faithful Israelite,
will not fail the priests who wait at the altar. Let His priests (“ye are a
royal priesthood”) be but found where they should be, and His offering will be
there to feed them. “He will abundantly bless the provision, He will satisfy
His poor with bread.”
4. The fourth point I notice in the meat-offering is, that, though
intended for, and for the most part consumed by, man, it was, nevertheless,
“offered unto the Lord.” In the meat-offering the offerer gives himself as
man’s meat; yet this
is yielded as “an offering unto Jehovah.” The offering indeed fed the priests;
but it was offered, not to them, but to the Lord. The first Adam took for man
not only what was given him, but what God had reserved for Himself. The second
Adam gave to God not only God’s portion, but even of man’s part God had the
first memorial. Jesus, as man, in satisfying man’s claim on Him, did it as “an
offering unto the Lord.” With us how much even of our graces is offered to man
rather than to God. Even in our most devoted service, what a seeking there is,
perhaps unconsciously, to be something in the estimation of others: some secret
desire, some undetected wish, even by our very service to be greater here. The
very gifts of God and the power of His Spirit are sought the better to give us
a place in this world. Surely this is one of the reasons why God can trust us with so little, for
with His gifts we build up our own name, instead of His name. But how unlike
all this to our Master.
5. In the last place, the contrast between the meat-offering and “the
offering of firstfruits at Pentecost.” The distinction is stated in the twelfth
verse--“As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the
Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.” The
contrast is this--the meat-offering was a sweet savour: the oblation of
firstfruits, though very like the meat-offering, was not so. For the key to
this we must turn to chap. 23., where the law respecting “the oblation of
firstfruits” is given to us. In that chapter we have a list of the feasts.
First in order comes the Passover, on the fourteenth day at even; then the
wave-sheaf of firstfruits, on the morrow after the Sabbath; and then, fifty
days after, the oblation of the firstfruits on the day of Pentecost. The “sheaf
of firstfruits,” on the morrow after the Sabbath, might be burnt to the Lord as
a sweet savour; but “the oblation of the firstfruits” at Pent cost might not be
burnt on the altar. The reason for this distinction is found in the fact that
“the sheaf of firstfruits” was unleavened, while “the oblation of firstfruits”
at Pentecost was mixed and made with leaven. The typical application of all
this is too obvious to need any comment. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed
for us, and sacrificed on the predetermined day. Then “on the morrow after the
Sabbath,” the next ensuing Sabbath, that is, on the appointed “first day of the
week,” Christ “rose from the dead, and became the firstfruits of them that
slept.” In Him there was no sin, no leaven; He was in Himself a sweet savour to
Jehovah. With this offering, therefore, no sin-offering was coupled; it was
offered only with a burnt-offering and meat-offering. But fifty days after
this, “when the day of Pentecost was fully come,” the Church, typified by the
leavened oblation of firstfruits, is offered unto the Lord: for we, as well as
Jesus, are firstfruits; “we are,” says James, “a kind of firstfruits of His
creatures.” But this offering, having sin in it, being “mixed with leaven,”
could neither stand the test of the fire of the altar, nor be an offering made
by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Yet it was to be both offered and
accepted--“Ye shall offer it, but it shall not be burnt.” And why, and how, was
this leavened cake accepted? Something was offered “with it,” for the sake of
which the leavened firstfruits were accepted. They offered with the leavened
bread a burnt-offering, a meat-offering, a peace-offering, and a sin-offering;
for leaven being found in the oblation of firstfruits, a sin-offering was needed with it. And
the priest waved all together: “the priest shall wave them with the bread of
the firstfruits for a wave-offering before tile Lord.” The Church comes with
Christ before God; it is offered with all the value of His work attached to it.
II. In its
different grades or varieties. These are three in number, and represent the
different measures of apprehension with which a saint may see Jesus in any of
His relations.
1. The first contrast is, that while in the first grade each article
of the materials is enumerated, the second describes the offering more
generally as “unleavened wafers anointed.” The import of this distinction is at
once and easily discoverable. How many saints are there, who, in thinking or
speaking about Jesus, can fully assert that He is “unleavened,” who know anti
believe He is sinless, while yet they cannot see all His perfectness. But
absence of evil, the being without leaven, is a lower thought than the
possession of perfect goodness. We can say, “He did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth,” long before we can tell what was in Him, and the way in
which He spent it all for others.
2. A second point of contrast between the different grades of the
meat-offering is too remarkable to be omitted. In the first class it is
observed that the offerer himself takes the memorial for God out of the
offering; in the second, the priest is said to take it; while in the last
class--“in the dried ears”--no mention is made who takes it. The difference is
obvious and instructive. The one view shows Christ in His person as offerer,
the other in His appointed office as the priest. The first, Christ as offerer
personally giving to God, is a higher view than Christ offering as priest
officially. The latter view loses, at least, one precious object in the
precious offering of Jesus; the office is indeed seen, but the person of the
Lord quite lost sight of.
3. But there is a third contrast, and one which may be more generally
apprehended, between the first class of the meat-offering and tile others. In
the first class Christ’s offering is seen as flour: He is “the fine flour”
bruised. In the other classes this particular is almost merged: He is rather
bread, either “loaves” or “wafers.” The distinction here is very manifest. We
may see Jesus as our “bread,” or even as God’s bread, without entering into the
thoughts which are suggested by the emblems of “fine flour” and “frankincense.”
The perfect absence of all unevenness, and the deep bruisings which He endured
that He might satisfy us; the precious savour also of the offering, only more
fragrant when tried by fire; these are not our first views of Jesus; for as
they are the most perfect apprehensions, so are they generally the last.
4. The difference between the first class of the meat-offering and
the third is even more striking and manifest; this latter offering giving us a
thought of Christ as “firstfruits,” the first sheaf of the ripening harvest,
rather than the bread already prepared for food, or the fine flour as seen in
the first grade. (A. Jukes.)
The meat-offering
The meat-offering (so called by our translators because the
greater part of it was used for food) represents the offerer’s person and
property, his body and his possessions. The mercies of God constrain him to
give up all he has to the Lord. The meat-offering was generally, or rather
always, presented along with some animal sacrifice, in order to show the
connection between pardon of sin and devotion to the Lord. The moment we are
pardoned, all we are, and all we have, becomes the property of Christ. A type
that was to represent this dedication of body and property was one that behoved
to have no blood therein; for blood is the life or soul which has been already
offered. This distinction may have existed as early as the days of Adam. When
God instituted animal sacrifice to represent the atonement by death He probably
also instituted this other sort; the fact of this latter existing, and its
meaning and use being definitely understood, would tend to confirm the
exclusive use of animal sacrifice when atonement was to be shown forth. Cain’s
offering of firstfruits might have been acceptable as a meat-offering, if it
had been founded upon the slain lamb, and had followed as a consequence from
that sacrifice. This meat-offering was presented daily, along with the morning
and evening sacrifice, teaching us to give all we have to the Lord’s use, not
by irregular impulse on particular exigencies, but daily. But we have still to
call attention to the chief application of this type. It shows forth Christ
Himself. And indeed this should have been noticed first of all, had it not been
for the sake of first establishing the precise point of view in which this type
sets forth its object. We are to consider it as representing Christ Himself in
all His work of obedience, soul and body. And if it represent Christ, it
includes His Church. Christ and His body, the Church, are presented to the
Father, and accepted. Christ, and all His possessions in heaven and earth,
whether possessions of dominion or possessions in the souls of men and angels,
were all presented to, and accepted by the Father. Let us now examine the
chapter in detail. The meat-offering must be of fine flour--the fine wheat of
Palestine, not the coarser “meal,” but the fine, boiled and sifted well. It
must in all cases be not less than the tenth of an ephah (Leviticus 5:11); in most cases far more
(see Numbers 7:13). It was taken from the best
of their fields, and cleansed from the bran by passing through the sieve. The
rich seem to have offered it in the shape of pure fine flour, white as snow,
heaping it up probably, as in Numbers 7:13, on a silver charger, or in
a silver bowl, in princely manner. It thus formed a type, beautiful and
pleasant to the eye, of the man’s self and substance dedicated to God, when now
made pure by the blood of sacrifice that had removed his sin. For if forgiven,
then a blessing rested upon his basket and his store, on the fruit of his body,
and the fruit of his ground, the fruit of his cattle, and the increase of his
kine (see Deuteronomy 28:3-6). Even as Jesus, when
raised from the tomb, was henceforth no more under the curse of sin; but was
blessed in body, for His body was no longer weary or feeble; and blessed in
company, for no longer was He numbered among transgressors; and blessed in all
His inheritance, for “all power was given Him in heaven and in earth.” The oil
poured on the fine flour denoted setting apart. It was oil that was used by
Jacob at Bethel in setting apart his stone pillow to commemorate his vision;
and every priest and king was thus set apart for his office. Oil, used on these
occasions, is elsewhere appropriated to mean the Spirit’s operation--the Spirit
setting apart whom He pleases for any office. The frankincense, fragrant in its
smell, denoted the acceptableness of the offering. As a flower or plant--the
rose of Sharon or the balm of Gilead--would induce any passing traveller to
stoop down over them, and regale himself with their fragrance, so the testimony
borne by Christ’s work to the character of Godhead brings the Father to bend
over any to whom it is imparted, and to rest over him in His love. The Lord
Jesus says to His Church, in Song of Solomon 4:6, “Until the day
break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and
the hill of frankincense.” This spot must be the Father’s right hand. In like
manner, then, it ought to be the holy purpose of believing souls who are
looking for Christ, to dwell so entirely amid the Redeemer’s merits, that, like
the maidens of King Ahasuerus (Esther 2:12), they shall be fragrant with
the sweet odours, and with these alone, when the bridegroom comes. When Christ
presented His human person and all He had, He was, indeed, fragrant to the
Father, and the oil of the Spirit was on Him above His fellows (see Isaiah 61:1; Psalms 45:7; Hebrews 9:14). And equally complete in
Him is every believer also. Like Jesus, each believer is God’s wheat--His fine
flour. (A. A. Bonar.)
Christ the true Meat-offering
That Christ is the true Meat-offering is manifest from its
materials. These clearly represent features of character found nowhere else but
in Him. In the bruising of the corn necessary to the formation of the
flour--the baking of the cakes or wafers in the second division of the
offering--the scorching of the green ears of corn in the oblation of the
firstfruits--in each of these particulars we have a type of His sufferings, who
was “bruised for our iniquities,” and by whose stripes we are healed. For,
while the meat-offering chiefly directs our attention to Christ in life,
exhibiting a faultlessness of character to be seen in none else, it does not
step short of the Cross. True, no life was taken, it was a bloodless sacrifice.
It was, however, burned upon the altar (not the altar of incense, but of
burnt-offering), and was usually, and I am inclined to think
always--accompanied by an animal sacrifice. Does not this prove how closely in
its typical application this offering is connected with those which more
especially set forth Christ as making atonement in death? It is, in fact, but
another aspect of the great sacrificial work of Christ--a work, to the
accomplishment of which the unblemished life of the Saviour was as needful as
His death. “Full of grace and truth”; the unction of the Holy Ghost, the oil,
was ever, and without measure, upon Him. Every incident in His precious
life was redolent with the fragrant frankincense; whilst the healthful savour
of the salt impregnated everything He did and said. No corrupting leaven!
no mere superficial honey-like sweetness (which in us is often called, or
mis-called, “our good nature”) characterised the conduct and conversation of
the “Anointed Man.” View Him under what circumstances you will, whether in the
society of those by whom He was loved, or surrounded with men who went about to
kill Him, He is ever the pure, perpetual Meat-offering. True, while we are in
the flesh, neither our conduct nor our gifts can fully answer to the pure,
unleavened Meat-offering. God has, however, provided a perfect offering in
Jesus to supply our lack, to ascend as a sweet-smelling savour for us. Yet, as
we are exhorted to be like Jesus in being “whole burnt-offerings,” presenting
“our bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God,” so must we seek
to imitate Him in the purity and perfectness of His walk as our Meat-offering.
(F. H. White.)
The meat-offering
1. Its main material is flour. Earth yields the grain; repeated blows
thresh it from the husks; the grinding mill reduces it to powder. This thought
glides easily to Christ. He stoops to be poor offspring of poor earth. And then
what batterings assail Him!
2. The quality of the flour is distinctly marked. It must be fine.
All coarseness must be sifted out. No impure speck may stain it. See the lovely
beauties of the Lord. His charms bring comfort to the anxious soul.
3. Oil is added (Leviticus 2:3). Emblem of the Spirit’s
grace.
4. Frankincense is sprinkled on the mass. And is not Christ the
incense of delight, in heaven, in earth? The precious merits of His work regal
each attribute of God. He brings full honour to their every claim. He, too, is
perfume to His people’s hearts. Say, ye who know Christ Jesus, is not His name
“as ointment poured forth”?
5. No leaven and no honey may be brought. The first is quick to
change and taint the meal. It rapidly pervades. It casts a savour into every
part. Hence it is evil’s emblem. For sin admitted will run wildly through the heart.
Its course pollutes. The latter is must luscious to the palate. But is it
harmless? Nay, it soon proves a sickening and fermenting pest. Its sweetness
tempts. But bitterness ensues. Here is a symbol of sin’s flattering bait.
6. But salt must be infused. Its properties repel corruption and defy
decay. Where it is sprinkled freshness lives. At its approach time drops its
spoiling hand. Again behold the Lord. His essence and His work are purity’s
bright blaze.
7. The use of the meat-offering. A part is cast upon the altar’s
hearth. The fire enwraps it in devouring folds. It is the prey of the consuming
blaze. The burning meal exhibits Jesus in the furnace of keen anguish. What
awe, what peace live in this wondrous sight! The meat-offering had further use.
The remnant “shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the
offerings of the Lord made by fire.” Here is another view of Christ. It shows
most tender and providing love. The gospel truth is bread of life to hungry
souls. They, who serve Christ, sit down at a rich board. A feast is spread to
nourish and regale. Christ gives Himself--heaven’s richest produce--as
substantial food. (Dean Law.)
The meal offering
Israel’s bodily calling was the cultivation of the ground in the
land given him by Jehovah. The fruit of his calling, under the Divine blessing,
was corn and wine, his bodily food, which nourished and sustained his bodily
life. Israel’s spiritual calling was to work in the field of the kingdom of
God, in the vineyard of his Lord; this work was Israel’s covenant obligation.
Of this, the fruit was the spiritual bread, the spiritual nourishment, which
should sustain and develop his spiritual life. (J. H. Kurtz, D. D.)
The offering of consecrated labour
In the meal-offering we are reminded that the fruit of all our
spiritual labours is to be offered to the Lord. This reminder might seem
unneedful, as indeed it ought to be; but it is not. For it is sadly possible to
call Christ “Lord,” and, labouring in His field, do in His name many wonderful
works, yet not really unto Him. A minister of the Word may with steady labour
drive the ploughshare of the law, and sow continually the undoubted seed of the
Word in the Master’s field; and the apparent result of his work may be large,
and even real, in the conversion of men to God, and a great increase of
Christian zeal and activity. And yet it is quite possible that a man do this,
and still do it for himself, and not for the Lord; and when success comes,
begin to rejoice in his evident skill as a spiritual husbandman, and in the
praise of man which this brings him; and so, while thus rejoicing in the fruit
of his labours, neglect to bring of this good corn and wine which he has raised
for a daily meal-offering in consecration to the Lord. And so, indeed, it may
be in every department of religious activity. But the teaching of the
meal-offering reaches further than to what we call religious labours. For in
that it was appointed that the offering should consist of man’s daily food,
Israel was reminded that God’s claim for full consecration of all our
activities covers everything, even to the very food we eat. The New Testament
has the same thought (1 Corinthians 10:31). And the
offering was not to consist of any food which one might choose to bring, but of
corn and oil, variously prepared. That was chosen for the offering which all,
the richest and the poorest alike, would be sure to have; with the evident
intent that no one might be able to plead poverty as an excuse for bringing no
meal-offering to the Lord. From the statesman who administers the affairs of an
empire to the day-labourer in the shop, or mill, or field, all alike are hereby
reminded that the Lord requires that the work of every one shall be brought and
offered to Him in holy consecration. And there was a further prescription,
although not mentioned here in so many words. In some offerings barley-meal was
ordered, but for this offering the grain presented, whether parched, in the
ear, or ground into meal, must be only wheat. The reason for this, and the
lesson it teaches, are plain. For wheat in Israel, as still in most lands, was
the best and most valued of the grains. Israel must not only offer unto God of
the fruit of their labour, but the best result of their laborers. Not only so,
but when the offering was in the form of meal, cooked or uncooked, the best and
finest must be presented. That, in other words, must be offered which
represented the most of care and labour in its preparation, or the equivalent
of this in purchase price But, in the selection of the materials, we are
pointed toward a deeper symbolism, by the injunction that, in certain cases at
least, frankincense should be added to the offering. But this was not of man’s
food, neither was it, like the meal and cakes and oil, a product of man’s
labour. Its effect, naturally, was to give a grateful perfume to the sacrifice,
that it might be, even in a
physical sense, “an odour of a sweet smell” The symbolical meaning of incense,
in which the frankincense was a chief ingredient, is very clearly intimated in
Scripture (see Psalms 141:2; Luke 1:10; Revelation 5:8). The frankincense
signified that this offering of the fruit of our labours to the Lord must ever
be accompanied by prayer; and further, that our prayers, thus offered in this
daily consecration, are most pleasing to the Lord, even as the fragrance of
sweet incense unto man. But if the frankincense, in itself, had thus a
symbolical meaning, it is not unnatural to infer the same also with regard to
other elements of the sacrifice. Nor is it, in view of the nature of the
symbols, hard to discover what that should be. For inasmuch as that product of
labour is selected for the offering, which is the food by which men live, we
are reminded that this is to be the final aspect under which all the fruit of
our labours is to be regarded; namely, as furnishing and supplying for the need
of the many that which shall be bread to the soul. In the highest sense,
indeed, this can only be said of Him who by His work became the Bread of Life
for the world, who was at once “the Sower” and “the Corn of Wheat” cast into
the ground; and yet, in a lower sense, it is true that the work of feeding the
multitudes with the bread of life is the work for us all; and that in all our labours
and engagements we are to keep this in mind as our supreme earthly object. And
the oil, too, which entered into every form of the meal-offering, has in
Scripture a constant and invariable symbolical meaning. It is the uniform
symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. Hence, the injunction that the meal of the
offering be kneaded with oil, and that, of whatever form the offering be, oil
should be poured upon it, is intended to teach us that in all work which shall
be offered so as to be acceptable to God, must enter, as an inworking and abiding agent, the
life-giving Spirit of God. It is another direction, that into these offerings
should never enter leaven. In this prohibition is brought before us the lesson
that we take heed to keep out of those works which we present to God for
consumption on His altar the leaven of wickedness in every form. In Leviticus 2:13 we have a last requisition
as to the material of the meal-offering: “season with salt.” As leaven is a
principle of impermanence and decay, so salt, on the contrary, has the power of
conservation from corruption. Accordingly, to this day, among the most diverse
peoples, salt is the recognised symbol of incorruption and unchanging perpetuity.
Among the Arabs, when a compact or covenant is made between different parties,
it is the custom that each eat of salt, which is passed around on the blade of
a sword; by which act they regard themselves as bound to be true, each to the other, even at
the peril of life. In like manner, in India and other Eastern countries, the
usual word for perfidy and breach of faith is, literally, “unfaithfulness to
the salt”; and a man will say, “Can you distrust me? Have I not eaten of your
salt?” Herein we are taught, then, that by the consecration of our labours to
God we recognise the relation between the believer and his Lord, as not
occasional and temporary, but eternal and incorruptible. In all our
consecration of our works to God, we are to keep this thought in mind: “I am a
man with whom God has entered into an everlasting covenant, ‘a covenant of
salt’” (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
The burnt-offering and the meat-offering contrasted
In Leviticus 2:3 we find one of the points
of contrast between the burnt-offering and the meat-offering. No part of the
burnt-offering was to be eaten. It was called the Holah (ascending offering)
because it was all made to ascend upon the altar, whereas in the meat-offering
all that remained after the burning of that which the priest’s hand had
grasped, was allowed to be
eaten by the priests. The great thoughts connected with these offerings
are--first, the satisfaction of the claim of God’s holiness by expiatory death;
secondly, the presentation of that which by its perfectness satisfies the claim
of God’s altar, as it seeks for an offering of sweet savour; thirdly, the
provision of something to comfort, feed, and strengthen us. In the two first
eases the thought is directed from the altar towards God; in the latter case we
are taught to consider that which God from His altar ministers to us. In the
burnt-offering the two first of these, viz., expiation and acceptableness, are
made the prominent thoughts; but in the meat-offering the second and third,
viz., acceptableness and provision of food for us predominate. (B. W.
Newton.)
The meat-offering
As the burnt-offering typifies Christ in death, the meat-offering
typifies Him in life. In neither the one nor the other is there a question of
sin-bearing. In the burnt-offering we see atonement but no sin-bearing--no
imputation of sin--no outpoured wrath on account of sin. How can we know this?
Because it was all consumed on the altar. Had there been aught of sin-bearing
it would have been consumed outside the camp. But in the meat-offering there
was not even a question of bloodshedding. We simply find in it a beauteous type
of Christ as He lived and walked and served, down here, on this earth. There
are few things in which we exhibit more failure than in maintaining vigorous
communion with the perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it is that
we suffer so much from vacancy, barrenness, restlessness, and wandering. In the
examination of the meat-offering it will give clearness and simplicity to our
thoughts to consider, first, the materials of which it was composed; secondly,
the various forms in which it was presented; and thirdly, the persons who
partook of it.
I. As to the
materials, the “fine flour” may be regarded as the basis of the offering; and
in it we have a type of Christ’s humanity, wherein every perfection met. Every
virtue was there, and ready for effectual action, in due season. The “oil,” in
the meat-offering, is a type of the Holy Ghost. But inasmuch as the oil is
applied in a twofold way, so we have the Holy Ghost presented in a double
aspect, in connection with the incarnation of the Son. The fine flour was
“mingled” with off; and there was oil “poured” upon it. Such was the type; and
in the Antitype we see the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, first, “conceived,” and
then “anointed,” by the Holy Ghost. When we contemplate the Person and ministry
of the Lord Jesus, we see how that, in every scene and circumstance, He acted
by the direct power of the Holy Ghost. Having taken His place as man, down
here, He showed that man should not only live by the Word, but act by the
Spirit of God. The next ingredient in the meat-offering demanding our
consideration, is “the frankincense.” As has been remarked, the “fine flour”
was the basis of the offering. The “oil” and “frankincense” were the two
leading adjuncts; and, truly, the connection between these two latter is most
instructive. The “oil” typifies the power of Christ’s ministry; “the
frankincense” typifies the object thereof. The former teaches us that He did
everything by the Spirit of God, the latter that He did everything to the glory
of God. It now only remains for us to consider an ingredient
which was an inseparable adjunct of the meat-offering, namely, “salt.” The
expression, “salt of the covenant,” sets forth the enduring character of that
covenant. God Himself has so ordained it in all things that nought can ever
alter it--no influence can ever corrupt it. In a spiritual and practical point
of view, it is impossible to overestimate the value of such an ingredient.
Christ’s words were not merely words of grace, but words of pungent
power--words Divinely adapted to preserve from all taint and corrupting
influence. Having thus considered the ingredients which composed the
meat-offering, we shall now refer to those which were excluded from it. The
first of these was “leaven.” “No meat-offering which ye shall bring unto the
Lord, shad be made with leaven.” No exercise can be more truly edifying and
refreshing for the renewed mind than to dwell upon the unleavened perfectness
of Christ’s humanity--to contemplate the life and ministry of One who was,
absolutely and essentially, unleavened. But there was another ingredient, as
positively excluded from the meat-offering as “leaven,” and that was “honey.”
The blessed Lord Jesus knew how to give nature and its relationships their
proper place. He knew how much “honey” was “convenient.” He could say to His
mother, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” And yet He
could say, again, to the beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother.” In other words,
nature’s claims were never allowed to interfere with the presentation to
God of all the energies of Christ’s perfect manhood.
II. The second
point in our theme is the mode in which the meat-offering was prepared. This
was, as we read, by the action of fire. It was “baken in an oven”--“baken in a
pan”--or “baken in a frying-pan.” The process of baking suggests the idea of
saffering. But inasmuch as the meat-offering is called “a sweet savour”--a term
which is never applied to the sin-offering or trespass-offering--it is evident
that there is no thought of suffering for sin--no thought of suffering the
wrath of God, on account of sin--no thought of suffering at the hand of
infinite Justice, as the sinner’s substitute. The plain fact is this, there was
nothing either in Christ’s humanity or in the nature of His associations which
could possibly connect Him with sin or wrath or death. He was “made sin” on the
Cross; and there He endured the wrath of God, and there He gave up His life as
an all-sufficient atonement for sin; but nothing of this finds a place in the
meat-offering. The meat-offering was not a sin-offering, but “a sweet savour”
offering. Thus its import is definitely fixed; and, moreover, the intelligent
interpretation of it must ever guard, with holy jealousy, the precious truth of
Christ’s heavenly humanity, and the true nature of His associations. As the
righteous Servant of God He suffered in the midst of a scene in which all was
contrary to Him; but this was the very opposite of suffering for sin. Again,
the Lord Jesus suffered by the power of sympathy; and this character of
suffering unfolds to us the deep secrets of His tender heart. Human sorrow and
human misery ever touched a chord in that bosom of love. Finally, we have to
consider Christ’s sufferings by anticipation.
III. The persons who
partook of the meat-offering. As in the burnt-offering, we observed the sons of
Aaron introduced as types of all true believers, not as convicted sinners but
as worshipping priests; so, in the meat-offering, we find them feeding upon the
remnant of that which has been laid, as it were, on the table of the God of
Israel. This was a high and holy privilege. None but priests could enjoy it.
Here, then, we are furnished with a beauteous figure of the Church, feeding,
“in the Holy Place,” in the power of practical holiness, upon the perfections
of “the Man Christ Jesus.” This is our portion, through the grace of God; but,
we must remember, it is
to be eaten “with unleavened bread.” We cannot feed upon Christ if we are
indulging in anything evil. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
Self-consecration
Consecration is not wrapping one’s self in a holy web in the
sanctuary, and then coming forth after prayer and twilight meditation, and
saying, “There, I am consecrated.” Consecration is going out into the world
where God Almighty is, and using every power for His glory. It is taking all
advantages as trust funds--as confidential debts owed to God. It is simply
dedicating one’s life, in its whole flow, to God’s service. (H. W. Beecher.)
We should offer to God what we like best ourselves
A reporter thus mentions his visit to a Chinese “Joss-house” in
San Francisco. The place where they held their religious services was a chamber
in one of their best houses. An intelligent Chinese man, who could speak a
little English, was in charge of this room. I asked him why they put tea-cups
of wine and tea and rice before their god; did they believe that the god would
eat and drink? “Oh, no,” he said. “That’s not what for. What you like self, you
give God. He see, He like see.” Too many Christians, instead of giving to God
“what they like themselves,” offer Him only what they would as lief spare as
not.
Labour consecrated to God
T. A. Ragland, an eminent mathematician and a devoted Christian,
gained the silver cup at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, four years in
succession. One of these was dedicated to God for the communion service of a
small native Church, mainly gathered by him, in Southern India, and all were
set apart for the same purpose in connection with his itinerating missionary
service. (J. Tinling.)
Offering the best to God
An aged minister advised the people of a neighbourhood in Wales,
where he laboured for the Master, to hold “cottage prayer-meetings,” taking the
houses in regular order up the mountain-side. One day a poor woman went to a
store and asked for two penny candles. The storekeeper said to her, “Why,
Nancy, what do you want with penny candles? Is not the rushlight good enough
for you?” Her answer was, “Oh yes, rushlight is good enough for me, but the
prayer-meeting will soon be coming to my house, and I want to give the Lord
Jesus Christ a good welcome.” Is there not a lesson here for each Christian?
Are we always ready to “give the Lord Jesus a good welcome”? Or do we keep the
candles for self, and give the rushlight to Him?
Offering God the true end of man
As we see birds make their nests and breed up their young, beasts
make a scuffle for their fodder and pasture, fishes float up and down rivers,
trees bear fruit, flowers send forth their sweet odours, herbs their secret
virtues, fire with all its might ascending upward, earth not resting till it
come into its proper centre, waters floating and posting with their waves upon
the neck of one another, till they meet in the bosom of the ocean, and air
pushing into every vacuity under heaven. Shall we then think, or can we
possibly imagine, that God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, having assigned
to everything in the world some particular end, and, as it were, impressed in
their nature an appetite end desire to that end continually, as to the very
point and scope of their being; that man (the most noble creature) for whom all
things were made, should be made in vain, as not having His peculiar end
proportionably appointed to the nobleness of His quality? Yes, doubtless, that
God that can never err, nor oversee in His works, hath allotted unto man the
worship and service of Himself as the main object and aiming point whereto he
ought to lead and refer himself all the days of his life. (J. Spencer.)
Oil as a symbol: service permeated by the Holy Spirit
Two women used to come to my meetings, and I could tell from the
expression of their faces that when I began to preach they were praying for me.
At the close of the meetings they would say to me, “We have been praying for
you. You need the power.” I thought I had power. There were some conversions at
the time, and I was in a sense satisfied. I asked them to come and talk with
me, and we got down on our knees. They poured out their hearts that I might
receive an anointing from the Holy Ghost, and there came a great hunger into my
soul. I did not know what it was. The hunger increased. I was crying all the
time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, I cannot describe
it, it is almost too sacred an experience to name, God revealed Himself to me,
and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His
hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different. I did not
present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. (D. L. Moody.)
The Holy Ghost needed
I was speaking one day with a young minister of the gospel,
who told me that on one occasion during his college days he was present when a
number of students delivered trial sermons for criticism in the presence of
their professor. One very talented young man distinguished himself by the
freedom of his delivery and the great eloquence with which he spoke. All present
were charmed by the power and beauty of his sermon. As a work of art it was
practically faultier. At the conclusion the professor put his hand kindly on
the young man’s shoulder, solemnly saying to him, “My young friend, your sermon
only requires to be baptised by the Holy Ghost.” That is just what we all want,
in order that we may be able to overcome all temptations, or coldness of heart,
and work cordially and continuously for Christ. Happily if we ask the Lord
Jesus to send the Comforter, He will come and bless us. (J. Davidson.)
Frankincense as a symbol: prayer the true help in service
As Michael Angelo says, “The prayers we make will then be sweet
indeed, if Thou the Spirit give by which we pray.” Our own desires may be hot
and vehement, but the desires that run parallel with the Divine will, and are
breathed into us by God’s own Spirit, are the desires which, in their meek
submissiveness, are omnipotent with Him whose omnipotence is perfected in our
weakness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The aroma of the Christian life
If one should ask you to explain the odour which fills your room
from that beautiful climbing honeysuckle, you could not do it; but you are
conscious of the fragrance none the less. Just, so there is a quality, a kind
of aroma which pervades the personality of certain Christians which is as
clearly recognised as the fragrance of the honeysuckle, but which you can as
little define or describe.
“When
one who holds communion with the skies
Has
filled his urn where those pure waters rise
And
once more mingles with these meaner things,
’Tis
e’en as if an angel shook his wings.
Immortal
fragrance fills the circuit wide
And
tells us whence these treasures are supplied.”
Attractive fragrance
As I passed through a glade of trees upon a summer’s day I heard
the hum of bees. Ah! thought I, there is sweetness near! Presently I smelt the
lime, the odour of the flowers which had attracted the bees. They did not stop
at the other trees, but made direct for their favourite. What a bright little
lesson, Christian, for us! Are we sought after because there is the savour of
Christ in us, or are we passed by like the scentless trees? (From Witherby’s
Scripture Gleanings.)
Every Christian’s life ought to be fragrant: fragrance more than
beauty
“I saw,” says one, “a bank covered with violets. The sun was
shining full upon it, and its genial warmth had opened the flowers, and caused
them to exhibit the most beautiful colours. But when I began to gather them, I
found, with the exception of very few, that their colour was all they had to
recommend them; they were not the sort of violets which afford the sweet
fragrance which we expect to
find in that flower. It struck me forcibly that this was an emblem of the
Church, the professing Church of Christ. How many are there of fair and
promising appearance, professing, and seeming to be of the truth, who yet fail
to send up a ‘ sweet-smelling savour to God’--who are wanting in those holy and
devout, and grateful dispositions and affections, which their profession
indicates. I bid my heart take the lesson home. What fragrance have I diffused
abroad? What incense have I sent upwards? Are not my words and thoughts, is not
my whole profession and character, like those scentless violets? There is
beauty even in the outward profession of religion and holiness, but if the
inward principle be wanting or deficient, there will be no fragrance shed
around, no incense wafted upwards. And yet I have been situated, as it were, on
a green, sunny bank; my opportunities and means of grace have been many.”
Fine enough to be fragrant
A company was assembled to see some incense burned; the incense
which ascended from the altar morning and evening like the prayers of God’s
people, “a sweet-smelling savour unto the Lord.” A gentleman placed the incense
in a mortar and proceeded to grind it. When it was fine he placed some upon the
coals which were ready, and all anxiously awaited the perfume which was to be
the result. They sat hushed for some minutes, when a murmur of disappointment
arose. It was a failure. The gentleman took up the mortar and ground the
remainder of the incense to powder; it was exceedingly fine. Then it was placed
upon the coals, when immediately the room was filled with the delightful odour.
Thus with our prayers; when we get them fine, when we have ground out all the
generalities, and simply go to the Lord with every little thing of joy, of
sorrow, as we would tell to a friend, never forgetting to thank Him for even
the little blessings of life, then our prayers ascend unto heaven as a
sweet-smelling savour to a loving and gracious God. (Sarah Smiley.)
Offerings to God must be simple and sincere
In all Buddhist temples a tall and broad-leaved lily stands
directly on the front of the altar. Its idea is as beautiful as its workmanship.
This pure white emblem suggests that all offerings on God’s altar should at
once be simple and sincere. And it applies with tenfold force to the service of
the Christian sanctuary, and the worship of that God who is a Spirit, and
seeketh only such as worship Him in spirit and in truth.
All sin must be excluded from our offerings to God
There is no man in his right wits would come as a suitor to his
prince, and bring his accuser with him, who is ready to testify and prove to
his face his treason and rebellion; much less would any present himself before
so great a majesty to make petition for some benefit after he had killed his
sovereign’s only son and heir, having still in his hand the bloody weapon
wherewith he committed that horrid act; there is no adulteress so shamelessly
impudent as to desire pardon of her jealous husband having her lover still in
her arms, with whom she hath often had wanton dalliance in times past, and is
resolved to have the like for the time to come; if any be so mad, so shameless to
make suits in this odious manner, they are sure to be repulsed, and find wrath
and vengeance where they look for grace and mercy. But thus do they behave
themselves towards God, who, remaining polluted with their sins, do offer up
their prayers unto Him; for they bring their accusers, even their defiled
consciences and crying sins, which continually accuse and condemn them, and
call for that due judgment and punishment which they have deserved. (J.
Spencer.)
Firstfruits of our young years to be consecrated
The Jews presented the firstfruits of their ears of corn, early,
about Easter; the second was primitiae panum, the firstfruits of their
loaves, and that was somewhat early too, about Whitsuntide; and the third was primitiae
frugum, the fruits of all their latter fruits in general, and that was very
late, about the fall of the leaf, in September. In the two first; payments,
which were offered early, God accepted a part for Himself, but in the third
payment, which came late, God would have no part at all. Even so, if we offer
the firstfruits of our young years early unto God, He will accept of them as
seasonably done; but if we give our best years unto Satan, sacrifice the flower
of our youth unto sin, serve the world, and follow after the lusts of our flesh
while we are young, and put all the burden of duty upon our weak, feeble, and
decrepit old age, give our first years to Satan, and the last unto God, sure it
is, that as He then refused such sacrifices under the law, He will not easily
receive them now in the time of the gospel. (J. Spencer.)
Self-dedicated
It was Christmas morning. The door-bell rang, and two young
girls were ushered into the study. One of them was about eight years old, and
the other ten. After the usual Christmas salutations, the elder of them said,
“We have come to make Christ a Christmas present.” “Have you?” I asked. “Well,
what are you going to give Him?” “We are going to give Him our hearts,” she
said. After conversing with them awhile, I found this was no mere childish
freak, but a serious purpose. We then kneeled together in prayer, closing with
a formal dedication of those young hearts to Him who was God’s great Christmas
Gift to mankind. From that time those children lived the lives of Christians,
and not long after, at the communion-table, they sealed the vow they made that
bright Christmas morning. They are faithful Christian women now. (J. Breed,
D. D.)
The time of offering the firstfruits
A young lady in a Sabbath School a few mornings since asked
her class, “How soon should a child give its heart to God?” One little girl
said, “When thirteen years old;” another, “ten;” another, “six.” At length the
least child in the class spoke: “Just as soon as we know who God is.” Could
there be a better reply?
Youth the time for religious offering
There is one obstacle which affects us in the dedication of our
lives to this work, and that is the passing of time. It is very natural that we
should think that when we grow older it will be easier to dedicate ourselves to
this work. It reminds me of what Holman Hunt, the great artist, said on one
occasion when he was congratulated by a friend on his selection to paint the
historical frescoes for the House of Commons: “Yes,” he said, with sadness,
“but I began with my hair grey.” It will not be easier for us to wait until our
hair is grey. Our opportunities and our strength are greatest in our youth, and
it is now that we should make our decision. (Professor Drummond.)
Why such varieties of offering?
It speaks in one place of the meat-offering with oil and
frankincense; the next place, of flour baked in the oven; in the next place, of
green corn. Why this variety? It is just one of those traits which indicate
that the God that made creation has inspired the Bible. He is here providing
for the poor man as minutely as for the rich. He says, If yon are a rich man,
and can give a valuable and a costly offering, it is your duty to do so; but if
you are a poor man, then offer that offering which agrees with your position;
and be sure that the poor man’s offering of twenty seeds of corn will be as
acceptable to God as the rich man’s offering of the finest flour perfumed with
costly frankincense, and anointed and consecrated with the most precious oil.
It is a beautiful thought of our heavenly Father, that the archangel that is
nearest to His throne is not dearer to Him nor more watched by Him than the
poorest widow or orphan that weeps and prays, and looks and leans on Him in the
streets of this great metropolis. It is one of those traits that come cut incidentally
in the Bible, indicating the harmony between a God that made the now torn and
stained book--the earth--and that inspired the perfect and holy Book--His own
gracious Word. (J. Caroming, D. D.)
Verse 13
Season with salt.
Salt for sacrifice
If you will read the chapter through you will note that other
things were needed in connection with the sacrifices of the Israelites. Their
sacrifices were of course imperfect. Even on the low ground which they occupied
as emblems they were not complete; for you read, in the first place, that they
needed frankincense; God did not smell sweet savour in the bullock, or the ram,
or the lamb, unless sweet spices were added. What does that teach us but that
the best performances of our hands must not appear before His throne without
the merit of Christ mingled therewith? Another thing that was enjoined
constantly was that they should bring oil; and oil is ever the type of the
blessed Spirit of God. What is the use of a sermon if there is no unction in
it? What is prayer without the anointing that cometh of the Holy Spirit? What
is praise unless the Spirit of God be in it to give it life, that it may rise
to heaven? That which goes to God must first come from God. Then came a third
requisite, namely, salt. If you read the preceding verses you will see that the
Lord forbids them to present any honey. “No meat-offering, which ye shall bring
unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any
honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire. As for the oblation of the
firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord: but they shall not be burnt on
the altar for a sweet savour.” Ripe fruits were full of honey, full of sweetness;
and God does not ask for sweetness, He asks for salt.
I. It appears,
then, that salt was the symbol of the covenant. When God made a covenant with
David, it is written, “The Lord gave the kingdom to David for ever by a
covenant of salt”--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. “The salt of the covenant”
signifies that, whenever you and I are bringing any offering to the Lord, we must take
care that we remember the covenant.
1. We want this salt of the covenant in all that we do, in the first
place, to preserve us from falling into legality. He that serves God for wages
forgets the word--“The gift of God is eternal life.” If you forget that you are
under a covenant of pure grace, in which God gives to the unworthy, and saves
those who have no claim to covenant blessing, you will get on legal ground;
and, once on leg d ground, God cannot accept your sacrifice.
2. The covenant is to be remembered also that it may excite
gratitude. Whenever I think of God entering into covenant that He will not
depart from me, and that I shall never depart from Him, my love to Him
overflows. Nothing constrains me to such activity and such zeal in the cause of
God as a sense of covenant love. Standing on covenant ground we feel
consecrated to the noblest ends.
3. This tends to arouse our devotion to God. When we remember that
God has entered into covenant with us, then we do not do our work for Him in a
cold, dead way; neither do we perform it after a nominal sort; for we say, “I
am one of God’s covenanted ones.”
II. But, secondly,
salt is the token of communion. In the East, especially, it is the token of
fellowship. When an Oriental has once eaten a man’s salt, he will do him no
harm. Whenever you are attempting to serve God, take care that you do it in the
spirit of fellowship with God.
III. But salt is the
emblem of sincerity. “With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” There
must be an intense sincerity about all we do towards God.
IV. Lastly, salt is
the type of purifying power; and with all our sacrifices we have need to bring
a great deal of this salt. The salt eats into the meat; it drives away
corruption; it preserves it. If we come before God with holy things while we
are living in sin we need not deceive ourselves, we shall not be accepted. If
there be any man, of whom it can be said that he is a saint abroad and a devil
at home, God will estimate him at what he is at home, and not at what he is
abroad. He may lay the sacrifice upon the altar, but if it is brought there
with foul hands and an unholy heart, God will bare nothing to do with it.
“Without holiness no man can see the Lord,” and, certainly, without holiness
can no man serve the Lord. We have our imperfections; but known and wilful sin
God’s people will not indulge. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
“Salt of the covenant”
Eating salt together is in the East a pledge of amity and
friendship. Hence the “covenant of salt” was an indissoluble pact; and “salted
with the salt of the palace” (Ezra 4:14) meant not maintenance, but the
sign of faithfulness to the king. Salt was used in the sacrifices and offerings
of the Israelites, probably with the same idea of honour and fidelity. (G.
Deane.)
Salt to be included in all offerings
This salt indicates corruption removed and prevented; and in the
case of the meat-offering, it is as if to say, “Thy body and thy substance are
become healthy now”; they shall not rot. They are not like those of the ungodly
in James 5:2, “Your riches are corrupted.”
There is a blessing on thy body and thy estate. And next it intimates the
friendship (of which salt was a well-known emblem) now existing between God and
the man. God can sup with man, and man with God (Revelation 3:18). There is a covenant
between him and God, even in regard to the beasts of the field (Job 5:23), and fowls of heaven (Hosea 2:18). The friendship of God
extends to His people’s property; and to assure us of this He appoints the salt
in the meat-offering, the offering that especially typified their substance.
How comforting to labouring men! how cheering to careworn merchants if they
dedicate themselves to God; He is interested in their property as much as they
themselves are! “Who is a God like unto Thee!” But more; “with all thine
offerings thou shalt offer salt,” declared that the sweet savour of these
sacrifices was not momentary and passing, but enduring and eternal. By this
declaration He sprinkles every sacrifice with the salt of His unchanging
satisfaction. And “the covenant by sacrifice” (Psalms 50:5) is thus confirmed on the
part of God; He declares that He on His part will be faithful. (A. A. Bonar.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》