Leviticus

2.1-16

Depending on your Bible translation, the offering described here may be referred to as a grain offering, a cereal offering, a bread offering, or, in the KJV, a meat offering, as in the old English sense of "meat," meaning "food." As with the previous chapter, the offering here is detailed in three categories according to the manner of grain preparation, before a fourth detail is added for the sacrifice of unprepared grain (v14, presumably barley). The categories are by the manner of preparation into a consumable product. These are grains (bread products - cakes or wafers - of fine flour) prepared in an oven (v4), on the griddle (v5), and in a pan (v7). The priest is to make a memorial portion sacrifice to Yahweh (v9), and the remainder is for consumption by Aaron and the other priests (vv2,11). None of the grain sacrifices are to be prepared using leaven (v11), as leaven prompts fermentation, ergo deterioration. It is, therefore, known to symbolize death and hence prohibited on the altar of blessing and life. Wine, too, the epitome of fermentation, is never burned on the altar hearth but is poured on the altar base onto the ground (Num 28:7). (Milgrom) Note Paul's corollary of the sacrifice poured out on the ground, drawn in Philippians 2:17: "But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all." reference: Jacob Milgrom, A Continental Commentary: Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004)

CHAPTER 2

The Statutes of Grain Offerings

1 ‘Now when anyone brings near a grain offering as an offering to Yahweh, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it.
2 ‘He shall then bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and he shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all of its frankincense. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
3 ‘And the remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy of the offerings to Yahweh by fire.
4 ‘Now when you bring near an offering of a grain offering baked in an oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers spread with oil.
5 ‘And if your offering is a grain offering made on the griddle, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil;
6 you shall break it into bits and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.
7 ‘Now if your offering is a grain offering made in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.
8 ‘And you will bring in the grain offering which is made of these things to Yahweh, and it shall be brought near to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar.
9 ‘The priest then shall raise up from the grain offering its memorial portion, and he shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
10 ‘And the remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy of the offerings to Yahweh by fire.
11 ‘No grain offering, which you bring near to Yahweh, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to Yahweh.
12 ‘As an offering of first fruits you shall bring them near to Yahweh, but they shall not ascend for a soothing aroma on the altar.
13 ‘Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall bring salt near.
14 ‘Also if you bring near a grain offering of early ripened things to Yahweh, you shall bring near fresh heads of grain roasted in the fire, grits of new growth, for the grain offering of your early ripened things.
15 ‘You shall then put oil on it and place frankincense on it; it is a grain offering.
16 ‘And the priest shall offer up in smoke its memorial portion, part of its grits and its oil with all its frankincense as an offering by fire to Yahweh.