3/23/23
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
In our message last week, we shared that the first seven chapters of Leviticus gives the Lord's detailed instructions concerning the five major Old Testament offerings - the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering - and in that order. We shared from Leviticus, Chapter 1, about the burnt offering - the first and therefore the most important of the five major Levitical offerings. Each particular sacrifice or offering was to have meaning for the people of Israel but also has spiritual and symbolic importance for us. The burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offering were all voluntary. Frequently in both chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Leviticus we find the expression, "an offering by fire ...". Both the grain and the burnt offering were offered to God by fire on the brazen altar. Only the burnt, grain, and peace offerings were said to produce a "soothing aroma to the Lord," perhaps because they were all voluntary. The sin offering and the trespass offering were mandatory, if the occasion warranted it.
Those five offerings have different functions, the primary ones being atonement and worship. An offering (or sacrifice) is something of personal value that someone brings to God. The Hebrew word for offering is korban, which means "to draw near," and indicates the primary purpose of offering is to draw us near to God. All of those five offerings were fulfilled in Christ. We cannot overemphasize the prophetic significance of the burnt offering for every Christian today. The will of God is that every Christian should fully identify with the Lord Jesus Christ after Pentecost by becoming a burnt offering through a voluntary, unquestioning, obedience to the rhema word of God through the Holy Spirit. That is what the early church did after Pentecost.
In this message we want to share with you some thoughts about both the grain offering and the drink offering. The drink offering, although not one of the five major offerings, commonly accompanied the grain offering. Before we get into the grain offering, let us consider Exodus, chapter 29, all of which the Lord gave to Moses concerning the consecration of the Levitical priests. All of the five major offerings, except for the trespass offering, are mentioned in Exodus 29. The drink offering is also mentioned in that chapter. It was necessary for the Lord to record Exodus 29 before the instructions of the major offerings in Leviticus. How could the Levitical priests minister the various offerings to the people if they had not been through those offerings themselves? That says that those in leadership positions in the church today must first have experienced all things that they minister to others. Head knowledge does not count. No one can give to others what they have not already received.
Grain produced from wheat produced a fine white flour (Exodus 29:2). The fine flour did not come from a local grocery store. If baked or cooked, it consisted of cakes or wafers. A handful of flour was to be burned on the altar with any accompanying offerings, and the balance was to be eaten by the priests in their holy meals (Leviticus 6:14-17). The flour that was burned on the altar was mixed with olive oil, salted for taste, and accompanied by incense, but it was to have no honey or yeast - neither of which was allowed on the altar (verses 11-13). The cooked product was similar to pie crust. The worshipper was not to eat any of their own grain offerings. Grain offerings for the priests were not to be eaten but were to be totally burned (6:22-23).
The oil which was used in this offering was probably olive oil. This would not have been readily available in the desert. Oil speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The anointing is not on any man or woman. The anointing is on the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Frankincense was a sweet-smelling fragrance available in the ancient Near East. It was a sensory symbol of the pleasure which the offering was intended to bring God. Frankincense, which was probably quite rare and expensive, was a reminder that costly sacrifice is worth the price, for pleasing God is the highest good. God the Father said of God the Son, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
Because the grain offering was a thing most holy, the priests were to eat it in the sanctuary area proper and not feed their families with it.
The word 'oven' must mean a large earthen pot or jar, such as is still in use in the East for baking cakes; this was heated by a fire inside.
The better translation of "pan" is a flat plate or griddle, made out of clay or iron.
The word, oblation, is the Hebrew word korban, translated elsewhere as offering.
Why did the Lord specify three different ways to cook or prepare the grain offering? To the Israelites of that day, those verses meant nothing more than three different natural means to prepare the grain offering. The same interpretation or explanation of the three different methods probably means only the natural level to most Christians today. However, let us consider that Jesus suffered physically, emotionally, and spiritually during His short ministry on earth. I am sure that when that crown of thorns was thrust on His head, it hurt. When Jesus was crucified and was nailed to that cross and when they raised up that cross in the air and dropped it in that hole - with the weight of that heavy wood and with His very own weight, the impact was enough to tear apart His body, except for the grace of God.
Everyone could see with their natural eyes the agony and physical suffering that Jesus endured on the cross before He died. The griddle or flat plate in verse 5 was completely open for anyone and everyone to see what was on it. So the griddle corresponds to the physical suffering of Jesus.
In Leviticus 2:7, another way to prepare the grain offering was with a frying pan, which had raised sides and therefore only partially visible to men but fully visible by the Father above. That corresponds to the emotional suffering endured by Jesus. Just before Jesus was apprehended by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, we read, in Mark 14:50, "And they all forsook Him, and fled." Also, in Isaiah 53:11, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities." Here again, the Father is speaking of His Son.
But the greatest suffering that Jesus endured was spiritual. Just before Jesus died on the cross, He who knew no sin became sin, and sin was crucified on the cross. At that point Jesus experienced a separation from the Father because no sin can be in the presence of God. At that point Jesus cried out, "My God, my God; why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). That corresponds to Jesus as the grain offering being baked in an oven. That is listed as the first of the three methods of preparing the grain offering and therefore the most significant. No man could ever see or comprehend that level of spiritual suffering.
Back to Leviticus, chapter 2.
The grain offering specified what additional ingredients were either prohibited or prescribed. Forbidden ingredients for the grain offering were leaven and honey. No specific reason for this prohibition is given, although leaven was prohibited at the Passover meal (Exodus 12:15, 19). A key to the significance of leaven may be found in
This same principle can be seen in the Book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. There was a man living in sin who was allowed to remain in fellowship with the church. Paul determined that this man should be put out of the church. He then cites biblical precedent from the Old Testament:
The Corinthians should put away this man, whose presence was serving as leaven in the body, corrupting the whole. Since Christ is the Passover, and since He has been sacrificed, the putting away of leaven should be well under way in our life.
While leaven corrupts, salt preserves and purifies. In ancient times salt was often costly. The permanent quality of salt indicates the eternal relationship between the Lord and His chosen people. The salt that was to be added was identified as "the salt of the covenant of your God." Salt was used symbolically in covenants of that day in the ancient Near East. The covenant was the Mosaic Covenant, which promised the Israelites the presence of God and the possession of Canaan, if they kept God's commandments. In Canaan, God would prosper His people:
Firstfruits, the first portion of the harvest, were viewed as the choice part that belonged to God as the source of all blessing (1 Corinthians 15:20). Green ears describe the first and best produce (Exodus 23:19). A number of years ago before I ate an average size piece of fresh corn, I counted the number of rows on the piece of corn and counted the number of kernels on a row. Somewhat to my surprise, there were between 500 and 600 individual kernels on that piece of corn. One website says that the average number of kernels per ear of corn is 800.
I do not know how the Israelites of that day made flour. However, I am aware how they made a grain offering from corn. As verse 14 says, they started with green ears of corn, dried by the fire.
To obtain fine flour required a great deal of extra effort on the part of the person who ground it, because it was not something which one bought from a grocery store. Neither was it simply run through an electrically powered mechanical grinder. The flour would have had to have been ground on a primitive grinding stone or millstone. Therefore, it required a sacrifice of much time and labor on the part of someone.
After the ears of corn were dried by fire, the kernels were removed and placed between two large millstones, perhaps made out of hardened clay. The lower stone represents the flesh of man, which touches the earth. The upper stone represents the sovereignty of God in arranging our circumstances to help us to seek the Lord. The kernels of corn were thoroughly ground up to produce fine flour such that there was no longer any evidence that it had been corn. Likewise, we must lose our identity in Christ. From verses 13 and 14 of Leviticus 2, oil and salt were required because they are both amazing preservatives. Leaven was forbidden in making the flour because leaven in this context speaks of pride, which puffs up.
Honey wine is the oldest alcoholic drink known to man and wine was forbidden while the priests were ministering. Honey, of course, is sweet and speaks to the natural man of a natural or emotional affection. There is nothing wrong with eating natural honey. John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey. In the spiritual realm, honey most often symbolizes abundance and prosperity. The Promised Land is described twenty times as "a land flowing with milk and honey." The pairing of milk and honey symbolizes fullness of life. God was promising abundant satisfaction of both needs (milk) and desire (honey). It was a delicacy rather than a necessity of life, a sign of luxury and abundance.
Honey is good after we have been born from above, but to partake of what honey represents (prosperity and natural desires) before being born from above usually results in judgment of some kind.
That rock is the Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual honey that the Lord provides is wonderful and greatly to be desired.
Grain was common in the ancient Near East, but it was not a common commodity in the camp of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. The Israelites could not raise nor purchase wheat or corn in the desert. Such a crop would not grow without rain, and the Israelites were just passing through that place anyway. The grain which the Israelites were to offer was much more precious a commodity than the cattle, which those shepherds had in abundance. The Israelites were not living in Egypt, where grain was common, nor were they yet living in Canaan, where they would grow grain. Thus, the sacrifice of grain was almost impossible to do until reaching Canaan.
Olive oil and frankincense would not have been readily available in the desert, either. Thus, the sacrificial materials, the grain, the oil, and the frankincense, were all difficult to obtain in the days of Moses. Once the people entered the land of Canaan, obtaining these goods depended upon the bounty of the harvest, for which the Israelites had to look to God.
The first occurrence of a drink offering is in
The drink offering consisted of one-third part of a hin of wine, where a hin was about 1.5 gallons.
Joel 1:8-13 describes the state of the visible church today.
Both the burnt and grain offerings required the highest quality offering to be sacrificed. In the case of the whole burnt offering, the animal had to be young, male (except for birds), and without blemish. The grain to be offered had to be "fine." The term "fine" could mean "fine quality," which it does by inference, but the "fine" here refers to the finely ground flour which is to be offered. The flour had to have been ground on a primitive grinding stone, a process which, at best, usually produces only a coarse flour. Such "fine" flour was that which was fit for a king like Solomon (1 Kings 4:22).
In the Book of Genesis, the patriarchs were shepherds. They wandered from place to place, leading their flocks wherever grass was to be found. The exodus and move to the land of Canaan required a radical change in lifestyle for the Hebrew people, from that of semi-nomadic sheep herders, to settled farmers. They would settle down, still raising sheep and cattle, but now growing grain, wheat and barley. They were to possess the land of Canaan, where each tribe would be assigned a portion of the land. Thus, these shepherds would become settled farmers, with houses instead of tents, with farms which they owned, rather than wandering about like gypsies. The manner in which farming was conducted in Canaan would be radically different from that in Egypt, where the farmer merely had to dig a trench with his foot and the irrigation waters from the Nile provided water for this parched land. But in Canaan the people must rely upon God to provide them with the rain which was required for their crops. Thus, Canaan would force the Israelites to farm by faith. Rather than seeking to buy grain, as they once did, they would raise it themselves. The grain offering serves as a reminder that the very grain which they are required to offer would be that which God caused to grow and to prosper. They must trust in Him to provide.
In light of these changes, and of the commands which God gave the Israelites pertaining to the grain offering, there are several principles which they were to learn, which are equally applicable to Christians today. One such principle is dependence upon God for the physical necessities of life. The grain offering was one means for the Israelite to be reminded (and for him to affirm in worship), that it is God who is not only Israel's Creator, but also her Sustainer. The great danger for the Israelite, once in the land of Canaan, enjoying the blessings from God's hand, was to forget where they had come from, and why.
Both of those two sets of verses emphasize the potential snare of prosperity. What God warned would happen did happen. The very blessings which God gave to the Israelites were used in the worship of false gods: Ezekiel 16:15-34. Sadly, our modern day churches are susceptible or vulnerable to that same snare.
While the Israelites of old were to offer the grain offering to develop and to express their dependence upon God, the same principle applies to us today. The prayer which Jesus gave as a model includes the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." The independent, self-sufficient attitude about which God warned the Israelites is that same spirit which James 4:13-16 condemns in New Testament saints:,
The problem for 20th century Christians in the Western World is that we have too many safety nets, too many contingency plans, too much to rely on other than God. The farmer of Moses' day had to look to God, day by day, for rain, for protection from predators, and so on. We have insurance, bank accounts, and the like. In all honesty, we don't trust in God because we don't feel that we need to.
The dependence which God wants to develop in His people is not just a dependence upon Him for physical food, but it is a dependence upon God for the spiritual necessities of life ... for guidance and direction, a dependence upon His word. Even in the Old Testament, God stressed the importance of obedience to the Word of God, as in
The Old Testament saints supported the priests by their sacrifices and the Levites by their tithes. The sacrificial offering of grain was one of God's means of providing for the needs of the priests. The daily provision of Israel's physical needs and the promise of prosperity in the land of Canaan, was based upon Israel's obedience to God's law, as expressed in
When Jesus was tested in the wilderness, Satan sought to get Him to make a stone into bread. Our Lord's response was to rebuke Satan, based upon the statement in Deuteronomy 8 that man shall not live by bread alone. In the fourth chapter of John's gospel the disciples urged our Lord to eat, and were perplexed when He responded to them, "I have meat to eat that you do not know about." The disciples therefore said to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work" (John 4:32-34).
Our Lord spoke of Himself as the "living water" in John chapter 4. Those who drank of His "living water" never thirsted again. But our Lord also spoke of Himself as the "bread of life" (John 6). He, as the "true" bread, was like the manna which God gave the Israelites in the wilderness, which daily sustained their lives. We must not only, once for all, look to our Lord as our Savior, but we must look to Him daily as our sustainer. Just as the Israelites were constantly reminded of their dependence on God by the grain offering, so we must also be daily reminded of our dependence upon Christ. How do we develop the kind of trust in God that we should have? There is one very simple way: to give sacrificially. While Christians today do not offer up grain offerings to God, we can offer up sacrifices by giving to others - naturally and spiritually as unto the Lord. This is how we show our gratitude to the Lord for His goodness in our life.
While it may be true that most Christians give, it is doubtful that most of us give sacrificially, in such a way that we must daily depend on God to meet our needs. What kind of giving, then, is sacrificial? It is the kind of giving which makes us dependent upon God for our next day's bread. It is the kind of giving which causes us to look to God for our needs for the next day. This is the kind of giving we see in the Old Testament when the Israelite offered up the first fruits of his fields, trusting God to provide an additional harvest. It is the type of giving we find exemplified by the gentile widow, who provided for the prophet Elijah, even though her grain container was empty (1 Kings 17). It is the kind of giving we find in the New Testament, when the poor widow gave her last two mites (Mark 12). When we give, knowing that this depletes our supplies, we must do so trusting in God to replenish our supply. Sacrificial giving requires faith in God as the One who faithfully supplies our needs, and who gives to us our daily bread. One of the greatest hindrances to sacrificial giving today is our lack of faith in God as our sustainer.
Now, what constitutes sacrificial giving for us Christians today? Surely not simply our money, which came from the hand of God anyway. God does not need our money; He wants us. Everything we do must be as unto the Lord. A much greater sacrifice on our part is our time and labor of love ... time to praise and thank and worship the Lord; time to help others in any way we can, according to the gifts and ministries we have received.
His offering makes it possible for us to make other sacrifices and offerings to God because our sins are atoned for. Once we have trusted in Christ's work on our behalf, then our offerings and sacrifices are pleasing in His sight. May we all respond to the grace and mercy of God in a manner that will be a soothing aroma to Him. Amen and amen.
Those five offerings have different functions, the primary ones being atonement and worship. An offering (or sacrifice) is something of personal value that someone brings to God. The Hebrew word for offering is korban, which means "to draw near," and indicates the primary purpose of offering is to draw us near to God. All of those five offerings were fulfilled in Christ. We cannot overemphasize the prophetic significance of the burnt offering for every Christian today. The will of God is that every Christian should fully identify with the Lord Jesus Christ after Pentecost by becoming a burnt offering through a voluntary, unquestioning, obedience to the rhema word of God through the Holy Spirit. That is what the early church did after Pentecost.
In this message we want to share with you some thoughts about both the grain offering and the drink offering. The drink offering, although not one of the five major offerings, commonly accompanied the grain offering. Before we get into the grain offering, let us consider Exodus, chapter 29, all of which the Lord gave to Moses concerning the consecration of the Levitical priests. All of the five major offerings, except for the trespass offering, are mentioned in Exodus 29. The drink offering is also mentioned in that chapter. It was necessary for the Lord to record Exodus 29 before the instructions of the major offerings in Leviticus. How could the Levitical priests minister the various offerings to the people if they had not been through those offerings themselves? That says that those in leadership positions in the church today must first have experienced all things that they minister to others. Head knowledge does not count. No one can give to others what they have not already received.
1 John 1:1-4, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."
What is rendered in the KJV as the meat offering actually should be called the grain offering because it never contained any meat as we know it. In our message, we will refer to it as the grain offering. The purpose of the grain offering was not atonement, but worship, acknowledgment of God's goodness and divine provision of the needs of the Israelite for life itself. The grain offering praised God for His abundant supply of the "daily bread" for the Israelite. But while men do not contribute to their redemption, they do participate in the growing of the crops by which God sustains their life. Thus, the human element is present in the grain offering in a way that it is not in the burnt offering.
The grain offering was instructed by God to follow the burnt offering. The grain offering was either wheat, corn, or barley. Since the grain offering was not an animal offering, there was no blood shed in this offering. We know that apart from the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Thus the grain offering did not make atonement for sin. Therefore, the offerer was not instructed to identify himself with the grain he was about to offer, as was the case with the burnt offering, with which the offerer identified himself by laying his hand on the head of the animal.
Leviticus, Chapter 2.
The grain offering was instructed by God to follow the burnt offering. The grain offering was either wheat, corn, or barley. Since the grain offering was not an animal offering, there was no blood shed in this offering. We know that apart from the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Thus the grain offering did not make atonement for sin. Therefore, the offerer was not instructed to identify himself with the grain he was about to offer, as was the case with the burnt offering, with which the offerer identified himself by laying his hand on the head of the animal.
Leviticus, Chapter 2.
1 And when any will offer a grain offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon:
Grain produced from wheat produced a fine white flour (Exodus 29:2). The fine flour did not come from a local grocery store. If baked or cooked, it consisted of cakes or wafers. A handful of flour was to be burned on the altar with any accompanying offerings, and the balance was to be eaten by the priests in their holy meals (Leviticus 6:14-17). The flour that was burned on the altar was mixed with olive oil, salted for taste, and accompanied by incense, but it was to have no honey or yeast - neither of which was allowed on the altar (verses 11-13). The cooked product was similar to pie crust. The worshipper was not to eat any of their own grain offerings. Grain offerings for the priests were not to be eaten but were to be totally burned (6:22-23).
The oil which was used in this offering was probably olive oil. This would not have been readily available in the desert. Oil speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The anointing is not on any man or woman. The anointing is on the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
From Psalm 133:2, for brethren to dwell together in unity, "It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;"
Note that anointing oil is only on the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no reference to the anointing being on the body.
Psalm 45:7, "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
That verse says that the Father anointed the Son, Jesus, with oil.
1 Chronicles 16:22 says, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
The Father's anointed is His Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord is not going to anoint you or me. He already has one who is anointed - Christ Jesus.
We Christians are accepted only insofar as we are in Christ. The sacrificial materials, the grain, the oil, and the frankincense, were all difficult to obtain in the days of Moses. Once the people entered the land of Canaan, obtaining those goods depended upon the bounty of the harvest, for which the Israelites had to look to God. The grain could be offered to God cooked or uncooked.
We Christians are accepted only insofar as we are in Christ. The sacrificial materials, the grain, the oil, and the frankincense, were all difficult to obtain in the days of Moses. Once the people entered the land of Canaan, obtaining those goods depended upon the bounty of the harvest, for which the Israelites had to look to God. The grain could be offered to God cooked or uncooked.
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:
Frankincense was a sweet-smelling fragrance available in the ancient Near East. It was a sensory symbol of the pleasure which the offering was intended to bring God. Frankincense, which was probably quite rare and expensive, was a reminder that costly sacrifice is worth the price, for pleasing God is the highest good. God the Father said of God the Son, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
3 And the remnant of the grain offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.
Because the grain offering was a thing most holy, the priests were to eat it in the sanctuary area proper and not feed their families with it.
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.
The word 'oven' must mean a large earthen pot or jar, such as is still in use in the East for baking cakes; this was heated by a fire inside.
5 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.
The better translation of "pan" is a flat plate or griddle, made out of clay or iron.
6 Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.7 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.
The word, oblation, is the Hebrew word korban, translated elsewhere as offering.
Why did the Lord specify three different ways to cook or prepare the grain offering? To the Israelites of that day, those verses meant nothing more than three different natural means to prepare the grain offering. The same interpretation or explanation of the three different methods probably means only the natural level to most Christians today. However, let us consider that Jesus suffered physically, emotionally, and spiritually during His short ministry on earth. I am sure that when that crown of thorns was thrust on His head, it hurt. When Jesus was crucified and was nailed to that cross and when they raised up that cross in the air and dropped it in that hole - with the weight of that heavy wood and with His very own weight, the impact was enough to tear apart His body, except for the grace of God.
Psalm 22:14, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: ...
...
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me."
Everyone could see with their natural eyes the agony and physical suffering that Jesus endured on the cross before He died. The griddle or flat plate in verse 5 was completely open for anyone and everyone to see what was on it. So the griddle corresponds to the physical suffering of Jesus.
In Leviticus 2:7, another way to prepare the grain offering was with a frying pan, which had raised sides and therefore only partially visible to men but fully visible by the Father above. That corresponds to the emotional suffering endured by Jesus. Just before Jesus was apprehended by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, we read, in Mark 14:50, "And they all forsook Him, and fled." Also, in Isaiah 53:11, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities." Here again, the Father is speaking of His Son.
But the greatest suffering that Jesus endured was spiritual. Just before Jesus died on the cross, He who knew no sin became sin, and sin was crucified on the cross. At that point Jesus experienced a separation from the Father because no sin can be in the presence of God. At that point Jesus cried out, "My God, my God; why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). That corresponds to Jesus as the grain offering being baked in an oven. That is listed as the first of the three methods of preparing the grain offering and therefore the most significant. No man could ever see or comprehend that level of spiritual suffering.
Back to Leviticus, chapter 2.
8 And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.10 And that which is left 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.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.
The grain offering specified what additional ingredients were either prohibited or prescribed. Forbidden ingredients for the grain offering were leaven and honey. No specific reason for this prohibition is given, although leaven was prohibited at the Passover meal (Exodus 12:15, 19). A key to the significance of leaven may be found in
Exodus chapter 23: "You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning."
The blood sacrifice cannot be associated with leaven or with corruption, which leaven and leaving overnight both may produce. The absence of leaven in the sacrifice was also a reminder of God's deliverance in the past:
Deuteronomy 16:4, "And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning."
This same principle can be seen in the Book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. There was a man living in sin who was allowed to remain in fellowship with the church. Paul determined that this man should be put out of the church. He then cites biblical precedent from the Old Testament:
1 Corinthians 5:6-8, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
The Corinthians should put away this man, whose presence was serving as leaven in the body, corrupting the whole. Since Christ is the Passover, and since He has been sacrificed, the putting away of leaven should be well under way in our life.
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.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 grain offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
While leaven corrupts, salt preserves and purifies. In ancient times salt was often costly. The permanent quality of salt indicates the eternal relationship between the Lord and His chosen people. The salt that was to be added was identified as "the salt of the covenant of your God." Salt was used symbolically in covenants of that day in the ancient Near East. The covenant was the Mosaic Covenant, which promised the Israelites the presence of God and the possession of Canaan, if they kept God's commandments. In Canaan, God would prosper His people:
Deuteronomy 8:7-8, "For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;"
That promise included the assurance that God would produce the rain required for the harvests in this land where rain did not predictably fall, and which was not irrigated, like Egypt:
Deuteronomy 11:10-12, "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year."
14 And if thou offer a grain offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the grain offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.
Firstfruits, the first portion of the harvest, were viewed as the choice part that belonged to God as the source of all blessing (1 Corinthians 15:20). Green ears describe the first and best produce (Exodus 23:19). A number of years ago before I ate an average size piece of fresh corn, I counted the number of rows on the piece of corn and counted the number of kernels on a row. Somewhat to my surprise, there were between 500 and 600 individual kernels on that piece of corn. One website says that the average number of kernels per ear of corn is 800.
15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a grain offering.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.
I do not know how the Israelites of that day made flour. However, I am aware how they made a grain offering from corn. As verse 14 says, they started with green ears of corn, dried by the fire.
To obtain fine flour required a great deal of extra effort on the part of the person who ground it, because it was not something which one bought from a grocery store. Neither was it simply run through an electrically powered mechanical grinder. The flour would have had to have been ground on a primitive grinding stone or millstone. Therefore, it required a sacrifice of much time and labor on the part of someone.
After the ears of corn were dried by fire, the kernels were removed and placed between two large millstones, perhaps made out of hardened clay. The lower stone represents the flesh of man, which touches the earth. The upper stone represents the sovereignty of God in arranging our circumstances to help us to seek the Lord. The kernels of corn were thoroughly ground up to produce fine flour such that there was no longer any evidence that it had been corn. Likewise, we must lose our identity in Christ. From verses 13 and 14 of Leviticus 2, oil and salt were required because they are both amazing preservatives. Leaven was forbidden in making the flour because leaven in this context speaks of pride, which puffs up.
Honey wine is the oldest alcoholic drink known to man and wine was forbidden while the priests were ministering. Honey, of course, is sweet and speaks to the natural man of a natural or emotional affection. There is nothing wrong with eating natural honey. John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey. In the spiritual realm, honey most often symbolizes abundance and prosperity. The Promised Land is described twenty times as "a land flowing with milk and honey." The pairing of milk and honey symbolizes fullness of life. God was promising abundant satisfaction of both needs (milk) and desire (honey). It was a delicacy rather than a necessity of life, a sign of luxury and abundance.
Jesus said, in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Leviticus 20:24, "But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people."
Honey is good after we have been born from above, but to partake of what honey represents (prosperity and natural desires) before being born from above usually results in judgment of some kind.
Psalm 81:16, "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."
That rock is the Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual honey that the Lord provides is wonderful and greatly to be desired.
Grain was common in the ancient Near East, but it was not a common commodity in the camp of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. The Israelites could not raise nor purchase wheat or corn in the desert. Such a crop would not grow without rain, and the Israelites were just passing through that place anyway. The grain which the Israelites were to offer was much more precious a commodity than the cattle, which those shepherds had in abundance. The Israelites were not living in Egypt, where grain was common, nor were they yet living in Canaan, where they would grow grain. Thus, the sacrifice of grain was almost impossible to do until reaching Canaan.
Olive oil and frankincense would not have been readily available in the desert, either. Thus, the sacrificial materials, the grain, the oil, and the frankincense, were all difficult to obtain in the days of Moses. Once the people entered the land of Canaan, obtaining these goods depended upon the bounty of the harvest, for which the Israelites had to look to God.
The first occurrence of a drink offering is in
Genesis 35:14, "And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with Him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon."
Jacob did so as unto the Lord. That event marked the confirmation of Jacob's new name of Israel. That pillar of stone speaks prophetically of Jesus. Jesus became that drink offering when He poured Himself out not only at Calvary but also throughout His life on earth.
2 Samuel 23:14-16, "And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD."
The drink offering consisted of one-third part of a hin of wine, where a hin was about 1.5 gallons.
Joel 1:8-13 describes the state of the visible church today.
"Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the grain offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God."
Joel 2:12-14, "Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a grain offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?"
Both the burnt and grain offerings required the highest quality offering to be sacrificed. In the case of the whole burnt offering, the animal had to be young, male (except for birds), and without blemish. The grain to be offered had to be "fine." The term "fine" could mean "fine quality," which it does by inference, but the "fine" here refers to the finely ground flour which is to be offered. The flour had to have been ground on a primitive grinding stone, a process which, at best, usually produces only a coarse flour. Such "fine" flour was that which was fit for a king like Solomon (1 Kings 4:22).
In the Book of Genesis, the patriarchs were shepherds. They wandered from place to place, leading their flocks wherever grass was to be found. The exodus and move to the land of Canaan required a radical change in lifestyle for the Hebrew people, from that of semi-nomadic sheep herders, to settled farmers. They would settle down, still raising sheep and cattle, but now growing grain, wheat and barley. They were to possess the land of Canaan, where each tribe would be assigned a portion of the land. Thus, these shepherds would become settled farmers, with houses instead of tents, with farms which they owned, rather than wandering about like gypsies. The manner in which farming was conducted in Canaan would be radically different from that in Egypt, where the farmer merely had to dig a trench with his foot and the irrigation waters from the Nile provided water for this parched land. But in Canaan the people must rely upon God to provide them with the rain which was required for their crops. Thus, Canaan would force the Israelites to farm by faith. Rather than seeking to buy grain, as they once did, they would raise it themselves. The grain offering serves as a reminder that the very grain which they are required to offer would be that which God caused to grow and to prosper. They must trust in Him to provide.
In light of these changes, and of the commands which God gave the Israelites pertaining to the grain offering, there are several principles which they were to learn, which are equally applicable to Christians today. One such principle is dependence upon God for the physical necessities of life. The grain offering was one means for the Israelite to be reminded (and for him to affirm in worship), that it is God who is not only Israel's Creator, but also her Sustainer. The great danger for the Israelite, once in the land of Canaan, enjoying the blessings from God's hand, was to forget where they had come from, and why.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12, "And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
Deut 8:11-14, "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;"
Both of those two sets of verses emphasize the potential snare of prosperity. What God warned would happen did happen. The very blessings which God gave to the Israelites were used in the worship of false gods: Ezekiel 16:15-34. Sadly, our modern day churches are susceptible or vulnerable to that same snare.
While the Israelites of old were to offer the grain offering to develop and to express their dependence upon God, the same principle applies to us today. The prayer which Jesus gave as a model includes the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." The independent, self-sufficient attitude about which God warned the Israelites is that same spirit which James 4:13-16 condemns in New Testament saints:,
"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil."
The problem for 20th century Christians in the Western World is that we have too many safety nets, too many contingency plans, too much to rely on other than God. The farmer of Moses' day had to look to God, day by day, for rain, for protection from predators, and so on. We have insurance, bank accounts, and the like. In all honesty, we don't trust in God because we don't feel that we need to.
The dependence which God wants to develop in His people is not just a dependence upon Him for physical food, but it is a dependence upon God for the spiritual necessities of life ... for guidance and direction, a dependence upon His word. Even in the Old Testament, God stressed the importance of obedience to the Word of God, as in
Deuteronomy 8:3, "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
The Old Testament saints supported the priests by their sacrifices and the Levites by their tithes. The sacrificial offering of grain was one of God's means of providing for the needs of the priests. The daily provision of Israel's physical needs and the promise of prosperity in the land of Canaan, was based upon Israel's obedience to God's law, as expressed in
Deuteronomy 28: 1-6, "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out."
When Jesus was tested in the wilderness, Satan sought to get Him to make a stone into bread. Our Lord's response was to rebuke Satan, based upon the statement in Deuteronomy 8 that man shall not live by bread alone. In the fourth chapter of John's gospel the disciples urged our Lord to eat, and were perplexed when He responded to them, "I have meat to eat that you do not know about." The disciples therefore said to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work" (John 4:32-34).
Our Lord spoke of Himself as the "living water" in John chapter 4. Those who drank of His "living water" never thirsted again. But our Lord also spoke of Himself as the "bread of life" (John 6). He, as the "true" bread, was like the manna which God gave the Israelites in the wilderness, which daily sustained their lives. We must not only, once for all, look to our Lord as our Savior, but we must look to Him daily as our sustainer. Just as the Israelites were constantly reminded of their dependence on God by the grain offering, so we must also be daily reminded of our dependence upon Christ. How do we develop the kind of trust in God that we should have? There is one very simple way: to give sacrificially. While Christians today do not offer up grain offerings to God, we can offer up sacrifices by giving to others - naturally and spiritually as unto the Lord. This is how we show our gratitude to the Lord for His goodness in our life.
While it may be true that most Christians give, it is doubtful that most of us give sacrificially, in such a way that we must daily depend on God to meet our needs. What kind of giving, then, is sacrificial? It is the kind of giving which makes us dependent upon God for our next day's bread. It is the kind of giving which causes us to look to God for our needs for the next day. This is the kind of giving we see in the Old Testament when the Israelite offered up the first fruits of his fields, trusting God to provide an additional harvest. It is the type of giving we find exemplified by the gentile widow, who provided for the prophet Elijah, even though her grain container was empty (1 Kings 17). It is the kind of giving we find in the New Testament, when the poor widow gave her last two mites (Mark 12). When we give, knowing that this depletes our supplies, we must do so trusting in God to replenish our supply. Sacrificial giving requires faith in God as the One who faithfully supplies our needs, and who gives to us our daily bread. One of the greatest hindrances to sacrificial giving today is our lack of faith in God as our sustainer.
Now, what constitutes sacrificial giving for us Christians today? Surely not simply our money, which came from the hand of God anyway. God does not need our money; He wants us. Everything we do must be as unto the Lord. A much greater sacrifice on our part is our time and labor of love ... time to praise and thank and worship the Lord; time to help others in any way we can, according to the gifts and ministries we have received.
His offering makes it possible for us to make other sacrifices and offerings to God because our sins are atoned for. Once we have trusted in Christ's work on our behalf, then our offerings and sacrifices are pleasing in His sight. May we all respond to the grace and mercy of God in a manner that will be a soothing aroma to Him. Amen and amen.
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