Lev. 2—THE MEAT OFFERING
It is when forgiveness is known, and communion of heart is enjoyed with God, that He will unfold more and more concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
This will be found in the meat offering with its variations.
Since our authorized version was made, the term meat has become restricted to flesh food, instead of including all food, and this has made a change desirable for the name of this offering. It was chiefly of fine flour, so that meal offering would be a much more correct title by which to express it.
Four kinds of meal offering are described. The first is of fine flour, oil and frankincense, not baked.
The second is baked in the oven, and either mingled with oil, or anointed with oil.
The third is baked in a pan with oil poured on it. The fourth is baked in the frying pan.
In each case a part is taken out as a memorial and burnt upon the brazen altar, a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
No transgression is connected with this offering, nor is any reference made to atonement in describing it; neither is life or blood in it.
But in the fine flour itself may be seen the person of the Lord Jesus figured in the perfect evenness of the material; nothing rough or gritty, but all equable and smooth, like a character having no prominent points, or specialties, or developments; even as in Christ, all graces were in equal power and no feature preponderated above another. Contrast this with any son of Adam, and at once we own how we value and estimate a fellow man according to his particular ability in any desired direction. We cultivate our strong points, and are valued accordingly. In the Lord Jesus, no such strong points are seen, and the nature of fine flour tells the perfect balance in Him of all the capacities and graces which were essentially His. It is not the activity of His life in its expressions towards others, so much as it is the even harmony of all His characteristics. It is what He was in Himself quite apart from anything that flowed out from Him, though all outflow must correspond with its source.
It recalls the description of love in 1 Cor. 13, no one of its 15 items is objective, but all are subjective, —what love in itself is, not what love accomplishes for others.
The absence from the flour of any special feature is the index of general perfectness; but there is to be added to the flour, oil poured on it. This is the constant figure of the Spirit of God in power; and it here foreshadows the anointing of the Lord by the Spirit for His work. Acts 10:3838How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38). "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power," and Matt. 12:2828But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Matthew 12:28), "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God." For, at his baptism, the Holy Spirit like a dove descended upon Him, and then by the Spirit He was led into the wilderness.
Frankincense also was put upon the flour. A fragrant spice in itself, expressing here the moral worthiness of the Son of God and Son of man. No New Testament verse speaks of this, but it suggests the sweet savor of His life to God; "for I do always those things that please Him," John 8:2929And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29). It was a spice that gave off a perfume as it lay exposed, so that it contrasts with the subjective character of the flour, and speaks rather of the objective beauty of the Lord, that was precious to God, as well as discerned in measure by all about Him.
Thus we have in the type:—First, what the Lord in Himself was; Second, the Holy Spirit His power for His service; Third, the "smell of delight" that ever rose from Him to God.
The memorial burnt carries us to the cross and the fire of Divine judgment. Only Christ could suitably bear that judgment; such a Christ could.
In verse 4, the meal offering was to be baked in the oven. This was an exposure to the action of fire, but not for burning. The oven shuts off from the strongest action of fire, and this form of applying fire suggests the testing of Divine judgment in a modified way.
There is also a double mode of using the oil in verse 4. "Mingled with oil" is surely seen in the, power of the Holy Spirit at our Lord's birth, distinguished from the anointing at His baptism.
In verse 5, the meal offering might be baked in a pan. This would be more directly exposed to the fire than it would be in an oven; signifying a severer testing than in the former case. This too was to be parted in pieces and oil poured thereon; indicating the Spirit of God animating the whole Christ in detail.
In verse 7, the meal offering might be baked in the frying pan. If the Septuagint may help us to distinguish between these two latter ones, then the last was baked on the hearth without the intervention of any form of vessel. It has been said, on what authority I cannot find, that "frying pan" should be “gridiron." It certainly seems that a different degree of action by fire is meant in the three ways of baking; i.e. a subdued or covert testing, as in the oven; a more direct and severer testing as on the pan; and severer still by the baking upon the hearth itself.
How real was all this in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The baking in the oven, testing in a covert way, may be seen at His baptism, when John says to Him, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" But Jesus answers, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”
When Satan is permitted to tempt Him in the wilderness, there is a direct presentation of evil which is more analogous to the exposure on the pan, Matt. 4
But it only brings out His perfect obedience to the written Word. And the quotations our Lord makes are all from Deuteronomy, which is that mingling of grace and faith with law (after Israel had broken the law), by which alone they could be carried into Canaan, and on which ground they then stood before God.
In the garden of Gethsemane, our Lord accepted the severest testing recorded. As on the hearth, all but in the fire; "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." It was the anticipation of the cross with its judgment and shame, but the fine flour afforded no occasion of reproach, though the "great drops of blood" tell what the pressure upon Him was. Luke 22:41-4441And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:41‑44) are probably the most striking evidence of the perfectness of His humanity; the approaching "hour and the power of darkness," the cup He would take from His Father, as made sin, and bearing sins, all could only be intensely repugnant beyond our ability to measure, to the pure, the holy, the undefiled Lamb of God.
Knowing our forgiveness, and in communion with our God, we are taken into His thoughts of His Son, to discern with Himself that peerless worth which is the more clearly seen as it is the more deeply tried, and which, when submitted to final judgment, rose to God an immeasurable "smell of delight" forever.
We find next a most solemn caution lest we put anything else on the same level of worth. There is nothing that is so, or that approaches it. Christ stood, and stands, forever alone in this respect. True we on earth value that which suits us whatever its form. Jonathan's love was very precious to David, and rightly so, 2 Sam. 1:2626I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. (2 Samuel 1:26); but this must not mislead us into an undue use of earth's richest supply. This is what honey appears to stand for, the sweetness of nature; "what is sweeter than honey?" Samson asks. Natural sweetness is very pleasant to natural taste, but we have to remember that it is only natural after all, and cannot become a sweet savor to God. Nothing of the first Adam suits Him, it must be prohibited therefore from being burnt on His altar. The very world is crucified to us, and we to it,-burnt outside the camp, not on the brazen altar, each of which is a truth of the cross of Christ. The very best from man cannot be allowed on the altar.
Leaven on the other hand expresses the corruption and evil of nature, and so nothing made with it was to be brought to Jehovah to be put on His altar. All burnt on that altar was a sweet savor to Him and leaven could not possibly become that. That which figured Christ, in one aspect or another, could alone be burnt there.
How often we have failed to discern this; how often, Cain fashion, have we acted on our own thoughts of sweetness and fitness, instead of getting God's thoughts of all the scene, and of Christ too.
The oblation of the firstfruits in verse 12 appears to refer to chapter 23:17, where leaven was to be baked in the two tenth deals of fine flour, the first fruits unto Jehovah. These two wave loaves were to be offered to Jehovah as a new meal offering, but they were not to be burnt upon the altar, i.e., offered up.
It may be well to observe here the difference between offering to, and offering up. A transgressor or a worshipper was to bring his sacrifice, bullock, goat, etc., and it was presented, brought, or offered to Jehovah for His acceptance of it by His priest, if fit, that is, if without blemish. This was of first consequence. Then, if accepted, it could be killed and offered up upon the altar. A most striking correspondence to this is seen in the New Testament. We read of our Lord Jesus, "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God," Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14). It is the distinctive term for this which is here used, there being two technical words both in the Hebrew and in the Greek languages, for these two actions, the offering to, and the offering up. We further read, "this He did once for all, when He offered up Himself," Heb. 7:2727Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. (Hebrews 7:27).
If I rightly understand these two passages, the former one acquaints us with the most stupendous tribute to the throne, the government, the majesty of God, that ever was, or could be paid. It tells how He who had taken the form of a servant, and was now humbling Himself to the death of the cross as a victim for sin, presented Himself by the Holy eternal Spirit to God, as worthy to undergo God's judgment, and make expiation on behalf of others, such as Divine justice could accept. Strictly, it was not a question between the Father and the eternal Son; but it was a deep and solemn question between "the seed of David," "God manifest in flesh," and the majesty of the high and lofty One who was aggrieved by the sin of man. Not that in His case there could arise any possibility of doubt, but the formal act of submission prior to sacrifice is revealed to us in this verse, unfolding to us that the voluntary Sin Bearer, however conscious of His own perfection, would acknowledge to the full the title and claims of the Creator, in the stead of whose creatures He would suffer. Having undertaken the work of atonement and redemption, and being "made of a woman" for this purpose, He would fulfill all righteousness, and render every homage to the supremacy of God.
Notice further as to the "offering up." At the brazen altar this was reserved to the priests as part of their exclusive functions, and it was done upon the altars only. So, when our Lord "offered up Himself" it was the one great act of self-sacrifice upon the cross. He is alike the Sacrifice and the Priest. He is declared to be priest on the cross in chapter 7:27, and also in chapter 10:12, where the word "man" should be omitted. Christ is here contrasted with "every" in verse 11. "Every priest standeth, etc.," "but this one"... "sat down. His priestly work in offering up Himself is over forever; in it on the cross He was a "faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people," Heb. 2:1717Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17). It will be remembered that our Lord describes the death He should die as "lifted up from the earth," He died strictly, not on the ground, but in the first heaven; so that Heb. 8:44For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: (Hebrews 8:4) is in full force while we speak of His priesthood on the cross.
Another widely spread contention may be noticed here respecting "offering for acceptance" as the phrase is used.
The present practice of so-called Eucharistic ceremonial has been asserted necessary for every soul; that is, the presenting of Christ, in the bread and wine, to God on behalf of "communicants;" this being regarded and spoken of as "offering Him for acceptance." I quote words used to myself.
Now we have seen how "offering to" was necessarily before death, that the victim's fitness might be first owned by the priest on God's behalf; then, being accepted, it was killed and offered up, burnt, wholly or in part, upon the altar. After an Israelite and the priest had done all this, it would not be possible to again offer that animal for acceptance. After the burning, it could not be seen whether it were "without blemish" or not.
With the deepest reverence we may earnestly ask, "Is it not eternally too late now to offer Christ for acceptance?" Nay more, does not the idea itself impugn and disparage the reality of the accomplished sacrifice on Calvary? Christ has died to sin once, and “being raised from among the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him" Rom. 6:99Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (Romans 6:9). If so, and it is usually owned that He cannot die again, neither can He be offered for acceptance, which must precede death, and be done with a view to death.
Returning now to the oblation of first fruits, they were to be offered to, but not to be offered up. The presence of the leaven in these wave loaves was probably the reason of this. There is a significance in the unusual words—"Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves." Do they not suggest the representative character of the loaves as being of and for people, rather than Christ who had already been in this connection the "wave sheaf?" In that case, the Church of God, formed 50 days after the true Wave Sheaf had risen, will be clearly seen with the leaven (evil of nature) there, but baked, judged by the fire. Only so could it be tolerated before God; but even so it could not be burnt for a smell of delight, it would be incapable of furnishing that, baked or unbaked.
On the contrary, the next verse, chap. 2:13, tells us salt must be offered with every meal offering, and indeed with every sacrifice. Now salt preserves from corruption; both the corrupt is excluded, and a safeguard against the arising of corruption is introduced.
Is not the very salt itself a figure of Christ in this same aspect? What is the force of "a covenant of salt" Num. 18:1919All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. (Numbers 18:19), and 2 Chron. 13:55Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? (2 Chronicles 13:5)? Is it Christ who is the yea and amen of all the promises of God? 2 Cor. 1:2020For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Corinthians 1:20). There would be some other way in which Israel of old understood the term, but whatever that was, Christ is out salt forever.
Once more in the close of Lev. 2 we have a meal offering from green ears of corn dried by the fire. Christ surely in the full energy of life, tested by the drying fire, the usual oil and frankincense, and afterward a portion burnt on the altar.
How the Spirit of God has labored to portray the quality of that blessed Person who alone could work redemption.
Even aged Paul, in Phil. 3:1010That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10), after many years of communion and service, writes, "that I may know Him." He had long known Him, but the more he knew, the more he wanted still to know of that fullness which was inexhaustible.
Before leaving the meal offering, notice that in Lev. 6:19-2319And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 20This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the Lord in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. 21In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savor unto the Lord. 22And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the Lord; it shall be wholly burnt. 23For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten. (Leviticus 6:19‑23) there is a special appointment for the priests of a daily meal offering, corresponding to the daily lamb, night and morning, for the nation at large. It is instructive to see a bloodless offering assigned to them; they should well know the power of the blood-shedding at their consecration, and thenceforth it is the person of the Lord Jesus that should abide their life-object; they occupied with Him in His personal character, who became an entire sweet savor to God upon the altar.