Levitico 2:12 Commento

In this chapter we have the law concerning the meat-offering. I. The matter of it; whether of raw flour with oil and incense (Lev 2:1), or baked in the oven (Lev 2:4), or upon a plate (Lev 2:5, Lev 2:6), or in a frying pan (Lev 2:7). II. The management of it, of the flour (Lev 2:2, Lev 2:3), of the cakes (Lev 2:8-10). III. Some particular rules concerning it, That leaven and honey must never be admitted (Lev 2:11, Lev 2:12), and salt never omitted in the meat-offering (Lev 2:13). IV. The law concerning the offering of firstfruits in the ear (Lev 2:14, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 2 This chapter contains the law of the meat offering, and gives an account of what it was made of, fine flour, with oil poured, and frankincense put upon it, Lev 2:1 what was done with it; part of it burnt upon the altar, and the rest was the property of the priests, Lev 2:2 how it was to be when baked in an oven, or in a pan, or fried in a frying pan, Lev 2:4 what was prohibited in it, leaven and honey, Lev 2:11 what was to be used in it, salt, Lev 2:13 and what was to be the oblation and meat offering of the first fruits, and what to be done with it, Lev 2:12.

As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord,.... Or "in" or "with the oblation", as some render it; that is, along with the oblation of the firstfruits leaven and honey might be offered: the Arabic version is very express, "but for a sacrifice of firstfruits ye" shall offer both to God; as they might be, as before observed; so the Targum of Jonathan,"for the leavened bread of the firstfruits shall be offered, and dates in the time of the firstfruits; the fruits with their honey shall be offered, and the priest shall eat them:" but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour; which they could not make, and besides were to be the portion of the priests.

The meat-offering of flour with oil and incense, Lev 2:1-3. The oblation of the meat-offering baked in the oven and in the pan, Lev 2:4-6. The meat-offering baked in the frying-pan, Lev 2:7-10. No leaven nor honey to be offered with the meat-offering, Lev 2:11. The oblation of the first-fruits, Lev 2:12. Salt to be offered with the meat offering, Lev 2:13. Green ears dried by the fire, and corn to be beaten out of full ears, with oil and frankincense, to be offered as a meat-offering of first-fruits, Lev 2:14-16.

THE MEAT OFFERINGS. (Lev. 2:1-16) when any will offer a meat offering--or gift--distinguishing a bloodless from a bloody sacrifice. The word "meat," however, is improper, as its meaning as now used is different from that attached at the date of our English translation. It was then applied not to "flesh," but "food," generally, and here it is applied to the flour of wheat. The meat offerings were intended as a thankful acknowledgment for the bounty of Providence; and hence, although meat offerings accompanied some of the appointed sacrifices, those here described being voluntary oblations, were offered alone. pour oil upon it--Oil was used as butter is with us; symbolically it meant the influences of the Spirit, of which oil was the emblem, as incense was of prayer.

the oblation of the first-fruits--voluntary offerings made by individuals out of their increase, and leaven and honey might be used with these (Lev 23:17; Num 15:20). Though presented at the altar, they were not consumed, but assigned by God for the use of the priests.

The first kind consisted of soleth, probably from סלה = סלל to swing, swung flour, like πάλη from πάλλω, i.e., fine flour; and for this no doubt wheaten flour was always used, even when חטּים is not added, as in Exo 29:2, to distinguish it from קמח, or ordinary meal (σεμίδαλις: Kg1 5:2). The suffix in קרבּנו (his offering) refers to נפשׁ, which is frequently construed as both masculine and feminine (Lev 4:2, Lev 4:27-28, Lev 2:1, etc.), or as masculine only (Num 31:28) in the sense of person, any one. "And let him pour oil upon it, and put incense thereon (or add incense to it)." This was not spread upon the flour, on which oil had been poured, but added in such a way, that it could be lifted from the minchah and burned upon the altar (Lev 2:2). The priest was then to take a handful of the gift that had been presented, and cause the azcarah of it to evaporate above (together with) all the incense. קמצו מלא: the filling of his closed hand, i.e., as much as he could hold with his hand full, not merely with three fingers, as the Rabbins affirm. Azcarah (from זכר, formed like אשׁמרה from שׁמר) is only applied to Jehovah's portion, which was burned upon the altar in the case of the meat-offering (Lev 2:9, Lev 2:16, and Lev 6:8), the sin-offering of flour (Lev 5:11), and the jealousy-offering (Num 5:26), and to the incense added to the shew-bread (Lev 24:7). It does not mean the prize portion, i.e., the portion offered for the glory of God, as De Dieu and Rosenmller maintain, still less the fragrance-offering (Ewald), but the memorial, or remembrance-portion, μνημόσυνον or ἀνάμνησις (Lev 24:7, lxx), memoriale (Vulg.), inasmuch as that part of the minchah which was placed upon the altar ascended in the smoke of the fire "on behalf of the giver, as a practical mememto ('remember me') to Jehovah:" though there is no necessity that we should trace the word to the Hiphil in consequence. The rest of the minchah was to belong to Aaron and his sons, i.e., to the priesthood, as a most holy thing of the firings of Jehovah. The term "most holy" is applied to all the sacrificial gifts that were consecrated to Jehovah, in this sense, that such portions as were not burned upon the altar were to be eaten by the priests alone in a holy place; the laity, and even such of the Levites as were not priests, being prohibited from partaking of them (see at Exo 26:33 and Exo 30:10). Thus the independent meat-offerings, which were not entirely consumed upon the altar (Lev 2:3, Lev 2:10, Lev 6:10; Lev 10:12), the sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, the flesh of which was not burned outside the camp (Lev 6:18, Lev 6:22; Lev 7:1, Lev 7:6; Lev 10:17; Lev 14:13; Num 18:9), the shew-bread (Lev 24:9), and even objects put under the ban and devoted to the Lord, whether men, cattle, or property of other kinds (Lev 27:28), as well as the holy incense (Exo 30:36), - in fact, all the holy sacrificial gifts, in which there was any fear lest a portion should be perverted to other objects, - were called most holy; whereas the burnt-offerings, the priestly meat-offerings (Lev 6:12-16) and other sacrifices, which were quite as holy, were not called most holy, because the command to burn them entirely precluded the possibility of their being devoted to any of the ordinary purposes of life.

The presentation of the minchah "made of these things," i.e., of the different kinds of pastry mentioned in Lev 2:4-7, resembled in the main that described in Lev 2:1-3. The מן הרים in Lev 2:9 corresponds to the מן קמץ in Lev 2:2, and does not denote any special ceremony of heaving, as is supposed by the Rabbins and many archaeological writers, who understand by it a solemn movement up and down. This will be evident from a comparison of Lev 3:3 with Lev 4:8, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35, and Lev 7:3. In the place of ממּנּוּ ירים in Lev 4:8 we find מזּבח הקריב in Lev 4:10, חלב חוּסר כּאשׁר חוּ in Lev 4:31 and Lev 4:35; so that מן הרים evidently denotes simply the lifting off or removal of those parts which were to be burned upon the altar from the rest of the sacrifice (cf. Bhr, ii. 357, and my Archologie i. p. 244-5). - In Lev 2:11-13 there follow two laws which were applicable to all the meat-offerings: viz., to offer nothing leavened (Lev 2:11), and to salt every meat-offering, and in fact every sacrifice, with salt (Lev 2:13). Every minchah was to be prepared without leaven: "for all leaven, and all honey, ye shall not burn a firing of it for Jehovah. As an offering of first-fruits ye may offer them (leaven and honey, i.e., pastry made with them) to Jehovah, but they shall not come upon the altar." Leaven and honey are mentioned together as things which produce fermentation. Honey has also an acidifying or fermenting quality, and was even used for the preparation of vinegar (Plin. h. n. 11, 15; 21, 14). In rabbinical writings, therefore, הדבישׁ signifies not only dulcedinem admittere, but corrumpsi, fermentari, fermentescere (vid., Buxtorf, lex. chald. talm. et rabb. p. 500). By "honey" we are to understand not grape-honey, the dibs of the Arabs, as Rashi and Bhr do, but the honey of bees; for, according to Ch2 31:5, this alone was offered as an offering of first-fruits along with corn, new wine, and oil; and in fact, as a rule, this was the only honey used by the ancients in sacrifice (see Bochart, Hieroz. iii. pp. 393ff.). The loaves of first-fruits at the feast of Weeks were leavened; but they were assigned to the priests, and not burned upon the altar (Lev 23:17, Lev 23:20). So also were the cakes offered with the vow-offerings, which were applied to the sacrificial meal (Lev 7:13); but not the shew-bread, as Knobel maintains (see at Lev 24:5.). Whilst leaven and honey were forbidden to be used with any kind of minchah, because of their producing fermentation and corruption, salt on the other hand was not to be omitted from any sacrificial offering. "Thou shalt not let the salt of the covenant of thy God cease from thy meat-offering," i.e., thou shalt never offer a meat-offering without salt. The meaning which the salt, with its power to strengthen food and preserve it from putrefaction and corruption, imparted to the sacrifice, was the unbending truthfulness of that self-surrender to the Lord embodied in the sacrifice, by which all impurity and hypocrisy were repelled. The salt of the sacrifice is called the salt of the covenant, because in common life salt was the symbol of covenant; treaties being concluded and rendered firm and inviolable, according to a well-known custom of the ancient Greeks (see Eustathius ad Iliad. i. 449) which is still retained among the Arabs, by the parties to an alliance eating bread and salt together, as a sign of the treaty which they had made. As a covenant of this kind was called a "covenant of salt," equivalent to an indissoluble covenant (Num 18:19; Ch2 13:5), so here the salt added to the sacrifice is designated as salt of the covenant of God, because of its imparting strength and purity to the sacrifice, by which Israel was strengthened and fortified in covenant fellowship with Jehovah. The following clause, "upon (with) every sacrificial gift of thine shalt thou offer salt," is not to be restricted to the meat-offering, as Knobel supposes, nor to be understood as meaning that the salt was only to be added to the sacrifice externally, to be offered with or beside it; in which case the strewing of salt upon the different portions of the sacrifice (Eze 43:24; Mar 9:49) would have been a departure from the ancient law. For korban without any further definition denotes the sacrificial offerings generally, the bleeding quite as much as the bloodless, and the closer definition of על הקריב (offer upon) is contained in the first clause of the verse, "season with salt." The words contain a supplementary rule which was applicable to every sacrifice (bleeding and bloodless), and was so understood from time immemorial by the Jews themselves (cf. Josephus, Ant. iii. 9, 1). (Note: The Greeks and Romans also regarded salt as indispensable to a sacrifice. Maxime in sacris intelligitur auctoritas salis, quando nulla conficiuntur sine mola salsa. Plin. h. n. 31, 7, (cf. 41).)