A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
Related Articles
LEVITICUS 2
LEVITICUS 6:14-23
Lesson #03
THE MEAT (MEAL) OFFERING (Fellowship with God)
- Memory Verse: Joh 6:51
- The second offering of Leviticus is known by various names. It is called a “meat offering” though there is no meat in it. The word “meat” was used to designate a total meal. Therefore, it is also called a “meal offering”. Because this offering consists of grain, it is also called a “grain offering”.
- The grain that was used was wheat, even though some translations use the word corn. Corn, as we know it, did not exist in the Middle East at the time of the Old Testament.
- This is the only offering that does not contain blood, but was always done with a blood offering. Why?
- Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Heb 9:22)
- Like the offering of Cain, the fruit of our own labor cannot purchase salvation.
- The Meal Offering was a voluntary offering and a sweet smell to God. Like the Burnt Offering in chapter 1, it speaks primarily of the person of Jesus Christ and secondarily to believers who should imitate Christ.
- The word, “oblation” is another word for the word offering and means = something sacrificed to God.
- This offering consisted of two categories and five forms:
- =A= Unbaked:
- =1= Flour.
- =2= Crushed roasted heads of un-ripened grain.
- =B= Baked
- =3= Cakes baked in an oven.
- =4= Cakes baked in a pan.
- =5= Cakes cooked in a frying pan on a griddle.
- This offering was never done alone. It was always done together with the Burnt Offering of chapter 1 or another offering that contained the shedding of blood.
- As we saw in chapter 1, the Burnt Offering referred to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only way to approach God.
- The significance of the Meal Offering is “Fellowship with God”. Therefore, if man comes to God in Gods prescribed way, he can have fellowship with God.
- He cannot have fellowship with God without the Burnt Offering of Jesus Christ.
- This is why these first two offerings in the book of Leviticus had to be done together. The Meal Offering was thrown over the top of the Burnt Offering.
- Fire of the Altar:
- Fire represents Gods judgment and holiness, His purifying energy and power that produce holiness.
- Heb 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”
- Three important ingredients: (1)
- =1= Fine Flour = this is not just any kind of flour but flour that has been refined or purified.
- Why wheat and no other grain?
- Wheat was the best and most valuable of grains for food.
- Wheat was commonly available to all both rich and poor.
- Wheat does not grow wild but must be planted in a prepared ground. Therefore, fellowship with God is based on mans cooperation with a Holy God.
- The significance of the fine wheat flour refers to the person of Jesus Christ.
- Jesus spoke of himself as a grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die. (Joh 12:23-25)
- He was the best of humanity, planned and prepared by God.
- He has a balanced and even personality under the control of the Holy Spirit.
- He identified himself with common man, whether rich or poor by becoming human flesh.
- Jesus Christ is the only human to live without sin, but He became sin for us on the cross.
- In order to refine flour, they had to beat it, crush it, and grind it in order to remove the husk and obtain pure and refined flour.
- Jesus Christ was beaten and crushed for us so that we might be pure in His righteousness.
- =2= Oil = olive oil in Scripture always represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit and ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Mans fellowship with God is by Gods grace extended to the believer by the Holy Spirit.
- When man has had the new birth experience (Joh 3), the Holy Spirit gives him new life just as the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead in the resurrection.
- With the Holy Spirit inside of the believer, he can now have fellowship with God.
- Read 1Joh 1:7
- The believer serves Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus ministered:
- Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit. (mingled with oilLuk 1:35)
- Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit. (oil upon itMat 3:16-17)
- Jesus was led of the Holy Spirit. (pour oil thereonMar 1:12)
- Jesus taught and did miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit. (with oilJoh 3:34 Mat 12:28)
- =3= Frankincense = resin from the bark of a tree was dried and beaten into powder. It releases a sweet smell when it is crushed and burned. Only the part of the offering thrown on the altar had frankincense in it.
- Remember that this offering is a sweet smell to God.
- In the same way, the crucifixion was pleasing to God when His son was placed under pressure and bruised.
- Read Isa 53:10
- In Mat 2:11 we see that the wise men brought frankincense to baby Jesus to indicate his future sacrifice that would please God.
- Frankincense was also used on the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle. There it symbolized prayer and our access to God through Christ.
- The remnant of the offering: (3)
- After the priest threw a handful (a memorial vs. 9) of the flour, oil, and frankincense over the Burnt Offering while it was burning on the altar, the rest of the ingredients had been made into cakes in the various forms listed above. (These ingredients did not include frankincense.)
- These cakes were to be eaten by the priests, all the males in the family of Aarons descendants. Why?
- This was the way that God provided a daily food for the priests.
- Notice that they could not eat any of the Burnt Offering in chapter 1.
- The totality of that offering had to be burned for God.
- God allowed the priests to eat part of the Meal Offering because through Jesus Christ, we not only have fellowship with God, but we also have fellowship with other believers in Christ.
- New Testament fellowship in the early church included breaking bread together around a meal. (Act 2:41-47)
- For the New Testament believer in Christ, Jesus becomes the bread of life to be eaten to nourish the faith of the believer.
- Read Joh 6:33,35,48,51.
- Read 1Cor 11:24
- Why the various forms of cake?
- God provides the priest with a variety of food to eat.
- The cakes were made by the people.
- The Hebrew word for cake comes from the word “pierced” as the cake must be pierced to let the air out to make sure that it does not rise.
- Some people were wealthy enough to have ovens, and others were not.
- Therefore, God makes it easy for the believer to offer the fruit of his work to the Lord in whatever form the believer can supply it according to his personal gifts and talents.
- The form of the cakes tells us of the sufferings of Christ:
- Baked in an oven = the hidden, inner sufferings of Christ when He said on the cross, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, and it became dark that no man could see certain aspects of the crucifixion.
- Cooked in a pan or on a griddle = the open sufferings on the cross that all could see.
- The forbidden elements: (11)
- The use of two elements were forbidden in this offering:
- =1= Leaven = leaven is a fermenting agent that we call yeast. In the fermenting process a gas is released. It is this gas that makes bread rise when the lump is warmed or baked.
- Through the Old Testament and the New Testament, leaven has only one meaning.
- It means something that is sinful or evil. Therefore it represents the principle of evil.
- Jesus said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. (Mat 16:6)
- Why does leaven represent the principle of evil?
- Both leaven and evil change the character of the total mass into which it is allowed to permeate.
- Both leaven and evil puff up to make the mass larger and of more prominence or more important.
- It does not take much of either leaven or evil to fully corrupt the whole mass.
- AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE: WHEN LEAVEN IS INCLUDED IN THE OFFERING, THE OFFERING REPRESENTS MAN IN HIS SINFUL NATURE. WHEN THE OFFERING DOES NOT INCLUDE LEAVEN, IT REPRESENTS CHRIST WHO IS WITHOUT SIN.
- =1= Honey = a naturally occurring sweet substance made by bees. It is the sweetest thing that is naturally produced and used to make other things sweet.
- When honey is burned it turns sour. For this reason it was not used in burned offerings.
- Jesus Christ was perfect love in his divine nature. He did not need anything from his human nature to make him more perfect.
- He did not rely on the sweetness produced in the world to enhance his character.
- The Offering of First Fruits as a Meal Offering:
- The offering of first fruits is a type of meal offering.
- The offering of first fruits occurred when the grain first began to ripen in the field. The farmer took a small part of the first ripened grain and offered it to the Lord with a meal offering.
- The purpose and significance of the Offering of Firstfruits was to thank God by faith for the coming harvest. The farmer gave God a small part of the harvest that was coming and by faith trusted that it would result in a harvest of great abundance.
- Jesus Christ was Gods offering of Firstfuits.
- Read 1Cor 15:20, 23
- He was the first to die and be resurrected to life never to die again.
- Believers in Jesus Christ are the promise of a greater harvest of resurrected believers that is yet to come.
- The purpose for salt in the offerings: (13)
- Salt = salt is a common element throughout the world and is used in all cultures.
- Salt was used as an agent of preservation of food before refrigeration.
- Salt was used as an agent of purification of a wound.
- In history salt was used in various cultures for money.
- Salt also was used to seal a contract or a pact.
- Notice the wording in verse 13. “salt of the covenant”.
- When a legal agreement (covenant or pact) was made between two people, both of them would throw salt into the air as a symbol of their intention to faithfully keep and preserve the covenant.
- Therefore, God says that all offerings should contain salt as something valuable, purifying, and preserving to indicate the faithful intentions of the worshipper based on a covenant with God.
- Read Mat 5:13 and Mar 9:49
- Salt is a symbol for faithfulness.
- The believer that faithfully maintains his personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on Christs sacrifice maintains his saltiness in the world because:
- .the relationship is based on a faithful covenant written in the blood of Jesus Christ.
- .the purity of the relationship is maintained by a continual conviction by the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ.
- .the preservation of the relationship is maintained by a continual sacrifice of worship and service by the believer.
- A meal offering was made with every burnt offering every morning and every evening.
- It was done in this way because it is only through the sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we maintain continual fellowship with God.
- The Burnt Offering reveals to us the death of Jesus Christ as a justification for mans sin.
- The Meal Offering reveals to us the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ, the one without sin, in close fellowship with God, the Father. He is the grain of wheat bruised and beaten at Calvary, mixed with the anointed oil of the Holy Spirit and seasoned with the salt of incorruption and offered to God with the sweet smell of frankincense of a Holy life without the sin of leaven or the human sweetness of honey to become for us the Bread of Life.
HOMEWORK
Leviticus 3
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.
- Application of Lev 2
- What new aspects of Jesus Christ did you learn from Lev 2?
- How will knowing these things about Jesus change your life?
- Read Lev 3:1-17 The Peace Offering
- What objects were legitimate to offer?
- How does this offering remind you of Holy Communion?
