The meat-offering in Leviticus 2 is quite another thought. There is no thought whatever of atonement here. It was really the best of food given up to Jehovah, corn and oil, not without salt, as we see later on. But it was only for priestly food, besides Jehovah’s memorial and all the frankincense, not for the offerer or his friends. Here it is well to bear in mind that the word “meat” might convey a wrong impression. This rendering of מִנְחָה, possibly obsolete now, seems somewhat faulty, as the idea is an offering of what was bloodless, emphatically that which never possessed animal life. Clearly therefore the burnt-offering and the meat-offering stand in distinct contrast. The very essence of the burnt-offering is the surrender of life absolutely to God. This no man but a divine person was capable of doing; but, Jesus being such, infinite is the value of his self-sacrificing death on the cross. In the meat-offering the Lord is pre-eminently viewed as a man living on the earth. That there is no thought of death, but of life consecrated to God, is the general truth of the food or cake-offering.
Hence, “when any will offer a meat-offering unto Jehovah, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon.” It is simply the beautiful emblem of Christ as man in this world. His humanity is represented by the fine flour, and the power of the Holy Spirit (which is so set forth in scripture from His very conception) by the oil poured on the flour. The frankincense shadowed His ever acceptable fragrance which went up to God continually. All this was brought to the priests, one of whom took out his handful. “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 savor unto Jehovah. And the remnant of the meat-offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons.” Therein we see another marked difference. The burnt-offering as a whole went up to God, or in its lowest form a part might be thrown away; but all that was used was solely for God. In the oblation-offering it was not so. Part of it went to the priestly body – to Aaron and his sons.
Thus here we have devotedness not in death so much as in life – the Holy One absolutely consecrated to God, in whom the power of the Holy Spirit molded every thought and feeling, and this viewed as a man here below in all His ways and words. Of the oblation-offering not merely has God His portion, but we too are entitled to feed on it. Aaron and his sons represent the Lord Jesus and those that He has made priests; for He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” and made us not only kings but “priests unto God.” Clearly then in Christ and Christians we have the antitype of Aaron and his sons.
Now we are entitled to delight in that which Jesus was here below; and certainly it were a great and irreparable loss to the soul if a Christian said or thought that he had nothing to do with Christ thus – that he had the death of the blessed Lord, but no special portion in Him as He lived for God here below. It is well to resent those who slight or ignore the value of Christ’s sufferings, but we must beware of error on the other side. Why such scant measure? Why such carelessness? You who by grace are priests to God – you at least should value that which is so distinctly marked out as your portion and proper food. Is it not the miserable working of unbelief, similar in principle though opposite in form, to what we have already noticed – the heart rising in faint degree above the sense of sins, and after all sins but poorly felt? God would give us communion with Himself in Christ – in all that He is.
The second part (Lev. 2:4-104And 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. 5And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. 6Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. 7And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8And 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. 9And 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 savor unto the Lord. 10And 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. (Leviticus 2:4‑10)) distinguishes between the mingling and anointing with oil – holiness in nature and power for service. For there are different forms of which it may be well to speak. “If thou bring an offering of an oblation baken in the oven”; and again, “an oblation-offering baken in a pan.” In the latter case the oblation was parted in pieces, when oil was poured on all, as before sundering it had been mingled with oil. Thus, besides being conceived of the Spirit, Jesus knew this trial to the uttermost; and His suffering in obedience displayed most intimately the power of the Spirit in every pang, when He knew as none ever did rejection, desertion, denial, treachery, not to speak of the ignominy of the cross. The breakup of every hope and prospect which befell Him at the close only revealed His perfectness of spiritual power in an inward way and in the least particular. Surely this is not a mere figure without meaning: there is nothing in vain in the Bible. It is not for us to presume or to exceed our measure, but we may search with at least the earnest desire to understand what God has written.
I take it then that in the first part we have the simple typical expression of the nature of our Lord Jesus as man; that in the second, the oblation baken in the oven, the pan, and the frying-pan, we see the Lord as man exposed to various phases of severe trial. The oven indicates trial applied in a way of which man may not particularly be the witness. The oven does not so much represent public manifestation; the pan does. If the pan means that which was exposed to others, which I suppose to be its force here, the frying-pan* is only another shape of the same principle, the shade of difference being in intensity. Thus we have secret trial, public trial, and this to the utmost – in different forms the Lord Jesus tried in every possible way. Fire is always the emblem of that which searches judicially; and the Lord Jesus, it is not too much to say, in every way was put to the proof. What was the effect? His excellency shown more than ever – the manifestation of the perfection, and of nothing but perfection, that was found in Him.
)* I know not whether some would translate, with sufficient reason, מַדְחֶשֶׁח as “boiling pot.” No doubt among the poor one utensil was made to serve more than one purpose. Certainly of would seem to express a large pot or caldron. If boiling be meant here, we should have first the uncooked elements (Lev. 2:1-31And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: 2And 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 savor unto the Lord: 3And the remnant 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. (Leviticus 2:1‑3)), which typify Christ viewed in His nature as devoted to God, and tested fully by the fire of trial; next (Lev. 2:4-74And 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. 5And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. 6Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. 7And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. (Leviticus 2:4‑7)), the three cases where the oblation was cooked, whether baked, fried, or boiled, representing the blessed Lord viewed as a concrete man here below, and tried as we have seen in every conceivable way, but in all a sweet savor to God.(
There is a further point which may be profitably noticed here: the Spirit of God particularly mentions that this cake-offering is “a thing most holy of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire.” There is another offering which is said to be most holy. This remarkable phrase the Spirit of God applies in two cases out of the four. Not only is it used about the cake-offering which represents His life as man here below, the very thing in which man has dared to suspect a taint; but in the sin-offering the same expression again occurs – the very occasion which man would have suspected, if anywhere, of sullying the perfectness of His glory. He was as really man on the one hand, as on the other our sins were really borne by Him. Nothing seems to exceed therefore the perfect care of the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ. For in the offering for sin, where man would imagine Him in some way lowered, He takes care most of all to say that it is “a thing most holy.” Or again, if man inferred a taint in His humanity, the word of the Spirit, ever jealous to glorify Him, is “most holy.” If the golden plate on the high priest’s forehead displayed holiness to Jehovah, not less is the stamp “most holy” placed by God precisely where man has allowed his mind to speculate to the dishonor of Christ as man and as a sacrifice for our sins.
Again, in the meat-offering observe other traits, before we pass on (vs. 11). Leaven was absolutely to be excluded from it, the familiar figure of sin as in us. There was none in Him: He “knew no sin.”
Again, there was the prohibition of “any honey.” It means a thing pleasant and not wrong, but incapable of being offered to God. There cannot be a finer proof of the absence in Christ of a sweetness merely natural than the way He acted even where His mother was concerned; for scripture has not recorded it in vain that she did ask our Lord, but had not her requests granted. He came to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work. As a child He lived subject to Joseph and Mary; for Him when entered on the service of God it would have been mingling honey with the cake-offering if He had answered her petitions. What an anticipation, and indeed rebuke, for the vain superstition of men who would make Mary the chief means of access to God by influencing His Son. He was perfect. He came not to gratify even the amiable side of human nature. He came to do the will of God. This He did, and the oblation or cake-offering shows it.
There was the unction of the Spirit, not leaven, and the salt of the covenant (vs. 13), not honey. This did not exclude, as we are told, the offering as first-fruits honey or even loaves baked with leaven (though in this case with an accompanying offering for sin, Lev. 23); but they could not be burnt, as not being in themselves a sweet savor (Lev. 2:1212As 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 savor. (Leviticus 2:12)).
The oblation of first-fruits, typifying Christ, in verses 14-16, must be carefully distinguished from that which represents the Christian assembly. In Leviticus 23 we have first the wave sheaf offered on the morrow of the sabbath after the Passover, where there was no sin-offering, but a burnt-sacrifice and meat and drink offerings; and then, when Pentecost was fully come, the new oblation of two wave-loaves offered but not burnt, with a kid of the goats for sin, but with all the other offerings also. For what could be wanting now? In Leviticus 2:14-1614And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. 15And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. 16And 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. (Leviticus 2:14‑16), however, as distinguished from verse 13, only Christ appears to be set forth in the tender stalks of corn parched by the fire – corn mature out of full ears (or fruitful fields). Oil and frankincense were duly added, and the priest causes its memorial to rise in fumes, a fire-offering to Jehovah.