Leviticus 2--Laws for Grain Offerings

Leviticus 2
English Standard Version

Laws for Grain Offerings

2 “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it 2 and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 3 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.

4 “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 5 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil. 6 You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. 9 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.

11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
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14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.

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The second major category of offerings that we see instructions for in Leviticus is a grain offering (remember the first was burnt offering of livestock that was male and without blemish).  In this case a grain offering must be made of fine flour and it must have oil poured on it and frankincense mixed with it.  Unlike the burnt offering described in the first chapter, only a "memorial" portion of the offering was burnt, but the rest was left to Aaron the high priest and his sons.  

If instead the people brought something that was already baked as an offering to the LORD, it must be cakes of unleavened bread (remember that leaven is a symbol of sin and like the burnt offering it must be pure and "without blemish").  It was allowed to be cooked in an oven, on a griddle or in a pan, but in all cases it had to be made of fine flour and oil and have oil poured on top of it.  Again, a memorial portion was burnt on the altar, and the rest was left for Aaron and his sons.

God repeats that no grain offering is to contain any leaven and no leaven is ever to be burnt on the altar.  Again this is symbolic of leaven representing sin and it needed to be clear that the sacrifice that would be made on the altar of the cross of Christ later would be without blemish and without sin.  The people were also prevented from mixing honey with any of these grain offerings or anything else that would be offered on the altar.  While honey could be offered by itself as an offering of firstfruits (we'll get there next), it could not be mixed with any of these other offerings to sweeten them up.  The people were however supposed to season all of their grain offerings with salt.  I don't know if this is simply symbolic or if God is taking care of some dietary requirements of the priests by making sure they have some intake of salt/sodium here, but it was an essential ingredient nonetheless.

Last we see instructions for the offering of firstfruits.  Some of you that are very literate in the Bible might stat thinking about Cain and Abel at this point and wonder why Cain's sacrifice of fruits and vegetables was not accepted and Abel's sacrifice of animals from his flock was accepted.  I think the answer is that we overlook some important words used to differentiate the two sacrifices as Abel chose the "best" of his flock to offer as a sacrifice and Cain offered "some" fruit and vegetables on the altar.


Genesis 4:3-5
English Standard Version3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
Let's see how that compares to the instructions in today's text and how "firstfruits" are not only the "first" but also the "best" that the harvest had to offer. Remember that we've already studied that Jesus the firstfruits of many brethren from among the dead in that He was the first and the best, but that there is a bigger and "better" harvest coming of the entire Church.

Any grain offering offered as firstfruits must be fresh ears roasted with fire and crushed new grain.  It is not to be mixed with anything old from previous harvests, but is to only represent the new harvest from that year.  Again this offering is to be covered in oil and mixed with frankincense and a memorial portion is to be burned on the altar.  The rest is assumed to remain for Aaron and his sons as the previous instructions said.

So, what do we see here?  Well, we definitely see some specific instructions for these offerings that point us to the sinless nature of Christ and might already made us think of the unleavened bread that we were told during the Lord's Supper that would represent the body of Christ.  We see the idea that a memorial portion is given to the LORD here, but that the majority of these offerings were meant to take care of Aaron and his family (the high priest and his family), and we see that God had very specific instructions for how to prepare the sacrifice and the people could not make it any which way they wanted--it could contain no leaven (yeast) or honey, but it was always supposed to contain salt, and it had to be mixed with oil and frankincense.

This is just the second of the big categories of offerings that would be offered by what was being offered as a sacrifice, but we'll study a little later the sacrifices by the purpose for which they were being offered and which types of sacrifices were appropriate for the specific need of the sacrifice (only the blood sacrifice of a burnt offering would do in some cases such as for atonement for sin to be made).  We'll start to look at these offerings next time as we study "peace offerings" (some people call these "fellowship offerings" as they are meant to restore fellowship.  In either case they will point to the work of reconciliation--both words are appropriate to describe this work, and it will definitely point to Christ's work on the cross as we will see in Romans when we get there.