Leviticus 2:1 - Exposition

And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord. The word used in the original for "meat offering" ( minchah ) , means, like its Greek equivalent, δῶρον , a gift made by an inferior to a superior. Thus the sacrifices of Cain and Abel were their "minchah" to God ( Genesis 4:3 , Genesis 4:4 ), the present sent to Esau by Jacob was his "minchah" ( Genesis 32:13 ), and the present to Joseph was his brethren's "minchah" ( Genesis 43:11 ). It is therefore equivalent to a gift of homage, which recognizes the superiority of him to whom it is offered, and ceremonially promises loyal obedience to him. Owing to its use in this passage, it came gradually to be confined in its signification to vegetable gifts,—unbloody sacrifices, as they are called sometimes, in contrast to animal sacrifices—while the word "corban" crone to be used in the wider acceptation which once belonged to "minchah." The conditions to be fulfilled by the Israelite who offered a meat offering were the following.

1 . He must offer either

(1) uncooked flour, with oil, salt, and frankincense, or

2 . He must bring his offering to the court of the tabernacle, and give to the priests at least as much as one omer (that is, nearly a gallon), and not more than sixty-one omers.

The priest receiving it from him must:

1 . Take a handful of the flour, oil, and salt, or a proportionate part of the cake (each omer generally made ten cakes) in place of the flour, and burn it with all the frankincense as a memorial upon the altar of burnt offering.

2 . With his brother priests he must eat the remainder within the precincts of the tabernacle. Here the essentials of the sacrifice are the presentation made by the offerer, and the burning of the memorial on the altar, followed by the consumption of the remainder by the priests. The moral lesson taught to the Israelite completed that of the burnt offering. As the burnt offering taught self-surrender, so the meat offering taught recognition of God's supremacy and submission to it, the first by the surrender of a living creature substituted for the offerer, the second by the gift of a part of the good things bestowed by God on man for the preservation of life which, being given back to God, serve as a recognition of his supremacy. Spiritually the lesson taught the Jew was that of the necessity of a loyal service to God; and mystically he may have learnt a lesson