Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)

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L E V I T C U S

CHAP. II.

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In this chapter we have the law concerning the meat-offering.

I. The matter of it; whether of raw flour with oil and incense

(ver. 1),

or baked in the oven

(ver. 4),

or upon a plate

(ver. 5, 6),

or in a frying pan,

ver. 7.

II. The management of it, of the flour

(ver. 2, 3),

of the cakes,

ver. 8-10.

III. Some particular rules concerning it, That leaven and honey must

never be admitted

(ver. 11, 12),

and salt never omitted in the meat-offering,

ver. 13.

IV. The law concerning the offering of firstfruits in the ear,

ver. 14,

&c.

The Law of the Meat-Offering.	B. C. 1490.

     

1 And 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:

  2 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 savour unto the LORD:

  3 And 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.

  4 And 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.

  5 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it

shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.

  6 Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a

meat offering.

  7 And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the

fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.

  8 And 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.

  9 And 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 savour unto the LORD.

  10 And 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.

     

There were some meat-offerings that were only appendices to the

burnt-offerings, as that which was offered with the daily sacrifice

(Exod. xxix. 38, 39)

and with the peace-offerings; these had drink-offerings joined with

them (see

Num. xv. 4, 7, 9, 10),

and in these the quantity was appointed. But the law of this chapter

concerns those meat-offerings that were offered by themselves, whenever

a man saw cause thus to express his devotion. The first offering we

read of in scripture was of this kind

(Gen. iv. 3):

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering.

     

I. This sort of offerings was appointed,

1. In condescension to the poor, and their ability, that those who

themselves lived only upon bread and cakes might offer an acceptable

offering to God out of that which was their own coarse and homely fare,

and by making for God’s altar, as the widow of Sarepta for his prophet,

a little cake first, might procure such a blessing upon the handful of

meal in the barrel, and the oil in the cruse, as that it should not

fail.

2. As a proper acknowledgment of the mercy of God to them in their

food. This was like a quitrent, by which they testified their

dependence upon God, their thankfulness to him, and their expectations

from him as their owner and bountiful benefactor, who giveth to all

life, and breath, and food convenient. Thus must they honour the Lord

with their substance, and, in token of their eating and drinking to his

glory, must consecrate some of their meat and drink to his immediate

service. Those that now, with a grateful charitable heart, deal out

their bread to the hungry, and provide for the necessities of those

that are destitute of daily food, and when they eat the fat and drink

the sweet themselves send portions to those for whom nothing is

prepared, offer unto God an acceptable meat-offering. The prophet

laments it as one of the direful effects of famine that thereby the

meat-offering and drink-offering were cut off from the house of the

Lord

(Joel i. 9),

and reckoned it the greatest blessing of plenty that it would be the

revival of them,

Joel ii. 14.

     

II. The laws of the meat-offerings were these:–

1. The ingredients must always be fine flour and oil, two staple

commodities of the land of Canaan,

Deut. viii. 8.

Oil was to them then in their food what butter is now to us. If it was

undressed, the oil must be poured upon the flour

(v. 1);

if cooked, it must be mingled with the flour,

v. 4,

&c.

2. If it was flour unbaked, besides the oil it must have frankincense

put upon it, which was to be burnt with it

(v. 1, 2),

for the perfuming of the altar; in allusion to this, gospel ministers

are said to be a sweet savour unto God,
2 Cor. ii. 15.

3. If it was prepared, this might be done in various ways; the offerer

might bake it, or fry it, or mix the flour and oil upon a plate, for

the doing of which conveniences were provided about the tabernacle. The

law was very exact even about those offerings that were least costly,

to intimate the cognizance God takes of the religious services

performed with a devout mind, even by the poor of his people.

4. It was to be presented by the offerer to the priest, which is called

bringing it to the Lord

(v. 8),

for the priests were God’s receivers, and were ordained to offer gifts.

5. Part of it was to be burnt upon the altar, for a memorial, that is,

in token of their mindfulness of God’s bounty to them, in giving them

all things richly to enjoy. It was an offering made by fire,
v. 2, 9.

The consuming of it by fire might remind them that they deserved to

have all the fruits of the earth thus burnt up, and that it was of the

Lord’s mercies that they were not. They might also learn that as

meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats, so God

shall destroy both it and them

(1 Cor. vi. 13),

and that man lives not by bread alone. This offering made by

fire is here said to be of a sweet savour unto the Lord; and so

are our spiritual offerings, which are made by the fire of holy love,

particularly that of almsgiving, which is said to be an odour of a

sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God

(Phil. iv. 18),

and with such sacrifices God is well pleased,
Heb. xiii. 16.

6. The remainder of the meat-offering was to be given to the priests,

v. 3, 10.

It is a thing most holy, not to be eaten by the offerers, as the

peace-offerings (which, though holy, were not most holy), but by the

priests only, and their families. Thus God provided that those who

served at the altar should live upon the altar, and live

comfortably.

     

11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall

be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey,

in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

  12 As 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 savour.

  13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season

with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of

thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine

offerings thou shalt offer salt.

  14 And 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.

  15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense

thereon: it is a meat offering.

  16 And 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.

     

Here,

I. Leaven and honey are forbidden to be put in any of their

meat-offerings: No leaven, nor any honey, in any offering made by

fire,
v. 11.

1. The leaven was forbidden in remembrance of the unleavened bread they

ate when they came out of Egypt. So much despatch was required in the

offerings they made that it was not convenient they should stay for the

leavening of them. The New Testament comparing pride and hypocrisy to

leaven because they swell like leaven, comparing also malice and

wickedness to leaven because they sour like leaven, we are to

understand and improve this as a caution to take heed of those sins

which will certainly spoil the acceptableness of our spiritual

sacrifices. Pure hands must be lifted up without wrath, and all our

gospel feasts kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

2. Honey was forbidden, though Canaan flowed with it, because to

eat much honey is not good

(Prov. xxv. 16, 27);

it turns to choler and bitterness in the stomach, though luscious to

the taste. Some think the chief reason why those two things, leaven

and honey, were forbidden, was because the Gentiles used them very much

in their sacrifices, and God’s people must not learn or use the way of

the heathen, but his services must be the reverse of their idolatrous

services; see

Deut. xii. 30, 31.

Some make this application of this double prohibition: leaven signifies

grief and sadness of spirit

(Ps. lxxiii. 21),

My heart was leavened; honey signifies sensual pleasure and

mirth. In our service of God both these must be avoided, and a mean

observed between those extremes; for the sorrow of the world worketh

death, and a love to the delights of sense is a great enemy to holy

love.

     

II. Salt is required in all their offerings,

v. 13.

The altar was the table of the Lord; and therefore, salt being always

set on our tables, God would have it always used at his. It is called

the salt of the covenant, because, as men confirmed their

covenants with each other by eating and drinking together, at all which

collations salt was used, so God, by accepting his people’s gifts and

feasting them upon his sacrifices, supping with them and they with him

(Rev. iii. 20),

did confirm his covenant with them. Among the ancients salt was a

symbol of friendship. The salt for the sacrifice was not brought by the

offerers, but was provided at the public charge, as the wood was,

Ezra vii. 20-22.

And there was a chamber in the court of the temple called the

chamber of salt, in which they laid it up. Can that which is

unsavoury be eaten without salt? God would hereby intimate to them

that their sacrifices in themselves were unsavoury. The saints, who are

living sacrifices to God, must have salt in themselves, for every

sacrifice must be salted with salt

(Mark ix. 49, 50),

and our speech must be always with grace

(Col. iv. 6),

so must all our religious performances be seasoned with that salt.

Christianity is the salt of the earth.

     

III. Directions are given about the first-fruits.

1. The oblation of their first-fruits at harvest, of which we read,

Deut. xxvi. 2.

These were offered to the Lord, not to be burnt upon the altar, but to

be given to the priests as perquisites of their office,

v. 12.

And you shall offer them (that is, leaven and honey) in the

oblation of the first-fruits, though they were forbidden in other

meat-offerings; for they were proper enough to be eaten by the priests,

though not to be burnt upon the altar. The loaves of the first-fruits

are particularly ordered to be baked with leaven,
Lev. xxiii. 17.

And we read of the first-fruits of honey brought to the house of God,

2 Chron. xxxi. 5.

2. A meat-offering of their first-fruits. The former was required by

the law; this was a free-will offering,

v. 14-16.

If a man, with a thankful sense of God’s goodness to him in giving him

hopes of a plentiful crop, was disposed to bring an offering in kind

immediately out of his field, and present it to God, owning thereby his

dependence upon God and obligations to him,

(1.) Let him be sure to bring the first ripe and full ears, not such as

were small and half-withered. Whatever was brought for an offering to

God must be the best in its kind, though it were but green ears of

corn. We mock God, and deceive ourselves, if we think to put him off

with a corrupt thing while we have in our flock a male,

Mal. i. 14.

(2.) These green ears must be dried by the fire, that the corn, such as

it was, might be beaten out of them. That is not expected from green

ears which one may justly look for from those that have been left to

grow fully ripe. If those that are young do God’s work as well as they

can, they shall be accepted, though they cannot do it so well as those

that are aged and experienced. God makes the best of green ears of

corn, and so must we.

(3.) Oil and frankincense must be put upon it. Thus (as some allude to

this) wisdom and humility must soften and sweeten the spirits and

services of young people, and then their green ears of corn shall be

acceptable. God takes a particular delight in the first ripe fruits of

the Spirit and the expressions of early piety and devotion. Those that

can but think and speak as children, yet, if they think and speak well,

God will be well pleased with their buds and blossoms, and will never

forget the kindness of their youth.

(4.) It must be used as other meat-offerings,

v. 16,

compare

v. 9.

He shall offer all the frankincense; it is an offering made by

fire. The fire and the frankincense seem to have had a special

significancy.

[1.] The fire denotes the fervency of spirit which ought to be in all

our religious services. In every good thing we must be zealously

affected. Holy love to God is the fire by which all our offerings must

be made; else they are not of a sweet savour to God.

[2.] The frankincense denotes the mediation and intercession of Christ,

by which all our services are perfumed and recommended to God’s

gracious acceptance. Blessed be God that we have the substance of which

all these observances were but shadows, the fruit that was hid under

these leaves.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)

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