Leviticuschapter 2
16 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings.
It stands in No leaven, no honey, always salt, verses 11 to 13.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The meat (grain) offering. Fine flour mixed with oil, frankincense upon it; or a meat offering baked in the oven, in the pan, or in the frying pan. Each of fine flour and oil, unleavened. No leaven and no honey burned on the altar; every meat offering seasoned with salt: ‘the salt of the covenant of thy God’. The priest takes a handful as a memorial portion and burns it; the rest is for Aaron and his sons. Most holy. The chapter introduces the grain-offering vocabulary that the New Testament reaches for when it speaks of a pure and unmixed life offered up to God.
Context
Law · Moses · Leviticus overview
The world of this chapter
- Who
- Israelite families who grew grain and who would bring the produce of their own ground to the altar
- Where
- The tabernacle courtyard at Sinai, and behind it the ovens, griddles and pans of an ordinary household
- When
- Israel encamped at Sinai, the offerings being set out to the whole nation. c. 1445 BC on the traditional dating, in the first month of the second year after the Exodus. This site's published dossier carries a second position, that the priestly material was compiled later, with its holders named
Historical context
The speech begun at 1:1 runs on. The chapter is still the LORD's words to Moses for the Israelites, and it turns from herds and flocks to what a family grows.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
This is the one offering in the list with no death in it. Grain, oil and frankincense come off a man's own ground, and nothing is killed anywhere in the chapter.
A first hearer would have recognised the three preparations at verses 4 to 7 as three ways of cooking at home. An oven, a flat griddle and a pan covered what a household was likely to own, so the law shaped itself to the utensil a family already had.
Salt was the ordinary preservative of that world, and verse 13 ties it to the agreement itself by calling it the salt of the covenant of your God. Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 both speak of a covenant of salt, so the phrase carried the sense of a standing arrangement.
The firstfruits of verses 14 to 16 are green heads roasted at the fire and grain crushed from full ears. They are brought before the crop is in and before the year has shown what it will yield.
Significance
For a family with no herd, this chapter was the way in. The altar received the produce of a year's work in the field, and the priest burned a handful of it as a memorial portion.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
It also fed the priesthood. The remainder belonged to Aaron and his sons, called a most holy part of the offerings made by fire, so a farmer's gift became a priest's dinner.
Where the chapter sits
Leviticus 2 falls in The five offerings (chapters 1–7). Burnt, grain, peace, sin, trespass, the sacrificial vocabulary of Israel's worship.
After it: Consecration of the priesthood, chapters 8–10.
The whole shape of Leviticus→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Fine flour, oil, and frankincensevv. 1-3
This is the one offering in the list with no death in it. What comes is grain, oil and frankincense off a man's own ground, and nothing is killed and no blood is applied anywhere in the chapter. The priest burns a handful and the remnant is Aaron's and his sons', called a thing most holy, which is the phrase Leviticus keeps for what only the priests may eat. Numbers 15:4 later attaches a meat offering to the burnt offering and to the sacrifice, so in practice the bloodless gift arrives beside a bloody one.
Leviticus 2:1
“A meat offering - Better translated in Lev 2:4 an oblation of a meat offering קרבן qorbân, see Lev 1:2 מנחה mı̂nchāh. signifies literally a “gift”; and it appears to have been applied especially to what was given by an inferior to a superior Gen 32:18-20; Gen 43:11; Jdg 3:15; 1Sa 10:27: but in the technical language of the Law, it regularly denoted the vegetable offerings as distinguished from the animal offerings. Our translators have rendered it “meat-offering”, applying the word “meat”, according to old usage, as a general term for food.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Leviticus 2:1
“A meal-offering - (Not meat-offering, an ancient false print, which has run thro' many editions of our bible.) This was of two kinds, the one joined with other offerings, Num. xv, 4, 7, 10, which was prescribed, together with the measure or proportion of it: the other, of which this place speaks, was left to the offerer's good will both for the thing, and for the quantity.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Cakes from oven, pan, and griddle
Three ways of preparing it are given and they are three ways of cooking at home, an oven, a flat pan and a fryingpan. Oil is in every one of them and it enters differently each time, mingled into the flour, anointed onto the wafer, poured over the pieces. The law bends to the utensil a household happens to own, the same accommodation chapter 1 makes when it lets a man bring two turtledoves in place of a bullock.
Leviticus 2:4
“Baken in the oven - תנור tannur, from נר nar, to split, divide, says Mr. Parkhurst; and hence the oven, because of its burning, dissolving, and melting heat.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 2:5
“Baken in a pan - מחבת machabath, supposed to be a flat iron plate, placed over the fire; such as is called a griddle in some countries.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 2:7
“The frying-pan - מרחשת marchesheth, supposed to be the same with that called by the Arabs a ta-jen, a shallow earthen vessel like a frying-pan, used not only to fry in, but for other purposes.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A handful goes up in smoke and the priesthood eats the rest. The portion burned is called a memorial, so the fire is treated as something that puts God in mind of the man rather than as a fee paid. Twice in these verses the smoke is a sweet savour, a phrase that falls sixteen times in Leviticus and never once on the sin offering or the trespass offering.
Leviticus 2:8
“And thou shalt bring the meat offering, that is made of these things, unto the Lord,.... Either to the tabernacle, the house of the Lord, or to the Lord's priest, as it follows: and when it is presented to the priest; by the owner of it: he shall bring it unto the altar; to the south west horn of the altar (o). (o) Jarchi & Gersom in loc. T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 14. 2. Menachot, fol. 8. 2. Zebachim, fol. 63. 1.”
Leviticus 2:9
“And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof,.... That is, an handful of it; as of the fine flour, Lev 2:2 so of the pieces of that which was baked, whether in the oven, or pan, or fryingpan: and shall burn it upon the altar; the memorial or handful: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; See Gill on Lev 1:9.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 2:9
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 2:10
“And that which is left of the meat offering,.... Not burnt with fire: shall be Aaron's and his sons'; the high priest took his part first, and then the common priests: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire; See Gill on Lev 2:3.”
No leaven, no honey, always salt
Two things are barred from the fire and the chapter gives no reason for either. Adam Clarke points to the place honey held in the sacrifices of the surrounding nations, and John Calvin reads the leaven by way of Matthew 16:11, where Christ tells the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. What the text states is narrower than either reading. Both may be brought as an oblation of the firstfruits and neither may go on the altar, and Leviticus 23:17 will require the two wave loaves of the fiftieth day to be baken with leaven.
Leviticus 2:11
“They quote the passage which says that "the lips of a strange woman drop as honeycomb," which is sweet indeed in the eater's mouth but is afterward found more bitter than gall. This, they argue, is the reason that neither honey nor wax is offered in the sacrifices of the Lord, and that oil, the product of the bitter olive, is burned in his temple.”
Jerome· written before 420· LETTER 128.2patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 2:11
“Nor any honey - Either, 1. because it hath the same effect with leaven in paste or dough, making it sour, and swelling. Or, 2. in opposition to the sacrifices of the Gentiles, in which the use of honey was most frequent. Or, 3. to teach us, that God's worship is not to be governed by men's fancies and appetites but by God's will.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 2:11
“Nor can it be doubted but that. Christ alluded to this when He warned His disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," (Matthew 16:11;) understanding by that word the fictions whereby they had corrupted religion.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Leviticus 2:12
“As for the oblation of the firstfruits - Rather, As an oblation of firstfruits. The words refer to the leaven and honey mentioned in Lev 2:11 which might be offered among the firstfruits and tithes (Deu 26:2, Deu 26:12; compare 2Ch 31:5). Honey, being used to produce fermentation, and leaven (or, a small piece of fermented dough) were excluded because fermentation was an apt symbol of the working of corruption in the human heart.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 2:12
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Against the two prohibitions stands one requirement, and it is put three ways in a single verse. Salt seasons the oblation, salt may not be lacking, and with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. The verse names it the salt of the covenant of thy God, tying a kitchen preservative to the agreement itself, and Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 both speak of a covenant of salt. Mark 9:49-50 and Colossians 4:6 pick the word up again, one for disciples and one for speech.
Leviticus 2:13
“With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt - Not only every מנחה mı̂nchāh, but every animal offering was to be accompanied by salt. It was the one symbol which was never absent from the altar of burnt-offering, showing the imperishablness of the love of Yahweh for His people. In its unalterable nature, it is the contrary of leaven (yeast). The Arabs are said to retain in common use the expression, “a covenant of salt;” and the respect they pay to bread and salt in their rites of hospitality is well known.”
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 2:13
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 2:13
“Salt is good, and every offering must be sprinkled with it. Therefore also the apostle has given the commandment: "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt." But "if the salt have lost his savor," it is cast out.”
Jerome· written before 420· LETTER 125.1patristic
Green ears of the firstfruitsvv. 14-16
The last form of the offering is the first of a harvest, green ears parched at the fire and corn beaten out of full ears. It is brought before the crop is in and before the year has shown what it will yield. Oil and frankincense return, the priest burns the memorial, and the chapter ends on the same handful it began with.
Leviticus 2:14
“Green ears of corn dried by the fire - Green or half-ripe ears of wheat parched with fire is a species of food in use among the poor people of Palestine and Egypt to the present day. As God is represented as keeping a table among his people, (for the tabernacle was his house, where he had the golden table, shewbread, etc)., so he represents himself as partaking with them of all the aliments that were in use, and even sitting down with the poor to a repast on parched corn!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 2:15
“And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon,.... Either on the ears of corn dried, or on the fine flour of them when ground; in like manner as the oil and frankincense were put upon the fine flour of wheat, and upon the cakes and wafers baked, Lev 2:1. it is a meat offering; one sort of it, and like the rest.”
Leviticus 2:16
“The priest shall burn the memorial of it,.... That which is taken out of it for a memorial, the same with the handful of fine flour and cakes of the meat offering: part of the beaten corn thereof; or that which was ground in a mill: and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; as was done in the other meat offerings: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord, see Lev 2:2.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 2:16
“Made by fire - The fire denotes that fervency of spirit, which ought to be in all our religious services. Holy love is the fire, by which all our offerings must be made: else they are not of a sweet savour to God.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Keep studying
On this page
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.