Chapter Reflection

This chapter is full of offerings that are quiet, simple, and carefully ordered: fine flour, oil, frankincense, salt, and sometimes the first green ears of grain. What is brought to God is not a creature of blood and distress, but the fruit of the earth and of human labor, made holy by blessing and by fire. Again and again the priest takes a memorial portion and the rest is shared, so that what is offered to God also becomes nourishment within the holy dwelling. The repeated insistence on unleavened bread, no honey, and the salt of the covenant gives the whole chapter a sense of purity, steadiness, and enduring communion. It shows God receiving gifts with sweetness, yet also marking off what is fitting for His presence, while the human person is shown as one who can gather, prepare, and freely present the best of created things in reverent cooperation.

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Leviticus 2

1And 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 savour 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.

4And 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 savour 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.

11No 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.

12As 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.

13And 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.

14And 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.

Who God is

What kind of God receives a small, ordered offering as a sweet savor and makes it part of communion with Himself?

The condition of man

What does it reveal about you that your ordinary work and first fruits can be prepared, purified, and given back in worship?