The Meat or Gift Offering.
(Leviticus
ii.).
Verse 1. "And when any will offer (bring] a meat offering
[an approach offering of a gift offering] unto Jehovah, his offering shall be
of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense
thereon."
THE so-called MEAT offering is, properly speaking, a
"GIFT offering," the Hebrew word minkhah being derived from a root
signifying to give. It is a beautiful type, similar to that of the manna,
representing Christ as the GIFT of God in a threefold point of view.
First, as the gift of the FATHER. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son" (John iii. 16); again, "My Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven" (John vi. 32).
Secondly, as CHRIST’S gift for the
Church, for "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph. v.
25).
Thirdly, the gift of the HOLY GHOST, for He takes of the things
of Christ and reveals them unto us; He makes Christ ours, so that the
individual believer can say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. ii.
20). "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. ix. 15). When we
approach God in the name of Christ, presenting Him as the ground of acceptance,
we may say with David, "Of Thine own have we given Thee" (1 Chron. xxix. 14);
the gift of God’s providing, faith presents before Him.
The FINE
FLOUR IS an emblem of the pure, perfect, sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus -
the woman’s seed, the Virgin’s Son.
The OIL poured upon it
represents Him as the Messiah, the Anointed One, according to the word of
Isaiah (lxi. 1), quoted by Christ in the synagogue of Nazareth, "The Spirit of
Jehovah is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me" (Luke iv. 18).
The
Hebrew word for FRANKINCENSE signifies WHITE, conveying the idea of purity. The
whole of Christ’s spotless life was a sweet savour to God. To this the
Father heareth witness again and again, "Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased."
Verse 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 [burn as incense] the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering
made by fire, of a sweet savour [savour of rest] unto Jehovah."
As
an offerer the believer draws nigh to God on the ground of the perfectness and
preciousness of Christ; and as a priest he presents his offering on God’s
altar.
The offerer takes a handful of fine flour, and of the oil, with
all the frankincense. This represents the believer by faith apprehending to the
utmost of his capacity the purity, spirituality, and perfect acceptability of
Christ before God, the soul’s grasp of the truth concerning Christ. As a
priest by virtue of the anointing, he apprehends that everything connected with
Christ, as subjected to the searching holiness of God, is infinitely well
pleasing to God, and that on which He can rest with Divine complacency and
delight. It is faith’s memorial before God of all that Jesus was in the
days of His flesh, as well as of what He now is in the presence of God for us,
for He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."
Verse 3. "And
the remnant [remainder] of the meat [gift] offering shall be Aaron’s and
his sons’: it is a thing most holy [holy of holies] of the offerings of
Jehovah made by fire."
Fellowship in feeding together on Christ.
The offerer, representing the believer, takes his handful of the gift offering:
this is faith’s portion. The memorial burnt upon the altar is God’s
portion. Aaron also and his sons, representing Christ as High Priest, and the
priestly family as a holy and royal priesthood (1 Peter ii. 5-9), have their
portion also; for Christ "shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be
satisfied" (Isa. liii. 11), and in this satisfaction His believing people
join.
The humanity of Christ, that holy thing that was born of the
virgin (Luke 1. 35), tested by the righteousness and holiness of God, was found
to be "holy of holies," of all holy things most holy; purity and excellency of
the highest order in the estimate of God is found there.
Verse 4.
"And if thou bring an oblation of a gift offering baken in the oven, it
shall be unleavened cakes [pierced cakes] of fine flour mingled with oil, or
unleavened wafers anointed with oil."
This is faith’s memorial
of Christ on Calvary, when drawing nigh to God in the value of His sacrifice
and work. It is the realization of Christ’s sufferings on the cross in
their most solemn aspect.
The sufferings of Jesus in accomplishing His
atoning work were from three different sources.
First, FROM GOD. In the
secret experience of His soul, shut in with God, an experience unrecognized by
outward sight. This is symbolized by the gift offering BAKEN IN THE OVEN. This
inward experience is expressed in Psalm xxii. 1-5, especially during those
three solenm hours of awful darkness. Then the sun was darkened and became
invisible, not only throughout the whole land, but it may be, as a telegraphic
signal, flashed from star to star, and from world to world, throughout the
universe, as the sign that then was being accomplished the most stupendous
event in the annals of eternity. This was redemption through the blood of the
Lamb, thus making provision at once for the putting away of sin, and laying the
foundation for peace and security to the whole creation of God for time and for
eternity (Col. i. 20).
As the appearance of the star in the East was
the sign of the birth of Imrnanuel, so the disappearance of the sun at noonday
was the signal of His death. This darkness continued from the sixth to the
ninth hour, and about the ninth hour the pent-up feelings of Immanuel gave vent
in those impassioned accents, "My God, My God, why didst Thou forsake Me?"
The "fine flour" is emblematic of the pure, holy humanity of the Son
of man, the woman’s seed, the virgin’s Son.
"Unleavened,"
for, though made in all points like unto His brethren, and "in the likeness of
sinful flesh," He was perfectly without sin - "holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners."
The Hebrew word here rendered "cakes" is from a
root which signifies to PIERCE, to WOUND, to AFFLICT. It points to Christ as
the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"; "His visage was so marred more
than any man, and His form more than the sons of men."
"Mingled with
oil." This was expressed by the angel in those words concerning His virgin
mother, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. i. 20);
and again, in his words to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke i. 35). As
every particle of the fine flour was saturated with oil, so every thought,
every feeling, of the Man Christ Jesus was pervaded by the Holy Ghost. He was
in every respect TRULY human, but in no one respect was He MERELY human: it
was, if we may so express it, a spiritualized humanity. He was full of the Holy
Ghost even from His infancy, and as He increased in years we read, "And the
child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of
God was upon Him" (Luke ii. 40). The root of the Hebrew word for "wafer"
signifies "empty". This typifies Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God,
and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet EMPTIED Himself when He
took upon Him the form of a servant (Phil. ii. 6, 7); so that He could truly
say, "I can of Mine own self do nothing"; "My doctrine is not Mine, but His
that sent Me"; "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself : the
Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works."
But while thus
dependent on the Father’s will, and upon the Spirit’s power, He could
say, and did say, "The Spirit of Jehovah is upon Me, because He anointed Me"
(Luke iv. 18, 19). Thus He was truly the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One,
as His name both in Hebrew and Greek signifies. In His title "Jesus Christ,"
the name "Jesus" - that is, Jehorab the Saviour - connects Him with the Triune
God Jehovah, and especially with the Father. The title "Christ" identifies Him
with the Holy Ghost. The manhood which the Son of God took when He became
incarnate was a manhood which was subservient to the will of God, and dependent
on the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God.
But this very, Kenosis,
or emptying of Himself as Son of Man, made way for the bringing in of the will
of the Father who sent Him, so that it became His meat and drink to do it; and
it also made way for the wisdom and power of the Holy Ghost, in whose energy He
taught and acted.
Herein He was an example for us, according to His
own words, "As the living Father sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that
eateth Me, even he shall live by Me" (John vi. 57). Jesus thus lived a life of
dependence on His heavenly Father, so the believer is called to live a life of
dependence on the Son of God. Our truest wisdom is to say with Paul, "I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in Me: and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. ii. 20). So that, whilst we are
empty and insufficient in ourselves, we are complete in Him, whose grace is
sufficient for us, and whose strength is made perfect in weakness.
Verse 5. "And if thy oblation be a meat [gift] offering baken in a
pan [the flat plate], it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with
oil."
In drawing nigh to God in the remembrance and apprehension of
Christ as God’s gift, and the One through whom we have boldness of access
to God, we may contemplate Him, especially in His atoning sacrifice and
sufferings on Calvary’s cross. These sufferings were from various sources.
GOD laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and hid His face from Him, as typified
by the offering BAKEN IN THE OVEN (v 4); He also suffered FROM MAN, for His
crucifixion was a public spectacle. He was exposed to the gaze, taunts, and
reviling of the multitude. The superscription over His cross was in Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin; and priests, scribes, people, and Roman soldiers united in
their cruel scoffings. This was typified by the gift offering BAKEN ON THE FLAT
PLATE, exposed to open view. This also was the prophetic testimony of Psalm
xxii. 6-18: "They gaped upon me with their mouths.
I am poured out like
water: . . . My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My
strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. . . .
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." It was by the wicked
hands of man He was crucified and slain; they pierced His hands and His feet,
and cast lots upon His vesture. But it was the sinless One that they crucified,
for the gift offering was to be of "fine flour unleavened"; 1t was He who knew
no sin that was made sin for us; it was the just One who there suffered for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God. He was the Christ, the holy One of God;
for the fine unleavened flour was "mingled with oil."
Verse 6.
"Thou shalt part IT in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat [gift]
offering."
There is a beautiful significancy in this act of
parting in pieces the unleavened cake, or unleavened wafer. The action of the
Lord Jesus on the night of His betrayal throws a clear and instructive light on
this, when He took the bread and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, "Take, eat; this is My body" (Matt.xxvi.26). And the truth, which is
foreshadowed by the oil poured upon the broken pieces, is explained by Heb. ix
.14, concerning the Lord Jesus, "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God." We recognize the Eternal Spirit in the conception and
birth of Immanuel, and also in His anointing for living testimony and service.
But do we equally realize the presence, grace, and actings of the eternal
Spirit in the solemn scenes of the crucifixion? It was by the Holy Spirit that
Jesus lived, and served, and testified; it was no less through Him that He
offered Himself a sacrifice on the altar of the cross, for a sweet-smelling
savour (Eph. v. 2), as the expression before the world and the universe of His
love and obedience to His God and Father (John xiv. 31).
The Lord
Jesus in incarnation was God’s GIFT to man, "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16).
Verse 7. "And if
thy oblation be a meat [gift] offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made
of fine flour with oil."
That which is baken in the OVEN is
concealed from sight; that on the FLAT PLATE is entirely open to view; whereas
on the FRYING-PAN it is partly concealed and partly open.
We have the
THIRD aspect of Christ’s sufferings on the cross, in which the wrath of
God, the malice of man, and the enemity of Satan are combined. This is
expressed in Psalm xxii, 19-21 - "But be not Thou far from me, 0 Jehovah: 0 my
strength, haste Thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling
[only one] from the power [paw] of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth"
- wherein the Lord Jesus prays to be delivered from the overwhelming confluence
of evil - from the sword of Jehovah (Zech. xiii. 7), from the power of profane
and wicked men, and from Satan, the roaring lion (1 Peter v. 8). The gift
offering, made of fine flour with oil, is typical of the sinless humanity of
the Lord Jesus as begotten of the Holy Ghost.
Verses 8-10. "And
thou shalt bring the meat [gift] offering that is made of these things unto
Jehovah: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the
altar. And the priest shall take from the meat [gift] offering a memorial
[memorial portion] thereof, and shall burn [burn as incense] it upon the altar:
it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour [savour of rest] unto
Jehovah. And that which is left of the meat [gift] offering shall be
Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy [holy of holies] of
the offerings of Jehovah made by fire."
The believer, in his
priestly character, when drawing nigh before Jehovah in worship, presents
before Him by faith the memorial of what Jesus experienced on the cross, as
thus typified. All that Jesus was in person, character, experience, and atoning
sufferings, being tested by the holiness and righteousness of God, is found to
be most holy and acceptable, and such on which every divine perfection can feed
with infinite satisfaction and delight.
In this holy fellowship the
believer also, in his priestly character, through the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit, has his share; he, too, can feed, and triumph, and repose. The priestly
family, in fellowship with the High Priest of their profession, Christ Jesus,
through the communion of the Holy Spirit, thus partake together with the
eternal Father in this holy feast of love divine.
Verse 11. "No
meat [gift] offering, which ye shall bring unto Jehovah, shall be made with
leaven: for, ye shall burn [burn as incense] no leaven, nor any honey, in any
offering of [to] Jehovah made by fire."
LEAVEN is the emblem of
malice, wickedness, and falsehood (1 Cor. v. 6-8), in perfect contrast to the
nature and character of God, who is loving, holy, and true. It is absolutely
necessary, therefore, in drawing nigh to God, through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we should present Him our gift offering as perfectly without sin,
holy, harmless, undefiled, even in His very humanity, that, though He was truly
and properly man, yet He was sinless.
That which was burnt as incense
upon the altar was subject to the testing fire of the altar, emblematic of the
holiness and righteousness of God. Nothing, therefore, which could not stand
that test might be offered there.
HONEY appears to represent that
sweetness and amiability of disposition which might be simply natural
affection; but this sweetness - precious and excellent as it is in its place -
will not bear the test of divine holiness in any individual born after the
flesh. That human excellency which was manifested in Christ, and constituted
Him the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely, was not merely
human, it was also spiritual and divine. In Him divine affections were
manifested in human form. As every atom of the fine flour in the gift offering
was permeated with oil - emblem of the eternal Spirit - so all that was natural
in Christ was also spiritual.
Verse 12. "As for the oblation
[approach-offering] of the firstfruits, ye shall offer [bring] THEM unto
Jehovah: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour [savour of
rest]."
The oblation of firstfruits here referred to is that
mentioned in Lev. xxiii. 17, "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave
loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken
with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto Jehovah." This Pentecostal offering
is typical of the Church of the present dispensation. It is composed of Jews
and Gentiles, by nature sinful, though redeemed to God by sacrifice (chap.
xxiii. 18, 19), and dwelt in by the Holy Ghost. It comprises all believers from
the coming of the Comforter to the return of the Lord Jesus to receive His
Church to Himself, who, being "a kind of firstfruits of God’s creatures"
(James i. 18), constitute "the church of the firstborn written in heaven" (Heb.
xii. 23). These, in their own nature, cannot bear the test of divine holiness.
In the estimate of God they can lay no claim to perfection in the flesh. The
language of each one, as taught by the Spirit, will be, "Enter not into
judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified"
(Psalm cxliii. 2).
Verse 13. "And every oblation [approach
offering] of thy meat [gift] offering shalt thou season with salt; neither
shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy
meat [gift] offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer [bring]
salt."
Salt is the emblem of incorruption and perpetuity. In our
estimate of the humanity of Christ both these truths are to be borne in mind.
Death and corruption are the results of sin, and although Christ was made a sin
offering and suffered death for us, yet, being in nature sinless, God did not
suffer His Holy One to see corruption (Psalm xvi. 10); and as the omer of manna
in the golden pot was laid up in the holiest for a memorial, so also "the Lamb
as it had been slain, in the midst of the throne" (Rev. v. 6) will ever occupy
its centre position, as the lasting memorial of that sinless humanity in which
Jesus lived, died, and rose again, and ever lives, whilst the ceaseless song
from His ransomed ones goes up, "Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the
throne, and to the Lamb."
On the other hand, there is a solemn truth
suggested in Mark ix. 47-49 respecting those bodies that shall be cast into
Gehenna, into the fire which shall never be quenched, "where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched," that "every one shall be salted with fire,"
which seems to imply that those bodies shall be so attempered to the action of
fire as to continue unconsumed and unconsumable, even as the resurrection
bodies of the redeemed shall be fitted for an eternity of ceaseless service and
unending joy (See Rom. ix. 22-24). "What if God, willing to show His wrath, and
to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on
the vessels of mercy, which He had af ore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He
hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles ?"
Verse
14. "And if thou offer [bring near] a meat [gift] offering of thy
firstfruits unto Jehovah, thou shalt offer [bring near] for the meat [gift]
offering of thy first- fruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn
beaten out of full ears."
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God" (Rom. viii. 33, 34). This is the attitude that faith takes in
drawing nigh to God according to this type, presenting and pleading Christ in
resurrection as the first- fruits of them that slept, and as the first-begotten
from the dead. There is at the same time a full remembrance of what He
suffered, even unto death: it is corn dried by the fire; the Lamb in the midst
of the throne appears as it had been slain, the memorials of His past
sufferings still there; and "green ears," for though "His visage was more
marred than any man, and His form than the sons of men," yet He Himself was
sinless, as Christ Himself intimates in these words : "If they do these things
in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
"Even corn beaten
out of full ears." "For He was cut off out of the land of the living" whilst in
the prime of life.
Verse 15. "And thou shalt put oil upon it, and
lay frankincense thereon: IT IS a meat [gift] offering."
Christ
was not only anointed by the Holy Ghost for testimony and service here on
earth, but in resurrection also, "being by the right hand of God exalted," He
has received the fulness of the Spirit, for His heavenly priesthood, and for
His Ivlelchisedec kingship.
"And lay frankincense thereon." Not only
was Jesus well pleasing to God the Father whilst here on earth—His beloved
Son in whom His soul delighted - but in resurrection also Christ will be His
everlasting joy.
"It is a gift offering." As He was to us God’s
gift in humiliation to meet our earthly need, even so He will be God’s
gift to the redeemed in resurrection glory for their eternal blessing.
Verse 16. "And the priest shall burn [burn as incense] the memorial
[memorial portion] 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
Jehovah."
The believer, in his priestly character by virtue of the
anointing - that is, by the teaching - of the Holy Ghost, realizes and keeps in
remembrance the perfectness and preciousness of Christ in life and death and
resurrection, as tested by the infinite righteousness and holiness of God. He
is taught to realize the fact that God so estimates the person and work of
Christ, thus furnishing the ground for unbounded confidence in drawing nigh to
God; and, as all the frankincense was burnt, he is instructed to give God all
the glory.