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Leviticus 2:4 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 And if thou bring H7126 an oblation H7133 of a meat offering H4503 baken H3989 in the oven, H8574 it shall be unleavened H4682 cakes H2471 of fine flour H5560 mingled H1101 with oil, H8081 or unleavened H4682 wafers H7550 anointed H4886 with oil. H8081

Cross Reference

Exodus 29:2 STRONG

And unleavened H4682 bread, H3899 and cakes H2471 unleavened H4682 tempered H1101 with oil, H8081 and wafers H7550 unleavened H4682 anointed H4886 with oil: H8081 of wheaten H2406 flour H5560 shalt thou make H6213 them.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 STRONG

Purge out G1571 therefore G3767 the old G3820 leaven, G2219 that G2443 ye may be G5600 a new G3501 lump, G5445 as G2531 ye are G2075 unleavened. G106 For G1063 even G2532 Christ G5547 our G2257 passover G3957 is sacrificed G2380 for G5228 us: G2257 Therefore G5620 let us keep the feast, G1858 not G3361 with G1722 old G3820 leaven, G2219 neither G3366 with G1722 the leaven G2219 of malice G2549 and G2532 wickedness; G4189 but G235 with G1722 the unleavened G106 bread of sincerity G1505 and G2532 truth. G225

Psalms 22:14 STRONG

I am poured out H8210 like water, H4325 and all my bones H6106 are out of joint: H6504 my heart H3820 is like wax; H1749 it is melted H4549 in the midst H8432 of my bowels. H4578

1 Peter 2:22 STRONG

Who G3739 did G4160 no G3756 sin, G266 neither G3761 was guile G1388 found G2147 in G1722 his G846 mouth: G4750

1 Peter 2:1 STRONG

Wherefore G3767 laying aside G659 all G3956 malice, G2549 and G2532 all G3956 guile, G1388 and G2532 hypocrisies, G5272 and G2532 envies, G5355 and G2532 all G3956 evil speakings, G2636

Hebrews 7:26 STRONG

For G1063 such G5108 an high priest G749 became G4241 us, G2254 who is holy, G3741 harmless, G172 undefiled, G283 separate G5563 from G575 sinners, G268 and G2532 made G1096 higher than G5308 the heavens; G3772

John 12:27 STRONG

Now G3568 is G5015 my G3450 soul G5590 troubled; G5015 and G2532 what G5101 shall I say? G2036 Father, G3962 save G4982 me G3165 from G1537 this G5026 hour: G5610 but G235 for this G5124 cause G1223 came I G2064 unto G1519 this G5026 hour. G5610

John 3:34 STRONG

For G1063 he whom G3739 God G2316 hath sent G649 speaketh G2980 the words G4487 of God: G2316 for G1063 God G2316 giveth G1325 not G3756 the Spirit G4151 by G1537 measure G3358 unto him.

Matthew 26:38 STRONG

Then G5119 saith he G3004 unto them, G846 My G3450 soul G5590 is G2076 exceeding sorrowful, G4036 even unto G2193 death: G2288 tarry ye G3306 here, G5602 and G2532 watch G1127 with G3326 me. G1700

Isaiah 42:1 STRONG

Behold my servant, H5650 whom I uphold; H8551 mine elect, H972 in whom my soul H5315 delighteth; H7521 I have put H5414 my spirit H7307 upon him: he shall bring forth H3318 judgment H4941 to the Gentiles. H1471

Leviticus 10:12 STRONG

And Moses H4872 spake H1696 unto Aaron, H175 and unto Eleazar H499 and unto Ithamar, H385 his sons H1121 that were left, H3498 Take H3947 the meat offering H4503 that remaineth H3498 of the offerings H801 of the LORD H3068 made by fire, H801 and eat H398 it without leaven H4682 beside H681 the altar: H4196 for it is most H6944 holy: H6944

Exodus 12:8 STRONG

And they shall eat H398 the flesh H1320 in that night, H3915 roast H6748 with fire, H784 and unleavened bread; H4682 and with bitter H4844 herbs they shall eat H398 it.

Ezekiel 46:20 STRONG

Then said H559 he unto me, This is the place H4725 where the priests H3548 shall boil H1310 the trespass offering H817 and the sin offering, H2403 where they shall bake H644 the meat offering; H4503 that they bear H3318 them not out into the utter H2435 court, H2691 to sanctify H6942 the people. H5971

Isaiah 61:1 STRONG

The Spirit H7307 of the Lord H136 GOD H3069 is upon me; because the LORD H3068 hath anointed H4886 me to preach good tidings H1319 unto the meek; H6035 he hath sent H7971 me to bind up H2280 the brokenhearted, H7665 H3820 to proclaim H7121 liberty H1865 to the captives, H7617 and the opening of the prison H6495 to them that are bound; H631

Isaiah 44:3-5 STRONG

For I will pour H3332 water H4325 upon him that is thirsty, H6771 and floods H5140 upon the dry ground: H3004 I will pour H3332 my spirit H7307 upon thy seed, H2233 and my blessing H1293 upon thine offspring: H6631 And they shall spring up H6779 as among H996 the grass, H2682 as willows H6155 by the water H4325 courses. H2988 One shall say, H559 I am the LORD'S; H3068 and another shall call H7121 himself by the name H8034 of Jacob; H3290 and another shall subscribe H3789 with his hand H3027 unto the LORD, H3068 and surname H3655 himself by the name H8034 of Israel. H3478

1 Chronicles 23:28-29 STRONG

Because their office H4612 was to wait H3027 on the sons H1121 of Aaron H175 for the service H5656 of the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 in the courts, H2691 and in the chambers, H3957 and in the purifying H2893 of all holy things, H6944 and the work H4639 of the service H5656 of the house H1004 of God; H430 Both for the shewbread, H3899 H4635 and for the fine flour H5560 for meat offering, H4503 and for the unleavened H4682 cakes, H7550 and for that which is baked in the pan, H4227 and for that which is fried, H7246 and for all manner of measure H4884 and size; H4060

Leviticus 7:12 STRONG

If he offer H7126 it for a thanksgiving, H8426 then he shall offer H7126 with the sacrifice H2077 of thanksgiving H8426 unleavened H4682 cakes H2471 mingled H1101 with oil, H8081 and unleavened H4682 wafers H7550 anointed H4886 with oil, H8081 and cakes H2471 mingled H1101 with oil, H8081 of fine flour, H5560 fried. H7246

Leviticus 6:17 STRONG

It shall not be baken H644 with leaven. H2557 I have given H5414 it unto them for their portion H2506 of my offerings made by fire; H801 it is most H6944 holy, H6944 as is the sin offering, H2403 and as the trespass offering. H817

Leviticus 1:11 STRONG

And he shall kill H7819 it on the side H3409 of the altar H4196 northward H6828 before H6440 the LORD: H3068 and the priests, H3548 Aaron's H175 sons, H1121 shall sprinkle H2236 his blood H1818 round about H5439 upon the altar. H4196

Exodus 16:31 STRONG

And the house H1004 of Israel H3478 called H7121 the name H8034 thereof Manna: H4478 and it was like coriander H1407 seed, H2233 white; H3836 and the taste H2940 of it was like wafers H6838 made with honey. H1706

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 2

Commentary on Leviticus 2 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-3

The first kind consisted of soleth , probably from סלה = סלל to swing, swung flour, like πάλη from πάλλω , i.e., fine flour; and for this no doubt wheaten flour was always used, even when חטּים is not added, as in Exodus 29:2, to distinguish it from קמח , or ordinary meal ( σεμίδαλις : 1 Kings 5:2). The suffix in קרבּנו (his offering) refers to נפשׁ , which is frequently construed as both masculine and feminine (Leviticus 4:2, Leviticus 4:27-28, Leviticus 2:1, etc.), or as masculine only (Numbers 31:28) in the sense of person, any one. “ And let him pour oil upon it, and put incense thereon (or add incense to it).” This was not spread upon the flour, on which oil had been poured, but added in such a way, that it could be lifted from the minchah and burned upon the altar (Leviticus 2:2). The priest was then to take a handful of the gift that had been presented, and cause the azcarah of it to evaporate above (together with) all the incense. קמצו מלא : the filling of his closed hand, i.e., as much as he could hold with his hand full, not merely with three fingers, as the Rabbins affirm. Azcarah (from זכר , formed like אשׁמרה from שׁמר ) is only applied to Jehovah's portion, which was burned upon the altar in the case of the meat-offering (Leviticus 2:9, Leviticus 2:16, and Leviticus 6:8), the sin-offering of flour (Leviticus 5:11), and the jealousy-offering (Numbers 5:26), and to the incense added to the shew-bread (Leviticus 24:7). It does not mean the prize portion, i.e., the portion offered for the glory of God, as De Dieu and Rosenmüller maintain, still less the fragrance-offering ( Ewald ), but the memorial, or remembrance-portion, μνημόσυνον or ἀνάμνησις (Leviticus 24:7, lxx), memoriale ( Vulg .), inasmuch as that part of the minchah which was placed upon the altar ascended in the smoke of the fire “on behalf of the giver, as a practical mememto ('remember me') to Jehovah:” though there is no necessity that we should trace the word to the Hiphil in consequence. The rest of the minchah was to belong to Aaron and his sons, i.e., to the priesthood, as a most holy thing of the firings of Jehovah. The term “most holy” is applied to all the sacrificial gifts that were consecrated to Jehovah, in this sense, that such portions as were not burned upon the altar were to be eaten by the priests alone in a holy place; the laity, and even such of the Levites as were not priests, being prohibited from partaking of them (see at Exodus 26:33 and Exodus 30:10). Thus the independent meat-offerings, which were not entirely consumed upon the altar (Leviticus 2:3, Leviticus 2:10, Leviticus 6:10; Leviticus 10:12), the sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, the flesh of which was not burned outside the camp (Leviticus 6:18, Leviticus 6:22; Leviticus 7:1, Leviticus 7:6; Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 14:13; Numbers 18:9), the shew-bread (Leviticus 24:9), and even objects put under the ban and devoted to the Lord, whether men, cattle, or property of other kinds (Leviticus 27:28), as well as the holy incense (Exodus 30:36), - in fact, all the holy sacrificial gifts, in which there was any fear lest a portion should be perverted to other objects, - were called most holy; whereas the burnt-offerings, the priestly meat-offerings (Leviticus 6:12-16) and other sacrifices, which were quite as holy, were not called most holy, because the command to burn them entirely precluded the possibility of their being devoted to any of the ordinary purposes of life.


Verses 4-11

The second kind consisted of pastry of fine flour and oil prepared in different forms. The first was maapheh tannur , oven-baking: by תּנּוּר we are not to understand a baker's over (Hosea 7:4, Hosea 7:6), but a large pot in the room, such as are used for baking cakes in the East even to the present day (see my Archäol. §99, 4). The oven-baking might consist either of “ cakes of unleavened meal mixed (made) with oil, ” or of “ pancakes of unleavened meal anointed (smeared) with oil .” Challoth : probably from חלל to pierce, perforated cakes, of a thicker kind. Rekkim : from רקק to be beaten out thin; hence cakes or pancakes. As the latter were to be smeared with oil, we cannot understand בּלוּל as signifying merely the pouring of oil upon the baked cakes, but must take it in the sense of mingled, mixed, i.e., kneaded with oil (pefurame'nous lxx, or according to Hesychius , μεμιγμένους ).

Leviticus 2:5-6

Secondly, if the minchah was an offering upon the pan, it was also to be made of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened. Machabath is a pan, made, according to Ezekiel 4:3, of iron-no doubt a large iron plate, such as the Arabs still use for baking unleavened bread in large round cakes made flat and thin (Robinson, Palestine i. 50, ii. 180). These girdles or flat pans are still in use among the Turcomans of Syria and the Armenians (see Burckhardt, Syr. p. 1003; Tavernier, Reise 1, p. 280), whilst the Berbians and Cabyles of Africa use shallow iron frying-pans for the purpose, and call them tajen , - the same name, no doubt, as τήγανον , with which the lxx have rendered machabath . These cakes were to be broken in pieces for the minchah , and oil to be poured upon them (the inf. abs. as in Exodus 13:3; Exodus 20:8, vid., Ges. §131, 4); just as the Bedouins break the cakes which they bake in the hot ashes into small pieces, and prepare them for eating by pouring butter or oil upon them.

Leviticus 2:7

Thirdly, “ If thy oblation be a tigel - minchah , it shall be made of fine flour with oil .” Marchesheth is not a gridiron ( ἔσχαρα , lxx); but, as it is derived from חרשׁ , ebullivit , it must apply to a vessel in which food was boiled. We have therefore to think of cakes boiled in oil.


Verse 12-13

The presentation of the minchah “made of these things,” i.e., of the different kinds of pastry mentioned in Leviticus 2:4-7, resembled in the main that described in Leviticus 2:1-3. The מן הרים in Leviticus 2:9 corresponds to the מן קמץ in Leviticus 2:2, and does not denote any special ceremony of heaving, as is supposed by the Rabbins and many archaeological writers, who understand by it a solemn movement up and down. This will be evident from a comparison of Leviticus 3:3 with Leviticus 4:8, Leviticus 4:31, Leviticus 4:35, and Leviticus 7:3. In the place of ממּנּוּ ירים in Leviticus 4:8 we find מזּבח הקריב in Leviticus 4:10, חלב חוּסר כּאשׁר חוּ in Leviticus 4:31 and Leviticus 4:35; so that מן הרים evidently denotes simply the lifting off or removal of those parts which were to be burned upon the altar from the rest of the sacrifice (cf. Bähr, ii. 357, and my Archäologie i. p. 244-5). - In Leviticus 2:11-13 there follow two laws which were applicable to all the meat-offerings: viz., to offer nothing leavened (Leviticus 2:11), and to salt every meat-offering, and in fact every sacrifice, with salt (Leviticus 2:13). Every minchah was to be prepared without leaven: “ for all leaven, and all honey, ye shall not burn a firing of it for Jehovah. As an offering of first-fruits ye may offer them (leaven and honey, i.e., pastry made with them) to Jehovah, but they shall not come upon the altar .” Leaven and honey are mentioned together as things which produce fermentation. Honey has also an acidifying or fermenting quality, and was even used for the preparation of vinegar (Plin. h. n. 11, 15; 21, 14). In rabbinical writings, therefore, הדבישׁ signifies not only dulcedinem admittere , but corrumpsi, fermentari, fermentescere (vid., Buxtorf, lex. chald. talm. et rabb. p. 500). By “honey” we are to understand not grape-honey, the dibs of the Arabs, as Rashi and Bähr do, but the honey of bees; for, according to 2 Chronicles 31:5, this alone was offered as an offering of first-fruits along with corn, new wine, and oil; and in fact, as a rule, this was the only honey used by the ancients in sacrifice (see Bochart, Hieroz . iii. pp. 393ff.). The loaves of first-fruits at the feast of Weeks were leavened; but they were assigned to the priests, and not burned upon the altar (Leviticus 23:17, Leviticus 23:20). So also were the cakes offered with the vow-offerings, which were applied to the sacrificial meal (Leviticus 7:13); but not the shew-bread, as Knobel maintains (see at Leviticus 24:5.). Whilst leaven and honey were forbidden to be used with any kind of minchah , because of their producing fermentation and corruption, salt on the other hand was not to be omitted from any sacrificial offering. “ Thou shalt not let the salt of the covenant of thy God cease from thy meat-offering, ” i.e., thou shalt never offer a meat-offering without salt. The meaning which the salt, with its power to strengthen food and preserve it from putrefaction and corruption, imparted to the sacrifice, was the unbending truthfulness of that self-surrender to the Lord embodied in the sacrifice, by which all impurity and hypocrisy were repelled. The salt of the sacrifice is called the salt of the covenant, because in common life salt was the symbol of covenant; treaties being concluded and rendered firm and inviolable, according to a well-known custom of the ancient Greeks (see Eustathius ad Iliad . i. 449) which is still retained among the Arabs, by the parties to an alliance eating bread and salt together, as a sign of the treaty which they had made. As a covenant of this kind was called a “covenant of salt,” equivalent to an indissoluble covenant (Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5), so here the salt added to the sacrifice is designated as salt of the covenant of God, because of its imparting strength and purity to the sacrifice, by which Israel was strengthened and fortified in covenant fellowship with Jehovah. The following clause, “upon (with) every sacrificial gift of thine shalt thou offer salt,” is not to be restricted to the meat-offering, as Knobel supposes, nor to be understood as meaning that the salt was only to be added to the sacrifice externally, to be offered with or beside it; in which case the strewing of salt upon the different portions of the sacrifice (Ezekiel 43:24; Mark 9:49) would have been a departure from the ancient law. For korban without any further definition denotes the sacrificial offerings generally, the bleeding quite as much as the bloodless, and the closer definition of על הקריב (offer upon) is contained in the first clause of the verse, “season with salt.” The words contain a supplementary rule which was applicable to every sacrifice (bleeding and bloodless), and was so understood from time immemorial by the Jews themselves (cf. Josephus, Ant. iii. 9, 1).

(Note: The Greeks and Romans also regarded salt as indispensable to a sacrifice. Maxime in sacris intelligitur auctoritas salis, quando nulla conficiuntur sine mola salsa . Plin. h. n. 31, 7, (cf. 41).)


Verses 14-16

The third kind was the meat-offering of first-fruits, i.e., of the first ripening corn. This was to be offered in the form of “ ears parched or roasted by the fire; in other words, to be made from ears which had been roasted at the fire. To this is added the further definition כּרמל גּרשׂ “rubbed out of field-fruit.” גּרשׂ , from גּרשׂ = גּרס , to rub to pieces, that which is rubbed to pieces; it only occurs here and in Leviticus 2:14 and Leviticus 2:16. כּרמל is applied generally to a corn-field, in Isaiah 29:17 and Isaiah 32:16 to cultivated ground, as distinguished from desert; here, and in Leviticus 23:14 and 2 Kings 4:42, it is used metonymically for field-fruit, and denotes early or the first-ripe corn. Corn roasted by the fire, particularly grains of wheat, is still a very favourite food in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. The ears are either burnt along with the stalks before they are quite ripe, and then rubbed out in a sieve; or stalks of wheat are bound up in small bundles and roasted at a bright fire, and then the grains are eaten ( Seetzen , i. p. 94, iii. p. 221; Robinson, Biblical Researches , p. 393). Corn roasted in this manner is not so agreeable as when (as is frequently the case in harvest, Ruth 2:14) the grains of wheat are taken before they are quite dry and hard, and parched in a pan or upon an iron plate, and then eaten either along with or in the place of bread (Robinson, Pal. ii. 394). The minchah mentioned here was prepared in the first way, viz., of roasted ears of corn, which were afterwards rubbed to obtain the grains: it consisted, therefore, not of crushed corn or groats, but only of toasted grains. In the place of קלוּי אביב we find קלי (Leviticus 23:14), or קלוּי (Joshua 5:11), afterwards employed. Oil and incense were to be added, and the same course adopted with the offering as in the case of the offering of flour (Leviticus 2:2, Leviticus 2:3).

If therefore, all the meat-offerings consisted either of flour and oil-the most important ingredients in the vegetable food of the Israelites, - or of food already prepared for eating, there can be no doubt that in them the Israelite offered his daily bread to the Lord, though in a manner which made an essential difference between them and the merely dedicatory offerings of the first-fruits of corn and bread. For whilst the loaves of first-fruits were leavened, and, as in the case of the sheaf of first-fruits, no part of them was burnt upon the altar (Leviticus 23:10-11; 17, 20), every independent meat-offering was to be prepared without leaven, and a portion given to the Lord as fire-food, for a savour of satisfaction upon the altar; and the rest was to be scrupulously kept from being used by the offerer, as a most holy thing , and to be eaten at the holy place by the sanctified priests alone, as the servants of Jehovah, and the mediators between Him and the nation. On account of this peculiarity, the meat-offerings cannot have denoted merely the sanctification of earthly food, but were symbols of the spiritual food prepared and enjoyed by the congregation of the Lord. If even the earthly life is not sustained and nourished merely by the daily bread which a man procures and enjoys, but by the power of divine grace, which strengthens and blesses the food as means of preserving life; much less can the spiritual life be nourished by earthly food, but only by the spiritual food which a man prepares and partakes of, by the power of the Spirit of God, from the true bread of life, or the word of God. Now, as oil in the Scriptures is invariably a symbol of the Spirit of God as the principle of all spiritual vis vitae , so bread-flour and bread, procured from the seed of the field, are symbols of the word of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 8:11). As God gives man corn and oil to feed and nourish his bodily life, so He gives His people His word and Spirit, that they may draw food from these for the spiritual life of the inner man. The work of sanctification consists in the operation of this spiritual food, through the right use of the means of grace for growth in pious conversation and good works (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12). The enjoyment of this food fills the inner man with peace, joy, and blessedness in God. This fruit of the spiritual life is shadowed forth in the meat-offerings. They were to be kept free, therefore, both from the leaven of hypocrisy (Luke 12:1) and of malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8), and also from the honey of the deliciae carnis , because both are destructive of spiritual life; whilst, on the other hand, the salt of the covenant of God (i.e., the purifying, strengthening, and quickening power of the covenant, by which moral corruption was averted) and the incense of prayer were both to be added, in order that the fruits of the spiritual life might become well-pleasing to the Lord. It was upon this signification that the most holy character of the meat-offerings was founded.