വ്യാഖ്യാനം നിലവിൽ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിൽ മാത്രമേ ലഭ്യമാകൂ. മലയാള പരിഭാഷ പുരോഗമിക്കുകയാണ്.
Leviticus 2 — The Meat Offering of Fine Flour
The meat offering — better translated grain offering, since no flesh was involved. Of fine flour, with oil and frankincense. Unleavened. Without honey. Always with salt. A handful was burned with the frankincense on the altar; the rest belonged to the priests. A picture of the perfect humanity of Christ — sinless, indwelt by the Spirit, fragrant, never corrupted.
“Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt.”
— Leviticus 2:13
- v.1-3 Meat offering of fine flour with oil and frankincense
- v.4-10 Meat offering baked, fried, or in the pan
- v.11-13 No leaven or honey; always with salt
- v.14-16 Meat offering of firstfruits
The memorial. Only a handful was burned; the rest belonged to the priests as food. The handful remembered before God; the rest sustained His servants.
Acts 10:4 — Cornelius's prayers and alms came up for a memorial before God. The principle endures. Not every act of devotion is consumed at the altar; some sustains those who minister. God knows how to distribute what is brought to Him.
No leaven. Leaven in Scripture is the symbol of sin's spreading influence. Christ's humanity was without leaven — sinless. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 — Christ our passover is sacrificed for us... let us keep the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
No honey. Sweetness without nutritional substance. The meat offering had to be substantial, not merely pleasant. Real spirituality has weight; sweetened sentimentality does not last in the fire.
The salt of the covenant. Salt preserves and seasons; it is incorruptible. Covenant of salt is a biblical phrase for enduring covenant (Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5).
Mark 9:50 — Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. Colossians 4:6 — Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt. The salt that seasoned the offering seasons the believer's words and life.
Examine the meat-offering qualities of your inner life. Is the flour of your character finely milled — even, balanced, with no lumpy parts of self rising above the rest? Is the oil of the Spirit poured upon it? Is the frankincense of prayer rising? Or has leaven crept in? Have you settled for honey-sweet feelings instead of salt-seasoned substance? The meat offering is a portrait of the believer's inner life God receives.
Christ is the perfect meat offering. His humanity was fine flour — perfectly balanced, sinless, beaten down by suffering to absolute evenness. He was anointed with the oil of the Spirit (Luke 4:18). He was the fragrant frankincense of perfect prayer. He had no leaven — holy, harmless, undefiled (Hebrews 7:26). He was the salt of the new covenant. Leviticus 2 is the most detailed picture of Christ's sinless humanity in the Old Testament.
Fine flour. Not coarse, not lumpy — beaten down to absolute evenness. Every grain ground equally fine. A picture of the perfectly even, perfectly balanced humanity of Christ. No spiritual lumps, no uneven temperament, no sharp grain rising above another.
Oil — picture of the Spirit. Frankincense — picture of fragrant prayer and devotion. The flour, the oil, and the frankincense together depict the perfect Man, Spirit-filled and continually fragrant before God.