Leviticus 1-5 describe five Old Testament offerings observed by the nation of Israel. Each offering had a different purpose. Three of them – the burnt, meal, and peace offerings – were voluntary to express dedication and gratitude to God for His care and provision. The other two, the sin and trespass offerings, were mandatory for purposes of atonement. Three were classified as sweet savor offerings, prefiguring the Person of Christ. The other two were classified as bitter, or non-sweet offerings, prefiguring His atoning work for sin. Leviticus 6 and 7 provide additional instruction to the priests regarding these offerings which are explained in a different order. Despite the differences, there is one common aspect that ties them all together: each one accurately depicts some aspect of the Person and work of Christ.
The meal offering was the second of the Levitical offerings and is described in Leviticus 2:1-16 and again in Leviticus 6:14-23. It was the only offering in which blood was not shed. Its purpose was to provide the opportunity for the offerer to show his thankfulness for God’s abundant provision.
The procedure for presenting this offering could be carried out in several ways. One was to have it prepared with fine flour beforehand, with oil poured upon it and frankincense added. It was then brought to the priest, who would take a handful for himself as a memorial and then place it upon the altar to be burned. It could also be prepared by baking it in an oven with unleavened cakes of fine flour, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil (v.4). Then it was brought to the priest to be offered. Another way was that it could be baked in an open pan made with unleavened flour mixed with oil and broken into pieces with oil poured upon it (vv.5-6). The final way was to have it baked in the same manner in a covered pan (v.7). Regardless of the way it was prepared, the meal offering was always burnt upon the altar of sacrifice and always seasoned with salt (2:13). The remainder of the offering was given to Aaron and the other priests. It was not to be eaten by them (7:23) but rather it served as a memorial. Overall, the meal offering was to be offered in a prescribed way to visibly demonstrate the offerer’s grateful worship to the Lord.
Turning to the New Testament, we read in 1 Peter 2:5 that every believer is a priest who has the privilege of offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The procedures associated with the Old Testament Levitical offerings might seem tedious to the follower of Christ, but they do highlight the importance of obeying God’s Word if that worship is to be acceptable to Him. The details surrounding these offerings stand in contrast to the freedom and simplicity that are ours in Christ. Even more so, this offering provides a superb picture of the Person and work of Christ. While there is no blood involved, the meal offering foreshadows the life of the Lord by emphasizing His humanity and the sufferings that He endured on His way to Calvary. By contrast, the sin and trespass offerings which made atonement for sin, were always burned “outside the camp” rather than on the burnt altar of sacrifice, located in the main court of the Tabernacle. This is the point of Hebrews 13:11-13. The Lord atoned for our sin “outside the camp” of Judaism that denied His claims.
How does the meal offering picture the Person of Christ and the sufferings He endured? First, it does so by the way it was prepared. The meal offering was made of fine flour. This reminds us of the consistency of the Lord’s character. There was no unevenness or lumps in the offering. The Lord was perfect in every way and was without any unevenness or coarseness in His manner. He always pleased the Father. The fact that the meal offering had no leaven in it further highlights the Lord’s sinless character, since leaven in the Bible always portrays the permeating, progressive work of sin. As Scripture states, the Lord did no sin, knew no sin and in Him is no sin at all. Also, this offering in its various preparations had either oil mixed in or had oil poured upon it. Oil is just one of many pictures of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. The fact that the Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35) reminds us that He was always in communion with Him in contrast to believers who only receive the Spirit upon trusting in Christ. This truth is prefigured in this offering by the fact that it was made of fine flour mingled with oil. In addition, it also had oil poured upon it. In Acts 10:38, we read that God “anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good,” demonstrating that His earthly ministry had the blessing of God and the fullness of the Spirit upon it. Beginning from His baptism, the Holy Spirit was upon His earthly ministry (Mark 1:10-12).
The Person of Christ is also powerfully depicted by the way that the meal offering was further prepared prior to its being offered up. It could be prepared in an open pan, speaking of the Lord’s more visible sufferings during His earthly ministry. He was mocked and ridiculed, His virgin birth maligned (John 8:41), and His integrity impugned (Mark 3:22). As He neared the Cross, it got even worse as He was scorned, beaten, and bruised. His suffering at these times could be easily seen and understood by all. Less understood were the unseen sufferings He experienced, represented by the covered pan, a preparation not as easily observed. The Lord sighed in His spirit when the disciples failed to understand His words and wept at the grave of Lazarus. These were His covered pan sufferings. But an even more intense time of suffering is portrayed by the preparation in the oven. It is suffering of a different nature, a preparation unseen and hidden to the natural eye. Just think of the intense, unseen suffering the Lord went through as He prayed and agonized in the garden of Gethsemane. It was in anticipation of the separation that He would experience at Calvary as He suffered for our sin.
Two other features of the meal offering are notable. Honey was never to be added to it. Honey speaks of natural sweetness. There was nothing “natural” about the Lord. He was and is divine and is not the product of this world’s “sweetness.“ Subjected to the flame, honey is ruined, hardly an accurate picture of the Person of our Lord. Honey stands in direct contrast to the properties of salt included in this offering. Salt never loses its qualities even when subjected to heat. All this punctuates the Lord’s unalterable message and purpose in doing the Father’s will, a wonderful picture of the unchanging Christ who set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem and to the Cross.
The meal offering like the other Levitical offerings is filled with many pictures of our Lord’s Person and work. As we meditate upon these oft-neglected portions of Scripture, we too, will marvel at the depth of God’s Word and the wonder of our Lord’s love for us.