LEVITICUS CHAPTER 2 Concerning free-will meat-offerings, of fine flour with oil and frankincense upon it, Leviticus 2:1; for a memorial, Leviticus 2:2. The remainder most holy, to be eaten by Aaron and his sons, Leviticus 2:3. Of baked and unleavened cakes mixed and wafers sprinkled with oil, Leviticus 2:4; or dressed in the pan, Leviticus 2:5; or in the frying-pan, Leviticus 2:7; but without leaven or honey, Leviticus 2:11. The firstlings excepted, Leviticus 2:12. Salt of the covenant to be offered, Leviticus 2:13. First-fruits, how to be offered, Leviticus 2:14-16. A meat-offering was of two kinds; the one joined with other offerings, Numbers 15:4,7,10, which was prescribed, together with the measure or proportion of it; the other, of which this place speaks, was a distinct and separate offering, and was left to the offerer's good will, both for the thing and for the quantity. And the matter of this offering was things without life, as meal, corn, cakes, &c. Now this sort of sacrifices were appointed,
1. Because these are things of greatest necessity and benefit to man, and therefore it is meet that God should be served with them, and owned and praised as the giver of them.
2. In condescension to the poor, that they might not want an offering for God, and to show that God would accept even the meanest services, when offered to him with a sincere mind.
3. These were necessary provisions for the feast, which was here to be represented to God, and for the use of the priests, who were to attend upon these holy ministrations. Fine flour, searched, or sifted, and purged from all bran, it being fit that the best things should be offered to the best Being. He shall pour oil upon it; which may note the graces of the Holy Ghost, which are compared to oil, and anointing with it, Psalms 45:7 1 John 2:20, and which are necessary to make any offering acceptable to God. The frankincense manifestly designed Christ's satisfaction and intercession, which is compared to a sweet odour, Ephesians 5:2, and to incense, Revelation 8:3.