3. Mose 2:11

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 Exo 29:2, to distinguish it from קמח, or ordinary meal (σεμίδαλις: Kg1 5:2). The suffix in קרבּנו (his offering) refers to נפשׁ, which is frequently construed as both masculine and feminine (Lev 4:2, Lev 4:27-28, Lev 2:1, etc.), or as masculine only (Num 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 (Lev 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 (Lev 2:9, Lev 2:16, and Lev 6:8), the sin-offering of flour (Lev 5:11), and the jealousy-offering (Num 5:26), and to the incense added to the shew-bread (Lev 24:7). It does not mean the prize portion, i.e., the portion offered for the glory of God, as De Dieu and Rosenmller maintain, still less the fragrance-offering (Ewald), but the memorial, or remembrance-portion, μνημόσυνον or ἀνάμνησις (Lev 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 ('r…

Here, I. Leaven and honey are forbidden to be put in any of their meat-offerings: No leaven, nor any honey, in any offering made by fire, Lev 2:11. 1. The leaven was forbidden in remembrance of the unleavened bread they ate when they came out of Egypt. So much despatch was required in the offerings they made that it was not convenient they should stay for the leavening of them. The New Testament comparing pride and hypocrisy to leaven because they swell like leaven, comparing also malice and wickedness to leaven because they sour like leaven, we are to understand and improve this as a caution to take heed of those sins which will certainly spoil the acceptableness of our spiritual sacrifices. Pure hands must be lifted up without wrath, and all our gospel feasts kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 2. Honey was forbidden, though Canaan flowed with it, because to eat much honey is not good (Pro 25:16, Pro 25:27); it turns to choler and bitterness in the stomach, though luscious to the taste. Some think the chief reason why those two things, leaven and honey, were forbidden, was because the Gentiles used them very much in their sacrifices, and God's people must not learn or use the way of the heathen, but his services must be the reverse of their idolatrous services; see Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31. Some make this application of this double prohibition: leaven signifies grief and sadness of spirit (Psa 73:21), My heart was leavened; honey signifies sensual pleasure and mirth. In our service of God both these must be avoided, and a mean observed between those extremes; for the sorrow of the world worketh death, and a love to the delights of sense is a great enemy to holy love. II. Salt is required in all their offerings, Lev 2:13. The altar was the table of the L…

2:11 yeast: The bread commonly eaten in biblical times was comparable to modern sourdough. The substance that is often called “leaven” consisted of wild yeast spores mixed into moist dough or a flour mixture. The yeast would grow and cause the dough to ferment, souring and raising it. A reserved portion of the sour dough would be kneaded into subsequent batches (Matt 13:33). Unleavened bread was required for the Passover (Exod 12:8), in remembrance of Israel’s bondage in Egypt (Deut 16:3) and their speedy departure from that land (Exod 12:34; 13:3). Following the Exodus, unleavened bread acquired the status of altar bread. Leavened bread was not to be burned on the altar. • honey: The Hebrew word (debash) can also refer to fruit nectar. The reason for its exclusion is not stated, but perhaps the frequent use of honey in pagan offerings, particularly to gods of the underworld, was a contributing reason. If the word refers to fruit nectar, its association with wine and fermentation may have linked it with yeast, making it ineligible to be burned on the altar. However, both honey and yeast were allowed as part of an offering of first crops (Lev 2:12). Loaves of bread made with yeast were to be presented with thank offerings (7:13) and as a gift to the priest in the Festival of Harvest (23:17). In the New Testament, yeast becomes a spiritual metaphor, playing on its sour taste and on its tendency to spread (Matt 16:6, 11, 12; 1 Cor 5:6-8; cp. Matt 13:33).