| |
The grain or cereal offering of the OT symbolized man’s work for God. The offering would be brought to the priest and would symbolize man’s willingness to keep the law. But, the grain offering also had a practical purpose in the OT. This would provide the priests with a legitimate source of food and income. Both the priests and the Levites were entirely dependent upon the people’s giving and they would turn around and tithe a handful of this food back to the Lord.
and bring it to the Aaronite priests. The officiating priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil and all of the incense and burn it on the altar as a token that it has all been offered to the LORD. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to the LORD.
Leviticus 2:2 GNB
By the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, most of the people of Israel spoke Greek as their primary language. In order to properly comprehend the OT Scriptures, 72 scholars joined together to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. That book is known as the Septuagint and it is the first major work of translating the Bible from one language to another.
This is important background information for Leviticus 2 because, in the Septuagint, the grain offering was translated into the word ‘thysía’ which means ‘sacrifice.’ This means that some of the NT words translated ‘sacrifice’ could be drawing our minds back to the grain offering. Ephesians 5:2 is a great example of this.
Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.
Ephesians 5:2 GNB
For the modern Christian, this offering represents a person’s faith and attitude toward God. Just as the people brought a grain offering, we too bring our resources before God in the form of time, money, and possessions. Giving these in love is modeling the work of Christ and a way of bringing praise to God.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Hebrews 13:15-16 NASB
But as many of us know, in the NT, Jesus raises the bar even higher. We read of offering our entire bodies as a living sacrifice…
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 12:1 NASB
This idea of offering a sacrifice to the Lord was not a foreign concept to Paul’s readers. They would have understood it well because of their prior knowledge of the grain offering from Leviticus 2. In the same way that these families were bringing their grain offering (morning and evening), we too must be willing to give ourselves completely over to the work of Christ. In the same way that they chose a specific time and were intentional and consistent, we must also be diligent in giving over to the Lord every aspect of our lives.
