The Meat-Offering.

I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE, BRETHREN, BY THE MERCIES OF GOD, THAT YE PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY, ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD." Rom. xii. 1.

66 THE THINGS WHICH WERE SENT FROM YOU, AN ODOR OF A SWEET SMELL, A SACRIFICE ACCEPTABLE, WELL-PLEASING TO GOD.”—Philip. iv. 18.

Ver. 1.

CHAPTER II.

"And when any will offer a meat-offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour: and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon."

IN Daniel ix. 27, "He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease," there seems to be reference made to the two great divisions, sacrifices with, and sacrifices without blood. For the words are more exactly, "He shall cause sacrifice and meat-offering (2) to cease." So also in 1 Samuel iii. 14, and Psalm xl. 6. We have now come to this second class of offerings.

The meat-offering (so called by our translators because the greater part of it was used for food) represents the offerer's person and property, his body and his possessions.* When he had by the burnt-offering obtained

* Ainsworth gives in substance the same meaning of the type when he says that it signified "the sanctification of persons and actions, and the acceptation of them." Patrick is evidently far wrong when he speaks of these meat-offerings as a merciful provision for those who could not afford to offer animal sacrifices.

full acceptance for his soul, he comes next to give up his whole substance to the Lord who has redeemed him. The mercies of God constrain him to give up all he has to the Lord. The meat-offering was generally, or rather always, presented along with some animal sacrifice, in order to show the connection between pardon of sin and devotion to the Lord. The moment we are pardoned, all we are, and all we have, becomes the property of Christ. "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price." (1 Cor. vi. 19.) Our Redeemer and kinsman buys first Ruth, the Moabitess, herself, and next, he claims also the field and inheritance. Joseph who saves our life, buys up our bodies and our substance.

A type that was to represent this dedication of body and property behooved to be one that had no blood therein; for blood is the life or soul, which has been already offered.

This distinction may have existed as early as the days of Adam. When God instituted animal sacrifice to represent the atonement by death, he probably also instituted this other sort; the fact of this latter existing, and its meaning and use being definitely understood, would tend to confirm the exclusive use of animal sacrifice when atonement was to be shown forth. Cain's offering of first-fruits might have been acceptable as a meatoffering, if it had been founded upon the slain lamb, and had followed as a consequence from that sacrifice.* But the statement in Heb. xi. 4, lets us know that Cain had

* In this view Ambrose, de Incarnat. Dom. Sacram. c. i., is not wrong: -“Nihil invenio quod in specie munerum reprehendam, nisi quod et Cain munera sua displicuisse cognovit, et Dominus dixit, Si recte offeras, recte autem non dividas, peccâsti. Ubi igitur est crimen? Ubi culpa? Non in oblatione muneris sed in oblationis affectu."

not faith in the seed of the woman; therefore his offering was hateful to God. Cain's attempt was virtually this-to present himself and, his property to God, as if they had been under no curse that needed blood first of all to wash them. He sought to be accepted by his holiness, and so overthrow salvation by Christ. Acts of charity, substituted for Christ's work, as a means of pacifying the conscience, make up precisely this sin of Cain. Nor are they less mistaken who think by selfdenial, and by doing good to others in their life and conduct, to obtain favor and be accepted with God. This is offering the meat-offering ere the man has been cleansed by the burnt-offering. It is putting sanctificaiion before justification.* And there is a tendency to this error in those books which recommend anxious souls, that are not yet come to Christ, to draw up a form of selfdedication, and solemnly give themselves to the Lord. These councillors are in danger of leading souls past the blood of the Lamb, and of putting the meat-offering too hastily into their hands.

This meat-offering was presented daily, along with the morning and evening sacrifice, teaching us to give all we have to the Lord's use, not by irregular impulse on particular exigencies, but daily.

* An instance of such like self-righteousness we find among the early fathers. Ephraim Syrus seems never to have found the blood-sprinkled way, but to have travelled onward to eternity over a road strewn with the palm-branches of good feelings and deeds of self-denial, and watered with tears at every step. His wretched scheme of peace may be gathered from such congratulations as these :-" Μακαρίζω ὑμᾶς, ὦ γνήσιοι, ὅτι ὁρθῇ πολιτεία φίλους ἑαυτοὺς ἐποίησατε τῷ θεῷ” (Λογος Α.) He counts those friends of his happy because he thinks "they have made themselves acceptable to God by their manner of life." The same remark applies to the writings of Thomas-à-Kempis.

In Isaiah lxvi. 20, the words, "They shall bring all your brethren an offering (2) to the Lord," are very appropriate when we keep in mind that this is the typical meaning of the meat-offering-these persons are the meat-offering. Perhaps, also, in 1 Samuel xxvi. 19, "If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept a meat-offering" (); there may be reference to this species of offering, representing the person and all he possessed. At the same time, the word (2), when not contrasted or conjoined with the sacrifice, is often used as a generic term for any offering.*

But we have still to call attention to the chief application of this type. It shows forth Christ himself. And indeed this should have been noticed first of all, had it not been for the sake of first establishing the precise point of view in which this type sets forth its object. We are to consider it as representing Christ himself in all his work of obedience, soul and body. He is the "fine wheat," pure, unspotted; yet also "baked," &c. because subjected to every various suffering. The burnt-offering being presented and consumed, Christ's glorious obedience in his human nature, and all that belonged to him, was accepted, as well as his sacrifice. For he and all that is his was ever set apart for, and accepted by the Father. "Lord, truly I am thy servant." (Ps. cxvi. 16.) And if it represents Christ, it includes his Church. Christ and his body, the Church, are presented to the Father, and accepted. Christ, and all his possessions in heaven

* And so the Septuagint sometimes renders it by @voia, and sometimes by пρоσpоρа. In Ezek. xlv. 15, where it occurs, the meaning would have been brought out more exactly by rendering the clause thus :--" One lamb out of the flock, from the pastures of Israel, for an offering (a Mincha, as in Gen. iv. 4), even for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings."

and earth, whether possessions of dominion or possessions in the souls of men and angels, were all presented to, and accepted by the Father. And Christ delights thus to honor the Father. He will delight to deliver up even the kingdom to the Father. (1 Cor. xv. 24.) What an example for each of his people! Let us behold our pattern, and give up ourselves, body and soul and substance, to the glory of our God.

Let us now examine the chapter in detail.

The meat-offering must be of fine flour,—the fine wheat of Palestine, not the coarser 2, "meal," but the finer, bolted and sifted well. It must in all cases be not less than the tenth of an ephah (v. 11); in most cases far more. (See Num. vii. 13.) It was taken from the best of their fields, and cleansed from the bran by passing through the sieve. The rich seem to have offered it in the shape of pure fine flour, white as snow, heaping it up probably, as in Numb. vii. 13, on a silver charger, or in a silver bowl, in princely manner. It thus formed a type, beautiful and pleasant to the eye, of the man's self and substance dedicated to God, when now made pure by the blood of sacrifice that had removed his sin. For if forgiven, then a blessing rested upon his basket and his store, on the fruit of his body, and the fruit of his ground, the fruit of his cattle, and the increase of his kine. (See Deut. xxviii. 3-6.) Even as Jesus, when raised from the tomb, was henceforth no more under the curse of sin; but was blessed in body, for his body was no longer weary or feeble; and blessed in company, for no longer was he numbered among transgressors; and blessed in all his inheritance, for "all power was given him in heaven and in earth."

The oil poured on the fine flour denoted setting apart.