Leviticus 2:2

And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) And he shall take.—Better, And the priest shall take from it a handful of its flour and of its oil with all its frankincense, and this shall he burn as its memorial upon the altar, &c.

Memorial.—So called because it was designed to bring the worshipper into the grateful remembrance of God, and to remind him, as it were, of His promise to accept the service of His people rendered to Him in accordance with his command. Hence the declaration of the Psalmist, “the Lord remember all thine offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” (Psalm 20:4), and of the angel to Cornelius, “thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God” (Acts 10:4).

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 2:2. He shall take — That priest to whom he brought it, and who is appointed to offer it. The memorial — That part thus selected and offered; which is called a memorial, either, 1st, To the offerer, who by offering this part was reminded, that the whole of that which he brought, and of all which he had of that kind, was God’s, to whom this part was paid as an acknowledgment. Or, 2d, To God, whom (to speak after the manner of men) this did put in mind of his gracious covenant and promises of favour, and acceptance of the offerer and his offering. A sweet savour unto the Lord — And so are our spiritual offerings, which are made by the fire of holy love, particularly that of alms-giving. With such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-11 Meat-offerings may typify Christ, as presented to God for us, and as being the Bread of life to our souls; but they rather seem to denote our obligation to God for the blessings of providence, and those good works which are acceptable to God. The term meat was, and still is, properly given to any kind of provision, and the greater part of this offering was to be eaten for food, not burned. These meat-offerings are mentioned after the burnt-offerings: without an interest in the sacrifice of Christ, and devotedness of heart to God, such services cannot be accepted. Leaven is the emblem of pride, malice, and hypocrisy, and honey of sensual pleasure. The former are directly opposed to the graces of humility, love, and sincerity, which God approves; the latter takes men from the exercises of devotion, and the practice of good works. Christ, in his character and sacrifice, was wholly free from the things denoted by leaven; and his suffering life and agonizing death were the very opposites to worldly pleasure. His people are called to follow, and to be like him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Better: "And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests; and the (officiating) priest shall take from it," etc.

Memorial - The regular name not only for the portion of the מנחה mı̂nchāh which was burned on the altar Leviticus 2:9, Leviticus 2:16; Leviticus 5:12; Leviticus 6:15; Numbers 5:26, but for the frankincense which was laid upon the showbread Leviticus 24:7. It is the word which is applied to the prayers and alms of Cornelius, Acts 10:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. shall burn the memorial—rather, "for a memorial"; that is, a part of it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He shall take, i.e. that priest to whom he brought it, and who is appointed to offer it.

The memorial of it; that part thus selected and offered; which is called a memorial, either,

1. To the offerer, who by offering this part is minded that the whole of that he brought, and of all which he hath of that kind, is God’s, to whom this part was paid as a quitrent or acknowledgment. Or,

2. To God, whom (to speak after the manner of men) this did put in mind of his gracious covenant, and promises of favour and acceptance of the offerer and his offering. See Exodus 30:16 Leviticus 6:15 Numbers 5:26

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests,.... And this is all that he did with it; he left it with the priest, who carried it to the altar, to the southwest horn of it (b): the order of bringing it, according to Maimonides (c), was this,"a man brings fine flour from his house in baskets of silver or of gold or of other kind of metals, in a vessel fit to be a ministering vessel; and if it is a meat offering of fine flour, he puts it into a ministering vessel, and sanctifies it in a ministering vessel;''then did what follows:

and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof; as mixed together: the Jews say (d), this was done with the right hand, which is very likely, that being generally used in this way: the Talmudists thus describe the manner in which the handful was taken; the priest stretched out his three fingers over the palm of his hand, and gathered the handful in the plate or pan, and parted it off with his thumb above, and with his little finger below; and this was the most difficult piece of service in the sanctuary (e): though Maimonides (f) rejects this notion of difficulty, and says it was done in the common way, in which men take up a handful of anything: but Bartenora says (g), it was not in the usual way, but much as before described: the priest put the sides of his fingers into the flour, and gathered the flour with the sides of his fingers within his hand, and took of the flour only three fingers' full, upon the palm of his hand, and no more; and that it might not be heaped or go out, he pared it off, above with his thumb, and below with his little finger; and this he affirms, according to the Gemara, and what his masters had taught him, was one of the hardest pieces of service in the sanctuary:

with all the frankincense thereof; this was not taken along with the handful of flour and oil; for if there was ever so small a quantity of frankincense in the handful it was not right (h); for the frankincense, when brought, was put on one side of the fine flour, and when the handful was taken, then that was taken altogether, and put upon it:

and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar: that is, he was to burn the handful of fine flour and oil with the frankincense, as a "memorial"; either to put the Lord in mind of his lovingkindness to his people, and of his covenant with them, and promises unto them, to which the allusion is, Psalm 20:3 or to put the offerer in mind of the great sacrifice of Christ, who was to be offered for his sins, and to be a meat offering to him: this was the part the Lord had in this offering, and which related to his worship, as the word used sometimes signifies, as De Dieu has observed:

to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; See Gill on Leviticus 1:9.

(b) T. Bab. Sotah, ib. & Meaachot, fol. 8. 2.((c) Hilchot Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 13. sect. 12. (d) Misn. Menachot, c. 1. sect. 2.((e) T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 11. 1.((f) In Misn. Menachot, ib. (g) In ib. (h) Misn. ib. & Jarchi in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and {b} he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the {c} memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:

(b) The priest.

(c) To signify that God remembers him that offers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. and he shall take] The personal pronoun in the English version refers to the person who brings the offering, but the subject of the verb ‘take’ is the priest mentioned in the following clause (cp. Leviticus 2:9). Dillm. suggests that the words from ‘and he shall take’ to ‘all the frankincense thereof’ may be an addition describing the material of the ‘memorial’ in the next clause.

the memorial] Heb. ‘azkârah, an expression applied to a part of the Meal-Offering in this ch. and Leviticus 6:15; elsewhere Leviticus 5:12 (of the poor man’s Sin-Offering), Leviticus 24:7 (of the frankincense offered with the shewbread), and Numbers 5:26 only (cp. Sir 38:11; Sir 45:16). It is generally explained as an offering which puts God in remembrance (cp. ‘memorial’ in Acts 10:4, where the Gk. word is the same as in LXX. of these passages), and it has been suggested that Psalms 38, 70, with their titles ‘to bring to remembrance,’ may be in some way connected with this ceremony (Berth. Bibl. Theol. d. A.T. ii. p. 67). Others prefer sweet smelling offering; cp. Dillm. note here, Isaiah 66:3 (see Skinner’s note in C.B.), and Hosea 14:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - He shall take there out his handful. This was the task of the priest. The handful that he took and burnt upon the altar has the technical and significative name of the memorial. It acted as a memorial before God, in the same way as Cornelius's prayers and alms - "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4) - being something which should cause God to think graciously of the offerer. The frankincense is not mixed with the flour and the oil and the salt, as a constituent element of the offering, but is placed upon them, and is all of it burnt in "the memorial," symbolizing the need of adding prayer to sacrifice, that the latter may be acceptable to God. Leviticus 2:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The first kind consisted of soleth, probably from סלה equals 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 Exodus 29:2, to distinguish it from קמח, or ordinary meal (σεμίδαλις: 1 Kings 5:2). The suffix in קרבּנו (his offering) refers to נפשׁ, which is frequently construed as both masculine and feminine (Leviticus 4:2, Leviticus 4:27-28, Leviticus 2:1, etc.), or as masculine only (Numbers 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 (Leviticus 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 (Leviticus 2:9, Leviticus 2:16, and Leviticus 6:8), the sin-offering of flour (Leviticus 5:11), and the jealousy-offering (Numbers 5:26), and to the incense added to the shew-bread (Leviticus 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 (Leviticus 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 ('remember me') to Jehovah:" though there is no necessity that we should trace the word to the Hiphil in consequence. The rest of the minchah was to belong to Aaron and his sons, i.e., to the priesthood, as a most holy thing of the firings of Jehovah. The term "most holy" is applied to all the sacrificial gifts that were consecrated to Jehovah, in this sense, that such portions as were not burned upon the altar were to be eaten by the priests alone in a holy place; the laity, and even such of the Levites as were not priests, being prohibited from partaking of them (see at Exodus 26:33 and Exodus 30:10). Thus the independent meat-offerings, which were not entirely consumed upon the altar (Leviticus 2:3, Leviticus 2:10, Leviticus 6:10; Leviticus 10:12), the sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, the flesh of which was not burned outside the camp (Leviticus 6:18, Leviticus 6:22; Leviticus 7:1, Leviticus 7:6; Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 14:13; Numbers 18:9), the shew-bread (Leviticus 24:9), and even objects put under the ban and devoted to the Lord, whether men, cattle, or property of other kinds (Leviticus 27:28), as well as the holy incense (Exodus 30:36), - in fact, all the holy sacrificial gifts, in which there was any fear lest a portion should be perverted to other objects, - were called most holy; whereas the burnt-offerings, the priestly meat-offerings (Leviticus 6:12-16) and other sacrifices, which were quite as holy, were not called most holy, because the command to burn them entirely precluded the possibility of their being devoted to any of the ordinary purposes of life.