Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 2:4
And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baked in the oven, [it shall be] unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
4. The pouring and the mixing may be done by the ordinary Israelite; from the taking of the handful and onwards the priest officiates. (Rashi.)
The cakes or wafers must be 10 in number.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 10. After the general description of Lev 2:1-3, three methods of preparing the Meal-Offering are specified. It may be (1) baken in the oven ( Lev 2:4), or (2) on a flat plate ( Lev 2:5, mg. of R.V. and A.V.), or (3) in a frying pan ( Lev 2:7). In all cases the material is the same; fine flour and oil, and the priest is to treat it in the same way ( Lev 2:9-10 repeat the directions of Lev 2:2-3).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The four kinds of bread and the three cooking utensils which are mentioned in this section were probably such as were in common use in the daily life of the Israelites; and there appears no reason to doubt that they were such as are still used in the East. The variety of the offerings was most likely permitted to suit the different circumstances of the worshippers.
Lev 2:4
Oven – This was probably a portable vessel of earthenware; in shape a cone about 3 ft. 6 in. high, and 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter. Similar jars are now used for the same purpose by the Arabs. After the vessel has been thoroughly heated by a fire lighted in the inside, the cakes are placed within it, and the top is covered up until they are sufficiently baked. Meantime the outside of the vessel is turned to account. Dough rolled out very thin is spread over it, and a sort of wafer is produced considerably thinner than a Scotch oat-cake.
Lev 2:5
A pan – Rather, as in the margin, a flat plate. It was probably of earthenware, like the oven.
Lev 2:6
Part it in pieces – Break, not cut. The Bedouins are in the habit of breaking up their cakes when warm and mixing the fragments with butter when that luxury can be obtained.
Lev 2:7
Fryingpan – Rather, pan, commonly used for boiling. It is possible that the cakes here spoken of were boiled in oil. The pan and the frying pan Lev 2:5, Lev 2:7 may have been the common cooking implements of the poorest of the people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Baken in the oven] tannur, from nar, to split, divide, says Mr. Parkhurst; and hence the oven, because of its burning, dissolving, and melting heat.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Baken in the oven; made in the sanctuary for that use, as may seem from 1Ch 23:28,29; Eze 46:20.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. if thou bring an oblation of ameat offering baken in the ovengenerally a circular holeexcavated in the floor, from one to five feet deep, the sides ofwhich are covered with hardened plaster, on which cakes are baked ofthe form and thickness of pancakes. (See on Ge18:6). The shape of Eastern ovens varies considerably accordingto the nomadic or settled habits of the people.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in an oven,…. This is another kind of meat offering, or in another form; the former was only fine flour and oil mixed together, and frankincense put on it, but this was made up into cakes, and baked in an oven, and not in anything else, according to the Jewish tradition i; he that says, lo, upon me be a meat offering baked in an oven, he may not bring that baked otherwise; and this meat offering was made into cakes and wafers, and then baked, as follows: and
[it shall be] unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil; which according to the Jews were made after this manner k; the priest put the oil into a vessel before the making of it, then put the fine flour to it, and put oil upon it, and mixed it, and kneaded it, and baked it, and cut it in pieces, and put oil upon it, and mixed it, and again put oil upon it, and took the handful, and it was the fourth part of an hin of oil that was divided into the several cakes; the cakes, they say, were obliged to be mixed, and the wafers to be anointed; the cakes were mixed, but not the wafers the wafers were anointed, and not the cakes. The oil denoted the grace of the Spirit of God in Christ, and in his people; and being unleavened, the sincerity and truth with which the meat offering, Christ, is to be upon.
i Misn. Menachot, c. 5. sect. 9. Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib. k T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 75. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The second kind consisted of pastry of fine flour and oil prepared in different forms. The first was maapheh tannur , oven-baking: by we are not to understand a baker’s over (Hos 7:4, Hos 7:6), but a large pot in the room, such as are used for baking cakes in the East even to the present day (see my Archol. 99, 4). The oven-baking might consist either of “ cakes of unleavened meal mixed (made) with oil, ” or of “ pancakes of unleavened meal anointed (smeared) with oil.” Challoth : probably from to pierce, perforated cakes, of a thicker kind. Rekkim : from to be beaten out thin; hence cakes or pancakes. As the latter were to be smeared with oil, we cannot understand as signifying merely the pouring of oil upon the baked cakes, but must take it in the sense of mingled, mixed, i.e., kneaded with oil (pefurame’nous lxx, or according to Hesychius, ).
Lev 2:5-6 Secondly, if the minchah was an offering upon the pan, it was also to be made of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened. Machabath is a pan, made, according to Eze 4:3, of iron-no doubt a large iron plate, such as the Arabs still use for baking unleavened bread in large round cakes made flat and thin (Robinson, Palestine i. 50, ii. 180). These girdles or flat pans are still in use among the Turcomans of Syria and the Armenians (see Burckhardt, Syr. p. 1003; Tavernier, Reise 1, p. 280), whilst the Berbians and Cabyles of Africa use shallow iron frying-pans for the purpose, and call them tajen, – the same name, no doubt, as , with which the lxx have rendered machabath. These cakes were to be broken in pieces for the minchah , and oil to be poured upon them (the inf. abs. as in Exo 13:3; Exo 20:8, vid., Ges. 131, 4); just as the Bedouins break the cakes which they bake in the hot ashes into small pieces, and prepare them for eating by pouring butter or oil upon them.
Lev 2:7 Thirdly, “ If thy oblation be a tigel – minchah , it shall be made of fine flour with oil.” Marchesheth is not a gridiron ( , lxx); but, as it is derived from , ebullivit , it must apply to a vessel in which food was boiled. We have therefore to think of cakes boiled in oil.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verse 4:
“Oblation,” gorban, something presented as a religious sacrifice (NT Mr 7:11).
This text describes the “Meat Offering” or food offering which consisted of baked bread, either loaves or wafers. This likely refers to the baking process in which the oven was first heated, then the raw dough placed on stones in the oven, or upon the hot outer surface of the oven.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) A meat offering baked in the oven.The second kind of meat offering consisted of preparations baked with oil in the oven, or in the pan, or cooked in a pot (Lev. 2:4-10). The oven is probably the portable pot, open at the top, about three feet high and liable to be broken (Lev. 11:35), which is still used in the East for making bread and cakes. After the vessel is thoroughly heated, the dough, which is made into large, thin, oval cakes resembling pancakes or Scotch oatcakes, is dexterously thrown against the sides, the aperture above is covered, and the bread is completely baked in a few minutes. Though the bread when first taken out is soft, and can be rolled up like paper, it hardens and becomes crisp when it is kept.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Oblation The Hebrew korban. It is a general term for offering, and is so translated in Lev 1:2.
Baken in the oven There is no in in the original. Hence we infer that the oven was of the kind used by the Arabs, a great stone pitcher heated by a fire within it. To the exterior of this, thin cakes or wafers are applied, which are instantly baked.
Unleavened cakes Leaven is expressly forbidden in the bread offering.
See Lev 2:11. The ground of this prohibition is, that the fermentation of the leaven is incipient decay, and the bread is rendered impure. This is the testimony of modern chemistry and hygiene, which has led to the attempt to substitute aerated and salt-raised bread for that corrupted by leaven. Our Lord Jesus and St. Paul always regarded leaven as a symbol of moral putrefaction. Mat 16:6; 1Co 5:6-8. Thus, according to St. Paul, unleavened cakes are emblematical of “sincerity (pureness) and truth.” Leaven in food was not forbidden except in the passover week. Because the bread of the peace offering was eaten and not burned, (Lev 2:11,) leaven was permitted in that peace offering. Lev 7:14.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Variations In The Offering ( Lev 2:4-10 ).
Lev 2:4-7
‘And when you (singular) offer an oblation of a grain-offering baked in the oven, it shall be of unleavened cakes of milled grain mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And if your oblation be a grain-offering of the baking-pan, it shall be of milled grain unleavened, mingled with oil. You shall part it in pieces, and pour oil on it, it is a grain-offering. And if your oblation be a grain-offering of the frying-pan, it shall be made of milled grain with oil.’
The various ways in which the offering can be enhanced are here outlined, with the women especially seeking to show their dedication to and love for Yahweh by presenting to Him the best of their handiwork. Here it is stressed that the grain should be unleavened. Leavening was a fermenting process, while what was offered to God must be pure and uncorrupted by earthly transformation. So they offered of themselves in purity and love, free from any corrupting influence.
The oven would be a deep earthenware vessel with a fire in the bottom. The flat cakes would adhere to the side so that the fire could cook them. The wafers would be extra thin, probably round, cakes, with oil spread on them. An alternative was to use a heated flat-plate, or a deep pan with a cover. The former would produce a large flat pancake which would be separated into pieces, with the oil poured on the pieces. The latter would have oil in it, with pieces of milled grain dough dropped in the oil in order to cook them.
These varied grain offerings, representing the skills of the offerers, are a reminder that we too can bring of our skills to God as an offering so that they may be used in His service, and offered up to Him as a pleasing odour.
Lev 2:8-10
‘And you (singular) shall bring the grain-offering that is made of these things to Yahweh, and it shall be presented to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take up from the grain-offering its memorial, and shall burn it on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a pleasing odour to Yahweh. And what is left of the grain-offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.’
This repeats the procedures for the grain offering to stress its importance. Each grain offering of whatever kind was brought and presented to the priests, who brought it to the altar and took out the memorial portion and burnt it on the altar. Notice the emphasis made here on the smooth progression of the whole procedure from start to finish, from the first bringing of the grain offering to its finally going up in the flames. Then the priests partook of the remainder within the tabernacle as Yahweh’s anointed. The fact that the offering was ‘most holy’ meant that it could only be eaten by the priests in the tabernacle. They received it as themselves being ‘most holy’ and an essential part of Yahweh’s dwellingplace, which itself was most holy apart from the court. But that was still, of course, holy. Only the holy nation could enter it.
“An offering made by fire, of a pleasing odour to Yahweh.” It was a fire offering and pleasing to Yahweh, in the same ways as the whole burnt offering. The fire consumed it, Yahweh enjoyed what it signified. With some it was all that they could afford to offer.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
All these directions, had no doubt, some spiritual signification, for the fire with which they were to be prepared and offered up, evidently pointed to the SPIRIT’s work upon the heart, in the presentation of them. Hence the Apostle speaks, in allusion to those services; Phi 4:18 ; Heb 13:15-16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 2:4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, [it shall be] unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
Ver. 4. Unleavened cake of fine flour mingled with oil. ] Sincerity is the mother of serenity; truth, of tranquillity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
oblation = present. Hebrew. korban. See App-43. The only word rendered oblation, except Isa 40:20. Eze 44:30; Eze 45:1, Eze 45:6, Eze 45:7, Eze 45:13, Eze 45:16; Eze 48:9, Eze 48:10, Eze 48:12, Eze 48:18, Eze 48:20, Eze 48:21, where it is Hebrew. terumah (heave offering). See App-43and Dan 2:46; Dan 9:21, Dan 9:27, where it is Hebrew. minchah. App-43.
baken. Type of the sufferings and trials of the Antitype, “tried as by fire”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
meat offering: 1Ch 23:28, 1Ch 23:29, Psa 22:14, Eze 46:20, Mat 26:38, Joh 12:27
the oven: Tannur, probably such an oven as that described by D’Arvieux, as used by the Arabs. He states that they make a fire in a great stone pitcher, and when heated, mix meal and water, which they apply with the hollow of their hands to the outside, and this soft paste spreading itself upon it, is baked in an instant, and the bread comes of as thin as our wafers. Lev 1:11, Lev 6:17, Lev 7:12, Lev 10:12, Exo 12:8, 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8, Heb 7:26, 1Pe 2:1, 1Pe 2:22
wafers: Exo 16:31, Exo 29:2, Isa 42:1, Isa 44:3-5, Isa 61:1, Joh 3:34
Reciprocal: Lev 2:1 – pour oil Lev 2:16 – General Lev 5:11 – no oil Lev 7:9 – the meat Num 6:15 – a basket Jdg 6:19 – unleavened cakes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 2:4-13. Additional Directions.The different kinds of meal offerings, and some further general rules. The offering might be in the form of thin wafers, or of girdle cakes (a baking pan is a flat plate or grid), or small puddings (in which case the oil is necessary as flavouring)whichever form is most convenient in view of the worshippers mnage. Leaven (see Exo 23:18), like honey, will set up fermentation, or go sour. For this reason it is, perhaps, that milk is never allowed in offerings. Honey would also be unfamiliar to nomads; contrast Eze 16:19. Salt, as a relish, is also necessary for its purifying effect, and as a symbol of the covenant (Num 18:19*).