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1–13. Bloodless sacrifice: grain material and addition: oil, incense, salt. 14–16. Offering the firstfruits. Lev.2:1. If any soul wishes to offer a grain offering to the Lord, let him bring flour, and pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it, In contrast to the bloody sacrifices zebachim (from the v. zabach to kill, b. h. for ritual purposes), a bloodless or vegetable sacrifice is called minchah, or, as here, qorban minchah; according to LXX: δῶρον θυσία (also προσφορὰ, μάννα, σεμίδαλις), Vulg.: oblatio sacrificil. In turn, the vegetable sacrifice made from solid products, minchah, differs from the vegetable sacrifice of liquid, libation sacrifice, nesech, LXX: σπονδεῖον, σπονδή, Vulg.: libamen, libamentum. In pre-Law time, minchah had the general meaning of a gift (Gen. 32:21–22, 43:11, 15) and even meant bloody sacrifices, for example, Abel’s sacrifice is also called minchah, like Cain’s sacrifice (Gen. 4.3–5). In the Mosaic legislation, mincha actually means a bloodless sacrifice, which in the main products - flour, oil and wine - represented Israel's agriculture in the service of God, just as a bloody sacrifice represented cattle breeding; both main branches of ancient Hebrew industry were supposed to deliver their products to the altar of the God of Israel. A bloodless sacrifice could be and was twofold: 1) independent, separate from the bloody sacrifice (this is described in Lev. 2), and 2) additional to the bloody sacrifice, burnt offering or peace offering. Contrary to the denial by some biblical scholars (Baer, ​​Gerlach and other Protestants) of the independent existence of a bloodless sacrifice in the Old Testament, the latter undoubtedly existed, as the sacrifices of Cain (Gen. 4), Melchizedek (Gen. 14) and Gideon (Judges 6.18) already show. For example, the shewbread in the sanctuary was an independent bloodless sacrifice. According to the teaching of the fathers and teachers of the Church (I. Zlat., Ambros., Eusebius, Blessed Jerome), the bloodless sacrifice of the Old Testament prefigured the New Testament sacrifice of the Eucharist. Lev.2:2. And he will bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and take a handful of flour with oil and all the frankincense, and the priest will burn it for a memorial on the altar. it is a sacrifice, an aroma pleasing to the Lord; Lev.2:3. and the remnant of the grain offering to Aaron and his sons: this is a great holy thing from the sacrifices of the Lord. The first kind of grain offering consists of flour sprinkled with oil (not prepared by making jam or biscuits). In addition to the part (a handful of flour) burned on the altar, the rest of the flour was given to the “sons of Aaron”, the priests (direct descendants of Aaron and priestly families related to him). It is not said about the participation of the offerer in eating part of the sacrifice: hence the name “great shrine” (qodesch qodaschim) for the grain offering. “Great is this holy thing” were the names of the sacrifices, from which the offerer did not partake, but completely handed them over to the Lord, and He already gave the offering to His priests; moreover, the priests could eat them only at the entrance to the tabernacle. On the contrary, “it is holy” (qodesch) was the name given to the sacrifice connected with the meal, in which the bringer also took part; This kind of meal could be eaten in any clean place (cf. Lev. 6:17–18, 7:1, 6, 24:9, 22:11–13, 23:20, Num. 18:17). The bloodless sacrifice was offered “in memory”, Heb. azkarah, gr. μνημόσυνον (cf. Acts 10.4), Vulg.: memoriale – primarily before bloody sacrifices, the chosen kind of sacrifice. Lev.2:4. If you offer a grain offering made from baking in the oven, then offer unleavened wheat bread mixed with oil, and unleavened cakes anointed with oil. Lev.2:5. If your sacrifice is a grain offering from a frying pan, then it must be unleavened wheat flour mixed with oil; Lev.2:6. break it into pieces and pour oil on it: this is a grain offering [to the Lord]. Lev.2:7. If your offering is a grain offering from a pot, then it must be made of wheat flour and oil, There are 3 types of grain sacrifices made from products cooked on a fire: a) baked in an oven (tannur - during their wanderings the Jews had movable ovens, and after settling in Canaan - dug in the ground and lined with bricks with arches and pipes) unleavened bread and cakes with oil; b) cookies, also unleavened, made from wheat flour with oil, fried in a frying pan (machabat, Vulg.: sartago) or, finally, c) cookies from a pot (marcheschet, Vulg.: craticula, Slav.: “ognishch e” - probably a clay, pot-shaped oven, along the hot walls of which dough was baked, as hitherto among the Arabs), also seasoned oil. Lev.2:8. and bring the offering which is composed thereof to the Lord; present it to the priest, and he will bring it to the altar; Lev.2:9. And the priest shall take a portion of this sacrifice for a memorial, and burn it on the altar: it is an offering, a aroma pleasing to the Lord; Lev.2:10. and the remnant of the grain offering for Aaron and his sons: this is a great sanctuary of the sacrifices of the Lord. Art. describe the ritual of sacrifice of this mincha or azkar - similar to the previous one (Lev. 2: 2-3). Lev.2:11. You shall not make any grain offering that you offer to the Lord that is leavened, for you shall not burn either leaven or honey as a sacrifice to the Lord; Lev.2:12. as an offering of firstfruits you shall offer them to the Lord, but you must not offer them on the altar for a pleasant aroma. The grain offering must be alien to all leaven (chomez), namely in its two forms: sour dough or sour bread (seor) and honey (debasch, according to the rabbis, fruit); both should not be ignited on the altar of Jehovah, although both substances were used as human food. This prohibition regarding bloodless victims corresponds to the requirement of integrity of the material - in the regulations on bloody sacrifices. Leaven produces fermentation, and this latter was considered as akin to rotting, and therefore was an image of moral corruption, sin (jezer hara, yetzer-gara among the rabbis - original sin, lust; cf. the Gospel sayings about the “leaven of the Pharisees” - hypocrisy, Lk 12.1; Mt 16.6; 1 Cor 5.6-8 ). Honey, especially fruit honey, according to Pliny, also easily oxidizes and is used to obtain leaven (hence the rabbis’ word “hidbisch” to sweeten, to spoil), in addition, according to Abarb., it means insufficient activity of the mind, and during worship all the powers of the spirit had to be collected and saved for the service of God. By blessed Theodoret, under the name of kvass is meant the decay of wickedness, and under the name of honey, voluptuousness is prohibited (question 1 on the book of Leviticus). Lev.2:13. With every grain offering you shall add salt, and you shall not leave your sacrifice without the salt of the covenant of your God: with every offering you shall offer [to the Lord your God] salt. On the contrary, the inevitable element of any sacrifice - bloodless (in this place) and bloody (Ezek 43.24), in general with all sacrifices (Mk 9.49), is salt. The meaning of salt is determined by 2 points: it is 1) a symbol of healing, moral purification (in Mark 9.49, the cleansing power of salt is compared with the cleansing power of fire) and 2) a type of strength, constancy, for example, the inviolability of the covenant established by God with Israel (Numbers 18.19; 2 Chronicles 13.5). Among the Arabs, even until now, when concluding an alliance, both sides eat salt. In both respects, salt is typically the opposite of leavened fermentation, destruction. In the Gospel (Matthew 5.18), the chosen preachers of the Gospel are called the salt of the earth, having the salt of it to heal the universe. Lev.2:14. If you bring a grain offering to the Lord of firstfruits, offer an offering of your firstfruits from ears of grain dried in the fire, crushed grains, Lev.2:15. And pour oil upon them, and put frankincense upon them: this is the grain offering; Lev.2:16. And the priest shall burn part of the grain and oil with all the Lebanon in remembrance: this is a sacrifice to the Lord. The offering of the first fruits of the earth (bikkurim) to Jehovah is a new type of sacrifice of mincha, namely: grains of newly ripened ears (geres karmel, LXX: χίδρα ἐρικτά, Vulg.: de spicis adhuc virentibus). The ritual does not differ from that indicated in Lev.2:2. The Jews could bring the firstfruits of the fruits of the earth during their wanderings, so there is no need for some to assume that the mention of them, Lev. 2:14-16, was included in the original text only after the entry of Israel. You might be interested in: