Sunday Sermonette: Burned crackers

I warned you that Leviticus is not exactly your hot beach read. What is going on here, with all of these elaborate instructions for preparing offerings? Well, obviously, we're feeding the priests. God loves to smell burned food, but most of the food doesn't get burned, it gets eaten -- just not by the farmers who produced it. The main point of Leviticus is to establish and justify the parasitism of the priestly caste.

BTW Leviticus 2 in KJV is very confusing because it uses the term "meat" for these offerings, which evidently consist of grain. I presume that the Revised Standard Version, which we have here, is more accurate.

2 When anyone presents a grain offering to the Lord, the offering shall be of choice flour; the worshiper shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it, ² and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. After taking from it a handful of the choice flour and oil, with all its frankincense, the priest shall turn this token portion into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. ³ And what is left of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons, a most holy part of the offerings by fire to the Lord.

⁴ When you present a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be of choice flour: unleavened cakes mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil. ⁵ If your offering is grain prepared on a griddle, it shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, unleavened; ⁶ break it in pieces, and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. ⁷ If your offering is grain prepared in a pan, it shall be made of choice flour in oil. ⁸ You shall bring to the Lord the grain offering that is prepared in any of these ways; and when it is presented to the priest, he shall take it to the altar. ⁹ The priest shall remove from the grain offering its token portion and turn this into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. ¹⁰ And what is left of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings by fire to the Lord.
¹¹ No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you must not turn any leaven or honey into smoke as an offering by fire to the Lord. ¹² You may bring them to the Lord as an offering of choice products, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing odor. ¹³ You shall not omit from your grain offerings the salt of the covenant with your God; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Note that God's mysterious aversion to leavening appears intact, but what this is really saying is that the priests will burn a part of any matzoh that you bring, but if you bring leavened bread that's fine, they just won't burn it, they''ll eat the whole thing themselves. The idea that this is about feeding the priests is obvious: God gets a "token portion" of the crackers, and none of the bread. Oh yeah -- don't forget to put salt in the bread.

¹⁴ If you bring a grain offering of first fruits to the Lord, you shall bring as the grain offering of your first fruits coarse new grain from fresh ears, parched with fire. ¹⁵ You shall add oil to it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. ¹⁶ And the priest shall turn a token portion of it into smoke—some of the coarse grain and oil with all its frankincense; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.