Leviticus 6:14 - Meaning and Application

The grain offering was either the one brought by the people or the one offered by the priests at their ordination. In the case of the regular grain offering, only a handful was burned on the altar, and the rest was given to the priests for food. The law for burnt offerings required the priests to do much work and carry a heavy burden, but it gave them little profit, because the whole animal was burned and they received only the skin. Here, though, God allowed them the greater part of the grain offering as their share.

The burning of a handful on the altar had already been commanded (Leviticus 6:15; Leviticus 2:2, Leviticus 2:9). Here the rest is given to the priests, the servants of God’s house: “I have given it to them as their share of my offerings” (Leviticus 6:17). God wants his ministers to have enough food and support, and what is given to them he accepts as given to himself, if it comes from a sincere heart. Also, all Christians, as spiritual priests, share in the spiritual sacrifices they offer. God is not the one who gains from them. The little handful burned on the altar was small compared with the priests’ share. We are the ones who gain from our worship. Let God have all the frankincense, and let the priests have the flour and oil. What we give to God in praise and glory returns to us as comfort and good.

There were also rules for how the grain offering was to be eaten. First, it had to be eaten without leaven, or yeast, because what was offered to God must be free from leaven, and the priests must eat it as the altar received it, and no differently. In this way, we are to keep the Lord’s feasts with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Second, it had to be eaten in the court of the tabernacle, here called the holy place, in a room set aside beside the court for this purpose. It was a serious offense to take any of it outside the court. Even the eating of it was a sacred act, meant to honor God, so it had to be done with reverence in a holy place.

Third, only the males were to eat it (Leviticus 6:18). For the less holy offerings, like the firstfruits, tithes, and the shoulder and breast of the peace offerings, the priests’ daughters could also eat, because those items could be taken out of the court. But this was among the most holy offerings, and since it had to be eaten only in the tabernacle, only Aaron’s sons, the priests, could eat it. Fourth, only clean priests could eat it: “Everyone who touches them shall be holy” (Leviticus 6:18). Holy things were for holy people. Some understand this to mean that anything touching the offering would become holy. If so, even the utensils used for this holy meal were to be set apart for that use alone and never used as common things.

The priest’s own grain offering, the one offered at his consecration, was different. It was to be wholly burned, with none of it eaten (Leviticus 6:23). This is added here as an exception to the rule just given. It seems this law about the ordination grain offering did not apply only to the high priest on the day he was anointed, and to each successor on his anointing day, but, according to Jewish writers, to every priest on the day he first entered service. They also say the high priest had to offer it every day of his life from the day he was anointed, and that it was to be offered in addition to the grain offering that went with the morning and evening sacrifice, since it is called here a regular grain offering (Leviticus 6:20). Josephus says that the high priest sacrificed twice each day at his own expense, and that this was his offering.

Those whom God raises higher in dignity and power should remember that he expects more from them than from others. They should pay close attention to every hint of service to be done for him. The priest’s grain offering was prepared as if it were to be eaten, yet it had to be completely burned. The priest who served the people was to be paid for that work, but there was no reason he should be paid for serving the high priest, who was the father of the priestly family, and whom any priest should be glad to serve without charge. It was also not fitting for priests to eat the offerings of a priest. In a symbolic sense, the sins of the people were passed to the priests, shown by their eating the people’s offerings (Hosea 4:8). In the same way, the sins of the priests had to be passed to the altar, which must therefore consume all their offerings.

We are ruined, both ministers and people, if we must carry our own guilt. We could have had no comfort or hope unless God had laid on his dear Son the guilt of us all. He is both the priest and the altar.