A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

The Targum Jonathan provides a good preamble to the book of Leviticus:

And it was when Mosheh had completed to erect the tabernacle that Mosheh reasoned and judged in his heart, and said:

“To Mount Sinai, whose excellency is the excellence only of an hour and its holiness the holiness but of three days, I could not ascend till the time that the word was spoken to me; but the excellence of this the tabernacle of ordinance is an eternal excellency, and its holiness an everlasting holiness; therefore is it right that I should not enter within it until the time that I am spoken with from before the Lord.”

Leviticus 1

¹ And the Lord called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,

— when the Lord first communicated to Moses that He was about to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, “He called unto him” from the burning bush (Exodus 3:4). When the Lord was about to give to Moses the Ten Commandments for the people of Israel, “He called unto him” from the top of Sinai (Exodus 19:3; Exodus 19:20);

— and now when the Lord is about to give to His chosen people, through His servant Moses, the laws by which their Divine worship is to be regulated, “He called unto him” from the tent of meeting (Leviticus 1:1).

² “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.

— the act of offering was to be voluntary on the part of the worshipper, but the mode of doing it was in every point defined by the Law; and any member of the congregation might bring his voluntary offering if he could afford.

³ “‘If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. — without blemish; or perfect, having no part wanting, nor any part superfluous, nor any spot upon it

⁴ And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. — and he, the offer of the offering, shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering to make atonement for him; this phrase belongs more especially to the sin-offerings and the trespass-offerings;

— the high priest, Aaron, would be more concerned with other duties: another daily ‘burnt offering’ stands first in Leviticus for several reasons; it was offered twice daily, besides on other occasions;

⁵ And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

— and he shall kill the bullock; the sacrificer himself, the offerer, not by the priest, slaughtered the animal on the north side of the altar, by cutting its throat, while a priest or an assistant held a bowl under the neck to receive the blood;

— in later times, however, the offering was generally performed by Levites; sprinkle the blood; this was to be done by the priests, by Aaron’s sons initially. 

⁶ And he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces.

⁷ And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire.

⁸ And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar;

⁹ but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. — a sweet savour, or a soothing odour; the word ‘savour’ in old English is applied to the smell as well as the taste of a thing.

¹⁰ “‘And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish. — those who could not offer a bullock, were to bring a sheep or a goat; and those who were not able to do that, were accepted of God, if they brought a turtle-dove, or a pigeon.

¹¹ And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.

¹² And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar,

¹³ but he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water. And the priest shall bring it all and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.

¹⁴ “‘And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or of young pigeons. — those who could not offer a bullock or a sheep or a goat; they are to bring turtle-doves or pigeons; a single pigeon or turtle-dove formed a sacrifice, but they are often offered in pairs; and there are no rule in respect to sex;

¹⁵ And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar.

¹⁶ And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes.

¹⁷ And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.

Leviticus 2

¹ “‘And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon. — the old use of the word “meat” in the sense of “food,” in contrast to “flesh,” creates some confusion of thought;

— to make a sweet odour in the court of the tabernacle, on a part of it; which otherwise would have been bad odour, by reason of the blood that was sprinkled and the flesh that was burned there daily;

— second; and put frankincense thereon; various spices: stacte, onycha and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense; are holy to the Lord, and to be used for him only; Exodus 30:34;

² And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and he shall take from it 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 savor unto the Lord.

— and he, the offer of the food offering, shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; the high priest, Aaron, would be more concerned with other duties: involves in daily ‘burnt offering’ which was offered twice everyday;

— a sweet savour, or a soothing odour; the word ‘savour’ in old English is applied to the smell as well as the taste of the food.

³ And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire. — a offering most holy; offerings consisted of two classes, the (just) holy and the most holy;

— the wave offerings (Leviticus 23:20; Numbers 6:20), the firstborn of sacrificed animals, the firstlings of oil, wine, and corn, (Numbers 18:17); and the paschal sacrifices, belonged to the holy, and might be eaten entirely or partially in any place within the holy city by the officiating priests and their families.

— the incense offering, the shew-bread (Exodus 30:26-29; Leviticus 24:9), the sin and trespass offerings (Leviticus 6:25-29; Leviticus 7:1; Leviticus 7:6; Leviticus 14:13), and the meat offerings here described, belonged to the most holy. They could be eaten in the court of the sanctuary only by the priests, (Leviticus 10:12-14).

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.

⁵ And if thy oblation be a meat offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mingled with oil.

⁶ Thou shalt part it in pieces and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.

⁷ And if thy oblation be a meat offering baked in the frying pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.

⁸ And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the Lord; and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.

⁹ And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.

¹⁰ And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. — the term meat was and is properly given to any kind of provision, and the greater part of this offering was to be eaten for food, not burned; they of the most holy.

¹¹ “‘No meat offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven; for ye shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire. — leaven, in this instance, is the emblem of pride, malice, and hypocrisy, and honey of sensual pleasure.

¹² As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet savor.

¹³ And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou allow the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. — with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt; every animal offering was to be accompanied by salt;

— salt was used in meat offerings, and in all others, because it was a symbol of the perpetuity of the covenant, which from thence is called a covenant of salt forever, Numbers 18:19 namely, the covenant of the priesthood, to which these sacrifices belonged;

— hence the Targum of Jonathan says, “because the twenty and four gifts of the priests are appointed with a covenant of salt; therefore salt shalt thou offer with all thy oblations.”

¹⁴ And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.

¹⁵ And thou shalt put oil upon it and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering.

¹⁶ And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

— every independent meat-offering was to be prepared without leaven, and a portion given to the Lord as fire-food, for a savour of satisfaction upon the altar; and the rest was to be scrupulously kept away from being used by the offerer, as a most holy thing, and to be eaten at the holy place by the priests only;

— it is unfortunate that while the law was given the children of Israel were travelling throught the desert for the next thirty-nine years or so, with their main food, the manna, and only offerings of animal sacrifices could be offered; they could not practice the first-fruit offerings; but the law was provided here when the crossed the Jordan and became settled cultivators.

~ by Joel on December 11, 2023.

Posted in Books of Moses