Leviticus Chapter 2

LEVITICUS 

CHAPTER

 2

1. When anyone presents a grain offering to the LORD, the offering shall be of choice flour.

(Leviticus chapter 2 verse 1)

oh God my father may all that I do be done for you, even if I do it for others. When I have you in mind as my primary reason for doing something which means that what I do I do for You and not to merit the praise of others, the value of that action or offering becomes more special because it is being done for someone who is special and not for its own sake. Therefore this means that the offering is also to be special and of superior quality. The offering may vary in type and form, such as our daily praying time, or maybe a visit to somebody who is in hospital who would be very happy to see us and share the long dragging hours with us.



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 


(Leviticus chapter 2 verse 2 to 3)



According to Mr.Devain Pawar the author of this chapter, grains are basic food stuffs that are essential for our well being..As in the case of God we cannot live without You and Your love oh Father. I thank You for turning our inferior produce into a sacrificial that is to your liking. According to verse 3, the remaining portion of the sacrifice was to be consumed by Aaron and his sons. In your case oh God you were offered and consumed as one whole sacrifice, however even though you were offered as a whole we benefited our salvation as a consequence of your offering. You are so generous and loving oh God that You offered Yourself as the sacrificial offering. Moreover in your generosity You also considered the well being of both the person making the offering that is the atonement of ones sins, and also the physical well being of Aaron and his sons who were to share from the sacrifice of the altar. This is also my case. I dwell on the Word of God. He gives me His message and then I share it with all readers on line by means of this blog. He who lives by God will benefit from God and His Word. Thanks You God for being so close in all circumstances of life.



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 with oil.


(Leviticus chapter 2 verse 4)



On reflecting oh God I wondered with reference to the wafer in verse 4 of the second chapter of the book of Leviticus if the wafer could stand for Your presence in the Eucharist which also has the shape of a wafer. You instructed Your people to offer unleavened bread the same form of bread that they baked before leaving Egypt the land of slavery. Oh God you wish me to offer You my pain and anguish and in return You offer me Your comfort. a comfort that the world can never offer me. However the offering is to be baked in the oven to improve the finished product. Throughout my life I also had to endure moments of tribulation when the heat was so intense that I also felt I am in an oven. Right now I feel as if I am in an oven. I am working on a case study and am experiencing alot of stress because at times I feel I cannot meet the demands of my superiors. However You are my consolation and refuge. Help me to place my entire trust and hope in You.



 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.


(Leviticus chapter 2 verses 5 to 6)




Thanks for making me a product that is still in process my God. As in the case of the grain offering I am in the process of being prepared before I can be totally be offered to You in your presence in heaven. During the rest of my life on earth i am broken and exposed to fires of tribulation on my griddle of life, however I am given flavour and odour by the blessing and anointing coming from your oil oh God. Thanks for making me your offering. May I always keep saying yes to all your requests so that as an offering I will be complete.



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. 



(Leviticus chapter 2 verses 7 to 8 )



Just as all grains are different and are processed in different ways, as humans oh God You also process us each in a different way, according to Your personal plan tailored by You the Master Creator. As in the case of the processed grains, it is the exposition to fire in the process of being cooked that brings, out the beautiful delicious flavour that makes it so good to eat. As humans it is the same. The tribulations and trials of our lives puts us through the test, and after we have been exposed to such situations on taking it from Your hands oh God our taste becomes enriched, as Christians we become stronger in faith. Only then at the end of our life on earth oh Jesus You will present us as in the case of the High priest to God the father as an offering in which He finds pleasure.




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.


(Leviticus chapter 2 verses 9 to 10)



On appearing before You my God I will appear as a whole offering, however before I am ready and worthy of being in Your presence I will experience a period of transformation in purgatory where I will repent in relation to those acts and circumstances that were and still are not to your liking during my time on earth. As in the case of the grain offering these negative elements of me as an offering will be removed so that I will be a choice offering in Your sight.



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.


(Leviticus chapter 2 verse 11)



On reflecting it seems that You oh God did not want negative and positive attributes to be offered in one offering, as in the case of adding sweet with sour in a food. God, however accepts as as we are with our good and bad characteristics. You appreciate us as we are with what we are even though our 'Curriculum Vitae may include events that are not of pleasure to You. Thanks for appreciating us as a whole. However on the other hand it seems that You want us to give You praise for all the good that You give us such as skills and faith and not to speak negatively of ourselves in a way that discredits the good that You have given us. We are to be positive people and not negative ones, even though at times we are tested by trials and tribulations.



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.


(Leviticus chapter 2 verses 12 to 13)



According to the book of Leviticus we are still to thank God for the positive qualities that he has given us however but in a special way and not in the way that we usually offer thanksgiving to Him. There is the usual thank You oh God and there is thanksgiving accompanied by prayers fasting and evening saying the rosary and celebrating the mass with many others. Our thanks to You oh God can mean donating a gift to somebody with whom we are in conflict! This would be much more appreciated than a gift to somebody whom we love. Above all You are telling us that You and Your presence are to be placed in every offering that we offer to you. If God is not in our lives and in our offerings we are like a fruit that has gone bad or expired. The salt in food gives it that special flavour, without it food has a different taste which is not always delicious or good to eat. It is the same with You oh God my father. If you are not present in me and my actions and choices or if you are not active in my life, I may appear to be a happy and God fearing person but in truth I have something important that is missing in my life and that someone is You. In such cases my life would not be worth living because it would be like a yacht with a missing rudder, it floats there at the mercy of the wind and current having no particular destination.



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.



(Leviticus chapter 2 verses 14 to 16)

According to Mr. Devain Pawar the author of this chapter we are to give God the  first place in our life. Therefore our offering to You oh God is to be nothing but the best, because you are always there for us whenever we need you or not. You are a caring and loving father, therefore we are to be grateful to you and thank you every day of our lives. 

In light of verses 14 to 16 I would like to invite you to share with me this following prayer and song, please click on the following link:-

We are an offering

Mr. Pawar chose to end this chapter with the following prayer:

                                                                                               

God please help us in our life especially when we feel defeated. I pray that you help those who are still haunted by their past and are still conditioned by it. Please help them as you have helped us in our life.

Thank You for everything.

Leviticus Chapter 1

LEVITICUS

 CHAPTER

 1

1. The LORD summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of the meeting, saying: 2. Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When any of you bring an offering of livestock to the LORD, you shall bring your offering from the herd or from the flock.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verses 1 to 2)

On reflecting it appears that now that God had a dwelling place among His people He communicated regularly with them. This shows us oh father that it is your pleasure to communicate with us. Moreover the more time we invest in our relationship with You the more You make it grow. 

In order to thank You oh Father as humans we are to offer gifts. However these gifts were to be from our own livestock meaning something that is really ours and not something of somebody else as in the analogy of the herds that was common livestock. Today God is asking an offering from us. This could be an intimate life with Him or even a vocation. Let us not be over cautious with You oh God and offer You the best of our lives and not the mediocre remains of our day in order to offer our offerings such as our prayer time among other offerings to You.

3. If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you shall offer a male without blemish; you shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting for acceptance in your behalf before the LORD.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verse 3)


When the offering was brought to the sons of Aaron to be offered as a burnt offering the creature is checked for any form of deformity and is treated accordingly thus if the sacrificial offering is defective it will be refused as a worthy offering. However God does not deal with us in the same way and with the same criteria that we deal with each other.God is in control of all situations in life, and even if a baby is born with a form of impairment God still loves that baby because it is His creation and any parent is proud of His creation even if others call it 'disabled, impaired, deformed' or by other label which are always in the pipeline in relation to this issue so much that it is difficult to remain updated for a new label is created almost every year. God's main priority is that of seeing us happy even though at times He permits us to endure tough situations that make our life a living sacrifice that we can offer to Him.

4. You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verse 4)


According to Mr. Devain Pawar the author of this chapter the act of atonement is to compensate for the negative action that we would have done as in when we go to confess our sins that may have negative consequences on both our selves and those of our inner and outer circles. The person making the offering would place his hand, on the head of the burnt offering thus transferring his sins on to the creature who would be offered on his behalf. The issue of offering and beheading is being abused by the fact that humans were not intended to be beheaded to atone for the sins of others or to compensate for other people who were previously killed long time ago.

What is really encouraging oh God is that by means of the sacrament of confession You give us the opportunity to admit our sins in an honest way, admit that we were tempted by sin to do this and that negative action and express feelings of sorrow that we have done such a thing with the intention of never doing it again by means of the help of God, because as humans we are always prone to sin again and again. Therefore a negative act is not compensated for by another negative act as in the killing of a person or group of people to compensate for a negative act previously done by another group with whom we share differences and biases.

5. The bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD and Aaron's sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verse 5)

According to the author of this chapter with whom I agree, today many people are slaughtering people in name of their supreme being or any other deity stating it as being according to the will of that source that they are carrying out these macabre acts of murder or manslaughter. In truth we all know that the God in whom we believe has given to humanity the power to live a happy life and not the authority to decide who lives and who is worthy to be slaughtered in a cage or with a knife. God wants us to live a happy life were we can always consider Him as our number one priority and above all thank him for the important loving and caring role that He has been playing in our life as the  Master Creator. 

On going back  to the text and reflecting You also were offered as a living sacrifice on which you offered your body and blood which was also dashed and scattered on everywhere you passed from especially on the cross which was your sacrificial altar in order to obtain our atonement.


6. The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into its parts. 7. The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8. Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9. but its entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verses 6 to 9)


According to Mr. Pawar the author of this chapter as humans we all are different pieces of a puzzle in this wonderful and complex world. On the other hand God is the one who is able to solve the puzzle of our selves by joining the pieces of ourselves thus making us whole persons and washes away our sins  by means of the sacrament of reconciliation and thus making us happy again as whole persons and this also is of pleasure to God.


When comparing the procedure fashioned for the the creature to be offered as a burnt offering to Jesus, the offering of all offerings we can draw the following comparisons. As in the case of the offering of the creature referred to in Leviticus chapter 1 verses 6 to 9, the body of Jesus was butchered by the soldiers. His body was ripped apart by the spear of the soldier during the time of the passion. On the other hand according to the mentioned procedure the sons of Aaron the priest will arrange the wood on which the sacrificial animal would be placed, while Jesus was forced to carry the wood on which he was to be offered for our salvation. As in the case of the offering Jesus was an offering of love that pleased God in whom He found His pleasure in His loving Son.


10. If your gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, your offering shall be a male without blemish. It shall be slaughtered on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar. 12. It shall be cut up into its parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 13. But the entrails and the legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall offer the whole and turn it into smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire pleasing odor to the LORD.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verses 10 to 13)


On reading these verses for the first time I thought that they were a repetition of verses 6 to 9, however on analysing Leviticus chapter 1 verses 6 to 9, and comparing it to Leviticus chapter 1 verses 10 to 13 the following conclusion can be reached.


In Leviticus chapter 1 verse 5 it is written that if the offering is taken from the herd it was to be offered at the entrance of the tent of the meeting. However if the offering is from the 'flock meaning from the 'sheep or goats'  the offering was to be offered on the north side of the altar. Therefore it follows that different types of offerings were offered on different angles of the altar facing the tent of the meeting.


In order to help us understand the significance of the offerings that we are going to reflect on in the following chapters from the book of Leviticus please click on the following link:-


The significance of the sacrificial offerings

According to the author of this chapter Mr. Devain Pawar many people including ourselves may wonder why God states wants the animal to have no defect. It may be said that God is judging that offering, however on the other hand God wants to be the number one in our lives and therefore we are to treat God accordingly. On the other hand God knows human nature and is fully aware of both our strengths and of our weaknesses. God is also aware that although we aim to live a perfect life as humans at some point or another the sacrifice of our life is going to be stained by our sinful self. However above all God loves us, and is always ready to welcome us back to His loving arms. That is why He gave us all the opportunity to atone for our sins by means of the sacrament of reconciliation which reconciles us with God and then with those who have trespassed against us ,by means of the graces that this sacrament gives us.


14. If your offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, you shall choose your offerings from turtledoves or pigeons.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verse 14)


When reflecting on verse 14 of the first chapter of Leviticus we cannot stop and go back to our friend Noah in the book of Genesis, who chose to send the dove in order to confirm if the waters of the flood have returned back to their ascribed bearings on earth as according to the will of God. The dove in its nature is calm, and obedient to its master It is  generally considered to be a symbol of peace. The dove is sent on a task and unlike the ravenous raven returns back to its master. The Roman Catholic Church has held the symbol of the dove as representing the Holy Spirit of God, who also was sent by God the Father to fulfil the mission of our salvation and then return back to the Master by means of being offered on the cross as a sacrificial offering for our atonement and that of the world.

15. The priest shall bring it to the altar and wring of its head, and turn it into smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out against the side of the altar. 16. He shall remove its crop with its contents and throw it at the east side of the altar, in place for ashes. 17. He shall tear it open by its wings without severing it. Then the priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.

(Leviticus chapter 1 verses 15 to 17)

When reflecting on verses 15 to 17 which bring us to the end of this chapter it can be observed that as in the case of the offering of the dove as a burnt offering your son Jesus was also laid down on the cross without having one bone broken. During hard times it is good to keep this in mind. Even though we may be processed as a sacrificial offering for the atonement of our sins, God will not permit us to endure harm more than we can bear. Moreover along with the tribulation God always gives us His graces as means of consolation.


The author of this chapter chose to end this chapter with the following prayer:-

God please give me the power, so that I can do my best in following your will. I also thank You for the opportunity that one day I will be reunited with You in my home in heaven. I would like to thank You for playing a major role in my daily life. Thank You for guiding me through each day of my life. I also pray for those victims of the atrocities that were committed in the name of 'god' and I also pray for our protection and well being . Bless us with your grace and thank you for giving us the chance to spread Your Holy Words and also for giving us the chance to start praying on the book of Leviticus.  

Thank You God