Meat in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Not in our sense, "flesh." Thus of the three divisions of
offerings "the burnt, the meat, and the peace offering," the
meat offering is a "present or oblation" (minchah from a
root "to send or offer"), consisting only of flour, grain,
and oil, flesh never being in it as in the other two. In
Psalm 111:5, "He hath given meat (tereph) unto them that
fear Him," literally, spoil such as Israel brought out of
Egypt (Exodus 12:36), and which God had covenanted to
Abraham, Genesis 15:14 (Kimchi). Rather, the manna and
quails, a heaven-sent "booty" (treasure trove) to the
hungering people. Tereph is used for "meat" in general
(Proverbs 31:15; Malachi 3:10). In 1 Corinthians 8:13, "if
meat make my brother to offend," etc., and Romans 14:20,
"for meat destroy not the work of God," brooma means food in
general, not merely flesh.
The minchah denotes generally a gift from an
inferior to a superior, whether God or man (Genesis 4:3-5;
Genesis 32:13); qorban or korban afterward expressed this
general sense. Minchah then was restricted to the unbloody
offering, zebach to the "bloody sacrifice". Necek, "drink
offerings", accompanied the minchah. In Leviticus 2;
Leviticus 6:14-23 the law of the meat offerings is given.
Their ingredients, flour and oil, were the chief vegetable
foods of Israel; so in them the Israelite offered his daily
bread to the Lord, but in a manner distinct from the merely
dedicatory first fruits of grain and bread (compare 1
Chronicles 29:10-14; Deuteronomy 26:5-11). The latter loaves
were leavened, and neither they nor the first fruits sheaf
were burial upon the altar (Leviticus 23:10-11; Leviticus
23:17; Leviticus 23:20). Each meat offering on the contrary
was to be prepared without leaven, and a portion given by
burning to Jehovah for a sweet savor upon the altar.
The rest as a most holy thing was to be eaten in the
holy place by the priests alone as the mediators between
Jehovah and the people. Therefore, the meat offerings did
not denote merely the sanctification of earthly food, but
symbolized the spiritual food enjoyed by the congregation of
the Lord. If even the earthly life is not nourished merely
by the daily bread but by the divine grace which blesses the
food as means of preserving life, much less can the
spiritual life be nourished by earthly food, but only by the
spiritual food which a man partakes of by the Spirit of God
from the true bread of life, the word of God. As oil
symbolizes the Spirit as the principle of all spiritual
life, so bread from the seed of the field symbolizes the
word of God (Luke 8:11; Deuteronomy 8:3). Sanctification
consists in the operation of this spiritual food through the
right use of the means of grace for growth in holiness
(Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12). This inner food fills the
inner man with peace, joy, and blessedness in God.
This fruit of the spiritual life is shadowed forth
in the "meat offerings." They must be free from the "leaven"
of hypocrisy (Luke 12:1) (the leaven of the old nature,
Kurtz), malice, and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8), and from
the "honey" of carnal delights, both being destructive of
spiritual life. "The salt of the covenant of God" (i.e. the
purifying, strengthening, and quickening power of the
covenant, whereby moral corruption is averted) and the
incense of prayer were to be added, that the fruit of the
spiritual life might be well pleasing to the Lord (Qeri).
Wine symbolized vigor and refreshment (Psalm 104:15). The
priests' own meat offerings were to be wholly burnt. The sin
offering implied atonement for sin; the burnt offering self
dedication to God; the meat offering spiritual sustenance
through the word and Spirit.
"The prayer to God, Give us this day our daily
bread, is accompanied by the demand on God's part, Give Me
today My daily bread. This demand is answered by the church
when it offers to God in good works that for which God has
endowed it with strength, benediction, and prosperity."
(Hengstenberg, Dissertation on the Pentateuch, ii. 531.) The
meat offering was to be for a "memorial" reminding God of
His people; so Cornelius' alms and prayers (Acts 10:4). The
minchah, as a sacrifice, was something surrendered to God,
which was of the greatest value to man as a means of living.
It was not merely grain, but grain prepared by man's labor.
Hence the minchah, expressed a confession that all our good
works are wrought in God and are due to Him (Speaker's
Commentary, Leviticus 2:14).
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