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Old Testament in Gen. 4:3: “… Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto
the Lord.” This use reflects the most common connotation of
as a “vegetable or
cereal offering.”
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is used many times in the Old Testament to designate a “gift” or “present”
which is given by one person to another. For example, when Jacob was on his way back
home after twenty years, his long-standing guilt and fear of Esau prompted him to send a
rather large “present” (bribe) of goats, camels, and other animals (Gen. 32:13-15).
Similarly, Jacob directed his sons to “carry down the man a present” (Gen. 43:11) to
appease the Egyptian ruler that later turned out to be his lost son Joseph. Those who came
to hear Solomon’s great wisdom all brought to him an appropriate “present” (1 Kings
10:25), doing so on a yearly basis.
Frequently
is used in the sense of “tribute” paid to a king or overlord. The
delivering of the “tribute” of the people of Israel to the king of Moab by their judge-
deliverer became the occasion for the deliverance of Israel from Moabite control as Ehud
assassinated Eglon by a rather sly maneuver (Judg. 3:15- 23). Years later when David
conquered the Moabites, they “became servants to David and brought gifts [tribute]” (2
Sam. 8:2). Hosea proclaimed to Israel that its pagan bull-god would “be carried unto
Assyria for a present [tribute]” (Hos. 10:6). Other passages where
has the
meaning of “tribute” are: Ps. 72:10; 1 Kings 4:21; 2 Kings 17:3-4.
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is often used
to refer to any “offering” or “gift” made to God, whether it was a “vegetable offering” or
a “blood sacrifice.” The story of Cain and Abel vividly illustrates this general usage: “…
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect” (Gen. 4:3-
5). The animal sacrifices which were misappropriated by the wicked sons of Eli were
simply designated as “the offering of the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:17). In each case “offering” is
the translation of
A common use of
, especially in later Old Testament
texts, is to designate “meat [grain/cereal] offerings.” Sometimes it referred to the “meat
[cereal] offering” of first fruits, “green ears of corn, dried by the fire.…” (Lev. 2:14).
Such offerings included oil and frankincense which were burned with the grain.
Similarly, the “meat [grain] offering” could be in the form of finely ground flour upon
which oil and frankincense had been poured also. Sometimes the oil was mixed with the
“meat [cereal] offering” (Lev. 14:10, 21; 23:13; Num. 7:13), again in the form of fine
flour. The priest would take a handful of this fine flour, burn it as a memorial portion, and
the remainder would belong to the priest (Lev. 2:9-10). The “meat [cereal] offering”
frequently was in the form of fine flour which was mixed with oil and then formed into
cakes and baked, either in a pan or on a griddle (Lev. 2:4-5). Other descriptions of this
type of baked “meat [cereal] offering” are found in Num. 6:15 and Lev. 7:9. These baked
“meat [cereal] offerings” were always to be made without leaven, but were to be mixed
with salt and oil (Lev. 2:11, 13).
The
was prescribed as a “meat offering” of flour kneaded with oil to be
given along with the whole burnt offering. A libation of wine was to be given as well.
This particular rule applied especially to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Lev. 23:18), to
the daily “continual offering” (Exod. 29:38-42), and to all the whole burnt offerings or