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general sacrifices (Num. 15:1-16). The “meat [cereal] offering” was to be burned, while
the wine seems to have been poured out at the foot of the altar like blood of the sacrificial
animal.
The regular daily morning and evening sacrifices included the
and were
specifically referred to as “meat [cereal] offering of the morning” (Exod. 29:41; cf. Num.
28:8) and as “the evening meat [cereal] offering” (2 Kings 16:15; cf. Ezra 9:4-5 and Ps.
141:2, “evening sacrifice”).
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provides an interesting symbolism for the prophet when he refers to the
restoration of the Jews: “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the
Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots … to my holy mountain Jerusalem,
saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house
of the Lord” (Isa. 66:20). In his vision of the universal worship of God, even in Gentile
lands, Malachi saw the
given as “a pure offering” to God by believers
everywhere (Mal. 1:11).
$
(
, 8641), “heave offering; offering; oblation.” This word is found in
the literature of ancient Ugarit in the term, “bread of offering,” as well as in all periods of
Hebrew. In modern Hebrew it is often used in the sense of “contribution,” quite like the
use found in Ezek. 45:13, 16, where it refers to a contribution to be given to the prince.
$
is found approximately 70 times in the Old Testament, being used for the first
time in the Old Testament text in Exod. 25:2: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they
bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with the heart ye shall take my
offering.”
In more than a third of its occurrences in the text, the
KJV
translates
$
as
“heave offering,” all of these instances being found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
(where the majority are found), and Deuteronomy. This translation apparently is derived
from the fact that the word is based on the common Semitic root, “to be high, exalted.”
The inference seems to be that such “offerings” were raised high by the priest in some
sort of motion as it was placed on the altar. This is clearly illustrated in Num. 15:20: “Ye
shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for a heave offering: as ye do the heave
offering of the threshing floor, so shall ye heave it.” From texts like this, it appears that
$
was used in the early period to refer to “contributions” or “gifts” which
consisted of the produce of the ground, reflecting the agricultural character of early
Israel. See Deut. 12:6, 11, 17 for other examples.
$
often is used to designate those gifts or contributions to God, but which
were set apart specifically for the priests: “And every offering of all the holy things of the
children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his” (Num. 5:9). Such
“offerings” were to go to the priests because of a special covenant God had made: “All
the holy offerings which the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you [Aaron],
and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt for
ever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you” (Num. 18:19,
RSV
). Such
offerings, or contributions, sometimes were of grain or grain products: “Besides the
cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of
his peace offerings. And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for a heave