Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 6:19 - 6:19

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 6:19 - 6:19


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The Meat-Offering of the Priests is introduced, as a new law, with a special formula, and is inserted here in its proper place in the sacrificial instructions given for the priests, as it would have been altogether out of place among the general laws for the laity. In “the day of his anointing” (הִמָּשַׁח, construed as a passive with the accusative as in Gen 4:18), Aaron and his sons were to offer a corban as “a perpetual meat-offering” (minchah, in the absolute instead of the construct state: cf. Exo 29:42; Num 28:6; see Ges. §116, 6, Note b); and this was to be done in all future time by “the priest who was anointed of his sons in his stead,” that is to say, by every high priest at the time of his consecration. “In the day of his anointing:” when the anointing was finished, the seven were designated as “the day,” like the seven days of creation in Gen 2:4. This minchah was not offered during the seven days of the anointing itself, but after the consecration was finished, i.e., in all probability, as the Jewish tradition assumes, at the beginning of the eighth day, when the high priest entered upon his office, viz., along with the daily morning sacrifices (Exo 29:38-39), and before the offering described in Lev 9. It then continued to be offered, as “a perpetual minchah,” every morning and evening during the whole term of his office, according to the testimony of the book of Wis. (45:14, where we cannot suppose the daily burnt-offering to be intended) and also of Josephus (Ant. 3:10, 7).

(Note: Vid., Lundius, jüd. Heiligthümer, B. 3, c 9, §17 and 19; Thalhofer ut supra, p. 139; and Delitzsch on the Epistle to the Hebrews. The text evidently enjoins the offering of this minchah upon Aaron alone; for though Aaron and his sons are mentioned in Lev 6:13, as they were consecrated together, in Lev 6:15 the priest anointed of his sons in Aaron's stead, i.e., the successor of Aaron in the high-priesthood, is commanded to offer it. Consequently the view maintained by Maimonides, Abarbanel, and others, which did not become general even among the Rabbins, viz., that every ordinary priest was required to offer this meat-offering when entering upon his office, has no solid foundation in the law (see Selden de success. in pontif. ii. c. 9; L' Empereur ad Middoth 1, 4, Not. 8; and Thalhofer, p. 150).)

It was to consist of the tenth of an ephah of fine flour, one half of which was to be presented in the morning, the other in the evening; - not as flour, however, but made in a pan with oil, “roasted” and פִּתִּים מִנְחַת נֵי תֻּפִי (“broken pieces of a minchah of crumbs”), i.e., in broken pieces, like a minchah composed of crumbs. מֻרְבֶּכֶת (Lev 6:14 and 1Ch 23:29) is no doubt synonymous with מֻרְבֶּכֶת סֹלֶת, and to be understood as denoting fine flour sufficiently burned or roasted in oil; the meaning mixed or mingled does not harmonise with Lev 7:12, where the mixing or kneading with oil is expressed by בַּשֶּׁמֶן בְּלוּלֹת. The hapax legomenon תֻּפִינֵי signifies either broken or baked, according as we suppose the word to be derived from the Arabic 'afana diminuit, or, as Gesenius and the Rabbins do, from אָפָה to bake, a point which can hardly be decided with certainty. This minchah, which was also instituted as a perpetual ordinance, was to be burnt entirely upon the altar, like every meat-offering presented by a priest, because it belonged to the category of the burnt-offerings, and of these meat-offerings the offerer himself had no share (Lev 2:3, Lev 2:10). Origen observes in his homil. iv. in Levit.: In caeteris quidem praeceptis pontifex in offerendis sacrificiis populo praebet officium, in hoc vero mandato quae propria sunt curat et quod ad se spectat exequitur. It is also to be observed that the high priest was to offer only a bloodless minchah for himself, and not a bleeding sacrifice, which would have pointed to expiation. As the sanctified of the Lord, he was to draw near to the Lord every day with a sacrificial gift, which shadowed forth the fruits of sanctification.