Leviticus: And He Called (Vayikra)
Lesson 2: The Grain Offering — Gratitude Offered in Everyday Life
Explore the confession of gratitude embodied in flour, oil, and frankincense, and the meaning of the azkarah and the pleasing aroma.
Leviticus 2:1-16EnglishThe edited PDF edition is in preparation.
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Lesson 2 · The Grain Offering
An Offering of Life, Given in Gratitude for the Everyday
The grain offering, minchah, is an offering of gratitude for all that we enjoy in our daily lives.
While the person bringing a burnt offering gives himself to God, the person bringing a grain offering presents it as an expression of gratitude.
This is more than a sacrificial act. It is a confession of faith:
“Everything I enjoy in my daily life has come from God.”
1. What Is the Grain Offering?
The grain offering consists of three elements.
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Flour | Sustenance of life |
| Oil | Abundance |
| Frankincense | Contentment |
Flour
Flour symbolizes human survival—the sustenance of life.
“Every material provision I enjoy depends on God.”
This is the worshiper’s confession.
Oil
Oil symbolizes the richness and joy of life. It acknowledges that God not only sustains our lives but also makes them abundant.
Frankincense
Frankincense expresses fragrant contentment. It represents a heart that gladly receives and takes delight in the life God has given.
The grain offering declares:
“My sustenance, my abundance, and my contentment—all come from God.”
In this sense, the grain offering may be called a homage offering: a gift presented with reverence, like a gift of gratitude offered in response to what one has received from another.
2. The Memorial Portion, Azkarah
“The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, together with all its frankincense, and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar…” — Leviticus 2:2
The word for the memorial portion—azkarah, אַזְכָּרָה—comes from zakar, meaning “to remember.”
When fine flour is offered, the priest takes one handful and burns it on the altar with oil and all the frankincense. The entire offering is not burned because this handful of fine flour represents the whole.
Yet the azkarah is not a request saying:
“I am giving this grain offering, so please remember me.”
Rather, it portrays the worshiper entering into relationship with God by coming before Him with the offering. We do not attend worship simply to ask God to remember us. Through worship we enter the fellowship of the covenant, where we stand before God as those known and remembered by Him.
The azkarah is the act of approaching God with the grain offering in gratitude and reverence and standing before Him as a member of His covenant people. When God receives it with pleasure, the worshiper enjoys grace and blessing according to the covenant promises.
The person bringing the grain offering also asks God to continue caring for and attending to his life.
“A prayer that God would continue to be present in my life.”1
3. A Pleasing Aroma
When someone offers a grain offering in gratitude for God’s gifts in daily life, God remembers the offering.
When God receives the fragrance rising from it as a pleasing aroma, He begins to extend grace to the person who offered it.
The phrase “pleasing aroma”—re’ach nichoach—does not refer merely to a pleasant smell. It describes something God gladly receives and in which He takes satisfaction.
| Hebrew | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Re’ach | Aroma |
| Nichoach | Pleasure, acceptance, satisfaction |
The azkarah, or memorial portion, and the pleasing aroma are signals of relationship that ascend to God. When God receives that aroma, He begins to show grace to the worshiper.
David prays:
“May He remember all your grain offerings and accept your burnt offering. May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.” — Psalm 20:3-4
4. The Grain Offering in Our Lives Today
A Grain Offering from Every Area of Life
To present grain in the grain offering is to offer produce cultivated through one’s labor in the land. Today, the grain offering may be understood as every fruit of our labor in this world.
- Studying
- Working at one’s job
- Raising children at home
- Everything we make with our hands
We do not offer our lives only during a worship service. In every sphere, we acknowledge that the fruit of our lives comes from God, give thanks, and present it before Him.
The God Who Receives Ordinary, Repetitive Work
The grain offering is neither glamorous nor dramatic. It is deeply ordinary and repetitive.
In discussing the many regulations of Leviticus, Derek Tidball emphasizes that “the ordinary and repetitive matters to God too.”2
Not only visible ministries in the church, but also everyday acts of service such as these are grain offerings presented to God:
- Arranging chairs
- Caring for babies
- Cleaning
- Serving meals
- Serving where no one sees
Devotion that goes unnoticed is also a grain offering in which God delights.
Grain Offerings Prepared in Many Ways
The grain offering is not prepared in only one prescribed way. It can be prepared in an oven, on a griddle, or in a pan before it is offered to God.
God does not demand only a uniform expression. He receives the devotion we offer from our varied places and circumstances in life. One person may devote himself to God through worship and praise, another through service and generosity, and still another through daily life and vocation.
The Prayers and Almsgiving of Cornelius
Cornelius, who appears in Acts 10, was an officer in the Roman army. His almsgiving became a grain offering presented to God.
“Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.” — Acts 10:4
What matters is not uniformity of form but sincerity of heart. God gladly receives the varied forms of devotion offered from each person’s place in life.
| The Actions of Cornelius | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Almsgiving | Remembered by God—the azkarah |
| Prayers and almsgiving | Ascended before God |
| Result | God answered |
Cornelius met Peter, heard the gospel, received the Holy Spirit, and experienced God’s saving work. His prayers and almsgiving rose to God like the fragrance of a grain offering and were gladly received as a pleasing aroma.
5. Gratitude Opens the Door of Grace
Through the work of our hands, we receive the fruit of our labor. How do we regard that fruit?
Is this the result of my effort? Or is it a gift from God?
This distinction changes our lives. When we raise our daily lives to God in gratitude, He receives them as a pleasing aroma, remembers those lives, and opens the door of grace.
As we offer our lives as a grain offering wherever we stand today, may God gladly receive the fragrance of our gratitude and pour out His grace day by day.