Leviticus 2:4

(4) A meat offering baked in the oven.—The second kind of meat offering consisted of preparations baked with oil in the oven, or in the pan, or cooked in a pot (Lev_2:4-10). The oven is probably the portable pot, open at the top, about three feet high and liable to be broken (Lev_11:35), which is still used in the East for making bread and cakes. After the vessel is thoroughly heated, the dough, which is made into large, thin, oval cakes resembling pancakes or Scotch oatcakes, is dexterously thrown against the sides, the aperture above is covered, and the bread is completely baked in a few minutes. Though the bread when first taken out is soft, and can be rolled up like paper, it hardens and becomes crisp when it is kept.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. The pouring and the mixing may be done by the ordinary Israelite; from the taking of the handful and onwards the priest officiates. (Rashi.)

The cakes or wafers must be 10 in number.

4–10. After the general description of Lev_2:1-3, three methods of preparing the Meal-Offering are specified. It may be (1) baken in the oven (Lev_2:4), or (2) on a flat plate (Lev_2:5, mg. of R.V. and A.V.), or (3) in a frying pan (Lev_2:7). In all cases the material is the same; fine flour and oil, and the priest is to treat it in the same way (Lev_2:9-10 repeat the directions of Lev_2:2-3).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 2:4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, [it shall be] unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

Ver. 4. Unleavened cake of fine flour mingled with oil.] Sincerity is the mother of serenity; truth, of tranquillity.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The four kinds of bread and the three cooking utensils which are mentioned in this section were probably such as were in common use in the daily life of the Israelites; and there appears no reason to doubt that they were such as are still used in the East. The variety of the offerings was most likely permitted to suit the different circumstances of the worshippers.

Lev 2:4

Oven - This was probably a portable vessel of earthenware; in shape a cone about 3 ft. 6 in. high, and 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter. Similar jars are now used for the same purpose by the Arabs. After the vessel has been thoroughly heated by a fire lighted in the inside, the cakes are placed within it, and the top is covered up until they are sufficiently baked. Meantime the outside of the vessel is turned to account. Dough rolled out very thin is spread over it, and a sort of wafer is produced considerably thinner than a Scotch oat-cake.

Lev 2:5

A pan - Rather, as in the margin, a flat plate. It was probably of earthenware, like the oven.

Lev 2:6

Part it in pieces - Break, not cut. The Bedouins are in the habit of breaking up their cakes when warm and mixing the fragments with butter when that luxury can be obtained.

Lev 2:7

Fryingpan - Rather, pan, commonly used for boiling. It is possible that the cakes here spoken of were boiled in oil. The “pan” and the “frying pan” Lev 2:5, Lev 2:7 may have been the common cooking implements of the poorest of the people.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2:4 A large ceramic oven was placed in a hole, and around it a fire was kindled. Once the oven was hot, the flat bread baked against the inside of its wall. • without any yeast: See study note on 2:11; see also Exod 12:8.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven--generally a circular hole excavated in the floor, from one to five feet deep, the sides of which are covered with hardened plaster, on which cakes are baked of the form and thickness of pancakes. (See on Gen 18:6). The shape of Eastern ovens varies considerably according to the nomadic or settled habits of the people.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Baken in the oven] תנור tannur, from נר nar, to split, divide, says Mr. Parkhurst; and hence the oven, because of its burning, dissolving, and melting heat.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in an oven,.... This is another kind of meat offering, or in another form; the former was only fine flour and oil mixed together, and frankincense put on it, but this was made up into cakes, and baked in an oven, and not in anything else, according to the Jewish tradition (i); he that says, lo, upon me be a meat offering baked in an oven, he may not bring that baked otherwise; and this meat offering was made into cakes and wafers, and then baked, as follows: and

it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil; which according to the Jews were made after this manner (k); the priest put the oil into a vessel before the making of it, then put the fine flour to it, and put oil upon it, and mixed it, and kneaded it, and baked it, and cut it in pieces, and put oil upon it, and mixed it, and again put oil upon it, and took the handful, and it was the fourth part of an hin of oil that was divided into the several cakes; the cakes, they say, were obliged to be mixed, and the wafers to be anointed; the cakes were mixed, but not the wafers the wafers were anointed, and not the cakes. The oil denoted the grace of the Spirit of God in Christ, and in his people; and being unleavened, the sincerity and truth with which the meat offering, Christ, is to be upon.

(i) Misn. Menachot, c. 5. sect. 9. Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib. (k) T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 75. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Baken in the oven; made in the sanctuary for that use, as may seem from 1Ch 23:28,29; Eze 46:20.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Oblation — The Hebrew korban. It is a general term for offering, and is so translated in Lev_1:2.

Baken in the oven — There is no in in the original. Hence we infer that the oven was of the kind used by the Arabs, a great stone pitcher heated by a fire within it. To the exterior of this, thin cakes or wafers are applied, which are instantly baked.

Unleavened cakes — Leaven is expressly forbidden in the bread offering.

See Lev_2:11. The ground of this prohibition is, that the fermentation of the leaven is incipient decay, and the bread is rendered impure. This is the testimony of modern chemistry and hygiene, which has led to the attempt to substitute aerated and salt-raised bread for that corrupted by leaven. Our Lord Jesus and St. Paul always regarded leaven as a symbol of moral putrefaction. Mat_16:6; 1Co_5:6-8. Thus, according to St. Paul, unleavened cakes are emblematical of “sincerity (pureness) and truth.” Leaven in food was not forbidden except in the passover week. Because the bread of the peace offering was eaten and not burned, (Lev_2:11,) leaven was permitted in that peace offering. Lev_7:14.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 4-11. The second form of meat offering, when the flour and oil were made up into four varieties of cakes. The ritual of offering is not different from that of the first form. The frankincense is not mentioned, but doubtless is understood. The rabbinical rule, that meat offerings, when following upon burnt offerings or peace offerings, had no frankincense burnt with them, rests on no solid foundation.

Vers. 4-16. The various kinds of meat offerings.

Without dwelling on every minute regulation, the following main points may be distinguished as representative.

I OFFERED FOOD. Acknowledgment of dependence. Praise for life and its gifts. Joys and pleasures should be consecrated. The will of God in them and over them. Family worship a duty. Recognition of God in common life. Firstfruits are God"s, not the remnant or gleanings of our faculties and opportunities, but all.

II OFFERING DIVIDED BETWEEN OFFERER AND PRIESTS. Connection of daily labour and its results with the sanctuary and religious duties. The secular and sacred only nominally distinct. The house of God and the house of man should open into one another. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with the holiness of that which is assigned to God"s service in the sanctuary. It is most holy." Too often Christians fall into a carelessness with respect to sacred appointments which reacts on the spirit and life. Our partnership with God involves responsibility.

III NO LEAVEN, NO HONEY. In all things purity and humility. There must be no corrupt principle admitted into our service of God. The doctrine must be purified of leaven. The motives must be examined. We ought not to serve God for the sake of filthy lucre, under the influence of mere sensational excitement. Truth and sobriety in worship.

IV SALT WITH EVERY SACRIFICE. All must be brought to God in the spirit of penitent faith. Salt preserves life, sets forth the dependence of man upon God. The gracious covenant is the source of all. He who commands is himself the giver of all power to fulfill his word. He is the Alpha and the Omega of the spiritual life.

V FRANKINCENSE AND OIL. Fragrance and brightness. Heaven and earth mingled together. Reconciliation of God and man. The outpoured spirit of light and life. Joy in God and in his gifts. The anointing oil mingled in the fire and increased the flame. The Messiah is the true Anointed One. Every Israelite, in a lower degree, was himself a Messiah, an anointed one, taken up into the Son of God and blessed. The people are a holy, consecrated people, separated unto Jehovah. Every individual act of religion is acceptable as the oil of the Spirit is poured upon it. What a new view of life can thus be obtained! Make all a meat offering to the Lord. R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the oven - Made in the sanctuary for that use.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The second kind consisted of pastry of fine flour and oil prepared in different forms. The first was maapheh tannur, oven-baking: by תּנּוּר we are not to understand a baker's over (Hos 7:4, Hos 7:6), but a large pot in the room, such as are used for baking cakes in the East even to the present day (see my Archol. 99, 4). The oven-baking might consist either of "cakes of unleavened meal mixed (made) with oil," or of "pancakes of unleavened meal anointed (smeared) with oil." Challoth: probably from חלל to pierce, perforated cakes, of a thicker kind. Rekkim: from רקק to be beaten out thin; hence cakes or pancakes. As the latter were to be smeared with oil, we cannot understand בּלוּל as signifying merely the pouring of oil upon the baked cakes, but must take it in the sense of mingled, mixed, i.e., kneaded with oil (pefurame'nous lxx, or according to Hesychius, μεμιγμένους).

Lev 2:5-6

Secondly, if the minchah was an offering upon the pan, it was also to be made of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened. Machabath is a pan, made, according to Eze 4:3, of iron-no doubt a large iron plate, such as the Arabs still use for baking unleavened bread in large round cakes made flat and thin (Robinson, Palestine i. 50, ii. 180). These girdles or flat pans are still in use among the Turcomans of Syria and the Armenians (see Burckhardt, Syr. p. 1003; Tavernier, Reise 1, p. 280), whilst the Berbians and Cabyles of Africa use shallow iron frying-pans for the purpose, and call them tajen, - the same name, no doubt, as τήγανον, with which the lxx have rendered machabath. These cakes were to be broken in pieces for the minchah, and oil to be poured upon them (the inf. abs. as in Exo 13:3; Exo 20:8, vid., Ges. 131, 4); just as the Bedouins break the cakes which they bake in the hot ashes into small pieces, and prepare them for eating by pouring butter or oil upon them.

Lev 2:7

Thirdly, "If thy oblation be a tigel-minchah, it shall be made of fine flour with oil." Marchesheth is not a gridiron (ἔσχαρα, lxx); but, as it is derived from חרשׁ, ebullivit, it must apply to a vessel in which food was boiled. We have therefore to think of cakes boiled in oil.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses what the people and priests must do so their offerings will be acceptable to him.

that is baked in an oven

This can be stated in active form. AT: "that you baked in an oven" (See: Active or Passive)

oven

This was probably a hollow object made of clay. A fire was lit under the oven, and the heat would bake the dough inside of the oven. (See: Translate Unknowns)

soft bread of fine flour

It is understood that the soft bread contained no yeast. (See: Ellipsis)

which is spread with oil

Translate this phrase to indicate that the oil is to be spread onto the bread. AT: "with oil on the bread" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

If your grain offering is baked with a flat iron pan

This can be stated in active form. AT: "If you bake your grain offering in a flat iron pan" (See: Active or Passive)

a flat iron pan

This is a thick plate made of either clay or metal. The plate was placed over a fire, and the dough cooked on top of the plate. (See: Translate Unknowns)

translationWords

grain offering

yeast

bread

oil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

וכי ‎‎'ו גו‎תקריב‎‎‎‎‎ AND IF THOU OFFER [AN OFFERING OF AN OBLATION BAKEN IN THE OVEN] in that one said, “I take upon myself the obligation to bring a meal-offering taken in the oven. Scripture teaches you that he may bring either cakes or wafers, the cakes being mingled with oil and the wafers being anointed with oil (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 10 2). Our Rabbis are of different opinions as to their anointing. Some hold that they smeared them with oil and then repeatedly smeared them until the oil in the log was at an end, for every kind of meal-offering required a log of oil: whilst others hold that they smeared them only in the form of a Greek X (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:7 and Note thereon) and that the rest of the oil was consumed separately by the priests (Menachot 75a; cf. Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 11 6). — Why is the word בשמן used twice in this verse (it would have sufficed to state: חלות מצות בלולות בשמן ורקיקי מצות משוחים בו)? In order to permit for use with the meal-offering the “second grade of oil” and the “third grade of oil” which comes out of the olives) (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 11 6), and to teach that “the first oil” is required only for the candelabrum of which it is stated, (Exodus 27:20) “clear [olive oil for the light]”. — We read in Treatise Menachoth 76a: All the meal-offerings that were baked before the “fistful” was taken from them and at which the קמיצה could therefore be performed only by first breaking them into pieces — each of them had to be offered of ten cakes, and that at which “wafers” are prescribed was offered of ten wafers.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.