Cereal Grillers
- Don't let the word "meat" in the King James Version fool you—this sacrifice is all about grain offerings. The word "meat" in the King James Bible is a general word for food, which means it can refer to stuff that even Anne Hathaway would eat.
- Unlike the burnt offering, the grain offering really is food: God lets the priests eat part of it.
- Toasted grains, flour pancakes, little wafers—like many modern cereals, the grain offering in Leviticus comes in several varieties. Grain offerings aren't as sickeningly sweet, though. And God doesn't allow adding honey.
- The pancakes and wafers are flatter and crispier than anything you'd find in IHOP or the cookie aisle. God forbids the use of leaven, which gives baked goods their floof.
- A grain offering does have an ingredient you won't find in today's pancakes and cookies: frankincense. And check this out: scientists have found that burning frankincense can give a nice little buzz. Hmmm, religion as the opiate of the people? (Sorry, we couldn't restrain ourselves.)
- The grain offering does require a helping of salt, a preservative that symbolizes the permanent covenant, or contract, between God and the people of Israel. Salted grain offerings may be long gone, but salted matzos, like the covenant, are forever!
- The book of Shmooperonomy has a great explanation of all this talk about sacred covenant and giving stuff to God. And we quote: "I scratched your back, now you scratch mine. A lot of the covenant language in the Bible resembles language of the Suzerain-Vassal treaties of the time period. These were agreements with more powerful states for protection and money in return for servitude and loyalty."
- Practically, for the harvest, this means that when God follows through on his promise to make the Israelites' fields fertile with abundant crops, they acknowledge the source by giving part of it back.
- When God gives more cattle or goats, it's time to turn to the rules for the next kind of sacrifice.