Commentary on Leviticus 1.2

Verses 1–3. "When a soul offers an offering of sacrifice to the Lord, its offering shall be fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it, and bring it to the sons of Aaron the priest. One of them shall take a handful full of the fine flour and of the oil, and all the frankincense, and shall put the memorial on the altar as a most sweet odour to the Lord. And what remains of the sacrifice shall be Aaron's and his sons', a holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord."

That he calls the whole man "soul" is plain from his saying, "its offering shall be fine flour": wishing to … the soul as a whole, he then commands the fine flour too to be offered. For how could the soul by itself bring an offering which it had need of in praying, and for this would certainly need the ministry of the body? But to ears accustomed to the divine Scriptures the word asserts nothing new here. For elsewhere too he called the whole man, in his ways, "soul" on its own; as when, setting out the number of those who went down into Egypt, he says: "All the souls that went in with Jacob into Egypt, and came out of his loins, besides the wives of his sons, were seventy." And Luke too, describing the voyage of Paul as he went to Rome, says: "And we were in all two hundred and seventy-six souls in the ship."

But we must consider whether here he did not perhaps call the gentile man a "soul." For above he spoke to the sons of Israel of the sacrifices that involve blood: "Speak," he says, "to the sons of Israel: A man of you who offers a victim to the Lord from the cattle, that is, from the oxen and the sheep, shall offer victims." Here, commanding the sacrifice that is without blood, the fine flour, he necessarily did not say "A man of you" but "When a soul offers an offering," naming the gentile a "soul," because they were formerly natural men who could not understand the things of the Spirit; yet they are called to the offering, since the just God has mercy on them and saves them by condescension. Of this Solomon too says in Proverbs: "The just man has mercy on the souls of his beasts." The offering of one, then, who lacks the riches of virtues will be fine flour. For a little later, when he arranges the sacrifices for sins, he commanded one who has neither a sheep nor a goat to offer turtledoves and young pigeons, and one who has not even this to offer fine flour. For he is saved no longer by works, being poor in virtues, but by the knowledge of God alone; which in the law is called fine flour and in the Gospel meal. For the Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened," signifying the church, which in the word of the Trinity leavens the mystery of theology. In the law this is called fine flour; hence God also commanded Moses to offer three tenths of fine flour for the cleansing of leprosy, that is, for the forgiveness of sin. Since the divine knowledge in the law was still grosser and not yet full, it is fittingly called fine flour, but in the Gospels meal, as having subtler and loftier meanings than the law. Moses hinted at this (since both meal and fine flour could, for the said reasons, be called divine knowledge) when, as God appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre and he was signifying the mystery of the Trinity, he describes Sarah as being told: "Hurry and mix three measures of fine flour."

Though the knowledge of God is the beginning of salvation for the gentiles, we still need to pour oil on the fine flour and put frankincense on it, so that we may mix the grace of God with almsgiving and with prayer; for these can draw down to us the knowledge of God from heaven. Cornelius is a witness to this, to whom the angel coming down from heaven said: "Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have gone up to the Lord; and now send men to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter." For he was going to hand on the true knowledge to Cornelius. And how prayer is understood in frankincense you know if you inquire into its power and search it out. For physicians are accustomed to use it against inward passions and to treat the sores of diseased eyes, and if someone kindles it and takes in its smoke, it checks the tears that come from sickness. In the same way prayer too does a great deal: for it above all heals the passions of the soul, and it also treats the sores of the eyes perceived by the mind, freeing them from ignorance, and saves from the tears that come from what is truly sickness, that is, from sin. "Is anyone among you sick?" says James. "Let him call the presbyters, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he is in sins, they will be forgiven him."

After this he commands the fine flour to be taken in a handful, that is, to grasp the knowledge of God by faith. For by the handful he here signifies faith, and he shows plainly that the knowledge, or acquaintance, with God that faith can grasp is acceptable to the Lord. And just as one who wants to grasp more in a handful gains nothing (for it all runs out and falls, and he labours uselessly), so the measure of the knowledge of God is faith. For, as Paul says, "whoever comes to God must believe that he is." And again: "Without faith it is impossible to please God." And to put it briefly, "whatever is not of faith is sin," as the same wrote to the Romans. There can be no glorifying, then, in unbelief. Then, because he commands the fine flour to be taken with oil, he wants us most plainly to give alms. For "Give alms," says the Lord, "and see, all things will be clean for you." And he commands all the frankincense to be taken in the handful. All of it, why? Because we must always pray and give thanks without ceasing, as Paul says.

But who is it that takes it in a handful? According to the Seventy it is not said, so that he might signify the one who offers, absolutely. For if he had spoken of the priest, he would surely have added this, as was ordained in the sacrifice for sin, which also was made of fine flour. For there he wants what is offered to God in the priest's handful to be a memorial, ordaining something other than what is said now, as we shall show a little later. But here it is not so; rather, when it has been taken, as was said, the priest who offers it (and you have learned that he is Jesus) will offer the memorial of the sacrifice on the heavenly altar. And the memorial of the knowledge of God is perfect knowledge, which we shall always remember once we have become capable of it; it is never destroyed, and it does not destroy the present knowledge as contrary to it, but shows by its own fullness that it is a very small part, as it is said: "We know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be done away." And how it will be done away he shows clearly by adding: "Now we see through a mirror in a riddle, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known."

This sacrifice the lawgiver fittingly called a most sweet odour to the Lord. The odour in the Lord is the knowledge, or acquaintance, with him; and so that you may not doubt this, you have Paul as a most truthful witness to this also: "Thanks be to God," he says, "who always triumphs through us in Christ Jesus, and manifests the odour of his knowledge through us in every place." See, you have meanwhile come to know the odour of knowledge. Hear also of the good odour in what follows: "For we are the good odour of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing."

Then the lawgiver says: "And what remains of the sacrifice shall be Aaron's and his sons', a holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord." He speaks of the remainder of that perfect knowledge, or acquaintance, which is hidden and laid up in heaven in Christ, "in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." It is a holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord: for the knowledge that remains is partial, yet it surpasses all others and leads to perfection. It shall be, then, Aaron's and his sons'. And Aaron is interpreted "ark" or "mountain-dweller," that is, one who understands lofty things about God; for the ark too, as having within it the law of God and his oracles, can offer the said sacrifice.

Verse 4. "And when you offer a sacrifice baked in an oven, of fine flour, namely loaves without leaven, sprinkled with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil."

The intention of the lawgiver is admirable, proceeding with exactness through everything. For since he made mention above of the knowledge, or acquaintance, with God, lest you should perhaps think that the mystery of the Lord's dispensation lies outside it, see how he sets it out in riddles, wishing to introduce the incarnation of his birth, of his cross and of his resurrection; for he was made flesh in order to be sacrificed. That is why John the Baptist called him "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Rightly, then, the sacrifice is said here, to announce his birth, to be baked in an oven, namely the womb of the Mother of God. For she is fittingly called an oven, because the oven receives both the loaves and the fire from above, just as the Mother of God received from above in her womb the bread of life, namely God the Word, and the fire of the presence of the Spirit. "For the Holy Spirit," it says, "will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Moses commended this oven when God established with Abraham the covenant of the seed; for he says that, when the sun was coming to its setting (here he signifies the end of the world), a flame was made, "and see, a burning oven appeared." And what is this? He added, "and smoking, and it passed through the middle of the divided pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham." For when the heavenly fire, namely the Spirit, came into the oven of the womb of the Mother of God, to kindle all the parts of the world, then God established the covenant with Abraham, that is, with the gentiles; for Abraham is called the father of the gentiles.

If, then, you offer the gift of the incarnation of the Only-begotten, which took place in the womb of the Virgin, it is not acceptable to God otherwise than if it is baked of fine flour, that is, if it is done from the knowledge, or acquaintance, with God. For from where else have we taken our speech on this matter than from the apostles and the prophets? Take, then, the words of the apostles as the loaves and those of the prophets as the wafers. For as much as loaves are better suited than wafers for nourishment, so much are the words of the apostles better suited than the words of the prophets. Both, however, are unleavened, because they have no leaven from another teaching, for example worldly wisdom, which it suits heretics to come to. For they, since they strive to join outward things to inward ones, and rather to subject these to them and to leaven things that can in no way be leavened, have fallen away from the unleavened words. But see, the loaves of the apostles and the wafers of the prophets are made in oil: for it is written with one accord both by those and by these that Christ came to have mercy on us. But the apostles say it more plainly; for Paul says: "For as you formerly did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy through their disobedience, so these too have not believed in the mercy shown to you, that they too may obtain mercy. For God has shut up all things under sin, that he may have mercy on all." Everywhere he calls the mystery of the coming of Christ "mercy"; that is why the loaves are said to be sprinkled with oil. But the prophets do not say it so, but as in a riddle; for David says: "Mercy and truth have met each other." And again: "Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation." That is why the wafers are called not sprinkled but smeared with oil.

But keep also that exactness of the words, how, when he wants us to receive mercy, he signifies the kindness of the Incarnate One: he does not say "he shall pour oil," but sets out "loaves sprinkled with oil." By these words he signified the Lord's birth, and by those that follow he signifies also the passion.

Verses 5–6. "If your offering is from the pan, of fine flour sprinkled with oil and without leaven, you shall divide it in small pieces and pour oil on it."

He calls the sacrifice from the pan the dispensation of the passion of the Only-begotten, judging the cross like a pan for this reason: the pan is so strong that when it is set on the fire it is itself not consumed and suffers no corruption or diminishing, while the foods set on it, as soon as they touch the fire, or, if they are harder, after no long interval, it makes fit for eating. So also the cross of Christ was so strong that it subjected all creation to the Crucified; and his flesh, which was unfit for eating before the passion (for who desired to eat the flesh of God?), it made fit for food after the passion. For if he had not been crucified, we would not eat the sacrifice of his body. But now we eat the food, taking the memorial of his passion. The Lord, signifying this pan in Ezekiel,

says: "And you, take for yourself an iron pan, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city." He called it iron because of the said strength; and "between you and the city," he says, that is, Jerusalem, because they above all, stumbling at the cross of the Lord and by the sufferings they inflicted, were separated from the knowledge of him. The mystery of the passion, then, is sprinkled with oil, because he endured death for us out of mercy for us. And he wants it to be without leaven, that is, pure of outside teaching.

He says: "You shall divide them into small pieces," so that we may divide our discourse into his sufferings, which came about one by one: for example, the slaps, the blows, the spitting, and the piercing of his side. "You shall pour oil on it." But just as he, having mercy on us, handed himself over to suffering for us, so we too must have mercy on our neighbours, taking the Lord's passion as the example of this kindness; hence he says: "You shall pour oil on it," so that we too may imitate the heart of mercy of the Lord; for he says: "Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful." And that he set out this chapter about the Lord's passion, the very marking of the words shows. For what he added according to the Seventy, "It is a sacrifice to the Lord," he adds here as something special, which he wrote nowhere in the burnt offerings or in the others that he commanded above; but here he added it, because the passion of the Only-begotten was a sacrifice offered to God the Father, Christ offering himself, as Paul says; for he says: "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on the defiled, sanctifies for cleansing, … through the Holy Spirit offered himself without blemish to God?"

Verses 7–10. "But if the sacrifice is from the gridiron, the fine flour shall likewise be sprinkled with oil; and the one who offers it to the Lord shall hand it into the hands of the priest; and when he has offered it, he shall take the memorial from the sacrifice and burn it on the altar as an odour of sweetness to the Lord. And whatever remains shall be Aaron's and his sons', a holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord."

He wants us to discuss similar things also when we debate the resurrection, whose mystery he not in vain called a gridiron; rather, by the gridiron he signified death. Just as above we took the pan as the Lord's cross, so let us take the gridiron as his death, and also his burial. For no one at all is ignorant of the difference between the gridiron and the pan: the pan is set over a fire that is just now blazing up and being kindled, but the gridiron on coals that are burning and were kindled long before. So too the Lord's death was not the beginning of some suffering, but the outcome of the sufferings which had already been worked out in him. And so the gift of this too is made from fine flour, that is, from the knowledge, or acquaintance, with God that concerns the Lord's death; for one must call Christ God even in death, and none the less proclaim as immortal him who died on account of mortal flesh. Yet the gift will be made in oil: for one who discusses the Lord's death and resurrection must also add the account of the mercy of God, which is the oil. For out of mercy for the human race he both endured death and arranged the resurrection from the dead.

But if we said that the fire which is above the oven is the Holy Spirit, and that therefore the oven signified the womb of the Mother of God, and again interpreted the fire under the pan and the gridiron as the passion and death, do not on any account disbelieve this, for the very things said about both can satisfy you. For in the oven the fire is put in from above, since the ministry of the Spirit is from heaven; of which the Lord said: "I came to send fire on the earth." And John said of the Lord: "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire." But in the pan and the gridiron the fire is taken from below, because the preparing of the passion came from men who lie in the lowest things in their minds. And that fire is taken for suffering, hear Jeremiah saying: "And it became like a burning fire, raging in my bones." And again David: "The Lord in his anger will trouble them, and fire will devour them," speaking of the death which he was going to bring upon sinners. Nor is it strange [that we take] coals …, for by spiritual tradition we take them as …, which are the cause of light and of destruction. For Isaiah said that one of the cherubim was sent, took a coal from the altar, and cleansed his mouth. Ezekiel too said that the cherub took from the same coals which were in the midst of the cherubim, and scattered the burning.

The lawgiver, wishing to teach us in some measure the said mysteries, sums up the account of these same sacrifices in these words: "which you offer to the Lord," that is, from the oven and from the pan and from the gridiron, that is, of the birth of the Lord, of his passion and of his death; for in these the account of his whole dispensation is completed, and in these is contained also the account of his resurrection, because "he who descended is the same who also ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things."

"He shall hand it into the hands of the priest": that is, to Christ himself, who afterwards drew near to the altar that is in heaven; and he drew near in the flesh, through the ascension, for it is never separated from the divinity. "He shall take the memorial from the sacrifice": the abundance of knowledge, or acquaintance, as we taught above, which he will burn on the altar with himself, keeping it for the age to come. "And whatever remains," that is, as much as he has commanded us to know and to search out, "shall be Aaron's and his sons'," that is, he has handed it to those who can think and perceive lofty things about God, whom we said before to be the sons of Aaron. "A holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord": the lawgiver wrote this to confirm the same thing more strongly; for all good knowledge is holy, but a Holy of Holies is he who can discuss the knowledge of God as he ought.

Verses 11–12. "Every offering that is offered to the Lord shall be made without leaven, and no leaven or honey shall be burned in sacrifice to the Lord. You shall offer only their first fruits and gifts, but they shall not be put on the altar as an odour of sweetness."

He wants the teaching of God to have no communion with outside learning. For that he calls a foreign teaching "leaven" the Lord himself taught plainly, saying to his disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And when they did not know what was being said, he added: "Do you not yet understand or know that I did not speak to you about loaves?" And then they understood that he had spoken of the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. And that the teaching of the pagans is understood by honey, because of the sweetness of its words and the pleasantness of its eloquence, Solomon teaches in Proverbs, saying: "Do not look at a harlot woman; for the lips of a harlot drip a honeycomb, and her throat is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as wormwood." Her end, that is, when you have begun to distinguish between true wisdom and the feigned one that bears a false name. For though in the Song of Songs it is said to the church, "Honey and milk are under your tongue," this does not contradict what is said here but agrees with it entirely. For it did not say "on your tongue" but "under your tongue," to show that the wisdom of the pagans and the letter of the Jews are subject to the tongue of the church, that is, to her teaching.

Of these, then, … it shall not be burned in the sacrifice which is a burnt offering; "you shall offer only their first fruits." For he commanded first fruits to be offered in part from that wisdom, but not to use it fully; rather as Paul did when he preached among the Athenians, saying, "As one of your poets said: For we are also his offspring." Finding an outside saying suited to give occasion for the knowledge of God, he did not reject it, yet he added nothing to it; for he did not go on from there to multiply testimonies. Why? Because "it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching," as Paul himself says, "to save those who believe," "so that your faith may not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." That is why the lawgiver says: "But they shall not be put on the altar as an odour of sweetness." And though he could have said "they are not put," he said "they shall not be put," showing that even if we should try to attain the knowledge of the divinity from outside things, such a sacrifice does not go up to the altar of God, nor is it an odour of sweetness to the Lord; such a sacrifice is assigned to lower things, and, as having its existence from the earth, it is pressed down to the earth.

Verse 13. "Whatever sacrifice you offer, you shall season with salt, and you shall not take away the salt of the covenant of your God from your sacrifice. In every offering you shall offer salt."

You see that he does not want those who speak of God to use outside wisdom much, but the apostolic wisdom, of which Paul says: "We speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the rulers of this world, who are being destroyed; but we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory." And from where is it certain, you say, that he said salt for the apostolic wisdom? The Lord showed us this plainly when he said to the apostles: "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savour, it will be good for nothing any more but to be thrown out and trodden down by men." He called the apostolic wisdom salt for this reason, that just as every food fit for nourishment is in every case seasoned with salt, so also every word useful for help needs in every case the seasoning of apostolic wisdom. That is why he commanded that salt be not absent from the sacrifices, but be offered in every gift: so that whatever you teach, whatever you correct, in whatever virtue you conduct yourself, you may work in emulation and imitation of the apostles, and remember Paul, who says: "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And again: "So then you are no longer strangers and guests, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone." And the lawgiver hints that he did not mean salt simply but that salt perceived by the mind: "You shall not take away," he says, "the salt of the covenant of your God." But if the covenant, or testament, is rational, then certainly the salt too …

Verse 14. "But if you offer a gift of the first fruits of your crops to the Lord, from ears still green, you shall parch them with fire and break them up like grain, and so you shall offer your first fruits to the Lord, pouring oil on them and putting frankincense on them, because it is the Lord's offering; and of it the priest shall burn, as a memorial of the gift, part of the broken grain and of the oil, and all the frankincense."

He commands that the acquaintance, or knowledge, of God be offered not only by those who have continued a long time in that knowledge but also by those who are beginning it, such as Paul was: for as soon as he was called, he preached. For this reason let us understand what is now said in this way. A first fruit to God is one who has newly begun to believe and has not yet offered him any fruit of divine knowledge. If, then, we offer him the sacrifice of the word of God while newly beginning the knowledge of him, we shall offer green things, as people newly learning and newly perceiving something. Since we have not yet begun to bring forth his mysteries with exactness, so as to offer meal or fine flour, it is necessary that we offer things green and parched and broken up, or, as the Seventy say, "fresh, roasted, ripe, broken." For just as with moist fruits, which cannot yet be ground to become meal or fine flour, when we want to make them fit for eating we break them up with fire and, in breaking them, separate their chaff, so all of us who do not yet have solid knowledge, nor subtle and exalted theology (for we are not yet fit to discern it, not having perfect knowledge of the spiritual Scriptures), need to shape it in the fire of the Spirit, that is, to make his working and help serve us, so that by it we may separate the chaff of the letter. For from him we shall possess a sufficient and most swift knowledge of God; that is why the priest perceived by the mind also receives it. And we must pour oil on it and put frankincense on it, for divine knowledge is perfected in us through almsgiving and prayer. Of these, and also of the memorial which is received by the priest and laid on the altar, we have explained with more exactness above; there is no need, then, to confuse the explanation now. For where, according to the Seventy, it is "roasted, ripe, broken," the other interpreters, explaining "the things roasted in fire" from the Hebrew, rendered instead "roasted, ripe," and "soft things roasted in fire."