The book of Leviticus carries loads of information about various offerings the children of Israel presented to the Lord.

The instructions are surprisingly detailed. Grain offerings, for instance, might be prepared in an oven, or on a griddle, or cooked in a pan. All three methods are mentioned as options.

Every grain offering was made without yeast or honey. The deletion of yeast makes symbolic sense, a reference to the Israelites fleeing Egypt so quickly their bread didn’t have time to rise. Honey? Not so clear—perhaps it started the decay process too early?

Then there’s salt. Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

Salt preserves food, so its addition likely symbolized the enduring nature of God’s covenant with Israel. Since that time, salt has been used to bind covenants in other cultures, but it’s unclear how this practice carried down through time.

After burning some of the bread on the alter, the priests took the rest as part of their compensation for service. Maybe this recipe made for better meals? Perhaps the practice of drizzling honey over pizza crust started here?

Regardless of the questions, the Lord clearly cared about these instructions, and if the Lord pays attention to bread recipes, he pays attention to the details of our lives as well.

Leviticus 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Nadya Spetnitskaya