Here then we are warranted in saying, that all who would find acceptance with God, must " have an unction of the Holy One, even that anointing which shall abide with them and teach them all things11." We should " be filled with the Spirit," and " live and walk under" his gracious influences1.]
In a subsequent part of this chapter there is an especial command to add to this, and indeed to every sacrifice, a portion of " Salt,"—
[Here we have no difficulty ; for the very terms in which the command is given, sufficiently mark its import : " Thou shalt not suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lack- ing from thy meat-offering k." Had salt been mentioned alone, we might have doubted what meaning to affix to it ; but, being annexed to the covenant of God, we do not hesitate to explain it as designating the perpetuity of that covenant. It is the property of salt to keep things from corruption : and the Scriptures frequently apply it to the covenant, in order to intimate its unchangeable nature, and duration1. In this view of it, we are at no loss to account for the extreme energy with which the command is given, or the injunction to use salt in every sacrifice : for we cannot hope for pardon through the sacrifice of Christ, nor for sanctification by the Spirit, but according to the tenour of the everlasting covenant. Nay, nei- ther the one nor the other of these, nor both together, would have availed for our salvation, if God had not covenanted with his Son to accept his sacrifice for us, and to accept us also as renewed and sanctified by his Spirit. We must never there- fore approach our God without having a distinct reference to that covenant, as the ground and measure, the pledge and ear- nest, of all the blessings that we hope for. Even Christ himself owed his exaltation to glory to this covenant : it was " through the blood of the everlasting covenant that his God and Father brought him up again from the dead"1." And it is because "that covenant is ordered in all things and sure," that we can look up with confidence for all the blessings both of grace and glory.]
Together with these things that are enjoined, we find some expressly prohibited: there must be " No leaven, nor honey11" —
[Leaven, according to our Lord's own explanation of it, was considered as an emblem of corruption either in doctrine or in principle0 : and honey seems to have denoted sensuality. Now these were forbidden to be blended with the meat-offering.
i' 1 John ii. 20,27. i Eph.v. 18. Gal. v. 25. k ver. 13.
i See Numb, xviii. 19. 2 Chron. xiii. 5. m Heb. xiii. 20.
n ver. 11. ° Matt. xvi. 12. Luke xii. 1.
120. J THE MEAT-OFFERING. 57f>
There were occasions, as we shall see hereafter, whereon leaven at least might be offered; but in this offering not the smallest measure of either of them was to be mixed. This certainly intimated, that, when we come before God for mercy, we must harbour no sin in our hearts. We must put away evil of every kind, and offer him only " the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The retaining " a right hand or a right eye," con- trary to his commands, will be as effectual a bar to our accept- ance with God, as the indulgence of the grossest lusts. If we would obtain favour in his sight, we must be " Israelites indeed, and without guile."]
There was however one more thins: to be added to this offering, namely, " Frankincense" —
[The directions respecting this were singularly precise and strong. This was not to be mixed with the offering, or strewed upon it, but to be put on one part of it, that, while a small portion only of the other materials was put upon the altar, the whole of this was to be consumed by fire p. Shall we say, that this was enjoined, because, being unfit fox food, it was not to be kept for mere gratification to the priests, lest it should be brought into contempt ? This by no means accounts sufficiently for the strictness of the injunction. We doubt not but that its meaning was of peculiar importance ; that it was intended to intimate " the delight " which God takes in the services of his upright worshippers q, of those especially who come to him under the influences of his Spirit, trusting in the Saviour's merits, and in the blood of the everlasting covenant. Yes, their every prayer, their every tear, their every sigh and groan, comes up with acceptance before him, and is to him " an odour of a sweet smell," " a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable unto him through Jesus Christ." As the sacrifice of Christ himself was most pleasing unto God, so are the services of all his people for Christ's saker.]