Read Leviticus 6:8-18 at Bible Gateway.
HEBREW PARAGRAPHS
6:8-13 {s} Perpetual whole burnt offering (olah)
6:14-18 {p} Grain offering (minchah) that must be eaten
STRONG THEME
To see how Messiah sits in this Torah portion, we first have to understand the Strong theme. The two paragraps seem, initially, to be disparate. The first, Lev 6:8-13, is instruction for the priests who handle the whole burnt offering commanded every morning and evening (Num 28:1-8). The second, Lev 6:14-18, concerns Aaron’s portion of the grain offering brought by the worshiper (Lev 2:1-16). The Chiastic structure, moreover, resolves to the nth degree, which verifies it as a valid chiasm, and combines the two paragraphs into a single teaching unit. That is a second witness that the paragraphs belong together. But together, what is their topic?
The fire consumes the perpetual burnt offering, and the priests, and YHVH consume their portion of the grain offering. In Hebrew it is the same verb, Strong’s H398, אכל akal, “to devour, to consume,” and it is the ordinary verb translated “eat” wherever that English word appears in the Hebrew Testament.
The Strong theme sets two consumings side by side. The first is total. The offering is wholly burned at the altar, and wholly YHVH’s. When it is consumed, it is destroyed entire. The second is partial. It is not wholly burned. YHVH’s memorial portion is made to smoke for a sweet aroma, and the rest is given to Aaron and his sons, who then consume it. When this offering is consumed, it is partaken of.
Lev 6:8-18 {s+p} Strong theme: Two offerings consumed: the whole totally by the fire; the grain partially by the priests.
FINDING MESSIAH
The whole burnt offering of the first paragraph could only be brought by one who was in right standing with YHVH, with no sin or trespass sitting between them (Lev 1). Yeshua was in right standing, and the offering He brought to the cross was Himself. He became sin who knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21). The fire consumes the whole as a Prophetic type of total destruction.
The grain offering of the second paragraph is set next to the sin and guilt offerings (Lev 6:17). Those are the offerings brought by one not in right standing, when a sin or a trespass sits between him and YHVH. That is the condition of all the rest of humanity, for all have sinned and fallen short (Rom 3:23). Those offerings atone to restore right standing. The priests consume the grain offering as those who serve at the altar share in it (1 Cor 9:13). That partaking is the Prophetic type. It is fulfilled when we receive Messiah Yeshua and His sacrifice for our sins, and partake of Him, and are saved (Joh 6:53-58).
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