EXPOSITION
THE MEAT OFFERING. The regulation of the burnt offering as a Levitical institution is immediately followed by a similar regulation of the meat offering, consisting of flour and oil, with salt and frankincense, and usually accompanied by the drink offering of wine. The sacrifice of the animal in the burnt offering had represented the entire surrender of the offerer's will and life to God; the presentation of the fruits and products of the earth in the meat offering represents man's gift of homage, whereby he acknowledges God's sovereignty over all things and over himself, by offering to him a portion of that which he had graciously bestowed in abundance. David's words, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee … all this store cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own" (1 Chronicles 29:14, 1 Chronicles 29:16), express the idea underlying the meat offering. In the acted language of symbolism, it not only recognized the supremacy of God, but made a tender of loyal submission on the part of the offerer; as gifts of homage did in the case of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 32:20), and as they do to this day throughout our Indian empire, and generally in the East.