Numbers 28-29: Sacrifices by the numbers

Numbers 28: Daily Offerings / Sabbath Offerings / Monthly Offerings / Offerings at Passover / Offerings at the Festival of Weeks
Numbers 29: Offerings at the Festival of Trumpets / Offerings on the Day of Atonement / Offerings at the Festival of Booths

In today's reading the Lord gives Moses instructions concerning offerings on specific days. These offerings are not done by the people, but by the priests on behalf of the people. Offerings are listed first by degrees of frequency, and then are given for the festivals and holy days. These are in addition to votive and freewill offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and offerings of well being.

The bible may be read here as an instruction manual, and a very precise one at that. Repetitions that may seem unnecessary to us are made over and over. As we will see, the offerings are fairly standardized, with 1/10 an ephah of flour being offered with a lamb, 2/10 with a ram, and 3/10 with a bull. This corresponds with the increasing size of each animal. Were offerings still common today, it might be stated at the beginning that lambs are sacrificed with amount X grain, rams with amount Y, and bulls with amount Z. But that is not how the biblical authors wrote. Likewise, the festival of booths could be significantly shortened by stating that for each of the seven days, 2 rams, 14 lambs, and 1 goat are offered. Though if you really want to get technical, the number of bulls each day is represented by the equation:

b = 15 - d 

in which b is equal to the number of bulls to be sacrificed and d is equal to the day of the festival. That would be some serious scripture.

There are many theories regarding offerings - too many to describe here. The Israelites might use sacrifice to acknowledge God's presence and gain God's favor. But as a literary function, the daily offering seems to indicate a sort of communion - the way you might commune with a guest. The scent is pleasing to God and the humans partake of some of the meat, the other parts are dedicated to God or disposed of. It is a way of saying, "this is ours." God refers to the offerings as "my offerings by fire, my pleasing odor," that the Israelites "shall take care to offer to me at its appointed time" (Num. 28.2).

Daily Offerings: Numbers 28.1-8
Two offerings, one in the morning and one at midnight.

1 one-year-old male lamb without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour mixed with 1/4 hin oil and1/4 hin strong drink

Sabbath Offerings: Numbers 28.9-10
Made "In addition to the regular [daily] burnt offering and its drink offering" (Num. 28.10).

2 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil per lamb and an unspecified drink offering

Monthly Offerings: Numbers 28.11-15
Burnt offerings made at the beginning of the month.

2 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil and 1/2 hin per bull

1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil and 1/3 hin strong drink
7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah mixed with oil and 1/4 hin strong drink per lamb

1 male goat as a sin offering 
Offerings at Passover: Numbers 28.16-25
Made on the fifteenth day of the first month [the day after passover]. It marks the beginning of the festival of unleavened bread. This offering made every morning for the seven days, in addition to the daily morning burnt offering.

2 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil per bull

1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil

7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah mixed with oil per lamb

1 male goat as a sin offering 

Offerings at the Festival of Weeks: Numbers 28.26-31
To be offered on the day of first fruits, marking the harvest of new grain.

2 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil per bull

1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil

7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah mixed with oil per lamb

1 male goat "for atonement" [as a sin offering?]

Offerings at the Festival of Trumpets: Numbers 29.1-6
On the first day of the seventh month the trumpets should be blown and the following offering should be made. These are made in addition to the "burnt offering of the new moon" and the daily offering.

1 young bull with 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil

1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil

7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah mixed with oil per lamb

1 male goat as a sin offering 

Offerings on the Day of Atonement: Numbers 29.7-11
On the tenth day of the seventh month the following offering should be made:

1 young bull with 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil 

1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour mixed with oil

7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah mixed with oil per lamb

1 male goat as a sin offering 

Offerings at the Festival of Booths: Numbers 29.12-40
The fifteenth day of the seventh month kicks off the seven-day festival of booths. Offerings are prescribed for each day, with a burnt offering made as well on the eighth day:

Day 1
13 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each
14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 2
12 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 3
11 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 4
10 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 5
9 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 6
8 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 7
7 young bulls with 3/10 ephah flour each
2 rams with 2/10 ephah flour each

14 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each
1 male goat as a sin offering 

Day 8
1 bull with 3/10 ephah flour each, with drink offering
1 ram with 2/10 ephah flour each, with drink offering

7 one-year-old male lambs without blemish with 1/10 ephah flour each, with drink offering
1 male goat as a sin offering

Leviticus 8.1-10.20

The Rites of Ordination / Aaron's Priesthood Inaugurated / Nadab and Abihu

My two summer reads that have stood out so far are Richard Russo's Straight Man and Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. I found the former to be more entertaining, the latter to be more informative. I might be heading to Spain in the next year and would like to catch a bullfight. Now that I know what I should look for, or at least what I should have looked for had I watched a bullfight in the 1930s.

The reason I tell you this is that both in some ways follow the same literary mode of Leviticus up until this point. Russo has a tendency in his books to spend many, many pages characterizing his characters. By the time a plot develops, the reader knows the characters well enough that actions can be anticipated and irony injected with ease. Russo is able to make a brief mention in the second half to an old joke or story from the first half that the reader will understand and appreciate. That is, he gives his reader a strong base to understand the narrative.

Hemingway takes a similar approach in Death in the Afternoon, though because the book is so long, large amounts of information appear interspersed with narratives that demonstrate the importance, legitimacy, or irony of the information and say something about it. It is Russo's technique repeated throughout the book, rather than characterizing all at once.

The bible's method of presenting information and narrative is similar to Hemingway's. The latter part of Exodus contained a large amount of instructions regarding the building of the tabernacle and the ordination of the priests. The first seven chapters of Leviticus are comprised of instructions regarding sacrifice. But here, in chapters eight, nine and ten, the narrative unfolds into a thrilling story of life and death (stories of sacrifice are usually about life and death, but not always thrilling). You have (or have not) put up with the lengthy factual sections. Here is some action for you.

The Rites of Ordination: Leviticus 8.1-36

The Lord tells Moses to gather Aaron, Aaron's sons, the vestments, anointing oil, a bull, two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Moses then carries out what the Lord has commanded in Exodus. He washes Aaron and his sons, dresses them, anoints them and the altar and utensils, and proceeds with the sacrifices.

The bull is sacrificed, as prescribed, as a sin offering. The first ram is sacrificed as a burnt offering. The second ram is offered as a sacrifice of ordination.

Moses then anoints the altar, Aaron, his sons, and their vestments, with oil and blood.

Aaron and his sons are instructed to boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent. They are to eat it and burn what is left. They are then to remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days before their ordination, not leaving during that week. This seems to be a test to prove their devotion to God. The week inside the tent of meeting puts them in a liminal state, between the world of the Israelites and the face of God. After the week is over, they will be able to serve as intermediaries between God and the people, a status that is symbolized in the week-long ceremony.

Aaron's Priesthood Inaugurated: Leviticus 9.1-24

On the eighth day Aaron and his sons make a sin offering and burnt offering themselves, as well as a sin offering, burnt offering, two offerings of well-being, and a grain offering for the people. The sacrifices are required to cleanse the priests and congregation before the Lord appears in the newly-created tabernacle, "For today the Lord will appear to you" (Lev. 9.4).

Aaron performs all these offerings, and then lifts his hands and blesses the people. Moses and Aaron then enter the tent of meeting and come out and bless the people, presumably imbued with holiness. The glory of the Lord then appears to all the people in the form of fire. In a brilliant display of pyrotechnics, fire "came out from the Lord" (or more likely where the Lord would sit, on the mercy seat) and consumes the burnt offering and fat sitting on the altar (Lev. 9.24). The presence of God legitimates the ceremony and serves as the climax of the story. The people shout and fall on their faces, just as Moses fell on his face when he first encountered the Lord.

Nadab and Abihu: Leviticus 10.1-20

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each take his censer, puts lit coals in it, and lays incense on top. They offer "unholy fire" (literally "unauthorized coals") before the Lord, in a way that has not been commanded.

For not following God's law, fire again shoots out from the ark of the covenant and consumes Nadab and Abihu, so that they die before the Lord. It is a grotesque irony. The purification of the sons and the congregation had just been completed, and now through an act of disobedience all of Israel has been polluted by the deaths. The more obvious gruesomeness, of course, is that the subversion of purifying effect of fire in sacrifice. Now fire does not purify but rather serves as retribution for sin. Through the second fire, everything is sullied.

The elements are rearranged and reversed. Priests performing sacrifice properly purify themselves and others through fire. Priests performing rituals incorrectly are themselves destroyed by fire as through a sacrifice.

There is a lesson in this Moses tells Aaron:

This is what the Lord meant when he said,
   “Through those who are near me
   I will show myself holy,
   and before all the people
   I will be glorified.”
(Lev. 10.3)

The Lord has certainly shown himself holy (read: apart from sin). The Lord has also certainly demonstrated the importance of proper glorification (as sacrifice is a form of glorification).

Aaron falls silent, further emphasizing the reversal of the scene. Whereas the first fire invokes the noise of the people, the second fire invokes silence.

Moses tells Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron's cousins, to carry away Aaron's departed sons outside the camp. The two brother carry their dead cousins by their tunics out of the camp as commanded. Moses then warns Aaron's other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, against disheveling their hair and tearing their vestments, which are traditional signs of mourning. Otherwise they will die and wrath will strike the congregation. The brothers, after all, still have to aid their father as priests. The rest of Israel, however, may mourn. The sons further are warned that if they leave the entrance of the tent of meeting, they will die, for the anointing oil is upon them.

The Lord tells Aaron that he and his sons should not drink wine or strong drink when in the tent of meeting (which presumably means they may not be under the influence while there) or they will die. The reason for this is that the priests are to serve as an intermediary between the divine and mundane realms:

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.
(Lev. 10.10-11)

Moses tells Aaron and his sons that they are to eat of the grain offering in a holy place, as commanded. The elevated breast and thigh, however, may be consumed by Aaron's family in a clean place.

Moses then confronts Aaron about a purification offering that had been entirely burned, instead of offering a portion to God and keeping the rest to eat. After all, this offering, when eaten, makes atonement for the entire congregation. Aaron responds that he offered a sin and burnt offering earlier in the day, but that tragedy had befallen him nonetheless. Aaron is wary about eating the flesh of a sacrifice that led to such a disaster. Instead, he presented the entire sacrifice to God. Moses agrees with his assessment.

Today's reading is a perfect example of the dialectical tensions of the bible. For not following God's commands precisely, Nadab and Abihu lose their lives.

Leviticus 4.1-6.7

Sin Offerings / Offerings With Restitution / Instructions Concerning Sacrifices

Leviticus 1-5 characterizes two types of sacrifices: spontaneous sacrifice (1-3), sacrifice of expiation (4-5). Chapters 6-7 restate these in order of sanctity.

Yesterday's post covered spontaneous sacrifice. Today's covers sacrifice of expiation. Guess what tomorrow's covers?

The Lord tells Moses to speak to the Israelites regarding unintentional sins "in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done" (Lev. 4.2). Sin offerings are made when a person realizes his or her mistake, which should seem obvious, but this emphasis causes the motivation for sin to be the sense of guilt at sinning, not the sinful act itself. Sins seem to be sins once they are known, not when they occur. Any philosophers out there care to comment?

Sins require sacrifice, and the biblical author lists these sacrifices not in order of egregiousness of the sin (after all, these are unintentional and apparently liable to be forgotten for a time), but rather in order of importance within the social hierarchy. The hierarchy goes like this:

Priest > Congregation of Israel > Tribal Chieftain > Ordinary Person

Priests make the greatest sacrifice (an unblemished bull), common people the least (a sheep or goat). The order makes perfect sense. Those in positions of leadership should know better so that they may better lead their people. The commoners make a lesser sacrifice of a sheep and if they are poor, a bird, and if they are poorer still, grain. 

This is a wonderful artifact of social hierarchy of ancient Israel. The system is merit-based, and each pays according to his social/religious standing. The entire congregation of Israel as a whole is more important than the leader, and one bull's body atones for the entire body Israel. Does this mean a priest is worth more than the entire population in God's eyes? Probably not. But it does nicely demonstrate the importance of priests in this culture. After all, when a priest sins, he brings into guilt the entire nation of Israel. And it is only priests that can make atonement for any given member of society. But enough about politics. Let's slaughter some animals.

Sin Offerings: Leviticus 4.1-5.13

Priest
An anointed priest who sins brings guilt on the people, and should offer a bull without blemish as a sin offering. He should bring the bull before the entrance of the tent of meeting, lay his hand on its head, and slaughter the bull. He should take some of the blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. He should dip a finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain. Blood should also be put on the incense altar and the rest should be poured at the base of the altar of burnt offering. All the fat, the kidneys, the appendage of the liver should be removed and burnt on the altar. Everything else is to be brought to the ash heap outside the camp where it is to be burned on a wood fire.

Congregation of Israel
If the whole congregation sins unintentionally, they should make a sin offering when the sin is realized. The offering is a bull, though unlike the priest's offering, this bull (a lesser sacrifice) does not need to be unblemished. The elders of the congregation should lay their hands on the head of the bull and it should be slaughtered. From there a priest takes over to make atonement for the people. He is to proceed in the same manner with the blood, fat, and disposal of the body as he would for a sin offering for a priest.

Ruler (Tribal Chieftain)
A ruler who unintentionally sins should sacrifice a goat without blemish once his sin is realized. He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, which will be slaughtered as a sin offering. A priest takes over, putting blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pouring the rest on the base of the altar. The fat is to be burned on the altar.

Note that the priest here does not have to go into the tent of meeting before God with an offering of blood. Nor is there any mention as to what is done with the body. Therefore perhaps the rest may be eaten.

Ordinary Person
An ordinary person who sins unintentionally should bring a female goat or sheep without blemish to be sacrificed once the sin is realized. The person is to lay his hand on the animal, which is then slaughtered. A priest then dabs some blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pours the rest out at the base. He is to remove all the fat and burn it.

As with the leader's offering, the priest does not enter the tent of meeting and there is no mention of the disposal of the body. But interestingly, an ordinary person offers a female animal. While female humans may be subjugated in society, female animals are more important to breeding than are males. Thus the sacrificer loses more with this sacrifice, even if the societal norms apply.

Specialty Sin Offerings
These offerings are made to atone for four conditions of sin:

1. A person refuses to testify upon being adjured in public
2. A person unintentionally touches an unclean thing (carcasses of unclean animals)
3. A person unintentionally touches human uncleanliness
4. A person unintentionally utters a rash oath for a good or bad purpose

There are three ways to make sacrifice, depending on your wealth.

1. If you are wealthy enough, you make a sin offering of a female sheep or goat. This goat does not have to be unblemished.

2. If you cannot afford the livestock, you may bring two turtledoves or two pigeons. One of these will act as a sin offering (see above) and the other a burnt offering (see yesterday's entry). A priest will take the first one, wring its head without severing it, sprinkle some of the blood on the side of the altar and drain the rest at the base. The second he will burn according to the regulations (see Lev. 1.15-17).

3. If you cannot afford the birds, you may bring one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour without oil or frankincense. The priest will scoop a handful as the token portion and turn it to smoke on the altar. The priest will keep the rest, just like a grain offering.

Offerings With Restitution: Leviticus 5.14-6.7

The Lord gives Moses instructions concerning sin as a result of trespass (seemingly literally or figuratively) on the Lord's holy things. The penalty for this is an unblemished ram plus the price of the desecrated object plus one-fifth the price of the desecrated object. The lamb is sacrificed by a priest as a guilt offering - therefore the sinner makes reparations to the physical sacred space and God. However, the ram is convertible to silver, meaning that the priest may purchase another unblemished lamb in its place.

If you think you have sinned (that is, if you feel guilty) you have incurred guilt and should bring an unblemished ram to be sacrificed as a guilt offering. Alternatively, you may bring the equivalent value in silver.

If you deceive a neighbor in monetary matters, or rob him, or find something lost an lie about it, or swear falsely, you must atone for your sin when you realize your guilt. First, restore what you took, adding one-fifth its value. Next, bring to a priest for sacrifice an unblemished lamb or its equivalent as a guilt offering.

Leviticus 1.1-3.17

Burnt Offerings / Grain Offerings / Offerings of Well-Being / On Leaven and Honey and Blood

Leviticus 1-5 characterizes two types of sacrifices: spontaneous sacrifice (1-3), sacrifice of expiation (4-5). Chapters 6-7 restate these in order of sanctity.

Today's post will cover spontaneous sacrifices. These aren't spontaneous in the sense that they just happen, but spontaneous in the sense that they are not motivated by purification from accidental sin. These are gifts.

Note: I am not an anthropologist or sociologist. I am not here to discover how sacrifice functioned for the Israelites. As the HarperCollins Study Bible points out, "[N]o single theory can encompass the sacrificial system of any society, even the most primitive" (152). But sacrifice is rife with symbolism and metaphor, something that I can examine as literature. Just as meals function as communion, sacrifice functions as...Well, we are about to find out!

Burnt Offerings: Leviticus 1.1-17

The Lord, speaking from the tent of meeting, tells Moses to tell the people that when any bring an offering of livestock to the Lord, it should be from the herd or flock.

A burnt offering should be a male without blemish. The one who offers it should bring it to the entrance of the tent a meeting and lay his hand on its  head "and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you" (Lev. 1.4). What the offering is atoning for, exactly, is not mentioned. For this reason, it is not considered a sacrifice of expiation, which are made to atone for specific sins.

The animal (here "bull") is slaughtered, and Aaron's sons should dash the blood on all sides of the altar at the tent of meeting. The animal is to be flayed and cut into parts, which Aaron's sons arrange over a wood fire on the altar. The entrails and legs should be washed with water first, but the whole thing should be turned to smoke on the altar, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

The animal serves an important symbolic function within the sacrifice. First of all, it is property, coming from a herd or flock. One cannot hunt it. As a piece of property, it has a greater connection with the sacrificer. An unblemished animal stands juxtaposed to the human, who is so easily fouled by inadvertent sin. When the sacrificer places his hand on the animal's head, there is a deliberate juxtaposition of pure and sullied which acknowledges that this unblemished animal will come from the hands of a human into the hands of God. The sacrificed animal functions as an intermediary between man and God. Though owned by humans, the animal is pure, unblemished. Because of this binary property, it can pass from the profane/mundane to the sacred realm.

Burning is the method by which the animal passes from human to divine realm. The animal turns from a corporeal being into smoke, which floats away. Smoke is a strange, almost supernatural thing, present but always moving, shapeless, mysterious, not unlike the cloud that sits over the tent of meeting. Through fire, the animal is able to take on this state.

Burnt offerings of birds have their own process, this one blade-free. Turtledoves or pigeons are the acceptable bird burnt offerings. The priest wrings off its head, drains its blood against the side of the altar, removes the crop and throws it among the ashes at the east side of the altar, and tears it open by the wings. The priest then turns it to smoke on the altar, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

Birds are perhaps a bit less personal than cattle, but (presumably) not everyone can afford cattle

Grain Offerings: Leviticus 2.1-16

For a grain offering, the worshipper is to take choice flour, add oil and frankincense, and bring it to Aaron's sons. A priest takes a token handful and turns it to smoke on the altar, creating a pleasing odor to the Lord. What is left goes to Aaron and his sons.

Can't afford frankincense? You can have it your way. Just cook the grain in one of the following ways:

1. Offerings baked in an oven should be unleavened cakes of choice flour mixed with oil or wafers spread with oil.
2. Offerings prepared on a griddle should be choice flour mixed with oil, unleavened. The bread should be broken into pieces and have oil poured on it.
3. Offerings prepared in a pan should have choice flour in oil.

The priest should take the grain offering to the altar and turn the token portion into smoke. The rest goes to Aaron and his sons.

There is to be no leaven or honey (which promotes leavening with the addition of yeast) in grain offerings. These may be brought to the Lord as an offering of choice products, but not offered for a pleasing odor.

Grain offerings should be made with "salt of the covenant with your God" (Ex. 2.13).

Offerings of first fruits (barley) as grain offering should be from fresh ears, and parched with fire (roasted). Oil and frankincense should be added. The priest should turn a token portion into smoke.

Offerings of Well-Being: Leviticus 3.1-17

Offerings of well-being, like burnt offerings, should be an animal of the herd (like goats) without blemish. Unlike the burnt offerings, however, the animal can be male or female.

The offerer should lay his hand on the head of the animal and slaughter it at the entrance of the tent of meeting. The priest should dash the blood against the sides of the altar.

The sacrifice itself should consist of the fat covering the entrails, the kidneys with the fat on them, and the "appendage of the liver," which HarperCollins notes is "the caudate lobe of the liver" (Lev. 3.4). Aaron's sons will turn these into smoke, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

If you offer a sheep, the process is the same, except you shall offer the broad tail as well.

The section ends:

All fat is the Lord’s. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.
(Lev. 3.16-17)

The fat and blood of the animals are reserved for the Lord. The sacrificer may eat the rest. God gets a portion of all the meat that a person eats - the tastiest portion (fat) and the portion of life (blood).

On Leaven and Honey and Blood

Above I call blood a portion of life. I could also call it a symbol of life because it represents the life force that flows through many living things. But blood can also be a symbol of death. Contact with blood outside of this context results in impurity. Rather than being a positive force of life, in these contexts (including touching a dead body and menstruation) blood is a negative force of sin, perhaps even death.

Blood is therefore holy or not depending on where it is shed and who sheds it. The only instance of blood as a purifying entity seems to be as a sacrifice of an unblemished animal by a priest at the altar. In any other context contact with blood is a sin.

Blood has a dual nature. It is the circulating fluid that ensures life (though the ancient Israelites probably did not know about the circulatory system). The way we know this is empirical: when an animal bleeds out, it dies. Animals need blood to live. But blood outside the body is a force of death: dying animals bleed out. It is the context of the blood's appearance that determines the blood's sanctity and purifying power. Proper sacrifice at the altar creates the blood of life, holy and purifying. Any other context results in the blood of death, compounding sin on those who come into contact with it.

What about leaven (yeast) and honey? Isn't yeast living? Yes. But that is not how the ancient Israelites saw it. Leaven was a symbol of death and dying, and because the sugar from honey aided the process, it too was unfit for sacrifice. Bread is dead. You do not give life to bread by adding yeast to flour and sugar. Certainly, this activates the yeast, but yeast was not known to be living until very recently. So leaven really just added to the process of death - the bloating, if you will pardon the image.

This means that wine also could not be a burnt offering, because what is wine but grape juice that has been dead for a long time? Just think about that the next time you enjoy a Pinot Noir. Dead grapes. Delicious long-dead grapes.