Gift offering

Ameal offering,grain offering,orgift offering(Biblical Hebrew:מנחה,minkhah), is a type ofBiblical sacrifice,specifically a sacrifice that did not include sacrificial animals. In older English it is sometimes called anoblation,from Latin.

The Hebrew nounminkhah(מִנְחָה) is used 211 times in theMasoretic Textof theHebrew Biblewith the first instances being theminkhahoffered by bothCainandAbelinGenesis4:3-5. It is also used of Jacob's "present" to Esau in Genesis 32 and again of the "present" to the Egyptian ruler (in fact Joseph his son) in Genesis 43.

In theKing James Versionof 1611 this was rendered as "meat offerings",e.g. in Exodus 29:41, since at the time the King James Version was written,meatreferred to food in general rather than the flesh of animals in particular.

In the Hebrew Bible

Gift offerings were often made on their own, but also accompanied theburnt offering.Scholarsbelieve that the term "gift offering" originally referred to all voluntary sacrifices, but that it later came to just refer to non-meat offerings.

The quintessential "gift offering" was one of grain (not just high qualityflour),frankincense,andoil.The grain could either be raw and mixed with oil, or mixed with oil and cooked intounleavened bread,or cooked into wafers and spread with oil. According toMenachos76aten such cakes of bread had to be made for each offering (except for the meal-offering of fine flour).A portion of this was then burnt on the altar, along with the frankincense, while the remainder was allocated to the priests, who were to eat it within the sanctuary.

See also

• Dough offering