Leviticus 2:11

"No meal-offering which ye shall offer unto Jehovah, shall be made with leaven, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. As an oblation of first-fruits ye shall offer them unto Jehovah: but they shall not come up for a sweet savor on the altar. And every oblation of thy meal-offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal-offering: with all thine oblations shalt thou offer salt."

Much has been written about why God forbade some things, such as honey and leaven in this passage, as not acceptable upon God's altar. We may not determine this with any degree of certainty. Some have supposed that the practice among the pagans of using leaven and honey in sacrifices to their false deities was behind the prohibition. The instability of these substances is cited by some as the reason; but to us, it appears merely as another example of the profound truth that God has regulated his worship, that some things are acceptable, and others are not acceptable. Does there really need to be any further reason than this?

The necessity of offering salt with all of these oblations emphasizes the covenantal relationship that all these things had with the great Covenant ratified by God with His people at Sinai. From the most ancient times, salt was a sign of covenant. "Those who shared salt together were considered to be in a special relationship to each other by the people of the Ancient Near East."[8]

Although honey and leaven were not acceptable in the oblations mentioned here, these materials could be given as first-fruits, but they could not be offered as a burnt-offering.