'וכל מנחת כהן וגו, “and every meal offering by a priest shall be a whole offering, not to be consumed (by man.)” The reason may well be that the Torah was afraid that if the priest were allowed to eat a part of it, he would reason that it was not worthwhile for him to do so, as even whole it is only a small quantity of food. It would, of course be quite inappropriate for him to think that way; but to forestall such a thought the Torah decreed that none of it may be eaten. The above is not the case when an ordinary Israelite offers a meal offering. The portion that is not burned up is eaten by the priests, seeing that only a partial fistful, קומץ, has been burned up.