cap. 4. which is wholly about such things Of thy harvest Of the Corn scattered last Harvest He saith nothing of their Gardens which it is probable every Man had to his own private use and was not bound to lay them open to all Thou shalt not reap That is saith he not the whole Field so as to gather it into Cocks and to tread out the Corn with his Oxen if any did they were scourged with thirty nine stripes but they might cut down a little in common with other Persons and shake it out and eat it as he there determines sect 2. Neither gather the grapes of thy Vine undressed In the Hebrew the words are The Vine of thy Separation for it was separated this year from his dressing And what he gathered in common with others was not to be pressed in a Wine-press but with another Instrument the like he saith of Olives and of Figs and other things which were to be ordered after another manner in this year then in the foregoing sect 23. For it is a year of rest unto the Land This general reason is so oft repeated to make them sensible they were no more to do any thing about their Land this seventh year then they were to labour upon the seventh day But he acknowledges that if a Gentile hired Land in their Country he was not bound to let it rest sect 29. of that Chapter Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Sabbath of the Land Here the word Sabbath signifies the Fruit that grew in the Sabbatical year as the word Sabbaths is used before XXIII 38. for the Sacrifices upon the Sabbaths Shall be meat for you This explains the prohibition of reaping any Corn this year or gathering any fruit not to be meant absolutely but only that they should not look upon any thing that grew this year as peculiarly theirs because it grew in their ground but let all be common to others as well as themselves For thee and for thy servant and for thy maid c. This and the next Verse show that all the Fruits of the Earth were perfectly in common this year for the very Beasts were not excluded and therefore much less any Man that dwelt among them though he was uncircumcised But it is very plain likewise that the Owner of the Land and his Family were not forbidden to take their share but might gather for their daily use as well as others only not lay up any thing separate for themselves Ver. 7. Verse 7 And for thy Cattle and for the Beast that are in thy Land shall all the increase thereof be meat For his own Cattle and for other Mens which were not to be fed with the Fruits which are proper to Men as Maimonides observes in the same Book cap. 5. sect 5. but if they came of themselves and eat Figs for instance they were not to be hindred But it seems probable that wild Beasts might be driven out of their Vineyards c. in this year as well as others because they made such waste as would have very much damaged the owner for the future As for all other tame Creatures the Jews if we may believe Maimonides cap. 7. were so superstitiously careful they should have an equal share with themselves that when there was no Fruit any longer for the Beasts in the Field they ceased to eat what they had gathered for themselves and if they had any thing of it left threw it out of their Houses Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee c. Which put together made XLIX years as it follows in the rest of this Verse They began their first Account as Maimonides there observes from the fourteenth year after their entrance into Canaan for they were seven years in conquering the Land and seven more in dividing to every one their portion so that the first Sabbatical year was in the one and twentieth and the first Jubile in the sixty fourth year after they came to the Land of Promise So he cap. 10. where he observes they numbred seventeen Jubiles from that time to their Captivity in Babylon which fell out in the end of a Sabbatical year and the thirty sixth of the Jubile Ver. 9. Verse 9 Then shalt thou cause the Trumpet of the Jubile The word Jobel which we translate Jubile in the next Verse is not in the Hebrew but Teruah which in the Margin we translate loud of sound For the Trumpet was blown after a different manner at this time than upon other occasions that every one might understand the meaning of it To sound In the Hebrew the word is cause it to pass that it might be heard every where throughout the Land So these words may be most litterally translated Thou shalt cause to pass the Trumpet loud of sound On the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of atonement This day was very fitly chosen that this year might begin at the same time that a general Atonement was made for the Sins of the whole Nation For they would be the better disposed to forgive their Brethren their Debts when they craved Pardon for their own Shall ye make the Trumpet sound or pass throughout all your Land This is repeated to make them careful to awaken every one to their duty by the sound of the Trumpet at every door there being an unwillingness in most People to part with their Servants and their Lands c. which they had long enjoyed And therefore every private Man as Maimonides saith was bound to blow with a Trumpet and make this sound nine times that they might fulfil these words of this Precept throughout all your Land By this means as R. Levi Barcelonita notes every one was the better inclined to hearken when he saw it was a duty incumbent on the whole Country which all were to perform Ver. 10. Verse 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year Distinguish it from all other years by doing what follows Maimonides fancies that these two Precepts of numbering seven Sabbaths of years v. 8. and of sanctifying the fiftieth year were delivered only to the House of Judgment whose business no doubt it peculiarly was to give notice of this year and to cause the Trumpet to be sounded and all the following Precepts to be observed Schemitta ve jobel cap. 10. num 1. And proclaim liberty Unto all Servants who were this year made free Throughout all the Land Even in all the High-ways as Aben-Ezra glosses that every one might have notice Vnto all the Inhabitants thereof That is to all the Children of Israel who were Servants or so poor that they had sold their Estates as it here follows From these words the Jews gather that after the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and half Tribe of Manasseh were carried Captive Jubiles ceased They are the words of Maimonides in the fore-named Treatise for then all the Inhabitants of the Land were not in it And therefore much more
flee when there were none as it goes before they could not stand before them when they appeared Ver. 38. Verse 38 And ye shall perish among the Heathen Die with Grief or by Diseases Poverty Oppression and hard Usage And the Land of your Enemies shall eat you up Insomuch that the ten Tribes never returned to their own Land but either perished by Hunger and bad Accommodations or were swallowed up as we say into the Body of another Nation Ver. 39. Verse 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquities in their enemies Land With grief and sorrow and sad reflections upon the Miseries into which their sins and the sins of their Fathers had thrown them Insomuch that Death was more acceptable to them than Life VIII Jerem. 3. And also in the iniquities of their Fathers shall they pine away with them Especially those of Manasseh King of Judah whose wickedness was so great that the zealous Reformation which his Grandchild made could not turn away the fierceness of God's great wrath against them 2 Kings XXIII 26 27. Ver. 40. Verse 40 If they shall confess their iniquity c. Though Moses had been above three times as long in recounting the Plagues which he either foresaw or feared would come upon them for their sins than in the Blessings which he promised should follow their Obedience yet he plainly shows that the Blessings would have far excelled the Curses had not their Disobedience hindered For after all these dreadful Calamities were come upon them he concludes with a most gracious promise that God would restore them to their own Land from whence they were expelled if they truly repented of those sins which were the cause of it That he means by confessing their iniquities and the iniquities of their Fathers c. acknowledging them with such unfeigned sorrow as wrought Repentance without which he gave them no hope of Deliverance And it is well observed by a great Divine of our own That if without confession of their fathers iniquities they could not be absolved from their own their fathers iniquity not repented of was their own and so was the punishment due unto it And that they have walked contrary to me Both they and their fore-fathers whose ways had been so contrary to God's Laws that if they sincerely confessed it God expected they should take the quite contrary course and observe those Precepts carefully which their Fathers had violated Ver. 41. Verse 41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the Land of their Enemies Be sensible that all the Miseries they have endured came not by chance but the just Punishment I sent upon them for their sins particularly that it was by my order that they were carried captive into a strange Land If then their uncircumcised heart be humbled By an uncircumcised heart seems to be meant an heathenish temper of mind insensible of God which made them stubborn and refractory and therefore this Phrase is the same with an hard heart For which there was no cure but such remarkable Judgments as evidently carried in them the marks of a Divine Hand Which when they saw and submitted to it he gives them hope of deliverance And they accept of the punishment of their iniquity Patiently bear it as their just desert and acknowledge they do not deserve to be delivered from it Ver. 42. Verse 42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham See III Exod. 6. He promises to restore them to their own Land according to the Covenant made with their Fore-fathers that he would give it them for an everlasting Possession For to remember a Covenant or Promise in Scripture Language is to perform it and make it good Accordingly we find the forenamed Confession made by Daniel Chap. IX and he makes it in the name of all the People among whom no doubt there were many that heartily joyned with him and then followed their wonderful Restoration in the Reign of Cyrus of which we read I Esra c. And I will remember the Land Re-people it with its former Inhabitants c. See 2 Chron. 36. v. 22 23. where this immediately follows the Relation he had made of the Land being laid desolate Ver. 43. Verse 43 The Land also shall be left of them and shall enjoy her Sabbaths c. This Verse is very obscure unless we take it to speak of a new Expulsion out of their Land after their Reduction to it And then the next words And they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity Must be interpreted after they had accepted or though they had accepted c. This made their sin the more provoking that they offended God again when he had so graciously forgiven them and delivered them from a dismal Captivity Because even because they despised my Judgments and because their soul abhorred my Statutes Returned to the very same wicked disposition for which they had been formerly expelled v. 15. This was fulfilled by degrees by the Successors of Alexander and at last by the Romans Ver. 44. Verse 44 And yet for all that when they be in the Land of their Enemies He would not have them utterly despair of Mercy even after a new Banishment which hath now continued many Ages For this Promise is not yet fulfilled as Dr. Jackson observes Book I. on the Creed Chap. 31. sect 9. I will not cast them away neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly As we see at this very day they are not destroyed utterly but remain a great Body in several Countries after above six hundred years Expulsion from their own Land And to break my covenant with them Never more to own them for my People For I am the LORD their God I still continue to have a peculiar right to their Obedience as they have to my kindness if they will return to their duty Ver. 45. Verse 45 And I will for their sakes remember the Covenant of their Ancestors c. The meaning cannot be that God would be so gracious for their sakes who were so very wicked but as the words in the Hebrew are he would for them i. e. for their good and advantage remember the Covenant of their Ancestors whom he had brought forth out of the Land of Egypt That is once more deliver them from their miserable Condition and restore them to his Favour that he may be their God And that great Man now mentioned on the foregoing Verse observes That the continuation of their Plagues seems so much interrupted and the Plagues themselves so much mitigated in the last Age since the Gospel hath been again revealed as if their Misery were almost expired and the Day of their Redemption drawing nigh But then they must first confess their Iniquity and the Iniquity of their Fathers as Moses speaks before v. 40. with their Trespass which they trespassed in
as much as if he had continued in it So Mr. Selden observes out of the Misna L. II. de Synedr cap. 15. n. 14. According to the sin of the people In the manner before-mentioned Or as R. Solomon interprets it if he hide any thing from the People whereby they err For so the words run in the Hebrew if he sin to the guilt of the people or to the making them guilty either by misinforming them or drawing them into Error by his Example so that they take a thing to be clean which is indeed unclean or the like Then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish It is observed by some that in great Offences the Sacrifices were small lest they should imagine their Pardon was procured by their great expence For here the word is Par ben bachur a young Bullock that was but a little bigger than a Calf And so this Sacrifice is called Par in the following Verses Whereas that of the Peace-offering is called v. 10. Shor an Ox though we translate it also Bullock one that was grown to its full bigness and consequently of greater value For a sin-offering How Chattah which we translate Sin-offering differs from ascham which we translate Trespass-offering I shall examine afterward when Moses comes to speak of the latter And now only observe that Chattah is the name both for Sin and for the Sin-offering as the word piaculum was among the Heathen which signified both a great Crime and the Expiatory Sacrifice for it By which those words in the New Testament may be explained Christ was made sin for us that is a Sacrifice to expiate our sins And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin certainly signifies VIII Rom. 3. Ver. 4. Verse 4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD This as I take it was to be done by himself who was to present the Sacrifice to the Divine Majesty and desire it might be accepted for the purpose to which it was to be offered And shall lay his hand upon the bullocks head As every one that brought other Offerings were bound to do See ch I. 4. III. 2 c. but here for another purpose viz. to confess their sins unto the LORD and beseech him to forgive them See V. 5. There is a good Gloss upon this in a very bad Book called Nitzachon not long ago published by the Learned Wagenseil where that Author saith p. 11. When a Man sacrificed a Beast he was to think in his mind I am more a Beast than this here present For I have sinned and for the sins I have committed I offer this but it were more just that he who hath sinned should suffer death than this Beast which hath not offended Therefore thus a Man by the help of this Sacrifice began to repent And kill the bullock before the LORD This seems to have been done by him that laid his hand on the head of the Bullock that is by the High-Priest himself For the greatest Men in old time did not think such work below them but rather esteemed every thing that served to the Worship of God to be noble and honourable So Homer represents King Agamemnon as killing the Lambs himself by the Blood of which he was to Seal the Treaty he made with the Trojans Iliad 3. yet in this case it is likely the High-Priest himself did not kill the Sacrifice but some of the other Priests that then ministred For he that did this seems to be distinguished by the next words v. 5. from the Priest that is anointed i. e. the High-Priest Nor was this Sacrifice killed in the ordinary place where Sin-offerings were killed See 24. being an extraordinary sort of Offering as that which follows also was Ver. 5. Verse 5 And the Priest that is anointed Whosoever killed the Sacrifice the High-Priest himself for whom it was offered did what follows Shall take of the bullocks blood In a Basin And bring it to the Tabernacle of the Congregation Into the very Sanctuary where as it follows he was to dip his finger in the Blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Priest shall dip his finger in the blood Or rather dip it into the blood And sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD This was peculiar to his Sacrifice for Sin and done in no other but that for the whole Congregation To signifie perhaps that their Offences were more heinous and could not be so easily expiated as those of other Men. The number seven every one knows was of great account and thought most powerful in Religious Actions even among the Heathen For as Elisha bad Naaman go and wash seven times in Jordan to cure him of his Leprosy so Apuleius in the beginning of the XIth Book of his Metamorphosis speaks of dipping the head seven times in the Sea for Purification and gives the reason for it Quod eum numerum praecipuè religioni aptissimum divinus ille Pythagoras prodidit because the Divine Pythagoras as he calls him taught this number to be above all other most proper in Religion Which in all probability Pythagoras learnt from the truly Divine Moses to whom God revealed the Creation of the World in six days and his Consecrating the seventh day on which he rested which made the number seven so much used in Sacred Matters For not only in this Sacrifice but in making the Water of Separation by burning a red Heifer this Rite was used XIX Numb 4. and in purging a Leper XIV Lev. 7. in dedicating the Altar XXIX Exod. 37. when the Oil was sprinkled on it seven times VIII Lev. 11. and at the Consecration of the Priests XXIX Exod. 35. and to say no more as every seventh day of the Week was holy so every seventh year the Land rested and after Seven times seven there was a Jubilee XXV Levit. They that would see more of this number and of its Sacramenta as St. Hierom speaks may read him upon V Amos 3. and Drusius on this place and on VI Josh 4. And Wolfius upon Nehemiah VIII Before the vail of the Sanctuary Which parted the holy place from the most holy For that is peculiarly called by the name of Parocheth which is the word here used XXVI Exod. 31 33 35. XVI Lev. 2 c. as the other Vail which was before the Door of the Tabernacle is constantly called Masach XXVI Exod 36 37. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And the Priest shall put some of the Blood upon the horns of the Altar of sweet incense c. This also was peculiar to his Sacrifice and to that for the whole Congregation v. 17. And shall pour out all the blood of the bullock That is all the rest of the Blood which remained after the sprinkling before the Mercy-seat and the tipping of the Horns of the Altar with it At the bottom of
a shrill cry See there cap. 2. And the Cameleon Most of the ancient Interpreters take Coach for another sort of Lizzard which is the strongest as this Name imports of all other and in these Countries was famous for its incounters with Serpents and Land Crocodiles as the forenamed Bochartus shows out of the Arabian Writers lb. cap. 3. And the Lizzard All the ancient Interpreters agree that the Hebrew word Letaa signifies a sort of Lizzard but of what kind it is hard to determine The aforesaid Bochart out of the Arabian Writers hath shown it is like to that which is of a reddish colour and lies close to the Earth infecting the Meat which it touches with its venom Ib. cap. 4. The Snail The same admirable Person with great probability still thinks Moses speaks of a sort of Lizzard called here Chomet because it lyes in the Sand which in the Talmudick Language is called Chometon Ib. cap. V. And the Mole It is apparent that the word Thinsemeth which we here translate a Mole is of a very doubtful signification For in the 18th Verse of this Chapter it signifies a sort of Fowl as here in all probability another sort of Lizzard And if we may guess what sort by the original of the word it probably signifies the Cameleon which gapes to draw in Air. See Bochart Hieroz P. I. L. IV. cap. 6. But after all that can be said it must be acknowledged the significations of all these words are lost among the Jews as Aben-Ezra confesses upon this Verse Neither these eight sorts of creeping things nor the Birds before mentioned are known to us but by Tradition Which is as much as to say they are not known at all for there is no Tradition about them as the Talmudists acknowledge who send those who are doubtful what Birds are lawful and what not to be informed by those that are Masters of the Art of Fowling Which might help to convince the Jews were they not resolved to shut their Eyes that difference of Meats is now ceased because they know not what is forbidden and what not in many cases And consequently the Messiah is come to whom the gathering of the people was to be according to their Father Jacob's Prophecy XLIX Gen. 10. so that they should be no longer separated but all Nations collected into one Body and converse freely together without any danger of being defiled For Idolatry being abolished by him there was no reason remaining for keeping up the discrimination between Jews and Gentles by a different Diet. This some of the ancient Jews saw very well who said that in the days of the Messiah it should not be unlawful to eat Swines-flesh no more then it was while they were subduing the Land of Canaan This Tradition is acknowledged by Abarbanel himself in his Rosch Amanah where he disputes for the Eternity of their Law and indeavours to elude this Tradition of the ancient Doctors by Allegorical Interpretations See J. Carzovius in Schickard Mischpat hammelech c. 5. Theorem XVIII Ver. 31. Verse 31 These are unclean to you among all that creep whosoever toucheth them when they be dead shall be unclean The Jews understand this with respect to the touching the dead Carcases of these Creatures and make the sense of it to be These eight alone are unclean to you all other Reptiles as Serpents and Scorpions c. you may touch and not be polluted Thus R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLII. For nothing was unclean by Moses his Law whilst it was alive but only a Leper and a Woman in her Separation Worms Dogs Swine c. were unclean to be touched only when they were dead Vntil the evening v. 4. This was a plain document as Pellicanus there observes that there was no impurity in the things themselves but it was meerly a prudential Constitution to make such Defilements end with the day wherein they were contracted Ver. 32. Verse 32 And upon whatsoever any of them when they are dead doth fall it shall be unclean That is it might not be used till it was cleansed Whence the same R. Levi saith the Jews are wont to call these the Fathers of Pollutions because by their contact they defiled other things Vessels and Raiment c. as well as Men Praecept CLII. where he acknowledges that the reason why these Creatures made things unclean more than others is not manifest But he gives this pious Admonition thereupon If by our reason we be able to discern the usefulness of some Precepts let us be very thankful for it but if we cannot find how they are any way profitable to us let us believe that God in his infinite wisdom saw the benefit we should receive by it and therefore commanded it Whatsoever vessel it be wherein any work is done it must be put into water c. so shall it be cleansed The Heathens purified all things in a manner by washing them in water but Moses requires only these things which were of common use to be so purified in case of any defilement And therefore Maimonides faith Such Laws as these were made to lessen their Labour and Service and if there be any thing in them that seems too troublesome and tedious it arises from our ignorance of the Rites and Customs of those times which make such Precepts necessary P. III. More Nevoch cap. 47. Ver. 33. Verse 33 And every earthen vessel whereinto any other of them falleth whatsoever is in it shall be unclean It defiled both the Vessel and that which was contained in it And ye shall break it This is prescribed VI. 28. because such Vessels were of no great value Ver. 34. Verse 34 Of all meat which may be eaten that on which such water cometh shall be unclean The Jews have many Observations about these sorts of Pollutions but the simple meaning is that any Meat which might otherwise be lawfully eaten was made unclean if any Water poured out of such a Vessel as is before named had come upon it For the Water being defiled it made the Meat on which it came to be unclean also This appears to be the sense by what follows And all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean It might not be drunk out of such a Vessel though otherwise it was not prohibited But though liquid things were by such means made unclean yet not dry things such as Bread because they did not so soon receive any Effluviums from a dead Carcase as Liquid things did This they gather from v. 37 38. Ver. 35. Verse 35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean Though the whole Carcase did not fall upon the things here named yet if any part of it did they were not fit to be used any more but were to be broken in pieces See v. 33. The design of all which Laws is very visible that by making the Israelites very cautious how they touched these things or
clothes i. e. The Man upon whom the Spittle fell Ver. 9. Verse 9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon c. By the same reason that the Seat he sat upon was defiled v. 4. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him c. Either the Saddle or any thing else that was under him when he rode And he that beareth any of those things c. Removeth them from one place to another though it be to carry them out of the way that others may not be defiled by them unawares Ver. 11. Verse 11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue and hath not rinsed his hands in water he shall wash c. It is somewhat doubtful whether these words hath not washed his hands in water belong to him that had the Issue or to him that his hands touched Most understand it of the former That if the Man who had an Issue touched any other Man and had not first washt his hands that Man whom he touched should be defiled But the Syriack takes it to refer to the Man that was touched by him who if he did not immediately wash his hands with water was to be cleansed after a more laborious manner by washing his Clothes and bathing himself in Water But I do not see how washing of his hands could cleanse him when the Man that had the Issue touched perhaps some other part of his Body Ver. 12. Verse 12 And the vessel of earth that he toucheth which hath the issue shall be broken c. That it might not be imployed hereafter to any use See XI 33. VI. 28. And every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water Such Vessels were not broken but only well washed because they were not so easily made as the other and were of more value There are so many washings prescribed here and on other occasions that it is reasonable to believe there were not only at Jerusalem and in all other Cities but in every Village several bathing places contrived for these Legal Purifications that Men might without much labour be capable to fulfil these Precepts And one cannot but think that such frequent washings were enjoyned to admonish them how carefully they ought to preserve Purity of Heart and Life Ver. 13. Verse 13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue It having ceased for some time Then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing That there might be sufficient proof made whether the Issue was stopt that is he was really cured And wash his clothes and bathe his flesh In the conclusion of the seventh day In running water i. e. Spring-water as we speak which was most pure River-water was the same which comes from Springs And shall be clean So that he might keep Company with his Neighbours but not have Communion with God at the Sanctuary till after the following Sacrifices were offered For if in the end of the seventh day after his washing the Flux returned again all this labour was lost and he was to stay seven days more as Maimonides observes in his Treatise on this Subject cap. 3. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And on the eighth day If he continued free from the Flux after his washing on the seventh day in the Evening He shall take to him two turtle doves or two young pigeons These were the Sacrifices appointed for the meaner sort of People who were not able to be at the charge of a Lamb or other Sacrifices of the Flock or Herd V. 7. XII 8. And perhaps the great trouble the Man had endured and given others while he laboured under this Disease might be considered so far as to put him to as little charge as might be for his Purification And come before the LORD unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation But not into the Court of the Israelites till his Sacrifices were offered Ver. 15. Verse 15 And the Priest shall offer them the one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering As in the Case of a poor Leper XIV 31. who was bound also to offer a Trespass-offering of greater value And the Priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue Perfectly restore him to partake of holy things of which he was debarred while he had his Issue And here it may be fit to observe That the greater part of all the Legal Defilements depended upon the Seat or Place of the Divine Majesty as the Author of Sepher Cosri speaks Pars III. sect 49. whose Presence there made their Country be called the Holy Land and was the ground of all these Injunctions about Cleanliness To which he thinks they have no Obligations at this day now that they live in an unclean Land i. e. among us Gentiles and want the Presence of the Divine Majesty among them Ver. 16. Verse 16 And if any mans seed of copulation Though the holy Writers speak very plainly of some things that we think it not so modest to name in that manner yet it is observable on the other hand that in things of the same nature they use Circumlocutions to express them which we stick not to speak of in blunter words As when they say The water of the feet meaning Urin and call going to Stool Vncovering of the feet which shows that it is nothing but the vast difference of Times and Places which makes that Language seem uncivil to us that was not so to them and on the contrary made them very cautious in their Expressions where we think it unnecessary Go out from him Involuntarily in his sleep or otherwise which the Hebrews call keri i. e. accidental Then he shall wash all his flesh with water and be unclean until the even This was one of the smallest Legal Pollutions from which they were soon cleansed without any Sacrifice And which some of them think did not oblige them to wash unless they intended to go to the Sanctuary But though that Opinion be true yet this Rite had such a respect to the Sanctuary that now they have none they do not think themselves bound to use it on such occasions Ver. 17. Verse 17 And every garment and every skin c. These things were made so unclean by such Accidents that they might not be used the next day nor till they were washed Ver. 18. Verse 18 The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation It is no wonder the holy Writers speak so plainly of these Matters being Men of great simplicity free from all wantonness commonly far advanced in years among whom Marriage and a numerous Issue were accounted the greatest Blessings and therefore coveted by all and renounced by none They shall both bathe themselves in water c. There is no sort of Pollution in the act of Marriage which is of God's own Institution but what this Law made and the Law made it as Theodoret thinks that the trouble of such constant
away from them So we read in the Treatise on this Subject called Joma cap. 6. sect 4 5. which Maimonides hath explained as I have now done Ver. 22. Verse 22 And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities This shows more fully still the nature of this Sacrifice in which all their iniquities i. e. the punishment of them was laid that he might carry them away For this Goat was not capable to bear their sins but only their punishment as Christ also did who knew no sin and yet was made sin by having the punishment of our sins laid on him For that this Scape-goat which was loaded with their sins was a Sin-offering is plainly said before in this Chapter and consequently represented Christ who is our Sin-offering as well as the other part of this Sin-offering did whose Blood was carried into the holy place And in some regard this Scape-goat was a very notable representation of him if it be true that our Saviour entred upon his Office of being the Mediator of our reconciliation with God upon this great Day of Atonement which was the Day on which he was Baptized as our Dr. Jackson together with some good Chronologers think For though the Tradition of the Western Church be that his Baptism was on the Sixth of January yet as Jansenius and some others of the Roman Communion do not think fit to follow it so he judges it more probable to have been on the Tenth of September In the beginning of which Month when the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets was celebrated as we read XXIII of this Book 24. John Baptist began to lift up his Voice like a Trumpet and call the Jews to Repentance Who accordingly flockt to him and confessing their sins were baptized by him in Jordan where our Saviour also being baptized on the Tenth day which was the Day of Atonement and being declared the Son of God by a Voice from Heaven was immediately driven by the Spirit into the Wilderness as St. Mark tells us I. 12. Which was a manifest indication he thinks to John Baptist that this was the Redeemer of the World prefigured by the Scape-goat who going into the Wilderness on the Day of Atonement immediately after the People had made Confession of their sins gave him to understand who was well acquainted with the meaning of the Legal Rites that he was sent by God to take upon himself the Sins of the World and carry them away by being in due season offered to God and slain as a Sacrifice to God for them And this he did at that very time when the Paschal Lamb was killed as I have shown upon XII Exod. 6. to the end that they might take notice he was the Lamb of God whose Sacrifice that Lamb prefigured as by being led into the Wilderness on the same day the Scape-goat was carried thither he show'd that the Mystery represented by that Ceremony was exactly fulfilled in him This Notion of his I thought good to mention though as far as I know he is singular in it because it carries some probability in it if what the Apostle saith 2 Coloss 17. be well considered That the Law contained shadows of things to come the body of which was Christ. Who was a Body consisting of so many different parts and so compleat as he observes that no one nor a few Legal Ceremonies could perfectly fore-shadow it But as the Ceremonies were many and almost infinite so every one did fore-shadow some part or piece of this compleat Body That is no remarkable part of it no special Event or Action which concerned our Saviour Christ but was fore-shadowed by some or other Legal Ceremony See Christ's Answer to John's Question numb 62 63 64. And his Ninth Book upon the Creed concerning the Consecration of the Son of God which was printed several years after sect 4. chap. 24. n. 5 6 7 8. where he resumes this Argument and endeavours to answer this Question Why since Christ was to accomplish the Legal Priesthood and Sacrifice by his bloody Sacrifice upon the Cross he did not offer himself and die upon this very Day of Atonement To which he gives full satisfaction but it is too long here to be inserted Vnto a land not inhabited So the LXX translate the Hebrew word gezera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Land into which no body came or a desolate Country The Hebrew word properly imports a Land cut off as Bochart observes Lib. II. Hierozoic cap. 54. P. I. that is from habitable Countries not which cuts off what is sent into it by its rugged and sharp stones as the Jews expound it This still sets out the design of this Sacrifice which was to free Men so perfectly from the punishment of their sins that they should not fear the return of them any more For this Goat was not meerly sent into the Wilderness but into the most inhabitable and inaccessible part of it as the Greek word properly signifies where none were likely ever to see it again And he shall let go the Goat in the wilderness When he came to the last stage no body accompanied him that led the Goat any further but he went the tenth Mile alone by himself and the Men in the Tabernacle only stood looking to see what he did with it And the Misna saith in the place before-named that he threw it headlong down the Rock Tzuk where they say it was broke in pieces before it came to the middle of it or as Jonathan saith God raised a storm which blew the Goat down with a mighty force But this is contrary to the very words of Moses who saith he was to let the Goat go or dismiss him in the Wilderness to run whither he would And it seems contrary also to the intention of this Law which was that only one of the Goats should be killed the other let go alive Whereby was represented that their sins which were expiated by the Blood of the Sacrifice should not return again to be charged upon them Or that they were as free from their Sins as the Leprous Person was from his Confinement when the Bird was let fly into the Fields Which perfect freedom from the punishment of their sins was further signified by the burning of the Flesh the Skin and the Dung of the Sin-offering without the Camp which denoted that all memory of the sins for which this Expiation was appointed was clean removed and abolished The Jews will have it that a piece of Scarlet Cloth being tied upon the Horns of this Scape-goat as another was about the Neck of the Goat which was sacrificed when the Man had brought it to the top of the Rock Tzuk he divided the Cloth into two pieces and let the Goat go away with one but tied the other to the Rock that he might see when it changed colour and became white as they say it did when the Goat was thrown down headlong Anciently indeed they say this Scarlet
day For which reason the greatest care was to be used to see it rightly observed because all their happiness depended upon it For the Land of Canaan was promised them upon condition that they kept the Law offering all the Sacrifices therein prescribed especially this great Sacrifice which was to cleanse them from the guilt of all their Neglects or Breaches of this Law Which should teach us Christians to conclude That as the Inheritance of that good Land was assigned the Jews in consideration of their Sacrifices as the condition of that Covenant by which they were prescribed so the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven is made over to us by the Covenant of Grace in consideration of the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ Jesus of which they were a Figure For it is his Blood that cleanseth us from all unrighteousness as St. John speaks and secures our Claim to the heavenly Inheritance That ye may be clean from all your sins If a Man was bound to offer Sacrifice for any sin that was certain he was not excused from it by this Sacrifice on the Day of Expiation but was bound to make that other Sacrifice also But the Day of Expiation freed those who were bound to offer Sacrifices for dubious Offences So Maimonides saith in his Treatise of Offences committed through Error cap. 3. sect 9. that those sins which were known to none but God were taken away by this solemn Day of Expiation without any other Sacrifice But the Misna in the last Section of Joma acknowledges very honestly that the Day of Expiation did not purge Men from the guilt of the Offences they had committed against their Neighbour unless they first gave him Satisfaction Before the LORD Who dwelt among them and would continue to do so if they observed his Laws and took care to be thus cleansed from all their sins But least any Man should mistake this matter it may be here fit to observe that there were no Sacrifices at all appointed by the Law of Moses for Capital Offences and therefore when he speaks here of making them clean from all their sins upon this day such as these for instance Murder Adultery Idolatry c. are not included for this great Sacrifice could not obtain a Pardon for them but only for Offences committed against the Ritual Laws contained in this Book and that also when they were committed through Error or Ignorance for if they were done presumptuously cutting off was threatned to them See XV Numb from v. 22. to v. 32. And this appears plainly from the Sacrifices themselves that are here appointed which had no vertue in them from their own worth and value but only from God's Institution to make Expiation for any Sin For the death of a Bullock or a Goat was not of such account with God that it could prevail for the taking away of guilt unless he had given it such a power And that power which he was pleased to allow unto them was neither infinite nor could it be so For the guilt that they were principally designed to abolish was not of such a nature as to require such an Expiation It arising from things which were neither good nor evil in themselves and therefore could not create such a guilt Such were all the uncleannesses from certain natural Fluxes from touching a dead Body and innumerable other such like Impurities which depending wholly upon the will of God who by a positive Law made such things to bring Men under a guilt by the same Will he appointed a proportionable Expiation of it by these Sacrifices whose power to cleanse depended also purely upon his pleasure And if they had any vertue to purge Men from the real guilt of sins committed against the Eternal Laws of God this they had not of themselves but from the most gracious Will of God who was pleased to apply to this purpose the future Satisfaction of the immaculate Lamb of God of which these Sacrifices were a Shadow and Type For a Body being prepared for the Son of God and he offering himself for us that was a Sacrifice of such infinite value in its own nature that it expiated all manner of sins of all Men. To this effect that excellent Person Joh. Wagenseil discourses in his Confutation of R. Lipman's Carmen Memoriale p. 488. Ver. 31. Verse 31 It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you In the Hebrew the words are a Sabbath of Sabbaths i. e. a great or perfect Sabbath like that of the Seventh day in every Week on which they might do no manner of Work And so the Seventh day is called just as this is a Sabbath of Rest or Sabbath of Sabbaths See XXXI Exod. 15. XXXV 2. which gave occasion to those jeers we meet withal in Martial and others at the Jews fasting on their Sabbath days For reading Moses his Books carelesly they fancied the Jews observed as strict a Fast upon every Sabbath day as they did on this which was but once a year And ye shall afflict your Souls by a statute for ever See v. 29. Ver. 32. Verse 32 And the Priest whom he shall anoint c. The High-Priest who should be anointed and consecrated in his Father's stead when he was dead is here ordered to make this Atonement yearly That is what was now done by Aaron was to be done by every High-Priest successively when he was legally put into his Office by vesting him with the Priestly Garments anointing him and offering the Sacrifices of Consecration VIII 7 10 22. This Statute confined the sacred work of this day to the High-Priest who alone could perform it But it shows withal as the Apostle observes the great imperfection of this Legal Priesthood which could not by reason of death continue always in one Person but there were many Priests succeeding one another in the Office which became often vacant Whereas our great High-Priest because he continueth for ever i. e. never dies hath an unchangeable Priesthood and therefore is able to save to the uttermost or evermore those that come to God by him VII Hebr. 23 24 25. And shall put on the linen clothes even the holy garments He was to take a special care not to officiate on this day in any other Garments but those mentioned v. 4. which were peculiarly appropriated to this Service and called the white Garments which were a Figure perhaps of the perfect Purity of our great High-Priest who as it there immediately follows VII Hebr. 26. is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Ver. 33. Verse 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy Sanctuary c. In this Verse he only sums up the whole duty of the day in which a general Atonement was made for all Things and for all Persons The only thing to be observed is That the Expiation of the Sanctuary the Tabernacle and the Altar preceded the Expiation of the Priests and of the People who were to be expiated by the Sacrifices offered
Servants for every one knows in future times Slaves had Marks set upon them to certifie to whom they belong'd redeem'd with their price and stamp'd with their mark And these Marks were made with a hot Iron in their Hands Foreheads or Necks or they were prickt with a Needle dipt in Glastum as he says which made blue Spots in their Skin as the manner was among the Arabians especially the Scenitae And they expressed either the very name of the God to whose Service they were Consecrated or else by a proper Character denoted whom they honoured as a Thunderbolt signified they were devoted to Jupiter a Spear or Helmet to Mars a Trident to Neptune c. And these were Signs or Sacraments as we may call them whereby they were solemnly addicted to their Worship It is possible there might be some Nations then that made some Marks in their Flesh as an Ornament to them for at this day the Women in Greenland do not paint their Faces which are very swarthy but stigmatize them in several places by drawing a Needle and Thread dipt in Whales grease through the Skin in what figure they please Such Tho. Bartholinus saith he had seen though he fancied they did not this as an ornament but in token they were marriageable for they that were not had no such Marks Anatom Histor Cent. IV. Hist 90. But if any such thing were in use in ancient times it easily might degenerate into the Idolatrous Custom before-mentioned For nothing more certain then that they made such Marks in honour of Mars the God of Battel and that he who devoted himself to Hercules received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacred Marks giving up himself to that God as Herodotus speaks Lib. II. cap. 13. of one that fled to his Temple in Egypt And Lucian saith of the Priests of the Syrian Goddess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they were all marked some in their Wrists others in their Necks from whence all the Assyrians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carry such Brands or Marks in their Flesh And so are the Jews that were initiated in the Egyptian Rites said by the Author of the Third Book of Maccabees to be stigmatized with the Leaves of Ivy which were the insignia of Bacchus From which ancient practise it is probable Christians have derived the Custom of printing the Jerusalem Cross upon the Arms of those who go to visit our Saviour's Sepulchre See Tollius in Carmina inedita Gregor Nazianz. p. 160. I shall add no more but that the Jews themselves were so inclined to receive such a Badge as this that they made no scruple to print the name of their own God in their Flesh as appears by that saying mentioned by Schickard out of the Title Sopherim If any Man write the name of GOD upon his flesh let him neither wash nor anoint in that place See his Mishpat Hameleck cap. II. Theorem V. and Carpzovius his Annotations upon it I am the LORD For this reason such Marks were forbidden because the Israelites were peculiarly devoted to him as their Sovereign Lord and Benefactor for the Syriack adds your God and therefore were not to own any other but him whose Mark they had received in Circumcision which made all other absolutely unlawful Ver. 29. Verse 29 Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore It is scarce to be imagined that any Man would prostitute his Daughter to be a common Strumpet though he might possibly overlook the lewdness to which she had given up her self Therefore here in all probability is prohibited the exposing their Daughters as a piece of Religion to the Service of such filthy Deities as were worshipped in those days by Acts of Uncleanness in their Temples For which purpose both Men and Women were there kept as Persons consecrated to such uses Our great Selden hath observed something of this in his Discourse upon Succoth-Benoth See Syntagma de Diis Syris II. cap. 7. Those are fansiful Interpretations which R. Elieser and R. Akiba make of these words who say a Man prostitutes his Daughter who did not get her a Husband when she was marriageable or married her to an old Man Gem. Sanhedrim cap. 9. n. 1. Lest the Land fall to whoredom Unto which nothing could contribute so much as to make Whoredom a piece of Religion And the Land become full of wickedness By such abominable Idolatries as St. Peter calls them and many other foul sins particularly Murders which flowed from hence as Maimonides observes in his More Nevoch P. III. c. 49. Ver. 30. Verse 30 Ye shall keep my Sabbaths Not the days consecrated by the Gentiles to the Service of their Gods but the Solemn days which I have appointed for the remembrance of my benefits See v. 2. And reverence my Sanctuary This Reverence consisted principally in coming to it so prepared as the Law required in such Purity and Cleanness as was there prescribed and then behaving themselves there with an awful Humility But the better to secure this Reverence the Masters in Israel ordained that no Man should come into the Mountain of the House with a Staff or a Sword or a Girdle with a Purse or with Shoes on his feet and that no Man should spit there nor make it a thorow-fare nor go out of it with his back towards the Sanctuary but go backward leisurely with his face towards it till he was out of the Gate c. So Maimonides in his Beth Habechira cap. 7. R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXXI and see Petrus Cunaeus Lib. II. cap. 12. de Republ. Hebr. But the great thing which secured the Reverence due to the Sanctuary was that which I mentioned at first the strict Purity from all Legal Defilements with which they were to be prepared which made it very difficult to be in a condition to approach it For when there were so many ways of being defiled and so much time required to make Men clean again and so many things in many Cases to be done for that purpose it was not possible that they should be fit to come thither very often without exceeding great care and diligence as I observed before out of the same Maimonides P. III. More Nevoch cap. 47. Which very much tended to preserve their Reverence to the Sanctuary For Men led by sense as they were make nothing of those places to which they may go when they please but those to which they cannot be admitted without much Solemnity and only at certain times and after great pains to fit themselves for it they are apt to have in great esteem I am the LORD Whose Majesty dwelt in that House unto which therefore no Body might approach either for Prayer or for Sacrifice without an awful sense of him For so Maimonides explains it in the place now named The Sanctuary it self was not to be reverenced but he who commanded that reverence Nor did this Reverence belong only to the Tabernacle or Temple instituted
by doing such things as were not perhaps directly against the Law yet made him lose all his Authority See Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. juxta Disc Hebr. cap. 10. But I will be hallowed among the Children of Israel Either by the observation of his Laws or by punishing those who transgressed them For so this phrase is used X. 3. I am the LORD which hallow you Have separated you to my self as a special People from all others by Laws different from theirs and more excellent Ver. 33. Verse 33 That brought you out of the Land of Egypt to be your God And moreover distinguished you from all others by singular Benefits particularly by delivering you from the most grievous Slavery that I might make you a happy People I am the LORD When you remember my benefits remember I am your Soveraign who expect your Obedience CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying All the Laws in this Chapter were delivered at one time not long after the former Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel Who were highly concerned to observe all the Solemnities enjoyned in this Chapter in such a manner as God required And say unto them concerning the Feasts of the LORD It hath been anciently observed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Syrians were great lovers of Feasts Which made it the more reasonable if they were so in Moses his days that the Israelites who were to be their Neighbours in the Land of Canaan should have so many Feasts appointed them weekly monthly and yearly all in honour of their God From whence they are called Feasts of the LORD But this word MOED which we translate a Feast properly signifies an Assembly And so Mr. Thorndike would have it here translated because the name of Feasts is proper to those Solemnities which are to be celebrated with joy and chearfulness whereas under this general word Moed is comprehended the Day of Atonement which is one of the Assemblies here named v. 27. but was no Feast being to be observed with the greatest Humiliation and Affliction that could be expressed He therefore exactly translates these words in this manner The Assemblies of the LORD for the word concerning is not in the Hebrew which ye shall proclaim for holy Convocations these are my Assemblies See Religious Assemblies Chap. II. All that can be said for our Translation is That the Day of Atonement being a Day of Rest from all Labour it may go under the Name of a Feast in opposition to working days Which ye shall proclaim Or call by the sound of the Trumpet which the Priests were to blow upon these days X Numb 10. To be holy Convocations The same Hebrew Mikra which here signifies a Convocation signifies also reading VIII Nehem. 8. For on these days they were called to Assemble together to hear the Law read to them as well as to offer Sacrifice and make their Prayers to God with Thanksgivings for his Benefits Even these are my Feasts Or my Assemblies as I said before the first of which was the Sabbath then the Passover Pentecost the beginning of the New Year the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles which are all contained under the general word Moed and none besides Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six days shall work be done They were allowed all these for any sort of business wherein they pleased to employ themselves But the seventh day is the sabbath of rest See XX Exod. 9 10. XXXI 15. This was the greatest of all Solemnities appointed for Assemblies returning once every week and therefore is set in the head of all the rest from which it seems to be distinguished v. 37 38. And accordingly in the next Verse having here mentioned this as a day by it self he begins to reckon the Feasts or Assemblies of the LORD And the reason why this day was made a Sabbath of Rest was because God himself then rested from his Works In memory of which they were to keep this Day free from all Labour that the belief of the Creation of the World might be fixed in their Minds or as Maimonides phrases it More Nevoch P. II. cap. 113. A belief that nothing is coevous with God Whence that saying of theirs mentioned by Aben-Ezra whosoever doth any work upon the Sabbath-day denies the work of the Creation Ye shall do no work therein They were commanded so to rest on this day from all bodily labour as not to kindle a fire to dress the meat they eat upon it which is not required upon any other day but only this and the great Day of Expiation v. 28 30. Concerning these two days alone it is said Thou shalt do no work upon it but of the days of other Assemblies no more is said but this Thou shalt do no servile work therein v. 7 8 c. that is only such work as they were wont to put their Slaves to do was prohibited For though they might not bake nor boil their Meat on the Sabbath-day XVI Exod. 23. nor on the day of Expiation v. 28. of this Chapter yet on other Solemn days they might make provision for their Tables XII Exod. 16. where Aben-Ezra notes of none of the solemn Assemblies besides the Sabbath and the day of Atonement it is said NO MANNER OF WORK only of the Passover he saith it and addeth an exception of the Meat of the Soul that is what was requisite for the Sustenance of Nature As our Mr. Thorndike observes in the place before quoted It is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwelings To be kept holy in honour of the LORD by every man wheresoever he dwelt For they had Synagogues for Worship in all their Towns though most of the other Assemblies could be held only in the place where the Sanctuary and afterwards the Temple was whither all their Males went up thrice a year at the great Festivals Aben-Ezra therefore thus glosses upon these words IN ALL YOUR DWELLINGS in your Land and out of your Land at home and upon the way To show that the Command XXXV Exod. 3. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitation upon the Sabbath-day was to be observed not only whilst they lived upon Manna in the Wilderness when God gave them a double portion on the sixth day that they might prepare it against the Sabbath XVI Exod. 5.29 but in all places wheresoever they dwelt afterwards Ver. 4. Verse 4 These are Feasts of the LORD Now follow the Solemn Assemblies which are to be kept by this Ordinance of mine besides that of the Seventh day which was celebrated from the beginning This looks like a Title to all that insues Even for holy Convocations Solemn Mettings of the People who were called together to celebrate the Mercies of God with Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Publick Rejoycings Such there were in all Nations who had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks called them general Assemblies of all
his Temple Service Chap. XIV sect 2. Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 8. n. 6. And J. Wagenseil upon Sota cap. 2. Annot. 11. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD They did not offer the Corn green in the Ears as I observed in the foregoing Verse but parcht dried ground and searsed and then they waved a Tenth-deal of the Flour which came from the Sheaf as a present to the LORD of the whole Earth To be accepted for you To procure God's Blessing upon the rest of the Harvest and that they might have liberty to use the Corn it produced which it was not lawful for them to do till the First-fruits were given to God On the morrow after the Sabbath the Priest shall wave it We are not to understand by the Sabbath the Seventh days Rest which was the Opinion of the Sadducees as R. Levi ben Gersom tells upon the fifth of Joshua but the day here mentioned v. 7. which was a kind of Sabbath because no Servile work might be done therein And therefore this morrow after the Sabbath was the sixteenth day of Nisan or the next day to the first of Unleavened Bread So the LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morrow after the first and Josephus more plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. on the second day of Vnleavened Bread which is the sixteenth day of the Month c. Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This was the first of the fifty days which they reckoned till Pentecost v. 15. and was the day on which Manna ceased when they came into Canaan because then they eat of the Fruits of that Country V Josh 10 11 12. And indeed it was not lawful for them as I said before to eat of the Fruits of the Earth till after the Passover because then the Sheaf of the First fruits was waved which consecrated the rest of the Corn. And so God continued Manna to them till they had other Food to eat Ver. 12. Verse 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish c. Though this day was not so holy as the first day of Unleavened Bread yet it was a part of the Festival and was called Moed katon a lesser Solemnity as all the rest of the days were between the first and the seventh And therefore a special Offering is here ordered upon this day besides the daily Burnt-Sacrifice and besides the Sacrifice which was appointed v. 8. to be offered upon every one of the seven days Ver. 13. Verse 13 And the Meat-offering thereof shall be two Tenth-deals of fine flour c. I observed before upon the second Chapter v. 1. that all sorts of Bread might be offered to God as being a very ancient Sacrifice and commonly used at every Table for which reason Wine also is here ordered but it was to be simple Wine not mixed as was the Heathenish Custom Salt also was added II. 13. as common at all Tables but no Honey nor Leaven which Mens Superstition had introduced and therefore expresly forbidden in that place v. 11. as it did also Milk and Herbs and Leaves of Trees not a word of which is to be found in the Law of Moses But here it is observable that he commands two Tenth-deals of fine Flour to be offered whereas one Tenth was the common Meat-offering XXIX Exod. 40. Because as one of them was a necessary attendant on the Lamb mentioned before v. 12. so the other was in honour of the day which was a lesser kind of Festival And the Drink-offering thereof shall be of wine the fourth part of a hin Here is not a double proportion of Wine ordered but the usual quantity because perhaps this was a Thanksgiving only for their Corn not for their Vintage which came afterwards Ver. 14. Verse 14 And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears until the self same day that ye have brought an offering to your God It was not lawful for them to reap and therefore not to eat any of the Fruits of the Earth till the forenamed First-fruits were offered as an acknowledgment to the Donor of them For nothing was more just and equal all Men thought than to give some part to him who gave to them all they had and in the first place to give him his due before they took any thing to themselves The Romans in this expressed the sense of all Mankind who as Pliny tells us Lib. XVIII cap. 2. Ne gustabant quidem novas fruges aut vina antequam Sacerdotes primitias tibassent did not so much as taste of their Corn or Wine till the Priests had offered the First-fruits It shall be a statute for ever c. As long as their Polity lasted In all your dwellings Throughout the whole Land of Canaan Ver. 15. Verse 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath From the sixteenth day of Nisan or the second day of Unleavened Bread which was the morrow after the Sabbath v. 11. From the day that ye brought the sheaf of the Wave-offering This is added only as a fuller description of the time from which they were to count Seven Sabbaths shall be compleat Seven whole Weeks reckoning that day from which the account begun for the first day of the first of those Weeks which made XLIX days in all Maimonides thinks it was for the honour of this great Day of Pentecost that they were to count the days till it came just like a Man saith he who expects his best Friend is wont to tell the days and hours till he arrive More Nevoch P. III. c. 43. And therefore the present Jews begin this Supputation with a solemn Prayer saying Blessed art thou O LORD our God the LORD of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commandest us to number the days of Harvest and this is the first day And thus they go on to pray till the seventh day when they add Now there is one Week and so they proceed in the same Prayers to the Evening of Pentecost Which Feast they not being able now to keep as the Law appoints they pray to God every day after they have done counting that he would restore Jerusalem and the Temple and then they promise to do all that is here prescribed And this counting in some places is performed publickly in their Synagogues yet so that every Master of a Family is bound every Night to do it at home See Buxtorf Synag Judaica cap. 20. Ver. 16. Verse 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days The next day after the seventh Sabbath or Week made just fifty days from which this Feast was called Pentecost and in the Old Testament the Feast of Weeks because it began the next day after the seven Weeks before-mentioned XXXIV Exod. 22. And ye shall offer a new Meat-offering to the LORD Viz.
in the Court of the Sanctuary even as the Sin-offerings were For these Peace-offerings being as I before-noted the only Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation were reckoned among the most holy things whereas the Peace-offerings of private Men were less holy as Dr. Lightfoot observes in his Temple Service cap. 8. sect 4. And the true reason why the Priest had all the Flesh of these Sacrifices was because they being for the whole Congregation the Offerers were too many to have any portion of them distributed among them Ver. 21. Verse 21 And ye shall proclaim on the self same day Before the Solemnities began That it may be an holy Convocation to you See v. 4. The reason of this holy Assembly was partly to commemorate God's great Goodness in giving the Law from Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt which was the chief end of God's bringing them from thence as Maimonides speaks P. III. More Nevoch cap. 43. and partly to thank him for giving them such fair hopes of compleating their Harvest which had been begun at the Passover Ye shall do no servile work therein It was to be observed as the first and the last days of Unleavened Bread v. 7 8. with such a Rest as made it little different from a Sabbath And that great Vision as Maimonides calls it at the giving of the Law lasting but one day was the reason the memory of it was celebrated only for one day in the year whereas one Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days for the day was not sufficient to make them sensible enough of the Affliction they endured in Egypt But perhaps one day only was appointed at Pentecost to be free from all Servile work because of the great Business of Wheat-harvest which was then coming on and could not permit them to be so much at leisure as they were when the Fruits of the Earth were all gathered Then they kept a Feast seven days v. 39. as they did at the beginning of Barley-harvest when the Feast of Unleavened Bread was held At which time Harvest did not come on so fast as it did at Pentecost for the First-fruits then were of green Corn parched and dried and offered to God for the hope they had he would bring the rest to maturity Ver. 22. Verse 22 And when ye reap the Harvest of your Land thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of the Field c. This Precept hath been sufficiently explained before XIX 9 10. Only the occasion of its repetition here ought to be observed which is the mention of Harvest and First-fruits which in gratitude they then offered unto God Of whose Goodness he would have them so sensible as not to be unmindful of the Poor but to be such Benefactors to them that they might still receive more Benefits from God Ver. 23. Verse 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying These words are frequently prefixed to a new matter though delivered at the same time with what went before Ver. 24. Verse 24 Speak unto the Children of Israel saying Who as I have often said were all concerned to take notice of such Precepts In the seventh month in the first day of the month ye shall have a Sabbath Such a Sabbath as those mentioned v. 7 8 21. on which no Servile work was to be done as it follows in the next Verse For the seventh Month was the first Month of the year accordding to the ancient computation and continued so still to several purposes particularly with respect to their Jubilee when they were to blow the Trumpet as they did on this day which was the chief New Moon in all the year and the more illustrious because it fell in the time when all the Fruits of the Earth were gathered A memorial of blowing with Trumpets It is not easie to tell of what this blowing of Trumpets was a memorial Maimonides in the place fore-named More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. will have it to be instituted to awaken the People out of sleep and call them to repentance being to put them in mind of the great Day of Expiation which followed nine days after This he explains more largely in his Jad Chazakah in the Treatise of Repentance cap. 3. where he saith The sound of the Trumpet at this time did in effect say Shake off your drowsiness ye that sleep and being awaked watch to your duty Search and try your ways Remember your Creator and repent You whom the Vanity of the Times hath led into a forgetfulness of the Truth who spend your days wandring after empty things which profit nothing bethink your selves and take care of your Souls Let every one forsake his evil way and his thoughts which are not good And accordingly he saith in the same place the Israelites were wont to multiply Alms and Good Works and to apply themselves to the Precepts as his phrase is from the beginning of the year till the Day of Atonement more diligently than at any other time rising in the night to pray in their Synagogues till break of day c. But though this be very pious I see no ground for it no more then for what they say of Commemorating the Deliverance of Isaac For why should not blowing of Trumpets be ordered for a preparation to other Solemn days and in memory of other Deliverances as well as this of Isaac It seems more probable that all Nations making great shouting rejoycing and feasting in the beginning of the year at the first New Moon as many have observed hoping the rest of the year by this means would prove more prosperous God was pleased to ordain this great rejoycing among his People in honour of himself upon the Day of the first New Moon which was to be continued every first Day of the Month that he might preserve them from the Worship of the Moon and make them sensible that he alone gave them good years and renewed his Mercies daily from Month to Month upon them Bonfrerius imagines that God put an honour upon this Month because it was the seventh that as every seventh day was a Sabbath and every seventh year the Land rested c. so every seventh month of every year should be a kind of Sabbatical Month there being more Feasts in this Month then in any other Months in the Year But all this doth not explain what this blowing of Trumpets was a memorial of which I take to be the Creation of the World which was in Autumn Upon which account it was that they anciently began their year at this time as the Eastern People do at this day They acknowledged also God's Goodness in blessing all the year past and bringing them to the beginning of a new year which they prayed him to make happy to them They began to blow at Sun-rise and continued it till Sun-set He that sounded the Trumpet began with the usual Prayer Blessed be God who hath sanctified us with his Precepts
to preserve the memory of all the Miracles which God did in Egypt out of which he brought them at that time as the Feast of Tabernacles did to preserve the memory of the Signs and Wonders he did in the Wilderness where he afforded them his Divine Protection under a glorious Cloud and preserved them without any Houses both in the cold of Winter and heat of Summer In short there are two ends mentioned in this Chapter of the Institution of this Festival one to give thanks for the Fruits of the Earth which were then gathered v. 39. another and the principal in a grateful remembrance that they dwelt in Booths forty years and were brought into better Habitations when they came to Canaan v. 42 43. Ver. 35. Verse 35 And on the first day shall be an holy Convocation c. It was to be observed as the day of Pentecost v. 21. And they every one carried in their hands the Bough of some goodly Tree as the Hebrews understand the first words of v. 40. Josephus describing this Festivity Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. mentions in the first place Boughs of Myrtle Ver. 36. Verse 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD The peculiar Sacrifices with their Meat-offerings which were to be offered on these seven days are distinctly set down in XXIX Numb from the thirteenth Verse to the end Where it will be most proper to consider them On the eighth day shall be an holy Convocation unto you See v. 4. And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD A Burnt-offering with a Meat-offering attending upon it according to the appointment in XXIX Numb 36 37. It is a solemn Assembly This is a new word which is not used hitherto concerning any of the Feasts here mentioned signifying as we translate it in the Margin a day of restraint or rather a closing or concluding day for then the Solemnity ended And so Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Conclusion of the Feasts Whence the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called by this Name of Atzereth XVI Deut. 8. And so is the Feast of Pentecost which was kept in the end of seven Weeks called by Josephus by the same name of Asartha Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This therefore as it was the last so it was the great day of the Feast as St. John calls it VII 37. On which day they read the last Section of the Law and so concluded the reading of the whole five Books of Moses And thence any great Solemnity is called by this name of Atzereth 2 Kings X. 20. I Joel 14. This seems to me to be a far better account of this word then that which the Jews commonly give who render it a day of detention because saith Abarbanel they were bound to detain the Feast to this day whereas no other Feast continued more then seven days staying at Jerusalem till it was over Whence this day seems to him to be to the Feast of Tabernacles as the Day of Pentecost was to the Passover For as they were bound to count seven Weeks from that time and then make this fiftieth day a Feast so they are here commanded after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles to stay and feast one day more Others of them as R. Solomon Jarchi say this was as if a Man having been entertained by his Friend seven days should to express greater kindness to him be detained one day more And ye shall do no servile work therein But spend their time in Feasting Mirth and Rejoycing with thankful Acknowledgments of God's Benefits to them See v. 7 8. Ver. 37. Verse 37 These are the feasts or Assemblies of the LORD which ye shall proclaim to be holy Convocations This was the Preface to them v. 4. and now is the Conclusion to make them the more observed To offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD a Burnt-offering and a Meat-offering and a Sacrifice c. These Offerings are particularly set down as hath been noted all along in the XXVIII and XXIXth of Numbers And by a Sacrifice seems here to be meant a Sin-offering which is ordered throughout those two Chapters together with Burnt-offerings upon all these Festivals Ver. 38. Verse 38 Besides the Sabbaths of the LORD i. e. Beside the Sacrifices appointed upon all the Sabbaths in the year which were not to be omitted if any of the Feasts here mentioned fell upon the seventh day of the Week And beside your gifts Most understand by Gifts such Presents as Men made to God beyond their First-fruits and Tenths But it may be thought only a general word including the two particulars which follow Vows and Free-will-offerings Ver. 39. Verse 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month when ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land c. Here is no new injunction in this Verse but only an inforcement of what was said before the very same days being appointed to be observed with those named v. 24. Therefore the Hebrew Particle Ak should not have been translated also but surely or certainly or truly as we translate it in other places particularly XXIX Gen. 14. Surely thou art my bone and my flesh LXXIII Psal 1. Truly God is good to Israel II Lament 16. Certainly this is the day that we looked for When ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land These words give a reason of the repetition of the Command because there was something more designed in this Festival than meerly the remembrance of their Condition in the Wilderness which was to express their Thankfulness to God for their desired Harvest which they had now gathered For which cause besides the seven days which were in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness there was an eighth added to acknowledge his Mercy of receiving the Fruits of the Earth Ye shall keep a Feast unto the LORD seven days These were the Feasts of Tabernacles which lasted all these seven days On the first day shall be a Sabbath See v. 35. And on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath In the institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it is said in the seventh day is an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile work therein i. e. it shall be a Sabbath v. 8. but here the eighth day hath that honour put upon it not the seventh being added to the Festival for a peculiar reason and therefore to be observed in a very solemn manner For the Feast of Tabernacles fell in the time of Vintage when the Fruits of the Earth were in a manner all gathered XVI Deut. 13. From whence it is called by the name of the Feast of Ingatherings XXIII Exod. 16. not because the whole Feast was celebrated on this account but because a principal part of it was kept on this score viz. the eighth day as the other seven days were in memory of their dwelling in Tents But that the eighth
together the other And ye shall rejoyce before the LORD your God seven days These were the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles as I noted before which were spent in Feasting and other tokens of Joy with Thanks to God for his great Goodness who had brought them out of the Wilderness where they had no Fig-trees Vines or Pomegranates into a Country which abounded with fruitful Trees of all sorts Which was the reason Maimonides thinks that Moses bids them take the Boughs of the most goodly Trees wherewith to build their Booths More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. But of all the Joys at this Festival none was comparable to that of drawing and pouring out water concerning which the Talmudists have this noted saying He that never saw the rejoycing of drawing Water never saw rejoycing in all his life The manner of which is described out of the Jewish Writers by Dr. Lightfoot in his Temple Service Chap. 16. sect 4. And our blessed Saviour is thought to allude to it when in the last the great day of this Feast he cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink c. out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water VII John 37 38. But I have not met with any one that gives a tollerable reason of this Custom at the Feast of Tabernacles Which I take to have been in memory of that Water which followed them all the time they were in the Wilderness without which they had perished and in thankfulness to God that he had brought them into a Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of Valleys and Hills as well as into a Land of Vines and Fig-trees and Pomegranates c. as Moses speaks VIII Deut. 7 8. Ver. 41. Verse 41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year He repeats it again because it was of very great importance that they should keep in mind such a singular Benefit as this of their Preservation in the Wilderness It shall be a statute for ever in your generations For the end mentioned v. 43. Ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month They came out of Egypt in the first Month and then began to dwell in Tabernacles at Succoth XII Exod. 37. and from that place were conducted ever after under the Cloud XIII Exod. 20 21. Which being in that Month we call March some may think it had been most proper to have kept this Feast at that time of the year 〈◊〉 not in September To which the Jews answer That in March Summer began when it was usual for People to dwell in Booths as more refreshing than Houses So that if they had kept this Feast then it would not have been known that they dwelt in Booths by a singular Command of God and in memory of a Divine Benefit but Men would have thought the season of the year led them to it Therefore God appointed it in the seventh Month which is a time of Cold and Rain when Men commonly left their Tabernacles and betook themselves to their Houses that it might appear they did not go out of their Houses into Booths for their own pleasure or from common Custom but by the Divine Precept in memory of a marvellous Benefit Yet the fifteenth day of this Month was appointed for the beginning of this Feast because it was upon the fifteenth day of the first Month that they marcht out of Egypt to Succoth Ver. 42. Ye shall dwell in Booths seven days They left their Houses for seven days and went into the Fields and pitcht their Tents there or on their House tops or in their Court-yards as we read in VIII Nehem. 17. All that are Israelites born shall dwell in Booths Sick People were excepted and the Rabbins also freed Women and little Children from this Obligation If the Rain likewise proved so great that they could not live there dry and the Cold so intense that it endangered their Healths they might all return to their Houses Ver. 43. Verse 43 That your generations may know that I made the Children of Israel to dwell in booths This expresses the end and intention of this Feast which was to preserve a memory in future Ages of the Goodness of God to their Fore-fathers in affording them his Divine Protection which overshadowed them â—â—d was a covering to them when they had no Houses by that glorious Cloud which went before them to conduct them For all the forty years they were in the Wilderness it overspread them like a Tabernacle and defended them from the Injury of the Weather and wild Beasts and all their Enemies they having no other shelter in that desolate place but only this And consequently this Feast was instituted to make them sensible how very happy they were in goodly Cities and fine painted Houses as Maimonides speaks in the place above-mentioned when they came to the good Land promised to their Fathers who wandered in an howling Wilderness without any certain dwelling place And another Feast was tack't to this on the eighth day on purpose to make them more sensible of the happy exchange of their Condition from a Wilderness into a Land of Corn and Wine and Oil which they had plentifully gathered Dr. Lightfoot in his Harmony of the Evangelists upon III Luke 21. hath another reason for the Observation of this Festival For which I can see no ground and therefore do not mention it but refer the Reader to the first Volume of his Works p. 477. When I brought them out of the Land of Egypt For the very first place where they rested after their first days march out of Egypt was called Succoth as I observed before that is Tabernacles because here they began to spread their Tents in which they lived ever after for forty years Nay in the very Land of Canaan there were some who preferred Tents before Houses as appears by that phrase we meet with so often when any Assembly or Army was dissolved They went every man to his Tent. And indeed it was the most ancient way of Living for Shepherds and such as fed Cattle as Moses observes IV Gen. 20. and therefore no wonder it lasted so long among the Israelites who originally were such People I am the LORD your God Whose Commands ought to be observed and whose Benefits ought to be remembred Ver. 44. Verse 44 And Moses declared unto the Children of Israel the Feasts of the LORD So he was commanded to do v. 2. they being concerned as much as Aaron and the Priests in keeping these holy Solemnities in honour of the LORD CHAP. XXIV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Directions having been given after the setting up of the Tabernacle for the several sorts of Sacrifices that were to be offered there particularly upon the great Day of Atonement and Aaron and his Sons having been consecrated and care taken that none of their Posterity should Minister before God
your wickedness nor suffer theirs to go unpunished but do equal Justice unto all Yet the Jews by a Stranger here will understand only a Proselyte of Righteousness as they call him that is one who had intirely embraced their Religion for such alone they imagine were equalled with them See Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 1. pag. 468. Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Moses spake unto the Children of Israel that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of their Camp c. It appears by this that all the foregoing Admonitions were repeated to Moses upon the occasion of the Law against Blasphemy before he proceeded to put it in execution And the Children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses Executed the whole Sentence pronounced by God against the blasphemous Person v. 14. CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai saying That is in the Wilderness of Sinai I Numb 1. For they stayed almost a whole year not far from this Mountain from whence they did not remove till the twentieth day of the second Month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt See X Numb 11 12. And thus the Hebrew Particle Beth is often used for by or near as in XXXVII Gen. 13. V Josh 13. and we find this expression again in the end of the next Chapter and in the conclusion of this Book Which shows that all here related was delivered to Moses in the first month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt immediately after the Tabernacle was set up XL Exod 17. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them For what follows was of universal concernment When ye come into the land which I give you This Law though delivered before they left Mount Sinai could not take place till they came into Canaan Then shall the land keep a Sabbath Rest from being tilled or sowen c. See XXIII Exod. 11. Vnto the LORD In obedience to him and in honour of him Some have understood the foregoing words When ye shall come into the Land which I give you as if they were to begin the Sabbatical year as soon as they entred into Canaan which is very absurd for so not the seventh but the first would have been the year of Rest And that had been very inconvenient if not destructive the War making such great waste no doubt that Provision would have been very scarce if no care had been taken for the ensuing year It is to be considered also that the old store upon which they lived when they entred into the Land of Promise was the fruit of the labour of the Canaanites and not of the Children of Israel The meaning therefore is that the seventh year after their entrance into Canaan or rather after they were settled and had rest in it they should let the Land rest The only question is When this year was to begin whether in the month of Tisri which answers to our September which was the ancient beginning of the year or in Nisan answering to our March which was made a new beginning of it by an express Law XII Exod. 2. the former still continuing the beginning of the year for Civil things as this for Sacred Now there is great reason to think that this Sabbatical year was to commence from September when all their Harvest was over which began in March Then they were not to sow as they were wont to do in October and the following Months but to stay till the return of this Season the next year For if this year had been to begin in March they could not have reaped the Harvest of the sixth year Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six years shalt thou sow thy fields and prune thy Vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof XXIII Exod. 10. But what was allowed in other years is forbidden in this Ver. 4. Verse 4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the Land a Sabbath for the LORD Or unto the LORD as we translate it before v. 2. who though he gave this Land to them continued the Proprietor of it as he declares v. 23. and the LORD in chief himself Of whom they held it by this Tenure that they should till it c. only six years together for their own use and in the seventh let it lye in common for such uses as he appointed And it was for the honour of the LORD that they observed this Law for as the weekly Sabbath was an acknowledgment that they were his so this Sabbatical year was an acknowledgment that their Land was his Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard By this he explains what he means by letting it rest And these two words sow and prune comprehend all other things that were usually done about their Fields or Trees as plowing digging dunging c. And though a Vineyard be only mentioned yet it is plain by XXIII Exod. 10. that Olive-yards are comprehended under the same Law and these are mentioned only as examples of all other Fruit-trees which were to be left in common as these were Maimonides seems to be something too curious in what he saith upon this Subject for inquiring why Moses mentions only these two things sowing and pruning his resolution is That for these two if Men offended in them this year they were punished with that scourging called Malkut but if they offended in any other sort of Labours belonging to the Culture of the Fields or of Trees they were not punished with the scourging of Malkut which was by a certain measure not exceeding thirty nine stripes but with the scourging called Mardut i. e. of Contumacy and Rebellion which was without number or measure As if a Man digged or ploughed his ground if he gathered out the stones or dunged it c. if he planted Trees or grafted c. he suffered the scourging of Rebellion And more than this he saith it was not lawful in the seventh year to plant any Tree though it was not a Fruit-tree nor to cut off the dead Branches nor to make a smoak under them to kill the Worms nor to anoint young Plants to preserve them from the bitings of Birds c. If they did they were liable to the scourging of Murdut Nay he is so nice as to say it was unlawful to sell to any Man any Instrument of Husbandry in this year as a Plough a Yoke a Sieve c. yet he allows them when they were under the oppression of the Gentiles and bound to find Provision for their Armies to sow so much as would maintain them Of which things he discourses at large in his Treatise called Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 1. and cap. 7. Ver. 5. Verse 5 That which groweth of it self Either from Seed which fell casually the year before or from the old Root which sprouted out again as Maimonides expounds it in the same Treatise
this Verse was added to prevent such Oppressions as St. Hierom mentions who says some would lend a Neighbour ten Bushels of Corn suppose in Winter to receive fifteen Bushels for it the next Harvest Ver. 38. Verse 38 I am the LORD your God which brought you forth out of the Land of Egypt Who have obliged you with far greater Blessings then I command you to bestow upon others To give you the Land of Canaan Under such Covenants as have been mentioned And to be your God To preserve you in the possession of it in Peace and Plenty if you keep these Covenants v. 18 19. Ver. 39. Verse 39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor and be sold unto thee Some were sold by the Court of Judgment when they had committed Theft and were not able to make Satisfaction of whom the Hebrews interpret that place XXI Exod. 2 c. Others were sold by their Parents v. 7 8. of that Chapter But others sold themselves being reduced to great Poverty notwithstanding the Alms that had been bestowed upon them and the Money or Goods that had been freely lent them And of such the Hebrew Doctors understand these words and say it was not lawful for a Man to sell himself till his Poverty was extream and he had nothing at all left but must preserve his Life by the price which was given for him Thus Maimonides in these words A man might not sell himself to lay up the Money which was given for him nor to buy Goods nor to pay his Debts but meerly that he might get Bread to eat Neither was it lawful for him to sell himself as long as he had so much as a Garment left See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 7. where he observes that the Court of Judgment might not sell a Thief of their Nation to any but to an Hebrew not to a Proselyte of either sort much less to a meer Gentile But if an Hebrew sold himself to a Proselyte or to a Gentile which he was admonished not to do the Bargain was good but he was to be redeemed by his Kindred or by the People as it here follows v. 48 49. Which other People imitated who derived their Laws from Moses particularly the ancient Indians as Huetius observes out of Diodorus whose Philosophers commanded that none of their Nation should submit themselves to Servitude Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. cap. 6. Thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant As a Slave which they bought of other Nations or took in their Wars over whom they had an absolute Dominion as they had over their Goods or Cattle and might bequeath them and their Children to their Sons and Posterity for ever v. 45 46. or sell them and their Children at their pleasure Ver. 40. Verse 40 But as an hired Servant and as a sojourner They were to treat him gently as they did those who let out their Service for Wages for a certain time and then were at their own disposal again Shall he be with thee Some of the Jews have carried this very far in Speculation For thus they gloss upon this place in Jalkut Let him be with thee in Meat and Drink so that thou do not eat bread of fine flour and he of bran nor thou drink old Winâ— and he new nor thou lie on a soft Bed and he upon Straw But it is not likely that this was their practice And shall serve thee unto the year of Jubile Beyond which time it was not lawful to keep him in Service for in the very beginning of this year all such Servants were immediately dismissed Which made the year of Jubile such a time of joy that for nine days together before it began these Servants kept a kind of Saturnalia in prospect of their approaching Happiness For as Maimonides saith in the latter end of the tenth Chapter of Schemitta ve Jobel from the beginning of the year until the Day of Atonement Servants were neither dismissed nor yet served their Masters but they did eat and drink and made merry wearing Garlands on their heads And when the Day of Atonement came the Sanhedrim commanding the Trumpet to be sounded all Servants immediately went whether they pleased as Lands were restored to their first Owners Ver. 41. Verse 41 And then shall he depart from thee His Master to whom he was sold might keep him till the Jubile Whereas he that was sold by the Court of Judgment might go free if he pleased in the seventh year of Release XXI Exod. v. 2. Both he and his Children with him He that bought a Servant of the Court of Judgment was bound to maintain his Wife and Children if he had any with Meat Drink and Clothes and yet they were not bound to serve him much less did they remain Servants when their Fathers or Mothers Servitude was at an end as Mr. Selden observes in the fore-named place and therefore it was much more reasonable in this case that he and his Children should go out together And shall return unto his whole family From which he was gone while he remained a Servant And unto the possession of his fathers shall he return If any was befaln him since his Servitude Ver. 42. Verse 42 For they are my servants which I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt A good reason why they should not be treated like Slaves because they were all redeemed by God out of the slavery of Egypt into a state of perfect liberty They shall not be sold as bond-men Not publickly and in the common place of Sale or in the street but privately and in a way of honour as the Jewish phrase is So Maimonides alledged by Mr. Selden in the fore-named place p. 705. But the plainest sense is they should not be used like Slaves while they continued in Servitude for though they had the use of them in all bodily Employments yet their Bodies or Persons were not theirs and therefore they might not use them as they pleased So it follows in the next Verse Ver. 43. Verse 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour As Pharaoh did over all the Israelites I Exod. 13 14. or as the Israelites were wont to do over their Servants of other Nations but gently use their Service in such Imployments as would not be unworthy of them if they were Freemen But shalt fear thy God Remembring that they were all Slaves in Egypt and delivered by his wonderful goodness which was thankfully and reverently to be acknowledged Ver. 44. Verse 44 Both thy bond-men and thy bond-maids which thou shalt have shalt be of the heathen If they would have any Slaves they were to be such of other Nations as were sold to them or were taken by them in their Wars Whence the very name of Mancipia came as the Roman Lawyers tell us quasi manu capti and the name of Servus also which signifies one who was saved when he
called having several parts which were all holy Moses may be thought to speak of it here in the Plural Number As Jeremiah represents the Jews saying The Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD are these VII 4. That is both these Courts wherein we stand as well as that of the Priests and the most Holy Place are all the LORD's Temple Or the word your is to be applied to such places of Worship as they themselves had consecrated in opposition to God's Sanctuary And I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours This seems to determine the meaning of Sanctuaries to God's own House where sweet odours of Incense made of several sweet Spices were daily offered unto him Which being a representation of their Prayers sent up to him he here declares that he will not be appeased by them nor by any Sacrifices they could offer to him but utterly reject them Ver. 32. Verse 32 And I will bring the Land into desolation The People being carried captive or forced to flee into strange Countries v. 33. And your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it They that possess this Country out of which you are expelled shall be amazed when they reflect upon the Calamities that are fall'n upon you Which Jeremiah describes as very dreadful VII 20. And often mentions the Astonishment wherewith they were struck who beheld them XVIII 16. XIX 8. XXV 9 11. and see 2 Chron. XXIX 8 9. which shows this began before Jeremiah's time Ver. 33. Verse 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen Some fled into one strange Country and others into another according as they could find means and opportunity insomuch that there were no known places where they were not dispersed So Jeremiah threatens XIII 24. XV. 4. And I will draw a sword after you So Jeremiah threatens those that would go into Egypt for safety that the sword which they feared should overtake them there XLII 16 17 18. And your Land shall be desolate and your Cities waste For they that were left there and their Enemies to whom the Country was given were now enow to cultivate the Land and build their Cities By all this as well as by what follows it appears that here is a plain Prediction of the Miseries that came upon Israel by Tiglath-Pileser and Salmanasar and upon Judah by Nebuchadnezzar who laid their Cities waste destroyed the Sanctuaries despoil'd them of their Goods drove them into strange Countries and as it here follows made their Land keep its Sabbaths Ver. 34. Verse 34 Then shall the Land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lyeth desolate and ye be in your enemies Land c. This is a most bitter reproach to them for their ingratitude to God and inhumanity to their Brethren in not keeping the Sabbatical year mentioned in the foregoing Chapter Dr. Hammond hath another notion of the word which we translate enjoy See Note g. upon Psal 102. p. 504. Ver. 35. Verse 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest Lye untilled as it ought to have done every seventh year And it lay thus seventy years because as some think they had neglected to keep so many Sabbatical years Which we cannot think to be true without supposing that they kept none for half the time from their entrance into Canaan till they were expelled out of it by the Captivity of Babylon Because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it For in these four hundred and ninety years says Procopius Gazaeus when they were under the Government of Kings there were seventy years to be kept as Sabbaths which that the Land might enjoy its Sabbaths were spent in the Captivity of Babylon We do not expresly read indeed of this profane neglect while they dwelt in their Land but Jeremiah complains that they did not in his time give their Servants Liberty in the seventh year XXXIV 17. and he gives this as one reason why God delivered them up to Slavery for so I understand those words I Lament 3. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude And from thence we may conclude that the same covetous humour and distrust of God's Providence made them not suffer their Land to rest in that year Especially since the Author of the second Book of Chronicles expresly mentions this as a reason of their Captivity to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet until the Land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath to fulfil threescore and ten years 2 Chron. XXXVI 21. Now their Punishment in this was made the more remarkable if it be true that both the Kingdom of Samaria and the Kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a Sabbatical year and that immediately after a Jubile the City and Temple were destroyed by Titus according to Scaliger's Computation And so I observed before Maimonides makes account XXV 8. that the year when they were carried captive to Babylon and the first Temple destroyed was in the expiration of a Sabbatical year Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 10. sect 3. Ver. 36. Verse 36 And upon them that are left alive of you This imports that the Body of the People should be destroyed I will send a faintness into your hearts in the Lands of their Enemies Where their Spirits Sunk under their present Miseries And the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them And yet they were condemned to live in continual dread of more Miseries For the Hebrew word we translate faintness signifies softness which could not support the weight of their Affliction And this last Phrase imports such a timourness as should make their Life always uneasie to them and such a cowardise as should render them vile and despicable And so they are noted at this day to be mean spirited and faint hearted it being scarce ever heard that a Jew listed himself for a Soldier or ingaged in the defence of the Country where he lives And they shall flee as flecing from a Sword and fall when none pursueth Fancy they hear the sound of Trumpets or clashing of Arms which made them start and run away any fall into a swoon when there was no danger Such Terrors the Heathen themselves have observed in Men of an evil Conscience who were afraid of their own Shadow as they say of Orestes Ver. 37. Verse 37 And they shall fall one upon another As people are wont to do when they make too much haste and run confusedly or the formost hinder the flight of those that follow XLVI Jerem. 16. As it were before a Sword c. For fear of the Sword as this Hebrew Phrase certainly signifies and is so translated in the Margin of our Bibles XXI Isa 15. XXXI 8. See Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 8. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies Being so timorous as to
so doth Aben-Ezra the Syriack and the Vulgar For the Flock passed under his Rod as oft as he numbred them which was every Morning and Evening if he was a good Shepherd especially in the Evening See Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 44. p. 499. Of this Jeremiah speaks XXXIII 13. and Ezekiel alludes to it when he saith XX. 37. I will cause you to pass under the Rod. Where Kimchi notes it is the same Phrase with this in Leviticus and as much as to say As he that telleth his Sheep holdeth a Rod in his hand and telleth them one by one and brings out the Tenth for the Tithe so will I number you and the sinners shall perish c. The tenth shall be holy unto the LORD That is saith Maimonides in his forenamed Treatise called Bechoroth the Fat and the Blood of them was offered at the Altar and then the Owners eat the Flesh any where in Jerusalem as they did the lesser holy things For the Priests had no portion of them but all belonged to the Owner as did the Paschal Lamb. If there was any Blemish in them whether before or after the Tithing then they might be eaten in any place And so Bartenora as Dr. Owtram observes Lib. I. de Sacrificiis cap. 11. we do not find in the whole Law that any part of these Tenths was given to the Priests So a great many other of their Doctors who observe that Moses doth not reckon these among the XXIV Gifts for so many they make the whole number of them which were bestowed upon the Priesthood But as there is nothing else in Scripture to warrant this which no where prescribes how these Tenths should be imployed but only declares that they are holy to the LORD so this very Phrase I should think sufficiently signifies that they belonged to the LORD's Ministers And if not intirely to the Priests much less intirely to the Owners of them before they were the LORD's but if they were to eat them at Jerusalem as the Jews imagine the Levites sure were to have their share and the Stranger and other poor People as they were to have in their second Tithe of Corn wherewith they made Feasts there XIV Deut. 27 28 29. Ver. 33. Verse 33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad neither shall he change it It is not easie to give an account why God required so punctually the tenth Calf Goat or Lamb that though it were never so lean or blemished he would not suffer it to be exchanged for a better unless it were to avoid all Disputes Strife and Contention There are those indeed that think the reason was because in those Ages this was lookt upon as so Sacred a Number that it mystically denoted God whose Divine Perfections Providence and Bounty they were thought to acknowledge who gave the Tenth to him which was not to be altered and changed no more than he himself can be If he change it at all then both shall be holy As it was in Beasts vowed to God v. 9 10. It shall not be redeemed Nor might they sell it no more than suffer it to be redeemed If they did he that sold it or bought it got nothing as Maimonides speaks and besides the seller was to be scourged as he that sold the Cherems given to the Priest v. 28. Bechoroth cap. 6. sect 5. Ver. 34. Verse 34 These are the Commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the Children of Israel in Mount Sinai That is these moreover were added to the foregoing Commandments before they removed from the Wilderness of Mount Sinai See XXV 1. XXVI ult For having said before in the Conclusion of the foregoing Chapter These are the Statutes and Judgments and Laws which the LORD made c. which respect all that proceeded in this Book the Commandments here spoken of can relate to nothing more but the Laws delivered in this Chapter about Vows and devoted Things and Tithes Which Laws ought not to be passed over without serious consideration how far we may be concerned in them And therefore to make what I have noted about them more useful to us in these days I desire the Reader to observe That the very same pious Inclinations have ever been in all good Christians which Moses here supposes in the former part of this Chapter would be in the Jews to devote some part of their Goods their Houses or Lands to the Service of God which became sacred things and were to be imployed to no other use but that The very first Christians had so much of this Spirit in them that they sold all their Possessions and Goods and let every one that needed have a share of them II Acts 45. IV. 35. because the whole number of Believers attended to nothing else but the Service of Christ and the Apostles also were to be furnished with means to go and propagate the Gospel in all the World Where as soon as the Christian Religion prevailed in any place immediately there were the like voluntary Oblations made in such a proportion as served not only for the support of the Service of God in that Church but helpt to maintain the Christians at Jerusalem who had been brought low by parting with their Estates to further the first preaching of the Gospel This we find in a great number of places but it may suffice to say that the Feasts of Charity were maintained out of these Oblations By which it is apparent that they took themselves to have the very same Obligations upon them in this matter which the Jews formerly had and therefore it is no wonder that Tithes came in time to be devoted for the maintenance of God's Ministers For it is sensless to imagine that the Gospel which constrained them to give up themselves to God should not constrain them with the same freedom of mind to give some of their Goods as Moses here supposes the Jews would do for the maintenance of his Service And it is as unreasonable to think it did not move them to give the Ministers of God as honourable a maintenance as had been allowed under the Law of Moses Which required besides the Tenth here mentioned another Tithe of the remainder to be spent in Sacrifices at Jerusalem of which the Levites had their share as I observed from XIV Deut. 22 28. To which if we add the First-born with all Sin-offerings and the Priests share of Peace-offerings and the Skins of the Sacrifices which alone made a good Revenue as Philo observes and likewise all such Consecrations as are mentioned in this Chapter the Levites Cities and Suburbs it will easily appear it could not be so little as a fifth part of the Fruit of the Land which came to their share Now the reason we find no such certain Rate determined by the Gospel as was by this Law is because there was no need of it And for the same reason there was none for a good while settled by