there But the Expiation of the High-Priest himself who was to make the Expiation of the Sanctuary preceded all the rest as is apparent from v. 11. Ver. 34. Verse 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute The repetition of this the third time See v. 29 31. shows of how great importance it was that this annual Solemnity should be observed Vnto you The High-Priests before-mentioned of whom he speaks in the Plural Number because none of them could continue always as I observed v. 32. but enjoyed the Office successively upon the death of their Predecessors To make an atonement for the Children of Israel for all their sins once a year This is only a repetition of what was said v. 30. that it should be incumbent on the High-Priest by a perpetual Obligation to make an Atonement for the Peoples sins on this day as it was incumbent on the People v. 29. to afflict their Souls upon this day And he did as the LORD commanded Moses The Service of this day was immediately performed by Aaron according to the fore-named order CHAP. XVII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying After he had ordered the great Anniversary Sacrifice in the foregoing Chapter he gives some Directions about other Sacrifices for which there would be occasion every day Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto Aaron and his Sons and all the Children of Israel Who were all concerned in what follows and therefore this Command is directed to the whole house of Israel v. 3. to whom this was delivered it is likely by their Elders or else Moses himself went from Tribe to Tribe and spake to their several Families And say unto them This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded Enjoyned by a Special Law Ver. 3. Verse 3 Whatsoever man there be of the House of Israel that killeth an Ox or Lamb or Goat viz. For a Sacrifice or Offering as it follows v. 4. these being the only Creatures of the Herd and the Flock that were permitted to be brought to God's Altar There are those indeed who think Moses speaks of killing these Creatures for common use which it was lawful for them to do any where after they came to the Land of Canaan XII Deut. 15. but now they were not to kill them for their food unless they brought them to the door of the Tabernacle and there first sacrificed some part of them to the LORD before they tasted of them themselves By which their sacrificing to Daemons was prevented to which they were prone v. 7. and they also constantly feasted with God while they dwelt in the Wilderness But this is better founded upon XII Deut. 20 21. where it is supposed that they had thus done while they remained in the Wilderness and were so near to the House of God that they might easily bring thither every Beast they killed for ordinary use But they were dispensed withal as to this when they came into Canaan and could not possibly when they had a mind to eat Flesh go so far as to the Tabernacle or Temple which was many Miles from some of them Instead whereof they were bound to come at the three great Festivals and appear before God at his House wheresoever they dwelt In the Camp or that killeth it out of the Camp This seems to show that he doth not speak of killing these Beasts ad usum vescendi as St. Austin's words are for the use of eating for that they did not do out of the Camp but in their Tents but de Sacrificiis he speaks concerning Sacrifices For he prohibits as he goes on private Sacrifices lest every Man should take upon him to be a Priest c. Ver. 4. Verse 4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to offer an offering unto the LORD In ancient time every Man had performed the Office of a Priest in his own Family But now that liberty is taken away because they had abused it to Idolatry and every Man was bound to bring his Sacrifice to the House of God where none but the Sons of Aaron could officiate and had the most sacred Obligations on them to offer only to the LORD The very Heathens themselves in future times found it necessary to enact the very same as appears by Plato in the latter end of his Tenth Book of Laws where he hath these memorable words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let this be a Law imposed absolutely upon all that no Man whatsoever have a sacred place in private Houses but when he hath a mind to offer Sacrifice let him go to the publick Temples and deliver his Sacrifice to the Priests whether Men or Women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose business it is to take care that these things be performed in an holy manner By which it appears that these were two established Principles of Religion in wise Mens minds to Sacrifice publickly and to bring their Sacrifices to the Priests who were to take care to offer them purely Unto which Moses adds one thing more that their publick Sacrifices should be offered only at one place which was a most efficacious preservative from all strange Worship nothing being done but under the Eye of the Ministers of Religion and the Governours of the People Insomuch that St. Chrysostom as our learned Dr. Spencer observes Lib. I. de Rit Leg. Hebr. L. I. cap. 4. sect 1. calls Jerusalem which was afterwards established to be this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of bond or knot whereby the whole Nation were tied fast to the Judaical Religion Before the Tabernacle of the LORD Before the Divine Majesty which dwelt in the Tabernacle round about which they all inhabited and were so near it while they travelled in the Wilderness that as there was no trouble in bringing all their Sacrifices thither so they knew certainly whether to go And thus the Hebrew Doctors observe it was when they came into Canaan where while the Tabernacle was fixed in Shilo none might Sacrifice any where else But when it wandred uncertainly after Shilo was destroyed being sometimes in Mispeh sometimes at Gilgal and at Nob and Gibeon and the House of Obed-Edom they fancy it was lawful to Sacrifice in other places For so we find Samuel did 1. Sam. VII 9. IX 13. where he sacrificed in an high place XI 15. XVI 2. and David 2 Sam. XXIV 18. and Elias 1 Kings XVIII 23. But these may be thought extraordinary acts done by an immediate warrant from God for none of these Persons were Priests but Prophets guided by Divine Inspirations See Dr. Owtram Lib. I. de Sacrific cap. 2. Blood shall be imputed unto that man he hath shed blood He was to be punished as a Murderer that is die for it For to have Blood imputed to a Man in the Hebrew phrase or to be guilty of Blood is to be liable to have his Blood shed or to lose his Life Which as of old it was
was gathered together The word we translate Assembly is the same with that in the foregoing Verse which we translate Congregation that is as I said the Assembly of the Elders Vnto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation That they might be Witnesses of what was done and satisfie all the People that Aaron and his Sons did not intrude themselves into this Office but were solemnly called and consecrated to it by Moses the Servant of the LORD It is likely also that as many of the People as the place would conveniently hold met together to be Spectators of this Solemnity Ver. 5. Verse 5 And Moses said unto the Congregation this is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done I am now about to execute what God hath formerly commanded when I was with him in the holy Mount XXIX Exod. 4. At what time this was executed is a question among learned Men. And our great Primate of Ireland places this Consecration of Aaron and his Sons together with the Tabernacle and all things belonging to it in the second Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt moved thereunto I suppose by what is said in VII Numb 1 2. So that according to his Opinion the numbring of the People and the separation of the Levites to God's Service preceded this Action But I do not see any reason why we should not think all things were done in the order wherein they are here related And then this Consecration was performed in the first month of that year after the Tabernacle had been erected and set apart for the Habitation of the Divine Majesty See XL Exod. 17 18. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons To the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation as he had been directed XXIX Exod. 4. And washed them with water As is there also directed having first likewise washed himself XL. 31. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And he put upon him the Coat and girded him with the girdle c. Moses by an extraordinary Commission from God performed the Office of an High-Priest on this day and the six days following And put Aaron in possession of this Office by cloathing him with the Garments here mentioned according to the orders which had been given XXIX Exod. 5 c. which was thought sufficient for the Consecration of an High-Priest after the Captivity of Babylon when they wanted the holy Oil as hath been before observed Whence Philo often calls Moses by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. High-Priest And in Schemoth Rabba the Tradition is that he continued High-Priest all the time they continued in the Wilderness though others they confess are of opinion which is the truth that he officiated only the seven days of the Consecration after which this Office was settled in Aaron See Selden L. I. de Succession in Pontificatum cap. 1. Ver. 8. Verse 8 And he put the breast-plate upon him also he put in the breast-plate the Vrim and the Thummim See XXVIII Exod. 30. It is observable that he saith nothing here in this place of the precious Stones but only mentions Vrim and Thummim as in XXXIX Exod. 10. where he describes the same thing he makes mention only of the four rows of Stones but saith not one word of Vrim and Thummim which I look upon as a proof that they were all one Ver. 9. Verse 9 And he put the Mitre upon his head and upon the Mitre the golden Plate the holy Crown c. According as God commanded him in XXVIII Exod. 36 37 c. XXIX 6. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was therein See XXIX Exod. 26 c. and XL Exod. 9 10 11. There being several ways of anointing a Thing or Person either by pouring Oil upon them or by putting it upon them with the finger or by sprinkling it is not an improbable Conjecture of Fortunatus Scacchus that Moses anointed the Tabernacle and its Utensils by dipping his finger in the Oil and putting it upon them For though the word Maschah which he useth for anointing be general yet the Vulgar expressing it by linivit and the LXX by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which import this particular sort of anointing and there being different words used to express the anointing of the Altar and of Aaron it may well incline one to his Opinion Myrothec 2. Sacr. Elaeochrism cap. 70. And sanctified them Set them apart by this unction for the holy use for which they were designed Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the Altar seven times and anointed the Altar and all its vessels c. We do not find this expresly before directed but the intention of anointing the Altar being to make it most holy because it was to sanctifie all that was laid upon it XXX Exod. 29. XL. 10. it was very fit it should be both sprinkled seven times with Oil and also anointed in token of its extraordinary Sanctity which was put upon it by this very solemn Rite For here are two distinct words about this anointing the first is jaz he sprinkled of the Oil upon it and then jimshach he anointed it by putting some of the Oil on it whereas it is said of the Tabernacle and of the things there only jimshach he anointed them without any sprinkling Some think that the Altar being mentioned twice in this Verse he speaks of the Altar of Incense as well as of the Altar of Burnt-offerings But it is plain by those places in Exodus it was the Altar of Burnt-offerings which was thus sanctified and here the Laver and its foot which stood in the same Court is said to be sanctified with it As for the Altar of Incense it is included in what is said in the foregoing Verse that he anointed the Tabernacle and all therein Both the laver and his foot to sanctifie them It may be thought that he sprinkled with Oil the Laver and its Foot as well as anointed them which is the opinion of the fore-named Fort. Scacchus But the Hebrew words will not warrant it for they only signifie that they were anointed as the Altar was after its aspersion Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aarons head Here now is a third word distinct from the two former viz. jitzok which signifies there was more done to Aaron than to any of the holy things to sanctifie him to his office For the holy Oil was poured on his Head And anointed him Perhaps he drew the Oil with his finger upon his Forehead after it was poured on his Head as the Jews think he did See XXIX Exod 7 8. XXX 30. XL. 13. To sanctifie him i. e. Set him apart to this Sacred Office Now this Consecration of Aaron and his Sons being mentioned here together with the Consecration of the Tabernacle and all belonging to it it hath made some conclude that both were done at
for Sin offered v. 14. before they could be worthy to have any Gift or Present which they made to God received by him But upon their Expiation an whole Burnt-offering was accepted v. 18. and after that followed this Sacrifice which was a Peace-offering as appears from v. 31. part of which was burnt upon the Altar part given to the Priest and the rest they themselves ate for whom it was offered that it might appear they were so far in the favour of God as to eat with him of his Meat from his Table Abarbanel hath the same observation Ver. 25. Verse 25 And he took the fat and the rump c. All this Verse likewise is there explained XXIX Exod. 22. Ver. 26 27 28. Verse 26 27 28. And out of the basket of unleavened bread c. These three Verses show that Moses exactly followed the Orders he had received XXIX Exod 23 24 25. where they have been explained Ver. 28. Verse 28 Burnt them upon the burnt-offering This shows that they were not a burnt-offering properly as I there observed but an Appendix to it They were consecrations for a sweet savour Because they were offered to consecrate and sanctifie them as this is explained XXIX Exod. 33. See there Ver. 29. Verse 29 And Moses took the breast and waved it c. According to the direction given XXIX Exod. 26. where it is also ordered that this should be Moses his part Ver. 30. Verse 30 And he took of the anointing oil and of the blood that was upon the Altar and sprinkled it on Aaron c. See XXIX Exod. 21. where it appears plainly this blood that was mixed with the Oil was the Blood of the Ram of Consecration Ver. 31. Verse 31 And Moses said unto Aaron and his sons Boil the flesh at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and there eat it c. God having had his part v. 28. and Moses who performed the Office of a Priest at this time having had that which belonged to him on that account v. 29. the rest was given as the manner was in Peace-offerings to those for whom the Sacrifice was offered that is all but the right shoulder which was burnt upon the Altar and the Wave-breast which was given to Moses as Priest See XXIX Exod. 31 32. Ver. 32. Verse 32 That which remains of the flesh and the blood shall ye burn with fire See XXIX Exod. 34. This shows it was of the nature of a Peace-offering VII 15 17. Ver. 33. Verse 33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the Tabernacle in seven days c. For till then their Consecration was not perfected as the following words signifie no more than the Consecration of the Altar was till a Bullock had been offered to cleanse it and make an atonement for it seven days together See XXIX Exod. 35 36 37. This was to make them more sensible of the great weight as well as dignity of their Office Ver. 34. Verse 34 As he hath done this day so the LORD hath commanded to do to make an atonement for you Every day of these seven those Sacrifices were to be repeated the Sin-offering the Burnt-offering and the Peace-offering and their Garments were to be sprinkled with the Blood and the Anointing Oil as the LORD required when Moses was with him in the Mount XXIX Exod. 35. This shows the imperfection of all the Legal Sacrifices which would not have been so often repeated if they had been of greater efficacy Yet the continuance of them seven days doth signifie the compleat Consecration of these Priests according to the Rites of those times In conformity to which our great High-Priest the LORD Christ who was perfected by one Sacrifice of himself spent seven days in his Consecration to his Office For as Aaron is commanded to attend at the Tabernacle so many days together in like manner our LORD Christ as Dr. Jackson observes in the forenamed Book Chapt. XXV did attend the Temple five days one after another before his death See XII John 1 12 c. XXI Matth. 8 9 c. and having purged it on the first or second of those days from the prophaneness that was exercised in it by Merchandizing and afterward hallowed it by his Doctrine and by his Divine Presence which appeared in several miraculous Cures he went the sixth day into his heavenly Sanctuary into Paradise it self to puririsie and sanctifie it with his own Blood as Moses at Aaron's Consecration did the material Sanctuary and Altar with the Blood of Beasts And having rested the seventh day finished all by his Resurrection early the next day in the morning Ver. 35. Verse 35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Where all things mentioned in this Chapter had been done and were still to be repeated v. 3 4. for they could not go into the Sanctuary till they were compleated Day and night This was to make their Consecration more solemn and taken notice of by all the People Seven days By which means a Sabbath as the Jews observe passed over their heads without which they conceive Aaron and his Sons could not have been compleated But the Sabbath of the LORD did never so exactly pass over any High-Priest in his Consecration as it did over the High-Priest of the New Testament For however it were of Aaron's it was to our blessed Saviour as the fore-named Dr. Jackson notes a Day of Rest indeed after six days of Labour Watching Praying and Fasting which concluded in his bloody Death and Passion And keep the charge of the LORD That which he had now enjoyned Or rather watch the Tabernacle and his Vessels c. as they were to do in time to come The Hebrew Doctors have here raised a difficulty about the necessary Easements of Nature for which they had no convenience if they might not stir for seven days from the door of the Tabernacle and therefore they fancy there was a hole digged in the Ground for such occasions But it is more likely they were not so confined as not to be allowed this liberty and one cannot well doubt of it who considers the word Mismoroth here used which we translate keep the charge of the LORD which is a military phrase signifying the Stations and Watches kept in their turns for certain hours after which they were at liberty to attend their own Affairs Such was the charge here one may reasonably think of not departing from the door of the Tabernacle while they were upon the guard as we speak which some or other of them kept night and day in such order that while some watched others might sleep or step out about the necessary occasions of Nature That ye die not It may seem hard that they should be in peril of their Life if they omitted any of these Rites But this was necessary to make those serious and intent upon their business who were to save the Lives of
XL Exod. 34 35. openly showed it self to them all v. 23. and declared his Grace and Favour towards them by consuming their Sacrifice as an acceptable Oblation to him v. 24. Whereby a particular Honour also was done unto Aaron who was hereby most illustriously owned to be God's High-Priest and all other Persons deterred from pretending to his Office Ver. 7. Verse 7 And Moses said unto Aaron Go unto the Altar and offer thy sin-offering and thy burnt-offering One of them after the other in the order wherein they were directed viz. his Sin-offering first to make his Burnt-offering accepted Make an atonement for thy self and for the people First for himself as the Apostle observes VII Hebr. 27. that then he might be capable to offer for the Sins of the People This was the great imperfection of the Aaronical Priests that they were Sinners like other Men by reason whereof they were bound as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins V Hebr. 3. And offer the offering of the people and make an atonement for them After he had offered both the Sin-offering v. 8. and the Burnt-offering v. 13. for himself then he was to begin to offer for the People For his own Sins being expiated and his Burnt-offering being accepted he was fit to procure Remission and Acceptance for them Ver. 8. Verse 8 Aaron therefore went unto the Altar That he might be ready to perform his part of the Service which was to sprinkle the Blood after he had first of all offered the Morning Sacrifice See v. 17. And slew the Calf of the sin-offering which was for himself Ordered it to be slain for this was no part of the Priests work as I showed upon the first Chapter v. 5. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him They received it in Basons as it run from the Calf when it was killed See I. 5. and brought it unto him who stood at the Altar to receive it and do what follows And he dipt his finger in the blood The fore-finger of the right hand which had been sanctified to this Ministry by putting the Blood of the Sacrifice of Consecration upon the thumb of the right hand VIII 23 24. whereby we grasp all things and cannot hold them strongly nor perform any thing well if that be wanting And put it upon the horns of the Altar c. See IV. 25. Ver. 10. Verse 10 But the fat and the kidneys and the caul above the liver See IV. 8 9. He burnt upon the Altar as the LORD commanded Moses Laid or disposed them upon the Altar to be burnt by the heavenly fire v. 24. as most understand it And the LXX justifie this Opinion who though they here translate it He offered it on the Altar yet v. 13. where there is the same phrase they expresly translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he laid the Burnt-offering upon the Altar and again v. 17. in the same manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he laid it upon the Altar besides the burnt-sacrifice of the morning For common fire it is supposed was no longer to be used when Aaron's Sacrifice began as it had been all along before But there is no certainty in this and we may as well take the words in their proper sense that Aaron burnt this and the following Sacrifice as Moses had done before VIII 14 21 28. until the Burnt-offering for the People came to be offered which God consumed by fire from himself and then followed those other Sacrifices mentioned v. 17 18. For all these Sacrifices for Aaron and for the People could not be laid upon the Altar at once but one after another in the order here directed and consequently this Sacrifice here mentioned was actually burnt upon the Altar to make way for those which followed it Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp See VIII 17. Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he slew the burnt-offering and Aaron's sons presented to him the blood c. See I. 5. Ver. 13 14. Verse 13 14. And they presented the burnt-offering unto him with the pieces thereof c. All that is contained in these two Verses is explained in the first Chapter v. 8 9. where the Law about burnt-offerings is delivered Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he brought the peoples sin-offering c. Having offered all that was necessary for himself now he became fit to make Supplication for the People And offered it for sin as the first In the same manner as he offered the foregoing Sin-offering for himself v. 8 c. Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he brought the burnt-offering Here being no express mention of burning it some from thence conclude that this was the Offering which alone was consumed by fire from the LORD See v. 24. And offered it according to the manner Laid it upon the Altar as Moses had directed in the first Chapter of this Book Ver. 17. And he brought the meat-offering c. Which attended upon Burnt-offerings XV Numb 2 3 4 c. Beside the burnt-offering of the morning This shows that Aaron began his Priestly Function with the Morning Sacrifice which preceded all other and was never omitted for the sake of any other Sacrifice that was to follow it and it had always a Meat-offering waiting upon it XXIX Exod. 39 40. Ver. 18 19. Verse 18 19. He slew also the Bullock and the Ram for a sacrifice of peace-offerings These two Verses are explained in the third Chapter which treats of such kind of Offerings Ver. 20. Verse 20 And he put the fat upon the beasts c. That it might by elevation and waving be presented unto the LORD and then burnt upon the Altar See VII 30. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave-offering before the LORD The Fat being burnt upon the Altar as God's portion these were the portion of the Priests who feasted upon God's Meat for they were solemnly presented unto him before they had them See VII 34. Ver. 22. Verse 22 And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people Imploring the Divine Blessing upon the People which he afterwards pronounced At this day they that are of the Family of Aaron going up the steps which lead to the place where the Book of the Law is kept lift up their hands as high as their heads and pronounce a Blessing in their Synagogues upon the Assembly And they say the ancient Custom was which is still observed not only to lift up and spread their hands but then to joyn them together by the thumbs and the two fore-fingers dividing the other from them in that Figure which is represented by an eminently learned Person J. Wagenseil in his Commentary upon Sota cap. 7. p. 672. and 1132. And blessed them We read of no order for this but natural Reason taught them from the beginning that the Priestly Office consisted in praying
for the People and Blessing them We find an Example of it in XIV Gen. 18 19. And not long after Aaron's Consecration Moses delivered from God a form of words wherein the Priests should bless the People VI Numb 24. And at this day there is nothing done among the Jews with such Solemnity and in which they place so much Sanctity as this For when the Blessing is pronounced in their Synagogues they all cover their Faces believing they would be struck blind if they should look up because the Divine Majesty at that time sits upon the hands of the Priest So the same Wagenseil observes in the place above-named which shows not only how laborious they have been to maintain in the Peoples minds an opinion that God is still as much present with them in their Synagogues as he was anciently in the Tabernacle and Temple but how high a value they set upon the Divine Blessing pronounced by his Ministers And came down from offering the sin-offering and the burnt-offering and peace-offerings He pronounced the Blessing before he came down from the Altar which stood upon raised Ground though there were no steps to it XX Exod. 26. that all the People might the better see what was done while he offered all these Sacrifices for them and lift up his hands to implore God's Blessing upon them Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of the Congregation The Sacrifice being ended it is likely Moses went with Aaron into the Sanctuary to instruct him how to sprinkle the Blood and to burn Incense and order the Shew-bread and such like things as were to be done only in the Holy Place And came out and blessed the people I suppose that all the Sacrifices before-mentioned might be offered after the Morning Sacrifice v. 17. which took up a great deal of time before they were all compleated After which Moses and Aaron went into the Sanctuary and stayed there till the time of the Evening Sacrifice and then came out and dismissed the People with a new Blessing when the Evening Sacrifice was finished And the Glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people That Glory which filled the Tabernacle XL Exod. 34 35. now appeared without either at the door of it or upon it in the sight of all the People as Moses had foretold v. 6. Ver. 24. Verse 24 And there came a fire out from before the LORD Either out of the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies or from that Glory which now appeared unto them and sent out flashes of fire which burnt up the Sacrifice In either of these senses it may be said to come from the face of the LORD as the Hebrew phrase is And consumed upon the Altar the burnt-offering and the fat It seems to me most natural and easie to take this Burnt-offering and its Fat for the Evening Sacrifice which concluding the work of this day God gave a special Token of his acceptance of all the other Sacrifices by consuming this and likewise publickly testified his approbation of all the fore-mentioned Rites of the Ministry of Aaron whose Authority was hereby established in a miraculous manner To confirm this it may be noted that as the place which God chose for his Worship and Service was afterward designed in the time of David after the very same manner 1 Chron. XXI 26. So it was at the time of the Evening Sacrifice as may be gathered from 2 Sam. XXIV 15. where it is said the Pestilence continued from Morning to the time appointed that is to the Evening and then David saw the Angel who commanded Gad to bid him set up the Altar in the Threshing-floor of Araunah where God answering him by fire from Heaven it made him say This is the House of God and this is the Altar of Burnt-offering 1 Chron. XX. II. 1. And when Solomon built the Temple in that very place it was thus consecrated by fire coming from Heaven and consuming the Burnt-sacrifice as well as by the Glory of the LORD filling the House 2 Chron. VII 1 2 3. And it is very probable also that this was at the time of the Evening Sacrifice for the former part of the day had been spent in bringing the Ark into the House of the LORD and in Solomon's Prayer as we read in the two foregoing Chapters Certain it is that the Authority of Elijah to restore God's true Religion and Worship was thus justified 1 Kings XVIII 38 39. and it was at the time of the offering the Evening Sacrifice v. 36. From whence that Prayer of the Psalmist CXLI Psal 2. Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice All this was so notorious that Julian himself acknowledges that fire came down from Heaven in the time of Moses and again in the days of Elijah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming the Sacrifices as we find his words related by St. Cyril L. X. contra Julianum And this gave such a Divine Authority to the Jewish Religion that it is no wonder to find that the Pagans indeavoured to get credit to their Religion by the like reports of fire from an invisible Power consuming their Sacrifices which perhaps was sometimes really done by the Prince of the Power of the Air as the Apostle calls the Devil However that be there are several Instances of this in Pausanias Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Valerius Maximus and Pliny But Servius may serve instead of all who upon those words of Virgil in Aeneid XII faedera fulmine sancit saith that anciently they did not kindle fires upon their Altars sed ignem divinum precibus eliciebant c. but they procured by their Prayers Divine fire which inflamed their Altars And Solinus saith cap. 11. that the flame sprung out of the Wood by a Divine Power Si Deus adest si sacrum probatur Sarmenta licet viridia ignem sponte concipiunt c. If God be present if the Sacrifice be acceptable the Faggots though green kindle of themselves and without any one to set them on fire a flame is raised by the Deity to whom the Sacrifice is offered Thus there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed Gideon's Sacrifice VI Judg. 21. They that would see more of this out of Pagan Writers may consult J. Dilherrus Dissert Special de Cacozelia Gentil cap. 11. But especially Huetius in his Alnetanae Quaestiones L. II. cap. 12. n. 21. But whether this Fire which now came from before the LORD consumed Aaron's Sacrifice instantly or only set it into a flame which consumed it leisurely in the sight of all the People cannot certainly be determined The Jews seem to suppose the latter the heavenly fire being now kindled which continued ever after by a constant supply of Fewel whereby it was kept perpetually burning as is ordained VI. 12 13. See Note on that place Where to me it seems very observable that this Law of keeping in the fire perpetually is ordered to
Erpenius and many of the Jewish Commentators such as R. Solomon and Aben-Ezra who give the same account of XXI Lev. 10. where the same thing is required of the High-Priest And the time of their letting their Hair grow on such occasions they determine by the Law of the Nazarites who were not to cut their Hair all the time of their Vow of Separation which the Jews say was at least XXX days VI Numb 5. Therefore the Priests were not to let their Hair grow so long if they did they were uncapable of officiating Only they make this difference between the common Priests and the High-Priest that this Law did not bind the Priests at all times but only in their Course of Ministration but the High-Priest whose Presence was always necessary in the Sanctuary might never let his Hair grow but was bound every Week to have it cut even on the Eve of the Sabbath See Selden L. II. de Success in Pontiff cap. 6. But the foundation of all this is not very strong for it relies chiefly on the use of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place of Numbers VI. 5. where it signifies Hair from whence they conclude the Verb here may have the same Notion and signifie the growth of Hair But this is not the usual signification of it in Scripture where it commonly imports the rejection of something as of good Counsel I Prov. 25. of Reproof or Instruction XIII Prov. 18. XV. 32. And being joyned with the Head plainly signifies the uncovering it See V Numb 18. And therefore so the LXX understand it here as if they were forbidden to put off their Bonnets But that they always did as soon as they had performed their Sacred Office in the Sanctuary and therefore it may be meant of making their Heads bare by shaving them or bald by pulling off the Hair as the manner was in Mourning XV Isa 2. XLI Jer. 5. XLVIII 37. and many other places And in this the Priests among the Jews directly opposed those among the Egyptians who shaved their Heads as appears by what Minutius Faelix and Lampridius in the Life of Commodus say concerning the Priests of Isis And Herodotus also in his Euterpe whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In other places the Priests of the Gods nourish their hair but in Egypt they are shaved Neither rend your Clothes Which was another Rite of Mourning not only among the Jews but among all People in ancient Times especially in the Eastern Countries as every one knows that hath read any of their Authors See I Job 20. And it was used on many other occasions among the Jews as well as in their Funerals particularly when any Man blasphemed XIV Numb 6. 2 Kings XIX 1. when any ill Tidings came which put them into a Passion 2 Kings V. 7. or any Misfortune befel them XLIV Gen. 13. XI Judg. 35. But was thought so unseemly in a Priest especially when he ministred that the Jews say they whose Garments were rent by accident were as uncapable of ministring as they who rent them themselves in Mourning The reason of this Precept was as R. Levi of Barcelona well observes Praecept CLV that it being not allowed in those Countries for Mourners to come into the Presence of their Kings as appears by the History of Esther much less was it seemly for any that attended upon the Divine Majesty to come into his House in such a Habit. Lest ye die As Nadab and Abihu did For after such a Monition as this they had highly dishonoured God if they had appeared in his Sanctuary in such an indecent manner And wrath come upon the people For want of Priests to make atonement for them when they offended But let your brethren the whole house of Israel bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled He doth not prohibit the rest of the People who were not Priests to mourn for them but rather requires it of them all that they might be sensible of their loss and of the the sin which was the cause of it And it is likely the People bewailed them by rending their Clothes and baring their Heads and putting Ashes upon them or some such Rites then in use among them Ver. 7. Verse 7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation For it is supposed the seven days of their Consecration were not yet quite ended VIII 35. or they had begun some other Ministration in the Sanctuary and therefore were not to stir out of the Court of it till it was sanctified And the Hebrews think this Law did not only bind Aaron and his Sons at this time but their Posterity for ever that if they heard of the death of any of their Kindred when they were ministring in the Sanctuary they should not stir from their Duty For that would have been to show a greater affection to a dead Friend than to the living God This appears to be true by the like command to this and in the same words laid particularly upon the High-Priests XXI 12. For the anointing of the LORD is upon you You are devoted and consecrated by a Solemn Unction VIII 10 c. to the Service of God which must not be omitted out of respect to any Person whatsoever For in this Precept as R. Levi Barcelonita observes Praecept CLVII the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Worship was consulted which if his Ministers had deserted on such occasions for a moment would have been brought into contempt For it would have been a declaration that there was something in the World more to be regarded than God's Service And therefore the punishment of Death is threatned in the foregoing words to those who were guilty of such an offence And they did according to the word of Moses Staid in the Tabernacle without any of the usual Tokens of Mourning Wherein they performed an eminent piece of Obedience to God whose commandment suppressed those natural Affections which are very hard to be kept in subjection Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron saying It may be thought that the LORD was so pleased with his Obedience that he himself now spake unto Aaron whereas hitherto he had spoken to him by Moses Ver. 9. Verse 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee By Wine every one knows is meant that Liquor which is pressed out of Grapes And by Schechar which we translate strong Drink is meant such Liquors as were made in imitation of Wine of Dates or Figs and many other sorts of Fruits also that which was made of Honey which we call Mede and Metheglin There are many sorts of such Liquors mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History Lib. XIV cap. 16. which he calls Vina factitia When ye go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation To perform your Ministry At other times they might drink Wine and if we may believe the Jews they did not
ordered to be IV. 12 21. that is if their Blood was carried into the Holy Place then nothing of them might be eaten VI. 30. But otherwise their Flesh was to be eaten in the Court of the Tabernacle as is expresly commanded VI. 26. This distinction they either did not well observe when it was delivered or being oppressed with sorrow for the loss of Nadab and Abihu they did not think it fit to feast at this time upon the Flesh of this Offering For so Aaron excuses this Fact v. 19. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar He saith nothing to Aaron either because he was loth to add to his Grief or because it was the business of his Sons to look after this Sacrifice and to see that the Flesh of it was disposed of according to God's orders The sons of Aaron which were left alive Who by the punishment upon their Brethren should have learnt greater caution in their Ministry Ver. 17. Verse 17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the holy place That is obeyed the Commandment which I gave you VI. 26. Seeing it is most holy VI. 25. And God hath given it you VI. 29. To bear the iniquity of the Congregation to make atonement for them before the LORD God bestowed upon the Priests this Reward of their Service that they might be the more willing to take upon them the Peoples Sins and to make an Expiation carefully for them And indeed the very eating of the Peoples Sin-offering argued the Sins of the People were in some sort laid upon the Priests to be taken away by them Which being done they had reason to rejoyce also in a Feast upon this Sacrifice which God had been pleased to accept for the taking away of the Sins of the People From whence the Sacrifice of Christ may be explained who is said to bear our iniquity as the Priest is said here to do all our Sins being laid on him who took upon him to make an Expiation for them by the Sacrifice of himself For the Priest here by eating of the Sin-offering receiving the Guilt upon himself may well be thought to prefigure one who should be both Priest and Sacrifice for Sin which was accomplished in Christ Ver. 18. Verse 18 Behold Observe what I say to you The blood of it was not brought in within the holy place It was none of those Sacrifices which I commanded you to burn intirely but required you to eat of it VI. 26 30. Ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded For as there was a peremptory Law forbidding the Priests to eat the Flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was brought into the Holy Place to make atonement with it so there was as peremptory a Law that they should eat the Flesh of those Sacrifices for Sin whose Blood was not brought in thither Ver. 19. Verse 19 And Aaron said unto Moses Though Moses questioned only Eleazar and Ithamar yet Aaron makes the answer they not being able perhaps to give an account of what they had done though sensible of their mistake Behold this day have they offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before the LORD His Apology for them seems to be this that they had not wholly violated God's Command but performed the Substance of it though they had failed in one Circumstance For they had not only offered the Sin-offering for the People for that is meant by their Sin-offering but also their Burnt-offering IX 15 16. and that before the LORD in the place where he ordered them to be offered In all this Aaron was the principal Minister but they assisted him For it is expresly said They presented unto him the Blood of the Peace-offerings which at the same time were also offered and they put the fat upon the breasts when he burnt the fat upon the Altar IX 18 20. And such things have befallen me After this was done followed the death of Nadab and Abihu who went in to burn Incense which struck him into such a Consternation and made him so exceeding sad that he was not fit to feast with Eleazar and Ithamar upon the Sacrifice and so suffered them to burn it And if I had eaten the sin-offering to day should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD Would God have been pleased with me if in such Sadness and Sorrow I had eaten of the Sacrifice This is the reason whereby he justifies the omission of which his Sons were accused in not eating the Sin-offering in the Holy Place The blame of which he takes upon himself for to have eaten it with a sad Countenance and a heavy Heart he thought would have been to pollute it And therefore he chose to forbear it and to give it wholly to God by burning the Flesh of it as he had done the Fat which he hoped would be more acceptable than to eat it in grief And to eat it without grief and sorrow was impossible for though they had not been so dutiful to him as they ought to have been yet he could not extinguish the Affection of a Father towards them nor suddenly cease to mourn inwardly for their untimely death From this place Maimonides gathers there was but one day of Mourning due to the dead viz. the first the rest were added by the Constitution of the Elders Ver. 20. Verse 20 And when Moses heard that he was content He was either satisfied with his reason and thought he had done well for Nature seems to have directed what was afterwards enjoyned that they should rejoyce in their Feasts XII Deut. 7 c. and not eat holy things in their mourning XXVI 14. or he would not further charge him with a Fault for which there was so fair an Excuse For where there is no wilful Contempt but rather a Respect intended in any Action all good Men are inclined to make a favourable Construction of it and grant it an Indulgence though there be some Error in it CHAP. XI MOSES having mentioned in his preceding Discourse about Sacrifices several sorts of Uncleanness V. 2 3. and in the foregoing Chapter X. 10. commanded the Priests to keep themselves sober that they might at all times be able to distinguish between clean and unclean takes an occasion from thence to give an account of that matter For otherwise that which we read Chapter XVI would here have most naturally followed as appears from the 11th Verse of it being about the principal Sacrifice whereby all manner of Uncleanness was to be expiated which he now inserts in the midst of those things that belong to that head For first he treats in this Chapter of unclean Meats and in the XII XIII XIV XVth of unclean Persons Garments and Habitations And then after he hath directed how to make the great Atonement for the whole Nation and some other things he returns in the latter end of the XVIIth Chapter to speak of some forbidden Food and Chapter XVIIIth of unclean
Imposition of Hands belongs to Confession See Dr. Owtram de Sacrif Lib. I. cap. 15. n. 8. And it is observable that the High-Priest made Confession three times on this day First for himself and then for his Brethren the Priests and now for the whole Congregation saying this Prayer as they tell us in Joma cap. 6. sect 2. I beseech thee O LORD this People the House of Israel have done wickedly and been rebellious and sinned before thee I beseech thee now O LORD expiate the Iniquities the Rebellions and the Sins which thy People the House of Israel have done wickedly transgressed and sinned before thee According as it is written in the Law of Moses thy Servant viz. in the 30th Verse of this Chapter on that day he shall make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD Which last word LORD as soon as all the Priests and the People that were in the Court heard pronounced by the High-Priest they bowed and fell down flat upon their Faces and worshipped saying Blessed be the LORD let the Glory of his Kingdom be for ever All the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins These three words Iniquities Transgressions and Sins are the very words used by the High-Priest in his Confession before-mentioned which comprehend all manner of Offences whether committed deliberately or not against Negative or Affirmative Precepts as they call them Grotius in his Notes on this place hath thus distinguished them but whether exactly or not cannot be determined But it is probable that Sins signifie Offences committed by Error not deliberately Iniquities such as were deliberately committed against the prohibiting Precepts and Transgressions those that were deliberately committed against commanding Precepts All except those to which cutting off was threatned which were not expiated by any Sacrifice Putting them upon the head of the Goat By putting his hands on the head of the Goat and confessing their Sins over him with Prayer to God to remit them they were all charged upon the Goat and the punishment of them transferred from the Israelites unto it Just as the Sins of all Mankind were afterwards laid upon our Saviour Christ as the Prophet speaks LIII Isa 6. who his own self bare our sins in his own body saith S. Peter 1. II. 24. the punishment passing from us to him who was made Sin for us 2 Corinth V. 21. Which Expressions are manifest Allusions unto this Sacrifice on the great Day of Expiation which was the most illustrious Figure of the Sacrifice of Christ and shows beyond all reasonable contradiction that Christ suffered in our stead and not meerly for our benefit For it is very evident the Sacrifice offered on this day was put in the place of the People and all their Sins that is the punishment of them laid upon its head And it appears by the form of all other Sin-offerings which were occasionally offered at other times that he who brought them put off the guilt which he had contracted from himself and laid it on the Sacrifice which was to die for him Which he did by laying his hand on the head of it at the door of the Tabernacle while it was yet alive Then with his hand so placed he made a Confession of his Sins for which he desired forgiveness by the offering of this Sacrifice That is he prayed by these Rites that the Beast being offered and slain he might be spared from punishment which was a plain transferring the guilt from himself unto his Sacrifice Which being yet alive and thus laded with his guilt was then brought to the Altar and there slain for the guilty Person That is it died in his stead for there was no other reason of its being put to death there and in that manner I have insisted the longer on this because nothing can better explain the true meaning of Christ's dying for us which was by transferring the suffering due to our Sins upon him as the manner was in the Legal Sacrifices Which was a thing let me add so notorious in the World that other Nations from hence derived the like custom to that here mentioned by Moses Particularly the Egyptians as David Chytraeus hath long ago observed and since him many others out of Herodotus who tells us Lib. II. cap. 39. that they made this Execration over the Head of the Beast which they sacrificed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that if any evil was to fall either on themselves who sacrificed or upon the whole Country of Egypt it might be turned upon the head of that Beast And this he saith was the custom over all the Land of Egypt and the reason why no Egyptian would taste of the head of any Animal Nor was this the Notion of the Egyptians only but of other Countries also who called those Sacrifices which were offered for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sacrificed in their stead and the Life of the Beast given for theirs Thus the Greeks sometimes sacrificed Men when some very heavy Calamity was fallen upon them whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expiations to purge them for their Sins by suffering in their room For they prayed thus over him who was devoted every year for the averting Evils from them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou our Cleansing that is our Preservative and Redemption or Ransom And with these words they threw him into the Sea as a Sacrifice to Neptune And thus the Massilienses did as Servius tells us upon the 3d Aenead in time of a Plague praying ut in ipsum reciderent mala totius Civitatis that on him might fall the Evils of the whole City And shall send him away As soon as the Confession was over the Goat was sent away By the hand of a fit man By a Man prepared before hand as the Ancients interpret it or that stood ready for this purpose Jonathan saith he was designed for it the year before others say only the day before and that the High-Priest appointed him who might appoint any body whom he thought fit but did not usually appoint an Israelite as they say in Joma cap. 6. n. 3. Into the wilderness It is not certainly known what Wilderness this was but the Hebrews call it the Wilderness of Tzuk which they say was ten Miles from Jerusalem And they say that at the end of each Mile there was a Tabernacle erected where Men stood ready with Meat and drink which they offered to him that went with the Goat lest he should faint by the way And the Nobles of Jerusalem they add accompanied him the first Mile further than which they might not go because this day was a Sabbath After which they that were in the first Tabernacle accompanied him to the next and they that were there to the third and so forward to the last that they might be sure to have this great work done of carrying their Sins quite
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Third Book of MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS BY The Right Reverend Father in GOD SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVIII A COMMENTARY UPON LEVITICUS THE Third Book of MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS CHAP. I. THE Greeks and Latins give it this Name of LEVITICUS not because it Treats of the Ministry of the Levites properly so called of which the Book of NUMBERS gives a fuller account than this Book doth but because it contains the Laws about the Religion of the Jews consisting principally in various Sacrifices the charge of which was committed to Aaron the LEVITE as he is called IV Exod. 14. and to his Sons who alone had the Office of Priesthood in the Tribe of Levi Which the Apostle therefore calls a Levitical Priesthood VII Hebr. 11. Verse 1. Verse 1 And the LORD called unto Moses That is bad him draw near and not be afraid because of the Glory of that Light which was in the Tabernacle XL Exod. 35. For this is a word of love as the Hebrew Doctors speak who observe that God is not said to call the Prophets of the Gentiles but we only read that God jikar met Balaam not jikra called to him as he did here to Moses Who as Procopius Gazaeus hath well observed upon this word appointed no Service of God in his House which he had lately erected without his order whereas the Worship performed in the honour of Daemons was without any Authority from him Nay there were Magical Operations in it and Invocation of Daemons and certain tacit Obligations which their Priests contracted with them For which he produces Porphyry as a Witness And spake unto him but of the Tabernacle Hitherto he had spoken to him out of Heaven or out of the Cloud but now out of his own House Into which it is not here said he bad him come as he did afterwards when the Glory of the LORD dwelt only in the inner part of the House over the Ark but he stood it is likely without the Door of the Tabernacle till the Sacrifices were appointed as it here follows and the High Priest entred into it with the Blood of Expiation I can find no time in which this can so probably be supposed to have been done as immediately after the Consecration of the Tabernacle as soon as the Glory of the LORD entred into it And so I find Hesychius understood it who observing this Book to begin with the word And which is a Conjunction used to joyn what follows with that which goes before thence concludes that the beginning of this Book is knit to the conclusion of the last and consequently what is here related was spoken to Moses on the same day he had set up the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD filled it When Moses might well think as the Hierusalem Targum explains it that if Mount Sinai was so exalted by the Divine Presence there for a short space that it was not safe for him to approach it much less come up into it till God commanded him he had much more reason not to go into the Tabernacle which was sanctified to be God's dwelling place for ever till God called to him by a Voice from his Presence nay he durst not so much as come near the Door where I suppose he now stood without a particular Direction from the Divine Majesty Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them The Tabernacle being erected it was fit in the next place to appoint the Service that should be performed in it which consisted in such Sacrifices as are here mentioned in the beginning of this Book There could not be a more Natural order in setting down the Laws delivered by Moses than this which is here observed If any man of you bring It is the Observation of Kimchi that in the very beginning of the Laws about Sacrifices God doth not require them to offer any but only supposes they would having been long accustomed to it as all the World then was To this he applys the words of Jeremiah VII 21. and takes it for an Indication that otherwise God would not have given so many Laws concerning Sacrifices but only in compliance with the usage of the World which could not then have been quite broken without the hazard of a Revolt from him And therefore they are directed to the right Object the Eternal God and limited to such things as were most agreeable to Humane Nature An offering unto the LORD The Hebrew word Korban which we translate an Offering and the Greeks translate a Gift is larger than Zebach which we translate a Sacrifice For as Abarbinel observes in his Preface to this Book though every Sacrifice was an Offering yet every Offering was not a Sacrifice A Sacrifice being an Offering that was slain but there were several Offerings of inanimate things as those mentioned in the beginning of the second Chapter of this Book which therefore were not properly Sacrifices but were accepted of God as much as the Offering of Beasts when they had nothing better to give And therefore the same Abarbinel will have the Name of Korban to be given to these Offerings because thereby Men approached to God For it is derived from a word which signifies to draw near from whence he thinks those words in Deuteronomy IV. 7. What Nation is there that hath God so nigh unto them c. Ye shall bring He speaks in the Plural Number say some of the Hebrew Doctors who have accurately considered these things to show that two Men might joyn together to offer one thing Your offering of the Cattle I do not know what ground Maimonides had to assert in his More Nevochim Pars III. cap. 46. that the Heathen in those days had brute Beasts in great veneration and would not kill them for it is no Argument there was such a Superstition in Moses his time because there were People in the days of Maimonides as there are now who were possessed with such Opinions But he thinks God intended to destroy this false Perswasion by requiring the Jews to offer such Beasts as are here mentioned that what the Heathen thought it a great sin to kill might be offered to God and thereby Mens sins be expiated By this means saith he Mens evil Opinions which are the Diseases and Ulcers of the Mind were cured as Bodily Diseases are by their contraries Yet in the XXXII Chapter of that Book he saith God ordered Sacrifices to be offered that he might not wholly alter the Customs of Mankind who built Temples and offered Sacrifices every where taking care it may be added at the same time that they should be offered only to himself at one certain place and after such a manner as to preserve his People from all Idolatrous Rites Which if they had considered who contemned this Book of LEVITICUS as Procopius Gazaeus tells us some did
contra Julianum condemned these Sacrifices of Beasts as hateful to their Gods who they fancied were pleased only with those that were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Fruits of the Earth and of Frankincense But they might have learnt from Moses if they had pleased Julian and Porphyry being acquainted with his Books that these things were alike acceptable God having respect to the Mind of him that offered not to his Gifts Ver. 3. Verse 3 And the remnant of the meat-offering shall be Aarons and his sons To be eaten by them But that Meat-offering which was offered for the Priests themselves was to be wholly burnt and no part eaten VI. 22 23. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire Nothing is more known then the distinction which the Jews make between things most holy and the lighter holy things as their phrase is which I took notice of before The most holy were such as none whatsoever might eat of or none but the Priests and the Sons of Priests and that only in the Sanctuary and no where else See VI. 16 26. Such were all whole Burnt-offerings all the Sin-offerings and all the Peace-offerings for the whole Congregation The lighter holy things were such as might be eaten by those who were not Priests in any place within the City of Jerusalem to which their Camp now answered and such were all the Peace-offerings of particular Persons the Paschal Lamb the Tenth and the Firstlings of Cattle Ver. 4. Verse 4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat-offering baken in the oven This is the first sort of baked Mincha's for the preparing of which there was an Oven in the Court of the Tabernacle as afterward there was in the Court of the Temple 1 Chron. XXIII 28 29. XLVI Ezek. 20. It shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil If the Cakes were thick then the Oil was kneaded together with them But if they were thin like a Wafer then it was only spread upon it before it was baked See XXIX Exod. 2. or as some will have it after it came out of the Oven Concerning its being unleavened see below v. 11. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in a pan Or in a flat Plate as we translate it in the Margin For Maimonides says this was the difference between Macabath which is the Hebrew word in this place and Marchesheth that the former was a Pan or Plate without any Rim about it and the other had one as our Frying-pans have And so Abarbinel in his Preface to this Book observes out of Jarchi that there was a Vessel in the Temple which was only flat and broad but had no rising on the sides of it So that the Oil being poured upon it when it was set on the fire ran down and increased the Flame and made the Cake hard It shall be of fine flour unleavened mingled with oil This sort of Cake seems to have been both kneaded with Oil and to have had Oil also poured upon it after it was laid upon the Plate Ver. 6. Verse 6 Thou shalt part it in pieces c. This according to Abarbinel was done as it lay baking upon the Plate Or if this Division was made after it was taken off the reason was the same because part of it was to be given to God and the rest to the Priests And pour oil thereon Upon the pieces that they might by this new Addition of fresh Oil be made more savoury It is a meat-offering And therefore to be eaten with Oil v. 1. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in the frying-pan This Vessel was not flat but deep as Abarbinel observes See v. 5. because that which was baked in it was moist and fluid It shall be made of fine flour with oil The Oil was not kneaded with this sort of Mincha but put into the Pan so that it mixed with the Flour which might be shaken and moved up and down as things are which are baken in Liquors So Abarbinels words are in his Preface to this Book Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt bring the meat-offering that is made of these things unto the LORD c. This relates to all the bake Meat-offerings before-mentioned which were to be brought to the LORD at his House and there presented to the Priest who was to bring them to the Altar when they were prepared as before directed See v. 1 2. And this variety of Mincha's was allowed that the Table of the LORD i. e. the Altar might be furnished and his Ministers that waited on him entertained with all sorts of Provisions Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the Priest shall take from the meat-offering a memorial thereof A part of the Cake of whatsoever sort it was was separated from the rest for the LORD's portion to whom it was offered as an acknowledgment of his Supream Dominion over them and in commemoration of his goodness to them And shall burn it upon the Altar Before the other parts were eaten by the Priests as was directed before about the fine Flour v. 2. It is an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD See v. 2. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And that which is left of the meat-offering shall be Aarons and his sons c. All this Verse hath been explained v. 3. Ver. 11. Verse 11 No meat-offering which ye shall bring unto the LORD shall be made with leaven These words which ye shall bring unto the LORD seem to have a peculiar emphasis in this place importing that no Meat-offering part of which was offered upon God's Altar should be leavened For no part of that leavened Bread which was offered in Eucharistical Sacrifices VII 13. nor the two Loaves offered in the Feast of Pentecost which some mistake for an Exception to this Precept were offered upon the Altar but given intirely to the Priests as their portion Made with leaven There are many Moral Reasons given both by Jewish and Christian Writers why none of the Cakes before-mentioned should have any Leaven in them which I shall not here set down There is some probability in their Opinion who think this was ordered to refresh their Memory by putting them in mind of their Deliverance out of Egypt But Maimonides seems to me to have given the best account of this in his More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. where he saith God prohibited this to root out the Idolatrous Customs in those days as he found in the Books of the Zabij who offered to their Gods no Bread but leavened Next to this the Account which Abarbanel gives of it is not to be disregarded who thinks it was forbidden because it would have made delay if they had waited at the Tabernacle till the fermentation was perfected For ye shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the LORD made by fire
the Altar of the burnt-offering Where after the building of the Temple there were two holes one on the West-side of the Altar the other on the South as the Jews tell us in Middoth cap. 3. sect 2. by which it was conveyed into a Canal under Ground through which it ran into the Brook Kidron And there was only this difference they say about these two holes that the Blood of the Sin-offering any part of which was carried into the most holy place was poured out only into that on the West-side of the Foundation of the Altar And if we may believe the Jews the Gardiners bought this Blood of those that were the Treasurers of the Temple to inrich their Ground with it as Constantine l'Empereur there observes And while they were in the Wilderness and all the time they had only a moveable Tabernacle it is most likely there were Receptacles made under Ground with Conveyances to some distant place where it sank into the Earth or was covered with Dust as other Blood is commanded to be XVII 13. For Maimonides thinks the pouring out the Blood so that it might not remain in one place which is constantly and strictly required by the Law was in opposition to an idolatrous Custom of the old Zabij who made a collection of the Blood in a Vessel or in a little Pit about which they sat and ate the Flesh imagining their Gods feasted upon the Blood as I noted before out of Maimonides More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. Which is at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation For there was the place of it as hath been often observed XL Exod. 6. Ver. 8. Verse 8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin-offering c. All that follows in this and the two next Verses v. 9 10. is the same that was ordered to be done about Peace-offerings as appears from v. 10. See therefore the foregoing Chapter v. 3 4 5. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the skin of the bullock and all his flesh with his head and with his legs and his inwards c. This Sacrifice was so laborious to work in them a greater detestation of sin which was aggravated by the quality of the Person that committed it And Nachmanides hath an observation which in some parts of it at least is very remarkable That all a Man doth being performed in Words in Works or Thoughts God commanded them when they brought an Offering for Sin that they should lay their hand on it which had respect to the Works they had done and make Confession over it which had respect to their Words and burn the Inwards and Kidneys which are the Organs of Thoughts and Desires the Legs also had a respect to a Man's hands and feet by which he doth all his work and the Blood that was sprinkled on the Altar signified his own Blood So that while a Man did all these things he was put in mind how he had sinned against God both in Soul and Body and deserved to have his Blood shed and his Body burnt unless the Mercy of the Creator had accepted a Price of Redemption for him viz. a Sacrifice whose Blood was for his Blood and its Life for his Life and the principal Members of the Sacrifice for the Members of his Body By which it appears that the best sort of Jews had a sense that the Sacrifices for Sin were offered to God in their stead as a Ransom for them And so we Christians are to understand the Sacrifice which Christ made of himself who gave himself a Ransom for us all as the Apostle speaks I Tim. 2. 6. and our LORD saith the same XX Matth. 28. X Mark 45. Such Sacrifices the Heathens themselves had which they called Lustralia from the word lustrare which signifies to expiate among the Romans and that by paying a price For the ancient Poet Ennius as our excellent Mr. Thorndike hath observed translating into Latin a Greek Tragedy called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being taken out of Homer where he speaks of Priamus ransoming of Hector's Corps from Achilles intituled it Hectoris lustra which shows this is the Latin of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ransom or redemption and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in the New Testament to deliver by paying a ransom See his Epilogue Book II. Chapt. 27. Ver. 12. Verse 12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the Camp It was not dissected as the Peace-offerings were because no Body was to partake of any part of it being a Sacrifice for the Priests own sin And therefore it was to be carried though not by himself but some other Person to be burnt without the Camp to express the abominabless of the Sin This Rite and the carrying the Blood within the Tabernacle to be sprinkled before the LORD were used only in these two Cases of the Sin of the High-Priest and of all the People For of other Sin-offerings the Priests might eat VI. 26. but of this being for himself he was not to taste at all because he was in a state of Guilt Into a clean place where the ashes are poured out On the East-part of the Tabernacle there was a place for the Ashes to be thrown into when they were taken from the Altar which afterward were carried into a clean place without the Camp And so they were carried out after the Temple was built at Jerusalem at the East-gate of the City into a Valley which lay between Jerusalem and Mount Olivet And burn him on the wood with fire Not upon an Altar but in a fire made with Wood upon the Ground to show the odiousness of the sin as Maimonides thinks For as the whole Burnt-sacrifices were burnt on the Altar because they were an Offering of sweet smelling savour unto God so this was burnt without the Camp upon the Ground to show that the odour of it was ungrateful and abominable More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. where he also observes that the burning of the Beast intirely being the destruction of it so that nothing of it remained it signified in like manner the utter deletion of Sin so that it should be remembred no more And the Bullock being burnt without the Camp I take it to denote that the People should not suffer for the sin of the Priest which was abolished together with his Sacrifice The same Maimonides hath another observation upon the Title Zebachim that there were three places constituted for the burning of holy things The first was in the Sanctuary as every one knows the second was in the Mount of the House as they called the place round about the Court of the Sanctuary where if any blemish hapned to a Bullock or a Goat they were brought out of the Sanctuary and burnt in a place called Bira and the third was in this place of the Ashes without the City Where the ashes are poured out there shall he be burnt This is repeated
that none might presume to take the liberty to burn the Bullock in any other place Ver. 13. Verse 13 And if the whole Congregation of Israel sin through ignorance The Jews generally understood by the whole Congregation the great Sanhedrim who represented the whole People of Israel So Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. III. cap. 41. and in his Treatise of Sacrifices and R. Levi of Barcelona Praecept CXVIII For they sometimes erred in Judgment and thereby misleading the People they were bound when they found their Error to offer this Sacrifice Yet the Talmudists have raised many Disputes upon this Point and made various Cases in some of which the House of Judgment was bound to offer the Sacrifice here appointed and not they who followed their Sentence and others there were in which they who followed their Sentence were bound and not the Judges themselves But if Moses his words be well considered it will appear that he speaks of a Sin committed by all the People in doing something which God had forbidden by making wrong Constructions of the Law or by common false Opinions or popular Customs For the whole Congregation is here plainly distinguished from the Elders of the People v. 15. which is certainly the name for their Judges and Governours It was Mr. Selden's intention to have treated largely of the Sense and Notion of this Law as appears by what he saith of it L. II. de Synedriis cap. 14. n. 4. where he refers his Reader to the third Book on that Subject for an account of this place In the beginning of which cap. 1. n. 1. he signifies his intention to explain what the Office of the Sanhedrim was in offering Expiatory Sacrifices for the whole Congregation Which he repeats again cap. 10. n. 1. with this addition that they made this Sacrifice in the name of all the People when they offended as a Community But he did not live to pursue his intentions being diverted by long Digressions about other Matters yet he shows sufficiently his Opinion was that this Sacrifice was not offered for the Sanhedrim but by them for the People And the thing be hid from the eyes of the Assembly They are not sensible of their mistake for the present but afterward discover it either by themselves or by their Rulers And they have done somewhat against any of the Commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not be done Have offended against some of the negative Precepts as the Jews speak which forbid such things to be done See v. 2. And are guilty Are sensible of their guilt Ver. 14. Verse 14 When the sin which they have sinned against it is known When they have discovered what Precept they have violated Then shall the Congregation offer a young bullock for the sin Without blemish as was required for the Sin of the High-Priest v. 3. And bring him before the Tabernacle of the Congregation i. e. Cause the Bullock to be brought thither by some of his People in the name of all the rest Ver. 15. Verse 15 And the Elders of the Congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock c. They were to do this as Representatives of the People See v. 13. and the end of laying on their hands v. 4. And the bullock shall be killed before the LORD Either by some of them or some of the People whom they appointed See v. 4. Ver. 16. Verse 16 And the Priest that is anointed That is the High-Priest See v. 5. All the rest that follows to v. 22. is exactly the same that is prescribed in the foregoing Offering for the High-Priest himself Only R. Solomon Jarchi hath a nice observation on the next Verse that it is not said in this case as it is in the former he shall sprinkle of the Blood seven times before the vail of the Sanctuary but only before the vail without the addition of hakkodesh of the Sanctuary as it is v. 6. Because saith he if the High-Priest only sin the Holiness doth not depart but if all the Congregation sin then it doth depart As if a Province rebel against a Prince his Family stands but if there be a general defection he must fall He hath the like observation upon v. 22 23. but it seems too subtil For in the 18th Verse Moses only saith he shall put some of the Blood upon the horns of the Altar without adding of sweet incense as before v. 7. and yet it is manifest he means the same Altar and what was done in this Sacrifice was as acceptable as what was done in the other Ver. 22. Verse 22 When a Ruler hath sinned and done somewhat through ignorance against c. The word Nasi which we translate Ruler signifies the Head of a Tribe in I Numb 4.16 VII 2. But the Jews commonly understand it peculiarly of the Head or Prince of the great Sanhedrim who when they were under the Government of Kings was the King himself Thus the Misna gathers from these words in the Text when he sinneth against any of the Commandments of the LORD his God which signifie him say the Doctors that hath no Superior but the LORD And so the Gemarists understand it also as Mr. Selden shows L. II. de Synedriis cap. 16. p. 666. But I think it is most reasonable to extend this to all great Officers and Judges who had a peculiar relation to God and therefore were called by his Name Concerning things which should not be done See v. 2. And is guilty Acknowledges that he hath offended God by the Sin which he hath committed Ver. 23. Verse 23 Or if his sin wherein he hath sinned come to his knowledge If we retain this Translation and do not render the first word and but or then the foregoing words in the latter end of v. 22. veashem must be translated not is guilty but and acknowledges his guilt Which seems to be the true sense for when Men sin they are guilty though the sin was committed ignorantly but they do not acknowledge their guilt till they see it as Moses here supposes they might when they considered better or some Body informed them aright So these words signifie or his sin is made known unto him Thus L'Empereur very judiciously translates this whole passage And he acknowledges himself guilty or his sin be shown to him Otherwise there is no room for this disjunctive Particle See his Annot. upon Bava kama cap. 7. sect 1. and cap. 9. sect 4 5. And thus we our selves translate the first part of this disjunction in the latter end of the foregoing Verse V Hosea 15. acknowledge their offences He shall bring his offering a Kid of the Goats His Sacrifice was of less value than the two former From which Mr. Selden concludes that the High-Priest was not always the Head of the Sanhedrim L. II. de Synedr cap. 16. p. 653. For their Sacrifices were very different which argues a difference in their Persons And the Misna says
if the High-Priest were put out of his Office his Sacrifice was still the same viz. a Bullock without blemish but it was not so with the Nasi or Ruler who offered only the Sacrifice of a private Man if he lost his Office A male without blemish It was to be the best of this kind though not equal to the Sacrifice for the High-Priest and the whole Congregation See v. 28. Ver. 24. Verse 24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the Goat Of this see v. 4. And kill it in the place where they kill the burnt-offering before the LORD Where that was see Chap. I. ver 11. Neither of the two fore-mentioned Offerings for the High-Priest or the whole Congregation are ordered to be killed here but only before the LORD v. 14 15. that is in any part of the Court but that which was proper to the Burnt-offering and the common Sin-offering as it here follows It is a sin-offering And therefore was to be killed where the Burnt-offering was for so it is ordained VI. 25. that all Sin-offerings should be there slain Which doth not imply that the two former were not Sin-offerings but that they were not of the common sort as appears by the carrying of their Blood into the Sanctuary and burning their Flesh without the Camp which are not ordered either in this or in the following Sacrifices Ver. 25. Verse 25 And the Priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger By dipping his finger into it v. 6 17. And put it upon the horns of the Altar of burnt-offering Whereas the Blood of the two former was put upon the Horns of the golden Altar in the Sanctuary v. 7 18. And shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the Altar of burnt-offering See v. 18. Ver. 26. Verse 26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the Altar c. See chap. III. 9. It is not here said what should be done with the Flesh which in the two fore-going Offerings is ordered to be burnt without the Camp v. 12 21. But in chap. VI. 26 29. and XVIII Numb 9 10. the Law of the Sin-offerings is set down to be this that the Priest and his Sons should eat it in the Sanctuary and no where else provided also that they were free from uncleanness XXII 4. And the Priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin By this Sacrifice his Guilt was expiated which must be understood to be the effect of the Sacrifice for the High-Priest though it be not expressed as it is in that for the whole Congregation v. 20. And it shall be forgiven him So that he should not be liable to the Punishment of cutting off as the Jews understand it who fancy such sins to which that is threatned are here spoken of See v. 1. Rather he was restored to Communion with the People of God from which he was separated while he remained in a known Guilt Ver. 27. Verse 27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance Commit the same Offence that a Ruler or publick Officer doth And be guilty or if his sin which he hath committed come to his knowledge See how this ought to be translated v. 22 23. Ver. 28. Verse 28 That he shall bring his offering a Kid of the Goats a female without blemish Being a common Person less was required of him than of a Prince who was to offer a Male v. 23. which in all Creatures was of greater value than a Female as Maimenides observes who reckons up three and forty offences of this sort that might be committed imprudently in his Treatise called Schegagoth in one of which viz. worshipping an Idol ignorantly the Sacrifice was the same for a private Man as for the King or the High-Priest or the Priest anointed for War But in all the other XLII a female Goat or Lamb sufficed for a private Man cap. 1. sect 4. And this Sacrifice they call stated or fixed because no Man offered more or less whether Rich or Poor Man or Woman except only those who eat holy things or entred into the Sanctuary whose Sacrifices were higher or lower as they speak And there were three things if we may believe them which though committed by Error were expiated by no Sacrifice viz. Blasphemy neglect of Circumcision and not keeping the Passover So R. Levi of Barcelona Praecept 119. Which seems to be an unreasonable Opinion since Idolatry committed ignorantly they say was comprehended within this Law Ver. 29. Verse 29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin-offering c. This Verse and the following with the beginning of v. 31. contain nothing but what was ordered about the foregoing Sacrifice v. 24 25 26. Ver. 31. Verse 31 And the Priest shall burn it upon the Altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD This is a phrase used concerning Burnt-offerings I. 9 13. and Peace-offerings III. 5 16. but it is not said of any of the foregoing Sin-offerings that the burning of them or their Fat was for a sweet savour unto the LORD The reason of which I am not able to give unless it were to comfort the lowest sort of People with hope of God's Mercy though their Offering was mean in comparison of those offered by others Abarbanel gives this reason for it because a Sin of Ignorance being a less Fault in a common Man it was a sign of great probity in him to bring a Sacrifice for the Expiation of it But for the High-Priest or Senate or Ruler of the People to be ignorant of the Law was such a high Crime that it was no commendation to them to bring a Sacrifice for their Purgation Ver. 32. Verse 32 And if he bring a Lamb for a sin-offering c. For which reason God was pleased to accept a Lamb and that a Female of those who were not able to bring a young Kid. Ver. 33. Verse 33 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin-offering and slay it c. This and the next Verse differ not from the foregoing and therefore need no Explication Ver. 35. Verse 35 And the Priest shall burn them upon the Altar according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD Or rather upon the Offerings or after the Burnt-offering See III. 5. And the Priest shall make an atonement for his sin c. And if by the same Error he had committed several sins there was a distinct Atonement to be made for every one of them So that if he had committed ignorantly the XLIII Offences before-mentioned though it were by one and the same Error he was bound to offer as many expiatory Sacrifices as Maimonides resolves in the fore-named Treatise Schegagoth cap. 4. This and such like things made this Law a Yoke which they were not able to bear as St. Peter speaks XV Acts 10. CHAP. V. Ver. 1. Verse 1 IF a soul sin In the manner following And hear
Mr. Selden L. III. de Synedr cap. 11. n. 6. where he likewise observes that Chiskuni is of opinion that such of the Family of the Priests as were both excluded from their Ministry in the Sanctuary and from wearing the holy Garments by reason of some defect in their Bodies were permitted to perform this Office of carrying away the Ashes And carry forth the Ashes without the Camp into a clean place See IV. 12. The fore-mentioned Rasi will have it that they needed not to take away all the Ashes every day but only a shovel full which they laid beside the Altar And when the hollow place of the Altar was so full that there was no room to lay on the Wood they were bound to empty it and carry all the Ashes away Ver. 12. Verse 12 And the fire upon the Altar shall be burning in it it shall not be put out This Precept is repeated again in the next Verse as it was mentioned once before v. 9. For which there is a just reason as Abarbanel makes account For in the ninth Verse he requires that the Wood for the Evening Sacrifice should be so ordered and attended that the fire might be kept in till the Morning And then here in this Verse he requires there should such care be used in taking away the Ashes that the fire might still remain and not be extinguished After which speaking of the Morning Sacrifice in the latter part of this Verse he requires in the next v. 13. that such a quantity of Wood should be laid on the Altar when they offered it that the fire might be kept in till the Evening Sacrifice or that if there were any extraordinary Sacrifices brought besides the daily Burnt-offering the Priests should still add more Wood that the fire might not be put out by that means but be able to devour them And the Priest shall burn wood on it every morning c. The Hebrew word for Wood being in the Plural Number R. Levi of Barcelona concludes there were more bundles than one brought in every day And from this place and I. 7. he gathers there were three The first of which he calls the great heap with which the daily Sacrifice and the rest for which there was occasion were offered of which he thinks Moses speaks in the ninth Verse of this Chapter The second was lesser which was laid at the side of the other that they might have Coals for the burning Incense and this he thinks intended here And the third was meerly to keep in the fire perpetually of which he thinks Moses speaks in the next Verse The Misna also tells us that there being seven Gates to the great Court of the Sanctuary three on the North and as many on the South and one at the East the first on the South-side was called the Gate of burning because at that Gate they brought in the Wood which was to preserve the fire perpetually on the Altar See Codex Middoth cap. 1. sect 4. And he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace-offerings This fat of the Peace-offerings was to be burnt together with the Burnt-offering and not separate from it by which means the Burnt-offering was the sooner consumed and more room was made for other occasional Sacrifices Ver. 13. Verse 13 And the fire shall be ever burning upon the Altar This fire was not kindled by the Priests but by God himself who sent it from Heaven to consume the first Sacrifice that was offered by Aaron IX ult From which time they were bound to take care that it never went out that so their Sacrifices might be constantly offered by Celestial fire because it was the continuation of that fire which came from Heaven by a continual addition of Fewel whereby it was preserved And so it continued as the Jews affirm till the Captivity of Babylon and after it as some of them would have us believe who fancy it was preserved in a Pit by the care of some religious Priests till their return though against the common Tradition among them which is That there was no sacred fire in the second Temple for they reckon this among the five things which were wanting there and had been in the first And as for the constant continuance of this fire there was care taken that wood should be laid up in the Temple for the maintenance of it so in order thereunto there was a certain set time when the People were obliged to carry wood thither which made a kind of Festival called by Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. II. de Bello Judaico cap. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it being the Feast of the Wood-carrying when it was the custom for all to bring up Wood for the Altar that there might be no want of Fewel for the fire which was never to go out It shall never go out This was a thing so famous that it was imitated among the Gentiles who thought it ominous to have their Sacred fire go out and therefore appointed Persons on purpose to watch it and keep it perpetually burning as appears by the Vestal Virgins at Rome whose great business it was to look after the Eternal fire as they called it imagining the extinction of it purported 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destruction of the City as Dionysius Halicarn speaks This Institution is ascribed both by him and by Plutarch unto Romulus into whose History many things were translated by the ancient Pagans out of these Sacred Records of Moses as the Learned Huetius hath made probable in his Demonstratio Evangel Propos IV. cap. 9. n. 8. The Greeks also preserved such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inextinguishable fire at Delph and the Persians in like manner and many other People as Bochartus hath shown in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 35. and Dilheirus before him in a special Dissertation as he calls it de Catozelia Gentilium cap. 11. where he hath heaped up a great deal to this purpose and among other things hath this conjecture that the Grecian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Roman Vesta had their Names from the Hebrew word Esch or the Chaldean Escha which signifie fire The conjecture of David Chytraeus also is no less ingenious who derives those Names from Eschgal the fire of the LORD Ver. 14. Verse 14 And this is the law of the meat-offering He doth not speak of the Offerings which accompanied the daily Burnt-offerings but of those which were offered alone mentioned in the second Chapter Where directions are given of what they should consist and also how much the Priest should have for his portion but here are some things added concerning the place where they should be eaten by the Priests and concerning those Meat-offerings which were peculiarly to be offered for themselves The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD before the Altar Or rather upon the Altar for so the Hebrew phrase on the face of the Altar signifies Or else
the meaning is he shall present it to the LORD before the Altar and then afterward as is directed in the next Verse burn an handful of it upon the Altar And so the Rule is Chapter second v. 8 9. When it is presented to the Priest he shall bring it to the Altar c. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he shall take of it his handful of the flour of the meat-offering c. According to the prescription in the second Chapter v. 2. where all this Verse is explained Ver. 16. Verse 16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat If they had no pollution upon them XXII 6. See Chapt. II. 3. The reason of the Precept was as R. Levi Barcel observes Praecept CXXXIII that it preserved the dignity of the Sacrifice to have it eaten only by the Priests and by them I may add only in the holy place and not carried out from thence as it here follows With unleavened bread shall it be eaten There is nothing in the Hebrew Text to answer unto the word with which makes the sense unaccountable that otherwise is easie and natural If we translate it as the Hebrew words plainly signifie unleavened it shall be eaten See X. 12. In the holy place There was a room in the Court of the Priests where they ate these holy things as Kimchi observes upon XLII Ezek. Which may be confirmed out of XVIII Numb 10. where the most holy place can signifie nothing but the Court of the Priests as L'Empereur rightly understands it in his Annot. upon Middoth cap. 2. sect 6. In the Court of the Tabernacle of the Congregation they shall eat it As the Priests did eat it in their own Court so their Male-children had a place in the Court of the Israelites wherein to eat it X. 12 13. And they are all said to eat before the LORD because this was a part of the Tabernacle as was also the Court of the Women where there was a place for the Priest's Daughters to eat as well as their Sons of the Firstlings that were offered to the LORD XVIII Numb 19. Ver. 17. Verse 17 It shall not be baken with leaven There were two little rooms at the East-gate of the Court of the Temple called The Gate of Nicanor one of which was a Vestry for the Priests to put on their Garments when they went to Minister and the other was for baking this flour and that mentioned v. 21. So they tell us in Middoth cap. 1. sect 4. And therefore it is ordered to be baken without leaven because it was a part of the LORD's Sacrifice which being offered unleavened Chapt. second v. 11. the remainder must needs be unleavened also because the whole was God's and the Priests could have it no other ways than it was offered unto him I have given it to them for their portion of my offerings made by fire That is of the Meat-offerings before-mentioned It is most holy c. This is the reason why it was not to be carried to be eaten out of the holy place See Chapt. second v. 10. As is the sin-offering and as the trespass-offering See v. 26. and VII 6. Ver. 18. Verse 18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it And none but they because it was a thing most holy It shall be a statute for ever in your generations That is as long as the Law about Sacrifices shall last Every one that toucheth them shall be holy According to this translation of these words the meaning is That it was not sufficient to be descended of Priests and to be Males but they were also to be free from any legal defilement who were admitted to eat of this Offering XXII 6. But these very words which we here translate every one in the 27th Verse we translate whatsoever and then the meaning is Every thing that toucheth them shall be made holy by them That is the very Dishes into which such holy things were put or the Spoons or Knives wherewith they were eaten were never to be imployed to any other use See XXIX Exod. 37. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying At the same time the LORD gave direction about another Offering near of kin to the former but not yet mentioned Ver. 20. Verse 20 This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they shall offer unto the LORD The Jews call this a Mincah of imitation which every High-Priest and every other Priest as they understand it were bound to offer when they were Consecrated and the High-Priest to continue every day as long as he lived So Abarbanel in his Preface to this Book Section 2. reckoning the various sorts of Meat-offerings makes this the fourth kind which the High-Priest offered every day and every other Priest once in his Life viz. when he first was admitted to Minister at the Altar at the Age of twenty years For both these Meat-offerings saith he are comprehended in this Verse But it may as well be understood only of Aaron and his Successors in the Priesthood of whom the following words seem to speak and not of the common Priests In the day when he is anointed The Hebrew word bejom may be translated from the day and so the Jews understand it that he was to make this Oblation not only upon the day of his Consecration but ever after as I said every day as long as he continued in the Priesthood And so the next words seem to explain it The tenth part of an Ephah of fine flour for a meat-offering perpetual half thereof in the morning and half at night The High-Priest saith Josephus L. III. Antiq. cap. 10. sacrificed twice every day at his own charges and then he describes this very Offering which was distinct from that which attended the daily Burnt-offering as appears by the quantity of this Meat-offering and by the manner of ordering it For that seems to have been raw Flower mixed with Oil but this baken as it follows in the next Verse See XXIX Exod 40 41. The reason why it is here mentioned is because it was a Mincah or Meat-offering of whose Rites Moses is treating and this is an Exception from the rest Ver. 21. Verse 21 In a pan shall it be made with Oil. With three logs of Oil as the Jews determine And when it is baken See v. 17. Thou shalt bring it in Unto the Altar And the baken pieces shalt thou offer c. If it was a Meat-offering of the High-Priest it was divided into XII pieces as Maimonides saith if of a common Priest for they will have both to be included in this Law then into X pieces which were so exactly divided that half of them were offered in the Morning and the other half in the Evening And the handful of Frankincense which they say was offered with them was in like manner divided and burnt on the Altar Maase Korban cap. 13. Ver. 22. Verse 22 And the Priest of
peace-offerings that pertain unto the LORD By these last words it appears that the whole Offering was the LORD's whose Bounty entertained him and his Friends to whom he gave the greatest part of it Having his uncleanness upon him c. In this Verse and in the next every one that had any legal defilement upon him is prohibited under a severe Penalty to eat of the Peace-offerings And they might be made unclean either by impurity in their own Body or by the contact of unclean things of the former of which he speaks in this Verse and of the other in the next Both were to be punished with cutting off which hath been explained elsewhere XVII Gen. 14. From whence it was that the Jews were so very careful not to go into the Judgment-Hall when our Saviour was condemned lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover XVIII John 28. at which Feast Peace-offerings were offered together with the Paschal Lamb. See more of this XXII 2 3 4. Ver. 21. Verse 21 Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing as the uncleanness of man or any unclean beast or any abominable unclean thing All these several sorts of Uncleanness contracted by touching things unclean we shall find in the following Chapters XI c. And shall eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings which pertain unto the LORD even that soul shall be cut off c. The intention of such Precepts was that the greater Reverence as Maimonides speaks P. III. More Nevoch cap. 41. might be maintained towards the Sacrifices which were offered unto God Upon which account Julian highly commends Moses who he saith as St. Cyril quotes his words Lib. IX contra Julian was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly religious about the eating of holy things which he proves from these very words of Moses But his conclusion from thence was very frigid as St. Cyril calls it That Christians were therefore to blame because they would not partake of such Sacrifices for we abstain not from them saith that Father as unclean things but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we rather make a progress as from Types unto the Truth Ver. 22. Verse 22 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying At the same time that all these Precepts were ordered to be delivered to the Priests he takes occasion to repeat several Precepts he had before given which concern all the People because it was of great moment to have them observed Ver. 23. Verse 32 Speak unto the children of Israel saying ye shall eat no manner of fat Because this was God's part and therefore not to be eaten by any one but burnt on his Altar See III. 16 17. And the reason Maimonides gives why it was reserved for him alone was because it was very delicious to the Taste More Nevoch P. III. cap. 41. Of Ox or of Sheep or of Goat The Jews restrain this Precept to these three sorts of Creatures which were the only Beasts that were offered at the Altar taking the Fat of all other Beasts to be lawful So R. Levi before-mentioned Praecept CXLIX Ver. 24. Verse 24 And the fat of the beast Of any of the fore-named Beasts which alone were allowed in Sacrifices That dieth of it self and the fat of that which is torn with Beasts may be used in any other use c. Though the Flesh of such Beasts was unclean yet they might apply the Fat when separated from the Body to any use only they might not eat it Ver. 25. Verse 25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD This seems to justifie the Opinion of those Jews who restrain the eating of Fat only to the three sorts of Creatures mentioned v. 23. as was there observed Even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people If he did it presumptuously but if through inanimadvertence he was to be scourged as the Jewish Doctors affirm Yet if he did it a third time scourging did not suffice but they shut him up in a little Cave where he could not stand upright nor had room to sit down and there fed him with the Bread and Water of Affliction till his Bowels were sorely pinched c. as Maimonides describes this punishment See Schickard's Mischpat Hammeleck and Carpzovius his Annot. on him cap. 2. Theorer VII Ver. 26. Verse 26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood whether it be of fowl or of beast See III. 17. Men were very prone to this in those times as Maimonides thinks whereby they ran into Idolatrous Worship Which was the reason God restrained them from it by threatning cutting off v. 27. to those who were guilty of it More Nevoch P. III. cap. 41. In any of your dwellings This is added to signifie that they might no more eat of the Blood of those Beasts which they killed at home than of those slain at the Altar Ver. 27. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood even that soul shall be cut off c. The reason of it is given XVII 10 11. But the Jews here distinguish particularly R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CXLVIII between the Blood of the Soul or the Life as they speak and the Blood of a Member The former which run out freely when the Beast was killed in which was the Life of the Beast is that which is here meant as Moses more fully explains it in the place before-mentioned The other which remained in the several parts of the Beast they lookt upon as belonging to the Flesh and therefore might be eaten with it Ver. 28. Verse 28 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying He delivered at the same time some other Rules to be observed by the People in these Matters See v. 22. Ver. 29. Verse 29 Speak unto the children of Israel saying He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace-offerings unto the LORD shall bring his oblation unto the LORD of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings The meaning may be no more than this that before he and his Friends feasted together as is directed v. 15 c. he was to take care to bring his Oblation unto the LORD that is to see that God had his part of the Peace-offering for till that was offered none could meddle with the rest But if the import of the Hebrew words be well observed they seem to have a further meaning which is that whensoever any Man brought the Sacrifice which in the Hebrew is here called Zebach of his Peace-offerings he should also bring his Oblation which in distinction from the other is called Korban that is a Mincha or Meat-offering together with it that the Feast which was to be made might be compleatly furnished with Bread and Wine as well as the Flesh of the Sacrifice Ver. 30. Verse 30 His own hands shall bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire the fat with the breast it shall he bring The Sacrifice being
slain and divided the Priest was to put what belonged unto the LORD into the Man 's own hands viz. the Fat with the Breast and the Shoulder that he might present it himself unto the Divine Majesty That the breast may be waved for a wave-offering before the LORD This is the manner wherein it was to be presented the Man was to lift it up over his head and wave it to and fro his hands being supported and guided by the Priest See XXIX Exod. 24. and VI Numb 19 20. Maimonides describes the order of it in this manner first the Priest put into the Man's hands the Fat and then laid upon it the Breast and the Shoulder and after that one of the pieces of the Cakes for the Meat-offering upon them all which he waved about Ver. 31. Verse 31 And the Priest shall burn the fat upon the Altar but the breast shall be Aarons and his sons When that part which belonged to God's Altar viz. the Fat had been burnt there the Priests had the Breast and the Shoulder to their own use as Servants have what comes from their Master's Table For it was all offered unto God v. 29 30. who taking only the Fat for himself bad them take the rest viz. the Breast and the Shoulder which had been presented unto God by waving them to and fro as a Sacrifice to the LORD of the World but by him bestowed upon his Ministers for their maintenance in his Service This is more fully expressed in the three next Verses in which there is no difficulty and therefore I shall but lightly touch them Ver. 32. Verse 32 And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the Priests c. This is only a more particular declaration what belonged to the Priest who was to have not only the Breast before-mentioned but also the right Shoulder Ver. 33. Verse 33 He among the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace-offerings and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part This is still a more special direction providing for the incouragement of that Priest who on that day ministred at the Altar unto whom the right Shoulder was appropriated as a reward of his pains in offering the Sacrifice Ver. 34. Verse 34 For the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifice of their peace-offerings and have given them to Aaron and his sons c. This doth not contradict what I observed just before for when he saith he hath given these to Aaron the Priest and his Sons the meaning must be to those of his Sons who at the time when these were offered sprinkled the Blood and burnt the fat Ver. 35. Verse 35 This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron and of the anointing of his sons c. In the Hebrew the words are This is the anointing of Aaron c. That is this they have in right of their Unction to the Priest's Office which intitles them to all before-mentioned In the day The Hebrew word Bejom may both here and in the next Verse be translated as I observed before VI. 20. from the day and ever after When he presented them to minister unto the LORD in the Priests office Made them draw near to attend upon him at his Altar Ver. 36. Verse 36 Which the LORD commanded to be given them in the day that he anointed them c. By virtue of a Grant from God when they were made Priests to enjoy this benefit in all future Ages By a statute for ever c. As long as this Law of Sacrifices and this Priesthood shall last See VI. 22. Ver. 37. Verse 37 This is the law of the burnt-offering of the meat-offering and of the sin-offering and of the trespass-offering c. This Verse contains a Summary of what he had commanded Aaron and his Sons from the ninth Verse of the sixth Chapter unto this place And of the Consecrations The whole order of their Consecration is not here directed but in XXIX Exod. only something belonging to that matter VI. 20 c. Ver. 38. Verse 38 Which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai In that mountainous Country which lay near to Mount Sinai as Maimonides truly expounds it For he was come down from Mount Sinai and had delivered to them all that he received there XXXIV Exod. 29 32. before these Commands were given but they still continued near unto it and so the word behar may be translated by mount Sinai For as the last words of this Verse tells us they were still in the Wilderness of Sinai that is in that part of the Wilderness which took its name from its nearness to Mount Sinai In the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD c. This doth not precisely signifie that he commanded Aaron and his Sons VI. 9 c. all these things on the very same day that he commanded the Children of Israel what Oblations to bring Chapt. I. 2 c. but they were delivered all at the same time immediately after the other without any other Commandments intervening CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying See IV. 1. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Take Aaron and his sons with him Having delivered the Laws and Rules about Sacrifices and the Rites belonging to them he now prepares the Priests to offer them as had been commanded And there is not much said in this Chapter but what hath been explained in XXIâ— Exod. and other neighbouring Chapters where he relates the Orders he received in Mount Sinai about those things which were now performed And the garments XXVIII Exod. 2 4. And the anointing oil XXX Exod. 24 c. And a bullock for the sin-offering and two rams and a basket of unleavened bread See XXIX Exod. 1 2 3 c. These were in their kind the very best of the legal Sacrifices as appears in part from that Expression of the Psalmist LXIX Psalm 30 31. where he prefers Thanksgiving and Praise before a Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs a young Bullock which began to spread its Horns and Hoofs that is before the very best of all their bloody Sacrifices Ver. 3. Verse 3 And gather thou all the Congregation together c. All the Elders of the People with the great Officers who were set over Thousands and Hundreds c. For these are frequently called by the Name of Col ha Edah which we translate all the Congregation particularly in XXV Numb 7. XXXV 12. XX Josh 6. XXI Judg. 10 13 16. where the Elders of the Congregation and the Congregation and all the Congregation are plainly the same thing Which is further confirmed from the next Chapter of this Book v. 1. where it is said expresly Moses called Aaron and his Sons and the Elders of Israel Ver. 4. Verse 4 And Moses did as the LORD commanded Summoned them to appear before the LORD And the assembly
the very same time But I have given some Arguments to prove the contrary upon XL Exod. 17 18. And the meaning of these three Verses 10th 11th 12th of this Chapter may be not that they were Consecrated at the same time but with the same Oil. For first he says Moses took the anointing Oil and shows how it was employed after a different manner upon the Tabernacle and its Utensils upon the Altar and upon Aaron on whose Head it was poured whereas the former had it only put upon them with the finger or were sprinkled with it But though they were not Consecrated together yet their Consecration immediately followed one another For seven days being spent in sanctifying the Tabernacle and the Altar then immediately began the sanctification of Aaron and his Sons during which time Moses may be supposed to have received the foregoing Laws about Sacrifices in which they were to be employed as soon as they were Consecrated And the seven days for the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons immediately succeeding the other seven days which were spent in the Consecration of the Tabernacle and the Altar it may be the reason why they here are succinctly mentioned both together and neither of them mentioned before For if the account we have in the XLth of Exodus concerning these things be well attended to it will appear that nothing is there said of the anointing of the Tabernacle or any thing else but only that he set it up the first day of the Month as he was commanded v. 2 c. and 17 c. And he is commanded in like manner to take the anointing Oil and anoint the Tabernacle and all therein v. 9 c. and then to anoint Aaron and his Sons v. 13 15. but he relates nothing of his doing either of them till now when he executed those commands Ver. 13. Verse 13 And Moses brought Aarons sons and put coats upon them and girded them with girdles c. See XXVIII Exod. 40 41. XXIX 30. XL. 14. As the LORD commanded Moses He commanded him also to anoint them at the same time XXVIII Exod. 41. XL. 15. but it is not here mentioned because they were not anointed as he was by pouring Oil upon their Heads but sprinkling it on their Garments with the Blood of the Sacrifice offered for them And that he did afterward as he had been ordered v. 30. See XXVIII Exod. 41. XXIX 7. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And he brought the bullock See XXIX Exod 1 10 c. For a sin-offering So it was designed to be XXIX Exod. 14. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin-offering See XXIX Exod 10. I Levit. 4. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he slew it XXIX Exod. 11. And Moses took the blood and put it upon the horns of the Altar round about with his finger As he had been directed XXIX Exod. 12. And purified the Altar It was purified before but this was a further purification of it that it might be the more fitted to be a place to make reconciliation upon it as it follows in the conclusion of the Verse And poured out the blood at the bottom of the Altar and sanctified it c. The vulgar Latin I think gives the true interpretation of these words rather than translates them in this manner It being expiated and sanctified he poured out the blood at the bottom of the Altar c. Fort. Scacchus hath taken a great deal of pains to prove that this Expiation as the Vulg. Lat. calls it went before the Anointing or Consecration of the Altar in his Myrothec P. II. cap. 34. But his Arguments seem to me of no force to overthrow the Opinion of Abulensis and Philo That these words do not speak of a proper Expiation of the Altar but that it was only hereby more particularly set apart as the word sanctifie signifies to be the place where Sin-offerings might be made that Men who had committed Offences might be expiated by these Sacrifices Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards and the caul c. See XXIX Exod. 13. Ver. 17. Verse 17 But the bullock and his skin his flesh and his dung he burnt with fire without the camp as the LORD commanded Moses See XXIX Exod. 14. Yet we do not find that the Blood of this Sacrifice was carried into the holy place and therefore it did not fall under the Rule in the VIth Chapter of this Book v. 30. but might have been eaten by the Priests as is there allowed v. 26. Some think it sufficient for the solution of this to say that Aaron and his Sons were not yet compleatly Consecrated and therefore had not a right to eat of the Flesh of this Sin-offering But such Persons do not consider that Moses who now acted as a Priest could not be debarred of that benefit by this reason And therefore it is better to say that no High-Priest whether ordinary or extraordinary such as Moses now was might eat of any Sin-offering offered for the Priests themselves although the Blood of it was not brought into the Sanctuary From whence we may draw this Consequence that although the Sins of the People were taken away by the Priests who by eating of their Sin-offering plainly showed that they bare their sin as the phrase is X. 17. yet the Sins of the Priests themselves could not be taken away by any Sacrifice they could offer for sin of which they might not eat But they were to expect as an excellent Person of our own speaks Dr. Jackson Book IX upon the Creed cap. 26. a better Sacrifice made by a better High-Priest the Son of God But these Legal Sacrifices in the mean time were offered in such a place as prefigured the place where this better Sacrifice should be offered viz. without the Camp as when they came to their rest without the City of Jerusalem where our Saviour's Body was offered for our Redemption Ver. 18. Verse 18 And he brought the Ram for the burnt-offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the Ram. According to the direction given to Moses when he was with God in Mount Sinai XXIX Exod. 15 16. where all that follows here to the end of the 21st Verse is explained this being nothing else but the execution of what was before ordered Ver. 22. Verse 22 And he brought the other Ram. For he was commanded to bring two v. 2. and XXIX Exod. 1. The Ram of Consecration So it is called XXIX Exod 22 31. for the reason there given Ver. 23 24. Verse 23 24. And he slew it and Moses took of the blood of it c. These two Verses are explained XXIX Exod. 20. where order was given for what was now done I shall only add a Remark of R. Levi ben Gersom upon the order wherein these Sacrifices were offered which was most rational For first there was a Sacrifice
others by making Expiation for them when they deserved to perish For so I am commanded These Orders as hath been already observed he received in the holy Mount So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses This was necessary to be added that all Generations might be assured whatsoever was performed by their Ministry would be effectual to the end for which it was appointed they being exactly Consecrated to God's Service without the least omission of any thing that he had required In like manner our great High-Priest was Consecrated to his Eternal Priesthood by fulfilling all the Will of God and that in a far more Solemn and Publick way than Aaron's was it being performed by Suffering such things as nothing but a perfect Filial Obedience to his heavenly Father could have moved him to admit because it was accomplished by shedding his own Blood in a lingring Death CHAP. IX Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND it came to pass on the eighth day He doth not mean on the eighth day of the Month but on the next day after their Consecration which was seven days in doing VIII 33 35. Then it was that the Fire fell down from Heaven and consumed the Sacrifice which Aaron offered and this seems also to have been the first day of unleavened Bread which fell upon the fifteenth day of this Month for on the fourteenth in the Even which was the last day of the Consecration of the Priests the Passover was kept IX Numb 2 5. That Moses called Aaron and his sons and the Elders of Israel Just as he had done before VIII 2 3. that the Rulers and as many of the People as could meet together to behold what was done might see the Glory of the LORD which appeared at this time v. 6. Ver. 2. Verse 2 And he said unto Aaron take thee a young Calf This is the first Sacrifice that was offered to God by the Priests of the Order of Aaron It differed from that which was offered by Moses for Aaron and his Sons as Egel a young Calf doth from Par a young Bullock by which his Sin was expiated at his Consecration And Maimonides saith that the former signifies a Calf of one year old the latter one of two Others say a Calf was called Egel till his Horns budded and then it was called Par. For a sin-offering For his sins in general not for any determinate Offence like that IV. 3. which therefore was something different from this The Jews fancy that a young Calf was appointed for the first Sin-offering to put Aaron and the People in mind of the Golden Calf which they worshipped So Maimonides reports the Opinion of their Wise men in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. Where he also hath this conceit that it was to expiate that Sin And a Ram for a burnt-offering For none but Males were accepted for Burnt-offerings I. 10. There is no Peace-offering ordered for him as there is afterward for the People v. 4. because it was not fit he should have all the Sacrifice as he must have had according to the Law of such Sacrifices being both the Priest and the Offerer between whom and the Priest after the Fat was burnt all was to be shared Ver. 3. Verse 3 And unto the Children of Israel thou shalt speak saying Unto all the Elders v. 1. who were to bring the following Offerings in the Name of all the People of Israel and that by Aaron's direction who was now to act as God's High-Priest and gave out this Order Take ye a Kid of the Goats for a sin-offering The Hebrew word Seir signifies a He-goat Concerning which Maimonides in his Book concerning Sacrifices delivers this opinion That all Sacrifices for sin whether of private Persons or the whole Congregation at their three principal Feasts New Moons and the Day of Expiation were He-goats For this reason because the greatest Sin and Rebellion of those times was that they sacrificed to Daemons who were wont to appear in that form For which he quotes XVII 7. They shall no more offer their Sacrifices lasseirim which we translate unto Devils but the word Seirim is but the Plural Number of the word Seir which signifies a Goat And further he adds That their Wise men think the Sin of the whole Congregation was therefore expiated by this Kid of a Goat because all the Family of Israel sinned about a Goat when they fold Joseph into Egypt XXXVII Gen. 31. And such reasons saith he as these should not seem trifles for the end and scope of all these Actions was to imprint and ingrave on the Mind of Sinners the Offences they had committed that they might never forget them According to that of David LI Psal 5. My sin is ever before me This Sin-offering was different from that IV. 14. being not for any particular Sin as that was but in general for all the Offences that the High-Priest might have committed A Calf and a Lamb both of the first year c. When they were in their prime Ver. 4. Verse 4 Also a Bullock and a Ram. These also were no doubt to be without blemish as is prescribed in the two foregoing Offerings And the Hebrew word Sor which we translate a Bullock often signifies a well grown Ox as in XXI Exod. 28. XXV Deut. 8. As Ajil a Ram the Hebrews say signifies a Sheep of above a year old These made very large Peace-offerings and consequently a liberal Feast upon them For peace-offerings The very same order is here observed that was at Aaron's Consecration First Sin-offerings then a Burnt-offering and then a Peace-offering was offered to the LORD VIII 14 18 22. And a meat-offering mingled with oil Which was to compleat the Peace-offerings on which they were to feast that Meat might not be without Bread to it For to day the LORD will appear to you Give you an illustrious Token of his Presence by sending Fire from Heaven or from the Brightness of his GLORY to consume the Sacrifice v. 23 24. Whereby they were all assured that both the Institution of this Priesthood and the Sacrifices offered by it were acceptable to the Divine Majesty Ver. 5. Verse 5 And they brought that which Moses commanded Both Aaron v. 2. and all the Congregation v. 3. brought all the Offerings which Moses required Before the Tabernacle of the Congregation Where these Sacrifices were to be offered And all the Congregation drew near and stood before the LORD Approached to the door of the Tabernacle and stood there by their Sacrifices looking towards the Holy Place and worshipped the LORD Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses said Unto the Congregation This is the thing which the LORD commanded that ye should do I require this of you by the commandment of God who will demonstrate by a visible Token his Presence among you And the glory of the LORD shall appear unto you That Glory which filled the Tabernacle when it was erected
here by devoured them took away their Breath in a moment From which Expression the Hebrew Doctors conclude that when any body was condemned to be burnt it was not to be consumed to Ashes but only exanimated by the Fire because this is called devouring or burning here in this place See Gamera Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 1. And they died before the LORD Fell down dead in the House of God Which may seem too great a Severity till it be considered how reasonable and necessary it was to inflict a heavy Punishment upon the first Transgressors of a Law concerning a Matter of great moment to deter others from the like Offence Many instances of which there are in Scripture Some observed by St. Chrysostom upon VI Psal 2. where he gives this account why the Man who gathered a few sticks upon the Sabbath-day was adjudged to be stoned as Blasphemers were because it was a very heinous thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as soon as a Law was enacted immediately to break it which made it necessary it should be thus severely punished to strike such a Terror into others that they might not dare to do the like Which was the reason he observes of the sudden Death of Ananias and Sapphira mentioned Acts V. Isidore of Peleusium hath made the same observation Lib. I. Epist. 181 and goes so far back as to our first Parents who were dreadfully punished for a seemingly small Offence because they were the first Transgressors The same others have observed of the punishment of Cain who committed the first Murder of the filthiness of Sodom of the Idolatry of the Golden Calf the Covetousness and Sacriledge of Achan the Disobedience of Saul the first King of Israel the sudden Death of Vzzah who was the first that presumed to touch the Ark of God Ver. 3. Verse 3 And Moses said unto Aaron To satisfie him in the Justice and Wisdom of this dreadful stroke at which he could not but be extreamly afflicted This is that the LORD spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me To come nigh unto God is in the holy Language to perform the Office of a Priest XIX Exod. 22. XVI Numb 5. who having the honour of attending upon the Service of the Divine Majesty were bound to approach into his Presence with the greatest Reverence We do not read indeed those very words which Moses here recites in the foregoing Books But as many things were spoken to them which are not recorded so the sense of these words are in the place forenamed XIX Exod. 22. and the reason of them in XXIX Exod. 43 44. where the Tabernacle being said to be sanctified by the Divine Glory and the Priests being sanctified to minister unto him therein which was seven days a doing as we read here VIII 35. they were plainly taught to draw nigh to God with a holy Fear and to do nothing rashly nor without order from him For God being peculiarly known by the Name of the Holy One i. e. who hath incomparable Perfections such as no other Being hath he justly required to be accordingly worshipped sutable to his most surpassing Greatness by peculiar Rites of his own prescribing in a different manner from all other Beings It was for instance below his Emenency or rather Supereminent Majesty to have common Fire such as they imployed in their Kitchins used for the burning Sacrifice upon his Altar And in like manner all other parts of his Service were in reason to be performed after such a fashion as might signifie their sense of the peculiar Excellencies of the Divine Nature who therefore sent Fire from Heaven as only fit to burn perpetually upon his Altar And before all the people will I be glorified This may be thought to be but a solemn Repetition of what was spoken before as the manner is in these Books to deliver the same thing twice in different words Or the meaning is if they who draw nigh to me will not sanctifie me I will vindicate my own honour by such Punishments as shall openly declare to all that I am the Holy One. Thus God is said to be honoured upon Pharaoh by drowning him in the Red-sea XIV Exod. 4. And Aaron held his peace Silently adored the Justice of the Holy One and did not complain of his Severity For this doth not seem to be the effect meerly of great Grief but of great Reverence to the Divine Majesty Ver. 4. Verse 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron It appears from VI Exod. 18. that Vzziel the Father of Mishael and Elzaphan v. 22. was the younger Brother of Amram the Father of Aaron and consequently Aaron's Uncle And said unto them Come near and carry your brethren All near Kindred are called Brethren in Scripture And these Cosin Germans of theirs are appointed to carry them out because Aaron's other Sons were now attending upon God in their Ministration upon the Day of their Consecration But without this special order these two Persons could not have been admitted to come near into the very Sanctuary being not of the Family of Priests though of Kin to him From before the Sanctuary See v. 2. Out of the Camp For anciently they buried not in their Cities but in the Fields adjacent to them XXIII Gen. 9 17. and so they did in after times XXVII Matth. 7. and VIII Luke 27. where the Tombs are plainly intimated to be without the City Ver. 5. Verse 5 So they went near There being two Accents upon the Hebrew word for draw near the Cabbalists from thence observe I know not upon what grounds that these Men did not come into the very Sanctuary where the dead Bodies lay but drew them out with long Poles and those of Iron being afraid of the Fire wherewith Nadab and Abihu had been killed or rather fearing to go into the Sanctuary or too near it See Hackspan's Cabala Judaica n. 58. And carried them out in their Coats c. Their Linen Vestments wherein they ministred which having touched dead Bodies were no more fit to be used in the Divine Service As Moses had said As he had directed in his order which he gave them Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons These two were all the Sons that Aaron had now remaining from whom came two great Families of the Priests which in the days of David we find very numerous though more of the House of Eleazar than of the other when they were by him divided into XXIV Classes and had their Courses of waiting appointed them 1 Chron. XXIV 4 c. Vncover not your heads The Hebrew Doctors interpret it quite contrary Let not the head of your hair grow so long that is as to cover their Faces which was the custom of Mourners 2 Sam. XV. 30. XIX 4. and many other places And thus Onkelos and the Arabick Version set forth by
offend against this Precept if before they went into the Sanctuary they drank no more than the fourth part of a Log which contained an Egg-shell and an half If they exceeded this measure then their Ministry they say was profaned and they were liable to death by the hand of Heaven See R. Levi of Barcelona Praecept CLVIII who hath many Niceties about this matter as hath also Maimonides mentioned by the learned Dr. Outram in his Book de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 6. n. 9. Lest ye die As their Brethren did See upon v. 1. where I observed it to be very probable that they were burnt with Fire from the LORD upon this account They that think it worth their while may see after what manner the Cabbalists make out this and what Reflections they make upon it in Theod. Hackspan's Cabala Judaica n. 144 145. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your Generations And such a Law there was in some Heathen Countries that no Magistrate all the year he was in Office nor any Judge while he was in Action and Employment should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much as taste a drop of Wine So Plato tells us with which Eusebius compares this Law of Moses Lib. XII Praepar Evang. cap. 25. And Chaeremon the Stoick describing in Porphery's Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. IV. the Diet of the Egyptian Priests tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them drunk no Wine at all and others very little Ver. 10. Verse 10 That ye may put a difference between holy and unholy between clean and unclean Here is the ground and reason of this Precept that they might have their Wits about them as we speak and preserve their Minds from being clouded as Nabad's and Abihu's were who put no difference between holy Fire and common and so be able both to put a difference as the first words may be translated between holy and unholy c. and also to teach the People all the Statutes which God had delivered to them as it follows in the next Verse And here it must be observed that as some days and places were more holy than others so were some parts of the Sacrifices also which they might not eat themselves but were reserved for the Altar Some Beasts also were clean and others so unclean that they might neither be offered in Sacrifice nor eaten at their common Tables XI 47. Some Men and Women also were so unclean that they were not to be admitted into their ordinary Conversation much less into the Sanctuary Chap. XII XIII Of all which the Priests were the Judges and therefore had need to be perfectly sober that they might make an accurate difference between one thing and another And for such a like reason it was the Egyptian Priests were so abstemious in drinking Wine because they looked upon it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an impediment to the finding out of Truth So Chaeremon speaks in the forementioned Book Ver. 11. Verse 11 And that ye may teach the Children of Israel all the Statutes c. Which concern the Rites and Ceremonies of God's Worship Ver. 12. Verse 12 And Moses spake unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons that were left This was still spoken on the same day a little after what he had said to them v. 6 7. Take the meat-offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire c. He seems to have been afraid that Aaron's grief for the loss of his Sons might have so disturbed his Mind as to have made him negligent in some part of his duty or that Eleazar and Ithamar through mistake or forgetfulness might have offended against some of the Laws lately delivered about Sacrifices which therefore he here repeats that they might be exactly observed And in the first place that they should eat what remained of the meat-offering as was commanded VI. 16. Where it is required also as it is here to be eaten without leaven and beside the Altar in the Court of the Tabernacle of the Congregation as it is there expressed For it is most holy See there VI. 17. Ver. 13. Verse 13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place This he repeats because they might possibly have forgotten it or not sufficiently attended to the difference between things most holy and things only holy The former of which the Priests alone might eat and that only in the holy place the other all their Family might eat as he saith in the next Verse in any place that was clean Because it is thy due and thy sons due c. No body might eat it but holy Persons for so God directed Chapt. II. 3. VI. 16 17 18. VII 9 10. Ver. 14. Verse 14 The wave-breast and the heave-shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place They were not bound to eat these in the Court of the Tabernacle as in the former case v. 13. but in any part of the Camp that was not defiled Thou and thy sons and thy daughters with thee These being those which the Jews call lighter holy things might be eaten by the whole Family as was before observed For they be thy due and thy sons due which are given you out of the sacrifice of peace-offerings of the Children of Israel They were bestowed upon them by an express Grant VII 34. where though only his Sons be mentioned as they are here yet it is plain all of their Family who were clean might eat of these things See upon VII 19. Ver. 15. Verse 15 The heave-shoulder and the wave-breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat to wave it for a wave-offering before the LORD This also he inculcates again which had been said before VII 29 30. that they must take care first to wave these things before the LORD and to burn the Fat upon the Altar for till this was done they had no right to eat these things And it shall be thine and thy sons with thee When they had been presented to the LORD of the whole Earth and he had received his part these became theirs by an express Grant from him VII 32 33 34. By a statute for ever As long as such kind of Sacrifices should last Ver. 16. Verse 16 And Moses diligently sought the Goat of the sin-offering Which had been offered for the People IX 15. And behold it was burnt This justified Moses his suspicion and fear that some mistake might have been committed in other matters because he found upon a diligent inquisition that they had burnt upon the Altar those parts of the sin-offering which they ought to have eaten themselves VI. 26 29. In which it was the easier for them to mistake without diligent observation of Moses his directions because the sin-offering which had been offered for Aaron himself was just before wholly burnt without the Camp IX 11. and so were all the Sin-offerings for the High-Priest and for the whole Congregation
Marriages And after a Repetion of several Laws Chapt. XIX of some greater Uncleannesses and Chapt. XXI of Priests that were unclean and lastly of Sacrifices not fit to be offered Chap. XXII Ver. 1. Verse 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron saying unto them The Consecration of Aaron being now compleatly finished God spake to him as well as unto Moses he being also highly concerned to teach the People the difference that is here made between several sorts of Meats X. 11. which Moses assures them was enacted by Divine Authority Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel saying They were all to take special notice of what follows because by the Diet here prescribed they were discriminated from all other People in the World These are the beasts that ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth God having bestowed upon Mankind after the Flood every living thing to be their Food IX Gen. 3. it hath raised a question among learned Men why God should limit and restrain his own People from the benefit of this general Grant And some have thought this so unaccountable that they have said it is in vain to enquire into the reason of the difference that is made here of Meats concerning which P. Cunaeus declares as Plutarch doth of the Laws of Solon and Lycurgus that no doubt they were enacted with wise Counsel but the reason of the Authors cannot be known Lib. II. de Republ. Hebraeorum cap. 24. But others think the reason is plain enough and the Jews are of opinion that the Creatures here called unclean were forbidden to be eaten because they were unwholsome Food So Maimonides discourses at large in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 48. where he saith there can be no doubt that every thing here prohibited yields a bad Nourishment except it be Swines-flesh and fat and yet he endeavours to show that there is no reason to think otherwise of those two R. Levi of Barcelona is of the same mind but pretends not to be able to demonstrate it as Maimonides doth For the Sum of a long and pious Discourse which he hath upon this Subject Praecept LXXIX where he treats of that Flesh which was torn by wild Beasts amounts to this That the Body being the Seat of the Soul where it doth its business God would have it fitted to the Desires and Imployments of the Soul And therefore the Law saith he removes from us all those things which may hinder the Soul in its operations For which reason such and such Meats are forbidden as breed ill Blood among which if there be some whose hurtfulness is neither visible to us nor to Physicians do not wonder at it for the faithful Physician who forbids them is wiser than any of us This opinion I cannot think to be wholly groundless for though there be some Creatures here prohibited which seem to us of as good Nourishment as those which are allowed yet considering that Climate wherein the Jews lived and the temper of their Blood which was very hot and apt to be extreamly corrupted as appears by the unusual Leprosie to which they were obnoxious more than other Nations it is reasonable to conclude that God had some respect to this in the ordering of their Diet. See J. Wagenseil Confut. Carminis R. Lipmanni p. 556. Yet I cannot think this to have been the chief reason of this Law though it be very agreeable to the peculiar care God had of this People that he should not only give them Civil and Sacred Laws but direct them in the smallest Matters as he did in their Apparel Building c. but the main drift and scope of it was that the Israelites might be separated from all other Nations in the World by a Diet peculiar to themselves which kept them from such a familiar Conversation as otherwise they might have had with the Gentiles and consequently from learning their idolatrous Customs And I do not see why I should not add most of the Creatures which are reckoned unclean were such as were in high esteem and sacred among the Heathen As a Swine was to Venus the Owl to Minerva the Hawk to Apollo the Eagle to Jupiter and even the Dog to Hecate c. Whence Origen justly falls into an high admiration of Moses his wisdom who so perfectly understood all Animals and what relation they had to Daemons that he pronounced all those to be unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which were esteemed by the Egyptians and other Nations to be the Instruments of Divination and those to be clean which were not so Lib. IV. contra Celsum p. 225. And if in Moses his time such Creatures were not sacred to Daemons it is a greater wonder that he should mark those out for impure which proved to be so sacred in after Ages As a great number of Birds mentioned by Porphyry Lib. III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who saith the Gods used them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to declare their mind to Men and several other Creatures mentioned by other Authors as peculiarly appropriated to other Deities Many have discoursed largely of the Moral Reasons of these Precepts particularly a very learned Man now living Joh. Wagenseil in his Annotations on that Title in the Misna called Sota fol. 1171 c. Ver. 3. Verse 3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed There are some Creatures which Porphyry in the Book fore-mentioned Lib. IV. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Hoofs are solid and not at all divided such as Horses Asses and Mules Others that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divided into several parts like Toes as Lions Wolves and Dogs But a third sort that are only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them divided into two parts as Oxen Deer Sheep Goats c. And these are of two kinds for some divide the Hoof into two parts but it is not cloven quite through as the Camel whose Hoof is parted above but joyned by a thick Skin below and therefore reckoned among the unclean Beasts Others both divided and cloven which are those allowed by this Law to be clean Creatures And cheweth the end among beasts c. As all those Beasts do which are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them Lib. X. cap. 50. that is have not a Set of Teeth both above and below Such are Oxen Sheep and Goats which want upper Teeth and therefore bring their Meat up again into their Mouths after it hath been some time in the Stomach that it may by a new chewing of it be better prepared for digestion So the Author of Porta Coeli who explains this very exactly when he saith For want of upper Teeth they cannot chew their Food perfectly at one time nor can the Stomach make a perfect digestion till it be ground a second time And therefore such Creatures are provided with a a double Stomach an upper into which the Meat goes down
or any Metal provided one of them was not bigger than the other nor one of Gold the other of Silver c. but both every way equal as the Goats were to be Upon one of these Lots was written the name of the Goat which was for the LORD and on the other that which was for Azazel And then the Priest shaking the Urn and putting in both his hands as it there follows in Joma cap. 4. took up a Lot in each And if he brought up God's Lot in his right hand the Sagan who stood there said My Lord lift up thy right hand If in his left hand the Head of the Fathers said Lift up thy left hand And so the Priest let the right hand Lot fall upon the Goat that stood on the right hand and his left hand lot upon the other One lot for the LORD To be offered unto the LORD at the Altar The other lot for the scape-goat Or as it is in the Hebrew for Azazel as some have anciently translated it Now why a Goat was offered in Sacrifice and another Goat let go free laden with their sins rather than any other Creature may be understood perhaps from the inclination of the Heathen World in those days when they worshipped Daemons in the form of a Goat The Egyptians were famous for this and the Israelites themselves it appears from the XVIIth Chapter of this Book v. 7. were prone to offer Sacrifices le Seirim which signifies Daemons in that form And therefore to take them off from such Idolatrous Practises God ordained these Creatures themselves to be sacrificed and slain to whom they had offered Sacrifice And the young ones he appointed for this purpose for so Seirim signifies which the Egyptians most of all honoured and abhorred to offer or kill So Juvenal Nefas illic foetum jugulare Capellae Satyr XV. V. II. Now from hence perhaps it was that some fancied Azazel signified the Devil as R. Menachem and R. Eliezer among the Jews Julian among the Heathen and some great Men lately among us Who conceive that as the other Goat was offered to God at the Altar so this was sent among the Daemons which delight to frequent desert places and there appeared often in the shape of this Creature But this will not agree with the Hebrew Text which says this Goat was for Azazel as the other was for the LORD Now none sure will be so prophane as to imagine that both these Goats being set before the LORD and presented to him as equally Consecrated to him he would then order one of them to be for himself and the other for the Devil We must therefore be content with our own Translation which derives the word Azazel from Ez a Goat and azal to go away and fitly calls it the Scape-goat So Paulus Fagius and a great many others against which I see nothing objected but that Ez signifies a she Goat not a he Which made Bochartus fetch this word from the Arabick in which Language Azala signifies to remove or to separate And this agrees well enough with the name of this Goat according as the ancient Translators understood it some of which as Symmachus render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Goat going away others as Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Goat let loose and the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which they had no thought of the notion of this word among the Greeks who called those Daemons by this name who were esteemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as J. Pollux speaks averters of evil things from them But simply meant as Theodoret interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Goat sent away into the Wilderness And so St. Hierom expounds it Hircus emissarius which agrees with the notion which Bochartus puts upon the word out of the Arabick Tongue This Goat being sent away into remote places there to remain separate from the Flock to which he belong'd and that upon a Mountain as the Jews fancy in the Wilderness of Sinai which from this Goat was called Azazel But I see no ground for this Ver. 9. Verse 9 And Aaron shall bring the Goat upon which the LORDS lot fell In the Hebrew the word is went up For he first took it up out of the Urn and then let it fall upon the Goat And offer him for a sin-offering Devote him to God to be a Sacrifice for their Sins beseeching him to accept of this Sacrifice for that end So the word offer I observe signifies v. 6. order being given afterwards for the killing of the Goat v. 15. Ver. 10. Verse 10 But the Goat on which the lot fell to be the Scape-goat shall be presented alive before the LORD This shows that the Scape-goat was equally consecrated and devoted to God as the other was though not to be killed but sent away alive after the other had been offered in Sacrifice To make an atonement with him For this was a Sin-offering though not slain no less than the other as appears from v. 5. which shows these two Goats made but one Sin-offering Which was partly slain at the Altar and partly let go as it here follows to run whether he would the more perfectly to represent the taking away of their Sins and removing their iniquity as the Prophet speaks III Zach. 9. by vertue of this Offering for them Some indeed have thought that this Goat was not sacrificed but only presented alive before God and so let go lest it should be thought God could not forgive their Sins unless he was appeased by some slain Beast which imagination was destroyed by letting this Sin-offering be left alive at full liberty to run quite away But I can see no ground for such a Construction because these were not two but one Sin-offering as I said before which being slain in part established that opinion in them of the impossibility of obtaining reconciliation without a bloody Sacrifice Certain it is that the whole Law supposes this that without shedding of blood is no remission as the Apostle observes IX Hebr. 22. And therefore it will be more agreeable to the Holy Scriptures if we think as some do That the first Goat represented our LORD in his Sufferings and this other in his Resurrection whereby he was freed from the Bands of Death both his Death and his Resurrection being for our Deliverance as the Apostle shows IV Rom. ult And let him go free Whether he pleased For so the Hebrew word Schalac send him away or dismiss him signifies in Scripture intire liberty such as God demanded for the Israelites from Pharaoh IV Exod. 23. V. 1. For a Scape-goat Into remote places Into the Wilderness In token their sins were quite carried away to be found no more for the Goat was not meerly sent into the Wilderness but into the most desert places of it as appears from v. 22. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And Aaron shall bring the Bullock of the sin-offering
which is for himself c. This former part of the Verse is word for word the same with v. 6. which shows that offering there as we translate it was nothing else but bringing it to be offered or presenting it before the LORD to be a Sacrifice for himself and for his Family But now his bringing it was that it might be killed immediately as it follows in the latter part of this Verse And shall make an atonement for himself and his house By killing it as the next words tell us And shall kill the Bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself He was first to offer for himself before he could acceptably offer for the People as the Apostle observes V Hebr. 3. IX 7. And as the Jews tell us in Massechet Joma cap. 4. sect 2. he again put his hand upon the head of the Bullock and made the Confession and Supplication before-mentioned upon v. 6. And when he had done then he killed the Bullock with his own hands For though all other Sacrifices might be killed by any person yet the High-Priest himself was bound to kill this as they say in the same place of the Misna sect 3. And having received the Blood of the Bullock in a Bason he delivered it to another Priest to keep it in continual agitation till he had offered Incense in the holy place that so it might not grow thick and be clotted but be kept liquid and thin fit to be sprinkled before the Mercy-seat Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he shall take a Censer full of burning coals of fire Which he held in his right hand From the Altar before the LORD From the brazen Altar where the Bullock was slain for Coals were burning before God no where else but there And his hands full of sweet Incense beaten small With his left hand he took as much of the Incense mentioned XXX Exod. 34 36. as his hand would hold besides the Incense which he burnt every Morning and Evening which was a whole pound and put it into a Cup. And bring it within the vail With both these the Censer of Coals and the Cup of Incense the former in his right hand the other in his left he went within the Vail which divided the holy place from the most holy And set down the Censer and then as it follows in the next Verse see there threw the Incense upon the burning Coals This the Hebrew Doctors take to have been so difficult a work that in the Gemara upon Joma cap. 1. they say some of the elder Priests were sent to him before-hand to show him how he should fill his hand with the Incense And the Misna there says that they adjured him in these words We are the Legates of the great Sanhedrim and thou art our Legate and theirs we adjure thee we adjure thee by him whose name dwells in this House that thou change not any one thing of all that we have said unto thee And so they parted with tears on both sides The reason of which solemn Adjuration they say was That the Sadduces affirmed he might burn the Incense without the Vail and so enter into the most holy place directly contrary to this Text which required him to do it within where no body could see what the High-Priest did and consequently could not tell whether he performed the Service there aright Therefore they took this Oath of him in the latter Ages of their State when some of the Faction of the Sadducees were thrust into the Priesthood as Mr. Selden probably conjectures Lib. III. de Synedriis cap. 11. n. 2. This was the first time of the High-Priests going into the Holy of Holies on this great Day Ver. 13. Verse 13 And he shall put the Incense upon the fire before the LORD He entred as the Misna saith in Joma cap. 5. with his Face towards the South and so went side-ways for he might not look upon the Ark where the Divine Glory was till he came to the Staves of the Ark where he set down the Censer and put on the Incense And having filled the House with a Cloud of Smoak he went out backward out of reverence to the Divine Majesty into the holy place without the Vail Where when he was come he made this short Prayer May it please thee O LORD God that this year may be hot and also wet that the Scepter may not depart from the Family of Judah nor thy People Israel want food and that the Prayer of the wicked may not be heard And then he presently went out of the Sanctuary and showed himself to the People that they might not suspect he had done amiss and miscarried in his Office For so they say it sometimes hapned that the High-Priest having violated these holy Rites appointed by God was struck dead in the holy place The Incense which was burnt every day in the holy place at the Golden Altar representing the Prayers of the Saints as St. John teaches us VIII Rev. 3 4. this Incense which was burnt in the Holy of Holies may well be thought to represent the Prayers of the High-Priest himself which he made upon this occasion as our blessed Saviour did before he offered the great Sacrifice of himself XVII John of which more hereafter with the Blood of which he now appears in the Heavens before God for us That the Cloud of the Incense may cover the Mercy-seat that is upon the Testimony So that nothing of it might be seen it being the place of the Residence of the Divine Majesty XXV Exod. 21 22. whose Glory was inaccessible That he die not By gazing on the Divine Glory See v. 2. and XXXIII Exod. 20. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And he shall take of the blood of the Bullock Having done what is commanded in the foregoing Verses he came out of the Sanctuary and went to the Priest whom he left at the Altar of Burnt-offering stirring the Blood in the Bason which he delivered to him as I observed v. 11. And taking it from him went with it the second time within the Vail and standing where he did before when he burnt the Incense sprinkled it as is directed in the words following And sprinkle it with his singer The very root or essence of a Sacrifice as the Maxim of the Jews is lies in the sprinkling of the Blood Vpon the Mercy-seat One would think by this Translation that he sprinkled the Mercy-Seat it self with some of the Blood But all the Jews understand it quite otherwise and indeed the Hebrew words are Al pene over against the Face i. e. as they interpret it in the Misna before-mentioned cap. 5. towards the Mercy-Seat And so it follows in the next words and before the Mercy-seat shall he sprinkle Only this difference there was in the sprinkling that this Particle al they think imported that he was to make the first sprinkling here mentioned toward the top of the Mercy-Seat The Vulgar Latin wholly omits this part of
one Lamb but on this day was two Rams one for himself and another for the People unto which there was an additional offering of seven Lambs of the first year as they tell us in Joma cap. 7. sect 3. But before this they there say he went and read to the People out of the Book of the Law which was with great Ceremony delivered to him And he might read either in his Pontifical Habit or in his own Robes which he pleased for Reading was no Ministry as the Gemara there observes This pleading began at XXIX Numb 7. c. where the Sacrifice of seven Lambs is ordered upon this day And make an atonement for himself and the people Rather having made an atonement which was already done by other Sacrifices not by these Ver. 25. Verse 25 And the fat of the sin-offering shall be burnt upon the Altar This also I think should be translated in the same manner having burnt the fat of the sin-offering which was done I suppose in the Morning when both the Bullock and the Goat were offered for Sin v. 11 14. but was not mentioned till now to show that their Sacrifices were not perfected till both Aaron and the People were reconciled to God after which their burnt Sacrifices were acceptable to him This burning of the Fat was ordered in all Sin-offerings IV. 8 10 26. and therefore was not now to be omitted And perhaps it was reserved to be burnt when the Flesh of the Bullock and the Goat was burnt without the Camp v. 27. which was in the conclusion of all the Services of this Day Ver. 26. Verse 26 And he that let go the Goat for the Scape-goat After the Man had dismissed the Goat it was not lawful for him to return further back than one Mile to the last Tabernacle where he was permitted to rest himself after his labour and not remain all Night in the Wilderness So they tell us in Joma cap. 6. sect 6. Shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water This Goat being a publick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Purgation upon whom all their sins were thrown was extreamly impure and therefore could not be touched without rendring the Person who led him away unclean in the highest degree Which was the reason that he was bound to wash both his Clothes and also his whole Body in water before he could so much as come into the Camp Porphyry observes the same custom among the Heathen who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his words are in such kind of Sacrifices as those for the averting Evils permitted no Man who had meddled with them to come into the City or to go to his own House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had not first washt his Clothes and his Body in some River or in Spring-water L. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sect 44. For nothing is more known than that such a kind of Purification for washing themselves was a Custom all the World over and continues to this day in the Eastern or other hot Countries not only among the Mahometans but the Pagans who plunge themselves frequently three times one after another into their Rivers rising up with their faces to the East as all Travellers into those parts tell us And afterward come into the Camp Have free Conversation with his Brethren and I suppose without any further Ceremony be admitted to the Sanctuary Ver. 27. Verse 27 And the Bullock for the sin-offering and the Goat for the sin-offering Mentioned v. 11 15. Whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place Of which we read in the same place v. 14 15. Shall one carry forth But first they were ript up and the Imurim as they call them mentioned IV. 8 9. taken out to be burnt upon the Altar And then the Priest dissected them as the Misna saith in Joma cap. 6. sect 7. not into pieces as was wont to be done in Burnt-offerings but made only deep Incisions letting the parts hang still together Which being done four Men saith R. Solomon carried them forth upon two Staves or Bars one being not able to do it and accordingly the LXX translate these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall carry forth But one Person it 's likely had the principal care to see them burnt which is the reason he only is mentioned Without the Camp Into a clean place where the Ashes were wont to be poured out IV. 12. There were three Camps as I noted before XIII 46. the Camp of the People unto which Jerusalem answered in after times the Camp of the Levites unto which answered the Mountain of the House as they called it the whole Circuit about the Temple and the Camp of God or the Sanctuary with all its Courts unto which answered the Temple and its Courts So Maimonides in his Treatise called Beth Habbechira cap. 7. Now as these Sacrifices were carried to be burnt without the Camp of the People when they were in the Wilderness so they were burnt without the City of Jerusalem after the Temple was built there Which illustrates the words of the Apostle XIII Hebr. 10 11 c. where he takes it for granted as a thing they all knew that Jerusalem answered to the Camp of Israel And from thence shows that the Mystery prefigured by this Goat whose Blood was brought into the holy place to make atonement as he speaks in this Verse was accomplished in our blessed LORD and Saviour who that he might sanctifie the People with his own blood suffered without the Gate as the Apostle there observes that is without the City yet near the Suburbs of Jerusalem whose Type or Figure was the Camp of the Israelites in the Wilderness And the intent of the Apostle in this and other such like Observations was to show that our Saviour's Sufferings on the Cross were a most true and proper Sacrifice a Sacrifice fully satisfactory for the Sins of the World or rather more satisfactory for all the Sins of Men against the Moral Law of God than the Sacrifices on the Day of Atonement the Passover or other Anniversary Solemnities were for sins meerly against the Law of Ceremonies As the Apostle shows in the foregoing part of that Epistle IX Hebr. 13 14. And they shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung Here it is plain there was more than one who carried the Bodies of these Beasts without the Camp they being too heavy for any single Person to bear And they burnt them intirely See IV. 11 12. except what was offered upon the Altar Yet Josephus is pleased to except 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which he seems to mean their Rumps Lib. III. cap. 30. In which he forgot himself for though these were comprehended under the Imurim of some Sacrifices See VII 3. yet neither here nor in the fourth Chapter v. 8 9. is there any mention of this Fat nor is it comprehended under the Fat mentioned above v.
25. which the Misna in Joma says was the Fat of the inwards only Ver. 28. Verse 28 And he that burneth them The Vulgar Latin I think rightly translates it Quicunque combusserit whosoever burneth them for there was more than one as I said before imployed in this business Shall wash his clothes c. Being defiled by touching the Sacrifices which were charged with so many sins as he that carried away the Scape-goat was v. 26. where there is the very same order in the same words Now when all this was done the Misna saith cap. 7. Joma sect 4. the High-Priest washed himself again and put on his white Robes which were proper to this day and went into the most holy place to fetch out the Censer with the Dish or Cup which he carrried in when he went to burn Incense v. 12 13. And when he came out from thence he washt and put on his golden Garments and offered Incense upon the golden Altar and trimmed the Lamps Which being done they brought him his own Garments which he wore constantly and when he had put them on they accompanied him to his House where he entertained his Friends with a Feast being come out of the Sanctuary in peace that is safe and in health For by shifting his Garments and washing so often he was in danger to catch Cold as we speak and they did sometimes fall into various Diseases upon this occasion as P. Cunaeus observes out of Maimonides L. II. de Repub. Hebr. cap. 14. and some died in the holy place not having performed the Service duly Which made it very reasonable that he and his Friends should rejoyce when he returned in health and safety Ver. 29. Verse 29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you Till the coming of Christ in whom all that these Sacrifices signified was accomplished who put an end therefore to this Legal Dispensation See XII Exod. 14. That in the seventh month When they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth and thereby had the more liberty to attend such a solemn Service Which was the reason perhaps why there were more Solemnities appointed in this Month than in any other Month in the Year as appears from XXIII of this Book It had been anciently also the first Month of the year being the Month it 's likely wherein the World was created But upon the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt the Month Abib by God's special command was ordered to be the first Yet not absolutely but only in respect of that which was most eminent viz. for the Ecclesiastical Account For as to their Civil or Temporal Affairs the seventh Month Tisri still retained the precedence On the tenth day of the month The Arabians imitated this calling the Fast of the Tenth day of the Month Moharram by the name of Ashura which is exactly the Ashor tenth day here mentioned by Moses from whom these People derived it before the appearance of Mahomet Who finding the Jews when he came to Medina fasting upon this day Ashura askt them the reason of it who told him as the Mahometan Writers report it was in remembrance of Pharaoh's being then drowned in the Red Sea whereupon he said I have more to do with Moses than you and thereupon commanded his Followers to fast on this day See Dr. Pocock upon Abal-Farajius concerning the Manners of the Arabians p. 309 310. But this is plainly an idle Tale invented by him or his Followers for the Jews would rather have feasted than fasted upon the day of such a Deliverance But it shows that this Day was remarkable among the Jews and solemnly observed by them wheresoever they were and was chosen by God rather than any other Day of the Month if we may believe Maimonides More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. because it was the day on which Moses came down from the Mount with the second Tables in his hand and proclaimed to the People the Remission of their great Sin in worshipping the golden Calf in memory of which it was ordered to be intirely a Day of Repentance and of Divine Worship Ye shall afflict your souls By Fasting and Abstinence not only from all Meat and Drink but from all other Pleasure whatsoever Insomuch that they might not wash their Faces much less anoint their Heads nor wear their Shoes nor use the Marriage Bed nor read if their Doctors say true any portion of the Law which would give them delight For example the story of their coming out of Egypt and leading them through the Red Sea c. so far is the Mahometan story from having any colour of truth It is likely also that to increase their Grief they rent their Clothes as they did in other Fasts in after times put on Sackcloth girded it close to their Flesh sprinkled Ashes on their heads c. Which were all intended no doubt to work in them an inward sorrow for all their sins with an hearty abhorrence of them and resolution to mortifie and abstain from them For though the word Soul be generally expounded the sensitive part of us which is afflicted by fasting as the Prophet Isaiah expounds this Phrase LVIII 3 5. yet it is absurd to think that God was pleased with this alone without that inward Compunction of Mind which made them break off their sins by righteousness which the Prophet there declares was the only acceptable Fast to the LORD The Hebrew Doctors here observe that they did not afflict little Children on this day by making them fast from all Food till they were of the Age of Eleven years But only taught them what they were to do when they came of Age that they might be accustomed to the Precept See Joma cap. 8. sect 4. And do no work at all Not only abstain from all Pleasure but from all Labour whatsoever nothing being to be done upon this day but Confessing of Sins and Repentance as Maimonides expresses it in the place before-mentioned Whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you The Hebrew word Ezrach is extant only here and XXIII 42. which signifies as much as one that had his original among them being born an Israelite as it is there expressed The opposite to which is gher a Stranger we translate it one that was of another Nation but had embraced the Jewish Religion and lived among them who in the New Testament is called a Proselyte Ver. 30. Verse 30 For on that day shall the Priest make an atonement for you If upon this day they afflicted and humbled their Souls as Conr. Pellicanus glosses with fasting and prayer and anguish for their sins with alms also beseeching God's mercy with tears and sighs in sackcloth and ashes resting from all servile works and devoted wholly to the LORD To cleanse you From all the Transgressions and Sins mentioned v. 16. from which both the High-Priest and his Family and all the People were to be purged on this
of other Idolatrous Practises besides that of worshipping the Golden Calf XXXII Exod. And so much is expressed XXXII Deut. 17. And it was a sin of which their Fathers had been long guilty especially in Egypt XXIV Josh 14. XX Ezek. 7. XXIII 2 3. which they had not left but continued in the Wilderness V Amos 25. Offer their Sacrifices unto Devils These words show the reason why God commands them under such a heavy Penalty to offer only in one place at the Tabernacle because while they sacrificed in the open Fields they had been in danger to be seduced by Daemons who were wont to frequent those places especially in Deserts and present themselves to ignorant People as if they were Gods and intice their Devotion towards them Which Daemons or Evil Spirits appeared it is likely in the form of Goats and therefore are here called Seirim which properly signifies Goats And hath made some imagine that they really sacrificed to these Creatures as some of the Egyptians did who held Goats to be sacred Animals So Diodorus tells us Lib. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they deified a Goat upon the same account that the Greeks worshipped Priapus Herodotus in his Euterpe cap. 46. saith the same of the Mendesij who he saith worshipped the Males more than the Females And many other Authors mentioned by Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 53. report the same But I question whether the Egyptians were guilty of such Idolatry in the days of Moses Nor is there more truth in their opinion who think the Israelites now worshipped Images in this form of Goats Which the LXX seem to have thought when they translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vain things as Idols are called in Scripture And yet this very word Seirim is by the Greek Translators rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XIII Isaiah 21. which we here follow only instead of Daemons translating it Devils whom the ancient Zabij worshipped they appearing to them in the form of Goats and this Custom was universally spread as Maimonides thinks in Moses his time which was the cause of this Precept More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. And indeed nothing is more common in the Writings of the ancient Heathen than the mention of Fauns and Satyrs and Aegipanes whose shape below was that of a Goat And to this day in the solemn Conventions of Witches the chief Devil that presides in their Assemblies is said by all that have examined such matters to have the form of a Goat And our famous Country-man Alexander Hales in his Discourse upon the Scape-Goat which is in his Summa P. III. Q. 55. derives the reason of it from the frequent appearance of Daemons in this shape in the Wilderness as Mr. Selden observes in his Prolegomena to his Book de Diis Syris They that would see more of these Seirim may consult J. G. Vossius L. I. de Orig progr Idolol cap. 8. and Bochartus his Hierozoicon P. II. L. VI. cap. 7. There is one indeed Anton. Van Dale who hath lately endeavoured to explode all these Fancies as he esteems them of Daemons which he would have to be the meer invention of the ancient Chaldaeans and from them derived to other Nations But he will never be able to make any wise Man believe that the World was so sottish as to worship the Images of Goats which he takes to be meant by Seirim if there had not been an appearance of some thing in that shape which they accounted Divine After whom they have gone a whoring i. e. With whom they have committed Idolatry For this sin was justly called by the name of whoredom ever after they were solemnly contracted and espoused to God to be his peculiar People XIX Exod. 5. Which is the reason that he is said so often to be a jealous God particularly XX Exod. 5. highly incensed that is at their worshipping other Gods besides him For this and such like words are never used but concerning Idolatry which Ezekiel describes as the foulest Whoredom XVI 22. and particularly mentions this Whoredom with the Egyptians v. 26. and the Assyrians v. 28 c. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout all generations These words seem to me to determine the sense of the foregoing Precept to which they relate from v. 2 c. not to be that all the Meat they killed for their own Tables should be Peace-offerings for that all confess was not a statute for ever if it were one at all throughout all generations but only while they were in the Wilderness Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt say unto them whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel or of the strangers which sojourn among you These words also show he speaks in the foregoing of bringing all Sacrifices whatsoever to the Tabernacle the same Law which was given before to the Israelites being now extended to all Strangers that sojourned among them By whom he means all such as were Proselytes to the Jewish Religion So the LXX here translate it and they add the very same words to v. 3. where the house of Israel is only mentioned in the original Hebrew The only question is What sort of Proselytes are here intended And I take it he speaks of the Proselytes of Righteousness as the Jews call them who were Circumcised and thereby embraced the whole Religion of Moses And this I find is the general opinion though some few learned Men contend that any Stranger who had renounced Idolatry whom they called A Proselyte of the Gate might bring their Sacrifices to the Altar Which one can hardly allow though asserted by so great a Man as Grotius Lib. I. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 16. because he speaks of the same Strangers here which are mentioned v. 10. where all such Strangers are forbidden to eat Blood Which plainly belongs to such Strangers as were become Jews by Circumcision for other Strangers might eat it as appears from XIV Deut. 21. where the Israelites are allowed to sell what died of it self to a Stranger that he might eat it if he pleased and such Creatures had their Blood in them That offereth a Burnt-offering or Sacrifice i. e. Any other Sacrifice besides Burnt-offerings viz. Sin-offerings or Trespass-offerings or Peace-offerings None of which were accepted but from such as were admitted into the Jewish Religion though the pious Gentiles the Jews say might bring Burnt-offerings Ver. 9. Verse 9 And bringeth it not to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to offer it unto the LORD As he ordered their Peace-offerings to be v. 4 5. Shall be cut off from among his people This demonstrates that the foregoing Precept and this belong to the same matter being inforced with the same Penalty v. 4. And it also shows that the Strangers before-mentioned signifie such Gentiles as were Circumcised for otherwise they were not of the Body of the People of Israel from which they
us Lib. VII p. 802. that at Mendes where they worshipped Pan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goats which were there also worshipped lay with Women For which he quotes Pindar as do also Priscianus and Aelian Lib. VII de Animal cap. 19. as Casaubon there notes And Herodotus vouches this upon his own knowledge and saith they did it openly so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies when he was in Egypt His words are these in his second Book called Euterpe cap. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This prodigy hapned in this part of Egypt i. e. among the Mendesians when I was there a Goat had to do with a Woman in the view of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How long this beastly Custom had been among them none can tell but these words import that then it was notorious and so far from being kept secret that they rather made an ostentation of it Which I look upon as an argument that this had been a very old practice otherwise they would have blushed at it Ver. 24. Verse 24 Defile not your selves in any of these things This seems to relate particularly to the sins before-mentioned v. 20 21 22 23. See v. 26. For in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out before you The seven Nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan mentioned in many places particularly VII Deut. 1. were so over-run with these filthy Vices that God could not bear with them but ordered them to be destroyed for this very reason Which was a sufficient Caution to the Israelites who came in their room to keep themselves from such Impurities Ver. 25. Verse 25 And the Land is defiled To make the Israelites the more abominate such doings he represents the very Land in which they dwelt as sensible of the foul wickedness of the Inhabitants who were a loathsome burden to it which it could not digest Therefore do I visit the iniquity thereof upon it I am about to punish them upon that account And the Land it self vomiteth out its inhabitants A most eloquent figure expressing the excessive loathsomness of their wickedness which made their own Country nauseate them and throw them out as our Stomack doth Meat that offends it The same expression is used v. 28. XX. 22. III Rev. 16. Theodoret expounds this word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies their Expulsion as an execrable People And indeed the word vomit in Scripture is used for that which is most detestable and abominable XXVIII Isa 8. XLVIII Jer. 26. II Habakk 10. Ver. 26. Verse 26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments These Laws I have given you See v. 4 5. And shall not commit any of these abominations From this word abominations which the Nations God cast out to make room for them are said to have committed v. 27. some conclude that every one of the foregoing Marriages mentioned in this Chapter are in their own nature sinful the Nations who had no positive Law to forbid them being cast out for such Pollutions But the meer force of this word will not warrant such a conclusion because several things are called in this Book an abomination which have no moral turpitude in them but were made so by God's positive Laws as Mr. Selden observes Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 11. p. 598. from XI Lev. 10.20 41 42. where several sorts of Creatures are forbidden to be eaten as abominable And the Sacrifice of a Bullock or a Sheep that had a blemish is said to be an abomination XVII Deut. 1. not from the very nature of the thing but from the Prohibition which God had made against such Offerings It is most reasonable therefore to refer the abominations here spoken of to those foul things mentioned in the latter end of this List v. 20 21 22 23. and to those in the beginning v. 7 8 9 c. For lying with ones Mother or Mother-in-law or Sister was always an abomination But we cannot say the same of every one of the rest the Law it self following or rather requiring in one case the marriage of a brother's wife which were made an abomination by the Law now given to the Israelites Neither any of your own Nation nor any Stranger that sojourneth among you That is any Proselyte who had embraced their Religion See XVII 8. Ver. 27. Verse 27 For all these abominations have the men of the Land done which were before you c. He admonishes them to beware of these Abominations by the example of those who were utterly undone by them For God is no respecter of Persons but would punish them in the same manner if they did the same things Ver. 28. Verse 28 That the Land spue not you out also c. As it did at last IX Jer. 19. XXXVI Ezek. 17. Ver. 29. Verse 29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people The multitude of the Offenders shall not keep off the Punishment but they shall suffer by the hand of the Judges or by the Hand of God if they neglect their Duty See XVII Gen. 14. Ver. 30. Verse 30 Therefore shall ye keep mine Ordinances Live by all these Rules which I have now given you That ye commit not any of these abominable Customs which were committed before you By observing every one of these Laws they were kept at a distance from those greater Abominations mentioned in the beginning and in the latter end of these Prohibitions The positive Laws or Ordinances now added being in the nature of an antemurale or an out-work to stop their proceeding to the higher Crimes which were against the Law of Nature I am the LORD your God As their LORD he had Authority to make these Laws and as their God they had particular Obligations to observe them Nay it was a singular token of his Love to them that he prescribed these Laws of Chastity and Modesty that thereby he might preserve them an holy People to him pure and free from those abominable filthinesses and those indecent Conjunctions that were practised in the World For as the ancient Rule was Semper in omnibus conjunctionibus non solum quod liceat considerandum est sed quod honestum est In all Marriages it is always to be considered not meerly what is lawful but what is honest and seemly Which is more true in the Christian Religion than in any other For thereby Marriage is advanced to represent the Unity that is between Christ and his Church And besides in contracting Marriage we are not only to have regard to our own Conscience as Joh. Brentius wisely observes upon the fore-named Rule of the ancient Law but to Succession also and to Inheritances And therefore id agendum quod boni viri honestum judicant a legitimo Magistratu permittitur that is to be done both which good Men judge to be honest and is allowed by lawful
Governours CHAP. XIX Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying The following Precepts which contain in a manner all their Duty seem to have been delivered to Moses immediately after the former being in great part a Repetition of some principal things which had been already commanded Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel It is uncertain whether he delivered these Precepts only to their Elders and Heads of their Tribes to be communicated by them to the People or at several times he called every Family of every Tribe and spake these words to them himself And say unto them Ye shall be holy for I the LORD your God am holy This very thing was said to them before with respect to several Meats which are forbidden them XI 44. See there And now is repeated with a peculiar respect as Maimonides thinks More Nevoch P. III. cap. 47. to the filthy Marriages and abominable Idolatries mentioned in the foregoing Chapter as it is repeated again in the next Chapter XX. 7 26. with respect to some other things It being a general reason why they should be separated from all other People by the observation of peculiar Laws which is the meaning of being holy because they were the Worshippers of him whose most excellent Nature transcended all other Beings not only in Purity but in all other Perfections Ver. 3. Verse 3 Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father This Duty is called Honour in the fifth Commandment XX Exod. 12. and the Father there put before the Mother which being here called fear and the Mother put before the Father it shows saith Maimonides that honour and fear are equally due to both without any difference And the proper Expressions of Fear and Reverence are according to those Doctors not to sit in their Seat nor to contradict them in any thing they say much less to cavil against them nor to call them by their proper names but to add the Title of Sir c. as we speak or the like And the Expressions of Honour are not to sit down in their Presence and to provide them with Necessaries if they fall into Poverty c. See Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis oap 13. p. 557 c. and R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept XXVII And keep my Sabbaths Obedience as well as Reverence is included in the word Fear but if Parents commanded them to break the Sabbath-day or to profane any other day consecrated to God's Service they were not to be obeyed I am the LORD your God I rested on the Sabbath-day who am your Soveraign and therefore have power to require you to rest on any other days Particularly on the great Day of Atonement XVI 31. when I am so gracious as to accept of an Expiation for all your sins This is repeated v. 30. and XXIII 3. Ver. 4. Verse 4 Turn ye not unto Idols Not so much as to look upon them no nor to think of them as R. Levi Barcelonita expounds it Praecept CCXXV. much less to enquire after what manner the Gentiles worshipped them which is expresly forbidden XII Deut. 30. for by this means they might be allured to Idolatry The word we here translate Idols is a word of contempt signifying a thing of nought Or as some of the Jews will have it this word Elilim is compounded of the Particle al signifying not and El i. e. God As much as to say which are not gods and therefore called in Scripture Vanities which can do neither good nor hurt Nor make to your selves molten gods This seems to have respect to the Golden Calf which they made to worship and is called a molten Calf XXXII Exod. 4. But all graven Images are no less forbidden for if to look towards an Idol was a sin much more was it to make an Image of any sort to worship it The Jews are something curious in their observations upon this Precept For in the Book Siphra they say that they might not make molten Gods for others much less for themselves Whence that saying He that makes to himself an Idol violates a double Precept first in making it and then in making it to himself See R. Levi before-mentioned Praecept CCXXVI I am the LORD your God The same reason is given in the foregoing Verse for the observation of their Sabbaths and that of the seventh day every Week was ordained in memory of the Creation of the World and consequently intended as a Preservative from Idolatry as I observed upon Exod. XX. 8. which perhaps makes these two Precepts be here put together But it is evident Moses doth not observe the order wherein these Precepts were first delivered but rather inverts it beginning with the fifth Commandment and so going back to the fourth and here to the two first Ver. 5. Verse 5 And if ye offer a Sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the LORD As they were to avoid all Idolatry so they were to be careful to perform the Service due to the true God in a right manner Peace-offerings are only mentioned because they were the most common Sacrifices being of three sorts See VII 11 c. XVII 5. Ye shall offer it at your own will Either of the Herd or of the Flock Male or Female III. 1 6. Or rather as the Vulgar Latin and the LXX understand it they were to offer it so that it might be acceptable to the LORD according to the Rules prescribed in the seventh Chapter Ver. 6. Verse 6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it and on the morrow This shows he speaks particularly of those Peace-offerings which were a Vow or a voluntary Offering VII 16. for Sacrifices of Thanksgiving might not be kept till the morrow but were to be eaten on the same day v. 15. of that Chapter See the reason of this XXIII Exod. 18. the latter end And if ought remain till the third day it shall be burnt with fire See VII 17. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day it is abominable See VII 18. It shall not be accepted See there This seems to justifie the sense which the Vulgar puts upon those words v. 5. which we translate according to thy will Ver. 8. Verse 8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity See VII 18. Because he hath profaned the hallowed things of the LORD By keeping them till they were in danger to stink or to be corrupted That soul shall be cut off from his People By the Judges if the thing was known otherwise by the Hand of God Ver. 9. Verse 9 And when ye reap the harvest of your Land Which was a time of great joy when they offered its likely many Peace-offerings of that sort before-mentioned Thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field But leave a sixtieth part as their wise Men have determined it and that in the extream part of the Field rather than any other place
a plain Contempt of God and of his Sanctuary which they forsook as if it had not been an holy but a defiled place Otherwise they would have kept to it and offered no where else nor after any other manner than according to the Rites thereof And to profane my holy Name By giving the Name of God and his Honour to such an abominable Idol Ver. 4. Verse 4 If the People of the Land In that part of the Country where this Crime was committed Do any way hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of his seed unto Molech and kill him not If they connived at what he did and dissembled their knowledge of it or would not speak the whole Truth and endeavour to convict him of this foul Crime that he might be stoned Ver. 5. Verse 5 Then will I set my face against that man and against his family As the Idolater was liable to this punishment from the hand of Heaven See v. 3. so they that favoured him and would not testifie against him when they knew him guilty fell under God's high displeasure which is meant by setting his face against them and so did all their Children whom God threatens to destroy He speaks indeed in the singular number because commonly in such cases there was some one Person by whose Authority others were perswaded to wink at such Offences and not to discover what they knew of them But all such Men are threatned with the Divine Vengeance in the next words And will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him c. That is all others who following his Example favour such Idolaters and protect them from punishment For every one knows that Idolatry is called by the name of Whoredom in Scripture because God having espoused the Israelites to himself as his peculiar People their forsaking him to serve other Gods was a Spiritual Adultery To commit whoredom with Molech i. e. To worship him as their God Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the soul i. e. The Person That turneth after such as hath familiar spirits and after wizards Who they were that pretended to have familiar Spirits or were Wizards see XIX 31. where they are commanded not to regard them and here if any did consult them which is called turning after them cutting off is threatned to them that is shortning their days for such Persons are reckoned by the Jews as the chief of those six sorts of sinners who were liable to the first kind of Excision which I mentioned v. 3. As for the Man himself who had a familiar Spirit or was a Wizard he was to be stoned if he was discovered and convicted v. 27. And so they observe in Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 7. To go a whoring after them It was a kind of Idolatry to seek to such People for advice or relief being a forsaking of God and putting confidence in them Though sometimes to go a whoring signifies the commission of any grievous sin which Idolatry usually led men unto as Mr. Selden hath noted Lib. III. de Vxore Hebr. cap. 23. There is some reason to think there was something magical in the Oblation of their Children to Molech and that thereby they consulted with Daemons about things future or secret because such Superstitions are here immediately forbidden after the Prohibition of giving their Children to Molech and because they are frequently joyned together in other places as in XVIII Deut. 10 11. 2 Kings XVII 17. XXI 6. Certain it is that in after times they did Sacrifice Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might Divine by looking into their Bowels as Joh. â—â—â—sius hath shown out of Porphyrius Philostratus Herodotus and others Lib. de Victimis Humanis Pars I. cap. 17. I will even set my face against that soul c. See v. 3 5. Ver. 7. Verse 7 Sanctifie your selves therefore Worship therefore God alone to whose Service you are set apart And be ye holy Keep your selves free from all Idolatry See 11.44 I am the LORD your God See XIX 2 3 10 c. Ver. 8. Verse 8 And ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Be governed by these Laws and not by the Customs of other People I am the LORD which sanctifie you Separated you to my self from all other People by peculiar Laws which I have given you Ver. 9. For every one Or If any one the Particle we translate for signifying frequently with or if That curseth his Father or Mother Reproacheth them with Imprecations Shall surely be put to death i. e. Be stoned And it made no difference whether he cursed them when they were alive or after their death as R. Levi Barcelonita says the Rule of their Doctors was yet they resolve that unless he cursed them by some proper name of God he was not liable to be put to death but was only scourged Praecept CCLXI See XXI Exod. 17. His blood shall be upon him When the Law only saith a man shall die the death the Jews understand it of strangling which was the easiest punishment among them For where there was not an express mention of the kind of death they thought the most favourable was to be inflicted But when the Law adds his blood shall be upon him they say it is meant of stoning And the meaning of this phrase is he shall perish by his own fault and therefore his blood that is his death shall not be vindicated The blood of one that was slain being innocent was upon the Murderer and therefore avenged But he that was put to death for his Crimes had his Blood upon himself and no body was to bear it the Executioner himself being not guilty of Blood Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the man that committeth adultery with another mans wife c. By the ancient Law of Draco and Solon the Husband of the Adulteress if he found them in the fact might kill them both or put out their Eyes or stigmatize them or make the Adulterer pay a Fine if he had a mind to spare his Life See Meursius in his Themis Attica Lib. I. cap. 4 5. and the Leges Atticae set forth by Petitus Lib. VI. Tit. 4. where it appears that it was infamous for the Husband to live with his Wife after she had committed Adultery And that it was unlawful for her to enter into the publick Temples or go dressed in the Streets If she did any body might tear off her Clothes and beat her only not kill her See S. Petiti Comment p. 460. c. The adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death It is not left to the Husband's liberty by this Law whether he would spare their Lives or no but the Fact being proved they were both to die for it Only it is not said here what kind of Death they should suffer nor was the same kind of Death inflicted upon all that were guilty of this Crime For if the Daughter of a Priest play'd the Adulteress she was
the Fact Which is the very reason given of it in the Mischna Tit. Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 4. And so R. Solomon The Beast was killed lest it should be said there is the Beast for which such a Woman was put to death Ver. 17. Verse 17 If a man shall take his sister c. Whether she was his Sister by the whole Blood as we speak or by half Blood only by the Fathers side or Mothers he was not permitted to marry her by the Law mentioned XVIII 9. And see her nakedness It is the same with uncovering her nakedness to lie with her as it is there expressed and here in the end of the Verse he hath uncovered his sisters nakedness the sense of seeing being put for that of touching or any other in this Language It is a wicked thing A flagitious or nefarious wickedness as the Vulgar expresses it But the Hebrew word Chesed signifying sometimes in the Prophetical Language Mercy and Indulgence the Talmudists take these words as if they came in by a Parenthesis to obviate an Objection which might be made that Cain and Abel married their Sisters True saith Moses that was by an indulgence in the beginning arising from the necessity of things when there were none but Brothers and Sisters in the World But now they shall be cut off in the sight of their People who marry such near Relations So the Gemara Hierosol ad Tit. Sanhedrim See Selden Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 8. p. 581. And so the Chaldee Paraphrase ascribed to Jonathan whose words are these It is a filthy thing but I used an indulgence to the first Men by whom the World was to be propagated until Mankind was sufficiently multiplied after that whosoever doth any such thing let him be cut off c. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people Publickly put to death See v. 10. He shall bear his iniquity i. e. The punishment of it Chap. V. 1. Ver. 18. Verse 18 And if a man shall lie with a Woman having her sickness c. Here the Sentance of Death is pronounced upon them whereas in XV. 24. it is only said the Man should be unclean seven days Therefore many think in that place he speaks of doing this ignorantly and here of doing it knowingly But if the Man might be ignorant of the condition she was in the Woman her self could scarce be so and therefore others think when the fact was altogether private they only incurred a Legal Impurity for a certain season but when it was publickly known and proof made of it before a Judge it was a capital Crime Because it was done in contempt and despite of the Law otherwise it could not have been so publickly known as to be legally proved Whether this Law oblige in the state of Christianity is at large discussed by Bishop Taylor not to mention other Writers abroad in his Doctor Dubitantium Book II. Chap. 2. Rule 3. n. 8. and Book III. Chap. 2. Rule 2. n. 3. c. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mothers sister c. See XVIII 12 13. They shall bear their iniquity It not being said they shall die or be cut off as in the former cases it hath made some conclude this Sin being not of so high a nature as the foregoing was punished only as those that follow v. 20 21. where they that committed them are threatned to die childless Ver. 20. Verse 20 If a man shall lie with his uncles wife c. See XVIII 14. They shall die childless This is understood by some as if Moses meant they should be put to death before they could have any fruit of such a Conjunction But most think he only means that either they should have no Children or that their Children should not live but die before their Parents or be lookt upon as a spurious Issue and not inherit their Estate which is the sense St. Austin puts upon these words And Procopius Gazaeus also mentions it and says this was the Roman Law about all incestuous Marriages Semen eorum non recensebitur inter liberos Such Issue shall not be reckoned among their Children Ver. 21. Verse 21 And if a man shall take his brothers wife c. See XVIII 16. They shall be childless See v. 20. Ver. 22. Verse 22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments c. Particularly these concerning the foregoing matters See XVIII 4 5. That the Land whether I bring you to dwell therein spue you not out As it did the former Inhabitants See XVIII 25 28. Ver. 23. Verse 23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the Nation which I cast out before you Viz. of the Amorites as the Hebrews rightly expound it for they were the principal Nation in Canaan and extreamly given to Idolatry R. Levi Barcelonita extends this to all their Customs in cutting their hair and such like Praecept CCLXII but it seems here particularly to relate to their Marriages and Idolatry See XVIII 3. For they committed all these things These words shew that the foregoing have particular respect to their abominable Marriages and Idolatry Therefore I abhorred them So as to cast them out of their Country XVIII 25. Onkelos translates it My word MEMRI abominated them Which is a plain intimation of a Notion they had in ancient times of more Persons than one in the Deity and particularly here denotes him whom St. John calls the WORD For Memra Word plainly signifies a Person in this place and a Person of the same Essence with Jehovah Ver. 24. Verse 24 But I have said unto you Made you a promise Ye shall inherit their Land and I will give it unto you to possess it c. For he promised to expel the former Inhabitants of that Country to make room for them See III Exod. 8 17. XXIII 27 28. XXXIII 3. I am the LORD your God which have separated you from other people This may refer either to what goes before that they should not live like other Nations because he had by peculiar Laws as well as by signal Deliverances distinguished them from all the People of the Earth or to what follows that he had made such a difference between them and other People that in their very Diet they should not agree with them much less in the fore-named Impurities For that the difference of Meats was instituted to keep them from familiar conversation with their idolatrous Neighbours is very evident as I before observed and the Gentiles themselves took notice of it and looked upon them as unsociable People upon this very account Josephus often mentions this Objection against them And Euphrates complains in Philostratus de vita Apolon Lib. cap. 2. That of old they separated not only from the Romans but from all Mankind for they had invented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manner of living that would not let them mix with other
People either at a common Table or in their Prayers or Sacrifices Ver. 25. Verse 25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean c. According to the prescriptions in the XIth Chapter which are here briefly repeated to inforce the observation of the foregoing Precepts against such incestuous Marriages as other Nations allowed their Law not permitting them so much as to eat such Meat as those Nations did but to account many things which they freely used unclean and abominable Ye shall not make your selves abominable c. See XI 43. Which I have separated from you as unclean Forbidden you to eat and thereby separated you from all other People Which had this intention in it among others already mentioned that this Nation from whom the MESSIAH was to spring might be kept pure and sincere free from all mixture with strange People unto which nothing contributed more efficaciously as an excellent Person hath observed than the difference of Meat which made it not easie for them to contract Acquaintance much less Friendship with other Nations And truly unless the People from whom the Messiah was to come had been kept separate from other Nations either all hope of him would have been lost or many in every Country to the great hurt and destruction of Mankind would have pretended to be the Person Whereas by keeping them a People distinct by themselves it came to pass that all Countries thereabouts were filled with a report that the Lord of the World shall come out of Judaea See Joh. Wagenseil Confut. Carm. Lipman p. 554 c. Ver. 26. Verse 26 And ye shall be holy unto me for I the LORD am holy See XI 44. XIX 2. and v. 7. of this Chapter And have severed you from other people that ye should be mine The very difference of Meats which they used was a Token that God had separated them from other People to be subject to such Rites and Laws as he ordained and hereby also they were so severed from others as to be kept from the most familiar Conversation with them which is at Meals and thereby they were preserved from the danger of being seduced to the Worship of strange Gods Ver. 27. Verse 27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard c. The consulting such Persons is forbidden XIX 31. and the penalty added v. 6. of this Chapter and here the Persons themselves who were proved to have a familiar Spirit or to be a Wizard what they are see there are condemned to the heaviest punishment which was by being stoned to death For which Severity Maimonides gives this reason Because it is the very Scope of the whole Law to root out Idolatry and abolish the very name of it And therefore God ordered Magicians to be stoned because without doubt they are Idolaters though in a manner peculiar and different from the Vulgar And the greater part of such evil Arts being practised by Women which is the ground he thinks of that Law XII Exod. 18. towards whom Men are naturally pitiful therefore Moses saith in this place A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit c. like to which we find in no Precept not about the prophanation of the Sabbath but in this case it was necessary expresly to mention Women as well as Men because of Mens natural tenderness and clemency towards Women Thus he More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. Procopius Gazaeus his Gloss on these words is very pious but something fanciful He that is hardned like a stone to vertue deserves to be stoned For Magick commits Murders digs up Sepulchres disturbs the souls of men For Magicians are Men who corrupt Human Nature CHAP. XXI Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD said unto Moses speak unto the Priests This Law about the Priests perhaps follows that last mentioned v. 27. of the foregoing Chapter to show unto whom they should resort and of whom they should inquire viz. of the Priests who should always be ready for any Priestly Office and for common Conversation The sons of Aaron His Daughters were not concerned in the following Prohibitions because they had nothing to do in offering Sacrifices as Maimonides observes More Nevoch P. III. cap. 47. There shall none be defiled for the dead By touching the dead Body or coming as the Hebrews say within four Cubits of it or entring into the House where it lay though it were to take care of the Funeral or by following the Corps to the Grave or making any Mourning for the Dead Because by these things they were legally polluted for no less than seven days XIX Numb 11 14. and consequently unfit for the Service of God and for Conversation with their Neighbours Who had the greater Reverence also for them when they saw their Dignity to be so great that they were not permitted to perform such Offices as others were obliged unto For this no doubt was intended very much to put an honour upon the Priesthood as it was also in other Nations particularly among the Romans who would not have their Pontifex to look upon a Funeral as Bochart observes out of Seneca Hieroz P. I. Lib. III. cap. 4. and the Flamen Dialis might not go into the place where the Coffin was For which reason as Servius tells us ad Lib. III. Aeneid they ordered a Bough of a Cypress-Tree to be stuck at the door of the House where a dead Body lay that the High-Priest might not ignorantly go into it It appears also by Plato that it was thus likewise among the Greeks For he would have the Priests of both Sexes to accompany one that had discharged the Office of a Censor well unto his Grave when he was buried as unto a pure Funeral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but for this he says they must ask leave of Apollo Lib. XII de Legibus p. 947. See Porphyrius de Abstin Lib. II. sect 50. Among his people The Jews are so Critical as from the word beammo among his People to gather that if a Man did not die among his People but in a strange Country where there was no Body to take care of his Funeral and see him buried a Priest might do it himself rather than his Body should lie above ground Ver. 2. Verse 2 But for his kin that is near unto him Here is an Exception to the general Rule because it would have been very hard to restrain natural Affection from carrying them to their Parents and Children and Brethren and Sisters when they died Which Cases would not often happen as Maimonides observes in the place before alledged and they are particularly named that there might be no mistake nor any colour to extend this Indulgence to Relations more remote For his mother and his father and for his son and for his daughter and for his brother If any have a mind to know the Rabbinical Reasons Why the Mother is here put before the Father and v. 11.
a Woman that is put away by her Husband lies under a suspicion of something that is bad For which reason as Mr. Selden observes in the place above-named a Priest might not marry her whom her Husband's Brother refused to marry after his death For he is holy unto his God Consecrated after a special manner to the Service of the Divine Majesty and therefore was not to dishonour his Priesthood by such Marriages as were not of good reputation If he did he was not to be suffered to Minister until he had given such a Wife a Bill of Divorce as Maimonides saith in Biath Hamikdasch cap. 6. An example of which there was in Manasseh the Brother of Jaddua the High-Priest who marrying contrary to the Law the Daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan was commanded either to put her away or not to come to the Altar See Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontificatum cap. 6. p. 238. Ver. 8. Verse 8 Thou shalt sanctifie him therefore This seems to be spoken to Moses and to all that should succeed him in the Supream Authority that they should take care the Priests should not marry with such Persons or if they did not be suffered to Minister in the Priests Office till they had put them away Accordingly we find that to keep the Priesthood pure and to avoid all suspicion of any such pollution the Names of the Priests Parents were carefully preserved in the Genealogical Tables as we learn from II Ezra 62. VII Nehemiah 64. See Selden de Succession in Pontif. Lib. II. cap. 3. Vxor Hebr. Lib. I. cap. 7. For he offereth the bread of thy God Ministreth at the Altar See v. 6. He shall be holy unto thee Keep himself pure that he may not be unfit to offer Sacrifice for the People as need shall require For I the LORD which sanctifie you am holy I who have taken you to be my peculiar People excel in all Perfections and therefore require Persons of extraordinary Sanctity to minister unto me Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the daughter of any Priest if she profane her self by playing the whore The Hebrew Doctors understand this of one married at least espoused So Aben-Ezra and R. Sol. Jarchi say expresly Our Rabbins confess with one mouth that one not espoused is not concerned in this Law See Selden Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. cap. 6. and Lib. III. cap. 23. p. 488. She profaneth her father She was doubly guilty First in profaning i. e. dishonouring her self who being the Daughter of such an eminent Person committed such an heinous Crime And secondly in dishonouring her Father whose Reputation hereby suffered She shall be burnt with fire Which was the sorest Punishment among the Jews See XX. 14. and was not inflicted upon other Persons in this Case who were barely stoned XXII Deut. 24. but only upon the Daughter of a Priest from whom greater Vertue was expected But if the Witnesses of this Fact were convicted of Perjury by other credible Witnesses produced by the Woman or her Father then both her Husband who accused her and those false Witnesses suffered the same Punishment that she should have done See Selden Lib. III. Vxor Hebr. cap. 1. p. 321. Ver. 10. Verse 10 He that is the High-Priest among his brethren Hitherto the Laws given in this Case concern the common Priests now follow those by which the High-Priest was to govern himself who was under peculiar Laws more strict than the rest Vpon whose head the anointing Oil was poured c. He having a peculiar Consecration different from the rest by pouring the holy Oil upon his Head and clothing him with the most glorious Robes See VIII 7 8 c. was in all reason to distinguish himself more than the rest of the Priests from common Men. And that is consecrated In the Hebrew the words are whose hand is filled as it was with the fat and the right shoulder of the Ram of Consecration c. by which he was hallowed to minister in the Priests Office XXIX Exod. 22 23 24. To put on the Garments To be High-Priest Shall not uncover his head Rather Shall not let his hair grow neglected without trimming as the manner was in token of mourning So Onkelos and Jonathan and a great many more See Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontificatum cap. 5. p. 235. and what I have noted upon the tenth Chapter of this Book v. 6. Nor rent his Clothes Another token of mourning which he was to forbear Though the Talmudists will have it that he might rent his Garments at the bottom about his feet but not at the top down to his breast as P. Cunaeus observes out of Mass Horajoth Lib. II. de Rep. Hebr. cap. 3. Before his Anointing and Consecration and putting on the holy Garments it was not unlawful for him to attend the Funeral of his Father And therefore Eleazar was present when Aaron died XX Numb being as yet in a lower Ministry and not compleatly advanced to the Office of High-Priest but only declared Aaron's Successor by putting on him his Garments See X. 6. Ver. 11. Verse 11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body nor defile himself for his father or for his mother He might not go into the House where the Body of his Father or Mother lay dead which was permitted to the inferiour Priests v. 2 3. and consequently he was not to make any external signs of mourning for Son or Daughter Brother or Sister Ver. 12. Verse 12 Neither shall he go out of the Sanctuary If he was there when he heard of the death of his Father or Mother he was not to stir out from thence till he had sinished his Ministry See X. 7. For he had a little House after the Temple was built within the Precincts of it where he commonly remained all the day time which was called Lischcath cohen gadol the Parlour of the High-Priest as Cunaeus observes out of Mass Midoth Lib. II. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 3. At night he went to his own dwelling House which was in Jerusalem and no where else There he might perform all the Offices of a Mourner except those which are here forbidden and the People came to comfort him as Maimonides relates in his Treatise on this Subject and sitting upon the ground while he sat in his Chair at the Funeral Feast they said let us be thy Expiation i. e. let all the Grief that is on thee fall upon us unto which he answered Blessed be ye from Heaven as their words are reported in Sanhedrim cap. 2. n. 1. Nor profane the Sanctuary of his God By preferring his Affection to the Dead before the Service of God in the Sanctuary or by returning thither to his Ministry when he had been defiled by the dead which had been a great profanation For he that touched a dead Body was unclean seven days XIX Numb 11 12. For the crown of the anointing Oil of his God is upon him Some supply the word and
between Crown and anointing Oil and so make two reasons why he should distinguish himself from all other Men. First because the holy Crown as it is called XXIX Exod. 6. which had holiness to the LORD ingraven on it XXVIII Exod. 36. was set upon his Head and his Head also was anointed with the holy Oil XXX Exod. 25 30. whereby he was in a special manner consecrated to the Service of the most High But there is no need of this for the anointing Oil it self was that which sanctified him to his Office and was poured on him after the holy Crown was set on his head VIII Lev. 9 12. And so these words may be translated The Consecration for so the Hebrew word Nezer signifies of the anointing Oil of his God is upon him That is he must remember he is solemnly devoted unto my Ministry by that anointing and therefore must not leave it to attend any other I am the LORD Whose Servant he is by a peculiar Obligation Ver. 13. Verse 13 And he shall take a Wife From the word Wife in the singular number the Talmudists generally conclude that Polygamy was not allowed to the High-Priest who was to have but one Wife at a time though other Men were permitted to have more See Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontif. cap. 2. p. 207. and Vxor Hebraica Lib. I. cap. 8. If he did take another he was to give a Bill of Divorce to one of them before the great Day of Expiation or else he was uncapable to perform the Offices of it as P. Cunaeus observes in the place fore-named out of Joma But if his Wife died it was not unlawful for him to marry again as Tertullian fancied from this very place Lib. de de Monogam cap. 7. and Exhort ad Cast cap. 7. In her virginity And not so much as espoused to any other Person Nor was any sort of Virgin thought fit for his Wife but only one that was newly come out of her minority and had not yet attained to her full puberty as Maimonides explains the sense of their ancient Doctors See Selden Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. cap. 7. where he observes also that this is to be understood of the High-Priest after he was in his Office for if he had married a Widow before he was High-Priest he was to keep her and not put her away when he was advanced to it But there are those who imagine this Law obliged all the common Priests who were to marry none but Virgins as they are perswaded from XLIV Ezek. 22. And no less Man than Hugo Grotius seems to be of this opinion both here and in his Book de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. II. cap. 5. n. 9. in his Annotata to that Section But the Hebrew Doctors are all of a contrary mind and so are Josephus and Philo as Mr. Selden observes in his Addenda to the seventh Chapter of his first Book Vxor Hebr. and Lib. II. de Success in Pontif. cap. 2. p. 208. And so Cunaeus also in the place fore-named speaking of this very Law Non enim Sacerdotibus posita eadem Lex fuit Quippe viduam illi rite duxerunt c. But above all a later most learned Writer Joh. Wagenseil hath largely confuted this opinion in which he hath shown Grotius was singular For besides that Ezekiel there supposes they might marry the Widow of a Priest it is evident both from Jewish and Christian Interpreters that the state of things under the Law is not to be measured by what the Prophet Ezekiel saith concerning the future Temple and Priests But as Kimchi himself saith upon this place If this Verse must be expounded of every Priest it relates to the greater sanctity of the future Temple for the Law at first undoubtedly was that none but the High-Priest was confined to marry a Virgin What Grotius alledges out of Josephus to prove his affection he hath shown with due respect to so great a Man doth him no Service See his Annotata ad Mischna Sota cap. 4. p. 557 c. Ver. 14. Verse 14 A Widow This was peculiar to the High-Priest that besides other Women which no Priest might marry he alone is forbidden to marry a Widow as the same learned Person there shows is the sense of all the Hebrew Writers And Moses Kotzensis observes that by a Widow is to be understood not only a Woman that had been married but if she had been meerly espoused it was unlawful for the High-Priest to take her for his Wife And by the High-Priest he saith is to be understood not only the Successor of Aaron but he also that was anointed to the War Which seems to be a stretching of the word beyond its meaning though the word Widow may be allowed to comprehend one only espoused whom he might not marry though she had been espoused to his Predecessor Or a divorced woman No nor the Wife of his Brother that died without Issue which others were bound to marry but he was not Or profane The word Chalalah was explained before v. 7. which according to the Jews signifies a Woman born of such a Person as a Priest is prohibited to marry As if the High-Priest had taken a Widow and had a Daughter by her that Child was profane and might not be married though a Virgin by a succeeding High-Priest And so of the rest See Buxtorf de Sponsal Divort. p. 37 38. Or a harlot See v. 7. But he shall take a virgin of his own people He was commanded before to marry none but a Virgin and now he is further limited to a Virgin of Israel For he doth not mean one of his own Tribe there being instances to the contrary of a High-Priest marrying into the Royal Tribe 2 Chron. XXII 11. Ver. 15. Verse 15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people Many think this refers to what goes before that he should not debase his Family by such mixtures as have been mentioned But I rather think it to be a new Precept as the Vulgar Latin takes it that as he might marry none but of his own People i. e. an Israelite so among his People he should not match with a vulgar Person but with one nobly born For that was the way to preserve the dignity of the Priestly Office at which all these Precepts aim For I the LORD do sanctifie him I have separated him to my self for a special and most holy Service For which reason he was to distinguish himself from other Men even in his marriage to make them the more reverence the LORD whom he served Upon this account it was that many Constitutions were made by the Elders forbidding him what was allowed to other People whereby they intended to advance his honour For instance he was forbidden to go into the Publick Baths or to Feasts If he would visit any that mourned he was to be attended by other Priests He was obliged to cut his hair every Week but
Hierozoicon P. II. Lib. V. cap. 9. But this spot did not make a Priest uncapable to minister as Selden observes in the place above-mentioned unless it was a little prominent which made the blemish more apparent Or be scurvy or scabbed One of these words signifies a dry scurf or scab the other a purulent Or hath his stones broken Is bursten or hath a rupture as some expound it The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which Procopius Gazaeus understands an Hermophrodite Ver. 21. Verse 21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the Priest shall come nigh c. This seems to confirm what was observed before v. 17. that any other blemish besides these here particularly mentioned made a Man uncapable to officiate at the Altar And in the first place the Hebrew Doctors reckon five in the Ears besides the want of them An Example of which Josephus gives in the Story of Hyrcanus the High-Priest whose Ears Antigonus cut off that if he should return again he might not resume his Office Lib. I. de Bello Jud. cap. 11. He hath a blemish This general repetition is a farther confirmation that all apparent Blemishes of the same kind with these here particularly named excluded them from ministring at the Altar And there being some of them that were permanent or perpetual as they speak and others that were transient which remained but for a time no Man that had a Blemish though only of the latter sort was to minister at the Altar till it was gone He shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God i. e. The Offerings made by Fire before-mentioned which are here plainly represented as the Meat that was served up to his Table See v. 6. If any of them did presume to offer at the Altar there were different Effects of their Contumacy according to the different sorts of their Blemishes which the Hebrew Doctors divide into three Classes as I observed v. 17. If any Man having a Blemish of the first sort ministred it profaned the very Sacrifice which he offered and he was to be scourged The second sort did not vitiate the Sacrifice but the Priest was to undergo the forenamed punishment The third sort was so inconsiderable that neither of these Effects followed upon his ministring who was blemished by them as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Success in Pontif. cap. 5. p. 234. Ver. 22. Verse 22 He shall eat of the bread of his God But though such a Priest might not offer any Sacrifice yet he might eat with his Brethren of that part of the Sacrifices which was given to them for their portion which no Man in his Uncleanness might do Therefore these natural Infirmities were not Legal Impurities but only Incapacities as we speak which disabled them for their Office Here again the Sacrifices are represented as the Provision made for the Divine Majesty See v. 6 21. Both of the most holy Such were the Meat-offerings II. 3. VI. 17. the Sin-offerings VI. 25 26. and the Trespass-offerings VII 1. See XIV 13. The Shew-bread also was a most holy thing and all such were to be eaten only by the Males of the Priests Family in the holy place XVIII Numb 9 10 11 c. And of the holy Such were the Wave-breast and the Heave-shoulder of the Peace-offerings VII 35. X. 14. and the First-fruits and the Tythes But though the Peace-offerings of particular Persons were among the less holy things yet the Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation were most holy See XXIII 20. Ver. 23. Verse 23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail He was not to enter into the Sanctuary to burn Incense or to trim the Lamps c. Nor come nigh unto the Altar No nor go to the Altar of Burnt-offering which was in the Court of the LORD's House but he was to sit in the Wood-room where he was imployed in picking out all the Wood which had any Worms in it that it might be laid aside and not carried to the Altar as Maimonides and others relate He had also another imployment See XIII 2. If any Man were so presumptuous or so forgetful as to minister notwithstanding the manifest Blemish which was upon him he fell under Censure and was punished according to the degree of his Fault as I observed before v. 21. out of Mr. Selden who hath in the place there mentioned handled this more accurately than I thought it needful for me to do That he profane not my Sanctuary That he might not make others think meanly of the Service of God and consequently of God himself who would have Men in their greatest perfection minister unto him to preserve in Peoples minds a sense of his most excellent Being unto whom they ministred For which reason all the foregoing Prohibitions were given against marrying such Persons as had been vitiated c. and against mourning for the dead that they might not profane the name of their God v. 6. by doing as vulgar People did or making themselves uncapable to minister unto God as they were when they were defiled And thus Maimonides discourses upon this Subject More Nevoch P. III. cap. 45. God commanded his Ministers should wear precious Apparel and that none should be admitted to the Ministry who had any defect in his Body nay they who were deformed and ill-favoured were excluded because the Vulgar do not judge according to Mens true worth or beauty which lies in the Soul but according to their outward appearance in the comliness of their Bodies and the richness of their Garments And therefore the end of all these things was that God's House might be had in due honour and reverence My Sanctuaries This word in the Plural Number relates to the two parts of the Sanctuary the Court where the Altar of Burnt-offering stood which was an holy place and that which was properly called the Sanctuary wherein the Altar of Incense was Into neither of which a Priest that had any Blemish might enter as was said before For I the LORD do sanctifie them I have set apart both those places for my Service and therefore no Man with a blemish shall be admitted into them to perform any holy Office there Yet they might come into the Court to eat with their Brethren of holy things but not in their Priestly Garments which it was not lawful for them to use Ver. 24. Verse 24 And Moses told it unto Aaron and to his Sons and unto all the Children of Israel They were all acquainted with these Laws because they were all concerned the Service of God should be administred acceptably unto him CHAP. XXII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying These Commands that follow were delivered at the same time with the foregoing belonging to the same matter For though the Priests who had a blemish might eat of the holy things yet he would have them know that neither they nor such as were unblemished
such a part of their Family that they left them to their Children who succeeded them And therefore they also were allowed to eat of the Meat of the Priest Ver. 12. Verse 12 If a Priests daughter also be married unto a stranger Unto one that is not of the Family of the Priests She may not eat of an offering of the holy things She lost her right to eat of those holy things which she did partake of while she remained a part of her Father's Family For that intitled Persons to this Priviledge insomuch that a Priest taking a Wife out of another Family she might eat of them because she was one with him and therefore had more right than a Servant But for the same reason a Priest's Daughter married to a Stranger might not eat of them because she was gone out of his into another Family Ver. 13. Verse 13 But if the Priests daughter be a widow or divorced and have no child If she had any Children they and she made another Family and they being begotten by a Father who was not a Priest had no right to eat of the Priest's meat But if she was left without Children then she was accounted still one of her Father's Family provided she returned as it follows to live with him And is returned to her fathers house as in her youth To be a part of his Family as she was before she married X. 14. She shall eat of her fathers meat Have the same priviledge she had when she was a Virgin But there shall no stranger eat thereof This seems as I said particularly to relate unto her Children if she had any who being begotten by one of another Family were lookt upon as Strangers See v. 10. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And if a man Who hath no right to them Eat of the holy thing unwittingly Not knowing it to be an holy thing Then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it Besides his Sacrifice which he was bound to offer for his Trespass See V. 15. And shall give it unto the Priest with the holy thing He could not give the Priest the holy thing which he had eaten but the meaning is that he should make satisfaction to the Priest for the Damage done to him by paying him the true worth of the thing and the fifth part more of its value See V. 16. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And they shall not profane the holy things of the Children of Israel which they offer unto the LORD This seems to refer to the Persons before-named none of which should presume to profane Sacred things by eating them when they did not belong to them The Priests seem also to be concerned in it who were not to suffer them to eat such holy things as it follows in the next Verse Or if it intirely relate to the Priests the meaning is they should not profane holy things by eating them in their uncleanness v. 9. And one reason was because the Children of Israel whose Offerings these were might be discouraged from bringing them to the LORD when they saw them so prophaned Ver. 16. Verse 16 Or suffer them i.e. The People To bear the iniquity of trespass c. To fall under the punishment which God will inflict for their Trespass in eating things which do not appertain to them The Marginal Translation refers this also wholly to the Priests in this manner Or lade themselves with the iniquity of Trespass in their eating holy things viz. in their Uncleanness and with such Persons it may be added as ought not to eat of them For I the LORD do sanctifie them These words seem to justifie this last Interpretation See v. 9. Ver. 17. Verse 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying The following Laws no doubt were delivered at the same time with the former because they still concern the same matter Ver. 18. Verse 18 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons and unto all the Children of Israel For they were all concerned in the perfection of the Sacrifices as they were in the perfection of the Priests that offered them See XXI 24. And say unto them whosoever he be The Hebrew Doctors say that the phrase isch isch Man Man i. e. any Man is here used as it was XVIII 6. to show that Gentiles are comprehended under this Law as well as Jews as Mr. Selden observes out of the Gemara Babylon Tit. Cholin See Lib. III. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 4. p. 289. Of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel They understand by strangers in Israel such as they called Proselytes of the Gate who were not Circumcised but had renounced Idolatry and joyned themselves to the God of Israel R. Levi ben Gersom takes perfect Proselytes to be here meant whom they called Proselytes of Righteousness yet not excluding the other That will offer his oblation for all his vows and for all his free-will-offerings See VII 16. Which they will offer unto the LORD for a Burnt-offering If a Gentile brought a Peace-offering to the LORD it was offered as a Burnt-offering and no Meat-offering was permitted to be offered with it as Maimonides observes See Selden in the place before-named and v. 25. of this Chapter And Dr. Lightfoot gives a large account of it in his Temple Service chap. 8. sect 4. Ver. 19. Verse 19 Ye shall offer at your own will So these words are commonly understood that the Sacrifices both of Jew and Gentile should be spontaneous as well as without blemish though they will bear another sense as I observed Chap. I. v. 3. A male without blemish of the beeves and of the sheep and of the goats See Chap. I. v. 3 10. All Burnt-offerings were to be Males though Peace-offerings might be Females III. 1 6. and so might Sin-offerings also IV. 32. but all without blemish For as God accepted only some kind of Creatures viz. Beeves Sheep and Goats and no other of the Herd so he would have a choice to be made out of them of the very best as had been often before directed Ver. 20. Verse 20 But whatsoever hath a blemish that shall ye not offer This general Rule is here repeated because he is going to specifie what Creatures they should account blemished For it shall not be acceptable for you This seems to justifie the Exposition which I said might be given of that phrase in the foregoing Verse at your own will or for your acceptation See upon I. 3. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And whosoever offereth a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings unto the LORD Which were either to obtain blessings or to give thanks for them when they were obtained To accomplish his vow It was usual to make such Vows for procuring from God what they desired when they undertook a Journey or went to Sea or were sick or in any danger c. An example of which we have in I Jonah 16. where we read the Mariners in a Storm offered a Sacrifice to the LORD and made
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
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
crucifying Christ the LORD and accept the Punishment of their Iniquity acknowledging that so horrid a Crime deserved so long and so heavy a Punishment For every Child as he observes in another place Book XI p. 3750. is born as it were heir to his fathers sins and to their Plagues unless he renounce them by taking their Guilt upon him and such hearty Confession as this Law prescribes and patient Submission of himself to God's Correction Ver. 46. Verse 46 These are the Statutes and Judgments and Laws which the LORD made between him and the Children of Israel This may be thought to refer either to all the foregoing Book of Laws or to what is said in this Chapter Menochius thus expounds it these are the Punishments which God threathed to the breakers of his Laws But it is more reasonable to take in the whole in this manner these are the Statutes and Judgments and Laws together with the Promises and Threatnings annexed to them which the LORD made between him and Israel In Mount Sinai See XXV 1. By the hand of Moses By the Ministry of Moses who delivered these Laws from God's own Mouth It is obvious to observe that instead of these are the Laws which the LORD made between him and the Children of Israel Onkelos the famous Chaldee Interpreter hath between his WORD and the Children of Israel Which Theodorick Hackspan produces among other places to prove that in those Paraphrasts the WORD of the LORD signifies no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself Which though it be true in some places yet in others as I have observed before it cannot have that signification particularly in CX Psal 1. where the Hebrew words are The LORD said unto my Lord which are thus expounded by Jonathan The LORD said unto his WORD Where it can signifie nothing but another Divine Person And so Onkelos might intend it here that the LORD made all these Laws between his Eternal WORD and them CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Some Religious People it is possible were touched with such a sense of what Moseshad now delivered in the foregoing Promises and Threats that they thought of giving themselves wholly unto God or of vowing some of their Goods to him and therefore he gives Moses further Directions for the regulating of such Vows Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them when a Man shall make a singular Vow And first If any Man vowed himself or his Children wholly to the Service of God in the Tabernacle he directs what was to be done in that case Which he calls a singular or extraordinary Vow and by Philo is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Vow it being a wonderful piece of Devotion as the word japhli in the Hebrew imports because Men were desirous to help God's Priests in the meanest Ministry such as bringing in Wood carrying out Ashes sweeping away the Dust and such like The person shall be for the LORD by thy estimation The meaning would have been more plain if the words had been translated just as they lie in the Hebrew According to thy estimation the person shall be for the LORD For this immediately suggests to ones thoughts That the Service of the Persons themselves thus devoted was to be employed in the Tabernacle but a value set upon them by the Priest and that to be employed for the LORD i. e. for holy uses for repairing the Sanctuary suppose or any thing belonging to it The reason why God would not accept the Persons themselves as they desired but the value of them for his Service seems to be because there was a sufficient number of Persons peculiarly designed for all the Work of the Tabernacle which he would not have incumbered by more Attendants there than were needful Ver. 3. Verse 3 And thy estimation shall be That the Priest might not either overvalue or undervalue any Person the Rates are here set down which he should demand for their Redemption Of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old For at Twenty years of Age saith Procopius Gazaeus Men begin to be fit for business and continue so till sixty when it is time to leave it off Thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver That this one Rule should serve for all Men though of different qualities Philo thinks was fit for several reasons which he gives in his Book of Special Laws The principal is because God regarded only the Vow the value of which was equal whosoever made it whether a great Man or a poor After the shekel of the Sanctuary See XXX Exod. 13. Ver. 4. Verse 4 And if it be a female then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels Women could not be so serviceable as Men and therefore were valued at a less rate For all that they could do was to spin or weave or make Garments or wash for the Priests and Levites Ver. 5. Verse 5 And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old It appears by this that though a Child of five years old could not make a Vow yet his Parents might solemnly devote one of that Age to God and it did oblige them to pay what is here required for the use of the Sanctuary Thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels Less is required than for those above twenty because their Life was more uncertain and they were less capable to do any Service before they came to their full growth Ver. 6. Verse 6 And if it be from a month old even unto five years old c. Before a Child was a Month old it seems it was not capable to be devoted to God but then it might And still less was still demanded as the value of them because Children so small were very weak and imperfect and the price therefore set accordingly But the words may be understood not of Children that were a Month old but that were in the first Month of their Life And Samuel we find was devoted to God before he was born Ver. 7. Verse 7 And from sixty years old and above if it be a male then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels c. They are valued much less after sixty than before v. 3. because their Service then was little worth and their Life likely to be short And for a female ten shekels The Hebrews think it observable that in their youth v. 3 4. Males were valued almost double to Females but now in old Age they are made almost of equal value For old Women continue very serviceable in many things when old Men are not whence they have a saying An old Woman in an House is a Treasure in an House Ver. 8. Verse 8 And if he be poorer then thy estimation If he be not able to pay according to the forenamed Rates Then he shall present himself before the Priest Who was then
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