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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
contra Julianum condemned these Sacrifices of Beasts as hateful to their Gods who they fancied were pleased only with those that were made ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã L. II. de Bello Judaico cap. 31. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he laid the Burnt-offering upon the Altar and again v. 17. in the same manner ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã L. IV. the Diet of the Egyptian Priests tells us that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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 ãâã 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 ââd 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
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
sorts before they were two He shall offer it of his own voluntary will In this Translation we follow the Opinion of the Jews who refer this to the Persons that brought this Offering which they might do when they pleased The like expressions we read XIX 5. XXII 19. But the LXX thought it hath respect to God and so the Phrase may be interpreted he shall bring it for his acceptation i. e. that he may find a favourable acceptance with God At the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Where the Altar of Burnt-offering was placed XL Exod 6 29. And this was so necessary that it is required upon pain of death to be brought hither and offered in no other place XVII 3 4 c. For which cause it is likely the Door of the Tabernacle is here mentioned rather than the Altar that it might be understood to be unlawful to offer at any other Altar but that which stood at the door of the Tabernacle Before the LORD With their Faces towards that holy place where the Divine Majesty dwelt unto whom the Sacrifice was brought and at the door of the Tabernacle received by the Priest from the hand of the Offerer Ver. 4. Verse 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the Burnt-offering Both his hands as some gather from XVI 21. and as Maimonides saith he was to do it with all his might This was a Rite belonging to Peace-offerings as well as to Burnt-offerings III. 2. and to Sin-offerings also IV. 4. The meaning of which in this sort of Offerings seems to have been that he who brought the Sacrifice renounced all his Interest in it and transferred it wholly to God unto whose Service he intirely devoted it It being like to the old Ceremony among the Romans who laid their hands upon their Servants when they gave them their Liberty and abdicated their own Right in them saying Hunc hominem liberum esse volo I will that this Man be free which was called Manumission In other Offerings it had another meaning as I shall observe in due place and it was imitated by the Gentiles though not without the addition of impious Superstitions For they wreathed back the Head of the Beast upward when they sacrificed to the Gods above and thrust down its Head towards the Ground when they sacrificed to their Infernal Deities as J. Brentius hath observed in his Preface to this Book And it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him It shall be so acceptable as to recommend him to the favour of the Divine Majesty For so the Hebrew word Capher seems here to signifie not properly to make an Atonement which was the business of a Sin-offering but to own him to be in a state of Reconciliation with God unto whom he was supposed to give up himself wholly as he did this Beast The Jews indeed who stick to the literal signification of the word fancy that these Burnt-offerings expiated evil Thoughts and Desires but there is no ground for this in Scripture and the most that can be made of it is that God accepted his Prayers which he made in general for the forgiveness of all his sins when he laid his Hand upon the Head of this Sacrifice For it must be here observed that Laying on of Hands was always accompanied with Prayer as appears by Jacob's laying them on the Head of Manasseh and Ephraim XLVIII Gen. 14 16 20. and the High-Priest laying them on the Scape-goat XVIth of this Book 21. Insomuch that laying on of hands signifies sometimes in the New Testament to pray XIX Matth. 15. V Mark 23. and other places But if a Man had committed any sin there are other Sacrifices peculiarly appointed by the Law for their Expiation which he was bound to offer with confession of sin and prayer to God for pardon Ver. 5. Verse 5 And he shall kill the Bullock That is the Man himself who brought it as Rasi interprets it or one of the Levites as others understand it For they killed the Paschal Lamb at that great Passover mentioned 2 Chron. XXX 17. as Bochart observes But he should have added the reason of it which Rasi there gives that a great many of the Congregation having not sanctified themselves as we read in that place therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover for every one that was not clean to sanctifie them unto the LORD Otherwise every Man might kill his own Passover XII Exod. 6. as they might do all their other Sacrifices For certain it is this was none of the works of Priests as Maimonides shows in a passage mentioned by Dr. Cudworth in his Book concerning the Lord's Supper p. 27. out of Biath Hammik-dath Where he quotes this very place to prove That the killing of the holy things might lawfully be done by a Stranger yea of the most holy things whether they were the holy things of private Persons or of the whole Congregation The common Objection to this is That none might come into the Court where the Altar was but the Priests To which the Answer is plain That upon this occasion other Persons might come so far within the Court be cause it was indispensably necessary that the Man who brought the Sacrifice should lay his hand upon the Head of it which was to be done at the Altar when it was to be slain Before the LORD See v. 3. And the Priests Aarons sons shall bring the blood Now begins the work of the Priests the receiving of the Blood and that which immediately followed belonging to their Office They received it in a Bason XXIV Exod. 6. as the manner also was among the Heathen which our learned Sheringham observes upon Codex Joma p. 85. out of Homer's Odyss L. III. where Thrasymedes is represented as cutting the Ox asunder with a Cleaver and Perseus as receiving the Blood in a Bason which he calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A word used in Crete as Eustathius notes for such kind of Vessels which some think was originally ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the receiving of the Blood And sprinkle the blood round about upon the Altar c. That this might be done readily one Priest received the Blood and another took it from him and sprinkled it about the Altar or as the Jews understand it on every side of the Altar which they performed by two sprinklings at the opposite Corners of it Which was a Rite also used in Peace-offerings and Trespass-offerings but in Sin-offerings the Blood was poured out at the foot of the Altar See VII 2. Thus the Heathen also themselves took care the Blood of their Sacrifices should not run upon the ground but be received as I said in Vessels prepared for that purpose and then poured upon their Altars and so offered and consecrated to their Gods So Lucian in his Book of Sacrifices represents the Priest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as pouring the Blood upon the
northward The greater Sacrifices which the Jews call the most holy things had this peculiar place assigned them where they were to be killed viz. all the Burnt-offerings whether of Bullocks Sheep or Goats and all Offerings for sin VI. 25. and all Trespass-offerings VII 2. But all the other Sacrifices which they call the lesser holy things such as the Peace-offerings of particular Men the Paschal Lamb the First-born and that which was tithed might be killed in any part of the Court where the Altar stood there being no peculiar place appointed by the Law for that purpose but only at the Entrance of the Tabernacle Yet a Peace-offering for the whole Congregation was lookt upon as belonging to the things most holy and so was slain as Maimonides tells us at the North-side of the Altar where there were certain Rings fixed to which the Head or as some say the Feet of the Beast was tied in order to its being killed But they were not perfect Rings as L'Empereur observes being rather half-segments of Rings one part of which was fastned to the Pavement and by the other the Neck of the Beast was tied to it See Codex Middoth cap. 3. sect 5. The reason of this difference seems to be only to make a distinction between these and other Sacrifices And all this is to be understood of the four-footed Beasts before-mentioned not of Birds which were sacrificed after another manner as appears from v. 15. And the Priests shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the Altar See v. 5. and VII 2. Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he shall cut it into his pieces with his head and his fat c. This Verse hath been sufficiently explained v. 5 6 8. Ver. 13. Verse 13 And he shall wash the inwards and the legs c. See v. 9. where this also is explained It is a burnt-sacrifice an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD As much as to say this is as acceptable to the LORD as the Sacrifice of a Bullock when offered with a pious Mind Ver. 14. Verse 14 And if the burnt-sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls It is well observed by Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. that when a Man was not able to go to the charge of a Sheep or a Goat much less of a Bullock God was so merciful as to accept of a Bird only he prescribes of what sort they should be Nay he that was not able to be at this expence was accepted if he offered Bread however prepared whether in an Oven or a Pan according to the custom of those Times And he to whom this was too great a Burden might worship God by bringing only fine Flour as will appear in the next Chapter Then he shall bring his offering of Turtle-doves or of young Pigeons The same Author observes that there was a vast plenty of these Birds in the Land of Canaan and consequently they were so cheap that it would put the poorer sort to no great charge to bring this Oblation They were also very anciently sacrificed XV Gen. 9. and of a gentle nature as Procopius and others observe And Pigeons being best when they are young and Turtles when full grown accordingly they are appointed to bring them when they were most esteemed These are but seldom mentioned in the Sacrifices among the Gentiles who offered Cocks to Aesculapius and Geese to Isis as we read in several of their Authors Ver. 15. Verse 15 And the Priest shall bring it unto the Altar and wring off his head Pinch it off with his Nail as the Jews say at one of the Corners or Horns of the Altar viz. the whole Burnt-offering at the Southeast Corner and the Sin-offering at the North-west as Maimonides saith in his Treatise called Korbanoth cap. 5. But their Heads were so to be wrung or pinched as not to be separated quite from the Body but to be left still hanging to it For so it is ordered in that Sacrifice mentioned V. 8. and therefore they suppose it was so in all And the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the sides of the Altar This is the reason that the Priest alone might kill the Bird though others might kill the Beasts See v. 5. because the sprinkling of the Blood which none might do but the Priest was immediately conjunct with the wringing off its Head Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he shall pluck away his Crop Or the Stomach that the Sacrifice might be clean and free from all filth With his feathers Which were no more to be offered than the Skin of the Beasts v. 6. And cast it besides the Altar on the east part As far as might be from the most Holy Place which was in the West By the place of the ashes See IV. 12. Ver. 17. Verse 17 And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof but shall not divide it asunder The Wings were to be so cloven as not to be quite separated from the Body but still to remain hanging to it and so Salt being sprinkled upon the whole Body it was thrown into the fire So Maimonides observes in the forenamed Treatise where he takes notice also that it was otherwise in Fowls offered for sin of which nothing but the Blood belonged to the Altar the Flesh of them being eaten by the Priests and their Sons Whence it was that no Sin-offering of Birds was accepted unless it were accompanied with an whole Burnt-offering that the Altar might not be without a Feast when they that ministred there were entertained Thus it is required in several Cases mentioned V. 7. XII 6 8. XIV 22. XV. 15 30. and VI Numb 11. The same Maimonides likewise observes that this Sacrifice of Birds was one of the most difficult Works in the Sanctuary whereby the Mind of the Priest was kept as intent upon the poorest Sacrifice as upon the most splendid And the Priest shall burn it upon the Altar upon the wood that is upon the fire This was in part said before but here repeated more distinctly to show there was no difference to be made between the Sacrifices of the meanest and of the greatest It is a burnt-sacrifice an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD The same is said of this as of all other Holocausts v. 9 15. to show that whether the Oblation was of the greater Animals or the less or only of Birds it made no difference in its acceptance with God Who graciously ordered these various sorts of Offerings that the Poor as well as the Rich might be capable to express their Devotion to him and be confident to find favour with him CHAP. II. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND when any will offer a Meat-offering unto the LORD Here is a merciful provision for those who were neither able to offer Beasts of any sort nor Birds whom God ordered to bring Meal as was observed before on the first Chapter v. 14. which was called
different from the Oblation of First-fruits mentioned v. 12. For there they are called Resith which signifies the First-fruits at Harvest time but here Bichurim which properly imports the first ripe fruits before the rest were ready And therefore the manner of their Oblation was different from the former which follows in the Conclusion of this Verse And first he describes what he means by the First-fruits which he calls Abib i. e. full Ears of Corn but as yet green and moist which he saith therefore in the next place must be dried by the fire and then bruised and beaten in a Mortar or with a Mill and they were to be brought out of the richest or fattest of their Fields for so the last words seem to signifie Geresh Carmel which we translate Corn beaten out of full Ears for Carmel sometimes signifies a fruitful Field XXXII Isa 15. and therefore may very well be thought in this place to import the largest Ears of tender Corn. And the intention of its Contusion seems to have been that it might be reduced into Flour as it might easily be after it had been dried by the fire And therefore differed from that Meat-offering mentioned v. 1. only in this that the former was Flour of old Corn this of new and that was fine Flour sifted from the Bran this had nothing taken out of it but remained as it came from the Mortar or the Mill. And so the LXX seem to have understood it There are those indeed who think it was only thrashed out of the Husk and so offered and fancy also that from this word Geresh the Goddess called Ceres had her Name among the Gentiles Which last Conceit is the stranger since they endeavour to have it thought that the Jews derived this Custom of offering First-fruits from the Gentiles and not the Gentiles from the Jews Whereas the Gentiles had no such Custom that I can find as this to offer the First-fruits of Green Corn but only the First-fruits of their Harvest which they called Novas fruges of which the Romans thought it unlawful to taste antequam Sacerdotes primitias libassent before the Priests had offered the First-fruits as Pliny tells us Lib. XVIII cap. 2. and Censorinus saith the same cap. 1. de Die Natali Or if they did offer any First-fruits before Corn was ripe they boiled them in a Pot but did not rost them in the fire as is here directed For so Hesychius seems to say that in the Feast called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which was in the Month that Answers to our April they offered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the First-fruits that appeared out of the Ground which they carried about i. e. in Pots as other Authors tell us And Hesychius himself saith that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signified a Pot full of Sacred Decoction Ver. 15. Verse 15 And thou shalt put oil upon it c. See v. 1. And the Priest shall burn the memorial of it part of the beaten corn thereof and part of the oil and all the frankincense All the rest that was not burnt was the Priests portion except the Frankincense which is here ordered to be intirely offered to God See v. 2. and made this and such like Offerings be called an Offering of a sweet savour unto the LORD v. 2.9 12. It is an offering made by fire unto the LORD See upon v. 9. CHAP. III. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace-offering Having given orders about whole Burnt-offerings in the first Chapter and Meat-offerings which had something of that Nature in them in the second he proceeds to Peace-offerings which in the Hebrew are called Schelamim from the word Schalam either as it signifies Retribution or Peace and Concord They that take it in the first sence think the reason of the name to be from this That God the Offerer and the Priest had each of them their portion assigned to them of this Sacrifice And they that follow the second sence do not much differ when they say That these Sacrifices were Symbols of Friendship between God and the Priests and those that brought them for all these feasted at a Common Table as R. Levi ben Gersom expresses it For part being offered on the Altar and the Priest having taken his share the rest was given to him that offered the Sacrifice So that it was called a Peace-offering saith Abarbanel in his Preface to this Book because it made Peace or rather declared Peace between the Altar the Priest and the Owner But they seem to me to have given the best account of this who because Peace in their Language signifies Prosperity and Happiness think these were called Peace-offerings because they were principally thankful Acknowledgments of Mercies received from God's Bounty For there being three sorts of them mentioned VII 15 16. that of Thanksgiving is the first called Totheh Acknowledgment of some Benefit received The Gentiles called such Sacrifices ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as appears from many places of Dionys Halicarn L. VI. L. VIII where there are these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch calls them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã particularly in the Life of Agesilaus where he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is a perfect Description of such Sacrifices as are here appointed with part of which they entertain'd their Friends They are also called by those Writers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã especially when they had respect to any great Danger they had escaped for which they offered these thankful Acknowledgments The LXX calls such Sacrifices ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If he offer it of the herd whether it be a male or female A whole Burnt-offering was to be only of a Male for being wholly Gods and offered purely for his Honour it was to be of the very best I. 3. But Peace-offerings being also for the profit of him that offered them who had the greatest share of them it was at his liberty whether he would offer a Male or a Female Directly contrary to the Egyptian Customs if they were the same now that they were in the time of Herodotus who saith expresly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it was not lawful among them to sacrifice Females L. II. cap. 41. He shall offer it without blemish c. See I. 3. Ver. 2. Verse 2 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering The Man who brought the Offering was to lay his hand upon the Head of it as was ordered in the whole Burnt-offering and Sin-offering See Ch. I. v. 4. It might not be done by a Deputy unless he was Heir to one that had vowed this Sacrifice and died before he had performed it in which case the Heir was to do what the Man himself should have done if he had been alive as Maimonides observes In this Sacrifice laying on of hands seems to have been done not only with Prayer to God that he would accept the Oblation which the Jews say always accompanied this
Action but with acknowledgment of those Mercies which were the occasion of it So Conradus Pellicanus well glosses upon I. 4. which may be best applied to the use of this Rite in Peace-offerings Laying on of Hands signifies Devotion and Faith with acknowledgment of the Divine Benefits for which we cannot offer any thing of our own but rather return and restore to him what we have received that we may understand giving of Thanks to be the greatest of our Sacrifices And kill it See ch I. v. 5. At the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation These being the lesser holy things as the Jews call them were not offered as the whole Burnt-offerings and Sin-offerings were on the North-side of the Altar See ch I. v. 11. but any where else near to the Entrance of the Tabernacle which was in the East where the others were thrown out and therefore a less holy place Only in laying on of hands every Man was bound wheresoever the Sacrifice was killed to turn his Face Westward toward the Sanctuary because then as I said he made certain Prayers and Acknowledgments to the Divine Majesty which was always to be done in that posture And Aarons sons the Priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the Altar round about See ch I. v. 5. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And he shall offer One of the Priests then in waiting at the Altar Of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings c. After the Sacrifice was flayed and cut up as is directed I. 6. The fat that covereth the inwards That is the Omentum as the Latins call it and hath much fat in it See XXIX Exod. 13. And all the fat that is upon the inwards All the Fat which adheres to the Mesentery and other Entrails Ver. 4. Verse 4 And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them The Kidneys are noted by Aristotle to have more Fat about them than any of the other Bowels ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã L. III. de Animal cap. 9. Being so covered with it that in dissecting of a Body the Kidneys at first sight are not to be perceived as Anatomists observe particularly our own Country-man Dr. Highmore Which is by the flanks The Hebrew word Cesilim signifies the Loyns as Bochart hath demonstrated in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. c. 45. which have collops of fat upon them as Eliphaz speaks XV Job 27. and thence are easily inflamed XXXVIII Psal 7. And the caul above the liver The Hebrew word jothereth signifies the greatest Lobe of the Liver See XXIX Exod. 13. It shall he take away Separate from the rest of the Flesh to be offered on the Altar For all the Fat here mentioned was God's portion of the Sacrifice the Priest had the Breast and the right Shoulder and he that brought the Offering had the rest as will appear more fully VII 15 c. 31. 32 c. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And Aarons sons Some of those that Minister that day Shall burn it on the Altar upon the burnt-sacrifice By the Burnt-sacrifice seems here to be meant the daily Sacrifice which was burnt every Morning after which this was to be offered but not before it Which is upon the wood that is on the fire The same wood upon which the Burnt-sacrifice had been offered would serve to burn this Fat Which being intirely consumed as the Holocausts were it is called in the following words an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD See ch 1. v. 9. That is God was pleased graciously to accept of their pious Acknowledgments the Offerings of these Inwards being as if he that brought them had said I will pour out my Soul unto the LORD in Thanks and Praise for the Benefits he had received So Abarbanel explains it in his Preface to this Book Ver. 6. Verse 6 And if his offering c. be of the flock i.e. Of Sheep or Goats which are both comprehended under the word Flock as was noted before ch 1. v. 2. Male or Female See v. 1. Where I observed a difference between these Sacrifices and whole Burnt-offerings in this respect that either Male or Female were accepted for Peace-offerings but Male alone for the other To which may be added that Birds were allowed for whole Burnt-offerings I. 14 15 c. but not for Peace-offerings which were only of the Herd or Flock i. e. of Bullocks Sheep or Goats The reason seems to be plain because Peace-offerings being to be divided between God the Priest and him that brought them the portion of each would have been so small that it would have made the Feast upon it so very meagre and jejune that it would have been contemptible He shall offer it without blemish It was at his choice whether he would bring it from the Herd or the Flock but in its kind it was to be perfect See chap. I. 3 9. Ver. 7. Verse 7 If he offer a lamb for his offering Though a Bird was not accepted for a Peace-offering yet a Lamb was though not of such value as a fat Sheep or a Goat Then shall he offer it before the LORD This seems to be meant of the Man's presenting it to be offered at the Altar Ver. 8. Verse 8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering c. This whole Verse is only a direction to do with a Peace-offering of a Lamb or Sheep as they were to do with that of a Bullock v. 2. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And he shall offer of the Sacrifice of the Peace-offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD As was directed in the Offering of a Bullock v. 3. The fat thereof and the whole rump The whole Fat being to be offered as was ordered also before he enumerates the particulars because in this was more Fat than in other Sacrifices of this kind For the whole Rump of a Sheep was to be offered to God though not of a Bullock nor a Goat And the reason was because in those Countries the Tails of their Sheep are so vastly big that as Golius and others assure us the least of them weigh ten or twelve pound and some exceed forty pound weight and they are so very fat that they melt the Fat and keep it to butter their Rice and for other uses as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 45. It shall he take off hard by the back-bone The Hebrew word Atzah which we translate the Back-bone denotes that part which is next to the Tail or Rump and therefore must signifie that which Galen calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which is a Bone at the extremity of the broad Bone called Os Sacrum confisting of three Cartalaginous parts as he describes it And the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards See v. 3. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them c. This Verse is explained above v. 4. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the
as much as if he had continued in it So Mr. Selden observes out of the Misna L. II. de Synedr cap. 15. n. 14. According to the sin of the people In the manner before-mentioned Or as R. Solomon interprets it if he hide any thing from the People whereby they err For so the words run in the Hebrew if he sin to the guilt of the people or to the making them guilty either by misinforming them or drawing them into Error by his Example so that they take a thing to be clean which is indeed unclean or the like Then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish It is observed by some that in great Offences the Sacrifices were small lest they should imagine their Pardon was procured by their great expence For here the word is Par ben bachur a young Bullock that was but a little bigger than a Calf And so this Sacrifice is called Par in the following Verses Whereas that of the Peace-offering is called v. 10. Shor an Ox though we translate it also Bullock one that was grown to its full bigness and consequently of greater value For a sin-offering How Chattah which we translate Sin-offering differs from ascham which we translate Trespass-offering I shall examine afterward when Moses comes to speak of the latter And now only observe that Chattah is the name both for Sin and for the Sin-offering as the word piaculum was among the Heathen which signified both a great Crime and the Expiatory Sacrifice for it By which those words in the New Testament may be explained Christ was made sin for us that is a Sacrifice to expiate our sins And so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sin certainly signifies VIII Rom. 3. Ver. 4. Verse 4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD This as I take it was to be done by himself who was to present the Sacrifice to the Divine Majesty and desire it might be accepted for the purpose to which it was to be offered And shall lay his hand upon the bullocks head As every one that brought other Offerings were bound to do See ch I. 4. III. 2 c. but here for another purpose viz. to confess their sins unto the LORD and beseech him to forgive them See V. 5. There is a good Gloss upon this in a very bad Book called Nitzachon not long ago published by the Learned Wagenseil where that Author saith p. 11. When a Man sacrificed a Beast he was to think in his mind I am more a Beast than this here present For I have sinned and for the sins I have committed I offer this but it were more just that he who hath sinned should suffer death than this Beast which hath not offended Therefore thus a Man by the help of this Sacrifice began to repent And kill the bullock before the LORD This seems to have been done by him that laid his hand on the head of the Bullock that is by the High-Priest himself For the greatest Men in old time did not think such work below them but rather esteemed every thing that served to the Worship of God to be noble and honourable So Homer represents King Agamemnon as killing the Lambs himself by the Blood of which he was to Seal the Treaty he made with the Trojans Iliad 3. yet in this case it is likely the High-Priest himself did not kill the Sacrifice but some of the other Priests that then ministred For he that did this seems to be distinguished by the next words v. 5. from the Priest that is anointed i. e. the High-Priest Nor was this Sacrifice killed in the ordinary place where Sin-offerings were killed See 24. being an extraordinary sort of Offering as that which follows also was Ver. 5. Verse 5 And the Priest that is anointed Whosoever killed the Sacrifice the High-Priest himself for whom it was offered did what follows Shall take of the bullocks blood In a Basin And bring it to the Tabernacle of the Congregation Into the very Sanctuary where as it follows he was to dip his finger in the Blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Priest shall dip his finger in the blood Or rather dip it into the blood And sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD This was peculiar to his Sacrifice for Sin and done in no other but that for the whole Congregation To signifie perhaps that their Offences were more heinous and could not be so easily expiated as those of other Men. The number seven every one knows was of great account and thought most powerful in Religious Actions even among the Heathen For as Elisha bad Naaman go and wash seven times in Jordan to cure him of his Leprosy so Apuleius in the beginning of the XIth Book of his Metamorphosis speaks of dipping the head seven times in the Sea for Purification and gives the reason for it Quod eum numerum praecipuè religioni aptissimum divinus ille Pythagoras prodidit because the Divine Pythagoras as he calls him taught this number to be above all other most proper in Religion Which in all probability Pythagoras learnt from the truly Divine Moses to whom God revealed the Creation of the World in six days and his Consecrating the seventh day on which he rested which made the number seven so much used in Sacred Matters For not only in this Sacrifice but in making the Water of Separation by burning a red Heifer this Rite was used XIX Numb 4. and in purging a Leper XIV Lev. 7. in dedicating the Altar XXIX Exod. 37. when the Oil was sprinkled on it seven times VIII Lev. 11. and at the Consecration of the Priests XXIX Exod. 35. and to say no more as every seventh day of the Week was holy so every seventh year the Land rested and after Seven times seven there was a Jubilee XXV Levit. They that would see more of this number and of its Sacramenta as St. Hierom speaks may read him upon V Amos 3. and Drusius on this place and on VI Josh 4. And Wolfius upon Nehemiah VIII Before the vail of the Sanctuary Which parted the holy place from the most holy For that is peculiarly called by the name of Parocheth which is the word here used XXVI Exod. 31 33 35. XVI Lev. 2 c. as the other Vail which was before the Door of the Tabernacle is constantly called Masach XXVI Exod 36 37. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And the Priest shall put some of the Blood upon the horns of the Altar of sweet incense c. This also was peculiar to his Sacrifice and to that for the whole Congregation v. 17. And shall pour out all the blood of the bullock That is all the rest of the Blood which remained after the sprinkling before the Mercy-seat and the tipping of the Horns of the Altar with it At the bottom of
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
compensate the loss which the right Owner might have sustained by wanting the use of his Goods so long as the other had detained them in his hand by adding a full fifth part of the Principal as an amends for the wrong Yet if he had really forgotten that he had found such a thing as he was charg'd withal at the time he denied it upon Oath he was not bound to pay the fifth part more nor to offer the Expiatory Sacrifice though he really was possessed of the thing as Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Synedr cap. 11. p. 506. And give it unto him to whom it appertaineth If he had stolen from a Man the smallest piece of Money which the Jews call Peruta and had forsworn it they fancy he was bound to restore it to the Owner himself though he lived as far off as Media and it would not suffice to give it to his Son or his Attorney whom he had left to act for him Yet they are something humorsom in these Absurdities for they do not tye a Man to go so far to pay the fifth part though in a case where it was more than a Peruta See Bava kama cap. 9. sect 5 6. In the day of his trespass-offering Or in the day of his trespass that is as soon as he acknowledgeth his guilt as this word I showed v. 4. is to be interpreted And this agrees with what our blessed Saviour requires V Matth. 23. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And he shall bring his trespass-offering unto the LORD a Ram without a blemish This the Hebrews call an Offering for a certain guilt as that V. 15. was for a dubious With thy estimation c. R. Levi Barzelon interprets it a Ram worth two Shekels Praecept CXXIV Ver. 7. Verse 7 And the Priest shall make an atonement for him c. The Offender was not to think he was cleared by making Restitution and adding the fifth part whereby his Neighbour might well be satisfied but withal this Sacrifice was necessary for his Expiation without which no Satisfaction was made to the Divine Majesty The Jews themselves also think that this was prescribed to make them more sensible of their Sin and to render it more odious unto them as the same Author observes Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Here the Hebrews begin a new Section of the Law as well as a new Chapter as we call it for the first seven Verses plainly belong to the Matter of the foregoing Chapter And it is reasonable to think that the following Precepts were given at a distinct time from the former See IV. 1. being about a different Matter For having declared what Offerings the People should bring to the LORD he now gives instructions to the Priests how they should manage the several Offerings that were brought Ver. 9. Verse 9 Command Aaron and his sons saying As before he bad Moses speak unto the Children of Israel I Lev. 2. IV. 2. because the Laws he then gave concerned them So now he bids him command Aaron and his sons what to do and acquaints them with the Laws that is the Rites they should observe in offering the several Sacrifices before directed to be made This is the Law of the burnt-offering He mentions that first which was first delivered and was the principal Offering being purely in honour of God whereas the other was occasioned by Mens sins or the Benefits he had bestowed on them It is the burnt-offering He explains what Burnt-offering he chiefly means viz. the daily Sacrifice which was the principal Burnt-offering according to which all other Offerings of that kind were to be regulated Because of the burning upon the Altar all night unto the morning Or for the burning upon the Altar c. This was the reason of its name because it was burning on the Altar from the Evening at which the Jews began their day till the Morning For which purpose the Priests watched all Night and put the Sacrifice upon the Altar piece by piece that it might be consumed by a slow and gentle fire As for the Morning Sacrifice it is not here mentioned because it was consumed with a quicker fire that there might be room for other Sacrifices that were commonly offered after it as appears from v. 12. and were only offered in the Morning not at Night But if there were no other Sacrifices to succeed it in the Morning then it is very likely that it was also kept burning till the Evening Sacrifice that God's Altar might always have Meat upon it And the fire of the Altar shall be burning in it Or For the fire of the Altar c. So it should be translated unless we translate the last word not in it but by it And the fire of the Altar shall be burning i.e. be fed or maintained by it Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the Priest shall put on his linen garment Mentioned XXVIII Exod. 40. And his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh To cover his Secret Parts as appears from XXVIII Exod 42. And take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt-offering c. Or rather When the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering on the Altar For the word ascher which we here translate which signifies also when and is so translated by us IV. 22. Or else the sense must be The ashes into which the fire hath consumed the Burnt-offering Or to make good our present translation a few words must be added in this manner The ashes of the Wood which the fire hath consumed with the Burnt-offering And he shall put them besides the Altar On the East-part of it as far as might be from the most holy place See I. 16. For this was most sutable to the Glory of the House of God saith R. Levi of Barcelona and the fire would burn better when the Altar was cleared from the Ashes Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall put off his garments Those before-named and put on other garments It is a question among the Jews whether he mean his common Raiment or some other Garments not holy and yet not quite common but of a middle nature It is most likely that the carrying the Ashes out of the Tabernacle being not an holy action as they were not to perform it in their Priestly i. e. Sacred Garments wherein they took them from the Altar so they did it in the common Habit which they wore when they did not minister Yet Rasi thinks this was not absolutely necessary but only fitting and seemly it being indecent to do this Work in the same Garments wherein they served at the Altar And the Ashes having been upon the Altar there are those as I said who fancy this was not a Work fit to be performed in their common Garments and therefore have devised an Habit of less dignity than those Garments wherein they Ministred which they used when they carried out the Ashes Thus Maimonides himself and others mentioned by
his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it What he had said of Aaron and his Sons in general v. 20. he now particularly requires of every Son of his that should succeed him in his office For which there was the greater necessity because as R. Levi of Barcelona understands it Praecept CXXXIV the High-Priest was an Ambassador between the Israelites and their Heavenly Father by whom their Prayers were offered to God and who made Reconciliation for them and therefore should be bound in all reason to offer a perpetual Sacrifice twice every day for the constant needs of the Congregation and to apply his Mind to this as he speaks that he and they might be the better for it It is a Statute for ever unto the LORD As long as that Priesthood continued It shall be wholly burnt In which it differed from other Meat-offerings as will appear in the next Verse Ver. 23. Verse 23 For every meat-offering for the Priest Or of the Priest This may seem to relate to every common Priest who were not all bound to offer this Sacrifice every day but only he who did it in the name of all the rest viz. the Priest who offered the daily Burnt-Sacrifice He may be well thought to have been obliged to this by which means this Meat-offering was offered to God every day by one or other of them and never omitted But Abarbanel as I noted before v. 20. thinks that only the High-Priest was bound to offer this Meat-offering every day and every other Priest once in his Life viz. when he began his Ministry Shall be wholly burnt it shall not be eaten The Priests had all the Meat-offerings which were brought by the People except one handful which was offered to the LORD See Chapt. second v. 2 3. But of their own Meat-offerings they were not to taste but wholly burnt them on the Altar For it had not been seemly for him both to offer unto God and to eat of it as if it were his own as Maimonides speaks P. III. More Nevoch cap. 46. or as R. Levi Barcelonita gives the reason Praecept CXLI the scope of the Sacrifice being to raise the Mind of him that offered it unto God it was not fit he should think of eating any part of his own Offering which would have taken his Mind off from God Ver. 24. Verse 24 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying He added further several things concerning other Offerings which perhaps were delivered at the same time with the foregoing being still concerning the Priests See v. 8 9. And therefore the next Verse begins thus Speak unto Aaron and his sons saying Ver. 25. Verse 25 This is the Law of the sin-offering That is for particular Persons that for the Priests themselves being governed by another Law For it is plain that in the IVth Chapter he distinguishes the Sin-offerings into two kinds one whose Blood was carried into the Sanctuary and the Flesh of it burnt intirely without the Camp v. 7 8 c. and here v. 30. and another whose Blood was not carried into the Sanctuary the Flesh of which the Priests were to eat as is here directed In the place where the burnt-offering is killed shall the sin-offering be killed before the LORD See IV. 24 29 31. It is most holy This is the reason of what follows that none might eat of it but those who were holy to the LORD Ver. 26. Verse 26 The Priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it The Flesh of this Sin-offering fell to the share of him who offered the Sacrifice that day and to his Male-children though he might invite any other Priests and their Sons to partake with him if he pleased as appears from v. 29. I need not add that the Immurim as the Hebrews call them were excepted that is the Fat c. mentioned III. 9 10. IV. 26. which were to be wholly burnt upon the Altar In the holy place shall it be eaten c. See v. 16. For it being mostly holy as the words are in the conclusion of the foregoing Verse it was to be eaten in the holy place and that the same day and night when it it was offered and none of it to be kept till the morning Whereas some of their Peace-offerings which they called the lighter holy things might be eaten the next day VII 16. See Maimonides More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. This seems to have been imitated by the Heathen who required that their most holy Sacrifices should not be carried out of the Temple as the Scholiast upon Aristophanes his Equites observes concerning the Sacrifices offered to Ceres and Proserpina ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ver. 27. Verse 27 Whosoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy See v. 18. And when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment This is commonly understood of the Priest's Garment who alone sprinkled the Blood But his Garments being holy the Blood that might chance to fall upon them was not thereby at all dishonoured and therefore if this be the meaning we are to understand that the Garments would appear less venerable when they were spotted with Blood and upon that account were to be washed If we take it for the Garment of him that brought the Sacrifice which when it was killed the Blood might chance to spurt upon his Clothes then the washing of them was out of reverence to the Blood which being holy was not to remain upon a common Garment Which way soever it be interpreted the intention it is manifest was to preserve in their Minds an awful regard to God and to whatsoever belonged unto his Service Thou shalt wash that wherein it was sprinkled in the holy place Where there was a Room after the Temple was built which was called Lischath hagullah the Chamber of the Spring or Well out of which Water was drawn for the use of the Court of the Sanctuary And there it is probable these Garments were washed See Codex Middoth cap. 5. sect 3. Ver. 28. Verse 28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken For it being very porous might so deeply imbibe a tincture from the Flesh that it could not be washed out but the smell of it might remain a long time And being of a small value it was no great loss to have it broken rather than any thing that was holy remaining in it be profaned What became of the broken shreds of these earthen Vessels is a doubt among the Hebrew Doctors because it was neither fit to throw them out into a prophane place nor yet seemly to heap them up in the Sanctuary and therefore they fancy the Earth opened and swallowed them up as a great Man in this kind of Learning J. Wagenseil hath observed upon the Mischna of Sota cap. 3. But they might have rather said that they were thrown abroad into a clean place after they were broken into small bits or crumbled to powder just as
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
Divine Presence no more than the Mother till the days above-mentioned were accomplished Ver. 8. Verse 8 And if she be not able to bring a Lamb then she shall bring two Turtles and two young Pigeons c. This was a merciful provision for the poorer sort as in other cases V. 7 11. And from this very place we may learn in how mean a Condition the Mother of our LORD was who for her Purification did not bring a Lamb unto which her Piety no doubt would have prompted her if she had been able but only this lower sort of Offering as we read II Luke 24. And the Priest shall make an atonement for her and she shall be clean This Sacrifice was as available as the other to restore her to Communion with God's People The Greeks imitated this among whom the fortieth day was insignis as Censorinus speaks famous or remarkable upon more accounts than one For Women with Child did not go to the Temple ante diem quadragesimum before the fortieth day and after their Delivery commonly they were not fit to go out till forty days more his words are quadraginta diebus pleraeque foetae graviores sunt nec sanguinem interdum continent during which time their little ones were sickly never smiled nor were out of danger Which is observed by that great Physician Celsus Lib. II. cap. 1. Maxime omnis pueritia primum circa quadragesimum diem periclitatur And therefore when this day was past they were wont to keep a Feast as Censorinus there tells us cap. 11. de Die Natali which they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at which time it is likely they offered Sacrifices also as the Jewish Women did CHAP. XIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron saying Here God speaks to Aaron again as well as unto Moses See XI 1. because he and his Posterity were peculiarly concerned in the following Laws about the Leprosie both in judging and cleansing of it Ver. 2. Verse 2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh For there this Disease lay and shewed it self A rising a scab or a bright spot The Leprosie appeared in one of these three forms either as a tumor or swelling or a scab or a bright spot in the skin And it shall be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of Leprosie There were some Swellings and Scabs and Spots which were not the Leprosie but only like it And therefore Moses here teaches the Priests how to discern between a true Leprosie and the resemblance of it that accordingly they might either pronounce a Person clean or unclean shut him up or let him have his liberty shave him or let his Hair grow Plague of Leprosie If we may believe Pliny Lib. XXVI cap. 1. this Disease was peculiar to Egypt which he calls genetrix talium vitiorum And if Artapanus in Eusebius saith true Lib. IX Praepar Evang. cap. 27. Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses was the first who was struck with this Disease and died of it So false is the story of Manetho who to hide the true cause of the Israelites departure out of Egypt saith that they cast out a company of leprous People of whom Moses was the Captain Out of Egypt it is likely this Disease spread into Syria which is noted likewise to have been much infested with such foul irruptions in the Skin which have as many various names as there are Risings or Breakin gs out or Spots there and are commonly all comprehended under the name of Leprosie as P. Cunaeus observes L. II. de Republ. Judaeorum cap. ult But Moses here distinguishes them and seems to instruct the Israelites that the Leprosie which he speaks of was no common Disease but inflicted by the Hand of Heaven So the Hebrew Doctors understand it particularly R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXVIII a leprous Man ought not to look upon his disease as a casual thing but seriously consider and acknowledge that some grievous sin is the cause of it Which made the knowledge of their Priests so admirable as the Author of the Book Cosri speaks P. II. sect 58. that they were able to understand what was divine in the Leprosie and what was from natural temper For that there was something Divine in it is confirmed by the story of Naaman 2 Kings V. 7. where the King of Israel plainly declares none but God could cure a Leper whom therefore they lookt upon as smitten by God and thence called the Disease the Plague or stroke of Leprosie and sometimes simply the Plague or Stroke v. 3 5 17 22. of this Chapter For they could not understand how such a Pestilent Disease as infected not meerly Mens bodies but the very Walls of their Houses and Garments should proceed meerly from ordinary Causes and therefore they thought there was an extraordinary hand of God in it Then he shall be brought to Aaron the Priest or unto one of his sons the Priests Not to the Physicians but to the Priests who were the only Judges whether it was a true Leprosie or no And if it were could best direct him to his cure by Repentance and Prayer to God and cleanse him when he was cured But they might resort to any Priest whatsoever as Mr. Selden observes out of the Talmud where there is a large Treatise of this matter though he was maimed in any part of his Body and so unfit to minister at the Altar provided his eyes still continued good Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 14. num 5. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And the Priest shall look on the plague in the skin of his flesh When there is a suspicion that it is the Leprosie The same great Man observes that this inspection might be made upon any day of the Week but the Sabbath or Festivals Yet not in the night nor in any hour of the day but the IVth Vth VIIIth and IXth For they accounted the morning evening and noon not such proper times to make this inspection Which they say also might be made by any Israelite though none but the Priest could pronounce one clean or unclean For though perhaps the Priest was ignorant and stood in need to be informed by wiser Persons than himself yet that Man who was not a Priest could only direct him what to judge but not give the Judgment According to that Law XXI Deut. 5. Out of their mouth or by their word shall every stroke be tried which particularly relates to the Leprosie XXIV 8. And when the hair in the plague is turned white c. He begins with the last of the three Indications of a Leprosie viz. the bright Spot In which if the very Hair was turned white and it was not only a superficial whiteness but the Spot seemed to have eaten deeper into the very Flesh then it was to be judged a true Leprosie R. Levi Barcelon expresses it thus when there was one or more places so white that their whiteness was
Hair of his head and his beard and his eye-brows And he shall wash his clothes This seems to be a second washing after the first at the end of seven days And the Hebrew Doctors note that the killing of the Bird the shaving and the sprinkling were all to be done in the day time the rest might be done either by day or by night Also he shall wash his flesh in water His whole Body For which end such a measure is prescribed by the Hebrew Tradition as would cover it intirely And he shall be clean So as to be not only restored to his Tent but admitted to go to the Tabernacle of the Congregation and offer the Sacrifices appointed in the following part of this Chapter for his compleat Purification Till which time he was called Mechussar Kapparah one that needed Expiation and was not permitted to eat of the holy things Ver. 10. Verse 10 And on the eighth day If we may believe the Hebrew Tradition he washed himself again on this day in the Court of the Women where there was a Room called the Chamber of the Lepers provided for that purpose So Maimonides Which great Caution was imitated by the primitive Christians who would not receive great Sinners into their Communion again till they had made a long trial of the Truth of their Repentance He shall take two he-lambs without blemish and one ewe-lamb without blemish There were three kinds of Sacrifices to be offered upon this occasion viz. a Trespass-offering a Sin-offering and a Burnt-offering for which these three Lambs were to be provided Of the first year Such were all the Lambs to be both Male and Female And three tenth deals of fine flour for a Meat-offering To each of these Sacrifices there was a Meat-offering appointed consisting of a tenth part of an Ephah of fine Flour i. e. an Omer See XVI Exod. 36. Which is a thing unusual for we read of no Meat-offerings ordered in the IV. and Vth Chapters of this Book which treat of them to accompany either Trespass-offerings or Sin-offerings But there were peculiar Rites belonging to the cleansing of a Leper different from the common Usages to make him sensible how great a Mercy he had received from God who alone could cure this Disease which his hand had inflicted Mingled with oil As the manner was in Meat-offerings See Chap. II. v. 1. And one log of oil Which served to another purpose mentioned v. 15 16. of this Chapter And Oil being of an healing vertue may be thought to denote the perfect Health and Soundness to which the Leper was now restored as the fragrancy of it put him in mind of the Happiness he now enjoyed A Log was the smallest Measure among the Jews containing about half a Pint of our Measure as a very learned Prelate of our own Dr. Cumberland hath computed in his Scripture Weights and Measures p. 86. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the Priest that maketh him clean Who performeth this office of declaring the Leper perfectly clean Shall present the man that is to be made clean and those things before the LORD at the door c. He set the Man in the first place at the East-gate of the Court of the Israelites which in after times was called the Gate of Nicanor with his face towards the Sanctuary For here all those who needed Expiation stood it being unlawful for them to enter into the Court of the Israelites until the Expiation was made So Maimonides observes in his Treatise called Mechussare Kapparah sect 4. Ver. 12. Verse 12 And the Priest shall take one he-lamb and offer him Next he was to bring one of the Lambs to the same place and present him to the LORD as is directed in the end of the Verse For that 's meant here by offering him the slaying of him following in the next Verse For a Trespass-offering After the manner that the Trespass-offerings were offered of which see Chap. VII that he might beg pardon of God as Abarbanel understands it for such sins as he had ignorantly committed And the log of oil Which was presented at the same time with the Lamb. And wave them Both the Lamb and the Log of Oil. For a wave-offering before the LORD Which was done by waving them to and fro up and down and turning towards all the four quarters of the World as was noted before But Maimonides saith this was waved towards the East and if he waved them both together or separated one from the other the Lamb first and afterward the Log of Oil it made no difference Ver. 13. Verse 13 And he shall slay the Lamb. The Lamb was brought saith the same Author in the fore-named Treatise to the Door of the Court where the leprous Man stood who stretcht out his hands into the Court and laid them upon his Sacrifice after which it was killed as is here directed In the place where he shall kill the sin-offering and the burnt-offering See VI. 25. In the holy place In the Court of the Tabernacle at the North-side of the Altar of Burnt-offering Chap. I. 11. which was a place more holy than the Entrance or East-end of the Court where the Peace-offerings were to be killed III. 2. For as the sin-offering is the Priests so is the trespass-offering See VII 7. Both of them were to be eaten by the Priests in the Court of God's House and therefore were equally holy It is most holy See II. 3. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And the Priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass-offering There stood two Priests as Maimonides represents it in his Treatise before-mentioned sect 4. ready to receive the Blood of the Lamb one in an holy Vessel with which he sprinkled the Altar the other in his right hand which he poured into his left And then with the fore-finger of his right hand put it upon the right Ear c. of him that was to be cleansed And the Priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot The Priest standing within the Court at the Entrance of it and the Man standing still without the Man thrust his Head within the Gate and the Priest put some of the Blood which he held in his hand upon the tip of his right Ear. After which the Man stretcht out his right Arm and the Priest put some of the same Blood upon the Thumb of his right Hand and next his right Leg on the great Toe of which he likewise put some more Blood Thus Maimonides in the same place Where he saith If the Priest had put the Blood upon the left Ear Thumb or Toe all had been of no effect And he adds sect 5. that the Blood was put upon half of the flap of his Ear and upon the whole breadth of the top of his Thumb and great Toe for if he put it on the sides
or beneath it was ineffectual Which is very reasonable to believe because there was no natural efficacy in these things to cleanse a Leper but it depended wholly upon the will and pleasure of God which was punctually therefore to be observed that by the exact performance of all these Ceremonial Signs as Pellicanus speaks in the face of the Church all Men might be satisfied that he was perfectly purified and he might be publickly authorized to associate himself with the rest of God's People and be no longer abominated by them for his impurity For the signification of these Ceremonies some think to have been that he was restored to free Communion with God and with Man See XXIX Exod. 20. And Abarbanel looks upon them as a signification also that the Leprosie began in those parts of the Body which are less fleshy and fat and were now therefore particularly declared clean But whatever the intention of them was there was a just and wise reason no doubt for them though at this distance from those Ages Countries and Customs c. we may not be able to discover it Ver. 15. Verse 15 And the Priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand Or as Maimonides saith he might pour some of it into the left hand of the other Priest who sprinkled the Blood at the Altar Ver. 16. Verse 16 And the Priest shall dip his right finger in the oil c. The fore-finger of his right hand as the same Hebrew Doctor observes And shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD At every sprinkling he dipt his finger in the Oil and directed it towards the most holy place where God dwelt though if it were not exactly directed to it the same Doctor saith the sprinkling was good Ver. 17. Verse 17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the Priest put upon the tip of the right ear c. Then the Priest returned to the Man who was to be cleansed upon the tip of whose Ear and Thumb and Toe he had put the Blood of the Trespass-offering and put some of this Oil upon that Blood Which seems to have been a Token of Forgiveness by the Blood and of Healing by the Oil. Ver. 18. Verse 18 And the remnant of the oil that is in the Priests hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed Which one thing if it were omitted the Leper was not cleansed As for the rest of the Log of Oil which was not all poured into his hand but only some of it v. 15. that was distributed to the Priests as the same Maimonides observes who alone might eat it in the Court of the Tabernacle as they did other holy things But none might taste of it before the sprinkling and other things before-mentioned were performed If any Man did he was beaten as he was who are the holy things before the sprinkling of the Blood For that was a great prophaneness for any Person to take his portion before God had that which belonged unto him And the Priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD This seems to suppose that the Leprosie was inflicted as a Punishment for some Sin which by this Sacrifice was taken away But the word make atonement doth not always signifie the taking away Sin but sometimes meerly making a thing fit for holy uses Thus Moses is said to make an atonement for the Altar XXIX Exod. 36 37. See there and in the same sense may an Atonement be said to be made for the Leper by this Sacrifice which restored him to be made partaker of the holy things offered at the Altar See below v. 53. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And the Priest shall offer the Sin-offering The other He-lamb mentioned v. 10. which was to be offered after the manner of the Sin-offering for such Offences as Abarbanel understands it as he knew he had committed And make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed His atonement was begun by the Trespass-offering v. 18. and was advanced by this Which Abarbanel thinks was added to make Men more cautious how they contracted any sort of Impurity which would put them to great charges before they were purged from it For he could find no other reason he saith for the like Sacrifices which were offered by him that had an Issue or had meddled with a menstruous Woman or been defiled by the dead or tasted swines-flesh or any creeping thing And afterward he shall kill the burnt-offering This being a Present to God himself was not accepted till by the other Offerings for Trespass and Sin the Man was purified And this I take to be properly the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Gift mentioned by our Saviour VIII Matth. 4. Ver. 20. Verse 20 And the Priest shall offer the burnt-offering and the meat-offering upon the Altar There were so many Offerings made to show the greatness of his Uncleanness and now his perfect Cure We read of no Meat-offering made with the two former Sacrifices but the three tenth deals of fine flour mentioned v. 10. seem to signifie every one of these Sacrifices the Trespass-offering the Sin-offering and the Burnt-offering had its proportion of a tenth deal of Flour offered with it But if we think the whole was appropriated to the Burnt-offering yet it was the same thing to the Leper whose cleansing cost him as dear one way as the other Only by understanding it thus the Priest perhaps had a greater reward for his pains if we suppose he only burnt an handful upon the Altar as the manner was in these Offerings and had all the rest to his own use See Chap. II. v. 2 3. And the Priest shall make an atonement for him and he shall be clean By this his Atonement was compleated and he was made so perfectly clean as to be admitted to be partaker of the Altar when Peace-offerings were sacrificed But this very long Process through so many different Rites and for so many days before Men could be purified from a legal defilement in their Bodies was a plain instruction to all Persons of good sense how much more difficult it would prove to cleanse their Souls from those moral Impurities which they contracted by long habits of sin and what great pains must be taken both by the Sinners themselves and by God's Ministers to root them out and with what repeated Prayers the Mercy of God towards them was to be implored of which they ought not hastily to presume Ver. 21. Verse 21 And if he be poor and cannot get so much The Divine Goodness always made a merciful provision that his Service should not be burdensom to Men and therefore took care the Poor should not be charged with too costly Sacrifices and yet partake of the benefit of them as much as the Rich. See I. 14 17. V. 11 c. He shall take After he
And he shall take the cedar-wood and the hysop c. This whole Verse is explained before v. 6. which differs not from this in any thing but only that the living Bird is there mentioned in the first place and here in the last and in this Verse is more distinctly declared that all these things should be dipped in the blood of the slain Bird and in the running water Ver. 52. Verse 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird c. There is nothing to be observed here more than before but only this That the House is said to be cleansed by the living Bird as well as by the blood of that which was slain its flying away being a declaration the House was free for any Man's Habitation Thus the Scape-goat which was let run into the Wilderness took away the Sins of the People as well as the Goat offered at the Altar See XVI 5. Ver. 53. Verse 53 And he shall let go the living bird out of the City into the open field This justifies what the Jewish Doctors say upon v. 7. See there And make an atonement for the house An Atonement was made for the House no otherways than for the Altar See upon v. 18. by cleansing it so as to make it fit for any Man to dwell in it And it shall be clean The Owner who was commanded to forsake the House v. 36. or any one else might return to it and inhabit it as before it was suspected to have the Plague in it Ver. 54. Verse 54 This is the law for all manner plague and leprosie and scall The Rule whereby to judge and to cleanse all Leprosies in the Bodies of Men and that Leprosie in the Head or the Beard called a Scall XIII 30 31 32 to v. 38. Ver. 55 56. Verse 55 56 And for the Leprosie of a garment and of an house and for a rising c. The foregoing Verse and these two are a recapitulation of the Laws delivered in the XIIIth Chapter and in this Ver. 57. Verse 57 To teach when it is unclean and when it is clean To guide the Priest in judgment when to pronounce a Man a Garment or an House infected with the Leprosie or when to declare them free from it This is the Law of Leprosie Here is a Conclusion of what belongs to this Matter Which prophane Minds who love to disparage the Holy Scripture and admire no ancient Authors but such as Homer Virgil and Plautus to use the words of Pellicanus upon v. 39. may deride as unworthy to be made a part of a Divine Law But Men better disposed may discern herein the great goodness of God to the Israelites whom he had adopted for his peculiar People in taking care to give them Precepts about all manner of things which were many ways profitable both for the regulating their Manners and preserving their Health and accustoming them to an exact Obedience to him in every thing And who doth not see that by these external Rites and Ceremonies he admonishes us to keep pure Consciences void of Offence both towards God and Men in a strict observance of all the Rules of our most holy Religion CHAP. XV. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron saying For Aaron was particularly concerned to see these Laws observed as well as the foregoing Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them Moses it is likely first delivered these Laws to them in the presence of Aaron who afterward instructed and exhorted them to the observance of them When any man hath a running issue He speaks of that Disease which Physicians call a Gonorrhaea which commonly proceeded from an ill course of Life and had in those Countries a great virulency in it If it proceeded meerly from some strain in the back by carrying too great a Burden or by violent leaping and several other natural Causes which Maimonides enumerates in his Mechuss Kapparah cap. 2. the Man was not defiled with it nor concerned in this Law And therefore the Causes from whence it proceeded were diligently to be considered as Maimonides there admonishes which might be discerned by such effects as made it a very nasty and offensive Disease in those hot Countries as it is sometimes here in these colder Climates Out of his flesh The word Flesh signifies the Secret Parts as it doth VI. 10. XVII Gen. 13. XVI Ezek 26. and other places Because of his issue he is unclean Upon that account alone he was to be kept from the Sanctuary and separated from Company See v. 31. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue The Rule whereby to judge of it Whether the flesh run with his issue or his flesh be stopped from his issue it is his uncleanness Whether there were a continued distillation of the corrupt Matter or it was so coagulated as to stop in the passage either way it made the Man unclean Be stopped from his issue Rather with his issue as the Hebrew words will bear Ver. 4. Verse 4 Every bed whereon he lyeth that bath the issue is unclean and every thing whereon he sitteth c. This and the following Verses unto v. 13. are a demonstration that this Disease made a Man legally Unclean to a very high degree being so offensive that not only every thing he touched became unclean but whosoever touched such things was made unclean also There is little in them that needs any Explication the only difficulty was to know whether a Man laboured under this Disease Which was not wholly left unto his Conscience to determine but his Countenance discovered it the continual Flux making a great alteration in the whole habit of his Body For virulent Gonorrhaea's sometimes last several years as Th. Bartholinus saith he knew one that had it ten years and was reduced to skin and bone being frequently accompanied with Inflamations and Ulcers in the neighbouring parts from which the filthy Humor flows Bartholin Histor Artatom Cent. II. Hist XXXVI Ver. 5. Verse 5 And whosoever toucheth his bed Upon which he hath lain Shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the even Which was the Law in other Cases when Men bad touched an unclean thing XI 28. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue Though he did but just sit down and did it ignorantly presently rising up a-again as soon as he knew his Error he became defiled and might not go to the Sanctuary till he was purified by washing his Clothes and himself in water Ver. 7. Verse 7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue That is any part of his Body Ver. 8. Verse 8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean c. By the same reason if he blowed his Nose upon him it defiled him Then he shall wash his
clothes i. e. The Man upon whom the Spittle fell Ver. 9. Verse 9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon c. By the same reason that the Seat he sat upon was defiled v. 4. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him c. Either the Saddle or any thing else that was under him when he rode And he that beareth any of those things c. Removeth them from one place to another though it be to carry them out of the way that others may not be defiled by them unawares Ver. 11. Verse 11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue and hath not rinsed his hands in water he shall wash c. It is somewhat doubtful whether these words hath not washed his hands in water belong to him that had the Issue or to him that his hands touched Most understand it of the former That if the Man who had an Issue touched any other Man and had not first washt his hands that Man whom he touched should be defiled But the Syriack takes it to refer to the Man that was touched by him who if he did not immediately wash his hands with water was to be cleansed after a more laborious manner by washing his Clothes and bathing himself in Water But I do not see how washing of his hands could cleanse him when the Man that had the Issue touched perhaps some other part of his Body Ver. 12. Verse 12 And the vessel of earth that he toucheth which hath the issue shall be broken c. That it might not be imployed hereafter to any use See XI 33. VI. 28. And every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water Such Vessels were not broken but only well washed because they were not so easily made as the other and were of more value There are so many washings prescribed here and on other occasions that it is reasonable to believe there were not only at Jerusalem and in all other Cities but in every Village several bathing places contrived for these Legal Purifications that Men might without much labour be capable to fulfil these Precepts And one cannot but think that such frequent washings were enjoyned to admonish them how carefully they ought to preserve Purity of Heart and Life Ver. 13. Verse 13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue It having ceased for some time Then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing That there might be sufficient proof made whether the Issue was stopt that is he was really cured And wash his clothes and bathe his flesh In the conclusion of the seventh day In running water i. e. Spring-water as we speak which was most pure River-water was the same which comes from Springs And shall be clean So that he might keep Company with his Neighbours but not have Communion with God at the Sanctuary till after the following Sacrifices were offered For if in the end of the seventh day after his washing the Flux returned again all this labour was lost and he was to stay seven days more as Maimonides observes in his Treatise on this Subject cap. 3. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And on the eighth day If he continued free from the Flux after his washing on the seventh day in the Evening He shall take to him two turtle doves or two young pigeons These were the Sacrifices appointed for the meaner sort of People who were not able to be at the charge of a Lamb or other Sacrifices of the Flock or Herd V. 7. XII 8. And perhaps the great trouble the Man had endured and given others while he laboured under this Disease might be considered so far as to put him to as little charge as might be for his Purification And come before the LORD unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation But not into the Court of the Israelites till his Sacrifices were offered Ver. 15. Verse 15 And the Priest shall offer them the one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering As in the Case of a poor Leper XIV 31. who was bound also to offer a Trespass-offering of greater value And the Priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue Perfectly restore him to partake of holy things of which he was debarred while he had his Issue And here it may be fit to observe That the greater part of all the Legal Defilements depended upon the Seat or Place of the Divine Majesty as the Author of Sepher Cosri speaks Pars III. sect 49. whose Presence there made their Country be called the Holy Land and was the ground of all these Injunctions about Cleanliness To which he thinks they have no Obligations at this day now that they live in an unclean Land i. e. among us Gentiles and want the Presence of the Divine Majesty among them Ver. 16. Verse 16 And if any mans seed of copulation Though the holy Writers speak very plainly of some things that we think it not so modest to name in that manner yet it is observable on the other hand that in things of the same nature they use Circumlocutions to express them which we stick not to speak of in blunter words As when they say The water of the feet meaning Urin and call going to Stool Vncovering of the feet which shows that it is nothing but the vast difference of Times and Places which makes that Language seem uncivil to us that was not so to them and on the contrary made them very cautious in their Expressions where we think it unnecessary Go out from him Involuntarily in his sleep or otherwise which the Hebrews call keri i. e. accidental Then he shall wash all his flesh with water and be unclean until the even This was one of the smallest Legal Pollutions from which they were soon cleansed without any Sacrifice And which some of them think did not oblige them to wash unless they intended to go to the Sanctuary But though that Opinion be true yet this Rite had such a respect to the Sanctuary that now they have none they do not think themselves bound to use it on such occasions Ver. 17. Verse 17 And every garment and every skin c. These things were made so unclean by such Accidents that they might not be used the next day nor till they were washed Ver. 18. Verse 18 The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation It is no wonder the holy Writers speak so plainly of these Matters being Men of great simplicity free from all wantonness commonly far advanced in years among whom Marriage and a numerous Issue were accounted the greatest Blessings and therefore coveted by all and renounced by none They shall both bathe themselves in water c. There is no sort of Pollution in the act of Marriage which is of God's own Institution but what this Law made and the Law made it as Theodoret thinks that the trouble of such constant
Purification after it might preserve them from the immoderate use of it So those words of his signifie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Quaest XX. in Levit. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And if a woman have an issue and her issue in her flesh be blood In the Hebrew the words run much clearer And a woman when she shall have an issue of blood and her issue be in her flesh The latter part of which are added to distinguish this from bleeding at the Nose or from the Haemorroids which did not pollute any body For the word Flesh here signifies as it doth v. 2. She shall be put apart seven days From her Husband and from the Sanctuary to which these sorts of Uncleanness have a peculiar respect as I before noted And Maimonides here not unfitly observes That whereas the Zabij accounted a Man polluted if he did but speak with a menstruous Woman or if the Wind which came from the quarter where she was blew upon him God only required her not to meddle with Holy Things nor to approach to the Sanctuary Otherwise she might eat all manner of common Meat and perform all Domestick Offices for her Husband as formerly only not lie with him while she remained in this condition So he explains this More Nevoch P. III. cap. 47. And whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even If they were grown Persons as Menochius well observes for Infants were excepted from this Pollution by their Age and the Necessities of Nature The same is observed by Maimonides in the Chapter fore-named That the more frequent any of these Uncleannesses were the greater and longer Purifications were required As touching of a dead Body especially of Friends and Neighbours being the most usual it could not be cleansed but by the Ashes of the red Heifer which were not easily had and not till seven days were passed In like manner Fluxes and menstruous Pollutions because they oftner hapned and were more grievous than touching the unclean those therefore that laboured under them had need of seven days Purification but they that touched them of one day only before they became clean Ver. 20. Verse 20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean c. The very same sort of Uncleanness was contracted in this Case as in the foregoing v. 4 c. For if we believe some Authors it might not only be properly called her sickness but such an one as had some infection in it at least something offensive in those hot Countries See Pliny Lib. VII 5. and L. XXVIII 2. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And whosoever toucheth her bed c. This and the two following Verses contain the very same Prohibitions in this Case which were given in the other See v. 5 6 c. Ver. 24. Verse 24 If a man lie with her at all i. e. Unwittingly not knowing in what condition she was for if he did it knowingly both of them were liable to be cut off XX. 18. He shall be unclean seven days As having contracted one of the greatest sorts of Uncleanness v. 19. For though this Flux was natural and beneficial and therefore could have no sort of Uncleanness in it but what was made by this Law yet there was a great reason for the keeping Men from the Company of Women in this condition if Leprosies and such like Diseases were thereby propagated as Theodoret says some think ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Especially since they were so libidinous a People as he describes them in words of a very bad signification that it was highly necessary to lay such restraints upon them and to make even involuntary Pollutions very penal that they might learn ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that all wilful Uncleannesses were far more detestable Ver. 25. Verse 25 And if a woman have an issue of blood many days out of the time of her separation c. As before he spoke of the natural Course of the Blood so here of a Disease which Procopius Gazaeus calls malum immedicabile an incurable Evil. So it sometimes proved as appears by the story of the Woman in the Gospel whose case this was IX Matth. 20. All the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation She was to be in the same condition with the Woman mentioned v. 19. who was put apart seven days i. e. as long as her Uncleanness lasted Which made the case of those that laboured under this Infirmity very lamentable because it continued in some many years Ver. 26. Verse 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation c. Like the Bed and the Seat of her mentioned v. 20. Ver. 27. Verse 27 And whosoever toucheth these things shall be unclean c. As in the case fore-mentioned v. 21. Ver. 28. Verse 28 But if she be cleansed of her issue Cured of her Disease Then shall she number to her self seven days For a trial whether it was a perfect Cure or no. After that If there were no return of the Flux She shall be clean So as to be restored to common Conversation but not to the Sanctuary till the following Oblations were made Ver. 29. Verse 29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles or two young pigeons c. The same Sacrifices which were prescribed in the case of a Man who was cured of an Issue v. 14. And this relates only to the extraordinary Flux out of or beyond the usual Course of Nature v. 25. for it would have been too burdensom unto some Persons if they had been bound to offer thus once a Month. Ver. 30. Verse 30 And the Priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD c. See v. 15. Ver. 31. Verse 31 Thus shall ye separate the Children of Israel from their uncleanness Take care that they separate themselves by instructing them when they are under any of the fore-named Impurities to observe the Directions now given Thus the LXX and the Vulgar Latin understand these words That they die not in their uncleanness Lest I punish them with death if they approach unto my Sanctuary having any of the fore-mentioned Uncleannesses upon them When they defile my Tabernacle that is among them This shows what is meant by Separation and Putting apart in the foregoing Verses which was principally from the Tabernacle where God dwelt Out of respect to which and to preserve their due regard to it that is to God himself all these Cautions were given as I observed before v. 15. of this Chapter And see Chapt. XII v. 4. what I noted out of Maimonides who discourses excellently on this Subject in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 47. where he observes That there could not well be a more notable means contrived to maintain an holy fear and reverence of the Divine Majesty upon their Minds than to forbid every Person that was any way
polluted to come unto his Sanctuary For there were so many sorts of Pollutions made by the Law that it was very hard to avoid falling under some of them and consequently a business of great care circumspection and labour to approach as they ought into the Divine Presence For if a Man escaped defilement by a dead body yet he could not easily avoid being defiled by some of the eight creeping things which he might chance to tread upon or might fall on his Meat or his Drink And if he escaped these yet he might be defiled involuntarily by the means mentioned here v. 16. or by touching a menstruous Woman or one that had a Flux of Blood or at least by touching their Bed their Seats or something belonging to them c. All which kept a Man from the Sanctuary which he could not enter therefore when he pleased but was to stay a certain time before he could be admitted to worship God there and not then neither till he had washed himself By all which actions reverence affection and devotion was preserved to the Sanctuary and Men were excited to great humility which in this was principally regarded Ver. 32. Verse 32 This is the law of him that hath an issue c. In this and the next Verse he recapitulates the Matter of this Chapter as he did in the latter end of the foregoing sum up the Contents of that Ver. 33. Verse 33 And of him that hath an issue of the man and of the woman Even of the Person that hath an issue whether it be Man or Woman c. CHAP. XVI Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron This Chapter would have naturally followed the Tenth Chapter where the death of those two Persons is related if that had not occasioned the inserting some other Laws about Uncleanness See Preface to Chapter XI which being delivered Moses now goes on to give direction about the great Sacrifice in which the whole Nation was concerned as he treated of lesser and common Sacrifices in the beginning of the Book When they offered before the LORD and died See X. 1. This is mentioned again to make the Priests careful not only to Sacrifice unto the LORD alone but after such a manner as he ordered Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto thy brother Aaron that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail Into the holy place without the Vail he or some of the other Priests were bound to go every day Morning and Even when they offered Incense But into this as none of them might go at all so he not at all times when he went into the other but only upon one particular occasion which is mentioned here in this Chapter Before the Mercy-seat which is upon the Ark. This being the place of God's special Presence none might enter into it but his principal Minister and he no oftner than the Divine Majesty allowed which was only once a year it appears from v. 29. when he offered the great Sacrifice here prescribed And so much was intimated to Moses before XXX Exod. 10. And the Jews add That on this day of the year he might go in but four times once to burn Incense a second time to sprinkle the Blood of the Bullock then to sprinkle the Blood of the Goat and lastly to fetch out the Censer wherein he burnt Incense If he went in a fifth time he died for his presumption as they say particularly R. Levi Barcel Praecept CCLXXXVI Such sacred places the Gentiles had in some Countries which according to this pattern were opened only once a year Particularly Pausanias mentions in his Book Boeotica the Temple of Dindymene which they thought it was not lawful to open more than one day in the year ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the same he saith of another in the same Book and in his Eliaca of the Temple of Orcus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It is opened once every year See Dr. Owtram's excellent Book De Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 3. Lest he die As his Sons had done for their Presumption in offering with other fire than God allowed In the like danger Aaron himself had been if he had come into the Divine Presence without his leave and without such caution as is given v. 13. which is the reason of this order here delivered to Moses and by him to Aaron for the prevention of any such dangerous mistake For I will appear in the Cloud upon the Mercy-seat That was God's own Dwelling-place where his GLORY appeared into which therefore none might enter but when he appointed and as he directed The only difficulty is what is meant by the Cloud wherein he saith he will appear on the Mercy-seat One would think he meant as usually the Cloud wherein the Divine Glory resided XL Exod. 34 35. 1 Kings VIII 10 11. But the Cloud seems to have been on the out-side of the Tabernacle and within a Glory or great Splendor only unclouded And therefore most I think understand this of the Smoak of the Incense that the High-Priest burnt when he entred into the most holy place which was the Cloud wherewith the Mercy-seat was then covered v. 13. And there is great reason for this Opinion for if there had been a Cloud in the most holy place over the Mercy-seat before the High-Priest entred what need had there been to make a new Cloud of Smoak as he is ordered v. 13. when the Divine Glory was sufficiently obscured already Besides in the place before-mentioned XL Exod. the Cloud as I now observed is said to be without the Tabernacle and to cover it the Glory only being within and in the other place of the Book of Kings and 2 Chron. V. 13 14. it is said only to fill the House of the LORD i.e. the Body of the Temple but not to be settled upon the Mercy-seat Where we may very well doubt whether there was any Cloud or no but only the Divine GLORY The only ground that I can see for it is that God is said there to dwell in thick darkness which seems to import that the Divine GLORY was wrapt up in a Cloud But however that be expounded these words which we here translate I will appear in the Cloud upon the Mercy-seat may very well be rendred I will be approached in a Cloud i. e. of Incense For so this word we translate appear is used XXIII Exod. 15. not for God's appearing to them but for the Peoples appearing before him and this sense the 13th Verse seems to inforce as Campegius Vitringa hath observed Lib. I. Observ Sacr. cap. 11. Ver. 3. Verse 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place As he might come into it only once a year so then with such preparation and in such a manner as is here prescribed And the Jews say that he was separated from his own House and Family seven days before and
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Goat going away others as Aquila ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Goat let loose and the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as J. Pollux speaks averters of evil things from them But simply meant as Theodoret interprets it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
Cloth was tied to the Gate of the Temple and if it turned white when the Goat was sent away as they pretend it usually did there was great joy among the People because it was a sign their sins were forgiven according to that of the Prophet I Isa 18. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow c. But if it did not change its colour into white they hung down their heads and were full of sorrow they looking upon it as a Token of God's anger Which I relate only for this purpose that I may take notice how the same Authors who tell this story confess that for forty years before the destruction of the second Temple that is from the time of our Saviour's death this shred of Cloth never changed its colour at all Which if it be true was a notable Token of the Wrath of God coming upon them for their crucifying the LORD Christ Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Aaron shall come into the Tabernacle of the Congregation All that the High-Priest did about the Scape-goat was performed at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation where he laid his hands upon him and confessed over him all their sins See v. 20 21. which being done and he having sent the Goat away he is now ordered to come into the Sanctuary it self And shall put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place See v. 4. The Jews say there were two sorts of white Garments which he wore on this day One in the Morning which were made of fine Linen of Pelusium which was a third part of greater value than those he wore in the Evening which were of Indian Linen Now here he speaks only of the Garments that he wore in the Morning wherein he had hitherto officiated but is ordered after he had done all this to put them off there being many other things to be still performed upon this day yea he was to go once more into the holy place in order to which he put on other Garments as will appear in what follows And shall leave them there Never to be used more either by him or by any body else But they were laid up when they were left and new ones made against the next year as the Gemara upon the third Chapter of Joma relates And the same is affirmed by Maimonides R. S. Jarchi and others mentioned by Braunius L. II. de Vest Sacerd. cap. 25. n. 9. R. Levi Barcelonita also gives the same Exposition of it Praecept 99. and see Mr. Selden Lib. III. de Synedr cap. 11. p. 143. Ver. 24. Verse 24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place Either in the Laver which stood in the outward Court or in a Room in the Tabernacle which in after time was called Happervah where the Priest they say washed himself upon this day every time he changed his Garments And this agrees well enough with the words of Moses which here follow that when he had put on his Garments he should come forth that is from this Chamber to perform such Offices as are after mentioned The end of this washing in this place seems to have been that he might purifie himself after he had touched the Goat which bare all their iniquities v. 21. as the Man that carried him into the Wilderness was to wash after he had done that business v. 26. Though others will have it that it was in token he had now finished the Expiation Certain it is here is another washing distinct from that mentioned v. 4. when he put on the white Garments Which in part justifies what the Misna saith in Joma cap. 3. sect 3. that the High-Priest washed five times upon this day all in the House Happervah except the first which could not be in the Court of the Tabernacle because he was to wash before he entred into it For there were five Ministeries to be performed upon this day at each of which he changed his Garments and between every Ministry when he changed his Garments he washed himself There is a long Discourse about this and about washing his hands and his feet in Torah Cohanim quoted by our learned Country-man Mr. Sheringham in his Annotations upon Codex Joma p. 57. c. which they endeavour to ground upon the very words of this Verse Now as the leading of Christ into the Wilderness upon the Day of Atonement was fore-shadowed by the Ceremony of the Scape-goat so his Baptism on the same day was as expresly fore-shadowed or prefigured as any event concerning him either was or could be by the Legal Ceremony here mentioned of Aaron's washing his Body in the holy place They are the words of Dr. Jackson in Christ's Answer to John's Question sect 64. where he endeavours to make out this And put on his garments Viz. His other Garments wherein he officiated upon other days which the Jews call his golden Garments to distinguish them from the white Garments which alone he wore when he went into the most holy place And the Jews call by this name of golden Garments all the eight Garments of the High-Priest four of which were common to him with the lower Priests and were made only of Linen yet they never call them by the name of white Garments which they appropriate to those in which he went into the most holy place the other four which gave the name to all the rest were proper only to the High-Priest himself viz. the Robe which had Bells of Gold at the bottom the Ephod the Breast-plate and the Golden-plate upon his forehead which being put over the other four common Garments made him appear as if he were all clothed in Gold For they either consisted of solid Gold as the Plate on his forehead or had solid Gold appendant as the Robe had or had Gold interwoven as the Ephod and the Breast-plate Now he put on these after he had put off the Linen Garments mentioned v. 4 23. which were never used but when he ministred in the Holy of Holies where he did not appear with the Breast-plate of Vrim and Thummim and the rest of the golden Garments as some learned Men have imagined particularly Corn. Bertram in his Book de Republ. Hebr. cap. 7. where he saith Hujus Sacerdotis erat semel in anno adytum sanctuarij adire indutus ipso Ephode It belonged to the High-Priest to go once in the year into the most secret place of the Sanctuary clothed with the Ephod Which is directly contrary to v. 4. of this Chapter But many other great Men have fallen into the same mistake See J. Braunius de Vestitu Sacerdot Hebr. Lib. II. cap. 20. n. 29. cap. 25. n. 9 10. And come forth From the place where he put on his golden Garments unto the Altar of Burnt-offerings And offer his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people I take this for the daily Evening Sacrifice which usually was
the punishment of every one who killed another Man IX Gen. 6. so here he is condemned to die who sacrificed any where but at the Tabernacle And that man shall be cut off from among his people This not another punishment unless we suppose it relates to his Posterity and therefore the first word should be translated not and but for And the meaning either is that the Magistrate should pass the Sentance of Death upon him or God would destroy him himself The latter sense is most probable because he threatens v. 10. to execute Vengeance with his own hand upon him that was guilty of eating Blood It is thought indeed by some that cutting off doth not signifie death but as in other places of this Book cutting off is so evidently joyned with death that so little cannot be meant by it as depriving such Persons of the priviledges of God's People for instance when any offered his Children to Moloch XX. 2 3 4 5. or did not afflict his Soul on the Day of Atonement XXIII 29 30. so here in this place it most certainly signifies the putting him that was guilty of this Crime to death because he was to be punished as a Murderer Which severe Penalty was enacted in this case to preserve the Israelites from Idolatry For if they had been permitted to offer Sacrifice where they pleased they might easily have forsaken God by altering the Rites which he had ordained nay by offering to strange Gods particularly to the Daemons which in those days frequented the Fields and indeavoured to perswade the ignorant that they were Gods as seems to be intimated in the next Verse and v. 7. Ver. 5. Verse 5 To the end Or For this cause i. e. to avoid that heavy punishment before-mentioned That the Children of Israel may bring their Sacrifices Or Shall bring as the Vulgar Latin translates it regarding the sense more than the words Ideo Sacerdoti offerre debent c. Therefore they ought to bring to the Priest their Sacrifices c. Which they offer in the open field Where the Pagans erected their Altars to procure fruitfulness to their Fields Insomuch that Libanius saith in his Oration ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Temples or Holy Places were the very Soul or Life of the Fields ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And that in them lay the hope of the Husbandmen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã How old this Idolatry was we cannot certainly tell but it continued a long time among the Israelites as we learn from the Prophet Jeremiah XIII 27. and Hosea XV. 11. where he saith Their Altars were as heaps in the furrows of the field that is there were abundance of them notwithstanding this early prohibition given by Moses And among the Gentiles Festus tells us they offered Sacrifices to the terrestrial Gods in terra upon the very ground according to the Hebrew phrase here on the face of the field but to the infernal Gods in terra effossa in holes or pits digged in the Earth and to the caelestial in aedificiis à terra exaltatis in Buildings exalted above the Earth i. e. upon Altars which had their name from hence ab altitudine from their height as both he and Servius also tell us And every one knows that they delighted to set them in high places on the tops of Mountains and Hills especially where there were Groves and shady Trees under which they set them even in Valleys and in the High-ways Fields and Meadows For they were so fond of them that those who were against erecting of Temples to their Gods as Zeno was yet never sacrificed without Altars which they set in the open Air to signifie they believed he whom they worshipped could not be circumscribed Even that they may bring them unto the LORD Or They shall bring them even unto the LORD who had settled his Habitation at the Tabernacle and would be worshipped no where else with Sacrifices Vnto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation unto the Priest Here seems to be another reason why they were not permitted to offer in the Field because God would have none but the Priests Men appointed by himself to attend for this purpose at his House to offer Sacrifices to him according to the Rites he had prescribed And offer them for peace-offerings unto the LORD Upon these words Nachmanides grounds the forenamed opinion That whilst the Jews continued in the Wilderness they ate no Meat at their own private Tables but what had been first offered to God at the Tabernacle Behold saith he God commanded that all which the Israelites did eat should be Peace-offerings Which was afterwards altered when they came to Canaan and lived remote from the House of God And such a Custom prevailed among the Gentiles who would not sit down to eat at their Tables till they had offered Bread and Wine unto their Gods Thus it was among the Chaldees as appears from I Daniel 8. But then they had many Altars every where even in their own private Houses Whereas here in the Wilderness there was but one Altar which could not contain all the Fat that was to be burnt on it every day if we suppose the Israelites to have commonly killed Beasts for their own eating It seems to be the truer opinion that they seldom or never did that while they were in the Wilderness but all the Beasts they killed were for Sacrifice of which Moses here speaks So R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXXXVII and other Jewish Doctors they are here forbidden to offer a Sacrifice to God any where without the Tabernacle He mentions indeed only Peace-offerings but the reason is because they were most common being offered not only for all the Mercies they had received but for all they desired to obtain from God as Abarbanel observes upon the VIIth Chapter of this Book where the several sorts of them are mentioned Men were more forward also to bring these Offerings than any other because they were to have their share of them and feast upon them Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the Altar of the LORD at the door of the Tabernacle This depends upon the foregoing command of offering all their Sacrifices at the Tabernacle that so the Blood might be sprinkled upon the Altar and poured out at the bottom of it as is required in other places of this Book and not kept together in a Vessel or a hole in the Ground As the manner of the ancient Idolatry was when they offered their Sacrifices in the Field and sate about this Blood and feasted upon the Flesh of their Sacrifice So Maimonides saith the Custom of the Zabij was More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. And burn the fat So the manner was in all Sacrifices which is said also to be for a sweet savour unto the LORD See I. 8 9. III. 3 5. IV. 35 c. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And they shall no more It seems by this they had been guilty
therefore saw his Neighbour kill a Beast and neglect to cover its Blood with Dust he was bound to go and do it himself because God speaks here unto the Children of Israel i. e. to all of them v. 12. as R. Levi Barcelonita glosses Praecept CLXXXV And the forenamed MS. mentioned by Wagenseil saith they covered the Blood with this form of Benediction Blessed be the LORD our God the King of the World who hath sanctified us with his Precepts and commanded us to cover Blood Which shows they thought this a Precept of great weight Ver. 14. Verse 14 For it is the life of all flesh c. Whether of Beasts or Fowl before-mentioned and therefore prohibited to be eaten by them as was before observed because it was offered to God and accepted by him for their Life when they had forfeited it by their sins Therefore I said unto the Children of Israel ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh See v. 12. Where the same thing is said but not so fully as here for he only saith in that Verse No soul of you shall eat blood but in this Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh For the life of all flesh is the blood thereof This is so often repeated no less than three times in this Verse the more to deter them from eating Blood which was the Life of the Beast and therefore offered to God as the LORD and Giver of Life and consequently belong'd to no Body else Ver. 15. Verse 15 And every soul that eateth that which dieth of it self And consequently had the Blood remaining in it as all things also which were not rightly killed had the Hebrews think and therefore here forbidden Or that which was torn with Beasts Which was nothing else as Maimonides speaks but the beginning to be a dead Carcase More Nevochim P. III. cap. 48. Whether it be one of your own Country or a stranger By a Stranger is meant one that had embraced the Jewish Religion for other Gentiles might eat such things Nay the Israelites themselves as Maimonides observes when they went to War and entred the Countries of the Gentiles and subdued them might eat that which died of it self or was torn of Beasts nay Swines-flesh and such like Food when they were hungry and could find no other Meat See Schickardi Mishpat Hamelek cap. 5. Theor. 18. He shall both wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water c. When he had eaten these things unwittingly and came to know it he was thus to purifie himself If he did it knowingly it was an high Crime against an express Law repeated more fully XIV Deut. 21. and punished as some think with Death But I suppose they mean he was obnoxious to the Divine Displeasure and in danger to be cut off by him if he did not offer a Sacrifice to expiate his Offence which seems to be allowed in such Cases as it was for greater Offences VI. 1 2 c. And the Jewish Doctors say he who violated this Law was only to be beaten for cutting off either by the hand of God or the Court of Judgment was not threatned to sins of so light a Nature as this So Maimonides observes in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 41. Ver. 16. Verse 16 But if he wash them not nor bathe his flesh he shall bear his iniquity Be liable to be punished by God for the neglect of the means of his Purification And if while he continued thus unclean he adventured to eat of the Peace-offerings he was in danger to be cut off from his People VII 20. CHAP. XVIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying It is not said when the LORD delivered these Laws to Moses but it is likely after the other and before those that follow Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them They were all concerned in these Laws about Marriage and therefore they are directed to the whole Body of the People who received them I suppose by their Elders and Heads of the Tribes to whom Moses delivered them and charged they should be communicated to every Family and Houshold See XVII 2. I am the LORD your God I have a right to give you Laws being your Soveraign upon more Titles than one to which all Human Customs must yield though long practised and spread every where in the World This reason is mentioned six times in this Chapter and oftner in the next See v. 4. Ver. 3. Verse 3 After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein ye dwell shall ye not do and after the doings of the Land of Canaan whither I bring you shall ye not do The Manners of these two Countries of Egypt wherein they had dwelt a long time and of Canaan wherein they were going to settle they were in the greatest danger to imitate Especially in taking the liberty of making such Marriages as they saw practised among them against which they are here severely cautioned But though these words seem to have a particular respect to those Marriages yet Maimonides extends them to all their other Practices for which they could see no reason Magick being in much use among them in dressing their Trees and ploughing their Ground and such like common things in which they had a respect also to the disposition of the Stars of Heaven which led them to the Worship of them as he shows at large in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. R. Levi Barcelonita also extends these words to the Customs of all other Nations Praecept CCLXII which he that observed was to be beaten But the Doings or Customs which Moses here speaks of seem to be those that follow v. 6 7 c. as appears from v. 24 c. And the other Customs of those Nations about their Clothes and cutting their Hair which the forenamed Author mentions are forbidden in other places Neither shall ye walk in their Ordinances The Hebrew word Chukkoth which we commonly translate Statutes and here Ordinances seems to import that the incestuous Marriages here mentioned were allowed by the Laws and Constitutions of those Countries which made their Wickedness the more intolerable v. 24. Ver. 4. Verse 4 Ye shall do my Judgments and keep my Ordinances to walk therein Frame your Lives according to the Laws and Rules which I give you to observe and not according to their wicked Practises which were grown into Customs and Precedents The Gemara Babylonica mentioning these words saith it is a Tradition of their Doctors that by Mishpatim which we translate Judgments are to be understood such Natural Laws as all Mankind are bound to observe though there were no written Commands for them such as those against Idolatry and those about uncovering the Nakedness of such near Relations as are here mentioned and Murder c. And by Chukkim Ordinances or Statutes such Laws are meant as depended only on the Pleasure of God and obliged none but
those to whom they were given such as those about Meats and Garments and Leprosie c. Against which lest any one should object it is here added I am the LORD your God I am the LORD your God I who am your Soveraign LORD and by redeeming you from the Egyptian Bondage am become in a special manner your God have ordained these things Therefore let no Man dispute them or make a question of them as the forenamed Gemara expounds these words See Selden Lib. I. de Jure N. G. cap. 10. p. 122. where he observes that the Laws called Statutes are in their Language such as depend only on the Royal Authority Ver. 5. Verse 5 Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgments Observe the Laws before-mentioned For the word we here translate Statutes is the same with that translated Ordinances in the foregoing Verse Which if a man do he shall live in them Not be cut off but live long and happily in the enjoyment of all the Blessings which God promised in his Covenant with them I am the LORD Who will faithfully keep my Covenant and fulfil my Promises VI Exod. 3. Ver. 6. Verse 6 None of you In the Hebrew the words being isch isch as much as to say Man Man that is no Man the Talmudists take it as if he had said neither Jew nor Gentile For all Mankind they say are comprehended under these Laws about Incest Nay the very Karaites or those who adhere only to the Scripture and reject all Talmudical Expositions are of this mind as Mr. Selden observes Lib. I. de Vxore Hebr. cap. 5. But the Talmudists themselves do not all understand this matter alike For some of them think all the Gentiles at lest those who were under the Dominion of the Israelites were bound to refrain from all incestuous Marriages to which Death is threatned by the Law But others of them think they were concerned only in those six things which were unlawful before the Law of Moses was given See Selden Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 1. and cap. 11. p. 596 c. But the ancient Hebrews give a good reason for all these Laws as Grotius observes Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 5. sect 13. n. 2. Shall approach Some of the Jews have been so rigorous as to expound this word as if it bound them not to have any familiarity with the Persons after named R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXXXVIII which is against all Reason and natural Affection The plain sense is they should not approach or come near to them for the end afterward mentioned viz. to uncover their Nakedness Nay this very phrase is used for the same thing XX Gen. 4. without the addition of uncovering their Nakedness Any that is near of kin to him It must be confessed that these words near of kin do not sufficiently express the full sense of the Hebrew phrase nor are they of a determinate signification for a Man maybe near of kin to a Woman who is not the remainder of his flesh as the Hebrew phrase is that is so near of kin to him that nothing comes between them This is properly the nearness of flesh here spoken of she that is immediately born of the same Flesh that a Man is or she out of whose Flesh he is born or she that is born out of his Flesh that is in plainer words a Man's Sister Mother or Daughter These are a Man 's own immediate Relations which the Karaites call the Foundation and Root of all that is here forbidden as Selden notes Lib. I. Vx Hebr. cap. 2. For the sake of whom the rest here mentioned are prohibited having a nearness of flesh to them viz. his Father or Mother's Sister his Grand-daughter and his Niece For the best Explication of this Phrase is the express Particulars mentioned by God himself in this place To uncover their nakedness To have Carnal knowledge of her as the Scripture modestly speaks in other places For nakedness in the holy Language signifies the Secret Parts which natural Modesty teaches all civilized People to cover and not to reveal them to any but those whom they marry Therefore not to uncover the nakedness of the Persons here named is properly not to take them in Marriage and much less to have Knowledge of them without Marriage Answerable to this is the Name of a Virgin whom the Hebrews call Alma which is as much as covered clothed or veiled because those parts were never exposed to any one but those to whom they were espoused and joyned in Marriage I am the LORD By my Authority who am your Soveraign and the Soveraign of the World these Laws are enacted and I will punish those that break them Ver. 7. Verse 7 The nakedness of thy father or the nakedness of thy mother thou shalt not discover It is commonly thought by Interpreters that the Particle we translate or is here as much as that is for so it signifies in some places particularly 1 Sam. XXVIII 3. So that the latter part of the Verse is only an Explication of the former and makes them but one Prohibition against a Man's marrying his Mother And this indeed the next words seem to imply she is thy Mother who bare thee and therefore not to be taken to be thy Wife much less to be otherwise known by thee But we may as well think that the nakedness of the Father and of the Mother are both here mentioned to show neither the Daughter might marry her Father nor the Son his Mother and consequently that in all the following Particulars Women were concerned just as Men were though the Men be only mentioned And under the Name of Father and Mother are comprehended Grandfather or Grandmother or other Progenitors before them She is thy mother thou shalt not uncover her nakedness This is the very first Prohibition it being a going back in Nature for a Man to marry his Mother Which though it was practised in those days by the Canaanites and Egyptians and by the Persians also in after times and some other Eastern Countries yet in the Western part of the World as Mr. Selden observes such Marriages were nunquam non execranda execrable in all Ages Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 11. p. 601 c. Such were the Marriages of Oedipus with Jocasta of Nero with Agrippina Pelopeja and Thyestes her Father of whom Aegistus was born which every Body detested See Grotius de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. II. cap. 5. sect 2. For the Law of Nature was against such Marriages notwithstanding the practice of Persons nay whole Nations whom God gave up to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as St. Paul shows dishonourable affections for their other sins especially for their forsaking him and falling to Idolatry Maimonides gives this as the general reason of prohibiting this and all the following Marriages because the Persons here forbidden to be so joyned together are all in
their Children as it is explained XVIII Deut. 10. This was a Spiritual Adultery and therefore here mentioned Pass through the fire to Molech It is certain that Molech was particularly worshipped by the Children of Ammon at least in future Ages 1 Kings XI 7. but seems to have been the Name of many of the Heathen Gods and the same with Baal both of them signifying Dominion This appears by comparing XIX Jer. 5. with XXXII 35. But more especially it signifies the Sun the Prince of the Heavenly Bodies See Vossius de Orig. Progr Idolol Lib. II. cap. 5. as the Queen of Heaven was the Moon VII Jer. 18. Now it is evident by several passages in Scripture that the ancient Pagans whom the Israelites were prone to imitate not only made their Children pass through the fire but also offered them in Sacrifice unto Molech The former I take to be forbidden in this Law the latter in XX. 3. where giving their Children to Molech is prohibited under a severe Penalty of being put to death for that Crime whereas there is no Penalty annexed here to their making them pass through the fire Which I take therefore to have been a less Crime than the other though an idolatrous Rite practised by those who abhorred the cruelty of offering the very Life of their dear Children to Molech Instead of which this Rite was devised of making them pass through the fire for though the word fire be not here in the Hebrew Text yet it is understood by all and expressed XVIII Deut. 10. by way of Purification and Lustration as they called it and by this means to dedicate them to the Worship and Service of Molech And therefore being a Rite of Initiation whereby Parents consecrated their Sons and Daughters to their Deities we never find it mentioned in Scripture but only concerning Children not concerning Men and Women whom the Israelites are forbidden to dedicate in this manner which was in truth to alienate them from the LORD God of Israel Now that this was practised among the ancient Pagans as a Rite of Initiation appears particularly in the Mysteries of Mithra See Suidas upon that word and continued long among the Persians if we may believe Benjamin Tudelensis in his Itinearium p. 214. See G. Schickardi TARICH p. 126 c. And this very phrase make to pass unto for the word fire as I said is not here mentioned signifies as much as ad partes ejus transire to be addicted to any one like that phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to come unto God XI Hebr. 6. And so this Hebrew Phrase is used XIII Exod. 12. and may very well be thus understood here for devoting or making over their Children unto Molech For the Heathen thought their Children unclean and obnoxious to the Anger of their Gods and consequently in danger to be taken away from them if they were not thus expiated as Maimonides tells us More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. And on the contrary they fancied as R. Levi Barcelonita observes Praecept CCVIII that if only one of their Children were thus consecrated to Molech all the rest were blessed and should be prosperous For he very nicely takes notice that the Israelites are forbidden to make any of their seed to pass through the fire It not being the manner he saith to make them all pass But the idolatrous Priests to make the People more willing to this Service cunningly perswaded them that if any one Child was offered to Molech it procured a Blessing upon all and if there was only one Child in a Family they laid no Obligation on the Parents to do this The manner of doing it at this distance of time cannot certainly be known Some say their Parents carried them through two fires upon their shoulders Others that they were led between them by their Priests and so R. Levi in the place before-named The Father delivered the Child to the Priest in the name of the Idol just as it is said concerning Legal Sacrifices XV. 14. he shall give them to the Priest Others think that the Priest or some Body else waved the Child about in the very flame while Men and Women danced round the fire nay leaped through the flame And Joh. Coch observes upon the Title Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 7. that some are of the opinion the Children thus dedicated did not walk but dance through the fire which being an emblem and representative of the Sun plainly signified such Children were consecrated to that Deity And this comes nearer to the Hebrew phrase as we translate it that they did not pass between fires but through the fire But which way soever it was done whether they waved the Child through the very fire and presented it to Molech before whom the fire was kindled or led it between two fires when they had so done the Priest restored the Child to the Father again And in some such way Ahaz made his Son to pass through the fire according to the abomination of the Heathen 2 Kings XVI 3. which cannot be meant of his burning him for Hezekiah his Son outlived him and succeeded in his Throne See Theodoret in IV King Quaest 47. Maimon de Idol c. 6. sect 14. n. 4 5 6 7. and Vossius his Notes with Simeon de Muis in CVI Psal 37. Neither shalt thou prophane the name of thy God By offering their Children to Molech they in effect rejected and disowned as I before observed the LORD God of Israel which was to pollute his Name by giving that honour which was due to him alone unto another God For he gave them Children who were therefore to be devoted to none but him I am the LORD The only Soveraign of the World who will severely punish the Transgressors of this Law Ver. 22. Verse 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with woman-kind it is an abomination A detestable wickedness condemned by all Nations though practised by some lewd Persons among them Insomuch that the Apostles of Christ make mention of it with the greatest abhorrence I Rom. 27. 1 Corinth VI. 9. 1 Tim. I. 10. For not only several of the Roman Emperors were infamous upon this account but some also of the Greek Philosophers This Prohibition is repeated according to Maimonides in XXIII Deut. 17. whom our Translation follows there shall not be a Sodomite of the Sons of Israel But Onkelos interprets that place otherwise Ver. 23. Verse 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast c. i. e. Of any kind whatsoever Some are apt to say What need was there of such Prohibitions when it is so monstrously unnatural to mix with Creatures of a different Species from us as all Beasts are But such Persons do not understand that this was not only practised in Egypt against whose doings he cautions them v. 3. but was also made a piece of Religion Women devoted to the Worship there used most filthily submitting to the Lust of their sacred Goats So Strabo tells
that the Poor might know where to come for it as R. Levi Barcelonita explains it Praecept CCXIII. And this whether they were in the Land of Israel or out of it as Mr. Selden observes out of the Talmudists Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 6. p. 692. where he shows it was the custom to add something to the sixtieth part proportionable to the largeness of the Field or the multitude of the Poor or the greatness of the Crop Neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest That is if an ear or two of Corn fell as they cut it or bound it up out of the Sheaves or from under their Sickle they were not to gather them up from the ground but leave them for the Poor as oft as they fell But not if there fell three ears at a time as the Talmudists determine See Mr. Selden in the place above-named and the same R. Levi Praecept CCXIV. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard When they had cut off the great Bunches they were not to examine the Vine over again for the scattered Grapes or small Clusters Neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy Vineyard If any fell to the ground as they gathered them they were not to take them up That is if one or two Clusters fell but not if three much less if more for they construe this as they do the Precept about Ears of Corn v. 9. They also say they were bound to leave the Corners of the Vineyard uncut as well as the Corners of the Field R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXXX and CCXXXI and Mr. Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 6. in the place before-named And these Precepts obliged such Strangers as sojourned among them mentioned XVII 8. XVIII 26. who before they were admitted to embrace the Jewish Religion were examined whether they understood that they must observe such and such Precepts particularly these here mentioned which were propounded to them plainly and distinctly and after they had promised to keep them they were Circumcised c. As G. Schickard observes out of the Talmud the custom was after the destruction of Jerusalem in Mishpal Hamelek cap. 5. Theorem XVII Thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger Though by Stranger the Jews think is understood a Proselyte of Righteousness as they call him who had embraced their Religion by receiving Circumcision yet they did not hinder any poor Gentile from partaking of this Charity as the same R. Levi says And if any one transgressed any of the Precepts contained in these two Verses he was beaten as Mr. Selden shows Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. 13. n. 8. I am the LORD your God I give you the Country to which you go with these reserves for the Poor and have been so bountful to you that I require you to be so them Ver. 11. Verse 11 Ye shall not steal Here are several Moral Precepts put briefly together for the maintaining Justice and Truth without which Societies cannot be preserved And first he forbids Theft the coveting of other Mens Goods being the Source of the other Sins that follow And whether they were the Goods of an Israelite or of a Gentile Idolater that any Man stole he was bound to make Restitution as R. Levi observes Praecept CCXXXII See XXII Exod. 1. Neither deal falsly This is a Divine Caution as the Hebrew Doctors observe against denying a thing that was deposited with them or which they had found c. which they would never pretend they had not if they were disposed to be sincere and upright in their Dealing Neither lie one to another Words being intended to declare the Mind and for no other end he that hears us speak hath a right in Justice to be done him that what we speak be true For otherwise he doth not know our mind by our words and then we had better be dumb But though all kind of lying be contrary to the intention of God in giving us Speech yet this relates particularly to such lies whereby a Man's Neighbour was injured defrauded for instance of his Goods which he had deposited with another or of the just Debts which were owing him c. But though the simple denying of such things was not punished with beating as Mr. Selden represents the opinion of the Talmudists Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 11. yet he that denied a thing deposited with him was not admitted to be a Witness in any case though he had not forsworn himself unto which this lying disposed him So R. Levi Praecept CCXXXIII Ver. 12. Verse 12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsly Much less was it lawful for them to confirm the lies fore-mentioned with an Oath So the Jewish Doctors interpret it as Mr. Selden observes in the same place If any Man did and was found guilty he was adjudged to restore the principal and a fifth part more VI. 5. And whether he forswore himself knowingly or ignorantly he was to expiate his Crime with a Sacrifice But if he was ignorant of that Command concerning a Sacrifice or if though he had the thing which he denied in his keeping yet he had really forgot it when he swore he had it not he was freed both from the fifth part and from the Sacrifice See V. 4. Neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God By calling God to witness unto a frivolous thing or to a rash Resolution As if a Man swore in his anger he would not speak to such a Person but afterwards did or he would not eat of such Meat c. In such cases the Jews say when a Man's heart was touched with Repentance for his rashness and incogitancy he was to go to some wise Man or to three Neighbours and desire them to absolve him from his Oath of which he truly repented Which they did when they found him truly penitent saying Be thou loosed or It is remitted to thee or the like So Selden observes out of Maimonides Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 11. n. 9. Plato hath said some remarkable thing concerning Forswearing and also of Lying and Deceit For which I refer the learned Reader to his eleventh Book of Laws p. 916 917. Edit Serrani I am the LORD And therefore expect the greatest Reverence to my Name and that you should deal honestly one with another Ver. 13. Verse 13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour neither rob him c. Here are several Precepts almost coincident in their sense but have some peculiar Negations belonging to them For as R. Levi Barcelonita observes in all things from which God would have them carefully abstain he multiplies admonitions Praecept CXXXVI Accordingly here to defraud is to keep in ones hand that which belongs to another and such a Person he saith is called an Oppressor in Scripture The Vulgar Latine refers it to that which Men get from others by Calumny as the next words relate to that which is wrested
from them by open violence Neither rob him The same R. Levi expounds this of that which is taken from another by manifest force and doth not belong to him that takes it Praecept CCXXXVII For so the Hebrew word gazilah signifies that which a Man wrests out of the hand of another against his will 1 Chron. XI 23. The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night till the morning For this was a kind of force and robbery to detain what was owing to him against his will In the XXIV Deut. 15. the words are Thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the Sun go down upon it From whence the Hebrew Doctors conclude there were two sorts of People that wrought for hire one were day-labourers whom Moses speaks of in this Verse another labourers by night of whom he speaks in Deuteronomy Neither of which were to stay for their Wages beyond the time appointed but the one were to have it before the Sun-set the other before Morning for it was due as soon as the day or the night was done So the Misna The Day-labourer requires his wages all night and the night Labourer all day See the fore-named R. Levi Praecept CCXXXVIII who gives this reason for it That the merciful God would have his Creatures subsist which poor Labourers cannot do if they want their wages to buy them Victuals Upon which account the detaining of their Wages is said to be a crying sin in that XXIV Deut. 14. and in St. James V. 4. Ver. 14. Verse 14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf No Israelite whether Man or Woman was to be cursed though he could not hear the Curse and so was insensible of the Injury as R. Levi explains it Praecept CCXXXIX For there was the addition of barbarous baseness in it to curse or revile a Person who was not capable to answer for himself nor do himself right and the Case of the Sick and the Infirm or the Absent was the same with the Deaf As for others who were not Deaf it was forbidden to curse them saith Maimonides because it provoked to Anger and Rage which stirred Men up to take Revenge Nor put a stumbling block before the blind This is as inhuman as the former proceeding from so great Malice that the Hebrew Doctors seem to think Men incapable of it And therefore expound it of giving ill Counsel to simple People and advising them to their Damage So R. Levi Praecept CCXL which is no less contrary to Nature then laying a stumbling-block in the way of those that cannot see to avoid it and a far greater sin because it abused their Minds and might tend to the hurt of their Souls But shalt fear thy God Believing he sees and hears and will avenge the Cause of those who cannot right themselves because they know not who injured them If any Man was convicted of either of these Crimes he was beaten I am the LORD And am therefore to be feared and obeyed Ver. 15. Verse 15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment The Jews take this to be an Admonition to their Judges that they should have an equal regard to the Plaintiff and Defendant and not prefer the one before the other Whence these words are thus explained in Siphra Thou shalt judge thy neighbours justly not letting one party stand and bidding the other sit nor suffering one to speak as much as he pleaseth and bidding the other be short See Selden de Synedr Lib. II. cap. 13. n. 10. But none hath explained this so largely as Maimonides in the whole XXI Chapter of Sanhedrim where he in general defines the just Administration of Justice to consist in an equal respect to both Parties in the Suit so that one of them have not the liberty to say what he will and the other be cut short And then descends to many particulars wherein equal respect to both Parties is to be observed some of which it will be fit to mention because they illustrate the words of St James in the second Chapter of his Epistle v. 2 3 4. If two Parties appear in a Cause one of which is clothed in precious Garments the other is ragged or in a poor Habit let it be said to him that is the more honourable Either do you bestow upon your Adversary as good Apparel as you have on your self or else put on such as he wears that you may be both alike and then appear before the Court of Judgment By no means let the one sit and the other stand but let them both be commanded to stand or if it please the Judges to give them both leave to sit let not one of them sit in a high place the other in a low but both on the same Bench one by the side of the other See R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXVII who observes that Mankind are preserved by righteous Judgment and therefore if a Judge was found to have given an unjust Sentance he was condemned to make Restitution to him whose Cause he had perverted Praecept CCXLI. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor See XXIII Exod. 3. Nor honour the person of the mighty This R. Levi explains Praecept CCXLII. as he did the first Clause The Judge shall not bid the great man sit down while the meaner stands but both shall stand before the Judge as if they were in the Presence of the Divine Majesty who standeth in the midst of the Judges LXXXII Psal 1. If by the favour of the Judges both were permitted to sit yet when Sentence came to be pronounced both rose up and stood according to XVIII Exod. 13. But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour The observation of Maimonides seems to be too nice and curious who from this place gathers that though the lowest Court of Judgment ordinarily consisted of no less than three Judges yet by the Law one of them might sit alone as Judge in Matters not Capital because it is said here in the singular Number In righteousness shalt thou judge thy Neighbour For at the same time he acknowledges their wise Men require that he should take some Assessors to him when they say Do not judge by thy self alone for there is no sole Judge but one only viz. God See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 14. n. 2. and Guil. Schickardi Mishpal Hamelek cap. 4. Theorem XIV Ver. 16. Verse 16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people The Vulgar Latin takes the Hebrew word Rachil to signifie one that goes about with Calumnies But it may simply signifie as we translate it a Tale-bearer whom Aben-Ezra compares to a Merchant or Pedler as the Hebrew word imports who buys of one what he sells to another and goes about the Country as a Tale-bearer doth from House to House carrying to one what he hath heard at another saying Such a one hath said so and so of you whereby Peace and Concord is destroyed
which forbids them to covet their neighbours wife which did not give them leave sure to covet the Wife of a Gentile provided they did not covet the Wife of an Israelite A Neighbour therefore is every other Man as in XXII Deut. 26. and more plainly in XI Exod. 2. where the Egyptians are called their Neighbour And therefore D. Kimchi saith very honestly upon the XVth Psal 3. A Neighbour is every one with whom we have any dealing or conversation Which justifies our blessed Saviour in making this Command of Loving their Neighbours as themselves to reach all Men with whom they had to do X Luke 27 28 c. I am the LORD Unto whom you are all equally subject and upon that account ought to love one another See v. 34. Ver. 19. Verse 19 Ye shall keep my statutes This may be thought to be premised to what follows lest such Commands as are contained in this Verse seeming small should be neglected by them Thou shalt not let thy Cattel or rather make them gender with a divers kind As Horses with Asses Goats with Sheep c. whose mixture one with another they were by no means to procure But if they did of themselves come together it was lawful to use such Heterogeneous Creatures as were so produced For they did not abhor the use of Mules which were either begot by accident among them or brought from other Countries to them The reason the Jews commonly give for this Precept is because God having made all things perfect in their kind it was a presumptuous attempt to go about to mend his Creation and add to his Works By this means also Men were deterred from unnatural Mixtures which they saw to be abominable in Brutes So R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXLIX and Philo whose words are very ingenious Lib. de Creatione Princip Things of the sâme kind were made for Society one with another but things heterogeneous as we call them were not intended to be mixed and associated and therefore he who attempts to mingle them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wickedly destroys the Law of Nature To the same purpose Josephus See Selden Lib. VII de Jure N. G. sec Hebr. cap. 3. p. 798. Maimonides also himself gives this reason of this Precept More Nevoch P. III. cap. 49. where he saith No Creature hath a desire commonly to mix with a Creature of another kind and therefore Men ought not to promote such a desire But after all there might possibly be a respect in this Precept to some Idolatrous Customs which Moses intended to prevent or abolish for there is good ground to think the following Precepts in this Verse were so intended and in after times some Gentiles did procure such Mixture of Creatures as are here forbidden Mules for instance in honour of their Gods See our learned Dr. Spencer Lib. II. de Leg. Hebr. Ritualibus cap. 20. where he indeavours to prove that by Cattel in this place are peculiarly meant Oxen and Asses which were used in Husbandry and are of such different Natures that none would ever have thought to procure their Conjunction unless he had been moved to it by the Devil Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed The reasons of this according to the Jews are the same with the former and R. Levi extends it to Trees which he saith they were not to ingraft of different kinds one upon another But it concerns they say only such Seeds and Plants as are for Mens food not those which are for Medecine Praecept CCL But Maimonides found a particular reason for this Precept from the Idolatrous Customs of the old Zabij Who not only sowed different Seeds and grafted Trees of a divers kind upon one another in such or such Aspect of the Planets and with a certain form of words and fumigations but also with abominable filthiness at the very moment of the Incision Which he proves out of a Book concerning the incision of an Olive into a Citron and doubts not that God forbad his People to sow with mingled seed that he might root out that detestable Idolatry and those preternatural Lusts which abounded in those days More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. Neither shall a Garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee In the Hebrew the words are A Garment of mixtures of Schaatnez shall not come upon thee But that they might certainly know what Schaatnez was it is explained in XXII Deut. 11. to signifie as we translate it a Garment of Woollen and Linen mixed together The Jews have taken abundance of pains to find out the original of this word which Bochartus derives from the Arabick word Saat which signifies to mingle and nez which signifies to weave Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 45. But Joh. Braunius I think hath demonstrated that it doth not import the weaving of any different things together but only of Linen and Woollen and that by Woollen is to be understood only what is made of the Wooll of Sheep not of Camels or Goats which they called by the same name Lib. I. de Vestitu Sacerd. Hebr. cap. 4. n. 2 3 6. Where he observes out of Maimonides in his Halach Kelaim that if a Man saw an Israelite wear such a Garment it was lawful for him to fall upon him openly and tear his Garment in pieces although he were his Master who taught him Wisdom And the reasons for this abhorrence are commonly such as are given of the former Precepts to preserve them from the horrid Confusion which was among the Gentiles by incestuous and unnatural Mixtures But Maimonides takes it to have been principally intended as a Preservative against Idolatry The Priests of the Gentiles in those times wearing such mixed Garments of the product of Plants and Animals with a Ring on their finger made of some Metal as he says he found in their Books More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. By which mixture it is likely they hoped to have the beneficial influence of some lucky Conjunction of the Planets or Stars to bring a Blessing upon their Sheep and their Flax. Ver. 20. Verse 20 Whosoever lieth carnally with a Woman that is a bondmaid betrothed to an husband The Jews had some Servants that were Gentiles who if they embraced the Jewish Religion were baptized sometimes with the reservation of their Servitude and sometimes with the full grant of Liberty But some there were in a middle Condition partly free and partly servile viz. when part of their Redemption-money had been paid and part was still behind Now as while a Woman was a perfect Slave no Israelite might marry her so when she was partly free though he might Espouse her and the Espousals were valid yet they could not be of full force till her liberty was perfected And of such a Maiden the Hebrew Doctors understand Moses to speak in this place that was in part free but not wholly as the next words interpret it And not at all redeemed nor
Servants for every one knows in future times Slaves had Marks set upon them to certifie to whom they belong'd redeem'd with their price and stamp'd with their mark And these Marks were made with a hot Iron in their Hands Foreheads or Necks or they were prickt with a Needle dipt in Glastum as he says which made blue Spots in their Skin as the manner was among the Arabians especially the Scenitae And they expressed either the very name of the God to whose Service they were Consecrated or else by a proper Character denoted whom they honoured as a Thunderbolt signified they were devoted to Jupiter a Spear or Helmet to Mars a Trident to Neptune c. And these were Signs or Sacraments as we may call them whereby they were solemnly addicted to their Worship It is possible there might be some Nations then that made some Marks in their Flesh as an Ornament to them for at this day the Women in Greenland do not paint their Faces which are very swarthy but stigmatize them in several places by drawing a Needle and Thread dipt in Whales grease through the Skin in what figure they please Such Tho. Bartholinus saith he had seen though he fancied they did not this as an ornament but in token they were marriageable for they that were not had no such Marks Anatom Histor Cent. IV. Hist 90. But if any such thing were in use in ancient times it easily might degenerate into the Idolatrous Custom before-mentioned For nothing more certain then that they made such Marks in honour of Mars the God of Battel and that he who devoted himself to Hercules received ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sacred Marks giving up himself to that God as Herodotus speaks Lib. II. cap. 13. of one that fled to his Temple in Egypt And Lucian saith of the Priests of the Syrian Goddess ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. they were all marked some in their Wrists others in their Necks from whence all the Assyrians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã carry such Brands or Marks in their Flesh And so are the Jews that were initiated in the Egyptian Rites said by the Author of the Third Book of Maccabees to be stigmatized with the Leaves of Ivy which were the insignia of Bacchus From which ancient practise it is probable Christians have derived the Custom of printing the Jerusalem Cross upon the Arms of those who go to visit our Saviour's Sepulchre See Tollius in Carmina inedita Gregor Nazianz. p. 160. I shall add no more but that the Jews themselves were so inclined to receive such a Badge as this that they made no scruple to print the name of their own God in their Flesh as appears by that saying mentioned by Schickard out of the Title Sopherim If any Man write the name of GOD upon his flesh let him neither wash nor anoint in that place See his Mishpat Hameleck cap. II. Theorem V. and Carpzovius his Annotations upon it I am the LORD For this reason such Marks were forbidden because the Israelites were peculiarly devoted to him as their Sovereign Lord and Benefactor for the Syriack adds your God and therefore were not to own any other but him whose Mark they had received in Circumcision which made all other absolutely unlawful Ver. 29. Verse 29 Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore It is scarce to be imagined that any Man would prostitute his Daughter to be a common Strumpet though he might possibly overlook the lewdness to which she had given up her self Therefore here in all probability is prohibited the exposing their Daughters as a piece of Religion to the Service of such filthy Deities as were worshipped in those days by Acts of Uncleanness in their Temples For which purpose both Men and Women were there kept as Persons consecrated to such uses Our great Selden hath observed something of this in his Discourse upon Succoth-Benoth See Syntagma de Diis Syris II. cap. 7. Those are fansiful Interpretations which R. Elieser and R. Akiba make of these words who say a Man prostitutes his Daughter who did not get her a Husband when she was marriageable or married her to an old Man Gem. Sanhedrim cap. 9. n. 1. Lest the Land fall to whoredom Unto which nothing could contribute so much as to make Whoredom a piece of Religion And the Land become full of wickedness By such abominable Idolatries as St. Peter calls them and many other foul sins particularly Murders which flowed from hence as Maimonides observes in his More Nevoch P. III. c. 49. Ver. 30. Verse 30 Ye shall keep my Sabbaths Not the days consecrated by the Gentiles to the Service of their Gods but the Solemn days which I have appointed for the remembrance of my benefits See v. 2. And reverence my Sanctuary This Reverence consisted principally in coming to it so prepared as the Law required in such Purity and Cleanness as was there prescribed and then behaving themselves there with an awful Humility But the better to secure this Reverence the Masters in Israel ordained that no Man should come into the Mountain of the House with a Staff or a Sword or a Girdle with a Purse or with Shoes on his feet and that no Man should spit there nor make it a thorow-fare nor go out of it with his back towards the Sanctuary but go backward leisurely with his face towards it till he was out of the Gate c. So Maimonides in his Beth Habechira cap. 7. R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXXI and see Petrus Cunaeus Lib. II. cap. 12. de Republ. Hebr. But the great thing which secured the Reverence due to the Sanctuary was that which I mentioned at first the strict Purity from all Legal Defilements with which they were to be prepared which made it very difficult to be in a condition to approach it For when there were so many ways of being defiled and so much time required to make Men clean again and so many things in many Cases to be done for that purpose it was not possible that they should be fit to come thither very often without exceeding great care and diligence as I observed before out of the same Maimonides P. III. More Nevoch cap. 47. Which very much tended to preserve their Reverence to the Sanctuary For Men led by sense as they were make nothing of those places to which they may go when they please but those to which they cannot be admitted without much Solemnity and only at certain times and after great pains to fit themselves for it they are apt to have in great esteem I am the LORD Whose Majesty dwelt in that House unto which therefore no Body might approach either for Prayer or for Sacrifice without an awful sense of him For so Maimonides explains it in the place now named The Sanctuary it self was not to be reverenced but he who commanded that reverence Nor did this Reverence belong only to the Tabernacle or Temple instituted
by God's express Command for that Ceremonial Service which was unlawful to be performed any where else for then it might seem proper only to that Ceremonial Dispensation and to be now vanisht under the Gospel but the perpetual practice of the Jewish Nation shows that they thought themselves obliged by this Precept to use Reverence in their Synagogues Which were neither instituted by any written Precept of the Law nor for any Ceremonial Service which was confined to the Temple but for publick Assemblies to hear the Law read and expounded and to offer the Prayers of the People to God For in the Psalms of Asaph where there is the only mention we find of Synagogues in the Old Testament they are called not only Houses and Assemblies of God but also Sanctuaries as the word is here in Moses LXXIII Psal 17. LXXIV 4 7 8. LXXXIII 12. See Mr. Thorndike in his Rights of the Church in a Christian State p. 213. Ver. 31. Verse 31 Regard not them Do not go to consult them nor follow their Directions That have familiar spirits It is uncertain what is here meant by Oboth which we translate familiar Spirits But the word Ob signifying a Bottle or hollow Vessel XXXII Job 19. the Jews think it probable that Oboth here signifies such as the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who had a Spirit or Daemon speaking out of the Belly or Chest with an hollow voice as if it came out of a Bottle So the Woman whom Saul went to consult is called baalath ob a Mistress of such a Spirit where it is plain ob signifies the Spirit or Daemon See XX. 27. and he or she that had familiarity with such a Spirit was properly called Baal or Baalath ob the Master or Mistress who possessed it and gave Answers by it with a voice that seemed to come out of the lower parts of the Belly In one place indeed the LXX translates it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã XIX Isa 3. They that speak out of the Earth because the Voice coming from the lower parts of her that was possessed seemed to come out of the Earth as Mr. Selden explains it in de Diis Syris R. Levi of Barcelonita saith the manner of it was thus Praecept CCLVIII. after certain Fumes and other Ceremonies a Voice seemed to come from under the Arm-holes so he takes it and so it is said in Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 7. of the Person that had the familiar Spirit which answered to the Questions which were askt For this he quotes Siphra But if it came from under the Arm-holes still it was so low and hollow as if it had been out of the bottom of the Belly or the Cavities of the Earth Others imagine such Persons had the name of Oboth because they were swelled with the Spirit as a Bladder is when it is blown However it was this continued till the times of the Gospel as appears from XVI Acts 16. For she that had the Spirit of Python was the same with an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Plutarch informs us See Casaubon and L. de Dieu on that place The famous Pythia who delivered the Oracles of Apollo sate over a hole and by her Secrets Parts received the Spirit which swelled her and made her utter Oracles as Origen observes Lib. VII contra Celsum and St. Chrysostom Hom. XXIX in I Epist. ad Corinth See Beyerus in his Annot. upon Selden de Diis Syris p. 226 c. There are those that look upon all that these Authors say as old Stories to which no Credit is to be given But Aug. Eugabinus affirms That he himself had seen such Women called Ventriloquae which is the same with the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from whom as they sat a Voice came out of their Secret Parts and gave Answers to Enquiries And Caelius Rhodoginus Lib. VIII Antiq. Lect. cap. 10. saith this is not to be entertained with Laughter for not only he saw such a Woman and heard a very small Voice coming out of her Belly but innumerable other People not only at Rhodigium but in a manner through all Italy Among whom there were many great Persons who had her stript naked that they might be sure there was no fraud to whom a Voice answered unto such things as they enquired Hieron Oleaster also upon XXIV Isa 4. saith he saw such an one at Lisbon from under whose Arm-holes and other parts of her a small Voice was heard which readily answered to whatever was asked Neither seek after Wizards The Hebrew word Jideonim importing Knowledge as all confess signifies such as we call Cunning-men who pretended to tell what was lost or what Fortune people should have And these were Men as far as I can judge as the other were mostly Women who held intelligence with some Daemon For this word seems to have the very same derivation in Hebrew which the other hath in Greek for all say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are as much as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã knowers and Jideonim are as much as Joadim which is the very same futurorum conscij as Mr. Selden observes And so the LXX translate it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Kings XXI 7. though here and XX. ult they render it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and elsewhere ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This knowledge they pretended to obtain as some think by looking into the Entrails of their Sacrifices or as Maimonides will have it by putting the Bone of a certain Bird called Jadua into their Mouths with certain Fumes and Adjurations which made them fall into an Ecstasie and foretel things to come R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCLIX And there are those who think that these Jideonim were such as pretended by Charms to cure Diseases c. of which we can have no certainty and it seems to rely only on the LXX in this place who as I observed translate it by a more general word in another To be defiled by them With the foulest sins For seeking to these was a forsaking of God and one peculiar kind of Idolatry And therefore they that were guilty of it were to be stoned as the same R. Levi observes if they committed this sin knowingly and there were Witnesses of it If there were no Witnesses then they were left to God to be cut off by his hand XX. 6. I am the LORD your God Unto whom you are to seek for all that you desire Ver. 32. Verse 32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head That they might accustom themselves to Modesty and Humility as Maimonides glosses upon this Law More Nevoch P. III. cap. 36. for the maintenance of which the usage was they say to rise up to them when they were at the distance of four Cubits and as soon as they were gone by to sit down again that it might appear they rose up purely in respect to them To this Nature directed all civilized People who anciently as Juvenal says Satyr XIII believed this a
great wickedness to be punished with death if a young Man did not rise up to an old Credebant hoc grande nefas morte piandum Si juvenis vetulo non assurrexerat And such a Law there was established among the Lacedaemonians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That aged Persons should be reverenced no less than if they were their Fathers And so Plato ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let every one reverence him that is elder than himself in deed and in word Lib. IX de Legibus p. 875. Where he requires that a Youth should honour a Stranger that was his ancient and hath this memorable saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. That Youth should glory more in obeying well than in ruling well And first of all in obeying the Laws for this is all one with serving God and next in giving honour to old Men and to those especially who have passed their days honourably and with glory See more to this purpose in Henricus Stephanus de juris civilis font rivis And there was the greater reason for this Reverence toward old Men in this Nation there being nothing else among them but Age and Experience that could distinguish them for they were all equally noble and equally rich of the same Profession and brought up in the same manner And honour the face of the old Man Or of the Elder that is of those who were skilful in the Law as the Jews interpret it and I see no reason to contradict it as some have done since he speaks of aged Persons before See Mr. Selden Lib. I. de Synedr cap. 14. where he deduces this at large and another excellent Writer of our own Mr. Thorndike in his Rights of the Church in a Christian State p. 214 c. For if such as taught the Law had not been honoured before Men no body would have minded their words nor received what they propounded about things to be known or to be done as Maimonides words are in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 36. And it made no difference of what Age he was whether an old Man or a young for some Elders it appears by Daniel were not aged but the same honour was given to him even by wise Men as R. Levi Barcelonita shows Praecept CCXXII And fear thy God This is the fountain of all Vertue particularly of the fore-mentioned God having imprinted a venerable Character upon those who are grown aged especially on such as are wise and instruct others in Vertue But some of the Hebrews think that in this Verse there are three Degrees of Honour enjoyned to three Ranks of Men one to the Aged the next to the Wise and Learned and the third to the Judges who they imagine are here meant by Elohim God whom they are commanded to fear or reverence I am the LORD Most high above all and therefore greatly to be feared Ver. 33. Verse 33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your Land ye shall not vex him Not so much as by upbraiding him with his being a Stranger or his having worshipped Idols heretofore For of such a Stranger they understand this as was become a Proselyte to their Religion See XVII 8 12 13. and XXII Exod. 21. But common Humanity teaches every Body to be kind to all manner of Stangers and not meerly to refrain from oppressing them or giving them vexation Plato hath most excellent Discourses about this in several places particularly Lib. V. de Legibus where he shows that God is the Avenger of all Wrongs done to Strangers more than of those that are done to our fellow Citizens ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. For a Stranger being destitute of Friends and Kindred is the greater object of pity both of Men and of God And therefore he that can hurt most should be most ready to help him c. See p. 729 730. Edit Serrani Upon which account he makes it lawful for a Stranger to pluck any of the best Fruit as he is upon his way whether Grapes Figs or Apples c. Lib. VIII p. 845. And the Corn being divided as he would have it into twelve parts and a twelfth part divided into three he orders one of those third parts to be given to Strangers p. 847 848. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for a Stranger or Sojourner ought to be comforted in a most friendly manner c. See Lib. XII p. 952 953. Ver. 34. Verse 34 But the stranger that dwelleth with thee shall be as one born among you They understand this only of such a Stranger who by Circumcision was become a perfect Proselyte whom they were to be so far from oppressing that they were to treat him as if he had been a Native Jew and love him as a Brother And thou shalt love him as thy self He had commanded them v. 18. to love their Neighbour i. e. an Israelite they expound it as themselves and now he commands them to love a Stranger with the same Affection which demonstrates they think he was become an Israelite and therefore was to have the same Priviledges with themselves both in all Civil and Sacred things And this no doubt was true that they were bound to treat such a Proselyte with a tender Affection and to make no difference between him and an Israelite For he was to be admitted to eat of the Paschal Lamb and of the Peace-offerings and he might marry with an Israelite insomuch that Moses saith One Ordinance shall be for both XV Numb 15. All the difference I can find was That they never admitted any Stranger to be a Member of the great Sanhedrim But notwithstanding all this I cannot think it reasonable to exclude all other Strangers from their Affection but they were bound to love them and to be kind to them though not to embrace them with such a strict Friendship as the other And to confirm this it may be observed That in the fourth Commandment the Stranger within their Gate signifies as they confess not him that was a perfect Proselyte but only one that had renounced Idolatry And so they understand the word Stranger in the XXVth Chapter of this Book v. 47. and I see no reason why such a Stranger should not be admitted here to have a share in their Affection who was become a Worshipper of the true God though he had not taken upon him to observe the whole Law For ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt This Reason is little less than a Demonstration that such Strangers as I now mentioned are comprehended in the foregoing Precept For the remembrance of what their Condition was in Egypt is that whereby they are moved to have pity on those whom they found among themselves in the same and they and the Egyptians were not of the same Religion but found such kind entertainment there a long time as they were to give to those who were of their Religion This Argument indeed became stronger when any Persons were incorporated with them
and become more one with them than they were with the Egyptians but was of great force to procure kindness to those who did not live by their Laws I am the LORD your God Who have done so much for you when you were meer Strangers that you should not stick to be kind to those who are in the like Condition Ver. 35. Verse 35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment The Hebrews refer this word judgment to all the following particulars and think that Moses uses it here to show of what moment this Law is which he calls doing judgment So that he who measures or weighs hath the Office of a Judge and if he commit any fraud in his Measures or Weights he is a corrupter of Judgment and is called wicked abominable accursed They are the words of R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCLX where he adds that such Men are the cause of five Mischiefs which are imputed to unjust Judges who defile the Land prophane the Name of God remove the Presence of the Divine Majesty bring a Sword upon the People and at last carry them captive out of their own Country And therefore great Punishments have been enacted in all Countries against this Crime as destructive to Human Society Particularly Justinian ordained that such Offenders should be beaten ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sorely as impious People In mete-yard By which they measured Lands Cloath and such like things for Middah as Fosterus observes is the Measure of continued quantity viz. in things dry In weight By which they paid and received Money in those days and sold Brass and Iron and things of like nature Or in measure The Hebrew word Mesurah from whence seems to come the Latin Mensura and our English word Measure denotes the Measure of Discrete Quantity as we speak as of Corn and of all continued Fluid Quantity as of Wine and Oil. And the forenamed R. Levi will have it to signifie the very least of such Measures about which saith he the Law concerns it self that Men should be exact in them as well as in the greatest And so Hesychius here notes that Moses provides against all Injustice in small things as well as in great for what the possession of a Field or a House is to a wealthy Man that the measure of Wine or Corn or the weight of Bread is to the Poor who have daily need of such things for the support of their Life Ver. 36. Verse 36 Just balances just weights This Verse only positively requires strict justice in those things wherein the former Verse forbad all deceit And these two words refer to things sold by weight A just Ephah and a just Hin shall ye have These two words Ephah and Hin comprehend all sorts of Measures of things whether wet or dry And that they might have such just Weights and Measures among them the Standard of them was kept in the Sanctuary by which all were to be governed as appears from 1 Chron. XXIII 29. See XXX Exod. 13. The Jewish Doctors also say that it was a Constitution of their wise Men for the preventing all Fraud in these matters that no Weights Balances or Measures should be made of any Metal as of Iron Lead Tin c. which were obnoxious to rust or might be bent or easily impaired but of Marble Stone or Glass which were less liable to be abused For these Constitutions Moses was so famous that his Name was celebrated on the account of them in other Nations Nay Lucius Ampelius a rude kind of Writer but who had collected much out of better Authors saith that Mochus was the Inventer of Scales and Weights and that his memory is preserved in the Constellation called Libra Now if for Mochus we read Moschos it is the very name of Moses in Hebrew viz. Moscheh who is called so by other Authors as the learned Huetius observes in his Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. cap. 7. n. 16. I am the LORD your God which brought you out of the Land of Egypt This is the general reason for their Obedience which is repeated in this Chapter above a dozen times Sometimes more briefly I am the LORD and sometimes a little larger I am the LORD your God and here with this addition which brought you out of the Land of Egypt Whereby he in a special manner demonstrates himself both to be their LORD faithful to his promise VI Exod. 3. and their God who obliged them to his Service by the most singular benefit Ver. 37. Verse 37 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes and all my judgments and do them These words Statutes and Judgments comprehend all the Laws of God some of which were Prohibitions which they were to mark and observe diligently so as to abstain from such things and others Precepts or Commands which they were to practise and do according to them I am the LORD No more need be said to engage your Obedience in every thing than this that I am your Soveraign and the Soveraign of the whole World CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Sometime after the delivery of the Laws mentioned in the two foregoing Chapters the chief of them were inforced with the addition of Penalties which are set down in this Chapter Ver. 2. Verse 2 Again thou shalt say to the Children of Israel Repeat what I said before XVIII 21. and add this which follows unto it Whosoever he be of the Children of Israel or of the stranger that sojourneth among you The Proselytes who had embraced their Religion were no less concerned in this Law than the Native Israelites See XVII 8 10 c. That giveth any of his seed unto Molech This looks like the Prohibition before given XVIII 21. and R. Levi gives this reason of its repitition because it was a piece of Idolatrous Worship so usual in those days when the Law was delivered that there needed great indeavours to preserve them from it Praecept CCVIII And Maimonides also observes as I noted upon XVIII 21. that Idolaters used to fright People into this Worship by telling them their Children would dye if they did not make them pass through the fire and thereby devote them to their Gods But upon due consideration of these words it may appear probable that there is something more in them than in the former importing a higher degree of this sin For to give their Children to Molech seems to be no less than to offer them in Sacrifices So Christ giving himself for us constantly signifies in the New Testament which was a more horrid thing than meerly making them pass through the fire which did them no hurt And therefore this Crime is here forbidden under the Penalty of Death whereas in the XVIIIth Chapter no punishment is threatned Certain it is Children were really burnt upon the Altars of the ancient Pagans especially in times of great Distress when they hoped to pacisie the Anger of their Gods by offering to
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they might Divine by looking into their Bowels as Joh. âââsius 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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
never to shave with a Rason to be in the Sanctuary every day and to go home not above twice in a day to have but one Wife at a time and going into the Temple to have three other Priests with him c. So Maimonides in Cele Mikdash cap. 8. Ver. 16. Verse 16 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Upon this occasion God gave some other Precepts concerning the Priests who were to wait upon him in his House and at his Table Ver. 17. Verse 17 Speak unto Aaron saying Having forbidden such Marriages as would have been a dishonour to the Priesthood had they been permitted he now forbids any to serve at his Altar who had the least blemish in his Body for that would have disparaged his Divine Service Whoever he be of thy seed Whether High-Priest or the common Priests In their generations In future Ages as well as the present That hath any blemish From these general words the Hebrew Doctors conclude that not only the particular blemishes afterward mentioned made them uncapable to minister but all other whatsoever which appeared in the Body of which these here named are but a Specimen or Example So Maimonides in Biath Hammikdash whose words are The blemishes expressed in the Law are propounded for examples of the rest Which they reckon to be in all CXLII accounting only those which openly appeared and not those which were inward in the Kidneys Bladder or Bowels because there are no examples of such in the particulars which here follow They are divided by the Doctors into three Classes Such as made Beasts unfit to be offered XXII 20. as well as Priests unfit to minister of which sort they reckon fifty And such as only made Priests uncapable to minister of which sort they reckon ninety And such as only made Men look ill-favouredly which were but two See Mr. Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontific cap. 5. Let him not approach Unto the Altar To offer the bread of his God i. e. To Sacrifice See v. 6. and III. 2. Ver. 18. Verse 18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish Though never so wise or pious He shall not approach He makes it a standing Law that no Man that had a blemish should come to minister unto him at his Altar And a reasonable Law it was approved by Pagans themselves for it is the very first qualification which Plato requires in him who was to be made a Priest that he should be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. perfect in all his parts and not a Bastard and that he should be born of honest Parents who had lived without the blemish of Murder or any other Impiety Lib. VI. de Legibus p. 759. And such a Law there was among the ancient Romans Sacerdos integer sit That a Priest should be intire in all his parts Which Seneca mentioning IV Controv. 2. explains it by the example of Metellus who losing his Eyes by adventuring to snatch the Palladium out of the Flames when the Temple of Vesta was burnt was denied the Prieststood For though he had done great Service which did him great honour yet their Opinion was That Sacerdos non integri corporis quasi mali ominis res vitandus est a Priest who wanted any part of his Body was to be avoided as a thing that boded ill For thus it was in Sacrifices and therefore they thought with much more reason it should be so in the Priests that offered them See Dilherrus Disput Academ Tom. II. p. 187 c. A blind man or a lame Such natural defects which befal us without or against our will as Procopius Gazaeus observes are not to be imputed to us as any fault and therefore he thinks such Vices in the Mind as answer to these Blemishes in the Body are here intended by Moses Yet he could not but acknowledge that if we will follow the literal sense which no doubt is meant by these words it is not becoming to see a Man perform Priestly Offices who hath any visible blemish in his Body for instance that halts or cannot walk unless he have one to lead him But Moses he still thinks had a respect to higher Matters viz. to all the good qualities that St. Paul requires in a Bishop And therefore by a blind Man he understands one without knowledge and by a lame one that walks not uprightly in the ways of God's Commandments Such accommodations are so easie that I need not further take notice of them Or he that hath a flat Nose In the two first words blind or lame there was no difficulty but the word harum which we translate hath a flat Nose is not so plain Yet the Hebrews generally agree it signifies one the upper part of whose Nose was so depressed that the two Eye-brows seemed to meet and to be but one as Bochartus observes out of R. Solomon in his Canaan Lib. I. cap. 33. p. 655. Or any thing superfluous The Hebrew word Saruae signifies any Member disproportionable to the rest but more especially as their Doctors take it the inequality of those Members that are pairs as when one of Man's Eyes or Ears or Legs was bigger than the other Ver. 19. Verse 19 Or a man that is broken-footed Though a Man did not halt yet if his Foot was so broken that it look'd deformed he was uncapable to minister to the Divine Majesty because it rendred him contemptible in the Eyes of the People at least not so graceful as the Servants of the most High were to be Or broken-handed Any fracture in the Hand made a Man more remarkably unfit than the foregoing blemish because by this part all the Divine Offices were to be performed Ver. 20. Verse 20 Or crook-backt The Hebrew word Gibben properly signifies bunch-backt whether the bunch came from the luxation of the back-bone or from a swelling in the flesh Or a dwarf Who besides that he lookt despicably was not able to reach up to the Altar The Marginal translation may be justified from the Hebrew for dark in that Language signifies lean or slender but then the meaning must be one whose flesh was wasted by a Consumption The Vulgar took it for one blear-eyed And the LXX also thought it signified some Disease in the Eyes if the Complutensian Edition be right where this word is translated ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But other Editions leave out the two last words and then it is uncertain what ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies but most likely some ill-favoured spots or pustles in the Face Or that hath a blemish in his eye The Hebrew words toballul beeno signifies one that hath a confused spot in the Eye Which is called by the Chaldee Paraphrasts and by the Talmudists Chillez and Chalazon which is the very same with the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã importing a concretion of a white Humor like to an Hailstone ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Aegineta speaks and Galen also See Bochart in his
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
should presume to do it in their Uncleanness Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons that they separate themselves Viz. When they were in their Uncleanness v. 3. From the holy things of the Children of Israel Abstain from eating v. 3 4 12. of that part of the Sacrifices which belonged to the Priests but was to be eaten only by such of them as were free from Legal Impurities VII 20 21. Nor were they to eat of the First-fruits which were also their portion XVIII Numb 12 13. but they might eat of the Tythes which were allowed for their constant Sustenance And that they profane not my holy Name This is the very ground of this Prohibition that they might preserve in their minds a due reverence to the Divine Majesty unto whom as they might not approach so they might not meddle with any thing Consecrated to him in a state of Legal Impurity All great Persons are to be approached with a great deal of Ceremony especially when any are invited to their Table otherwise they might fall into contempt And therefore much more was this reverence to be shown to the Divine Majesty that they might entertain high Apprehensions of him by abstaining from all things belonging to him when they were under any pollution In those things which they hallow unto me Which the Children of Israel devoted unto God For so the foregoing words and the next Verse explain it I am the LORD The greatest regard is to be paid to my Majesty Ver. 3. Verse 3 Say unto them whosoever he be of your seed Of the Priests Among your generations In succeeding times That goeth unto the holy things To eat of them as appears from v. 4 6 12. Which the Children of Israel hallow unto the LORD Offer to him at his Altar Having his uncleanness upon him For which they were to separate themselves v. 2. That soul shall be cut off from my presence Thrust out of the Priests Office no more to minister at the Altar and then it was the act of a Judge or cut off from the Land of the Living which was done by the Hand of Heaven I am the LORD Who will vindicate my own Honour Ver. 4. Verse 4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron These words of the seed of Aaron include his Daughters as well as his Sons who might eat of some holy things XVIII Numb 11 19. but not in their Uncleanness Is a leper or hath a running issue There are eleven Fountains of Uncleanness as the Hebrews speak two of which are these here mentioned as appears from XIII 3. XV. 2. He shall not eat of the holy things until he be clean See XIV 2. XV. 13. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead or a man whose seed goes from him These were two other Fountains of Uncleanness XI 31 32 c. XV. 16. Ver. 5. Verse 5 Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing whereby he may be made unclean See XI 24 c. Or a man of whom he may take uncleanness XV. 7. Whatsoever uncleanness he hath Suppose the Leprosie XIII 45. These are two such Fountains of Uncleanness as the former Ver. 6. Verse 6 The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even and shall not eat c. So the Law was in the forenamed Cases as appears by the places above-mentioned Ver. 7. Verse 7 And when the Sun is down he shall be clean Having washed his flesh with water And shall afterward eat of the holy things because it is his food God was so gracious as not to keep a Priest any longer in a state wherein he should want his necessary or comfortable Sustenance Ver. 8. Verse 8 That which dieth of it self or is torn with beasts he shall not eat to defile himself therewith This was forbidden before to all the Israelites XVII 15. but made a Priest no longer unclean than an ordinary Man because of the foregoing reason I am the LORD Who will have my Ministers pure from all such pollutions The remainder of which were the uncleanness of the Water of Separation as Maimonides speaks XIX 21. and of the great Sacrifice of Expiation XVI 28. and of a menstruous Woman XV. 9. and of a Woman in Child-bed XII 2. But nothing made Men so unclean as the dead Body of a Man which defiled not only him that touched it for seven days but all that came into the House and every thing that was in the House where he died XIX Numb 11.14 which was the reason of the foregoing Law that the High-Priest should not go in to the dead Body of his Father or Mother nor any inferiour Priest be defiled for any but their near Relations XXI 1 2 11. Ver. 9. Verse 9 They shall therefore keep mine Ordinance Observe this Constitution because I who am their LORD make it Lest they bear sin for it Be punished if they break it And die therefore As Nadab and Abihu did who presumed to break another Law about holy things If they profane it By eating of the holy things in their Uncleanness I the LORD do sanctifie them Separate them to my Service and by such Constitutions teach them carefully to avoid all pollutions Ver. 10. Verse 10 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing The holy thing here mentioned is that before-named X. 14. and by a Stranger he doth not mean one of another Nation but one that is not of the Seed of Aaron or is not one of his Family For the word in the Hebrew is not Nechar which properly signifies such a Stranger as is not an Israelite but Zar which signifies any one to whom a thing doth not belong as holy things did not to those who were not at least part of the Priests Family though not of his Race For that such might eat of them who were not of their Race provided they belonged to them as a part of their Family appears from the next Verse A sojourner of the Priest Who boards with him as we now speak or dwells in a part of his House as some understand it but hath a distinct Family Or an hired servant Such were those who served by the day XIX 13. or for a certain time and after that might dispose of themselves as they pleased Shall not eat of the holy thing None of these might eat of the Priests portion X. 14. XVIII Numb 11. because they were not Members of his Family Ver. 11. Verse 11 But if the Priest buy any soul i.e. Person with his money There were those of their own Nation who by their Poverty were compelled to sell themselves or their Children XXV 39. and others they bought of other Nations v. 44 45 c. who becoming Proselytes to the Jews Religion were permitted to eat of the Priest's Meat because they became part of his Family And he that is born in his house c. They that were born of such purchased Servants were their Masters Goods and
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
Vows i. e. they vowed a Sacrifice to God for they could not Sacrifice on Ship-board when he had brought them to a safe Port. And so Cicero speaks of certain Mariners who being tossed in a Tempest vowed if they gained their Haven Ei Deo qui ibi esset se vitulum immolaturos They would offer a Calf to the God of that place And Homer in like manner brings in the Mother of Telemachus vowing perfect Hecatombs unto all the Gods if she might obtain her desire Odyss XVII v. 59. Or a free-will-offering This also was a Peace-offering for obtaining Blessings not when they were in distress I suppose but in general to procure God's favour to them and theirs In Beeves or Sheep And likewise Goats for all these were allowed in Peace-offerings III. 1 6 12. It shall be perfect to be accepted That was accounted perfect which wanted none of its parts nor had any defect in any of them The Heathen themselves did not think any other would be accepted and therefore made a careful choice of their Sacrifices as appears by those words of Virgil Lib. IV. AEneid v. 57. Mactant lectas de more bidentes Which he calls elsewhere eximij singled out as most excellent Lib. IV. Georg. v. 550. Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros And that they might be such there was probatio victimarum a proof made of Sacrifices as Pliny speaks Lib. VIII cap. 45. where he saith such as were lame or had one leg shorter than the other were rejected Which probation was to be made by those that brought the Sacrifices but if they did not do their duty the Priest upon examination refused to admit them to be offered There shall be no blemish therein This is an explication of what he means by perfect Which Solon who seems to have taken the Rites of Religion from Moses called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the explication of which word Hesychius after several other expressions concludes with this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which neither hath any part more or less than it should have Julius Pollux who reports this of Solon hath a great number of other words to express the perfection required in Sacrifices which were to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lib. I. cap. 1. some of which are of the same signification and serve only to show how compleat their Sacrifices were to be Ver. 22. Verse 22 Blind or broken c. In this and the following Verses he mentions XII blemishes which render any Beast unfit for Sacrifice And the first is blind under which the Hebrews comprehend that which the Latins call Cocles a Beast that hath but one eye Or broken In the Bones of the Thighs or the Legs Or maimed Most take it for that which the Latins call mutilum that which lacketh any part The LXX took it more particularly for that which had its Tongue cut out The Hebrew Doctors for that whose Eye-brows or Lips were slit or cut off Which is nearer to the Hebrew word charuts than the Vulgar which translates it only a Scar. Or having a wen. The Hebrews generally understand by the word jabbeleth that which the Latins call Verruca a Wart or hard Knob rising in the flesh which is better than the Vulgar who translates it papulas which properly signifies Pimples Pushes or Wheals But I think our Translation cannot be mended a Wen being a more manifest deformity and more common in Beasts than the other Or Scurvy This is that which the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Itch. Or scabbed Some take this word to signifie the same with the Latin impetigo i. e. a Ring-worm or Tetter which spreads in the skin with a dry Scab though others take it for that which they call Porrigo for which I know no English word unless it be the mangy The Hebrews take it for the Porrigo AEgyptiaca as Bochart observes a Scabby Disease of this kind frequent among the Egyptians Ye shall not offer these unto the LORD Not so much as present them to be offered in Sacrifice Nor make an offering by fire of them upon the Altar unto the LORD Much less burn them upon the Altar for the LORD will not accept such Sacrifices Ver. 23. Verse 23 Either a Bullock or a Lamb that hath any thing superfluous This word we had before which we translate superfluous XXI 18. but it properly signifies the inequality and disproportion that there is between those parts that are pairs as the Eyes or Legs and particularly when one of them exceeds its just bigness ex gr when one Leg is longer than it should be Or lacking in his parts This word signifies just the quite contrary to the other when one part is less and more contracted than it should be one Leg supposed shorter than ordinary So all the Hebrews understand these words particularly Onkelos and Jonathan That mayest thou offer for a free-will-offering A very learned Person of our own takes these words for an Exception to the foregoing general Rule that such defects as these two should not hinder the acceptation of a Beast for a Free-will-offering though not for a Vow And it must be acknowledged that is the most plain and simple sense But the Jews as he observes particularly R. Solomon Jarchi expound them otherwise and will not have this Offering to signifie the Sacrifice of such things at the Altar but the giving them to the Priest for some Sacred use to be sold for instance for the reparation of the Temple for which they were accepted See Dr. Owtram Lib. I. de Sacrificiis cap. 9. n. 2. But for a vow it shall not be accepted Free-will-offerings were much different from Vows there being no obligation upon them to offer the former as there was to offer the latter and a less perfect Creature would be accepted in the one case though not in the other Ver. 24. Verse 24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised or crushed or broken or cut That is as the Hebrews interpret it and so do the LXX and the Vulgar any Beast whose Testicles were compressed or bruised c. For these four ways they used to castrate a Lamb for instance and make it a Wether and so they did with Kids and Calves as Bochart observes out of Aristotle and others in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 46. Neither shall you make any offering thereof in your land The word Offering is not in the Hebrew and this passage may be thus exactly translated Neither in your Land shall ye make or do So the LXX the sense of which the Vulgar expresses by adding the word this i.e. the fore-named castration either by compression or contusion or any other way For Josephus saith it was unlawful among them to geld any Creature which was prohibited to keep them from doing so with Men which they were taught to be abominable And these words suggested as much being thus translated Neither in your Land shall it be done
See Selden Lib. VII de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 3. p. 799. Ver. 25. Verse 25 Neither from a strangers hand By bennechar the Son of a Stranger as it is in the Hebrew who is called XXV 47. a Stranger and Sojourner viz. a Gentile that dwelt among them is meant a pious Man of another Nation who had renounced Idolatry and abstained from Blood and observed the rest of the Precepts of the Sons of Noah as they called them but was not Circumcised which would have obliged him to the whole Law of Moses Such Persons being worshippers of the true God were permitted to bring him Sacrifices to be offered at his Altar See Grotius Lib. I. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 1. sect 16. n. 3. Shall ye offer the bread of your God from any of these Some have taken these words as if no Sacrifice was to be accepted from a Gentile but only Money with which the Priest might buy a Sacrifice and offer it for him But this is confuted by v. 18. and here it is evident he only forbids them to accept of any Sacrifice which had the fore-named blemishes from a Gentile Who might think them not unacceptable because the Gentiles made no scruple to offer such as these last mentioned to their Gods though their Laws in some places were against it The Bread of your God The Hebrews understand hereby to be meant only Burnt-offerings which Maimonides saith were accepted from a Gentile even Burnt-offerings of Birds though he had not yet renounced Idolatry But they were not to accept from him Peace-offerings or Meat-offerings or Sacrifices for Sins of Ignorance IV. 27. or Trespass-offerings mentioned VI. 6. nor was a Burnt-offering to be accepted unless it was a Free-will-offering or a Vow as Mr Selden observes Lib. III. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 4. But if he brought such spontaneous Offerings as had the fore mentioned blemishes the Priest was to reject them though the Gentiles might say they were such as had been accepted by his Gods or else he was to be scourged So this Law is briefly expounded by the Jews when they reckon it up among their Precepts that a defective Sacrifice is not to be accepted no not from the hand of a Gentile as he observes in the same Book cap. 7. where he discourses at large on this Subject And it need not seem strange a Gentile should bring any such Sacrifices when their Laws as I observed before required a choice to be made for they were not so curious in their choice as the Hebrews but as Tertullian upbraids them sacrificed enecta tabidosa scabiosa Apolog. adv Gentes cap. 13. Which the better sort of People perhaps did not offer but the Vulgar did and the Priests made no scruple to accept them Because their corruption is in them and blemishes be in them The word corruption seems particularly to relate unto the fore-mentioned castration for it signifies such a Corruption as is the destruction of any Member See Bochart in his Hierozoicon p. 2. Lib. V. cap. 4. And blemishes relate to other defects which made them unacceptable Twelve of which as I said are here mentioned but the Hebrews look upon them only as Examples and Specimens of other the like defects which they make in all to be fifty as I observed before out of Selden Lib. II. de Success ad Pontific cap. 5. Maimonides gives us a Catalogue of them in his Treatise of Entrance into the Sanctuary cap. 7. but to make up that full number he is constrained to add these three which have no example among the XII here mentioned viz. such as tremble by age or by some disease or are torn by wild Beasts Ver. 26. Verse 26 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying These Laws following being of the same nature were in all likelyhood delivered at the same time with the foregoing Ver. 27. Verse 27 And when a Bullock or Sheep or Goat is brought forth These were the only Beasts that were allowed to be sacrificed v. 19. Then it shall be seven days under the dam and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering c. They were not fit for Food when they were not seven days old and therefore not for Sacrifice which was the Bread or Food of God as it is called v. 25. But this hath been sufficiently explained before XXII Exod. 30. I shall only add that I have since observed that P. Cunaeus hath briefly expressed the sense of Maimonides which I there represented Lib. III. de Republ. Hebraeor cap. 5. and that the Gentiles were so far from offering Creatures so young that they thought them fittest for Sacrifice when they were two years old as appears from the words of Virgil before-mentioned Mactant lactas de more bidentes where Servius saith that bidentes were so called because they were biennes two years of age for it was not lawful to Sacrifice those that were younger nor those that were older Ver. 28. Verse 28 And whether it be Cow or Ewe ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day Lest the young one saith Maimonides should happen to be killed before the Dam which would have given the greatest grief to her More Nevoch P. III. cap. 48. Any thing that lookt like Cruelty therefore was by this Law banished from among them for they might not so much as kill both the Young and the Dam on the same day to offer them to God himself of which he is here speaking Ver. 29. Verse 29 And when ye will offer a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving unto the LORD He had mentioned Free-will-offerings and Vows before v. 21. and now briefly touches upon the third sort of Peace-offerings See VII 15 16. Offer it at your own will Male or Female of the Herd or of the Flock III. 1 7 12. Or the meaning may be as hath been often said He shall offer it in such a manner as that it be accepted See I. 3. Ver. 30. Verse 30 On the same day it shall be eaten c. See VII 15. Ver. 31. Verse 31 Therefore shall ye keep my Commandments and do them c. Because he had said before v. 30. and now repeats it again in the conclusion of this Verse I am the LORD To whom they owed obedience especially when he required they should reverently use all holy things Ver. 32. Verse 32 Neither shall ye profane my holy Name This may refer either to what goes before that they should not make him and his Service contemptible by offering such things as were defective c. or be taken as a Precept by it self And then the Name of God was profaned three ways as Mr. Selden observes besides the most grievous of all by Blasphemy Either when a Man for fear of death violated the Divine Law or when he contemptuously and wantonly broke any Precept or when a Man of great note for Knowledge and Piety gave a Scandal to others
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Greeks called them general Assemblies of all
the Country to do honour to their Gods As in Egypt we are told by Herodotus Lib. II. cap. 59. they did once a year ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in honour of Isis Mars and Diana The like was in other Nations as every body knows Dr. Hammond hath observed something concerning this phrase holy Convocations upon XX S. Matth. not c. Which ye shall proclaim in their seasons Or in their appointed times which here follow Ver. 5. Verse 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month See XII Exod. 18. At even See XII Exod. 6. Is the LORDs Passover See XII Exod. 27. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD c. That is then the seven days of eating unleavened Bread were to begin XII Exod. 15. Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread See XII Exod. 19 20. Ver. 7. Verse 7 On the first day ye shall have an holy Convocation XII Exod. 16. Ye shall do no servile work therein Such days as these were not observed so scrupulously as the seventh day of every week on which as I observed before they might not coil nor bake i. e. prepare their Meat which on this day was allowed as appears from the place last named in Exodus Nor might they stir out of their place i. e. take a Journey on the Sabbath XVI Exod. 29. but on this day they might As appears from XVI Deut. 7. where having sacrificed the Passover and eaten it on the fourteenth day at Even they have leave given them to go home the next Morning which was the first day of unleavened Bread For on this very day betimes in the morning they came out of Egypt and travelled from Rameses to Succoth By servile work therefore we are to understand their ordinary Labours on other days from which both they and their Servants were to abstain on this day Which it was the custom of all Nations to forbear upon such great Solemnities as Strabo informs us Lib. X. where he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This is common both to Greeks and Barbarians to keep their holy days with a festival remission of their labours Ver. 8. Verse 8 And ye shall offer an offering made by fire seven days unto the LORD These were not meerly idle times but days for Divine Service about which there is a particular direction given afterwards XXVIII Numb from the 19th Verse to the 25th where the Sacrifices for every one of the seven days are prescribed And though there is no mention of any particular work of the Moral Service of God upon these days no more than there is of that Sanctification of the Sabbath-day yet the Jews were not so blind but that they were able to perceive the Spiritual Service of God by Prayers and Praises and hearing the Law and meditating upon God's works was required on these days especially on the Sabbath which appears from Josephus and Philo and divers others of their later Writers In the seventh day is an holy Convocation XII Exod 16. Ye shall do no servile work therein It was to be observed as the first day of the seven that the Feast might conclude as it began Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Though the following Command could not be yet practised yet he would have them take a particular notice of it as no less solemnly enjoyned than the foregoing Ver. 10. Verse 10 Speak unto the Children of Israel They being all concerned in this Precept And say unto them when ye be come into the Land which I give unto you In the Wilderness they sowed no Corn and therefore could not be obliged by this Precept till they came to Canaan nay till they had driven out the old Inhabitants and God had given them rest in the Land of Promise as Moses himself seems to expound it XII Deut. 10 11. And shall reap the harvest thereof Begin to reap it as it is explained XVI Deut. 9. Then ye shall bring a Sheaf Or an handful as it is translated in the Margin of our Bibles And there was the very same custom among the Heathen to bring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an handful of the new Corn to be offered to their Gods as Diodorus Siculus saith the practice was among the Egyptians Of the First-sruits There were several things comprehended under the name of First-fruits which are commanded to be offered unto God XXIII Exod. 19. The Greeks have accurately distinguished them by proper and peculiar Names ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã were the First-born of Men or of Cattle mentioned XIII Exod. Then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã were the first Corn that was ripe or the first fruit of Trees which they brought from the Field or from their Plantations before they eat any themselves And then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Hebrews call Terumoth or Trumoth were the First-fruits of their Wine and Oil XVIII Numb 12. and the first Loaves or Cakes made of their Wheat mentioned below v. 17. See there Of your harvest Of Barley-harvest which began at the Passover when they offered the First-fruits here mentioned as Wheat-harvest began at Pentecost when they offered the First-fruits mentioned v. 17 as at the Feast of Tabernacles those of the Vine and other Fruit-trees were brought and offered And so much weight was laid on this and there were so many of them and such care taken of their payment because this was held by all Mankind as a principal part of Religion to make this early Acknowledgment to God for his Goodness Insomuch that they who offered no First-fruits were lookt upon as Atheists So Porphyry Lib. 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sect 78. And indeed this was a practice derived from the beginning of the World IV Gen. 3 4. Aristotle himself testifies as much when he saith Lib. VIII ad Nichomachum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The ancient Sacrifices and Assemblies were after the carrying in the Harvest when they offered the First-fruits ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for they chiefly relaxed themselves at those Seasons Vnto the Priest Who offered part of it to God and had the rest himself For thus the Jews describe the gathering and offering of them On the Evening of the first day of the Passover-week some were ordered by the Sanhedrim to take Sickles and Baskets c. and go out when it was dark having a great Company with them and cut a Sheaf of Corn which they brought into the Court of God's House and parcht it as may be gathered from the second Chapter of this Book 14 15 16. and having ground it they sifted it often no less than thirteen times till it was very fine flour After which they took out a Tenth-deal an Omer which was the tenth part of an Ephah and brought it to the Priest who took out an handful and put it on the Altar with Oil and Frankincense and the remainder he had for himself See Dr. Lightfoot in
his Temple Service Chap. XIV sect 2. Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 8. n. 6. And J. Wagenseil upon Sota cap. 2. Annot. 11. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD They did not offer the Corn green in the Ears as I observed in the foregoing Verse but parcht dried ground and searsed and then they waved a Tenth-deal of the Flour which came from the Sheaf as a present to the LORD of the whole Earth To be accepted for you To procure God's Blessing upon the rest of the Harvest and that they might have liberty to use the Corn it produced which it was not lawful for them to do till the First-fruits were given to God On the morrow after the Sabbath the Priest shall wave it We are not to understand by the Sabbath the Seventh days Rest which was the Opinion of the Sadducees as R. Levi ben Gersom tells upon the fifth of Joshua but the day here mentioned v. 7. which was a kind of Sabbath because no Servile work might be done therein And therefore this morrow after the Sabbath was the sixteenth day of Nisan or the next day to the first of Unleavened Bread So the LXX translate it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the morrow after the first and Josephus more plainly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. on the second day of Vnleavened Bread which is the sixteenth day of the Month c. Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This was the first of the fifty days which they reckoned till Pentecost v. 15. and was the day on which Manna ceased when they came into Canaan because then they eat of the Fruits of that Country V Josh 10 11 12. And indeed it was not lawful for them as I said before to eat of the Fruits of the Earth till after the Passover because then the Sheaf of the First fruits was waved which consecrated the rest of the Corn. And so God continued Manna to them till they had other Food to eat Ver. 12. Verse 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish c. Though this day was not so holy as the first day of Unleavened Bread yet it was a part of the Festival and was called Moed katon a lesser Solemnity as all the rest of the days were between the first and the seventh And therefore a special Offering is here ordered upon this day besides the daily Burnt-Sacrifice and besides the Sacrifice which was appointed v. 8. to be offered upon every one of the seven days Ver. 13. Verse 13 And the Meat-offering thereof shall be two Tenth-deals of fine flour c. I observed before upon the second Chapter v. 1. that all sorts of Bread might be offered to God as being a very ancient Sacrifice and commonly used at every Table for which reason Wine also is here ordered but it was to be simple Wine not mixed as was the Heathenish Custom Salt also was added II. 13. as common at all Tables but no Honey nor Leaven which Mens Superstition had introduced and therefore expresly forbidden in that place v. 11. as it did also Milk and Herbs and Leaves of Trees not a word of which is to be found in the Law of Moses But here it is observable that he commands two Tenth-deals of fine Flour to be offered whereas one Tenth was the common Meat-offering XXIX Exod. 40. Because as one of them was a necessary attendant on the Lamb mentioned before v. 12. so the other was in honour of the day which was a lesser kind of Festival And the Drink-offering thereof shall be of wine the fourth part of a hin Here is not a double proportion of Wine ordered but the usual quantity because perhaps this was a Thanksgiving only for their Corn not for their Vintage which came afterwards Ver. 14. Verse 14 And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears until the self same day that ye have brought an offering to your God It was not lawful for them to reap and therefore not to eat any of the Fruits of the Earth till the forenamed First-fruits were offered as an acknowledgment to the Donor of them For nothing was more just and equal all Men thought than to give some part to him who gave to them all they had and in the first place to give him his due before they took any thing to themselves The Romans in this expressed the sense of all Mankind who as Pliny tells us Lib. XVIII cap. 2. Ne gustabant quidem novas fruges aut vina antequam Sacerdotes primitias tibassent did not so much as taste of their Corn or Wine till the Priests had offered the First-fruits It shall be a statute for ever c. As long as their Polity lasted In all your dwellings Throughout the whole Land of Canaan Ver. 15. Verse 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath From the sixteenth day of Nisan or the second day of Unleavened Bread which was the morrow after the Sabbath v. 11. From the day that ye brought the sheaf of the Wave-offering This is added only as a fuller description of the time from which they were to count Seven Sabbaths shall be compleat Seven whole Weeks reckoning that day from which the account begun for the first day of the first of those Weeks which made XLIX days in all Maimonides thinks it was for the honour of this great Day of Pentecost that they were to count the days till it came just like a Man saith he who expects his best Friend is wont to tell the days and hours till he arrive More Nevoch P. III. c. 43. And therefore the present Jews begin this Supputation with a solemn Prayer saying Blessed art thou O LORD our God the LORD of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commandest us to number the days of Harvest and this is the first day And thus they go on to pray till the seventh day when they add Now there is one Week and so they proceed in the same Prayers to the Evening of Pentecost Which Feast they not being able now to keep as the Law appoints they pray to God every day after they have done counting that he would restore Jerusalem and the Temple and then they promise to do all that is here prescribed And this counting in some places is performed publickly in their Synagogues yet so that every Master of a Family is bound every Night to do it at home See Buxtorf Synag Judaica cap. 20. Ver. 16. Verse 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days The next day after the seventh Sabbath or Week made just fifty days from which this Feast was called Pentecost and in the Old Testament the Feast of Weeks because it began the next day after the seven Weeks before-mentioned XXXIV Exod. 22. And ye shall offer a new Meat-offering to the LORD Viz.
Of new Corn made into Loaves as it follows in the next Verse which was the First-fruits of Wheat-harvest as the place before-mentioned tells us XXXIV Exod. 22. This day the Samaritans take to have been the first day of the Week after the very Letter of this Law which is thus made out by the great Primate of Ireland Our blessed LORD being slain at the Feast of the Passover the whole Sabbath following which was the first day of Unleavened Bread he rested in his Grave The next day after that Sabbath the Sheaf or Omer of the First-fruits of the Barley-harvest was offered to the LORD when Christ rose from the dead and became the First-fruits of them that slept From this day was the account taken of the seven Sabbaths or Weeks and upon the morrow after the Seventh that is upon our Lord's Day was celebrated the Feast of Weeks which is called the day of the First-fruits XXVIII Numb 26. because then were offered the First-fruits of their second or Wheat-Harvest and therefore called the Feast of ãâã XXIII Exod. 16. because then was the principal and the Conclusion of the whole Harvest of the year Upon which day the Apostles having themselves received the First-fruits of the Spirit begat three thousand Souls through the Word of Truth and presented them as the First-fruits of the Christian Church unto God and unto the Lamb. Now the matter being so ordered by God that in the observation of the Feast of Weeks the Seventh day of the Week the Jewish Sabbath was purposely passed over and that great Solemnity kept upon the first day of the Week no wonder the Christian Church hath appropriated that day instead of the Seventh for the Service of God Ver. 17. Verse 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations These Oblations seem to have been offered at a common charge in the name of the whole Nation which is the reason of this phrase Out of your habitations For to affirm as some do that two Loaves were to be brought out of every House or at least out of every Town is absurd for they may as well say seven Lambs as it follows which were offered with this Bread were to be furnished in like manner out of every Family or Town Two Wave-loaves of two Tenth-deals A double proportion as before v. 13. which was presented to God the LORD of the whole World by waving them to all quarters Each Loaf did not contain two Tenth-deals but there was one in each Loaf They shall be of fine flour Of Wheat They shall be baken with leaven And therefore were not burnt upon the Altar for that was unlawful II Lev. 11 12. but wholly given to the Priests Whence it was as the Jews observe that the Bread accompanying their Peace-offerings of Thanksgiving were leavened VII 13. and not burnt on the Altar but intirely given to the Priests the Servants of God who attended at his Altar that they might Feast together with him They are the first-fruits unto the LORD Other First-fruits are mentioned v. 10. but these were the principal being the First-fruits of Wheat-harvest which with all the rest are exactly enumerated by Nehemiah X. 35 36 37. And that place of Pliny mentioned v. 14. seems to prove that the Heathen offered both the first of their Fruits before they brought them out of their Fields and Vineyards and also the first of what was made of them after they were brought home Which they did partly out of gratitude to God to thank him for making the year fruitful and partly to pray him to grant fruitful Seasons for the future Ver. 18. Verse 18 And ye shall offer with the Bread seven Lambs without blemish c. This being a great day and Burnt-offerings being the noblest sort of Sacrifice purely in honour of God a greater number both of Lambs and other Creatures are required upon this Solemnity And one young Bullock and two Rams In XXVIII Numb 27. it is said Two young Bullocks and one Ram besides the seven Lambs Perhaps they were left to their liberty either to bring one young Bullock and two Rams or one Ram and two young Bullocks Or else those mentioned in Numbers were distinct Sacrifices besides those here mentioned and so Josephus saith Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. that there were offered upon this day three young Bullocks two Rams it should be three Rams and fourteen Lambs All which were offered besides the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of every day They shall be a Burnt-offering to the LORD with their Meat-offering c. There being all sorts of Sacrifices prescribed for the great Solemnity of this Day he mentions the Burnt-offering in the first place because it was the principal and offered next to the two Loaves Ver. 19. Verse 19 Then shall ye Sacrifice one Kid of the Goats for a Sin-offering Next followed the Sin-offering Which for a particular sin of the Congregation was a Bullock 18.14 but for the sins of the Nation in general only a Kid of the Goats For as Maimonides observes More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. the more grievous the Sin was the viler the Sacrifice there being no greater Sin than Idolatry nor viler Sacrifice than a She-goat and yet this was the Expiation of that Sin as they interpret IV. 27. XV Numb 17. And two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings Double the number to what was commonly offered For this being an high day all sorts of Sacrifices as I said before were offered Burnt-offerings Sin-offerings and Peace-offerings upon it and in greater proportions except the Sin-offering then on other days And these were the only Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation of Israel offered only at this one time of the year and never else Ver. 20. Verse 20 And the Priest shall wave them with the Bread of the First-fruits for a Wave-offering before the LORD These Sacrifices with the Trespass-offering for a Leper XIV 12 24. were the only Offerings that were waved about towards all the corners of the World So Abarbinel upon this place The waving was performed by the Priest who reached them out upward and downward this way and that way towards the six quarters of the World to show that the Earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof Or as R. Levi ben Gersom speaks that they might understand the Providence of God is every where above and beneath in every corner of the World With the two Lambs This seems to signifie the forenamed Burnt-offering and Sin-offering were thus waved as well as these Peace-offerings That is some part of them all in the name of the rest for the Priest could not wave the whole Body of them they were so heavy They shall be holy to the LORD for the Priest Who had not only the Breast and the Shoulder as was usual but all the flesh of these Peace-offerings their Blood being sprinkled and their Inwards burnt was given unto him to be eaten by the Males among the Priests
in the Court of the Sanctuary even as the Sin-offerings were For these Peace-offerings being as I before-noted the only Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation were reckoned among the most holy things whereas the Peace-offerings of private Men were less holy as Dr. Lightfoot observes in his Temple Service cap. 8. sect 4. And the true reason why the Priest had all the Flesh of these Sacrifices was because they being for the whole Congregation the Offerers were too many to have any portion of them distributed among them Ver. 21. Verse 21 And ye shall proclaim on the self same day Before the Solemnities began That it may be an holy Convocation to you See v. 4. The reason of this holy Assembly was partly to commemorate God's great Goodness in giving the Law from Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt which was the chief end of God's bringing them from thence as Maimonides speaks P. III. More Nevoch cap. 43. and partly to thank him for giving them such fair hopes of compleating their Harvest which had been begun at the Passover Ye shall do no servile work therein It was to be observed as the first and the last days of Unleavened Bread v. 7 8. with such a Rest as made it little different from a Sabbath And that great Vision as Maimonides calls it at the giving of the Law lasting but one day was the reason the memory of it was celebrated only for one day in the year whereas one Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days for the day was not sufficient to make them sensible enough of the Affliction they endured in Egypt But perhaps one day only was appointed at Pentecost to be free from all Servile work because of the great Business of Wheat-harvest which was then coming on and could not permit them to be so much at leisure as they were when the Fruits of the Earth were all gathered Then they kept a Feast seven days v. 39. as they did at the beginning of Barley-harvest when the Feast of Unleavened Bread was held At which time Harvest did not come on so fast as it did at Pentecost for the First-fruits then were of green Corn parched and dried and offered to God for the hope they had he would bring the rest to maturity Ver. 22. Verse 22 And when ye reap the Harvest of your Land thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of the Field c. This Precept hath been sufficiently explained before XIX 9 10. Only the occasion of its repetition here ought to be observed which is the mention of Harvest and First-fruits which in gratitude they then offered unto God Of whose Goodness he would have them so sensible as not to be unmindful of the Poor but to be such Benefactors to them that they might still receive more Benefits from God Ver. 23. Verse 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying These words are frequently prefixed to a new matter though delivered at the same time with what went before Ver. 24. Verse 24 Speak unto the Children of Israel saying Who as I have often said were all concerned to take notice of such Precepts In the seventh month in the first day of the month ye shall have a Sabbath Such a Sabbath as those mentioned v. 7 8 21. on which no Servile work was to be done as it follows in the next Verse For the seventh Month was the first Month of the year accordding to the ancient computation and continued so still to several purposes particularly with respect to their Jubilee when they were to blow the Trumpet as they did on this day which was the chief New Moon in all the year and the more illustrious because it fell in the time when all the Fruits of the Earth were gathered A memorial of blowing with Trumpets It is not easie to tell of what this blowing of Trumpets was a memorial Maimonides in the place fore-named More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. will have it to be instituted to awaken the People out of sleep and call them to repentance being to put them in mind of the great Day of Expiation which followed nine days after This he explains more largely in his Jad Chazakah in the Treatise of Repentance cap. 3. where he saith The sound of the Trumpet at this time did in effect say Shake off your drowsiness ye that sleep and being awaked watch to your duty Search and try your ways Remember your Creator and repent You whom the Vanity of the Times hath led into a forgetfulness of the Truth who spend your days wandring after empty things which profit nothing bethink your selves and take care of your Souls Let every one forsake his evil way and his thoughts which are not good And accordingly he saith in the same place the Israelites were wont to multiply Alms and Good Works and to apply themselves to the Precepts as his phrase is from the beginning of the year till the Day of Atonement more diligently than at any other time rising in the night to pray in their Synagogues till break of day c. But though this be very pious I see no ground for it no more then for what they say of Commemorating the Deliverance of Isaac For why should not blowing of Trumpets be ordered for a preparation to other Solemn days and in memory of other Deliverances as well as this of Isaac It seems more probable that all Nations making great shouting rejoycing and feasting in the beginning of the year at the first New Moon as many have observed hoping the rest of the year by this means would prove more prosperous God was pleased to ordain this great rejoycing among his People in honour of himself upon the Day of the first New Moon which was to be continued every first Day of the Month that he might preserve them from the Worship of the Moon and make them sensible that he alone gave them good years and renewed his Mercies daily from Month to Month upon them Bonfrerius imagines that God put an honour upon this Month because it was the seventh that as every seventh day was a Sabbath and every seventh year the Land rested c. so every seventh month of every year should be a kind of Sabbatical Month there being more Feasts in this Month then in any other Months in the Year But all this doth not explain what this blowing of Trumpets was a memorial of which I take to be the Creation of the World which was in Autumn Upon which account it was that they anciently began their year at this time as the Eastern People do at this day They acknowledged also God's Goodness in blessing all the year past and bringing them to the beginning of a new year which they prayed him to make happy to them They began to blow at Sun-rise and continued it till Sun-set He that sounded the Trumpet began with the usual Prayer Blessed be God who hath sanctified us with his Precepts
c. subjoyning these words Blessed be God who hath hitherto preserved us in life and brought us unto this time When all was ended the People said with a loud voice these words of the Psalmist LXXXIX Psal 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O LORD in the light of thy countenance See Buxtorf Synag Jud. cap. 24. Such blowing with Trumpets was used by the Gentiles particularly in the Solemnities they observed in honour of the Mother of the Gods One whole day which was the second being spent in blowing of Trumpets as Julian tells us in his fifth Oration upon this Subject ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 168. Ver. 25. Verse 25 Ye shall do no servile work therein It was a very Solemn Day like the Day of Pentecost v. 21. and others before noted on which they might only make provision for their Meals XII Exod. 16. which were wont to be very liberal upon this day And among other Dishes they serve up to the Table a Ram's head in the memory of that Ram which was sacrificed in the room of Isaac which they fancy was upon this day But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD About which Directions are given afterwards XXIX Numb 2 c. For it was not to be a Day of Rest meerly but of Religion Ver. 26. Verse 26 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying The following Precept is of great moment which makes this Preface to be set before it Ver. 27. Verse 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement This hath been explained XVI 29 30 31. It shall be an holy convocation to you On which they were to assemble to humble themselves before God as it here follows And ye shall afflict your souls See Chapter XVI I shall only add That the Jews fancy this Solemn day of Fasting was appointed partly to avert those Diseases which were wont to be rife in the Autumnal Season and this day chosen rather than any other that they might express their Grief at that time when the Sin of the Golden Calf was committed And offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD A Burnt-offering about which Directions are given in XXIX Numb 8. Ver. 28. Verse 28 And ye shall do no work on that same day See v. 3. and XVI 31. For it is a day of atonement Set apart wholly for this work which is at large described in the XVIth Chapter To make an atonement for you before the LORD your God First the Priest made an Atonement for himself and his Family XVI 6 c. and then for the People and for the holy place c. v. 15 16 33. Ver. 29. Verse 29 For whatsoever soul he be that shall not be afflicted on that day he shall be cut off from among his people The Affliction here spoken of consisted chiefly in abstaining from all manner of Food as the Jews make account from one Evening to the next In which time if any Man eat to satisfie his Appetite that is above the quantity of a Date he was in danger to be cut off by the hand of God I suppose So they say in Joma cap. 8. n. 2. Besides which there were four other Mortifications for no Man was to put on his Shoes nor anoint himself nor wash his Face nor enjoy his Wife See Buxtorf Synad Jud. cap. 26. Ver. 30. Verse 30 And whatsoever soul he be that doth any work in that same day the same soul will I destroy from among his people The two great things required on this day being to Afflict themselves and to rest from Labour they who transgressed either of these Commands are threatned to be cut off and that by God himself as this Verse teaches us to Expound the foregoing Ver. 31. Verse 31 Ye shall do no manner of work It shall be a statute for ever c. This is repeated again because it was a thing of such high importance that they should wholly attend to the business of this great Day which was a Day of Humiliation and Repentance and making their Peace with God And as the Jews themselves observe there was no Man so good but he had offended in some thing or other and besides they were to Afflict themselves for the Sins of the whole Body of the Nation Ver. 32. Verse 32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest As the weekly Sabbath was v. 3. when they did not meerly rest from Labour but imployed themselves in the Divine Service as v. 8. I observed they did on other Sabbaths of lesser strictness And this the Heathens themselves could discern that the design of their Festivals which were Days of Ease and remission of Labours was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to withdraw the Mind from Human Imployments ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that so a Man may have leisure to turn his Mind towards God Which is a most Divine saying of Strabo which I think I have noted before but cannot be too oft repeated Lib. X. Geograph p. 467. And ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month at even They kept the High-Priest on the Even of the Day of Expiation from eating much because it would make him sleepy as they tell us in Joma cap. 1. n. 4. Where our learned Sheringham observes that the Evening before is called the Even of the Day of Expiation because they began the Fast before the setting of the Sun so that the whole Evening belonged to the following Sabbath By which these two places XVI 29. where it is said they shall Afflict their Souls on the tenth day and this Verse which saith on the ninth day which seem to clash one with another may be easily reconciled For they began to afflict themselves in the conclusion of the ninth day and ended the Fast in the conclusion of the tenth See Menasseh ben Israel Quest 4. ad Lev. From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath This justifies what was just now said That this Day began in the Even of the ninth day and continued till the Even of the tenth Your Sabbath So this day was called because no manner of work might be done on this day no more then on the Seventh or weekly Sabbath v. 31. And so it is called by the Prophet LVIII Isaiah 13. Ver. 33. Verse 33 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying The same Preface is prefixed to this as to the rest because it was one of the three greatest Solemnities appointed by God in remembrance of his Benefits See v. 39. Ver. 34. Verse 34 The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD It was to begin on the fifteenth day and continue seven days as the Feast of Unleavened Bread did The design of this Feast is thus expressed by Maimonides who compares it with the Passover Which served saith he More Nevoch P. III. c. 43.
to preserve the memory of all the Miracles which God did in Egypt out of which he brought them at that time as the Feast of Tabernacles did to preserve the memory of the Signs and Wonders he did in the Wilderness where he afforded them his Divine Protection under a glorious Cloud and preserved them without any Houses both in the cold of Winter and heat of Summer In short there are two ends mentioned in this Chapter of the Institution of this Festival one to give thanks for the Fruits of the Earth which were then gathered v. 39. another and the principal in a grateful remembrance that they dwelt in Booths forty years and were brought into better Habitations when they came to Canaan v. 42 43. Ver. 35. Verse 35 And on the first day shall be an holy Convocation c. It was to be observed as the day of Pentecost v. 21. And they every one carried in their hands the Bough of some goodly Tree as the Hebrews understand the first words of v. 40. Josephus describing this Festivity Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. mentions in the first place Boughs of Myrtle Ver. 36. Verse 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD The peculiar Sacrifices with their Meat-offerings which were to be offered on these seven days are distinctly set down in XXIX Numb from the thirteenth Verse to the end Where it will be most proper to consider them On the eighth day shall be an holy Convocation unto you See v. 4. And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD A Burnt-offering with a Meat-offering attending upon it according to the appointment in XXIX Numb 36 37. It is a solemn Assembly This is a new word which is not used hitherto concerning any of the Feasts here mentioned signifying as we translate it in the Margin a day of restraint or rather a closing or concluding day for then the Solemnity ended And so Theodoret ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Conclusion of the Feasts Whence the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called by this Name of Atzereth XVI Deut. 8. And so is the Feast of Pentecost which was kept in the end of seven Weeks called by Josephus by the same name of Asartha Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This therefore as it was the last so it was the great day of the Feast as St. John calls it VII 37. On which day they read the last Section of the Law and so concluded the reading of the whole five Books of Moses And thence any great Solemnity is called by this name of Atzereth 2 Kings X. 20. I Joel 14. This seems to me to be a far better account of this word then that which the Jews commonly give who render it a day of detention because saith Abarbanel they were bound to detain the Feast to this day whereas no other Feast continued more then seven days staying at Jerusalem till it was over Whence this day seems to him to be to the Feast of Tabernacles as the Day of Pentecost was to the Passover For as they were bound to count seven Weeks from that time and then make this fiftieth day a Feast so they are here commanded after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles to stay and feast one day more Others of them as R. Solomon Jarchi say this was as if a Man having been entertained by his Friend seven days should to express greater kindness to him be detained one day more And ye shall do no servile work therein But spend their time in Feasting Mirth and Rejoycing with thankful Acknowledgments of God's Benefits to them See v. 7 8. Ver. 37. Verse 37 These are the feasts or Assemblies of the LORD which ye shall proclaim to be holy Convocations This was the Preface to them v. 4. and now is the Conclusion to make them the more observed To offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD a Burnt-offering and a Meat-offering and a Sacrifice c. These Offerings are particularly set down as hath been noted all along in the XXVIII and XXIXth of Numbers And by a Sacrifice seems here to be meant a Sin-offering which is ordered throughout those two Chapters together with Burnt-offerings upon all these Festivals Ver. 38. Verse 38 Besides the Sabbaths of the LORD i. e. Beside the Sacrifices appointed upon all the Sabbaths in the year which were not to be omitted if any of the Feasts here mentioned fell upon the seventh day of the Week And beside your gifts Most understand by Gifts such Presents as Men made to God beyond their First-fruits and Tenths But it may be thought only a general word including the two particulars which follow Vows and Free-will-offerings Ver. 39. Verse 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month when ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land c. Here is no new injunction in this Verse but only an inforcement of what was said before the very same days being appointed to be observed with those named v. 24. Therefore the Hebrew Particle Ak should not have been translated also but surely or certainly or truly as we translate it in other places particularly XXIX Gen. 14. Surely thou art my bone and my flesh LXXIII Psal 1. Truly God is good to Israel II Lament 16. Certainly this is the day that we looked for When ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land These words give a reason of the repetition of the Command because there was something more designed in this Festival than meerly the remembrance of their Condition in the Wilderness which was to express their Thankfulness to God for their desired Harvest which they had now gathered For which cause besides the seven days which were in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness there was an eighth added to acknowledge his Mercy of receiving the Fruits of the Earth Ye shall keep a Feast unto the LORD seven days These were the Feasts of Tabernacles which lasted all these seven days On the first day shall be a Sabbath See v. 35. And on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath In the institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it is said in the seventh day is an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile work therein i. e. it shall be a Sabbath v. 8. but here the eighth day hath that honour put upon it not the seventh being added to the Festival for a peculiar reason and therefore to be observed in a very solemn manner For the Feast of Tabernacles fell in the time of Vintage when the Fruits of the Earth were in a manner all gathered XVI Deut. 13. From whence it is called by the name of the Feast of Ingatherings XXIII Exod. 16. not because the whole Feast was celebrated on this account but because a principal part of it was kept on this score viz. the eighth day as the other seven days were in memory of their dwelling in Tents But that the eighth
but such only as were without blemish nor any other Sacrifices be offered but such as were every way perfect and only such Feasts observed as are mentioned in the foregoing Chapter he proceeds now to give order for the daily Service of God in the Sanctuary which was not yet settled till the Princes had all made their Offerings c. VII Numb 1 2 c. VIII 1. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Command the Children of Israel that they bring unto thee The daily Sacrifices were to be maintained at the publick Charge and so were the Incense and the Lamps and therefore it was proper to speak to all the People in whose name the Priests performed all these things to take care they should be furnished with them See XXX Exod. 13 c. Pure Oil-olive beaten for the light to cause the Lamps to burn continually All this hath been explained XXVII Exod. 20. where this order was first given and now is commanded to be put in execution It is not improbable that the Oil to make it more pure and free from all Dregs passed through two Strainers into the Lamps as Fortunatus Scacchus indeavours to make out Myrothec I. Elaiochris Sacr. 10. Ver. 3. Verse 3 Without the vail of the Testimony c. This is a short expression which in XXVII Exod. 21. is delivered more fully without the Vail which is before the Testimony that is before the Ark. Shall Aaron order it He or his Sons as it is explained in XXVII Exod. 21. From the evening unto the morning The Hebrew word Boker properly signifies that part of the Morning which is from break of day till Sun-rise and the other word Arvaim the Evening after Sun-set till it be dark Therefore very early in the Morning and late at Night the Priests were to look after the Lamps Before the LORD continually For the Lamps burnt on one side of the Sanctuary as the Table stood on the other side with the Shew-bread on it and both of them before the LORD i. e. before the Ark of the Testimony where the Divine Majesty dwelt XXV Exod. 30. XXVI 35. It shall be a statute for ever c. XXVII Exod. 21. Ver. 4. Verse 4 He shall order the Lamps upon the pure Candlestick The Candlestick was made of pure Gold XXV Exod. 31. XXXVII 17. and thence seems to be called the pure Candlestick XXXI Exod. 8. But here it is possible Moses may have respect to the making it clean every day before the Lamps were lighted Before the LORD continually See XXX Exod. 7 8. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And thou shalt take fine flour Of the best Wheat And bake twelve Cakes These are called the Bread of the Presence which we translate Shew-bread in the place now named XXV Exod. 30. where see what I have noted They were prepared by the Levites 1 Chron. 9.32 XXIII 29. and were in number XII to represent the Twelve Tribes of Israel as continually before God i. e. under the care of his gracious Providence Nor was this number diminished after the Apostacy of Ten Tribes from the Worship of God at the Tabernacle but still Twelve Cakes were set before the LORD because there were a remnant of true Israelites among them 1 Kings XXX 18. and this was a constant Testimony against those Apostates and served to turn them back to the right Worship of God at that place where they were assured they and their Sacrifices would be acceptable and no where else Which made Abijah mention this to Jeroboam and the Ten Tribes among other things that should induce them to repent of their forsaking God and his dwelling place where he tells them The Priests the. Sons of Aaron minister and the Levites wait on their business And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening Burnt-sacrifices and sweet Incense the Shew-bread also set they in order upon the pure Table and the Candlestick of Gold with the Lamps thereof to burn every evening c. See 2 Chron. XIII v. 9 10 11 c. Two tenth deals shall be in one Cake That is two Omers for an Omer was the tenth part of an Ephah XVI Exod. 36. Where we likewise read v. 22. that every Israelite while they were in the Wilderness gathered just his his quantity against every Sabbath On which day these Cakes being set upon God's Table as it here follows v. 8. Dr. Lightfoot thinks both the Measure and the Time were designed to put the Israelites in mind of their Sustenance in their Wilderness Ver. 6. Verse 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows c. One upon another as the Hebrew Writers expound it Who say also that they were set length-wise cross over the breadth of the Table and that they were ten hand-breadths long and five broad and seven fingers thick See Dr. Lightfoot's Temple Service Chap. 14. sect 5. Vpon the pure Table It was called pure because it was overlaid with pure Gold XXV Exod. 24. and we may be sure was kept very clean and bright Before the LORD Who dwelt in the most holy place before which the Bread was set Ver. 7. Verse 7 And thou shalt put pure Frankincense The best that could be got unmixed with any thing else And there was no better in the World than their neighbouring Countries afforded Vpon each row On the top of each row of Cakes there was set a golden Dish with an handful of Frankincense therein That it may be on the bread Or for the bread That is offered unto God instead of the Bread which was to be given to the Priests who waited on him at his Table for their portion For a memorial For an Acknowledgment of God and of his Soveraignty over them and to beseech him to be always gracious to them See Chap. 2. v. 2. and to represent also as Conradus Pellicanus understands it that God was ever mindful of his People and had a great love to them for the eyes of the LORD are over the righteous and his ears open to their prayers Even an offering made by fire unto the LORD The Frankincense being set upon the Bread they seem to be considered as one thing part of which was to be offered unto God and the rest to be given to his Ministers Now instead of the Bread which was the principal the Frankincense was burnt every Week unto the LORD when the Bread was eaten by the Priests Which Bread it is evident v. 9. is called one of the Offerings of the LORD made by fire because this Frankincense which stood upon it all the Week was burnt as an Oblation to him Ver. 8. Verse 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually The Shew-bread was prepared the Evening before and then on the Sabbath four Priests went in to fetch away the old Loaves and Frankincense that had stood there all the Week before and other four followed after them to carry new ones and Frankincense in their stead For two of
them carried the two rows of Bread six Cakes apiece and the other two carried each of them a golden Dish in which the Frankincense was set upon the Bread See Dr. Lightfoot of the Temple Service Chap. 14. sect 5. Being taken from the Children of Israel At whose charge they were provided though prepared by the Levites See X Nehem. 32 33. By an everlasting Covenant By vertue of that Command which they had all agreed to observe which required the Shew-bread to be set before the LORD alway XXIV Exod. 3. XXV 30. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And it shall be Aaron 's and his sons Who as God's Servants eat of the Bread which came from his Table And they shall eat it in the holy place For the most holy things could be eaten no where else See VI. 26 29. For it is most holy unto him See Chap. II. of this Book v. 3. Of the offerings of the LORD made by fire It need not seem strange that this Bread which was not burnt upon the Altar as Meat-offerings were should be reckoned among the Offerings made by fire for as the Altar where those Meat-offerings were burnt is called God's Table I Mal. 12. so this Table where the Shew-bread stood was really God's Altar Insomuch that the Bread which was set upon it before him was lookt upon as offered upon him and the Frankincense set upon the Bread as a part of it being really burnt it may be called an Offering made by fire Thus the Gentiles also as an excellent Person of our own hath observed thought Tables rightly dedicated unto their Gods to supply the place of Altars So Macrobius saith Lib. III. Saturnal cap. 11. it evidently appeared by Papyrian's Law That arae vicem praestare posse mensam dicatam a Table consecrated might serve instead of an Altar Of which he gives an instance in the Temple of Juno Populonia and then proceeds to give a reason for it because Altars and Tables eodem die quo aedes ipsae dedicari solent were wont to be dedicated on the same day with the Temples themselves From whence it was that a Table hoc ritu dedicata dedicated in this manner was of the same use in the Temple with an Altar See Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 8. n. 7. By a perpetual statute As long as these Sacrifices lasted Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the son of an Israelitish woman whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Children of Israel In the Hebrew the words run thus And there went out the son of an Israelitish woman and he was the son of an Egyptian man in the midst of or among the Children of Israel Which last words signifie that though his Father was an Egyptian by birth yet he was become a Proselyte by Religion And was one of those it is probable who went along with the Israelites when God brought them out of Egypt XII Exod. 38. So R. Solomon Jarchi interprets this phrase Among the Children of Israel Hence saith he we learn that he was a Proselyte of Righteousness And Aben-Ezra to the same purpose He was received into the number of the Jews See a great many more in Mr. Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis cap. 1. numb 2. where he observes That it is the common Opinion of the Jews this Man was the Son of him whom Moses kill'd in Egypt II Exod. 12. And this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the Camp When God was delivering the foregoing Laws unto Moses this Case seems to have hapned And the Jews say the Controversie between these two was this The former looking upon himself as having a good right to it by his Mother came and endeavoured to set up a Tent among the Children of Dan in that place where their Tribe had pitched their Tents which was opposed by one of that Tribe who told him the right of his Mother would do him no service unless his Father had been an Israelite for the Law was II Numb 2. that every Man of the Children of Israel should pitch by his own Standard with the Ensign of their Father's House Which Law though given afterward yet they suppose was the Rule before by which this Man was condemned by those that heard the Cause to be in the wrong Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the Israelitish womans son blasphemed the Name of the LORD and cursed Sentence being given against him he uttered blasphemous words against God himself perhaps renounced the LORD and also cursed those Judges that had condemned him The Jews commonly think that this Blasphemy was his pronouncing the peculiar Name of God which he heard at Mount Sinai when the Law was given But this is a meer fancy for there were some reproachful words utter'd against God as well as against the Judges as appears from v. 15. And they themselves acknowledge that a Proselyte was guilty of death whether he cursed by the proper Name of God or any other as Mr. Selden shows Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 12. Pellicanus thinks it probable that this Man mockt at the foregoing Laws which were delivered about the Worship of God and contemned God himself when he was told by whose Authority they were enacted And they brought him unto Moses If the occasion of their strife was such as the Jews imagine then Mr. Selden thinks it highly probable that the Cause had been heard and judged by some of the lesser Courts established by Jethro's advice XVIII Exod. 21 22. where the Blasphemy had been so plainly proved that he was convicted of it but they doubting about the Punishment of so high a Crime referred the consideration of that to Moses as the Supream Judge And his mothers name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri of the Tribe of Dan. I see no reason of mentioning the name of the Woman from whom he was descended but that all might be satisfied of the Truth of this History Ver. 12. Verse 12 And they put him inward Committed him to Prison that he might be secured till his Punishment was declared That the mind of the LORD might be shewed them In the Hebrew the words are That it might be expounded to them viz. by Moses according to the mouth of the LORD that is as the LORD should declare to him And so Onkelos renders them Till the matter was expounded to them according to the sentance of the word of the LORD For it is noted here by a famous Commentator among the Jews as Mr. Selden observes in the place before mentioned Lib. II. de Synedr c. 1. that God was consulted about this matter because they did not know whether he was to die for this crime or whether his judgment was to be expected from the hand of Heaven or otherwise Whence Jarchi says they did not know whether he was guilty of death or not And so Theodoret Q. XXXIII in Lev. There was no Law as yet about this matter But there was
a plain Law that whosoever cursed his Father or Mother should die XXI Exod. 17. from whence they might justly infer he was to be so punished who cursed his heavenly Father there being also another Law against those that reviled the Judges and Rulers XXII Exod. 28. And therefore I take it they only doubted what kind of death he should die about which Moses consulted the Divine Majesty Ver. 13. Verse 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying It 's likely Moses went into the Sanctuary to enquire of God who from the Mercy-seat pronounced the following Sentence against him and also made a perpetual Law about this Case with some others Ver. 14. Verse 14 Bring forth him that cursed without the Camp This is the Sentence pronounced by the mouth of God from whom they expected it And first he orders the Criminal to be carried forth out of the Camp as an unclean V Numb 2 3. nay an accursed thing VII Josh 24. And let all that heard him Next he orders the Witnesses to be produced who heard him speak the blasphemous words Lay their hands upon his head This was a peculiar thing in this Case Hands being laid upon no Man's head condemned by the Sanhedrim but only upon a Blasphemer By which Ceremony they solemnly declared that they had given a true testimony against him and thought him worthy of the Death he was condemned to suffer And perhaps prayed God that all the punishment of this Sin might fall upon this Man and not upon them nor the rest of the People And so the Jews tell us their manner was to say Let thy blood be upon thy own head which thou hast brought on thy self by thy own guilt And let all the Congregation stone him This was the last part of the Sentence that when they that heard him Curse had taken off their hands all the Congregation should stone him Which is the same Punishment the Law inflicted on him that cursed his Father or his Mother XX. 9. See there Ver. 15. Verse 15 And thou shalt speak unto the Children of Israel saying Upon this occasion a new Law is made in express terms against Blasphemy Whosoever curseth his God Some of the Hebrews understand this of a Gentile who lived among them and was not yet solemnly made a Proselyte of the Gate that if he cursed the God which was worshipped in his Country he should die for it See Selden Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. ult And Procopius Gazaeus extends the words to such Persons as cursed the God they worshipped though he were a false God Which is according to the common Rule of the Talmudists that where we find these words isch isch man man which we well translate whosoever they comprehend Gentiles as well as Jews But no doubt this Law particularly concerned the People of Israel whom God intended by this Law to preserve from such horrid impiety as is here mentioned Shall bear his sin Be stoned See XX. 9. If the word curseth be understood in the proper sense Procopius well observes that nothing could be more sensless than this Sin and upon that account deserved stoning for he that curseth his God upon what God will he call to confirm his curse But the Hebrew words seems to import only speaking contemptuously of God Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death c. It is uncertain whether this be an higher degree of the Sin mentioned in the foregoing Verse or only a repetition of the same Law with a more express declaration of the punishment he should bear for his sin The Jews unreasonably understand it of him alone that expressed the Name i. e. the most holy Name of God as they say in Sanhedrim cap. 7. num 5. where Joh. Ã Coch observes out of the Hierusalem Targum on XXXII Deut. that it is thus explained Wo unto those that in their Execrations use the holy Name which is not lawful for the highest Angel to express But this is a piece of their Superstition the meaning undoubtedly is That if any Man reproached the most High he should die for it but the meer pronouncing his holy Name could be no Crime when Men might swear by it though not take it in vain VI Deut. 13. XX Exod. 7. All the Congregation shall certainly stone him As they were ordered to do with the present Offender v. 14. As well the stranger as he that is born in the Land c. By Stranger may be meant a Proselyte like the Egyptian whose Offence was the occasion of this Law But the Jews extend it to Samaritans and Gentiles only they say such were to be punished by the Sword and not by Stoning Ver. 17. Verse 17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death This Law was given before XXI Exod 12. And it is not easie to give an account why it is here repeated after the Case of a Blasphemer Perhaps it was upon the occasion of the last words in the foregoing Verse As well the stranger as he that is born in the land when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD shall be put to death For after the following Laws they are repeated again as a general Rule v. 22. that no Man might think it hard a Stranger should be punished for Blasphemy as much as an Israelite when in other Cases the same Judgment passed upon them both Procopius Gazaeus thinks a Murderer is joyned with a Blasphemer because they have the same mind and intention the one desiring to destroy God if it were possible as the other doth his Neighbour Therefore the Law puts them together just as on the contrary when it commands the love of God it couples with it the love of our Neighbour So he Ver. 18. Verse 18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good beast for beast It was not incongruous as the same Procopius speaks to annex unto the Law against Murder a Law against other Injuries And concerning this see XXI Exod. 33 34. For the Hebrew word Behemah here used signifies such domesticktame Beasts as are there mentioned Ver. 19 20. Verse 19 20. If a man cause a blemish in his neighbour as he hath done so shall it be done to him c. This Law concerns only free Persons not their Slaves and hath been explained XXI Exod. 24 25. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And he that killeth a beast he shall restore it and he that killeth a man he shall be put to death This is a short repetition of the two first Laws here mentioned v. 17 18. to make them the more regarded Ver. 22. Verse 22 Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger as for one of your own Country In these and in all other Cases as well as Blasphemy v. 16. you and the Stranger shall be judged by one and the same Law For I am the LORD your God Who will neither favour
your wickedness nor suffer theirs to go unpunished but do equal Justice unto all Yet the Jews by a Stranger here will understand only a Proselyte of Righteousness as they call him that is one who had intirely embraced their Religion for such alone they imagine were equalled with them See Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 1. pag. 468. Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Moses spake unto the Children of Israel that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of their Camp c. It appears by this that all the foregoing Admonitions were repeated to Moses upon the occasion of the Law against Blasphemy before he proceeded to put it in execution And the Children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses Executed the whole Sentence pronounced by God against the blasphemous Person v. 14. CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai saying That is in the Wilderness of Sinai I Numb 1. For they stayed almost a whole year not far from this Mountain from whence they did not remove till the twentieth day of the second Month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt See X Numb 11 12. And thus the Hebrew Particle Beth is often used for by or near as in XXXVII Gen. 13. V Josh 13. and we find this expression again in the end of the next Chapter and in the conclusion of this Book Which shows that all here related was delivered to Moses in the first month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt immediately after the Tabernacle was set up XL Exod 17. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them For what follows was of universal concernment When ye come into the land which I give you This Law though delivered before they left Mount Sinai could not take place till they came into Canaan Then shall the land keep a Sabbath Rest from being tilled or sowen c. See XXIII Exod. 11. Vnto the LORD In obedience to him and in honour of him Some have understood the foregoing words When ye shall come into the Land which I give you as if they were to begin the Sabbatical year as soon as they entred into Canaan which is very absurd for so not the seventh but the first would have been the year of Rest And that had been very inconvenient if not destructive the War making such great waste no doubt that Provision would have been very scarce if no care had been taken for the ensuing year It is to be considered also that the old store upon which they lived when they entred into the Land of Promise was the fruit of the labour of the Canaanites and not of the Children of Israel The meaning therefore is that the seventh year after their entrance into Canaan or rather after they were settled and had rest in it they should let the Land rest The only question is When this year was to begin whether in the month of Tisri which answers to our September which was the ancient beginning of the year or in Nisan answering to our March which was made a new beginning of it by an express Law XII Exod. 2. the former still continuing the beginning of the year for Civil things as this for Sacred Now there is great reason to think that this Sabbatical year was to commence from September when all their Harvest was over which began in March Then they were not to sow as they were wont to do in October and the following Months but to stay till the return of this Season the next year For if this year had been to begin in March they could not have reaped the Harvest of the sixth year Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six years shalt thou sow thy fields and prune thy Vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof XXIII Exod. 10. But what was allowed in other years is forbidden in this Ver. 4. Verse 4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the Land a Sabbath for the LORD Or unto the LORD as we translate it before v. 2. who though he gave this Land to them continued the Proprietor of it as he declares v. 23. and the LORD in chief himself Of whom they held it by this Tenure that they should till it c. only six years together for their own use and in the seventh let it lye in common for such uses as he appointed And it was for the honour of the LORD that they observed this Law for as the weekly Sabbath was an acknowledgment that they were his so this Sabbatical year was an acknowledgment that their Land was his Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard By this he explains what he means by letting it rest And these two words sow and prune comprehend all other things that were usually done about their Fields or Trees as plowing digging dunging c. And though a Vineyard be only mentioned yet it is plain by XXIII Exod. 10. that Olive-yards are comprehended under the same Law and these are mentioned only as examples of all other Fruit-trees which were to be left in common as these were Maimonides seems to be something too curious in what he saith upon this Subject for inquiring why Moses mentions only these two things sowing and pruning his resolution is That for these two if Men offended in them this year they were punished with that scourging called Malkut but if they offended in any other sort of Labours belonging to the Culture of the Fields or of Trees they were not punished with the scourging of Malkut which was by a certain measure not exceeding thirty nine stripes but with the scourging called Mardut i. e. of Contumacy and Rebellion which was without number or measure As if a Man digged or ploughed his ground if he gathered out the stones or dunged it c. if he planted Trees or grafted c. he suffered the scourging of Rebellion And more than this he saith it was not lawful in the seventh year to plant any Tree though it was not a Fruit-tree nor to cut off the dead Branches nor to make a smoak under them to kill the Worms nor to anoint young Plants to preserve them from the bitings of Birds c. If they did they were liable to the scourging of Murdut Nay he is so nice as to say it was unlawful to sell to any Man any Instrument of Husbandry in this year as a Plough a Yoke a Sieve c. yet he allows them when they were under the oppression of the Gentiles and bound to find Provision for their Armies to sow so much as would maintain them Of which things he discourses at large in his Treatise called Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 1. and cap. 7. Ver. 5. Verse 5 That which groweth of it self Either from Seed which fell casually the year before or from the old Root which sprouted out again as Maimonides expounds it in the same Treatise
example Maimonides puts this Case If there be ten years to the Jubile and a Man buy anothers Field for an Hundred pence after which the Buyer having enjoyed it three years the Seller hath a mind to redeem it he must then give to him that bought it of him Seventy pence In like manner if the Buyer have enjoyed it six years the Seller must give him Forty pence For according to the number of the years of the Fruits doth he sell unto thee Therefore if a Man saith the same Maimonides cap. 11. num 6. sell another a Field full of Fruit and after two years would redeem it he must not demand him to restore the Field as he sold it full of fuit because it is said here according to the multitude of years or fewness of years and in the foregoing Verse according to the number of years after the Jubile which show the years only were to be considered in the Redemption and not the Fruits Ver. 17. Verse 17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another The Seller by demanding too much nor the Buyer by giving too little But thou shalt fear thy God For nothing could be so powerful as the Fear of God to restrain them from Oppression and to preserve an equality between the Land to be sold and the price to be paid For I am the LORD your God Whose Land this is and by whose Favour you enjoy it Ver. 18. Verse 18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes and keep my judgments Which are the Tenure whereby you hold this Land of me And ye shall dwell in the Land in safety And if you obey them you shall not be disturbed in it by your Enemies Ver. 19. Verse 19 And the Land shall yield her increase and ye shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safety He incourages them in their Obedience by a promise of Plenty and Abundance as well as of Safety and Security in their Possessions Ver. 20. Verse 20 And if ye shall say what shall we eat the seventh year c. To take away all distrust of his Promise he removes an obvious Objection which might arise in their Minds that they might want food if they neither sowed nor gathered in their increase in the seventh year as he required Ver. 21. Verse 21 Then will I command my blessing upon you in the sixth year and it shall bring forth fruit for three years This is the Answer to the doubt they might have of wanting Sustenance that he would bless them with such a plentiful Crop in the sixth year as should be sufficient for that and for the two following years From which Petrus Cunsus thinks the Argument very strong that there were not two Sabbatical years together one in the forty ninth and another in the fiftieth year for then the Earth in the sixth year should have brought forth not for three years but for four which was never heard of in any Country Palestine indeed was a Country to which God afforded an extraordinary blessing beyond the common Laws of Nature yet since there are no Testimonies of so great and frequent a Miracle in the Book of God we ought not easily to believe this Thus he Lib. I. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 6. To which it may be replyed that this was not so frequent as he makes it but only once in fifty years and the reason why Moses here saith the Land should bring forth fruit for three years and not for four is because he speaks only with respect to the common Sabbatical years every seventh year not to the great Sabbatical year as they call the XLIXth Before which God may very well be supposed to have blessed the Earth with a larger Crop than in any other preceding sixth year Besides though it is said they should not sow in the Jubile v. 11. yet it is not said they might not prune their Trees as it is of other Sabbatical years v. 4. so that they might be dressed as in other common years to yield a plentiful Increase for their support in the succeeding year Ver. 22. Verse 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year Some have interpreted these words as if they were to eat the old store till the Fruits of the ninth year came in and bring it as an Argument that the Sabbatical year began in March whereas the plain sense is that the Fruits of the eighth could not be thrashed out for food till the ninth year And then the next words Vntil her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store Are not to be understood of the Fruits of the ninth year but of the Fruits of the eighth which were to be eaten in the ninth Till then they were to live upon the old store which served for two years beside the sixth Ver. 23. Verse 23 The Land shall not be sold for ever Having mentioned the selling of their Land v. 14 15 16. he here again enacts it should not be sold for ever Which may be called the Lex agraria of the Jews whereby Estates were preserved in the Family to which they belonged at the division of the Land by Joshua For they could not be quite cut off as the words are in the Hebrew which we translate for ever or as it is in the Margin for cutting off so that the Seller and his Heirs should be cut off from it as Mr. Selden interprets it Or as the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by an alienation never to be rescinded but all Estates were at the Jubile to return to their first Owners or their Heirs though they had changed Possessors an hundred times by being sold so oft And the same Law held in Donations as much as in Sales as Maimonides observes Yet this is to be understood only of absolute Alienations without any mention of time for if any Man sold without fraud an Estate to his Neighbour for sixty years it was not to return to him or his Heirs in the year of Jubile which came before the expiration of that term for in the Jubile saith he nothing returns but that which was sold for ever Halicoth Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 11. sect 2. And see Selden de Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 24. For the Land is mine I reserve to my self the Supream Dominion in it and propriety of it and have disposed it to you on such terms as I thought fit For ye are strangers and sojourners with me These words suggest another sense of the foregoing that their Land was God's as he dwelt in a special manner there in the Sanctuary which was his Royal Palace And they were all his Tenants who held the Land of him as long as he pleased but were no more to him than the Proselytes were to them The Land was his and not theirs and they did but enjoy the use and the fuits of it but had not the property See Mr. Mede pag. 157. Ver. 24. Verse 24
might have been killed Round about thee He doth not say in the midst of thee for they were bound to destroy the People of Canaan Of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids If they had need of their Service But it does not appear that they had any great number of them nor had they any great occasion for them being themselves so laborious and breeding their Children to look after their Land and their Cattle in which their Estates chiefly consisted and being also so very numerous in a small Country Ver. 45. Verse 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you of them shall ye buy Whether they were perfect Proselytes by Circumcision or only Proselytes of the Gate as Mr. Selden observes Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 8. their Children were not exempted from being made Slaves if they sold them to the Hebrews And of their families that are with you which they begat in your Land If any of their Family or Kindred as the LXX translate it had begat Children in Judea and would sell them the Jews might make a purchase of them They shall be your possession Become your proper Goods and continue with you as your Lands do unless they have their Liberty granted to them And the first sort of Proselytes obtained it three ways either by purchasing it themselves or by their Friends or by being dismissed by their Master by a writing under his Hand or in the Case mentioned XXI Exod. 26. where the loss of an Eye or a Tooth by the Master's Severity serve only for Examples of other maims which procured such a Servant his Liberty But the second sort of Proselytes did not obtain their Liberty if we may believe the Hebrew Doctors by this last means but only by the two first And the year of Jubile gave no Servants of either sort their Liberty Ver. 46. Verse 46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your Children after you To whom they might bequeath the very Bodies of them and their Children To inherit them for a possession That they might have the same power and dominion over them that they had over their Lands Goods or Cattle They shall be your bond-men for ever Not have the benefit of the year of Jubile but be your Slaves as long as they live unless they by any of the means before-mentioned obtained their Liberty But over your brethren the Children of Israel ye shall not rule over one another with rigour As they did over the Slaves before-named whose Masters as the Hebrew Doctors say were not bound to find them Food and Raiment and besides might treat them with the greatest Severity provided they did not strike out an eye c. Ver. 47. Verse 47 If a sojourner or stranger The Chaldee interprets these words an uncircumcised Proselyte And so Maimonides says they signifie one who hath undertaken the Precepts of the Sons of Noah whom they also call in their Books the pious among the Gentiles See Selden Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 3. p. 153. Wax rich by thee As many of them did by Trading though they could not purchase Land And thy brother that dwelleth by him waxeth poor Which was a Case Moses supposes before v. 35. might happen And sell himself unto the stranger and sojourner by thee So I observed before v. 39. they might do though they were admonished not to do it And the Bargain held good though they sold themselves to a Gentile So Onkelos here translates it if thy brother sell himself to an Aramite i. e. to an Idolater For Idolatry was thought to have sprung first from them Terah and Nahor being Aramites who were the first Idolaters mentioned in the holy Scripture Or to the stock of the strangers family To one that sprung out of the Family of a Profelyte who though now incorporated into the Jewish Nation yet being originally of a Strangers stock was not to have the priviledge to keep a Hebrew sold to him from the benefit of Redemption Ver. 48. Verse 48 After that he is sold And actually in the possession of a Stranger He may be redeemed c. The Hebrews understand this as if some of his Kindred were bound to redeem him or if they did not he was to be redeemed at the Charge of the Country And that though he sold himself a second time after he had been redeemed But if he sold himself a third time they lookt upon him as unworthy of Redemption unless it were meerly to save his Life See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 7. But the 54th Verse seems to suggest that they were not bound to redeem him though they might if they pleased and his Master could not refuse it One of his brethren may redeem him This Redeemer saith R. Bechai is the MESSIAH the Son of David of the Tribe of Judah Which I mention to show that the Jews thought there was something more Divine couched under this Law of the Jubile as I observed v. 10. then the very Letter of it imported Though the truth is they wretchedly mistook the business of the MESSIAH for the same R. Bechai speaking of this Section of the Law saith It contains a sign and a hope to Israel of Redemption from the Captivity of the four Monarchies as if the Messiah should have nothing to do but to put them in possession of their own Country and to make them Lords of the World Ver. 49. Verse 49 Either his uncle or his uncles son may redeem him c. Here the Persons are named by whom his Redemption might be made which in short was by any Man of his Family Or if he be able he may redeem himself If after his sale an Estate fell to him whereby he became able to redeem his Liberty Ver. 50. Verse 50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of Jubile c. That no Injury might be done to his Master they were to compute how long he had served him and how long he had still to serve and what price was paid for him and then according to the number of years gone and to come he was to make his Demands Which is the meaning of the following words And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years According to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him The labour and service that he had done him was to be valued as they would do that of an Hireling who wrought for so much by the day or the year and deducting that from the price which was given for him the remainder was the price of his Redemption Ver. 51. Verse 51 If there be yet many years behind according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption If he had served but a few years and there were many to come before the Jubile then there was
less to be deducted from what his Master gave for him and the price of his Redemption was higher But if there remained but few years unto the year of Jubile as it follows in the next Verse then less was to be given for his Redemption Verse 52 because he had had his Service a long time Ver. 53. And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him His Master was to treat him as a hired Servant who let out his Service for Wages by the year and that both with respect to the price of his Redemption and to his usage while he remained in his Service as appears by the next words And the other shall not rule with rigour over him Use him harshly and severely for one Israelite was not permitted to use another in that manner v. 43. and therefore much less was it to be suffered from a Stranger In thy sight If they observed any such rigorous usage they were to endeavour to get it remedied by the Authority of the Magistrate Ver. 54. Verse 54 And he be not redeemed in these years then he shall go out in the year of Jubile If neither his Kindred nor Country redeemed him nor he was able to redeem himself v. 49. from the time he was sold to the year of Jubile he was to stay till then when he went out as others did without paying any thing for his Liberty By which it is evident that he had not the benefit of the seventh year of Release as Hebrew Servants had who served Hebrew Masters For it had been unequal if Hebrews sold to Proselytes had been discarged from their Service so soon when the Children of Proselytes sold to Hebrews v. 45. were to be their Inheritance for ever It was more reasonable and therefore so here enacted that the Hebrews sold to Proselytes should not be free till the year of Jubile unless they were redeemed by themselves or their Friends By which Law also they were made more careful not to sell themselves to Strangers He and his children with him It seems a Proselyte was bound when he bought a Hebrew Servant to maintain his Family while he served him as the Hebrews were bound to do when they bought one of their own Nation v. 41. Ver. 55. Verse 55 For unto me the Children of Israel are servants they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt He would not have them serve with rigour nor beyond the year of Jubile because they were his Servants by a peculiar Title being redeemed by him from the Egyptian Bondage where they were held a long time in cruel Servitude v. 38. I am the LORD your God Your Soveraign who will be ever kind to you while you serve and obey me CHAP. XXVI Ver. 1. Verse 1 YE shall make you no Idols This Precept hath been often mentioned but being now to inforce all his Precepts by the most solemn Promises and Threatnings he repeats the principal thing upon which all depended which was that they should keep close to the Worship of him the only God and abhor all Idolatry which he knew would corrupt their Manners The Hebrew word Elilim hath been observed before XIX 4. to express Contempt signifying the Idols as we translate it which the Heathen worshipped to be meer empty Vanities things of nought as we speak and therefore to be rejected with disdain rather than any way regarded Nor graven Image The Hebrew word Pesel signifies the Image of any thing hewn out of Wood or Stone See XX Exod. 4. These Images the Gentiles did not Worship till they were dedicated and consecrated with certain Rites and Ceremonies which were very various according to the difference of the Deities and the Superstitions of several Countries by which Consecration they imagined their Gods were invited to be present in these Images and Statues otherwise they were not so stupid as to worship Wood and Stone Neither rear up a standing Image The Hebrew word Matsebah is translated by the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Pillar as we also translate it in the Margin And if we translate it Statue or standing Image we are not to understand by it the figure of a Man or of any other Creature but as the Hebrews seem rightly to take it for any Work an Altar for instance which is erected and set up for Sacred Assemblies to be held thereat though they be to the true God So Maimonides as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 6. who saith this was the custom among Idolaters to erect such Statues to their Gods And so Pausanias saith in his Achaica that in ancient time among the Greeks universally ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã rude Stones instead of Images had Divine honours paid to them See Maimonides de cultu Stell Plan. cap. 6. sect 8. These were the most ancient Monuments of all other and being plain and simple might be thought to be less tempting and inviting than those Images which had the figure of Men or other Creatures yet even these God forbids to his People because he would have no Representation of him whatsoever though it might seem to have no danger in it These were they which the Greeks called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See upon XXVIII Gen. 19. and Selden de Diis Syris Syntag. 2. cap. 1. Neither set up any Image of Stone in your Land There was greater reason they should not set up Eben Maschkith which signifies carved or figured Stone that had Pictures cut in it as the Hebrews understand it See Maimonides in the place before-named and Dionys Vossius his Notes upon him And Mr. Selden observes also it was unlawful to set up these in their Land as Moses here speaks though it were without the Temple and it was no more permitted to a Proselyte then to an Israelite If any Man did make such Statues he was beaten Possibly this may signifie such Images as were common among the Egyptians in after times which were not Representations of their Gods but were full of Symbols and Hieroglyphicks expressing some of the Perfections of their Gods These God would as little allow among his People as any of the former such caution he used to prevent this sort of Idolatry by Image-worship To bow down unto it Though they did not worship it but only worship God before it I am the LORD your God Who admit of no such things where I am worshipped XX Exod. 4. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary c. See XIX 30. Where there is the same Precept Which seems to be here repeated because if they kept his Sabbaths they would preserve them from Idolatry being appointed for the worship of the Creator of all things especially if they had such a sense of his Divine Majesty as wrought Reverence in them even to his Sanctuary Ver. 3. Verse 3 If ye walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments and do them If the regard
are no greater Blessings in this World than those which God's Promises gave them hope to enjoy nor greater Evils than those of which his Threatnings put them in fear But such is the Divine Goodness he always offers Mercy before he proceeds to Judgment and mingles Judgment with Mercy before he proceeds in rigour of Justice Which will appear in the following Threatnings Ver. 15. Verse 15 And if ye despise my Statutes or if your soul abhor my Judgments They were not thus wicked at the first but disobedience to God's Commands mentioned in the foregoing Verse proceeded to a contemptuous neglect of them and that in time to an abhorrence of them So that ye will not do all my Commandments Though often admonished by his Prophets whose Messages they not only rejected but slighted and despised But that ye break my Covenant By forsaking him and falling to Idolatry For that was the principal thing in the Covenant That they should have no oter God but him alone Ver. 16. Verse 16 I also will do this unto you I will alter the method of my Providence towards you I will even appoint over you Or as it is in the Hebrew upon you causing the following Diseases to seize upon them as the Phrase signifies and arrest them That they might feel the heavy displeasure of him whose Laws they set at naught Terrour Consumption and the burning Ague It is not certain what Diseases are comprehended under these words especially the first Behalah which we translate terrour But coming from a word importing haste and precipitancy I take it to signifie the falling sickness whereby People are so suddenly surprized that they sometimes fall into the fire by which they sit The other two words probably are rightly translated For the next Sachepheth is by Kimchi and a great many others understood to signifie a Consumption or an Hectick Fever though R. Solomon and some others seem to take it for a Dropsie for he says it is a Disease that puffs up the flesh or as David de Pomis makes it to break out in Blotches See Bochart in his Hierozoic P. II. Lib. II. cap. 18. As for the last word Chaddachat it coming from a word denoting great heat may well be translated a burning Fever That shall consume the eyes Make you look ghastly And cause sorrow of heart Take away all the comfort of Life And ye shall sow your seed but your Enemies shall eat it Next to Bodily Sickness he threatens them with the Incursions of their Enemies which was an higher punishment than the former according to that of David it is better to fall into the hands of the LORD then into the hands of Men. Here also it is observable he doth not threaten the worst that their Enemies might do to them but first that they should carry away their Harvest and make a Scarcity among them and in the next Verse speaks of delivering them to be slain by them Ver. 17. Verse 17 And I will set my face against you Be extreamly angry with you See XVII 10. And ye shall be slain before your Enemies The neighbouring Nations oftimes made great slaughter of them and conquered them as we find in the Book of Judges and in the beginning of the first Book of Samuel They that hate you shall reign over you And grievously oppressed them IV Judges 3. VI. 2 c. This made them very contemptible and was a just punishment of their contempt of God's Laws And ye shall flee when none pursueth you Lose all your Courage directly opposite to the promise v. 7 8. Ver. 18. Verse 18 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me If by these sore punishments they were not reclaimed from their Idolatrous Practises he threatens to send greater Then will I punish you seven times more for your sins The number seven is used for any indefinite multitude and therefore here signifies a great increase of their Plagues which by their continued Provocations became more and more grievous then in former Ages Ver. 19. Verse 19 And I will break the pride of your power That Power wherein you glory Which some understand of the Sanctuary which in the days of Eli was forsaken of the Ark of God's strength as the Psalmist calls it 1 Sam. IV. 10 11. But it seems rather to relate to their numerous Forces which at the first were every where victorious but after sundry Defeats in foregoing times were in the days of Saul reduced to such straits they hid themselves in Caves and Pits and Thickets c. and there was not a Sword or a Spear to be found in any of their hands save Saul's and Jonathan's when they should have fought with their Enemies 1 Sam. XIII 6 7. 22. And I will make your Heaven as iron and your Earth as brass The one he means should afford no Rain and the other for want of moisture bring forth no Fruit which must needs make a sore Famine among them Ver. 20. Verse 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain c This is a further description of that Calamity when after all their labour in ploughing and sowing their Land or digging and dunging their Trees they brought forth nothing for their Sustenance We read in Scripture of such Famines wherein Man and Beast were ready to perish particularly 1 Kings XVII 1 12. XVIII 15. 2 Kings VIII 1. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And if ye walk contrary unto me Go on in your Idolatrous Courses directly contrary to my Commands v. 1. And will not hearken unto me Be obedient to the Admonitions of his Prophets whom he sent to call them to Repentance I will bring seven times mo plagues upon you according to your sins As their Sins increased so did their Plagues for these that follow are more dreadful than the foregoing And it was a high aggravation of their sins that they would take no warning by the severe Punishments which God inflicted upon their Forefathers This augmented his Plagues upon succeeding Generations which as Dr. Jackson speaks usually run by the scale of sevens So that if we call the litteral meaning to a strict Arithmetical Account these later Plagues were Nine and forty times heavier than the former But it is most likely a certain number is put for an uncertain yet denoting a very great increase of their Punishments beyond what had been in preceding times It ought to be observed that there is in the Margin another rendring of the first words of this Verse If ye walk contrary to me which some follow If ye walk at all adventures with me That is live carelesly as if you had no regard at all to me I will have as little regard to you or concern for you But the ancient Translations go the other way Ver. 22. Verse 22 I will also send wild Beasts among you which shall rob you of your Children c. If the terrible famine would not work upon their stubborn hearts no more than the
forenamed sicknesses and wars v. 16 17 19 20. then he threatens they and their Cattle should be devoured by wild Beasts The principal of which were Lyons unto which the depopulation and devastation of Countries are ascribed in Scripture particularly in the Prophet Jeremiah II. 15. IV. 7. where the Assyrians and Nebuchadnezzar are therefore compared to Lions because by those fierce Beasts Countries were sometimes laid desolate Man and Beast being destroyed by them We read of no other that killed the People planted in Samaria by the King of Assyria instead of the Israelites whom they carried away Captive 2 Kings XVII 25. And God threatned to destroy the remnant of Moab by the same means XV Isa 9. But there were other wild Beasts also to do this Execution V Jerem. 6. As Bears who killed Two and forty Children at one time 2 Kings II. 24. Serpents and Cockatrices VIII Jer. 17. And in general that Prophet threatens the destruction of Judea by such Creatures XV Jerem. 3. Nor are Examples wanting in other Histories of such Calamities one Monument of which continues still in the Church For the Solemn Prayers in ROGATION Week were first instituted as Sidonius relates by Mamertus Bishop of Vienne in France for this reason among others that Wolves and other wild Beasts did very great mischief in those parts See Sirmondus in Lib. VII Epist. 1. Nay some Countries have been so infested with smaller Creatures particularly Spain by Conies that they left nothing untouched being noxious not only to Roots and Seeds but subverting whole Towns which were undermined by them And in the Neighbouring Islands called Baleares they were so plagued with them that they were forced to Petition Augustus to send Soldiers to defend them from these little Animals See Bochartus in his Phaleg Lib. III. cap. 7. And your high-ways shall be desolate For Travellers would not venture into the High-ways for fear of the wild Beasts and because of the scarcity of People to give them entertainment It is observable that this Plague is directly opposite to the Blessing promised unto their Obedience v. 6. where he saith I will rid evil Beasts out of the Land which was never over-run with them till it was overspread with wickedness Ver. 23. Verse 23 If ye will not be reformed by me by these things He would have them observe his Hand in all these Punishments by which he intended their Reformation But will walk contrary unto me See v. 21. Ver. 24. Verse 24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you Serve you in your kind and still make your Plagues more grievous as your Stubbornness grows more obstinate To what was said before of this matter I shall add the Interpretation of Maimonides in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 36. where he thus glosses on this place If when I inflict upon you these Punishments you believe them to be accidental things meer Chances so he understands the word keri which we translate contrary then will I deal with you according to your Opinion and lay more heavy Punishments upon you For because they believed these Plagues hapned by accident which were the Consequents of their false Opinions and evil Works therefore they did not reform them as Jeremiah saith V. 3. Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved Thus he And will punish you yet seven times for your sins If we should follow the litteral Exposition mentioned v. 21. then those Plagues there threatned being seven times multiplied would make the Plagues threatned in this Verse for their multiplied Transgressions three hundred and forty three times greater than the first v. 18. But the meaning is only that they should still grow more numerous and more destructive Ver. 25. Verse 25 And I will bring a sword upon you This seems to be no new Plague having been before threatned v. 17. Therefore the meaning is that he would send three sore Judgments upon them all at the same time viz. War Pestilence and Famine which are contained in this and the next Verse Of War and Famine at once See XIV Jerem. 18. XVI 4. Of Pestilence added to them together with Captivity XV. 2 3 4. XLIV 12 13. and see VI Ezek. 11 12. and still worse XIV Ezek. 21. That shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant My quarrel with you for the breach of that Covenant which you solemnly made with me XXIV Exod. 3 8. XXXIV Exod. 10.11 12 c. And when you are gathered together within your Cities Thinking there to defend your selves against your Enemies by impregnable Fortifications I will send the Pestilence among you To destroy the Soldiers in your Garrison And ye shall be delivered into the hand of the Enemy Forced to surrender because you have no Men left to defend the place Ver. 26. Verse 26 And when I have broken the staff of bread Taken away its power to nourish you as Bochart expounds it or rather taken Bread it self from you which is the support of Life by a sore Famine v. 10. If they either wanted Corn to make Bread or their Corn had no heart in it as we speak either way they would be starved Ten women shall bake your Bread in one Oven That is there shall be such Scarcity that a small Oven shall be sufficient to bake Bread for ten Families i. e. for a great many as the number ten in Scripture signifies 1 Sam. I. 8. XIX Job 3. And they shall deliver you again your bread by weight Distribute to every one in the Family a certain quantity not enough to satisfie them but only as we speak to keep Body and Soul together So it follows And ye shall eat and not be satisfied Never have enough to satisfie their hunger but by eating made to crave the more to eat So Pellicanus glosses who thus concludes his Notes of these Verses Haec sunt arma Dei contra insensatos c. These are the Weapons of God against stupid Wretches which no wicked Man can evade when God in anger begins to fall upon them Let no Man though never so great and rich hope to be safe from the Hand of the Lord who can kill Kings by Worms and Lice when he pleaseth Ver. 27. Verse 27 And if you will not for all this hearken unto me but walk contrary to me If all these Plagues have no better effect upon you than the former See v. 21 23 24. Ver. 28. Verse 28 Then will I also walk contrary to you in fury His Indignation rises proportionable to their Offences For now he not only saith he will set his face against them as he speaks v. 17. but proceed against them in fury by such Punishments as should quite ruin them And I even I will chastise The very manner of Speech expresses Anger and Indignation being as if he had said I will make you know who it is that you have despised v. 15. The word jissarti also which we render chastise imports smarter Punishments than those
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
it is probable the Law concerning Lands which immediately follows was the Rule for Houses also which were valued according to their distance from the year of Jubile at a higher or lower price as Lands were v. 18 22 23. Then shall he add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation and it shall be his He that gave us the Law saith Maimonides in his Treatise on this Subject cap. ult knows the most intimate sense of all mens souls and penetrates into the most secret recesses and lurking places of humane desires and he seeing that their love of riches would make them very saving so that if out of a religious motion they had consecrated any thing to him they would be prone to repent of it he therefore ordained that if any man had a mind to redeem what he had consecrated he should add a fith part to its just value that is pay well for it Ver. 16. Verse 16 And if a man shall sanctifie unto the LORD By a Vow after the same manner that some did a House v. 14. Some part of a field This seems to signifie that it was not lawful for a Man to vow his whole Field that is all his Estate because God would have no Mans Family undone and made Beggars to inrich his Sanctuary Of his possession Not purchased by him but descended to him as an Inheritance from his Ancestors Then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof It shall be valued according to the quantity of Seed which is required to sow it An Omer of barley-seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver So much Land as an Omer of Barley would sow was to be rated at fifty Shekels And so proportionably so much as would take up two Omers at an hundred or half an Omer at five and twenty Menochius thinks it was to be rated at so much yearly but there is not the least intimation of this in the Text and his only reason for it is this of Abulensis That it would have been too little to give for a piece of Land to be held XLIX years See Lib. II. de Republ. Hebraeor cap. 19. Quest 7. Which is of no force at all for it is plain God designed a moderate Rate should be set upon all things which Men vowed to him where by Men were not discouraged to vow And this yearly Rent had been excessive and oppressive For a piece of Land which an Omer of Barley i. e. about a Pottle of our Measure would sow could yield no great Crop and consequently could not be of a considerable value Barley also being much cheaper than Wheat Concerning an Omer see XVI Exod. 36. Ver. 17. Verse 17 If he sanctifie his field from the year of jubile Make this Vow immediately after the Jubile or in that year According to thy estimation Before-mentioned of fifty Shekels for an Omer of Barley It shall stand It shall be so rated and nothing abated Ver. 18. Verse 18 But if he sanctifie his field after the jubile Some years after Then the Priest shall reckon unto him the Money according to the years that remain even unto the year of jubile c. The Priest was to compute how many years were gone since the last Jubile and how many yet remained till the next and accordingly to deduct from the rate of fifty shekels before-mentioned either more or less as the years yet to come were more or fewer Ver. 19. Verse 19 If he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it then shall he add the fifth part c. The very same Rule is given in this Case as in those of unclean Beasts and Houses v. 13 15. Ver. 20. Verse 20 And if he will not redeem the field When the Priest hath set hisvalue upon it and tells him he may have it again at such a rate if he pleases and he refuses the offer Or if hehave sold the field to another man That is if the Priest upon his refusal have sold it to another Man and afterward he that vowed it hath a mind to it himself and would give the price at which he might have had it It shall not be redeemed any more He was then excluded from all benefit of Redemption Ver. 21. Verse 21 But the field when it goeth out in the jubile Out of the possession of him to whom the Priest sold it Shall be holy unto the LORD Shall not return to him that vowed it but continue God's portion As a field devoted Being solemnly consecrated to the Divine Service The possession thereof shall be the Priests Who were to have the Inheritance of it for their better support But they might sell it Menochius thinks nay were bound to sell it to some of the Kindred of him that devoted it or to some of his Tribe For otherwise Lands would go out of the Tribe to which they belonged and besides the Priests were to have no Inheritance in the Land XVIII Numb 20. See him Lib. II. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 19. and his Annotations upon this place But these seem not to be solid Reasons why the Priests should not enjoy this Land themselves For though they were not to have any Inheritance in the Division of the Land of Canaan yet if any sell to them by the means now mentioned which was but very seldom since Men were very careful to preserve their Inheritances God doth here bestow such Land upon his Priests who might possess it if they pleased because they had it in God's right or else sell it v. 20. and keep the Money to their own use Ver. 22. Verse 22 And if a man sanctifie unto the LORD a field which he hath bought And consequently could enjoy only till the Year of Jubile when it was to return to the Family of whom he purchased it Which is not of the fields of his possession No part of his Paternal Inheritance as that mentioned v. 16. but bought of the Priests to whom it was faln by a Vow or of him to whom the Priests had sold it Ver. 23. Verse 23 Then the Priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation Set a value upon it according to his judgment Even unto the year of jubile With respect to the number of years between the time of the Vow and the year of Jubile And he shall give thy estimation in that day Presently pay the Price that the Priests hath set upon it without the addition of the fifth part as Menochius well observes in the place before-mentioned which he who redeemed his Paternal Inheritance was bound to pay over and above the price at which the Priest esteemed it v. 19. For this was not so much worth as that being but for a term of years till the Jubile As an holy thing unto the LORD As a thing devoted unto God instead of the Land which was redeemed with this Money Ver. 24. Verse 24 In the year of jubile the field shall return unto him
of whom it was bought c. Not unto him who bought the Field and then vowed it to God but unto the Hereditary Owner which is the meaning of the next words Even unto him to whom the possession of the Land did belong Ver. 25. Verse 25 All thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary c. Full weight according to the Standard kept in the Sanctuary See XXX Exod 13. and XIX of this Book v. 36. Ver. 26. Verse 26 Only the firstling of the Beasts which shall be the LORD's firstling no man shall sanctifie it By vowing it to be a whole Burnt-offering or a Peace-offering unto the LORD as Maimonides expounds it The reason was because no Man could lawfully vow that which was not his own as the Firstlings were not they being the LORD 's already as it follows in the end of this Verse The same Reason held as Maimonides likewise observes in all things belonging to God as Tenths Yet they devised ingeniously enough as he speaks a way to give these Firstlings to God by a new Obligation and yet not offend as they imagined against this Law For they interpret these words of Firstlings already brought forth No Man might sanctifie such but while they were in the Womb they might saying I vow that Lamb suppose which my Ewe goes with to be a whole Burnt-offering to God if it be a male But they could not vow it for a Peace-offering because no Man could alter any thing for his own profit Whether it be ox or sheep Under these two are comprehended all other kind of Creatures whose Firstlings belonged to God It is the LORD's III Numb 13. VIII 17. For this reason no Man was to presume to vow such things it being a kind of mockery to make a present of that to another which was his own before See Mr. Mede concerning this Verse p. 512. Ver. 27. Verse 27 And if it be of an unclean beast Most understand this of the Firstling of an unclean Beast Against which there is this Objection That such things were before ordered to be redeemed not with Money but with a Lamb XIII Exod. 13. Therefore it seems more reasonable to understand this of the Firstling of such an unclean Beast which a Man had redeemed v. 13. but afterward devoted to God which he might do for after the Redemption it was become his own again Then he shall redeem it according to thy estimation At the rate thou shalt set upon it And shall add a fifth part of it thereto As was ordained before in the like case v. 11. Or if it be not redeemed then it shall be sold according to thy estimation Any other Man might buy it at that rate the Priest had set upon it and the Money was applyed to holy uses Ver. 28. Verse 28 Notwithstanding no devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the LORD Nothing that was devoted by that sort of Vow which was called Cherem as the word is here in the Hebrew with a Curse as the word implyes upon themselves and others if the thing was not imployed according to their Vow Of all that he hath both of man and beast c. All manner of things which might be sanctified to the LORD by the fore-mentioned simple Vow might be thus devoted and consecrated to him by a Cherem i. e. Beasts and Houses and Lands and even Men themselves as far as they had power over them For that is meant by those words all that a man hath See next Verse Shall be sold or redeemed For this was the peculiar nature of this sort of Vow that the things devoted by it should remain irreversibly and unalterably to the use unto which it was devoted for the Person was accursed that applyed it to any other use than that to which it was consecrated Every devoted thing Of this kind Is most holy to the LORD Other things devoted by a simple Vow were holy v. 9 10 c. but these were most holy so that none might touch them but the Priests and they were so strictly applyed to the Divine Service that they could not be alienated either by Sale or Redemption or Commutation or Donation or any other way See Mede p. 160. Ver. 29. Verse 29 None devoted which shall be devoted of men shall be redeemed but shall surely be put to death Some learned Men have from these words asserted That Parents and Masters among the Jews had such a power over their Children and Servants that they might devote them to Death and so kill them only the Sentence of the Priest was to concur to whom every devoted thing fell as his portion This is maintained by Ludov. Capellus and confuted by Mr. Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. juxta Disciplin Hebr. cap. 6. where he judiciously observes That this Power would have too much intrenched upon the sixth Commandment if private Men might have at their pleasure thus disposed of their Children and Slaves And in the next Chapter he explains the sense of this Verse and proves indeed that there may be a Cherem minhaadam of men or from among men as well as of beasts but this word hath four several senses among the Hebrews First It signifies the Sacred Gift it self which was devoted to God or to holy Uses and so it signifies in the foregoing v. 28. Secondly It signifies that which was devoted to Perdition and utter Destruction either by the right of War or upon the account of Capital Enmities an Example of which we have in Jericho VI Josh 17. where the whole City was a Cherem devoted to Destruction as a Punishment to their Enemies yet so that the Metals were made a Cherem of the first sort that is Sacred to the LORD and his Holy Uses And thus the great Sanhedrim called in Scripture the whole Congregation might devote those to be a Cherem who going to the Wars did not obey orders and perform the Charge laid upon them An Example of which we have XXI Judg. 5. 1 Sam. XIV 24. I omit the other two for brevities sake of which there are Examples VI. Josh 26. X Ezra 8. XXIII Acts 12 14 21. See Selden Ib. cap. 7. 8. because the Cherem here mentioned by Moses is of this second sort For it is evident that the Cherem of the first sort mentioned v. 28. was of such things over which they had an intire power to dispose of them as they pleased And therefore those words both of Man and Beast the Hebrews understand of their Slaves whether Men or Women who were Canaanites or Gentiles not others who were in their power as much as their Beasts to give away or to sell But to take away their Life or to give them to be slain was not in their power but all the effect of this Cherem was that the whole right which they had to the Service of such Slaves was transferred by him that devoted them to the Service of the
Priests and Sacred Uses See Selden in that Book cap. 9. p. 518 c. But though they might not devote their Servants to death yet they might their Enemies before they went out to war with them and such of their own People also as did not observe the Military Laws An Example of which we have XXI Numb 2. Upon which account also the Inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were slain XXI Judg. 9 10. for violating the solemn publick Cherem pronounced against those that came not up to Mizpeh v. 5. And this is the Cherem spoken of in this Verse See Selden cap. 10. For as for the Cherem whereby a Man was Excommunicated it only loaded him with many Curses and made him execrable so that no Man might come near him but did not touch his Life as he there shows p. 520. Ver. 30. Verse 30 All the tithe of the Land c. is the LORD's By an ancient right before the Law of Moses was delivered For this is the first time we find any mention of a Law about Tithes for which he giving no reason it is a sign this was a pious Usage all the World over and therefore being no new thing but what all Nations practised the Jews could not think it burdensome to them unless they would be wholly irreligious and not acknowledge God to be the Author and Fountain of all the plenty and happiness they enjoyed Which was the intention of paying Tithes as the Gentiles anciently did and the Jews themselves after Victory over their Enemies For which there being no Precept that appears what can we think but that natural Reason and the common Custom of Mankind founded perhaps upon some direction given to our first Parents from above taught them to make this Acknowledgment to God as the Author of their Successes and Safety as well as of all Plenty and Prosperity See XIV Gen. 19. and XXVIII 22. Whether of the seed of the Land or of the fruit of the Trees By the seed of the Land is meant Corn as Rasi expounds it and by the fruit of the Trees Wine and Oil. For thus they are reckoned up in other places XVIII Numb 12. where he gives the Priests the First-fruits of the Wine and Oil and Wheat And the like we read in XVIII Deut. 3 4. and in XIV Deut. 23. they are commanded to eat before God the tithe of their Corn of their Wine and their Oil. Under which last is comprehended the Fruit of all other Trees as under the word Seed in this place seems to be comprehended all manner of Herbs as well as Corn. For so the Pharisees understood it and our Saviour doth not disallow it It is holy unto the LORD God having declared his right in the Tithe in the beginning of the Verse here commands that it be reserved to him as his portion Which he afterward conferred and settled upon the Levites by a special Donation XVIII Numb 21. Ver. 31. Verse 31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof Mr. Selden in his History of Tithes Chap. 2. speaking of the second Tithe mentioned XIV Deut. 23. which was to be spent at Jerusalem either in kind or else if it were too far thither by turning it into Money and therewith to buy Provision to make Feasts saith that to this Tithe do the Jews apply that of XXVII Lev. 30 31. But for this he quotes only R. S. Jarchi who though he were a great Talmudist yet must not be thought to understand the sense of all their Doctors Aben-Ezra it is plain to name no more takes it otherwise making Moses to speak of such a Tithe as Abraham gave Melchisedeck and Jacob vowed to God Lyra I might add a converted Jew agrees with him And there is great reason for it no such thing as a second Tithe being as yet ordained and when they were commanded and the changing of them into Money allowed there is not a word said of adding a fifth part See XIV Deut. 24 25. which is sufficient to show that Moses in these two Verses speaks of the first Tithe which was paid to the Levites by a Law made some time after this which transferred the right that God had in the Tithe of the Land unto them Which if any Man had a mind to redeem and not pay it in kind God allows him so to do because the Tithe was not more holy than things vowed to God spoken of before but then he was to do as in the case of such things v. 13. add a fifth part over and above to what such a portion of Tithe was esteemed to be worth The reason of which was as Mr. Calvin well observes not that the Priest should get more than his due by the Man who desired to redeem his Tithe but that the Man might not make a gain of the Priest For it is seldom seen that a Husbandman desires to pay Money rather than his Tithe unless he propound some considerable advantage to himself Ver. 32. Verse 32 And concerning the tithe of the Herd and of the Flock Every one knows that by the Tithe of the Herd here is meant Calves and by the Flock is to be understood Lambs and Kids I Lev. 2. For this was the Tithe of those young ones that were brought forth that year the same Cattle not being again tithed every year And he speaks of clean Beasts which were allowed in Sacrifice for Tithe was not paid of other Beasts but their first-born only was the LORD's This Tithe was paid to God every year as an Eucharistical Sacrifice for all the Benefits they received from God by their Cattle Even of whatsoever passeth under the rod. This expresses the manner of this Tithing which if we will believe the Jews was thus They were all brought into a Sheep-cote saith Maimonides in his Treatise of Firstborn cap. 7. in the beginning in which there was but one Gate or Door and that so narrow as to suffer no more than one to come out at once Their Dams being placed without and the Gate opened the young ones were invited by their Bleatings to press to get out to them and as they passed by one by one a Man who stood at the Gate with a Rod coloured with Oker told them in order and when the Tenth came out whether it was Male or Female sound or not he markt it with his Rod and said Let this be holy in the name of the Tenth And this account R. Solomon and others give of this matter of which Notion they are so fond that R. Bechai upon XVII Numb makes Jacob who vowed Tithe of all that God should give him to have decimated his Children on this manner beginning at Benjamin and stopping at Levi who was the Tenth according to that reckoning and hath some pretty conceits about it But Bochartus thinks Moses doth not speak here of the Rod of the Tithes but of the Shepherd's Crook and