by doing such things as were not perhaps directly against the Law yet made him lose all his Authority See Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. juxta Disc Hebr. cap. 10. But I will be hallowed among the Children of Israel Either by the observation of his Laws or by punishing those who transgressed them For so this phrase is used X. 3. I am the LORD which hallow you Have separated you to my self as a special People from all others by Laws different from theirs and more excellent Ver. 33. Verse 33 That brought you out of the Land of Egypt to be your God And moreover distinguished you from all others by singular Benefits particularly by delivering you from the most grievous Slavery that I might make you a happy People I am the LORD When you remember my benefits remember I am your Soveraign who expect your Obedience CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying All the Laws in this Chapter were delivered at one time not long after the former Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel Who were highly concerned to observe all the Solemnities enjoyned in this Chapter in such a manner as God required And say unto them concerning the Feasts of the LORD It hath been anciently observed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Syrians were great lovers of Feasts Which made it the more reasonable if they were so in Moses his days that the Israelites who were to be their Neighbours in the Land of Canaan should have so many Feasts appointed them weekly monthly and yearly all in honour of their God From whence they are called Feasts of the LORD But this word MOED which we translate a Feast properly signifies an Assembly And so Mr. Thorndike would have it here translated because the name of Feasts is proper to those Solemnities which are to be celebrated with joy and chearfulness whereas under this general word Moed is comprehended the Day of Atonement which is one of the Assemblies here named v. 27. but was no Feast being to be observed with the greatest Humiliation and Affliction that could be expressed He therefore exactly translates these words in this manner The Assemblies of the LORD for the word concerning is not in the Hebrew which ye shall proclaim for holy Convocations these are my Assemblies See Religious Assemblies Chap. II. All that can be said for our Translation is That the Day of Atonement being a Day of Rest from all Labour it may go under the Name of a Feast in opposition to working days Which ye shall proclaim Or call by the sound of the Trumpet which the Priests were to blow upon these days X Numb 10. To be holy Convocations The same Hebrew Mikra which here signifies a Convocation signifies also reading VIII Nehem. 8. For on these days they were called to Assemble together to hear the Law read to them as well as to offer Sacrifice and make their Prayers to God with Thanksgivings for his Benefits Even these are my Feasts Or my Assemblies as I said before the first of which was the Sabbath then the Passover Pentecost the beginning of the New Year the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles which are all contained under the general word Moed and none besides Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six days shall work be done They were allowed all these for any sort of business wherein they pleased to employ themselves But the seventh day is the sabbath of rest See XX Exod. 9 10. XXXI 15. This was the greatest of all Solemnities appointed for Assemblies returning once every week and therefore is set in the head of all the rest from which it seems to be distinguished v. 37 38. And accordingly in the next Verse having here mentioned this as a day by it self he begins to reckon the Feasts or Assemblies of the LORD And the reason why this day was made a Sabbath of Rest was because God himself then rested from his Works In memory of which they were to keep this Day free from all Labour that the belief of the Creation of the World might be fixed in their Minds or as Maimonides phrases it More Nevoch P. II. cap. 113. A belief that nothing is coevous with God Whence that saying of theirs mentioned by Aben-Ezra whosoever doth any work upon the Sabbath-day denies the work of the Creation Ye shall do no work therein They were commanded so to rest on this day from all bodily labour as not to kindle a fire to dress the meat they eat upon it which is not required upon any other day but only this and the great Day of Expiation v. 28 30. Concerning these two days alone it is said Thou shalt do no work upon it but of the days of other Assemblies no more is said but this Thou shalt do no servile work therein v. 7 8 c. that is only such work as they were wont to put their Slaves to do was prohibited For though they might not bake nor boil their Meat on the Sabbath-day XVI Exod. 23. nor on the day of Expiation v. 28. of this Chapter yet on other Solemn days they might make provision for their Tables XII Exod. 16. where Aben-Ezra notes of none of the solemn Assemblies besides the Sabbath and the day of Atonement it is said NO MANNER OF WORK only of the Passover he saith it and addeth an exception of the Meat of the Soul that is what was requisite for the Sustenance of Nature As our Mr. Thorndike observes in the place before quoted It is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwelings To be kept holy in honour of the LORD by every man wheresoever he dwelt For they had Synagogues for Worship in all their Towns though most of the other Assemblies could be held only in the place where the Sanctuary and afterwards the Temple was whither all their Males went up thrice a year at the great Festivals Aben-Ezra therefore thus glosses upon these words IN ALL YOUR DWELLINGS in your Land and out of your Land at home and upon the way To show that the Command XXXV Exod. 3. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitation upon the Sabbath-day was to be observed not only whilst they lived upon Manna in the Wilderness when God gave them a double portion on the sixth day that they might prepare it against the Sabbath XVI Exod. 5.29 but in all places wheresoever they dwelt afterwards Ver. 4. Verse 4 These are Feasts of the LORD Now follow the Solemn Assemblies which are to be kept by this Ordinance of mine besides that of the Seventh day which was celebrated from the beginning This looks like a Title to all that insues Even for holy Convocations Solemn Mettings of the People who were called together to celebrate the Mercies of God with Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Publick Rejoycings Such there were in all Nations who had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks called them general Assemblies of all
25. which the Misna in Joma says was the Fat of the inwards only Ver. 28. Verse 28 And he that burneth them The Vulgar Latin I think rightly translates it Quicunque combusserit whosoever burneth them for there was more than one as I said before imployed in this business Shall wash his clothes c. Being defiled by touching the Sacrifices which were charged with so many sins as he that carried away the Scape-goat was v. 26. where there is the very same order in the same words Now when all this was done the Misna saith cap. 7. Joma sect 4. the High-Priest washed himself again and put on his white Robes which were proper to this day and went into the most holy place to fetch out the Censer with the Dish or Cup which he carrried in when he went to burn Incense v. 12 13. And when he came out from thence he washt and put on his golden Garments and offered Incense upon the golden Altar and trimmed the Lamps Which being done they brought him his own Garments which he wore constantly and when he had put them on they accompanied him to his House where he entertained his Friends with a Feast being come out of the Sanctuary in peace that is safe and in health For by shifting his Garments and washing so often he was in danger to catch Cold as we speak and they did sometimes fall into various Diseases upon this occasion as P. Cunaeus observes out of Maimonides L. II. de Repub. Hebr. cap. 14. and some died in the holy place not having performed the Service duly Which made it very reasonable that he and his Friends should rejoyce when he returned in health and safety Ver. 29. Verse 29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you Till the coming of Christ in whom all that these Sacrifices signified was accomplished who put an end therefore to this Legal Dispensation See XII Exod. 14. That in the seventh month When they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth and thereby had the more liberty to attend such a solemn Service Which was the reason perhaps why there were more Solemnities appointed in this Month than in any other Month in the Year as appears from XXIII of this Book It had been anciently also the first Month of the year being the Month it 's likely wherein the World was created But upon the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt the Month Abib by God's special command was ordered to be the first Yet not absolutely but only in respect of that which was most eminent viz. for the Ecclesiastical Account For as to their Civil or Temporal Affairs the seventh Month Tisri still retained the precedence On the tenth day of the month The Arabians imitated this calling the Fast of the Tenth day of the Month Moharram by the name of Ashura which is exactly the Ashor tenth day here mentioned by Moses from whom these People derived it before the appearance of Mahomet Who finding the Jews when he came to Medina fasting upon this day Ashura askt them the reason of it who told him as the Mahometan Writers report it was in remembrance of Pharaoh's being then drowned in the Red Sea whereupon he said I have more to do with Moses than you and thereupon commanded his Followers to fast on this day See Dr. Pocock upon Abal-Farajius concerning the Manners of the Arabians p. 309 310. But this is plainly an idle Tale invented by him or his Followers for the Jews would rather have feasted than fasted upon the day of such a Deliverance But it shows that this Day was remarkable among the Jews and solemnly observed by them wheresoever they were and was chosen by God rather than any other Day of the Month if we may believe Maimonides More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. because it was the day on which Moses came down from the Mount with the second Tables in his hand and proclaimed to the People the Remission of their great Sin in worshipping the golden Calf in memory of which it was ordered to be intirely a Day of Repentance and of Divine Worship Ye shall afflict your souls By Fasting and Abstinence not only from all Meat and Drink but from all other Pleasure whatsoever Insomuch that they might not wash their Faces much less anoint their Heads nor wear their Shoes nor use the Marriage Bed nor read if their Doctors say true any portion of the Law which would give them delight For example the story of their coming out of Egypt and leading them through the Red Sea c. so far is the Mahometan story from having any colour of truth It is likely also that to increase their Grief they rent their Clothes as they did in other Fasts in after times put on Sackcloth girded it close to their Flesh sprinkled Ashes on their heads c. Which were all intended no doubt to work in them an inward sorrow for all their sins with an hearty abhorrence of them and resolution to mortifie and abstain from them For though the word Soul be generally expounded the sensitive part of us which is afflicted by fasting as the Prophet Isaiah expounds this Phrase LVIII 3 5. yet it is absurd to think that God was pleased with this alone without that inward Compunction of Mind which made them break off their sins by righteousness which the Prophet there declares was the only acceptable Fast to the LORD The Hebrew Doctors here observe that they did not afflict little Children on this day by making them fast from all Food till they were of the Age of Eleven years But only taught them what they were to do when they came of Age that they might be accustomed to the Precept See Joma cap. 8. sect 4. And do no work at all Not only abstain from all Pleasure but from all Labour whatsoever nothing being to be done upon this day but Confessing of Sins and Repentance as Maimonides expresses it in the place before-mentioned Whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you The Hebrew word Ezrach is extant only here and XXIII 42. which signifies as much as one that had his original among them being born an Israelite as it is there expressed The opposite to which is gher a Stranger we translate it one that was of another Nation but had embraced the Jewish Religion and lived among them who in the New Testament is called a Proselyte Ver. 30. Verse 30 For on that day shall the Priest make an atonement for you If upon this day they afflicted and humbled their Souls as Conr. Pellicanus glosses with fasting and prayer and anguish for their sins with alms also beseeching God's mercy with tears and sighs in sackcloth and ashes resting from all servile works and devoted wholly to the LORD To cleanse you From all the Transgressions and Sins mentioned v. 16. from which both the High-Priest and his Family and all the People were to be purged on this
to preserve the memory of all the Miracles which God did in Egypt out of which he brought them at that time as the Feast of Tabernacles did to preserve the memory of the Signs and Wonders he did in the Wilderness where he afforded them his Divine Protection under a glorious Cloud and preserved them without any Houses both in the cold of Winter and heat of Summer In short there are two ends mentioned in this Chapter of the Institution of this Festival one to give thanks for the Fruits of the Earth which were then gathered v. 39. another and the principal in a grateful remembrance that they dwelt in Booths forty years and were brought into better Habitations when they came to Canaan v. 42 43. Ver. 35. Verse 35 And on the first day shall be an holy Convocation c. It was to be observed as the day of Pentecost v. 21. And they every one carried in their hands the Bough of some goodly Tree as the Hebrews understand the first words of v. 40. Josephus describing this Festivity Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. mentions in the first place Boughs of Myrtle Ver. 36. Verse 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD The peculiar Sacrifices with their Meat-offerings which were to be offered on these seven days are distinctly set down in XXIX Numb from the thirteenth Verse to the end Where it will be most proper to consider them On the eighth day shall be an holy Convocation unto you See v. 4. And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD A Burnt-offering with a Meat-offering attending upon it according to the appointment in XXIX Numb 36 37. It is a solemn Assembly This is a new word which is not used hitherto concerning any of the Feasts here mentioned signifying as we translate it in the Margin a day of restraint or rather a closing or concluding day for then the Solemnity ended And so Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Conclusion of the Feasts Whence the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called by this Name of Atzereth XVI Deut. 8. And so is the Feast of Pentecost which was kept in the end of seven Weeks called by Josephus by the same name of Asartha Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This therefore as it was the last so it was the great day of the Feast as St. John calls it VII 37. On which day they read the last Section of the Law and so concluded the reading of the whole five Books of Moses And thence any great Solemnity is called by this name of Atzereth 2 Kings X. 20. I Joel 14. This seems to me to be a far better account of this word then that which the Jews commonly give who render it a day of detention because saith Abarbanel they were bound to detain the Feast to this day whereas no other Feast continued more then seven days staying at Jerusalem till it was over Whence this day seems to him to be to the Feast of Tabernacles as the Day of Pentecost was to the Passover For as they were bound to count seven Weeks from that time and then make this fiftieth day a Feast so they are here commanded after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles to stay and feast one day more Others of them as R. Solomon Jarchi say this was as if a Man having been entertained by his Friend seven days should to express greater kindness to him be detained one day more And ye shall do no servile work therein But spend their time in Feasting Mirth and Rejoycing with thankful Acknowledgments of God's Benefits to them See v. 7 8. Ver. 37. Verse 37 These are the feasts or Assemblies of the LORD which ye shall proclaim to be holy Convocations This was the Preface to them v. 4. and now is the Conclusion to make them the more observed To offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD a Burnt-offering and a Meat-offering and a Sacrifice c. These Offerings are particularly set down as hath been noted all along in the XXVIII and XXIXth of Numbers And by a Sacrifice seems here to be meant a Sin-offering which is ordered throughout those two Chapters together with Burnt-offerings upon all these Festivals Ver. 38. Verse 38 Besides the Sabbaths of the LORD i. e. Beside the Sacrifices appointed upon all the Sabbaths in the year which were not to be omitted if any of the Feasts here mentioned fell upon the seventh day of the Week And beside your gifts Most understand by Gifts such Presents as Men made to God beyond their First-fruits and Tenths But it may be thought only a general word including the two particulars which follow Vows and Free-will-offerings Ver. 39. Verse 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month when ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land c. Here is no new injunction in this Verse but only an inforcement of what was said before the very same days being appointed to be observed with those named v. 24. Therefore the Hebrew Particle Ak should not have been translated also but surely or certainly or truly as we translate it in other places particularly XXIX Gen. 14. Surely thou art my bone and my flesh LXXIII Psal 1. Truly God is good to Israel II Lament 16. Certainly this is the day that we looked for When ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land These words give a reason of the repetition of the Command because there was something more designed in this Festival than meerly the remembrance of their Condition in the Wilderness which was to express their Thankfulness to God for their desired Harvest which they had now gathered For which cause besides the seven days which were in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness there was an eighth added to acknowledge his Mercy of receiving the Fruits of the Earth Ye shall keep a Feast unto the LORD seven days These were the Feasts of Tabernacles which lasted all these seven days On the first day shall be a Sabbath See v. 35. And on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath In the institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it is said in the seventh day is an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile work therein i. e. it shall be a Sabbath v. 8. but here the eighth day hath that honour put upon it not the seventh being added to the Festival for a peculiar reason and therefore to be observed in a very solemn manner For the Feast of Tabernacles fell in the time of Vintage when the Fruits of the Earth were in a manner all gathered XVI Deut. 13. From whence it is called by the name of the Feast of Ingatherings XXIII Exod. 16. not because the whole Feast was celebrated on this account but because a principal part of it was kept on this score viz. the eighth day as the other seven days were in memory of their dwelling in Tents But that the eighth
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A word used in Crete as Eustathius notes for such kind of Vessels which some think was originally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as pouring the Blood upon the
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
us Lib. VII p. 802. that at Mendes where they worshipped Pan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goats which were there also worshipped lay with Women For which he quotes Pindar as do also Priscianus and Aelian Lib. VII de Animal cap. 19. as Casaubon there notes And Herodotus vouches this upon his own knowledge and saith they did it openly so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies when he was in Egypt His words are these in his second Book called Euterpe cap. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This prodigy hapned in this part of Egypt i. e. among the Mendesians when I was there a Goat had to do with a Woman in the view of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How long this beastly Custom had been among them none can tell but these words import that then it was notorious and so far from being kept secret that they rather made an ostentation of it Which I look upon as an argument that this had been a very old practice otherwise they would have blushed at it Ver. 24. Verse 24 Defile not your selves in any of these things This seems to relate particularly to the sins before-mentioned v. 20 21 22 23. See v. 26. For in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out before you The seven Nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan mentioned in many places particularly VII Deut. 1. were so over-run with these filthy Vices that God could not bear with them but ordered them to be destroyed for this very reason Which was a sufficient Caution to the Israelites who came in their room to keep themselves from such Impurities Ver. 25. Verse 25 And the Land is defiled To make the Israelites the more abominate such doings he represents the very Land in which they dwelt as sensible of the foul wickedness of the Inhabitants who were a loathsome burden to it which it could not digest Therefore do I visit the iniquity thereof upon it I am about to punish them upon that account And the Land it self vomiteth out its inhabitants A most eloquent figure expressing the excessive loathsomness of their wickedness which made their own Country nauseate them and throw them out as our Stomack doth Meat that offends it The same expression is used v. 28. XX. 22. III Rev. 16. Theodoret expounds this word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies their Expulsion as an execrable People And indeed the word vomit in Scripture is used for that which is most detestable and abominable XXVIII Isa 8. XLVIII Jer. 26. II Habakk 10. Ver. 26. Verse 26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments These Laws I have given you See v. 4 5. And shall not commit any of these abominations From this word abominations which the Nations God cast out to make room for them are said to have committed v. 27. some conclude that every one of the foregoing Marriages mentioned in this Chapter are in their own nature sinful the Nations who had no positive Law to forbid them being cast out for such Pollutions But the meer force of this word will not warrant such a conclusion because several things are called in this Book an abomination which have no moral turpitude in them but were made so by God's positive Laws as Mr. Selden observes Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 11. p. 598. from XI Lev. 10.20 41 42. where several sorts of Creatures are forbidden to be eaten as abominable And the Sacrifice of a Bullock or a Sheep that had a blemish is said to be an abomination XVII Deut. 1. not from the very nature of the thing but from the Prohibition which God had made against such Offerings It is most reasonable therefore to refer the abominations here spoken of to those foul things mentioned in the latter end of this List v. 20 21 22 23. and to those in the beginning v. 7 8 9 c. For lying with ones Mother or Mother-in-law or Sister was always an abomination But we cannot say the same of every one of the rest the Law it self following or rather requiring in one case the marriage of a brother's wife which were made an abomination by the Law now given to the Israelites Neither any of your own Nation nor any Stranger that sojourneth among you That is any Proselyte who had embraced their Religion See XVII 8. Ver. 27. Verse 27 For all these abominations have the men of the Land done which were before you c. He admonishes them to beware of these Abominations by the example of those who were utterly undone by them For God is no respecter of Persons but would punish them in the same manner if they did the same things Ver. 28. Verse 28 That the Land spue not you out also c. As it did at last IX Jer. 19. XXXVI Ezek. 17. Ver. 29. Verse 29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people The multitude of the Offenders shall not keep off the Punishment but they shall suffer by the hand of the Judges or by the Hand of God if they neglect their Duty See XVII Gen. 14. Ver. 30. Verse 30 Therefore shall ye keep mine Ordinances Live by all these Rules which I have now given you That ye commit not any of these abominable Customs which were committed before you By observing every one of these Laws they were kept at a distance from those greater Abominations mentioned in the beginning and in the latter end of these Prohibitions The positive Laws or Ordinances now added being in the nature of an antemurale or an out-out-work to stop their proceeding to the higher Crimes which were against the Law of Nature I am the LORD your God As their LORD he had Authority to make these Laws and as their God they had particular Obligations to observe them Nay it was a singular token of his Love to them that he prescribed these Laws of Chastity and Modesty that thereby he might preserve them an holy People to him pure and free from those abominable filthinesses and those indecent Conjunctions that were practised in the World For as the ancient Rule was Semper in omnibus conjunctionibus non solum quod liceat considerandum est sed quod honestum est In all Marriages it is always to be considered not meerly what is lawful but what is honest and seemly Which is more true in the Christian Religion than in any other For thereby Marriage is advanced to represent the Unity that is between Christ and his Church And besides in contracting Marriage we are not only to have regard to our own Conscience as Joh. Brentius wisely observes upon the fore-named Rule of the ancient Law but to Succession also and to Inheritances And therefore id agendum quod boni viri honestum judicant a legitimo Magistratu permittitur that is to be done both which good Men judge to be honest and is allowed by lawful
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were the First-born of Men or of Cattle mentioned XIII Exod. Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The ancient Sacrifices and Assemblies were after the carrying in the Harvest when they offered the First-fruits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to withdraw the Mind from Human Imployments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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.
together the other And ye shall rejoyce before the LORD your God seven days These were the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles as I noted before which were spent in Feasting and other tokens of Joy with Thanks to God for his great Goodness who had brought them out of the Wilderness where they had no Fig-trees Vines or Pomegranates into a Country which abounded with fruitful Trees of all sorts Which was the reason Maimonides thinks that Moses bids them take the Boughs of the most goodly Trees wherewith to build their Booths More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. But of all the Joys at this Festival none was comparable to that of drawing and pouring out water concerning which the Talmudists have this noted saying He that never saw the rejoycing of drawing Water never saw rejoycing in all his life The manner of which is described out of the Jewish Writers by Dr. Lightfoot in his Temple Service Chap. 16. sect 4. And our blessed Saviour is thought to allude to it when in the last the great day of this Feast he cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink c. out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water VII John 37 38. But I have not met with any one that gives a tollerable reason of this Custom at the Feast of Tabernacles Which I take to have been in memory of that Water which followed them all the time they were in the Wilderness without which they had perished and in thankfulness to God that he had brought them into a Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of Valleys and Hills as well as into a Land of Vines and Fig-trees and Pomegranates c. as Moses speaks VIII Deut. 7 8. Ver. 41. Verse 41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year He repeats it again because it was of very great importance that they should keep in mind such a singular Benefit as this of their Preservation in the Wilderness It shall be a statute for ever in your generations For the end mentioned v. 43. Ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month They came out of Egypt in the first Month and then began to dwell in Tabernacles at Succoth XII Exod. 37. and from that place were conducted ever after under the Cloud XIII Exod. 20 21. Which being in that Month we call March some may think it had been most proper to have kept this Feast at that time of the year 〈◊〉 not in September To which the Jews answer That in March Summer began when it was usual for People to dwell in Booths as more refreshing than Houses So that if they had kept this Feast then it would not have been known that they dwelt in Booths by a singular Command of God and in memory of a Divine Benefit but Men would have thought the season of the year led them to it Therefore God appointed it in the seventh Month which is a time of Cold and Rain when Men commonly left their Tabernacles and betook themselves to their Houses that it might appear they did not go out of their Houses into Booths for their own pleasure or from common Custom but by the Divine Precept in memory of a marvellous Benefit Yet the fifteenth day of this Month was appointed for the beginning of this Feast because it was upon the fifteenth day of the first Month that they marcht out of Egypt to Succoth Ver. 42. Ye shall dwell in Booths seven days They left their Houses for seven days and went into the Fields and pitcht their Tents there or on their House tops or in their Court-yards as we read in VIII Nehem. 17. All that are Israelites born shall dwell in Booths Sick People were excepted and the Rabbins also freed Women and little Children from this Obligation If the Rain likewise proved so great that they could not live there dry and the Cold so intense that it endangered their Healths they might all return to their Houses Ver. 43. Verse 43 That your generations may know that I made the Children of Israel to dwell in booths This expresses the end and intention of this Feast which was to preserve a memory in future Ages of the Goodness of God to their Fore-fathers in affording them his Divine Protection which overshadowed them â—â—d was a covering to them when they had no Houses by that glorious Cloud which went before them to conduct them For all the forty years they were in the Wilderness it overspread them like a Tabernacle and defended them from the Injury of the Weather and wild Beasts and all their Enemies they having no other shelter in that desolate place but only this And consequently this Feast was instituted to make them sensible how very happy they were in goodly Cities and fine painted Houses as Maimonides speaks in the place above-mentioned when they came to the good Land promised to their Fathers who wandered in an howling Wilderness without any certain dwelling place And another Feast was tack't to this on the eighth day on purpose to make them more sensible of the happy exchange of their Condition from a Wilderness into a Land of Corn and Wine and Oil which they had plentifully gathered Dr. Lightfoot in his Harmony of the Evangelists upon III Luke 21. hath another reason for the Observation of this Festival For which I can see no ground and therefore do not mention it but refer the Reader to the first Volume of his Works p. 477. When I brought them out of the Land of Egypt For the very first place where they rested after their first days march out of Egypt was called Succoth as I observed before that is Tabernacles because here they began to spread their Tents in which they lived ever after for forty years Nay in the very Land of Canaan there were some who preferred Tents before Houses as appears by that phrase we meet with so often when any Assembly or Army was dissolved They went every man to his Tent. And indeed it was the most ancient way of Living for Shepherds and such as fed Cattle as Moses observes IV Gen. 20. and therefore no wonder it lasted so long among the Israelites who originally were such People I am the LORD your God Whose Commands ought to be observed and whose Benefits ought to be remembred Ver. 44. Verse 44 And Moses declared unto the Children of Israel the Feasts of the LORD So he was commanded to do v. 2. they being concerned as much as Aaron and the Priests in keeping these holy Solemnities in honour of the LORD CHAP. XXIV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Directions having been given after the setting up of the Tabernacle for the several sorts of Sacrifices that were to be offered there particularly upon the great Day of Atonement and Aaron and his Sons having been consecrated and care taken that none of their Posterity should Minister before God
your wickedness nor suffer theirs to go unpunished but do equal Justice unto all Yet the Jews by a Stranger here will understand only a Proselyte of Righteousness as they call him that is one who had intirely embraced their Religion for such alone they imagine were equalled with them See Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 1. pag. 468. Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Moses spake unto the Children of Israel that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of their Camp c. It appears by this that all the foregoing Admonitions were repeated to Moses upon the occasion of the Law against Blasphemy before he proceeded to put it in execution And the Children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses Executed the whole Sentence pronounced by God against the blasphemous Person v. 14. CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai saying That is in the Wilderness of Sinai I Numb 1. For they stayed almost a whole year not far from this Mountain from whence they did not remove till the twentieth day of the second Month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt See X Numb 11 12. And thus the Hebrew Particle Beth is often used for by or near as in XXXVII Gen. 13. V Josh 13. and we find this expression again in the end of the next Chapter and in the conclusion of this Book Which shows that all here related was delivered to Moses in the first month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt immediately after the Tabernacle was set up XL Exod 17. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them For what follows was of universal concernment When ye come into the land which I give you This Law though delivered before they left Mount Sinai could not take place till they came into Canaan Then shall the land keep a Sabbath Rest from being tilled or sowen c. See XXIII Exod. 11. Vnto the LORD In obedience to him and in honour of him Some have understood the foregoing words When ye shall come into the Land which I give you as if they were to begin the Sabbatical year as soon as they entred into Canaan which is very absurd for so not the seventh but the first would have been the year of Rest And that had been very inconvenient if not destructive the War making such great waste no doubt that Provision would have been very scarce if no care had been taken for the ensuing year It is to be considered also that the old store upon which they lived when they entred into the Land of Promise was the fruit of the labour of the Canaanites and not of the Children of Israel The meaning therefore is that the seventh year after their entrance into Canaan or rather after they were settled and had rest in it they should let the Land rest The only question is When this year was to begin whether in the month of Tisri which answers to our September which was the ancient beginning of the year or in Nisan answering to our March which was made a new beginning of it by an express Law XII Exod. 2. the former still continuing the beginning of the year for Civil things as this for Sacred Now there is great reason to think that this Sabbatical year was to commence from September when all their Harvest was over which began in March Then they were not to sow as they were wont to do in October and the following Months but to stay till the return of this Season the next year For if this year had been to begin in March they could not have reaped the Harvest of the sixth year Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six years shalt thou sow thy fields and prune thy Vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof XXIII Exod. 10. But what was allowed in other years is forbidden in this Ver. 4. Verse 4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the Land a Sabbath for the LORD Or unto the LORD as we translate it before v. 2. who though he gave this Land to them continued the Proprietor of it as he declares v. 23. and the LORD in chief himself Of whom they held it by this Tenure that they should till it c. only six years together for their own use and in the seventh let it lye in common for such uses as he appointed And it was for the honour of the LORD that they observed this Law for as the weekly Sabbath was an acknowledgment that they were his so this Sabbatical year was an acknowledgment that their Land was his Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard By this he explains what he means by letting it rest And these two words sow and prune comprehend all other things that were usually done about their Fields or Trees as plowing digging dunging c. And though a Vineyard be only mentioned yet it is plain by XXIII Exod. 10. that Olive-yards are comprehended under the same Law and these are mentioned only as examples of all other Fruit-trees which were to be left in common as these were Maimonides seems to be something too curious in what he saith upon this Subject for inquiring why Moses mentions only these two things sowing and pruning his resolution is That for these two if Men offended in them this year they were punished with that scourging called Malkut but if they offended in any other sort of Labours belonging to the Culture of the Fields or of Trees they were not punished with the scourging of Malkut which was by a certain measure not exceeding thirty nine stripes but with the scourging called Mardut i. e. of Contumacy and Rebellion which was without number or measure As if a Man digged or ploughed his ground if he gathered out the stones or dunged it c. if he planted Trees or grafted c. he suffered the scourging of Rebellion And more than this he saith it was not lawful in the seventh year to plant any Tree though it was not a Fruit-tree nor to cut off the dead Branches nor to make a smoak under them to kill the Worms nor to anoint young Plants to preserve them from the bitings of Birds c. If they did they were liable to the scourging of Murdut Nay he is so nice as to say it was unlawful to sell to any Man any Instrument of Husbandry in this year as a Plough a Yoke a Sieve c. yet he allows them when they were under the oppression of the Gentiles and bound to find Provision for their Armies to sow so much as would maintain them Of which things he discourses at large in his Treatise called Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 1. and cap. 7. Ver. 5. Verse 5 That which groweth of it self Either from Seed which fell casually the year before or from the old Root which sprouted out again as Maimonides expounds it in the same Treatise
â—hen they were all carried Captive they only numbred the rest of every seventh year without any Jubile It shall be a Jubile unto you Whence this year hath the name of Jobel there are so many Opinions that Bochartus himself scarce knew which to follow Josephus saith it signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liberty and the LXX and Aquila translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remission having a regard to the thing rather than to the import of the word Jobel which never signifies any thing of that nature D. Kimchi tell us that R. Akiba when he was in Arabia heard them call a Ram by this name of Jobel and thence some fancy this year was so called because it was proclaimed with Trumpets of Rams-horns But what if there were no such Trumpets as Bochart thinks there were not these Horns being not hollow See Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 43. p. 425 c. where several other Opinions are confuted The most probable that I meet withal is that it was called Jobel from the peculiar sound which was made with the Trumpet when this year was proclaimed For the Trumpet blowing for several purposes viz. to call their Assemblies together to give notice of the moving of their Camps to excite Souldiers to fight and to proclaim this year there was a distinct sound for all these ends that People might not be confounded but have a certain notice what the Trumpet sounded for And this sound mentioned before v. 9. was peculiarly called Jobel as Hottinger thinks who considers a great many other Opinions in his Analecta Dissert III. wherein he follows Joh. Forsterus who near an hundred years before observed that Jobel which we commonly translate Trumpet XIX Exod. 13. and other places doth not signifie the Instrument it self but the sound that it made And when it is used absolutely alone it signifies this year which was called Jobel from that sound which was then made as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called Pesach from the Angel passing over them when he slew the Egyptians The Opinions of the Hebrew Writers about it are collected and largely represented by Josephus de Voisin Lib. I. de Jubilaeo cap. 1. And ye shall return every man unto his possession Unto his Field or his House which his Poverty had forced him to sell but now was restored to him without any price because they were not sold absolutely but only till this year By which means the Estates of the Israelites were so fixed that no Family could ruin it self or grow too rich For this Law provided against such Changes revoking once in fifty years all Alienations and setting every one in the same Condition wherein they were at the first By which means Ambition was retrenched and every Man applied himself with affection to the improvement of his Inheritance knowing it could never go out of his Family And this application was the more diligent because it was a religious duty founded upon this Law of God And ye shall return every man unto his family From which he had been estranged by being sold to another Family either by himself or by his Father or by the Court of Judgment So here are two parts of the liberty fore-named more expresly declared Their Land which was alienated returned to the first Owner and such as were sold for Servants into another Family came home again to their own Family being freed from their Servitude Which was a figure of that acceptable year of the LORD as St. Luke calls it IV. 19. in the Prophet Isaiah's Language wherein our blessed Saviour preached Deliverance to all Mankind The Jews themselves are not so stupid as to thinâ— nothing further was intended but only freedom from bodily Servitude in this year of Jubile for Abarbanel himself in this very Verse indeavours to discover something of a Spiritual Happiness For the former part of the words now mentioned Ye shall return every man to his possession he saith belong to the Body but the latter part And every man unto his family belongs to the Soul and its return to God So several others whom J. de Voisin produces in the forenamed Book cap. 2. And if our Dr. Lightfoot hath made a right Computation the last year of the Life of our Saviour who by his Death wrought an Eternal Redemption and restored us to our heavenly Inheritance fell in the year of Jubile the very last that was ever kept For if we count from the end of the Wars of Canaan which was seven years after they came into it and I do not know why we should not think they began to number then and not seven years after as Maimonides would have it there were just fourteen hundred years to the thirty third of Jesus Christ that is just XXVIII Jubiles And it is the Confession of the old Book called Zohar as he observes That the Divine Glory should be freedom and redemption in a year of Jubile See Harmony of the New Testament sect 59. And Vsserij Chronologia Sacra cap. 13. Ver. 11. Verse 11 A Jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you It is a question whether the year of Jubile was the year following the forty ninth year or the forty ninth year was the Jubile which reckoning the foregoing Jubile for one was the fiftieth year Josephus Scaliger in his fifth Book de Emend Temporum and several other great Men are of this last opinion to avoid a great inconvenience which otherwise would ensue viz. That the forty ninth year being the Sabbatical year in which the Land was to rest if the next year to that had been the Jubile two Sabbatical years would have come immediately one after another for the Land was to rest in the year of Jubile as it here follows One would have expected therefore that in the forty eighth year there should have been a special Promise that the Land should bring forth Fruit for four years and not for three only as the Blessing is promised every sixth year v. 21. Thus Jacobus Capellus reasons in his Historia Sacra Exotica ad A. M. 2549. But others think this Objection not to be so great as to make them depart from the letter of this Law which saith v. 10. Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and here in this Verse A Jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you Though a very learned Man P. Cunaeus thinks this is of no great moment either way for it is usual in common speech Septimanam octidum appellare and Hospinian in like manner we call a Week octiduum eight days because we reckon utramque Dominicam both the LORD's days And the greatest Writers anciently called an Olympiad which contained but the space of four compleat years by the name of Quinquennium See Lib. I. de Republ. Judaeorum cap. 6. Yet besides the express words of the Law the Consent of the Jews sways very much the other way for they accurately distinguish between the Schemitta or Year of
Remission and Jobel the year of Jubile even then when these two Solemnities immediately succeeded each other as I shall have occasion to observe on the next Verse Ye shall not sow neither reap that which groweth of it self in it Because it was the Sabbatical year v. 4 5. as some will have it from the observance of which they were not absolved by its being the Jubile But others think as I observed that the Jubile it self was a new Sabbatical year Ver. 12. Verse 12 For it is the Jubile He doth not say it is the Sabbath of the Land as he doth of the seventh year v. 6. Which makes for their opinion who think the Jubile was not the same with that but a new Sabbatical year so that two years together they neither sowed nor reaped But they that maintain the other opinion look upon this only as a new reason why they should forbear such labour this year because besides that it was the Sabbatical year it was also the Jubile a time of great joy in regard of the Liberty to which every one was restored which made it more necessary every one should enjoy what the Earth brought forth of it self and none appropriate any thing to themselves It shall be holy unto you Because it was the LORD's Sabbath v. 3. Separate from the common Employments of other years being dedicated to the uses expressed in this Law v. 10. which are two Manumission of Servants and Restitution of Men to their ancient Possessions Unto which some add a third viz. Remission of Debts But the Jews are of a quite contrary opinion that in this the year of Jubile differed from the Sabbatical year that Debts were remitted in the one but not in the other Whence those words of Maimonides in the Treatise I have so often mentioned cap. 10. sect 16. In this the Sabbatical year excels the Jubile that it remits Debts which the Jubile doth not But the Jubile in this excels the Sabbatical year that it sets Servants free and restores Possessions which the other doth not And the Jubile likewise restores Possessions in the very beginning of the year but the Sabbatical year doth not release Debts till it be ended Ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field By plucking what they needed for every days use but not by reaping and gathering and laying up in Barns Ver. 13. Verse 13 In the year of this Jubile ye shall return every man to his possession This being the most remarkable thing belonging to the Liberty of this year it is therefore here again repeated For it was so famous that the Heathens themselves took notice of it insomuch that Diodorus Siculus saith Lib. XI it was not lawful for the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sell their own Inheritances Meaning as Mr. Selden expounds it Lib. de Success ad Leges Hebr. cap. 14. to sell them quite so as to alienate them for ever from their Families which is expresly forbidden v. 23. And so the Locrians as is observed by Aristotle in his Politicks were prohibited by their Laws to sell their ancient Possessions See P. Cunaeus Lib. I. de Repub. Jud. cap. 4. Many Reasons are given by learned Men for this Law among the Jews See Menochius Lib. III. de Repub Hebraeor Quaest 3. The most obvious is that by this Law God fixed the Jews to the Land of Canaan since all their Possessions were so entailed that the right Heir of any of them could never be wholly excluded from his Estate but it would intirely return to him after a certain number of years And by this means also they preserved a distinct knowledge of their several Tribes and Families to which they belonged for which end their Genealogies were of necessity to be carefully kept that they might be able to prove their right to the Inheritance of their Ancestors By which means as Menochius notes it was certainly known of what Tribe and Family the Messiah was when he was born And M. Alix hath taken notice which is worth observing that God ordered things so that they should have the means of preserving their Genealogies by not suffering them to continue in Captivity out of their own Land for the space of two whole Jubiles For they were but LXX years in Babylon in which short time their Genealogies could not be easily confounded especially since several who saw the first Temple burnt lived to see the second begin to be rebuilt Two other Reasons are most judiciously managed by Petrus Cunaeus Lib. I. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 3. to which I refer the learned Reader Ver. 14. Verse 14 If thou sellest ought to thy Neighbour or buyest ought of thy Neighbours hand ye shall not oppress one another As Moses took care that the Wealth of some should not oppress the Poverty of others by making the foregoing Law that a poor Man should not lose his Land for ever so in the buying of a poor Man's Land he would not have the rich Man give less for it than it was worth no more than the poor Man require more for it than its just value till the year of Jubile The Hebrew Doctors have formed a Rule about this that if a Man bought any thing for a sixth part less than its worth or sold it for a sixth part more than its worth he was bound to restore that sixth part but nothing at all if it were short of a sixth part wherein he had damaged his Neighbour But if the difference was more than a sixth part the Buyer might rescind his Contract if the Bargain was not quite finished and require his Money again And the Seller if the damage was on his side might at any time require the thing to be returned to him at the price for which he sold it See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 5. Ver. 15. Verse 15 According to the number of years after the Jubile thou shalt buy of thy Neighbour They were to consider how many years were gone since the last Jubile and consequently to purchase the Profits of the remaining years till the next For they could not either by Sale or any other Contract transfer plenum fundi dominium as Cunaeus speaks their full interest in the Land to any other Man And according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee He that sold the remaining term of years till the Jubile was to consider that every sixth year there was no Fruit and therefore he should demand nothing for them but set his price only according to the number of the other years not reckoning those Ver. 16. Verse 16 According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price This is added only to make what was said before plainer that the price should rise or fall according as there were more or few years to come before the next Jubile For
called having several parts which were all holy Moses may be thought to speak of it here in the Plural Number As Jeremiah represents the Jews saying The Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD are these VII 4. That is both these Courts wherein we stand as well as that of the Priests and the most Holy Place are all the LORD's Temple Or the word your is to be applied to such places of Worship as they themselves had consecrated in opposition to God's Sanctuary And I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours This seems to determine the meaning of Sanctuaries to God's own House where sweet odours of Incense made of several sweet Spices were daily offered unto him Which being a representation of their Prayers sent up to him he here declares that he will not be appeased by them nor by any Sacrifices they could offer to him but utterly reject them Ver. 32. Verse 32 And I will bring the Land into desolation The People being carried captive or forced to flee into strange Countries v. 33. And your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it They that possess this Country out of which you are expelled shall be amazed when they reflect upon the Calamities that are fall'n upon you Which Jeremiah describes as very dreadful VII 20. And often mentions the Astonishment wherewith they were struck who beheld them XVIII 16. XIX 8. XXV 9 11. and see 2 Chron. XXIX 8 9. which shows this began before Jeremiah's time Ver. 33. Verse 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen Some fled into one strange Country and others into another according as they could find means and opportunity insomuch that there were no known places where they were not dispersed So Jeremiah threatens XIII 24. XV. 4. And I will draw a sword after you So Jeremiah threatens those that would go into Egypt for safety that the sword which they feared should overtake them there XLII 16 17 18. And your Land shall be desolate and your Cities waste For they that were left there and their Enemies to whom the Country was given were now enow to cultivate the Land and build their Cities By all this as well as by what follows it appears that here is a plain Prediction of the Miseries that came upon Israel by Tiglath-Pileser and Salmanasar and upon Judah by Nebuchadnezzar who laid their Cities waste destroyed the Sanctuaries despoil'd them of their Goods drove them into strange Countries and as it here follows made their Land keep its Sabbaths Ver. 34. Verse 34 Then shall the Land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lyeth desolate and ye be in your enemies Land c. This is a most bitter reproach to them for their ingratitude to God and inhumanity to their Brethren in not keeping the Sabbatical year mentioned in the foregoing Chapter Dr. Hammond hath another notion of the word which we translate enjoy See Note g. upon Psal 102. p. 504. Ver. 35. Verse 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest Lye untilled as it ought to have done every seventh year And it lay thus seventy years because as some think they had neglected to keep so many Sabbatical years Which we cannot think to be true without supposing that they kept none for half the time from their entrance into Canaan till they were expelled out of it by the Captivity of Babylon Because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it For in these four hundred and ninety years says Procopius Gazaeus when they were under the Government of Kings there were seventy years to be kept as Sabbaths which that the Land might enjoy its Sabbaths were spent in the Captivity of Babylon We do not expresly read indeed of this profane neglect while they dwelt in their Land but Jeremiah complains that they did not in his time give their Servants Liberty in the seventh year XXXIV 17. and he gives this as one reason why God delivered them up to Slavery for so I understand those words I Lament 3. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude And from thence we may conclude that the same covetous humour and distrust of God's Providence made them not suffer their Land to rest in that year Especially since the Author of the second Book of Chronicles expresly mentions this as a reason of their Captivity to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet until the Land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath to fulfil threescore and ten years 2 Chron. XXXVI 21. Now their Punishment in this was made the more remarkable if it be true that both the Kingdom of Samaria and the Kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a Sabbatical year and that immediately after a Jubile the City and Temple were destroyed by Titus according to Scaliger's Computation And so I observed before Maimonides makes account XXV 8. that the year when they were carried captive to Babylon and the first Temple destroyed was in the expiration of a Sabbatical year Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 10. sect 3. Ver. 36. Verse 36 And upon them that are left alive of you This imports that the Body of the People should be destroyed I will send a faintness into your hearts in the Lands of their Enemies Where their Spirits Sunk under their present Miseries And the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them And yet they were condemned to live in continual dread of more Miseries For the Hebrew word we translate faintness signifies softness which could not support the weight of their Affliction And this last Phrase imports such a timourness as should make their Life always uneasie to them and such a cowardise as should render them vile and despicable And so they are noted at this day to be mean spirited and faint hearted it being scarce ever heard that a Jew listed himself for a Soldier or ingaged in the defence of the Country where he lives And they shall flee as flecing from a Sword and fall when none pursueth Fancy they hear the sound of Trumpets or clashing of Arms which made them start and run away any fall into a swoon when there was no danger Such Terrors the Heathen themselves have observed in Men of an evil Conscience who were afraid of their own Shadow as they say of Orestes Ver. 37. Verse 37 And they shall fall one upon another As people are wont to do when they make too much haste and run confusedly or the formost hinder the flight of those that follow XLVI Jerem. 16. As it were before a Sword c. For fear of the Sword as this Hebrew Phrase certainly signifies and is so translated in the Margin of our Bibles XXI Isa 15. XXXI 8. See Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 8. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies Being so timorous as to
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
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