slain and divided the Priest was to put what belonged unto the LORD into the Man 's own hands viz. the Fat with the Breast and the Shoulder that he might present it himself unto the Divine Majesty That the breast may be waved for a wave-offering before the LORD This is the manner wherein it was to be presented the Man was to lift it up over his head and wave it to and fro his hands being supported and guided by the Priest See XXIX Exod. 24. and VI Numb 19 20. Maimonides describes the order of it in this manner first the Priest put into the Man's hands the Fat and then laid upon it the Breast and the Shoulder and after that one of the pieces of the Cakes for the Meat-offering upon them all which he waved about Ver. 31. Verse 31 And the Priest shall burn the fat upon the Altar but the breast shall be Aarons and his sons When that part which belonged to God's Altar viz. the Fat had been burnt there the Priests had the Breast and the Shoulder to their own use as Servants have what comes from their Master's Table For it was all offered unto God v. 29 30. who taking only the Fat for himself bad them take the rest viz. the Breast and the Shoulder which had been presented unto God by waving them to and fro as a Sacrifice to the LORD of the World but by him bestowed upon his Ministers for their maintenance in his Service This is more fully expressed in the three next Verses in which there is no difficulty and therefore I shall but lightly touch them Ver. 32. Verse 32 And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the Priests c. This is only a more particular declaration what belonged to the Priest who was to have not only the Breast before-mentioned but also the right Shoulder Ver. 33. Verse 33 He among the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace-offerings and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part This is still a more special direction providing for the incouragement of that Priest who on that day ministred at the Altar unto whom the right Shoulder was appropriated as a reward of his pains in offering the Sacrifice Ver. 34. Verse 34 For the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifice of their peace-offerings and have given them to Aaron and his sons c. This doth not contradict what I observed just before for when he saith he hath given these to Aaron the Priest and his Sons the meaning must be to those of his Sons who at the time when these were offered sprinkled the Blood and burnt the fat Ver. 35. Verse 35 This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron and of the anointing of his sons c. In the Hebrew the words are This is the anointing of Aaron c. That is this they have in right of their Unction to the Priest's Office which intitles them to all before-mentioned In the day The Hebrew word Bejom may both here and in the next Verse be translated as I observed before VI. 20. from the day and ever after When he presented them to minister unto the LORD in the Priests office Made them draw near to attend upon him at his Altar Ver. 36. Verse 36 Which the LORD commanded to be given them in the day that he anointed them c. By virtue of a Grant from God when they were made Priests to enjoy this benefit in all future Ages By a statute for ever c. As long as this Law of Sacrifices and this Priesthood shall last See VI. 22. Ver. 37. Verse 37 This is the law of the burnt-offering of the meat-offering and of the sin-offering and of the trespass-offering c. This Verse contains a Summary of what he had commanded Aaron and his Sons from the ninth Verse of the sixth Chapter unto this place And of the Consecrations The whole order of their Consecration is not here directed but in XXIX Exod. only something belonging to that matter VI. 20 c. Ver. 38. Verse 38 Which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai In that mountainous Country which lay near to Mount Sinai as Maimonides truly expounds it For he was come down from Mount Sinai and had delivered to them all that he received there XXXIV Exod. 29 32. before these Commands were given but they still continued near unto it and so the word behar may be translated by mount Sinai For as the last words of this Verse tells us they were still in the Wilderness of Sinai that is in that part of the Wilderness which took its name from its nearness to Mount Sinai In the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD c. This doth not precisely signifie that he commanded Aaron and his Sons VI. 9 c. all these things on the very same day that he commanded the Children of Israel what Oblations to bring Chapt. I. 2 c. but they were delivered all at the same time immediately after the other without any other Commandments intervening CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying See IV. 1. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Take Aaron and his sons with him Having delivered the Laws and Rules about Sacrifices and the Rites belonging to them he now prepares the Priests to offer them as had been commanded And there is not much said in this Chapter but what hath been explained in XXIâ— Exod. and other neighbouring Chapters where he relates the Orders he received in Mount Sinai about those things which were now performed And the garments XXVIII Exod. 2 4. And the anointing oil XXX Exod. 24 c. And a bullock for the sin-offering and two rams and a basket of unleavened bread See XXIX Exod. 1 2 3 c. These were in their kind the very best of the legal Sacrifices as appears in part from that Expression of the Psalmist LXIX Psalm 30 31. where he prefers Thanksgiving and Praise before a Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs a young Bullock which began to spread its Horns and Hoofs that is before the very best of all their bloody Sacrifices Ver. 3. Verse 3 And gather thou all the Congregation together c. All the Elders of the People with the great Officers who were set over Thousands and Hundreds c. For these are frequently called by the Name of Col ha Edah which we translate all the Congregation particularly in XXV Numb 7. XXXV 12. XX Josh 6. XXI Judg. 10 13 16. where the Elders of the Congregation and the Congregation and all the Congregation are plainly the same thing Which is further confirmed from the next Chapter of this Book v. 1. where it is said expresly Moses called Aaron and his Sons and the Elders of Israel Ver. 4. Verse 4 And Moses did as the LORD commanded Summoned them to appear before the LORD And the assembly
the very same time But I have given some Arguments to prove the contrary upon XL Exod. 17 18. And the meaning of these three Verses 10th 11th 12th of this Chapter may be not that they were Consecrated at the same time but with the same Oil. For first he says Moses took the anointing Oil and shows how it was employed after a different manner upon the Tabernacle and its Utensils upon the Altar and upon Aaron on whose Head it was poured whereas the former had it only put upon them with the finger or were sprinkled with it But though they were not Consecrated together yet their Consecration immediately followed one another For seven days being spent in sanctifying the Tabernacle and the Altar then immediately began the sanctification of Aaron and his Sons during which time Moses may be supposed to have received the foregoing Laws about Sacrifices in which they were to be employed as soon as they were Consecrated And the seven days for the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons immediately succeeding the other seven days which were spent in the Consecration of the Tabernacle and the Altar it may be the reason why they here are succinctly mentioned both together and neither of them mentioned before For if the account we have in the XLth of Exodus concerning these things be well attended to it will appear that nothing is there said of the anointing of the Tabernacle or any thing else but only that he set it up the first day of the Month as he was commanded v. 2 c. and 17 c. And he is commanded in like manner to take the anointing Oil and anoint the Tabernacle and all therein v. 9 c. and then to anoint Aaron and his Sons v. 13 15. but he relates nothing of his doing either of them till now when he executed those commands Ver. 13. Verse 13 And Moses brought Aarons sons and put coats upon them and girded them with girdles c. See XXVIII Exod. 40 41. XXIX 30. XL. 14. As the LORD commanded Moses He commanded him also to anoint them at the same time XXVIII Exod. 41. XL. 15. but it is not here mentioned because they were not anointed as he was by pouring Oil upon their Heads but sprinkling it on their Garments with the Blood of the Sacrifice offered for them And that he did afterward as he had been ordered v. 30. See XXVIII Exod. 41. XXIX 7. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And he brought the bullock See XXIX Exod 1 10 c. For a sin-offering So it was designed to be XXIX Exod. 14. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin-offering See XXIX Exod 10. I Levit. 4. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he slew it XXIX Exod. 11. And Moses took the blood and put it upon the horns of the Altar round about with his finger As he had been directed XXIX Exod. 12. And purified the Altar It was purified before but this was a further purification of it that it might be the more fitted to be a place to make reconciliation upon it as it follows in the conclusion of the Verse And poured out the blood at the bottom of the Altar and sanctified it c. The vulgar Latin I think gives the true interpretation of these words rather than translates them in this manner It being expiated and sanctified he poured out the blood at the bottom of the Altar c. Fort. Scacchus hath taken a great deal of pains to prove that this Expiation as the Vulg. Lat. calls it went before the Anointing or Consecration of the Altar in his Myrothec P. II. cap. 34. But his Arguments seem to me of no force to overthrow the Opinion of Abulensis and Philo That these words do not speak of a proper Expiation of the Altar but that it was only hereby more particularly set apart as the word sanctifie signifies to be the place where Sin-offerings might be made that Men who had committed Offences might be expiated by these Sacrifices Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards and the caul c. See XXIX Exod. 13. Ver. 17. Verse 17 But the bullock and his skin his flesh and his dung he burnt with fire without the camp as the LORD commanded Moses See XXIX Exod. 14. Yet we do not find that the Blood of this Sacrifice was carried into the holy place and therefore it did not fall under the Rule in the VIth Chapter of this Book v. 30. but might have been eaten by the Priests as is there allowed v. 26. Some think it sufficient for the solution of this to say that Aaron and his Sons were not yet compleatly Consecrated and therefore had not a right to eat of the Flesh of this Sin-offering But such Persons do not consider that Moses who now acted as a Priest could not be debarred of that benefit by this reason And therefore it is better to say that no High-Priest whether ordinary or extraordinary such as Moses now was might eat of any Sin-offering offered for the Priests themselves although the Blood of it was not brought into the Sanctuary From whence we may draw this Consequence that although the Sins of the People were taken away by the Priests who by eating of their Sin-offering plainly showed that they bare their sin as the phrase is X. 17. yet the Sins of the Priests themselves could not be taken away by any Sacrifice they could offer for sin of which they might not eat But they were to expect as an excellent Person of our own speaks Dr. Jackson Book IX upon the Creed cap. 26. a better Sacrifice made by a better High-Priest the Son of God But these Legal Sacrifices in the mean time were offered in such a place as prefigured the place where this better Sacrifice should be offered viz. without the Camp as when they came to their rest without the City of Jerusalem where our Saviour's Body was offered for our Redemption Ver. 18. Verse 18 And he brought the Ram for the burnt-offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the Ram. According to the direction given to Moses when he was with God in Mount Sinai XXIX Exod. 15 16. where all that follows here to the end of the 21st Verse is explained this being nothing else but the execution of what was before ordered Ver. 22. Verse 22 And he brought the other Ram. For he was commanded to bring two v. 2. and XXIX Exod. 1. The Ram of Consecration So it is called XXIX Exod 22 31. for the reason there given Ver. 23 24. Verse 23 24. And he slew it and Moses took of the blood of it c. These two Verses are explained XXIX Exod. 20. where order was given for what was now done I shall only add a Remark of R. Levi ben Gersom upon the order wherein these Sacrifices were offered which was most rational For first there was a Sacrifice
for Sin offered v. 14. before they could be worthy to have any Gift or Present which they made to God received by him But upon their Expiation an whole Burnt-offering was accepted v. 18. and after that followed this Sacrifice which was a Peace-offering as appears from v. 31. part of which was burnt upon the Altar part given to the Priest and the rest they themselves ate for whom it was offered that it might appear they were so far in the favour of God as to eat with him of his Meat from his Table Abarbanel hath the same observation Ver. 25. Verse 25 And he took the fat and the rump c. All this Verse likewise is there explained XXIX Exod. 22. Ver. 26 27 28. Verse 26 27 28. And out of the basket of unleavened bread c. These three Verses show that Moses exactly followed the Orders he had received XXIX Exod 23 24 25. where they have been explained Ver. 28. Verse 28 Burnt them upon the burnt-offering This shows that they were not a burnt-offering properly as I there observed but an Appendix to it They were consecrations for a sweet savour Because they were offered to consecrate and sanctifie them as this is explained XXIX Exod. 33. See there Ver. 29. Verse 29 And Moses took the breast and waved it c. According to the direction given XXIX Exod. 26. where it is also ordered that this should be Moses his part Ver. 30. Verse 30 And he took of the anointing oil and of the blood that was upon the Altar and sprinkled it on Aaron c. See XXIX Exod. 21. where it appears plainly this blood that was mixed with the Oil was the Blood of the Ram of Consecration Ver. 31. Verse 31 And Moses said unto Aaron and his sons Boil the flesh at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and there eat it c. God having had his part v. 28. and Moses who performed the Office of a Priest at this time having had that which belonged to him on that account v. 29. the rest was given as the manner was in Peace-offerings to those for whom the Sacrifice was offered that is all but the right shoulder which was burnt upon the Altar and the Wave-breast which was given to Moses as Priest See XXIX Exod. 31 32. Ver. 32. Verse 32 That which remains of the flesh and the blood shall ye burn with fire See XXIX Exod. 34. This shows it was of the nature of a Peace-offering VII 15 17. Ver. 33. Verse 33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the Tabernacle in seven days c. For till then their Consecration was not perfected as the following words signifie no more than the Consecration of the Altar was till a Bullock had been offered to cleanse it and make an atonement for it seven days together See XXIX Exod. 35 36 37. This was to make them more sensible of the great weight as well as dignity of their Office Ver. 34. Verse 34 As he hath done this day so the LORD hath commanded to do to make an atonement for you Every day of these seven those Sacrifices were to be repeated the Sin-offering the Burnt-offering and the Peace-offering and their Garments were to be sprinkled with the Blood and the Anointing Oil as the LORD required when Moses was with him in the Mount XXIX Exod. 35. This shows the imperfection of all the Legal Sacrifices which would not have been so often repeated if they had been of greater efficacy Yet the continuance of them seven days doth signifie the compleat Consecration of these Priests according to the Rites of those times In conformity to which our great High-Priest the LORD Christ who was perfected by one Sacrifice of himself spent seven days in his Consecration to his Office For as Aaron is commanded to attend at the Tabernacle so many days together in like manner our LORD Christ as Dr. Jackson observes in the forenamed Book Chapt. XXV did attend the Temple five days one after another before his death See XII John 1 12 c. XXI Matth. 8 9 c. and having purged it on the first or second of those days from the prophaneness that was exercised in it by Merchandizing and afterward hallowed it by his Doctrine and by his Divine Presence which appeared in several miraculous Cures he went the sixth day into his heavenly Sanctuary into Paradise it self to puririsie and sanctifie it with his own Blood as Moses at Aaron's Consecration did the material Sanctuary and Altar with the Blood of Beasts And having rested the seventh day finished all by his Resurrection early the next day in the morning Ver. 35. Verse 35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Where all things mentioned in this Chapter had been done and were still to be repeated v. 3 4. for they could not go into the Sanctuary till they were compleated Day and night This was to make their Consecration more solemn and taken notice of by all the People Seven days By which means a Sabbath as the Jews observe passed over their heads without which they conceive Aaron and his Sons could not have been compleated But the Sabbath of the LORD did never so exactly pass over any High-Priest in his Consecration as it did over the High-Priest of the New Testament For however it were of Aaron's it was to our blessed Saviour as the fore-named Dr. Jackson notes a Day of Rest indeed after six days of Labour Watching Praying and Fasting which concluded in his bloody Death and Passion And keep the charge of the LORD That which he had now enjoyned Or rather watch the Tabernacle and his Vessels c. as they were to do in time to come The Hebrew Doctors have here raised a difficulty about the necessary Easements of Nature for which they had no convenience if they might not stir for seven days from the door of the Tabernacle and therefore they fancy there was a hole digged in the Ground for such occasions But it is more likely they were not so confined as not to be allowed this liberty and one cannot well doubt of it who considers the word Mismoroth here used which we translate keep the charge of the LORD which is a military phrase signifying the Stations and Watches kept in their turns for certain hours after which they were at liberty to attend their own Affairs Such was the charge here one may reasonably think of not departing from the door of the Tabernacle while they were upon the guard as we speak which some or other of them kept night and day in such order that while some watched others might sleep or step out about the necessary occasions of Nature That ye die not It may seem hard that they should be in peril of their Life if they omitted any of these Rites But this was necessary to make those serious and intent upon their business who were to save the Lives of
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
in the Hebrew Language Minchah and by us translated a Meat-offering For it was a Korban or Gift as well as the foregoing though of a lower sort And R. Levi Barcelonita thinks this sort of mean Present as we may call it had the name of Mincah because such Offerings were very often meerly voluntary from whence whatsoever is not due among Men from another is called Mincah a Gift Some of which were constant and stated and also of a determinate quantity being an Appendix to the daily Burnt-sacrifice Morning and Evening as we read XXIX Exod. 38 39 c. But these here spoken of were voluntary when any Man's Devotion inclined him to acknowledge God and implore his Divine Blessing And no certain quantity was prescribed only the Jews say not less than an Ephah was accepted but as much more as they pleased See Dr. Outram in his excellent Book De Sacrificiis p. 90. His offering shall be of fine flour Viz. Of Wheat-flour For all the Offerings of this kind whether for the whole Congregation or particular Men were of pure Wheat-flour sifted from the Bran except only the Omer of First-fruits of their Harvest XXIII 13 14. and that which was called the Mincha of Jealousie V Numb 15. which were of Barley Of these voluntary Offerings there were five sorts as appears by this Chapter for they were either of raw Meal mentioned in this Verse or Meal made into Cakes baked in an Oven which was of two sorts v. 4. or baked in a Pan v. 5. or in a Frying-pan v. 7. The first of which was the most ancient as appears from IV Gen. 3. and from what the Heathen say of it particularly Plato L. VI. de Legibus and Pliny L. XXX Nat. Hist cap. 5. where he saith Numa ordered the Romans Deos fruge colere c. And Pausanias in his Attica tells us in the Porch of the most high Jupiter there was an Altar where they did not offer the Sacrifice of Beasts but only of fine Flour The same he repeats in his Arcadia and says this was ordained by Cecrops that they should Sacrifice only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Athenians in his time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And accordingly Triptolemus another of their most ancient Lawgivers enacted this as one of his principal Laws that they should worship their Gods with the Fruits of the Earth For these three Laws of his Porphyry saith were preserved to his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to honour their Parents Worship their gods with the Fruits of the Earth and hurt no living Creature Which last St. Hierom L. II. contra Jovin translates not to eat flesh And he shall pour oil upon it Which was done to give this sort of Offering a grateful relish as Maimonides observes P. III. More Nevochim cap. 46. The Heathen used Oil in their Sacrifices but not mixed with Flour but poured upon the Flesh of the Beast that was sacrificed to make it burn the better upon the Altar So that of Virgil shows Aeneid VI. Pingue superque Oleum fundens ardentibus extis And put frankincense thereon To make a sweet Odour in the Court of the Tabernacle which otherwise would have been offensive by reason of the Flesh that was burnt there daily as the same Maimonides speaks in the place before-named When they came into the Land of Canaan where they were required XV Numb 2 3 c. to take care that this Mincha or Meat-offering should attend all the Freewil-offerings of Beasts as well as the daily Morning and Evening Sacrifice there is no Frankincense appointed but a certain quantity of Wine which perhaps was instead of it having a fragrant smell and was not required in the Offering here mentioned Both these were common in the Sacrifices of the Gentiles as appears by this single passage in Ovid L. V. de Tristibus Eleg. 5. Da mihi thura puer pingues facientia flammas Quodque pio fusum stridat in igne merum Ver. 2. Verse 2 And he shall bring it In a silver Dish or of some other Metal as R. Levi of Barcelona expounds it Praecept CXVI wherein he delivered it to the Priest who carried it to the Altar and presented it to God by lifting it up over his Head and as the Jews generally say turning it about to all the four quarters of the World in token that it was offered to the Possessor of Heaven and of Earth To Aarons sons the Priests To one of them that ministred at the Altar that day this Offering was brought as appears by the next words And he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof As much as he could take up between his fingers saith the fore-mentioned R. Levi. And of the oil thereof Which was mingled as I said before with the Flour With all the frankincense thereof None of which was to be reserved for the Priests own use but intirely burnt upon the Altar Which was contrary to the way of the Gentiles who called Frankincense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Diodorus Siculus speaks L. II. a thing most beloved of the Gods but yet offered only so much as they could take up with two fingers or as others say three See Cuperus his Apotheosis Homeri p. 74 c. And the Priest shall burn the memorial thereof upon the Altar As a grateful Acknowledgment unto God that they held all they possessed of him their Sovereign LORD whom they supplicated also hereby that he would still be mindful of them that is be gracious to them For this Offering seems to have something of the nature of an Holocaust or whole Burnt-offering though others will have it to be an Expiatory Sacrifice because part of it was eaten by the Priests But it being said in the next words to be an Offering made by fire which is the phrase for a whole Burnt-offering in the foregoing Chapter v. 9 13 17. I take the other to be the truer Of a sweet savour unto the LORD The very same being said of this sort of Offering which is of the foregoing that were more chargeable I. 9 13 17. Procopius Gazaeus had great reason here to observe which cannot be too oft repeated that true Piety is not demonstrated by the greatness of its presents The way of Piety is open and easie unto all For God's Commandment is exceeding broad And he that maketh the smallest signification of it if it be sincere differs nothing from him who shows it by the largest Gifts c. So vain were the reasonings of the Heathen who disputed which were the most acceptable Sacrifices to their Gods those of living Creatures or of Things inanimate Julian contended that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Sacrifices of living Creatures were more esteemed than of those without life because they were nearer of kin to the living God and the Author of Life But his great Doctors Pythagoras and Porphyrius as St. Cyril observes L. X.
the meaning is he shall present it to the LORD before the Altar and then afterward as is directed in the next Verse burn an handful of it upon the Altar And so the Rule is Chapter second v. 8 9. When it is presented to the Priest he shall bring it to the Altar c. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he shall take of it his handful of the flour of the meat-offering c. According to the prescription in the second Chapter v. 2. where all this Verse is explained Ver. 16. Verse 16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat If they had no pollution upon them XXII 6. See Chapt. II. 3. The reason of the Precept was as R. Levi Barcel observes Praecept CXXXIII that it preserved the dignity of the Sacrifice to have it eaten only by the Priests and by them I may add only in the holy place and not carried out from thence as it here follows With unleavened bread shall it be eaten There is nothing in the Hebrew Text to answer unto the word with which makes the sense unaccountable that otherwise is easie and natural If we translate it as the Hebrew words plainly signifie unleavened it shall be eaten See X. 12. In the holy place There was a room in the Court of the Priests where they ate these holy things as Kimchi observes upon XLII Ezek. Which may be confirmed out of XVIII Numb 10. where the most holy place can signifie nothing but the Court of the Priests as L'Empereur rightly understands it in his Annot. upon Middoth cap. 2. sect 6. In the Court of the Tabernacle of the Congregation they shall eat it As the Priests did eat it in their own Court so their Male-children had a place in the Court of the Israelites wherein to eat it X. 12 13. And they are all said to eat before the LORD because this was a part of the Tabernacle as was also the Court of the Women where there was a place for the Priest's Daughters to eat as well as their Sons of the Firstlings that were offered to the LORD XVIII Numb 19. Ver. 17. Verse 17 It shall not be baken with leaven There were two little rooms at the East-gate of the Court of the Temple called The Gate of Nicanor one of which was a Vestry for the Priests to put on their Garments when they went to Minister and the other was for baking this flour and that mentioned v. 21. So they tell us in Middoth cap. 1. sect 4. And therefore it is ordered to be baken without leaven because it was a part of the LORD's Sacrifice which being offered unleavened Chapt. second v. 11. the remainder must needs be unleavened also because the whole was God's and the Priests could have it no other ways than it was offered unto him I have given it to them for their portion of my offerings made by fire That is of the Meat-offerings before-mentioned It is most holy c. This is the reason why it was not to be carried to be eaten out of the holy place See Chapt. second v. 10. As is the sin-offering and as the trespass-offering See v. 26. and VII 6. Ver. 18. Verse 18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it And none but they because it was a thing most holy It shall be a statute for ever in your generations That is as long as the Law about Sacrifices shall last Every one that toucheth them shall be holy According to this translation of these words the meaning is That it was not sufficient to be descended of Priests and to be Males but they were also to be free from any legal defilement who were admitted to eat of this Offering XXII 6. But these very words which we here translate every one in the 27th Verse we translate whatsoever and then the meaning is Every thing that toucheth them shall be made holy by them That is the very Dishes into which such holy things were put or the Spoons or Knives wherewith they were eaten were never to be imployed to any other use See XXIX Exod. 37. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying At the same time the LORD gave direction about another Offering near of kin to the former but not yet mentioned Ver. 20. Verse 20 This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they shall offer unto the LORD The Jews call this a Mincah of imitation which every High-Priest and every other Priest as they understand it were bound to offer when they were Consecrated and the High-Priest to continue every day as long as he lived So Abarbanel in his Preface to this Book Section 2. reckoning the various sorts of Meat-offerings makes this the fourth kind which the High-Priest offered every day and every other Priest once in his Life viz. when he first was admitted to Minister at the Altar at the Age of twenty years For both these Meat-offerings saith he are comprehended in this Verse But it may as well be understood only of Aaron and his Successors in the Priesthood of whom the following words seem to speak and not of the common Priests In the day when he is anointed The Hebrew word bejom may be translated from the day and so the Jews understand it that he was to make this Oblation not only upon the day of his Consecration but ever after as I said every day as long as he continued in the Priesthood And so the next words seem to explain it The tenth part of an Ephah of fine flour for a meat-offering perpetual half thereof in the morning and half at night The High-Priest saith Josephus L. III. Antiq. cap. 10. sacrificed twice every day at his own charges and then he describes this very Offering which was distinct from that which attended the daily Burnt-offering as appears by the quantity of this Meat-offering and by the manner of ordering it For that seems to have been raw Flower mixed with Oil but this baken as it follows in the next Verse See XXIX Exod 40 41. The reason why it is here mentioned is because it was a Mincah or Meat-offering of whose Rites Moses is treating and this is an Exception from the rest Ver. 21. Verse 21 In a pan shall it be made with Oil. With three logs of Oil as the Jews determine And when it is baken See v. 17. Thou shalt bring it in Unto the Altar And the baken pieces shalt thou offer c. If it was a Meat-offering of the High-Priest it was divided into XII pieces as Maimonides saith if of a common Priest for they will have both to be included in this Law then into X pieces which were so exactly divided that half of them were offered in the Morning and the other half in the Evening And the handful of Frankincense which they say was offered with them was in like manner divided and burnt on the Altar Maase Korban cap. 13. Ver. 22. Verse 22 And the Priest of
was gathered together The word we translate Assembly is the same with that in the foregoing Verse which we translate Congregation that is as I said the Assembly of the Elders Vnto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation That they might be Witnesses of what was done and satisfie all the People that Aaron and his Sons did not intrude themselves into this Office but were solemnly called and consecrated to it by Moses the Servant of the LORD It is likely also that as many of the People as the place would conveniently hold met together to be Spectators of this Solemnity Ver. 5. Verse 5 And Moses said unto the Congregation this is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done I am now about to execute what God hath formerly commanded when I was with him in the holy Mount XXIX Exod. 4. At what time this was executed is a question among learned Men. And our great Primate of Ireland places this Consecration of Aaron and his Sons together with the Tabernacle and all things belonging to it in the second Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt moved thereunto I suppose by what is said in VII Numb 1 2. So that according to his Opinion the numbring of the People and the separation of the Levites to God's Service preceded this Action But I do not see any reason why we should not think all things were done in the order wherein they are here related And then this Consecration was performed in the first month of that year after the Tabernacle had been erected and set apart for the Habitation of the Divine Majesty See XL Exod. 17 18. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons To the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation as he had been directed XXIX Exod. 4. And washed them with water As is there also directed having first likewise washed himself XL. 31. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And he put upon him the Coat and girded him with the girdle c. Moses by an extraordinary Commission from God performed the Office of an High-Priest on this day and the six days following And put Aaron in possession of this Office by cloathing him with the Garments here mentioned according to the orders which had been given XXIX Exod. 5 c. which was thought sufficient for the Consecration of an High-Priest after the Captivity of Babylon when they wanted the holy Oil as hath been before observed Whence Philo often calls Moses by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. High-Priest And in Schemoth Rabba the Tradition is that he continued High-Priest all the time they continued in the Wilderness though others they confess are of opinion which is the truth that he officiated only the seven days of the Consecration after which this Office was settled in Aaron See Selden L. I. de Succession in Pontificatum cap. 1. Ver. 8. Verse 8 And he put the breast-plate upon him also he put in the breast-plate the Vrim and the Thummim See XXVIII Exod. 30. It is observable that he saith nothing here in this place of the precious Stones but only mentions Vrim and Thummim as in XXXIX Exod. 10. where he describes the same thing he makes mention only of the four rows of Stones but saith not one word of Vrim and Thummim which I look upon as a proof that they were all one Ver. 9. Verse 9 And he put the Mitre upon his head and upon the Mitre the golden Plate the holy Crown c. According as God commanded him in XXVIII Exod. 36 37 c. XXIX 6. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was therein See XXIX Exod. 26 c. and XL Exod. 9 10 11. There being several ways of anointing a Thing or Person either by pouring Oil upon them or by putting it upon them with the finger or by sprinkling it is not an improbable Conjecture of Fortunatus Scacchus that Moses anointed the Tabernacle and its Utensils by dipping his finger in the Oil and putting it upon them For though the word Maschah which he useth for anointing be general yet the Vulgar expressing it by linivit and the LXX by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which import this particular sort of anointing and there being different words used to express the anointing of the Altar and of Aaron it may well incline one to his Opinion Myrothec 2. Sacr. Elaeochrism cap. 70. And sanctified them Set them apart by this unction for the holy use for which they were designed Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the Altar seven times and anointed the Altar and all its vessels c. We do not find this expresly before directed but the intention of anointing the Altar being to make it most holy because it was to sanctifie all that was laid upon it XXX Exod. 29. XL. 10. it was very fit it should be both sprinkled seven times with Oil and also anointed in token of its extraordinary Sanctity which was put upon it by this very solemn Rite For here are two distinct words about this anointing the first is jaz he sprinkled of the Oil upon it and then jimshach he anointed it by putting some of the Oil on it whereas it is said of the Tabernacle and of the things there only jimshach he anointed them without any sprinkling Some think that the Altar being mentioned twice in this Verse he speaks of the Altar of Incense as well as of the Altar of Burnt-offerings But it is plain by those places in Exodus it was the Altar of Burnt-offerings which was thus sanctified and here the Laver and its foot which stood in the same Court is said to be sanctified with it As for the Altar of Incense it is included in what is said in the foregoing Verse that he anointed the Tabernacle and all therein Both the laver and his foot to sanctifie them It may be thought that he sprinkled with Oil the Laver and its Foot as well as anointed them which is the opinion of the fore-named Fort. Scacchus But the Hebrew words will not warrant it for they only signifie that they were anointed as the Altar was after its aspersion Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aarons head Here now is a third word distinct from the two former viz. jitzok which signifies there was more done to Aaron than to any of the holy things to sanctifie him to his office For the holy Oil was poured on his Head And anointed him Perhaps he drew the Oil with his finger upon his Forehead after it was poured on his Head as the Jews think he did See XXIX Exod 7 8. XXX 30. XL. 13. To sanctifie him i. e. Set him apart to this Sacred Office Now this Consecration of Aaron and his Sons being mentioned here together with the Consecration of the Tabernacle and all belonging to it it hath made some conclude that both were done at
others by making Expiation for them when they deserved to perish For so I am commanded These Orders as hath been already observed he received in the holy Mount So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses This was necessary to be added that all Generations might be assured whatsoever was performed by their Ministry would be effectual to the end for which it was appointed they being exactly Consecrated to God's Service without the least omission of any thing that he had required In like manner our great High-Priest was Consecrated to his Eternal Priesthood by fulfilling all the Will of God and that in a far more Solemn and Publick way than Aaron's was it being performed by Suffering such things as nothing but a perfect Filial Obedience to his heavenly Father could have moved him to admit because it was accomplished by shedding his own Blood in a lingring Death CHAP. IX Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND it came to pass on the eighth day He doth not mean on the eighth day of the Month but on the next day after their Consecration which was seven days in doing VIII 33 35. Then it was that the Fire fell down from Heaven and consumed the Sacrifice which Aaron offered and this seems also to have been the first day of unleavened Bread which fell upon the fifteenth day of this Month for on the fourteenth in the Even which was the last day of the Consecration of the Priests the Passover was kept IX Numb 2 5. That Moses called Aaron and his sons and the Elders of Israel Just as he had done before VIII 2 3. that the Rulers and as many of the People as could meet together to behold what was done might see the Glory of the LORD which appeared at this time v. 6. Ver. 2. Verse 2 And he said unto Aaron take thee a young Calf This is the first Sacrifice that was offered to God by the Priests of the Order of Aaron It differed from that which was offered by Moses for Aaron and his Sons as Egel a young Calf doth from Par a young Bullock by which his Sin was expiated at his Consecration And Maimonides saith that the former signifies a Calf of one year old the latter one of two Others say a Calf was called Egel till his Horns budded and then it was called Par. For a sin-offering For his sins in general not for any determinate Offence like that IV. 3. which therefore was something different from this The Jews fancy that a young Calf was appointed for the first Sin-offering to put Aaron and the People in mind of the Golden Calf which they worshipped So Maimonides reports the Opinion of their Wise men in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. Where he also hath this conceit that it was to expiate that Sin And a Ram for a burnt-offering For none but Males were accepted for Burnt-offerings I. 10. There is no Peace-offering ordered for him as there is afterward for the People v. 4. because it was not fit he should have all the Sacrifice as he must have had according to the Law of such Sacrifices being both the Priest and the Offerer between whom and the Priest after the Fat was burnt all was to be shared Ver. 3. Verse 3 And unto the Children of Israel thou shalt speak saying Unto all the Elders v. 1. who were to bring the following Offerings in the Name of all the People of Israel and that by Aaron's direction who was now to act as God's High-Priest and gave out this Order Take ye a Kid of the Goats for a sin-offering The Hebrew word Seir signifies a He-goat Concerning which Maimonides in his Book concerning Sacrifices delivers this opinion That all Sacrifices for sin whether of private Persons or the whole Congregation at their three principal Feasts New Moons and the Day of Expiation were He-goats For this reason because the greatest Sin and Rebellion of those times was that they sacrificed to Daemons who were wont to appear in that form For which he quotes XVII 7. They shall no more offer their Sacrifices lasseirim which we translate unto Devils but the word Seirim is but the Plural Number of the word Seir which signifies a Goat And further he adds That their Wise men think the Sin of the whole Congregation was therefore expiated by this Kid of a Goat because all the Family of Israel sinned about a Goat when they fold Joseph into Egypt XXXVII Gen. 31. And such reasons saith he as these should not seem trifles for the end and scope of all these Actions was to imprint and ingrave on the Mind of Sinners the Offences they had committed that they might never forget them According to that of David LI Psal 5. My sin is ever before me This Sin-offering was different from that IV. 14. being not for any particular Sin as that was but in general for all the Offences that the High-Priest might have committed A Calf and a Lamb both of the first year c. When they were in their prime Ver. 4. Verse 4 Also a Bullock and a Ram. These also were no doubt to be without blemish as is prescribed in the two foregoing Offerings And the Hebrew word Sor which we translate a Bullock often signifies a well grown Ox as in XXI Exod. 28. XXV Deut. 8. As Ajil a Ram the Hebrews say signifies a Sheep of above a year old These made very large Peace-offerings and consequently a liberal Feast upon them For peace-offerings The very same order is here observed that was at Aaron's Consecration First Sin-offerings then a Burnt-offering and then a Peace-offering was offered to the LORD VIII 14 18 22. And a meat-offering mingled with oil Which was to compleat the Peace-offerings on which they were to feast that Meat might not be without Bread to it For to day the LORD will appear to you Give you an illustrious Token of his Presence by sending Fire from Heaven or from the Brightness of his GLORY to consume the Sacrifice v. 23 24. Whereby they were all assured that both the Institution of this Priesthood and the Sacrifices offered by it were acceptable to the Divine Majesty Ver. 5. Verse 5 And they brought that which Moses commanded Both Aaron v. 2. and all the Congregation v. 3. brought all the Offerings which Moses required Before the Tabernacle of the Congregation Where these Sacrifices were to be offered And all the Congregation drew near and stood before the LORD Approached to the door of the Tabernacle and stood there by their Sacrifices looking towards the Holy Place and worshipped the LORD Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses said Unto the Congregation This is the thing which the LORD commanded that ye should do I require this of you by the commandment of God who will demonstrate by a visible Token his Presence among you And the glory of the LORD shall appear unto you That Glory which filled the Tabernacle when it was erected
XL Exod. 34 35. openly showed it self to them all v. 23. and declared his Grace and Favour towards them by consuming their Sacrifice as an acceptable Oblation to him v. 24. Whereby a particular Honour also was done unto Aaron who was hereby most illustriously owned to be God's High-Priest and all other Persons deterred from pretending to his Office Ver. 7. Verse 7 And Moses said unto Aaron Go unto the Altar and offer thy sin-offering and thy burnt-offering One of them after the other in the order wherein they were directed viz. his Sin-offering first to make his Burnt-offering accepted Make an atonement for thy self and for the people First for himself as the Apostle observes VII Hebr. 27. that then he might be capable to offer for the Sins of the People This was the great imperfection of the Aaronical Priests that they were Sinners like other Men by reason whereof they were bound as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins V Hebr. 3. And offer the offering of the people and make an atonement for them After he had offered both the Sin-offering v. 8. and the Burnt-offering v. 13. for himself then he was to begin to offer for the People For his own Sins being expiated and his Burnt-offering being accepted he was fit to procure Remission and Acceptance for them Ver. 8. Verse 8 Aaron therefore went unto the Altar That he might be ready to perform his part of the Service which was to sprinkle the Blood after he had first of all offered the Morning Sacrifice See v. 17. And slew the Calf of the sin-offering which was for himself Ordered it to be slain for this was no part of the Priests work as I showed upon the first Chapter v. 5. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him They received it in Basons as it run from the Calf when it was killed See I. 5. and brought it unto him who stood at the Altar to receive it and do what follows And he dipt his finger in the blood The fore-finger of the right hand which had been sanctified to this Ministry by putting the Blood of the Sacrifice of Consecration upon the thumb of the right hand VIII 23 24. whereby we grasp all things and cannot hold them strongly nor perform any thing well if that be wanting And put it upon the horns of the Altar c. See IV. 25. Ver. 10. Verse 10 But the fat and the kidneys and the caul above the liver See IV. 8 9. He burnt upon the Altar as the LORD commanded Moses Laid or disposed them upon the Altar to be burnt by the heavenly fire v. 24. as most understand it And the LXX justifie this Opinion who though they here translate it He offered it on the Altar yet v. 13. where there is the same phrase they expresly translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he laid the Burnt-offering upon the Altar and again v. 17. in the same manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he laid it upon the Altar besides the burnt-sacrifice of the morning For common fire it is supposed was no longer to be used when Aaron's Sacrifice began as it had been all along before But there is no certainty in this and we may as well take the words in their proper sense that Aaron burnt this and the following Sacrifice as Moses had done before VIII 14 21 28. until the Burnt-offering for the People came to be offered which God consumed by fire from himself and then followed those other Sacrifices mentioned v. 17 18. For all these Sacrifices for Aaron and for the People could not be laid upon the Altar at once but one after another in the order here directed and consequently this Sacrifice here mentioned was actually burnt upon the Altar to make way for those which followed it Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp See VIII 17. Ver. 12. Verse 12 And he slew the burnt-offering and Aaron's sons presented to him the blood c. See I. 5. Ver. 13 14. Verse 13 14. And they presented the burnt-offering unto him with the pieces thereof c. All that is contained in these two Verses is explained in the first Chapter v. 8 9. where the Law about burnt-offerings is delivered Ver. 15. Verse 15 And he brought the peoples sin-offering c. Having offered all that was necessary for himself now he became fit to make Supplication for the People And offered it for sin as the first In the same manner as he offered the foregoing Sin-offering for himself v. 8 c. Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he brought the burnt-offering Here being no express mention of burning it some from thence conclude that this was the Offering which alone was consumed by fire from the LORD See v. 24. And offered it according to the manner Laid it upon the Altar as Moses had directed in the first Chapter of this Book Ver. 17. And he brought the meat-offering c. Which attended upon Burnt-offerings XV Numb 2 3 4 c. Beside the burnt-offering of the morning This shows that Aaron began his Priestly Function with the Morning Sacrifice which preceded all other and was never omitted for the sake of any other Sacrifice that was to follow it and it had always a Meat-offering waiting upon it XXIX Exod. 39 40. Ver. 18 19. Verse 18 19. He slew also the Bullock and the Ram for a sacrifice of peace-offerings These two Verses are explained in the third Chapter which treats of such kind of Offerings Ver. 20. Verse 20 And he put the fat upon the beasts c. That it might by elevation and waving be presented unto the LORD and then burnt upon the Altar See VII 30. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave-offering before the LORD The Fat being burnt upon the Altar as God's portion these were the portion of the Priests who feasted upon God's Meat for they were solemnly presented unto him before they had them See VII 34. Ver. 22. Verse 22 And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people Imploring the Divine Blessing upon the People which he afterwards pronounced At this day they that are of the Family of Aaron going up the steps which lead to the place where the Book of the Law is kept lift up their hands as high as their heads and pronounce a Blessing in their Synagogues upon the Assembly And they say the ancient Custom was which is still observed not only to lift up and spread their hands but then to joyn them together by the thumbs and the two fore-fingers dividing the other from them in that Figure which is represented by an eminently learned Person J. Wagenseil in his Commentary upon Sota cap. 7. p. 672. and 1132. And blessed them We read of no order for this but natural Reason taught them from the beginning that the Priestly Office consisted in praying
be put in execution at the Evening Sacrifice v. 9. of that Chapter Which is a sufficient Reason to incline one to think that the Celestial Fire now came as I have supposed at the Evening Sacrifice and consumed the Burnt-offering Which when all the people saw they shouted They fled not from it as Men affrighted but shouted for joy or as Abarbanel's phrase is they lifted up their voices with singing and prayed to God or rather praised him Just as they did when the Fire came down at the Consecration of Solomon's Temple When the people saw it they praised the LORD saying for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 2 Chron. VII 3. And fell on their faces Worshipped God with humble Thankfulness who hereby testified his Presence among them and his gracious Acceptance of them For thus he had of old showed his Respect to Abel IV Gen. 4. and to Noah VII 20. and to their Father Abraham whose Sacrifice was thus accepted in the Evening when the Sun went down XV Gen. 17. And there was great reason that both Priests and People should rejoyce at this sight For as the Author of the Book Cosri discourses Pars III. sect 53. if a Man look only at the foregoing part of the Work of this day the killing of the Sacrifices the Blood running about their hands their slaying of them washing the Entrails rinsing the Pieces of the Flesh sprinkling the Blood laying the Wood in order kindling the Fire they would rather set his Mind further off from God than draw it near to him till after all these things performed orderly he saw the Fire coming down from Heaven testifying God's gracious acceptance of the Sacrifice or felt another Spirit excited in him beyond any thing he was acquainted withal before or had Divine Dreams or Heroical Motions which he believed were the Effects of what he had been doing c. And no doubt all good Men in future Ages felt their Minds raised by the thoughts that the Sacrifices they offered were as acceptable to God as that offered at this time being consumed in some sort by the same Fire which burnt continually on this Altar and after this day was never extinguished till the Captivity Which seems to be the Original of that Expression of the People in their Prayer for their King That God would remember all his Offerings and accept turn to ashes it is in the Hebrew his burnt Sacrifice XXI Psal 3. Such acceptable Sacrifices St. Cyril tells Julian we Christians still offer but infinitely better being Spiritual and Intellectual and consequently nearer to the Divine Nature and that by Fire sent from Heaven viz. the Holy Ghost of whom this Fire was but a Figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illustrating the Church and inabling the Members of it to offer continually the sweet smelling Sacrifices of Faith and Hope and Charity and Righteousness Temperance Obedience perpetual Doxologies and all other Vertues L. X. contr Jul. CHAP. X. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron His two eldest Sons VI Exod. 23. Took either of them his Censer Here are two of their Errors expressed in these words if Abarbanel conjecture aright who supposes this to have hapned on the last day of their Consecration when Fire came down from Heaven First That they adventured without any order from God to go and burn Incense in the Sanctuary For though this did not belong to the Office of the High-Priest alone yet upon this Solemn Day Aaron only was commanded to perform the whole Service as upon the Day of Expiation IX 7. And this account Bochartus gives of their Offence that sine vocatione thus obtulerunt they offered Incense without any call to it Hierozoic P. I. L. II. cap. 49. p. 557. And secondly both of them went about this Work whereas the Incense was to be offered only by one and not by two at a time Procopius Gazaeus adds a third Error that they attempt this out of the due season for it which was only in the Morning and Evening And put fire thereon As the Priests were required to offer no strange Incense XXX Exod. 9. so in all reason they were to think it was not to be offered with strange fire but only with a Coal from that Altar where there was a fire kindled by God himself And offered strange fire before the LORD Here are two sins more if Abarbanel take it right that they brought Fire from another place without the Sanctuary and did not take it from the Altar and then that they attempted to go into the most holy place which he thinks is signified by these words before the LORD The first of these is the Opinion also of Aben-Ezra and other learned Men among the Jews who by strange fire understand fire that did not go out from before the LORD IX 24. that is was not taken from the Altar of Burnt-offering where Fire from Heaven lately consumed their Oblations And so R. Bechai They imagined that the Fire on the Altar of Burnt-offerings was only for consuming Sacrifices and therefore they fetcht some from without for the burning Incense But as to the second thing it doth not seem to me probable for Aaron himself had not yet gone into the Holy of Holies Which he commanded them not This they did saith Aben-Ezra from their own proper Motion and Opinion without any Authority from God for whose order they should have waited if his Mind was not already sufficiently declared as it was fully afterwards XVI 12. How two such excellent Men as these who had had the honour to be called up to God when he appeared on Mount Sinai and to have a sight of him and to eat and drink in his Presence XXIV Exod. 1 9 10 c. came to be so rash and to fall so unadvisedly into so great an Error as this here mentioned cannot be certainly resolved But it seems to me highly probable that at the Feast upon the Peace-offerings they had eaten and drunk too liberally which made them forget themselves and fall into this gross mistake For I can see no other reason why that Command v. 8. of not drinking Wine or strong Drink when the Priests were to go into the Sanctuary is annexed unto this story of their Death and Burial but only this which I have now alledged that their Miscarriage arose from drinking too much Wine before this Office was to be performed Ver. 2. Verse 2 And there went out fire from the LORD As they were entring into the Sanctuary or as they stood at the Golden Altar ready to offer Incense Fire came out from the most Holy Place where the Glory of the LORD was and struck them dead And devoured them It did not reduce their Bodies to Ashes nor so much as burn their Clothes v. 5. but they were killed as Men sometimes are with Lightning which penetrates into the Vital Parts and puts a sudden end to their Life That 's meant
here by devoured them took away their Breath in a moment From which Expression the Hebrew Doctors conclude that when any body was condemned to be burnt it was not to be consumed to Ashes but only exanimated by the Fire because this is called devouring or burning here in this place See Gamera Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 1. And they died before the LORD Fell down dead in the House of God Which may seem too great a Severity till it be considered how reasonable and necessary it was to inflict a heavy Punishment upon the first Transgressors of a Law concerning a Matter of great moment to deter others from the like Offence Many instances of which there are in Scripture Some observed by St. Chrysostom upon VI Psal 2. where he gives this account why the Man who gathered a few sticks upon the Sabbath-day was adjudged to be stoned as Blasphemers were because it was a very heinous thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as soon as a Law was enacted immediately to break it which made it necessary it should be thus severely punished to strike such a Terror into others that they might not dare to do the like Which was the reason he observes of the sudden Death of Ananias and Sapphira mentioned Acts V. Isidore of Peleusium hath made the same observation Lib. I. Epist. 181 and goes so far back as to our first Parents who were dreadfully punished for a seemingly small Offence because they were the first Transgressors The same others have observed of the punishment of Cain who committed the first Murder of the filthiness of Sodom of the Idolatry of the Golden Calf the Covetousness and Sacriledge of Achan the Disobedience of Saul the first King of Israel the sudden Death of Vzzah who was the first that presumed to touch the Ark of God Ver. 3. Verse 3 And Moses said unto Aaron To satisfie him in the Justice and Wisdom of this dreadful stroke at which he could not but be extreamly afflicted This is that the LORD spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me To come nigh unto God is in the holy Language to perform the Office of a Priest XIX Exod. 22. XVI Numb 5. who having the honour of attending upon the Service of the Divine Majesty were bound to approach into his Presence with the greatest Reverence We do not read indeed those very words which Moses here recites in the foregoing Books But as many things were spoken to them which are not recorded so the sense of these words are in the place forenamed XIX Exod. 22. and the reason of them in XXIX Exod. 43 44. where the Tabernacle being said to be sanctified by the Divine Glory and the Priests being sanctified to minister unto him therein which was seven days a doing as we read here VIII 35. they were plainly taught to draw nigh to God with a holy Fear and to do nothing rashly nor without order from him For God being peculiarly known by the Name of the Holy One i. e. who hath incomparable Perfections such as no other Being hath he justly required to be accordingly worshipped sutable to his most surpassing Greatness by peculiar Rites of his own prescribing in a different manner from all other Beings It was for instance below his Emenency or rather Supereminent Majesty to have common Fire such as they imployed in their Kitchins used for the burning Sacrifice upon his Altar And in like manner all other parts of his Service were in reason to be performed after such a fashion as might signifie their sense of the peculiar Excellencies of the Divine Nature who therefore sent Fire from Heaven as only fit to burn perpetually upon his Altar And before all the people will I be glorified This may be thought to be but a solemn Repetition of what was spoken before as the manner is in these Books to deliver the same thing twice in different words Or the meaning is if they who draw nigh to me will not sanctifie me I will vindicate my own honour by such Punishments as shall openly declare to all that I am the Holy One. Thus God is said to be honoured upon Pharaoh by drowning him in the Red-sea XIV Exod. 4. And Aaron held his peace Silently adored the Justice of the Holy One and did not complain of his Severity For this doth not seem to be the effect meerly of great Grief but of great Reverence to the Divine Majesty Ver. 4. Verse 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron It appears from VI Exod. 18. that Vzziel the Father of Mishael and Elzaphan v. 22. was the younger Brother of Amram the Father of Aaron and consequently Aaron's Uncle And said unto them Come near and carry your brethren All near Kindred are called Brethren in Scripture And these Cosin Germans of theirs are appointed to carry them out because Aaron's other Sons were now attending upon God in their Ministration upon the Day of their Consecration But without this special order these two Persons could not have been admitted to come near into the very Sanctuary being not of the Family of Priests though of Kin to him From before the Sanctuary See v. 2. Out of the Camp For anciently they buried not in their Cities but in the Fields adjacent to them XXIII Gen. 9 17. and so they did in after times XXVII Matth. 7. and VIII Luke 27. where the Tombs are plainly intimated to be without the City Ver. 5. Verse 5 So they went near There being two Accents upon the Hebrew word for draw near the Cabbalists from thence observe I know not upon what grounds that these Men did not come into the very Sanctuary where the dead Bodies lay but drew them out with long Poles and those of Iron being afraid of the Fire wherewith Nadab and Abihu had been killed or rather fearing to go into the Sanctuary or too near it See Hackspan's Cabala Judaica n. 58. And carried them out in their Coats c. Their Linen Vestments wherein they ministred which having touched dead Bodies were no more fit to be used in the Divine Service As Moses had said As he had directed in his order which he gave them Ver. 6. Verse 6 And Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons These two were all the Sons that Aaron had now remaining from whom came two great Families of the Priests which in the days of David we find very numerous though more of the House of Eleazar than of the other when they were by him divided into XXIV Classes and had their Courses of waiting appointed them 1 Chron. XXIV 4 c. Vncover not your heads The Hebrew Doctors interpret it quite contrary Let not the head of your hair grow so long that is as to cover their Faces which was the custom of Mourners 2 Sam. XV. 30. XIX 4. and many other places And thus Onkelos and the Arabick Version set forth by
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Third Book of MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS BY The Right Reverend Father in GOD SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVIII A COMMENTARY UPON LEVITICUS THE Third Book of MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS CHAP. I. THE Greeks and Latins give it this Name of LEVITICUS not because it Treats of the Ministry of the Levites properly so called of which the Book of NUMBERS gives a fuller account than this Book doth but because it contains the Laws about the Religion of the Jews consisting principally in various Sacrifices the charge of which was committed to Aaron the LEVITE as he is called IV Exod. 14. and to his Sons who alone had the Office of Priesthood in the Tribe of Levi Which the Apostle therefore calls a Levitical Priesthood VII Hebr. 11. Verse 1. Verse 1 And the LORD called unto Moses That is bad him draw near and not be afraid because of the Glory of that Light which was in the Tabernacle XL Exod. 35. For this is a word of love as the Hebrew Doctors speak who observe that God is not said to call the Prophets of the Gentiles but we only read that God jikar met Balaam not jikra called to him as he did here to Moses Who as Procopius Gazaeus hath well observed upon this word appointed no Service of God in his House which he had lately erected without his order whereas the Worship performed in the honour of Daemons was without any Authority from him Nay there were Magical Operations in it and Invocation of Daemons and certain tacit Obligations which their Priests contracted with them For which he produces Porphyry as a Witness And spake unto him but of the Tabernacle Hitherto he had spoken to him out of Heaven or out of the Cloud but now out of his own House Into which it is not here said he bad him come as he did afterwards when the Glory of the LORD dwelt only in the inner part of the House over the Ark but he stood it is likely without the Door of the Tabernacle till the Sacrifices were appointed as it here follows and the High Priest entred into it with the Blood of Expiation I can find no time in which this can so probably be supposed to have been done as immediately after the Consecration of the Tabernacle as soon as the Glory of the LORD entred into it And so I find Hesychius understood it who observing this Book to begin with the word And which is a Conjunction used to joyn what follows with that which goes before thence concludes that the beginning of this Book is knit to the conclusion of the last and consequently what is here related was spoken to Moses on the same day he had set up the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD filled it When Moses might well think as the Hierusalem Targum explains it that if Mount Sinai was so exalted by the Divine Presence there for a short space that it was not safe for him to approach it much less come up into it till God commanded him he had much more reason not to go into the Tabernacle which was sanctified to be God's dwelling place for ever till God called to him by a Voice from his Presence nay he durst not so much as come near the Door where I suppose he now stood without a particular Direction from the Divine Majesty Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them The Tabernacle being erected it was fit in the next place to appoint the Service that should be performed in it which consisted in such Sacrifices as are here mentioned in the beginning of this Book There could not be a more Natural order in setting down the Laws delivered by Moses than this which is here observed If any man of you bring It is the Observation of Kimchi that in the very beginning of the Laws about Sacrifices God doth not require them to offer any but only supposes they would having been long accustomed to it as all the World then was To this he applys the words of Jeremiah VII 21. and takes it for an Indication that otherwise God would not have given so many Laws concerning Sacrifices but only in compliance with the usage of the World which could not then have been quite broken without the hazard of a Revolt from him And therefore they are directed to the right Object the Eternal God and limited to such things as were most agreeable to Humane Nature An offering unto the LORD The Hebrew word Korban which we translate an Offering and the Greeks translate a Gift is larger than Zebach which we translate a Sacrifice For as Abarbinel observes in his Preface to this Book though every Sacrifice was an Offering yet every Offering was not a Sacrifice A Sacrifice being an Offering that was slain but there were several Offerings of inanimate things as those mentioned in the beginning of the second Chapter of this Book which therefore were not properly Sacrifices but were accepted of God as much as the Offering of Beasts when they had nothing better to give And therefore the same Abarbinel will have the Name of Korban to be given to these Offerings because thereby Men approached to God For it is derived from a word which signifies to draw near from whence he thinks those words in Deuteronomy IV. 7. What Nation is there that hath God so nigh unto them c. Ye shall bring He speaks in the Plural Number say some of the Hebrew Doctors who have accurately considered these things to show that two Men might joyn together to offer one thing Your offering of the Cattle I do not know what ground Maimonides had to assert in his More Nevochim Pars III. cap. 46. that the Heathen in those days had brute Beasts in great veneration and would not kill them for it is no Argument there was such a Superstition in Moses his time because there were People in the days of Maimonides as there are now who were possessed with such Opinions But he thinks God intended to destroy this false Perswasion by requiring the Jews to offer such Beasts as are here mentioned that what the Heathen thought it a great sin to kill might be offered to God and thereby Mens sins be expiated By this means saith he Mens evil Opinions which are the Diseases and Ulcers of the Mind were cured as Bodily Diseases are by their contraries Yet in the XXXII Chapter of that Book he saith God ordered Sacrifices to be offered that he might not wholly alter the Customs of Mankind who built Temples and offered Sacrifices every where taking care it may be added at the same time that they should be offered only to himself at one certain place and after such a manner as to preserve his People from all Idolatrous Rites Which if they had considered who contemned this Book of LEVITICUS as Procopius Gazaeus tells us some did
Altar See Dilheirus Disput Philolog Tom. 2. p. 253. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And he shall flay the Burnt-offering Next followed the taking off the Skin which God ordered to be given to the Priests VII 8. Though the Heathen burnt Skin and all in some places as Bochart observes out of Plutarch and Lucian in the fore-named place Hieroz P. I. L. II. p. 324. But whose work it was to flay the Beast is not here expressed The Jews say it belonged not to the Priests to do this but to the Man himself who brought the Beast to be offered For to show in brief what belonged to the owners of the Sacrifice and what to the Priests it may be fit to note out of Abarbanel that each of them had five things to do The Owner of the Sacrifice laid his hand upon it killed flayed cut it up and washt the inwards And then the Priest received the Blood in a Vessel sprinkled the Blood put fire on the Altar ordered the Wood on the fire and ordered the pieces of the Sacrifice upon the Wood. And that the Beast might more easily be flayed there were eight Stone Pillars as the Jews tells us in Middoth cap. 3. and Beams laid over them in each of which there were three Iron hooks fixed That the greater Beasts might hang upon the highest the lesser upon the middlemost and the least of all on the lowest and so be more commodiously stript of their Skins Concerning this Excoriation both Homer and Virgil speak as the afore-named Dilheirus hath observed in the same Book p. 255. And cut it into pieces This followed the Excoriation among the Gentiles also as the same Author shows And it was done with such accuracy that Homer saith they dissected the Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence some great Men have thought St. Paul borrowed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Care the Ministers of the Gospel should have in dividing rightly the Word of Truth 2 Tim. II. 15. These pieces were not the very same in Bullocks and Goats that they were in Sheep as will appear afterwards and therefore the greater care was to be used in the cutting of them especially when besides those parts which were offered to God the Priests and the People were to have their share also Ver. 7. Verse 7 And the sons of Aaron the Priest shall put fire upon the Altar This as I said before was one of the works of the Priests who did not put fire daily upon the Altar for being once kindled they were to keep it always burning VI. 13. but stirred it up and blowed the Coals Which is meant by giving fire as the Phrase is in the Hebrew that is disposing it so that it might burn quick Yet if the fire was taken off from the Altar as when they removed the Camp IV Numb 14. none might lay it on again but the Priest Or if it were extinct as it was in the days of Ahaz who shut up the door of the House of God which was not opened till Hezekiah reigned 2 Chron. XXVIII 24. XXIX 34. none but they might kindle it again And lay the wood in order upon the fire This the Priests did every Morning and every Night that the fire might be preserved from going out And when the time of the Morning and Evening Sacrifice came they brought new Wood and laid it in such order upon the fire that it might the better consume the parts of the Sacrifice that were laid thereon Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the Priests Aarons sons shall lay the parts the head and the fat The Hebrew word Peder doth not simply signifie the Fat for which they have another word cheleb but that Fat which is separated from the rest of the Flesh So it is to be understood here and in III. 9. IV. 35. Which being gathered together and thrown into the fire fed the flame and made it burn more fiercely by which means the other parts into which the Sacrifice was divided were the more easily and the sooner consumed Particularly St. Hierom takes it for that Fat which adhered to the Liver and both Solomon Jarchi and David Kimchi observe that this Peder was thrown upon the Head of the Sacrifice when it was cast into the fire just in the place where the Head was cut off from the Body because otherwise the Gore which issued from it might have extinguished the flame See XXIX Exod. 17. In order upon the wood c. That they might lye upon the Wood so as to have the same situation in the Altar that they had in the Beast when it was alive So Maimonides in Maase Korban cap. 6. Verse 9. Verse 9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water These Parts were not to be burnt upon the Altar till they were well cleansed by washing them in Water For which end there was a private Room afterward in the Court of the Temple as now it is likely there was in the Tabernacle called the Washing Room as we find in Codex Middoth cap. 5. sect 2. There they having washed them privately and freed the Inwards from their filth they brought them into the Court where there were new Marble Tables between the Pillars before-mentioned v. 6. and there they were washed more exactly as we read in the same Book cap. 3. sect 5. Where Const. l'Empereur observes out of R. Hobadia the reason why they used to lay the Flesh upon such Tables was Because Marble made it cold and stiff and preserved it from stinking in very hot weather And the Priest shall burn all on the Altar From whence this Sacrifice is called ischeh an Offering made by fire from isch which signifies fire because it was altogether consumed in the fire and no part of it left so much as for the Priest to eat of it Of a sweet savour unto the LORD i. e. Most acceptable For it is a form of Speech taken from Men who are delighted with the good Scent and Taste of Meat and Drink But none can reasonably imagine it was the meer Sacrifice that was pleasing unto God but as Conrad Pellicanus well notes the Devotion Faith Obedience and Sincerity of their Minds who made the Oblation Ver. 10. Verse 10 And if his offering be of the flocks namely of the sheep or of the goats c. If a Man were not able to bring a Bullock for a Burnt-sacrifice which could not be so well spared being of great use in Agriculture he might bring one of these Creatures which were of less value only perfect in their kind as it here follows He shall bring it a male without blemish See XII Exod 5. What the Blemishes were that made any Animal unfit to be offered on the Altar Moses tells us in this Book XXII 22 23 24. where he mentions twelve which shall be there considered Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall kill it on the side of the Altar
contra Julianum condemned these Sacrifices of Beasts as hateful to their Gods who they fancied were pleased only with those that were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Fruits of the Earth and of Frankincense But they might have learnt from Moses if they had pleased Julian and Porphyry being acquainted with his Books that these things were alike acceptable God having respect to the Mind of him that offered not to his Gifts Ver. 3. Verse 3 And the remnant of the meat-offering shall be Aarons and his sons To be eaten by them But that Meat-offering which was offered for the Priests themselves was to be wholly burnt and no part eaten VI. 22 23. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire Nothing is more known then the distinction which the Jews make between things most holy and the lighter holy things as their phrase is which I took notice of before The most holy were such as none whatsoever might eat of or none but the Priests and the Sons of Priests and that only in the Sanctuary and no where else See VI. 16 26. Such were all whole Burnt-offerings all the Sin-offerings and all the Peace-offerings for the whole Congregation The lighter holy things were such as might be eaten by those who were not Priests in any place within the City of Jerusalem to which their Camp now answered and such were all the Peace-offerings of particular Persons the Paschal Lamb the Tenth and the Firstlings of Cattle Ver. 4. Verse 4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat-offering baken in the oven This is the first sort of baked Mincha's for the preparing of which there was an Oven in the Court of the Tabernacle as afterward there was in the Court of the Temple 1 Chron. XXIII 28 29. XLVI Ezek. 20. It shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil If the Cakes were thick then the Oil was kneaded together with them But if they were thin like a Wafer then it was only spread upon it before it was baked See XXIX Exod. 2. or as some will have it after it came out of the Oven Concerning its being unleavened see below v. 11. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in a pan Or in a flat Plate as we translate it in the Margin For Maimonides says this was the difference between Macabath which is the Hebrew word in this place and Marchesheth that the former was a Pan or Plate without any Rim about it and the other had one as our Frying-pans have And so Abarbinel in his Preface to this Book observes out of Jarchi that there was a Vessel in the Temple which was only flat and broad but had no rising on the sides of it So that the Oil being poured upon it when it was set on the fire ran down and increased the Flame and made the Cake hard It shall be of fine flour unleavened mingled with oil This sort of Cake seems to have been both kneaded with Oil and to have had Oil also poured upon it after it was laid upon the Plate Ver. 6. Verse 6 Thou shalt part it in pieces c. This according to Abarbinel was done as it lay baking upon the Plate Or if this Division was made after it was taken off the reason was the same because part of it was to be given to God and the rest to the Priests And pour oil thereon Upon the pieces that they might by this new Addition of fresh Oil be made more savoury It is a meat-offering And therefore to be eaten with Oil v. 1. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And if thy oblation be a meat-offering baken in the frying-pan This Vessel was not flat but deep as Abarbinel observes See v. 5. because that which was baked in it was moist and fluid It shall be made of fine flour with oil The Oil was not kneaded with this sort of Mincha but put into the Pan so that it mixed with the Flour which might be shaken and moved up and down as things are which are baken in Liquors So Abarbinels words are in his Preface to this Book Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt bring the meat-offering that is made of these things unto the LORD c. This relates to all the bake Meat-offerings before-mentioned which were to be brought to the LORD at his House and there presented to the Priest who was to bring them to the Altar when they were prepared as before directed See v. 1 2. And this variety of Mincha's was allowed that the Table of the LORD i. e. the Altar might be furnished and his Ministers that waited on him entertained with all sorts of Provisions Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the Priest shall take from the meat-offering a memorial thereof A part of the Cake of whatsoever sort it was was separated from the rest for the LORD's portion to whom it was offered as an acknowledgment of his Supream Dominion over them and in commemoration of his goodness to them And shall burn it upon the Altar Before the other parts were eaten by the Priests as was directed before about the fine Flour v. 2. It is an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD See v. 2. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And that which is left of the meat-offering shall be Aarons and his sons c. All this Verse hath been explained v. 3. Ver. 11. Verse 11 No meat-offering which ye shall bring unto the LORD shall be made with leaven These words which ye shall bring unto the LORD seem to have a peculiar emphasis in this place importing that no Meat-offering part of which was offered upon God's Altar should be leavened For no part of that leavened Bread which was offered in Eucharistical Sacrifices VII 13. nor the two Loaves offered in the Feast of Pentecost which some mistake for an Exception to this Precept were offered upon the Altar but given intirely to the Priests as their portion Made with leaven There are many Moral Reasons given both by Jewish and Christian Writers why none of the Cakes before-mentioned should have any Leaven in them which I shall not here set down There is some probability in their Opinion who think this was ordered to refresh their Memory by putting them in mind of their Deliverance out of Egypt But Maimonides seems to me to have given the best account of this in his More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. where he saith God prohibited this to root out the Idolatrous Customs in those days as he found in the Books of the Zabij who offered to their Gods no Bread but leavened Next to this the Account which Abarbanel gives of it is not to be disregarded who thinks it was forbidden because it would have made delay if they had waited at the Tabernacle till the fermentation was perfected For ye shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the LORD made by fire
Action but with acknowledgment of those Mercies which were the occasion of it So Conradus Pellicanus well glosses upon I. 4. which may be best applied to the use of this Rite in Peace-offerings Laying on of Hands signifies Devotion and Faith with acknowledgment of the Divine Benefits for which we cannot offer any thing of our own but rather return and restore to him what we have received that we may understand giving of Thanks to be the greatest of our Sacrifices And kill it See ch I. v. 5. At the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation These being the lesser holy things as the Jews call them were not offered as the whole Burnt-offerings and Sin-offerings were on the North-side of the Altar See ch I. v. 11. but any where else near to the Entrance of the Tabernacle which was in the East where the others were thrown out and therefore a less holy place Only in laying on of hands every Man was bound wheresoever the Sacrifice was killed to turn his Face Westward toward the Sanctuary because then as I said he made certain Prayers and Acknowledgments to the Divine Majesty which was always to be done in that posture And Aarons sons the Priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the Altar round about See ch I. v. 5. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And he shall offer One of the Priests then in waiting at the Altar Of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings c. After the Sacrifice was flayed and cut up as is directed I. 6. The fat that covereth the inwards That is the Omentum as the Latins call it and hath much fat in it See XXIX Exod. 13. And all the fat that is upon the inwards All the Fat which adheres to the Mesentery and other Entrails Ver. 4. Verse 4 And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them The Kidneys are noted by Aristotle to have more Fat about them than any of the other Bowels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. III. de Animal cap. 9. Being so covered with it that in dissecting of a Body the Kidneys at first sight are not to be perceived as Anatomists observe particularly our own Country-man Dr. Highmore Which is by the flanks The Hebrew word Cesilim signifies the Loyns as Bochart hath demonstrated in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. c. 45. which have collops of fat upon them as Eliphaz speaks XV Job 27. and thence are easily inflamed XXXVIII Psal 7. And the caul above the liver The Hebrew word jothereth signifies the greatest Lobe of the Liver See XXIX Exod. 13. It shall he take away Separate from the rest of the Flesh to be offered on the Altar For all the Fat here mentioned was God's portion of the Sacrifice the Priest had the Breast and the right Shoulder and he that brought the Offering had the rest as will appear more fully VII 15 c. 31. 32 c. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And Aarons sons Some of those that Minister that day Shall burn it on the Altar upon the burnt-sacrifice By the Burnt-sacrifice seems here to be meant the daily Sacrifice which was burnt every Morning after which this was to be offered but not before it Which is upon the wood that is on the fire The same wood upon which the Burnt-sacrifice had been offered would serve to burn this Fat Which being intirely consumed as the Holocausts were it is called in the following words an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD See ch 1. v. 9. That is God was pleased graciously to accept of their pious Acknowledgments the Offerings of these Inwards being as if he that brought them had said I will pour out my Soul unto the LORD in Thanks and Praise for the Benefits he had received So Abarbanel explains it in his Preface to this Book Ver. 6. Verse 6 And if his offering c. be of the flock i.e. Of Sheep or Goats which are both comprehended under the word Flock as was noted before ch 1. v. 2. Male or Female See v. 1. Where I observed a difference between these Sacrifices and whole Burnt-offerings in this respect that either Male or Female were accepted for Peace-offerings but Male alone for the other To which may be added that Birds were allowed for whole Burnt-offerings I. 14 15 c. but not for Peace-offerings which were only of the Herd or Flock i. e. of Bullocks Sheep or Goats The reason seems to be plain because Peace-offerings being to be divided between God the Priest and him that brought them the portion of each would have been so small that it would have made the Feast upon it so very meagre and jejune that it would have been contemptible He shall offer it without blemish It was at his choice whether he would bring it from the Herd or the Flock but in its kind it was to be perfect See chap. I. 3 9. Ver. 7. Verse 7 If he offer a lamb for his offering Though a Bird was not accepted for a Peace-offering yet a Lamb was though not of such value as a fat Sheep or a Goat Then shall he offer it before the LORD This seems to be meant of the Man's presenting it to be offered at the Altar Ver. 8. Verse 8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering c. This whole Verse is only a direction to do with a Peace-offering of a Lamb or Sheep as they were to do with that of a Bullock v. 2. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And he shall offer of the Sacrifice of the Peace-offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD As was directed in the Offering of a Bullock v. 3. The fat thereof and the whole rump The whole Fat being to be offered as was ordered also before he enumerates the particulars because in this was more Fat than in other Sacrifices of this kind For the whole Rump of a Sheep was to be offered to God though not of a Bullock nor a Goat And the reason was because in those Countries the Tails of their Sheep are so vastly big that as Golius and others assure us the least of them weigh ten or twelve pound and some exceed forty pound weight and they are so very fat that they melt the Fat and keep it to butter their Rice and for other uses as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 45. It shall he take off hard by the back-bone The Hebrew word Atzah which we translate the Back-bone denotes that part which is next to the Tail or Rump and therefore must signifie that which Galen calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is a Bone at the extremity of the broad Bone called Os Sacrum confisting of three Cartalaginous parts as he describes it And the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards See v. 3. Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them c. This Verse is explained above v. 4. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the
compensate the loss which the right Owner might have sustained by wanting the use of his Goods so long as the other had detained them in his hand by adding a full fifth part of the Principal as an amends for the wrong Yet if he had really forgotten that he had found such a thing as he was charg'd withal at the time he denied it upon Oath he was not bound to pay the fifth part more nor to offer the Expiatory Sacrifice though he really was possessed of the thing as Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Synedr cap. 11. p. 506. And give it unto him to whom it appertaineth If he had stolen from a Man the smallest piece of Money which the Jews call Peruta and had forsworn it they fancy he was bound to restore it to the Owner himself though he lived as far off as Media and it would not suffice to give it to his Son or his Attorney whom he had left to act for him Yet they are something humorsom in these Absurdities for they do not tye a Man to go so far to pay the fifth part though in a case where it was more than a Peruta See Bava kama cap. 9. sect 5 6. In the day of his trespass-offering Or in the day of his trespass that is as soon as he acknowledgeth his guilt as this word I showed v. 4. is to be interpreted And this agrees with what our blessed Saviour requires V Matth. 23. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And he shall bring his trespass-offering unto the LORD a Ram without a blemish This the Hebrews call an Offering for a certain guilt as that V. 15. was for a dubious With thy estimation c. R. Levi Barzelon interprets it a Ram worth two Shekels Praecept CXXIV Ver. 7. Verse 7 And the Priest shall make an atonement for him c. The Offender was not to think he was cleared by making Restitution and adding the fifth part whereby his Neighbour might well be satisfied but withal this Sacrifice was necessary for his Expiation without which no Satisfaction was made to the Divine Majesty The Jews themselves also think that this was prescribed to make them more sensible of their Sin and to render it more odious unto them as the same Author observes Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Here the Hebrews begin a new Section of the Law as well as a new Chapter as we call it for the first seven Verses plainly belong to the Matter of the foregoing Chapter And it is reasonable to think that the following Precepts were given at a distinct time from the former See IV. 1. being about a different Matter For having declared what Offerings the People should bring to the LORD he now gives instructions to the Priests how they should manage the several Offerings that were brought Ver. 9. Verse 9 Command Aaron and his sons saying As before he bad Moses speak unto the Children of Israel I Lev. 2. IV. 2. because the Laws he then gave concerned them So now he bids him command Aaron and his sons what to do and acquaints them with the Laws that is the Rites they should observe in offering the several Sacrifices before directed to be made This is the Law of the burnt-offering He mentions that first which was first delivered and was the principal Offering being purely in honour of God whereas the other was occasioned by Mens sins or the Benefits he had bestowed on them It is the burnt-offering He explains what Burnt-offering he chiefly means viz. the daily Sacrifice which was the principal Burnt-offering according to which all other Offerings of that kind were to be regulated Because of the burning upon the Altar all night unto the morning Or for the burning upon the Altar c. This was the reason of its name because it was burning on the Altar from the Evening at which the Jews began their day till the Morning For which purpose the Priests watched all Night and put the Sacrifice upon the Altar piece by piece that it might be consumed by a slow and gentle fire As for the Morning Sacrifice it is not here mentioned because it was consumed with a quicker fire that there might be room for other Sacrifices that were commonly offered after it as appears from v. 12. and were only offered in the Morning not at Night But if there were no other Sacrifices to succeed it in the Morning then it is very likely that it was also kept burning till the Evening Sacrifice that God's Altar might always have Meat upon it And the fire of the Altar shall be burning in it Or For the fire of the Altar c. So it should be translated unless we translate the last word not in it but by it And the fire of the Altar shall be burning i.e. be fed or maintained by it Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the Priest shall put on his linen garment Mentioned XXVIII Exod. 40. And his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh To cover his Secret Parts as appears from XXVIII Exod 42. And take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt-offering c. Or rather When the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering on the Altar For the word ascher which we here translate which signifies also when and is so translated by us IV. 22. Or else the sense must be The ashes into which the fire hath consumed the Burnt-offering Or to make good our present translation a few words must be added in this manner The ashes of the Wood which the fire hath consumed with the Burnt-offering And he shall put them besides the Altar On the East-part of it as far as might be from the most holy place See I. 16. For this was most sutable to the Glory of the House of God saith R. Levi of Barcelona and the fire would burn better when the Altar was cleared from the Ashes Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall put off his garments Those before-named and put on other garments It is a question among the Jews whether he mean his common Raiment or some other Garments not holy and yet not quite common but of a middle nature It is most likely that the carrying the Ashes out of the Tabernacle being not an holy action as they were not to perform it in their Priestly i. e. Sacred Garments wherein they took them from the Altar so they did it in the common Habit which they wore when they did not minister Yet Rasi thinks this was not absolutely necessary but only fitting and seemly it being indecent to do this Work in the same Garments wherein they served at the Altar And the Ashes having been upon the Altar there are those as I said who fancy this was not a Work fit to be performed in their common Garments and therefore have devised an Habit of less dignity than those Garments wherein they Ministred which they used when they carried out the Ashes Thus Maimonides himself and others mentioned by
his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it What he had said of Aaron and his Sons in general v. 20. he now particularly requires of every Son of his that should succeed him in his office For which there was the greater necessity because as R. Levi of Barcelona understands it Praecept CXXXIV the High-Priest was an Ambassador between the Israelites and their Heavenly Father by whom their Prayers were offered to God and who made Reconciliation for them and therefore should be bound in all reason to offer a perpetual Sacrifice twice every day for the constant needs of the Congregation and to apply his Mind to this as he speaks that he and they might be the better for it It is a Statute for ever unto the LORD As long as that Priesthood continued It shall be wholly burnt In which it differed from other Meat-offerings as will appear in the next Verse Ver. 23. Verse 23 For every meat-offering for the Priest Or of the Priest This may seem to relate to every common Priest who were not all bound to offer this Sacrifice every day but only he who did it in the name of all the rest viz. the Priest who offered the daily Burnt-Sacrifice He may be well thought to have been obliged to this by which means this Meat-offering was offered to God every day by one or other of them and never omitted But Abarbanel as I noted before v. 20. thinks that only the High-Priest was bound to offer this Meat-offering every day and every other Priest once in his Life viz. when he began his Ministry Shall be wholly burnt it shall not be eaten The Priests had all the Meat-offerings which were brought by the People except one handful which was offered to the LORD See Chapt. second v. 2 3. But of their own Meat-offerings they were not to taste but wholly burnt them on the Altar For it had not been seemly for him both to offer unto God and to eat of it as if it were his own as Maimonides speaks P. III. More Nevoch cap. 46. or as R. Levi Barcelonita gives the reason Praecept CXLI the scope of the Sacrifice being to raise the Mind of him that offered it unto God it was not fit he should think of eating any part of his own Offering which would have taken his Mind off from God Ver. 24. Verse 24 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying He added further several things concerning other Offerings which perhaps were delivered at the same time with the foregoing being still concerning the Priests See v. 8 9. And therefore the next Verse begins thus Speak unto Aaron and his sons saying Ver. 25. Verse 25 This is the Law of the sin-offering That is for particular Persons that for the Priests themselves being governed by another Law For it is plain that in the IVth Chapter he distinguishes the Sin-offerings into two kinds one whose Blood was carried into the Sanctuary and the Flesh of it burnt intirely without the Camp v. 7 8 c. and here v. 30. and another whose Blood was not carried into the Sanctuary the Flesh of which the Priests were to eat as is here directed In the place where the burnt-offering is killed shall the sin-offering be killed before the LORD See IV. 24 29 31. It is most holy This is the reason of what follows that none might eat of it but those who were holy to the LORD Ver. 26. Verse 26 The Priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it The Flesh of this Sin-offering fell to the share of him who offered the Sacrifice that day and to his Male-children though he might invite any other Priests and their Sons to partake with him if he pleased as appears from v. 29. I need not add that the Immurim as the Hebrews call them were excepted that is the Fat c. mentioned III. 9 10. IV. 26. which were to be wholly burnt upon the Altar In the holy place shall it be eaten c. See v. 16. For it being mostly holy as the words are in the conclusion of the foregoing Verse it was to be eaten in the holy place and that the same day and night when it it was offered and none of it to be kept till the morning Whereas some of their Peace-offerings which they called the lighter holy things might be eaten the next day VII 16. See Maimonides More Nevochim P. III. cap. 46. This seems to have been imitated by the Heathen who required that their most holy Sacrifices should not be carried out of the Temple as the Scholiast upon Aristophanes his Equites observes concerning the Sacrifices offered to Ceres and Proserpina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 27. Verse 27 Whosoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy See v. 18. And when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment This is commonly understood of the Priest's Garment who alone sprinkled the Blood But his Garments being holy the Blood that might chance to fall upon them was not thereby at all dishonoured and therefore if this be the meaning we are to understand that the Garments would appear less venerable when they were spotted with Blood and upon that account were to be washed If we take it for the Garment of him that brought the Sacrifice which when it was killed the Blood might chance to spurt upon his Clothes then the washing of them was out of reverence to the Blood which being holy was not to remain upon a common Garment Which way soever it be interpreted the intention it is manifest was to preserve in their Minds an awful regard to God and to whatsoever belonged unto his Service Thou shalt wash that wherein it was sprinkled in the holy place Where there was a Room after the Temple was built which was called Lischath hagullah the Chamber of the Spring or Well out of which Water was drawn for the use of the Court of the Sanctuary And there it is probable these Garments were washed See Codex Middoth cap. 5. sect 3. Ver. 28. Verse 28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken For it being very porous might so deeply imbibe a tincture from the Flesh that it could not be washed out but the smell of it might remain a long time And being of a small value it was no great loss to have it broken rather than any thing that was holy remaining in it be profaned What became of the broken shreds of these earthen Vessels is a doubt among the Hebrew Doctors because it was neither fit to throw them out into a prophane place nor yet seemly to heap them up in the Sanctuary and therefore they fancy the Earth opened and swallowed them up as a great Man in this kind of Learning J. Wagenseil hath observed upon the Mischna of Sota cap. 3. But they might have rather said that they were thrown abroad into a clean place after they were broken into small bits or crumbled to powder just as
Erpenius and many of the Jewish Commentators such as R. Solomon and Aben-Ezra who give the same account of XXI Lev. 10. where the same thing is required of the High-Priest And the time of their letting their Hair grow on such occasions they determine by the Law of the Nazarites who were not to cut their Hair all the time of their Vow of Separation which the Jews say was at least XXX days VI Numb 5. Therefore the Priests were not to let their Hair grow so long if they did they were uncapable of officiating Only they make this difference between the common Priests and the High-Priest that this Law did not bind the Priests at all times but only in their Course of Ministration but the High-Priest whose Presence was always necessary in the Sanctuary might never let his Hair grow but was bound every Week to have it cut even on the Eve of the Sabbath See Selden L. II. de Success in Pontiff cap. 6. But the foundation of all this is not very strong for it relies chiefly on the use of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place of Numbers VI. 5. where it signifies Hair from whence they conclude the Verb here may have the same Notion and signifie the growth of Hair But this is not the usual signification of it in Scripture where it commonly imports the rejection of something as of good Counsel I Prov. 25. of Reproof or Instruction XIII Prov. 18. XV. 32. And being joyned with the Head plainly signifies the uncovering it See V Numb 18. And therefore so the LXX understand it here as if they were forbidden to put off their Bonnets But that they always did as soon as they had performed their Sacred Office in the Sanctuary and therefore it may be meant of making their Heads bare by shaving them or bald by pulling off the Hair as the manner was in Mourning XV Isa 2. XLI Jer. 5. XLVIII 37. and many other places And in this the Priests among the Jews directly opposed those among the Egyptians who shaved their Heads as appears by what Minutius Faelix and Lampridius in the Life of Commodus say concerning the Priests of Isis And Herodotus also in his Euterpe whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In other places the Priests of the Gods nourish their hair but in Egypt they are shaved Neither rend your Clothes Which was another Rite of Mourning not only among the Jews but among all People in ancient Times especially in the Eastern Countries as every one knows that hath read any of their Authors See I Job 20. And it was used on many other occasions among the Jews as well as in their Funerals particularly when any Man blasphemed XIV Numb 6. 2 Kings XIX 1. when any ill Tidings came which put them into a Passion 2 Kings V. 7. or any Misfortune befel them XLIV Gen. 13. XI Judg. 35. But was thought so unseemly in a Priest especially when he ministred that the Jews say they whose Garments were rent by accident were as uncapable of ministring as they who rent them themselves in Mourning The reason of this Precept was as R. Levi of Barcelona well observes Praecept CLV that it being not allowed in those Countries for Mourners to come into the Presence of their Kings as appears by the History of Esther much less was it seemly for any that attended upon the Divine Majesty to come into his House in such a Habit. Lest ye die As Nadab and Abihu did For after such a Monition as this they had highly dishonoured God if they had appeared in his Sanctuary in such an indecent manner And wrath come upon the people For want of Priests to make atonement for them when they offended But let your brethren the whole house of Israel bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled He doth not prohibit the rest of the People who were not Priests to mourn for them but rather requires it of them all that they might be sensible of their loss and of the the sin which was the cause of it And it is likely the People bewailed them by rending their Clothes and baring their Heads and putting Ashes upon them or some such Rites then in use among them Ver. 7. Verse 7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation For it is supposed the seven days of their Consecration were not yet quite ended VIII 35. or they had begun some other Ministration in the Sanctuary and therefore were not to stir out of the Court of it till it was sanctified And the Hebrews think this Law did not only bind Aaron and his Sons at this time but their Posterity for ever that if they heard of the death of any of their Kindred when they were ministring in the Sanctuary they should not stir from their Duty For that would have been to show a greater affection to a dead Friend than to the living God This appears to be true by the like command to this and in the same words laid particularly upon the High-Priests XXI 12. For the anointing of the LORD is upon you You are devoted and consecrated by a Solemn Unction VIII 10 c. to the Service of God which must not be omitted out of respect to any Person whatsoever For in this Precept as R. Levi Barcelonita observes Praecept CLVII the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Worship was consulted which if his Ministers had deserted on such occasions for a moment would have been brought into contempt For it would have been a declaration that there was something in the World more to be regarded than God's Service And therefore the punishment of Death is threatned in the foregoing words to those who were guilty of such an offence And they did according to the word of Moses Staid in the Tabernacle without any of the usual Tokens of Mourning Wherein they performed an eminent piece of Obedience to God whose commandment suppressed those natural Affections which are very hard to be kept in subjection Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron saying It may be thought that the LORD was so pleased with his Obedience that he himself now spake unto Aaron whereas hitherto he had spoken to him by Moses Ver. 9. Verse 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee By Wine every one knows is meant that Liquor which is pressed out of Grapes And by Schechar which we translate strong Drink is meant such Liquors as were made in imitation of Wine of Dates or Figs and many other sorts of Fruits also that which was made of Honey which we call Mede and Metheglin There are many sorts of such Liquors mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History Lib. XIV cap. 16. which he calls Vina factitia When ye go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation To perform your Ministry At other times they might drink Wine and if we may believe the Jews they did not
offend against this Precept if before they went into the Sanctuary they drank no more than the fourth part of a Log which contained an Egg-shell and an half If they exceeded this measure then their Ministry they say was profaned and they were liable to death by the hand of Heaven See R. Levi of Barcelona Praecept CLVIII who hath many Niceties about this matter as hath also Maimonides mentioned by the learned Dr. Outram in his Book de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 6. n. 9. Lest ye die As their Brethren did See upon v. 1. where I observed it to be very probable that they were burnt with Fire from the LORD upon this account They that think it worth their while may see after what manner the Cabbalists make out this and what Reflections they make upon it in Theod. Hackspan's Cabala Judaica n. 144 145. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your Generations And such a Law there was in some Heathen Countries that no Magistrate all the year he was in Office nor any Judge while he was in Action and Employment should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much as taste a drop of Wine So Plato tells us with which Eusebius compares this Law of Moses Lib. XII Praepar Evang. cap. 25. And Chaeremon the Stoick describing in Porphery's Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. IV. the Diet of the Egyptian Priests tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them drunk no Wine at all and others very little Ver. 10. Verse 10 That ye may put a difference between holy and unholy between clean and unclean Here is the ground and reason of this Precept that they might have their Wits about them as we speak and preserve their Minds from being clouded as Nabad's and Abihu's were who put no difference between holy Fire and common and so be able both to put a difference as the first words may be translated between holy and unholy c. and also to teach the People all the Statutes which God had delivered to them as it follows in the next Verse And here it must be observed that as some days and places were more holy than others so were some parts of the Sacrifices also which they might not eat themselves but were reserved for the Altar Some Beasts also were clean and others so unclean that they might neither be offered in Sacrifice nor eaten at their common Tables XI 47. Some Men and Women also were so unclean that they were not to be admitted into their ordinary Conversation much less into the Sanctuary Chap. XII XIII Of all which the Priests were the Judges and therefore had need to be perfectly sober that they might make an accurate difference between one thing and another And for such a like reason it was the Egyptian Priests were so abstemious in drinking Wine because they looked upon it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an impediment to the finding out of Truth So Chaeremon speaks in the forementioned Book Ver. 11. Verse 11 And that ye may teach the Children of Israel all the Statutes c. Which concern the Rites and Ceremonies of God's Worship Ver. 12. Verse 12 And Moses spake unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons that were left This was still spoken on the same day a little after what he had said to them v. 6 7. Take the meat-offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire c. He seems to have been afraid that Aaron's grief for the loss of his Sons might have so disturbed his Mind as to have made him negligent in some part of his duty or that Eleazar and Ithamar through mistake or forgetfulness might have offended against some of the Laws lately delivered about Sacrifices which therefore he here repeats that they might be exactly observed And in the first place that they should eat what remained of the meat-offering as was commanded VI. 16. Where it is required also as it is here to be eaten without leaven and beside the Altar in the Court of the Tabernacle of the Congregation as it is there expressed For it is most holy See there VI. 17. Ver. 13. Verse 13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place This he repeats because they might possibly have forgotten it or not sufficiently attended to the difference between things most holy and things only holy The former of which the Priests alone might eat and that only in the holy place the other all their Family might eat as he saith in the next Verse in any place that was clean Because it is thy due and thy sons due c. No body might eat it but holy Persons for so God directed Chapt. II. 3. VI. 16 17 18. VII 9 10. Ver. 14. Verse 14 The wave-breast and the heave-shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place They were not bound to eat these in the Court of the Tabernacle as in the former case v. 13. but in any part of the Camp that was not defiled Thou and thy sons and thy daughters with thee These being those which the Jews call lighter holy things might be eaten by the whole Family as was before observed For they be thy due and thy sons due which are given you out of the sacrifice of peace-offerings of the Children of Israel They were bestowed upon them by an express Grant VII 34. where though only his Sons be mentioned as they are here yet it is plain all of their Family who were clean might eat of these things See upon VII 19. Ver. 15. Verse 15 The heave-shoulder and the wave-breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat to wave it for a wave-offering before the LORD This also he inculcates again which had been said before VII 29 30. that they must take care first to wave these things before the LORD and to burn the Fat upon the Altar for till this was done they had no right to eat these things And it shall be thine and thy sons with thee When they had been presented to the LORD of the whole Earth and he had received his part these became theirs by an express Grant from him VII 32 33 34. By a statute for ever As long as such kind of Sacrifices should last Ver. 16. Verse 16 And Moses diligently sought the Goat of the sin-offering Which had been offered for the People IX 15. And behold it was burnt This justified Moses his suspicion and fear that some mistake might have been committed in other matters because he found upon a diligent inquisition that they had burnt upon the Altar those parts of the sin-offering which they ought to have eaten themselves VI. 26 29. In which it was the easier for them to mistake without diligent observation of Moses his directions because the sin-offering which had been offered for Aaron himself was just before wholly burnt without the Camp IX 11. and so were all the Sin-offerings for the High-Priest and for the whole Congregation
ordered to be IV. 12 21. that is if their Blood was carried into the Holy Place then nothing of them might be eaten VI. 30. But otherwise their Flesh was to be eaten in the Court of the Tabernacle as is expresly commanded VI. 26. This distinction they either did not well observe when it was delivered or being oppressed with sorrow for the loss of Nadab and Abihu they did not think it fit to feast at this time upon the Flesh of this Offering For so Aaron excuses this Fact v. 19. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar He saith nothing to Aaron either because he was loth to add to his Grief or because it was the business of his Sons to look after this Sacrifice and to see that the Flesh of it was disposed of according to God's orders The sons of Aaron which were left alive Who by the punishment upon their Brethren should have learnt greater caution in their Ministry Ver. 17. Verse 17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the holy place That is obeyed the Commandment which I gave you VI. 26. Seeing it is most holy VI. 25. And God hath given it you VI. 29. To bear the iniquity of the Congregation to make atonement for them before the LORD God bestowed upon the Priests this Reward of their Service that they might be the more willing to take upon them the Peoples Sins and to make an Expiation carefully for them And indeed the very eating of the Peoples Sin-offering argued the Sins of the People were in some sort laid upon the Priests to be taken away by them Which being done they had reason to rejoyce also in a Feast upon this Sacrifice which God had been pleased to accept for the taking away of the Sins of the People From whence the Sacrifice of Christ may be explained who is said to bear our iniquity as the Priest is said here to do all our Sins being laid on him who took upon him to make an Expiation for them by the Sacrifice of himself For the Priest here by eating of the Sin-offering receiving the Guilt upon himself may well be thought to prefigure one who should be both Priest and Sacrifice for Sin which was accomplished in Christ Ver. 18. Verse 18 Behold Observe what I say to you The blood of it was not brought in within the holy place It was none of those Sacrifices which I commanded you to burn intirely but required you to eat of it VI. 26 30. Ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded For as there was a peremptory Law forbidding the Priests to eat the Flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was brought into the Holy Place to make atonement with it so there was as peremptory a Law that they should eat the Flesh of those Sacrifices for Sin whose Blood was not brought in thither Ver. 19. Verse 19 And Aaron said unto Moses Though Moses questioned only Eleazar and Ithamar yet Aaron makes the answer they not being able perhaps to give an account of what they had done though sensible of their mistake Behold this day have they offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before the LORD His Apology for them seems to be this that they had not wholly violated God's Command but performed the Substance of it though they had failed in one Circumstance For they had not only offered the Sin-offering for the People for that is meant by their Sin-offering but also their Burnt-offering IX 15 16. and that before the LORD in the place where he ordered them to be offered In all this Aaron was the principal Minister but they assisted him For it is expresly said They presented unto him the Blood of the Peace-offerings which at the same time were also offered and they put the fat upon the breasts when he burnt the fat upon the Altar IX 18 20. And such things have befallen me After this was done followed the death of Nadab and Abihu who went in to burn Incense which struck him into such a Consternation and made him so exceeding sad that he was not fit to feast with Eleazar and Ithamar upon the Sacrifice and so suffered them to burn it And if I had eaten the sin-offering to day should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD Would God have been pleased with me if in such Sadness and Sorrow I had eaten of the Sacrifice This is the reason whereby he justifies the omission of which his Sons were accused in not eating the Sin-offering in the Holy Place The blame of which he takes upon himself for to have eaten it with a sad Countenance and a heavy Heart he thought would have been to pollute it And therefore he chose to forbear it and to give it wholly to God by burning the Flesh of it as he had done the Fat which he hoped would be more acceptable than to eat it in grief And to eat it without grief and sorrow was impossible for though they had not been so dutiful to him as they ought to have been yet he could not extinguish the Affection of a Father towards them nor suddenly cease to mourn inwardly for their untimely death From this place Maimonides gathers there was but one day of Mourning due to the dead viz. the first the rest were added by the Constitution of the Elders Ver. 20. Verse 20 And when Moses heard that he was content He was either satisfied with his reason and thought he had done well for Nature seems to have directed what was afterwards enjoyned that they should rejoyce in their Feasts XII Deut. 7 c. and not eat holy things in their mourning XXVI 14. or he would not further charge him with a Fault for which there was so fair an Excuse For where there is no wilful Contempt but rather a Respect intended in any Action all good Men are inclined to make a favourable Construction of it and grant it an Indulgence though there be some Error in it CHAP. XI MOSES having mentioned in his preceding Discourse about Sacrifices several sorts of Uncleanness V. 2 3. and in the foregoing Chapter X. 10. commanded the Priests to keep themselves sober that they might at all times be able to distinguish between clean and unclean takes an occasion from thence to give an account of that matter For otherwise that which we read Chapter XVI would here have most naturally followed as appears from the 11th Verse of it being about the principal Sacrifice whereby all manner of Uncleanness was to be expiated which he now inserts in the midst of those things that belong to that head For first he treats in this Chapter of unclean Meats and in the XII XIII XIV XVth of unclean Persons Garments and Habitations And then after he hath directed how to make the great Atonement for the whole Nation and some other things he returns in the latter end of the XVIIth Chapter to speak of some forbidden Food and Chapter XVIIIth of unclean
were not so to other People See XXII Exod. ult Neither shall ye defile your selves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth Here being a different word used in the last Clause from that in the foregoing both which signifie creeping things Maimonides here distinguishes between them and saith that the first word Scheretz signifies such creeping things as are produced by Male and Female and Romesch which is the other word such as arise out of Putrefaction Which is now discovered to be an Error there being no such Animals as are produced meerly by the power of the Sun out of putrified matter but all out of some Seed or other which comes from Male and Female This therefore is only a Repetition of what was delivered before and now confirmed by an unanswerable reason Ver. 45. For I am the LORD your God that bringeth you up out of the Land of Egypt This was a benefit so fresh in their minds that he speaks of it as if it were now a doing and being the first and greatest benefit the very foundation of the rest there could not be a higher aggravation of Guilt than to be insensible of this Obligation XXXII Exod. 8. To be your God He having redeemed them out of Slavery made them thereby his own People over whom he had a peculiar Dominion in the right of this Redemption See XX Exod. 2. Ye shall therefore be holy for I am holy They being his peculiar People he separated them from all other Nations by peculiar Laws which made them different from all other People as he himself was from all other Beings Ver. 46. Verse 46 This is the law of the beasts and of the fowl c. That is this is the Rule you are to observe in eating of Beasts and Fowl and Fishes and things that creep on the Earth Of which four sorts of living Creatures Moses had treated in this Chapter though not in that very order wherein they are set down in this Verse but first of Beasts v. 2 3 c. then of Fishes v. 9 c. then of Birds v. 13 c. and lastly of creeping things v. 20 c. Some of all which kinds he forbad them to eat for such reasons as I have already mentioned unto which this may be added that by not allowing them an intire liberty to eat every thing but rather laying many Restraints upon them he intended to prevent that Gluttony and Luxury which is the ruin of a State unto which nothing administers more than too great variety of Meats the desire of which is insatiable Ver. 47. Verse 47 To make a difference To direct you how to make a difference Between the unclean and the clean and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten There was no uncleanness in any of these things but what was made by this prohibition of them But there being great reason to prohibit them it was very necessary that both Priests and People should observe and be well skilled in the Marks whereby what was lawful to be eaten might be known from what was unlawful Upon which account this is so oft repeated and the same here expressed twice in different words CHAP. XII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying The Directions in this Chapter are given to Moses alone whereas those in the foregoing were delivered unto Aaron also as those are in like manner which follow about the Leprosie XIII 1. because Aaron and his Sons were peculiarly concerned in those matters to make an exact difference between clean and unclean X. 10 11. XIV 57. in which there was some difficulty and therefore they are charged by God himself to attend carefully to the Laws he gave about them But there was no such difficulty in what belong'd to the Purification of Women and therefore it was sufficient that they received Admonitions from Moses concerning it Ver. 2. Verse 2 If a woman have conceived seed and born a man-child Whether it were born alive or dead were an Abortive or come to its full time this made no difference as the Hebrew Doctors understand it She shall be unclean seven days For the first seven days after the Birth of the Child she was neither to partake of any holy thing nor to have common Conversation with others her Husband not being permitted to eat and drink with her all that time for they that attended her became unclean also And so they were accounted among the Heathen as Dilherrus observes out of Plautus in his Dissert Special de Cacozelia Gentilium cap. 3. where he saith the Women that assisted at the Labour solemnly washed their hands and had a Sacrifice offered for them on the fifth day after the Delivery Plautus his words indeed will not warrant all this which I find in his Truculentus Act. 2. Scen. 4. where the Harlot says she will Sacrifice for the Child on the fifth day according to the Custom Quin Diis Sacrificare hodie pro puero volo Quinto die quod fieri oportet Where Scaliger observes that the Greeks were wont to purifie their Children on the fifth day but the Latines on the eighth if they were Daughters and on the ninth if they were Sons which was called Dies lustricus According to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean That is her Case shall be the same with that of a Menstruous Woman who was in a state of the highest Uncleanness XV. 19 20. For every thing she touched was unclean and made those so who touched that thing Ver. 3. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised This is here mentioned to show that one reason for not Circumcising the Child till the eighth day was its Mothers Uncleanness the first seven days of her lying in which made the Child unclean also Ver. 4. Verse 4 And she shall then continue From the seven days end In the blood of her purifying In the Purification of her Blood For all the following days were days of Purification not of entire Separation Three and thirty days All the days of her Uncleanness were forty And for the first seven days she was to be separated from all Conversation with her Neighbours but the following three and thirty she had free Conversation with them and was only excluded from the Sanctuary and from eating of the Peace-offerings or the Paschal Lamb and if she were the Wife of a Priest of the Tithes and other lesser holy things of which otherwise she might have eaten She shall touch no hallowed thing nor come into the Sanctuary until the days of her purification be fulfilled If Maimonides may be credited the Zabij an ancient sort of Idolaters in those Eastern parts had a great number of tedious and tiresom Customs about the Purisication of their Childbed-women from all which God freed his People by restraining them only from coming into his Sanctuary or partaking of
Divine Presence no more than the Mother till the days above-mentioned were accomplished Ver. 8. Verse 8 And if she be not able to bring a Lamb then she shall bring two Turtles and two young Pigeons c. This was a merciful provision for the poorer sort as in other cases V. 7 11. And from this very place we may learn in how mean a Condition the Mother of our LORD was who for her Purification did not bring a Lamb unto which her Piety no doubt would have prompted her if she had been able but only this lower sort of Offering as we read II Luke 24. And the Priest shall make an atonement for her and she shall be clean This Sacrifice was as available as the other to restore her to Communion with God's People The Greeks imitated this among whom the fortieth day was insignis as Censorinus speaks famous or remarkable upon more accounts than one For Women with Child did not go to the Temple ante diem quadragesimum before the fortieth day and after their Delivery commonly they were not fit to go out till forty days more his words are quadraginta diebus pleraeque foetae graviores sunt nec sanguinem interdum continent during which time their little ones were sickly never smiled nor were out of danger Which is observed by that great Physician Celsus Lib. II. cap. 1. Maxime omnis pueritia primum circa quadragesimum diem periclitatur And therefore when this day was past they were wont to keep a Feast as Censorinus there tells us cap. 11. de Die Natali which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at which time it is likely they offered Sacrifices also as the Jewish Women did CHAP. XIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron saying Here God speaks to Aaron again as well as unto Moses See XI 1. because he and his Posterity were peculiarly concerned in the following Laws about the Leprosie both in judging and cleansing of it Ver. 2. Verse 2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh For there this Disease lay and shewed it self A rising a scab or a bright spot The Leprosie appeared in one of these three forms either as a tumor or swelling or a scab or a bright spot in the skin And it shall be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of Leprosie There were some Swellings and Scabs and Spots which were not the Leprosie but only like it And therefore Moses here teaches the Priests how to discern between a true Leprosie and the resemblance of it that accordingly they might either pronounce a Person clean or unclean shut him up or let him have his liberty shave him or let his Hair grow Plague of Leprosie If we may believe Pliny Lib. XXVI cap. 1. this Disease was peculiar to Egypt which he calls genetrix talium vitiorum And if Artapanus in Eusebius saith true Lib. IX Praepar Evang. cap. 27. Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses was the first who was struck with this Disease and died of it So false is the story of Manetho who to hide the true cause of the Israelites departure out of Egypt saith that they cast out a company of leprous People of whom Moses was the Captain Out of Egypt it is likely this Disease spread into Syria which is noted likewise to have been much infested with such foul irruptions in the Skin which have as many various names as there are Risings or Breakin gs out or Spots there and are commonly all comprehended under the name of Leprosie as P. Cunaeus observes L. II. de Republ. Judaeorum cap. ult But Moses here distinguishes them and seems to instruct the Israelites that the Leprosie which he speaks of was no common Disease but inflicted by the Hand of Heaven So the Hebrew Doctors understand it particularly R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXVIII a leprous Man ought not to look upon his disease as a casual thing but seriously consider and acknowledge that some grievous sin is the cause of it Which made the knowledge of their Priests so admirable as the Author of the Book Cosri speaks P. II. sect 58. that they were able to understand what was divine in the Leprosie and what was from natural temper For that there was something Divine in it is confirmed by the story of Naaman 2 Kings V. 7. where the King of Israel plainly declares none but God could cure a Leper whom therefore they lookt upon as smitten by God and thence called the Disease the Plague or stroke of Leprosie and sometimes simply the Plague or Stroke v. 3 5 17 22. of this Chapter For they could not understand how such a Pestilent Disease as infected not meerly Mens bodies but the very Walls of their Houses and Garments should proceed meerly from ordinary Causes and therefore they thought there was an extraordinary hand of God in it Then he shall be brought to Aaron the Priest or unto one of his sons the Priests Not to the Physicians but to the Priests who were the only Judges whether it was a true Leprosie or no And if it were could best direct him to his cure by Repentance and Prayer to God and cleanse him when he was cured But they might resort to any Priest whatsoever as Mr. Selden observes out of the Talmud where there is a large Treatise of this matter though he was maimed in any part of his Body and so unfit to minister at the Altar provided his eyes still continued good Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 14. num 5. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And the Priest shall look on the plague in the skin of his flesh When there is a suspicion that it is the Leprosie The same great Man observes that this inspection might be made upon any day of the Week but the Sabbath or Festivals Yet not in the night nor in any hour of the day but the IVth Vth VIIIth and IXth For they accounted the morning evening and noon not such proper times to make this inspection Which they say also might be made by any Israelite though none but the Priest could pronounce one clean or unclean For though perhaps the Priest was ignorant and stood in need to be informed by wiser Persons than himself yet that Man who was not a Priest could only direct him what to judge but not give the Judgment According to that Law XXI Deut. 5. Out of their mouth or by their word shall every stroke be tried which particularly relates to the Leprosie XXIV 8. And when the hair in the plague is turned white c. He begins with the last of the three Indications of a Leprosie viz. the bright Spot In which if the very Hair was turned white and it was not only a superficial whiteness but the Spot seemed to have eaten deeper into the very Flesh then it was to be judged a true Leprosie R. Levi Barcelon expresses it thus when there was one or more places so white that their whiteness was
spreading of them after they were first discovered The plague is a fretting leprosie The Hebrew word Mamereth which we translate sretting is very variously rendered by the ancient Interpreters as Bochart hath observed in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 45. where from the Arabick Tongue he thinks it may be best translated an exasperated or irritated Leprosie That is very sharp and pricking which sutes well with our Translation eating into the Garment or Skin till it was consumed Abarbanel translates it painful because this sort of Leprosie in the body of a Man was full of anguish And so this word is used in XXVIII Ezek. 24. where a Thorn is called Mamir and translated by us a grieving Thorn Ver. 52. Verse 52 He shall therefore burn that garment c. It seems this Leprosie could never be got out of the Garment or Skin wherein it was which therefore was ordered to be burnt as never likely to be fit for use Ver. 53 54. Verse 53 54. If it be not spread in the garment c. If the Spot was at a stay and did not proceed further then the Garment as the following Verse directs was to be washed and shut up for seven days in which time it appeared whether the impurity were quite gone or still remained Ver. 55. If the plague hath not changed its colour If washing had not altered that vitious colour but it still continued very red or green And the plague be not spread Or though it be not spread yet it was to be pronounced unclean and adjudged to be burnt It is fret inward Though it did not spread in breadth yet it fretted in depth Whether it be bare within or without In the Hebrew the words are In the baldness of the hinder part or in its forepart which seems to be a manner of speaking taken from v. 42 43. where he treats of bald heads And the meaning is whether it eat into the right side of the Garment which is compared to the forehead or into the wrong side which is compared to the hinder part of the head making it as bare as a bald head is when there is not a hair left For this sort of Leprosie was wont to eat off the nap of the Cloth and make it thread-bare Ver. 56. Verse 56 And if the Priest look and behold the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it c. If it had changed its colour from very green or red and become duskish or as Abarbanel understands it the Spot was contracted or shrunk up in the washing so that it was gone in part if not in whole then the Priest was to cut out that part of the Garment where the Spot was there being some indication that the whole Garment might not be tainted Ver. 57. Verse 57 If it appear still in the garment c. If after that Spot was cut out the neighbouring parts appeared to have a tincture of a very green or red colour it was to be taken for a demonstration that there was a spreading Leprosie as it here follows in the Garment or Skin which would proceed till it was intirely infected with it Thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire Therefore the Leprosie being incurable there was no other remedy but to destroy the thing wherein it was Ver. 58. Verse 58 And the garment either warp or woof or whatsoever thing of skin it be which thou shalt wash if the plague be departed from them c. Whatsoever after washing had no appearance of such Spots as are before-mentioned v. 49 c. remaining in it there was no further trial to be made of it but being washed a second time it was to be accounted clean i. e. fit for common use Ver. 59. Verse 59 This is the Law of the plague of leprosie in a garment of wollen or linen c. By these Rules the Priests were to judge whether Garments were lawful to be used or no and accordingly to determine as by the Rules in the foregoing part of the Chapter they were to judge and pronounce whether Men and Women were fit to be allowed to keep company with others And when we consider how nice and diligent many Nations were and still are in their washings after any sort of defilement it is no wonder as Conradus Pellicanus here glosses that some Laws of Cleanliness even about their Garments were prescribed to the Jews which admonished them of that inward purgation of their hearts from all impure affections about which they were to be far more solicitous I have forborn to apply what is here said of the Leprosie in this Chapter to the various degrees of Pollutions that are in mens minds because that would have made this Book too large and it is done already by a great number of Commentators both Modern and Ancient particularly among the later by Procopius Gazaeus and Hesychius Presb. Hierosolymorum who sometimes have done it very ingeniously CHAP. XIV Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying All that is said before concerning the Rules whereby they were to discern the Leprosie from the like Diseases were given unto Aaron as well as unto Moses XIII 1. For Aaron and his Posterity were constituted the Judges of such matters in which they had need to be well studied and versed But the way and manner of cleansing a Leper is delivered only to Moses to be by him given unto Aaron and his Sons who were to depend on him as God's great Minister and their Instructer in all Religious Rites Ver. 2. Verse 2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing The manner and means which God hath ordained of purifying a Leper as Maimonides expounds it and restoring him to the Communion of God's People He shall be brought unto the Priest Not to the House of the Priest for he was to go out to the Gate of the Camp as appears by the next Verse and thither the Leper was to be brought to him But these words seem to import the Leper was first to come towards the Camp unto some place which the Priest it is likely appointed and then the Priest having notice of it was to go out and look upon him Ver. 3. Verse 3 And the Priest shall go forth out of the Camp To the place where the Leper was XIII 46. And the Priest shall look Diligently examine in what condition the Leper is by the Rules mentioned in the foregoing Chapter And behold if the plague of leprosie be healed in the leper The Priest no doubt had been informed before he went to make the inspection that there were good grounds to believe the Man was freed from his Leprosie Ver. 4. Verse 4 Then shall the Priest command to take for him c. That some of his Friends or such as he ordered should provide what follows for his Purification Two birds alive that are clean The margin of our Bibles translates it two Sparrows and they
had undergone all the Purgations before-mentioned from the fourth Verse of this Chapter to the tenth which continued for seven days together For though his Poverty excused him from such chargeable Sacrifices as others of greater ability were to offer yet he was to be at all the trouble and pains that others took for their Purification there being not one of the Rites before prescribed which are omitted in the following Verses only they were less expensive One Lamb for a trespass-offering It is not determined whether it should be an He-lamb or an Ewe-lamb and therefore it was left indifferent for the greater ease of his Poverty only it was to be of the first year and without blemish as is prescribed v. 10. To be waved According to the directions given v. 12. To make an atonement for him Which was effected by this as well as by a more valuable Sacrifice when it was the best he had to offer And one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil Instead of three tenth deals which the richer sort were to offer v. 10. But if a poor Man had vowed he would offer all that is prescribed in that Verse in case God would be pleased to cure him he was bound thereby as Maimonides says in the fore-named Treatise and this smaller Sacrifice would not serve for his Cleansing but by the help of his Friends or Neighbours he was to procure all that he had vowed And a log of oil This is the same quantity the better sort were to offer for Oil was not dear in this Country Ver. 22. Verse 22 And two turtle doves or two young pigeons Instead of the other two Lambs required of those who could provide them v. 10. Such as he is able to get The best he could procure but the meanest would be accepted if he could get no better And the one shall be a sin-offering and the other a burnt-offering Neither of which were to be omitted though the things offered were but mean See I. 14. V. 11. it being necessary he should perform all Religious Services according to his Ability And I think the observation of Conr. Pellicanus is not absurd that though there was an exchange made of two Lambs for two Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons in consideration of a Man's Poverty yet no Person whatsoever whether Rich or Poor could be cleansed without the Sacrifice of one Lamb which may well be look'd upon as a figure of the Lamb of God who alone taketh away the Sins of the whole World Ver. 23. Verse 23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day This plainly suggests that this poor Man had done all that was prescribed on the seven days foregoing as well as the rich For his cleansing unto the Priest unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation c. See v. 10 11 c. where all that follows here unto v. 33. is explained there being the same Rites prescribed and in the same words about a poor Man which were used for the Cleansing of the rich Ver. 24. Verse 24 And the Priest shall take the Lamb of the Trespass-offering See v. 12. Ver. 25. Verse 25 And he shall kill the Lamb. See v. 13. And shall take some of the blood of the Trespass-offering and put it upon the tip c. See this explained v. 14. Ver. 26. Verse 26 And the Priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand See v. 15. It is not said either there or here how much but only some of the Oil as it is there translated that is as much as the Priest thought would be sufficient Ver. 27. Verse 27 And the Priest shall sprinkle with his right finger c. According to the Directions given before v. 16. Ver. 28. Verse 28 And the Priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear c. See v. 17. Vpon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering It being not said here upon the blood of the Trespass-offering as the words are v. 17. but upon the place of the blood The Jews infer from thence That if the Blood laid upon the tip of the Ear Thumb or Toe were by any means wiped off it was sufficient to lay the Oil in the very place where the Blood had been So Maimonides in the fore-named Treatise concerning those that wanted Expiation sect 5. But that which he there adds is very unreasonable That if a Man wanted the Thumb of his right hand or the great Toe of his right Foot or the Lap of his right Ear he could never be purified from his Uncleanness For it is not to be thought that God would make his Cleansing impossible who was maimed or defective in any of these parts which had been to add one Misery to another Therefore in this Case the Blood and the Oil might be put upon the parts next to these Ver. 29. Verse 29 And the rest of the oil that is in the Priests hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed c. See v. 18. Ver. 30. Verse 30 And he shall offer the one of the turtle doves or of the young pigeons such as he can get i. e. The best that he is able to procure Ver. 31. Verse 31 Even such as he is able to get He repeats it again that the Man might not be troubled if he was not able to procure the very best provided he did his indeavour to bring the best that his Estate could reach The one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering c. See v. 19 20. Ver. 32. Verse 32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosie Who was shut out of the Camp because of the Leprosie which formerly appeared in him Whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing Who is so poor that he cannot procure what is prescribed to those that are able to make such Offerings as are before-mentioned v. 10 c. for their reception into the Congregation again when they are found to be free from their Leprosie But here Maimonides puts this Case Suppose a Man having brought the Offering of the Poor suddenly becomes Rich or on the contrary having brought a rich Man's Offering immediately becomes poor what is to be done He answers If this happen before the Sacrifices be finished he is to proceed according to the state in which he was when his Sin-offering was offered that is offer the Sacrifice of a rich Man viz. another Lamb if he was then rich or the Sacrifice of a poor Man if he was then poor Ver. 33. Verse 33 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying Now he again speaks to them both conjunctly which he did not v. 1. as he had done XIII 1. because Aaron and his Sons were peculiarly concerned to judge concerning the Leprosie in Houses as well as in their Inhabitants Ver. 34. Verse 34
and then prayed for all that should believe on him i. e. the whole Congregation of Christian People from v. 20. to the end Immediately after which he went to the place where he was apprehended and led to be Condemned and Crucified XVIII John 1. See Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. II. cap. 3. n. 3. Ver. 18. Verse 18 And he shall go out unto the Altar that is before the LORD These words before the LORD seem to restrain this to the Golden Altar where Incense was offered in the Sanctuary and so I find it is generally interpreted even by the Jews themselves in Joma cap. 5. sect 5. as well as Christians But the words he shall go out plainly signifie his coming from the Sanctuary where the golden Altar was and had been cleansed we may well suppose together with it v. 16. into the outward Court to the Altar of Burnt-offering which was also before the LORD XXIX Exod. 11. though at a greater distance from him and which one would think stood in need to be cleansed as much as the Altar of Incense Now unless it was ordered to be cleansed in these words I can see no care taken about it at all In XXX Exod. 10. there is express mention indeed made of making an atonement upon the Altar of Incense once a year and nothing said of the other and if we will so understand it here then the words he shall go out must have respect to his going into the holy place mentioned in the Verse before And make an atonement for it This is generally understood as I said of the golden Altar because such express mention is made of its Purification yearly in the place now mentioned XXX Exod. 10. And no doubt that which is here commanded was done there when he made Atonement for the Table where it stood But there being the same need as I said to expiate the other Altar where no fewer Errors had been committed than here and which stood nearer to an unclean People who incompassed it I cannot but think that it s here included And shall take of the blood of the Bullock and of the Goat He put the Blood of the Bullock and of the goat together and then poured them into another Vessel that they might be well mingled For here is no command in this place that he should go round the Altar twice and tip the Horns of it first with the Blood of the Bullock and then of the Goat separate one from the other as the Misna in Joma observes cap. 5. sect 4. And put it upon the horns of the altar round about He began at the North-east corner and so went to the North-west and from thence to the South-west and lastly to the South-east and as he came near to each corner he put the Blood upon it So the Jews describe this matter in the same place sect 5. Ver. 19. Verse 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times Not upon the middle of the Altar but nigh the corners viz. in the place where he ended when he put the Blood upon the horns of the Altar So the Jews say in the place above-named sect 6. And I do not see why the Particle upon should not be expounded here as in v. 15. if their interpretation be true to signifie that he sprinkled the Blood before the Altar which he did not touch And shall cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the Children of Israel The Jews refer this cleansing to his taking the Coals and the Ashes from the Altar that he might sprinkle the Blood in a clean place And then the words are to be translated He shall sprinkle the blood c. having cleansed and hallowed it But the conclusion of the Verse determines us to another fense which is That by sprinkling the Blood he cleansed and sanctified it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel whereby it had been defiled the Priests having either come in their uncleanness thither or not performed their Service as they ought there and the People thereby remaining in their Impurities Now when the High-Priest had done all this the Jews say in the Misna before-named he poured the rest of the Blood of the Bullock and Goat at the bottom of the Altar of Burnt-offerings where I conceive he concluded this Atonement for there was a conveyance to carry it away as I observed upon IV. 7. And they make account also that if every thing was not done in this order it was ineffectual and was to be done over again For example If the Blood of the Goat was sprinkled before the Blood of the Bullock contrary to the directions v. 14 15. he returned and sprinkled the Blood of the Goat after that of the Bullock c. Ver. 20. Verse 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place Making it fit to continue God's dwelling place v. 16. And the Tabernacle of the Congregation By this I think is meant the Sanctuary and every thing in it particularly the golden Altar And the Altar Of Burnt-offerings where he ended his Atonement for the whole House of God He shall bring the live Goat Two had been presented to the LORD v. 7 10. that is solemnly consecrated and devoted to be expiatory Sacrifices one of which having been slain the other was now brought to be made an Expiation for Sin after another manner And he was brought no doubt to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation where they were wont to lay their hands upon other Sacrifices I. 3 4. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat Laying of the hand upon the head of the Beast was a Rite used in all sorts of Sacrifices whether Burnt-offerings Peace-offerings or Sin-offerings See I. 4. III. 2. IV. 4 33. In which places mention is made only of laying on his hand But here the High-Priest is commanded to lay on both hands as he and his Sons did in the Sacrifice of the Bullock and the Ram at their Consecration VIII 14 18. The meaning of which was the more solemnly and intirely to devote the Sacrifice to the uses for which it was designed which in this Sacrifice was to bear all their Sins For they were all laid upon this Sacrifice unto which the punishment of them was transferred This Rite signifying as much as if they had said Whatsoever we have done amiss let not us but this Sacrifice be charged with it that is let it bear the punishment which we deserve Such phrases there are 2 Sam. I. 16. IX Esther 25. VII Psal 16. and other places And confess over him This must have been understood if it had not been expressed for imposition of hands was always accompanied with Prayer of one sort or other according to the occasion of it Insomuch that the Jews say Where there is no Confession of Sins there is no Imposition of Hands for
there But the Expiation of the High-Priest himself who was to make the Expiation of the Sanctuary preceded all the rest as is apparent from v. 11. Ver. 34. Verse 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute The repetition of this the third time See v. 29 31. shows of how great importance it was that this annual Solemnity should be observed Vnto you The High-Priests before-mentioned of whom he speaks in the Plural Number because none of them could continue always as I observed v. 32. but enjoyed the Office successively upon the death of their Predecessors To make an atonement for the Children of Israel for all their sins once a year This is only a repetition of what was said v. 30. that it should be incumbent on the High-Priest by a perpetual Obligation to make an Atonement for the Peoples sins on this day as it was incumbent on the People v. 29. to afflict their Souls upon this day And he did as the LORD commanded Moses The Service of this day was immediately performed by Aaron according to the fore-named order CHAP. XVII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying After he had ordered the great Anniversary Sacrifice in the foregoing Chapter he gives some Directions about other Sacrifices for which there would be occasion every day Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto Aaron and his Sons and all the Children of Israel Who were all concerned in what follows and therefore this Command is directed to the whole house of Israel v. 3. to whom this was delivered it is likely by their Elders or else Moses himself went from Tribe to Tribe and spake to their several Families And say unto them This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded Enjoyned by a Special Law Ver. 3. Verse 3 Whatsoever man there be of the House of Israel that killeth an Ox or Lamb or Goat viz. For a Sacrifice or Offering as it follows v. 4. these being the only Creatures of the Herd and the Flock that were permitted to be brought to God's Altar There are those indeed who think Moses speaks of killing these Creatures for common use which it was lawful for them to do any where after they came to the Land of Canaan XII Deut. 15. but now they were not to kill them for their food unless they brought them to the door of the Tabernacle and there first sacrificed some part of them to the LORD before they tasted of them themselves By which their sacrificing to Daemons was prevented to which they were prone v. 7. and they also constantly feasted with God while they dwelt in the Wilderness But this is better founded upon XII Deut. 20 21. where it is supposed that they had thus done while they remained in the Wilderness and were so near to the House of God that they might easily bring thither every Beast they killed for ordinary use But they were dispensed withal as to this when they came into Canaan and could not possibly when they had a mind to eat Flesh go so far as to the Tabernacle or Temple which was many Miles from some of them Instead whereof they were bound to come at the three great Festivals and appear before God at his House wheresoever they dwelt In the Camp or that killeth it out of the Camp This seems to show that he doth not speak of killing these Beasts ad usum vescendi as St. Austin's words are for the use of eating for that they did not do out of the Camp but in their Tents but de Sacrificiis he speaks concerning Sacrifices For he prohibits as he goes on private Sacrifices lest every Man should take upon him to be a Priest c. Ver. 4. Verse 4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to offer an offering unto the LORD In ancient time every Man had performed the Office of a Priest in his own Family But now that liberty is taken away because they had abused it to Idolatry and every Man was bound to bring his Sacrifice to the House of God where none but the Sons of Aaron could officiate and had the most sacred Obligations on them to offer only to the LORD The very Heathens themselves in future times found it necessary to enact the very same as appears by Plato in the latter end of his Tenth Book of Laws where he hath these memorable words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let this be a Law imposed absolutely upon all that no Man whatsoever have a sacred place in private Houses but when he hath a mind to offer Sacrifice let him go to the publick Temples and deliver his Sacrifice to the Priests whether Men or Women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose business it is to take care that these things be performed in an holy manner By which it appears that these were two established Principles of Religion in wise Mens minds to Sacrifice publickly and to bring their Sacrifices to the Priests who were to take care to offer them purely Unto which Moses adds one thing more that their publick Sacrifices should be offered only at one place which was a most efficacious preservative from all strange Worship nothing being done but under the Eye of the Ministers of Religion and the Governours of the People Insomuch that St. Chrysostom as our learned Dr. Spencer observes Lib. I. de Rit Leg. Hebr. L. I. cap. 4. sect 1. calls Jerusalem which was afterwards established to be this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of bond or knot whereby the whole Nation were tied fast to the Judaical Religion Before the Tabernacle of the LORD Before the Divine Majesty which dwelt in the Tabernacle round about which they all inhabited and were so near it while they travelled in the Wilderness that as there was no trouble in bringing all their Sacrifices thither so they knew certainly whether to go And thus the Hebrew Doctors observe it was when they came into Canaan where while the Tabernacle was fixed in Shilo none might Sacrifice any where else But when it wandred uncertainly after Shilo was destroyed being sometimes in Mispeh sometimes at Gilgal and at Nob and Gibeon and the House of Obed-Edom they fancy it was lawful to Sacrifice in other places For so we find Samuel did 1. Sam. VII 9. IX 13. where he sacrificed in an high place XI 15. XVI 2. and David 2 Sam. XXIV 18. and Elias 1 Kings XVIII 23. But these may be thought extraordinary acts done by an immediate warrant from God for none of these Persons were Priests but Prophets guided by Divine Inspirations See Dr. Owtram Lib. I. de Sacrific cap. 2. Blood shall be imputed unto that man he hath shed blood He was to be punished as a Murderer that is die for it For to have Blood imputed to a Man in the Hebrew phrase or to be guilty of Blood is to be liable to have his Blood shed or to lose his Life Which as of old it was
Hierozoicon P. II. Lib. V. cap. 9. But this spot did not make a Priest uncapable to minister as Selden observes in the place above-mentioned unless it was a little prominent which made the blemish more apparent Or be scurvy or scabbed One of these words signifies a dry scurf or scab the other a purulent Or hath his stones broken Is bursten or hath a rupture as some expound it The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which Procopius Gazaeus understands an Hermophrodite Ver. 21. Verse 21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the Priest shall come nigh c. This seems to confirm what was observed before v. 17. that any other blemish besides these here particularly mentioned made a Man uncapable to officiate at the Altar And in the first place the Hebrew Doctors reckon five in the Ears besides the want of them An Example of which Josephus gives in the Story of Hyrcanus the High-Priest whose Ears Antigonus cut off that if he should return again he might not resume his Office Lib. I. de Bello Jud. cap. 11. He hath a blemish This general repetition is a farther confirmation that all apparent Blemishes of the same kind with these here particularly named excluded them from ministring at the Altar And there being some of them that were permanent or perpetual as they speak and others that were transient which remained but for a time no Man that had a Blemish though only of the latter sort was to minister at the Altar till it was gone He shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God i. e. The Offerings made by Fire before-mentioned which are here plainly represented as the Meat that was served up to his Table See v. 6. If any of them did presume to offer at the Altar there were different Effects of their Contumacy according to the different sorts of their Blemishes which the Hebrew Doctors divide into three Classes as I observed v. 17. If any Man having a Blemish of the first sort ministred it profaned the very Sacrifice which he offered and he was to be scourged The second sort did not vitiate the Sacrifice but the Priest was to undergo the forenamed punishment The third sort was so inconsiderable that neither of these Effects followed upon his ministring who was blemished by them as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Success in Pontif. cap. 5. p. 234. Ver. 22. Verse 22 He shall eat of the bread of his God But though such a Priest might not offer any Sacrifice yet he might eat with his Brethren of that part of the Sacrifices which was given to them for their portion which no Man in his Uncleanness might do Therefore these natural Infirmities were not Legal Impurities but only Incapacities as we speak which disabled them for their Office Here again the Sacrifices are represented as the Provision made for the Divine Majesty See v. 6 21. Both of the most holy Such were the Meat-offerings II. 3. VI. 17. the Sin-offerings VI. 25 26. and the Trespass-offerings VII 1. See XIV 13. The Shew-bread also was a most holy thing and all such were to be eaten only by the Males of the Priests Family in the holy place XVIII Numb 9 10 11 c. And of the holy Such were the Wave-breast and the Heave-shoulder of the Peace-offerings VII 35. X. 14. and the First-fruits and the Tythes But though the Peace-offerings of particular Persons were among the less holy things yet the Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation were most holy See XXIII 20. Ver. 23. Verse 23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail He was not to enter into the Sanctuary to burn Incense or to trim the Lamps c. Nor come nigh unto the Altar No nor go to the Altar of Burnt-offering which was in the Court of the LORD's House but he was to sit in the Wood-room where he was imployed in picking out all the Wood which had any Worms in it that it might be laid aside and not carried to the Altar as Maimonides and others relate He had also another imployment See XIII 2. If any Man were so presumptuous or so forgetful as to minister notwithstanding the manifest Blemish which was upon him he fell under Censure and was punished according to the degree of his Fault as I observed before v. 21. out of Mr. Selden who hath in the place there mentioned handled this more accurately than I thought it needful for me to do That he profane not my Sanctuary That he might not make others think meanly of the Service of God and consequently of God himself who would have Men in their greatest perfection minister unto him to preserve in Peoples minds a sense of his most excellent Being unto whom they ministred For which reason all the foregoing Prohibitions were given against marrying such Persons as had been vitiated c. and against mourning for the dead that they might not profane the name of their God v. 6. by doing as vulgar People did or making themselves uncapable to minister unto God as they were when they were defiled And thus Maimonides discourses upon this Subject More Nevoch P. III. cap. 45. God commanded his Ministers should wear precious Apparel and that none should be admitted to the Ministry who had any defect in his Body nay they who were deformed and ill-favoured were excluded because the Vulgar do not judge according to Mens true worth or beauty which lies in the Soul but according to their outward appearance in the comliness of their Bodies and the richness of their Garments And therefore the end of all these things was that God's House might be had in due honour and reverence My Sanctuaries This word in the Plural Number relates to the two parts of the Sanctuary the Court where the Altar of Burnt-offering stood which was an holy place and that which was properly called the Sanctuary wherein the Altar of Incense was Into neither of which a Priest that had any Blemish might enter as was said before For I the LORD do sanctifie them I have set apart both those places for my Service and therefore no Man with a blemish shall be admitted into them to perform any holy Office there Yet they might come into the Court to eat with their Brethren of holy things but not in their Priestly Garments which it was not lawful for them to use Ver. 24. Verse 24 And Moses told it unto Aaron and to his Sons and unto all the Children of Israel They were all acquainted with these Laws because they were all concerned the Service of God should be administred acceptably unto him CHAP. XXII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying These Commands that follow were delivered at the same time with the foregoing belonging to the same matter For though the Priests who had a blemish might eat of the holy things yet he would have them know that neither they nor such as were unblemished
should presume to do it in their Uncleanness Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons that they separate themselves Viz. When they were in their Uncleanness v. 3. From the holy things of the Children of Israel Abstain from eating v. 3 4 12. of that part of the Sacrifices which belonged to the Priests but was to be eaten only by such of them as were free from Legal Impurities VII 20 21. Nor were they to eat of the First-fruits which were also their portion XVIII Numb 12 13. but they might eat of the Tythes which were allowed for their constant Sustenance And that they profane not my holy Name This is the very ground of this Prohibition that they might preserve in their minds a due reverence to the Divine Majesty unto whom as they might not approach so they might not meddle with any thing Consecrated to him in a state of Legal Impurity All great Persons are to be approached with a great deal of Ceremony especially when any are invited to their Table otherwise they might fall into contempt And therefore much more was this reverence to be shown to the Divine Majesty that they might entertain high Apprehensions of him by abstaining from all things belonging to him when they were under any pollution In those things which they hallow unto me Which the Children of Israel devoted unto God For so the foregoing words and the next Verse explain it I am the LORD The greatest regard is to be paid to my Majesty Ver. 3. Verse 3 Say unto them whosoever he be of your seed Of the Priests Among your generations In succeeding times That goeth unto the holy things To eat of them as appears from v. 4 6 12. Which the Children of Israel hallow unto the LORD Offer to him at his Altar Having his uncleanness upon him For which they were to separate themselves v. 2. That soul shall be cut off from my presence Thrust out of the Priests Office no more to minister at the Altar and then it was the act of a Judge or cut off from the Land of the Living which was done by the Hand of Heaven I am the LORD Who will vindicate my own Honour Ver. 4. Verse 4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron These words of the seed of Aaron include his Daughters as well as his Sons who might eat of some holy things XVIII Numb 11 19. but not in their Uncleanness Is a leper or hath a running issue There are eleven Fountains of Uncleanness as the Hebrews speak two of which are these here mentioned as appears from XIII 3. XV. 2. He shall not eat of the holy things until he be clean See XIV 2. XV. 13. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead or a man whose seed goes from him These were two other Fountains of Uncleanness XI 31 32 c. XV. 16. Ver. 5. Verse 5 Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing whereby he may be made unclean See XI 24 c. Or a man of whom he may take uncleanness XV. 7. Whatsoever uncleanness he hath Suppose the Leprosie XIII 45. These are two such Fountains of Uncleanness as the former Ver. 6. Verse 6 The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even and shall not eat c. So the Law was in the forenamed Cases as appears by the places above-mentioned Ver. 7. Verse 7 And when the Sun is down he shall be clean Having washed his flesh with water And shall afterward eat of the holy things because it is his food God was so gracious as not to keep a Priest any longer in a state wherein he should want his necessary or comfortable Sustenance Ver. 8. Verse 8 That which dieth of it self or is torn with beasts he shall not eat to defile himself therewith This was forbidden before to all the Israelites XVII 15. but made a Priest no longer unclean than an ordinary Man because of the foregoing reason I am the LORD Who will have my Ministers pure from all such pollutions The remainder of which were the uncleanness of the Water of Separation as Maimonides speaks XIX 21. and of the great Sacrifice of Expiation XVI 28. and of a menstruous Woman XV. 9. and of a Woman in Child-bed XII 2. But nothing made Men so unclean as the dead Body of a Man which defiled not only him that touched it for seven days but all that came into the House and every thing that was in the House where he died XIX Numb 11.14 which was the reason of the foregoing Law that the High-Priest should not go in to the dead Body of his Father or Mother nor any inferiour Priest be defiled for any but their near Relations XXI 1 2 11. Ver. 9. Verse 9 They shall therefore keep mine Ordinance Observe this Constitution because I who am their LORD make it Lest they bear sin for it Be punished if they break it And die therefore As Nadab and Abihu did who presumed to break another Law about holy things If they profane it By eating of the holy things in their Uncleanness I the LORD do sanctifie them Separate them to my Service and by such Constitutions teach them carefully to avoid all pollutions Ver. 10. Verse 10 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing The holy thing here mentioned is that before-named X. 14. and by a Stranger he doth not mean one of another Nation but one that is not of the Seed of Aaron or is not one of his Family For the word in the Hebrew is not Nechar which properly signifies such a Stranger as is not an Israelite but Zar which signifies any one to whom a thing doth not belong as holy things did not to those who were not at least part of the Priests Family though not of his Race For that such might eat of them who were not of their Race provided they belonged to them as a part of their Family appears from the next Verse A sojourner of the Priest Who boards with him as we now speak or dwells in a part of his House as some understand it but hath a distinct Family Or an hired servant Such were those who served by the day XIX 13. or for a certain time and after that might dispose of themselves as they pleased Shall not eat of the holy thing None of these might eat of the Priests portion X. 14. XVIII Numb 11. because they were not Members of his Family Ver. 11. Verse 11 But if the Priest buy any soul i.e. Person with his money There were those of their own Nation who by their Poverty were compelled to sell themselves or their Children XXV 39. and others they bought of other Nations v. 44 45 c. who becoming Proselytes to the Jews Religion were permitted to eat of the Priest's Meat because they became part of his Family And he that is born in his house c. They that were born of such purchased Servants were their Masters Goods and
such a part of their Family that they left them to their Children who succeeded them And therefore they also were allowed to eat of the Meat of the Priest Ver. 12. Verse 12 If a Priests daughter also be married unto a stranger Unto one that is not of the Family of the Priests She may not eat of an offering of the holy things She lost her right to eat of those holy things which she did partake of while she remained a part of her Father's Family For that intitled Persons to this Priviledge insomuch that a Priest taking a Wife out of another Family she might eat of them because she was one with him and therefore had more right than a Servant But for the same reason a Priest's Daughter married to a Stranger might not eat of them because she was gone out of his into another Family Ver. 13. Verse 13 But if the Priests daughter be a widow or divorced and have no child If she had any Children they and she made another Family and they being begotten by a Father who was not a Priest had no right to eat of the Priest's meat But if she was left without Children then she was accounted still one of her Father's Family provided she returned as it follows to live with him And is returned to her fathers house as in her youth To be a part of his Family as she was before she married X. 14. She shall eat of her fathers meat Have the same priviledge she had when she was a Virgin But there shall no stranger eat thereof This seems as I said particularly to relate unto her Children if she had any who being begotten by one of another Family were lookt upon as Strangers See v. 10. Ver. 14. Verse 14 And if a man Who hath no right to them Eat of the holy thing unwittingly Not knowing it to be an holy thing Then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it Besides his Sacrifice which he was bound to offer for his Trespass See V. 15. And shall give it unto the Priest with the holy thing He could not give the Priest the holy thing which he had eaten but the meaning is that he should make satisfaction to the Priest for the Damage done to him by paying him the true worth of the thing and the fifth part more of its value See V. 16. Ver. 15. Verse 15 And they shall not profane the holy things of the Children of Israel which they offer unto the LORD This seems to refer to the Persons before-named none of which should presume to profane Sacred things by eating them when they did not belong to them The Priests seem also to be concerned in it who were not to suffer them to eat such holy things as it follows in the next Verse Or if it intirely relate to the Priests the meaning is they should not profane holy things by eating them in their uncleanness v. 9. And one reason was because the Children of Israel whose Offerings these were might be discouraged from bringing them to the LORD when they saw them so prophaned Ver. 16. Verse 16 Or suffer them i.e. The People To bear the iniquity of trespass c. To fall under the punishment which God will inflict for their Trespass in eating things which do not appertain to them The Marginal Translation refers this also wholly to the Priests in this manner Or lade themselves with the iniquity of Trespass in their eating holy things viz. in their Uncleanness and with such Persons it may be added as ought not to eat of them For I the LORD do sanctifie them These words seem to justifie this last Interpretation See v. 9. Ver. 17. Verse 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying The following Laws no doubt were delivered at the same time with the former because they still concern the same matter Ver. 18. Verse 18 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons and unto all the Children of Israel For they were all concerned in the perfection of the Sacrifices as they were in the perfection of the Priests that offered them See XXI 24. And say unto them whosoever he be The Hebrew Doctors say that the phrase isch isch Man Man i. e. any Man is here used as it was XVIII 6. to show that Gentiles are comprehended under this Law as well as Jews as Mr. Selden observes out of the Gemara Babylon Tit. Cholin See Lib. III. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 4. p. 289. Of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel They understand by strangers in Israel such as they called Proselytes of the Gate who were not Circumcised but had renounced Idolatry and joyned themselves to the God of Israel R. Levi ben Gersom takes perfect Proselytes to be here meant whom they called Proselytes of Righteousness yet not excluding the other That will offer his oblation for all his vows and for all his free-will-offerings See VII 16. Which they will offer unto the LORD for a Burnt-offering If a Gentile brought a Peace-offering to the LORD it was offered as a Burnt-offering and no Meat-offering was permitted to be offered with it as Maimonides observes See Selden in the place before-named and v. 25. of this Chapter And Dr. Lightfoot gives a large account of it in his Temple Service chap. 8. sect 4. Ver. 19. Verse 19 Ye shall offer at your own will So these words are commonly understood that the Sacrifices both of Jew and Gentile should be spontaneous as well as without blemish though they will bear another sense as I observed Chap. I. v. 3. A male without blemish of the beeves and of the sheep and of the goats See Chap. I. v. 3 10. All Burnt-offerings were to be Males though Peace-offerings might be Females III. 1 6. and so might Sin-offerings also IV. 32. but all without blemish For as God accepted only some kind of Creatures viz. Beeves Sheep and Goats and no other of the Herd so he would have a choice to be made out of them of the very best as had been often before directed Ver. 20. Verse 20 But whatsoever hath a blemish that shall ye not offer This general Rule is here repeated because he is going to specifie what Creatures they should account blemished For it shall not be acceptable for you This seems to justifie the Exposition which I said might be given of that phrase in the foregoing Verse at your own will or for your acceptation See upon I. 3. Ver. 21. Verse 21 And whosoever offereth a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings unto the LORD Which were either to obtain blessings or to give thanks for them when they were obtained To accomplish his vow It was usual to make such Vows for procuring from God what they desired when they undertook a Journey or went to Sea or were sick or in any danger c. An example of which we have in I Jonah 16. where we read the Mariners in a Storm offered a Sacrifice to the LORD and made
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
but such only as were without blemish nor any other Sacrifices be offered but such as were every way perfect and only such Feasts observed as are mentioned in the foregoing Chapter he proceeds now to give order for the daily Service of God in the Sanctuary which was not yet settled till the Princes had all made their Offerings c. VII Numb 1 2 c. VIII 1. Ver. 2. Verse 2 Command the Children of Israel that they bring unto thee The daily Sacrifices were to be maintained at the publick Charge and so were the Incense and the Lamps and therefore it was proper to speak to all the People in whose name the Priests performed all these things to take care they should be furnished with them See XXX Exod. 13 c. Pure Oil-olive beaten for the light to cause the Lamps to burn continually All this hath been explained XXVII Exod. 20. where this order was first given and now is commanded to be put in execution It is not improbable that the Oil to make it more pure and free from all Dregs passed through two Strainers into the Lamps as Fortunatus Scacchus indeavours to make out Myrothec I. Elaiochris Sacr. 10. Ver. 3. Verse 3 Without the vail of the Testimony c. This is a short expression which in XXVII Exod. 21. is delivered more fully without the Vail which is before the Testimony that is before the Ark. Shall Aaron order it He or his Sons as it is explained in XXVII Exod. 21. From the evening unto the morning The Hebrew word Boker properly signifies that part of the Morning which is from break of day till Sun-rise and the other word Arvaim the Evening after Sun-set till it be dark Therefore very early in the Morning and late at Night the Priests were to look after the Lamps Before the LORD continually For the Lamps burnt on one side of the Sanctuary as the Table stood on the other side with the Shew-bread on it and both of them before the LORD i. e. before the Ark of the Testimony where the Divine Majesty dwelt XXV Exod. 30. XXVI 35. It shall be a statute for ever c. XXVII Exod. 21. Ver. 4. Verse 4 He shall order the Lamps upon the pure Candlestick The Candlestick was made of pure Gold XXV Exod. 31. XXXVII 17. and thence seems to be called the pure Candlestick XXXI Exod. 8. But here it is possible Moses may have respect to the making it clean every day before the Lamps were lighted Before the LORD continually See XXX Exod. 7 8. Ver. 5. Verse 5 And thou shalt take fine flour Of the best Wheat And bake twelve Cakes These are called the Bread of the Presence which we translate Shew-bread in the place now named XXV Exod. 30. where see what I have noted They were prepared by the Levites 1 Chron. 9.32 XXIII 29. and were in number XII to represent the Twelve Tribes of Israel as continually before God i. e. under the care of his gracious Providence Nor was this number diminished after the Apostacy of Ten Tribes from the Worship of God at the Tabernacle but still Twelve Cakes were set before the LORD because there were a remnant of true Israelites among them 1 Kings XXX 18. and this was a constant Testimony against those Apostates and served to turn them back to the right Worship of God at that place where they were assured they and their Sacrifices would be acceptable and no where else Which made Abijah mention this to Jeroboam and the Ten Tribes among other things that should induce them to repent of their forsaking God and his dwelling place where he tells them The Priests the. Sons of Aaron minister and the Levites wait on their business And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening Burnt-sacrifices and sweet Incense the Shew-bread also set they in order upon the pure Table and the Candlestick of Gold with the Lamps thereof to burn every evening c. See 2 Chron. XIII v. 9 10 11 c. Two tenth deals shall be in one Cake That is two Omers for an Omer was the tenth part of an Ephah XVI Exod. 36. Where we likewise read v. 22. that every Israelite while they were in the Wilderness gathered just his his quantity against every Sabbath On which day these Cakes being set upon God's Table as it here follows v. 8. Dr. Lightfoot thinks both the Measure and the Time were designed to put the Israelites in mind of their Sustenance in their Wilderness Ver. 6. Verse 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows c. One upon another as the Hebrew Writers expound it Who say also that they were set length-wise cross over the breadth of the Table and that they were ten hand-breadths long and five broad and seven fingers thick See Dr. Lightfoot's Temple Service Chap. 14. sect 5. Vpon the pure Table It was called pure because it was overlaid with pure Gold XXV Exod. 24. and we may be sure was kept very clean and bright Before the LORD Who dwelt in the most holy place before which the Bread was set Ver. 7. Verse 7 And thou shalt put pure Frankincense The best that could be got unmixed with any thing else And there was no better in the World than their neighbouring Countries afforded Vpon each row On the top of each row of Cakes there was set a golden Dish with an handful of Frankincense therein That it may be on the bread Or for the bread That is offered unto God instead of the Bread which was to be given to the Priests who waited on him at his Table for their portion For a memorial For an Acknowledgment of God and of his Soveraignty over them and to beseech him to be always gracious to them See Chap. 2. v. 2. and to represent also as Conradus Pellicanus understands it that God was ever mindful of his People and had a great love to them for the eyes of the LORD are over the righteous and his ears open to their prayers Even an offering made by fire unto the LORD The Frankincense being set upon the Bread they seem to be considered as one thing part of which was to be offered unto God and the rest to be given to his Ministers Now instead of the Bread which was the principal the Frankincense was burnt every Week unto the LORD when the Bread was eaten by the Priests Which Bread it is evident v. 9. is called one of the Offerings of the LORD made by fire because this Frankincense which stood upon it all the Week was burnt as an Oblation to him Ver. 8. Verse 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually The Shew-bread was prepared the Evening before and then on the Sabbath four Priests went in to fetch away the old Loaves and Frankincense that had stood there all the Week before and other four followed after them to carry new ones and Frankincense in their stead For two of
them carried the two rows of Bread six Cakes apiece and the other two carried each of them a golden Dish in which the Frankincense was set upon the Bread See Dr. Lightfoot of the Temple Service Chap. 14. sect 5. Being taken from the Children of Israel At whose charge they were provided though prepared by the Levites See X Nehem. 32 33. By an everlasting Covenant By vertue of that Command which they had all agreed to observe which required the Shew-bread to be set before the LORD alway XXIV Exod. 3. XXV 30. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And it shall be Aaron 's and his sons Who as God's Servants eat of the Bread which came from his Table And they shall eat it in the holy place For the most holy things could be eaten no where else See VI. 26 29. For it is most holy unto him See Chap. II. of this Book v. 3. Of the offerings of the LORD made by fire It need not seem strange that this Bread which was not burnt upon the Altar as Meat-offerings were should be reckoned among the Offerings made by fire for as the Altar where those Meat-offerings were burnt is called God's Table I Mal. 12. so this Table where the Shew-bread stood was really God's Altar Insomuch that the Bread which was set upon it before him was lookt upon as offered upon him and the Frankincense set upon the Bread as a part of it being really burnt it may be called an Offering made by fire Thus the Gentiles also as an excellent Person of our own hath observed thought Tables rightly dedicated unto their Gods to supply the place of Altars So Macrobius saith Lib. III. Saturnal cap. 11. it evidently appeared by Papyrian's Law That arae vicem praestare posse mensam dicatam a Table consecrated might serve instead of an Altar Of which he gives an instance in the Temple of Juno Populonia and then proceeds to give a reason for it because Altars and Tables eodem die quo aedes ipsae dedicari solent were wont to be dedicated on the same day with the Temples themselves From whence it was that a Table hoc ritu dedicata dedicated in this manner was of the same use in the Temple with an Altar See Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 8. n. 7. By a perpetual statute As long as these Sacrifices lasted Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the son of an Israelitish woman whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Children of Israel In the Hebrew the words run thus And there went out the son of an Israelitish woman and he was the son of an Egyptian man in the midst of or among the Children of Israel Which last words signifie that though his Father was an Egyptian by birth yet he was become a Proselyte by Religion And was one of those it is probable who went along with the Israelites when God brought them out of Egypt XII Exod. 38. So R. Solomon Jarchi interprets this phrase Among the Children of Israel Hence saith he we learn that he was a Proselyte of Righteousness And Aben-Ezra to the same purpose He was received into the number of the Jews See a great many more in Mr. Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis cap. 1. numb 2. where he observes That it is the common Opinion of the Jews this Man was the Son of him whom Moses kill'd in Egypt II Exod. 12. And this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the Camp When God was delivering the foregoing Laws unto Moses this Case seems to have hapned And the Jews say the Controversie between these two was this The former looking upon himself as having a good right to it by his Mother came and endeavoured to set up a Tent among the Children of Dan in that place where their Tribe had pitched their Tents which was opposed by one of that Tribe who told him the right of his Mother would do him no service unless his Father had been an Israelite for the Law was II Numb 2. that every Man of the Children of Israel should pitch by his own Standard with the Ensign of their Father's House Which Law though given afterward yet they suppose was the Rule before by which this Man was condemned by those that heard the Cause to be in the wrong Ver. 11. Verse 11 And the Israelitish womans son blasphemed the Name of the LORD and cursed Sentence being given against him he uttered blasphemous words against God himself perhaps renounced the LORD and also cursed those Judges that had condemned him The Jews commonly think that this Blasphemy was his pronouncing the peculiar Name of God which he heard at Mount Sinai when the Law was given But this is a meer fancy for there were some reproachful words utter'd against God as well as against the Judges as appears from v. 15. And they themselves acknowledge that a Proselyte was guilty of death whether he cursed by the proper Name of God or any other as Mr. Selden shows Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 12. Pellicanus thinks it probable that this Man mockt at the foregoing Laws which were delivered about the Worship of God and contemned God himself when he was told by whose Authority they were enacted And they brought him unto Moses If the occasion of their strife was such as the Jews imagine then Mr. Selden thinks it highly probable that the Cause had been heard and judged by some of the lesser Courts established by Jethro's advice XVIII Exod. 21 22. where the Blasphemy had been so plainly proved that he was convicted of it but they doubting about the Punishment of so high a Crime referred the consideration of that to Moses as the Supream Judge And his mothers name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri of the Tribe of Dan. I see no reason of mentioning the name of the Woman from whom he was descended but that all might be satisfied of the Truth of this History Ver. 12. Verse 12 And they put him inward Committed him to Prison that he might be secured till his Punishment was declared That the mind of the LORD might be shewed them In the Hebrew the words are That it might be expounded to them viz. by Moses according to the mouth of the LORD that is as the LORD should declare to him And so Onkelos renders them Till the matter was expounded to them according to the sentance of the word of the LORD For it is noted here by a famous Commentator among the Jews as Mr. Selden observes in the place before mentioned Lib. II. de Synedr c. 1. that God was consulted about this matter because they did not know whether he was to die for this crime or whether his judgment was to be expected from the hand of Heaven or otherwise Whence Jarchi says they did not know whether he was guilty of death or not And so Theodoret Q. XXXIII in Lev. There was no Law as yet about this matter But there was