Cloth was tied to the Gate of the Temple and if it turned white when the Goat was sent away as they pretend it usually did there was great joy among the People because it was a sign their sins were forgiven according to that of the Prophet I Isa 18. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow c. But if it did not change its colour into white they hung down their heads and were full of sorrow they looking upon it as a Token of God's anger Which I relate only for this purpose that I may take notice how the same Authors who tell this story confess that for forty years before the destruction of the second Temple that is from the time of our Saviour's death this shred of Cloth never changed its colour at all Which if it be true was a notable Token of the Wrath of God coming upon them for their crucifying the LORD Christ Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Aaron shall come into the Tabernacle of the Congregation All that the High-Priest did about the Scape-goat was performed at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation where he laid his hands upon him and confessed over him all their sins See v. 20 21. which being done and he having sent the Goat away he is now ordered to come into the Sanctuary it self And shall put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place See v. 4. The Jews say there were two sorts of white Garments which he wore on this day One in the Morning which were made of fine Linen of Pelusium which was a third part of greater value than those he wore in the Evening which were of Indian Linen Now here he speaks only of the Garments that he wore in the Morning wherein he had hitherto officiated but is ordered after he had done all this to put them off there being many other things to be still performed upon this day yea he was to go once more into the holy place in order to which he put on other Garments as will appear in what follows And shall leave them there Never to be used more either by him or by any body else But they were laid up when they were left and new ones made against the next year as the Gemara upon the third Chapter of Joma relates And the same is affirmed by Maimonides R. S. Jarchi and others mentioned by Braunius L. II. de Vest Sacerd. cap. 25. n. 9. R. Levi Barcelonita also gives the same Exposition of it Praecept 99. and see Mr. Selden Lib. III. de Synedr cap. 11. p. 143. Ver. 24. Verse 24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place Either in the Laver which stood in the outward Court or in a Room in the Tabernacle which in after time was called Happervah where the Priest they say washed himself upon this day every time he changed his Garments And this agrees well enough with the words of Moses which here follow that when he had put on his Garments he should come forth that is from this Chamber to perform such Offices as are after mentioned The end of this washing in this place seems to have been that he might purifie himself after he had touched the Goat which bare all their iniquities v. 21. as the Man that carried him into the Wilderness was to wash after he had done that business v. 26. Though others will have it that it was in token he had now finished the Expiation Certain it is here is another washing distinct from that mentioned v. 4. when he put on the white Garments Which in part justifies what the Misna saith in Joma cap. 3. sect 3. that the High-Priest washed five times upon this day all in the House Happervah except the first which could not be in the Court of the Tabernacle because he was to wash before he entred into it For there were five Ministeries to be performed upon this day at each of which he changed his Garments and between every Ministry when he changed his Garments he washed himself There is a long Discourse about this and about washing his hands and his feet in Torah Cohanim quoted by our learned Country-man Mr. Sheringham in his Annotations upon Codex Joma p. 57. c. which they endeavour to ground upon the very words of this Verse Now as the leading of Christ into the Wilderness upon the Day of Atonement was fore-shadowed by the Ceremony of the Scape-goat so his Baptism on the same day was as expresly fore-shadowed or prefigured as any event concerning him either was or could be by the Legal Ceremony here mentioned of Aaron's washing his Body in the holy place They are the words of Dr. Jackson in Christ's Answer to John's Question sect 64. where he endeavours to make out this And put on his garments Viz. His other Garments wherein he officiated upon other days which the Jews call his golden Garments to distinguish them from the white Garments which alone he wore when he went into the most holy place And the Jews call by this name of golden Garments all the eight Garments of the High-Priest four of which were common to him with the lower Priests and were made only of Linen yet they never call them by the name of white Garments which they appropriate to those in which he went into the most holy place the other four which gave the name to all the rest were proper only to the High-Priest himself viz. the Robe which had Bells of Gold at the bottom the Ephod the Breast-plate and the Golden-plate upon his forehead which being put over the other four common Garments made him appear as if he were all clothed in Gold For they either consisted of solid Gold as the Plate on his forehead or had solid Gold appendant as the Robe had or had Gold interwoven as the Ephod and the Breast-plate Now he put on these after he had put off the Linen Garments mentioned v. 4 23. which were never used but when he ministred in the Holy of Holies where he did not appear with the Breast-plate of Vrim and Thummim and the rest of the golden Garments as some learned Men have imagined particularly Corn. Bertram in his Book de Republ. Hebr. cap. 7. where he saith Hujus Sacerdotis erat semel in anno adytum sanctuarij adire indutus ipso Ephode It belonged to the High-Priest to go once in the year into the most secret place of the Sanctuary clothed with the Ephod Which is directly contrary to v. 4. of this Chapter But many other great Men have fallen into the same mistake See J. Braunius de Vestitu Sacerdot Hebr. Lib. II. cap. 20. n. 29. cap. 25. n. 9 10. And come forth From the place where he put on his golden Garments unto the Altar of Burnt-offerings And offer his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people I take this for the daily Evening Sacrifice which usually was
Opinion God seems to have intended to extinguish by appointing the Sabbath as the only day of the Week upon which they should rest from their Labours leaving all the other six days to be imployed in their business without any difference of days or hours But there being no such signification as many think of that word in the Hebrew Language they rather derive teonenu from Anan a Cloud imagining Moses to forbid them to mark the flying of the Clouds or to make observations from their Motions which was a thing common among the Gentiles But Maimonides who in the XI Chapter of Avoda Zara interprets it as we do of observing times by esteeming one day fortunate and another unfortunate mentions another Notion of this word from ain an eye and saith in the same Treatise that Juglers who delude Mens sight in playing their tricks are comprehended under the Name of Meonim And there are those also who deriving this word from anaâ— to answer think it intends such as pretended to tell their Fortunes I shall not determine which of these is most likely but only observe that there was no Superstition of this sort more ancient than that of Astrology which was in use among the old Chaldaeans who pretended to cast Mens Nativities as we speak and thence to tell their Fortunes But this sort of Men were rejected as Strabo tells us Lib. XV. by the Astronomers of that Country and so they were by the best Philosophers in other Nations as Tully tells us who calls their pretences Chaldaeorum Monstra Lib. II. de Divin And therefore no wonder God cautions his own People against them as he doth not only here but by his Prophets especially Jeremiah X. 2 3. Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them c. But then this Caution was most necessary when they were going Captives into that Country which at that time was undoubtedly infected with this Error but may be thought perhaps not to have been so in the days of Moses and therefore I say no more of it but this That all those whom we call Juglers were sometimes comprehended under the Name of Chaldaeans who seemed to perform wonderful things as vomiting fire and transforming Straws into Birds c. which relate to the other Notion of Meononu derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an eye which they deluded by the slight of their hand or other means Some of the Jews confess that their Nation is at this day extreamly addicted to these things See Wagonsail his Annot. on Sota p. 529 c. where he recites a long passage to this purpose out of Fredericus Franciscus Oâ—â—ingensis a converted Jew whom one of his own Nation undertaking to confute he confirmed the Charge Ver. 27. Verse 27 Ye shall not round the corners of your head Or The ends of the hair of your head For the Hebrew word peah which we translate corners signifies also the ends or extremities of any thing And the meaning is they were not to cut their hair equal behind and before as the Worshippers of the Stars and the Planets particularly the Arabians did as R. Levi of Barcelonita interptets it Praecept CCLV. For this made their head have the form of an Haemisphere The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Sisoe is the same with the Hebrew Sisith which signifies that Lock which was left in the hinder part of the head the rest of the hair being cut in a Circle And thus the ancient Arabians cut their hair as Herodotus tells us in imitation of Bacchus Whence as Bochartus notes Lib. I. Canaan cap. 6. the Idumaeans Ammonites Moabites and the rest of the Inhabitants of Arabia Deserta are called circumcised in the corners i. e. of the head IX Jer. 26. And the Greek Scholiast on that place saith that in his time the Saracens were so cut But there are those who thinks this refers to a Superstitious Custom among the Gentiles in their mourning for the dead For they cut off their hair and that round about and threw it into the Sepulchre with the Bodies of their Relations and Friends and sometimes laid it upon the Face or the Breast of the dead as an Offering to the Infernal Gods whereby they thought to appease them and make them kind to the deceased For that this relates to the dead is probable from the like Law repeated XIV Deut. 1. and from the next Verse to this See Maimonides de Idoll c. 12.1 2 5. Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard There were five corners as their phrase is of their Beards one on either Cheek and one on either Lip and one below on the Chin None of which much less all they might shave off as the manner of the Idolatrous Priests was if we may believe Maimonides P. III. More Nevoch cap. 37. But if the former have respect to their mourning for the dead I do not see why this should not also be so interpreted the Gentiles being wont as Theodoret observes to shave their Beards and smite their Cheeks at the Funerals of their Friends Ver. 28. Verse 28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh Either with their Nails or with Knives or other sharp Instruments as the manner of the Heathen was For the dead To pacifie the Infernal Spirits and make them propitious to the dead which was the end at which the Gentiles aimed in slashing themselves Otherwise simple tearing their Flesh out of great Grief and Anguish of Spirit doth not seem to be prohibited no more than tearing off their hair which were in use among the Jews without any offence against this Law XVI Jer. 6 7. XLI 5. and other places See Maimon de Idol cap. 13. sect 10 11 12 13. J. Gerard. Vossius de Idol p. 209. Edit 1. and Gierus de luctu Hebraeorum cap. 10. sect 2 3. Huetius thinks that Law of Solon's which was transcribed by the Romans into the XII Tables That Women in mourning should not scratch their Cheeks had its original from this Law of Moses Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. cap. 12. n. 2. Nor print any mark upon you If this refer to the dead as the foregoing Prohibition doth than these Marks were made by the Gentiles in their Flesh at the Funeral of their Friends that by the Compunction and Pain they felt in their Bodies they might Appease the Infernal Powers And so Aben-Ezra understands it though there be no footsteps that I can find of this in any other Author but it is probable only from what goes before There is far greater reason for another Exposition that these Prints were made in the Flesh that they who had them might be known to belong to such or such a God For it was the custom of Idolaters saith the often-named R. Levi Praecept CCLVII to devote themselves to their Gods by Notes or Signs signifying they were their
by doing such things as were not perhaps directly against the Law yet made him lose all his Authority See Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. juxta Disc Hebr. cap. 10. But I will be hallowed among the Children of Israel Either by the observation of his Laws or by punishing those who transgressed them For so this phrase is used X. 3. I am the LORD which hallow you Have separated you to my self as a special People from all others by Laws different from theirs and more excellent Ver. 33. Verse 33 That brought you out of the Land of Egypt to be your God And moreover distinguished you from all others by singular Benefits particularly by delivering you from the most grievous Slavery that I might make you a happy People I am the LORD When you remember my benefits remember I am your Soveraign who expect your Obedience CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying All the Laws in this Chapter were delivered at one time not long after the former Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto the Children of Israel Who were highly concerned to observe all the Solemnities enjoyned in this Chapter in such a manner as God required And say unto them concerning the Feasts of the LORD It hath been anciently observed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Syrians were great lovers of Feasts Which made it the more reasonable if they were so in Moses his days that the Israelites who were to be their Neighbours in the Land of Canaan should have so many Feasts appointed them weekly monthly and yearly all in honour of their God From whence they are called Feasts of the LORD But this word MOED which we translate a Feast properly signifies an Assembly And so Mr. Thorndike would have it here translated because the name of Feasts is proper to those Solemnities which are to be celebrated with joy and chearfulness whereas under this general word Moed is comprehended the Day of Atonement which is one of the Assemblies here named v. 27. but was no Feast being to be observed with the greatest Humiliation and Affliction that could be expressed He therefore exactly translates these words in this manner The Assemblies of the LORD for the word concerning is not in the Hebrew which ye shall proclaim for holy Convocations these are my Assemblies See Religious Assemblies Chap. II. All that can be said for our Translation is That the Day of Atonement being a Day of Rest from all Labour it may go under the Name of a Feast in opposition to working days Which ye shall proclaim Or call by the sound of the Trumpet which the Priests were to blow upon these days X Numb 10. To be holy Convocations The same Hebrew Mikra which here signifies a Convocation signifies also reading VIII Nehem. 8. For on these days they were called to Assemble together to hear the Law read to them as well as to offer Sacrifice and make their Prayers to God with Thanksgivings for his Benefits Even these are my Feasts Or my Assemblies as I said before the first of which was the Sabbath then the Passover Pentecost the beginning of the New Year the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles which are all contained under the general word Moed and none besides Ver. 3. Verse 3 Six days shall work be done They were allowed all these for any sort of business wherein they pleased to employ themselves But the seventh day is the sabbath of rest See XX Exod. 9 10. XXXI 15. This was the greatest of all Solemnities appointed for Assemblies returning once every week and therefore is set in the head of all the rest from which it seems to be distinguished v. 37 38. And accordingly in the next Verse having here mentioned this as a day by it self he begins to reckon the Feasts or Assemblies of the LORD And the reason why this day was made a Sabbath of Rest was because God himself then rested from his Works In memory of which they were to keep this Day free from all Labour that the belief of the Creation of the World might be fixed in their Minds or as Maimonides phrases it More Nevoch P. II. cap. 113. A belief that nothing is coevous with God Whence that saying of theirs mentioned by Aben-Ezra whosoever doth any work upon the Sabbath-day denies the work of the Creation Ye shall do no work therein They were commanded so to rest on this day from all bodily labour as not to kindle a fire to dress the meat they eat upon it which is not required upon any other day but only this and the great Day of Expiation v. 28 30. Concerning these two days alone it is said Thou shalt do no work upon it but of the days of other Assemblies no more is said but this Thou shalt do no servile work therein v. 7 8 c. that is only such work as they were wont to put their Slaves to do was prohibited For though they might not bake nor boil their Meat on the Sabbath-day XVI Exod. 23. nor on the day of Expiation v. 28. of this Chapter yet on other Solemn days they might make provision for their Tables XII Exod. 16. where Aben-Ezra notes of none of the solemn Assemblies besides the Sabbath and the day of Atonement it is said NO MANNER OF WORK only of the Passover he saith it and addeth an exception of the Meat of the Soul that is what was requisite for the Sustenance of Nature As our Mr. Thorndike observes in the place before quoted It is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwelings To be kept holy in honour of the LORD by every man wheresoever he dwelt For they had Synagogues for Worship in all their Towns though most of the other Assemblies could be held only in the place where the Sanctuary and afterwards the Temple was whither all their Males went up thrice a year at the great Festivals Aben-Ezra therefore thus glosses upon these words IN ALL YOUR DWELLINGS in your Land and out of your Land at home and upon the way To show that the Command XXXV Exod. 3. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitation upon the Sabbath-day was to be observed not only whilst they lived upon Manna in the Wilderness when God gave them a double portion on the sixth day that they might prepare it against the Sabbath XVI Exod. 5.29 but in all places wheresoever they dwelt afterwards Ver. 4. Verse 4 These are Feasts of the LORD Now follow the Solemn Assemblies which are to be kept by this Ordinance of mine besides that of the Seventh day which was celebrated from the beginning This looks like a Title to all that insues Even for holy Convocations Solemn Mettings of the People who were called together to celebrate the Mercies of God with Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Publick Rejoycings Such there were in all Nations who had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks called them general Assemblies of all
Of new Corn made into Loaves as it follows in the next Verse which was the First-fruits of Wheat-harvest as the place before-mentioned tells us XXXIV Exod. 22. This day the Samaritans take to have been the first day of the Week after the very Letter of this Law which is thus made out by the great Primate of Ireland Our blessed LORD being slain at the Feast of the Passover the whole Sabbath following which was the first day of Unleavened Bread he rested in his Grave The next day after that Sabbath the Sheaf or Omer of the First-fruits of the Barley-harvest was offered to the LORD when Christ rose from the dead and became the First-fruits of them that slept From this day was the account taken of the seven Sabbaths or Weeks and upon the morrow after the Seventh that is upon our Lord's Day was celebrated the Feast of Weeks which is called the day of the First-fruits XXVIII Numb 26. because then were offered the First-fruits of their second or Wheat-Harvest and therefore called the Feast of 〈◊〉 XXIII Exod. 16. because then was the principal and the Conclusion of the whole Harvest of the year Upon which day the Apostles having themselves received the First-fruits of the Spirit begat three thousand Souls through the Word of Truth and presented them as the First-fruits of the Christian Church unto God and unto the Lamb. Now the matter being so ordered by God that in the observation of the Feast of Weeks the Seventh day of the Week the Jewish Sabbath was purposely passed over and that great Solemnity kept upon the first day of the Week no wonder the Christian Church hath appropriated that day instead of the Seventh for the Service of God Ver. 17. Verse 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations These Oblations seem to have been offered at a common charge in the name of the whole Nation which is the reason of this phrase Out of your habitations For to affirm as some do that two Loaves were to be brought out of every House or at least out of every Town is absurd for they may as well say seven Lambs as it follows which were offered with this Bread were to be furnished in like manner out of every Family or Town Two Wave-loaves of two Tenth-deals A double proportion as before v. 13. which was presented to God the LORD of the whole World by waving them to all quarters Each Loaf did not contain two Tenth-deals but there was one in each Loaf They shall be of fine flour Of Wheat They shall be baken with leaven And therefore were not burnt upon the Altar for that was unlawful II Lev. 11 12. but wholly given to the Priests Whence it was as the Jews observe that the Bread accompanying their Peace-offerings of Thanksgiving were leavened VII 13. and not burnt on the Altar but intirely given to the Priests the Servants of God who attended at his Altar that they might Feast together with him They are the first-fruits unto the LORD Other First-fruits are mentioned v. 10. but these were the principal being the First-fruits of Wheat-harvest which with all the rest are exactly enumerated by Nehemiah X. 35 36 37. And that place of Pliny mentioned v. 14. seems to prove that the Heathen offered both the first of their Fruits before they brought them out of their Fields and Vineyards and also the first of what was made of them after they were brought home Which they did partly out of gratitude to God to thank him for making the year fruitful and partly to pray him to grant fruitful Seasons for the future Ver. 18. Verse 18 And ye shall offer with the Bread seven Lambs without blemish c. This being a great day and Burnt-offerings being the noblest sort of Sacrifice purely in honour of God a greater number both of Lambs and other Creatures are required upon this Solemnity And one young Bullock and two Rams In XXVIII Numb 27. it is said Two young Bullocks and one Ram besides the seven Lambs Perhaps they were left to their liberty either to bring one young Bullock and two Rams or one Ram and two young Bullocks Or else those mentioned in Numbers were distinct Sacrifices besides those here mentioned and so Josephus saith Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. that there were offered upon this day three young Bullocks two Rams it should be three Rams and fourteen Lambs All which were offered besides the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of every day They shall be a Burnt-offering to the LORD with their Meat-offering c. There being all sorts of Sacrifices prescribed for the great Solemnity of this Day he mentions the Burnt-offering in the first place because it was the principal and offered next to the two Loaves Ver. 19. Verse 19 Then shall ye Sacrifice one Kid of the Goats for a Sin-offering Next followed the Sin-offering Which for a particular sin of the Congregation was a Bullock 18.14 but for the sins of the Nation in general only a Kid of the Goats For as Maimonides observes More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. the more grievous the Sin was the viler the Sacrifice there being no greater Sin than Idolatry nor viler Sacrifice than a She-goat and yet this was the Expiation of that Sin as they interpret IV. 27. XV Numb 17. And two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings Double the number to what was commonly offered For this being an high day all sorts of Sacrifices as I said before were offered Burnt-offerings Sin-offerings and Peace-offerings upon it and in greater proportions except the Sin-offering then on other days And these were the only Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation of Israel offered only at this one time of the year and never else Ver. 20. Verse 20 And the Priest shall wave them with the Bread of the First-fruits for a Wave-offering before the LORD These Sacrifices with the Trespass-offering for a Leper XIV 12 24. were the only Offerings that were waved about towards all the corners of the World So Abarbinel upon this place The waving was performed by the Priest who reached them out upward and downward this way and that way towards the six quarters of the World to show that the Earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof Or as R. Levi ben Gersom speaks that they might understand the Providence of God is every where above and beneath in every corner of the World With the two Lambs This seems to signifie the forenamed Burnt-offering and Sin-offering were thus waved as well as these Peace-offerings That is some part of them all in the name of the rest for the Priest could not wave the whole Body of them they were so heavy They shall be holy to the LORD for the Priest Who had not only the Breast and the Shoulder as was usual but all the flesh of these Peace-offerings their Blood being sprinkled and their Inwards burnt was given unto him to be eaten by the Males among the Priests
to preserve the memory of all the Miracles which God did in Egypt out of which he brought them at that time as the Feast of Tabernacles did to preserve the memory of the Signs and Wonders he did in the Wilderness where he afforded them his Divine Protection under a glorious Cloud and preserved them without any Houses both in the cold of Winter and heat of Summer In short there are two ends mentioned in this Chapter of the Institution of this Festival one to give thanks for the Fruits of the Earth which were then gathered v. 39. another and the principal in a grateful remembrance that they dwelt in Booths forty years and were brought into better Habitations when they came to Canaan v. 42 43. Ver. 35. Verse 35 And on the first day shall be an holy Convocation c. It was to be observed as the day of Pentecost v. 21. And they every one carried in their hands the Bough of some goodly Tree as the Hebrews understand the first words of v. 40. Josephus describing this Festivity Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. mentions in the first place Boughs of Myrtle Ver. 36. Verse 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD The peculiar Sacrifices with their Meat-offerings which were to be offered on these seven days are distinctly set down in XXIX Numb from the thirteenth Verse to the end Where it will be most proper to consider them On the eighth day shall be an holy Convocation unto you See v. 4. And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD A Burnt-offering with a Meat-offering attending upon it according to the appointment in XXIX Numb 36 37. It is a solemn Assembly This is a new word which is not used hitherto concerning any of the Feasts here mentioned signifying as we translate it in the Margin a day of restraint or rather a closing or concluding day for then the Solemnity ended And so Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Conclusion of the Feasts Whence the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called by this Name of Atzereth XVI Deut. 8. And so is the Feast of Pentecost which was kept in the end of seven Weeks called by Josephus by the same name of Asartha Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This therefore as it was the last so it was the great day of the Feast as St. John calls it VII 37. On which day they read the last Section of the Law and so concluded the reading of the whole five Books of Moses And thence any great Solemnity is called by this name of Atzereth 2 Kings X. 20. I Joel 14. This seems to me to be a far better account of this word then that which the Jews commonly give who render it a day of detention because saith Abarbanel they were bound to detain the Feast to this day whereas no other Feast continued more then seven days staying at Jerusalem till it was over Whence this day seems to him to be to the Feast of Tabernacles as the Day of Pentecost was to the Passover For as they were bound to count seven Weeks from that time and then make this fiftieth day a Feast so they are here commanded after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles to stay and feast one day more Others of them as R. Solomon Jarchi say this was as if a Man having been entertained by his Friend seven days should to express greater kindness to him be detained one day more And ye shall do no servile work therein But spend their time in Feasting Mirth and Rejoycing with thankful Acknowledgments of God's Benefits to them See v. 7 8. Ver. 37. Verse 37 These are the feasts or Assemblies of the LORD which ye shall proclaim to be holy Convocations This was the Preface to them v. 4. and now is the Conclusion to make them the more observed To offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD a Burnt-offering and a Meat-offering and a Sacrifice c. These Offerings are particularly set down as hath been noted all along in the XXVIII and XXIXth of Numbers And by a Sacrifice seems here to be meant a Sin-offering which is ordered throughout those two Chapters together with Burnt-offerings upon all these Festivals Ver. 38. Verse 38 Besides the Sabbaths of the LORD i. e. Beside the Sacrifices appointed upon all the Sabbaths in the year which were not to be omitted if any of the Feasts here mentioned fell upon the seventh day of the Week And beside your gifts Most understand by Gifts such Presents as Men made to God beyond their First-fruits and Tenths But it may be thought only a general word including the two particulars which follow Vows and Free-will-offerings Ver. 39. Verse 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month when ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land c. Here is no new injunction in this Verse but only an inforcement of what was said before the very same days being appointed to be observed with those named v. 24. Therefore the Hebrew Particle Ak should not have been translated also but surely or certainly or truly as we translate it in other places particularly XXIX Gen. 14. Surely thou art my bone and my flesh LXXIII Psal 1. Truly God is good to Israel II Lament 16. Certainly this is the day that we looked for When ye have gathered in the fruit of the Land These words give a reason of the repetition of the Command because there was something more designed in this Festival than meerly the remembrance of their Condition in the Wilderness which was to express their Thankfulness to God for their desired Harvest which they had now gathered For which cause besides the seven days which were in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness there was an eighth added to acknowledge his Mercy of receiving the Fruits of the Earth Ye shall keep a Feast unto the LORD seven days These were the Feasts of Tabernacles which lasted all these seven days On the first day shall be a Sabbath See v. 35. And on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath In the institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it is said in the seventh day is an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile work therein i. e. it shall be a Sabbath v. 8. but here the eighth day hath that honour put upon it not the seventh being added to the Festival for a peculiar reason and therefore to be observed in a very solemn manner For the Feast of Tabernacles fell in the time of Vintage when the Fruits of the Earth were in a manner all gathered XVI Deut. 13. From whence it is called by the name of the Feast of Ingatherings XXIII Exod. 16. not because the whole Feast was celebrated on this account but because a principal part of it was kept on this score viz. the eighth day as the other seven days were in memory of their dwelling in Tents But that the eighth
cap. 4. which is wholly about such things Of thy harvest Of the Corn scattered last Harvest He saith nothing of their Gardens which it is probable every Man had to his own private use and was not bound to lay them open to all Thou shalt not reap That is saith he not the whole Field so as to gather it into Cocks and to tread out the Corn with his Oxen if any did they were scourged with thirty nine stripes but they might cut down a little in common with other Persons and shake it out and eat it as he there determines sect 2. Neither gather the grapes of thy Vine undressed In the Hebrew the words are The Vine of thy Separation for it was separated this year from his dressing And what he gathered in common with others was not to be pressed in a Wine-press but with another Instrument the like he saith of Olives and of Figs and other things which were to be ordered after another manner in this year then in the foregoing sect 23. For it is a year of rest unto the Land This general reason is so oft repeated to make them sensible they were no more to do any thing about their Land this seventh year then they were to labour upon the seventh day But he acknowledges that if a Gentile hired Land in their Country he was not bound to let it rest sect 29. of that Chapter Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Sabbath of the Land Here the word Sabbath signifies the Fruit that grew in the Sabbatical year as the word Sabbaths is used before XXIII 38. for the Sacrifices upon the Sabbaths Shall be meat for you This explains the prohibition of reaping any Corn this year or gathering any fruit not to be meant absolutely but only that they should not look upon any thing that grew this year as peculiarly theirs because it grew in their ground but let all be common to others as well as themselves For thee and for thy servant and for thy maid c. This and the next Verse show that all the Fruits of the Earth were perfectly in common this year for the very Beasts were not excluded and therefore much less any Man that dwelt among them though he was uncircumcised But it is very plain likewise that the Owner of the Land and his Family were not forbidden to take their share but might gather for their daily use as well as others only not lay up any thing separate for themselves Ver. 7. Verse 7 And for thy Cattle and for the Beast that are in thy Land shall all the increase thereof be meat For his own Cattle and for other Mens which were not to be fed with the Fruits which are proper to Men as Maimonides observes in the same Book cap. 5. sect 5. but if they came of themselves and eat Figs for instance they were not to be hindred But it seems probable that wild Beasts might be driven out of their Vineyards c. in this year as well as others because they made such waste as would have very much damaged the owner for the future As for all other tame Creatures the Jews if we may believe Maimonides cap. 7. were so superstitiously careful they should have an equal share with themselves that when there was no Fruit any longer for the Beasts in the Field they ceased to eat what they had gathered for themselves and if they had any thing of it left threw it out of their Houses Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee c. Which put together made XLIX years as it follows in the rest of this Verse They began their first Account as Maimonides there observes from the fourteenth year after their entrance into Canaan for they were seven years in conquering the Land and seven more in dividing to every one their portion so that the first Sabbatical year was in the one and twentieth and the first Jubile in the sixty fourth year after they came to the Land of Promise So he cap. 10. where he observes they numbred seventeen Jubiles from that time to their Captivity in Babylon which fell out in the end of a Sabbatical year and the thirty sixth of the Jubile Ver. 9. Verse 9 Then shalt thou cause the Trumpet of the Jubile The word Jobel which we translate Jubile in the next Verse is not in the Hebrew but Teruah which in the Margin we translate loud of sound For the Trumpet was blown after a different manner at this time than upon other occasions that every one might understand the meaning of it To sound In the Hebrew the word is cause it to pass that it might be heard every where throughout the Land So these words may be most litterally translated Thou shalt cause to pass the Trumpet loud of sound On the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of atonement This day was very fitly chosen that this year might begin at the same time that a general Atonement was made for the Sins of the whole Nation For they would be the better disposed to forgive their Brethren their Debts when they craved Pardon for their own Shall ye make the Trumpet sound or pass throughout all your Land This is repeated to make them careful to awaken every one to their duty by the sound of the Trumpet at every door there being an unwillingness in most People to part with their Servants and their Lands c. which they had long enjoyed And therefore every private Man as Maimonides saith was bound to blow with a Trumpet and make this sound nine times that they might fulfil these words of this Precept throughout all your Land By this means as R. Levi Barcelonita notes every one was the better inclined to hearken when he saw it was a duty incumbent on the whole Country which all were to perform Ver. 10. Verse 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year Distinguish it from all other years by doing what follows Maimonides fancies that these two Precepts of numbering seven Sabbaths of years v. 8. and of sanctifying the fiftieth year were delivered only to the House of Judgment whose business no doubt it peculiarly was to give notice of this year and to cause the Trumpet to be sounded and all the following Precepts to be observed Schemitta ve jobel cap. 10. num 1. And proclaim liberty Unto all Servants who were this year made free Throughout all the Land Even in all the High-ways as Aben-Ezra glosses that every one might have notice Vnto all the Inhabitants thereof That is to all the Children of Israel who were Servants or so poor that they had sold their Estates as it here follows From these words the Jews gather that after the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and half Tribe of Manasseh were carried Captive Jubiles ceased They are the words of Maimonides in the fore-named Treatise for then all the Inhabitants of the Land were not in it And therefore much more
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.
Bond-woman betrothed to another XIX 20 21. Which are all the Cases belonging to this matter excepting that of the Nazarite defiled by the dead VI Numb 12. and of the Leper XIV 12. who were to be purged with a Sin-offering as well as with a Trespass-offering and therefore not to be considered in this matter See Dr. Owtram L. I. de Sacrificiis cap. 13. n. 8. and Samuel Petitus his Variae Lectiones cap. 22. who hath said the same but not so fully and distinctly If this do not satisfie yet it is plain the Sacrifices which go by this Name of Trespass-offerings and the Rites also about them were so different that they are sufficient to distinguish them from the other For none but Rams and Male-Lambs were admitted for Trespass-offerings which were not used at all in any Sin-offerings And the Blood of the Sin-offerings was put upon the Horns of the Altar as was noted in the foregoing Chapter v. 7 18 25. but that of the Trespass-offerings was sprinkled round about upon the Altar VII 2. Sin-offerings also were offered for the whole Congregation of Israel IV. 13. but Trespass-offerings only for private Persons which made Bonsrerius I suppose after a long discussion of this matter to conclude That the difference betwen Sin and Trespass consisted only in the Sacrifices which were offered for them See him upon the IVth Chapter of this Book v. 1. Ver. 16. Verse 16 And he shall make amends for the harm he hath done in holy things and shall add a fifth part thereunto c. Besides the Compensation mentioned in the foregoing Verse for the damage that was done according to the valuation made by the Priest there was a fifth part more to be added thereunto and given to the Priest who had suffered the damage And the Priest shall make an atonement for him with the Ram of the trespass-offering and it shall be forgiven him The Atonement was not made nor Forgiveness obtained till full Satisfaction for the wrong had been made Ver. 17. Verse 17 And if a soul sin and commit any of these things c. i. e. did eat any of the holy things before-mentioned which God forbad any but the Priests to eat Though he wist it not i. e. Be not certain whether they were holy or no. For the Hebrews generally call this Ascham Talui a dubious Trespass-offering being in a matter about which a Man was in Suspense whether he had offended or not Yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity He shall be obliged to offer this sort of Sacrifice Which was ordained saith R. Levi Barcelon Praecept CXXIII to make Men cautious and fear to sin and to attend diligently in all their Actions that they transgressed not the Laws of God Ver. 18. Verse 18 And he shall bring a Ram without blemish out of the flock with thy estimation c. The Offering before appointed v. 15 c. with this difference only that no fifth part was in this Case to be added because it was not certain whether he had transgressed or no. The Priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not Did not know whether he had offended or not which distinguishes this from the Sin of Ignorance mentioned v. 15. And it shall be forgiven him But if he afterwards came to have a certain knowledge of his Offence he was not excused by this dubious Offering as Rasi observes but was bound also to offer a Sin-offering Ver. 19. Verse 19 It is a trespass-offering In this case a Sacrifice must be offered as well as in a certain Trespass He hath certainly trespassed against the LORD The words in the Hebrew are Ascham ascham lajhova which I think should be translated A Trespass-offering certainly unto the LORD That is in this doubtful case let him take a sure course by offering the Sacrifice here prescribed For though neither this sort of Sacrifices nor Sin-offerings were to be voluntarily which was proper only to whole Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings yet the very suspicion of a Guilt required a Sacrifice As for all those Offences which might be committed by Men who had no sense nor suspition of them they were expiated by the Sacrifices which were offered for the whole Congregation at certain stated times but no particular Person was to offer either Sin-offering or Trespass-offering of his own accord unless he knew or feared he had contracted some Guilt I cannot think fit to conclude this Chapter without taking notice how Jonathan paraphrases these last words of it who instead of saying he hath trespassed as it is commonly translated against the LORD saith against the Name of the Word of the LORD Which is an observation that might have been made in my Notes upon the two foregoing Books of Moses where many such passages occur which I did not mention And I should not have done it now being unwilling to swell this Commentary with any thing that doth not tend to the explaining the sense of the Text did not the impious Pamphlets that have lately been spread abroad against the Doctrine of the ever Blessed Trinity made it necessary for me to take this occasion to assert That this Doctrine was not unknown to the ancient Jews as appears even from the frequent mention of the Word of the LORD in the Chaldee Paraphrasts where the Hebrew hath only JEHOVAH or the LORD For which I can see no reason at all if there had not been a Notion among them of more Persons than One who were JEHOVAH It doth not always indeed carry this signification in it but there are very many places where by the WORD of the LORD cannot be meant a word spoken by the LORD or any thing else but a person speaking or acting c. who is the LORD There is a famous instance of it in XXVIII Gen. 20 21. where Jacob's Vow is thus translated by Onkelos Jacob vowed a vow saying if the WORD of the LORD will be with me and keep me c. then shall the WORD of the LORD be my God Where the WORD of the LORD is so plainly made the Object of his Adoration that it evidently shows they had a Notion in those days when Onkelos lived which was about our Saviour's time of more Persons than One who was the LORD The Hierusalem Targum also speaks this so clearly that one cannot but be something amazed to meet with such Expressions in it as those upon III Gen. 22. The WORD of the LORD said Behold Adam whom I have created is my only begotten in this World as I am the only begotten in the Heavens above Which may fairly induce a belief that St. John used the known Language of those times when he declared our blessed Saviour's Godhead under the Name of the WORD who was in the beginning with God and was God I Joh. 1. CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying What here follows belonging unto the same
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
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
the Ashes were that came from the Altar which was an holy place If it be sodden in a brasen pot it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water Nothing could so easily sink into this being a solid metal but whatsoever stuck to it might be rubbed out and cleansed by washing From this Verse compared with other places it seems apparent that nothing was roasted in the Sanctuary but only boiled So we find the Peace-offerings mentioned 1 Sam. II. 13 14 15. were constantly sodden and all other holy Offerings except the Paschal Lamb which they roasted at home 2 Chron. XXXV 13. And after their return from the Captivity of Babylon the same is intimated in the last Verse of the Prophecy of Zechariah Ver. 29. Verse 29 All the males among the Priests shall eat thereof it is most holy See v. 16. and 26. Ver. 30. Verse 30 And no sin-offering Or rather but no Sin-offering Whereof any of the blood is brought into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place shall be eaten c. Such were those Sin-offerings for the High-Priest IV. 3. and for the whole Congregation upon particular occasions IV. 13 c. Or upon the day of general Atonement XVI 27. No part of these were to be eaten but intirely burnt in the fire as it here follows in the end of this Verse There is no necessity of Maimonides his observation upon these words That no Man whatsoever might eat of these Sacrifices for if the Priests might not they were certainly prohibited to all other Persons CHAP. VII Ver. 1. Verse 1 LIkewise this is the Law of the trespass-offering The People were directed before in what cases they should bring this sort of Offering and I have noted the difference between them and Sin-offerings V. 15. but now the Priests are directed in their Office about Trespass-offerings It is most holy In general they were to observe that these Offerings as well as Sin-offerings were to be numbred among the most-holy things and therefore to be accordingly used v. 6. Ver. 2. Verse 2 In the place where they kill the burnt-offering shall they kill the trespass-offering The same order that was given about Sin-offerings IV. 24. VI. 25. And the blood thereof shall be sprinkled round about upon the Altar This is a different Rite from that which was observed in the Sin-offering whose Blood was put upon the Horns of the Altar IV. 25 34. and the Blood of such Sin-offerings as were made for the High-Priest or the whole Congregation were also to be sprinkled seven times before the Vail of the Sanctuary IV. 6 17. But this to be sprinkled round about the Altar of Burnt-offering according to the manner used in the whole Burnt-offerings I. 11. and in the Peace-offerings III. 2 8. only with this difference that there being a scarlet Thread or Line which went round about the Altar exactly in the middle the Blood of the whole Burnt-offerings was sprinkled round about above the Line and the Blood of the Trespass-offerings and the Peace-offerings round about below the Line See Codex Middoth cap. 3. sect 1. and L'Empereur Annot. 12. Ver. 3. Verse 3 And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof This was the work of the Priest first to offer unto God his part of the Sacrifice The rump All the Fat belonging unto God this is particularly mentioned in the first place as the principal Fat. For the Tails of their Sheep in those Countries and no other Creature but a Ram was allowed for a Trespass-offering as was before noted were of a prodigious bigness as hath been noted by many particularly by the famous Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 45. and lately by another excellent Person Jobus Ludolphus in his Ethiopick History L. I. cap. 10. n. 16. and in his Commentaries on it num 76. And therefore it is called both here and in other places by the peculiar name of Alja whereas the Tail or Rump of other Creatures is called Zanab See what I have noted upon III. 9. And the fat that covereth the inwards This and all that follows in the next Verse hath been explained before III. 3 4 8 9. Ver. 5. And the Priest shall burn them on the Altar c. As he did the Fat of the Sin-offerings and Peace-offerings IV. 26 31. Ver. 6. Verse 6 Every male among the Priests shall eat thereof c. All the Fat being offered to God the Flesh became the portion of the Priest who with his Male-children but not Females were to eat it but not in any place out of the Sanctuary as it here follows See VI. 18 26 29. Ver. 7. Verse 7 As is the sin-offering so is the trespass-offering there is one law for them In this matter though in other things they differed for the same Rule is given here about the Trespass-offering that is given in the Chapter foregoing v. 26. about the Sin-offering The Priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it Who might invite other Priests if he pleased to eat with him and with his Sons but he was not bound to it for the Flesh of this Sacrifice was intirely his own Ver. 8. Verse 8 And the Priest that offereth any mans burnt-offering even the Priest Or that Priest who offereth it Shall have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering which he hath offered All the Flesh of the Burnt-offerings being wholly consumed as well as the Fat upon the Altar Chapt. I. v. 8 9. there was nothing that could fall to the share of the Priest but only the skin which is here given him for his pains I observed upon III Gen. 21. that it is probable that Adam himself offered the first Sacrifice and had the Skin given him by God to make Garments for him and for his Wife In conformity to which the Priests ever after had the Skin of the whole Burnt-offerings for their portion Which was a Custom among the Gentiles as well as the Jews who gave the Skins of their Sacrifices to the Priests when they were not burnt with the Sacrifices as in some Sin-offerings they were among the Jews IV. 11. Who imployed them to a superstitious use by lying upon them in their Temples in hope to have future things revealed to them in their Dreams This Dilheâ—â—rus hath observed out of those words of Virgil huc dona Sacerdos Quum tulit Caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti Pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit Multa modis simulacra vidit variantia miris Et varias audit voces fruiturque Deorum Colloquia And in the Eleusinia he observes out of Suidas the Daduchus put on the Skin of the Beasts which had been sacrificed to Jupiter which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fleece of Jupiter Dissert Special de Cacozelia Gentil cap. 9. Ver. 9. Verse 9 And all the meat-offering that is baken in the oven and all that is dressed in the frying-pan and in the pan See
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
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
for the People and Blessing them We find an Example of it in XIV Gen. 18 19. And not long after Aaron's Consecration Moses delivered from God a form of words wherein the Priests should bless the People VI Numb 24. And at this day there is nothing done among the Jews with such Solemnity and in which they place so much Sanctity as this For when the Blessing is pronounced in their Synagogues they all cover their Faces believing they would be struck blind if they should look up because the Divine Majesty at that time sits upon the hands of the Priest So the same Wagenseil observes in the place above-named which shows not only how laborious they have been to maintain in the Peoples minds an opinion that God is still as much present with them in their Synagogues as he was anciently in the Tabernacle and Temple but how high a value they set upon the Divine Blessing pronounced by his Ministers And came down from offering the sin-offering and the burnt-offering and peace-offerings He pronounced the Blessing before he came down from the Altar which stood upon raised Ground though there were no steps to it XX Exod. 26. that all the People might the better see what was done while he offered all these Sacrifices for them and lift up his hands to implore God's Blessing upon them Ver. 23. Verse 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of the Congregation The Sacrifice being ended it is likely Moses went with Aaron into the Sanctuary to instruct him how to sprinkle the Blood and to burn Incense and order the Shew-bread and such like things as were to be done only in the Holy Place And came out and blessed the people I suppose that all the Sacrifices before-mentioned might be offered after the Morning Sacrifice v. 17. which took up a great deal of time before they were all compleated After which Moses and Aaron went into the Sanctuary and stayed there till the time of the Evening Sacrifice and then came out and dismissed the People with a new Blessing when the Evening Sacrifice was finished And the Glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people That Glory which filled the Tabernacle XL Exod. 34 35. now appeared without either at the door of it or upon it in the sight of all the People as Moses had foretold v. 6. Ver. 24. Verse 24 And there came a fire out from before the LORD Either out of the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies or from that Glory which now appeared unto them and sent out flashes of fire which burnt up the Sacrifice In either of these senses it may be said to come from the face of the LORD as the Hebrew phrase is And consumed upon the Altar the burnt-offering and the fat It seems to me most natural and easie to take this Burnt-offering and its Fat for the Evening Sacrifice which concluding the work of this day God gave a special Token of his acceptance of all the other Sacrifices by consuming this and likewise publickly testified his approbation of all the fore-mentioned Rites of the Ministry of Aaron whose Authority was hereby established in a miraculous manner To confirm this it may be noted that as the place which God chose for his Worship and Service was afterward designed in the time of David after the very same manner 1 Chron. XXI 26. So it was at the time of the Evening Sacrifice as may be gathered from 2 Sam. XXIV 15. where it is said the Pestilence continued from Morning to the time appointed that is to the Evening and then David saw the Angel who commanded Gad to bid him set up the Altar in the Threshing-floor of Araunah where God answering him by fire from Heaven it made him say This is the House of God and this is the Altar of Burnt-offering 1 Chron. XX. II. 1. And when Solomon built the Temple in that very place it was thus consecrated by fire coming from Heaven and consuming the Burnt-sacrifice as well as by the Glory of the LORD filling the House 2 Chron. VII 1 2 3. And it is very probable also that this was at the time of the Evening Sacrifice for the former part of the day had been spent in bringing the Ark into the House of the LORD and in Solomon's Prayer as we read in the two foregoing Chapters Certain it is that the Authority of Elijah to restore God's true Religion and Worship was thus justified 1 Kings XVIII 38 39. and it was at the time of the offering the Evening Sacrifice v. 36. From whence that Prayer of the Psalmist CXLI Psal 2. Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice All this was so notorious that Julian himself acknowledges that fire came down from Heaven in the time of Moses and again in the days of Elijah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming the Sacrifices as we find his words related by St. Cyril L. X. contra Julianum And this gave such a Divine Authority to the Jewish Religion that it is no wonder to find that the Pagans indeavoured to get credit to their Religion by the like reports of fire from an invisible Power consuming their Sacrifices which perhaps was sometimes really done by the Prince of the Power of the Air as the Apostle calls the Devil However that be there are several Instances of this in Pausanias Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Valerius Maximus and Pliny But Servius may serve instead of all who upon those words of Virgil in Aeneid XII faedera fulmine sancit saith that anciently they did not kindle fires upon their Altars sed ignem divinum precibus eliciebant c. but they procured by their Prayers Divine fire which inflamed their Altars And Solinus saith cap. 11. that the flame sprung out of the Wood by a Divine Power Si Deus adest si sacrum probatur Sarmenta licet viridia ignem sponte concipiunt c. If God be present if the Sacrifice be acceptable the Faggots though green kindle of themselves and without any one to set them on fire a flame is raised by the Deity to whom the Sacrifice is offered Thus there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed Gideon's Sacrifice VI Judg. 21. They that would see more of this out of Pagan Writers may consult J. Dilherrus Dissert Special de Cacozelia Gentil cap. 11. But especially Huetius in his Alnetanae Quaestiones L. II. cap. 12. n. 21. But whether this Fire which now came from before the LORD consumed Aaron's Sacrifice instantly or only set it into a flame which consumed it leisurely in the sight of all the People cannot certainly be determined The Jews seem to suppose the latter the heavenly fire being now kindled which continued ever after by a constant supply of Fewel whereby it was kept perpetually burning as is ordained VI. 12 13. See Note on that place Where to me it seems very observable that this Law of keeping in the fire perpetually is ordered to
call noctua as the former for that Owl which they call bubo The Pelican That the Hebrew word Kaath signifies a Pelican is not disputed But that it also signifies the Bird we call an Hern is not improbable being joyned with Chos in the CII Psalm 6. which is a Bird that makes an unpleasant noise especially that kind of them that cries like a Bittern and is called by later Writers Butorius And the Gier-Eagle There are many various Opinions about this Bird which the Hebrews call Racham But Bochart hath shown out of the Arabian Writers that it signifies a kind of Eagle or Vulture for sometimes they call it by one of these names sometimes by the other It being of a dubious kind between an Eagle and a Vulture and therefore happily by us translated a Gier-Eagle that is a Vulture Eagle which Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Hierozoic P. II. L. II. cap. 25 26 27. where Bochart shows it is such a harmless and good natur'd Bird that thence it had the name of Racham and in Arabick of Rachama and was made the Hieroglyphick of Mercy and Tenderness among the Egyptians if Horus Apollo may be believed Ver. 19. Verse 19 And the Stork There are vastly different Interpretations of the word Chasida which imports kindness no less than the foregoing Racham But there is no Reason to depart from the Opinion of the later Hebrews who take it as we do to signifie a Stork The Piety as the Latins call it of which BIrd is celebrated by all Authors and is the very import of the Hebrew word Chasida But it feeds upon Serpents and therefore as Bochart imagines was prohibited to be eaten by the Jews though upon this account it was had in honour by the People of Thessaly and by the Egyptians as he observes in the fore-mentioned Book cap. 29. The Heron after his kind There are at least ten different Interpretations of the Hebrew word Anapha among which ours is one But it being derived from a word which signifies anger Bochartus rather takes it for a Mountain Falcon which is a fierce Bird and very prone to anger And the Lap-wing The Hebrew Doctors take Dukiphath for a Mountain Cock which hath a double Crest and thence hath its name according to R. Solomon Or rather it may be so called from the place where it resorts for Dik in Arabick is a Cock and Kepha a Rock from whence Bochart probably conjectures this Bird had its name because it lives in mountainous places And he thinks the LXX and the Vulgar have rightly translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Vpupam which is the sense also of four Arabian Interpreters It is a portentous kind of Bird which hath a Crest from its Bill to the hindermost part of its head and one of the principal Birds used in the ancient Superstitions of the Magicians and Augurs as he observes cap. 31. And the Bat. As Moses begins the Catalogue of Birds with the noblest which is the Eagle so he ends it with the vilest which is a Bat being of a dubious kind as Aristotle observes between a Bird and a Mouse Lib. 4. cap. 13. where he saith it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. See the famous Bochartus who shows that its name in Hebrew which is Attaleph imports it to be a Bird of Darkness Whence that phrase in the Prophet II Isaiah 20. In that day a man shall cast his Idols of Silver and Gold to the Bats and the Moles i. e. they shall no more appear to delude Men with their glittering brightness but be utterly destroyed Ver. 20. Verse 20 All Fowls that creep The Hebrew word Oph is not well translated Fowls but signifies rather all flying things going upon all four All flying things that go upon four feet are here forbidden such as all kinds of Flies and Wasps and Bees as Jonathan here explains it A Fly indeed is observed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but though it have six feet yet it goes only upon four as not only Lucian but Aristotle notes the two fore-feet serving for other uses See Bochart in his Hierozoic P. II. L. IV. cap. 9. Shall be an abomination to you It is observed by some that the Birds here forbidden are either rapacious and live on Flesh as Eagles and Hawks c. or are Night-Birds as Owls c. or haunt Lakes and Marshes as the Bittern c. or are heavy and not easily raised from the Earth as the Ostrich or live in Graves or in Dung as the Vpupa and some of those flying things mentioned in this Verse and upon these accounts are forbidden by Moses who allows all those that live upon a cleaner Food as those that follow do Ver. 21. Verse 21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing c. In this Verse he excepts such flying Insects as besides their four feet wherewith they go have two legs or thighs which inable them to leap upon the Earth as well as to go Such are all the Locusts mentioned in the next Verse unto which Aristotle ascribes six feet whereas Moses mentions but four In which they do not disagree for Aristotle plainly saith they have six feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we take into the number the parts with which they leap L. IV. cap. 6. Which two hinder leaping legs Moses distinguishes from the other four wherewith they go Ver. 22. Verse 22 Even these of them ye may eat There are nine kinds of Locusts mentioned in the holy Books four of which are here permitted to be eaten The Locust after its kind The Hebrew word Arboh is sometimes a common Name for all Locusts but here signifies a peculiar sort of that kind before-mentioned which leapt as well as went The bald Locust after its kind The Hebrew word is Solam so called as Aben-Ezra thinks because it climbs up Roots in which it delights The Beetle after its kind This sort of Locust called Chargol seems to have its name from the vast company wherein they fly together But it is not fitly translated a Beetle for none ever eat Beetles nor are they four-footed with legs to leap withal Therefore Chargol is another sort of Locusts unknown to us in these Countries and so is that which follows for a Grashopper is not a sort of Meat But there were Locusts of that shape which were large and fleshy in the Eastern Countries and very good Food The Grashopper after its kind The Hebrew word Chagab signifies as I said a sort of Locusts the original of whose Name Aben-Ezra intimates may be found in the Arabick Tongue In which Chahageba signifies to cover as with a Vail And in such Troops these Locusts fly that sometimes they seem to darken the Sun it self But by what marks these were distinguished from one another the Hebrews differ so much that it plainly snows they are wholly ignorant in this matter The most that can be made of what they say is
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
like that of an Egg-shell or more glossy then it is the Leprosie And the Priest shall look upon him Having made this inspection and found it to be the Leprosie And pronounce him unclean Command him to be separated from the Congregation and shut up by himself v. 46. But though all the Israelites Children and Servants as well as others were under this Law yet no Gentile nor the Proselites of the Gate were as Maimonides and the rest of the Hebrew Doctors tell us Ver. 4. Verse 4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh i.e. If there be barely a white Spot in the skin which hath not altered the Hair And in sight be not deeper than the skin and the hair thereof be not turned white The fore-named R. Levi explains this passage thus If it were not a perfect white but something duskish below the whiteness of an Egg-shell he was to look upon it as that which might prove a lesser sort of foulness in the Blood and Skin short of the Leprosie which infected the very Hair in that place Then the Priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days He had something like the Plague which might prove to be it and therefore he was to be separated from others so long that some judgment might be made whether it was or would be so or no for seven days commonly make considerable Alterations in the state of all Diseases Ver. 5. Verse 5 And the Priest shall look on him the seventh day Until which it was not likely any certain Judgment could be made And behold Observe this If the plague in his sight be at a stay In the Hebrew the words are If the plague standeth in his sight i. e. seemeth to him not to have spread it self at all in the Skin as it follows in the next words Or as it may be translated If it continue in the same colour which it had before and were not altered For the Hebrew word signifies colour as well as sight And if this Translation be right then here are two Marks which the Priest was to observe viz. whether the Spot had not altered its complexion and whether it had not spread further in the Skin but according to our present Translation there is but one the next Clause being but the Explication of this Then the Priest shall shut him up seven days more The case remaining dubious he was to make a further Trial. Ver. 6. Verse 6 And the Priest shall look on him again the seventh day and behold if the plague be somewhat dark The Priest was to mark diligently whether there were any alteration in the colour and that which was bright before now lookt dark which justifies the second Interpretation of the first Clause in the foregoing Verse And the plague spread not in the skin This was another token by which the Priest was to be governed in his Judgment The Priest shall pronounce him clean He was to be shut up no longer but left at liberty to go abroad and freely converse with his Brethren It is but a Scab An ordinary Scab or Scurf short of the Leprosie Such as is now in Guam and Mindanao which Dampier in his late New Voyage round the World chap. 12. describes to be a dry Scurf all over the Body that causeth great itching and raiseth the outer Skin in small white flakes like the Scales of little Fish when they are raised on end with a Knife But he did not perceive that they made any great matter of it for they did not refrain any Company for it And he shall wash his Clothes and be clean Having been suspected to have a Leprosie and something like it appearing which had kept him separate from his Brethren several days he was to use this small Purification because there was some kind of Impurity in his Blood which broke out into the Skin though not infectious Ver. 7. Verse 7 And if the scab spread much abroad in the skin The second sort of Leprosie was a Scab v. 2. which seems to have been of two kinds One of which Moses joyns to what he saith of the swelling and the other to what he saith of the bright Spot After he hath been seen of the Priest for his cleansing That is after the Priest hath pronounced him clean v. 6. He shall be seen of the Priest again A new inspection was to be made by the Priest And if any Man as Maimonides saith was so prophane as carelesly to neglect it by not going to the Priest and showing him his case his punishment was to have his Leprosie cleave to him for ever Ver. 8. Verse 8 And if the Priest see that behold the scab spreadeth in the skin Though it lurked for a time yet this spreading of it in the Skin was to be taken for an evident mark that it was the Leprosie Ver. 9. Verse 9 When the plague of leprosie is in a man That is when there is a suspicion of the first sort of Leprosie mentioned v. 2. and called a Rising or Swelling Then he shall be brought unto the Priest By those who feared his Company might be infectious but good Men went of themselves to him Ver. 10. Verse 10 And the Priest shall see him Diligently view and consider the nature of the Scab And behold if the rising be white in the skin and it have turned the hair white and there be quick raw flesh in the rising If upon Examination the Priest found a third mark besides the two former whiteness in the Skin and the hair turned white viz. that it had eaten into the very Flesh he was to look upon it as an undoubted Leprosie Quick raw flesh in the rising Quick or living Flesh as the Hebrew word is signifies soun d Flesh not corrupted So the meaning seems to be if it have broken through the Skin and in the raw sound Flesh there appeared white Spots there needed no further consideration for it would soon taint the whole mass of Blood Ver. 11. Verse 11 It is an old leprosie in the skin of his flesh The two first signs were very bad particularly the second the hair turning white just as a Plant saith Procopius Gazaeus or a Flower dies together with the Earth in which it grows but this last was far worse being a mark of an inveterate Evil that had been long breeding and got not only into the Skin and the Hair but into the very living Flesh which as the same Procopius speaks it began to corrode and would devour And the Priest shall pronounce him unclean Without any further Examination And shall not shut him up Because there was no need of any more proof nor any doubt whether it was the Leprosie or no. For he is unclean It was apparent from the Tokens which were already very visible Ver. 12. Verse 12 And if a leprosie break out abroad in the skin He calls that a Leprosie which was not truly so but was by
dwelt apart from them in a Chamber of the Temple that he might the better prepare himself for the Offices of this day by sprinkling the Blood of the daily Sacrifice burning Incense and such like things And lest he should be either ignorant of his Duty as some proved in the latter end of their State when the High-Priesthood was bought for Money or forgetful the Sanhedrim sent some to read before him the Rites of this day who adjured him also to perform every thing according to God's Command The night before also they let him eat but little that no accident in the night might make him unfit to officiate the next day and that he might awake the sooner and begin the Service of the day betimes as they did upon all great Solemnities All this and a great deal more is related in Codex Joma cap. 1. And Mr. Selden likewise hath observed out of Sepher Schebat Jehuda with what a magnificent Pomp the High-Priest was conducted from his own House when he went to the Temple seven days before this Day of Atonement accompanied by the King and the whole Sanhedrim the Royal Family and the whole Quire of Priests c. Lib. III. de Synedr cap. 11. n. 7. Something like this was the Triumph wherein our blessed High-Priest Christ Jesus was conducted to Jerusalem five days before he offered himself there for the Sins of the whole World XII John 1 12 13. With a young bullock for a sin-offering To be offered for himself and for his Family as appears from v. 6. For no other Sacrifice was allowed for the Sin of the High-Priest though it were dubious but only a young Bullock IV. 2 3. And a ram for a burnt-offering Which accompanied the Sin-offering at his Consecration VIII 18. But first of all the Morning Sacrifice was offered with the Additionals usual on this Day as the Jews say viz. a Bullock a Ram and seven Lambs all for Burnt-offerings Ver. 4. Verse 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat c. There were eight Garments-belonging to the Attire of the High-Priest four of which are here mentioned which the Jews call his white Garments and four more mentioned XXVIII Exod. 4. which they call the golden Garments because there was a mixture of Gold in them whereas these were all made of fine Linen Upon other days when the High-Priest officiated he was bound to put them on all not one of the eight being wanting but on this day when he went in to the most holy place he put on only those four which were the Habit of the ordinary Priests as well as his This some conceive was in token of Humility because this day was appointed for Confession of Sins and Repentance c. Upon which account they imagine also these Linen Garments were courser than those which he wore every day with his golden Garments But all the Jews agree that these Garments which he wore on the Day of Expiation were made of the purest and most precious Linen of all other which they call in Massechet Joma cap. 3. fine Linen of Pelusium which was a City in Egypt famous for the richest and whitest Linen as our Sheringham shows in his Notes on that Treatise out of Pliny and Silius Italicus And if we may believe the Talmudists as the High-Priest put on fine Linen of Pelusium in the morning of this day so he put on fine Linen of India i. e. in their Language of Ethiopia or Arabia as Braunius observes Lib. I. de Vest Sacerd. cap. 7. n. 9. in the evening of it which was not of much less value than the other And this is not disagreeable to Moses who saith God commanded the Priests Garments to be made for glory and beauty XXVIII Exod. 2. And therefore the High Priest appeared even upon this day in a splendid and noble Habit which was not inconsistent with inward Humility and Lowliness of Mind whereby the comely and beautiful performance of God's Service was not to be obstructed For whereas upon other days the High-Priest washt his hands and his feet in the Brasen Laver on this day if we may believe the Jews he washt them in a Vessel of Gold as the same Braunius observes out of Massechet Joma c. 4. There are those who fancy the High-Priest went into the most holy place with the Ephod and Breast-plate whereon were the Names of the Children of Israel but that is quite contrary to what Moses here delivers who mentions no other Garments but these of fine Linen which he wore upon this day no not when he went into the holy place v. 23. And the Hebrew Doctors all thus understand it as Mr. Selden shows out of them and Josephus Lib. II. de Succession in Pontific Hebraeor cap. 7. p. 250. Yet the Roman Church hath grounded a solemn Practise upon the fore-mentioned fancy the Priests and Bishops too being wont on Good-Friday to minister only in the Habit of Deacons while they are reading or singing the Office of the Passion But when they come to the Sacrifice of the Mass as they call it then they put on richer Vestments proper to their order Which is a mistaken Imitation of the Ceremonies under the Law upon this great Day of Atonement when the High-Priest never put on any of his golden Garments for the Service of it And he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh To cover his secret parts For the word Flesh is to be understood here as in XV. 2. And shall be girded with the linen girdle and with the linen mitre c. These two with the two foregoing make up the four white Garments which might possibly as the Jews say be made of the finest and richest Linen that could be got that the High-Priest might appear splendid in the simplest Habit wherein he ministred But it is evident he was not allowed to appear in those Garments which were wrought with Gold and Scarlet and Blue and Purple XXVIII Exod. 6 8 c. because such very sumptuous Apparel it must be acknowledged was not so sutable to the Service of the day On which the High-Priest as the Hebrew Gloss notes upon this place did not so much put on the Person of a Patron as of an Accuser Confessing their Sins before God and begging pardon for them These are holy Garments To be used only when he ministred in the Sanctuary XXVIII Exod. 2. Therefore he shall wash his flesh in water and so put them on There was no need upon other days to wash more than once in the beginning of Divine Service but on this great Day he washed five times as oft as he shifted his Garments and went from one ministry to another as appears in part from v. 23 24. where see what I have observed Here he seems to speak of his washing after he had offered the Morning Sacrifice c. in his golden Garments and then began the Service of the day in these white Garments alone Ver. 5.
Imposition of Hands belongs to Confession See Dr. Owtram de Sacrif Lib. I. cap. 15. n. 8. And it is observable that the High-Priest made Confession three times on this day First for himself and then for his Brethren the Priests and now for the whole Congregation saying this Prayer as they tell us in Joma cap. 6. sect 2. I beseech thee O LORD this People the House of Israel have done wickedly and been rebellious and sinned before thee I beseech thee now O LORD expiate the Iniquities the Rebellions and the Sins which thy People the House of Israel have done wickedly transgressed and sinned before thee According as it is written in the Law of Moses thy Servant viz. in the 30th Verse of this Chapter on that day he shall make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD Which last word LORD as soon as all the Priests and the People that were in the Court heard pronounced by the High-Priest they bowed and fell down flat upon their Faces and worshipped saying Blessed be the LORD let the Glory of his Kingdom be for ever All the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins These three words Iniquities Transgressions and Sins are the very words used by the High-Priest in his Confession before-mentioned which comprehend all manner of Offences whether committed deliberately or not against Negative or Affirmative Precepts as they call them Grotius in his Notes on this place hath thus distinguished them but whether exactly or not cannot be determined But it is probable that Sins signifie Offences committed by Error not deliberately Iniquities such as were deliberately committed against the prohibiting Precepts and Transgressions those that were deliberately committed against commanding Precepts All except those to which cutting off was threatned which were not expiated by any Sacrifice Putting them upon the head of the Goat By putting his hands on the head of the Goat and confessing their Sins over him with Prayer to God to remit them they were all charged upon the Goat and the punishment of them transferred from the Israelites unto it Just as the Sins of all Mankind were afterwards laid upon our Saviour Christ as the Prophet speaks LIII Isa 6. who his own self bare our sins in his own body saith S. Peter 1. II. 24. the punishment passing from us to him who was made Sin for us 2 Corinth V. 21. Which Expressions are manifest Allusions unto this Sacrifice on the great Day of Expiation which was the most illustrious Figure of the Sacrifice of Christ and shows beyond all reasonable contradiction that Christ suffered in our stead and not meerly for our benefit For it is very evident the Sacrifice offered on this day was put in the place of the People and all their Sins that is the punishment of them laid upon its head And it appears by the form of all other Sin-offerings which were occasionally offered at other times that he who brought them put off the guilt which he had contracted from himself and laid it on the Sacrifice which was to die for him Which he did by laying his hand on the head of it at the door of the Tabernacle while it was yet alive Then with his hand so placed he made a Confession of his Sins for which he desired forgiveness by the offering of this Sacrifice That is he prayed by these Rites that the Beast being offered and slain he might be spared from punishment which was a plain transferring the guilt from himself unto his Sacrifice Which being yet alive and thus laded with his guilt was then brought to the Altar and there slain for the guilty Person That is it died in his stead for there was no other reason of its being put to death there and in that manner I have insisted the longer on this because nothing can better explain the true meaning of Christ's dying for us which was by transferring the suffering due to our Sins upon him as the manner was in the Legal Sacrifices Which was a thing let me add so notorious in the World that other Nations from hence derived the like custom to that here mentioned by Moses Particularly the Egyptians as David Chytraeus hath long ago observed and since him many others out of Herodotus who tells us Lib. II. cap. 39. that they made this Execration over the Head of the Beast which they sacrificed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that if any evil was to fall either on themselves who sacrificed or upon the whole Country of Egypt it might be turned upon the head of that Beast And this he saith was the custom over all the Land of Egypt and the reason why no Egyptian would taste of the head of any Animal Nor was this the Notion of the Egyptians only but of other Countries also who called those Sacrifices which were offered for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sacrificed in their stead and the Life of the Beast given for theirs Thus the Greeks sometimes sacrificed Men when some very heavy Calamity was fallen upon them whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expiations to purge them for their Sins by suffering in their room For they prayed thus over him who was devoted every year for the averting Evils from them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou our Cleansing that is our Preservative and Redemption or Ransom And with these words they threw him into the Sea as a Sacrifice to Neptune And thus the Massilienses did as Servius tells us upon the 3d Aenead in time of a Plague praying ut in ipsum reciderent mala totius Civitatis that on him might fall the Evils of the whole City And shall send him away As soon as the Confession was over the Goat was sent away By the hand of a fit man By a Man prepared before hand as the Ancients interpret it or that stood ready for this purpose Jonathan saith he was designed for it the year before others say only the day before and that the High-Priest appointed him who might appoint any body whom he thought fit but did not usually appoint an Israelite as they say in Joma cap. 6. n. 3. Into the wilderness It is not certainly known what Wilderness this was but the Hebrews call it the Wilderness of Tzuk which they say was ten Miles from Jerusalem And they say that at the end of each Mile there was a Tabernacle erected where Men stood ready with Meat and drink which they offered to him that went with the Goat lest he should faint by the way And the Nobles of Jerusalem they add accompanied him the first Mile further than which they might not go because this day was a Sabbath After which they that were in the first Tabernacle accompanied him to the next and they that were there to the third and so forward to the last that they might be sure to have this great work done of carrying their Sins quite
away from them So we read in the Treatise on this Subject called Joma cap. 6. sect 4 5. which Maimonides hath explained as I have now done Ver. 22. Verse 22 And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities This shows more fully still the nature of this Sacrifice in which all their iniquities i. e. the punishment of them was laid that he might carry them away For this Goat was not capable to bear their sins but only their punishment as Christ also did who knew no sin and yet was made sin by having the punishment of our sins laid on him For that this Scape-goat which was loaded with their sins was a Sin-offering is plainly said before in this Chapter and consequently represented Christ who is our Sin-offering as well as the other part of this Sin-offering did whose Blood was carried into the holy place And in some regard this Scape-goat was a very notable representation of him if it be true that our Saviour entred upon his Office of being the Mediator of our reconciliation with God upon this great Day of Atonement which was the Day on which he was Baptized as our Dr. Jackson together with some good Chronologers think For though the Tradition of the Western Church be that his Baptism was on the Sixth of January yet as Jansenius and some others of the Roman Communion do not think fit to follow it so he judges it more probable to have been on the Tenth of September In the beginning of which Month when the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets was celebrated as we read XXIII of this Book 24. John Baptist began to lift up his Voice like a Trumpet and call the Jews to Repentance Who accordingly flockt to him and confessing their sins were baptized by him in Jordan where our Saviour also being baptized on the Tenth day which was the Day of Atonement and being declared the Son of God by a Voice from Heaven was immediately driven by the Spirit into the Wilderness as St. Mark tells us I. 12. Which was a manifest indication he thinks to John Baptist that this was the Redeemer of the World prefigured by the Scape-goat who going into the Wilderness on the Day of Atonement immediately after the People had made Confession of their sins gave him to understand who was well acquainted with the meaning of the Legal Rites that he was sent by God to take upon himself the Sins of the World and carry them away by being in due season offered to God and slain as a Sacrifice to God for them And this he did at that very time when the Paschal Lamb was killed as I have shown upon XII Exod. 6. to the end that they might take notice he was the Lamb of God whose Sacrifice that Lamb prefigured as by being led into the Wilderness on the same day the Scape-goat was carried thither he show'd that the Mystery represented by that Ceremony was exactly fulfilled in him This Notion of his I thought good to mention though as far as I know he is singular in it because it carries some probability in it if what the Apostle saith 2 Coloss 17. be well considered That the Law contained shadows of things to come the body of which was Christ. Who was a Body consisting of so many different parts and so compleat as he observes that no one nor a few Legal Ceremonies could perfectly fore-shadow it But as the Ceremonies were many and almost infinite so every one did fore-shadow some part or piece of this compleat Body That is no remarkable part of it no special Event or Action which concerned our Saviour Christ but was fore-shadowed by some or other Legal Ceremony See Christ's Answer to John's Question numb 62 63 64. And his Ninth Book upon the Creed concerning the Consecration of the Son of God which was printed several years after sect 4. chap. 24. n. 5 6 7 8. where he resumes this Argument and endeavours to answer this Question Why since Christ was to accomplish the Legal Priesthood and Sacrifice by his bloody Sacrifice upon the Cross he did not offer himself and die upon this very Day of Atonement To which he gives full satisfaction but it is too long here to be inserted Vnto a land not inhabited So the LXX translate the Hebrew word gezera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Land into which no body came or a desolate Country The Hebrew word properly imports a Land cut off as Bochart observes Lib. II. Hierozoic cap. 54. P. I. that is from habitable Countries not which cuts off what is sent into it by its rugged and sharp stones as the Jews expound it This still sets out the design of this Sacrifice which was to free Men so perfectly from the punishment of their sins that they should not fear the return of them any more For this Goat was not meerly sent into the Wilderness but into the most inhabitable and inaccessible part of it as the Greek word properly signifies where none were likely ever to see it again And he shall let go the Goat in the wilderness When he came to the last stage no body accompanied him that led the Goat any further but he went the tenth Mile alone by himself and the Men in the Tabernacle only stood looking to see what he did with it And the Misna saith in the place before-named that he threw it headlong down the Rock Tzuk where they say it was broke in pieces before it came to the middle of it or as Jonathan saith God raised a storm which blew the Goat down with a mighty force But this is contrary to the very words of Moses who saith he was to let the Goat go or dismiss him in the Wilderness to run whither he would And it seems contrary also to the intention of this Law which was that only one of the Goats should be killed the other let go alive Whereby was represented that their sins which were expiated by the Blood of the Sacrifice should not return again to be charged upon them Or that they were as free from their Sins as the Leprous Person was from his Confinement when the Bird was let fly into the Fields Which perfect freedom from the punishment of their sins was further signified by the burning of the Flesh the Skin and the Dung of the Sin-offering without the Camp which denoted that all memory of the sins for which this Expiation was appointed was clean removed and abolished The Jews will have it that a piece of Scarlet Cloth being tied upon the Horns of this Scape-goat as another was about the Neck of the Goat which was sacrificed when the Man had brought it to the top of the Rock Tzuk he divided the Cloth into two pieces and let the Goat go away with one but tied the other to the Rock that he might see when it changed colour and became white as they say it did when the Goat was thrown down headlong Anciently indeed they say this Scarlet
25. which the Misna in Joma says was the Fat of the inwards only Ver. 28. Verse 28 And he that burneth them The Vulgar Latin I think rightly translates it Quicunque combusserit whosoever burneth them for there was more than one as I said before imployed in this business Shall wash his clothes c. Being defiled by touching the Sacrifices which were charged with so many sins as he that carried away the Scape-goat was v. 26. where there is the very same order in the same words Now when all this was done the Misna saith cap. 7. Joma sect 4. the High-Priest washed himself again and put on his white Robes which were proper to this day and went into the most holy place to fetch out the Censer with the Dish or Cup which he carrried in when he went to burn Incense v. 12 13. And when he came out from thence he washt and put on his golden Garments and offered Incense upon the golden Altar and trimmed the Lamps Which being done they brought him his own Garments which he wore constantly and when he had put them on they accompanied him to his House where he entertained his Friends with a Feast being come out of the Sanctuary in peace that is safe and in health For by shifting his Garments and washing so often he was in danger to catch Cold as we speak and they did sometimes fall into various Diseases upon this occasion as P. Cunaeus observes out of Maimonides L. II. de Repub. Hebr. cap. 14. and some died in the holy place not having performed the Service duly Which made it very reasonable that he and his Friends should rejoyce when he returned in health and safety Ver. 29. Verse 29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you Till the coming of Christ in whom all that these Sacrifices signified was accomplished who put an end therefore to this Legal Dispensation See XII Exod. 14. That in the seventh month When they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth and thereby had the more liberty to attend such a solemn Service Which was the reason perhaps why there were more Solemnities appointed in this Month than in any other Month in the Year as appears from XXIII of this Book It had been anciently also the first Month of the year being the Month it 's likely wherein the World was created But upon the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt the Month Abib by God's special command was ordered to be the first Yet not absolutely but only in respect of that which was most eminent viz. for the Ecclesiastical Account For as to their Civil or Temporal Affairs the seventh Month Tisri still retained the precedence On the tenth day of the month The Arabians imitated this calling the Fast of the Tenth day of the Month Moharram by the name of Ashura which is exactly the Ashor tenth day here mentioned by Moses from whom these People derived it before the appearance of Mahomet Who finding the Jews when he came to Medina fasting upon this day Ashura askt them the reason of it who told him as the Mahometan Writers report it was in remembrance of Pharaoh's being then drowned in the Red Sea whereupon he said I have more to do with Moses than you and thereupon commanded his Followers to fast on this day See Dr. Pocock upon Abal-Farajius concerning the Manners of the Arabians p. 309 310. But this is plainly an idle Tale invented by him or his Followers for the Jews would rather have feasted than fasted upon the day of such a Deliverance But it shows that this Day was remarkable among the Jews and solemnly observed by them wheresoever they were and was chosen by God rather than any other Day of the Month if we may believe Maimonides More Nevoch P. III. cap. 43. because it was the day on which Moses came down from the Mount with the second Tables in his hand and proclaimed to the People the Remission of their great Sin in worshipping the golden Calf in memory of which it was ordered to be intirely a Day of Repentance and of Divine Worship Ye shall afflict your souls By Fasting and Abstinence not only from all Meat and Drink but from all other Pleasure whatsoever Insomuch that they might not wash their Faces much less anoint their Heads nor wear their Shoes nor use the Marriage Bed nor read if their Doctors say true any portion of the Law which would give them delight For example the story of their coming out of Egypt and leading them through the Red Sea c. so far is the Mahometan story from having any colour of truth It is likely also that to increase their Grief they rent their Clothes as they did in other Fasts in after times put on Sackcloth girded it close to their Flesh sprinkled Ashes on their heads c. Which were all intended no doubt to work in them an inward sorrow for all their sins with an hearty abhorrence of them and resolution to mortifie and abstain from them For though the word Soul be generally expounded the sensitive part of us which is afflicted by fasting as the Prophet Isaiah expounds this Phrase LVIII 3 5. yet it is absurd to think that God was pleased with this alone without that inward Compunction of Mind which made them break off their sins by righteousness which the Prophet there declares was the only acceptable Fast to the LORD The Hebrew Doctors here observe that they did not afflict little Children on this day by making them fast from all Food till they were of the Age of Eleven years But only taught them what they were to do when they came of Age that they might be accustomed to the Precept See Joma cap. 8. sect 4. And do no work at all Not only abstain from all Pleasure but from all Labour whatsoever nothing being to be done upon this day but Confessing of Sins and Repentance as Maimonides expresses it in the place before-mentioned Whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you The Hebrew word Ezrach is extant only here and XXIII 42. which signifies as much as one that had his original among them being born an Israelite as it is there expressed The opposite to which is gher a Stranger we translate it one that was of another Nation but had embraced the Jewish Religion and lived among them who in the New Testament is called a Proselyte Ver. 30. Verse 30 For on that day shall the Priest make an atonement for you If upon this day they afflicted and humbled their Souls as Conr. Pellicanus glosses with fasting and prayer and anguish for their sins with alms also beseeching God's mercy with tears and sighs in sackcloth and ashes resting from all servile works and devoted wholly to the LORD To cleanse you From all the Transgressions and Sins mentioned v. 16. from which both the High-Priest and his Family and all the People were to be purged on this
day For which reason the greatest care was to be used to see it rightly observed because all their happiness depended upon it For the Land of Canaan was promised them upon condition that they kept the Law offering all the Sacrifices therein prescribed especially this great Sacrifice which was to cleanse them from the guilt of all their Neglects or Breaches of this Law Which should teach us Christians to conclude That as the Inheritance of that good Land was assigned the Jews in consideration of their Sacrifices as the condition of that Covenant by which they were prescribed so the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven is made over to us by the Covenant of Grace in consideration of the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ Jesus of which they were a Figure For it is his Blood that cleanseth us from all unrighteousness as St. John speaks and secures our Claim to the heavenly Inheritance That ye may be clean from all your sins If a Man was bound to offer Sacrifice for any sin that was certain he was not excused from it by this Sacrifice on the Day of Expiation but was bound to make that other Sacrifice also But the Day of Expiation freed those who were bound to offer Sacrifices for dubious Offences So Maimonides saith in his Treatise of Offences committed through Error cap. 3. sect 9. that those sins which were known to none but God were taken away by this solemn Day of Expiation without any other Sacrifice But the Misna in the last Section of Joma acknowledges very honestly that the Day of Expiation did not purge Men from the guilt of the Offences they had committed against their Neighbour unless they first gave him Satisfaction Before the LORD Who dwelt among them and would continue to do so if they observed his Laws and took care to be thus cleansed from all their sins But least any Man should mistake this matter it may be here fit to observe that there were no Sacrifices at all appointed by the Law of Moses for Capital Offences and therefore when he speaks here of making them clean from all their sins upon this day such as these for instance Murder Adultery Idolatry c. are not included for this great Sacrifice could not obtain a Pardon for them but only for Offences committed against the Ritual Laws contained in this Book and that also when they were committed through Error or Ignorance for if they were done presumptuously cutting off was threatned to them See XV Numb from v. 22. to v. 32. And this appears plainly from the Sacrifices themselves that are here appointed which had no vertue in them from their own worth and value but only from God's Institution to make Expiation for any Sin For the death of a Bullock or a Goat was not of such account with God that it could prevail for the taking away of guilt unless he had given it such a power And that power which he was pleased to allow unto them was neither infinite nor could it be so For the guilt that they were principally designed to abolish was not of such a nature as to require such an Expiation It arising from things which were neither good nor evil in themselves and therefore could not create such a guilt Such were all the uncleannesses from certain natural Fluxes from touching a dead Body and innumerable other such like Impurities which depending wholly upon the will of God who by a positive Law made such things to bring Men under a guilt by the same Will he appointed a proportionable Expiation of it by these Sacrifices whose power to cleanse depended also purely upon his pleasure And if they had any vertue to purge Men from the real guilt of sins committed against the Eternal Laws of God this they had not of themselves but from the most gracious Will of God who was pleased to apply to this purpose the future Satisfaction of the immaculate Lamb of God of which these Sacrifices were a Shadow and Type For a Body being prepared for the Son of God and he offering himself for us that was a Sacrifice of such infinite value in its own nature that it expiated all manner of sins of all Men. To this effect that excellent Person Joh. Wagenseil discourses in his Confutation of R. Lipman's Carmen Memoriale p. 488. Ver. 31. Verse 31 It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you In the Hebrew the words are a Sabbath of Sabbaths i. e. a great or perfect Sabbath like that of the Seventh day in every Week on which they might do no manner of Work And so the Seventh day is called just as this is a Sabbath of Rest or Sabbath of Sabbaths See XXXI Exod. 15. XXXV 2. which gave occasion to those jeers we meet withal in Martial and others at the Jews fasting on their Sabbath days For reading Moses his Books carelesly they fancied the Jews observed as strict a Fast upon every Sabbath day as they did on this which was but once a year And ye shall afflict your Souls by a statute for ever See v. 29. Ver. 32. Verse 32 And the Priest whom he shall anoint c. The High-Priest who should be anointed and consecrated in his Father's stead when he was dead is here ordered to make this Atonement yearly That is what was now done by Aaron was to be done by every High-Priest successively when he was legally put into his Office by vesting him with the Priestly Garments anointing him and offering the Sacrifices of Consecration VIII 7 10 22. This Statute confined the sacred work of this day to the High-Priest who alone could perform it But it shows withal as the Apostle observes the great imperfection of this Legal Priesthood which could not by reason of death continue always in one Person but there were many Priests succeeding one another in the Office which became often vacant Whereas our great High-Priest because he continueth for ever i. e. never dies hath an unchangeable Priesthood and therefore is able to save to the uttermost or evermore those that come to God by him VII Hebr. 23 24 25. And shall put on the linen clothes even the holy garments He was to take a special care not to officiate on this day in any other Garments but those mentioned v. 4. which were peculiarly appropriated to this Service and called the white Garments which were a Figure perhaps of the perfect Purity of our great High-Priest who as it there immediately follows VII Hebr. 26. is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Ver. 33. Verse 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy Sanctuary c. In this Verse he only sums up the whole duty of the day in which a general Atonement was made for all Things and for all Persons The only thing to be observed is That the Expiation of the Sanctuary the Tabernacle and the Altar preceded the Expiation of the Priests and of the People who were to be expiated by the Sacrifices offered
of other Idolatrous Practises besides that of worshipping the Golden Calf XXXII Exod. And so much is expressed XXXII Deut. 17. And it was a sin of which their Fathers had been long guilty especially in Egypt XXIV Josh 14. XX Ezek. 7. XXIII 2 3. which they had not left but continued in the Wilderness V Amos 25. Offer their Sacrifices unto Devils These words show the reason why God commands them under such a heavy Penalty to offer only in one place at the Tabernacle because while they sacrificed in the open Fields they had been in danger to be seduced by Daemons who were wont to frequent those places especially in Deserts and present themselves to ignorant People as if they were Gods and intice their Devotion towards them Which Daemons or Evil Spirits appeared it is likely in the form of Goats and therefore are here called Seirim which properly signifies Goats And hath made some imagine that they really sacrificed to these Creatures as some of the Egyptians did who held Goats to be sacred Animals So Diodorus tells us Lib. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they deified a Goat upon the same account that the Greeks worshipped Priapus Herodotus in his Euterpe cap. 46. saith the same of the Mendesij who he saith worshipped the Males more than the Females And many other Authors mentioned by Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. L. II. cap. 53. report the same But I question whether the Egyptians were guilty of such Idolatry in the days of Moses Nor is there more truth in their opinion who think the Israelites now worshipped Images in this form of Goats Which the LXX seem to have thought when they translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vain things as Idols are called in Scripture And yet this very word Seirim is by the Greek Translators rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XIII Isaiah 21. which we here follow only instead of Daemons translating it Devils whom the ancient Zabij worshipped they appearing to them in the form of Goats and this Custom was universally spread as Maimonides thinks in Moses his time which was the cause of this Precept More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. And indeed nothing is more common in the Writings of the ancient Heathen than the mention of Fauns and Satyrs and Aegipanes whose shape below was that of a Goat And to this day in the solemn Conventions of Witches the chief Devil that presides in their Assemblies is said by all that have examined such matters to have the form of a Goat And our famous Country-man Alexander Hales in his Discourse upon the Scape-Goat which is in his Summa P. III. Q. 55. derives the reason of it from the frequent appearance of Daemons in this shape in the Wilderness as Mr. Selden observes in his Prolegomena to his Book de Diis Syris They that would see more of these Seirim may consult J. G. Vossius L. I. de Orig progr Idolol cap. 8. and Bochartus his Hierozoicon P. II. L. VI. cap. 7. There is one indeed Anton. Van Dale who hath lately endeavoured to explode all these Fancies as he esteems them of Daemons which he would have to be the meer invention of the ancient Chaldaeans and from them derived to other Nations But he will never be able to make any wise Man believe that the World was so sottish as to worship the Images of Goats which he takes to be meant by Seirim if there had not been an appearance of some thing in that shape which they accounted Divine After whom they have gone a whoring i. e. With whom they have committed Idolatry For this sin was justly called by the name of whoredom ever after they were solemnly contracted and espoused to God to be his peculiar People XIX Exod. 5. Which is the reason that he is said so often to be a jealous God particularly XX Exod. 5. highly incensed that is at their worshipping other Gods besides him For this and such like words are never used but concerning Idolatry which Ezekiel describes as the foulest Whoredom XVI 22. and particularly mentions this Whoredom with the Egyptians v. 26. and the Assyrians v. 28 c. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout all generations These words seem to me to determine the sense of the foregoing Precept to which they relate from v. 2 c. not to be that all the Meat they killed for their own Tables should be Peace-offerings for that all confess was not a statute for ever if it were one at all throughout all generations but only while they were in the Wilderness Ver. 8. Verse 8 And thou shalt say unto them whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel or of the strangers which sojourn among you These words also show he speaks in the foregoing of bringing all Sacrifices whatsoever to the Tabernacle the same Law which was given before to the Israelites being now extended to all Strangers that sojourned among them By whom he means all such as were Proselytes to the Jewish Religion So the LXX here translate it and they add the very same words to v. 3. where the house of Israel is only mentioned in the original Hebrew The only question is What sort of Proselytes are here intended And I take it he speaks of the Proselytes of Righteousness as the Jews call them who were Circumcised and thereby embraced the whole Religion of Moses And this I find is the general opinion though some few learned Men contend that any Stranger who had renounced Idolatry whom they called A Proselyte of the Gate might bring their Sacrifices to the Altar Which one can hardly allow though asserted by so great a Man as Grotius Lib. I. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 16. because he speaks of the same Strangers here which are mentioned v. 10. where all such Strangers are forbidden to eat Blood Which plainly belongs to such Strangers as were become Jews by Circumcision for other Strangers might eat it as appears from XIV Deut. 21. where the Israelites are allowed to sell what died of it self to a Stranger that he might eat it if he pleased and such Creatures had their Blood in them That offereth a Burnt-offering or Sacrifice i. e. Any other Sacrifice besides Burnt-offerings viz. Sin-offerings or Trespass-offerings or Peace-offerings None of which were accepted but from such as were admitted into the Jewish Religion though the pious Gentiles the Jews say might bring Burnt-offerings Ver. 9. Verse 9 And bringeth it not to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to offer it unto the LORD As he ordered their Peace-offerings to be v. 4 5. Shall be cut off from among his people This demonstrates that the foregoing Precept and this belong to the same matter being inforced with the same Penalty v. 4. And it also shows that the Strangers before-mentioned signifie such Gentiles as were Circumcised for otherwise they were not of the Body of the People of Israel from which they
Governours CHAP. XIX Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying The following Precepts which contain in a manner all their Duty seem to have been delivered to Moses immediately after the former being in great part a Repetition of some principal things which had been already commanded Ver. 2. Verse 2 Speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel It is uncertain whether he delivered these Precepts only to their Elders and Heads of their Tribes to be communicated by them to the People or at several times he called every Family of every Tribe and spake these words to them himself And say unto them Ye shall be holy for I the LORD your God am holy This very thing was said to them before with respect to several Meats which are forbidden them XI 44. See there And now is repeated with a peculiar respect as Maimonides thinks More Nevoch P. III. cap. 47. to the filthy Marriages and abominable Idolatries mentioned in the foregoing Chapter as it is repeated again in the next Chapter XX. 7 26. with respect to some other things It being a general reason why they should be separated from all other People by the observation of peculiar Laws which is the meaning of being holy because they were the Worshippers of him whose most excellent Nature transcended all other Beings not only in Purity but in all other Perfections Ver. 3. Verse 3 Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father This Duty is called Honour in the fifth Commandment XX Exod. 12. and the Father there put before the Mother which being here called fear and the Mother put before the Father it shows saith Maimonides that honour and fear are equally due to both without any difference And the proper Expressions of Fear and Reverence are according to those Doctors not to sit in their Seat nor to contradict them in any thing they say much less to cavil against them nor to call them by their proper names but to add the Title of Sir c. as we speak or the like And the Expressions of Honour are not to sit down in their Presence and to provide them with Necessaries if they fall into Poverty c. See Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis oap 13. p. 557 c. and R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept XXVII And keep my Sabbaths Obedience as well as Reverence is included in the word Fear but if Parents commanded them to break the Sabbath-day or to profane any other day consecrated to God's Service they were not to be obeyed I am the LORD your God I rested on the Sabbath-day who am your Soveraign and therefore have power to require you to rest on any other days Particularly on the great Day of Atonement XVI 31. when I am so gracious as to accept of an Expiation for all your sins This is repeated v. 30. and XXIII 3. Ver. 4. Verse 4 Turn ye not unto Idols Not so much as to look upon them no nor to think of them as R. Levi Barcelonita expounds it Praecept CCXXV. much less to enquire after what manner the Gentiles worshipped them which is expresly forbidden XII Deut. 30. for by this means they might be allured to Idolatry The word we here translate Idols is a word of contempt signifying a thing of nought Or as some of the Jews will have it this word Elilim is compounded of the Particle al signifying not and El i. e. God As much as to say which are not gods and therefore called in Scripture Vanities which can do neither good nor hurt Nor make to your selves molten gods This seems to have respect to the Golden Calf which they made to worship and is called a molten Calf XXXII Exod. 4. But all graven Images are no less forbidden for if to look towards an Idol was a sin much more was it to make an Image of any sort to worship it The Jews are something curious in their observations upon this Precept For in the Book Siphra they say that they might not make molten Gods for others much less for themselves Whence that saying He that makes to himself an Idol violates a double Precept first in making it and then in making it to himself See R. Levi before-mentioned Praecept CCXXVI I am the LORD your God The same reason is given in the foregoing Verse for the observation of their Sabbaths and that of the seventh day every Week was ordained in memory of the Creation of the World and consequently intended as a Preservative from Idolatry as I observed upon Exod. XX. 8. which perhaps makes these two Precepts be here put together But it is evident Moses doth not observe the order wherein these Precepts were first delivered but rather inverts it beginning with the fifth Commandment and so going back to the fourth and here to the two first Ver. 5. Verse 5 And if ye offer a Sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the LORD As they were to avoid all Idolatry so they were to be careful to perform the Service due to the true God in a right manner Peace-offerings are only mentioned because they were the most common Sacrifices being of three sorts See VII 11 c. XVII 5. Ye shall offer it at your own will Either of the Herd or of the Flock Male or Female III. 1 6. Or rather as the Vulgar Latin and the LXX understand it they were to offer it so that it might be acceptable to the LORD according to the Rules prescribed in the seventh Chapter Ver. 6. Verse 6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it and on the morrow This shows he speaks particularly of those Peace-offerings which were a Vow or a voluntary Offering VII 16. for Sacrifices of Thanksgiving might not be kept till the morrow but were to be eaten on the same day v. 15. of that Chapter See the reason of this XXIII Exod. 18. the latter end And if ought remain till the third day it shall be burnt with fire See VII 17. Ver. 7. Verse 7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day it is abominable See VII 18. It shall not be accepted See there This seems to justifie the sense which the Vulgar puts upon those words v. 5. which we translate according to thy will Ver. 8. Verse 8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity See VII 18. Because he hath profaned the hallowed things of the LORD By keeping them till they were in danger to stink or to be corrupted That soul shall be cut off from his People By the Judges if the thing was known otherwise by the Hand of God Ver. 9. Verse 9 And when ye reap the harvest of your Land Which was a time of great joy when they offered its likely many Peace-offerings of that sort before-mentioned Thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field But leave a sixtieth part as their wise Men have determined it and that in the extream part of the Field rather than any other place
which forbids them to covet their neighbours wife which did not give them leave sure to covet the Wife of a Gentile provided they did not covet the Wife of an Israelite A Neighbour therefore is every other Man as in XXII Deut. 26. and more plainly in XI Exod. 2. where the Egyptians are called their Neighbour And therefore D. Kimchi saith very honestly upon the XVth Psal 3. A Neighbour is every one with whom we have any dealing or conversation Which justifies our blessed Saviour in making this Command of Loving their Neighbours as themselves to reach all Men with whom they had to do X Luke 27 28 c. I am the LORD Unto whom you are all equally subject and upon that account ought to love one another See v. 34. Ver. 19. Verse 19 Ye shall keep my statutes This may be thought to be premised to what follows lest such Commands as are contained in this Verse seeming small should be neglected by them Thou shalt not let thy Cattel or rather make them gender with a divers kind As Horses with Asses Goats with Sheep c. whose mixture one with another they were by no means to procure But if they did of themselves come together it was lawful to use such Heterogeneous Creatures as were so produced For they did not abhor the use of Mules which were either begot by accident among them or brought from other Countries to them The reason the Jews commonly give for this Precept is because God having made all things perfect in their kind it was a presumptuous attempt to go about to mend his Creation and add to his Works By this means also Men were deterred from unnatural Mixtures which they saw to be abominable in Brutes So R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCXLIX and Philo whose words are very ingenious Lib. de Creatione Princip Things of the sâ—me kind were made for Society one with another but things heterogeneous as we call them were not intended to be mixed and associated and therefore he who attempts to mingle them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wickedly destroys the Law of Nature To the same purpose Josephus See Selden Lib. VII de Jure N. G. sec Hebr. cap. 3. p. 798. Maimonides also himself gives this reason of this Precept More Nevoch P. III. cap. 49. where he saith No Creature hath a desire commonly to mix with a Creature of another kind and therefore Men ought not to promote such a desire But after all there might possibly be a respect in this Precept to some Idolatrous Customs which Moses intended to prevent or abolish for there is good ground to think the following Precepts in this Verse were so intended and in after times some Gentiles did procure such Mixture of Creatures as are here forbidden Mules for instance in honour of their Gods See our learned Dr. Spencer Lib. II. de Leg. Hebr. Ritualibus cap. 20. where he indeavours to prove that by Cattel in this place are peculiarly meant Oxen and Asses which were used in Husbandry and are of such different Natures that none would ever have thought to procure their Conjunction unless he had been moved to it by the Devil Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed The reasons of this according to the Jews are the same with the former and R. Levi extends it to Trees which he saith they were not to ingraft of different kinds one upon another But it concerns they say only such Seeds and Plants as are for Mens food not those which are for Medecine Praecept CCL But Maimonides found a particular reason for this Precept from the Idolatrous Customs of the old Zabij Who not only sowed different Seeds and grafted Trees of a divers kind upon one another in such or such Aspect of the Planets and with a certain form of words and fumigations but also with abominable filthiness at the very moment of the Incision Which he proves out of a Book concerning the incision of an Olive into a Citron and doubts not that God forbad his People to sow with mingled seed that he might root out that detestable Idolatry and those preternatural Lusts which abounded in those days More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. Neither shall a Garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee In the Hebrew the words are A Garment of mixtures of Schaatnez shall not come upon thee But that they might certainly know what Schaatnez was it is explained in XXII Deut. 11. to signifie as we translate it a Garment of Woollen and Linen mixed together The Jews have taken abundance of pains to find out the original of this word which Bochartus derives from the Arabick word Saat which signifies to mingle and nez which signifies to weave Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 45. But Joh. Braunius I think hath demonstrated that it doth not import the weaving of any different things together but only of Linen and Woollen and that by Woollen is to be understood only what is made of the Wooll of Sheep not of Camels or Goats which they called by the same name Lib. I. de Vestitu Sacerd. Hebr. cap. 4. n. 2 3 6. Where he observes out of Maimonides in his Halach Kelaim that if a Man saw an Israelite wear such a Garment it was lawful for him to fall upon him openly and tear his Garment in pieces although he were his Master who taught him Wisdom And the reasons for this abhorrence are commonly such as are given of the former Precepts to preserve them from the horrid Confusion which was among the Gentiles by incestuous and unnatural Mixtures But Maimonides takes it to have been principally intended as a Preservative against Idolatry The Priests of the Gentiles in those times wearing such mixed Garments of the product of Plants and Animals with a Ring on their finger made of some Metal as he says he found in their Books More Nevoch P. III. cap. 37. By which mixture it is likely they hoped to have the beneficial influence of some lucky Conjunction of the Planets or Stars to bring a Blessing upon their Sheep and their Flax. Ver. 20. Verse 20 Whosoever lieth carnally with a Woman that is a bondmaid betrothed to an husband The Jews had some Servants that were Gentiles who if they embraced the Jewish Religion were baptized sometimes with the reservation of their Servitude and sometimes with the full grant of Liberty But some there were in a middle Condition partly free and partly servile viz. when part of their Redemption-money had been paid and part was still behind Now as while a Woman was a perfect Slave no Israelite might marry her so when she was partly free though he might Espouse her and the Espousals were valid yet they could not be of full force till her liberty was perfected And of such a Maiden the Hebrew Doctors understand Moses to speak in this place that was in part free but not wholly as the next words interpret it And not at all redeemed nor
CCLII against Gluttony and Drunkenness such as the rebellious Son was guilty of XXI Deut. 18 c. which made Men prone to shed blood for so he understands this Precept Thou shalt not eat upon blood i. e. eat till thou art excited to shed blood unto which he applied XXXII Deut. 15. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked But this is a very forced Interpretation and our Translation is not exact for he doth not say Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood but ye shall not eat upon the blood or at the blood Which Oleaster very sagaciously suspected to be a piece of Superstition unknown to him And so did the LXX when they translated it Ye shall not eat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Mountains which was an Idolatrous Custom mentioned in IV Hosea 13. and here forbidden as Procopius and Hesychius imagine But the Hebrew word haddam no where signifies a Mountain but Blood as the Vulgar here truly translates it There is a Greek Scholion which renders these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall not eat on the house top Which in all likelyhood as some have conjectured was a mistake of the Transcriber for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the blood which is the litteral Translation of the Hebrew phrase and imports something more than is prohibited XVII 12. where he simply saith No soul of you shall eat blood But here warns them against an Idolatrous Practise of the Zabij who to enter into the Society of Daemons and obtain their favour were wont to gather the blood of their Sacrifices into a Vessel or a little Hole digg'd in the Earth and then sitting about it to eat the Flesh of the Sacrifices imagining that by eating as it were of the same food for they thought the Daemons fed upon the blood as their Worshippers did upon the flesh they contracted a Friendship and Familiarity with them So Maimonides relates in his More Nevoch P. III. cap. 46. For the prevention of which Idolatrous Custom God ordered their Sacrifices to be offered only at one place where his own House was and there the Priests sprinkling the blood and they eating the flesh of their Peace-offerings God and they feasted together upon them Nachmanides is wont to oppose Maimonides in his Notions yet this was so plain that he confesses as Dr. Cudworth hath observed in his Treatise of the Right Notion of the Lord's Supper Chap. ult that blood it self was forbidden in the Law upon the account of the Heathens performing their Superstitious Worship in this manner by gathering together blood for their Daemons and then coming themselves and eating of it with them whereby they were their Daemon's guests and by this kind of Communion with them were enabled to prophesie and foretel things to come And this Interpretation is the more probable that they hoped by eating of the blood of the Sacrifices or the flesh or both to have such familiarity with them as to receive Revelations from them and be inspired with the Knowledge of secret things if we consider the two other Prohibitions in this Verse that are joyned with this of not eating upon blood which show that it was a Rite of Divination Neither shall ye use inchantment In the Hebrew the words are lo tenakashu which all agree signifie some Superstitious observation or other whereby they made omens and guessed what should happen to them either from Men's sneezing or the breaking of a Shoes Latchet or the name of a Man they met withal or some Creatures crossing their way or passing upon their right hand or their left And most following the LXX and the Vulgar Latin take it for Divination by the flying or crying or pecking of Birds But the word Nachash signifying a Serpent and having no relation at all to Birds the famous Bochartus thinks tenachashu which seems to be derived from thence to relate rather to the ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divination by Serpents than to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divination by Birds For it was very much in use among the Gentiles in old time as appears from Homer in his VIIth Iliad where Chalcas seeing a Serpent devour eight Sparrows with their Dam divined how long the Trojan War would last And many such instances he heaps up together in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. I. cap. 3. R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCLIII refers this to any kind of Divination by their Staff falling out of their hand by a Serpent creeping on their right hand or a Fox going by their left c. which made them forbear any work they were about but he thinks withal it may signifie as we translate it Inchantment to cure Wounds for instance by reading a Verse of the Law or laying the Book of the Law or a Phylactery upon a Child's head to procure sleep which are such Superstitions as are now in use among some Christians who hang the first Verse of St. John's Gospel about Peoples Necks to cure an Ague But such things could not be meant by Moses who had not yet delivered them a Copy of his Laws nor can we certainly fix upon any other in particular which were then in use See J. Coch upon the Title Sanhedrim cap. 7. n. 18. and Maimonides de Idololatria cap. 11. sect 4 5 6 c. where he gives a great number of instances of such Superstitious Observations as were in use among the Heathen some of which are mentioned by Theophrastus in his Characters of Superstition and by Plutarch in his Book on the same subject and are derided by Terence in his Phormio Act. IV. Scen. 4. With which Superstitions the greatest Persons were anciently very much infected and they were so settled in Mens minds that when they became Christians they could not presently shake them off as appears by the frequent Reprehensions which St. Chrysostom and others give to those who continued to be governed by them Particularly in his VIII Homily upon the Colossians he chides his People severely for contemning the Cross of Christ and calling in old drunken Women with their Salt their Ashes and Soot to free those that were bewitcht And more especially in his VI Hom. against the Jews he sharply rebukes those that used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charms and things hung about the Neck to cure Agues whereby they got a worse disease in their Souls and wounded their Consciences c. And in other places he Reprehends their observing of Omens good and bad some of which which were very strange See Tom. VI. p. 610 611. Edit Savil. Nor observe times Take no notice of days according to the Precepts of Astrologers who made some to be lucky others unlucky For the Jews generally think something of this nature is here forbidden the Hebrew word teonenu being derived they imagine from Onah which signifies time as R. Levi before-mentioned saith Praecept CCLIV such an hour being thought by Superstitious People to be fit for business but another very cross to it Which
and become more one with them than they were with the Egyptians but was of great force to procure kindness to those who did not live by their Laws I am the LORD your God Who have done so much for you when you were meer Strangers that you should not stick to be kind to those who are in the like Condition Ver. 35. Verse 35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment The Hebrews refer this word judgment to all the following particulars and think that Moses uses it here to show of what moment this Law is which he calls doing judgment So that he who measures or weighs hath the Office of a Judge and if he commit any fraud in his Measures or Weights he is a corrupter of Judgment and is called wicked abominable accursed They are the words of R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CCLX where he adds that such Men are the cause of five Mischiefs which are imputed to unjust Judges who defile the Land prophane the Name of God remove the Presence of the Divine Majesty bring a Sword upon the People and at last carry them captive out of their own Country And therefore great Punishments have been enacted in all Countries against this Crime as destructive to Human Society Particularly Justinian ordained that such Offenders should be beaten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorely as impious People In mete-yard By which they measured Lands Cloath and such like things for Middah as Fosterus observes is the Measure of continued quantity viz. in things dry In weight By which they paid and received Money in those days and sold Brass and Iron and things of like nature Or in measure The Hebrew word Mesurah from whence seems to come the Latin Mensura and our English word Measure denotes the Measure of Discrete Quantity as we speak as of Corn and of all continued Fluid Quantity as of Wine and Oil. And the forenamed R. Levi will have it to signifie the very least of such Measures about which saith he the Law concerns it self that Men should be exact in them as well as in the greatest And so Hesychius here notes that Moses provides against all Injustice in small things as well as in great for what the possession of a Field or a House is to a wealthy Man that the measure of Wine or Corn or the weight of Bread is to the Poor who have daily need of such things for the support of their Life Ver. 36. Verse 36 Just balances just weights This Verse only positively requires strict justice in those things wherein the former Verse forbad all deceit And these two words refer to things sold by weight A just Ephah and a just Hin shall ye have These two words Ephah and Hin comprehend all sorts of Measures of things whether wet or dry And that they might have such just Weights and Measures among them the Standard of them was kept in the Sanctuary by which all were to be governed as appears from 1 Chron. XXIII 29. See XXX Exod. 13. The Jewish Doctors also say that it was a Constitution of their wise Men for the preventing all Fraud in these matters that no Weights Balances or Measures should be made of any Metal as of Iron Lead Tin c. which were obnoxious to rust or might be bent or easily impaired but of Marble Stone or Glass which were less liable to be abused For these Constitutions Moses was so famous that his Name was celebrated on the account of them in other Nations Nay Lucius Ampelius a rude kind of Writer but who had collected much out of better Authors saith that Mochus was the Inventer of Scales and Weights and that his memory is preserved in the Constellation called Libra Now if for Mochus we read Moschos it is the very name of Moses in Hebrew viz. Moscheh who is called so by other Authors as the learned Huetius observes in his Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. cap. 7. n. 16. I am the LORD your God which brought you out of the Land of Egypt This is the general reason for their Obedience which is repeated in this Chapter above a dozen times Sometimes more briefly I am the LORD and sometimes a little larger I am the LORD your God and here with this addition which brought you out of the Land of Egypt Whereby he in a special manner demonstrates himself both to be their LORD faithful to his promise VI Exod. 3. and their God who obliged them to his Service by the most singular benefit Ver. 37. Verse 37 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes and all my judgments and do them These words Statutes and Judgments comprehend all the Laws of God some of which were Prohibitions which they were to mark and observe diligently so as to abstain from such things and others Precepts or Commands which they were to practise and do according to them I am the LORD No more need be said to engage your Obedience in every thing than this that I am your Soveraign and the Soveraign of the whole World CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. Verse 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Sometime after the delivery of the Laws mentioned in the two foregoing Chapters the chief of them were inforced with the addition of Penalties which are set down in this Chapter Ver. 2. Verse 2 Again thou shalt say to the Children of Israel Repeat what I said before XVIII 21. and add this which follows unto it Whosoever he be of the Children of Israel or of the stranger that sojourneth among you The Proselytes who had embraced their Religion were no less concerned in this Law than the Native Israelites See XVII 8 10 c. That giveth any of his seed unto Molech This looks like the Prohibition before given XVIII 21. and R. Levi gives this reason of its repitition because it was a piece of Idolatrous Worship so usual in those days when the Law was delivered that there needed great indeavours to preserve them from it Praecept CCVIII And Maimonides also observes as I noted upon XVIII 21. that Idolaters used to fright People into this Worship by telling them their Children would dye if they did not make them pass through the fire and thereby devote them to their Gods But upon due consideration of these words it may appear probable that there is something more in them than in the former importing a higher degree of this sin For to give their Children to Molech seems to be no less than to offer them in Sacrifices So Christ giving himself for us constantly signifies in the New Testament which was a more horrid thing than meerly making them pass through the fire which did them no hurt And therefore this Crime is here forbidden under the Penalty of Death whereas in the XVIIIth Chapter no punishment is threatned Certain it is Children were really burnt upon the Altars of the ancient Pagans especially in times of great Distress when they hoped to pacisie the Anger of their Gods by offering to
a Woman that is put away by her Husband lies under a suspicion of something that is bad For which reason as Mr. Selden observes in the place above-named a Priest might not marry her whom her Husband's Brother refused to marry after his death For he is holy unto his God Consecrated after a special manner to the Service of the Divine Majesty and therefore was not to dishonour his Priesthood by such Marriages as were not of good reputation If he did he was not to be suffered to Minister until he had given such a Wife a Bill of Divorce as Maimonides saith in Biath Hamikdasch cap. 6. An example of which there was in Manasseh the Brother of Jaddua the High-Priest who marrying contrary to the Law the Daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan was commanded either to put her away or not to come to the Altar See Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontificatum cap. 6. p. 238. Ver. 8. Verse 8 Thou shalt sanctifie him therefore This seems to be spoken to Moses and to all that should succeed him in the Supream Authority that they should take care the Priests should not marry with such Persons or if they did not be suffered to Minister in the Priests Office till they had put them away Accordingly we find that to keep the Priesthood pure and to avoid all suspicion of any such pollution the Names of the Priests Parents were carefully preserved in the Genealogical Tables as we learn from II Ezra 62. VII Nehemiah 64. See Selden de Succession in Pontif. Lib. II. cap. 3. Vxor Hebr. Lib. I. cap. 7. For he offereth the bread of thy God Ministreth at the Altar See v. 6. He shall be holy unto thee Keep himself pure that he may not be unfit to offer Sacrifice for the People as need shall require For I the LORD which sanctifie you am holy I who have taken you to be my peculiar People excel in all Perfections and therefore require Persons of extraordinary Sanctity to minister unto me Ver. 9. Verse 9 And the daughter of any Priest if she profane her self by playing the whore The Hebrew Doctors understand this of one married at least espoused So Aben-Ezra and R. Sol. Jarchi say expresly Our Rabbins confess with one mouth that one not espoused is not concerned in this Law See Selden Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. cap. 6. and Lib. III. cap. 23. p. 488. She profaneth her father She was doubly guilty First in profaning i. e. dishonouring her self who being the Daughter of such an eminent Person committed such an heinous Crime And secondly in dishonouring her Father whose Reputation hereby suffered She shall be burnt with fire Which was the sorest Punishment among the Jews See XX. 14. and was not inflicted upon other Persons in this Case who were barely stoned XXII Deut. 24. but only upon the Daughter of a Priest from whom greater Vertue was expected But if the Witnesses of this Fact were convicted of Perjury by other credible Witnesses produced by the Woman or her Father then both her Husband who accused her and those false Witnesses suffered the same Punishment that she should have done See Selden Lib. III. Vxor Hebr. cap. 1. p. 321. Ver. 10. Verse 10 He that is the High-Priest among his brethren Hitherto the Laws given in this Case concern the common Priests now follow those by which the High-Priest was to govern himself who was under peculiar Laws more strict than the rest Vpon whose head the anointing Oil was poured c. He having a peculiar Consecration different from the rest by pouring the holy Oil upon his Head and clothing him with the most glorious Robes See VIII 7 8 c. was in all reason to distinguish himself more than the rest of the Priests from common Men. And that is consecrated In the Hebrew the words are whose hand is filled as it was with the fat and the right shoulder of the Ram of Consecration c. by which he was hallowed to minister in the Priests Office XXIX Exod. 22 23 24. To put on the Garments To be High-Priest Shall not uncover his head Rather Shall not let his hair grow neglected without trimming as the manner was in token of mourning So Onkelos and Jonathan and a great many more See Selden Lib. II. de Successione in Pontificatum cap. 5. p. 235. and what I have noted upon the tenth Chapter of this Book v. 6. Nor rent his Clothes Another token of mourning which he was to forbear Though the Talmudists will have it that he might rent his Garments at the bottom about his feet but not at the top down to his breast as P. Cunaeus observes out of Mass Horajoth Lib. II. de Rep. Hebr. cap. 3. Before his Anointing and Consecration and putting on the holy Garments it was not unlawful for him to attend the Funeral of his Father And therefore Eleazar was present when Aaron died XX Numb being as yet in a lower Ministry and not compleatly advanced to the Office of High-Priest but only declared Aaron's Successor by putting on him his Garments See X. 6. Ver. 11. Verse 11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body nor defile himself for his father or for his mother He might not go into the House where the Body of his Father or Mother lay dead which was permitted to the inferiour Priests v. 2 3. and consequently he was not to make any external signs of mourning for Son or Daughter Brother or Sister Ver. 12. Verse 12 Neither shall he go out of the Sanctuary If he was there when he heard of the death of his Father or Mother he was not to stir out from thence till he had sinished his Ministry See X. 7. For he had a little House after the Temple was built within the Precincts of it where he commonly remained all the day time which was called Lischcath cohen gadol the Parlour of the High-Priest as Cunaeus observes out of Mass Midoth Lib. II. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 3. At night he went to his own dwelling House which was in Jerusalem and no where else There he might perform all the Offices of a Mourner except those which are here forbidden and the People came to comfort him as Maimonides relates in his Treatise on this Subject and sitting upon the ground while he sat in his Chair at the Funeral Feast they said let us be thy Expiation i. e. let all the Grief that is on thee fall upon us unto which he answered Blessed be ye from Heaven as their words are reported in Sanhedrim cap. 2. n. 1. Nor profane the Sanctuary of his God By preferring his Affection to the Dead before the Service of God in the Sanctuary or by returning thither to his Ministry when he had been defiled by the dead which had been a great profanation For he that touched a dead Body was unclean seven days XIX Numb 11 12. For the crown of the anointing Oil of his God is upon him Some supply the word and
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
â—hen they were all carried Captive they only numbred the rest of every seventh year without any Jubile It shall be a Jubile unto you Whence this year hath the name of Jobel there are so many Opinions that Bochartus himself scarce knew which to follow Josephus saith it signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liberty and the LXX and Aquila translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remission having a regard to the thing rather than to the import of the word Jobel which never signifies any thing of that nature D. Kimchi tell us that R. Akiba when he was in Arabia heard them call a Ram by this name of Jobel and thence some fancy this year was so called because it was proclaimed with Trumpets of Rams-horns But what if there were no such Trumpets as Bochart thinks there were not these Horns being not hollow See Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 43. p. 425 c. where several other Opinions are confuted The most probable that I meet withal is that it was called Jobel from the peculiar sound which was made with the Trumpet when this year was proclaimed For the Trumpet blowing for several purposes viz. to call their Assemblies together to give notice of the moving of their Camps to excite Souldiers to fight and to proclaim this year there was a distinct sound for all these ends that People might not be confounded but have a certain notice what the Trumpet sounded for And this sound mentioned before v. 9. was peculiarly called Jobel as Hottinger thinks who considers a great many other Opinions in his Analecta Dissert III. wherein he follows Joh. Forsterus who near an hundred years before observed that Jobel which we commonly translate Trumpet XIX Exod. 13. and other places doth not signifie the Instrument it self but the sound that it made And when it is used absolutely alone it signifies this year which was called Jobel from that sound which was then made as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called Pesach from the Angel passing over them when he slew the Egyptians The Opinions of the Hebrew Writers about it are collected and largely represented by Josephus de Voisin Lib. I. de Jubilaeo cap. 1. And ye shall return every man unto his possession Unto his Field or his House which his Poverty had forced him to sell but now was restored to him without any price because they were not sold absolutely but only till this year By which means the Estates of the Israelites were so fixed that no Family could ruin it self or grow too rich For this Law provided against such Changes revoking once in fifty years all Alienations and setting every one in the same Condition wherein they were at the first By which means Ambition was retrenched and every Man applied himself with affection to the improvement of his Inheritance knowing it could never go out of his Family And this application was the more diligent because it was a religious duty founded upon this Law of God And ye shall return every man unto his family From which he had been estranged by being sold to another Family either by himself or by his Father or by the Court of Judgment So here are two parts of the liberty fore-named more expresly declared Their Land which was alienated returned to the first Owner and such as were sold for Servants into another Family came home again to their own Family being freed from their Servitude Which was a figure of that acceptable year of the LORD as St. Luke calls it IV. 19. in the Prophet Isaiah's Language wherein our blessed Saviour preached Deliverance to all Mankind The Jews themselves are not so stupid as to thinâ— nothing further was intended but only freedom from bodily Servitude in this year of Jubile for Abarbanel himself in this very Verse indeavours to discover something of a Spiritual Happiness For the former part of the words now mentioned Ye shall return every man to his possession he saith belong to the Body but the latter part And every man unto his family belongs to the Soul and its return to God So several others whom J. de Voisin produces in the forenamed Book cap. 2. And if our Dr. Lightfoot hath made a right Computation the last year of the Life of our Saviour who by his Death wrought an Eternal Redemption and restored us to our heavenly Inheritance fell in the year of Jubile the very last that was ever kept For if we count from the end of the Wars of Canaan which was seven years after they came into it and I do not know why we should not think they began to number then and not seven years after as Maimonides would have it there were just fourteen hundred years to the thirty third of Jesus Christ that is just XXVIII Jubiles And it is the Confession of the old Book called Zohar as he observes That the Divine Glory should be freedom and redemption in a year of Jubile See Harmony of the New Testament sect 59. And Vsserij Chronologia Sacra cap. 13. Ver. 11. Verse 11 A Jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you It is a question whether the year of Jubile was the year following the forty ninth year or the forty ninth year was the Jubile which reckoning the foregoing Jubile for one was the fiftieth year Josephus Scaliger in his fifth Book de Emend Temporum and several other great Men are of this last opinion to avoid a great inconvenience which otherwise would ensue viz. That the forty ninth year being the Sabbatical year in which the Land was to rest if the next year to that had been the Jubile two Sabbatical years would have come immediately one after another for the Land was to rest in the year of Jubile as it here follows One would have expected therefore that in the forty eighth year there should have been a special Promise that the Land should bring forth Fruit for four years and not for three only as the Blessing is promised every sixth year v. 21. Thus Jacobus Capellus reasons in his Historia Sacra Exotica ad A. M. 2549. But others think this Objection not to be so great as to make them depart from the letter of this Law which saith v. 10. Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and here in this Verse A Jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you Though a very learned Man P. Cunaeus thinks this is of no great moment either way for it is usual in common speech Septimanam octidum appellare and Hospinian in like manner we call a Week octiduum eight days because we reckon utramque Dominicam both the LORD's days And the greatest Writers anciently called an Olympiad which contained but the space of four compleat years by the name of Quinquennium See Lib. I. de Republ. Judaeorum cap. 6. Yet besides the express words of the Law the Consent of the Jews sways very much the other way for they accurately distinguish between the Schemitta or Year of
called having several parts which were all holy Moses may be thought to speak of it here in the Plural Number As Jeremiah represents the Jews saying The Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD the Temple of the LORD are these VII 4. That is both these Courts wherein we stand as well as that of the Priests and the most Holy Place are all the LORD's Temple Or the word your is to be applied to such places of Worship as they themselves had consecrated in opposition to God's Sanctuary And I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours This seems to determine the meaning of Sanctuaries to God's own House where sweet odours of Incense made of several sweet Spices were daily offered unto him Which being a representation of their Prayers sent up to him he here declares that he will not be appeased by them nor by any Sacrifices they could offer to him but utterly reject them Ver. 32. Verse 32 And I will bring the Land into desolation The People being carried captive or forced to flee into strange Countries v. 33. And your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it They that possess this Country out of which you are expelled shall be amazed when they reflect upon the Calamities that are fall'n upon you Which Jeremiah describes as very dreadful VII 20. And often mentions the Astonishment wherewith they were struck who beheld them XVIII 16. XIX 8. XXV 9 11. and see 2 Chron. XXIX 8 9. which shows this began before Jeremiah's time Ver. 33. Verse 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen Some fled into one strange Country and others into another according as they could find means and opportunity insomuch that there were no known places where they were not dispersed So Jeremiah threatens XIII 24. XV. 4. And I will draw a sword after you So Jeremiah threatens those that would go into Egypt for safety that the sword which they feared should overtake them there XLII 16 17 18. And your Land shall be desolate and your Cities waste For they that were left there and their Enemies to whom the Country was given were now enow to cultivate the Land and build their Cities By all this as well as by what follows it appears that here is a plain Prediction of the Miseries that came upon Israel by Tiglath-Pileser and Salmanasar and upon Judah by Nebuchadnezzar who laid their Cities waste destroyed the Sanctuaries despoil'd them of their Goods drove them into strange Countries and as it here follows made their Land keep its Sabbaths Ver. 34. Verse 34 Then shall the Land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lyeth desolate and ye be in your enemies Land c. This is a most bitter reproach to them for their ingratitude to God and inhumanity to their Brethren in not keeping the Sabbatical year mentioned in the foregoing Chapter Dr. Hammond hath another notion of the word which we translate enjoy See Note g. upon Psal 102. p. 504. Ver. 35. Verse 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest Lye untilled as it ought to have done every seventh year And it lay thus seventy years because as some think they had neglected to keep so many Sabbatical years Which we cannot think to be true without supposing that they kept none for half the time from their entrance into Canaan till they were expelled out of it by the Captivity of Babylon Because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it For in these four hundred and ninety years says Procopius Gazaeus when they were under the Government of Kings there were seventy years to be kept as Sabbaths which that the Land might enjoy its Sabbaths were spent in the Captivity of Babylon We do not expresly read indeed of this profane neglect while they dwelt in their Land but Jeremiah complains that they did not in his time give their Servants Liberty in the seventh year XXXIV 17. and he gives this as one reason why God delivered them up to Slavery for so I understand those words I Lament 3. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude And from thence we may conclude that the same covetous humour and distrust of God's Providence made them not suffer their Land to rest in that year Especially since the Author of the second Book of Chronicles expresly mentions this as a reason of their Captivity to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet until the Land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath to fulfil threescore and ten years 2 Chron. XXXVI 21. Now their Punishment in this was made the more remarkable if it be true that both the Kingdom of Samaria and the Kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a Sabbatical year and that immediately after a Jubile the City and Temple were destroyed by Titus according to Scaliger's Computation And so I observed before Maimonides makes account XXV 8. that the year when they were carried captive to Babylon and the first Temple destroyed was in the expiration of a Sabbatical year Schemitta ve Jobel cap. 10. sect 3. Ver. 36. Verse 36 And upon them that are left alive of you This imports that the Body of the People should be destroyed I will send a faintness into your hearts in the Lands of their Enemies Where their Spirits Sunk under their present Miseries And the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them And yet they were condemned to live in continual dread of more Miseries For the Hebrew word we translate faintness signifies softness which could not support the weight of their Affliction And this last Phrase imports such a timourness as should make their Life always uneasie to them and such a cowardise as should render them vile and despicable And so they are noted at this day to be mean spirited and faint hearted it being scarce ever heard that a Jew listed himself for a Soldier or ingaged in the defence of the Country where he lives And they shall flee as flecing from a Sword and fall when none pursueth Fancy they hear the sound of Trumpets or clashing of Arms which made them start and run away any fall into a swoon when there was no danger Such Terrors the Heathen themselves have observed in Men of an evil Conscience who were afraid of their own Shadow as they say of Orestes Ver. 37. Verse 37 And they shall fall one upon another As people are wont to do when they make too much haste and run confusedly or the formost hinder the flight of those that follow XLVI Jerem. 16. As it were before a Sword c. For fear of the Sword as this Hebrew Phrase certainly signifies and is so translated in the Margin of our Bibles XXI Isa 15. XXXI 8. See Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. cap. 8. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies Being so timorous as to