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
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
his Temple Service Chap. XIV sect 2. Dr. Owtram de Sacrificiis Lib. I. cap. 8. n. 6. And J. Wagenseil upon Sota cap. 2. Annot. 11. Ver. 11. Verse 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD They did not offer the Corn green in the Ears as I observed in the foregoing Verse but parcht dried ground and searsed and then they waved a Tenth-deal of the Flour which came from the Sheaf as a present to the LORD of the whole Earth To be accepted for you To procure God's Blessing upon the rest of the Harvest and that they might have liberty to use the Corn it produced which it was not lawful for them to do till the First-fruits were given to God On the morrow after the Sabbath the Priest shall wave it We are not to understand by the Sabbath the Seventh days Rest which was the Opinion of the Sadducees as R. Levi ben Gersom tells upon the fifth of Joshua but the day here mentioned v. 7. which was a kind of Sabbath because no Servile work might be done therein And therefore this morrow after the Sabbath was the sixteenth day of Nisan or the next day to the first of Unleavened Bread So the LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morrow after the first and Josephus more plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. on the second day of Vnleavened Bread which is the sixteenth day of the Month c. Lib. III. Antiq. cap. 10. This was the first of the fifty days which they reckoned till Pentecost v. 15. and was the day on which Manna ceased when they came into Canaan because then they eat of the Fruits of that Country V Josh 10 11 12. And indeed it was not lawful for them as I said before to eat of the Fruits of the Earth till after the Passover because then the Sheaf of the First fruits was waved which consecrated the rest of the Corn. And so God continued Manna to them till they had other Food to eat Ver. 12. Verse 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish c. Though this day was not so holy as the first day of Unleavened Bread yet it was a part of the Festival and was called Moed katon a lesser Solemnity as all the rest of the days were between the first and the seventh And therefore a special Offering is here ordered upon this day besides the daily Burnt-Sacrifice and besides the Sacrifice which was appointed v. 8. to be offered upon every one of the seven days Ver. 13. Verse 13 And the Meat-offering thereof shall be two Tenth-deals of fine flour c. I observed before upon the second Chapter v. 1. that all sorts of Bread might be offered to God as being a very ancient Sacrifice and commonly used at every Table for which reason Wine also is here ordered but it was to be simple Wine not mixed as was the Heathenish Custom Salt also was added II. 13. as common at all Tables but no Honey nor Leaven which Mens Superstition had introduced and therefore expresly forbidden in that place v. 11. as it did also Milk and Herbs and Leaves of Trees not a word of which is to be found in the Law of Moses But here it is observable that he commands two Tenth-deals of fine Flour to be offered whereas one Tenth was the common Meat-offering XXIX Exod. 40. Because as one of them was a necessary attendant on the Lamb mentioned before v. 12. so the other was in honour of the day which was a lesser kind of Festival And the Drink-offering thereof shall be of wine the fourth part of a hin Here is not a double proportion of Wine ordered but the usual quantity because perhaps this was a Thanksgiving only for their Corn not for their Vintage which came afterwards Ver. 14. Verse 14 And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears until the self same day that ye have brought an offering to your God It was not lawful for them to reap and therefore not to eat any of the Fruits of the Earth till the forenamed First-fruits were offered as an acknowledgment to the Donor of them For nothing was more just and equal all Men thought than to give some part to him who gave to them all they had and in the first place to give him his due before they took any thing to themselves The Romans in this expressed the sense of all Mankind who as Pliny tells us Lib. XVIII cap. 2. Ne gustabant quidem novas fruges aut vina antequam Sacerdotes primitias tibassent did not so much as taste of their Corn or Wine till the Priests had offered the First-fruits It shall be a statute for ever c. As long as their Polity lasted In all your dwellings Throughout the whole Land of Canaan Ver. 15. Verse 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath From the sixteenth day of Nisan or the second day of Unleavened Bread which was the morrow after the Sabbath v. 11. From the day that ye brought the sheaf of the Wave-offering This is added only as a fuller description of the time from which they were to count Seven Sabbaths shall be compleat Seven whole Weeks reckoning that day from which the account begun for the first day of the first of those Weeks which made XLIX days in all Maimonides thinks it was for the honour of this great Day of Pentecost that they were to count the days till it came just like a Man saith he who expects his best Friend is wont to tell the days and hours till he arrive More Nevoch P. III. c. 43. And therefore the present Jews begin this Supputation with a solemn Prayer saying Blessed art thou O LORD our God the LORD of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commandest us to number the days of Harvest and this is the first day And thus they go on to pray till the seventh day when they add Now there is one Week and so they proceed in the same Prayers to the Evening of Pentecost Which Feast they not being able now to keep as the Law appoints they pray to God every day after they have done counting that he would restore Jerusalem and the Temple and then they promise to do all that is here prescribed And this counting in some places is performed publickly in their Synagogues yet so that every Master of a Family is bound every Night to do it at home See Buxtorf Synag Judaica cap. 20. Ver. 16. Verse 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days The next day after the seventh Sabbath or Week made just fifty days from which this Feast was called Pentecost and in the Old Testament the Feast of Weeks because it began the next day after the seven Weeks before-mentioned XXXIV Exod. 22. And ye shall offer a new Meat-offering to the LORD Viz.
and would neither eat them nor offer them to their Gods nor would they of Pessinuntium in Galatia quod prorsus Mosaicum est which they learnt in all likelyhood from Moses as Huetius thinks Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. cap. 11. n. 1. But in many other Nations this Food was highly valued and Athenaeus I observe gives the very same reason of its Name that Varro doth Lib. IX Deipnos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence it is that Aristophanes calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mystical Swine in his Acharnan because as the Scholiast there explains it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were offered in the Mysteries of Ceres And Julian himself in his Oration upon the Mother of the Gods Orat. V. confesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was deservedly believed to be a grateful Sacrifice to the Terrestrial Gods p. 332. Edit Patav. Ver. 8. Verse 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat and their carcase shall ye not touch Some think the latter part of this Precept signifies no more but that they should not meddle with their Carcase to prepare it for Meat as the word touch seems to be used III Gen. 3. though they did not eat it But others take it more largely that they should not so much as open them to take out the Fat and apply it to any use In this the Jews are so scrupulous that they say they may not touch them though alive with one of their Fingers for fear of the Leprosie It being a Proverbial saying among them which we read in the Treatise Kidduschin That ten measures of Leprosie descending into the World Swine took to themselves nine of them and the rest of the World one If we may believe Herodotus Lib. II. cap. 47. the Egyptians lookt upon Swine as so unclean that if any one touched one of them by chance as he passed by he was bound to wash himself with his Garments in the River Certain it is that not only they but the Arabians and some other neighbouring Nations did abstain from Swines flesh as Bochartus and others have observed See his Hierozoicon P.I. L. II. cap. 57. p. 702. and Petr. Castellanus L. II. de Esu Carnium cap. 4. which they learnt I doubt not at first from the Jews and afterwards found other reasons for it This abhorrency of Swine is propagated into far distant Countries among the Mahometans particularly into Mindanao one of the Philippine Islands where if any one have but touched one of these Creatures he is not permitted to come into any Bodies House for many days after So Dampier relates in a late Voyage round the World chap. 12. p. 343. where he says The Sultan's Brother having a pair of Shoes made him by one of their Ships Crew which they seldom wear there fell into a great Passion when he was told the Thred wherewith the Shoes were sewed was pointed with Hogs bristles and would not wear them Ver. 9. Verse 9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters Though some of the Heathens abstained perpetually from all Fish and others only for some time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they were under strict Obligations of Purity as Julian tells us in the fore-mentioned Oration V. But God left his People at greater liberty forbidding to them only some kinds of Fish by abstinence from which they were sufficiently distinguished from those Nations which ate all indifferently and accounted Fish the greatest delicacy Whatsoever hath fins and scales If both these Marks did not concur in a Fish they were not to eat it But their Doctors say as we learn from R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CL. that if but one Scale was found on a Fish it was accounted lawful and they needed not to observe whether it had Fins or no for all that have Scales they say have Fins though on the contrary all that have Fins have not Scales They observe also secondly that it was lawful to eat young Fish before their Scales appeared if they were of that kind which have Scales when they are grown And thirdly all Fishes that have Scales when they are in the Sea but cast them when they are taken out are lawful In the Waters in the Seas and in the Rivers By Waters in this place as distinguished from Seas and Rivers are meant Lakes and Ponds And so Moses expresses all the places where Fish is found Ver. 10. Verse 10 And all that have not fins nor scales c. shall be an abomination to you There was an ancient Law among the Romans made by Numa That no Fish which wanted Scales should be used in those Feasts which they made in honour of their Gods So Pliny tells us Lib. XXXII Nat. Hist cap. 2. where he quotes an ancient Writer for it Ver. 11. Verse 11 They shall be even an abomination unto you The next words explain what he means by abomination that they should not eat their Flesh nor touch their Carcases Ver. 12. Verse 12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters that shall be an abomination unto you He repeats it again that they might take notice that this alone was a sufficient Mark of difference And therefore he doth not give any instance of particular Fishes that might be eaten or not eaten as he did of Beasts He uses also the word abomination concerning prohibited Fishes which he doth not of such Beasts whom he only calls unclean because there was greater danger of their transgressing in this matter Fishes being a more usual Food among the Eastern People than Flesh Insomuch that among the later Greeks the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies all manner of Victuals came to be used peculiarly for Fish See Bochartus in his Hierozoic P. I. Lib. I. cap. 6. where he observes also the greatest Luxury was committed in this sort of Food which any one may see that reads Athenaeus Ver. 13. Verse 13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls they shall not be eaten Here are no Notes given as in the two foregoing sorts of Creatures to distinguish clean Birds from unclean And therefore the Hebrew Doctors say all Birds are lawful to be eaten but these XXIV mentioned in this Chapter which they were to have in abhorrence Yet they adventure to give four Marks of a clean Bird the principal of which are If it do not fasten its Talons i. e. be not rapacious and have one Claw longer than the rest See R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXI They shall be an abomination This is repeated to make them more careful in this matter The Eagle He names in the first place the King of Birds as Pindar calls the Eagle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Flesh is very hard and whose Nature is very rapacious and therefore both upon a Natural and Moral Account some Authors fancy it was forbidden to be eaten See Vossius Lib. III. de Orig. Progr Idol cap. 77. But I think Origen hath given a better
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.
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
those to whom they were given such as those about Meats and Garments and Leprosie c. Against which lest any one should object it is here added I am the LORD your God I am the LORD your God I who am your Soveraign LORD and by redeeming you from the Egyptian Bondage am become in a special manner your God have ordained these things Therefore let no Man dispute them or make a question of them as the forenamed Gemara expounds these words See Selden Lib. I. de Jure N. G. cap. 10. p. 122. where he observes that the Laws called Statutes are in their Language such as depend only on the Royal Authority Ver. 5. Verse 5 Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgments Observe the Laws before-mentioned For the word we here translate Statutes is the same with that translated Ordinances in the foregoing Verse Which if a man do he shall live in them Not be cut off but live long and happily in the enjoyment of all the Blessings which God promised in his Covenant with them I am the LORD Who will faithfully keep my Covenant and fulfil my Promises VI Exod. 3. Ver. 6. Verse 6 None of you In the Hebrew the words being isch isch as much as to say Man Man that is no Man the Talmudists take it as if he had said neither Jew nor Gentile For all Mankind they say are comprehended under these Laws about Incest Nay the very Karaites or those who adhere only to the Scripture and reject all Talmudical Expositions are of this mind as Mr. Selden observes Lib. I. de Vxore Hebr. cap. 5. But the Talmudists themselves do not all understand this matter alike For some of them think all the Gentiles at lest those who were under the Dominion of the Israelites were bound to refrain from all incestuous Marriages to which Death is threatned by the Law But others of them think they were concerned only in those six things which were unlawful before the Law of Moses was given See Selden Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 1. and cap. 11. p. 596 c. But the ancient Hebrews give a good reason for all these Laws as Grotius observes Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 5. sect 13. n. 2. Shall approach Some of the Jews have been so rigorous as to expound this word as if it bound them not to have any familiarity with the Persons after named R. Levi Barcelonita Praecept CLXXXVIII which is against all Reason and natural Affection The plain sense is they should not approach or come near to them for the end afterward mentioned viz. to uncover their Nakedness Nay this very phrase is used for the same thing XX Gen. 4. without the addition of uncovering their Nakedness Any that is near of kin to him It must be confessed that these words near of kin do not sufficiently express the full sense of the Hebrew phrase nor are they of a determinate signification for a Man maybe near of kin to a Woman who is not the remainder of his flesh as the Hebrew phrase is that is so near of kin to him that nothing comes between them This is properly the nearness of flesh here spoken of she that is immediately born of the same Flesh that a Man is or she out of whose Flesh he is born or she that is born out of his Flesh that is in plainer words a Man's Sister Mother or Daughter These are a Man 's own immediate Relations which the Karaites call the Foundation and Root of all that is here forbidden as Selden notes Lib. I. Vx Hebr. cap. 2. For the sake of whom the rest here mentioned are prohibited having a nearness of flesh to them viz. his Father or Mother's Sister his Grand-daughter and his Niece For the best Explication of this Phrase is the express Particulars mentioned by God himself in this place To uncover their nakedness To have Carnal knowledge of her as the Scripture modestly speaks in other places For nakedness in the holy Language signifies the Secret Parts which natural Modesty teaches all civilized People to cover and not to reveal them to any but those whom they marry Therefore not to uncover the nakedness of the Persons here named is properly not to take them in Marriage and much less to have Knowledge of them without Marriage Answerable to this is the Name of a Virgin whom the Hebrews call Alma which is as much as covered clothed or veiled because those parts were never exposed to any one but those to whom they were espoused and joyned in Marriage I am the LORD By my Authority who am your Soveraign and the Soveraign of the World these Laws are enacted and I will punish those that break them Ver. 7. Verse 7 The nakedness of thy father or the nakedness of thy mother thou shalt not discover It is commonly thought by Interpreters that the Particle we translate or is here as much as that is for so it signifies in some places particularly 1 Sam. XXVIII 3. So that the latter part of the Verse is only an Explication of the former and makes them but one Prohibition against a Man's marrying his Mother And this indeed the next words seem to imply she is thy Mother who bare thee and therefore not to be taken to be thy Wife much less to be otherwise known by thee But we may as well think that the nakedness of the Father and of the Mother are both here mentioned to show neither the Daughter might marry her Father nor the Son his Mother and consequently that in all the following Particulars Women were concerned just as Men were though the Men be only mentioned And under the Name of Father and Mother are comprehended Grandfather or Grandmother or other Progenitors before them She is thy mother thou shalt not uncover her nakedness This is the very first Prohibition it being a going back in Nature for a Man to marry his Mother Which though it was practised in those days by the Canaanites and Egyptians and by the Persians also in after times and some other Eastern Countries yet in the Western part of the World as Mr. Selden observes such Marriages were nunquam non execranda execrable in all Ages Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 11. p. 601 c. Such were the Marriages of Oedipus with Jocasta of Nero with Agrippina Pelopeja and Thyestes her Father of whom Aegistus was born which every Body detested See Grotius de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. II. cap. 5. sect 2. For the Law of Nature was against such Marriages notwithstanding the practice of Persons nay whole Nations whom God gave up to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul shows dishonourable affections for their other sins especially for their forsaking him and falling to Idolatry Maimonides gives this as the general reason of prohibiting this and all the following Marriages because the Persons here forbidden to be so joyned together are all in
them the dearest thing they had See our great Selden Lib. de Diis Syris Syntagm I. cap. 6. where he shows the Phaenicians offered their Children to Saturn so Porphyrius expresly says Lib. II. de Abstin who is said by the Poets to have devoured his own Children and by many is thought to be the same with Molech Though others take it for the Sun to whom it is certain Human Sacrifices were offered Many Authors make mention of it and Eben Batrich thinks such Sacrifices began in the days of Serug and were first used among the Syrians Which is a very probable Opinion as Johan Geusius hath demonstrated Lib. de Victimis Humanis Pars I. cap. 4 5. And it is easie to conceive how from the Syrians this abominable practice was derived to the Phaenicians who worshipped the Sun under the name of Baal or Bel as Herodian Lib. VIII testifies Which doth not contradict what others say that they were devoted to the Worship of Hercules for by him is meant the Sun also as his very name imports viz. Or-Col which in that Language signifies as much as him that illuminates all things From the Phaenicians this Worship of offering Human Sacrifices was propagated to the Carthaginians and other People of Africa among whom this impious Idolatry continued till the time of Hannibal as Bochartus gathers out of Silius Italicus Lib. IV. Mos fuit in populis quos condidit advena Dido Poscere caede Deos veniam ac flagrantibus aris Infandum dictu parvos imponere natos Who says the Carthaginians were wont to appease their Gods by burning their Children on their Altars and then follows after the words now mentioned the Lamentation of Imilce the Wife of Annibal whose Son was by lot to be sacrificed Lib. I. Canaan cap. 28. And this wicked Custom continues still to this day among some of the People in the Southern Parts of Africa as good Authors affirm it having spread it self all over the World as appears by the Discoveries that have been made in America even into the Northern Countries of Scythia But I shall content my self with observing only what the Scripture saith concerning a People in the East called Sepharvites who burnt their Children in the fire to Adramelech 2 Kings XVII 31. which God seems to have been the same with Molech here mentioned by Moses only with the addition of an Epithete signifying their high opinion of him For Adra is as much as potent or mighty and therefore Melech signifying a King Adramelech is in our Language mighty King Now that the Children of Israel notwithstanding this severe Prohibition against it imitated this barbarous Worship is evident from 2 Kings XXIII 10. VII Jer. 31. XIX 5. CVI Psal 37 38. and we may very well think the Prophet Micah also alludes to it VI. 7. as Isaiah LVII 5 6. and Ezekiel XVI 20 21 36. XXIII 37 39. likewise do The manner of Sacrificing their Children and the figure of the Idol to which they offered is described by many according to the Jewish Notion particularly by Paulus Fagius out of Jalkut who makes it an hallow Image having seven Apartments in it according to the number I suppose of the seven Planets into one of which viz. the lowest the Infant was thrown when it was red hot as Flour a Turtle Dove a Sheep c. were into the rest We can have no certainty of this but such kind of Statues were found in the West-Indies when they were discovered as Ludovicus Vives observes in Lib. VI. cap. 19. de Civitate Dei And Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca Lib. XX. describes the Statue of Saturn among the Carthaginians as stretching forth its hands down toward the Earth so that the Child which was put into them might roll and fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a gulph full of fire Benjamin Tudelensis in his Travels about 500. years ago affirms that in some Islands in the East the Worshippers of Fire were wont to leap into it in performance of some Solemn Vow and were counted by all to be happy Men. Which I mention here because he says these Fires were kindled in a Valley as those among the Jews were in the Valley of Hinnom p. 108 109. He shall surely be put to death Sufficient proof being made of the Fact XVII Deut. 6. The people of the Land shall stone him with stones Which was the proper Punishment in this and in some other Cases particularly Adultery v. 10. and Blasphemy XXIV 14 c. The manner of it is described out of an Hebrew MS. Ez Hechajim by J. Wagenseil upon Sota cap. 3. to have been thus He that was to be punished with stoning was stript naked having only a covering before and set upon an high place attended by the Witnesses against him his hands being bound one of the Witnesses giving him a strong push threw him down head-long from thence If this fall kill'd him there was an end But if Life remained in him the Witnesses took up a Stone which was laid there on purpose as big as two Men could lift and threw it upon him and before he quite expired all the People that stood by threw stones at him according to the Law XVII Deut. 7. A Woman was only stript to her shift Ver. 3. Verse 3 And I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people In case that is there was not sufficient proof against him God threatens that he himself would take care to punish him by cutting him off from the Land of the Living R. Bechai and others observe that this cutting off is threefold in the Law one is the cutting off the Body i. e. shortning Mens lives which is threatned to six sins in Scripture The second is the excision of the Soul only which is threatned by Moses six and twenty times and particularly to incestuous Marriages The third is excision both of Soul and Body which is threatned to fifteen sins among which they reckon this of giving their Children to Molech See Selden Lib. VII de Jure N. G. sec Hebr. cap. 9. p. 828 829 c. To defile my Sanctuary By this Sin God's Sanctuary was defiled as well as his holy Name prophaned because they sacrificed to Molech in other places despising the Tabernacle which was the only place appointed by God where Divine Service was to be performed And therein consisted part of the Honour and Reverence which God required to his Sanctuary XIX 30. that it should be lookt upon as the only place where acceptable Sacrifices could be offered to him And therefore then it was dishonoured and defiled when they offered Sacrifice in any other place as they did in after times to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom as I observed before 2 Kings XXIII 10. Where they built High Places to Baal which is another name for the Sun on purpose that they might offer their Children upon them XX Jer. 5 6. XXXII 35. This was