tion 
 
 
THE 
 
 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. 
 
UATFOh'M WITH THIS VOLUME. 
 
 The Manners and Customs of the Jews. By the 
 
 Rev. E. P. Barrows, D.D. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 I. — Agriculture. 
 II.— The Care of Flocks and Herds. 
 III.— Houses and their Appointments. 
 IV.— Dress and Personal Ornaments. 
 V.— The Preparation of Food and Meals. 
 VI.— Domestic Relations and Usages. 
 VII.— The Sciences and Arts. 
 VIII.— Trade and Commerce. 
 
 The Laws and Polity of the Jews. By E. W. 
 Edersheim CGii.es). Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 I.— Polity of the Jews. 
 II.— Domestic Laws. 
 III.— The Ten Words. 
 
 London: The Religious Tract Society, 56, Paternoster Row. 
 
THE 
 
 RITES AND WORSHIP 
 
 OF 
 
 THE JEWS 
 
 r 
 
 y 
 
 t_. W. 1 cWs^'.tyO G-\\eS 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard; and 
 164, Piccadilly 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 9 
 
 PART I. 
 
 HOLY PLACES AND PERSONS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I.— The Outer Court of the Tabernacle 19 
 
 II.— The Holy Place 26 
 
 III.— The Priesthood 40 
 
 IV.— Other Holy Persons: Nazirites. Vows 58 
 
 PART II. 
 HOLY WORSHLP. 
 L— Sacrifices 67 
 
 II.— Burnt Offering; Meat Offering; Drink Offering .. 78 
 III.— Peace Offerings 88 
 
 IV.— Sacrifices for Sins committed : Sin Offering ; Tres- 
 pass Offering 93 
 
 V.— Rites for Special Occasions; 108 
 
 VI.— The Liturgical Ritual: Benediction, Prayer, and 
 
 Praise 120 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART III. 
 HOL Y SEASONS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. — The Day, Week, and Month 125 
 
 II.— Annual Feasts and Fasts 130 
 
 III.— The Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread .. 134 
 
 IV. — The Feast of Weeks : or Pentecost 144 
 
 V.— The Great Yearly Fast: The Day of Atonement .. 149 
 
 VI.— The Feast of Tabernacles 158 
 
 APPENDIX.— I. 'Comparative Religion' 165 
 
 II. New Testament Priesthood and Sacrifice 167 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX 170 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Boards and Bars of the Tabernacle 27 
 
 Interior of the Sanctuary 29 
 
 The Candlestick, or Lampstand 31 
 
 Table of Shewbread 36 
 
 Ark and Mercy-Seai 38 
 
 The Sign of Aaron's Aitoiniment 44 
 
 High Priestly Costume 51 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ' rT^HE New Testament is hidden in the Old ; the Old is 
 _1_ made clear in the New.' In the light of this deep 
 saying of Augustine, the modern study of the Old Testament 
 is largely and wisely conducted ; especially of those parts 
 which have to do with the institutes of Worship and Sacrifice. 
 An accurate acquaintance with these institutes, especially as 
 they stand recorded in the antique and often perplexing book 
 of Leviticus, will throw much light on the teachings of the 
 New Covenant, and will perhaps save the thoughtful student 
 from many mistakes. In particular, he will be able to consider 
 for himself the extraordinary hypotheses that the national life 
 of Israel was developed and consolidated without the Law, 
 and that the account of the Tabernacle and its worship is ' merely 
 an ideal picture of the Babylonian exiles, a reflection of Solo- 
 mon's Temple projected backwards by a vivid fancy upon the 
 distant canvas of Hebrew mythology.' To examine these 
 theories is in no way the purpose of the present volume ; the 
 reader will find the question amply discussed in more directly 
 controversial works. 1 It will be sufficient for the end now in 
 view, if a careful and accurate exposition of the Levitical 
 ordinances shall incidentally disclose the harmony of the 
 system with the state of things in which it professedly had 
 its origin, and its consistency, as standing in the forefront of 
 Israel's history, with all subsequent developments of the 
 
 1 Among the briefer recent discussions of the subject may be mentioned 
 The Genuineness of the Pentateuch, by the Rev. R. Wheler Bush, M.A., and 
 The Mosaic Authorship and Credibility of the Pentateuch, by the Dean of 
 Canterbury (No. 15, Present Day Tracts). 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 national life. The reader will with new assurance accept the 
 declaration that the Lord spake by Moses, and that the 
 ' pattern of things in the heavens ' was verily showed to the 
 great Lawgiver ' in the Mount.' 
 
 It will "be observed that the nation is spoken of here, as in 
 the other volumes of the series, under the appellation of ' The 
 Jews.' To insist upon retaining the name ' Israel ' or ' Israel- 
 ites ' until the time of the national disruption, would have 
 seemed to affect a needless precision ; and the retention of the 
 popular term will cause no confusion in any reader's mind. 
 
 The volume has been mainly prepared by the author of the 
 companion work on The Laws and Polity of the Jews, whose 
 filial relation with the late Dr. Edersheim has made available 
 the stores of Jewish erudition possessed by that lamented 
 scholar. Considerable use has also been made of Bishop 
 Haneberg's Religiose Alterthiimer der Bibel (Munich 1869), as 
 well as of other standard authorities, English and German. 
 
 56, Paternoster Row, 
 1890. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The religious life of a nation will naturally vary according 
 to the nation's surroundings, for these leave their 
 impress deep on the national worship. The more 
 ancient this worship, the more clearly shall we trace the simple 
 and unpolished character of the society in which it originated, 
 bringing the primitiveness of the original religion into marked 
 contrast with the super-refined, so to speak, cavilling creed of 
 later days. Thus it is with Judaism. Place Abraham, the 
 father of the faithful, side by side with a Rabbi of the first 
 or second century ; contrast the simple faith and implicit 
 obedience of the Patriarch with the reported utterances, the 
 Scriptural interpretations, the marvellous deeds of an Akiba, a 
 Jochanan, even a Hillel ; the same creed is scarcely recognis- 
 able. And yet it is the same. There are the same great 
 foundation truths of the Unity of God, of a Revelation to man, 
 of the Election of Israel, of its special relationship to God. 
 In this book it will be our endeavour, by delineating the 
 essential features of primitive Jewish worship, to show how, 
 through all the changing scenes of its political life, the religion 
 of Israel remained ever the same, and will remain ever essen- 
 tially the same, in so far as it follows its real destiny, summed 
 up in these words of Moses : ' Jehovah shall establish thee for 
 a holy people unto Himself .... if thou shalt keep the 
 commandments of Jehovah thy God, and walk in His ways. 
 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called 
 by the name of Jehovah ; and they shall be afraid of thee.' * 
 ] Deut. xxviii. 9, 10. 
 
IO INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Going back to the origins of the Jewish religion, we find 
 it first, having even then been handed down from remote 
 antiquity, centred in the family worship of one man, Abraham. 
 Naturally, his beliefs formed the rule of conduct to his 
 household. For himself, a native of Mesopotamia, accus- 
 tomed to trace the Divine in Nature, to look upon the stars 
 and sands as having special signification as regarded his own 
 progeny, 1 it seemed not strange that his migration into the 
 land of Canaan was in every step directed by God. 2 Wherever 
 he pitched his tent, there he erected an altar, so that his 
 journey throughout the land was, in one sense, a protest 
 against heathenism. In how far Abraham differed from his 
 neighbours it is impossible to say. Tradition represents him 
 as undergoing a fiery ordeal for his faith even in his own 
 father's house. But on this the Bible is silent. The faith of 
 Abraham was sufficient ; ' he believed in Jehovah, and He 
 counted it to him for righteousness.' 3 Still, the repeatedly 
 uttered assurances of God's favour and guidance which 
 Abraham seems to have required,' 1 show that much was yet 
 needed before his family could take up the position of ' a light 
 to lighten the nations.' That Isaac and Jacob added little to 
 what Abraham had already done, is evident. The next stage 
 is, therefore, the Descent into Egypt; and this will bring us up 
 to the time of Moses and his laws, the foundation stone and 
 keynote of the Jewish creed and people. 
 
 Of the form of worship during the bondage in Egypt, we 
 know very little. We read of the children of Israel crying to 
 Jehovah, 5 and from the wording of the Fourth Commandment, 
 1 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,' it has been 
 reasonably enough argued that they at any rate had some 
 acquaintance with this world-old ordinance. 6 Further, circum- 
 cision was probably practised, though not very rigidly enforced. 
 Thus, even Moses himself neglected to administer the rite to 
 
 1 Gen. xv. 5. - Gen. xiii. 17. '•' Gen. xv. 6. 
 4 Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 14; xv. I ; xvii. 1 ; xxi. 12 ; xxii. 15-18. 
 
 5 Exod. ii. 23. '' See below : part III., ch. i. 
 
INTR OD UC TOR V. I i 
 
 his son. 1 It is highly probable, notwithstanding the fact that 
 the Israelites were located in a special part of Egypt, that the 
 nation was to a great extent influenced by the magnificent 
 Egyptian worship around. Whether or not the worship of the 
 Golden Calf was taken from Egypt, as many authorities seem 
 to think, or was of more ancient origin than the sojourn in 
 Egypt, is still an open question. But certain it is, that the 
 worship of the Israelites in the Desert of the Exodus was very 
 far from pure; and that they copied rites, and accordingly 
 brought down judgment on themselves, from such people as 
 the Midianites and the desert tribes. 
 
 Two passages in the later Scriptures cast much reflex light 
 on the religious condition of the Israelites in the wilderness. 
 One is in the Book of Jeremiah, vii. 22, 23, 'I spake not unto 
 your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought 
 them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or 
 sacrifices ; but this thing commanded I them, saying, Hearken 
 unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my 
 people ; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that 
 it may be well with you.' This cannot be taken to mean, as 
 some read the passage, that no laws concerning ritual were 
 given by God to Israel ; seeing that the prophet himself re- 
 peatedly recognizes the existence of such laws, 2 but plainly 
 intimates two things, first, that the law which was the basis of 
 Israel's life — the Ten Words — contained no reference to 
 sacrifice ; and secondly, that the moral must always rank above 
 the ceremonial. Sacrifices were commanded not for their own 
 sake, but as means and helps to holiness, apart from which 
 they were worthless. The other passage is in the book of Amos, 
 quoted in Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin : 3 ' Did ye 
 bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty 
 years, O house of Israel? Yea, ye have borne Siccuth 
 
 1 Exod. iv. 25, 26. 
 
 2 See vi. 20; vii. 21 ; xiv. 12 : xvii. 26 ; xxxiii. 18. Compare also the 
 testimony of the earlier prophets, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah. 
 
 3 Amos v. 25, 26, R.V. ; Acts vii. 42, 43. 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, 
 which ye made to yourselves.' This passage plainly intimates 
 first, that ' sacrifices and offerings ' to Jehovah were ordained 
 in the wilderness; else wherefore the impiety of withholding 
 them? and secondly, that the offerings were so neglected or 
 intermingled with heathen observances as to enstamp the people 
 with the character of idolaters at that early period of their 
 history — a character which their descendants had only too 
 fatally maintained. 
 
 The further words of Jehovah in the book of Ezekiel 
 (xx. 25) : 'I gave them statutes that were not good, and judg- 
 ments wherein they should not live,' are to be interpreted, 
 not of the law in its death-bringing character, 1 but of the 
 institutes and observances of idolatry to which God in His 
 righteous displeasure left the people, to punish their unfaith- 
 fulness. This part of the Divine dealing with them was in fact 
 a step to their recovery. Left to discover the evil consequences 
 of departing from Jehovah, they were chastened and humbled, 
 that they might return to Him. 
 
 The immediate effect of establishing a national worship, or 
 what was to serve as such in future days, was most striking. 
 Called upon to contribute towards the erection of a central 
 place of worship, each person ' willing-hearted, brought 
 bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of 
 gold,' 2 not to speak of linen, skins, silver, and brass. It 
 seemed as though now the children of Israel had found a point 
 round which they could rally, an object which they could all 
 delight to further. And during the months that the Tabernacle 
 was in rearing there were no judgments visiting a disobedient 
 people, no craving for what was sinful or unlawful. Directly 
 it was completed, the children of Israel seem to have lost sight 
 of its meaning, and relapsed into murmuring and profanity. 3 
 So difficult is it for a nation, even an Israel, to live up always 
 to the ideal set before them. 
 
 1 Romans vii. 10, and kindred passages, are wrongly quoted as sustaining 
 this view. - Exod. xxxv. 22. 3 Lev. x. ; Numb. xi. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. ^ 
 
 This Tabernacle : what was it like ? The question has been 
 answered in many ways, and very differently also. According 
 to some, it was a most spacious and gorgeous building, fit to 
 be the dwelling of the King, the Lord of Hosts. Others 
 again, and more truly, take it to have been the type and 
 picture of the 'tabernacling among men' of Christ, 1 and 
 therefore imagine it as plain, unadorned, a building that would 
 be called paltry and poor in these days. The truth lies 
 between the two extremes. The Tabernacle was certainly a 
 tent, and meant to be temporary. But it was a tent which 
 carried with it the idea of being established for ever. Its 
 corners were square, like those of a house ; and it was beauti- 
 fully adorned with gold, silver, gifts, to the very best of what 
 the children of Israel possessed. It was a tent, inasmuch as 
 the Desert of Sinai was not their rest ; it was also a house, a 
 dwelling, because ' the tabernacle of God is with men, and He 
 shall dwell with them.' 2 So, without, all was plain and tent- 
 like ; within, all was beauty and glory. Not in the Temple of 
 Solomon, nor in the Temple of Herod, gorgeous as it was, was 
 there aught of holy beyond what had been shown to Moses in 
 the Mount. 
 
 Of course 5 all was on a very small scale. The Israelites 
 were never very famous for their skill in workmanship, or 
 handicraft of any kind. Some hundreds of years later, we find 
 them obliged to go to their neighbours and enemies, the 
 Philistines, for blacksmith's work. Indeed, the genius of the 
 nation, and the tendency of the Mosaic code, lay all in the 
 opposite direction. Israel could only be kept pure by not 
 coming into contact with other nations. It was a contrast j a 
 1 peculiar people,' whose mission was not to proselytise, but to 
 keep itself aloof from the heathen world around it. Proselytes 
 were always looked upon with suspicion ; and the story of the 
 perpetual bondage of the Gibeonites probably deterred many 
 of the Canaanitish tribes from joining the victorious Israelitish 
 army. To the heathen world the Jew was always a mysterious 
 1 John i. 14. 2 Rev. xxi. 3. 
 
1 4 INTR OD UC TOR Y. 
 
 undesirable being, one who loved his brother-neighbour, and 
 hated his enemy. In short, the world was for the Jew, not the 
 Jew for the world. And thus, in process of time, when the 
 nation had fulfilled its destiny, this exclusiveness, so necessary 
 for its life in the beginning of its history, was so perverted in 
 the end as to become its death. 
 
 The meaning and import of the Tabernacle appears clearly 
 in the Pentateuch. Here, and elsewhere throughout the Old 
 Testament, it could be read under its different names. Very 
 frequently it was called ohel, a tent, generally in combination 
 with other words. 1 
 
 In its earliest form, before the construction of the Tabernacle, 
 it is described as ohel moed, the Tent of Meeting (R.V.), i.e., 
 the tent in which Jehovah met with His people. 2 The ren- 
 dering 'Tabernacle of the Congregation' (A.V.) gives therefore 
 a mistaken application of the phrase. The ' tent ' appears 
 first to have been that of Moses himself, pitched without the 
 camp (Exod. xxxiii. 7), and resorted to by 'every one which 
 sought Jehovah.' Afterwards the more permanent structure is 
 designated by the same phrase. 3 Occasionally it is termed 
 ohel ha-eduth, 'Tent of the Testimony,' 4 i.e., of the Tables of 
 the Law. But the more general term is mishkan, 'dwelling;' 
 as mishkan ha-ednih, mishkan ohel moed. It was also the Holy 
 Place, 5 the House of Jehovah. 6 Thus the Tabernacle was not 
 only a place for worship, but a tent, wherein God sojourned 
 as the leader of His people ; the place of meeting, where He 
 could be approached by the children of Israel ; the tent of 
 witness, a continual memorial and reminder of the fact that 
 
 1 Once only found alone in this sense, 1 Kings i. 39. 
 '-' See Exod. xxix. 42-46. 
 
 3 Exod. xxxix. 32 ; xl. 2, 22, 24, 26, etc. ; Lev. and Numb, throughout ; 
 Josh, xviii. 1 ; 1 Kings viii. 4 ; 2 Chron. i. 3. 
 
 4 Numb. ix. 15 ; xvii. 7, 8 ; xviii. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. 6. See Acts vii. 44. 
 The Revisers of the Old Testament always; distinguish between ohel, 
 ' tent,' and mishkan, ' tabernacle.' 
 
 5 Mikdash, Exod. xxviii. 43. 
 
 6 Josh. vi. 24. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 15 
 
 their God was a jealous God, and would have none other gods 
 but Himself. 
 
 The time of rearing the Tabernacle is significant. The 
 nation was, so to speak, first consolidated by the Ten Words 
 given to them. Then, the moral code being unfolded, and 
 man's duty towards his neighbour clearly understood, it was 
 time to appoint a religious law; since religion is what concerns 
 each individual specially. For, if in a man's mind there is no 
 separation into deeds wrong and right, there can be no desire 
 for reparation of injuries, no feeling that anything has been done 
 contrary to accepted rules. But 'by the law is the knowledge 
 of sin;' and therefore follows the necessity of atonement. 
 But further, the desire for a worship would be doubly strong, 
 that is, for a propitiatory worship, if some public act had been 
 committed which was deemed reprehensible. This occasion 
 we have in the Sin of the Golden Calf. The Israelites had 
 been impelled to make this calf, not because they wished to 
 copy the Egyptians — they had too recently escaped from their 
 bondage to have such a desire — but from the want they felt to 
 have a visible token of God's leadership among them. But 
 once terribly punished for their fault, and with the knowledge 
 of Moses' presence near them, they joyfully embraced the 
 opportunity afforded them by the plan of the Tabernacle- 
 building to make their peace with Jehovah. Gifts poured in 
 from all sides, and in a very short time, between the third 
 month of the first year and New Year's day of the second, this 
 being inclusive of the forty days of Moses' sojourn on Sinai, 
 the whole Tabernacle was finished. 
 
 In this place it only remains to say a few words as to the 
 after history of the edifice. Carried about by the Israelites all 
 through the years of their wanderings, when they had at last 
 reached the land of Canaan, it went across Jordan with them 
 to Gilgal, and seems to have been finally pitched in Shiloh. 1 
 After this time the Tabernacle, from all accounts, must have 
 been made into a more permanent building. There Eli and 
 1 Josh, xviii, 1. 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Samuel were priests. 1 Then we read of the Ark being captured 
 and carried into the country of the Philistines, and of its 
 return to Kirjath-jearim.' It is impossible to say what was the 
 fate of the structure of the Tabernacle. The Ark itself was 
 brought into Solomon's Temple. 2 Jewish tradition, no doubt 
 as untrustworthy in this case as usual, says : Fourteen years 
 was the Tabernacle in Gilgal, over three hundred years in 
 Shiloh, fifty-seven in Nob and Gibeon. Some say it was 
 buried beneath the foundations of the Temple ; others again, 
 that after the destruction of the Temple it was carried to 
 Babylon. Certain it is, whatever credit we may give these 
 stories, that the need for the Tabernacle had passed away. 
 The nation had grown out of its infant stage. A gorgeous 
 Temple, that is, gorgeous to the eyes of its then beholders, had 
 taken the place of the curtained tent. Later on, the synagogues 
 and places for prayer would put even the Temple itself in the 
 background. And that all these forms of worship were at best 
 only temporary, and that read in the light of our days they 
 were but ' a figure for the time then present,' we now clearly 
 see ; for there is ' a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not 
 made with hands,' even the spiritual Church of God. 
 
 1 i Sam. i., etc. 2 I Kings viii. 4. 
 
PART I. 
 
 &oIg places anb Persons. 
 
PART I. 
 
 feolg places anb Persons. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Wte (Ditter QLoxxxi ot the ^alabmutclc. 
 
 In the midst of the Israelitish camp in the wilderness, where 
 each tribe encamped by itself under its own leader and its 
 own standard, rose the Tabernacle, half tent, half dwelling. 
 Seen from the outside it was altogether a tent. Surrounded 
 by an open court, only separated from the outer world by 
 curtained pillars, stood the Sanctuary, an oblong mass of 
 coverings. The outer court itself was one hundred cubits 1 long 
 by fifty broad, and was surrounded by pillars, sixty in 
 number : forty on the north and south sides, and twenty on the 
 east and west. These pillars were fastened to the ground by 
 'stays ;' it was tent-like in this: and from one pillar to the other 
 all the way round ran a curtain made of ' byssus,' 2 fastened to 
 the pillars by hooks, and run on to a rod overlaid with silver. 
 The pillars themselves were five cubits high, and made of acacia 
 (translated ' shittim ' in our Authorised Version) wood, their 
 capitals being overlaid with silver, and their sockets made of 
 brass. The entrance into the Sanctuary was on the east side, 
 where six out of the ten pillars supported the byssus curtain, 
 three on each side, the middle four pillars holding up, instead 
 of the byssus, a beautiful many-coloured curtain, made of 
 hyacinth, purple, crimson, and fine twined byssus. 
 
 1 Cubits. — We have retained the Bible word for the measurements. 
 Approximately, the English reader may reckon the cubit as half a yard ; 
 really it was a little more : about half a metre. 
 
 - 'Fine twined linen,' Exod. xxxvi 8. 
 
20 RITES AND WORSHIP OE THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 This was all that appeared to the outside beholder. 
 
 Reckoning the cubit at rather more than one and a half feet 
 (see note on the preceding page), the height of the pillars and 
 of the curtains must have been nearly eight feet. The wood 
 used here, and throughout the whole Tabernacle, was acacia 
 wood (the spina aigyptiaca of the ancients), which is almost the 
 only wood fit for carpentering purposes to be found in the Sinai 
 Peninsula. The wood is at first of a yellow colour, gradually 
 becomes dark, is very hard, and does not rot. Thus, as at 
 Bethel the stones of the place could make an angels' ladder to 
 Jacob, so did the desert of their wandering supply the Jews 
 with the wherewithal to build a Sanctuary. 
 
 In the points where the tent-character of the Tabernacle 
 was the first object, everything was of the simplest kind. The 
 pillars were plain, and of acacia wood; but their capitals 
 (' fillets ') were beautiful in shape, and covered with silver. The 
 hangings again were only of byssus, though this of the very best. 
 On the other hand, the brass sockets of the pillars l showed 
 clearly that the foundation laid was a firm one, and thus, that 
 the ground of the worship was sure. The symbolism carried 
 upwards, the plain shafts of the pillars, surmounted with silver, 
 marked an increase in holiness or beauty, just as the byssus 
 curtains around were expanded into the beautiful many- coloured 
 curtain before the pillars of entrance. 
 
 It is not forcing a parallel, nor seeking a meaning not 
 already there, to say that everything about the Tabernacle was 
 intended to body forth some grand religious or ethical truth. 
 That such meanings are now pretty clearly, and in the future 
 will be doubtless still more clearly, read in most of the world's 
 ancient monuments, there can be little doubt. And, to take 
 even the lowest ground, the same might be expected to be true 
 in the case of one of the oldest nations of the world — of the 
 Jews. But when it is added that the construction was ac- 
 cording to Divine command and 'pattern,' we reach the sure 
 conclusion that all is significant : although, it may be, many 
 1 Exo<I. xxxvi. 38. 
 
Chap. I.] THE LAVER. 21 
 
 parts await interpretation. In the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 the Christian student finds in the meantime a certain and 
 sufficient guide. 
 
 Having premised this, we now proceed to examine the 
 interior of the court, which was entered on the east side by 
 lifting the huge curtain (20 x 5 cubits). Theologians have 
 seen in the colours of this curtain a picture of the kingdom of 
 God ; in the hyacinth — a dark blue, almost the colour of the 
 sky in those latitudes — its heavenly origin and character; in 
 the purple— a dark red, the royal colour — its kingly splendour ; 
 in the coccus or scarlet — the colour of blood — its consecration 
 through sacrifice ; and in the white and shining byssus, its 
 holiness. Thus, as temporary, the Tabernacle was made of the 
 commonest, most ordinary materials, acacia and brass ; but as 
 God's dwelling it was pure (byssus) ; and as the King's palace 
 beautiful (silver and coloured work). 
 
 But this was only the outside, the wall of separation, dividing 
 the holy from the profane or common. In this sense it was 
 that the Jews afterwards looked upon Jerusalem as the outer 
 court of the Temple, whither the stranger and foreigner was 
 allowed to come. The court was uncovered, for here the 
 Divine and the human touched, as did the earth and sky : it 
 was to the Sanctuary what the Jewish nation was to be to the 
 world — the point of contact between Jehovah and the Gentiles. 
 The symbolism of the numbers of pillars, of their distances from 
 each other, of the peculiar shape of the building (an oblong), 
 need not here trouble us. They have been the subject of many 
 ingenious theories from the days of the ancient Jewish mystics 
 onwards. Still, it must always be borne in mind that the outer 
 court was in no sense a dwelling. It was simply a vestibule to, 
 and preparation for, better things, which were reserved for 
 better, i.e., holier, men : the Priesthood. 
 
 The Laver. 
 
 Entering the court on the east side, the first object in view 
 was the Laver (Hebrew, kiyyor). This was an immense 
 
22 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Pari I. 
 
 basin of brass, round and deep, standing on a pedestal, for the 
 use of the priests and Levites when they had to wash before 
 performing any service. The ' base ' of the Laver has given rise 
 to a great difference of opinion. According to some authorities, 
 it was a deep trough, intended to catch the water which ran 
 over from the basin ; according to others, it was only an 
 ornamental pedestal. We are not told how the water in the 
 Laver was renewed ; but this one note is added, in the 
 Pentateuch, to the very scanty picture drawn for us : the base 
 was made of, or ornamented with, the ' mirrors of the serving 
 women which served at the door of the tent of meeting.' 1 We 
 cannot now tell who these women were. The Septuagint adds, 
 'they had fasted.' Were they regular attendants at the 
 Tabernacle services, or women who were employed about 
 the building for cleaning, washing, or even to assist in some 
 ceremonies? We know that the Egyptian women, when 
 they visited the temples, were accustomed to go in linen 
 garments, with a mirror in the left hand, and a sistrum 
 in the right. May it not have been that Moses was directed 
 to turn this remnant of the old Egyptian life and corruption, 
 now freely contributed by its possessors, into an ornament for 
 beautifying the Laver, which was to symbolise Israel's entire 
 separation from the outside world, its ' Holiness to the Lord ' ? 
 
 The Altar of Burnt Offering. 
 
 Passing the Laver, wherein each priest washed his hands and 
 feet before engaging in any service, the principal object in the 
 outer court, the great Altar of Burnt Offering, came in sight. 
 This altar, so called because on it the daily burnt offering was 
 consumed, and because in consequence it had a perpetual fire 
 glowing on it, 2 was a square chest-like object made of acacia 
 wood, three cubits high by five broad and long. 3 This wooden 
 1 Kxod. xxxviii. 8, K.V. - Lev. vi. 13. 
 
 z The customary representations of this 'great' altar make it appear 
 much too large ; as it was only from four and a half to five feet in height. 
 The altar in Solomon's Temple was ten cubits in height, twenty in length 
 and breadth, and it was constructed entirely of brass. 
 
Chap. I.] THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING. 23 
 
 altar was covered with brass, and its four corners at the top 
 were ornamented with 'horns.' The signification of these 
 horns has puzzled many commentators. Undoubtedly they 
 were partly ornamental, and partly a necessary feature in the 
 structure of the altar. 1 Further, they were not a new invention 
 in the Jewish Tabernacle, but we find traces of them as existing 
 in heathen architecture. But as everything in the Tabernacle 
 had its special meaning, we are scarcely wrong in judging that 
 the ' horns ' signified the high point, the holiest place, of the 
 altar ; and as holiness is beauty, the horns (which in Nature is 
 the most beautiful thing in the animal) on the altar were to be 
 sprinkled with the most precious thing these animals could 
 give — their life-blood. 
 
 Round about the altar ran the ka?'kob, a term which has also 
 proved very puzzling to theologians. In the Revised Version 
 the account given of this karkob reads as follows : ' And thou 
 shalt make for it a grating of network of brass ; and upon the 
 net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners 
 thereof. And thou shalt put it under the ledge round the altar 
 beneath, that the net may reach half way up the altar.' 2 
 Many and varied are the theories concerning this ' network.' 
 Some would have it that it was a kind of fender, to take 
 the ashes ; others, that it was a bank on which the priests 
 stood to minister ; others, again, that it was simply ornamental, 
 being decorated, serving to secure the altar and also to 
 beautify it. But, as it reached from the ground up to the 
 middle of the altar, from its position it could scarcely have been 
 of much service — except perhaps in keeping the priests from 
 inadvertently touching the altar. Likewise, to it were fastened, 
 or rather to the network above it, the staves by which the altar 
 was conveyed from one camping-place to another. And here 
 the heavy framework would almost seem to require something 
 stronger than the mere brass covering of the acacia wood altar 
 for its support. For the altar itself— that is, the brass and wood- 
 was simply a hollow covering for the real altar, which according 
 1 'The horns of it,' Exod. xxvii. 2, R.V. 2 Exod. xxvii. 4, 5- 
 
24 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 to Divine command must always be of earth or of unhewn 
 stones. 1 Earth would most probably be preferred during the 
 years in the wilderness, as being so much easier to procure. 
 The making of earthen altars seems to have been common in 
 antiquity, especially among the Greeks and Romans ; in fact, 
 among the Romans these seem to have been the most ancient 
 kind. But to the Jew his altar of earth or unhewn stone 
 meant that the world, the earth, was the true foundation of 
 the kingdom of God ; and that as by earth man had sinned, 
 so by earth was he reconciled. The stone, over which chisel 
 and gavel had never yet been lifted up, stood for pure and un- 
 falsified offering to God. And finally, the approach to the altar 
 was by an inclined plane, as seemliest for the ministering 
 priests. 
 
 Such was the altar on which Israel offered sacrifice, in the 
 place where heaven and earth met, and where the chosen 
 nation stood as sacrificing priest for all the nations of the world. 
 
 To the altar belonged all usual utensils : pans (shvf/i), for the 
 fat and ashes; shovels (ya'im), to take up the cinders; basins 
 (mizragoth), for the blood of the victims ; flesh-hooks (mizlagoth), 
 for taking up the flesh ; fire-pans (machtoth), for taking live 
 coals from the altar, or for burning incense. 2 They were all 
 made of brass. 
 
 These were the contents and equipments of the outer 
 Sanctuary court. Here did the worshipper, the world shut out 
 from his view, and only the clear air of heaven above him, 
 enter to come near to God. For him the great object in the 
 Tabernacle was ever the Altar of Burnt Offering ; for each time 
 he approached God it must be through blood : ' apart from 
 shedding of blood there is no remission/ The outer court of 
 the Sanctuary, to modern eyes, might appear very primitive, even 
 barbarous. The continual smoke of burning meat which rose 
 up would, no doubt, greatly offend nineteenth-century nostrils. 
 But to the Jew of those days this was the right and fitting way 
 1 Exod. xx. 24, 25. " Exod. xxvii. 3. 
 
Chap. I.] THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING. 25 
 
 to draw nigh to God. They were in the child-stage ; we, who 
 have become men, have put away childish things. But the 
 lesson was not less clearly taught in those days than it is in 
 ours, that the Lord is in His holy Temple, and that sin must 
 be put away by sacrifice before the worshipper can approach 
 Him acceptably. The good things of which the law had a 
 shadow are still good things to us. Through 'one offering,' 
 these blessings — purity and perfection — are to be attained. 1 
 To re-echo now the words of the Psalmist, in which the writer 
 of the Epistle to the Hebrews reads the meaning of all 
 worship : ' Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.' To do this is 
 to dwell in the kingdom of God. 
 
 1 Heb. x. 14. 
 
26 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THhc Jf)oln JJlace. 
 
 ' r~~^\ ee . . . . that thou make all things according to the 
 i^*} pattern that was showed thee in the mount .... a 
 copy and shadow of the heavenly things.' l To the 
 Jew, then, the Tabernacle was to mean more than a thing 
 made with human hands. And so he who had been purified 
 by the Laver, and reconciled to God at the great Altar of 
 Burnt Offering, who was God's priest, the chosen out of the 
 chosen race, the holier than the holy — he might cross the outer 
 court, and enter what was, in a real sense, God's dwelling, His 
 tent among men. 
 
 The Holy Place was situated rather more towards the west 
 end than in the middle of the outer court. In the court the 
 Laver and the Altar must have occupied considerable space ; 
 and the enclosure was also intended for the use of the con- 
 gregation of Israel who came up to worship. 
 
 But the beauty and glory of anything in the outer court 
 paled before the true Sanctuary. Not that the outside of it 
 was very magnificent. The building was made of upright 
 boards of acacia wood, twenty on each side — i.e., north and 
 south, and eight to the back — i.e., the west end. The east side, 
 which formed the entrance, had no board, and was as to frame- 
 work an open space. Each board was ten cubits high and one 
 and a half broad, so that the total length of the side-walls was 
 thirty cubits, north and south ; and as two of the eight boards 
 on the west side were 'corner' boards,- the breadth of the 
 1 Ileb. viii. 5, R.V. 
 
 2 There appears to be some difficulty as to these corner boards. Six of 
 the boards to the west of the Holy Place would make nine cubits — which 
 leaves one cubit to be accounted for. Josephus says that the two corner 
 boards were half a cubit broad ; but without admitting such an unsymme- 
 trical appearance as those slips of board would present, it is easy to imagine 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HOLY PLACE. 
 
 27 
 
 Holy Place is usually reckoned at ten cubits. The upright 
 acacia wood boards were each sunk, by means of two ' tenons ' 
 (Hebrew, yadoth, hands), into two ' sockets ' (adanim), which 
 were accordingly one hundred in number : forty on each side 
 (north and south), and twenty to the west. These sockets 
 were made of silver, each one being cast out of a talent of 
 silver. Reckoning the talent at 3,000 shekels (= about 
 ^387 1 os.), the value of these comparatively unornamental parts 
 of the Holy Place must have been very considerable — about 
 ;£3 8 >75°- Josephus seems to think that the single sockets of 
 the pillars in the outer court, being made only of brass, were 
 partially sunk in the ground. Not so those of the Holy Place. 
 To strengthen the boards, and keep them in their places, 
 five rows of rings held five bars, which passed across the up- 
 right boards, not the whole way along, but somewhat after this 
 fashion, so that even these bolts and rings were ornamental : — 
 
 CIZZ 
 — -Z2 
 
 It will be seen that the middle bar passed right across. 1 Both 
 boards and bars were covered with gold leaf, the rings being 
 
 that the corner boards projected as far as the outside face of the boards of 
 the sides, the thickness of which might easily make up the missing cubit of 
 the boards (reckoning them at l\ cubit broad) ; and that the measurements 
 were taken from the inside, from corner to corner. 
 
 1 Comp. Exod. xxvi. 28. 
 
28 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 of gold. To the outside beholder, then, this must have seemed 
 a Sanctuary bright with the most precious metals of earth. 
 
 Thus much for the north, south, and west sides. The east, 
 which to an Oriental meant the front of the world, was 
 separated from the outer court by five pillars, made of acacia 
 wood overlaid with gold leaf. But the sockets of these pillars 
 were made only of brass, as signifying that something still 
 better was reserved for him who entered the Sanctuary. From 
 the five pillars hung, by golden rings, a curtain or ' screen ' — 
 so the Revised Version — ' of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and 
 fine twined linen,' — the last the much-disputed byssus, now 
 generally thought to be the cotton of the East — certainly not 
 silk. 
 
 Divisions of the Sanctuary. 
 
 Within the Sanctuary were two rooms, or divisions, the 
 innermost one being the ' Holy of Holies,' the most sacred 
 part of the Holy Place. This was perfectly symmetrical : ten 
 cubits high by ten long and broad. It was separated from the 
 Holy Place by four pillars, covered with gold leaf, and set in 
 four sockets of silver. A ' Veil ' (Hebrew, parocheth, separ- 
 ation, parting) hung from the four pillars, being fastened to 
 them by golden hooks. The Veil is described as ' of blue, 
 and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen : with cherubim 
 the work of the cunning workman.' 1 That is, the entire curtain, 
 as well as that before the Holy Place itself, was only of cotton j 
 but whereas the outer curtain was only beautiful in colour, the 
 inner Veil was embroidered with the best skill of the best 
 workman. 
 
 While we are not told what, if any, coverings or carpets were 
 laid on the floor of the Sanctuary — in fact, the floor itself is 
 not mentioned — a very minute description is given of the 
 coverings or ' roofs ' of the tent. Immediately over the boards 
 and pillars was hung, or rather laid, a covering of byssus, 
 similar to that of the Veil, i.e., of 'fine twined linen, and blue, 
 1 Exod. xxxvi. 35, R.V. 
 
Chap. II.] DIVISIONS OF THE SANCTUARY. 29 
 
 and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the cunning 
 workman.' But this covering was not all in one piece. It was 
 made up of ten curtains, each twenty-eight by four, and put 
 together in this manner : ' Five curtains shall be coupled 
 together one to another ; and the other five curtains shall be 
 coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue 
 upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the 
 coupling [that is, outmost in the first set] ; and likewise shalt 
 thou make in the edge of the curtain that is outmost in the 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 second coupling. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, 
 and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that 
 is in the second coupling [set] ; the loops shall be opposite 
 one to another. And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and 
 couple the curtains one to another with the clasps : and the 
 tabernacle shall be one.' 1 But as this covering was only to 
 form a roof to the building, there was a great deal more of it 
 1 Exod. xxvi. 1-6, R.V. 
 
3<d RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 than was required for the purpose. That the roof was ridged 
 appears more than probable, although many representations 
 of the Sanctuary give the roof as flat. The length of the 
 curtain (twenty-eight cubits) would thus serve to cover the 
 breadth of the Tabernacle (ten cubits), still leaving over 
 sufficient material to overlap the top of the wall-boards and to 
 hang down on each side. The breadth of the curtains (four 
 by ten = forty cubits), was too long for the length of the Taber- 
 nacle (thirty cubits — or, including the boards on the west side, 
 thirty-one cubits), and therefore it hung down also to a certain 
 extent on the west side. It has been suggested that this 
 byssus-covering was that used for festivals, or in fine weather 
 — for, indeed, it seems strange that, as the Mosaic account 
 appears to imply, it should have been made so very beautiful if 
 it was never to be seen at all. 
 
 The next covering — which the same commentator thinks was 
 meant for foul weather — was made of goats' hair. The curtains, 
 or carpets, were here eleven in number, each thirty by four 
 cubits. The great divisions were into five and six ; but as the 
 total breadth required to cover the length of the Tabernacle 
 was only thirty-one cubits, and the curtains were eleven by 
 four ( = forty-four cubits), the superfluous covering was thus got 
 rid of: In front, i.e., on the east side, the sixth of the six 
 curtains was doubled back, but not to quite its whole breadth 
 — in fact, probably only half — forming a sort of gable, so to 
 speak, for extra protection against storm. There now remain 
 forty-two cubits of covering to thirty-one cubits of the Taber- 
 nacle, thus leaving some cubits to hang down on the west side, 
 completely hiding the byssus-curtains underneath. North and 
 south the thirty cubits of goats' hair carpet hung nine cubits on 
 each side, again covering the byssus. 
 
 It seems also probable that this covering was securely 
 fastened, at a little distance from the silver sockets of the 
 boards, by the 'pins' and 'cords' referred to in Exod. xxvii. 
 19 ; xxxv. 18. 
 
 Above these two coverings was the 'roof (Hebrew, gag). 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK. 
 
 31 
 
 It consisted of two coverings, the under one of rams' skins 
 dyed red, the outer one of tachash skins, rendered 'seal-skins' 
 and ' porpoise-skins ' by the Revisers, and now generally sup- 
 posed to be the skin of the dolphin (dugong), of which we are 
 told there are three species in the Red Sea, and which would 
 therefore not be difficult to procure in the Desert of Sinai. 
 
 The Golden Candlestick. 
 
 Scanty light of day penetrated within the Sanctuary; but 
 nevertheless, both by day and by night, to mark that the 
 
 THE CANDLESTICK, OR LAMPSTAND. 
 
 Keeper of Israel neither slumbered nor slept, the Holy Place 
 was ablaze. For within it, on the south side, stood the great 
 seven-branched Golden Candlestick, 1 type of the nation Israel, 
 the bringer of light into the world. Its weight was enormous, 
 a talen; of gold ; for it was all of pure metal, and is calculated 
 to have been worth over ^5000. Nor was it 'barbaric' gold. 
 From a golden foot or base sprang a single upright stem, 
 1 Candlestick. — With the Revisers we retain the word, although lampstand 
 would be more literally exact. 
 
32 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 supported on either side by three branches, in all making seven 
 stems. We cannot tell how far the original Candlestick, of 
 which the pattern had been seen in the Mount, was like that 
 depicted on the Arch of Titus. In form the Tabernacle 
 Candlestick was like an almond plant, the almond (shaked, the 
 1 early waker ') being the type of Israel, the first nation to wake 
 out of the winter's sleep of uselessness and suspended life. 1 
 Very minute is the description given of the Candlestick, The 
 central shaft, or ' reed,' was no longer than the side ones ; but 
 it, and they all, were ornamented with opening buds — of 
 course all 'of one piece with it' — arranged in this manner: First 
 a ' knop,' then on the knop a ' bud.' Each branch had four 
 such ' knops ' ; but the fourth ' bud ' opened rather wider, and 
 held a 'cup,' in which was placed the pure, beaten, white 
 olive-oil and the wick, from whence the Holy Place was filled 
 with light. These seven ' cups ' or lamps were trimmed every 
 morning, and re-lighted every evening. It is a moot point 
 whether they were kept burning all day as well as all night. 
 Had they been totally extinguished each morning, the priests 
 would have been obliged to grope their way in almost complete 
 darkness during the day. Josephus tells us that in his time at 
 least three out of the seven lamps were kept burning all day, 
 while the other four were lighted in addition at night. The 
 most trustworthy exegetes suggest that the lamps were 
 removed and refilled with oil each night, in order to ensure 
 their burning all night ; and that Aaron's 'dressing the lamps ' 
 in the morning merely consisted of cleaning them, and, if 
 necessary, pouring in more oil, the cups not being then moved 
 from their places. 
 
 To the Golden Candlestick belonged its necessary vessels, 
 'tongs,' and 'snuffdishes,' for use in its cleaning. It would 
 seem that these vessels were included in, and formed part of, 
 the talent of gold set apart for the Candlestick. The wick of 
 the lamps was so arranged that each light shone on one 
 
 1 The almond is known to bud and ' awake' as early as January in the 
 regions about Palestine. 
 
. LI. j h A.. 
 
 particular part of the building. It was ' set up ' in such fashion, 
 ' to give light over against it.' 
 
 So much for the appearance of the Candlestick. But to 
 those who looked beneath the surface of mere beauty, it was 
 all a picture of 'heavenly things.' The Candlestick — so we are 
 expressly told in the Apocalypse — is the Church ; and the 
 Tabernacle Candlestick was the Old Testament Church. The 
 light came from the oil, always a symbol of the Holy Ghost ; 
 its number of branches (seven) showed that it was a heavenly 
 creation ; its light shed on the surrounding darkness, was a 
 picture of the Church's mission in the world. Pure, unmixed 
 with baser metal, it was the ideal Church ; and the memory of 
 it has not yet faded from the pages of the world's history, since 
 its stony picture remains among the ruins of Imperial Rome. 
 
 The Altar of Incense. 
 
 But the Candlestick, after all, was second in importance to the 
 Golden Altar of Incense. This was undoubtedly on a small 
 scale. The Mizbeach haqqetorcth was but two cubits high by 
 one broad and long. Like the great Altar of Burnt Offering in 
 the outer court, it was made of acacia wood, but overlaid with 
 gold ; but whereas the greater Altar was, so to speak, the 
 receptacle for blood and bloody sacrifices, on the ' Golden 
 Altar ' blood was put only once a year, when, on the Day of 
 Atonement, the high priest sprinkled the horns of the altar. In 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews it is located in the Holy of Holies ; 
 and this has afforded the commentators ample ground for 
 cavilling. According to some, this serves to further demon- 
 strate the fact that, in all likelihood, the Golden Altar had no 
 objective existence. Others again, explain this misplacement 
 of the Incense Altar by the fact that it is sometimes known in 
 tradition as the 'inner altar;' or, and as it seems to us more feebly, 
 that it must have been so called, from standing in a line with 
 the Mercy-Seat. That, however, the Altar of Incense did exist, 
 and that it formed an essential element in the daily worship of 
 the Tabernacle, cannot be doubted ; and without profitless 
 
 D 
 
34 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Pari I. 
 
 discussions we are fairly entitled to enumerate it among the 
 vessels of the Holy Place. 
 
 To return. The Golden Altar, small as it was, was very 
 beautiful. All round the 'roof (Hebrew, gag) ran a 'crown,' 
 supposed by some to be a rim or edge ; by others, a kind of 
 wall. The altar was square ; and, like that of Burnt Offering, 
 had horns, a part of an altar evidently considered necessary in 
 antiquity. These horns were all of one piece with the altar, 
 and were overlaid with gold. The usual rings for carrying the 
 altar were placed at the two sides, rather underneath and 
 hidden by the ' crown.' We are left in no doubt as to the 
 meaning of the altar. Every morning and evening, when 
 Aaron dressed the lamps on the Golden Candlestick, he 
 was perpetually to burn incense. Incense, as we know, is 
 the symbol of prayer. ' Let my prayer be set forth as 
 incense before Thee'; 1 and St. John the Divine was 
 shown in the Apocalypse the prayers of saints, like bowls of 
 incense. By this symbolism we are not, however, to understand 
 that as incense ascends to heaven, so do the prayers of the 
 saints ; but rather that, as the sweet odour of incense goes up, 
 so is the prayer of a good man acceptable and pleasing to 
 God. 2 For, further, the altar of incense was not in the outer 
 court, and therefore had nothing to do with the approach of 
 God's world-family to Him. It was in the holy place, where 
 only His purified and specially appointed priests could come. 
 And what, then, was the sacrifice which ideal Israel offered? 
 Hosea, as one has well put it, knew this, when he placed in 
 the mouth of returning Israel these words: 'Take away all 
 iniquity, and accept that which is good ; so will we render the 
 fruit of our lips.' 3 The incense, then, was the heart speaking 
 in the life. 
 
 This same incense was made of a mixture of materials, the 
 most valuable to be obtained in those regions. The ingredients 
 named are : stacte (or«/,-y, Hebrew, nataph\ a species of gum 
 
 1 Psalm cxli. 2, R.V. - So the best commentators. 
 
 3 llos. xiv. 2, R.V. marg. 
 
Chap. II.] THE TABLE OF SHE WERE AD. 35 
 
 storax ; onycha or onyx {ow& unguis odoratus, Hebrew, 
 shecheleth), obtained from a mussel-fish somewhat resembling 
 that from which the famous purple dye was obtained, and 
 found both in India and in the Red Sea, also used in medicine; 
 galbanum (x«a/3«V//, Hebrew, chelbenah, the ferula), obtained 
 from the shrub by making incisions in its bark, when a thick 
 gum oozes out, first white, gradually turning yellow, bitter in 
 taste and disagreeable in smell. It was much used in ancient 
 times for getting rid of insects ; but when mixed with other 
 scents, it helps to bring out their particular odour. At that 
 period it was not much known beyond the limits of Syria. The 
 last ingredient was frankincense {lebonali, \ifiavoq), a pale yellow, 
 bitter-tasting resin, smelling most deliciously when lighted, 
 brought to the Jews from Arabia Felix by caravans, in which 
 country it was not only cultivated, but the purest was made to 
 fall upon outspread coverings placed beneath the trees. All 
 these spices were first carefully prepared separately and then 
 mixed together, probably in equal quantities. The incense 
 was then seasoned with salt, without which no sacrifice could 
 be acceptable, kept by itself, and only to be used for holy 
 purposes. Imitation was punished by death. 
 
 The Table of Shewbread. 
 
 The third object in the Holy Place was the Table of Shew- 
 bread (shulchan lecliem panim, table of the Bread of the Face), 
 so called because upon it were offered continually unleavened 
 cakes, presented before the face of the Lord. The table itself 
 was similar in appearance and height to the Altar of Incense. 
 Although the Septuagint makes it of massive gold, the Hebrew 
 text is not here in accordance with the Greek, 1 and describes 
 it as of acacia wood covered with pure gold,' 2 one and a 
 half cubit high by two long and one broad. It stood on 
 four legs, and its top was like that of the Altar, surrounded by 
 a 'crown,' probably the ledge we have before suggested. 
 Commentators, in their scrupulously minute investigations, have 
 1 Comp. Exud. x.w. - Hence its name, ' the pure table,' 2 Chron. xiii. 1 1. 
 
36 
 
 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [PART 
 
 been unable to discover whether there were two ledges or one. 
 But, as after all, the Table was but the secondary element in 
 this ' heavenly picture ' (the bread being the primary), we may 
 be content to leave the point in doubt. Four rings for carrying 
 the Table were fixed under the ledge at the four corners, of 
 course of pure gold, and the necessary staves were not wanting. 
 On the Table were placed, every Sabbath morning, twelve cakes, 
 each made of two-tenths of an ephah of finest flour. The 
 cakes were arranged in two piles of six each, and were probably 
 
 TABLE OF SHEWBREAD. 
 
 placed on dishes. To each pile belonged a certain quantity ot 
 incense, which probably was not sprinkled on the bread, but 
 placed in dishes near it. When the cakes were removed from 
 the Table, the incense was burned on the Golden Altar ; the 
 bread was given to the priests as food. Thus, as one commen- 
 tator somewhat quaintly remarks, the loaves are good works, of 
 which the holy man enjoys the fruits even in this world. The 
 same writer goes on to remark that the four-sided Table stood 
 for the kingdom of God, and the bread on it signified the fruit 
 of Israel's labour in God's heritage. As it was not acceptable 
 
Chap. II.] VESSELS OF THE SANCTUARY. 37 
 
 without incense, so unless the works gave a good odour to 
 those around, they were not fitting as an offering. The number 
 of the cakes — twelve— stood for the twelve tribes ; that it was 
 reckoned among the meat-offerings showed that even the 
 ordinary daily food was to be consecrated to God. 
 
 Vessels of the Sanctuarv. 
 
 To the Table, as well as to the Altar and to the Candlestick, 
 belonged certain vessels, rendered in the Revised Version 
 'dishes,' 'spoons,' 'flagons,' and 'cups.' What these vessels 
 were used for is matter of dispute. The first-named vessel 
 (qe'arah) was probably a deep and big dish, used for bringing 
 the shewbread to the Table. The second (kapli) was most 
 likely for the incense ; while the two last would be used for 
 the drink-offering. l 
 
 All these vessels in the Holy Place, when they had to be 
 moved from one camping-place to another, were carefully 
 wrapped in ' blue ' (purple ?) cloths, which were again covered 
 with porpoise (or seal?) skins. Thus veiled from profane view, 
 they were carried by the various families of the Levites. The 
 smaller vessels were placed on a frame, then covered and 
 carried away. 
 
 The Holy of Holies : The Ark. 
 
 Leaving the Candlestick on the left (or south) side, the 
 Golden Altar in the middle of the Sanctuary, and the Table 
 of Shewbread on the right (or north) side, the Veil was now 
 the only object which divided the priest from the Holy of 
 Holies. Within this Holy of Holies stood what a writer has 
 well called the Palladium of the nation, that Ark whose pre- 
 sence alike Jew and foe believed would ensure victory. The 
 Ark, called in earliest days ' the Ark of the Covenant,' later 
 on, the 'Ark of Witness,' 'of God,' 'of Jehovah/ was an 
 acacia wood chest, two and a half cubits long by one and a 
 half broad and high. 
 
 1 Numb, iv. 7. 
 
38 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 This box was covered within and without with gold, was 
 surmounted by a golden crown, and at each corner had a 
 foot, which turned slightly outwards. Upon the chest was 
 placed the kapporeth, not intended to serve merely as a lid, 
 but in form a massive gold plate, as large in circumference as 
 the Ark, and designed for a special purpose. For the Mercy- 
 Seat, indeed, was the place of God's presence among men. 
 It was surmounted by two golden Cherubs — ' the Cherubim of 
 Glory ' — figures of winged beings, whether in appearance like 
 human beings or like animals does not appear. Each cherub had 
 
 ARK AND MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 two wings overshadowing the Mercy-Seat ; that is, the figures 
 were slightly inclined, in an attitude, not of prayer, but of 
 reverence. It has been thought that the winged figures on the 
 Assyrian monuments give an idea of the appearance of these 
 Cherubim of Glory, but the conjecture can hardly be sustained. 
 It is rather to the monuments of Egypt than to the later ones 
 of Assyria, that we would look. 
 
 The staves for transporting the Ark were always fixed in it, 
 possibly as depicted above ; or, as some have thought, on the 
 two shorter sides, so that their ends would project towards 
 the Veil and the Holy Place. The wings of the Cherubim 
 
Chap. II.] THE ARK. ^g 
 
 stretched from north to south, and completely veiled the place 
 where God sat throned among men. Within the Ark were 
 kept the Two Tables of the Law, five of the Ten Words being 
 written on each table ; by their place in the Ark showing that 
 God's presence on the Mercy-Seat was after all founded on 
 and secured by His commandments to men. Further, that the 
 Deity appeared between two living creatures (the Cherubim) 
 proved that life, eternal life, proceeded from Him ; and that 
 this, the high-point of the Old Testament ritual, was indeed a 
 movable Sinai — the sign of God's mercy and favour to His 
 people. 'Sinai is in the Sanctuary.' i 
 
 Before the Ark were placed : Aaron's Rod that budded, 
 and a Pot of Manna. Fitting was it that the memorials 
 of the wonders God had worked for man should always be 
 before His face : the food for His children (manna) ; and His 
 Word settling for ever who they were who alone might 
 approach Him (the rod). 
 
 We know comparatively little of the later history of the Ark. 
 It was in the Temple of Solomon, but not in that of Herod, 
 where the great stone, ' the foundation-stone of the world,' 
 yearly sprinkled with blood, was the only object in the Holy 
 of Holies. Tradition says that the prophet Jeremiah hid it, 
 along with the Tabernacle (!) in a cave of Mount Nebo when 
 Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans, there to remain until 
 the revelation of God's kingdom upon earth. But to the Jew 
 of the days of Herod it was certainly as good as non-existent : 
 nor do we need it now. For the Veil has been rent in twain, 
 that which was in part has been done away, and we no longer 
 see in a mirror darkly, but ' can draw near with boldness unto 
 the throne of grace, to receive mercy, and find grace to help 
 in time of need.' 
 
 1 I's. lxviii. 17, R..V. marg. 
 
40 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 ^h-e $xiz&t\xoob. 
 
 The making of a priest-class has always marked a distinct 
 era in the life of early nations. Up to that time every 
 institution, whether of Church or State, has been, to a 
 great extent, merely provisional. One great leader after another 
 has arisen, and for a time swayed the multitude ; but there has 
 been no security for his influence lasting beyond his own im- 
 mediate circle. But in the priest-class all the rulers of antiquity 
 have found an immense power to move the masses. Ignorance 
 and superstition being so closely allied, an educated class has 
 it in its hands to rule the world, especially when with the 
 legitimate and necessary power of knowledge there is com- 
 bined a sentiment that these exceptionally gifted personages 
 can influence not only the present but the future. When to 
 this it is added that these beings are in some mysterious way 
 specially protected, all power lies in the hands of that class. 
 
 Egypt was the land of priests and priestcraft. Allied to 
 royalty, at one time actually occupying the throne, the 
 wealth, the learning, the power of Egypt all lay at their 
 feet. They came also into some special association with the 
 family of Israel. Joseph married a daughter of Potipherah, 
 priest of On (Heliopolis), and in the time of the famine the 
 estates of the priests were specially protected. 1 Moses, who 
 was ' learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,' 2 must have 
 deeply studied this feature of their national life; and the 
 organization of a priesthood, to which immediately after the 
 1 Gen. xli. 45 ; xlvii. 26. 2 Acts vii. 22. 
 
Chap. III.] THE PRIESTHOOD. 4 1 
 
 Exodus he was divinely called, would find his mind already 
 prepared, and prepossessed with the idea. But from the first, 
 the principles which underlay the appointment were shown to 
 be fundamentally distinct from those which ruled in Egypt. 
 Not superior knowledge or learning, not any supposed magical 
 or supernatural powers, but holiness formed the characteristic 
 note of the Mosaic priesthood. 
 
 The earlier history of the Covenant People had not been 
 without some hints of this institution. For the most part, 
 indeed, the heads of patriarchal households performed the 
 priestly function. 1 The name, however, is never actually given 
 to them. Only Melchizedek is expressly termed ' the priest of 
 the Most High God,' and his ' order ' was without succession. 2 
 His figure — as that of the priest-king, rising from Canaanite 
 ignorance and superstition to the knowledge and ministry of 
 the Eternal, and so brought into fellowship with the ' Friend of 
 God,' — in its mysterious solitariness, points across the ages to the 
 Christ. This at least is the chief significance of the narrative, 
 which in itself throws but little light on the religious history of 
 the time. There are glimpses also of a priesthood in Midian, 3 
 and afterwards in Moab ; 4 sufficing with other indications to 
 show that the idea of a special calling to fellowship with God, 
 and to His service by sacrifice, had already gained ground 
 among the nations, when Moses by Divine direction began his 
 legislative work. 
 
 The possession of this idea was of immense importance, in 
 preparing the way for the acceptance of the new institution. 
 For it was essentially new in basis and in principle. No Egyp- 
 tian modes of thought, no process of development from national 
 usages and systems, no traditions, even from patriarchal days, 
 will suffice to explain the grand announcement which Moses 
 was directed to make in the name of Jehovah at the outset of 
 his legislative work : ' Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, 
 
 1 Abraham, Gen. xii. 8 ; Isaac, xxvi. 25 ; Jacob, xxxiii. 20. Sec also 
 Job i. 5. 
 
 a Heb. vii. 3. 3 Exod. ii. 16; iii. 1. 4 Numb, xxiii. 2, 14, 29. 
 
42 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 and a holy nation' Such was the honour of Israel — to be in 
 all its tribes and individuals a priesthood before God, with 
 equal right to approach His altar, and to stand as it were 
 between Him and the rest of mankind as representatives and 
 intercessors. Such was the theoretic position of the chosen 
 people. But it could not at first be realized, for many reasons ; 
 chiefly, the tendency to unfaithfulness. The privilege and 
 responsibility diffused over the whole community, would be 
 weakened, if not lost. Hence the need from the first of 
 concentrating the function in a smaller area — at first, within the 
 family of Aaron, naturally chosen as the brother and coadjutor 
 of Moses. The very chapter in which the universal priesthood 
 of Israel is declared, speaks afterwards specifically of ' the 
 priests, which come near to Jehovah.' 1 And when Moses 'drew 
 near unto the thick darkness where God was,' only Aaron was 
 with him. The honour was declared to be hereditary. The 
 four sons of Aaron were from the first associated with him ; and 
 when two of them had perished by a judgment from God, the 
 other two, Eleazar and Ithamar, remained, and for centuries the 
 priesthood continued in their line. The ideal, however, remained 
 as the heritage of all Israel. It is recognized in prophecy : ' Ye 
 shall be named the priests of Jehovah ; men shall call you the 
 ministers of our God ; '* 2 and in the Christian Church it is at last 
 fulfilled : 'Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
 acceptable to God by Jesus Christ ; ' and again, ' Ye are an 
 elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for 
 God's own possession.' 3 
 
 Consecration of the Tribe ok Levi. 
 
 Aaron then, and his sons, were the first recognized holders of 
 the priestly office. With them were associated in 'holy things' 
 a number of others from different tribes ; as, for instance, the 
 
 1 Exod. xix. 22. Who these priests were is nn open question. Some 
 identify them with the 'young men of the children of Israel,' appointed by 
 Moses to offer sacrifice, ch. xxiv. 5. 
 
 - Isa. Ixi. 6. 3 1 Tet. ii. 5, 9, K.V. 
 
Chap.'IIL] priestly RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES. 4^ 
 
 chief workers in the construction of the Tabernacle were 
 Bezaleel of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab of the tribe of Dan 
 There was as yet no priestly caste. 
 
 A solemn and terrible event, however, led to a further step 
 in the religious organization of the people. The sin of the 
 Golden Calf, catastrophe as it well-nigh was, cleared the way 
 for the tribe of Levi to put themselves on a different footing 
 from the rest of their fellow Israelites. That Moses 
 himself belonged to their tribe may have been almost their 
 sole motive; but they did possess a motive, which the other 
 tribes failed to show ; and it was evident that under competent 
 guidance the tribe of Levi could fulfil the priestly functions 
 better than any other one. 
 
 The nation does not seem to have recovered from their 
 surprise till the priests had actually been consecrated, and the 
 tribe of Levi had entered upon their duties. Then what had 
 been done came upon them in full force, and caused great 
 indignation. The leaders in murmuring — though they were 
 not independent thinkers, for they knew that the people in 
 general were on their side — were Korah, himself a Levite, but 
 who resented the inferior position assigned to him ; and two 
 descendants of Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, who doubtless 
 considered themselves especially aggrieved on account of their 
 prior claim as the ' firstborn.' Sharp was the vengeance wreaked 
 on these rebels by an offended Deity ; and sorely did the 
 people smart for having taken their part. By such means did 
 the Levites and the family of Aaron obtain and hold their 
 position ; and the other tribes, terrified at the wrath which had 
 been meted out on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 1 refrained from 
 showing their disapproval any more. 
 
 Priestly Rights and Privileges. 
 
 What, then, was this priest-right, so earnestly desired and 
 sought after by all the ambitious in Israel ? 
 
 Numb. xvi. 
 
44 
 
 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 It did not mean riches ; for we are expressly told that 
 Jehovah alone was the heritage of the children of Levi. Nor 
 was it given on account of any particular merit, since it is in no 
 way admitted that the tribe of Levi was free from share in the 
 guilt of the Golden Calf, while Aaron was even a leader in 
 the act of impiety. If anything, moreover, the Levites were 
 losers rather than gainers by thus giving themselves to the 
 service of Jehovah and the charge of the Sanctuary. For it 
 meant, a renunciation of all share in the coming national 
 
 THE SIGN OF AARON'S APPOINTMENT. 
 
 triumph and victory, a loss in the shared spoil, an uncertainty 
 in the near future. But the inducements it did offer were more 
 than equal to the losses. Out of a holy nation, itself a pattern 
 and wonder to all around, the tribe of Levi emerged as even 
 holier than the holy, what was most Divine on earth. And it 
 was this separation from even family and kindred which formed 
 the keynote of Moses' blessing on that tribe, and which was the 
 true secret of their influence. 
 
Chap. III.] QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 45 
 
 The High Priesthood. 
 
 Out of the whole tribe of Levi one family was selected — 
 naturally it was that of Moses ; and from this family, one man, 
 Aaron, his brother, to be the head or high priest. As regards 
 Aaron individually, he does not seem to have been remarkable 
 for any great quality of mind. In Egypt, he was the mouth- 
 piece of Moses ; in the wilderness below Sinai, the hand of the 
 people, who fashioned for them the Golden Calf. Later on he is 
 quite ready to upbraid Moses for a marriage not quite to his 
 or his sister's liking ; and finally he joins Moses in that outburst 
 of egotism and anger which cost them both their entrance into 
 the land of Canaan. The events of Aaron's life, then, seem often 
 in strange contrast with his high calling. Of his four sons, 
 Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, two, as we have seen, were 
 utterly discreditable to him, and forfeited their lives in an 
 offence in which it seems doubtful as to what part Aaron 
 bore. 1 
 
 From all this it is evident that the priest-class was no more 
 specially favoured as regards ordinary living than any other 
 Israelite. If they sinned, judgment overtook them as freely 
 and as quickly as any Jew. The priest in private and the 
 priest in office were two different persons altogether. As 
 priest, minister of God, he stood apart, responsible only to 
 Jehovah; as fellow-citizen and member of a family, he owed 
 allegiance to his earthly king or ruler. And now for a more 
 particular account of his office, appearance, and claims on the 
 nation. 
 
 Qualifications of the Priesthood and Maintenance. 
 
 The original meaning of the Hebrew word for ' priest ' 
 (kohen) is uncertain. Probably it is derived from a root 
 signifying generally the discharge of function, and thus con- 
 tains in its etymology no express suggestion of the particular 
 function intended. By some, however, it is regarded as de- 
 1 Como. Lev. x. 
 
46 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 noting 'one who draweth near:' see Lev. x. 3. Certainly the 
 regulations concerning the priesthood are all in harmony with 
 this central thought. 
 
 In private life the priest was indistinguishable from his 
 neighbour, save in this, that, if he was to do service, he must 
 be without certain personal defects, which, signs or types of 
 moral failing, would have led astray the thoughts of Israel from 
 the perfect purity of their worship. Of these defects, the 
 learned Selden traced in Rabbinical writings no fewer than one 
 hundred and forty-two instances, which were divided into three 
 classes. The first class consisted of fifty defects, and were such 
 as would have unfitted any otherwise clean animal from being 
 brought in sacrifice. Ninety more cases were not to be judged 
 of in the same category ; and again two seem to have been what 
 w r e may call accidental or extraordinary cases, perhaps only 
 likely to occur once during the whole priestly period. Barring 
 these defects, any descendant of Aaron was by birth a priest, 
 and as soon as he reached the fitting age, was to enter on the 
 duties appointed him. What the age for priestly service was 
 seems doubtful. Most probably it was the thirtieth year, and 
 lasted until the infirmities of age rendered the priest incapable. 
 The Levites, according to Numb. iv. 3 ; viii. 24/ were to serve 
 from their twenty-fifth or thirtieth year, up to their fiftieth. But 
 it must not be imagined that their priestly duties interfered with 
 any other profession they might choose to adopt. Their time 
 of service, at any rate in the later history, when the Aaronic 
 family had greatly increased, amounted but to a few weeks in 
 the year ; for the rest of the time, provided the trade was not 
 Levitically unclean, they were their own masters. And this 
 must have formed a not inconsiderable part of their means of 
 livelihood. The other means were: 2 — 
 
 1. Firstfruits. These, as explained by after tradition, were the 
 first sun crop of ' wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and 
 
 1 The divergence between these two passages is usually explained by 
 the first five years being counted as those of probation or novitiate. 
 - Comp. generally Haneberg, Religiose Alterthiimer J. BibeL 
 
Chap. III.] QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 47 
 
 pomegranates, oil olives and honey.' ] They were offered before 
 God with the beautiful formula prescribed in Deut. xxvi. 5, 
 beginning: 'A Syrian ready to perish was my father.' Of 
 these offered firstfruits the priests received a certain share. 
 
 2. Firstborn. These consisted of three classes : (a) of clean 
 animals, (&) of unclean animals, (<r) of men. Of the first class, 
 such a firstborn clean animal was brought as a sacrifice, 2 that is, 
 the blood was sprinkled, and the fat burnt. But the flesh, 
 more particularly the ' wave ' breast and the right thigh, 
 belonged to the priests, and could be eaten by themselves, or 
 by their families. 
 
 Of the second class, the firstborn of unclean animals were 
 redeemed at a certain fixed price. According to Lev. xxvii. 27, 
 this price was to be 'according to thine (i.e. the priest's) 
 estimation, and shall add unto it the fifth part thereof: ' as it is 
 sometimes quaintly explained, this fifth part was an apology, so 
 to speak, for not being able to offer this particular animal to 
 God. The firstborn of an ass, however, could be exchanged 
 for a lamb. This ordinance is supposed to have particular 
 reference to the fact that the ass was the most useful, if not 
 the only, domestic animal which was unclean. 
 
 The third class of firstborn — of men — was the most important 
 of all in its signification. For these firstborn were all essentially 
 priests, who had been sanctified and separated by that -real 
 ' Night of Remembrance,' the first Passover. But as the tribe 
 of Levi, and out of that tribe the family of Aaron, had been 
 selected for the priesthood, it w r as but fitting that a suitable 
 acknowledgment should be made by those of whom they had 
 thus become the representatives. The law appointed, therefore, 
 that these firstborn should be 'ransomed :' 'all the firstborn of 
 man among thy sons shalt thou redeem.'' 5 The sum for each 
 firstborn Israelite is specified in Numb, xviii. 16, R.V., as 'five 
 shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty 
 gerahs).' The shekel of the sanctuary was, according to the 
 best writers, the standard shekel, of full value. To redeem a 
 
 1 Deut. viii. S. - Numb, xviii. 17. I tod. xiii. 1^, R.V. 
 
48 RITES AXD WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Pari I. 
 
 firstborn son must therefore have cost a sum amounting to nearly 
 thirteen shillings of our money. This firstborn tribute must have 
 been a considerable source of income to the priesthood. 
 
 Another gift to the priests was what is described in Numb. xv. 
 18, as 'a heave-offering unto the Lord' of 'a cake of the first of 
 your dough,' or coarse meal. This is termed in Rabbinical 
 writings the Challah ; but as originally instituted it was doubtless 
 simply intended to keep before Israel the remembrance of Him 
 who was the giver of their daily bread. Still more came to the 
 priests through the ' tenths/ or tithes. This giving of tithes is 
 traceable back to the time of Abraham, who gave them to the 
 mysterious Melchizedek, king of Salem. i Under the Mosaic 
 legislation the giving of tithes was made obligatory. According 
 to Lev. xxvii. 30, 2 every tenth animal, and the tenth part of 
 everything, was holy unto the Lord, and by reason of this 
 belonged to the priests and Levites. Should any man wish to 
 redeem any part of his tithe, he must add to its full value ' the 
 fifth part thereof.' And, adds the writer, ' he shall not search 
 whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it ; and if 
 he change it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed 
 shall be holy ; it shall not be redeemed.' 3 
 
 Further, ' the priests' due from the people, from them that 
 offer a sacrifice ' — i.e., on any ordinary occasion, was ' the 
 shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw.' 4 Again, the pious in 
 Israel were quite at liberty to give presents or gifts to the 
 priests on any special occasion. In later Judaism these gifts, 
 added to the then obligatory Temple tribute, of which we have 
 the first intimation in 2 Chron. xxiv. 6, where it is called 'the tax 
 of Moses the servant of Jehovah, and of the congregation of 
 Israel,' must have formed a considerable source of revenue. 
 
 Lastly, the various towns belonging to the tribe of Levi, and 
 the land reckoned as included in these towns, must have given 
 them some standing as landed proprietors. The list of these 
 cities, as given in Josh, xxi., is as follows : — 
 
 Gen. xiv. 20. - Comp. also Numb, xviii. 21, etc. 3 Lev. xx\ii. 3$, R.V. 
 4 Deut. xviii. 3. 
 
Chap. III.] QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 49 
 
 I, Family of Aaron, 13 Cities. 
 From Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. (1) Kiriath-arba, or 
 Hebron. (2) Libnah. (3) Jattir. (4) Eshtemoa. (5) Holon. 
 (6)Debir. (7) Ain. (S) Juttah. (9) Beth-shemesh. (io)Gibeon. 
 (n)Geba. (12) Anathoth. (13) Almon. 
 
 II. Family of Kohath, 10 Cities. 
 
 From Ephraim, Han, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 
 
 (1) Shechem. (2) Gezer. (3) Kibzaim. (4) Beth-horon. 
 
 (5) Elteke. (6) Gibbethon. (7) Aijalon. (8) Gath-rimmon. 
 
 (9) Taanach. (10) Gath-rimmon, or rather Bileam or Jibleam. 
 
 III. Family of Gershon, 13 Cities. 
 From Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the other half tribe of 
 Manasseh. 
 (1) Golan. (2) Beeshterah. (3) Kishion. (4) Daberath. 
 (5) Jarmuth. (6) En-gannim. (7) Mishal. (8) Abdon. 
 (9) Helkath. (10) Rehob. (11) Kedesh-naphtali. (12) Ham- 
 moth-dor. (13) Kartan. 
 
 IV. Family of Merari, 12 Cities. 
 From Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. (1) Jokneam. (2) Kartah. 
 (3) Dimnah. (4) Nahalal. (5) Bezer. (6) Jahaz. (7) Kedemoth. 
 (8) Mephaath. (9) Ramoth-gilead. (10) Mahanaim. (n)Hesh- 
 bon. (12) Jazer. 
 
 Total, 48 Cities. 
 
 It must not, however, be imagined that these cities came 
 into possession of the Levites all together. On the contrary, 
 we find notices scattered up and down the Old Testament 
 which lead us to infer that many were inhabited by other 
 Israelites \ others again, remained for a longer or shorter period 
 in the hands of the Amorites, or other Canaanitish nations j 
 while, at any rate in the time of the Judges, the Levites 
 lived scattered up and down the land, and even inhabited other 
 cities in no wise apportioned to them. Thus, Nob, the 'city 
 of the priests/ of 1 Sam. xxii. 19, is not to be found in the list 
 
 E 
 
50 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 given above. This provision then seems scarcely to have been 
 found necessary to secure the means of living to the Levites. 
 
 Purity of Descent. 
 
 As regarded descent, each priest must be able to trace his 
 connection with Aaron ; and very special care was taken that 
 the genealogy and lineage of each priest was beyond doubt. 
 This applied, of course, most of all to the high priest, in whose 
 person the whole meaning of the priest-tribe, and through them 
 of the nation, was so to speak concentrated. Thanks to this 
 care taken of the genealogies, we are enabled to trace the 
 high priesthood from Aaron even down to the final destruction 
 of the Temple. 1 Not that each priest descended in regular, 
 unbroken succession from Aaron, but he was able to trace his 
 connection with him, and this beyond all doubt even on the 
 part of those otherwise inimical to such an individual. Josephus 
 tells us that the number of high priests from Aaron down to 
 Phannias, of celebrity in the last Jewish war, was eighty-three. 
 Some were descended from Eleazar, others from Ithamar; and 
 in the time of David, at any rate, the claims of the two rival 
 high priests caused some disturbance, which was finally settled 
 by the side taken in politics by the priests themselves. The 
 family of David finally, in the person of Solomon, restored the 
 primacy to the house of Eleazar, with whom it continued till 
 the Babylonian exile. 
 
 The Priestly Costume. 
 
 The dress of the priests — always in antiquity a mark of 
 office and dignity, was so in the Jewish economy in an 
 especial degree. For an ordinary priest the material selected 
 was byssus, the far-famed Oriental cotton, of the finest texture. 
 For the choice of this material a sanitary reason is adduced in 
 Ezek. xliv. 17, 18 ; 'no wool shall come upon them, while they 
 minister in the gates of the inner court, and within ; . . . they 
 
 1 It must, however, be noted that many able scholars are doubtful 
 whether there may not be either lacuna or interpolations in the list. 
 
Chap. III.] THE PRIESTLY COSTUME. 
 
 51 
 
 shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.' 
 The four distinctive priestly garments were * : — 
 
 (1) Michnesayim, irepiaKeX^, translated in the A.V., also by 
 the Revisers, ' breeches,' garments reaching from the loins to 
 the thighs, of byssus. 
 
 (2) Kutto/ieth, x tT ^''j a 'coat' with sleeves, reaching to the 
 ankles, of byssus likewise. Whether this coat was embroidered, 
 or cunningly woven, seems a matter of doubt. It was fastened 
 at the shoulders by strings. 
 
 (3) Abnet, 'girdle,' 'the work of an embroiderer.' A com- 
 mentator here reminds us that in antiquity the girdle was the 
 
 
 HIGH-PRIESTLY COSTUME. 
 
 especial mark of rank ; for the priest therefore it had a more 
 than common meaning. Josephus gives an elaborate description 
 of it, and says moreover that its length reached to the ankles. 
 The Rabbis made it much longer. We are told that, while 
 ministering, this girdle was thrown over the left shoulder. 
 
 (4) Migbaah, 'head-tire,' or ' turban,' R.V., ' bonnet,' A.V., 
 
 a conical head-covering, after the fashion of the priests of 
 
 antiquity, made of byssus. These caps were rather flat, and 
 
 were probably made of a twisted strip of cotton fitting some- 
 
 1 See Exod. xxxix. 27-29. 
 
52 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 what closely to the priest's head. They covered, according to 
 Josephus, rather more than half the head. 
 
 In addition to these four priestly garments, the high priest 
 possessed four specially characteristic of his high functions. On 
 the turban, presumably exactly like that of an ordinary priest, 
 was bound a plate of gold, on which were engraved the words 
 Kodesh la Jehovah, Holy to the Lord. This plate shone in the 
 forefront of the turban, and was fastened at the back of the 
 head by a ' lace of blue.' 
 
 The four specially high priestly garments were : — 
 (i) The mitznepheth, 'mitre,' which, according to Josephus, 
 was like 'a golden crown polished, of three rows, one above 
 another ; out of which arose a cup of gold, which resembled 
 the herb which we call saccharus.' 1 
 
 (2) The meHl or me'ir, 'robe,' or mantle, an upper garment, 
 called in Exod. xxviii. 31, 'the robe of the ephod.' This 
 garment was wholly of blue (hyacinth), woven in one piece, 
 with an opening above to admit the head. Around this 
 opening ran ' a binding of woven work ... as it were the 
 hole of a coat of mail, that it be not rent.' It had arm- 
 holes, and reached to the knees, or thereabouts. But what 
 was most noticeable in this tneHl was its border, 'pomegra- 
 nates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet.' i.e., balls made of 
 threads of these different colours, separated by little golden 
 bells, probably of gold thread or wire twisted, which made a 
 tinkling sound as Aaron moved. The reason of this was most 
 probably to give the people warning of the movements of the 
 priest. As for the number of the bells, that has always been 
 a subject for speculation, and a ground for different significa- 
 tions to be attached. 
 
 (3) The ephod, also a mark of the princely state. This 
 was indeed a garment of glory. The material was, of course, 
 cotton, but it was woven with beautiful threads of colour ; gold, 
 purple, and scarlet. It had two shoulder pieces, which were 
 joined to the rest of the garment by bands of work of the same 
 
 1 Atit, iii. 
 
Chap. III.] THE PRIESTLY COSTUME. 53 
 
 kind as the ephod itself, which were still more beautified by 
 two onyx stones which the priest wore, one on each shoulder, 
 evidently of a very large size, as on each stone were engraved six 
 of the twelve names of the children of Israel, so that Aaron 
 might ' bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders 
 for a memorial.' 
 
 (4) On the ephod, in front, the priest wore the Breastplate 
 {choshen hammishpat), which indeed was so fixed on to that 
 garment as almost to form part of it. It was made of the same 
 gold brocade as was used for the ephod, was one cubit square, 
 and doubled. Above, it was fastened at the two corners by 
 rings and chains to the shoulder pieces of the ephod ; below, 
 it was fastened by purple strings to rings in the ephod. On 
 this beautiful piece of gold brocade were set twelve precious 
 stones, in four rows, each row consisting of three stones, and 
 each stone engraved with the name of a tribe. The enumera- 
 tion has caused great perplexity to interpreters, who have 
 found it most difficult first, to identify the stones, and second, 
 to determine which stone belonged to which tribe. We follow, 
 for the stones and for the tribes, the Revised Version, Bishop 
 Haneberg, Religiose Alterthiimer der Bibel, Miinchen, 1869, 
 and Dillmann's Kurzgefasstes Exeg. Handbuch. 
 First Row. (1) Odem, sardius, or ruby, or cornelian, Reuben. 
 
 (2) Pildah, topaz, Simeon. 
 
 (3) Bareqeth, carbuncle, or emerald, Levi. 
 Second Row. (4) Nophech, emerald, or carbuncle, or ruby, Judah. 
 
 (5) Sappir, sapphire, Issachar. 
 
 (6) Yaha/om, diamond, or sardonyx, or jasper, 
 
 Zebulun. 
 Third Row. (7) Leshem, jacinth, amber, Naphtali. 
 
 (8) Shebo, agate, Dan. 
 
 (9) Achlamah, amethyst, Gad, 
 
 Fourth Row (10) Tarshish, beryl, or chalcedony, or chrysolith, 
 Asher. 
 
 (11) Shoham, onyx, or beryl, Joseph. 
 
 (12) Yash'pheh, jasper, or onyx, or beryl, Benjamin. 
 
54 KITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 From the foregoing list, and the many stones suggested, 
 it will be seen how very slight are the grounds on which all 
 investigations relating to the priest's dress are based. In the 
 same catalogue of guesses must be placed the mysterious Urim 
 and Thummim ('lights and perfections'). There seems but 
 little doubt that they were distinct from the precious stones, 
 but why they are not described is a puzzling question. They 
 stood for the Divine oracle, were to be inquired of. 1 What then 
 was this mysterious part of the investiture ? Very variously has 
 this question been answered. It was the doubled breastplate 
 itself; it was the stones ; it was a picture of various virtues; it was 
 a particular light on the stones ; it was an imitation of a certain 
 sacred Egyptian breastplate, often seen on the Monuments, 
 with the figures of Re, the first god of light, and Tme, the 
 goddess of justice ; or what seems most likely, two particular 
 precious stones, which changed colour and underwent some 
 subtle change according as the response to the question asked 
 was to be yes or no. We must content ourselves with setting 
 before the reader the materials he may choose from, as after all 
 the question is but one of passing interest. 
 
 More curious is it to note, that, although while engaged in 
 any service the priest must be celibate, it was, at any rate in 
 later times, considered somewhat of a disgrace for a priest to be 
 unmarried. Naturally, the laws regulating the marriage of the 
 high priest were still stricter. His wife must be a Jewish 
 maiden, of spotless reputation. 2 
 
 Priestly Services and Functions. 
 
 Concerning the order of service in the priest-tribe, it appears 
 that at first, before the worship was thoroughly fixed, each 
 priest did pretty much what was right in his own eyes. During 
 the stormy days of the Judges, an Eli, a Samuel, a stray Levite, 
 seem to have done almost the sole work of religion. But with 
 the accession of David more settled days began to dawn. He, 
 we are told, found that the number of Levites of an age for 
 
 1 I Sam. xxviii. 6. - Cornp. Lev. xxi. io, 13. 
 
Chap. III.] LEVITICAL CONSECRATION. 55 
 
 service was thirty-eight thousand. 1 Of this number, twenty-four 
 thousand were delegated ' to oversee the work of the house of 
 the Lord.' Josephus calls them 'sacred servants,' 2 and one 
 writer suggests that they corresponded to the Roman Catholic 
 deacons. Again, six thousand were told off as 'officers and 
 judges ; ' four thousand superintended the Temple music, and 
 another four thousand kept the Temple watch. To the twenty- 
 four thousand Levites corresponded the twenty-four priestly 
 families, of which sixteen were descended from Eleazar, and 
 eight from Ithamar. Each 'course' or family served for one 
 week in the Temple, and was then replaced by the next course. 3 
 Another office filled by the priests is that described in 
 Deut. xx. 2, of accompanying an army and giving an ex- 
 hortation, as well as, evidently, sounding the trumpet at the 
 beginning of a war. 4 That this was actually the case appears 
 from the allusion made by King Abijah of Judah in his 
 speech to Jeroboam, when he asserted that ' God is with us 
 at our head, and His priests with the trumpets of alarm to 
 sound an alarm against you.' 5 
 
 Levitical Consecration. 
 
 The consecration of the Levites was a very simple cere- 
 mony. They washed themselves and their clothes thoroughly, 
 shaved all the hair from their flesh, and then offered a young 
 bullock with its ' meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil,' 
 as a burnt offering, and another young bullock as a sin 
 offering. Before, however, this was done, they were sprinkled 
 with the ' water of expiation,' some kind of holy water. The 
 reason for the simplicity of these rites may have been like 
 that of later times : that ' the Levites were more upright in 
 heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.' 6 
 
 The consecration of the priests was a more elaborate cere- 
 mony. 7 They were first washed, then clothed in regular 
 1 vSee 1 Chron. xxiii. 3. 2 Ant. xi. 5, 1. 
 
 3 Comp. 1 Chron. xxiii. xxiv. 4 Numb. x. 8. 9. 5 2 Chron. xiii. 12. 
 6 2 Chron. xxix. 34. 7 See Lev. viii. ; Exod. xxix. 
 
56 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 order, Aaron as high priest first, and then his sons ; and after- 
 wards were anointed with the holy Chrisma, the sacred anointing 
 oil, the preparation of which was secret. Then not only 
 were Aaron and his son anointed, but the whole Taber- 
 nacle, and all its furniture ; while a bullock was slain for a 
 sin offering, and with its blood the altar purified and sanctified. 
 Then the ram of the burnt offering was slain, and another 
 one, that of consecration, likewise, but with this difference, 
 that whereas the first ram was wholly burnt, the second was 
 used for sprinkling with blood the right ear, thumb, and toe 
 of Aaron and his sons, and various parts of its body in the 
 wave offering, while the rest was boiled and eaten with the 
 bread of consecration by Aaron and his sons at the door of 
 the tent of meeting. The whole time of consecration was 
 brought to an end in seven days, during which time the new- 
 made priests abode at the door of the tent of meeting. 
 
 Priesthood in the Later History. 
 
 We will conclude this sketch of the priestly standing in the 
 Mosaic and immediately succeeding ages by a brief com- 
 parison of their true position with that at the downfall of the 
 Jewish nation. 
 
 The greatest priest, after the return from Babylon, was un- 
 doubtedly Ezra. To him the Jews were indebted for all their 
 after influence in Syria. But, if we except the Maccabees, 
 no priest, as priest, seems to have had much ascendancy 
 over the national mind. The Rabbi then came into 
 prominence, and with this the sacerdotal element gradually 
 receded. The establishment of synagogues, the loss of a 
 central place of worship, all helped to pull down the system 
 so carefully reared by Moses. Then came the spiritualising, 
 if one might so term the hypercritical straining for hidden 
 meanings, the ' straining out the gnat and swallowing the 
 camel,' so characteristic of Rabbinic literature. Yet even in 
 those times the true Israelite might have felt that there was a 
 reality never yet grasped in the Mosaic ritual, and that, as the 
 
Chap. III.] PRIESTHOOD IN THE LA TER HISTOR Y. 57 
 
 high priest was the representative of the priest, and the priest 
 of the people, so Jesus Christ was the representative to God 
 of His people, the kings and priests, as St. Peter calls it, 'a 
 spiritual priesthood,' and that thus we are ' partakers of a 
 heavenly calling ; ' and as the priests were sprinkled and washed 
 in consecration, so may we ' draw near with a true heart in 
 fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
 conscience, and our body washed with pure water.' 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Other gjoh) JJeraons: JJa&ittte*. tJotos. 
 
 Provided as the Israelites were with a priesthood, it might 
 have been thought that they would feel their obligations 
 as regarded their God in a great measure fulfilled. And 
 we need not have been astonished if, as we see so often among 
 the uncivilised nations of our time, the nation itself had left 
 the priesthood very much alone in their religious worship. 
 There is always a tendency, in countries where the priest- 
 class is very distinct, to let the distinction run into all matters. 
 But this was not so with the Jewish nation. Their religion 
 did not expend itself only in tithes and offerings, whereby they 
 might have felt that they were merely providing their priest- 
 brethren with means of subsistence ; but out of their own 
 number were found men who desired to be in their lives and 
 to themselves what the priests were in the Sanctuary. These 
 were the Nazirites, 1 those who ' separated themselves ' by a 
 special vow to be holy to Jehovah in life and work. 
 
 Laws respecting the Nazirite. 
 
 The term ' Nazirite ' properly signifies one who is cut off or 
 separated. And such the Nazirite truly was. A priest in the 
 Sanctuary during the period of his vow, he must, so long as 
 that vow was upon him, consecrate himself unto the Lord; and 
 
 1 'Nazarites' ; Numb, vi., etc. ; a word which has been mistaken by 
 some as derived from the same root as Nazareth (netser, branch). The 
 words, however, are quite distinct, and the spelling Nazirite adopted in 
 the Revised Version, indicates the true origin of the word from nazir, 
 ' separated.' 
 
Chap. IV.] NAZIRITES. 59 
 
 as the priest on duty must abstain from wine, so must the 
 Nazirite ' separate himself from wine and strong drink.' Nay, 
 further, he must not even seem to be of the number of those 
 who enjoyed the wine that ' maketh glad the heart of man,' for 
 he must touch nothing that came of the vine, or was con- 
 cerned with it, no vinegar of wine or strong drink, ' nor eat 
 fresh grapes or dried . . . nothing that is made of the grape- 
 vine, from the kernels even to the husk.' Thus would the 
 Nazirite always be in a fitting frame of mind, his brain un- 
 clouded, and his heart not lifted up, to do whatever work God 
 had in store from him, as St. James puts it, ' unspotted from 
 the world.' 
 
 The second thing that was forbidden to the Nazirite was the 
 use of the razor, either for face or head. At first sight this 
 seems a curious prohibition, as it was neither esteemed a 
 kingly thing to wear the hair long, nor do the Jews seem to 
 have had any special way of wearing it. But this apparent 
 insignificance of the hair is not in reality as marked as we 
 think it. Putting aside such passages as Jer. vii. 29, where 
 the hair is spoken of as the crown, and the fact that bald- 
 ness was undoubtedly considered a reproach, 1 it was very 
 necessary that the Nazirite should possess some outward 
 token whereby all might know he was in a different relation- 
 ship to God from most men. Some writers have gone even 
 farther, and set it down as only worthy of a God-dedicated 
 person to give what was natural, and, so to speak, unartificial. 
 At any rate, it was with his hair, i.e., with it in its Nazirite 
 growth, that the strength of Samson was bound up; and it is 
 curious to note that with the growth again of his locks, his 
 strength so returned that he slew at his death more than in all 
 his life. 
 
 The third prohibition laid on the Nazirite cut him off, in 
 
 some measure, from family life. For, all the days that he 
 
 separated himself, he must ' come at no dead body.' Neither 
 
 father nor mother, brother nor sister, was to be mourned in the 
 
 1 2 Kings ii. 23. 
 
60 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 ordinary way ; though it seems probable, by the way in which 
 the prohibition is couched, that mourning would be allowed for 
 wife or child. But in very truth, for the Nazirite, for the time 
 at any rate, no family existed. He must be ready for any 
 work, to renounce anything, to undergo any privation. And 
 it was in this sense that Christ was Himself a Nazirite ; but 
 unlike again in this, that whereas the touch of a dead body 
 defiled a Nazirite, the touch of the Great Nazirite brought 
 back life to the dead. And whereas for the ancient Nazirite 
 everything ordinary was unclean, by the touch of Christ every- 
 thing ordinary became consecrated, fit for use in the great 
 world-family. 
 
 The Two Classes. 
 
 There were two kinds of Nazirite : he who had vowed him- 
 self for a time, whether shorter or longer, and he who was a 
 Nazirite for life, utterly given up to God. The latter class is 
 not even mentioned in the Nazirite institutions. 1 Very few 
 belonged to it — Samuel, Samson, John the Baptist — children 
 vowed even before their birth. But to the former class many 
 would belong of both sexes, for it was quite lawful for a 
 woman to separate herself, and even in the Rabbinic law 
 rules are laid down for her guidance. The temporary Nazirite 
 undertook the three vows ; and in case of any person dying 
 near him suddenly, or in view of an accidental defilement by 
 contact with a dead body, a special sacrifice and ceremony 
 was appointed, to be undergone before the Nazirite could 
 re-enter on his self-imposed work. But even after this sacrifice 
 it was only like again starting from the beginning, for ' the 
 days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was 
 defiled.' 
 
 The length of a Nazirite vow was purely optional, though 
 
 later tradition laid it down that it must be for a period not less 
 
 than thirty days. At the close of the period the Nazirite must 
 
 be brought to the door of the Sanctuary, and there must be 
 
 J Numb. vi. 
 
Chap. IV.] SANCTITY OF THE NAZIRITES. 6 1 
 
 offered for him a lamb of the first year, a ewe lamb, a ram, a 
 basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour, mingled with 
 oil. The lambs offered were to atone for any sins unwittingly 
 committed by him during the time of his Nazirate, the male as 
 a burnt offering. The cakes and unleavened bread were drink 
 offerings and thank offerings ; indeed, the whole sacrifice was 
 one of joy, and as such specially distinguished from ordinary 
 peace and thank offerings. After these sacrifices had been 
 presented, the Nazirite must shave his head, the hair of which 
 was presented before God, part consumed under the peace 
 offering, the rest waved before the Lord with the waved 
 shoulder of the ram, an unleavened cake, and an unleavened 
 wafer. After this the Nazirite was clear of his vow, and might 
 drink wine. 
 
 Sanctity of the Nazirites. 
 
 To the Jew, in all ages, a Nazirite was in truth a holy 
 person. If the passage in Lamentations iv. 7 refers to the 
 Nazirites, as in the ordinary version, and not to the ' nobles ' of 
 Judah (R.V.) as also ' separated ones,' an interesting glimpse 
 is given us of their outward aspect — the sign of a temperate 
 and devoted life : — ' Her Nazirites were purer than snow, they 
 were whiter than milk ; They were more ruddy in body than 
 rubies, their polishing was of sapphire.' In the prophecy of 
 Amos 1 it is made a reproach against the unfaithful Israelites 
 that they tempted the Nazirites to break their vows. This 
 was evidently a sacrilege of no ordinary kind. At a much 
 later period in the history, in the troublous days of the 
 Maccabees, some were to be found 2 who could be stirred 
 up, and made to resent the idolatry which had been forced 
 upon their brethren. But it was in the days of the Judges 
 that the Nazirites Samson and Samuel swayed the people. 3 
 At the best they were but extraordinary motors, whose indi- 
 viduality, though leaving its mark on the men of their time, 
 could never hope to create a race, or have any after them like 
 them. 
 
 1 Amos ii. II, 12. a 1 Mace. iii. 49. 3 Judges xiii. 5 ; 1 Sam. i. II. 
 
62 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. 
 
 Persons under Vow. 
 
 Vows and oaths, again, were common enough among the 
 Jews, as indeed they are among all nations. The causes for 
 such vows are not far to find. In danger it is a natural 
 instinct to make a vow or promise ; again, as a means of 
 propitiating a powerful Deity it is not uncommon. These 
 motives may be mean ; but after all it is for men in their 
 natural, rude, unaware moments that rules must be laid down, 
 and God Himself, by Moses, recognised the instinct and 
 authorised the offering of vows as a matter of religion. 1 At the 
 same time Moses laid it down that it was no sin of omission 
 not to vow ; only, if a vow had once gone out of the lips, it 
 was sin not to keep it. Even the vow of a daughter, or a wife, 
 if heard and not opposed in the day it was uttered, must be 
 respected. Again, no man had a right to vow anything that 
 was not altogether and wholly his own ; nor might money 
 gained by unholy transactions, from improper persons, be 
 brought into the Sanctuary for the payment of a vow. The 
 vow payable was termed neder, and was regarded as a holy 
 gift to God, and since it was so holy, should not be rashly 
 undertaken. The things vowed seem to fall into three classes : 
 
 i. Persons. These might be vowed, either as Nazirites, or 
 as a sacrifice. In the latter case they were redeemable for a 
 certain price, varying according to age and the ability to pay of 
 the vower. 
 
 2. Houses. These were to be valued by the priest, and 
 redeemed by the vower, with one-fifth added to its market value. 
 
 3. Property in Land. When land was vowed it was con- 
 sidered that it was not the ground itself that was vowed, as 
 that was the inalienable property of the family, but what the 
 land produced. And this obligation even came to an end at 
 the next Year of Jubilee. 
 
 Firstborns, both of men and animals, as already by right 
 belonging to God, might not be vowed. 
 1 See Lev. xxvii. 
 
Chap. IV.] PERSONS UNDER VOW. 63 
 
 Another kind of oath was the issar, a kind of dedicatory 
 thanksgiving to God for mercies received. Another, again, was 
 the ban, by which the thing devoted to God might never be 
 redeemed, but if devoted for death, must be put to death ; 
 if devoted as a place, might never be rebuilt ; if for punish- 
 ment, must suffer it ; if under God's wrath, must be put out of 
 the congregation. Very solemn and terrible was this ban, 
 cherem, a thing to be dreaded, immovable in its course. The 
 excommunications and terrors of the Church were but faint 
 echoes of what to the devoted Israelite the terrors of the ban 
 must have been. In truth, to such there would remain ' no 
 more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of 
 judgment and fiery indignation.' For the renegade Jew it was 
 'a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' But 
 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made 
 a curse for us, and by Him there is now no separation between 
 classes and nations as holy and ' unclean :' unholy, for the 
 kingdom of God is holy, of which kingdom all are. 
 
PART II. 
 
 feolg TDorsfytp, 
 
PART II. 
 
 &olg TDorsfyip. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 To a mocking nineteenth century reader the term ' Mosaic 
 Ritual ' conjures up a vision of beasts endlessly being 
 sacrificed, an altar continually dripping with blood, 
 mingled smoke of burning flesh and incense going up in a thick 
 cloud to an angry God, who requires from those He Himself 
 has placed in peril a perfection utterly beyond the reach of 
 man. Even the student of Bible history, better informed than 
 such an one, has often, we venture to think, a very false and 
 degrading notion of the value and place of sacrifices in the 
 Mosaic legislation. The subject is one that has been plenti- 
 fully discussed; volumes without number have been written 
 on it, and still we can but say that the best informed has only 
 a very partial, and consequently very unfair, knowledge of the 
 matter. And yet, as sacrifices form the grand centre point, 
 the hinge on which it turns, the keystone of the whole 
 structure, it is a thing to be lamented that the knowledge of 
 the few has not been extended to the many. 
 
 To begin with, it must be borne in mind that it is a question 
 on which Scripture throws no direct light, whether the notion 
 of sacrifices being necessary or pleasing to God resulted from 
 any actual Divine commandment. Some theologians, indeed, 
 see in the ' skins ' with which the transgressors were clothed 
 on their banishment from Paradise, a sign of an already 
 
68 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 prescribed and accepted sin offering. Else why were animals 
 slain ; no grant of flesh for food having already been given ? 
 But this reasoning is precarious. In the Garden of Eden 
 there was no idea of sacrifice, as indeed how could there be, 
 since the union between God and man was so perfect? 
 What is certain is, that many years afterwards, when both 
 Cain and Abel had attained manhood, we read of both these 
 two bringing a ' minchah ' (literally, a present) to the Lord. 
 Have we not here the key to the significance of this first 
 recorded offering ? A ' present,' to be truly acceptable and 
 valuable, should be a spontaneous act, the value of which 
 depends on the disposition with which it was offered, as well 
 as upon the meaning which the giver puts into it. Abel's gift 
 meant much, not simply because of its intrinsic value — the 
 choicest of the flock — but because it expressed the truth which 
 was to lie at the basis of all sacrificial institutions, that life 
 must be surrendered to God. And more, the life is given 
 through suffering and death. Is there not here the sinner's 
 feeling after God, the anticipation, however dim, of the mystery 
 of atonement? God accepted the gift, not as brought in 
 obedience to His command, but because it was willingly 
 brought, and because it embodied the true spirit of sacrifice. 
 Cain's bloodless altar expressed no such deep thoughts. It 
 was an elegant but a heartless oblation; and God would not 
 receive it at his hands. Whether the declaration * that Abel's 
 sacrifice was 'more abundant' than Cain's because oi faith, 
 implies that he had already understood and grasped the pro- 
 mise of a coming Redeemer, is an interesting question, but 
 one on which Scripture makes no definite statement. It is 
 fairly argued that as faith implies the belief in testimony, there 
 must have been some word of revelation on which Abel rested. 
 Pursuing the history of sacrifices still further, we find Noah, 
 on coming out of the Ark, offering the first burnt offering. Here 
 the expression first occurs : ' And the Lord smelled a sweet 
 savour' (or 'a savour of rest'), which deserves consideration 
 1 Heb. xi. 4 : see Bishop Westcott on the passage. 
 
Chap. I.] SACRIFICES. 69 
 
 Not that, as the Psalmist points out, God has need of the flesh 
 of bulls and goats, far from it ; but that the Deity was thought 
 of in such an intimate way ('not in heaven, nor far off'), that 
 the attributes of a human being were literally ascribed to Him, 
 and He could be represented as being pleased or displeased 
 with the homage paid to Him by His creatures. After the 
 Noachic covenant, the idea of a live sacrifice, except on very 
 special occasions, seems to have receded. Altars were erected, 
 certainly, but mostly as places of prayer ; and it is only on great 
 solemnities, such as the making of the covenant with Abraham, 
 that parts of a slaughtered animal are spoken of. And that 
 even in those days a sacrifice, living or otherwise, was not 
 always intended to convey to the patriarchal mind the idea of 
 atonement or propitiation appears from thu : that Abraham is 
 instructed by God, in very distinct terms which cover all the 
 reason of the act, to offer up his only well-beloved son Isaac. 
 By such a deed no guilt could have been removed from the 
 father's head, and his unquestioning obedience would still 
 further prove how in accordance with the Divine will was his 
 own wish. Whence, then, the undoubted element of expiation 
 and propitiation in the Mosaic sacrificial ritual? This question 
 will be best answered by a study of the different kinds of 
 sacrifice, with the reasons attached to their existence. 
 
 Sacrifices : their Kind and Quality. 
 
 On the surface, great care was required in the quality of the 
 sacrifice. Everything must be of the very best ; nothing 
 diseased or faulty or not really valuable, could be offered. 
 Further, as regards the limits set to the kind of sacrifice. The 
 animals offered must not be wild, got by chance, or rare on 
 that account ; but those domestic animals which were of most 
 value, those, in fact, which formed the ground of the nation's 
 wealth. As regarded bloodless 'gifts,' these must be of fruits 
 which require the greatest care in cultivation, the olive, whose 
 pressed oil was so precious in every Eastern home, wine most 
 carefully prepared, cakes and bread made under special orders. 
 
JO RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 On the other hand, among the forbidden gifts we find some which 
 seem passing strange. For example, honey is forbidden ; but 
 for this prohibition the reason is assigned that honey has a 
 fermenting, decomposing power, and that in this way it ranks 
 along with leaven, which, except in one solitary instance, had 
 no place in the preparation of sacrificial offerings. Again, the 
 fire for consuming the sacrifices must not be ordinary fire \ it 
 too was holy, and might not be neglected or put aside for any 
 other. For it was the eternal fire, for ever smouldering on the 
 altar, that alone might be used to consume the sacrifices, that 
 fire which each morning the priest renewed from what was left 
 overnight, according to the command : ' The fire shall ever be 
 burning upon the altar j it shall never go out.' x This was 
 common to many other of the religions of antiquity, and in the 
 Mosaic legislation at any rate, signified that everything con- 
 nected with the approach to the Divine must be guarded and 
 fenced off from what was ordinary. There was one instance 
 always before the eyes of the Israelite, of sharp judgment 
 which overtook two sons of Aaron for offering a 'strange' 
 sacrifice. In view of that, not a Jew would venture to offer his 
 gift in any but the appointed way ; indeed, so holy was the fire 
 deemed, that, according to legend, it was preserved during the 
 captivity by the instrumentality of the prophet Jeremiah in a 
 cave, and afterwards restored to its place on the altar. 2 What 
 the fire was meant to symbolise was, in the case of a sin 
 offering, the wrath of God consuming the substitute (' our God 
 is a consuming fire'); in other cases God's love and kindly 
 favour to His people. 3 Rightly, then, it was not ' common.' 
 
 Sacrifice ; its Methods and Accompaniments. 
 
 Another point in the offering of sacrifices, bloody in this 
 case, was the manner of slaying, and then of placing the 
 various parts on the altar. Starting from the idea that the life 
 of the animal was seated in its blood, the sacrificial animal, 
 which was to be regarded as the equivalent of its offerer, must 
 
 1 Lev. vi. 13. ■ See 1 Mace. ii. 1-13. 3 Comp. Cant. viii. 6, 7. 
 
Chap. L] REASON OF SACRIFICE. ;i 
 
 not only be so killed that its blood, the caphar or sin-covering 
 part, could be duly sprinkled on and around the altar, but the 
 animal itself must be divided into stated portions, and in some 
 sacrifices wholly burnt, in others only a part consumed, while 
 the rest was partaken of by priests alone, or by priests and 
 laymen, according to the different ways in which the sacrifice 
 had its meaning ; one way for sin, another for the burnt and 
 trespass offerings, etc. This laying upon the altar and present- 
 ation before the Divine has always been an important detail in 
 the sacrifices of the human race, and is not only peculiar to 
 the Jew. 
 
 Again, we have to notice the presence of salt in the sacri- 
 ficial rules laid down. According to Lev. ii. 13, 'every 
 oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt ; 
 neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to 
 be lacking from thy meat offering : with all thine offerings 
 thou shalt offer salt.' The reasons for this command are not 
 difficult to find. Not only is salt the great preserver from 
 decay, but in those Eastern countries it was the token of 
 friendship, of a covenant so true that to break it was impossible. 
 It was also the mark of the guest, and signified that the once 
 interrupted communion was re-established between the great 
 Father and His children. Fitting then was it that the most 
 sacred token of friendship between man and man should be 
 transferred into the symbolism of the Jewish worship. 
 
 Reason of Sacrifice. 
 
 Having thus briefly enumerated the salient points common 
 to most, if not all sacrifices, we are now in a position to 
 examine more closely into the question : why the sacrifice was 
 the method which the Jews, clearly directed, at any rate after the 
 Mosaic legislation, were bidden to use as most pleasing to God. 
 
 Here we must begin by drawing the lines a little more 
 closely. It is evident from what has already been adduced, 
 that first, the feeling that this was a fitting way of approach 
 arose in man's own mind — under what impulses of Divine 
 
-J2 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 inspiration it is impossible to decide. Further, that up to the 
 time of the Exodus the prominent feature in the sacrifices was 
 not propitiation, but thanksgiving. It marks a higher stage in 
 the development of the human race, where man begins to feci 
 with a definiteness of conviction far beyond any vague stirrings 
 of conscience, that there is a barrier between himself and the 
 Divine, when rising from ignorant joy for favours received he 
 feels himself unworthy to receive those very favours. Not 
 quite analogous, though apparently so, is the offering of human 
 sacrifices by savage nations. Here there would be a feeling of 
 bloody vengeance, of wrath and anger clamouring to be satisfied; 
 different, utterly different from the reverential and penitential 
 approach of the offerer among the Jews, conscious of favours 
 showered, conscious of his own unworthiness, conscious that out 
 of the over-abundant store he owes the best and choicest to the 
 great Giver. That is one aspect of the sacrificial code. But there 
 is another, far more solemn and mysterious, a mystery which 
 even the angels might desire to look into. That is : how r the 
 sacrifice w r as not only an avowal of guilt and unworthiness, but 
 an actual atonement and propitiation for sins and offences 
 committed. Here the Epistle to the Hebrews is very explicit : 
 1 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats 
 should take away sins ' ; l but that He who came to do 
 God's will, He had grasped the idea of sacrifice. Not in blood, 
 nor in bloody and bloodless offerings, but in the subordination, 
 the surrender of the will to God, did He take pleasure. And 
 this was the use of sacrifices : that by offering them the offerer 
 sought to transfer his will and inclination into the animal, 
 which was thus his representative, and by its inferiority to his 
 own self marked his standing as regarded God. This trans- 
 ference of personality into the animal was, of course, only fit 
 for a child-stage of perception of Divine truths. True, the patri- 
 archs were not advanced enough for this ; but, on the other 
 hand, the idea of the power of passing one's responsibility into 
 an unreasoning creature would not synchronise with the 
 1 Heb. x. 4. 
 
Chap. L] SACRIFICES. 73 
 
 Christian Church. It is one of those things that decay and 
 wax old, and so are ' ready to vanish away.' That is, viewed 
 in its symbolic aspect, wherein first the priest was the medium 
 of the Divine, and secondly, the animal the medium of the 
 offerer ; and wherein each act marked the different processes 
 in the mind, the bringing signifying the desire to approach 
 God, the hand-laying the transference of will and desire into 
 the sacrifice, the slaying, not murder, but a surrender of the 
 life to the Giver, and the placing in order on the altar of whole 
 or parts of the animal signified reverence and care, the 
 sprinkling the atonement made; and as one writer quaintly 
 remarks : to the offerer, after the Mosaic legislation, there was 
 one point which was wanting in pre-Mosaic times — the 
 certainty that each offerer could feel that, offered in the right 
 w r ay as it necessarily must be, his sacrifice was sure of accept- 
 ance. Carrying the symbolism still further, by the very fact 
 that a man offered part, it was an easy inference that the whole 
 was really alienated from God. In this connection it is curious 
 to note that flowers, so commonly presented among the 
 nations both in olden and in modern times, find no place 
 among the permitted gifts. It would even seem l that the 
 fruits permitted to be brought could only be laid down near 
 the altar. May this not mean that, whereas the great vital 
 principle, the blood, was to be poured out on the altar, that 
 which made this life pleasant, its fruits and flowers, were not to 
 be needlessly snatched away from man, but that if out of his 
 abundance he gave what was a fitting acknowledgment, it was 
 to be viewed as a free gift, not as a duty ? 
 
 Jehovah a Sharer in the Sacrifice. 
 
 As regards the share their great King took in the 
 sacrifices offered to Him, it seems that to the patriarchal 
 Israelite it was like presenting Him with food {lechem Elohim) ; 
 or if incense, with presenting Him with a sweet savour. But 
 it was only in very ancient times that such ideas could 
 1 Comp. Lev. ii. 12. 
 
74 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 prevail, fitted to the days when the Lord was entertained by 
 Abraham, or manifested His secret purposes to him. Rather 
 did it to the Jew under the law seem that he, by doing all in 
 his power, was showing that in so much as in him lay, he was 
 in accordance with God's will. And, viewed sacramentally, 
 the sacrifice-stage of man's development is even now not a 
 thing of the past. And the sacrifice of thanksgiving and of 
 self-dedication which the Church of Christ now offers is also 
 the mark that this is not her rest. 
 
 Sacrifice as a Symbol. 
 
 The typical aspect of sacrifices is the one with which we are 
 all most familiar. Strange indeed it often seems that the Jew 
 of the time of Christ did not, could not, perceive this. But 
 in truth for him the typical side of sacrifices had no existence. 
 He could understand their symbolism, he felt what he was 
 doing in offering a sacrifice ; more than that, he must have felt 
 that the constant inferiority of his substitute left a wide margin 
 of offences for which there was no chance of remission. To 
 the Jew, again, of the present era, with his eyes opened by the 
 rapidly rolling-on world, carried by it, alone, with no patriotic 
 feelings of pride in present possession to sustain him, there is 
 nothing left but, the symbols of his faith being shattered, to 
 lose all creeds and merely cling to a name. But to the 
 Christian Church the word ' sacrifice ' has only one grandest 
 meaning, one personal application to the Great Person, the 
 Great Sacrifice, the Great Atonement. Herein lies the point 
 and gist of the whole ceremonial law : it was to bring to Him 
 that the Jew required this law, ritual as well as ethical, as a 
 1 schoolmaster.' And it is thus that, ' having learnt Christ,' His 
 Church can offer their 'bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
 able unto God, which is their reasonable (or spiritual) service.' 
 
 The Main Division of Sacrifices. 
 
 Examining more particularly what commentators term the 
 1 materials for sacrifice,' we must first divide the offerings into 
 
Chap. I.] SACRIFICES. 75 
 
 bloody and bloodless sacrifices. Of the former there were at 
 least five common kinds : the burnt offering, oldest of all, the 
 thank offering, sin offering, trespass offering, while a large 
 number of sacrifices might be classed under a fifth head, as 
 those for special occasions. The classification of Professor 
 Kurtz will be found very convenient and suggestive. By 
 combining the sin and trespass offerings as expressing the 
 same essential idea, he groups the whole in three divisions. 
 
 1. Sin offerings and trespass offerings, the chief typical act 
 in which was the sprinkling of the blood. 
 
 2. Burnt offerings, the chief characteristic of which was the 
 entire burning upon the altar. These offerings were the 
 earliest : of which (1) and (3) may be considered as modifica- 
 tions, each with a new thought added, of supreme importance. 
 
 3. Peace offerings, in which the new feature w T as the sacrificial 
 meal, expressive of communion with God. 
 
 Thus the several kinds of bleeding sacrifice embody respec- 
 tively the great theological realities of Expiation, Consecra- 
 tion, and Fellowship. 
 
 The greater part of these bloody sacrifices were accom- 
 panied by a bloodless one, minchah, a gift, consisting mainly 
 in wheat prepared in the form of cakes, flour, or bruised 
 corn, together with oil and incense. As regarded the animals 
 to be offered, they are described very explicitly. They 
 are bulls and cows, sheep and goats, doves and pigeons. 
 This order also marks the significance, or greater and lesser 
 guilt felt to be atoned. Fish were not contemplated as being 
 available for sacrifice, as indeed seems to have been common 
 to many other nations. 
 
 From the whole of the materials for worship being summed 
 up in such a small compass it will be noted, that (1) the 
 Jew was quite capable of doing his homage in the wilderness ; 
 
 (2) that what was pleasing to God was not what was to 
 be brought from far, or unattainable by any but the rich, 
 but what was most necessary to daily life was to be given ; 
 
 (3) that worship was really communion and fellowship 
 
j6 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 in this daily life ; (4) that the Jew would best fulfil his destiny 
 by a long life in agriculture in the land God had given him. 
 
 True, this ritual of sacrifices marked that Israel was still in 
 a very early stage of life. And it is curious to note how even 
 after the laws had been laid down, and a central place of 
 worship appointed, how even then the faithful in the land, such 
 as Manoah, do not seem to have scrupled to bring a sacrifice 
 at their own homes. Further, the priests themselves appear to 
 have often been quite unworthy of their position, and to have 
 taken advantage of it to do deeds infamous or nefarious (comp. 
 the sons of Eli, and the intrigues of the priests in the days 
 of David and Solomon). Still, the system was a grand one, 
 with a grand meaning, both typical and symbolic, and certainly 
 far surpassed that conceived by any other nation of antiquity. 
 And though Jehovah's chief requirement was not that of sacri- 
 fice, and His most acceptable one was a broken and contrite 
 spirit, 1 yet it must have been very refreshing to the penitent to 
 feel that, instead of thick clouds and darkness enwrapping the 
 Divine, there was a way always open, by blood certainly, but 
 by blood not wasted, only diverted from its ordinary use. Still, 
 though he knew it not, there would in course of time be a more 
 excellent way, when the Sacrifice had been offered once for all, 
 when there was no more remembrance of sins made every 
 year, but when the way into the Holiest should be made 
 manifest, and we able to enter where the Forerunner has 
 already entered for us. 
 
 Again, it was not alone for consuming on the altar that all 
 sacrifices were brought. Some, indeed, were wholly consumed ; 
 these were ' most holy ' (kodesh kodashim). Others, however, 
 were only partially burnt, and these (kodesh) were partaken of 
 by the priests, in some instances also by their families ; in 
 others, the offerer himself had a share. In all cases, however, 
 it must be remembered that the sacrifice was a gift, a 
 voluntary gift ; as well as, if not more than, an obligation. 
 
 1 Comp. Psa. li. 16, ' Thou delightest not in sacrifice,' etc. ; Psa. 1. 12 ; 
 Jer. vii. 22, etc. 
 
Chap. I.] SACRIFICES. yy 
 
 We can now proceed to examine the offerings in detail, 
 always bearing in mind (i) that to the Jew it was the symbolic 
 side which most presented itself; and (2) that to the Christian 
 Church the symbolic side is as full of instruction now, as the 
 typical side has hitherto been shown to be. 
 
7* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 ghvrnt (Offering, ^tteat Offering. grink Offering. 
 
 i. THE BURNT OFFERING. 
 
 The Book of Leviticus, with which we naturally connect 
 the ceremonial law, opens with the ritual for the Burnt 
 Offering, the oldest and in some senses the most com- 
 prehensive of all the sacrifices. 
 
 To begin with its name : What we in English call the 
 ' burnt offering ' is in Hebrew l oIah, ' ascending,' which would 
 naturally point to the ascending smoke and burning. The 
 LXX. translate the term oXoKavTtvpa (Vulgate, holocaustum), 
 but, as one writer points out, this refers to its intention, not its 
 meaning. Again, as belonging to the class of sacrifices which 
 were wholly consumed on the altar, it was kali/, ' whole offer- 
 ing.' The real force of the term ' olafr seems to lie in this, that 
 as the sacrifice rose before the presence of Jehovah, then was 
 it acceptable. 1 
 
 The history of burnt offering, or rather, the rudimentary 
 idea of sacrifice to be wholly given and consumed, dates from 
 very early times. Writers trace like observances among the 
 Syrians, the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, even 
 the Romans; and it is curious to note that, wherever burnt 
 offerings were common, it was the practice to slay the males, 
 and keep the females. The reasons for this are different. 
 Among the Jews it was the feeling that, the male being the 
 finer and more valuable animal, by so doing they were offering 
 God of their very best ; among other nations again, the female 
 1 ' They shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar,' Isa. lx. 7. 
 
Chap. II.] THE BURNT OFFERING. 79 
 
 was either the holier of the two, or to be spared on account of 
 her milk, etc. 
 
 Again, the Jew had this idea in common with other peoples, 
 that by wholly consuming his sacrifice he was placing before 
 God a meal in which no human being was to have a share ; 
 but unlike them, even in those cases where he did partake of 
 a portion of the sacrifices, it by no means resembled the orgies 
 or sacrificial meals in which the ancient heathen world de- 
 lighted. So the few points the Jew had in common with 
 heathenism really only served to point out how very far he 
 was removed from them in purpose, and even in act. 
 
 Significance of the Burnt Offering. 
 
 Next, as regarded its meaning, though, in common with all 
 bloody sacrifices, it had the basis of expiation, yet this was, 
 after all, only a subordinate idea. The grand purpose of 
 the burnt offering was adoration. In it the offerer pre- 
 sented his life (blood), his strength (bones), his beauty and 
 grace (the arrangement of the pieces), and as it was daily 
 offered, this was a daily dedication of the whole nation to God. 
 To the pious in Israel it was a sign of thanksgiving, 1 even of 
 supplication and entreaty. So not only every day, but on all 
 feasts and solemn occasions, the burnt offering was present ; 
 though on some of these great days, before the congregation 
 could give itself up wholly to adoration, the sense of over- 
 whelming guilt was first of all expressed in the sin offering. 
 Otherwise the burnt offering had precedence of every other. 
 
 That the chief object of the burnt offering was not expia- 
 tion, appears also in the fact that, while the blood of the sin 
 and trespass offering was sprinkled in one particular spot, that 
 of the burnt offering was merely sprinkled round the base of 
 the altar, as was also done for the thank offerings. But again, 
 the mere mention of the blood shows that death was even in 
 
 1 ' I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings : I will pay Thee my 
 vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I 
 was in trouble,' Psa. Ixvi. 13, 14. 
 
80 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 this, the most perfect of offerings, a necessary ingredient in the 
 ritual of that law which to so many was a ' savour of death 
 unto death.' 
 
 Though more particularly intended to mark that the offerer 
 was one within the covenant, still it would seem that, by the 
 fact of bringing it, even a heathen, a Gentile, shared in the 
 benefits of the chosen people. Thus, we find Jethro, the 
 Midianite, when bringing Moses' wife and sons back to him, 
 taking a burnt offering and sacrifices, after which the elders of 
 Israel, considering him as one with themselves, ate ' bread 
 with him before God.' i In later days it was the custom for 
 pious heathens to have burnt offerings presented for them in 
 the Temple ; and it is an historical fact that the cessation of 
 the daily sacrifices offered for Nero in the Temple at Jerusalem 
 was the sign that the last Jewish war had broken out. 2 
 
 Animals Prescribed for the Burnt Offering. 
 
 The animals used for the burnt offering might be :— i. The 
 bullock, universally regarded as the finest animal sacrifice, as 
 may be seen by comparing the passages where it was brought 
 as a gift of great value (by the princes in Numb, vii., etc.). In 
 the ritual in Leviticus this bullock is termed ben boker, son of 
 the herd, i.e., young, in contradistinction to a calf, and also to 
 the older animal. 2. Of sheep : a ram without blemish. This 
 it was that was the daily burnt offering for Israel. 3. Of 
 fowls : turtle doves or young pigeons. These were not very 
 much offered, mostly in cases where the means of the offerer 
 would not allow of animal sacrifice. But the mere fact that 
 they were offered at all marks a difference from the heathen 
 world, where in so many instances doves were sacred, and not 
 looked upon as sacrificial at all. It is also somewhat curious 
 that the Jews, as a nation, were noted for rearing doves. It is 
 probable that doves were selected out of all others because of 
 their smallness, and the care required in providing them food. 
 
 The young bullock having been chosen, it was brought by 
 1 Exod. xviii. 12. 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 17, 2. 
 
Chap. II.] THE BURN1 OFFERING. 8 1 
 
 the offerer to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and there 
 the offerer laid bis hand heavily (samach, rested upon), 
 supporting it, on the head of the animal. The meaning of 
 this ceremony, which appears in so many other sacrifices, 
 was, that the offerer put something in common between him- 
 self and his sacrifice ; that he gave over to it part of the object 
 for which he had come, and made it an accessory in the act. 
 And by so doing he, the offerer, consecrated the animal for 
 his own work. Upon this follows in the ritual the typioal 
 meaning of this act ; subordinate, as we have seen, to its chief 
 idea of adoration : 'and it shall be accepted for him {lecapper 
 ( alaiv\ to cover him,' ?'.<?., be a ' wedding garment ' for him 
 against the holiness, dreadful as it was, of God. 
 
 Ritual of the Burnt Offering. 
 
 The animal was next slain by the offerer, at the appointed 
 place, on the north side of the great altar of burnt offering; 
 and now began the real ceremonial part, when the priests or 
 Levites shared in the sacrifice. As the Jews were taught that 
 the life, the seat of vital energy, was in the blood, it was a 
 natural step to lay it down that what was given by God should 
 be wholly dedicated to Him, and therefore forbidden to be 
 eaten as food. So in the burnt offering the blood was 
 caught as it streamed out by the priests, and sprinkled all 
 round the altar, that is, given to the whole Sanctuary of God. 
 Next, the offerer himself skinned the sacrifice (which skin 
 belonged to himself afterwards), and divided it limb from limb, 
 i.e., did not hack it, but cut it up symmetrically. Meanwhile 
 the priests were preparing the altar, arranging it to receive the 
 sacrifice, which done, the pries'.s placed the pieces on the piled 
 wood, first the head — even in other countries looked upon as a 
 particular part — and then the fat round the entrails, while the 
 entrails themselves, washed in water, were next placed on the 
 altar, and finally the legs, from the knee to the foot, and the 
 whole burnt. And thus was Israel taught that before any- 
 thing they gave could be accepted by their Father in heaven, 
 
 Q 
 
82 RITES AXD WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 it must go up to heaven in smoke, that which reaches farthest, 
 as a sweet-smelling oblation, one which while reminding man 
 of what was most pleasant and good to support life, pointed 
 upwards to God as the consummation and giver of that verv 
 life. 
 
 For the sacrifice of a dove, usually brought by the poor, 
 the ritual was necessarily somewhat different. The bird was 
 brought by the offerer to the priest, who wrenched off its head 
 with his finger and nail, and then burnt this on the altar ; next 
 the crop and intestines were plucked off and thrown among 
 the ashes on the east side of the altar, while the blood was 
 pressed out and let run down the east side of the altar, as 
 marking, so one writer points out, that even though it was not 
 enough to equal that of the four-footed animals sprinkled 
 round, yet it should not be poured out at the base, as if not 
 worthy, but, as much as in it lay, dedicated to God. This 
 done, the priest separated partially, but not entirely, the wings 
 from the body, that to some extent the bird should be divided, 
 as in the animal sacrifice, but not entirely, as in that case quite 
 useless for the meal or feast it was supposed to represent. And 
 as the smoke of this ' poor ' offering went up to heaven, it 
 also was a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet 
 savour unto the Lord. 
 
 2. THE MEAT OFFERING. 
 
 In the order which we at present follow, that of our Book of 
 Leviticus, the meat offering (minchak, a gift, present) is next 
 laid down. This meat offering was not of animal food, as 
 its usual name might lead some readers to suppose, 1 but a 
 vegetable offering, the vegetable world being likewise con- 
 sidered as belonging to God. But not a vegetable offering in 
 its natural state: it must be of 'fine flour,' explained as mean- 
 ing flour made of carefully roasted and ground corn, fresh 
 ears, and when so prepared it must be poured over with oil, 
 
 1 It will be unnecessary to remind students of English that the word 
 meat has nothing to do with flesh. It means ' food ' simply. 
 
Chap. II.] THE MEAT OFFERING. 83 
 
 seasoned with salt, and sprinkled with incense. Very felici- 
 tously, therefore, our Bible Revisers have changed the term 
 meat offering into meal offering, removing a possible cause of 
 error by the smallest possible alteration. As enumerated in 
 the law, the minchah, or meat offering, falls into two classes : — 
 
 1. The minchah which was offered by itself alone. 
 
 2. The minchah which accompanied some other and greater 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The first class would evidently reproduce the original idea 
 of man, that of themselves vegetable sacrifices were just as 
 pleasing to the Almighty as animal sacrifices ; but even here 
 it is curious to mark how very seldom the minchah appears by 
 itself. The principal occasions were the following : — 
 
 (a) For the high priests' meat offering. 1 In after years 
 tradition laid it down that the high priest must offer this meat 
 offering daily for himself and his house, out of his own private 
 means. 2 This offering was consumed in part, and the re- 
 mainder eaten in the holy place. 
 
 (b For the trial of jealousy. 3 The husband of the suspected 
 wife brought the tenth part of an ephah of barley. But this 
 sacrifice was neither anointed with oil nor with incense, for 
 this reason : that it was ' an offering of jealousy, an offering of 
 memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.' And, as such, 
 it was not fitting that the symbols of peace and worship should 
 be present. 
 
 (c) For the extremely poor in Israel, a man who was not 
 able to bring even two pigeons as a sin offering, it was lawful 
 to bring the tenth part of an ephah of flour for a sin offering ; 
 but as here also the idea of sin was present, the offerer might 
 put neither oil nor incense. 4 
 
 (d) The wave sheaf, which was presented ' on the morrow 
 after the Sabbath' during the Feast of Passover. 5 This was 
 accompanied by its own particular meat offering and its drink 
 offering. 
 
 1 Lev. vi. 14, etc. 2 Ant. iii. 10, 7. :? Numb. v. 15 
 
 4 Lev. v. 11. 5 Lev. xxiii. 10, etc. 
 
84 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 (e) The ' wave loaves ' at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). 
 On this feast the meat offering (a ' new ' one) was leavened, 
 and formed the raison d'etre, so to speak, of the Feast. As 
 being a thanksgiving for daily bread, it was leavened, and 
 'new' because the first of the new harvest. 
 
 (/) To this list of meat offerings presented alone we should 
 add the shewbread, constantly before the Lord, and not to be 
 eaten by any but His chosen priests. 
 
 These minchah sacrifices excepted, in nearly all the other 
 cases the meat offering was accessory and subordinate to the 
 animal sacrifice. But here again we find many and differing 
 descriptions of meat offering, both as regards the quantity of 
 the ingredients and the manner of preparing them. The 
 following quite distinct kinds are enumerated in the Penta- 
 teuch. 
 
 i. Challah : 'Unleavened cakes mingled with oil, of fine 
 flour,' Lev. vii. 12 ; viii. 26, etc. These were cakes mixed with 
 oil, and afterwards sprinkled with the same. Such were used 
 at the consecration of Aaron and his sons. Incense was mixed 
 in them, Lev. ii. 1-3. 
 
 2. Challah: Unleavened cakes baked in the oven. These 
 were kneaded with oil, and were probably about the thickness 
 of the hand, perhaps perforated with small holes from the oven 
 in which it was baked, as is a common kind among the Arabs 
 of the present day, Lev. ii. 4. 
 
 3. Cakes mixed with oil, and baked on a flat round, pro- 
 bably iron, plate (inachabath) over the fire, Lev. ii. 5. This is 
 to the present day a thoroughly Arab way of baking cakts. 
 But this kind of meat offering could only be presented broken, 
 not cut, in small pieces, so as to make them appear more like 
 a meal and with oil poured over in addition to that with 
 which it was kneaded. 
 
 4. Boiled pudding-like cakes, according to some, and pan- 
 cakes according to others. They would seem to be cakes 
 baked in a mould (marchesheth), of course without leaven, and 
 mixed with oil, Lev. ii. 7. 
 
Chap. II.] THE MEAT OFFERING. 85 
 
 5. Dried and rubbed, or bruised, ears of green corn, with oil 
 and incense added, Lev. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 6. The offering in the trial of jealousy was of a tenth part of 
 an ephah of meal, like many other meat offerings ; but unlike 
 them, neither oil nor incense was added. 
 
 7. Wafers, unleavened, anointed with oil, Lev. vii. 12. 
 
 The quantity of meal in the meat offerings which accom- 
 panied other sacrifices is given as follows. 1 We also give the 
 accompanying drink offerings : — 
 
 1. For the ordinary sacrifice >, such as burnt offerings, vows, 
 freewill offerings, feasts and Sabbaths: a tenth part of an ephah 
 of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil. Drink 
 offering : a fourth of a hin of wine. 
 
 2 . For a ram : two-tenths of flour and one-third of a hin of 
 oil. Drink offering : one-third of a hin of wine. 
 
 3. Bullock for peace offering or vows : three-tenths of an 
 ephah of flour and half a hin of oil. Drink offering : half a 
 hin of wine. 
 
 These meat offerings chiefly accompanied such sacrifices as 
 the daily ones, those for Sabbaths and feasts, the presenting of 
 the wave sheaf, the two Pentecost cakes ; the sacrifice for sin 
 unwittingly committed by the congregation, 2 the offering of the 
 Nazirite at the close of his period of separation ; 3 that for 
 thanksgiving. 4 In fact, so almost entirely did the meat offering 
 accompany a bloody sacrifice, that it strikes us as having a 
 special significance that at the thanksgiving after child-birth 
 there is no mention of a meat offering. 5 
 
 Ritual of the Meat Offering. 
 
 When the minchah had been presented in the Tabernacle, 
 only a small portion was consumed on the altar, as azkarah, 
 i.e., remembrance, memorial; the remainder was 'most holy' 
 {sanctissima), and belonged to the priests. The expression 
 azkarah, is a most forcible one. As the sweet smell of the 
 
 1 Numb. xv. 1, etc. 2 Numb. xv. 24. 3 Numb. vi. 13-20. 
 
 4 Lev. vii. 12-14, 5 Lev. xii. 
 
86 RITES AND WORSHIP OS THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 meal, oil, and incense ascended to heaven, the presenter of the 
 minchah came, so to speak, before God's presence and memory; 
 and as atonement is not the idea or the foundation of the 
 minchah) the memorial could be sweet and fragrant. The 
 offerer was bringing what must have cost him, personally, 
 much labour, and in that respect it surpassed the burnt offer- 
 ing, which might have been easily purchased even on the way 
 to the Sanctuary. It was a mark of gratitude for daily bread, 
 of heavenly aspirations and longings for the better bread from 
 heaven. It was food pleasant to the taste and smell, and as 
 seasoned with salt, free from decay. It was also the symbol of 
 spiritual fruit, and this in a twofold sense ; first, as regarded 
 the offerer himself, as a mark of the fruits of the Spirit, in 
 holiness of life, good works, righteousness, joy, and peace; and 
 second, as regarded the effect of these good works on his 
 neighbour, in kindness and charity ; and it was in this sense 
 also, as receivers of the bounty of the offerer, as well as repre- 
 sentatives of the Divine, that the priests ate their share. And 
 in the service of the Holy Communion in these days is the 
 ancient meat offering of the Jewish world remembered, when 
 1 in perfect charity with all men,' and offering and presenting 
 ' ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and 
 lively sacrifice unto Thee,' it is prayed that all may be fulfilled 
 with God's grace and heavenly benediction. Thus the meat 
 offering will have its meaning while the world endures. 
 
 3. DRINK OFFERINGS. 
 
 Little remains to be said of the drink offering, which so 
 often accompanied the meat offering. It is curious here to 
 note, that whereas the libations occupied so large a place in 
 heathen worship, they seem foreign and altogether subordinate 
 elements in the Jewish ritual. Indeed, the pouring out of 
 wine is spoken of as part of the apostate religion of later 
 Israel. 1 It would seem that the only part the drink offering 
 fulfilled was in carrying out the ancient idea that the sacrifice 
 1 Jer. xliv. 17. 
 
Chap. II.] DRINK OFFERINGS. 87 
 
 was a meal, and as such must be provided with drink; and so 
 in the making of the table of shewbread drinking vessels were 
 provided, though we do not read of their being put to any use. 
 The altar of burnt offering alone received the drink offering, 
 which then must not by any means be used by the priests, 1 
 but totally poured out at the base of the altar. In the later 
 Temple two vessels were provided below the altar, into one 
 of which the priest poured wine, into the other water, on the 
 Feast of Tabernacles. Pouring water, indeed, would appear 
 to have been a regular part of a special service, such as that 
 called together by Samuel at Mizpah as a public humiliation 
 and repentance. 2 But as part of the Mosaic ritual it is no 
 water, but pure, good, old wine which is appointed, shechar, 
 strong, intoxicating drink, nesek, what was poured out. Such 
 are the names generally used. It must be remembered, how- 
 ever, that just as with offerings of birds no meat offering was 
 presented, so in all cases where the minchah was absent the 
 drink offering did not appear. Later Israel perceived, indeed, 
 that God was no man to eat and drink, and that what He 
 required was the broken and contrite heart. But for the 
 religious education of Israel in the childhood of knowledge, 
 the outward and visible was presented as a method of approach 
 to the inward and the spiritual. And although even in ancient 
 times the just could live by his faith, still the ' meats and 
 drinks, and divers washings ' were figures ' for the time then 
 present,' when things were seen through a glass darkly, and 
 known in part, until the fulness of time had come, and then 
 seen face to face, and the Sun of Righteousness had risen with 
 healing in His wings. 
 
 1 See Lev. x. 9. 2 I Sam. vii. 6. 
 
88 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Sacrifice {continued) : JJeacc-oftmngs. 
 
 Quite different in scope and significance from the burnt 
 offering, the great pattern of sacrifices, was the Peace 
 offering, otherwise known as Thank offering (Luther, 
 Dankopfer), freewill-offering, or peace meal-offering. Its name, 
 shelamim, is a matter of controversy as regards meaning, some 
 explaining it as meaning 'peace,' others 'reward' or 'payment,' 
 others again ' satisfaction.' The first explanation would seem 
 to be that commonly accepted. 
 
 The ritual, as given in Lev. iii., is of course minute and 
 full of meaning ; but, as in the other sacrifices, we shall have 
 first to consider the offering in its general outline, and then 
 briefly sum up the service, with the lessons it was meant to 
 convey. 
 
 Peace Offerings in Early Times. 
 
 The origin of peace offerings is lost in antiquity. That it 
 was pre-Mosaic is beyond a doubt, likewise that it was a world- 
 wide practice to offer this service in any nation either in times 
 of difficulty and danger, or as thanksgiving for favours received. 
 It resembled heathen sacrifices in this, that it was accompanied 
 by what may almost be called a sacrificial meal, in which both 
 priests and laity shared. This one characteristic is that which 
 gives its stamp to the peace offering, and furnishes the keynote 
 to its meaning. 
 
 To begin with, the idea of atonement or reconciliation with 
 a justly offended Deity had become quite secondary. Rather, 
 
Chap. III.] THE PEACE OFFERING. 89 
 
 we may say, the reconciliation was pre-supposed. As its name 
 signified, the ' peace offering ' was a mark of friendship, a sign 
 of good feeling between God and man, not then begun, but 
 cemented and carried on by the sharing in common of a meal, 
 whereat God, the true Host of the world, condescended to 
 partake as fellow-guest, of what had been prepared for and 
 offered to Him. In the sacrifice, accordingly, the priests were 
 not so much the medium or channel through which the offerer 
 approached God, but His representatives, but even this in a 
 peculiar sense, as they were also, so to speak, recipients of the 
 bounty of their fellow-men. Further, to prove that to God 
 nothing was unsuitable for sacrifice, it was ordained that the 
 peace offering need not necessarily be a male, as was usually 
 the case in the other sacrifices, but might be either male or 
 female, of the herd or of the flock ; nay, an animal which, 
 otherwise healthy, had something either abnormal or lacking 
 in its parts, such as legs too short or too long, tail shortened, 
 etc., 1 might be brought as a freewill offering. But doves 
 and pigeons were shut out of the list, as they would be too 
 small to be shared, and thus the idea of the meal in common 
 would be lost. 
 
 Different Kinds of Peace Offering. 
 
 Thus much for what is termed the ' material ' for the 
 sacrifice. But under the head of peace offerings we must 
 include three different classes, according to the motives which 
 prompted the offerer. Lev. vii. n-21 thus defines them : 
 
 (1) Thanksgiving (todah). This, as being placed first, 
 would be the most important peace offering. With the animal 
 sacrifice, whatever it might be, was offered cakes made of fine 
 flour sprinkled with oil, wafers of the same kind, and fried 
 cakes, all unleavened ; while, as forming part of the sacrificial 
 meal, leavened bread was brought. Of the three kinds of 
 unleavened bread, one specimen of each was offered as a 
 ' heave ' offering, and then eaten by the priest who sprinkled 
 
 1 ' That hath anything superfluous or lacking in his parts,' Lev. xxii. 23. 
 
90 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Pari II. 
 
 the blood. The whole sacrifice must be eaten and finished the 
 same day. 
 
 (2) Vow (neder), Lev. vii. 16. This was the payment in 
 gratitude of a vow made on condition such and such things 
 came to pass. The ritual in this case was the same as that 
 for 
 
 (3) Freewill offering (?iedabah), an offering brought spon- 
 taneously, without either condition or forethought. The 
 sacrifices here brought might be eaten, not altogether neces- 
 sarily on the same day, but on the next, and it was only on 
 the third day that whatever remained must be burnt as utterly 
 unfit for sacrifice or food, in fact, 'abomination, and the soul 
 that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.' Herein lay, no doubt, 
 sanitary reasons, as in those hot climates, except perhaps for a 
 short time in winter, food would be uneatable on the third day. 
 
 The three kinds of peace offerings enumerated above were, 
 of course, private and optional. Not so the peace offering for 
 certain occasions. In the offering brought by the Nazirite at 
 the close of his vow, 1 the peace offering, a ram without a 
 blemish, was obligatory. Likewise, in the Fea^t of Weeks, - 
 it was ordained that two lambs of the first year should be 
 brought as a sacrifice of peace offerings. But even here, where 
 the peace offering could not have the force of being out of a 
 grateful heart without any prompting, it was of the greatest 
 significance as accompanying the burnt and sin offering, 
 wherein the sense of sin was swallowed up in adoration (burnt 
 offer ng), and renewed and continued friendship (peace 
 offering). 
 
 Ritual of the Peace Offering. 
 
 As belonging to that class of sacrifices which was not wholly 
 consumed on the altar, the peace offering fell under the 
 head of sancta, the sanctissima being the burnt, sin, and 
 trespass offerings. The ritual for the service is given as 
 follows : 
 
 1 Numb. vi. 13, etc. a Lev. xxiii. 19. 
 
Chap. III.] RITUAL OF THE PEACE OFFERING. 91 
 
 The animal having been selected 'without blemish,' was 
 brought by the offerer into the Sanctuary, and there, his 
 hand having been laid on its head, to mark his desire of 
 dedicating his all to God, it was killed at the door of the 
 Tabernacle, and the blood immediately sprinkled by the 
 priest ' upon the altar round about,' just as in the ritual for the 
 burnt-offering. Next, four distinct parts of the animal, the fat 
 that covereth the entrails, i.e., separates them from the stomach, 
 the fat that forms part of the entrails, the kidneys and their 
 fat, and the caul above the liver, were taken out, and burnt by 
 the priests on the altar, upon a burnt offering which was 
 already there, probably the daily sacrifice. This fat was God's 
 share, undoubtedly as being what was in ancient times 
 considered as the choicest portion of the animal, and as such 
 what was frequently offered in sacrifice by such nations as the 
 Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. It is also curious to note, 
 as showing that the whole world is kin, that it was by observing 
 the entrails that the augurs of old claimed their knowledge of 
 Divine things and what was to come to pass. 
 
 What was burnt on the altar was to be a ' sweet savour to 
 the Lord.' Nay, further, it was the 'food of the offering 
 made by fire unto the Lord,' ledum Jehovah, God's food. Not 
 that Jehovah required food, as the Psalmist taught, but that 
 in daily life He was to be acknowledged and felt to share. 
 When the fat had been consumed, the breast and right 
 shoulder w r ere taken by the priest, and 'waved' before the 
 Lord, up and down, and right and left, as later Judaism 
 expressed it, to the four ends of the earth, after which con- 
 secrating process finished, these parts belonged to the priests, 
 and might be eaten by themselves or their families in a holy 
 place, i.e., so long as it was not outside the camp in the wilder- 
 ness, or Jerusalem in later times. Both the skin and the other 
 parts of the animal belonged to the offerer, to be eaten as a 
 joyful feast, with the feeling that he was eating that of which 
 God Himself was a partaker, what had been accepted in the 
 Sanctuary, and had ascended up as a ' sweet savour.' In this 
 
92 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 sense the peace offering also is a perpetual sacrifice, for it is 
 always a meet thing to give thanks unto the Lord, that God 
 unto whom the vow must be performed, who heareth prayer. 
 and who commanded : ' Offer unto God thanksgiving ; and 
 pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon Me in the 
 day of trouble : I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify 
 Me.' i 
 
 1 Psa. 1. 14, 15. 
 
93 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 §acx'\ftcz8 for §ins rommittcl) : §in (Dfmng ; 
 
 ^rcsprtss Offering. 
 
 The sacrifices which have been spoken of already — the 
 burnt, meat, and peace offerings — may be regarded as 
 forming a class by themselves. Though in each one 
 the idea of something out of harmony with the original plan 
 of creation was perceptible, yet this sense of unworthiness — 
 to call it by a stronger name, of guilt — was, after all, a sub- 
 ordinate one. They were, particularly, the sacrifices as to the 
 Covenant God, gifts brought by a willing people to their 
 Father in heaven, showing their adoration, their gratitude, 
 their desire to be at peace with Him. But with the sin and 
 the trespass offerings, we are brought face to face with quite 
 another side of sacrifice. Here the offerer does not stand to 
 God in the relation of child or friend, but he has, by some 
 act committed, or something left undone, put himself out of 
 the sunshine of God's favour, and is under a cloud. Not 
 again, that he has committed some deadly sin ; for such there 
 is nothing but death, 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die;' or 
 still worse, a fall under God's devouring wrath. It is, indeed, 
 quite as much a mistake, on the one hand, to imagine that 
 sin, under the Mosaic law, ended, as far as its consequences 
 went, with the offering brought, as to think that, on the other 
 hand, it was ever meant that wrong done should not be 
 punished. Having, then, clearly understood this, that sins 
 which had as their wages death received those wages most 
 certainly, according to Mosaic law, it is fitting to inquire what 
 
94 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 kind of offences could be expiated, and, so to speak, ended 
 by the sin or the trespass offering. 
 
 Sins for which Offering was made. 
 
 While, then, deadly sins, committed deliberately, or even 
 hastily, merited and received God's ' cutting off,' it was quite 
 possible that these very sins, or others more venial, might be 
 committed unwittingly, or through self-deception. Or, even if 
 committed deliberately, there might be such extenuating cir- 
 cumstances as would alleviate the just punishment even in the 
 courts of law of modern times. Here again, the kinds of 
 offence might differ. In addition to sins of commission, there 
 are also sins of omission which often cause quite as much 
 disturbance in the Divine polity as the former. More than 
 this, some offences, whether against God or one's neighbour, 
 upset positive rights, interfere with what is lawfully the share 
 of another. Such sins are termed trespasses, and for them 
 an amende honorable is required. But offences in general, 
 when peculiarly hateful as causing a breach between God and 
 man, and disturbing the mutual relationship between them, 
 are those which we more generally designate as sins, the term 
 being wider and more all-embracing. Then beyond ' sins,' 
 individual acts of transgression, there lies the fact of sin, 
 in a state in which all are involved. Of this fallen state, 
 emphatically, was 'remembrance' made. 
 
 This idea, that all was not well between God and man, is 
 engrafted, it is true, on all sacrifices, even those which were 
 distinctly 'gifts.' But in them it was always in the back- 
 ground ; here, in the sin and in the trespass offering, it is the 
 leading thought. But whereas in the trespass offering satis- 
 faction was the end to be attained ; in the sin offering it was, by 
 expiation to annul and blot out the sin itself. This appears 
 from the terms of the ritual itself. Here the blood is the 
 chief part of the sacrifice — it is nothing without it ; indeed, 
 until the blood has been sprinkled, the sacrifice cannot be 
 said to have been brought. Blood, then, is the principal 
 
Chap. IV.] SIN OFFERING. 95 
 
 feature in the sin offering, and this was full of meaning. For, 
 as the blood was to the Jew what constituted the life of the 
 sacrifice : ' the blood is the life ' — it was evident that the 
 cause of the wrong done was absence of this vital principle — 
 a weakness in the spiritual part of man's nature. And the 
 sin offering brought had in it this idea : to supply what was 
 wanting in the offerer : life as towards God. 
 
 The sin offering does not, however, only appear as brought 
 for sins committed, but in many cases of ritual uncleanness, 
 contracted either accidentally or by reason of the weakness of 
 the flesh, the Israelite who had put himself outside the con- 
 gregation had to offer a sin offering. The reason for this is 
 not difficult to find. By some act, either of his own or of 
 another, the man Levitically unclean had forfeited his place in 
 the congregation. For him, then, approach to Go 1 as to a 
 father or a friend was impossible ; he must, in some way, buy 
 back his old standing, and must put something material be- 
 tween himself and what was displeasing to God. Therefore, 
 in the ritual prescribed for him who has been Levitically un- 
 clean, more than this, even for him who, as Nazirite. has been 
 separated from the rest of the congregation, appears the sin 
 offering, and that as the principal part of the service. 
 
 Sin Offering for the Sanctuary. 
 What, perhaps, teaches us more than anything the true 
 position of the sin offering, as absolutely binding on every 
 man, at any rate at some period, by reason of man's inherited 
 alienation from God, is this : that when the Tabernacle, made 
 according to the pattern shown in the mount, exactly as com- 
 manded, and, as we should imagine, as near its perfection as 
 possible, had been reared up, everything in the building, the 
 whole edifice itself, and all its vessels, were sprinkled with the 
 blood of the sin offering. So true is it that bad is man's very 
 best, as viewed by what is better than man. The mercy- seat 
 itself, the holiest of all things, could not, any more than any- 
 thing else, retain its sanctity, but always, once a year, on the 
 
96 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 Day of Atonement, 1 had to be atoned for with blood. Herein 
 lay the secret of the power of the sin offering : the blood 
 sprinkled ' atoned,' not. indeed, for the material mercy-seat, 
 nor for the Tabernacle, which was also ' atoned ' for once 
 a year, nor for the great altar of burnt offering itself, then 
 sprinkled, but ' because of the uncleanness of the children of 
 Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins,' 
 what was in itself holy was polluted by the touch and by the 
 presence of a sinful people. And so that polluted people 
 were, en masse and as a nation, purified through their holy 
 things, and were able to use the altar and the Tabernacle 
 afresh, all wrong taken from it, for purposes of worship. 
 
 This periodical bringing of a sin offering for the whole con- 
 gregation was, of course, politically, a great bond of union, 
 and ethically, not of small importance as so many new epochs 
 of departure in the right direction, while religiously, it was 
 always a confession of guilt and plan for reconciliation. It is 
 somewhat in this sense that, we take it, the sin offering appears 
 in all the great feasts and the new moons, offered by the priests 
 as representatives of the congregation, to expiate and atone for 
 sins wittingly or unwittingly committed by themselves, or by 
 the congregation since the last time of offering, that, as a 
 reconciled people, they might be able to 'worship Jehovah in 
 the beauty of holiness.' 
 
 Further, from the great choice of animals allowed, and from 
 the liberty of using sacrifices of either sex, it is evident that 
 Moses must have foreseen how often, and in how many cases, 
 the sin offering would be needed, and that for this reason it 
 was that he put so few restrictions on the material to be em- 
 ployed. But it must he borne in mind, that for those for 
 whom the sin offering was appointed, it was enough to be told 
 what they were to do; they required no reason why; only, 
 they felt that, for such and such specified breaches of the 
 Divine command, they were not as they wished to be, and 
 they grasped at the remedy offered to them. This, we may 
 1 Lev. xvi. K. 
 
Chap. IV.] RITUAL OF THE SIN OFFERING. 97 
 
 judge, ' is the reason why so often in the Pentateuch the 
 rationale of each prescribed rite is not given : because it was 
 not wanted. We, who cannot rest content till we have learned 
 all the secret springs and hidden meanings of all that crosses 
 our path, cannot put ourselves on the same level as the Jews 
 of old. But this does not detract in the least from the value of 
 the faith or of the ritual. 
 
 Ritual of the Sin Offering. 
 
 As regards the material for the sin offering, it was fixed, not 
 by the wealth, but by the personality of the offerer, not by his 
 means, nor yet by the magnitude of his sin. At the head of 
 the list of animals which might be brought stood, as might be 
 expected, the bullock, a young bullock. This, as sin offering, 
 must be brought by such persons as : — 
 
 (1) The high priest, as representative of the congregation, 
 and the high point of the nation. So to be offered once a year, 
 on the Day of Atonement ; 1 and by the high priest for a sin of 
 ignorance committed by the congregation, that is, some 
 command disobeyed without the congregation's perceiving it at 
 the time. When the sin had been found out 2 a sin offering of 
 a young bullock might be brought by the high priest, and atone 
 for the whole congregation. 
 
 (2) Or a.o;ain, the high priest as an individual might have 
 committed some sin, as any layman might do. For him also 
 the young bullock was the fitting sin offering, since, as the 
 holiest among a holy people, most was expected of him. The 
 greater, then, was his guilt, and the larger the sin offering 
 demanded of him. For from him would it be that the whole 
 congregation would be led into error, so that as much as was 
 required for the people in their totality was required of the 
 high priest individually. 
 
 (3) Once more, at the consecration of the priests and 
 
 1 Lev. xvi. 
 2 As for example when the whole people ate food with the blood, 
 1 Sam. xiv. 32, etc. 
 
 H 
 
98 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 Levites, and it would almost seem as if for the sin of any 
 ordinary priest, a young bullock was brought as a sin offering. 1 
 As next in order of value, the goat, a he-goat, as it is termed 
 in some places, a ' kid of the goats, a male without blemish,' 
 was brought for 
 
 (a) A 'prince,' i.e., the head of a tribe. The ritual in this 
 case was somewhat simpler than in that for the high priest, 
 Lev. iv. 23. 
 
 (b) At the consecration of the Tabernacle, Numb. vii. 16. 
 
 (c) On New Moons, Numb, xxviii. 15. 
 
 Descending a step lower as regards the personality of the 
 offerer, we find a she-goat, kid of the goats, a female without 
 blemish, ordered for any of the laity who might sin through 
 ignorance, when he should discover his fault, Lev. iv. 28. 
 
 Again, a ewe-lamb, of the first year, without blemish, was 
 what the Nazirite must bring as sin offering, as the price of 
 re-admission into the congregation, Numb. vi. 14. 
 
 The leper who had been cleansed must also bring as sin 
 offering the same ewe-lamb, Lev. xiv. 1 o. 
 
 With these four animals— the bullock, the he-goat, the she- 
 goat, and the ewe-lamb — ends the list of most conspicuous 
 wrong-doers, or people separated from the congregation, who 
 needed atonement, or expiation, or a new place within the holy 
 circle. 
 
 But there w r ere still smaller degrees of unfitness which required 
 a sin offering, and these had to bring turtle-doves or young 
 pigeons. Such were the following : — 
 
 (a) The woman who had given birth to a child, male or 
 female, when a certain period of time had elapsed, had to bring 
 turtle-doves or young pigeons as a sin offering. It was felt 
 that the beginning of man's life was attended with what was 
 unclean and displeasing to God. To the Jew then, who looked 
 upon all life as from its inception fallen from God, it was very 
 fitting that the new life begun should be accompanied by a sin 
 offering, to remove all that might be guilty, and induce the 
 1 Comp. Exod. xxix. ; Lev. viii. and iv. 3, etc. 
 
Chap. IV.] RITUAL OF THE SIN OFFERING. 99 
 
 great King to look with a more favouring eye on both mother 
 and child. 
 
 (b) A man Levitically unclean, by reason of some disease of 
 the flesh, might, when the uncleanness had passed away, bring 
 turtle-doves or young pigeons as a sin offering, Lev. xv. 14. 
 
 (c) A woman Levitically unclean, after the period of 
 separation had passed, might bring the same sacrifice, Lev. xv. 
 19, etc. 
 
 (d) The Nazirite who had accidentally been defiled was to 
 bring his sin offering, as penalty paid for his unwitting sin, 
 Numb. vi. 10. 
 
 In cases of poverty, again, when a lamb was too costly a 
 sacrifice, it was allowed, in the case of a man who was not able 
 to bring a trespass offering, and in the case of the leper who 
 was poverty-stricken, to bring turtle-doves, or young pigeons. 1 
 
 Lastly, where poverty did not admit even of such small birds, 
 flour might be brought, and burnt on the altar before the Lord 
 as a sin offering, neither anointed with oil nor with frankincense, 
 since it was not a meat, but a sin offering. 2 
 
 There were other cases also, in which a sin offering must be 
 brought for accidental offences, or sins against one's neighbour. 
 Such were : — 
 
 (a) The witness who had kept back what he had seen or 
 heard, and had by so doing done injury, misleading the judge, 
 or causing a turning aside of justice, Lev. v. 1. 
 
 (b) He who had touched the dead body of an unclean 
 animal unwittingly, and only afterwards discovered his error, 
 might bring a sin offering. This because he had vitiated his 
 own purity, and needed to have it restored, Lev. v. 2. 
 
 (c) He who had touched anything unclean of man, in the 
 same way and for the same reason required a sin offering, 
 ver. 3. 
 
 (d) Lastly, a man who had carelessly, in course of conversa- 
 tion, sworn to do something, good or evil, pronouncing it with 
 an oath, i.e., lightly and without meaning it, made use of a 
 
 1 Lev. v. 7 ; xiv. 22. 2 Lev. v. 11, 12. 
 
IOO RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 formula of swearing, and bound himself thereby, might, as an 
 atonement, bring a sin offering, which, according to his ability, 
 should be a lamb or a kid ; but if, according to the curious 
 Hebrew idiom, his hand did not reach so far, he might bring 
 turtle-doves, or young pigeons, one for a sin, and another for a 
 burnt offering. 
 
 The Sprinkled Blood. 
 
 Very wide-reaching indeed was the province of the sin offer- 
 ing. Stranger and Israelite alike could use it, for themselves 
 individually, or collectively for a nation. The ritual itself 
 supplies us with all the knowledge we need of the benefits 
 attainable by the sin offering, and is peculiar enough to merit 
 special attention. 
 
 Lev. iv. thus gives it : — 
 
 If the sacrifice for the sin offering be a young bullock, and 
 the- offerer be the priest who is anointed, *.*., the high priest, 
 the animal must be brought in the usual way to the door of the 
 Tabernacle, there the hands of the offerer laid on its head, and 
 the animal killed. The blood must then be taken into the 
 Tabernacle, w r here the priest must dip his finger in it, and 
 sprinkle it seven times, when the high priest was acting for the 
 whole congregation, before Jehovah, near the veil, then on the 
 horns of the altar of incense ; and all the rest of the blood he 
 must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. This 
 blood-sprinkling was, in truth, the central point of the sacrifice. 
 It meant, that man who by his sins had alienated his life from 
 God, now desired to approach him again with that very life, 
 which life his substitute, the animal's blood, represented. This 
 life he leaves to God at the place from where God is wont to 
 hold intercourse with man, and he can do so more hopefully, 
 as his sin has not been wilful, and his will is more or less in 
 harmony with the 1 )ivine Will. The number of times the blood 
 is sprinkled, seven, is of course the symbolic number in Jewish 
 worship, while the sprinkling on the horns of the altar of 
 incense would seem to point to the man's desire to have his 
 
Chap. IV.] THE CARRYING WITHOUT THE CAMP. \o\ 
 
 atonement ever present before the mind of God. Lastly, as 
 but a small quantity of the blood would be used for sprinkling, 
 what remained over was poured out at the base of the great 
 altar, because as it was of most special meaning, none of it 
 could be wasted, or thrown aside, or lightly disposed of. This 
 ends the first part of the ceremony. 
 
 The Carrying without the Camp. 
 
 But death, and life offered in satisfaction for one's own life, 
 could not expiate sin, or make what had been as though it had 
 not been. More was required, even a guarantee that in the 
 future the old would be put away, and the new man act newly. 
 This was expressed by the second part of the ceremony, when 
 the priest, separating all the fat from the flesh of the carcase, 
 and burning it : not to serve as a meal, nor to express fellowship, 
 but to expiate sin by destroying the best of the old, and showing 
 clearly that nothing of what was most secret and dear would be 
 kept back. 
 
 The remainder of the animal could not be used for any 
 purpose. God would not accept it as food, the offerer there- 
 fore might not partake of it ; and although, when the sin 
 offering was brought for an individual Israelite, the priests were 
 bidden to eat the flesh, yet this they did, not for enjoyment, 
 but in fear, as, though holy themselves, they were taking into 
 themselves what was covering sin, and it behoved them to be 
 very careful lest they should run the same risks as those from 
 which they were freeing their brethren. But for the offering of 
 the high priest for the congregation, such eating was not allowed. 
 The flesh, the skin, the inwards, all belonging to the bullock, 
 must be carried forth without the camp, though into a clean 
 place, the place where, in general, the ashes from the altar 
 were poured out, and there be utterly burned with fire. Full 
 of meaning was this act, as must necessarily be the case, since 
 typically it foreshadowed the sacrifice of the Son of Man, 
 outside the walls of Jerusalem, as the Great Sin Offering. 
 To the Israelite of Moses' time it meant that the priests 
 
102 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 could not feed upon the sacrifice, for they, too, needed to be 
 reconciled by it, but yet that every part of the animal was 
 so utterly holy, that by no chance whatsoever might it touch 
 or be touched by anything profane. For what was then 
 part of the holiest annihilation was the highest consecration, 
 and nought could remain of the sin, since nought remained 
 of the sinner's substitute. 
 
 Sanctity of the Offering. 
 
 Indeed, so utterly holy was all connected with the sin 
 offering, that the Mosaic law laid it down that, in those cases 
 where the flesh of the sin offering might be eaten by the 
 priests, the animal must be prepared for food and likewise 
 eaten only in the holy place, i.e., in the outer court of the 
 Tabernacle. No layman might, of course, touch the blood ; 
 but if by any chance the officiating priest got some of the 
 blood sprinkled upon one or any of his garments, that 
 garment must be washed from its stains there and then, lest 
 perchance some of the holy blood might be carried outside. 
 If the meat were cooked in the holy place in an earthen vessel, 
 the vessel must immediately afterwards be broken, probably 
 because, especially if not glazed, the earthenware would absorb 
 a portion of the holy material within it. A copper or brazen 
 vessel, however, as not being so porous, need only be scoured, 
 and rinsed in water. For the priests who might eat it, we are 
 told that only the males might partake, the reason assigned 
 being that it was ' most holy.' 1 It would almost seem as 
 though burning the sin offering instead of eating it, when it 
 was proper to do the latter, was a sin of deep significance, - 
 and required very strong reasons to justify it. The principle 
 here stood : that what God appointed as food, though most 
 mysterious and awful, might not be lightly treated as common, 
 or disposed ot according to ttie fancy of the officiating priest. 
 And it is in this sense that the writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, taking Christ as the Great Sin Offering to which all 
 1 Lev. vi. 25-30. 2 See Lev. x. 17, etc. 
 
Chap. IV.] SIN OFFERINGS. 103 
 
 former sin offerings had pointed, though in this instance it 
 was the 'once for all,' there being now no more offering for 
 sin, wrote, ' Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall 
 he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son 
 of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where- 
 with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite 
 unto the Spirit of grace?' 1 
 
 Sin Offerings for the Congregation. 
 
 The sin offering brought by the whole congregation of 
 Israel for some offence committed, differed in its ritual chiefly 
 in this, that the elders, as representatives of the people, laid 
 their hands on the bullock's head, and the priest, as middle- 
 man between God and the people, took the blood and 
 sprinkled it, as a covering for the sin, an atonement for it, 
 before the Lord. The fat was then burnt on the altar, and 
 the flesh consumed without the camp in the ordinary way. 
 
 For the prince who brought a sin offering of a goat, or of a 
 lamb, or the latter animal, brough either by him or by some 
 other layman, the ritual was much simpler. The blood in 
 such a case was only sprinkled on the horns of the altar of 
 burnt offering (horns : as concentrating in themselves the 
 whole force and power of the altar), and the fat consumed as 
 for peace offerings, i.e., on the same fire as the ordinary offerings. 
 
 The Trespass Offering. 
 There is, in truth, in many respects, a very faint line of 
 distinction between the sin and the trespass offering. They 
 both belonged to the class of sacrifices brought for sins com- 
 mitted j both of them, as well as the burnt offering, were 
 ' most holy ' (sanctissima) ; both slain in the same place, on 
 the north side of the altar of burnt offering; 2 and the part 
 not consumed on the altar was, in either case, eaten by the 
 priests alone within the Sanctuary. 3 Both sacrifices also im- 
 plied a desire on the part of the offerer to regain his old 
 place within the community. But, when all this has been said, 
 1 Heb. x. 29. 2 Comp. Lev. i. II. 3 Lev. vii. 6. 
 
104 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 there remain many and striking points of difference. True 
 though it was, that the trespass, or ' guilt ' offering, as the 
 Revisers have it (German : Sckuldopfer), was an offering for sin 
 against God, this was not its peculiar reason. The trespass 
 offering was for some wrong actually done to some other 
 person, either to one's neighbour, or to God's priests, or to 
 God Himself; and the sacrifice brought was not, as in the sin 
 offering, an expiation and atonement, but in some sense part 
 of the repentance for the wrong done, and satisfaction as 
 regarded the wronged {satisfaction non expiatio). So, whereas 
 in the sin offering, after the atoning blood had been sprinkled, 
 the rest of the blood, as a 'gift' to God, was poured 
 out, in the much simpler ritual of the 'guilt offering' 
 this element was utterly wanting, and the whole animal was 
 needed for the completion of the ' satisfaction.' Yet the 
 sacrifice was not payment of a debt, but an owning of guilt, 
 the outcome of repentance, to be followed by restitution. 
 
 Again, the law of the trespass offering ordained that all men 
 alike, no matter what might be their standing in the Theo- 
 cracy, must bring as their sacrifice a male sheep. ' a ram 
 without blemish out of the flocks,' and that of a certain fixed 
 value, 'according to thy estimation {i.e., the priest's) in silver 
 by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary ; ' that is, not too 
 small nor too young to be of any market value, but, as 
 tradition afterwards taught, so old and big that its value went 
 by shekels in the plural, not in the singular. This shows a 
 wide divergence from the sin offering, for which almost any 
 clean animal might be brought, and leads us on to the next 
 point of difference. The trespass offering was only to be used 
 by individuals ; it nowhere applied to or could be offered by 
 the whole congregation, nor by the high priest as its repre- 
 sentative. It is, therefore, totally absent from all public 
 occasions, whether feasts or fasts. And as its use was so 
 limited, there was no reason why a wide choice of animals 
 should be permitted. Moreover, it usually stood by itself, 
 and was brought unaccompanied by any other bloody or 
 
Chap. IV.] THE TRESPASS OFFERING. 105 
 
 unbloody sacrifices, except in two instances, the reasons for 
 which will be given in their proper place. 
 
 It should be, then, clearly kept in mind that the ' guilt 
 offering' was a necessity, and an integral part of the re- 
 pentance for those sins which, although involving wrong to 
 some one outside the sinner, yet as being brought home to 
 him by his own conscience, did not come within the scope of 
 the secular arm, and were more especially unfaithfulness in the 
 keeping of covenanted word and command, either to God or 
 to man. The offender was, in the case of wrong done to a 
 neighbour, to make restitution, where possible, to the person 
 wronged, in propria persona^ providing that if the injured man 
 had no kinsman to whom, in default of himself, the money 
 might be given, it was to go to the priest, as representative of 
 God. The restitution fixed was, in addition to what had been 
 fraudulently taken away, one fifth of its value, it being added 
 that when this had been done, and the trespass ram offered 
 ' he shall be forgiven ; concerning whatsoever he doeth so as 
 to be guilty thereby.' 
 
 This fifth part was, of course, the material expression of the 
 repentance of the offender. But the Mosaic code does not 
 enter into explanations of the rationale of the trespass offering, 
 nor does it leave it to the individual to decide for himself 
 whether he may bring the sacrifice or not. It merely furnishes 
 us with a list of offences for which a trespass offering must be 
 brought. The ritual, as described in Lev. vii., is not elaborate. 
 The animal must be killed where the burnt offering is usually 
 slain, the blood sprinkled round about the altar, the fat and 
 part of the internals burnt on the altar as the guilt offering, and 
 the remainder of the animal given to the officiating priest, as 
 the one who had made atonement with it. 
 
 Applications of the Trespass Offering. 
 
 The cases in which a guilt offering was to be brought are 
 thus given : — 
 
 1 Numb. v. 7. 
 
106 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 (i) When a man has sinned 'unwittingly, in the holy things 
 of the Lord,' l i.e., has neglected to pay his dues, which though 
 belonging to the priest, were really as to God, and by so doing 
 has committed a trespass and been untrue to his word, he 
 must make restitution in the thing wherein he has offended, 
 add one fifth to its value, and bring his trespass offering, ' and 
 he shall be forgiven.' 
 
 (2) If any man felt a weight of guilt on him, by reason of 
 his having unwittingly done something which Jehovah had 
 commanded should not be done, and yet could not bring 
 the guilt home to himself in any definite respect, but only had 
 a vague sense of uneasiness, he was certainly guilty, and needed 
 a guilt offering ; though, as the guilt was so undefined, nothing 
 need be added to the ram itself. 
 
 (3) If a man dealt fraudulently with his neighbour : ' in the 
 matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or have oppressed 
 his neighbour, or have found that which is lost, and deal falsely 
 therein, and swear to a lie ; in any of all these that a man 
 doeth, sinning therein,' he must make full restitution of all the 
 wrong done, adding one fifth part thereto, and then bring his 
 guilt offering which would finally clear him of all guilt. 2 
 
 (4) He who seduced a slave girl, who, though betrothed to 
 another man, was not yet free, and in some sense the property 
 of another, did not suffer death, as he would have done had 
 she been free, but was punished, together with the woman — 
 tradition has it, with stripes ; and moral order being thus 
 vindicated, a trespass offering restored him to his original place. 3 
 
 (5) The leper who had been cleansed from his leprosy must, 
 in addition to a he-lamb for a sin offering, offer another one as 
 a guilt offering; 4 and this as the principal offering, since it was 
 a common belief in ancient times that sickness was a punish- 
 ment for sin committed (guilt) ; as also, so it has been 
 imagined, because some atonement was needed for the length of 
 time he had been obliged, by enforced absence from the congre- 
 gation, to leave aside his duties both to God and his neighbour. 
 1 Lev. v. 15, 16. '- Lev. vi. 2 to end. 3 Lev. xix. 20, 21. 4 lev. xiv. 12. 
 
Chap. IV.] THE TRESPASS OFFERING. \oj 
 
 (6) The Nazirite who had been accidentally denied during 
 the period of his separation, 1 must bring a he-lamb of the 
 first year as a guilt offering, and after that begin his time 
 over again. The reason of the defiled Nazirite requiring 
 a guilt offering would seem to be that, unwittingly, he had 
 been unfaithful to his vow, and by this means had done a 
 wrong towards God. As part of his penitence, then, the 
 trespass offering must be brought ; but even now the days of 
 his separation which had passed were 'void,' and he had to 
 begin over again. 
 
 (7) Only once in later Bible history do we read of a 'guilt 
 offering,' for an offence which had not been in so many words 
 provided for in the Mosaic economy, and yet which came quite 
 under the head of sins carrying guilt along with them. The 
 occasion is told us in Ezra x. 18 : some priests had married 
 ' strange ' women, in the time of general confusion. This was, 
 of course, unfaithfulness to the Theocracy, though with extenu- 
 ating circumstances. And so ' they gave their hands that they 
 would put away their wives ; and being guilty, they offered a 
 ram of the flock, for their guilt.' 2 Here satisfaction, the putting 
 away of the foreign element, was accompanied by the trespass 
 offering ; and so the old place in the Theocracy was re- 
 gained. 
 
 No community, however nearly perfect, exists without sin ; 
 but it is not too much to say, that the Mosaic law excelled all 
 others of its time in perception of the justice of compensating 
 those who had been injured, and the Tightness of owning one- 
 self in the wrong. This is the ethical side of the sin offerings ; 
 the spiritual aspect is deeper still. There is now, of course, no 
 more offering for sin, but by the one great offering Christ has 
 put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. No more do our 
 holy things need to be cleansed with blood once a year, for the 
 new covenant has been made, sins and iniquities are remem- 
 bered no more, and ' where remission of these is, there is no 
 more offering for sin.' 3 
 
 1 Numb. vi. 6-12. 2 Ezra x. 19. 3 Hsb. x. 16-18. 
 
ioS 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 giitcs for <Spmal Occasions: Circumcision; glebemptton 
 of the firstborn; purifications. 
 
 i. CIRCUMCISION. 
 
 JT seems fitting that circumcision should first be considered 
 in the number of services for special occasions, mainly for 
 this reason : that it is so very distinctive of the Jewish 
 religion and polity. However little ground there may be for 
 the supposition, it is now at any rate one of the very strongest 
 marks of being an Israelite. Thus much by way of introduction. 
 The practice of circumcision, as we have it in the Bible, 
 dates from pre-Mosaic times ; and by the way the rite is referred 
 to in Lev. xii. is evidently considered too generally known and 
 firmly established to need anything more than a casual 
 mention. It was first Divinely commanded to Abraham, and 
 in his case was associated alike with the establishment of the 
 covenant, of which it was the outward and visible sign, and 
 the giving of the new name to him who had been hitherto 
 known as Abram. 1 To Abraham it was commanded as a 
 perpetual obligation, and he accordingly had his son circum- 
 cised when eight days old ; and the rule was followed even 
 during the sojourn and bondage in Egypt. During the 
 wanderings in the Sinai Peninsula it was laid aside ; but one 
 of the first acts done by Joshua in the Promised Land was 
 a grand circumcising of all males in Gilgal, after which the 
 Passover, which in consequence of the neglect of this cere- 
 mony had not been kept during the wanderings, was celebrated, 
 and by this ' the reproach of Egypt ' was ' rolled away ' from 
 off them." 
 
 1 Gen. xvii. 2 Joih. v. 2-1 1. 
 
Chap. V.] ClRCUMClSfON. IO9 
 
 The later history of circumcision is briefly told. It was 
 practised by all Jews, even during the Captivity, down to the 
 time of the Maccabees, when Antiochus Epiphanes, the oppres- 
 sor of the nation, forbade it, 1 and brought down by these 
 means wrath and ruin on his own head. Though in Herod ian 
 times renegade Jews might try to appear as if uncircumcised, 
 yet these men were exceptions ; and down to the present day 
 every true Jew holds to the ancient command. 
 
 Thus much for the Biblical and post-Biblical history of 
 circumcision. As regards its position to the world in general, 
 it must be borne in mind that the rite is in no way peculiar to 
 the Jew. The Arabs are circumcised to the present day ; and 
 as it is incorporated into the Koran, we are not surprised to 
 find that' it was the custom among Persians, Turks, and even 
 Indians, while the Abyssinians, with their decidedly Jewish 
 practices, also possess this custom. It has likewise been 
 traced among the Phoenicians, Mexicans, and South American 
 Indians. Sanitary reasons, doubtless, lay at the root of this 
 world-wide custom ; how far rightly is still an open ques- 
 tion. But there can be little doubt that the Jew T s got the 
 rite originally from Egypt, the country, indeed, from which it 
 spread to all the other Oriental nations who practised it ; and 
 it may be in this fact we find the reason why the Assyrians 
 and Babylonians, the great rivals of Egypt, did not practise the 
 rite. Abraham himself sojourned in Egypt ; Hagar, his son 
 IshmaePs mother, was an Egyptian. What more likely than 
 that he should have been Divinely directed to make use of a 
 rite with which he was already acquainted, and that from what 
 he understood by having seen, he should be led on higher, 
 to look upon circumcision as the sign in himself of his 
 covenant with the Almighty? 
 
 It is curious in this connection to note that, although Egypt 
 
 was undoubtedly the home of circumcision, and that in very 
 
 ancient times it must have been practised by all Egyptians, in 
 
 later times it was confined to the priest-class, and with them 
 
 1 1 Mace. i. 51. 
 
I 10 KITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part IT. 
 
 stood for a sign of perfect purity, and as a mark of those who 
 could penetrate into the hidden mysteries. As transferred 
 from the priests of Egypt to the kingdom of priests, Israel, this 
 is a feature well worthy of note. 
 
 Here ends all wherein the circumcision of the Jews, the 
 nation spoken of as ' the circumcision,' resembles that of other 
 nations. In Egypt, and among the Arabs, it was performed 
 between the ages of six and fourteen, generally about thirteen, 
 to mark when the boy had developed into the man. The Jew 
 was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, when, with a week 
 passed, he might fairly have been said to begin to live an ex- 
 istence of his own. So what was in other nations the boundary 
 line between youth and manhood was to the Jew an act of 
 obedience, an entering into the covenant of the new life begun, 
 an act of consecration of a soul still unspotted from the world. 
 
 No animal might be offered to the Lord before it had lived 
 seven days, on the eighth it could be brought; 1 so was cir- 
 cumcision likewise an act of sacrifice. What it meant may be 
 still more seen from the negative side. Not only did the term 
 * uncircumcised ' convey endless contempt as used by the Jew 
 in reference to other nations, but the phrases, ' uncircumcised 
 heart,' 'ear,' Mips,' scattered up and down the Bible, stand for 
 these various members unconsecrated to God, in a state 
 inimical to Him, the result not only of the natural alienation 
 of man, but of downright rebellion and dereliction of a given 
 command. 
 
 Israel then, as a nation, must have all its males circumcised 
 on the eighth day of life ; even the Sabbath, with its command 
 of rest from every labour, gave way to this paramount obliga- 
 tion. Males only were circumcised ; there was no distinctive 
 rite for females, they being probably looked upon as part of 
 the property of the man, his wife, mother, or daughter, and 
 scarcely as possessing separate individuality. With the rite of 
 circumcision (Heb., mulah) was generally associated the giving 
 of the child's name, a practice probably taken from the change 
 1 Ex od. xxii. ^o. 
 
Chap. V.] REDEMPTION OF FIRSTBORN. \ \ \ 
 
 made in Abraham's name. If the child were sick, or if two 
 children of one mother had both died from the effects of the 
 operation, so the later Jews taught, the ceremony might be put 
 off till the twelfth day, or even later. The act was, in ancient 
 times, performed by the father, the instrument used being in 
 old times a stone or flint knife, in later times a steel one. The 
 penalty for any Jew who was not circumcised was, as having 
 forsworn his share in the Covenant, cutting off. 1 
 
 A National and Religious Rite. 
 
 In very truth, it was a purely national, though even in this 
 a religious rite. Any stranger who desired to join the common- 
 wealth of Israel, and enjoy its privileges, and partake of its 
 Passover, must be circumcised, he and all his house. These 
 strangers who had voluntarily joined the Jewish faith and under- 
 gone the rite, were afterwards known as Proselytes of Right- 
 eousness, in contradistinction to other, half-hearted, outsiders, 
 who not undertaking all the restrictions of the nation, did not 
 share in all its privileges, and were known by the name of 
 Proselytes of the Gate. But it was of course not binding on 
 any stranger ; could only be performed at his own voluntary 
 request ; nor would it seem to have been required of children 
 of Jewish mothers by heathen fathers. 2 
 
 2. REDEMPTION OF THE FIRSTBORN. 
 
 Though not properly coming into the Mosaic ritual, it seems 
 fitting to give in this connection the laws of Redemption, 
 especially as this is another of the distinctive acts of the Jewish 
 people. According to the Pentateuch, every firstborn male 
 creature, whether man or beast, was holy, and belonged of right 
 to Jehovah. This was of course perfectly consistent with the 
 whole tone of mind of the nation, who must judge that not only 
 themselves, but their lands and goods, were in very truth a gift 
 from God, and that the deliverance from Egypt was a debt they 
 never could repay. It is, in very deed, on this that the idea of 
 1 Gen. xvii. 14. 2 Comp. ihe case of Timothy, Acts xvi. 1-3. 
 
1 12 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 consecrating the firstborn is based ; not, as has been so often 
 supposed, because the firstborn of Egypt were slain and those 
 of Israel saved, nor from the idea of supporting the priest tribe, 
 but because the first was looked upon, not only as the most 
 valuable, but as the representative of and substitute for all that 
 might follow, just as the tenths were looked upon as summing 
 up and completing the whole. In the person of his firstborn, 
 then, whether of man or of beast, the pious Israelite offered 
 up his all, and acknowledged the Divine right and rule over 
 himself. True, this idea of consecrating the best as substitute 
 for the whole is not confined to the Jewish nation, but is fairly 
 world-wide. But in no other nation of that period, it may 
 safely be asserted, was it carried into every department of life, 
 nor so universally acted upon. 
 
 Since the firstborn already belonged by right to God, it 
 naturally followed that it was no more at the disposal of its 
 natural master. Hence the law, that no firstborn among beasts, 
 by its being firstborn already consecrated, could be sanctified 
 by man to the Lord, i.e., offered in sacrifice, or vowed. 1 There 
 seems, however, to be some doubt as to what constituted the 
 firstborn, at any rate among men. Exod. xiii. lays it down 
 that ' whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of 
 Israel,' i.e., the firstborn of the mother, was to be consecrated, 
 while Deut xxi. 15-17 seems to convey that the firstborn, as 
 rded privileges as well as responsibilities, was the eldest son 
 of his father, by his first wife, and as such must not be excluded 
 from his rights. The firstborn must, of course, be male ; if the 
 eldest were a female, the law did not apply. 
 
 Among firstborns, the firstborn of man took the highest 
 place. As representative of his family, as in patriarchal times 
 the officiating priest, he was ot value ; but as he could not 
 be offered in sacrifice, or ' given ' as the Levites were to the 
 Lord, he must be redeemed ; and accordingly a price was set 
 on his head, to be paid throughput all ages. This price 
 was live 'shekels of the Sanctuary' (or ( standard shekels'), 
 1 Lev. xxvii. 26. 
 
Chap. V.] THE FIRSTBORN OF ANIMALS. 113 
 
 which must be paid to the priests when the child was over a 
 month old. The money formed part of the priests' revenues, 
 and was usually paid in the Sanctuary when the mother was 
 purified after childbirth, the infant itself being present. 1 
 
 The Firstborn of Animals. 
 
 Next in order came the firstborn of beasts meet for sacrifice. 
 These, when the due time had elapsed, must be brought in 
 sacrifice, their blood sprinkled on the altar, their fat burnt as 
 an offering by fire, like a thank offering, and the flesh (explained 
 to mean the wave breast and the right thigh) belonged to the 
 priests. 2 This if the animal were Levitically faultless, when, 
 according to a later provision, 3 it was to be eaten within sacred 
 bounds not only by the priests, but by the offerer and his 
 family also, as a holy feast. But if the firstborn animal had 
 any blemish which rendered it unfit for sacrifice, it must be 
 eaten by the owner and his family at home, since, as it was the 
 firstborn, it was too holy to be put to any ordinary use, and yet 
 was not good enough to be brought to the Sanctuary. 4 
 
 The firstborn of unclean domestic animals, of which the ass 
 was the representative, must be redeemed with a lamb, or if the 
 owner did not set even that value on it, a lamb being of much 
 less value than an ass, the neck of the ass must be broken, or 
 else it, or the ' unclean cattle,' might be redeemed at its full 
 value, with a fifth part added thereto, 5 
 
 The Firstfruits. 
 
 Akin to all this is the law of the Firstfruits, which has been 
 treated in another connection. But from what has here been 
 said it is quite evident that the giving of the firstborn to the 
 Lord had only a secondary meaning as regarded the priesthood. 
 Of course those who ministered to the altar ought to live of the 
 altar, but their share in the holy things was not the best, it was 
 
 1 Comp. Luke ii. 2 Numb, xviii. 17, 18. 3 Deut. xv. 20. 
 
 4 Deut. xv. 21, 22. 5 Lev. xxvii. 27. 
 
 I 
 
I 14 KITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 merely what was left over and above. And the ancient Jewish 
 mode of acknowledgment of indebtedness to God, and conse- 
 cration of their all to Him, is, to say the least, a sublimer 
 conception than that arrived at by any other nation of those days. 
 
 3. PURIFICATIONS. 
 
 As was only to be expected, by the law was the knowledge 
 of sin, and many things which in patriarchal times would be 
 classed as accidental or excusable were ritually things unclean, 
 which rendered the person affected unfit to join in the services 
 of the Sanctuary, and put him outside the community. Leaving 
 aside the restrictions laid on food, especially animal, which have 
 been treated as belonging to the political and ethical life of 
 Israel, there were many circumstances even of everyday life 
 which did not seem to harmonise with the standard of holiness 
 set up before the people. Men and women, then, falling into 
 such circumstances, were unholy, and needed reconciliation, as 
 disturbing the general good \ but of course there were degrees 
 of uncleanness, and a corresponding scale of obligatory service. 
 Of course later Judaism, with its endless quibbling, was here in 
 its element, and the degrees and refinements of offences were 
 infinite and infinitesimal. In ancient Judaism, however, the 
 lines were clearly and broadly marked, and it is to this aspect 
 we must now give our attention. 
 
 Roughly speaking, there were three classes of defilement ; 
 (1) that contracted by death, (2) that contracted by bodily 
 diseases, under which head we must place the plague of leprosy, 
 (3) and that contracted by childbirth. All of these unclean 
 persons needed special rites, but the services differed according 
 to the amount of uncleanness supposed to have been contracted. 
 
 (1) Defilement by death. The presence of death, which was 
 the outcome of sin, carried sore defilement along with it. 
 Everyone around the corpse of a man, everyone who came 
 into the tent where lie had died, every uncovered vessel in it, 
 was unclean ; nay, if one walking in an open field came across 
 a corpse, whether dead by fair means or by foul, or who touched 
 
Chap. V.] RITUAL OF THE RED HEIFER. 115 
 
 a human bone or a grave, was unclean. It was not, however, 
 death which made unclean, but the dead. He was a blot on 
 God's earth, a deformity. So his presence polluted those who 
 touched him for seven days. The service for purification of 
 such a defiled man is given as follows in Numbers xix. : — 
 
 Ritual of the Red Heifer. 
 
 At some period in Israel's history, and from time to time, a 
 special service took place. A red heifer, perfect in every way, 
 which had never been used for service, was taken by the priest 
 outside the camp, and there slain in his presence by some 
 other individual. Then the priest dipped his finger in the 
 warm blood, and sprinkled it in the air seven times towards 
 the Sanctuary ; then another man burnt the whole heifer, skin 
 and all, before the priest, who cast into the burning mass cedar 
 wood, hyssop, and scarlet thread : cedar, as typical of eternity 
 of life ; hyssop, of purification from the power of death ; and 
 scarlet thread, to show the intensity of life in the red heifer. 
 Then both priest and his assistant in this service were unclean, 
 and must wash their bodies and clothes in water, and be 
 unclean until the evening. Meanwhile another clean man 
 gathered up all the ashes, and stored them outside the camp 
 in a clean place, till they might be required by the children of 
 Israel, and having, by touching this most awful sin offering, 
 rendered himself unclean, he must wash his clothes, and be 
 unclean until the evening. 
 
 And when a man had been defiled by touching a corpse, 
 one of his neighbours, who was clean, must take some of these 
 ashes, and pouring on them in a vessel some 'living' water,. 
 must sprinkle from it, with hyssop, the tent, its vessels, and 
 the defiled person, both then, and on the third, and on the 
 seventh day ; and on the seventh day the unclean man might 
 purify himself, and wash his clothes, and at even — sunset — he 
 would be clean. But if any profane soul neglected to purify 
 himself, he would be ' cut off from the midst of the assembly ; ' 
 there was no longer any place for him in the holy nation. 
 
Il6 RITES AND I IV PS J 7 'IP OF 77/ P. JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 He likewise, who touched the carcase of any unclean animal 
 or insect, made himself unclean, though in a much smaller 
 degree. Such an one must wash his clothes, and be unclean 
 till even, but his defilement did not extend beyond the one 
 day. 1 
 
 Offerings for other forms of Defilement. 
 
 (2) Defilement contracted by bodily diseases. Here must first 
 be placed leprosy, which, as typical of sin, was regarded as not 
 only particularly hateful, but as punishment for sin committed. 
 But were he made clean from this disease, on the day when he 
 was so declared, he must be brought to the priest for examina- 
 tion, yet ' without the camp,' since his healing was not yet an 
 absolute certainty. When the priest had ascertained this, he 
 was to take two living clean birds (what kind we are not told, 
 but the Vulgate has it ' sparrow '), together with cedar wood, 
 scarlet thread or stuff, and hyssop, since to all practical effect 
 the leper was as good as dead, and needed the same symbols 
 of life for his cleansing as he who had been polluted by 
 contact with death. Of the birds, one was killed over ' living ' 
 water in an earthen vessel, and then the remaining bird, the 
 hyssop, the scarlet, and the cedar wood, were all dipped in the 
 bloody water, and with the water the leper was sprinkled seven 
 times, and the living bird, all sprinkled with the life of the 
 other bird, was allowed to go free, a picture of the cleansed 
 man, now, as it has been well pointed out, unrestrained and 
 unfettered as to his acts or dwelling-place ; or, as it is also said, 
 when its work was finished it could go free, bearing the disease 
 away from earth to the purifying air. Meanwhile, the leper 
 washed his clothes, shaved off all his hair, among which it was 
 thought the infection might hide itself, bathed himself in water, 
 and was admitted into the camp, although not into his own 
 house. This ended the first part of the ritual. When a week 
 was completed, on the seventh day he must again shave all his 
 1 Lev. xi. 24. 
 
Chap. V.] RITUAL OF THE RED HEIFER. u; 
 
 hair, and wash his flesh and clothes, and on the next day be 
 again consecrated and reconciled to God, by bringing two 
 spotless he-lambs, one spotless ewe-lamb of the first year, three 
 tenths of an ephah of flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, 
 and a log of oil. One of the he-lambs was for a 'guilt offering,' 
 and both it and the oil were waved before the Lord, and with 
 the blood of the guilt offering the priest touched the tip of the 
 right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the 
 right foot of the leper, consecrating him once again to God's 
 service. The same was done with the oil, after it had been 
 sprinkled seven times before the Lord, as an atonement. The 
 service ended with offering the sin offering, which was followed 
 by the burnt offering and the meat offering. 
 
 But if the leper were a poor man, he might substitute for 
 the lamb of the sin offering and that of the burnt offering, two 
 turtle doves, or young pigeons, ' such as he was able to get ; ' 
 but the guilt offering was not decreased, although the meat 
 offering also might be reduced from three-tenths of an ephah 
 to one-tenth. 
 
 The other kinds of bodily disease which needed purification 
 are given in Lev. xv., as lesser degrees of defilement, and in 
 most cases natural, and such as in these days would be looked 
 upon rather as objects of pity, as owing to weakness of 
 some bodily organ. The law provides for these defilements, 
 in cases when the defilement contracted, being natural, was of 
 lower degree, for either man or woman the same purification : 
 bathing, or washing, and being reckoned unclean till the even. 
 In cases where defilement was greater, since the impurity, 
 by long continuance, partook of the nature of actual malady, 
 and might have been caused by some sin committed, not, as 
 in other cases, merely the inherited taint of sin, the law 
 prescribed not only ablutions on the first and seventh days for 
 cleansing, but the sacrifice of two turtle doves or young 
 pigeons on the eighth day, one for a sin offering, and the other 
 for a burnt offering, that thus he or she might be re-admitted 
 into the congregation. 
 
I i,S RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part II. 
 
 (3) Chi/d/>eari?ig, among other nations also of antiquity, 
 was thought to render the mother, among the ancient Indians 
 also the father and the relatives, unclean. The sorrow of 
 childbearing being part of the curse pronounced on woman in 
 the Garden of Eden, it was only natural that in the Jewish 
 code the mother should be looked upon as expiating inherited 
 guilt. For the first seven days after the birth of a son, she 
 was unclean to a high degree ; on the eighth day the child was 
 to be circumcised, but even after that the mother might not 
 touch anything holy, or come into the Sanctuary, until thirty- 
 three days had elapsed, when she was looked upon as restored 
 to her usual health and habits of life, and offered, if rich, a 
 lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle dove 
 for a sin offering ; or, if she were poor, she might substitute a 
 turtle dove for the lamb. If, however, she had borne a female 
 child, her period of greater uncleanness extended over two 
 weeks, and that of the lesser over sixty-six days, probably from 
 the ancient idea that the birth of a female not only carried 
 more defilement with it, but physically that as it was accom- 
 panied with harder labour and more weakness on the part of 
 the mother, she would require a longer time to recruit her 
 strength. 
 
 Under the head of purifications should more properly be 
 placed the trial by the water of jealousy for the wife suspected 
 of adultery, the only ordeal prescribed in the Mosaic ritual, 
 and curious enough to warrant more space than can be given 
 here. 
 
 One more service remains to be noted : the cleansing of a 
 city or land from the guilt of murder by some unknown hand. 
 If a dead man were found lying in a field, and there was not 
 the slightest clue as to his murderer, the elders of the city were 
 icrifice, in a valley with running water, a heifer which had 
 never been used, by breaking its neck, after which the repre- 
 sentatives of the city which lay nearest to the murdered man 
 were to wash their hands over the killed heifer, saying, * Our 
 hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 
 
Chap. V.] SIGNIFICANCE OF PURIFICATIONS. 1 19 
 
 Forgive, Lord, Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast re- 
 deemed, and suffer not innocent blood to remain in the midst 
 of Thy people Israel.' And, adds the text, the blood shall be 
 forgiven them, 'when thou shalt do that which is right in the 
 eyes of the Lord.' 1 
 
 Significance of these Purifications. 
 
 And although to the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 the ' divers washings ' of the Mosaic ritual were * carnal 
 ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation,' yet they were 
 full of meaning to the devout Israelite. Holiness to him 
 could not exist apart from purity, and all the weaknesses of 
 his flesh only served to rouse in him a feeling of unworthiness 
 for God's service. The prophet Isaiah, even in the palace of 
 the Almighty, was forced to cry, ' Woe is me, for I am a man 
 of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean 
 lips ; ' and the prayer of David, spoken in language that told of 
 ceremonial purification, showed that the ceremony was not 
 only understood by the head, but the meaning impressed on 
 the heart of the true Jew : 
 
 ' Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; 
 Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' 
 
 1 Deut. xxi. 1-9. 
 
120 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TThc il'ituraical jtitttaJ : 
 $ttubirt\o\\, iJvancr, mb Praise. 
 
 The Jew of Moses' time was pre-eminently a man of deeds. 
 Still, in his child-period, he required the outward and 
 visible, fire, smoke, and tempest, to keep him in mind of 
 the ever-present Deity. Yet even he often felt that to move 
 always in a prescribed line, offer the same atonement for the 
 faults into which he was always falling, show his adoration in 
 the same way that all his fellow-countrymen did, was crushing 
 to his individuality, and that he needed something in which he 
 himself was both priest and suppliant. Such a means he would 
 find in prayer. 
 
 At first sight it may seem strange that ' to pray ' is nowhere 
 made a distinct command. The Bible over and over again 
 declares how excellent a thing is prayer, but nowhere, at any 
 rate in the Mosaic law, is it laid down as an obligation. But 
 in truth its very efficacy is bound up with its being exempt from 
 all rules and regulations. A man may pray when, and how, and 
 as long as he likes, without trenching on any one of God's 
 commands. The Jews, indeed, divided prayer into four 
 classes: (i) the asking for distinct good things or favours, 
 (called UchinnaK) ; (2) praise (tc/u'Ilah), which included bene- 
 diction ; (3) entreaty or supplication (Jiap/igaa/i) ; and (4) 
 thanksgiving (todah). These forms of prayer are all represented 
 in the service of the Synagogue, but they would have been 
 ante-dated, so to speak, in that of Moses. It is said that David 
 first introduced prayer, as he undoubtedly did music, both 
 vocal and instrumental, into the services of the Sanctuary. 
 
Chap. VI.] THE LITURGICAL RITUAL. 121 
 
 But with the heading of Psalm xc. 'A prayer of Moses the man 
 of God,' with the altars of the patriarchs, so often erected to 
 ' call upon the name of the Lord,' and with the benediction of 
 the Levites before us, we can scarcely doubt that the Sanctuary 
 of the Mosaic time and afterwards — witness the presence of 
 Hannah praying therein at Shiloh — was a place for public as 
 well as for private prayer. 
 
 Further, the Mosaic ritual prescribes not only confession on 
 the Day of Atonement, undoubtedly a form of prayer, 1 but 
 actually gives a form of address to God to be used when the 
 firstfruits were presented, 2 and another when the third year's 
 tithes had been given as ordered. 3 These prayers are, however, 
 mainly invocation, and the liturgy certainly belongs to a later 
 period of Israel's history. But one relic of most ancient liturgy 
 still survives to our day — the blessing spoken by Aaron and his 
 sons over the people, putting on them the 'name' of the God 
 of Israel, and calling down His blessing : Numbers vi. 22-27. 
 
 ' Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee : 
 Jehovah make His face to shine upon thee, and be 
 
 gracious unto thee : 
 Jehovah lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee 
 peace.' 
 
 The offerings of praise, in their exuberance and joyousness, 
 belong to a later day; and the Temple service was largely 
 choral and instrumental. ' The singers as well as the players on 
 instruments were there.' The last of the Psalms well represents 
 the crowning delights of the Sanctuary. 
 
 ' Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, 
 
 Praise Him with the psaltery and harp ; 
 
 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance, 
 
 Praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe 
 
 Praise Him upon the loud cymbals, 
 
 Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals.' 
 
 1 Lev. xvi. 21. - Deut. xxvi. 1-11. 3 Vers. 12-15. 
 
[22 RITES AND U ORSHIP OF THE JEW'S. [Pari II. 
 
 The absence of all this from the Mosaic institutes is remark- 
 able. And here, may it not be urged, is one incidental proof of 
 their antiquity. Had they been the invention of a later day, 
 when the ' service of song s had long been a chief feature of 
 worship 'in the House of Jehovah,' is it conceivable that there 
 should have been no reference to this characteristic of Israelite 
 devotion? It seems impossible: and here we have one of 
 many indications that the Law was verily given as it profe 
 to have been, in the days of the desert wandering, in a form 
 adapted to the condition of the people in days long before the 
 stately form and ceremonial of Temple worship had given meet 
 expression to 'the praises of Israel.' 
 
PART III. 
 
 fa o 1 2 Seasons 
 
125 
 
 PART III. 
 
 teotg Seasons. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 %\\z ?P ap, SEcek, attl) Jttxmth. 
 
 The Daily Service. 
 
 As Israel was ' holiness to Jehovah,' so every day in the 
 nation's life was hallowed by service and sacrifice. The 
 daily rite, according to the original ordinance, was to 
 consist in sacrificing two lambs of the first year : one in the 
 morning between sunrise and noon, or about nine a.m. ; the 
 other in the evening, or, rather, 'between the two evenings,' or 
 between afternoon (3 p.m.) and sunset, as a burnt offering, 
 together with a meat offering of one tenth of an ephah of fine 
 flour, 1 mixed with one fourth of a hin of beaten oil, with one 
 fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 2 This morning 
 and evening sacrifice was to be ' perpetual ' {tamid) to all 
 generations, never omitted or superseded by any other 
 solemnity ; even on feast days it was observed, although it 
 was then made an hour earlier than usual, so as not to interfere 
 with the special services of the day. 
 
 Incense was also offered daily on the Golden Altar in the 
 Holy Place, 3 which service took place at the time the Golden 
 Candlestick was trimmed and its lamps refilled. At the same 
 
 1 The ephah was about 4 \ gallons; the hin one sixth of the ephah. 
 The quantities therefore were, of flour rather more than 34 pints, of wine 
 \\ pint. 
 
 2 See Exod. xxix. 38-42. 3 Exod. xxx. 7, 8. 
 
I 2 6 RITES AND WORSHIP OR THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 service took place the daily peace offering, 1 and the whole 
 concluded with the priestly benediction. 
 
 The symbolism of this daily repeated service is not difficult 
 to trace. The daily burnt offering acknowledged that all life 
 belonged to God, and symbolically rendered back to Him His 
 own. The meal offering in like manner indicated that all the 
 fruits of men's industry and toil were the gift of God; the 
 incense was an expression of thankfulness and praise, while the 
 peace offering showed the worshippers in near and confidential 
 relationship with Him. 
 
 From the time of David onwards, portions of the Psalms 
 were daily chanted in the morning and evening services, 
 accompanied by instrumental music; and doubtless the liturgy 
 grew gradually more ornate. After the daily service had been 
 performed, private sacrifices were brought ; that is, during the 
 hours between the two daily services. 
 The Sabbath. 
 
 The division of time into periods of seven days, connected 
 as this is with the Sabbath, appears to have been known in 
 patriarchal times. 2 Again the wording of the fourth com- 
 mandment, ' Remember,' would seem to point to the obser- 
 vance of the Sabbath in earlier times; but, on the other hand, 
 Deut v. 15 distinctly bases it on the deliverance from Egypt : 
 1 and thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land 
 of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a 
 mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm : therefore the Lord 
 thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.' 
 
 Be this as it may, from the time of Moses onwards, there was 
 no deviation from the rule of observing the seventh day as a 
 Holy day, a 'rest,' or 'Sabbath' day, one on which all work 
 must be laid aside, as 'profaning' the hours which were to be 
 devoted entirely to the service of the Creator, who had Himself 
 hallowed the day by resting on it from the work of creation. 
 
 1 Lev. \i. 12, etc. 
 
 - See Gen. sxix. 27, 28. It has also been argued from the phrase 'at 
 the end of days,' Gen. iv. 3, that there was at least a stated time for 
 worship, naturally the Sabbath. But this is doubtful. 
 
Chap. I.] THE SABBATH. i2 y 
 
 This Divinely consecrated day was the pivot, so to speak, on 
 which the Jewish sacred calendar turned. From its place in 
 the days of the week, the seventh, everything connected with 
 the number seven had a special value ; the seventh month, the 
 seventh year, the seven times seventh year; so that while to the 
 Jew ten was the number of perfection, seven was the covenant 
 number. 
 
 The Jew, then, all the year round, would live from Sabbath 
 to Sabbath; and from the day of rest he would return refreshed 
 to his daily toil. It is conceded that very possibly, as some 
 contend, the division of time into periods of seven days was 
 connected with the duration of time in each phase of the 
 moon. Still the Jewish view of the Sabbath as a rest-day is 
 quite peculiar to the chosen people, and, as may easily be seen, 
 though originally corresponding with the different quarters of 
 the moon, it could not continue to fit in exactly with them ; 
 and even Egypt cannot claim to have taught Israel this. 
 
 According to the first intention, the Sabbath was to be a day 
 of holy joy ; and the ceremonialism and formality of its observance 
 by the Jews in the days of our Lord were utterly repugnant to 
 its design. As was fitting, the services of the Sanctuary were 
 more elaborate on the Sabbath than on ordinary days. In 
 addition to the ordinary daily sacrifices, two more he-lambs of 
 the first year were offered, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine 
 flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, with the customary 
 drink offering attached to this sacrifice. 1 
 
 Further, the Sabbath was the day on which the Shewbread 
 was to be changed ; 2 and dire was the vengeance which over- 
 took the profane man who broke the Sabbath rest by putting 
 his hand to any work. 3 For in truth the Sabbath, like circum- 
 cision, was a mark of God's covenant with Israel, as also of 
 God's covenant with the earth after creation. It was also a 
 symbol and type of that rest which remaineth for the people of 
 God, the spiritual rest of the New Covenant, for the con- 
 summation of which all creation yearns, when all the struggle 
 1 Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. 2 Lev. xxiv. 8. 3 Comp. Exod. xxxi. 15. 
 
1 2 8 Rl TES AND H 'ORSIIIP OF THE JE WS. [ Pa rt III. 
 
 for existence which now endures will be past, and the plan of 
 God will be wrought to its glorious completion. 
 
 The Month. 
 
 It was fitting also that Israel should hail and consecrate to 
 God each greater division of time ; and as these were marked 
 among the Israelites, as in all early nations, chiefly by the moon, 
 that each new moon should be a solemn time, 
 
 Accordingly, we find it laid down i that 'in the beginnings of 
 your months,' i.e., each new moon, in addition to the ordinary 
 daily sacrifices, another burnt offering should be brought, 
 consisting of two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs of 
 the first year without blemish ; three-tenths of an ephah of fine 
 flour mingled with oil, for a meat offering for each bullock ; 
 two-tenths as a meat offering for the ram ; and one-tenth for a 
 meat offering for each lamb, with the corresponding drink 
 offering. In addition to these tokens of adoration and self- 
 consecration to God, a he-goat w r as to be brought as a sin offering, 
 probably for sins unwittingly committed by the congregation 
 during the month that had passed. Further, the priests were 
 to blow with their trumpets. 2 But of more consequence than 
 any of the other new moons, since it was their 'Sabbath,' was 
 the new moon of the seventh month. It was a day of ' solemn 
 rest' to the children of Israel, 'a memorial of blowing of 
 trumpets, a holy convocation.' As on a Sabbath day, no 
 servile work was to be done; and an 'offering made by fire' 
 was to be offered unto the Lord."' In nature also, the seventh 
 month, the month of harvest, would be an epoch of joyfulness, 
 and to the pious Israelite the religious month must correspond. 
 Here came his great Feast, that of Tabernacles; and from 
 beginning to end it was a true Sabbath of months. Going still 
 farther, the seventh year was, agriculturally, a year of rest, a 
 'Sabbath' to the land; politically, the termination of servitude; 
 socially, a laying aside of what had been acquired, not inherited. 
 Still more marked was this by the fiftieth year (after 7X7), the 
 
 1 Numb, xxviii. 11-15. " Numb. x. ic. 3 Lev. xxiii. 24, 25. 
 
Chap. T. 
 
 MONTHS. 
 
 2 9 
 
 Year of Jubilee, heralded in by trumpets. So from one end of his 
 life to the other, the Jew but completed cycles of religious living, 
 and stood out as representative of the Divine, by bringing the 
 Divine into his everyday life. 
 
 We annex the names of the months, with their English 
 equivalents. In order that the year should always begin in 
 spring, a thirteenth month was intercalated when necessary ; 
 and it must be admitted that even viewed in the light of our 
 present knowledge of the science of computing time, the Jews 
 were very far advanced in their chronology. 
 
 
 
 Months. 
 
 
 1. Nisan 
 
 (old 
 
 name Abib) 
 
 March-April. 
 
 2. Ijar 
 
 (» 
 
 „ Ziv) 
 
 April-May. 
 
 3. Sivan 
 
 
 
 May-June. 
 
 4. Tammuz 
 
 
 . 
 
 June-July. 
 
 5. Ab 
 
 
 . 
 
 July-August. 
 
 6. Elul 
 
 
 
 August-September. 
 
 7. Tishri 
 
 u 
 
 „ Ethan im) 
 
 September-October. 
 
 8. Marcheshva 
 
 n( „ 
 
 „ Bui) . 
 
 October-November. 
 
 9. Kislev 
 
 . 
 
 , . . 
 
 November-December 
 
 10. Tebeth 
 
 
 . 
 
 December-January. 
 
 it. Shebat 
 
 . 
 
 
 January- February. 
 
 i2. Adar 
 
 
 
 February-March. 
 
 13. Veadar ('and Adar'), intercalary, where needful. 
 
 The derivation of many of the names of these months is 
 very doubtful. The political year would seem to have begun 
 with the seventh month. The above is the ecclesiastical year, 
 as given by Bishop Haneberg : Religiose Altcrihiimer der Bibel. 
 
i3o 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 JUtuutl JJeaets mtu JPnsts. 
 
 From what has just been said, it is evident that the Jews 
 were constantly put in mind, all through their life, of their 
 position as regarded God, and of the duty and service 
 which they owed Him. But it was plain that, when they 
 should have taken possession of the land promised to them, 
 even the rites ordained in the Pentateuch would have but little 
 bearing on the vast majority of the people, no longer assembled 
 in one camp, but settled at a distance from the central Sanctuary, 
 and unable to join in its daily and weekly sacrifices. For the 
 people who lived in the metropolis it would be easy enough ; 
 but how was the vast body of the nation to be held together 
 in one common ritual, when the outward means were wanting? 
 And if they fell from one another in religion, how could they 
 hope to face the outside and hostile world politically ? 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the Jews were intended to 
 be pre-eminently an agricultural nation, and the tilling of the 
 soil has naturally a very isolating effect on a body of men. 
 The lawgiver, by Divine direction, provided against these 
 dangers ; first, by appointing a central Sanctuary ; second, by 
 ordaining festive seasons ; and third, by commanding the 
 presence of all male Israelites in one place at these particular 
 festive times. 
 
 Mere it must be borne in mind that the Pentateuch law was 
 by no means arbitrary or unreasonable : it did not command 
 what it was beyond the power of every Israelite to perform. 
 Thus the festive seasons were all during those months of the 
 
Chap. II.] ANNUAL FEASTS AND FASTS. 131 
 
 year when the head of the household, the representative 
 Israelite, could most conveniently undertake the journey : in 
 spring, and at the beginning and at the end of harvest ; but 
 none in those winter months when ploughing and tilling 
 were necessary, and when a journey was fraught with perils 
 from winds and tempests. As an agricultural nation, also, the 
 children of Israel would feel it specially fitting that each great 
 event of the agricultural year should be marked in the sacred 
 calendar, and the times of reaping from the fruits of the land 
 remind them of rendering what was due to their King and 
 Great Landlord. And so the command, l ' Three times in the 
 year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God,' instead of 
 being a ' grievous ' command, was one of the ordinances which, 
 more than almost anything else, served to keep the nation 
 united, and thus able to face foes much more powerful than 
 themselves. 
 
 Besides being agricultural anniversaries, the feasts became 
 severally historical commemorations, while each in its turn 
 afforded a type of better things to come. This threefold 
 significance of the festivals is the key to their extraordinary 
 interest and importance. 
 
 The three principal feasts, all marking distinct agricultural 
 epochs, are termed c/iaggim, feasts of joy, from the Hebrew 
 verb c/iagag, to dance in circle. They were both family and 
 national gatherings, times of sacred and secular rejoicing, 
 holidays in the modern as well as in the ancient signification. 
 In general they were distinct from Sabbaths, which, as has 
 already been pointed out, were the starting-point of the whole 
 Jewish sacred calendar. But here again the sacred number 
 seven comes into prominence, since, as has been shown by many 
 writers, there were seven Sabbath days among the feasts, that is, 
 seven days which were to be observed like an ordinary Sabbath, 
 with rest from all labour, a holy convocation, and worship in 
 common of the Deity. So the sacred year had its week of 
 holy days, which were not a burden, but a delight. These 
 
 1 Exod. xxiii. 17. 
 
I 32 KITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 days, which will be spoken of more particularly in their own 
 place were : — (r, 2) The first and seventh days of the Feast 
 of Unleavened Bread (Mazzotk)) (3) The Feast of Weeks ; 
 (4) The New Moon of the seventh month; (5) The Day of 
 Atonement ; (6) The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles ; and 
 (7) The eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The other 
 days during the festival periods were days of joy and gladness 
 only. 
 
 For in the Sabbath rest, which completed each period of 
 toil, whether weekly, or in the festive year, the Jew had to 
 remember, not only the rest to come for which he hoped, but 
 the curse which was the blight of the whole human race. The 
 labour of tilling the thankless soil was part of this curse ; but 
 it was lightened by the Sabbath rest, wherein man, like his 
 Creator, rested from all his work. This feature could not be 
 left out in the greater festivals — times when man is readier to 
 learn and receive from the very gladness of his heart. Nor 
 are these things unworthy our consideration, even in these 
 distant days. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that festal seasons are not peculiar 
 to the Jewish ritual, but may be found in almost every religious 
 system of every age and country. Further, the Jew had this in 
 common with the rest of the human race, that the great 
 seasons of sowing, reaping, ingathering, etc., of the fruits of 
 the earth were the fitting times for these feasts. It may also 
 be that these very feasts were pre-Mosaic, and simply grafted 
 into his code of observances. But it must be admitted that 
 they were most purely and exclusively national '; and that they 
 borrowed little, perhaps nothing, from outsiders, except the 
 seasons, which, after all, would naturally present themselves to 
 any mind as the most suitable. But the way in which each 
 part of each festival is fitted into each other, and the events 
 which they originally commemorated, even the corruptions 
 which afterwards crept in, are so absolutely and evidently 
 Jewish, that it would be scarcely worth while to seek to prove 
 them to be so. 
 
Chap. II.] ANNUAL FEASTS AND FASTS. 133 
 
 As regarded the length of each feast, the great Spring and 
 Autumn Festivals (Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of 
 Tabernacles) each lasted seven days, while the Feast of Weeks , 
 occupied only one day. Allied with the three great feasts, though 
 their very opposite — a fast — is the great Day of Atonement, 
 observed up to the present day as strictly and as solemnly as 
 ever by all Jews in every part of the w r orld. It was also in the 
 seventh month, and preceded the great Feast of Tabernacles, 
 the most joyful and most largely attended of all the sacred 
 festivals ; and which fittingly was at what the Jew regarded as 
 the close of the agricultural year, when reaping and harvest 
 were at an end, and the deadness that succeeds the busiest 
 time was at hand. 
 
 Such were the four great solemnities of the Israelitish 
 nation as laid down in the Pentateuch. We are now in a 
 position to examine each festival or feast separately, and to 
 mark their distinctive features, and the teaching they w r ere to 
 convey to the nation at large, and to the Christian Church 
 after their national aspect had passed away. 
 
134 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 ^Lhc jjassobcr anu -^cast of (Llnlcabcncu gfreab. 
 
 The sacred year began with the month Nisan, the only one 
 to which the Pentateuch gives another name — Abib, the 
 ' ear-month ' (of corn). In it fell the first of the three 
 great feasts : the Passover day, followed as it immediately was 
 by the seven days' Feast of Unleavened Bread (Mazzot/i), with 
 its two holy Sabbath days of festival. 
 
 These two festivals, closely connected as they were, and in 
 Jewish history forming one continuous solemnity, were quite 
 distinct in their inception. The word Passover is an almost 
 literal translation of the Hebrew name Pesach^ which signifies 
 ' to pass over,' in the sense of sparing. As we first read of it 
 in the Bible, it was commanded by God to the children of 
 Israel while in the land of Egypt, and therefore before such 
 things as a central Sanctuary and a priesthood had come into 
 existence. The occasion of its institution is well-known : The 
 firstborn of Egypt were to be destroyed, to force Pharaoh to let 
 el go; but as the two nations were dwelling side by side, 
 in order to make a distinction between them, the head of each 
 Israelitish household was bidden, on the tenth of the month 
 a, to select a lamb, which on the fourteenth was to be slain, 
 someof the blood taken, and sprinkled on the lintel and side} • 
 and the lamb itself eaten roasted whole, with unleavened bread 
 and bitter herbs ; and as this plague on Egypt would produce 
 the desired effect on Pharaoh, who would thrust them out, 
 they were to eat it all equipped for the journey, with loins 
 girded, shoes on the feet, staff in the hand, in haste. Such was 
 
Chap. III.] NEW NATIONAL LIFE. 1 35 
 
 the original command given to Moses, and by him to the elders 
 of the people. 
 
 Starting-Point of New National Life. 
 
 Here it must first be borne in mind, that the command is 
 the only one given to Israel while in Egypt, and so must stand 
 as the first positive recognition by God of the race as a nation. 
 Rightly, then, the ordinance is prefaced with a doing away of 
 the old time, and made the starting-point of a new cycle of 
 time : 'this month shall be unto you the beginning of months : 
 it shall be the first month of the year to you.' x From this 
 point onwards, then, a new life has begun for Israel, and the 
 beginning of this new life, and the circumstances connected 
 with this beginning, are what must never be forgotten. Israel 
 is in bondage in Egypt, the afflictions of Egypt are bitter to 
 bear, he groans by reason of the bondage, and his great King, 
 not content with easing him from his present troubles, lifts him 
 up out of the mire, sets his feet upon a rock, and establishes 
 his goings. Surely tradition was right in putting the first Pass- 
 over night among the four great Nights of Memorial. 
 
 The feast was thus purely national. Of all the feasts of the 
 Jews, the Passover was the feast which made a broad line of 
 separation between Israel and every other people in the world. 
 For no outsider could join in it, or take any part in it whatso- 
 ever. One thing alone could enable even a Jew to share in 
 this feast : the being circumcised. ' There shall no alien eat 
 thereof,' 'no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One 
 law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger 
 that sojourneth among you.'. . 'every man's servant that is 
 bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall 
 he eat thereof.' 2 That is, if a stranger, or a foreign slave, 
 wished to share in the Paschal meal, he could only do so by 
 taking upon him what the Rabbis called 'the yoke of the 
 Covenant ' — by submitting to the obligations of the children of 
 Israel before he could enjoy their privileges. After being cir- 
 1 Exod. xii. 2. a See Exod. xii. 43-49. 
 
6 RITES AND UVKSH/P OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 cumcised, he would be no longer an alien, but part of the 
 people of the covenant, and nothing more could there be to 
 prevent his being treated in all respects as they were. 
 
 A Family Observance ; Transferred to the Sanctuary. 
 
 In the third place, at any rate originally, the Passover, that 
 is, the Paschal meal, was altogether a family solemnity. It was 
 instituted, indeed, in a time when there was not a common 
 centre for the people, when each suffered apart, and hoped 
 apart. So the father, the head of the household, was in Egypt 
 the sacrificing priest ; he slew the lamb, sprinkled its blood on 
 his own doorposts and lintel, and ate the sacrificial meal with 
 his own family. In the later history this part was, it is true, 
 modified. Israel, the kingdom of priests, trembled below 
 Mount Sinai at the voice of God, and prayed that some inter- 
 mediary might speak to them the Great Words, lest they should 
 die. Their prayer was granted, and the priest-tribe of Levi in 
 the future was the channel of the Divine to the people. But 
 with their priesthood the people lost also some of their privi- 
 leges. A central Sanctuary being raised, each separate dwelling 
 ceased to be worthy of being the altar whereon the Paschal 
 lamb was slain ; and so we find that already in the wilderness 
 the males are bidden to appear before the Lord in the Sanctuary 
 on the Passover day ; and it was there, and by the priests, that 
 the ceremony of killing the Paschal lambs for each household 
 was gone through. 
 
 Yet even then the feast was a purely family one. Each 
 family ate it by itself, girt, and as though ready for a journey, 
 with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. So much indeed was 
 this the case, that where one family was not large enough to 
 make up the Paschal meal, it was ordained that the neighbour- 
 ing family should be called in to swell the number, until it was 
 large enough. Tradition set down ten as the fitting number. 
 
 Further, it was not only fitting to kill the Passover in the 
 Sanctuary, but it was utterly unlawful to kill it anywhere else, 
 when once the family power of sacrificing had passed into 
 
Chap. III.] TRUE GROUND OF THE PASSOVER. 137 
 
 other hands. So we read, 1 ' Thou mayest not sacrifice the 
 passover within any of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God 
 giveth thee : but at the place which Jehovah thy God shall 
 choose to cause His name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice 
 the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the 
 season that thou earnest forth out of Egypt.' Jerusalem was, 
 then, in the later history of Israel, the city wherein the Passover 
 was to be killed and eaten ; and it is on record, in the Gospels 
 as well as in Jewish writings, that the people of Jerusalem were 
 accustomed, at any rate the more wealthy among them, to have 
 a 'guest-chamber' ready and prepared at Passover time, for 
 the convenience of stranger Jews who came up to the feast. 
 Such a 'guest-chamber,' 2 large, upper, and furnished, was lent 
 to Jesus and His disciples for the last Passover, whereat He 
 was Himself that Paschal Lamb which, as the writer of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews has it, was offered ' once for all.' 
 Josephus, indeed, hasjt, that the number of Jews who came 
 from all parts of the world to the Passover at Jerusalem was so 
 large that it was impossible to find accommodation for them all 
 within the city, but that they were obliged to camp round it, 
 and eat the Paschal lamb under tents. 3 A little of this story 
 must be modified, no doubt ; still, there is abundant evidence 
 that even in Herodian times the Paschal feast was a very 
 festive and most busy time in Jerusalem, although the favourite 
 feast to come up to was not the Passover, but the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. 
 
 True Ground of the Passover. 
 
 The reason and ground of the Passover, which feast was to 
 be observed to all time, is not, that the firstborn of Egypt were 
 slain and the firstborn of Israel spared, nor yet that the lamb 
 had served as a mark of protection once to the dwellings of 
 Israel, and so should be remembered every year ; but that with 
 the first Passover began Israel's existence as a nation. From 
 that moment the old covenant, made centuries before with 
 1 Deut. xvi. 5, etc. " Mark xiv. 14, 15, etc. 
 
 3 B.J. ii. 14, 3 ; vi. 9, 3, apud Keil. 
 
138 KITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Tart III. 
 
 ham, was renewed; and out of the bondage and evil odour 
 of Egypt the people emerged into a new life and new relation- 
 ship to God. It would not have been worthy of such a great 
 nation to hold a perpetual feast in memory of the misfortunes 
 that had overtaken another nation ; but especially would it 
 have been unworthy of the I >eity who commanded the feast 
 to be observed. Indeed, the stress which is laid upon the 
 purely national side of the feast : for 'in the month of Abib 
 the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night,' 
 1 that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth 
 out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life,' would be 
 amply sufficient proof of this, even though, as will be shown, 
 there is no need of such demonstration. For, the services 
 appointed for the Passover, the materials of the meal itself, 
 with the accompanying circumstances (and it must be remem- 
 bered that to the Jew it was the symbolic which appealed far 
 more than the verbal and literal), give us a most clear account 
 of everything the Israelite of the time of Moses was expected 
 to understand about the Passover. The lamb, the ' Pascha/ 
 
 undoubtedly a sacrifice, although the altar was wanting on 
 which it should be consumed, there was no oblation of fat, nor, 
 originally, any priestly interference. Yet it was an offering — 
 as divines have it, not a kei-ban, gift, but a tzebach, sacrifice, 
 partaking of the nature both of the sin offering — since the blood 
 sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel covered and protected 
 the family in the person of its head and representative — and of 
 the peace offering, since the slaying of the sacrifice was followed 
 by what was really a sacrificial meal. Thus, the two ideas of 
 reconciliation and atonement ran side by side with that of 
 communion and fellowship with God; and so it is that the 
 Great Paschal Lamb, once as a sin offering presented before 
 God fur the sins of the whole world, could yet, as peace 
 offering, give the same Body and blood which could never 
 again be offered as sin offering, as a token of that communion 
 and sacrament which is perpetual, and whereof He made His 
 disciples fellow-partakers. 
 
Chap. III.] RITUAL OF THE PASSOVER. 139 
 
 Further, the manner in which the lamb was to be prepared 
 showed its sacrificial character. It must not be eaten raw, 
 nor sodden at all with water, but ' roast with fire ' — not even 
 in an oven. The reasons for this command were, first, that 
 neither should any foreign element be mixed with the sacrifice 
 — no water, which might contain something to affect the lamb, 
 but roast with fire, that the sacrificial fat, if it dropped off in 
 roasting, might be consumed by the fire. The whole animal 
 was to be roasted : head, legs, and inwards included, although 
 undoubtedly the last would be cleaned first. No bone should 
 be broken, for the sacrifice was to be entire and perfect ; nor 
 might any of the flesh be carried outside the house, so as to 
 share what was intended for one family only with some other 
 family. So sacred, indeed, was the lamb, that nothing of it 
 might remain over until the morning, since it was to serve for 
 a single meal, and might not be used for any other, ' that 
 which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with 
 fire' — put it beyond the reach of any profane hand. The 
 time for slaying the lamb, ' between the two evenings,' was a 
 point in dispute in Rabbinic times ; but it would appear that 
 the custom in the Temple at the time of Josephus was to slay 
 the lambs between three and six p.m., the period when the 
 sun is approaching the west, down to the time when he 
 actually sets. 
 
 The lamb, which was eaten in haste, 'with your loins 
 girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand ' 
 — to show readiness for and expectation of the coming de- 
 liverance 1 — was eaten with * bitter herbs,' thought to be either 
 wild endive, bitter lettuce, or chicory, not so as to form 
 a pleasant addition to the lamb, but to give it more flavour, as 
 also to remind them of the ' bitterness ' of the bondage in 
 Egypt, out of which they were being delivered. The other 
 food commanded was ' unleavened bread ' — ' cakes ' in the 
 
 1 These signs of preparation for a journey seem to have been discontinued 
 after Israel had reached the Land of Promise. See Dr. Edersheim's 
 Temple, p. 201. 
 
RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 first Passover, when, through the haste with which they were 
 'thrust' out, they had not time to bake their bread, but 'took 
 their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs 
 being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.' The 
 unleavened bread not only signified this haste, and the 'bread 
 of affliction ' untempered, which they had been made to eat 
 in Egypt ; but as leaven in the Old Testament economy stood 
 as the symbol for corruption and sin, it symbolized what the 
 apostle calls the purging out of the old leaven, the leaving 
 behind of all the stain of Egypt which had corrupted them, a 
 shaking off of all the past life, and a new beginning. It was 
 no matter of sadness, no punishment, the leaving of the old 
 leaven ; but as in Egypt, so in after times, on the evening of 
 the 14th Nisan, each Jewish household started afresh, so 
 to speak, and renewed the covenant which had been made 
 with the fathers in the day they came out of Egypt. 
 
 Subsequent Additions to the Ritual. 
 
 Later custom added to the Paschal meal four cups of wine, 
 over each of which a benediction was spoken. The third cup 
 is that which was taken to make the basis of that at the Lord's 
 Supper, preceded as it immediately was by the washing of 
 hands: 'the cup after supper,' the 'cup of benediction.' 
 Thus what had crept in as completing the outline marked out 
 by the Mosaic law, was made a symbol and a sacrament to 
 tlie Christian Church by the great Paschal Lamb, whose Body, 
 uncorrupted and untainted by sin, was the true Bread which 
 came down from heaven, and which would give life to the 
 whole world. 
 
 Though only the males of Israel were obliged to keep this 
 \ it very soon became customary for women to do so also, 
 and. in fact, many of the Jewish authorities pronounced it to 
 be actually binding on them. There was a further obligation 
 laid on every Israelite who should come up to the Sanctuary 
 to keep the Passover: 'none shall appear before Me empty.' 
 elite, then, must bring his gift, this being the fitting 
 
Chap. III.] SOME HISTORICAL PASSOVERS. YAfl 
 
 Oriental way of approach to anyone in power. This rule held 
 good for all the feasts, or, indeed, for any case when approach 
 to God was desired. 
 
 Some Historical Passovers. 
 
 Several Passovers of note are mentioned in the Old Testa- 
 ment; indeed, this Feast, as being the most purely national, 
 would naturally be the one on which most stress would be 
 laid by each zealous reformer. Within the land of Canaan 
 the first Passover was held by Joshua at Gilgal, 1 when all 
 the Israelites who had not been circumcised during the 
 wanderings in the Sinai Peninsula were admitted into the 
 Covenant. After this Passover the daily supply of manna 
 ceased : ' neither had the children of Israel manna any more ; 
 but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year ' 
 — the land so long promised at last was theirs. 
 
 The next noted Passover as an era of reformation was that 
 held by King Hezekiah. He was obliged to hold it in the 
 second month of the year, ' because the priests had not 
 sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the 
 people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.' Even then 
 there were several who had not observed all the formalities 
 enacted in the Law. But, with a wise and noble liberality, the 
 king regarded the spirit of worship as a greater thing than 
 ritual ; God Himself approving His servant's course. Notwith- 
 standing therefore these departures from the law in point of 
 time and ceremonial the summing up of this Passover was one 
 of especial solemnity and gladness, which is thus given in 
 the words of the chronicler : ' their voice was heard, and their 
 prayer came up to His holy habitation, even unto heaven.' 2 
 
 King Josiah likewise kept a solemn Passover, of which it is 
 said : ' There was no passover like to that kept in Israel from 
 the days of Samuel the prophet ; neither did any of the kings 
 of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept.' 3 
 
 But even the solemnity of the Passover observed by the re- 
 1 Josh. v. - 2 Chron. xxx. 3 2 Chron. xxxv. 
 
142 RITES AXD WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 turned Jews under Ezra 1 pales in comparison with the great New 
 Testament Passover. From that day the Passover as sin 
 offering ceased to exist ; as peace offering, it is an eternal 
 sacrifice. For ' Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, there- 
 fore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with 
 the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened 
 bread of sincerity and truth.' 2 
 
 Feast of Unleavened Bread. 
 
 Immediately upon the Passover, the family feast and 
 sacrifice, followed the Feast of Unleavened Bread (c/iag 
 mazzoth, from mazzah, sweetness = unleavened). It lasted 
 
 en days, from 15-21 Nisan, the first and the seventh days 
 being specially holy. 3 During these seven days no leaven was 
 to be eaten, nor seen within the dwellings of any Israelite, so 
 as to mark still more emphatically the difference between the 
 old life and the new. But the great ceremony of the 
 Mazzoth Feast was the presentation of the Omer, before 
 which none of the new harvest might be eaten as food by any 
 of the people. The day appointed for this ceremony was ' the 
 morrow after the Sabbath,' i.e., after the first Sabbath-like day 
 of the feast, and therefore on the second day, the 16th Nisan. 
 The Omer was accompanied by a ' wave-sheaf,' of the first- 
 fruits of the harvest, as a mark of the dedication of the 
 harvest to God. The sheaf was of barley, the barley-harvest 
 being the earliest in Palestine, the wheat-harvest following 
 some months later. The 'omer' presented on the 16th Nisan 
 was of fresh ears, the grains of which were rubbed and 
 powdered, then sifted seven times, till an omer of the finest 
 flour was left (omer = one tenth of an ephah) ; but as this was 
 the day of thanksgiving for the coming harvest, the ' omer ' was 
 increased to two, which was mingled with oil and ac- 
 companied by a drink offering like an ordinary meat offering. 
 At the same time, a burnt offering of a he-lamb was brought ; 
 while on all the seven days of the Feast the customary burnt 
 1 Etra vi. 19^22. - i Cor. v. 7 8. 3 See Lev, xxiii 
 
Chap. III.] FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD. 143 
 
 offerings for festivals were brought : ' two young bullocks, and 
 one ram, and seven he-lambs of the first year : they shall be 
 unto you without blemish : and their meat offering, fine flour 
 mingled with oil ' . . , . ' and one he-goat for a sin offering, to 
 make atonement for you,' in addition to the daily morning 
 and evening sacrifice. This service was for all the days of 
 the Feast of Unleavened Bread ; the second day being only 
 distinguished by the waving of the barley-sheaf and the pre- 
 sentation of the omer. 
 
 Politically and religiously, then, the Passover marked the 
 new beginning in Israel's history, as it does that of the 
 Christian Church. For on it the true Paschal Lamb, whose 
 blood covered all sins, and whose flesh was the food of the 
 family of God, was slain, ' without the camp,' a true sin and 
 peace offering. And as joy and thanksgiving were the 
 leading thoughts in the mind of the Jew on the first of his 
 Feasts, so does Easter in the Christian Church bring joy ; and 
 as on the second day of the Feast, the Sunday of that Feast, 
 the first fruits of the coming harvest were waved before the 
 Lord, so on that day ' Christ rose from the dead, and became 
 the first fruits of them that slept.' 
 
144 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The ifcast of fflUtke. 
 
 The second great Feast in the Jewish sacred year — for we 
 must regard the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened 
 Bread as forming one festival — fell in the third month 
 of the year, Sivan, and so in the middle of summer. Its 
 time is thus fixed, 1 'And ye shall count unto you from the 
 morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the 
 sheaf of the wave-offering (i.e., from the second day of the 
 Feast of Unleavened Bread) j seven Sabbaths shall there be 
 complete ; even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath 
 shall ye number fifty days.' That is, from the time of the 
 offering of the Omer ; but whether from that day or from the 
 end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a matter of grave 
 dispute, some maintaining that it was to be reckoned from the 
 first day of that Feast, others when the Feast was completed. 
 At any rate, forty-nine days, a week of Sabbaths, were to be 
 counted ; and on the day after, the fiftieth day, the Summer 
 Festival was to be held, which accordingly received from its 
 place in the Calendar the name of ' Feast of Weeks,' i.e., 
 7 X 7 = 49 days after the Passover Feast. 
 
 Other Names of the Feast. 
 
 But this is not the only name given to this Feast. It was 
 
 also chag haqqatzir, the 'Feast of Harvest,' Exod. xxiii. 16, 
 
 since the period of which it was the completion and crown ; 
 
 the weeks before it, and after the Feast of Passover, were the 
 
 v. xxiii, 1 5. etc, 
 
Chap. IV.l INTENTION OF THE FEAST. 
 
 H5 
 
 days of harvest, days of rejoicing and gladness, which the 
 later Christian Church afterwards kept as days of especial 
 holiness. With the completion of the barley-harvest, which 
 in Palestine precedes the wheat-harvest, came the consecra- 
 tion of the wheat-harvest, which was the event distinguishing 
 the Feast of Harvest from both the others. A kindred name 
 to this is given in Numb, xxviii. 26, 'the day of the first 
 fruits,' explained as being the day 'when ye offer a new 
 meat offering unto the Lord in your feast of weeks.' Josephus 
 again speaks of this feast as atzereth, ' end-feast,' meaning the 
 Feast which ended that of Passover, and again 'Pentecost,' 
 i.e., ' fiftieth ' day. But its most common designation, and 
 that which seems most characteristic, is ' Feast of Weeks.' 
 
 Intention of the Feast. 
 
 As regarded Israel viewed collectively, it was no doubt 
 originally intended to be a purely agricultural high-day, a day 
 of thanksgiving for the abundant harvest, and of consecrating 
 to God of the fruits of the earth. This feeling of joy for the 
 visible returns of labour is, of course, common to all ages and 
 peoples, and it was too obvious an opportunity for a wise 
 lawgiver to be allowed to pass. So the beginning of harvest was 
 marked by the Feast of Passover, the middle of it by the 
 Feast of Weeks, while the completion, the ingathering of the 
 fruits, was marked by the joyous Feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 In after ages, when the days of decline had come, and 
 Israel needed to be constantly reminded, not only to re- 
 member God in the individual life of each harvest, but as 
 a nation and as the people of God, the teachers of the people, 
 remembering that it was in the third month that the Mighty 
 Voice was heard from Sinai, and the Law given to Israel 
 below, associated this giving of the law with the Feast of 
 Weeks, and named it the Feast of the Giving of the Law. 
 Fitting enough this was, not only on account of the probable 
 coincidence of time, but because the joy of harvest to the 
 outward man would be but small in comparison with the delight 
 
 ii 
 
l 4 ,, RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 that law of God would be to the inner man. Whether, then, 
 we look upon the Feast of Weeks as a national rejoicing for 
 temporal good, or as a rejoicing for spiritual gifts, it is equally 
 valuable and instructive to the modern Church. 
 
 To the Church, indeed, it has a still greater value. For it 
 was on this day, while the disciples at Jerusalem were still 
 awaiting the promise of the Father, assembled close to the 
 Temple, as of old the Israelites were gathered around Sinai, the 
 sound of a mighty rushing wind was heard, and the Holy Spirit, 
 in perceptible form, descended on each of them. Thus Pente- 
 cost, Whitsunday, the Feast of Weeks, the birthday of Israel's 
 law and order, became what writers so aptly term.it, the birth- 
 day of the Church, the epoch from which the Church received 
 its life ; the apostles, boldness to proclaim their message; and 
 when, from their loosened tongues, their ' sound went into all 
 lands, and their words to the end of the world.' Once before, 
 at Babel, confusion of tongues had separated the whole world ; 
 now, at Pentecost, multitudes of tongues brought all the world 
 .her, for 'in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Bar- 
 barian, Scythian, bond nor free.' 
 
 Ritual of the Feast. 
 
 According to the Pentateuch, the Feast of Weeks was only 
 to last one day, which day was to be a ' holy convocation,' a 
 Sabbath among days. Though consisting only of one day, it 
 w.i^ t<> be attended by all males in Israel, none of whom were 
 to appear empty-handed, but to come furnished with free-will 
 offerings. It may be that those strangers who came up to 
 Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover often made it a practice 
 to stay from that Feast in the Holy City until after the Feast 
 <»f Pentecost ; but there is no doubt that for the great mass of 
 the people this arrangement would be fraught with great in- 
 convenience, as the harvest-time would be that period when 
 their presence at home would be most required. The Feast 
 Day opened, as usual, with the morning sacrifice, with the 
 duties thereon attending, after which took place what was the 
 
Chap. III.] PENTECOST. 1 47 
 
 great event of the Feast, the ■ new meat offering.' This ' new 
 meat offering ' consisted of ' two wave-loaves,' loaves made of 
 finely-sifted and carefully prepared wheat-meal, the quantity 
 taken being two-tenths of an ephah ; and, unlike the Passover 
 cakes, they were to be leavened, since they represented,* not 
 a sacrifice, but the consecration of the daily bread ; as sufficient 
 harvest had now been reaped to permit of the new wheat being 
 ground and prepared for food, and so it befitted Israel to bring 
 into the Sanctuary the best and earliest of their food.- The 
 leaven in the bread — not ' cakes,' but bread, ordered by tradi- 
 tion to be seven handbreaths long, four broad, and four thick — - 
 did not stand for sin or corruption, but shadowed forth that it 
 must be the usual bread that was offered, that in their every- 
 day life they were, equally with their festive life, to have their 
 Great King always before their minds. But as sin must in 
 truth mingle with all things in this world, even though conse- 
 crated to God, in addition, on the Feast of Weeks, were to be 
 brought, as burnt offering, ' for a sweet savour unto the Lord,' 
 'two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first 
 year • and their meat offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three- 
 tenth parts for each bullock, two-tenth parts for the one ram, 
 a several tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs,' ■ and 
 two he-lambs of the first year for a peace offering ; ' and, 
 though as marking the lesser place the feeling of guilt held in 
 the Feast, in a much smaller degree, 'one he-goat, to make 
 atonement for you.' These sacrifices, together with the two 
 wave-loaves, which after being duly waved and presented before 
 the Lord, together with the two lambs which formed the peace 
 offering, were given to the priests, complete the ritual of the 
 Feast of Pentecost. 
 
 Pentecost and the Christian Church. 
 
 To the Christian Church, of course, the anniversary of the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost, and of the giving of the ' law of 
 liberty,' is a far greater day than the ancient Feast of Weeks 
 ever was to the Jewish people. True, the time measured from 
 
\ 
 
 i i RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 when 'thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing com,' 
 must have reminded them of the great harvest to be reaped in 
 the end of the world, when the King Messiah would be the 
 first to thrust His sickle in. But thoughts of that future must 
 have been mainly swallowed up in the rejoicing of the present : 
 1 Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy 
 son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maid- 
 servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the 
 stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the 
 midst of thee, in the place which the Lord thy God shall 
 choose to cause His name to dwell there.' Truly, there was 
 cause of rejoicing as regarded the past, when he remembered 
 • that thou wast a bondman in Egypt ; ' as regarded the present, 
 when he was keeping 'the Feast of Weeks unto the Lord thy 
 God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which 
 thou shalt give, according as the Lord thy God blesseth thee ;' 
 and likewise as regarded the future, for these poor ones helped, 
 and sent on their way rejoicing, the promise would be his : 
 1 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and 
 his good deed will He pay him again.' 
 
149 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ^he (Sceai Tleavlii Jfafirt : 1"hc Jlaii of Jltoncmcnt. 
 
 Fasting in Different Religious Systems. 
 
 XT acids little or nothing to adverse criticism, nor does it 
 detract in the least from the importance or significance of 
 the fact, to admit that among all nations of antiquity 
 fasting and self-abasement were considered ways of approach- 
 ing the Deity which would be specially pleasing to Him. Such 
 a thing as a day of public fasting and humiliation we would 
 naturally expect to find among the Jews, that nation which, 
 though not taken out of the world, was yet kept from the evil 
 that was in it. But fasting and humiliation to the other nations 
 of the world were the end and aim of their religion, often the 
 highest virtue, to which only the extremely holy could hope to 
 attain. Among the Jewish people, on the other hand, fasting 
 was not confined to the few, to be made use of when and how 
 they thought fitting, but was ordained for the whole nation ; 
 on one particular day, in one particular place, and then only 
 served as a manner of preparing the people for the reconcilia- 
 tion which was effected through the person of one man, who 
 acted as representative alike of God and of his fellow-country- 
 men. 
 
 The points of contact, then, between the Jewish day of fast- 
 ing and those incorporated into other religions are but few. In 
 both cases the feeling prompting the deed was that of sin ; but 
 whereas in heathenism each man only strove to expiate his 
 own guilt, the Jewish faith contemplated the expiation of a 
 whole nation, and not only of a nation, but of a religion itself — a 
 thing far beyond the imagination of any Gentile of those days. 
 
150 RITES AND WORSHIP OF 711 E JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 Reserve in Approaching the Holy of Holies. 
 
 Originally the feeling of unworthiness to approach the most 
 holy things of ( rod seems to have arisen in the breast of Aaron 
 after the terrible warning given the priesthood by the death 
 of Nadab and Abihu. Whatever the cause of their death, 
 whether drunkenness or otherwise, this much is certain, that 
 they presumptuously put forth their hand to what was holy. 
 The natural rebound from presumption was, of course, fear in 
 the minds of their fathers and brothers : witness Aaron's 
 excuses to Moses for not having eaten his share of the 
 sacrifice: ' Behold this day have they offered their sin offering 
 and their burnt offering before the Lord ; and there have be- 
 fallen me such things as these; and if I had eaten the sin 
 offering to-day, would it have been well-pleasing in the sight of 
 the Lord?' In view of these facts, we are scarcely surprised 
 to find that the ritual for the Day of Atonement is prefaced by 
 these words : ' The Lord spake unto Moses, after the death of 
 the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord, 
 and died .... Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come 
 not at all times into the holy place within the veil, before the 
 mercy-seat which is upon the ark ; that he die not.' 1 
 
 eat relief indeed must it have been to Aaron, the 
 knowledge that only at prescribed times he was expected to 
 appear in the very presence of God, the Being who was too pure 
 to behold iniquity ; good, also, that when the priest did enter 
 the holiest lie did not go on his own account alone, but as 
 representative of the people of God, and therefore sheltered 
 by what he carried with him. 
 
 Ritual of the 1 >ay. 
 
 Tlie day appointed tor this solemn fast is usually known to 
 
 us by the name of the Day of Atonement, but called by the 
 
 ! Yotn hakkippurim % day of atonements (dies expiationum)^ 
 
 or more simply Yoma, (he day. Curiously enough, if we except 
 
 1 Lev. xvi. 2. 
 
Chap. V.] RITUAL OF THE DAY. 151 
 
 the places where it is prescribed in the Pentateuch code, there 
 is no mention, historically, of the Day of Atonement through- 
 out the whole Old Testament. It has, however, been agreed, 
 even by adverse critics, that this circumstance in no way 
 militates against the fact that during those centuries it was 
 actually observed. Those who look upon the Pentateuch code 
 as a priestly fabrication, invented in later ages for the self- 
 glorification of that class, will freely admit as genuine a cere- 
 monial in which the priesthood alone is first and foremost. 
 And more sober critics, from internal evidence, have adjudged 
 it an integral part of a most beautiful system of ritual. 
 Ezekiel, indeed, in his vision of the future Temple and its 
 services, makes two days of atonement, one for the Sanctuary, 
 and one for ' every one that erreth, and for him that is simple,' 
 on the first and on the seventh days of the first month. But 
 so much of other parts of the ritual is omitted, and so much 
 altered in the prophetic vision, that we may not base history 
 upon it. The first mention, then, of the Day of Atonement is 
 to be found in Ecclus. 1. 5, where the bearing of Simon the 
 Just on that day is described. From that time forward we 
 have more certain accounts of the Day of Atonement, such as 
 in Acts xxvii. 9, it being looked upon as marking the beginning 
 of a season of the year, when travelling was dangerous. 
 
 Lev. xvi. appoints that the Day for Atonement, a day holy 
 above all other days, a sabbath sabbathon, which the Revisers 
 translate 'a Sabbath of solemn rest,' was to be, to all genera- 
 tions, ' a statute for ever,' and that on the tenth day of the 
 seventh month (Tishri). It was incumbent on all Israel to 
 keep this day, with this dreadful penalty attached to the non- 
 fulfilment of the precept : ' Whatsoever soul it be that shall 
 not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his 
 people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any manner of 
 work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his 
 people. Ye shall do no manner of work : it is a statute for 
 ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.' l 
 1 Lev. xxiii. 26-32. 
 
[52 RITES AND WORSHIP 01 THE JEWS. [Part III. 
 
 \ • only was it necessary for the people to diligently observe 
 this fast : this was the only day of all the year when it was 
 absolutely necessary that the high priest should be present in 
 person, and conduct all the services of the day himself. On 
 any other day of the year, whether festive or otherwise, a 
 substitute might act for him ; but on the Day of Atonement 
 none other would suffice. No wonder it was ' the Day' to the 
 Jewish nation. 
 
 Later tradition laid it down that the high priest must carefully 
 fit himself for a long period beforehand, for the work he was to 
 do on the Day. We are told that for seven days before he had 
 to occupy a chamber built for the purpose within the Temple 
 precincts, to study nothing but his duties for the great day ; 
 and that the night before the tenth of Tishri, no sleep was 
 permitted him. The day, indeed, began on the evening of the 
 ninth of Tishri, but the ritual about to be described would take 
 place on the morning of the tenth. 
 
 The services began with the usual morning sacrifices, 
 preceded and followed by the customary lustrations on the part 
 of the priests. After this, according to some, the prescribed 
 sacrifices for a feast day, r one young bullock, one ram, seven 
 he-lambs of the first year,' with their meat and drink offerings, 
 was brought ; according to others, this was offered after the 
 distinctive service of the day had been performed, and 
 immediately before the evening sacrifice. 1 Taking the latter as 
 the more probable order of events, we next find that the high 
 priest, laying aside his 'garments of glory,' arrayed himself in 
 white garments: 'the holy linen coat, the linen breeches upon 
 his flesh, girded with the linen girdle, and attired with the 
 linen mitre:' the garments symbolising purity of body, not 
 mourning; white, the emblem of purity; but not priestly gar- 
 ments, since the coloured girdle was wanting. The putting on 
 of these garments was preceded by bathing. 
 
 For, in his own person, Aaron, or the high priest, whoever 
 lie might be, stood for the whole priesthood, which equally with 
 1 Conip. Numb. xxix. 7— 1 r . 
 
Chap. V.] RITUAL OF THE DAW 153 
 
 the children of Israel required yearly cleansing and atonement. 
 For himself, and for the priesthood, the high priest was now to 
 bring into the Sanctuary ' a young bullock for a sin offering, 
 and a ram for a burnt offering.' For the children of Israel, on 
 the other hand, to atone for them, he was to take 'two he-goats 
 for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.' First, the 
 high priest laid his hands on the bullock, which was for a sin 
 offering for the priesthood, ' presenting ' it, and, as afterwards 
 practised in the Temple, confessing over it for himself and his 
 brethren. He then left the animal to be sacrificed later on in 
 the service. After this, the priest took the two goats, and 
 placing them at the entrance to the Tabernacle, cast lots upon 
 them ; a ceremony most elaborately performed in later days. 
 The lots were : ' one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for 
 Azazel.' 
 
 This term, Azazel, 1 has been a crux from the earliest days 
 even to now. The Revisers have put 'dismissal' in the margin, 
 and this is undoubtedly a very widely received explanation of 
 the term. According to this view, one goat was chosen for 
 sacrifice, the other to be sent away. But another view, and one 
 which has found still more favour among modern commentators, 
 has it, that Azazel is the name of a demon, and here stands as 
 equivalent for Satan, whose habitation was supposed to be in 
 the wilderness, and to whom, as to the original source of all 
 sin, the goat bearing the sins of the congregation was to be 
 sent. These critics argue that the contrast between Jehovah 
 on the one side, and Azazel on the other, absolutely requires 
 this interpretation. Yet, on the other hand, it seems passing 
 strange that here only should we have an allusion, throughout the 
 whole Pentateuch, to the world-wide superstition that wilder- 
 nesses and lonely places are the haunts of evil spirits. Be it 
 then as it may, whether we take Azazel as meaning the Spirit 
 of Evil as opposed to the Spirit of Good, or that the goat was 
 1 for complete sending away ' (a reduplicated, or strengthened, 
 
 1 ' Scapegoat' as in the A.V. is at once an incorrect and an inadequate 
 translation. 
 
I <4 RITES AM) WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Pari III. 
 
 form connected with the Hebrew verb azal), certain it is that 
 no lowering superstition connected itself in any way with this 
 most solemn service. 
 
 The goat on which the lot fell 'for Jehovah,' was first 
 presented before Him, confession being made over it for 
 the children of Israel. Then the goat for Azazel was set by 
 itself, ready to perform its part in the service later on. Next, 
 the bullock for the priests' sin offering was again confessed 
 over, and then slain ; since the high priest could avail nothing 
 as intercessor for the people till he himself, and the priesthood 
 through him, had been reconciled to God. The animal having 
 been slain, the high priest, having given some of its blood in a 
 basin to another priest to hold, took a 'censer full of coals of fire 
 from off the altar,' i.e., the Great Altar of Burnt Offering, and 
 filling his hands with finely powdered incense, brought these things 
 within the veil, immediately putting the incense, by shaking it out 
 of a spoon, on to the glowing coals of the censer, which again 
 he placed upon the ark (afterwards, in the second Temple, 
 on the stone which occupied the place where the Ark formerly 
 stood), so that a thick cloud of incense might rise up and 
 cover him before the Lord, ' that he die not.' Thus with the 
 cloud of incense he shrouded the holy presence of God, which 
 no human eye could look on, and live. Perhaps there may 
 also be here some reference to the sweet ' prayers of the 
 saints,' the fitting way of approach to God. 
 
 Then the high priest, returning with reverent step backwards 
 to the Great Altar, took the blood of the bullock, and again 
 entering the Most Holy Place, sprinkled it, with his finger, 
 upon the east (front) side of the mercy-seat seven times, as an 
 atonement for the priesthood. After that, having returned to 
 the Great Altar of burnt offering, he killed the goat which had 
 been chosen 'for Jehovah,' for the people, and going once 
 more into the Holiest, sprinkled the blood on and before the 
 y seat : 'and he shall make atonement for the holy place, 
 i use of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and 
 because of all their tr.mgressions, even all their sins.' This 
 
Chap. V.J RITUAL OF THE DAY. I 55 
 
 done, and during the time he was within the Holiest Place, 
 ' there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goeth 
 in to make atonement,' the high priest, with the blood of both 
 bullock and goat that was left, was to make atonement for the 
 Altar of Incense, by putting blood on the horns, and sprinkling 
 the altar itself with blood seven times, after which the remainder 
 of the blood was to be poured out at the base of the Altar of 
 Burnt Offering. Then the high priest, returning to the outer 
 court, presented the live goat, and laying both his hands upon 
 its head, confessed 'over him all the iniquities of the children 
 of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins ; and 
 he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send 
 him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the 
 wilderness.' That is, confessing and laying upon the scapegoat 
 all the evil of Israel, the high priest, as in the ritual for the 
 cleansing of the leper the officiating priest set free the one bird 
 to bear far away with it the disease and its curse, so the curse 
 and blight of sin was borne by the scapegoat ' unto a solitary 
 land/ where, according to the Pentateuch, the goat for Azazel 
 was to be left to find its own end. Later observance, however, 
 deeming the goat too awful and mysterious to be left to wander 
 about with its burden of a nation's sin, ordered it, that the goat 
 should be taken to a steep incline, known by the name of Zuk t 
 and there hurled down the precipice. This done, he that led 
 the goat away for Azazel having communicated the fact to 
 assembled Israel, must first wash his clothes, and then bathe, 
 before he could again come into the camp. 
 
 The great sin offering thus consisted of two parts in their 
 combined significance, pointing to the One great Sacrifice, 
 The first victim symbolized the bearing of sin, in the death 
 which is its penalty ; the second, the bearing away of sin, its 
 complete dismissal, removed from God's Israel for ever. 
 
 When intimation had been given that the goat was really 
 ' sent away,' the high priest, divesting himself of his white gar- 
 ments, and again bathing himself (tradition had it, that he was 
 to bathe himself five times during the services on this day), 
 
156 RITES AND WORSHIP OF 'J HE JEWS. [Pari III. 
 
 put on his ordinary glorious garments, and proceeded to offer 
 the two burnt offerings, one for himself and the priesthood, 
 and the other for the people. After this, the carcases of the 
 bullock and the goat, whose blood had been brought into the 
 Most Holy Place, were to be carried forth to the appointed 
 place without the camp, and there burnt with fire, those who 
 performed this office being obliged to wash their clothes and 
 bathe their flesh before they could again come into the camp. 
 This, with the evening sacrifice, completed the ritual of the 
 day. 
 
 Modern Observance of the Day. 
 
 The Day of Atonement to the Jews of our time is no light 
 matter. Neither food nor drink may touch the lips of any 
 Jew during its hours. Equally strict was it in ancient times; 
 it was, indeed, a day on which to 'afflict the soul.' Once every 
 year must the Israelite seek and find atonement, though in de- 
 generate times the complaint have been uttered: 'Behold, in 
 the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and exact all 
 your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to 
 smite with the fist of wickedness ; ye fast not this day so as to 
 make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I 
 have chosen ? the day for a man to afflict his soul ? Is it to 
 bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and 
 ashes under him ? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable 
 day to the Lord ? ' Rather did the prophet call to mind the 
 true beauty and meaning of the Great Day to erring Israel, as 
 lie had done that of the Sabbath Day, when he continued : ' Is 
 not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bonds of 
 wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the 
 oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not 
 to deal thy bread to tin- hungry, and that thou bring the poor 
 that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that 
 thou ever him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own 
 
 flesh ? M For the prophet perceived, indeed, that fasting was 
 
 1 [sa. lviii. 2~7- 
 
Chap. V.] MEANING OF THE ORDINANCE. 157 
 
 but an aid to holiness, not the way ; and that it was only of 
 value when accompanied by righteous deeds, not to be seen or 
 known of men. 
 
 Deepest Meaning of the Ordinance. 
 
 And there was a still deeper meaning in the Day of Atone- 
 ment, more valuable to the world at large than its moral and 
 social aspect — the doing good to the brother because a 
 brother ; and this is what the writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews puts forward. To him the high priest entering only 
 once a year into the Holiest, and then only by virtue of the 
 blood he carried with him, signified, that the way into the 
 Holiest for all was not yet made manifest ; but that Christ, a 
 High Priest of good things to come, having once entered, once 
 for all, by virtue of His own blood, into the Holy of Holies, 
 He remains there, the Mediator of the new covenant sealed 
 by His own blood, having given us, the common herd, who 
 might not dare to enter even the Holy Place, ' boldness to 
 enter,' by the way which He dedicated for us a new and 
 living way, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. No 
 more need, then, is there for having ' a remembrance of sins 
 year by year,' for ' by one offering He (Christ) hath perfected 
 for ever them that are sanctified,' and ' where remission of 
 these [sins and iniquities] is, there is no more offering for sin.' 1 
 
 1 Hebrews x. 3, 14, 18. 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wxt J^caot of TTabernaclcs. 
 
 INGA1 IIKR1NG. 
 
 Tin; most joyous season of the whole year to a people whose 
 wealth was furnished by the soil, was of course the time 
 when, all risks and dangers of loss past, came the 
 ingathering of the fruits of the earth : harvest ended, summer 
 dying, and the rich vines yielding their grapes. Such a time in 
 Palestine fell in the seventh month (Tishri), just after the Day 
 of Atonement, and it was celebrated by a feast, which speedily 
 became the Feast, the Feast of Ingathering, or as we more 
 commonly call it now, the Feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 In very deed it was a perfect harvest-feast, such as has been 
 celebrated among all agricultural nations of the world. The 
 last Feast of the year, before the time of winter came, it was 
 also the great Feast of the best month of the year, the Sabbath 
 month, which had been heralded in with more than ordinary 
 solemnity ; in which the children of Israel had again reconciled 
 themselves to their God ; and from which atonement they had 
 arisen as to a new life of consecration and service. A very 
 suitable season this in which to rejoice before the Lord. 
 
 Five days, then, after the Day of Atonement, began the feast 
 in which joy and thanksgiving were the principal elements. 
 The Feast of Tabernacles was known among the Jews under 
 the name of Chag hassukkothy a phrase of which the English is 
 a translation, although perhaps the term 'booths,' which the 
 Revisers have placed in the margin of Lev. xxiii. 34, conveys the 
 meaning more exactly. Exod. xxiii. 16, calls it Chag lia-Asiph, 
 t of the Ingathering. These are the two most common 
 
C 1 1 a p. VI.] His TO RICA I REMEMBRANCES. \ 5 9 
 
 names, and they express in both cases its purely national meaning. 
 The Feast of Ingathering was for joy only to the owners of the 
 soil, the Jews ; the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated past 
 events in the national history, which could have no interest or 
 importance for those who were not of the race. 
 
 Historical Remembrances. 
 
 The stress is laid in the ritual for the Feast on the element 
 of joy, the keynote to the whole being ' ye shall rejoice before 
 the Lord.' The reasons for this joy were twofold : first, they 
 were to rejoice on account of the deliverance from Egypt, and 
 in remembrance thereof, and of the way in which they had been 
 led through the great and terrible wilderness, they were to dwell 
 in booths (or tabernacles) during all the days of the feast. 
 These, as might naturally be expected, since it was the 
 ' Sabbath Feast,' were seven ; but to the seven an eighth day, 
 of ritual even more impressive than the others, was added. 
 The second reason for joy was, that they had been brought into 
 this good land, and enabled to reap and partake of its fruits, 
 since the harvest then being celebrated was more especially the 
 fruit and wine gathering. 
 
 The principal features characteristic of the Harvest Feast are 
 as follows : — 
 
 When the people had come into the 'good land,' and had 
 gathered in its fruits, from the threshingfloor and from the 
 winepress, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they 
 were to meet, the whole nation, as represented more especially 
 by the males of the community, ' in the place which the Lord 
 thy God shall choose,' i.e., in the central Sanctuary, and there 
 keep the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, ' because the Lord 
 thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase.' 
 
 Dwelling in Booths. 
 
 On the first day the whole people were to procure ' the fruit 
 of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick 
 trees, and willows of the brook ; ' the plants enumerated above 
 
l6o RITES Ah D WORSHIP O* 7 HE JEWS. [Part 1IL 
 
 being generally supposed to be varieties of citron, wild or 
 cultivated, and myrtle — and with these boughs they were bidden 
 • rejoice before the Lord' for seven days. Most probably these 
 goodly boughs were meant for the adornment of the ' booths,' 
 or ' tabernacles,' made out of branches of trees, in which the 
 whole nation were to dwell during the days of the Feast, as 
 token of their joy for the deliverance from Egypt ; and in 
 commemoration, though a joyful one, of the time when they 
 dwelt in tents, and had no sure habitation, a feature of life 
 which would seem even now to be often the custom in Palestine 
 during the time of vintage. This dwelling in booths was to be 
 'a statute for ever in your generations,' and indeed gave its 
 character to the whole Feast. 
 
 Even in later times, Jerusalem was green with booths during 
 the Feast, as they were then erected on the flat housetops, and 
 on every open space, and, in obedience to the command of 
 rejoicing with branches of fragrant-smelling trees, the people 
 went about bearing twisted branches of the various plants in 
 their right and left hands. Most especially, though, was this 
 the Feast of Rejoicing to the whole community, that is, to every 
 born Israelite, for the outsider had no share in it — although 
 tradition has it that all the nations of the world were remembered 
 in the number of animals to be sacrificed. But it was so 
 utterly and entirely bound up with the soil, that there seems no 
 place in it for any wider or advanced view, at least to the Jew 
 of the days of Moses. 
 
 'All that are homeborn in Israel shall dwell in booths ;' the 
 reason given being, 'that your generations may know that I 
 made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought 
 them out of the land of Egypt.' That is, he who alone had a 
 right to the soil, and alone had cause for rejoicing at its fruit- 
 fulness. To the Christian Church, indeed, to whom the 
 harvest brings thoughts of the end of the world, and of that 
 great harvest wherein angels are the reapers, and where the 
 great High Priest Himself puts in the sickle, the Feast of 
 Tabernacles is a type yet unfulfilled, and the branches waved by 
 
Chap. VI.] FEAST OF TABERNACLES. l6l 
 
 the worshippers may well stand, as it has been shown by more 
 than one writer, for the palm branches of the saints who ' are 
 coming out of the great tribulation.' 
 
 But even to the Jew himself no darker thought of pain or 
 suffering marred his joy. The booths in which he dwelt were 
 not meant to show him the frailty and transitoriness which is 
 the lot of all things human, but rather the idea of safety and 
 protection from storm and tempest, from foe and death. 
 Such is the 'tabernacle' or booth of the Psalms and of the 
 Prophets : 
 
 'For in the day of trouble He shall keep me secretly in 
 
 His pavilion : 
 In the covert of His tabernacle shall He hide me; 
 He shall lift me up upon a rock. 
 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies 
 
 round about me ; 
 And I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy.' 1 
 
 Or again : 
 
 ' Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities : thine eyes 
 shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be 
 removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither 
 shall any of the cords thereof be broken.' 2 
 
 A Feast to be kept was this all over the land ; for it came 
 into practice that those who could not come up to the central 
 Sanctuary were to make the booths within their own boundaries, 
 and attend the services of the Synagogue where it was not 
 possible to join in those of the Temple. 
 
 Sacrifices at the Feast. 
 
 Besides the dwelling in booths, this Feast was distinguished 
 by being that at which a very large number of sacrifices was 
 offered, so that it might almost be called the Sacrificial Feast. 
 These sacrifices began, on the first day of the Festival, with 
 thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen he-lambs of 
 1 Psa. xxvii. 5, 6. 2 Isa. xxxiii. 20. 
 
 M 
 
1 6 J RITES AND U 'OK SHIP OF THE JE \VS. [ Part III. 
 
 the first year, together with their corresponding meat offerings, 
 and one he-L;oat for a sin offering — in addition, of course, to the 
 ordinary daily sacrifices. Day by day as the Feast went on, 
 the same sacrifices were brought ; but each day one bullock 
 was deducted, i.e., on the second day twelve bullocks were 
 offered ; on the third, eleven ; and so on, till on the seventh 
 day only seven bullocks were brought ; so that the whole 
 number of bullocks offered during the Feast amounted to 
 nty, which according to later tradition was the number of 
 nations in the world ; and according to sacred symbolism is 
 7 x 10, the sacred number multiplied by the number of 
 perfection. For those who take an interest in such questions, 
 this is a point w r orthy of notice. It should be added that once 
 in seven years, in the year of release, the book of the Law, or 
 some portion of it, was to be publicly read at the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. 1 
 
 Days of the Feast: the 'Great Day.' 
 
 The seven days of the Feast were very much like those of an 
 ordinary Festival, save that the first day was one of ' holy 
 convocation,' in which no servile work was to be done, the 
 other six days being days of rejoicing and merry-making, of 
 bringing free-will offerings, and praising the goodness of God 
 the Giver. It would also seem that this was the season at 
 which the best and ripest of the fruit and grapes was placed in 
 a basket by the various offerers, and brought as a present to 
 the Sanctuary. - 
 
 But by far the greatest day of the Feast in later times was 
 the eighth day, about which as yet we have spoken little. The 
 Feast would then really be practically over, for the sacrifices 
 prescribed for it are those for an ordinary feist-day, such as we 
 might expect to find for a new moon : one bullock, one ram, 
 
 1 Sec Dent. xxxi. 10-13. Rabbinical tradition specifics as the parts to 
 be read: Dcut. i. Ivi. 4; \i. 13 xvi. 22: wiii. 1 14; xxvii., xxviii. 
 Comp. Nch. viii. 
 
 2 Comp. Numb. wiii. i2 Deut. xxvi. 1-11. 
 
Chap. VI.] ' THE GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST: 163 
 
 seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish, with their 
 meat offerings, and the he-goat for a sin offering. Yet it was 
 the Sabbath day, so to speak, which closed the Feast, and was 
 to be a solemn assembly, a day on which no servile work might 
 be done, a fitting rest and close to the week's mirth. In later 
 times a ninth day was added to the Feast, known as Simchath 
 hattorah (Day of Rejoicing for the Law), since on the previous 
 Sabbath the Lectionary of the Pentateuch ended, to begin 
 again on the next Sabbath. Every third year, also, the Law 
 was to be read to the nation by the priesthood. 
 
 Later Observances of the Festival. 
 
 The observances at the Feast of Tabernacles in later days — 
 for example, in the days of Christ — do not come within our 
 province. They consisted chiefly in the pouring out of water 
 fetched from the Pool of Siloam on one or more days 
 (authorities are divided on this point), of chanting the 
 'Hallelujah' Psalms, and probably Isaiah xii., of illuminating 
 the Temple by night, etc., etc.i More important to us is the 
 connection which Christ had with the Feast, and more lasting 
 memories are those words which He uttered ' in the midst of 
 the Feast,' and on 'the last day, the great day of the Feast,' 
 words called forth by the pouring out of the water at the ba^e 
 of the great Altar : ' If any man thirst, let him come unto Me 
 and drink.' To the Jews who thronged the Temple courts, that 
 teaching, which they had heard duiing their Feast, was more 
 than passing strange —it laid hold on them, at any rate for a 
 short season, and held them convinced : ' This is of a truth the 
 Prophet' .... 'This is the Christ' .... 'Never man so 
 spake.' Yet to the rulers He was one who led astray, one of 
 'this multitude which knoweth not the law,' and so 'are 
 accursed.' And thus the Light of the World shone only in 
 darkness that comprehended Him not, and upon a people to 
 whom the Feast of Tabernacles only brought thoughts of 
 national pride and self-sufficiency. From the light missed 
 1 See Dr. Edersheim's Jewish le.ni pie in the Days of Christ. 
 
164 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Paet III. 
 
 and the water of life despised at that Feast of Tabernacles, it 
 is good to turn to the future Feast, as seen by the prophet 
 Zechariah, and as it is yet to be fulfilled in the case of, not 
 Israel alone, but all the nations of the world : 
 
 1 And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all 
 the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year 
 to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the 
 
 Feast of Tabernacles In that day shall there be upon 
 
 the bells of the horses, Holy unto the Lord.' 1 
 
 1 Zech. xiv. 16, 20. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Comparative Religion. 
 
 It has been repeatedly shown in the preceding pages that 
 many of the Mosaic institutions had their counterpart, 
 more or less exact, in the ceremonies or customs of 
 heathen nations, especially in those of Egypt. Modern re- 
 search has also brought to light a series of striking parallels 
 between the ideas embodied in the religion of Israel and the 
 beliefs expressed more or less dimly in other and earlier 
 systems. The study of ' comparative religion ' has already 
 yielded large results in this direction, and the list of coinci- 
 dences is still on the increase. 
 
 Some theorists on religious matters have been led by such 
 facts to the conclusion that the Israelite ritual itself was but a 
 development, to be accounted for by natural causes, and 
 needing no supernatural revelation. Against such a conclusion 
 we would warn our readers, as rash and ill-considered. It 
 would, indeed, require much detail to show that no develop- 
 ment hypothesis could possibly account for the Mosaic system. 
 But the following points may be suggested as worthy of 
 consideration. 
 
 i. We hold, on the authority of the Bible records, that 
 there were early Divine revelations to our race, and that in the 
 beliefs and usages of heathenism there are many vestiges, 
 however broken and distorted, of this primoeval religion. That 
 an undue stress has been sometimes laid upon this point by 
 the advocates of revelation may be fully conceded ; but it 
 cannot be wholly dismissed as without a bearing upon the 
 
[( r, RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The ' broken lights' of a setting sun must not be mis- 
 taken for the indications of a dawning faith. 
 
 2. In regard to much that appears to be derived from an 
 earlier heathenism, the general observation may be made, 
 that the Divine method appears to be, to proceed upon the 
 
 - of already existing ideas and practices. ' The religious 
 legislator does not invent an absolutely new system of rites 
 and ordinances and beliefs. He takes what he finds, and 
 amends, corrects, limits, and remoulds them to serve the 
 higher purpose which he has in view. And the Divine 
 Spirit, working always through human instrumentality and 
 according to the laws which the Creator, has impressed on 
 His creatures, follows the same course.' There is an 
 inspiration of selection. ' Out of the rude systems of primi- 
 tive society, growing up under the action of unconscious 
 forces operating silently from age to age, the Holy Spirit, 
 through the mouth of a human legislator, selects, modifies, 
 and consecrates certain laws and ideas to be the fruitful seeds 
 of a purer and more elevating religion.' ' 
 
 3. In the Mosaic system there is, superadded to all that 
 seems kindred w r ith religions of human origin, the one master- 
 thought of Holiness. This thought, whether expressed in 
 sacrifice, or pervading the ordinances for every-day life and 
 conduct, or embodied in its highest form in the appointment 
 and consecration of the priesthood, at once differentiates the 
 Hebrew religion from all others. 'Ye shall be holy, for I 
 Jehovah am holy;' 'I Jehovah do sanctify you.' The motto 
 of the whole system was in the inscription upon Aaron's 'holy 
 crown:' Holiness to the Lord. God Himself, so to 
 
 ik, appropriates earth's common material, and renders it 
 1 )i\ ine. 
 
 4. Nor must the symbolic, and especially the typical sig- 
 nificance of these ordinances be forgotten. As has been 
 
 1 Review in the Guardian, October 22ml, 1S90, of Dr. W. Robertson 
 Smith's Lectures on the Religion of tlu- Semites. See also Spencer's De 
 us Hebreeorum Ritualibus et earum Rationibus. 
 
APPENDIX. i6y 
 
 shown throughout this book, every part of the system con- 
 veys a Divine meaning. And even more than this, the 
 whole is typical of something yet to come. The proof is 
 conclusive of a foresight nothing less than Divine. Outlines 
 are given in the Law, to be filled up in the Gospel ; ' patterns 
 of things in the heavens,' to prepare for the heavenly reality ; 
 ' a shadow of good things to come,' to be watched and 
 pondered until the things themselves should appear ; ' the 
 Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the Holiest of 
 all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle 
 was yet standing.' Such is the chief distinction of the cere- 
 monial law ; such the irresistible proof, that the Mind by which 
 it was framed had a distinct intention with regard to the ages 
 to come, while it included the Present and the Future in its 
 omniscient survey. 
 
 II. New Testament Priesthood and Sacrifice. 
 (See pp. 42, 57, 74, I54-) 
 
 It may be convenient here to bring together the chief New 
 Testament passages which bear upon the priesthood and the 
 sacrifices of the Christian Church, in subordination to the 
 'one offering' of 'the body of Jesus Christ once for all,' 
 made by Himself as the great High Priest. To this sacrifice 
 the whole Jewish ritual points, and our true commentary on 
 Leviticus is the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
 The Sanctuary is the type of the Christian Church ; and 
 the ' Atonement for the Sanctuary ' on the Yom hakkipurim 
 represents the one act of expiation by which Christ has 
 hallowed His Church for the offering of continual sacrifice to 
 God. In this high service every Christian is a priest before 
 Him. ' He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His 
 God and Father.' Y 'Ye,' writes the Apostle Peter, 'are built 
 up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.' 
 
 1 Rev. i. 6, R.V 
 
1 68 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. 
 
 And again : ' Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy 
 nation.' 1 To whom does St. Peter write this ? ' To the elect 
 .... in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and 
 sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.' That is, the qualifi- 
 cation and anointing grace which mark the priesthood of the 
 Church, are the sprinkled blood, the sanctifying Spirit, and 
 the obedient heart. Wherever these are found, we have God's 
 chosen priest. 
 
 The existence of orders and offices in the Church 2 is to be 
 explained in harmony with this central truth. Thus, when the 
 Christian pastor is termed 'a priest,' the word so used is but 
 an abbreviated derivation of 'presbyter' or 'elder,' and not 
 ' hiereus,' the sacrificing priest of Scripture. This latter word 
 is never once applied in the New Testament to the Church's 
 ministry, as distinct from the whole body of believers. The 
 French well expresses the distinction by the two words 
 ' pretre ' and \ sacrificateur.' 
 
 What then are the sacrifices of the Christian sanctuary and 
 priesthood ? We may adopt Kurtz's division, 3 and with regard 
 to the three great ideas underlying the whole system of sacri- 
 fices, may remark, first, that Expiation is complete — ' once 
 for all ' — never to be repeated or supplemented : ' one sacrifice 
 for sins for ever.' 4 Secondly, the thought of Consecration 
 inspires the whole Christian life. Thus the Apostle Paul 
 writes to his brethren, ' I beseech you ... to present your 
 bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your reason- 
 able service. 5 ' Your bodies ' — the organs or instruments of 
 your whole being — including all that you can say or do : 'a 
 living sacrifice ' — in so far superior to the slain bodies of 
 animals that were brought into the Tabernacle : and 'a reason- 
 able service' — or ' spiritual worship ;'° the outward acts ex- 
 pressive of all that is deepest in our nature. So the joy of 
 life becomes 'a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, 
 
 1 I Pet. ii. 5, 9. - I Cur. xii. 2S ; Eph. iv. 11, 12. 3 See p. 75. 
 
 4 Sec U.V. Eleb. x. 12 ; and note the punctuation. 
 
 • Romans xii. 1. ,; lb. R.V. marg. 
 
APPENDIX. 169 
 
 the fruit of lips which make confession to His name'; and our 
 acts of kindness to others are a minchah, a gift to God : ' To 
 do good and to communicate forget not ; for with such sacri- 
 fices God is well pleased.' 1 Again : ' Pure religion,' or ritual^ 
 for the Greek word employed denotes sacrificial service — ' and 
 undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
 unspotted from the world.' This, then, is the ritualism of 
 Christianity — charity and purity. The third note of sacrifice 
 is Fellowship, symbolized by the sacrificial meal. The 
 Israelites who ate the sacrifices had ' communion with the 
 altar.' 2 It was as if Jehovah Himself condescended to be pre- 
 sent at the feast. So of the fellowship of the Christian Church. 
 1 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion 
 of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not a 
 communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we who are 
 many are one bread, one body : for we all partake of the one 
 bread.' This is the symbol — the holy banquet which follows 
 the great Sacrifice ; an outward and visible sign of the sublime 
 reality indicated by the words of Christ Himself : ' I will come 
 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.' 3 ' We 
 have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve 
 the Tabernacle.' 4 The prerogatives of the ancient priesthood 
 belong to the past : we have the antitype, the spiritual reality. 
 In this our fellowship is no matter of reserved privilege : it is 
 wide as the whole household of God. 
 
 1 Heb. xiii. 15, 16. 2 See 1 Cor. x. 18. 
 
 3 Rev. iii. 20. 4 Heb. xiii. 10. 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAOB 
 
 ■ 45 
 . 42 
 39.44 
 . 121 
 . 68 
 
 Aaron .... 
 
 the family of . 
 
 rod of 
 Aaronic benediction, the 
 Abel's sacrifice . 
 Abijah and Jeroboam . 
 Abnet .... 
 Abraham, religion of . 
 
 ,, his offering of Isaac . 69 
 
 Agricultural character of the 
 
 Jewish nation . . .76, 130 
 Aholiab 
 
 Almond tree, the ' early w 
 Altar of Burnt Offering 
 
 ,, Incense 
 Amos on Nazirite vows 
 Animals for sacrifice . 
 
 firstborn of, the 
 Anointing oil, the 
 Ark of the Covenant, the 
 
 aker 
 
 43 
 32 
 22 
 33 
 61 
 
 75 
 113 
 56 
 37 
 
 us 
 
 later 
 
 history 39 
 Assyrian winged figures . . 38 
 Atonement for the Sanctuary 154,168 
 ,, for the Priesthood . 153 
 
 for the People . .153 
 Atonement, Day of: historical 
 references 
 to . 151 
 
 „ its ritual 150, 152 
 .. ,, its modern 
 
 observance 156 
 Atzereth, a name of the Feast of 
 
 Weeks I45 
 
 ! 153 
 
 ah 85 
 
 B 
 
 ' Ban,' terrors of the . 
 Bells and Pomegranates 
 Bezaleel 
 
 PAGE 
 
 • 63 
 
 • 52 
 
 • 43 
 
 ' Birthday of the Christian 
 
 Church,' the .... 146 
 ' Bitter herbs ' with the Passover 139 
 Blood, the seat of life . 70, 73, 81 
 
 ,, the sprinkled . . 100, 154 
 Boards enclosing the Sanctuary 26 
 Booths at the Tabernacle Feast 
 
 160, 161 
 ,, an emblem of ' Jehovah's 
 
 pavilion ' . . . 161 
 Breastplate, the high priest's . 53 
 Bullock, as burnt offering . . 80 
 ,, as sin offering . . 97 
 Burnt offerings . . -75. 78 
 ,, in heathen na- 
 
 tions . . 78 
 ,, significance of . 79 
 
 ., animals for . 80 
 
 ,, ritual of the . 81 
 
 ,, at the close of 
 
 the Day of Atonement 156 
 Byssus, or the cotton of the 
 
 19, 28, 30, 50 
 
 East 
 
 Cain's sacrifice 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 Cakes for meat offering 
 
 
 84 
 
 Camp, sacrifice 
 the . 
 
 carried 
 
 without 
 
 101 
 
 Candlestick, tht 
 
 Golden 
 
 
 31 
 
 Capita r 
 Chaggim 
 
 
 
 7i 
 131 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Chag haqqatzir 
 Chag hassukkoth 
 Challah 
 Cherubim, the 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 144 
 
 . 158 
 
 48,84 
 
 • 38 
 
 Childbearing, ritual of purifica- 
 tion 117 
 
 Cherem 63 
 
 Child-stage of Religion 25, 76, 87 
 Choshen hammishpat . . -53 
 Christ our Passover . . . 142 
 Christ, High Priest and Sacrifice 168 
 Church, the, represented by the 
 
 Golden Candlestick 33 
 
 ,, universal priest- 
 
 hood of . 42, 168 
 Circumcision practised in Egypt 11 
 ,, among heathen 
 
 nations . . 109 
 ,, its later history . 109 
 
 ,, when performed . no 
 
 ,, an act of sacrifice no 
 
 ,, a symbol of purity no 
 
 ,, associated with the 
 
 giving of a name no 
 „ a national and 
 
 religious rite . ill 
 Cities, Levitical, list of -49 
 
 'Comparative Religion' . .165 
 Consecration of the Levites . 55 
 ,, of the priests . 55 
 
 ,, symbolised in sac- 
 
 rifice . . -75 
 Costume of the priests . . 50 
 Coverings of the Sanctuary . 30 
 Creed of Israel ; the same 
 
 through all ages ... 9 
 Cubit, its length . . . .19 
 Curtain at the entrance of the 
 
 Tabernacle Court . 21 
 ,, at entrance of the 
 
 Sanctuary . . 28 
 
 ,, of the Sanctuary . . 29 
 
 Daily sacrifice . . . -125 
 David introduces music into 
 Sanctuary worship . . 120, 126 
 
 Deadly sins and sacrifice . 
 
 Death, defilement by . 
 
 Defilements. . . .114, 
 
 Disease, Ritual of purification 
 from 
 
 Dove, how sacrificed . 
 ,, as sin offering . 
 
 Drink offerings with other sacri- 
 fices .... 85 
 
 171 
 
 PAGE 
 93 
 114 
 116 
 
 Il6 
 82 
 
 87 
 
 Earth, the Altar of . .24 
 
 Easter in the Christian Church . 143 
 Egypt, Religion of Israel in . 10 
 Egyptian worship, its influence 
 
 upon Israel n 
 ,, its symbols 38 
 
 Eleazar and Ithamar, the rival 
 
 houses of 5° 
 
 Ephah, the 125 
 
 Ephod, the high priest's . . 52 
 
 Expiation. . . 69, 75, 168 
 
 ,, the basis of all bloody 
 
 sacrifices . . 79 
 
 „ and Satisfaction. . 104 
 
 ,, of national guilt. . 149 
 
 Ezekiel , on the statutes of J ehovah 1 2 
 
 ,, his vision of the Temple 151 
 
 Ezra 
 
 his Passover 
 
 56 
 141 
 
 Faith of Abel .... 
 
 Fast, the great yearly . 
 
 Fasting in different religious 
 
 systems 
 
 Fat, the, in Peace offerings 
 
 Feasts of the Israelites, their 
 
 threefold significance 
 
 ,, essentially national 132, 
 
 Fellowship with God, symbolised 
 
 in sacrifice .... 
 
 149 
 
 149 
 9i 
 
 131 
 135 
 
 75 
 
1/2 
 
 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEM'S. 
 
 irite 
 
 Fire of sacrifice . 
 Firstborn, the 
 
 redemption of the 
 Firstfruits, the . . 47 
 
 Fish not to be offered 
 Flour, as sin offering . 
 Flowers not to be offered . 
 Forms of Jewish worship tern 
 
 porary .... 
 Freewill offering . 
 
 PAGK 
 
 137 
 
 70 
 
 47 
 in 
 
 1 113 
 75 
 99 
 73 
 
 16 
 90 
 
 Galbanitm 35 
 
 Gifts to God . . . .69 
 
 Gilgal 10S 
 
 Passover at 141 
 
 Girdle, the priestly . . .51 
 Goats, as sin offerings . . 98 
 ,, the two, on the Day of 
 
 Atonement . . 153, 155 
 Golden Calf, the . . 15, 43, 45 
 
 Guest-chamber for Passover time 137 
 
 H 
 
 Haphgaah 120 
 
 Harvest, connexion of the, with 
 the three Festivals . . .145 
 burnt offerings 
 
 Heathen, pious 
 for . 
 
 Heave offerings . 
 Hebrews, Fpistle to the 33 
 107, 119, 157 
 Hezekiah's Passover . 
 High Priesthood, the . 
 High Priest, his wife . 
 
 his meat offering . 
 his prrparation for 
 the Day of Atone- 
 ment . 
 
 Hin, the 
 
 Holiness, the note of the Mosaic 
 liood . . .41, 
 
 80 
 
 48, 89 
 
 72, 102, 
 
 168, 169 
 
 . 141 
 
 152 
 125 
 
 166 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Holy of Holies, the . . 28, 37 
 ,, approached with 
 
 reserve . .150 
 Holy Place, the . . . .26 
 ' Horns ' of the Altar . . .23 
 Human sacrifices . . .72 
 
 Incense, ingredients of 
 
 ,, meaning of . 
 
 Ingathering, Feast of . 
 
 ' Inspiration of Selection' 
 
 Israel, separation of, from the 
 
 heathen 
 
 ,, and mankind . 
 
 Issar .... 
 
 Ithamar and Eleazar, the rival 
 
 houses of . 
 
 34 
 
 34 
 
 158 
 
 166 
 
 14 
 42 
 63 
 
 50 
 
 J 
 
 James, Epistle of, quoted . 169 
 
 Jealousy, trial of. . . 83, 85 
 Jehovah a sharer in the Sacrifice 73 
 Jeremiah, on the Religion of 
 Israel in the wilder- 
 ness . . .11 
 ,, legends concerning 39, 70 
 
 „ on the Nazirites . 61 
 
 Josephus, on the line of high 
 priests . 
 ,, on sacrifices for the 
 
 Roman Emperor 
 Josiah's Passover 
 Jubilee, year of . 
 
 50 
 
 80 
 141 
 128 
 
 • 33 
 
 • 23 
 41. 167 
 
 Kapporcth . 
 
 Karkob, the, of the Altar 
 
 ' Kingdom of Priests,' a 
 
 Kohcn 45 
 
 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram . 43 
 Kurtz, Prof, on the classes of 
 
 sacrifice . . . . 75, 168 
 Kuttoncth 51 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Lamb, as sin offering . 
 Lampstand of the Sanctuary, the 
 Lamps of the Sanctuary, how 
 
 3i 
 
 tended .... 
 
 
 32 
 
 Laver, the .... 
 
 
 21 
 
 Law, giving of the, coincident 
 with the Pentecost 
 
 145 
 
 ,, the, to be read at 
 Tabernacle Feast . 
 
 the 
 
 162 
 
 Lebonah .... 
 
 
 35 
 
 Lechem Elohim . 
 
 
 73 
 
 Lechem Jehovah . 
 Leper, trespass offering 
 cleansed .... 
 
 for 
 
 9i 
 106 
 
 Leprosy, Ritual of purification 
 from 
 
 116 
 
 Levi, the Tribe of, consecrated 
 to service .... 
 
 42 
 
 Levites, the, age for service 
 
 
 46 
 
 ,, in the Temple service . 
 
 Levitical legislation, antiquity of 
 
 the . . . 7, 
 
 55 
 122 
 
 ,, cities . . . 
 
 
 48 
 
 Lord's Supper, the . 
 
 140, 
 
 169 
 
 INI 
 
 days of the 
 
 
 61 
 
 Manna, the . 
 
 
 39 
 
 Manoah's Sacrifice 
 
 
 76 
 
 Mantle, the high priest's 
 
 
 52 
 
 Mazzoth 
 
 
 142 
 
 Me'il .... 
 
 
 52 
 
 Meal, a, for the gods . 
 
 
 79 
 
 ' Meat,' or meal offering 
 
 
 82 
 
 ,, ,, occasions 
 
 for . 
 
 83 
 
 ,, ,, Ritual of 
 
 the . 
 
 85 
 
 11 M with b 
 
 oody 
 
 
 sacrific 
 
 es . 
 
 85 
 
 Melchizedek 
 
 4i 
 
 ,48 
 
 Mercy-Seat, the . 
 
 
 38 
 
 Michnesayim 
 
 
 51 
 
 Migbaah 
 
 
 5i 
 
 Minchah 
 
 68,75 
 
 82 
 
 the 
 
 Ministry of the Church, the 
 Mirrors, women's, used in 
 
 construction of the Laver 
 Mishkan .... 
 Mitre, the high priest's 
 Mitznepheth 
 
 Months, Jewish, list of the . 
 Moon, the New, offerings at 
 Mosaic Ritual and modern asso 
 
 ciations .... 
 Moses in Egypt . 
 
 Miriah 
 
 Murder, untraced ; purification 
 
 of the community from its 
 
 guilt 
 
 N 
 
 Nadab and Abihu 
 Nazirites (Nazarites), the 
 ,, two classes of 
 
 offering 
 
 173 
 
 PAGE 
 l68 
 
 22 
 14 
 52 
 52 
 129 
 128 
 
 67 
 
 Il8 
 
 ,, trespass 
 defiled 
 Nedabah 
 Neder . 
 Noah's sacrifice . 
 
 for 
 
 . 107 
 . 90 
 62, 90 
 . 68 
 
 O 
 
 Ohel 14 
 
 Olah 78 
 
 Omer, presentation of the . . 142 
 
 Onycha 35 
 
 Ordeal, one only instance of, in 
 
 the Mosaic Ritual . . .118 
 Origins of the Jewish Religion . 10 
 
 ' Palladium ' of Israel 
 Paschal Lamb, the Great 
 Passover, the 
 
 • 37 
 
 13S, 140 
 
 . 134 
 a starting-point of 
 new national life. 
 
 135. 137 
 a family observ- 
 ance, transferred 
 to the Sanctuary 136 
 
1 74 
 
 Rl 7 ES .1X1 > WO RSHIP ( >F 7 HE JE 1 1 'S. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 • 137 
 
 Passover, the, true ground of 
 
 lamb, a true sacri- 
 
 • 138 
 ,, meal, how pre- 
 
 pared . . .139 
 and the Lord's 
 Supper . .140 
 ,, in later times . 140 
 
 historical . . 141 
 ,, New Testament . 142 
 
 Patriarchal altars . . . 69 
 ,, priesthood . .41 
 
 Peace offerings . . . .75 
 different classes 
 
 of . . 88, 89 
 Ritual of the . 90 
 Pentecost, Feast of . 144 
 
 ,, and the Christian 
 
 Church . . 146, 147 
 Pentecostal sacrifices . . . 147 
 Peter, St., on the priesthood of 
 
 the Church . . 42, 57, 167 
 Poor, the, offerings of . 83 
 
 Praise, the offerings of . .121 
 Prayer, not the subject of dis- 
 tinct command . .120 
 ,, four classes of . . 120 
 ,, private and public in 
 
 the Sanctuary . .121 
 Presbyter and hiercus . . 168 
 Priest-class, a, influence of . 40 
 Priestcraft in Egypt . . .40 
 Priesthood in Midianand Moab 41 
 ,, rights and privileges 
 
 of . . . .43 
 ,, maintenance of the . 46 
 
 ,, qualifications of the. 46 
 
 costume of the . . 50 
 ,, its purity of descent. 50 
 
 ,, services and func- 
 
 of . . . 54 
 in later Jewish his- 
 t< 'ty . . .56 
 ,, in the New Testament 107 
 Priests, selected from the whole 
 community. 
 
 ,, dues of \8 
 
 Priests, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 in war . . . -55 
 ,, their twenty-four courses 55 
 ,, often unworthy . . 76 
 ,, in Ezra's time, their 
 
 foreign wives . . 107 
 
 Psalms chanted in the Sanctuary 126 
 
 Purifications . . . .114 
 
 ,, typical meaning of 119 
 
 R 
 
 superseding 
 
 the 
 
 Rabbi, the, 
 
 priest .... 
 Rabbinical ' spiritualising ' 
 Ram, as burnt offering 
 
 ,, as sin offering . 
 Red heifer, Ritual of the . 
 ' Reproach of Egypt,' the . 
 ' Rest which remaineth,' the 
 Restitution connected with tres 
 
 pass offering . 
 Revelation, Book of, quoted 
 Ritual, Christian 
 Romans, Epistle to, quoted 
 Roof of the Sanctuary 
 
 Sabbath sabbathon 
 Sabbath, the 
 
 the pivot of the Jewish 
 sacred calendar 
 
 56 
 56 
 80 
 
 104 
 "5 
 108 
 
 127 
 
 105 
 167 
 169 
 168 
 30 
 
 151 
 126 
 
 127 
 
 ,, manner of its observ- 
 ance . . . 1-7 
 ,, a type and symbol . 127 
 ,, in the Sanctuary . . 127 
 ,, rest of the . . . 132 
 Sabbaths, seven, of the sacred 
 
 year . . .132 
 
 Sacred Year, its seven great 
 
 Sabbaths . . 132 
 
 ,, ,, its commencement 134 
 
 Sacrifice, institution of . . 68 
 
 ,, early history of . .68 
 
 kinds of . .69 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sacrifice, typical significance of 74 
 
 ,, the Christian . 74, 168 
 
 ,, threefold idea of . -75 
 
 ,, the most acceptable . 76 
 
 Sacrificial meals . . 76, 88 
 
 Salt in sacrifice . . .35, 71 
 
 Samson and Samuel, illustrious 
 
 Nazirites . . . .61 
 
 Sanctuary, the . . . .26 
 ,, divisions of the . 28 
 
 ' Scapegoat,' the .... 153 
 Schuldopfer, or guilt offering 104, 105 
 Service of Song not enjoined in 
 
 Mosaic institutes . . .122 
 Seven, the sacred, or covenant 
 
 number .... 127, 131 
 
 Seventh month, the . . .128 
 
 ,, year .... 128 
 
 Sex of animals for sacrifice 78, 89, 96 
 
 Shekel of the Sanctuary 47, 104, 112 
 
 Shelamim 88 
 
 Shewbread, the, Table of . -35 
 ,, a meat offering . 84 
 
 ,, changed on the Sab- 
 
 bath . . . 127 
 Shittim, or acacia . . 19, 20 
 Simchath hattorah . . .163 
 Sin borne and borne away . . 155 
 Sin offerings . . . -75 
 ,, Ritual of the . . 97 
 
 ,, for the congrega- 
 
 tion . . 97, 103 
 ,, for the high priest 97 
 
 ,, at the consecration 
 
 of priests and Le- 
 vites . . -97 
 ,, for accidental of- 
 
 fences . . 99 
 
 ,, carried without the 
 
 camp . 
 ,, sanctity of the 
 
 „ ethical and spiri 
 
 tual side of 
 
 ,. twofold, on the Day 
 
 of Atonement 
 ' Sinai in the Sanctuary ' . 
 Sins for which offering was made 
 
 101 
 
 102 
 
 107 
 
 155 
 39 
 94 
 
 175 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Skins, clothing the exiles from 
 
 Paradise 67 
 
 Stacte 
 
 34 
 
 Stephen, St., on the Religion of 
 Israel in the wilderness . 
 
 Stones of the high priest's breast- 
 plate 
 
 ' Sweet savour, 
 Symbolisms . 
 
 • 53 
 
 a . .68, 91 
 20, 21, 24, 25, 31, 33, 
 34. 30. 39. 70, 73. 75. 
 127, 
 
 Synagogues, a 
 tralisation 
 
 79, S6, 119, 126 
 143, 146, 148, 
 157, 160 
 means of decen 
 
 155. 
 
 56 
 
 11 
 13 
 15 
 16 
 
 19 
 
 158 
 
 159 
 159 
 
 Tabernacle, the, contributions 
 to 
 ,, a type of Christ . 
 
 ,, a tent . 13 
 
 ,, later history of 
 
 ,, outer court of . 
 
 Tabernacles, Feast of 
 
 the ' Sabbath 
 Feast ' . 
 ,, completion of 
 
 the harvest . 
 ,, sacrifices at the 161 
 
 ,, Great Day of 
 
 the . . 162 
 
 ,, later obser- 
 
 vances . 163 
 
 ,, Christ at the . 163 
 
 ,, predicted uni- 
 
 versal obser- 
 vance of the 164 
 Table of Shewbread, the . . 35 
 
 Tachash 3 1 
 
 Talent, weight and value of the 27 
 
 Techinnah 120 
 
 Tehillah 120 
 
 Ten, the number of perfection . 127 
 Ten Words, the . . . 15-39 
 ' Tent of Meeting,' the . 15,81 
 Thanksgiving, the chief feature 
 
 in early sacrifices 72 
 
7 6 
 
 RITES AND IVOR SHIP OF THE JEWS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Thanksgiving, offerings of . 89 
 
 Threefold idea of sacrifice . 75 
 
 Tithes 48 
 
 Titus, the Arch of . .32 
 
 Todak . . . . 89, 120 
 
 Trespass offering, the . 75, 103 
 ,, for individuals 
 
 only 
 Ritual of the 
 cases for . 
 Tribes, the, and their jewels in 
 the high priest's breastplate . 
 Truths, fundamental, in the Creed 
 
 of Israel 
 
 Turban, the priestly . 
 
 ,, the high priest's . 
 
 Two Evenings,' the 
 
 125, 
 
 104 
 105 
 106 
 
 53 
 
 9 
 5i 
 52 
 139 
 
 Unleavened Bi 
 
 ead, tr 
 
 le 
 
 . 
 
 
 139 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Feast of 
 
 142 
 
 Unworthiness, 
 
 sense 
 
 of, 
 
 to 
 
 be 
 
 
 expressed in 
 
 sacrifi 
 
 ce 
 
 
 
 93 
 
 Urim and Thummim, 
 
 the 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 Utensils of the Altar 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Veil of the Holy of Holies 
 ,, the rent 
 
 Vessels of the Sanctuary 
 Vows of the Nazirites 
 ,, of other persons 
 ,, their rationale . 
 ,, laws respecting 
 ,, sacrificial payment of 
 
 W 
 
 PAGE 
 ,37 
 60 
 62 
 62 
 62 
 90 
 
 Wafers, for meat offering . . 85 
 ' Water of Jealousy ' . . .118 
 Wave-loaves of the Pentecost . 84 
 Wave offerings . . . .91 
 Wave sheaf of the Passover 83, 142 
 Weeks, Feast of . . . . 144 
 Wife of the high priest . . 54 
 Wilderness, Religion of Israel in 
 
 the . . .11 
 ,, the Israelite Ritual 
 
 practicable in the 75 
 Will, surrendered to God, the 
 
 true Sacrifice . . . .72 
 
 Wine in libations . . -87 
 
 ,, at the Passover . .140 
 
 Yom hakkippurim 
 
 150, 167 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATB, B.C. 
 
Date. Due 
 
 MAY 2 2 
 
 20BT