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http://www.archive.org/details/summaryofbiblica02nevi
A SUMMARY
BIBLICAL, ANTIQUITIES;
COMPILED FOR
THE USE OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS,
AND FOR
THE BENEFIT OF FAMILIES.
BY JOHN W. NEVIN,
Late Assistant Teacher in the Theological Seminary of Princeton.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOI«. II.
Revised and Corrected by the Author for the American S. S. Union.
©<
AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.
PHILADELPHIA . No. 146 CHESNUT STREET.
East, t District of Penns&Zv&iit* U wH •
BE »]f KEMEMBrfK^Li, iL-t ■•& tY*j t^hlh day of February, in the fifty-fcurto yeai o" the Inde^enilentv ?C the United States of America, A. D. 1830, Paul Beck, jun., Treasurer in trust for the American Sunday-School Union, of the said District, has deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Pro- prietor in the words following, to wit:
* A Summary of Biblical Antiquities; compiled for the Use of Sun- day-school Teachers, and for the Benefit of Families By John W. Nevin, late Assistant Teacher in the Theological Seminary of Princeton. In two Volumes. Vol. [I. Revised and corrected by the Author for the American S. S. Union."
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, en- titled, " an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned" — and also to the act, entitled, "an act supplementary to an act, entitled, ' an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies du- ring the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits there- of to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints."
D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION.
Origin of the Church, 8. Its General Scheme and Relation U. the World, 9. Its Unity, 10, and Diversities of Outward Con- stitution withal, 12. State before the Flood, 14. Call of Abra- ham, 14. Organization of the Jewish Church, 15. General Plan of the Jewish State — different Sorts of Laws, 16. The Moral Law, 18. Ceremonial Law, 19. Continuance of the Jewish Church all its appointed time, 22. Respect which that Dispensation had to the Gospel, 24. Hope of the Mes- siah, 24. A General Mistake on this Point, 25. Expectation of Elias, 27. Introduction of the Gospel — its Conflict with Ancient Prejudices, 29.
CHAPTER II.
THE TABERNACLE.
Origin of the Tabernacle, 32. The Court of the Tabernacle, 34. The Frame and Coverings of the Sacred Tent, 35. The Altar of Burnt-Offering, 36. The Brazen Laver, 41. The Golden Candlestick, 43. The Table of Shew-Bread, 45. The Altar of Incense, 46. The Ark of the Covenant, 50 The Cherubim, 51. The Shechina, 53. Meaning of the whole Picture, 54. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness, 58 The Tabernacle in the Land of Canaan, 59.
CHAPTER III.
THE TEMPLE.
Section l.—The Holy City, 61
Origin of Jerusalem, 61. Situation, 62. Mount of Olives, 63. The Garden of Gethsemane, 64. Valley of Hinnom, 65. Si- loam, 65. Calvary — first Destruction of the City, 66. Ruin by the Romans, 67. Present State, 68
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IV CONTENTS.
Section 2.— The First Temple, 69
Preparation for it by David, 69. General Plan, 71. Dedica- tion and Ruin, 74.
Section 3. — The Second Temple, 75
Its Building, and Defects, 76. Subsequent Glory of it — Work
of Herod, 77. The Court of the Gentiles, 78. Porches, 79.
Markets, 82. The Court of the Women, 83. The Court of
Israel, 85. The Court of the Priests, 86. The Sanctuary, 88.
The Tower of Antonia, 89. Beauty of the Second Temple,
91. Its Final Ruin, 91.
CHAPTER IV
MINISTERS OF THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE.
Section 1. — The Levites, 93
Their Separation, 93. Duties, 94. Porters, 95. Musicians. 95. Nethinims, 97.
Section 2.— The Priests, 97
Origin of the Priestly Office, 79. Separation of Aaron and his Family, 98. Duties of the Priests, and Qualifications, 99. Division into Courses, 100. Meaning of the Priesthood, 102.
Section 3. The High-Priest, 103
Virtue of his Office, 103. Sacred Dress, 104. Succession, 104. Urim and Thummim, 106. Signification of the High-Priest's Office, 107.
CHAPTER V.
SACRIFICES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS OFFERINGS.
Section 1. — Different Kinds of Sacrificial Offerings in Use among the Jews, 109
Sacrifices in use from the Fall, 109. Bloody Offerings, 110. Four Kinds of them, viz: Burnt Offerings, 111 ; Sin Offerings. 112; Trespass Offerings, 113; Peace Offerings, 114; Cove- nant Sacrifices, 116; Private and Public Sacrifices, 117. Sa- crifices that were not Bloody, 120. First-Fruits, 123. The First-Born, 124. Tythes, 125. Vow-Gifts, 127. Half-shekel Tax, 129. Lesson derived from this Subject, 130.
CONTENTS. V
Section 2. — Sacrificial Rites 131
Laying of Hands on the Head of the Victim, 131. Slaying of it — Sacredness of Blood, 133. Preparation for the Altar — Waving and Heaving, 134. Fat, 135. Salt, 137. The Sacri- ficial Pile — Disposal of the Flesh, 138.
Section 3. — Meaning and Origin of Sacrifices, . . . . 139
Reason cannot account for the Use of Bloody Sacrifices. 140. Their Meaning according to the Bible, 140. Their Origin, 145. The idea of Atonement connected with the Use of them, before as well as after, the time of Moses, 146. Sacri- fices of Cain and Abel, 147. Acceptance of Sacrifices by Fire, 149. Figurative Sacrifices, 150.
CHAPTER VI.
SACRED TIMES AND SOLEMNITIES.
Section 1. — The Daily Sacrifice, 151
Morning and Evening Services, 151. Manner of the Morning
Service, 152. The Evening Service, 157. Reverence for the
Sanctuary, 157.
Section 2.— The Sabbath, 159
Its Origin, 159. Character in the Jewish Economy, 160. Man- ner of its Observance, 161.
Section 3. — New Moons and Feast of Trumpets, .... 163
Section 4. — The Three Great Festivals, 165
The Passover, 166. How celebrated in the Time of our Sa- viour, 168. Paschal Families, 169. Search for Leaven, 170. Slaying of the Lambs, 170. The Supper, 171. The Hagigah, 174. Introduction of the Harvest, 175. Meaning of the Pass- over, 176. The Feast of Weeks, 177. The Feast of Taber- nacles, 178. Ceremonies added to it in later Times, 179.
Section 5. — The Great Day of Atonement 182
Nature of this Solemnity, 182. Manner of its Service, 182. Meaning of it, 183.
^JSertion 6. — Sacred Years . . 187
The Sabbatic Year, 187, The Year of Jubilee, 188. , a2
Tl CONTENTS.
Section 7. — Sacred Seasoiis of Human Institution, . . . 189 Annual Fast Days, 189. The Feast of Purim, 190. The Feait of Dedication, 191.
CHAPTER VII.
MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH CHURCH.
Members by Birth, 193. Ceremonial Disqualifications for Sa- cred Duties, 194. Removal of Uncleanness, 195. The Water of Separation, 195. Its Typical Import, 197. Proselytes, 198.
CHAPTER VIII.
SYNAGOGUES.
Origin of Synagogues, 200. Plan of Synagogue-Houses, 202. Officers of the Synagogue, 204. The Synagogue Worship, 207. Lessons from the Law and the Prophets, 207. Syna- gogue Discipline, 213. Pattern of the Synagogue followed in the Constitution of the Christian Church, 214.
CHAPTER IX.
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
Section l.—The Pharisees 217
Belief of the Pharisees, 219. Tradition of the Pharisees, 220.
Section 2.— T?te Sadducees, 226
Origin of the Sect, 227. Doctrines of the Sadducees, 228.
Section 3.— The Essenes, 231
Section 4.— The Samaritans, 237
BIBLICAL. ANTIQUITIES.
CHAPTER. I.
GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION.
Our first parents, before the Fall, were altogether hoiy. The law of God was written upon their hearts, and, while they delighted in it as perfectly good, they obeyed it in all its length and breadth. Their religion was, in its nature, the same with that of Heaven. According to the univer- sal and perpetual order of the Divine Government, they were entitled, on account of their own righteousness of character and conduct, to the favour of their Maker, which is happiness and life. They were not, however, placed out of the reach of evil. They had a trial of their faithfulness to stand, before their moral state should be rendered eter- nally secure. In that trial they failed. The command- ment of God, through the temptation of the Devil, was wilfully transgressed. Thus, " by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12.
The ruin was awful. The greatest calamity in the wide universe of God, is sin. The human race was now brought into that condition which is the most deplorable that any mind can conceive. Struck out from the order and happi- ness of the general creation, and cut off from all intercourse with God, it presented only a spectacle of horror and terrific desolation, uncheered by the smallest gleam of hope. The state of man was the same with that into which a part of the angels had fallen ; a state of rebellion against the Almighty, of exclusion from peace, a state of infinite wrath, of death without hope and without end.
But God had mercy. When no arm but his own could
7
8 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
save, he determined to help. He left the angels to perish without relief, but stretched forth his hand to rescue sinking man. Heb. ii. 16. A great Salvation was provided. A wonderful arrangement had been from the beginning made in heaven, to recover the lost. The eternal Son of God engaged to become a sacrifice for their guilt, and the Father consented to receive once more into favour, and by his Spirit to restore to holiness, as many as should be willing to accept the atonement thus wonderfully secured. And because the nature of man's depravity was such, that not one of all the race would ever be naturally willing to em- brace the offer of mercy, even after such condescension and love on the part of God, the arrangement of Divine compassion extended yet farther. It was determined that, in consideration of the Saviour's work, the Holy Spirit should be sent forth into the hearts of men, to enlighten and persuade them, so that some of them might become willing to be saved. Thus it was made certain, that the Redeemer should " see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied ;" (Is. liii. 11 ;) and that, out of the multitude of Adam's fallen children, a portion would yet gloriously rise from ruin and find a happy restoration to the great family of God. Here originated the Church.
The church is a society made up of the Redeemer's people. In its visible character, as a body regularly organ- ized in this world, it comprehends all, who in any age pro- fess to be his people, and externally are placed under that constitution which he has appointed for their government and improvement. In its invisible character, — that is, as it appears to the eye of God, who searcheth the heart — it embraces only those who are really and truly the people of Christ, redeemed by his blood, and made meet by his grace " to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." Many belong to the church as an outward body on earth, who have no part in its glorious reality, as a body spiritu- ally united to its Great Head. The institution of the church had respect, no doubt, only to those who become truly thus united to Christ ; its object was, by means of the truth of God, (which it was appointed to preserve from age to age, and to employ instfumentally for the salvation of men,) to bring out from the darkness of the world, as many as might
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 9
be moved to comply with the Divine invitation in deed and in truth, and so, by salutary preparation and discipline, to gather their whole number, from the beginning to the end of time, into one great family in heaven. But, in its actual outward form and history, in this world, all are regarded as being interested in its existence, who participate in its external privileges, whether truly pious or not; because man cannot try the heart, and God unfolds not his judg- ment of its character before the Great Day.
In consequence of the Redeemer's undertaking, our race was, immediately after the Fall, placed in new circum- stances. They were fallen still, but a way of recovery was thrown open. The wrath of the Almighty still hung sus- pended over their heads with tremendous terror ; but for a little time its destruction was delayed; the full bursting forth of its fury was restrained ; and in that awful pause, room was left for complete escape ; a refuge was provided within reach, strong and secure, to which the criminal might run, and be eternally safe. Thus, in the midst of parth's moral desolation, there was to be displayed, down to the end of time, a spectacle of returning life. Heaven was to receive, with universal rapture, millions from the very jaws of hell. The accomplishment of this mercy was to be, however, only through the mediation and suffer- ing of the Son of God. The Holy One of Heaven could deal no longer with men directly, save as their judge and destroyer. From the time of the Fall, therefore, no com- munication of friendship could exist between God and man, except through Christ. For his sake, the Infinite Judge forbears for a while the full execution of death, and to him is committed, in a peculiar manner, the care of our fallen world. The Father has withdrawn himself from imme- diate concern with it, such as he employs in his general government. It has been given over into the hands of the Son, in view of his mediatorial work. He has been con- stituted Head over all things to the church. (Eph. i. 22.) He has undertaken, and it has been left to him, to maintain the fiill honour of God's law in the case of the human family, while yet redemption from its curse should be made possible for all, and multitudes should actually obtain the deliverance. He governs the world, therefore, with
10 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
continual regard to the church, which he has determined to gather out of its ruins, and conduct to glory. All the kindness which the world experiences now from God, comes through him, and is only in consequence of that new position in which it is placed before God, by his mediatorial undertaking. And because the world is thus given into Ji is hands, with the trust of completely vindicating the holi- ness of the Divine law, its final judgment will also proceed from his authority. " The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the son of man." (John v. 21 — 29. Acts xvii. 31.) As many as refuse to embrace his mercy, he will himself sentence to the everlasting death, which sin deserves, and God's righte- ous law demands. Thus he will reduce all things to order, by grace or by justice, and wind up, as it were, in unalter- able and perfect arrangement, the affairs of this apostate part of creation. " Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power : For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Cor. xv. 24 — 28.) Thus will be accomplished that res titution of all things, foretold by all the prophets. (Acts iii. 21.) Then, having put an end to disorder and brought all opposition into subjection to God, the Redeemer, God and man in one person, shall reign in the glory of his king- dom, as Head of the church, under the general government of Him who is all in all, without interruption and without end. For it is written, "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." And again, " Unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." (Luke i. 33. Heb. i. 8.)
The church then, though it has been all along despised by the great body of our race, has ever been infinitely tho most interesting and important institution in the world. Il is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, proceeding under his own direction and government to that great end of victory and glory, which it is ordained to reach. The world de-
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 11
rives all its mercies from heaven, through its relation to this kingdom, established in the midst of its ruin. And because the government of the world is upon the shoulders of Zion's King, all the changes that take place among the nations of the earth, which are directed by his providence, are made to help forward the interests of this same king- dom. The world is ruled for the church. The mighty ones of earth little dream of the designs which God has in view to accomplish, by all the revolutions and schemes, which, from age to age, occupy their thoughts and call fortli their labours. Their imaginations are directed to ends of mere temporal advantage to themselves, or their particular coun- tries; but God employs their work, to bring about far other ends, such as the prosperity of His own kingdom requires. Thus, ambition, and pride, and every unhallowed passion, which fill the world with war and change, are all made subservient to the will of Christ, and conspire to promote his glorious plan of mercy to the church. (Is. x. 5 — 7.) In. the vast machinery of this world's action, unnumbered wheels are constantly at work ; and, though to human sight many of them seem to be acting for particular separate purposes, the eye of God, whose wisdom has united the universal frame, beholds all its parts contributing their ul- timate influence to the same point, and combining their multiplied movements to accomplish the same grand re- sult. That result, is the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom to its victorious consummation. This will be clearly seen, when the history of the earth shall have come to its close. It may, however, be even now discovered with striking certainty, in looking back upon the history of ages that are past. When we read the record of what has been done among the nations, in different ages of the world, this great truth should be kept at all times in view. History is studied correctly and understandingly, only when this relation of God's general providence, in all the changes of earth, to his will concerning the church, is se- riously and attentively regarded. Here we find a reason and a meaning, an order and a connexion, in the events which it unfolds, such as cannot appear under any othir view.
From what has been said already, it is manifest, that
12 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
the church has been, and must be, in every age, the same body. The kingdom of Christ began to be formed just after the fall ; and the same kingdom has been going for- ward ever since, and will go forward till the end of the world. The method by which fallen sinners are restored to the family of God, has always been one and the same. Men were saved before the coming of Christ, as well as since that time, only by his death. " There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," but the name of Jesus. (Acts iv. 12.) True, the saints who lived before he came into the world, could not have any clear knowledge of the precise way in which atonement was to be made for sin ; but they knew and be- lieved, that God had devised and was about to execute, a plan, which should fully answer the purpose, and make it possible for him to be just, while he yet justified the sinner who embraced his offered mercy. They knew, for it was clearly promised, that a Divine Deliverer, able to satisfy God's law and to save men, would in the latter days appear on earth, to take away sin and to bring in an everlasting righteousness for as many as would trust in his name. Being assured of this by the testimony of God, they be- lieved it, renounced all hope of being justified with God by their own goodness, and fixed their whole expectation and trust upon the Great Salvation which was to be made known in latter times. Thus Abraham, and all other holy men of old, were justified by faith. (Rom. iv. 1 — 8. Gal. iii. 6 — 8.) They " all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were per- suaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Heb. xi. 13.)
But, although the church has been substantially the same in all ages, its measures of spiritual advantage, and its outward constitution, have been greatly altered with the progress of time. It has had, as it were, an infancy, a childhood, and a full grown manhood. (Gal. iii. 23 — 25, iv. 1 — 6.) Its light has gradually proceeded from glim- mering feebleness, to the full splendour of rising day. Compared with the bright revelation of the gospel, the scriptures of the Old Testament shed only a faint light
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 13
upon the world. (2 Tim. i. 10.) They were a light, which shined in a dark place, until the day should dawn, and the day-star should arise. ( 2 Pet. i. 19 — 21.) Still, however, it was a great and glorious light, sufficient to conduct the benighted sons of men to heaven. (Ps. cxix. 105—130.)
The first revelation of mercy through Christ, was made to our original parents just after their fall. In the midst of the curse, which Justice pronounced, it promised, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. (Gen. iii. 15.) This Seed, the same with that in which the great promise, made long after to Abraham, was to be fulfilled, was Christ. (Gal. iii. 16.) Adam and Eve, we may hope, being filled with godly sorrow for their guilt, believed the gracious word of God, and were saved. Their children were made acquainted with the great truth, and instructed in the fear of the Lord. And so down to the flood, the knowledge of God, and of the way of salvation by faith, was continued among men ; and there were all the while some who loved and obeyed the true religion. These formed the church in those days. There was no written Bible, to make known the will of the Most High. But what God revealed to Adam, and others after him, was carefully remembered, and handed down by word of mouth. When men lived so long, it was easy to preserve know- ledge in this way. Some holy men of those times had a very great intimacy with God, and received many commu- nications of instruction and favour directly from himself. We have, however, no means of knowing very much about the extent of religious knowledge, or the manner of re- ligious worship, which belonged to that early age. Still, this much we learn from the Bible : — The solemn worship of sacrifice was common from the beginning; in which the believer acknowledged his guilt before God, and looked forward, with holy trust, to the satisfaction which God himself had promised to provide. The sabbath was ob- served, and was attended, no doubt, with rich spiritual blessings. There was also a regular church, united in the service of God, which secured most important privileges of religious education, and of social worship. There was ex- hortation too, and preaching, which tended to edify and
Vol. II. B
14 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
assist the people of God, while it warned, and left without excuse, the ungodly around. (2 Pet. ii. 5. Jude 14, 15.)
Abel was a believer, and went to heaven. Cain despised religion, and belonged to the Wicked One. (1 John iii. 12.) He Was driven out, for his sin, from the presence of the Lord, and became the father of a worldly and unbelieving race. The church was found in the family of Seth, whom God raised up to take Abel's place. Those who belonged to it, were called, it seems, Children of God; while the unbelieving were styled, Children of Men. The number of the ungodly was soon increased greatly ; the children of the pious were, many of them, seduced to join them. "The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair ; and they took them wives of all which they chose." Cor- ruption thus rapidly became stronger and stronger, till it filled the earth, and Noah's family embraced the whole church. The flood came with the wrath of the Almighty, and buried the guilty race in destruction.
This awful event should have been remembered, to keep men from repeating the apostacy which was its occasion. But the posterity of Noah soon began again, with an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the Lord. Idolatry gra- dually took the place of true religion. To such extent did it prevail at length, that the very existence of the church in the world, seemed to be brought to a termination. But in its low estate, God interposed to recover it to new dig- nity, and to establish it with better privileges. He selected Abraham, the Chaldean ; communicated to him the clear knowledge of religion, with new and more explicit pro- mises of that Great Salvation which was to be made known in the latter days ; and set him apart, with his posterity, to preserve the truth amid the corruptions of the world, and to hand it down, without interruption, until the time of Jesus Christ. The line of Abraham's ancestors seems to have been distinguished for piety, from the time of Noah, longer than most other families ; but idolatry had at last cor- rupted it as well as the rest. (Josh. xxiv. 2.) Called by God, however, the patriarch left his country and his friends, and came into Canaan. The Lord promised that he would give that land to his descendants ; that they should be his peculiar people — his church ; and that in his Seed all the
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 15
nations of the earth should be blessed. As a seal of the covenant, into which he and his posterity were thus gra- ciously allowed to enter, he received the sign of circum- cision.
Isaac and Jacob were heirs of the same promises, and distinguished with like spiritual blessings. Their religion was committed to their descendants. Among these, its form, and something also of its power, continued to be known in Egypt till the time of Moses. It appears, how- ever, to have fallen, by that time, into very general neglect. Many of the Israelites, there is reason to believe, were carried away with the idolatries of Egypt.
With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, the Lord recovered his people from oppression. He led them, by the hand of Moses, to the foot of Sinai. There he formed a solemn covenant with the whole nation, and gave them a written law. The church was now made to assume a new and more conspicuous form. It was blessed with a fuller knowledge of the divine Will ; it was admitted to greater privileges ; and much more effectual provision was made for protecting its existence, and guarding its truth, in the midst of an apostate world. The principles of true mo- rality and religion were made clear to all, by particular precepts of duty toward man and toward God. The man ner in which God was to be worshipped, was carefully prescribed. A great system of rites and ceremonies was established ; which, while it served like a hedge to secure the proper form and the continuance of the church, was, at the same time, so full of important instruction, and so framed to shadow forth spiritual and heavenly truth, that, to every true believer it could not fail to be a source of continual improvement in grace, and a most valuable help to devotion.
After a long discipline in the wilderness, the chosen na- tion was settled in Canaan, with all the advantages which thus, by its new form, the church was appointed to enjoy That form was intended to be continued until the time of the gospel. Age after age, however, the measure of reli- gious knowledge, with which it was distinguished, receiv- ed important increase. The Bible, whose first five books had been written by the hand of Moses, was gradually en
16 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
larged, by the addition of others equally inspired. The light, that was shining in a dark world, grew stronger and clearer. Prophecy multiplied its revelations, and by its sure word pointed with more certainty and emphasis to the glory that was to come.
The Jewish state was very peculiar. As we have seen, when considering its manner of government, its civil and religious institutions were closely blended together, so as to Ibrm a single system harmoniously conspiring in all its parts toward the same general point. The whole was designed, in the wise plan of God, to preserve the true religion, and prepare the way for the introduction of the full brightness of the gospel in the fulness of time. The Jewish church was the special object regarded, in the separation of the Israel- ites from the rest of the world to be the peculiar people of the Most High ; and their whole government, accordingly, was constructed with a view to the interests of the church, and in such a manner, as to fall in with and assist the particu- lar constitution under which it was placed. Hence, as already remarked, a religious design is to be discovered running, in some measure, through the whole system, and much of the meaning of those laws and institutions which moulded and fixed the shape of the civil government, is to be sought in their relation to religion, rather than in any merely political purpose. Still, it is proper to distin- guish the nation as a church, from the nation as a civil community, and to distribute its institutions and laws into two general classes — such as related more directly to reli- gion, and such as had regard to the government of the state as an earthly kingdom.
But the laws which related entirely to religion, were not all of the same nature. As a church, the Jews were placed under a two-fold system of law. They had the Moral law, wljich rests upon all men, in every age ; and they had a Ceremonial law, peculiar to their dispensation, and design- ed to pass away with it.
In discoursing of divine laws, it has been common to divide them altogether into two kinds — Natural and Po- sitive. Natural laws, which are the same that are usually called Moral, are such as arise necessarily from the cha- racter of God and the nature of his moral creatures, and
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 17
which every man's conscience, if it be not completely seared by sin, tells him, as soon as they are known to him from the light of nature or revelation, that he is under so- lenm obligation to obey. Positive laws are such as have no necessary and unalterable reason in the nature of things, but derive their authority from the particular ap- pointment of God, made known by revelation : having no force, except where they are thus expressly enjoined, and being designed to continue only for a time, determined in the purpose of the Most High ; after which, all their obli- gation is done away. Each of the ten commandments is a natural or moral law : the laws which required the Jews not to eat certain animals, the laws which regulated in- heritances among them, and others of a like sort, were positive laws. A positive law, when it is enjoined, is no less binding than a moral one. The obligation to obey rests, in both cases, upon the same reason, namely, the will of God : when that will is made known in any way, whatever it may require, the duty of complying with it is at all times the same, and at all times of the highest force ; whether the requirement is perpetual and universal, or whether it is limited to times and individuals, is an in- quiry that does not touch at all upon the nature or the ex- tent of its claim to be regarded and obeyed. Positive laws, again, have been divided into Political and Ceremonial. The laws which God gave for the government of the Jew- ish republic, in its civil character, were of the first class ; such were the statutes that were made concerning magis- trates, marriages, inheritances, punishments, &c. : many of them, as already noticed, partook at the same time of a religious character. The laws which among the same people prescribed the peculiar rites and forms of religious worship, private or public, were of the latter class — cere, monial : such were those that related to meats and wash- ings, and sacrifices, and all the outward service of the tabernacle or temple.
While, therefore, the Moral law, and that which has been styled the Ceremonial, were alike altogether religious in their character ; and so may be with propriety classed to- gether, in distinction from the Political or Civil law ; they were distinguished nevertheless from each other by a fig
18 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
wide and clear difference. The one had its origin with the beginning of creation, flowing necessarily out of its divine plan, and being essential to, and inseparable from, its constitution, as long as that constitution shall endure : the other had its commencement only when the sovereign wisdom of God revealed its appointment, and had no ne- cessary existence in the original order of being, but was made to answer some particular end in the general system of God's grace ; and having accomplished this design, had no longer any authority whatever. A moral law, accord- ingly, includes its reason in itself; and finds its end an- swered directly and immediately in the obedience which it receives ; a ceremonial one, on the contrary, had its rea- son entirely out of itself, and always contemplated some other end than what it directly required to be done, as its original and principal design.
The Moral Law, summarily comprehended in the ten commandments uttered from mount Sinai, requires in all its precept a spiritual obedience. It contemplates the heart. It carries its authority into all duties : even such as were ceremonial in their nature were enforced by its power ; because when the will of God is understood, whatever it may prescribe, the obligation to regard it flows from the first principle of natural and unchangeable reason ; namely that the creature should in every thing render a willing obedience to its infinitely perfect Creator. Thus, for an ancient Jew to eat swine's flesh, while it brought him under the penalty of the Ceremonial law, was an offence, also, if wilfully done, against the Moral law, not less truly than it would have been for him to take his Maker's name in vain, or to steal his neighbour's property. Our Saviour teaches us, that the sum of all the Moral law is expressed in two great precepts ; (Matt. xxii. 37 — 40.) Love to God will secure natural obedience to all his will, and " love worketh no ill to his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (John xiv. 23, Rom. xiii. 8 — 10.) This law is that which Paul speaks of as being written in the hearts of men. (Rom. ii. 15.) Man was originally made so as to have a natural sense of its obliga- tion, and a natural knowledge of its precepts. And al- though, by the fall, the clearness of this knowledge has
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 19
been much obscured, it has not still been utterly taken away ; but some vestiges of it are to be found, in every age, among- all people. (Rom. i. 19 — 21.) It is still only by reason of sin, that men do not all learn the glory of God from his works, and are not all moved by their inward sense to understand the Moral law and to make it the rule of their conduct.
This law, we have said, never loses its force. Every human soul is at all times under its authority. Nor will it in any case give up the smallest part of its claim. It requires full obedience, or tremendous punishment, such as falling upon a creature, like man, must doom him to everlasting misery. The law is holy, just, and good — and whosoever offendeth in one point, is guilty of all — for it is written, Cursed is every one that continuelh not in all things written in the book of the law to do them — and again,Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Rom. vii. 12. James ii. 10. Gal. iii. 10. Matt. v. 18.) Ac- cording to this law, we are to be judged in the Great Day. Reader ! have you not broken it times without number ? How then will you appear before the judgment-seat of God ? How will you stand in that awful trial, where a single offence is enough to condemn you for ever ? Can it be that you have not yet begun to look out for some way of escape from so fearful a prospect ?
The Ceremonial Law of the Jews comprehended a vast number of precepts. It stood in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them till the time of reformation. Some of its institutions were appointed long before the time of Moses. Such was the institution of sacrifices, with the regulations which govern- ed the pious in offering them, appointed in the very com- mencement of the church, immediately after the fall. Ani- mals were divided into clean and unclean before the flood. (Gen. vii. 2.) As early as the time of Noah, the command- ment was given not to eat blood. Abraham received the appointment of circumcision. From his time, we find in the brief history of the Bible, traces of several other impor- tant regulations afterwards embraced in the Mosaic cere- monial law. So that some have imagined, we should find,
20 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES,
if we had a complete account of the religious usages of that early age, that almost all the principal rites, which their law required the Jews to observe, existed to some extent before, among their pious ancestors ; or at least, that ob- servances similar to them, and evidently having the same principle and intention, were not unknown. Moses, by the command of God, formed for the nation a full and regular system of ceremonial laws. Such rites as had been before appointed and in use, he sanctioned with new authority, and prescribed with particular care the manner and various circumstances which were to be connected with their obser- vance. What was partial and imperfect before, he set forth with new, more formal and systematic, more extensive, and more expressive arrangement. Various precepts altogether unknown till that time, were added to complete the divine plan. The whole, thus framed together, made one harmo- nious scheme, conspiring in all its parts to secure the great purpose of its appointment.
One use of the Ceremonial law was to keep the Israel- itish nation separate and distinct from the rest of the world, and to guard them from idolatry. To preserve the true religion, and to prepare the way for the coming of the gos- pel, God, in his wisdom, designed the Jewish people to be a people dwelling alone, amid the other nations of the earth. (Num. xxiii. 9.) The whole system of laws, civil and re- ligious, under which they wTere placed, was such as was adapted to secure this end. Their Ceremonial law, espe- cially, could not fail, if regarded in any measure, to keep them separate. It embraced many very peculiar pre- cepts, and many that stood in direct opposition to tbe usages and manners of other people. It could not be com- pletely observed except in the land of Israel ; and its ope- ration tended continually to shut out all foreign customs, and to draw a broad line of distinction between the seed of Abraham and every stranger. There was need of such a security, to keep the people from becoming utterly con- founded with the nations around them, whose idolatry they were for a long time so ready to imitate. The safety of the church required, that it should be burdened and shut up with restraint, in this way. Hence, the apostle calls the Jewish law, a Schoolmaster, which, by salutary but se-
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 21
vere care and discipline, secured the church under prope. training-, as it w,ere, until the time when the gospel was introduced. Its obligation imposed a sort of bondage, such as children not yet of age were made to feel under tutors and governors ; which ceased only when the fulness of the Father's appointed time was come, giving way to the li- berty of a far more glorious dispensation. (Gal. iii. 19 — 29. iv. 1—11.)
But there was another, which we are to regard as the principal design of the Ceremonial law. It was framed to shadow forth with figurative representation the most im- portant spiritual truths ; so that by its serious observance, believers who lived before the time of Christ might continu- ally grow in knowledge and grace ; and so that it should be afterwards, to the end of time, a most striking evidence -of the truth of the gospel ; by the wonderful prophetic image of gospel realities which men might discover in its whole system. It was adapted continually to remind the ancient Jew of the great evil of sin, and of the absolute need of complete atonement for its guilt before it could be pardoned. It represented strikingly the infinite holiness of God, and the necessity of his favour. It pointed to the great Provi- sion, which God intended to reveal in its proper time, for the taking away of sin, and directed the eye of faith and hope to the perfect salvation that was to come. By signs it foretold the sufferings and death of Christ, and the whole work of redemption which he was to accomplish ; and em- blematically represented the great spiritual benefits that were to be secured in consequence. Altogether it was a grand Type of the system of grace unfolded by the gospel, and its several parts were, in general, figurative of particu- lar most interesting realities, comprehended in that system. Thus we are told, the law had a shadow of good things to come. (Heb. x. 1. Col. ii. 17.) In the epistle to the He- brews, the apostle teaches its meaning in this way, in many important particulars. Christ fulfilled this law by bringing actually to pass all that it typically signified, as he fulfilled the moral law by his life of obedience, and death of atone- ment for sinful men. (Matt. v. 17.)
We ought, therefore, always to inquire after their spi- ritual and typical meaning1, when we read of the various in-
22 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
stitutions of this ancient law. We ought to consider what reference they had to Christ and the wonders of the gospel. In this way, that part of scripture whicn treats of these things is to be rendered most profitable for instruction in righteousness. If it be not read thus, it is not read aright. We are now able to see more clearly, a great deal, than the ancient Jew could, the full signification of the ceremonial ordinances he was commanded to observe. Their meaning has been interpreted by events. Time, by unfolding the accomplishment of the things they represent- ed, enables us to understand types which were once dark, just as it explains prophecies that were formerly as much obscure. Types are, in fact, of the same general nature with prophecies, only foretelling things to come in a different way. It becomes us, therefore, to study them with the same sort of attention, and to seek like instruction and spiritual benefit from both. The Holy Ghost designed one as well as the other to be so improved.
The history of the Jews, recorded briefly in the Bible, shows them to have been a rebellious and stiff-necked peo- ple in religion. They were ever ready to forsake the Lord, and fall in with the idolatrous practices of the heathen around them. Yet by the force of their law, and the oft- repeated judgments of the Almighty, they were kept a distinct people. For their sins they were at length carried away, however, into distant captivity. The kingdom of Israel, which had broken itself off from the house of David, and offended God with most dreadful apostacy, was then allowed to become lost among the nations. The kingdom of Judah alone was regarded as the visible church, with which the truth and promises of God were to remain de- posited till the time of Christ. It embraced the tribe and family from which the Redeemer was to rise. (Gen. xlix. 10. Ps. exxxii. 11.) It was enough, therefore, to answer the original design of God in separating the Jewish nation, that this portion of it, with whom were the promises, the written law, and the sacred service of religion, should be thenceforward preserved a separate people. Accordingly, they were so preserved in the land of their captivity, and after seventy years brought back again to their ancient country. The temple was once more builded, and the wor-
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 23
ship which the law prescribed solemnly renewed. Thus the nation and the church were continued till the great Messiah appeared.
After the captivity, the Jews never again showed any inclination to fall into idolatry. Other sins of the worst kind prevailed greatly, but this they held in continual de- testation. Their religion became, in the end, without life and without power almost entirely ; but the letter and form o£ it they cherished with the most scrupulous care. No doubt, the affliction which the nation was made to suffer by its captivity, had much to do in producing this change. This was felt and remembered as an awful warning not to repeat the idolatry of former times, which had occasioned it. Its whole history, too, from the beginning to the end, by clearly fulfilling many prophecies, and unfolding many signal displays of divine power, afforded a demonstration most convincing, that Jehovah was the true God, and that besides Him there was no other. Moreover, after the return from that captivity, new means were employed to secure the advantage of general religious instruction. This served to keep alive the memory of what was past, and so im- pressed the great truths of revelation upon the minds of all, that the evil and folly and danger of idolatry could never be forgotten. Religious instruction was secured, principally by the establishment of Sijnagogues and Schools. Synagogues were a sort of churches, where the people met by congregations through the land on every Sabbath, to hear a portion of the scriptures read and explained, and to join in social prayer before God. Regular schools for the instruction of the young, under the care of distinguished men, came also into use ; and as this instruction was con- cerned chiefly with the knowledge of the sacred law, it tended much to preserve it among the people.
The ancient dispensation, together with all the move- ments of Providence in the revolutions of kingdoms and nations in the world, looked forward to the introduction of the gospel, and operated to prepare the way for its coming. Since that event, all things have been conspiring toward another point — the establishment of the Redeemer's king- dom over the earth, and the great winding up of the work of redemption which the Son of God has undertaken, since
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the fall, to accomplish in this miserable world. The gospel sheds light upon the whole ancient testament of the JewsT and lifts the veil away from their wonderful institutions. (2 Cor. iii. 14 — 18.) It ought to be remembered, that the sum and substance of the entire Bible is Jesus Chrisi crucified to save a lost world ; and that without this object in view as its grand End, the whole Jewish system of religion can have no meaning.
As we look backward many hundred years, and find the hope of the church in a redemption long since wrought out, so the Jew was taught to stretch his expectation forward and to found all hope toward God upon that same redemp- tion to be revealed at a future time. What we learn from inspired history, was set before him by inspired prophecy and types : in his case indeed, compared with ours, the re- presentation was shadowy and dark, yet altogether suffi- cient to lead the soul of the pious believer to confidence and peace.
Prophecy, though from its nature it could not but be wrapped to some extent in obscurity, was nevertheless very explicit in declaring the general truth, that a Great Salva- tion was to be disclosed in coming time, and an age of happy and glorious privilege unfolded, far surpassing all the previous state of the church. This testimony was strik- ingly confirmed by the great system of types, which God ordered for the help of faith. What was predicted in one case with words, was prefigured in the other by shadowy signs. A general belief, accordingly, was cherished by the whole nation, that a far more excellent and happy state than the one under which they lived was to be revealed at a future period. It was universally agreed, too, that this happy state was to be introduced by a powerful and glori- ous Deliverer, called emphatically by the prophet Daniel, the Messiah, or Anointed One, and spoken of repeatedly in ether places under different names — such as the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, Shiloh, the Branch out of Jesse's stem, Ijimanuel, &c. Hence they were accus- tomed to speak of the whole period of the world, as being divided into two great ages — the first reaching from the beginning to the time when the Messiah should appear, and then yielding place to the second, which was to abound
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 25
with righteousness and peace. The first, in which they lived themselves, they styled This age, or The present age ; the other was distinguished as The age to come.
Great error, however, came to mingle itself with this expectation which the nation cherished. The scripture re- presentations were understood in a low and narrow sense. The descriptions of that coming age, the latter time, when the reign of the Messiah was to be established in glorious and happy triumph, had been set forth by the prophets under striking imagery of an earthly kind. The Great Deliverer was represented under the character of a Prince, clothed with highest majesty and power, coming to occupy the throne of David, completely overthrowing all the ene- mies of his people, reducing the world to subjection, and reigning with most wise, righteous, and beneficent autho- rity, so as to make his dominion full of all blessedness and peace. His people, too, were spoken of as the Jewish king- dom, and called by the names of Israel, Jacob, &c. All this had a meaning far more lofty and excellent than was signified by the terms employed when taken in an earthly sense. The kingdom to be set up was spiritual ; the deli- verance was redemption from sin ; the triumphant glory was victory over death and hell ; the blessings of the government were holiness and eternal life ; the people crowned with such benefits was the church gathered out of all nations — the true Israel comprehending all in every place that embrace the promises of God by faith. A serious consideration of the whole revelation of prophecy on this point, should have led to such a spiritual interpretation of the worldly imagery used in many cases in relation to it. But a worldly temper perverted it into an occasion of error. The notion of an earthly and temporal kingdom dazzled the imagination. The Messiah, it came to be expected, would appear with irresistible power to restore the Jewish nation to glory — to raise it far above even its most trium- phant state in the days of Solomon — to introduce and esta- blish a long reign of liberty, virtue, and happiness. As the nation sunk under the pressure of foreign power, the ex- pectation and hope of such a deliverer was indulged with more and more fondness.
There were always, however, some who entertained
Vol. II. C
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more correct ideas on this subject. Taught by the Holy Spirit, they directed their faith toward a higher end. They looked for spiritual blessings, as the most desirable in the promises of God concerning the Messiah. Such were old Simeon, who waited for the consolation of Israel, and pious Anna, and others in Jerusalem that looked for redemption, to whom she spake of Christ when he was yet an infant. (Luke ii. 25 — 38.) Yet even such appear, for the most part, to have entertained the notion that the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom were to be enjoyed especially by the Jews, and that the Gentiles, in order to have part in them, would be required to unite themselves, as proselytes, with the Israelitish church. The imagination of a wordly do- minion too, so generally indulged by others, was ever apt to creep in and mingle itself to some extent with their best conceptions. How this imagination cleaved to the minds of Christ's disciples for a long time, may be learned from Matt. xvi. 22. xviii. 1. xx. 20—28. Mark x. 35—37. Luke xix. 11. xxii. 24. Our Saviour repeatedly corrected the error, declaring that he was shortly to die a violent death, and that all who became his true followers must expect no earthly victories and distinctions, but persecution and tribu- lation ; that the blessings of his kingdom were to be secured only by giving up all the expectations of worldly happiness which men naturally cherish, and that they far excelled all that the Jews imagined concerning the reign of the Mes- siah, being spiritual altogether and heavenly in their na- ture. Still, so strong was the general notion inrtheir minds of a kingdom to be set up on earth, that as long as he lived it was not relinquished. Accordingly, after his death, we hear them sorrowfully saying, we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel ; and with his resur- rection, we find the expectation revived in all its strength — Lord, they said, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Luke xxiv. 21. Acts i. 6.) The Holy Ghost, however, in a short time, guided them into a know- ledge of the truth. They learned to conceive with wider and loftier views of Christ's kingdom. Their former im- pressions were swallowed up in the discovery of its moral glory — its divine grandeur — its eternal blessedness.
Not only was the expectation of the Messiah universal
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 27
among' the Jews, but there was likewise a general agree- ment about the period when he might he looked for. An- cient prophecy had pointed to the time, as well as the place, of his appearance. (Gen. xlix. 10. Dan. ix. 24 — 27.) It came to pass, accordingly, that in that very age in which our Saviour appeared on earth, the people were expecting the promised Deliverer as just at hand. The opinion pre- vailed, that the time was then come for all to look for the speedy accomplishment of the sure word of prophecy on this subject. Thus Simeon and Anna, and many more in Jerusalem, we are told, were waiting. The Samaritans united with the Jews in this hope, and seem on the whole to have formed juster notions than they had of the charac- ter of the Messiah. (John iv. 25, 29, 42.) Nor was the ex- pectation confined to the land of Palestine. The Jews, being scattered at that time into many foreign countries, caused it to take root in other regions; so that there came to be a general idea through the east, that a great prince was about to rise out of Judea in its low estate, who should obtain supreme dominion in the world. This fact is men- tioned by two of the most respectable heathen historians of those times. (Matt. ii. 1 — 12.)
It was foretold also by the Spirit, that the Messiah should have a forerunner, to come immediately before him, and prepare, as it were, the way for his manifestation. Great and powerful kings in the east were accustomed, when making a journey, to send such before them to have the road made ready all along for their approach : so it was represented, a voice should be heard in the wilderness of this world, when the heavenly King was about to appear, giving notice of his coming, and calling upon men to make the way ready for his presence. (Is. xl. 3 — 5.) What sort of office was signified by this figurative account of the fore- runner, going before the Messiah, we learn from the his- tory of the gospel. (Luke i. 76, 77. iii. 2 — 18.) In the close of the Old Testament, the name of Elijah the prophet, was applied to this forerunner. (Mai. iv. 5, 6.) Hence an opinion came to prevail, that Elijah himself would actually return from the other world, and make his appearance in this im- portant character. It was a doctrine of the scribes, the great interpreters of scripture, that Elias in his own person
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should come immediately before the Messiah. (Matt. xvii. 10 — 13.) The Jews accordingly put the question to John the Baptist when he appeared, after he had told them that he was not the Christ, Art thou Elias ? They meaned by Ehas no other than the ancient prophet of Israel himself: John therefore assured them, he was not that holy man. (John i. 21.) Yet he was the very person to whom that name had been applied in prophecy — the great forerunner of the Messiah: Jesus declared of him, This is Elias, which was for to come, (Matt. xi. 14.) But when he was called by that name, it was intimated only that he should resemble Elijah in holiness, self-denial, and faithful bold- ness— or, as an angel once explained it, that he should come to perform his ministry in the spirit and power of Elias. (Luke i. 17.) There were some who imagined Jesus himself to be Elias returned to the world. (Luke ix. 8, 19.)
In the fulness of time, the long-expected Christ, the Son of the living God, came. But the nation knew him not ; "he came to his own, and his own received him not." With the Jews the promise had been deposited, and they had given the world to understand their expectation of its glorious accomplishment ; but the accomplishment itself they were not able to see, while others saw, and believed, and rejoiced in the unspeakable grace of God.
By this event, a new and far more glorious dispensation was introduced. The old one, having answered all its pur- pose, was commanded to pass away for ever. The ceremo- nial law lost all its obligation, having been imposed only till this time of reformation. (Heb. ix. 10.) The middle wall of partition, between the Jews and other nations of the world, was broken down : " the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" was abolished. (Eph. ii. 14, 15.) All distinction between Jew and Gentile, as to any peculiar favour of heaven, was over. One was invited as freely as the other to join the family of God, and take part in the rich blessings of his grace. Peace was commanded to be preached to all — those that were far off as well as those that were nigh.
To those who had been trained up with the notions and feelings of Jews, this could not but seem a most wonderful
BIBLICA.L ANTIQUITIES. 29
doctrine. They had grown up with a strong impression, which all their education tended to fix deeply in the mind, that God had shut out all other people entirely from his re- gard, and that the blessings of the true religion were, by his unalterable purpose, to be confined to their own nation ; bo that no gentile could ever be admitted to the friendship of God, except by numbering himself with the Jews as a proselyte to their church. When the gospel, therefore, de- clared that all difference was taken away, and invited all alike to embrace its benefits, many needed no other objec- tion to lead them to reject it at once. (Acts xxii. 21, 22.) Even those who were truly converted to receive its truth, were slow in coming to a clear understanding of this point. It was hard for them to feel that the door of grace stood as widely and as freely open to the gentile, without any respect to the law of Moses, as it did to the circumcised Jew. (Acts x. 10—16, 28, 45. xi. 1—18.) Hence we find it declared so often in the New Testament with a sort of peculiar emphasis, as a thing new, wonderful, and contrary to former prejudice, that the gospel offered its blessings to the gentiles — to all — to the world — to the whole world, without distinction of nation or place. (Matt, xxviii. 19. Luke xxiv. 47, 48. Acts xiii. 46, 47. xvii. 30, 31. xxvi. 17, 18. xxviii. 28. Rom. i. 16. iii. 29, 30. 1 Tim. ii. 4—6. Tit. ii. 11. 1 -John ii. 2.) Paul speaks of it as a glorious mystery. (Eph.iii. 3 — 6.) — The word mystery in this case, as generally in his epistles, means simply something that was utterly unknown before God revealed it by the gospel — a thing that was for a long time hidden; not implying that there was any thing in its nature which could not be explained or understood, as the term commonly means with us.
Neither was it easy for the converted Jew, even when he had learned that the gospel unfolded its privileges equally to all, either to cast off all regard himself to the system of religion, which he had so long been accustomed to reverence as appointed of Heaven, or to be satisfied that the Gentile converts should be entirely free from its observances. We are not able fully to enter into the difficulty which he naturally felt on this point. It is not therefore strange, that we find such persons still clinging to some of their ancient rites in the christian church, making it a matter c2
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of conscience lo observe them. (Acts xxi. 20, 21. Rom. chap, xv.) With feelings of this sort, it is not strange like- wise that they should sometimes have insisted upon it as a duty for others also, even those who had never been Jews, not to neglect them. False teachers, from various motives of pride or worldly policy, were very ready to take advan- tage of this prejudice, and to spread it with all their might in different churches ; endeavouring to persuade those who had been Jews, that they should hold fast part of their old religious usages, and those who were Gentiles, that they ought to be circumcised and pay some regard to the Cere- monial law. (Acts xv. 1, 24. Gal. ii. 3—5. vi. 12, 13.) Hence arose, generally, the first errors in the churches. The Galatian church was turned away almost altogether from the truth of the gospel by this means, as we learn from the severe letter which Paul wrote to them on account of it. In his other epistles, we find notices of a similar evil at work in other places also. It took, however, different forms. A vain philosophy endeavoured to connect its new and wild opinions with a portion of the Jewish law, and then under this mixed character crept into the Christian church, showing various features of error in different con- gregations. " Men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth," " proud and knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words," " unruly and vain talkers," " deceived" themselves, and worse " deceiving" others, introduced these corruptions, spoiling the tranquillity of churches, and turning men aside from true godliness. (Col. ii. 8—23. 1 Tim. i. 3—7. iv. 1—8. vi. 3—5. 2 Tim. ii. 14— 18. 23. iii. 6—9. Tit. i. 10—16. iii.9.)
The Apostle Paul did not in every case forbid, as sin, all compliance with Jewish observances. When they were such as not to interfere with the spirit of the gospel, or were not used as entering into the substance of true religion, he suffered the conscientious scruples of weak Christians in regard to them to be indulged. He exhorted others also, who felt no such scruples themselves, to give way in their practice to such prejudices of their brethren around them, as far as the things which they respected were in their nature indifferent. (Rom. xiv. 14 — 23.) He himself acted on this principle, forbearing to use his Christian liberty in
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all lawful cases, whenever it was likely to give offence. (Acts xvi. 3. xviii. 18. xxi. 21 — 26. Rom. xv. 1. 1 Cor. ix. 20.) But when a disposition was discovered to rely upon these observances as a ground of confidence toward God, and as entering essentially into his plan of salvation, the Apostle condemned them in the strongest terms, and would not countenance such as clung to them, with the smallest indulgence. To such he said, If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing ; for I testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are. justified by the law ; ye are fallen from grace. Thus ho expostulated with the Galatians, who had been drawn aside from the simple truth of the gospel, by false teachers, into this ruinous error. Especially, he thought it necessary, steadfastly to resist all compliance on the part of Gentile Christians with the Ceremonial law. The considerations which made it proper to allow some indulgence to the Jewish converts, had no place with such as had not been educated from childhood in the Jews' religion : a converted Jew might be supposed to cleave to some of his ancient usages, under the force of conscientious prejudice, without falling from or abandoning the doctrine of free grace through faith, while the observance of the same usages on the part of a Gentile convert, who had no such natural prejudice to entangle hisconscience, would argue a deliberate confidence in the Jewish law as a method of obtaining favour with God, and so give reason to fear a fatal departure from the great fundamental truth of the gospel, that a man is jus- tified by the faith of Jesus Christ alone, and not by the works of the law. — The apostle, therefore, would not give place to such as wanted to draw the Gentiles into the observance of Jewish rites, no, not for an hour ; and he anxiously guarded against every thing, in example as well as precept, among Christians of this class, which might have the smallest influence to make them think that any tiling of this sort belonged to true religion. He thought it necessary, accordingly, on one occasion at Antioch, to withstand Peter to the face, and publicly to reprove him for his un- faithfulness on this point, in the most solemn manner. (Gal. ii. 11-14.)
CHAPTER II.
THE TABERNACLE.
The Tasernacle was made in the wilderness according to the commandment of God. By a solemn covenant, the Israelites had engaged to be his obedient people, and he had taken them, as a nation, out of all the nations of the earth, to be a holy kingdom for himself. They were to be under his special and extraordinary care, and to be governed in their whole civil and religious state by his peculiar and extraordinary direction. They were to be his church, and the whole frame of their commonwealth was to be constructed with reference to the great interest for which the church was established. Accordingly, the Most High gave them a law, and agreed to dwell among them with his continual and special presence, in a sanctuary which he directed to be prepared for this high and solemn use. Thus the Tabernacle had its origin.
It was required to be made, together with all its furni- ture, from the offerings which the people might be willing to present for the purpose. All were invited to contribute something for an end so important ; but it was left to each individual to act in the matter with perfectly free choice. The offering of every man was to be given willingly with his heart. By reason of the great readiness of the people to offer, materials more than enough were soon collected. Men and women united in showing their zeal, by contribu- tions of every various sort that could be useful, till an order had to be publicly given for them to bring no more. (Ex. xxv. 1 — 8. xxxv. 4 — 29. xxxvi. 3 — 7.)
As the work to be accomplished needed various materials of the most costly sort, so it called for peculiar skill to exe- cute it in the way which its magnificent design required. Accordingly, God raised up Bezaleel, the son of Uri, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, filling them with wisdom and understanding in all manner of workmanship, to have
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the entire charge of the whole business. They were qualified, with more than ordinary or merely natural ability, to perform themselves the most difficult and curious sorts of work, such as belonged to arts entirely different, and also to teach others, who might be employed, under their direction, to help forward in various ways the general labour. (Ex. xxxi. 1 — 6. xxv. 30 — 35.)
It was not left, however, to these workmen, or even to Moses, to contrive the form or manner of the sacred build- ing in any respect. No pattern of earth was to be re- garded— no device of man was to be followed, in its whole construction and arrangement. It was to be the dwell- ing-place of God, symbolical, in all its visible and material order, of realities infinitely more grand and glorious; God himself therefore devised its entire plan, and unfolded it with most particular direction, in all its parts, to his servant on Mount Sinai. Careful and minute instruction was given relative to the materials to be used, the manner of work- manship to be employed, the form and size of the building, and every article of sacred furniture that was to belong to it. And more than this, there was presented to the eyes of Moses a pattern, or model, of the whole, as the Lord in- tended it to be made and arranged, with a solemn injunc- tion to have all finished exactly according to it. " Ac- cording to all that I show thee," was the charge of the Almighty, " the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it :" and again, " Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." (Ex. xxv. 9 — 40. Heb. vtii. 5.) There was no wisdom wanted in the work- men, therefore, to contrive any part of the work to be done, but merely to execute it according to the divine plan which Moses was appointed to explain.
The very great care which God showed about the man- ner in which this holy tabernacle was to be made, teaches us that it was designed to have a meaning in all its parts vastly more important than any mere visible and outward use. Something far more exalted than what struck the eye of sense, was intended in its construction. Under its earthly and material show, there was designed to be a re-
34 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
presentation of things heavenly and spiritual, such as should be full of instruction to the church till the end of time. In this consideration we have unfolded a satisfac- tory reason for that extraordinary care with which the original plan was divinely determined, and also for the care of the Holy Spirit, in causing so full and particular an account of it to be preserved in the Scriptures for the use of piety in all ages. And should not this reflection excite us to seek an intimate and familiar acquaintance with the ancient sanctuary ? Surely it becomes us to con- sider all the parts of its plan with serious and careful atten- tion, remembering at every step the heavenly origin of all, and humbly endeavouring to penetrate through the shadow of its earthly service into the sublime and glorious realities, which, according to the wisdom of the Spirit, it proposes for our solemn contemplation.
To have a right conception of the sacred dwelling-place which the Most High caused to be made for Himself among the Israelites in the wilderness, we must consider the Tabernacle itself, its furniture, and its Court. Let us attend first to the Court.
The Court of the Tabernacle was a lot of enclosed ground which surrounded the Tabernacle, and all that was connected with it, comprehending room enough for the ac- commodation of all that were to be at any time directly concerned with its religious services. It was required to be a hundred cubits long from east to west, and fifty broad from north to south. It was enclosed to the height of five cubits on every side, with curtains of fine twined linen. These were hung from brazen pillars, ranged at equal dis- tances one from another in a row on each side, either by being fastened to them merely by hooks of silver, or else by means of silver rods reaching all along from one to another. The pillars had sockets of brass to stand upon. There were twenty of them on the north, and on the south side, and ten in each of the end ranges, east and west The entrance into this court was on the east end, and ex- actly in the middle of it. It was twenty cubits wide. It was closed by a hanging different from the other cur- tains, " of blue, and purple, and scarlet and fine twined
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linen, wrought with needlework." This was hung from four pillars, and could be drawn up by means of cords, so as to leave the entrance open when there was occasion to go in or out. (Ex. xxvii. 9 — 18.)
The Tabernacle stood well toward the west end of the Court just described, and in the middle of its breadth from north to south, so as to face exactly the entrance upon the east side. It was made of boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, and four coverings of different materials, thrown over its whole frame, to shield it from the weather, and to shut out completely the light of day. When set up it was thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten high. Like what has been noticed of the Court, it was required always to be placed with its length from east to west, and its entrance was at its east. end. This end accordingly was not boarded. The boards weie all ten cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, and had e<*ch two tenons fashioned on one end. In the building, they stood upright, joined edge to edge, and every one resting by its two tenons on two silver sockets. Thus on each of the sides, north and south, were twenty boards, which standing in the way now mentioned made a wall just thirty cubits long. The west end had six boards, and there was one besides at each of the corners of that end, which, while they served \o connect it with the sides, seem also to have added somewhat to its extent, so as to make the breadth of the tabernacle ten cubits, that would with only the six boards have made no more than nine. Altogether then there were forty-eight boards standing upon ninety-six sockets of silver. Every socket weighed a talent. The boards, however, needed something to hold them together. Bars, therefore, or poles, of shittim wood overlaid with gold, were made to pass across them through rings fixed on each one for the purpose, by which means all the boards of each side, or of the end, were firmly bound one to another. Five bars were employed in this way on each side, and also on the end : the middle one reached from end to end, across all the boards ; the other four were, according to one opinion, each only half as long, two of them together making a whole length across at the top, and the other two a whole length across in like manner at the bottom. Another opinion is, that all the bars wers of
36 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
fall length, and that what is said about the middle one, means only that it was fixed in its place in a different way from the others, being either sunk into the boards in a sort of groove, all the way along, or else thrust through them, by means of a bar passing clear across from one to another. (Ex. xxvi. 15—30.)
Such was the frame of the tabernacle, presenting, when erected, on each of its sides and its western end, a heavy wall of shittim planks gorgeously covered over with gold, and supported beneath on ninety-six massy sockets of sil- ver. It left the top, as well as the end toward theea^t, en- tirely open. But to make the sacred Tent complete, over this frame were to be spread four great coverings, one above another. The first was very beautiful and costly It was composed of ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and "scarlet, made with cAerubim of cun- ning work ;" that is, of fine twined linei into which pic- tures of cherubim were curiously wrought with various colours, blue, purple, and scarlet. Fach of these curtains was twenty-eight cubits long, and £>ur broad. Five of them were coupled together, side to sick, so as to make one large piece, twenty-eight cubits long- and twenty broad, and so in like manner were the otfier fire united into another piece. Along the edge of the outermost curtain on one side of each of these great pieces, or couplings, were made fifty loops of blue, so p?aced, that those which belonged to one piece answered exactly to those which were on the other. Then fifty Aooks or clasps of gold were provided, by which these loops might be all along linked one to an. other, and the two pieces thus knit together into one rich and magnificent covering. They were thrown across the frame of the tabernacle from north to south, and hung down on each side within a cubit of the bottom ; for, since the frame was ten cubits high and ten wide, the measure over it from the base of the wall on one side to its base on the other, was just thirty cubits, that is, two cubits more than the length of the curtains.
One of the pieces seems to have been laid across, so as to reach from the front of the tabernacle, covering the top and sides, as far as twenty cubits back : then the other, linked upon it by the loops and clasps, was spread over the hinder
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 37
part, covering the top and sides in like manner from where the first stopped, and falling down in loose folds over the western end. Over this fine inner covering was spread another more substantial. It was composed of eleven cur- tains of goats' hair, each thirty cubits long and four broad. These also were united into two large pieces, one being made up of five, and the other of six ; and provison was made, as in the case of the inner covering, for linking the pieces together by loops and clasps. The clasps used in this case, however, were made of brass, and not, as they were in the other, of gold.
These pieces, being thrown across the tabernacle like the others, reached down on each side to the row of silver sockets on which the boards stood ; because they were thirty cubits long, which, as we have just seen, was equal to the distance from one base over to the other. The piece that was composed of six single curtains, lay toward the fore-part of the tabernacle, and the sixth curtain was dou- bled in the fore-front of it, so as to hang somewhat perhaps over the entrance. It is not easy, however, to determine precisely how this covering was disposed, in front and on the western end behind, so as to have its cloth which it had more than the other, completely occupied. But in what- ever way arranged, it spread entirely over the top, and sides, and back part of -the frame, so as to hide the inner covering altogether out of sight, and shield it on every part from injury. — But still more effectually to shut out harm, there was added a third covering of rams' skins dyed red, and over that again a fourth one, made of the skins of some sea-animal. Thus the whole was most perfectly defended from the weather. (Ex. xxvi. 1 — 14.)
Across the east end, or entrance, of the tabernacle, were ranged five pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, standing upon sockets of brass ; and from these was sus- pended a curtain or hanging of blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework, large enough to cover the whole front. This was the door of the tent. There was probably another curtain of. coarser ma- terials hung over this fine one on the outside, to keep it from being spoiled ; at least we may suppose it was so when the weather was bad. (Ex. xxvi. 36, 31.)
Vol. II. D
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The inside of the tabernacle was divided into two apart- ments, by another curtain hung entirely across it from the top to the bottom. This curtain was richly wrought with figures of cherubim, like the fine inner covering spread above, and was suspended upon four shittim pillars over- laid with gold, that stood on so many weighty sockets of silver. It was called the veil, and sometimes the second veil, as the one which hung over the entrance had to be passed through before coming to it. (Heb. ix. 3.) The front apartment formed by this hanging partition, which reached from it to the door of the tent, was twenty cubits in length : it was called the Holy Place, and also the First Tabernacle. The other apartment, reaching from the di- viding veil to the western end ot* the tabernacle, was of course completely square every way, its length, its breadth, and its height, being each exactly ten cubits : it was called the Most Holy Place, the Holy of holies, or the Holiest of all, and sometimes also the second or inner tabernacle. (Ex. xxvi. 31—33. Heb. ix. 2—6, 12, 24.)
The Furniture of the sanctuary and its court next claims our consideration. Here we are to notice the altar of burnt-offering and the brazen laver that stood in the court ; the altar of incense, the candlestick, and the table of shew-bread which belonged to the holy place ; and the ark of the covenant, with its mercy-seat overshadowed by the cherubim of glory, which abode in awful retirement within the holiest of all.
1. The Altar of burnt-offering, or the Brazen Altar, stood directly in front of the door of the tabernacle, off from it toward the centre of the courts, so as to be in a line between the tabernacle and the entrance of the court on the east end. Its frame was square, and hollow within, in length and in breadth five cubits, and in height three. The sides were made of boards of shittim wood completely over- spread with brass : some think, however, that they were boarded in this way only from the middle upward, while below they were composed of some sort of brazen net- work. It is not altogether clear either, in what way the inside was occupied. We are told in the Bible, that a grate of net. work of brass was put under the compass of the altar be- neath, so as to be even unto the midst of it. This some sup-
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 39
pose to have been hung within the hollow frame, (which they conceive was cased with boards all the way down,) just in the middle between the bottom and the top of it, and that it was the sacred fire-place where the sacrifices were to be burned : it was made full of holes, they say, round about and below, to let the ashes fall through to the bottom of the altar, where there was a little door on one side by which they might be taken out to be carried away. Another opinion is, that across the middle of the frame there was fixed some kind of flooring, and that the whole upper half above this was filled with earth, on which the sacrifice-fires were kindled ; while the lower part, it is im- agined, was altogether unoccupied, being enclosed only with grated sides, according to the idea already mentioned, through which in certain cases the blood of the victim was poured under the altar. (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 25.) This opinion, therefore, supposes the grate of brazen net-work put under the compass of the altar beneath, to be nothing else than the lower half of the frame itself made with grated sides, on which the upper half, closely boarded and filled with earth, was made to rest. There is certainly the best reason to believe, that the sacrifices were burned upon a surface of earth, and not upon a metal grate, from the direction in Ex. xx. 24. We are to suppose, therefore, that such a sur- face, on its top, the altar of burnt-offering did present, and that its brazen frame was formed only to support and hold together the earthy pile in which it especially consisted. — It had four horns, one rising from each cf its corners. These seem to have been clothed with a peculiar sacred- ness, as in particular cases of solemn sacrifice, the priest was required to put on every one of them some of the blood. (Lev. iv. 25, 30. xvi. 18.) Hence it was usual for those who fled to the altar for protection and safety, (according to an ancient custom which caused it to be regarded as a sanc- tuary or sacred asylum,) to lay hold upon its horns. (1 Kings i. 50—53. ii. 28—34. Ex. xxi. 14.) At the same time, the horns added to the goodly appearance of the whole structure, and thej' were made so strong, that ani- mals, when about to be sacrificed, might be secured to them with cords, as it seems they sometimes were. (Ps. cxviii. 27.) A sloping walk of earth heaped up, wis made
40 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
to rise gradually on one side to the top of the altar, by which persons might go upon it. (Ex. xx. 26.) Connected with the altar were several different sorts of instruments ; such as pans to carry away the ashes, shovels for taking them up, basins for receiving the blood of the victims, and flesh-hooks for turning pieces of flesh in the fire : all of them were made of brass. (Ex. xxvii. 1 — 8.)
On this altar the fire was required to be kept ever burn ing. A short time after it was set up, there came fire in a miraculous manner, from the Lord, and kindled upon the offering that was laid in order on its top. This sacred flame was cherished with the greatest care from year to year, and none was allowed to be brought ever afterwards from any other quarter, to be employed in the service of the tabernacle in any way. For presumptuously making use of fire not taken from the altar, immediately after their consecration to the priestly office, Nadab and Abihu were destroyed by an awful judgment from the Almighty. (Lev. vi. 12, 13. ix. 24. x. 1—10.)
The altar was fed with the unceasing sacrifice of life. The place where it stood, was a place of daily slaughter. The stain of blood was at all times fresh upon its sides. From its summit, rose, almost without interruption, the smoke of burning flesh ; and dark oftentimes and exceed- ingly heavy was the cloud, with which it mounted toward heaven. Thus it was a continual remembrancer of sin, displaying in lively representation its awful guilt, and the consuming wrath of Heaven which it deserves. It stood in front of the sacred dwelling-place of God, to signify that his holy nature could not endure sin, or allow it to pass unpunished ; and that he never would therefore admit the sinner to come before him in peace, without the law being completely satisfied, and guilt atoned for by suffering equal to its desert. At the same time, the altar was a sign of peace and good will to men ; because while it taught that justice must be satisfied before God could be reconciled to the sinner, it declared also, that the satisfaction was pro- vided without expense to man — that the necessary atone- ment was secured — that the wrath of heaven, which, left to light upon his own head, must crush him downward in eternal death, had found for itself another victim ; and thus
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 41
God could be just, while he threw open a way for the guilty to draw near to his throne and be restored to his favour. In this way, the obstacle that shut up the way of life, and the removal of that obstacle by infinite grace, were at once presented to view. The blood-stained altar, with its dark co- lumn of smoke soaring on high, was a standing monument of -God's unyielding justice, and yet a standing memorial of his victorious mercy ; clothed with severity and terror, yet the significant pledge of goodness, friendship, and peace.
"This Brazen Altar," to use the words of a learned and holy man, "was a type of Christ dying to make atone- ment for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass ; nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by a divine power. Christ sanctified himself for his church, as their altar, (John xvii. 19,) and by his mediation sanctifies the daily services of his people who also have a right to eat of this altar, (Heb. xiii. 10,) for they serve at it as spi- ritual priests. To the horns of this altar poor sinners fly lor refuge, when justice pursues them, and there they are safe in the virtue of the sacrifice there offered."
2. The Brazen Laver stood between the altar of burnt offering and the door of the tabernacle. The name which it has in the original language of the Bible, implies that it was round in its shape, and it is reasonable to suppose that its pattern was followed in the general form of the much larger one which was made for the temple afterwards, and called a molten sea ; this, we are told, was round all about The laver, therefore, was a circular vessel, rounded to- ward the bottom, it seems, after the manner of an urn or a tea-cup, so as to rest upon a single foot at its base below. It must have been of considerable size, but we are not in- formed what were its dimensions. It was for holding water, which was required to be kept constantly in it, for the priests to wash their hands and feet with, when they went into f he tabernacle, or when they came near the altar to minister before the Lord. This they were solemnly charged never to neglect ; they shall toash their hands and feet, was the injunction of God, that they die not. There were spouts or cocks by which the water might be let d2
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out through the lower part of the vessel, as it was wanted for use. The Jews say, that the laver stood near the en- trance of the tabernacle, so, however, as not be directly between it and the altar, but a little off toward the south side. They tell us, too, that fresh water was put into it every morning. (Ex. xxx. 18 — 21. xxxviii. 8.)
The washing of the body in the outward service of the ancient sanctuary, was intended to teach the necessity of inward purity in all who would draw near to him in spirit and in truth. (Ps. xxvi. 6. lxvi. 18.) Thus the apostle ex- horts believers to draw near to God with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. x. 22.) So we need to be washed every day, and are required every day to come with repentance and faith to Christ, that we may be cleansed from guilt, and so fitted to come before the Lord with an acceptable service. (James iv. 8. 1 John i. 7 — 10.) More especially, the laver was, moreover, a continual sign that the nature of man had become polluted, and that until the pollution was en- tirely taken away, it could find no entrance into heaven. As on the altar the eye of faith might behold, as it were, this inscription, without shedding of blood there is no re- mission ; so, also, it might read upon the laver, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is not enough that sacrifice and atonement are made for sin, so as to satisfy the law ; the soul needs at the same time to be delivered from its deep-rooted power, to be washed from its dark- coloured stain — to be sanctified as well as justified, and so made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. A laver, therefore, as well as an altar, was planted out before the tabernacle ; and it stood between the altar and the sanctuary, showing that pardon through the the Great Sacrifice is the first benefit which the believer receives, and that this is followed by the complete sancti- fication of his nature, before he passes into the House not made with hands on high. Thus the lavet also was a symbol of rich mercy. While it forcibly called to mind the deep depravity of the soul, and presented before it the alarming truth, that in its native character, or while one spot of its pollution remained, it could never see God ; it
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gave assurance at the same time, that this great purifica- tion was not an object of despair, as it must have been if left for man to accomplish by his own power, but that the grace of God had made provision for it altogether sufficient and sure — that a fountain for the uncleanness of sin was wonderfully secured, by the same love that procured re- dempiion from its guilt, in which the soul might be made as white as if it had never been defiled with the smallest stain. (Eph. v. 26, 27. Rev. i. 5. vii. 14.)
We are now ready fo move the curtain aside, and enter within the holy place, the first apartment of the sanctuary. No window, or opening of any sort was provided in the tabernacle, to let in the light of day : but this room was never dark. Night and day it was brightly lighted with burning lamps. All its furniture, therefore, was clearly exposed to view, as soon as it was entered. This consisted of only three principal articles; the altar of incense, the table of shew-bread, and the candlestick from which the light proceeded. It was not allowed, however, for a com- mon Israelite to enter into this sacred tent, and behold its furniture : no one but a priest might pass the outer veil and go in even so far as the first apartment.
3. The Golden Candlestick was placed on the south side of the holy place, so as to be to the left of any person when he came into the room by the middle of the entrance. It was made entirely of pure gold. It consisted of a shaft or principal stem rising upright from a suitable base, and six branches. These branches started out at three different points from the main stem, and turned upward with a regular bend, so as to reach the same height with it. From each point went out two, one directly opposite to the other, and those above went out exactly in the same direction with those below : thus all were in the same range, three on one side, and three just over against them on another — the lower ones bending round in a larger curve, and the upper ones in a less, so as to bring all their tops to the same height, and in the same line, at equal distances one from another. The stem and each of the branches were adorned with artificial bowls, knops, and flowers. The size of the candlestick is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Jewish tradition is, that it was as much as five feet high, and
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three and a half along the top, from the outmost branch on one side to the outmost branch on the other. Each of these seven tops, of the branches and their common stem, was made to terminate in a lamp. Connected with the can- dlestick were tongs and snuff-dishes, all made of gold ; also oil-vessels for use in filling the lamps. The tongs were made probably after the fashion of scissors, to clip off the snuff, when it was immediately dropped into the snuff- dishes. (Ex. xxv. 31—39.)
The lamps were supplied with the purest olive oil; such as was procured, not by the common way of pressing it out, but by bruising or beating the olives while yet some- what green, in a mortar. The priests were required to take care that the candlestick was never without light Every day its lamps were to be examined, and dressed, and supplied with oil, as they might need. The Jews say, that only three of the lamps were kept burning through the day, but that all of them were lighted in the evening, to burn during the night.
The light of this candlestick was symbolical of the spi- ritual knowledge which God communicates to his people though his word, the Bible, and by the enlightening grace of the Holy Spirit. The law of the Lord is a glorious light set up in the church. (Ps. xix. 8. cxix. 105, 130. Prov. vi. 23.) In it life and immortality are brought to light, and truth revealed that guides the soul to heaven : it unfolds the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, the True Light of a world made dark and desolate by sin. (John i. 4 — ?. viii. 12.) But all this light shines without being compre- hended or perceived by the natural mind of man. A divine influence is needed to open a way for it through the midst of the thick darkness that is in him by reason of sin, and to introduce it fairly and effectually to his view. Such an influence of mercy is exerted by the Holy Spirit. He shines into the hearts of all who are saved, to give them tht, light of the knoioledire of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 'Christ. (1 Cor. ii. 10—12. 2 Cor. iv. 4— 6.) This enlightening agency, the source of all true wisdom to man, was that which was particularly signified by the candle- stick with its seven lamps shining before the Most Holy place. Thus we are taught by divine revelation itself, in
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 45
the Vision of John, the Apostle, " There were seven lamps of fire burning- before the throne, which arc the seven spirits of God." (Rev. iv. 5. i. 4.) The number seven denotes perfection — complete sufficiency in every way, and fulness in all respects, according to the nature of the thing spoken of.
4. The Table of Shew-bread was placed over against the candlestick, on the north side of the apartment, so as to be to the right of the priest when he walked up toward the second veil. It was made of shittim wood, and was two cubits long, a cubit broad, and a cubit and a half high. It was overlaid with gold, and had round the edge of its top, or leaf, an ornamental rim of gold, called its crown ; and just under this, as it seems, the frame was compassed about with a border, a hand-breadth broad, which was crowned with a similar rim. It was provided with vessels for dif- ferent kinds of service, which are called in tiie English translation, dishes, spoons, covers, and bowls, to cover withal. The dishes, there is reason to believe, were broad plates on which the shew-bread was placed: what are called spoons, seem rather to have been vessels in which incense was kept ; (Numb. vii. 14, 20, 86;) incense we know was used on the table : (Lev. xxiv. 7 :) what are named covers and bovils, appear to have been two different sorts of vessels for holding wine ; the first large, in which a continual supply of it was kept, and the second smaller in size, which were filled from the others, for the purpose of presenting drink- offerings before the Lord — so their use, instead of being to cover withal, was, it is most probable, to pour out withal, according to the more common signification of the word. (Ex. xxv. 23—30.)
Twelve loaves of unleavened bread were continually kept upon the table. They were placed in two piles, one loaf upon another, and on the top of each pile there was put a small quantity of pure frankincense. They were called shew-bread, or the bread of the face, because they were set solemnly before the Presence of the Lord as it dwelt in glory behind the second veil. Every Sabbath day, the loaves were changed by the priests — the old ones taken away, and the new ones put in their place. The bread that was taken away was given to the priests to eat, and no person else was allowed to taste it ; neither were they suf-
46 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
fered to eat it any where else except within the court of the sanctuary : because it was most holy, it was to be eaten only by sacred persons, and only upon holy ground. The incense that was on the piles was still burnt ; when the bread was changed, as an offering by fire unto the Lord, for a memorial instead of the bread, or an acknowledgment that all belonged to him, while the greater part was, by his permission, consigned to the use of his servants. (Lev. xxiv. 5 — 9.) David, on a certain occasion, when he was an hungered together with those that were with him, and no other bread could be procured, did not hesitate to eat the shew-bread that had been removed from the sanctuary. (1 Sam. xxi. 1—6. Matt. xii. 3, 4.)
" As the Ark," says one, " signified the presence of God in his church, so this table with the twelve cakes signified the multitude of the faithful presented unto God in his church, as upon a pure table, continually serving him : made by faith and holiness as fine cakes, and by the media- tion of Christ, as by incense, made a sweet odour unto God." Thus each loaf represented a tribe. There is reason to believe, however, that while it may be considered to have been a continual thankful acknowledgment of God's good- ness in providing for his people their daily food, this per- petual bread was more especially designed to be a symbol of the never-failing provision which he has made in the church for the spiritual nourishment and refreshment of all the truly pious. In the words of the writer quoted a short time since, it was. " a type of the spiritual provision which is made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are made priests to our God. In our Father's house there is bread enough, and to spare; a loaf for every tribe. All that attend in God's house shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of it. (Ps. xxxvi. 8.) Divine consola- tions are the continual feast of holy souls ; however, there are those, to whom the tabic of the Lord, and the meat there- of, because it is plain bread, is contemptible. (Mai. i. 12.) Christ hath a table in his kingdom, at which all his saints shall for ever eat and drink with him." (Luke xxii. 29, 30.)
5. The Altar of Incense, or the Golden Altar, was situate between the Table and the Candlestick, so as to stand very near to the second veil, equally distant from both sides of
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the tabernacle. " Thou shalt put it," was the direction of the Lord, "before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where 1 will meet with thee." It was a cubit long, a cubit broad, and two cubits high ; made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, not only upon every side, but also over the top ; furnished with four horns all overlaid in like manner, and compassed round about its upper surface with an orna- mental crown, or border, of the same precious metal. No flesh ever burned upon this altar; nor was it ever touched with blood, except on the most solemn occasions ; and then its horns alone were marked witli the crimson stain. The smoke that rose from its top was never any other than the smoke of burning incense. This went up every morning and every evening, filling the sanctuary with its fragrant cloud, and sending a refreshing odour out through all the court and far over the country on every side for miles be- yond. Because it was thus renewed every day, it was called a perpetual incense before the Lord. It was not simple frankmcense that was burnt, but a compound of this with other sweet spices, made according to the particular direction of God for this special purpose, and so considered holy, such as no man was allowed to make any like unto for common use. (Ex. xxx. 34 — 38.) The priest was charged never to offer strange incense, that is, any other than th<* sacred composition, upon the golden altar.
The ptous writer, from whom some remarks on the meaning of the other altar have been lately borrowed, observes: — " This incense-altar typified, 1. The mediation if Christ. The brazen altar in the court was a type of Christ dying on earth ; the golden altar in the sanctuary was a type of Christ interceding in heaven, in the virtue of his satisfaction. This altar was before the mercy -seat; for Christ always appears in the presence of God for us — he is our advocate with the Father; (1 John ii. 1;) and his intercession is unto God of a sweet smelling savour. 2. The devotions of the Saints, whose prayers are said to be set forth before God as incense. (Ps. cxli. 2.) As the smoke of the incense ascended, so must our desires toward God rise in prayer, being kindled with the fire of holy love and other pious affections. When the priest was burning
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tncense, the people were praying, (Luke i. 10,) to signify that prayer is the true incense. This incense was offered daily; it was a perpetual incense ; for we must pray always, that is, we must keep up stated times for prayer every day, morning- and evening, at least, and never omit it, but thus pray without ceasing. The lamps were dressed or lighted at the same time that the incense was burnt, to teach us, that the reading of the scriptures, (which are our light and lamp,) is a part of our daily work, and should ordinarily accompany our prayers and praises. When we speak to God we must hear what God saith to us; and thus the com- munion is complete. The devotions of sanctified souls are well-pleasing to God, of asweet-smelling savour; the prayers of the saints are compared to sweet odours, (Rev. v. 8,) but it is the incense which Christ adds to them that makes them acceptable, (Rev. viii. 3,) and his blood that atones for the guilt which cleaves to our best services. And if the heart and life be not holy, even the incense is an abomi- nation, and he that offers it is as if he blessed an idol." (Is. i. 13. Ixvi. 3.)
" This altar was to be placed before the veil, on the out- side of that partition, but before the mercy-seat, which was within the veil. For though he that ministered at the al- tar could not see the mercy -seat, the veil interposing, yet he must look towards it, and direct his incense that way : to teach us, that though we cannot with our bodily eyes see the throne of grace, that blessed mercy-seat, for it is such a throne of glory, that God, in compassion to us, holdelh bach the face of it, and spreadeth a cloud upon it ; yet we must in prayer by'faith set ourselves before it, direct our prayer and look up."
While the incense was burning, it was customary for all the people, as many as were standing without before the sanctuary, to put up prayers to God, every one silently by himself. It was understood, that the holy offering was significant of that spiritual service of adoration and holy desire which God should receive from every heart. It was understood too, by the serious believer, that there was something more signified by it : the incense, presented by the priest, and rising pure and acceptable to God most Holy from off the golden altar, represented to his faith prayer
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made efficacious and well-pleasing- by something added to it to bear it upward and recommend it before the throne ; he felt that his prayers in themselves were too feeble and impure to come up with acceptance before the Lord, and saw with gratitude, in the symbol of the sanctuary, a divine assurance that provision was made to remedy the defect : the nature and manner of the provision he could not indeed comprehend, but still he reposed confidence in its certainty, and by grace was enabled, through the sign, to lay hold of its consolation and benefit. It was natural, therefore, and certainly proper, to feel that the time of the going up of the morning and the evening incense was peculiarly suitable to be employed in prayer, and that there was an advantage in directing the desires of the heart toward heaven at the very moment that the fragrant cloud was rising from the altar ; not because the incense in itself could give value to any prayer, much less sanctify a hypocritical one, but be- cause it was a divinely appointed ordinance admirably adapted to encourage and assist faith and devotion by its typical meaning. Many pious persons accordingly, who lived in Jerusalem, used often to go up to the temple, (which took, we know, the place of the tabernacle,) at these particular seasons, to put up prayers before God's holy house while the priest was ministering at the golden altar. Hence there was commonly a great multitude stand- ing in the different courts of the temple at such times. When the priest went into the holy place to perform the service, notice was given by striking a great instrument that sounded like a bell, and might be heard all over Jeru- salem; and then immediately the priests that were with- out, the Levitcs, and the whole multitude, addressed them- selves in deep and solemn silence to the business of devo- tion. Thus it was on that memorable occasion when Zacharias ministered in the sanctuary, and suddenly beheld the angel Gabriel standing close beside him on the right side of the altar. (Luke i. 8 — 22.)
We are now prepared to look into the second apartment of the tabernacle — the most holy place. Beyond the second veil no mortal might ever pass but the high-priest ; and only on one great occasion in each year, was it lawful even for him to do so ; and then, only with the most solemn
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preparation and the most reverential care. The holiest of all was clothed with the solemnity of another world, and filled with unearthly grandeur. The whole tabernacle was the sanctuary of God, but here was the awful residence of his Presence — the special dwelling-place of his visible glory. Well might sinful man tremble to move aside the veil, and present himself within so holy a place.
6. At the backside of the apartment, the western end of the whole tabernacle, rested the Ark of the Covenant. It was in form a box, a cubit and a half broad and high, and two cubits and a half long, made of shittim wood, and co- vered within and without with the purest gold. Like the table of shew-bread and the golden altar, it was crowned with an ornamental border or rim, round about its top- Above upon it was the mercy-seal. "This was made of solid gold of the best sort, exactly answering in length and breadth to the ark, on which it rested as a flat cover or lid, so as completely to close it over. On each end of it was fixed a chervb, wrought in like manner, of pure solid gold, rising above it, and overshadowing it with wings stretched forth on high. The faces of these sacred figures were turned toward each other, bending somewhat downwards towards the mercy-seat, on which they stood. Between these che- rubim dwelt the uncreated glory of God. " There," He said to Moses, " I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony."
In this ark Moses was required to put the two tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written with the finger of God. These were called the testimony, be- cause they were the testimony, or evidence and witness, of the covenant between God and the Israelites ; whence the ark was styled sometimes the ark of the testimony, and sometimes the ark of the covenant. We are expressly told, that the ark contained nothing besides these tables. (1 Kin^s viii. 9.) By the side of it, however, that is, at one end, in a coffer it seems, made for the purpose, there was deposited a copy of the five. books of Moses, while a golden pot full of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, were laid up as memorials before it. (Ex. xvi. 32 — 34. Numb. xvii. 10. Deut. xxxi. 26.) The Apostle Paul nevertheless seems
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to say, that the golden pot and the rod were m the inside of the ark itself, with the tables of the covenant. (Heb. ix. 4.) Either we must understand him to mean simply, that these things belonged to it, and were laid up for security beside it ; or else we must suppose, that they were really placed within the ark at first, but afterwards were taken out by some presumptuous hand, and so lost, during its captivity and unsettled condition, before it was carried into Solomon's temple : — at which time, we are told in the pas- sage referred to above, " there was nothing in it save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb."
What was the particular form and appearance of the cherubim over the ark, we are not told. In the first chap- ter of Ezekiel a description is given of four living crea- tures, as they appeared to the prophet in vision, which sup- ported the throne of God, and bore it in majesty from place to place. Each of them had four faces, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, the face of an eagle, and the face of a man; all attached to a body resembling that of a man, which was furnished with four wings, together with hands such as men have, under them, and stood upon feet like those of a calf. These are called cherubim. (Ez. x. 15,20.) Some have imagined, that the appearance which they are represented to have had, was the common and proper ap- pearance that belonged to all figures of cherubim ; and so, of course, that we are to consider those which stood over the mercy-seat to have been made after the same fashion. But it seems more natural, from the account that is given of these last, to suppose that they had each only a single face ; for it is said that their faces were made to look one toward another, which could not well be if they had more than one a piece. No intimation is given, either, that these had more than two wings, though it is not asserted that they had only the one pair, and may be imagined, that, while they stretched these before them, so as to meet over the sacred covering of the ark, they were furnished with others to cover the lower parts of their bodies, in token of reverence and humility. (Is. vi. 2. Rev. iv. 8.)
It appears most probable, therefore, that the cherubim mentioned in scripture were not, in every case, of the same form. We are not to imagine, that in any case their
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figure and appearance were such as actually belong to any kind of existing creatures. They were mere emblems, intended to represent something else by symbolical signs, whether seen in vision, as they appeared to Ezekiel and to the Apostle John, or formed by art, as they were for the tabernacle and the temple. They appear evidently to have been designed to represent the holy angels, who attend continually before the throne of God, and delight to per- form his will. Their wings signified the readiness and swiftness with which they execute the divine commands. Their faces, which seem always to have been one or more of those four that have been mentioned, denoted wisdom and power, activity and irresistible strength. Those which Ezekiel and John saw, were full of eyes, to express the great knowledge that belongs to the ministering spirits of heaven, the quickness of understanding with which they receive every intimation of God's most holy pleasure, and the clear unerring certainty with which they instantly move to carry it into accomplishment. (Ezek. x. 12. Rev. iv. 6 — 8.) To present still more significantly their cha- racters as ministering servants, and to emblem, at the same time, the unutterable grandeur of the Divine Ma- jesty, they were represented as bearing the Almighty with immeasurable speed wherever it was his will to go. In the vision of the prophet, he saw, stretched forth over the heads of the cherubim above, the likeness of a firma- ment as the colour of the terrible crystal ; and above upon the firmament, was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah, throned in magnificent splendour The cherubim lifted up their wings, when directed, and bore the whole whithersoever the Spirit was to go, with move- ment of awful sublimity ; when they went, the noise of their wings was like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host ! In another magnificent description of the majesty and power of the Most High, it is said ; He rode upon a cherub, and did fly ; yea, lie did fiy upon the wings of the wind! (Ps. xviii. 10.)
The Glory of the Lord visibly displayed above the mercy-seat, was in the appearance of a cloud. "The Lord said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he
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come not at all times into the holy place within the vail, before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark ; that he die not : for / will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat." (Lev. xvi. 2.) This manifestation of the Divine Presence, was called among- the Jews, the Shechinah. Its appearance was attended, no doubt, with an excellent glory, of which we can form no proper conception, and such as it was ex- ceedingly awful for dying sinful man to look upon. Out of this cloud, the voice of God was uttered with deep so- lemnity, when he was consulted in behalf of the people, so as to be heard through the vail in the Holy Place. (Numb. vii. 89.) This was the appointed way of holding direct in- tercourse with the Holy One of Israel ; There 1 will meet with thee, was his declaration, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat. There is some reason to think, that it was on this account the tabernacle was called, at times, the Tabernacle of meeting, (translated, also, Tabernacle of the congregation :) this name, how- ever, may have been given to it, because it was the great centre of worship round which the congregation was wont to be assembled. From the situation of the glorious Shechinah, God is spoken of as dwelling between the cheru- bim. (Ps. lxxx. 1. xcix. 1.) Hence, also, the ark is repre- sented as his footstool, above which he sits, enthroned, a? it were, upon the wings of the cherubim. (1 Chron. xxviii 2. Ps. xcix. 5.)
The Holiest of all, was a figure of Heaven, where God dwells in infinite and eternal glory ; where his throne is established in righteousness and in judgment ; where thou- sand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, all pure and happy spirits, minister before him, and contem- plate, with adoring wonder, the perfections of his charac- ter, as they unfold upon their vision, with ever new discovery, age after age, without end. Thus we are taught by the Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews.
As God was, in a peculiar sense, the King of the Israel- itish nation, it may not be improper, perhaps, to look upon the tabernacle as being, in some sort, the royal palace in which he was pleased to dwell among the people ; from which he issued his laws, and to which his subjects were required to come to do him honour, presenting themselves e2
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before him with their homage and tribute. In this view, the priests also were royal servants attending upon the monarch, and composing his court; and all the furniture of the sacred tent had relation to the idea of a princely house, in which it is common to find full and rich pro- vision made for comfort and convenience in every way. Thus it was lighted in brilliant and expensive style, as be- fitted a palace, and furnished with a table supplied with its various utensils, and continually spread with provision. This idea, however, if it be not utterly without reason or truth, enters only secondarily, and, as it were, accidentally, into the original design of the tabernacle. The analogy imagined between its arrangement and service, and the manner of an earthly royal court, is slight in every case, and in most particulars fails altogether ; so that it is evi- dent its whole constitution and order had regard, in the divine plan, to something entirely different. Its great purpose was to present, symbolically, the glorious reality which the gospel unfolds — the mystery of mercy into which angels desire to look, whereby God can be just, while he justifies the' sinner, renews his intercourse of friendship and love with a fallen rebel race, and out of the deep pollution of guilt and the abyss of infinite ruin, raises a multitude which no man can number, to mingle in spotless purity with the great family of Heaven, where in his presence there is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore.
It signified, that a fearful separation had taken place between God and the human race. It represented God as seated upon a throne of holiness, and jealous of the honour of his perfect laws ; a being in whose sight iniquity can never stand, and whose righteousness will by no means clear the guilty. It represented man to be under the con- demnation of sin — polluted, ignorant, helpless, and lost. It was intimated, accordingly, that communion, direct, free, and happy, with his Maker, such as is granted to pure and unfallen spirits, was, in his case, forfeited completely ; that sin had created a hinderance in the way of it, which no power of his was sufficient ever to remove ; that he was shut out from the favour of God ; that his prayer could have no regard in Heaven ; that the presence of the Al-
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mighty, if he were brought into it, could be to him only a consuming fire, full of terror and death. The way into the Holiest of all was barred against approach with awful solemnity.
At the same time, it was signified, that God had, with amazing goodness, provided a remedy for the dreadful evil, and devised means to remove entirely the hinderance so terrific, that rose to shut the sinner for ever from his favour. Indeed, the nature and extent of the evil were displayed only in the representation of the remedy ; the picture itself was, in all respects, a picture of mercy ; of mercy triumphant over sin and death: and it was in the exhibition of the victory alone, that the terribleness of the difficulty which it had to overcome was brought into view. God was represented as seated upon the throne of grace as wellas of holiness and justice : the ark, while it guard- ed the tables of the eternal law, was covered with the mercy-seat. Righteousness and mercy, it was intimated, were met together in mysterious union, such as infinite wisdom alone could contrive, and only infinite power could accomplish; such as fills all Heaven with adoration and wonder, and causes angels to bend forward, as it were, with the most earnest interest, to contemplate its unspeak- able glory. (1 Pet. i. 12. Rev. v. 11 — 13.) Communica- tion was represented to be restored between the Holy One and the ruined sinner. God could regard the prayer of man, pardon his guilt, remove his impurity, extend to him the" richest blessings of his grace, and in the end receive him into his own presence in glory, as if he had never of- fended. But all this is secured only through a most ex- traordinary array of means, and with expense beyond all parallel. The way to the throne is open, but not for the guilty to rush before it in his own person: his desires may be presented there and answered, but only as they come recommended by the mediation of another : that mediation is all-prevailing, but only as it is founded in full and com- plete atonement, equal to the utmost demand of a broken law. Thus, in the service of the tabernacle, there waa provided a priesthood, to stand between the Most High and the tribes of his chosen people ; and so before the Most Holy Place there was erected an altar of perpetual
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intercession ; and without, in front of the entrance of the sanctuary, an altar of continual atonement. By blood, and by water, and by incense, God was to be approached. In the church of Jesus Christ, we find the great realities themselves which were thus represented in shadowy type. The Son of God is the glorious Mediator, who makes re- conciliation for iniquity, by whom sinners may draw near to Jehovah, and by whom the grace of Heaven finds its way in overflowing streams to their dark and polluted souls. He is able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him, because he ever lives to make interces- sion for them ; and his intercession cannot fail to be pre- valent, because it is founded upon an atonement of infinite value — he has appeared on earth to take away sin by one amazing and sufficient sacrifice, the sacrifice of Himself. (Heb. vii. 25. ix. 26.) In the church, there is thus secured every thing that is needful for man, in order to restore him to fellowship with his Maker here on earth, to create him anew in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after the image in which he was originally made, and to introduce him at last without moral spot or blemish into the full happiness of heaven.
We have now surveyed the whole of the ancient taber- nacle. Every person must be struck with the exceedingly expensive style in which it was made. What an amount of labour, what an expense of the most skilful and curious workmanship, what an astonishing worth of the most rare and precious materials, were joined in the erection of a single tent ! Hereby it was signified, as it was also in every part of the worship connected with the sanctuary, that God is to be honoured with the most perfect service which men have it in their power to render ; and that we can never do too much for the honour of God, or become extravagant in the measure of our zeal and activity for His glory. This costliness and magnificence, however, had also its typical meaning in correspondence with the great design of the whole building. As the whole was an em- blematic representation of the great mystery of redeeming grace displayed in the church, it was fit that it should be clothed in every part with the greatest degree of worldly splendour and value, to signify the transcendent glory and
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preciousness of this mystery, and the moral magnificence of that church in which it is found.
After the work was all finished, it was set apart for the service of God by a solemn ceremony of consecration. — Moses was commanded to set all up in proper order, and to anoint the whole with holy anointing oil. This oil was compounded with particular care, according to the direc- tion of God himself, and, like the sacred incense already noticed, might never be employed for any other purpose than that for which it was ordered to be made, nor imitated at all by any composition for common use : thus it became holy, and sanctified the things and persons that were anointed with it ; that is, separated them from common worldly service and dedicated them with solemn appro- priation to God. (Ex. xxx. 23 — 33. xl. 9 — 11. Lev. viii. 10, 11.) We are informed, moreover, that both the taber- nacle and all the vessels of its ministry were sprinkled with blood. (Heb. ix. 21.) Thus they were purified and prepared for their holy use.
In the wilderness the tabernacle always stood, where- ever the Israelites stopped, in the midst of the camp. Im- mediately around its court were pitched the tents of the priests and Levites ; the priests having their place to the east before the entrance, the family of Gershom to the west, that of Cohath to the south, and that of Merari to the north. Outside of these, at some distance, the other tribes encamp- ed in four great divisions, each consisting of three tribes. Each of these divisions had its separate standard and prin- cipal tribe by whose name it was distinguished. On the east was the camp of Judah, including the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon : on the south side, the camp of Reuben, including the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad ; on the west, the camp of Ephraim, including the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin ; on the north, the camp of Dan, including the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. When the signal was given to march, the taber- nacle was taken down, and all its parts committed to the care of the Levites, to be carried to the next place of en- campment. Each of the three families of the Levites had its particular charge in this service assigned to it by the Lord. The care of the most holy things — the sacred fur-
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niture of the tabernacle and its court, were intrusted to the sons of Kohath ; and they were required to carry the whole upon their shoulders. For convenient carriage, the ark, the table, and both the altars were furnished with rings, through which staves or poles, prepared for the purpose, were made to pass, by means of which they might be lifted and borne. The staves which belonged to the ark were never taken out of their rings, but remained there when the tabernacle was set up ; those which belonged to the table and the altars were put into their rings only when they were to be used. In marching, the camp of Judah moved forward first; then followed the camp of Reuben ; next came the Levites with the several parts of the tabernacle ; immediately after them the camp of Ephraim set forward ; the camp ot' Dan brought up the rear. (Num. ii. 1 — 34. iii. 17 — 38. iv. 1 — 33.) Bearing in mind the order both of encampment and march, in which the camp of the chil- dren of Joseph had its place always directly behind the ta- bernacle, we may understand that introduction of the Psalmist's prayer, — " Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel ! Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest be- tween the cherubim, shine forth ! Before Fphraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come and save us." (Ps. Ixxx. 1, 2.)
Every encampment and removal was determined by di- vine direction. On the day the tabernacle was reared up, in testimony of God's presence and approbation, a cloud — the marvellous manifestation of the divine presence which had before led them out of Egypt — overshadowed it, and it was filled with the glory of the Lord. By this cloud they were afterwards, continually, in all their journeyings, admonished when to rest, and when and whither to pro- ceed. While it rested over the tent, the Israelites jour- neyed not, whether it was for a shorter or longer time. But when it was taken up, by day or by night, at once the whole camp was in motion : the tabernacle was taken down ; every necessary preparation was instantly made for marching ; and onward, in whatever course the cloud con- ducted, the tribes, in their appointed order, Began to move. Again, when the cloud stood still, and not before, they stopped, erected the tabernacle where it hovered on high
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waiting to descend upon its sacred resting' place, and pitch- ed their tents in regular encampment round about. By night this mysterious cloud had the appearance of fire. (Ex. xl. 34 — 38. Num. ix. 15 — 23.) To this glorious mani- festation of the divine presence, overshadowing, protecting, and guiding the tabernacle and the chosen people in the wilderness, the prophet Isaiah beautifully alludes, in de- scribing the happy and secure condition of the gospel church. (Is. iv. 5, 6. Zech ii. 5.) Through the wilderness of this world, the church, and every individual believer, is guarded and guided by the presence of Christ and the powerful grace of the Holy Spirit, onward to the land of promise — the rest that remaineth for the people of God.
After the Israelites had entered into the land of Canaan, under the command of Joshua, the tabernacle was first set up at Gilgal. There it continued till the land was conquer- ed. The ark, however, was separated from it, and carried before the army in the wars of the time. As soon as the affairs of the country were settled in peace, it was removed from Gilgal and set up at Shiloh, a town in the tribe of Ephraim. Here it stood till after the death of Eli, consi- derably more than three hundred, perhaps four hundred years. (Josh, xviii. 1. 1 Sam. i. 3, 7, 9.) Hence Shiloh became a peculiarly sacred place, such as Jerusalem after wards was, on account of the temples. (Jer. vii. 12 — 15. xxvi. 6 — 9.) Here the ark abode in its place, and hither the tribes of the Lord came up to worship. At last, however, being carried out to the field of war, (when Israel had been smitten before the Philistines, and vainly dream- ed that its presence would save them, while yet they dis- honoured the Lord himself by their sins, and repented not of their idolatries, to give glory to his name,) it was taken captive by the uncircumcised heathen. (1 Sam. iv. 1 — 22.) The Philistines were soon compelled to send it into its own country again, but it was never after restored, it seems, to its plac in the tabernacle. In the days of Saul, the taber- nacle was removed from Shiloh to Nob, for what reason we are not informed. (1 Sam. xxi. 1 — 9.) In the reisrn of David we find it again removed, and stationed at Gibeon. (1 Chron. xxi. 29.) The ark, meanwhile, having timed about seventy years at Kirjath-jearim, (to which pL.ce it
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had been brought after its return from the land of the Phi- listines,) was brought soon after David's settlement upon the throne, to Jerusalem. The first attempt to bring it up was interrupted by the unhappy death of Uzzah, in conse- quence of which it was carried aside into the house of Obed-edom. After three months, however, the king solemn- ly assembled the priests, Levites, and elders of the people, and again went to fetch it unto the royal city, with more order and reverence than had been observed on the former occasion. It was now carried, not on a new cart, but on the shoulders of the Levites, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord, and so was happily brought up the rest of the way with the high sounding noise of music and joy. In Jerusalem, it was lodged in a tent which David caused to be prepared there for its reception. (1 Chron. xiii. 1 — 14. xv. 1 — 29.) There it continued till it was carried into the temple. — The tabernacle, we are in- formed, was, in the commencement of Solomon's reign, found still at Gibeon. (2 Chron. i. 2 — 13.) Finally, its sacred fabric, and all its holy vessels, were removed like- wise to the temple, and so all its glory and its use were transferred to this larger and still more magnificent house.
CHAPTER III.
THE TEMPLE.
The Jewish temple next claims our consideration. — Its general plan was the same with that of the tabernacle ; only it was larger and more splendid, and had the fixed structure of a house, while the other was a moveable tent. The meaning of each was the same ; the one was but a continuation of the holy sanctuary which had its origin with the other, and took the place of that other, accord- ingly, as the centre of the same great system of ceremonial worship, that was instituted at first in the wilderness. The temple itself did not continue the same building. Its first form perished with the great captivity ; afterwards a new house rose in its stead. Thus there was & first, and a second temple. Each of these is entitled to notice. Before we take notice of either, however, it will be proper to take a hasty survey of the city of Jerusalem in which they stood. The holiness of the temple extended itself in some measure over all the city. Jerusalem was not like other cities, even of the sacred land. It was the place which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes, to put his name there. (Deut. xii. 5.) It was the city of God — the city of the Great King, whose gates he loved more than all the dwellings of Jacob. (Ps. xlviii. 1 — 14.1xxxvii. 1 — 7.) Hence it was styled em- phatically the Holy City ; and by this name it is distin- guished in the east to this day.
SECTION I. THE HOLY CITY.
Jerusalem is supposed by many to have been originally called Salem; and so it is imagined, that the ancient city thus named, of which Melchisedek was king, was no other
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than this, that became at a later period the capital of the Jewish kingdom. By the Canaanites it was called Jebus. When the land was taken by Joshua, the inhabitants of this city, though their king was subdued, could not be ut- terly driven out by the Israelites ; but having fortified themselves in the strongest part of it, they continued to dwell there for several hundred years. (Josh. xv. 63.) At length, however, their strong hold was taken by David, and the Jebusites were for ever cut off from Jerusalem. — The strong hold in which they had so long defied the strength of Israel, was on Mount Zion, which, from the time of its capture was distinguished with the name of the City of David. (2 Sam. v. 6—9.)
Jerusalem was situated on the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It was builded over three neighbouring hills, Zion, Moriah, and one of less elevation than the others, named in later time, Acra. On three sides, it was bounded by valleys, separating it from mountainous heights that girded it round about with perpetual protec- tion. (Ps. exxv. 1, 2.) On the north it was not provided with the same natural security : its border on that side was distinguished indeed as on the others, by a considerable de- clivity, but the country beyond was more open. Hence the city was commonly attacked by its enemies on the north side, as an army could not approach it from any other quaiter, without great difficulty. The whole was surround- ed with great and strong walls, and each of the hills just mentioned had, besides, a wall of its own. In the time of our Saviour there was a considerable suburb formed to the north of the town, called the New City ; this at length was enclosed also with .walls by king Agrippa. All these walls were fortified with numerous towers. The compass of the whole city round about, was between four and five miles.
The most lofty of the three hills that have been men- tioned was Zion, called also, as we have seen, the city of David. It appears to have occupied the southern quarter of the city. Close over against it, on the east of its northern part, rose the hill of Moriah. Acra was situated more di- rectly north of it. The part of the town which was built on Mount Zion, received also the name of the Upper City, while that which extended itself over Acra was called the
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Lower City. Zion was distinguished by noble and costly buildings ; among others the citadel of David, and the royal palace, could not tail to attract a stranger's attention. Acra showed the greatest number of streets and houses ; the most considerable portion of the whole city spread its popu- lation over this hill. Moriah, however, had more honour than either of these hills ; on its summit was erected the temple. It was very steep, and so small at the top ori- ginally, as not to afford sufficient room for the sacred build- ing and the courts that were to be connected with it. But by means of walls, built up from the valleys at its bottom to the same height with it, the surface above was extended, so as at last to be about half a mile in compass.
The city was separated on the east side from the Mount of Olives, by the deep, narrow valley of Cedron, through which flowed the brook of the same name, mentioned in Scripture. This brook or torrent, commences not far north- ward of Jerusalem, and having passed along the side of it, through the valley just mentioned, takes afterwards an easterly direction, and finds its way into the Dead Sea. It is completely dry, except during the rainy season, when it gathers a dark and muddy stream from the neighbouring hills. The valley or chasm down which it flows by the city, has been thought to be the same that is called by the prophet Joel, the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
The Mount of Olives spreads its dry and sandy height immediately east of this inconstant torrent. It rises with considerable steepness right over against the city, and is altogether more lofty than the highest parts of it ; so that from the summit of Olivet, the eye overlooks Jerusalem's whole scenery of buildings and streets with perfect ease. This mount was often honoured with the presence of the Saviour. In his visits to Jerusalem, he was not accustomed, it seems, to lodge in the city, but used to go out to the vil- lage of Bethany, which was about two miles off, over on the Mount of Olives, where he was entertained by a pious and happy family, for which he had a particular regard. (Matt.xxi.17.Mark xi. 11, 19. John xii. 1—3.) Bethphage was on the same hill, not far from Bethany, near the road that led from Jerusalem to Jericho. There the disciples were sent for the colt, on that memorable occasion when
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our Lord made his last visit to the guilty metropolis of Ju- dea. When it was brought to him, he sat upon it, and rode forward in triumph to the city. As he drew near, it spread before his sight in all its magnificence and pride. But tc the kind Redeemer it presented only a melancholy specta- cle. He saw it polluted with the deepest defilement of guilt — he saw the cloud of heaven's awful vengeance hung above its splendour, ready to burst and sweep it with un- sparing desolation — he remembered, at the same time, its glory of many generations, its sacred privileges, its holy name — andJie wept over it ! (Luke xix. 29 — 44.) Not long after, from the summit of the same hill, he rose with a far more excellent triumph, attended by rejoicing angels, and sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. (Acts i. 9 — 12.) Just over from the bottom of the more northern part of Moriah, between the Cedron and the foot of Olivet, there is showed to the traveller an even plat of ground, about 170 feet square, well planted with olive trees. This, he is informed, is that garden to which Jesus oft-times resorted with his disciples, into which he entered the night before his death, where, in agony, he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, and where the wretched Judas betrayed him in the dark and silent hour — the Garden of Geth- semane. As from the top of the Mount of Olives, the eye, directed toward the west, looks over Jerusalem, so, when turned the other way, it ranges across a far more extensive prospect. Before it, stretches the wilderness of Jericho ; and downward, towards the south, the wilderness of Judea; far forward in the view to the right, it descries the sluggish waters of the Dead Sea, gathered over the ruin of Sodom and Gomorrah; and away beyond Jordan, over against Je- richo, the mountains from which Moses beheld the pro- mised land.
On the south side of Jerusalem, starting from the valley of Cedron and running westward, was Gehena, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, called also, Tophet. (Jer. vii. 31, 32.) It was originally a very agreeable retreat, delightfully shaded with trees. But it became a scene of idolatrous abomination — a place consecrated to the dreadful worship of Moloch. To the image of this idol-god, were offered
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children in cruel sacrifice. Their own parents brought them forward, and caused them to be placed on the arms of the brazen statue, from which they dropped into a furnace of fire, that was kept burning' before it, and perished with- out pity. To drown the cries of the miserable victims, drums of some sort, it is said, were beaten during the sacrifices ; and as the Hebrew name for such an instru- ment is Toph, it has been supposed by many, that the part of the valley where this idol was worshipped, got its name of Tophet from this circumstance. Good king Josiah, who vigorously attempted to take away idolatry from the land, defiled this place, we are told, " that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch." (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) He caused it, it seems, to become a place for carcasses of animals to be removed to, and where the dead bodies of malefactors were frequently thrown. (Jer. xix. 2, 6, 11 — 14.) After the captivity, the Jews regarded it with the greatest abhorrence, and con- tinued to defile it still more than before in the same way, so that it became a great and foul receptacle for all manner of filth and dead animal matter. To prevent the pestilence which the putrefaction of such a mass was likely to breed, fires were kept constantly burning to consume it. Thus loathsome, dismal, and full of burning destruction, the place came to be considered an image of hell, and the word Gehenna grew at last to be the common name for that awful dwelling-place of the damned, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched.
From the foot of Mount Zion, where Mount Moriah stands, directly over against it, flowed the fountain of Siloam or Shiloah. Its waters were conducted into two large pools, the Upper and the Lower, from which they might be conveniently used ; what were not required for use, glided with quiet and gentle stream into the channel of the Cedron. (Is. vii. 3. viii. 6. xxii. 9, 11. John ix. 7.) At present, according to the account of our late Missionaries to Palestine, " the fountain issues from a rock, twenty or thirty feet below the surface of the ground," to which there are steps for persons to go down. " Here it flows out without a single murmur, and appears clear as crystal. Prim this place, it winds its way several rods under the f2
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mountain : then it makes its appearance with gentle gurg- ling, and forming a beautiful rill, takes its way down into the valley towards the south-east." On the borders of this humble streamlet, were the Gardens of the Kings, abound- ing no doubt with shady trees and walks of pleasant beauty. It has been imagined, that the upper pool was designed principally for supplying these gardens with water, and so was called also the king's pool. (Neh. ii. 14. iii. 15.) Somewhere near this fountain, we may suppose, stood that tower, called by its name, which fell in the days of our Saviour, and killed eighteen persons. (Luke xiii. 4.) There was quite a deep valley in this quarter, between the hills of Zion and Moriab. Over it was erected a beautiful bridge, or causeway, planted on each side with a row of stately trees, which, while they secured the borders of the walk, overhung it also with pleasant and refreshing shade. This was raised originally by king Solomon, among his other magnificent works, and led directly from the royal palace to one of the gates of the temple-court. It was designed to be a convenient and agreeable passage for the king to visit the house of God, and was, accordingly, the common way by which the monarchs of Israel went to, and returned from, its sacred courts. (2 Chron. ix. 4.)
The city was bordered on the west by the valley of Gu hon. It does not appear to have been very deep, and had nothing about it, as far as we know, worthy of particular remark. Behind it there was all along a height rising considerably above the town, so that when a person was coming from the west, he could see nothing of Jerusalem, till he got on the summit of this elevation; when, all at once, directly before him, its walls, and towers, and palaces, and solemn temple, burst upon his sight.
A little distance out of the city, to the north-west, was the hill called Golgotha or Calvary. It was the place ap- pointed for the execution of malefactors. There our Lord was crucified, though he had done no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth ; and thus that spot became the theatre of the most astonishing and interesting transaction that ever took place on earth.
It was a beautiful sight, to look upon Jerusalem in the days of her ancient glory. That glory however has long
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since passed away. It perished first under the desolating power of the Chaldeans, 588 years before Christ came into the world. Then it was that the eye of the prophet Jere- miah ran down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of his people. "The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem :" but a righteous God, for the multitude of her transgressions, gave her into the hands of the heathen. " The Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger !" The beauty of Israel was the temple, and the footstool of Jehovah was the sacred ark of the covenant over which the Shechinah abode in glory between the cherubim. (Lam. ii. 1 — 8. iv. 12.) Yet afterwards, the city was seen rising again upon its ruins. The Jews endeavoured, with the greatest zeal, to restore it to its former splendour. From age to age it received im- provement, and went on recovering beauty and magnifi- cence. Herod the Great, at last, just before the time of our Saviour, brought the glory of its second state to its highest point of perfection. He was fond of great and splendid buildings, and wished to procure respect and honour for himself by the noble works of art which he caused to be finished. Vast, therefore, were the sums of money which he expended in different ways for the em- bellishment of Jerusalem. Thus the city came to rival, and in some respects to excel, its former self. Again it was a beautiful sight to stand upon Olivet, and look over its irregular extent. But the horror of its first desolation was now to be renewed and surpassed in a second overthrow. The measure of iniquity was at length filled to overflowing, by the crucifixion of the Lord of life and glory. The cry of guilt went up to heaven with exceeding loudness. The vengeance of the Holy One displayed itself in overwhelming terror. Jerusalem, after a siege in which sufferings alto- gether indescribable were endured, fell once more, utterly crushed beneath the weight of the Roman arm. The abo- mination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, was seen standing in the holy place. The sacred city was
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trodden under foot of the Gentiles. The name and place of the Jewish nation, in the midst of streaming blood, and desolating- flames, was taken* entirely away.
Jerusalem became a city again ; but not to compare in any sort with her former state. Oppression hindered her growth, and war from age to age, sported with her feeble strength. Her own children were scattered into every corner of the earth, and strangers crowded her streets. — For a long time now, it has been pressed under the mis- erable government of the Turks. So much has it suffered from the ravages of war, and so much have different spots within and around it been altered by other means, that it is no longer easy to trace even the most striking features of its ancient situation. Its hills have been in some cases lowered, and its valleys raised ; so that to the spectator some distance off, it appears to be all situated upon one general declivity, gently sloping from west to east. But on a nearer view, it is perceived to be still resting on seve- ral hills, among which the forms of Zion and Moriah are discovered rising with principal importance. The south wall passes over Zion, near its summit, so that a great part of the mountain is without the city. The north wall, on the contrary, has been made to take in, on that side, more than was anciently enclosed, so as to bring into the north- west part of the town what is supposed to be the hill Cal- vary. The whole city, it is thought, contains not more than twenty thousand inhabitants. Half of these are Mohammedans, rather more than a fourth part Jews, and the remainder nominal Christians of different sects, who have lost almost entirely the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. The streets are narrow, and most of them irregular ; the houses generally low, with flat roofs and small grated windows. The summit of Moriah, where once the temple of Jehovah rose in sacred magnificence and grandeur, is now crowned with the mosque of Omar, a distinguished place of Mohammedan worship ; and none but a Mussul- man may pass the wall that surrounds it, on pain of instant death. — " After all our research," the missionaries write, " we compare Jerusalem to a beautiful person whom we have not seen for many years, and who has passed through a great variety of changes and misfortunes, which have
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caused the rose on her cheeks to fade, her flesh to consume away, and her skin to become dry and withered, and have covered her face with the wrinkles of age ; but who still re- tains some general features, by which we recognise her as the person who used to be the delight of the circle in which she moved. Such is the present appearance of this Holy City, which was once the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth."
SECTION II. THE FIRST TEMPLE.
The idea of building a Temple for the Lord was first excited in the mind of David. God would not allow him however, to execute the design, because he had been a man of war and had shed blood. It was declared to him, never- theless, that his son who should succeed him on the throne, would be permitted to erect the sacred building. (1 Chron. xvii. 1 — 15.)
Still, the good king was not forbidden to bear his part in the great work, as far as he could help forward its future accomplishment by making preparation for it beforehand. His piety, accordingly, displayed itself in this way in a very interesting manner. All his life, it appears, he had been in the habit of consecrating a very large portion of his worldly property to the Lord, to be employed in his service. (2 Sam. viii. 11.) But in his latter days his zeal and activity for God grew still more conspicuous. The temple, though he was never to see it with his own eyes, became the object of his unceasing and most lively in- terest. No care or expense which might contribute to its perfection, seemed to him too great to be incurred. Great, therefore, exceedingly, was the preparation which he caused to be made for this end. In his trouble he prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver ; and of brass and iron without weight, by reason of abundance; timber also and stone, hewed for use, in great quantity ; and •
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all manner of precious stones besides. And over and above all this preparation, because he had set his affection on the house of his God, he left, of his own proper wealth, three thou- sand talents of gold of Ophir, and seven thousand of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the sacred edifice withal. In addition to the whole, the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, stirred to pious liberality by the ge- nerosity of their king, offered willingly a large sum for the same good design. Altogether, therefore, the value of the materials collected for the temple, before David's death, was such as mocks calculation. (1 Chron. xxviii.2 — 5, 14 — 18. xxix. 1—9.)
Not only did the aged monarch make such a vast pre- paration for the work, for the assistance of his son, but he gave him also the exact, plan according to which the whole was to be made. In all this, he was himself instructed by the same God that revealed to Moses the pattern of the tabernacle on mount Sinai. The sacred House, as well as the sacred Tent, in which the Most High humbled himself to dwell, was not left to be contrived in any sort by human wisdom. The Lord pointed out the hill on which it should be erected, and the very spot upon that hill where the great altar of burnt-offering, that was to be in front of the sanc- tuary, should stand. (1 Chron. xxi. 18, 26, 28. xxii. 1.) Afterwards, he caused his servant, whose heart was so much set upon the work, to understand clearly the manner after which its several parts were to be constructed. (}• Chron. xxviii. 11 — 19.) David carefully delivered the en- tire plan to Solomon, committed the collected materials to his direction, solemnly charged him to be faithful in his great and honourable trust, exhorted the princes of Israel to help him with all their might, and then departed, full oi days and honour, to a better world.
Provided with such an amount of materials, Solomon undertook to execute the important work. He added ye1 more to the preparations of his father, made arrangements with Hiram king of Tyre for aid, set many thousand la- bourers to work, and in the commencement of the fourth year of his reign began to build. On mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman the
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Jebusite, the temple silently ascended. " The house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither ; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building." At the end of seven years, it stood com- plete in all its splendour — the glory of Jerusalem — the most magnificent edifice in the world. — (1 Kings v. 1 — 18. vi. 7, 37, 38.)
As has been already intimated, the top of Moriah was enlarged by art, to make room enough for the courts of the sacred house. Solomon caused a strong wall of square stones to be raised from the bottom of it, and then filled up the space between the wall and the side of the hill with earth. Thus the summit was sufficiently extended.
The temple stood like the tabernacle, with its front to- ward the east. It consisted of the Sanctuary, or sacred house itself, and a most splendid Porch rising before it. The Sanctuary was sixty cubits long, twenty broad, and thirty high, and was divided into two apartments — the Holy, and the Most Holy, Place. It was built of square stones ; but they were not to be seen in any part ; for over them, within and without, was a covering of cedar boards overspread with pure gold. The Porch, extending along the whole front of the house from north to south, and reaching forward towards the east ten cubits, ascended far above the rest of the building to no less a height than one hundred and twenty cubits. By the entrance of it, were set up two great pillars of brass, one on the right hand and the other on the left, distinguished by the names of Jachin and Boaz. The passage into this Porch, as it seems, was not closed by any door, but was left continually open.
Passing across the porch, the priest entered, through beautiful folding doors of fir, ornamented with carved figures and covered with gold, into the first apartment of the Sanctuary, the Holy Place. It was a stately room, taking in the whole breadth and height of the house, and extended forty cubits backward in length, floored, and ceil- ed, and walled around with fir and cedar, all overlaid with shining gold. Carved figures of various sorts adorned the sides and ceiling, and for beauty they were garnished be- sides with all manner of rare and precious stones. The
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apartment was not without windows, though we are not informed of their number, or manner. Its furniture was an altar of incense, overlaid with gold, standing before the Most Holy Place, as in the tabernacle, — ten tables overlaid with gold, — and ten golden candlesticks. The tables and candlesticks were ranged on the two sides, five of each on the north, and five on the south. All the instruments and vessels connected with them, which were many in number, were made of pure gold. One of the tables, we may sup- pose, was particularly designed for receiving the shew-bread.
Through another door, that closed with folds of olive- wood, covered with gold, and ornamented as those of the front one were, the High-priest, once in the year, entered into the awful Holy of holies. It was twenty cubits in length, in breadth, and in height, having the same measure every way, and all overlaid with fine gold. There, as in the tabernacle, the sacred ark that was made in the wilderness, had its secluded place, holding within it the two tables of the law, and overshadowed above by its golden cherubim. At each end of it, between it and the side wall, Solomon caused another cherub to stand, much larger than those on the mercy-seat. These two cherubim were each ten cu- bits high, made of olive-wood, and covered with gold. The wings of each were stretched out on either side ; reaching on one side to the wall, and on the other extending over the ark, so as to meet in the middle clear above the other cherubim. Over the door and the whole partition wall be- fore-this Oracle, or most holy place where God was con- sulted, there was hung a great veil, like that costly one that was made for the tabernacle.
As the whole bouse was thirty cubits high, and the Holy of holies was only twenty, it is plain there was consider- able room above it — no less than twenty cubits of length and breadth, and ten of height. How this was occupied, or whether occupied at all, we are not told. It has been con- jectured, that the materials of the tabernacle, and its sa- cred vessels and utensils that were not used in the temple, were laid up there to be carefully preserved.
Close against the wall of the house, in the north and south sides and at the west end round about, there was erected an additional structure. It consisted of three sto-
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ries, each five cubits high, which seem to have been occu- pied with chambers, having a walk or gallery running round before them, into which they opened. On the south side, there were winding stairs to go up from the first story to the second, and from that to go up to the third. This structure was close up against the walls of the sanctuary, but its beams were not allowed to be fastened into them in any way. From the bottom of the house, along the side of these walls, was started an additional wall, three cubits broad. After this rose up as high as five cubits, one third of it stopped, and became a resting place round about for the ends of the beams that supported the floor of the second story of chambers. The remainder of the wall, two cubits in breadth, went up five cubits more, and then there was another cubit left, like the first, for a resting place, on which the ends of the beams of the next floor might be placed. From there, the wall, with only the breadth of one cubit, was carried up yet five cubits more, and then stopped altogether, furnishing a third resting place, on which were supported the ends of the beams of the roof of the whole structure. Thus, while the lower story of chambers was only five cubits broad across the floor, the second was six, and the third, seven.
The first temple was surrounded with two courts or en- closures,— a smaller one, called the Inner Court, or the Court of the Priests, and a larger one round this embracing all the rest of the ground that there was to be used, which was styled the Outer Court, and also the Great Court. There were several gates by which the outer Court was en- tered,— one on the east side, one on the north side, one on the south side, and four, it seems, on the west side. The most important of these last, was the one to which the causeway from the royal palace led. There were several gates, also, between the outer and inner courts, to pass through from one to another. Around the courts, there were various buildings, for the use of the sanctuary : some of them furnished places of lodging for those who were employed in the sacred duties of the place, and others were used as depositories for different sorts of vessels and implements, and for various articles, such as flour, salt, wine, and oil, that.were needed for the temple service.
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The inner court corresponded, in general, with the court of the tabernacle. Toward the middle of it, in front of the sanctuary, stood a great Altar of burnt-offering, twenty cubits square, and ten high. (Ezek. viii. 16. Joel ii. 17. Matt, xxiii. 35.) It was furnished, also, with a huge brazen Laver, called a molten sea, five cubits high, and ten from brim to brim : this great vessel rested on the back of twelve oxen made of the same metal. In addition to this, Solomon caused ten other lavers, of much smaller size, to be set up in the court, five on the north side, and five on the south. They were placed every one upon a base, curiously wrought and fixed upon four wheels : the whole was molten-work of brass. Water was kept in these smaller lavers for washing the flesh of the victims that were sacrificed. Each of them, according to the common ejaculation of Jewish measures, held between nine and ten barrels, while the great brazen sea could contain about seven hundred. This last was appropriated altogether to typical use, — it was the Fountain for uncleanness, where the priests were required to wash, day after day, that they might not die when they drew near to minister before the Lord.
The description that is given of this temple in the Bible is short, and it is not easy to understand it completely in all its parts, by reason of our ignorance of some of the terms employed. We must rest satisfied, therefore, with a gene- ral notion of its manner. We are told enough, however, to convince us that its beauty and magnificence were such as to surpass all representation. (1 Kings, chap. vi. vii. 2 Chron. chap. iii. iv.)
It was a most interesting and solemn occasion, when, after its completion, the temple was dedicated to the Most High God. The elders of the nation, and a vast congrega- tion of the people, were assembled. The ark was borne in sacred order from Mount Zion. Sacrifices more than could be numbered were offered before it. The priests conveyed it then into the oracle, and set it in its place, beneath the wings of the two stately cherubim that stood upon the floor When they came out, an exceeding loud burst of music was sounded from the sacred choir, swelling with the harmony of voices and instruments, in vast concert, and rolling its note of grand and thrilling praise all over Jerusalem. In
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the midst of this solemnity, the cloud of Jehovah's glory took possession of the house, as it had long before filled the ta- bernacle, when it was first erected. Before its majesty the priests were not able to stand, to perform their ministry. On a brazen scaffold, before the altar, king Solomon stood and blessed tbe people, and, falling upon his knees, with his face toward the people, and his hands extended, poured forth a solemn and affecting prayer to God. When he had ended, a miraculous fire descended from heaven and con- sumed the sacrifices that were on the altar. Thus the Lord testified his approbation. The whole congregation bowed with their faces to the ground, and worshipped. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. Many thousand were the victims slain. (2 Chron. chap. v. vi. vii.)
After being completely spoiled of its treasures, this beau- tiful temple was reduced to ashes by the Babylonians. The ruin took place about four hundred and twenty years from the time of its building, when the nation was crushed and carried into captivity for their many sins.
SECTION III.
THE SECOND TEMPLE.
After the return of the Jews from their captivity, accord- ing to a decree of Cyrus the Persian king, to which he was moved by a divine influence, the foundation of a new Tem- ple was laid, under the direction of Zerubbabel. Soon after its commencement, the work was stopped for fifteen years. In the second year of the reign of Darius, God sent his word by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, to reprove the people for delaying to go on with the building, and to en- courage them to carry it forward to completion. Then it was renewed, and, in a few years, finished. We have an account of this in the book of Ezra. Thus rose, on the ruins of the first, the Second Temple, about 515 years before the birth of Christ.
When the foundations of this house were laid, the old men, who had seen the temple of Solomon, wept, because
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they thought it would fall so far short of that in glory. (Ezra iii. 12. Hag. ii. 3.) And, truly, there seemed to be much reason for such an opinion. The other had been erected in the most prosperous age of the nation, with every advantage that wealth, the most unbounded, and art, the most perfect, could unite : this was to be raised by a broken remnant of the kingdom, just restored from distant captivity to a wasted and almost deserted country. When it was completed it seemed to labour under a still more melancholy imperfection. It wanted those miraculous manifestations of divine regard, which had been displayed toward the tabernacle and the first temple, and some other most sacred advantages which they had enjoyed. No cloud of glorious majesty was seen taking possession of its newly erected sanctuary : no fire descended from heaven to kindle the sacrifice upon its altar : no Shechinah abode between the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. Alas, there was nei- ther ark, mercy-seat, or cherubim, found there ! They had perished, with the two tables of the law, in the ruin of the other temple. Thus, the oracle was without its glory. No roice sounded from behind the veil, as in ancient times, to acquaint the inquiring high-priest with the will of Heaven. Silence and darkness reigned together there year after year. Five important things, the Jews say, were wanting, in the second state of the temple, that belonged to the first : these were the Ark — the Urim and Thummim — the Fire from Heaven — the Shechinah — and the Spirit of Prophecy.
Yet this was the word of God by his prophet: / will Jill this house with glory — the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts. (Hag. ii. 6 — 9.) The outward glory of the latter house became in the end very great ; the silver and gold of the earth belong to the Lord, and he caused them to 'meet in vast quantity for the decoration of his temple : but the prophecy had in view a different and far more excellent glory. The second temple never equalled the first in the costly magnificence of its work, and wanted much that gave moral dignity and sacredness to the other : but it obtained the pre-eminence, at last, by such a manifestation of Divine Presence within its courts as the first was never permitted to enjoy. It was not honoured with the Cloud of Jehovah's glory, but it was
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distinguished by the presence of Jesus Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily — who was God himself manifest in the flesh ! (Mai. iii. 1. Col. ii. 9. 1 Tim. iii. 16.)
The second temple was completely builded over again by Herod the Great. To gratify his pride, and to recommend himself to the favour of the nation, which he was conscious of having justly forfeited by his unheard-of cruelties, he took it into his head to pull down the house which Zerub- babel had erected, and to raise in its room a new one, vastly more beautiful and magnificent. The Jews were afraid, at first, that he was not sincere in his proposal, and might, after taking down the old building, leave them without any ; for he was a deceitful and malicious man. It was not, therefore, until they saw the materials made ready for a new one, with prodigious labour and expense, that they were willing to let the other be removed. This was done only seventeen years before our Saviour appeared in the world, and in nine years and a half from that time, the main part of the new building was completed, so as to be fit for its regular service. Still, however, the work of beau- tifying and adding to the general structure, continued to be carried on many years after, even till after the Redeem- er's death. Wherefore, the Jews were not wrong, when they said to him, about the thirtieth year of his life, Forty and six years was this temple in building. (John ii. 20.) So long, at that time, was the period which had elapsed from the laying of its foundations, and all the while it had been receiving new improvement.
Let us now take a rapid view of the several parts of this second temple, as it stood in the days of our Saviour, in all its beautiful grandeur. It was, indeed, as we have just seen, the third building erected on Moriah's sacred sum- mit for the worship of God : but, because the temple put up after the captivity, had never been destroyed by enemies, like the first, and had been taken down by the Jews them- selves, merely that it might immediately rise again, with a more excellent form, both these buildings were very properly spoken of as together forming, one after the other, the same Second Temple ; which, accordingly, had its pe- g2
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riod from the time of Zerubbabel to the destruction of the city by the Romans
THE COURT OF THE GENTILES.
The top of Moriah, the Mountain of the Lord's House, (which, as already noticed, was so extended by art, as to measure about half a mile in compass, or a furlong1 square,) was enclosed by a wall, five and twenty cubits high, built around upon each side. This was the outer wall ; in some parts, perhaps pretty generally all the way round, it took its start, properly, from the base of the mountain, being no- thing else than the wall that was built, as we have seen, from the valleys below, in order to increase the surface above, carried upward twenty-five cubits higher than the summit of the hill. Prodigious, then, we may well con- ceive, was the distance directly downward, in many places, from the top of this wall on the outside, to its deep bottom in the valley beneath.
This outer wall, which was built of stone, beautiful and strong, was furnished with several gates. They were all large, and costly in their workmanship ; having each two great folds, covered over with precious metal, and so heavy that they could not be opened or shut without con- siderable effort. The most stately and costly one of all, was on the east side — if that was, indeed, as some sup- pose, the magnificent Eastern Gate, noticed by the Jewish historian, Josephus. It was covered with Corinthian brass, exceedingly splendid, and more precious than silver and gold. A flight of many steps rose to its entrance, from the deep valley of Cedron, below. A causeway, also, lifted high upon arches, stretched in front of it, across the val- ley, making a straight and level way over to the Mount of Olives, on the other side. This gate was not situated in the middle of the eastern wall, but considerably farther along towards the north end, in order that it might directly face the porch of the sanctuary, or sacred house of the temple, which was fixed, by divine direction, to the northern part of the enclosed square. It was called the King's Gate, because all the eastern side of the hill to which it belonged, had been formed, originally, by king
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Solomon, with great labour and expense, by means of a wall raised in the way that has been already noticed, from the bottom of the valley beneath. It was called, also, it seems, the Gate of Shushan, and had pictured upon it a representation of the city of Shushan, the royal capital of Persia ; in memory, according to some, of the great cap- tivity, and so for a warning against idolat^, which was the cause of it ; or, as others say, to keep up the recollec- tion of the wonderful deliverance from the malice of Ha- man, which the nation had experienced in the days of Esther, and to bring to mind, year after year, the feast of Purim, or of Lots, which was then established in that city, to be a memorial from generation to generation of the happy event. (Est. iii. viii. ix.) On the south side of the square, there were two gates, which were called the Gates of Huldah. On the west side there were as many as four : one situated well toward the north, directly opposite to the gate Shushan on the east side, which had the name of Co- ponius, and answered to the gate called, in the time of the first temple, Shallecheth, to which that royal causeway already noticed led from the dwelling place of the kings on Mount Zion ; another not far south of this, toward the middle, called Parbar : and the two gates of Asuppim, still farther toward the south. These last three had the names just mentioned, in the first state of the temple. The outer wall, on the north side, also, was provided, it is said, with a gate, situated exactly in the middle of it.
All these gates had towers erected above them. An open space of several cubits in extent, was left around each, where the people were accustomed to assemble. On either side of them within, there were buildings or houses, standing close against the wall, two stories high, for the porters and others to lodge in, and for depositories or stores in which were kept various treasures, utensils, and arti- cles for service, that belonged to the temple.
All around, along the inward side of this outer wall, stretching from gate to gate, there were piazzas, or cover- ed walks, most beautiful and stately to behold. These were called Porches. Along the eastern, northern, and western sides, they were merely double, that is, they con- sisted of two broad covered walks, one adjoining the wall,
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and the other running by the side of this one, separated from it simply by a row of pillars ; but on the southern side, the porch was triple, consisting of three such piazzas, or walks. The flooring of these walks was, all along, a smooth and solid pavement of marble of different colours; the roof was flat, made of costly cedar, and covered with cement to keep it from being injured by the rain ; it rested on rows of pillars, hewn out of white marble, and so large that three men could scarcely stretch their arms so as to meet around them. Where the porches were only double, they were furnished with three such rows of pillars : first, one close up against the wall ; then, fifteen cubits over from that, another ; and, farther out still from the wall, fif- teen cubits more, a third. Thus the two walks formed to- gcther a breadth of thirty cubits, divided merely by the middle row of pillars, and overshadowed by a lofty roof. The pillars were about twenty-five cubits high ; so that the rooi", borne up on the three rows, was lifted to a height equal with the top of the outer wall. Along the south side, as there were three walks, so there were four rows of pil- lars. The walk that was next to the wall, and the one that was farthest out from it, were just equal in breadth and height with the walks that stretched along the other sides ; but the middle one of the three, was twice as high and nearly three times as broad as any of the rest, so that its roof was raised as much as twenty-five cubits above the roofs of the common walks that lay along with it on either side, and spread itself out on high at a distance of fifty cubits from the broad and beautiful pavement be- neath. It was a most noble piazza, and could not fail to fill the spectator with the highest admiration, when he walked between its gigantic pillars, and lifted up his eyes to its ceiling of rich cedar, extended in lofty grandeur over his head. When a person stood above, on the roof of this middle walk, he could hardly look down into the valley on the outside of the wall, without becoming dizzy, the distance to the bottom of it was so fearfully great. It is said to have been no less than five hundred cubits, or 750 feet. This roof seems to have been that pinnacle of the temple, to which our Saviour was brought by the Devil, and from which the foul tempter urged him to cast himself down.
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over the outer wall, into the tremendous deep below. (Matt. iv. 5—7.)
These covered walks furnished a pleasant retreat for the people, in warm weather, or when it was raining. They were furnished with convenient seats along the wall, for persons to sit upon. All the day, people might be seen moving backwards and forwards along between the rows of stately pillars, or resting themselves on the beautiful benches, underneath the broad and friendly shelter that was here provided. The porch that lay along the east side, was called Solomon's Porch, because, as was stated a short time ago, all this side of the hill had been raised with spe- cial labour from the bottom of the valley, by that ancient monarch. (John x. 23. Actsiii. 11. v. 12.)
When a stranger entered the sacred ground, through any of the gates of the outer wall which surrounded the whole, he beheld the House of the temple rising with lofty magnificence, from the north-western part of the hill. But the space was not clear all the way up to it. Going forward a small distance, he came to another wall, enclos- ing a considerable portion of ground that was deemed more holy than the rest of the hill left on the outside of it. The space between this second wall and the outer wall already noticed, was not by any means of the same breadth on every side. On the west and north sides it was quite narrow, and it was not much wider on the east side ; but to the south it took up about half of the whole hill : thus the second wall did not enclose a square with equal sides, buf a piece of ground somewhat more than twice as long as it was broad, reaching across from west to east within the northern half of the great square enclosed by the outer one. The space between these two walls round about, was the Court of the Gentiles.
Into this Court all persons had liberty to come, whether they belonged to the Jewish nation or not. It was called the Court of the Gentiles, not because it was given up par- ticularly to the Gentiles, for their use, but because it was the only one to which they were admitted : further than this first court nouncircumcised person was allowed to pass. It was in this Court of the Gentiles, that markets were kept for the sale of incense, oil, wine, doves, lambs, oxen,
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and of every thing, in short, that was wanted for the sacri- fices of the temple. These markets appear to have had their particular place on the east side of the court, and to- ward the southern quarter. Here, persons coming- from a distance, bought whatever ihey wished for the purpose of making offerings to the Lord. In the same court the money-changers sat, to receive Greek and Roman money, such as was in common use, in exchange for Jewish half- shekels, with one of which every man.was required to pay his yearly tribute to the sanctuary. They took their sta- tions, a short time before the Passover, in the Porches, with tables mil of coin before them, ready to accommodate all who wanted to exchange. In doing this, they required a small fee to be allowed to themselves in every instance, which, because there was so much of it to be done, made their bu- siness quite profitable. It was very convenient, to have markets at hand, and to have these money-changers to ap- ply to, when persons attended at the temple ; but then it was a great abuse to admit this sort of business into the temple-court, for it was mere worldly business after all, and oftentimes was carried on with unjust and avaricious fraud. Yet the unfaithful priests not only suffered this abuse, but encouraged it with their authority. Jesus Christ, however, would not let it pass without chastisement. On two several occasions, at least, as we are informed, he turn- ed the whole company of profane dealers out of the temple, driving their animals out with them,, and overthrowing the tables of the money-changers. (John ii. 14 — 17. Matt. xxi. 12, 13.) When we consider, that quite a number were engaged in this traffic, and that it was carried on accord- ing to established usage, and still more, that it was carried on under the approbation and authority of the priests, the rulers of the temple — we must feel, that it was a wonder- ful miracle which our Saviour wrought in these cases, and that it could only be a divine power over the hearts of men, to turn them at his pleasure, that a single, poor, and hated individual could accomplish such a measure with- out assistance
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THE COURT OF THE WOMEN.
We are now ready to pass onward from the Court of the Gentiles, into the holier ground, that was enclosed by the second wall lately mentioned. By the sides of the gates that were in this wall, pillars were placed, on which were peen inscriptions in Greek and Latin, forbidding-, with large btters, all entrance to Gentiles of every nation, and to every person polluted by the dead.
In passing through this wall by any of its gates, persons had to go up several steps till they found themselves on the inside of it, as much as six cubits higher than the level of fhe Court of the Gentiles, which had just been left. Then there lay before them a level space ten cubits broad, at the other side of which stood another wall, a great deal higher and stronger than the one just passed, which was quite low. Thus all around there was this space, ten cubits in breadth, between these two walls, which persons had to pass over before they got into another court. Wherever there was a gate in the low wall, there was another just over against it in the high one, so that those who were passing out or in might go straight forward from one to the other. The space between the two walls was paved with marble. The high wall just mentioned was considerably higher from the pavement of this space, on the outside of it, than it was from the level of the enclosure which it sur- rounded, on the other side ; because that enclosure was still higher than the space immediately round it between the walls ; and as there were several steps to come up to the level of that space through the low wall, so there were more steps to go onward from it, through the high wall, up into the enclosure now mentioned.
This enclosure which, according to a statement already made, was more than twice as long as it was broad, was divided by a wall across it from north to south, into two unequal parts. The part toward the east, which was some- what smaller than the other, was exactly square : the other part toward the west, while it had the same breadth of course from north to south, was a little longer from west to east. The square one was the Court of the Women. It was so called, not because it was occupied altogether or
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principally by women, but because women were not allow- ed to go beyond it toward tbe Holy House of the temple.
The Court of the Women could be entered from the Court of the Gentiles, by three gates ; one on the north, one on the south, and one on the cast, each having its situ- ation precisely in the middle of the side to which it be- longed. The one on the east side, was directly before the gate Shushan in the outer wall, in a line between it and the sanctuary. This some suppose to have been much more elegant than the rest, and to have been, in fact, that Eastern Gate, so richly overlaid with Corinthian brass, of which Jewish history makes mention ; and which an- other opinion already stated, has imagined rather to have been the same with the gate Shushan. That splendid gate, whichsoever of these two it was, has been thought by many to be the gate that was called Beautiful, at which the lame man lay to ask alms of those who were going up to the temple, as related in the first part of the Acts of the Apos- tles. (Acts iii. 2—11.)
When a person went up by any of these gates, first through the low wall to the level space ten cubits wide, and then, by five more steps, through the high wall, up into the Court of the Women, he found the whole square paved with large slabs of marble, and surrounded with dif- ferent structures, erected close to the wall round about, as we have seen was the case in the outer court. In the four corners were buildings, or chambers, for different uses ; and between these and the gates, on the north, east, and south sides, there were Porches. These Porches were merely single along each side, having two rows of pillars : they differed also from those that were in the Court of the Gentiles, by having galleries or balconies round about, above the lower walks, and therefore the ceiling of these was not remarkably lofty. On the west side there was no Porch of this sort.
This court was the place, where men, as well as women, ordinarily performed their worship, when they appeared at the temple without bringing sacrifices with them. Here Peter and John used to go up with others, to pray toward the temple of the Most High. (Acts iii. 1.) Here it was, that the self-righteous Pharisee and broken-hearted
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TPublican appeared at the same time ; the one boldly pre- senting himself close up to the gate that led forward to the temple, and pleading his own worthiness before a holjr God — the other standing afar off, not daring to lift his head toward the dwelling-place of the Lord, but smiting upon his breast and crying, God be merciful to me a sinner ! (Luke xviii. 9 — 14.) Paul was in the same court when he was violently seized by his countrymen, and charged, among other things, with having brought Gentiles into that holy place. (Acts xxi. 26 — 30.)
This court was the place of the Treasury, where the people presented their offerings of money for the service of the temple. Several chests or vessels called Trumpets, be- cause they were wide at the bottom and small at the top, were placed in some part of it, to receive the gifts : each vessel was appointed to receive some one particular class of them ; one, for instance, was for money offered to buy wood for the altar ; another, for money to buy frankincense ; and so the rest for different uses. Here our Saviour beheld the people casting in their offerings, when the poor widow came forward with her two mites, and cast in all that she had; (Mark xii. 41 — 44.) In this part of the temple it was, too, that he delivered some of his solemn and im- pressive discourses, teaching the people, and reproving their unbelief. (John viii. 20.)
THE COURT OF ISRAEL.
In the middle of the high wall that bounded the Court of the Women, on the west side, was the gate called Nicanor. Through this, after a rise of fifteen steps, each half a cubit high, a person entered into the Court of Israel. These steps were in the half-circle form. On either side of the lowest one, there was a door in the wall, facing the Court of the Women, which opened into a chamber cut out under the level of the Court of Israel above. In these two rooms the Levites deposited their musical instruments. Still, when they had done using them each day in the service of the temple, they came down the fifteen steps, turning to the right or to the left, and laid them away here till they were again wanted.
Besides the gate of Nicanor, there were six other gates,
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three on the northern, and three on the southern side, by* which the Court of Israel might be entered. These of course let persons into it directly from the Court of the Gentiles : on the east it was necessary to come into the Court of the Women first, and then from that into this third one, and this was the most common way by which it was entered ; but on the north and south, those who went out or came in had nothing to pass through between this court and the outer one, but the two walls already noticed, one high and the other low, with the level space of ten cubits' breadth that lay between them round about. Around against the wall, in this third enclosure, there were several houses or chambers standing, as in the courts already noticed, for different sorts of use connected with the service of the tem- ple, and covered walks also along the four sides, from one gate to another, reaching farther out from the wall than the buildings just mentioned, so as to have still room enough, where any of these happened to stand, for persons to pass along in front of them.
This broad covered walk all around appears, indeed, not so truly to have been a walk along the sides of what was strictly the Court of Israel, as it was itself the whole extent of that court. The space within, surrounded by this walk, seems to have been all comprehended in what was properly another court, about two cubits and a half higher than the pavement of the walk, and separated from it by a low rail- ing. Into this wide walk, or Court of Israel, common Israel- ites were allowed to come, to attend on particular services of religion, and from it they could look, without difficulty, over the elegant railing just mentioned, toward the holy House of the temple, and see all that was done in the court within.
THE COURT OF THE PRIESTS.
This court within was the Court of the Priests. It had in it the beautiful building of the Sanctuary, with the Altar of burnt-offering, and the Laver standing in front of it Here the Priests with the Levitss performed their daily service. Besides these, no other Israelite might even pass the railing that surrounded it, except when he came forward solemnly to lay his hands upon the head of a victim that
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he offered for sacrifice, or to kill it, or to wave some part of it before the Lord.
Along1 the eastern end of this court, facing the front of the sanctuary, there was a breadth of eleven cubits, covered with a roof, like the walks already more than once noticed. Thus when a person went up through the gate of Nicanor, towards the House of the temple, he passed first across the covered space of the Court of Israel, lately considered, and then, rising four steps through the low railing that fenced in the Court of the Priests, found himself in this second covered space, of which we now speak, with the broad and lofty front of the temple Porch full before him. Along the back side of this space, just before the railing, a breadth of two cubits and a half was appropriated to the Levites that conducted the music in the solemn service of the Sanctuary. Here, in a row along from the entrance in the middle to the corner of the court on each side, they stood at the ap- pointed times with their various instruments in their hands, playing and singing with a loud voice to the praise of the Most High God. The rest of this covered space, be- fore the narrow range set apart for the use just mentioned, was for the accommodation of the priests, when any of them were not called to be employed in service elsewhere in the court. There were no seats, however, provided for them to sit upon and rest themselves : it was not considered law- ful for persons to sit at all, either in the Court of the Priests or in the Court of Israel, around it ; reverence towards God, and regard for the holiness of these places, were required to be continually manifested by standing on the feet.
The Altar of burnt-offering, that stood in this court, was much larger than the one that belonged to the first temple. It had its situation, however, on the same spot — the one that had been anciently pointed out by divine direction to David. (1 Chron. xxi. 18.) This being the spot where the Ultar was to be built, it was necessary that the House of the temple should be erected near it ; and that was the rea- son that it was situated so much toward the north-western corner of the hill. Between the altar and the entrance of the sanctuary, somewhat off toward the south side, stood the Laver. The second temple, like the tabernacle, was furnished with only one.
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THE SANCTUARY.
The Sanctuary, or Temple, strictly so called, as it stood in the days of our Saviour, was larger in its dimensions than the building erected by Solomon, but constructed after the same general plan. The beauty and costliness of its workmanship were very great. The walls were builded with stones of white marble, beautiful and exceedingly large.
In front, toward the east, the Porch attracted the admi- ration of every beholder. It was, it seems, of the same height with that of the first temple, but a great deal broad- er, and twice as wide ; having a breadth of no less than a hundred cubits from north to south, and a width of twenty across through it from east to west. The entrance into it, on the front side, was seventy cubits high and twenty-five broad, and stood always open, without a door of any sort.
The Sanctuary itself, behind the Porch, was twenty cu- bits broad, from wall to wall, sixty in length, and sixty in height Around it, on the north and south sides, and at the western end, there was a structure of three stories, after the fashion of that which was attached to the temple of Solomon, as it has been described in the account of that edifice. Here were a number of chambers all around in each story, with galleries in front of them, along the out- side wall of the structure round about, by which persons, coming out from them, might walk along to the stairs that led down from one story to another, and so go out by some one of the doors below.
The Holy Place, in this Sanctuary, which was entered after crossing the Porch, was forty cubits long, twenty broad, and sixty high. It had in it an Altar of Incense, one Candlestick, and one Table for the shew-bread, after the manner of the ancient tabernacle. The Most Holy Place, measuring twenty cubits every way, wanted that which was the perpetual glory of the first temple — the Ark, overshadowed with its cherubim, above which the Divine presence condescended to dwell. The Jews tell us, that a box, or coffer, resembling it in form, was made to supply its place ; but this had nothing of that peculiar and extra- ordinary sacredness which distinguished the original depo-
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sitory of the Tables of the Law ; and therefore the ark has been properly reckoned as one of the five things that were wanting in the second state of the temple. The Holy Place and the Holy of holies, in the last temple, had no wall across between them, but were separated, as in the tabernacle, simply by means of a veil, very costly, and remarkably thick and strong: the Jews say that it was not a single curtain that was employed for this purpose, but two of like texture, one being hung before the other a little distance from it. When our Saviour died, the whole was rent in twain from the top to the bottom ! (Matt, xxvii.51.) Hereby it was signified, that in the death of Christ the ancient Ce- remonial System was brought to an end ; that the darkness of the Jewish dispensation was to pass away in the clear revelation of the Gospel ; and especially that the way into the holiest of all was now made completely open by his blood, for all believers to draw near to the mercy-seat of God, with holy liberty and confidence. (Heb. ix. 8. x. 19 — 22.) The veil that separates man from his Maker, is guilt calling for wrath ; and nothing can avail to rend the awful curtain but the death of Jesus Christ.
The bottom of the house of the temple was six cubits higher than the level of the Court of the priests around it. Thus, as there was a continual rise from one court to another, this holiest, highest spot, on which the Sanctuary stood, was as much as twenty-four cubits and a half above the level of that which was first entered — the Court of the Gentiles.
THE TOWER OF ANTONIA.
There was another building on this sacred hill that deserves particular notice. It stood on the outside of the Court of the Gentiles, joining the wall on the north, near to its western corner. It was builded originally by John Hyrcanus, the Jewish prince, a little more than a hundred years before the birth of Christ, and was used by himself and his successors as a palace, while at the same time it had all the strength and fortification of a castle. It was a square building, measuring two furlongs in compass, that is, as much as three hundred feet along each side. Here the sacred garments of the High-priests were kept, to be h2
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taken out only on the solemn occasions that called for their use. Herod, with his other works of building-, caused this also to put on new splendour and strength, and gave it a new name, calling it, in honour of the Roman prince Antony, Antonia. It was forty cubits high, and had at each of its corners a tower rising a number of cubits higher ; the one at the south-east corner rose in this way as many as thirty, so that from it might easily be seen all that was done in any of the several courts of the temple. In this strong castle the Romans placed a garrison of soldiers, by which they had the whole hill completely under their power, and were enabled to hold the city in awe of their authority. This was considered especially important, as tumults and insurrections were ever likely to be excited, among the vast multitudes that were gathered to the temple at particular limes. From the corner tower just mentioned, any dis- turbance might be at once perceived by the sentinel who was stationed there to keep watch, and immediately soldiers could be sent to quell it. There was a passage from the castle directly into the Court of the Gentiles, through the outer wall, by which they could enter the sacred enclosure at a moment's warning.
In this way, that tumult was restrained which was raised in the temple against the Apostle Paul. The Jews dragged him out of the Court of the Women into the Court of the Gentiles, (which was considered less holy, and was spoken of sometimes as being out of the temple — the name temple being used with a wider or narrower meaning at different times ;) and here they purposed to kill him. The chief captain of the Roman band, however, receiving notice of the disorder, very soon appeared on the spot with a number of soldiers, and took him out of their hands, commanding him to be carried into the castle. When he came upon the stairs that led up into it, he was permitted to address the multitude below, till they interrupted him at last with loud and angry cries, when he was taken out of their sight and lodged within the walls of this magnificent fortress. (Acts xxi. 26 — 40. xxii. 1 — 24J — Some have thought, that the commander of the Roman garrison in this castle, is the officer intended by the title Captain of the temple, used more than once in the New Testament : but it seems more
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satisfactory to understand by that title, as hinted in a former part of this work, the chief of the Levites and priests who kept guard around and ^ithin the temple. (Acts iv. 1.)
It was a noble sight to look over the summit of Moriah, crowned as we have now surveyed it with all the grandeur and beauty of the temple with its different courts. The Jewish historian Josephus, speaks of it as exceeding all description. The vast stones of polished marble, the stupen- dous pillars, the broad and lofty porches, the gates shining with the most precious metals, the towering front of the sanctuary — all united to fill the beholder with the highest admiration. Seen at a distance, by those who were ap- proaching the city, it appeared, it is said, like a mountain covered with snow ; for all over, except where broad plates of gold or silver dazzled the eye, it glistened with the white- ness of wrought marble. He that never saw Jerusalem in her glory, say the ancient Jewish Doctors, never saw a lovely city ; and he that never saw the sanctuary, with its buildings, never saw the most noble fabric under the sun.
It was not without reason, therefore, that the disciples of the Saviour on a certain occasion commended with ad- miration in his presence the grand and beautiful appearance of the temple. As he went out of it on the east side going over to the Mount of Olives, they directed his attention to the rich and splendid style in which it was builded and adorned : Master, said one of them, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here ! Jesus saw all this ; but he looked upon it as a sight of mere earthly glory that was very soon to pass away. Seest thou these great build- ings ? he replied : there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Mark xiii. 1, 2.)
And so it came to pass in less than forty years after. The whole perished in the awful destruction of the city by the Romans. Titus, the Roman general, wished to save it ; but the violence of war was too strong to be restrained in its progress. It carried its torch to the sacred pile, and wrapped all the glory of Moriah in wild and terrific flames. This melancholy ruin of the second temple is said to have been accomplished in the same month of the year, and on
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the same day of that month, which, more than six hundred years before, had witnessed the destruction of the first one by tiie Babylonians. After the flames had done their work, the walls were utterly demolished to the bottom, and the whole ground on which they stood ploughed up, according to the Roman custom ; so that, as Christ had foretold, not 'i single stone was left in its place. (Micah iii. 12.)
Here ended, for ever, the glory of the Jewish temple. It was never again to rise on its ruins, as before. Its whole meaning and use were over. The dispensation to which it belonged was brought to a close. The time was come, when neither at Jerusalem, nor at any other particular place, the Father was to be worshipped with such outward service as was required under the law. (John iv. 21 — 24.) The purpose of the Most High, therefore, forbade all res- toration of the ancient sanctuary. An attempt, indeed, was made to restore it, about three hundred years after its last destruction, which seemed to have, as far as human calculation could reach, the greatest prospect of success ; but God crushed it at the very start. The Roman Empe- ror, Julian, (who had pretended, in early life, to be a Chris- tian, but afterwards, when he came to the throne, turned to be a pagan idolater, bitterly opposed to the truth of the gospel, and so got the name of Apostate,) gave the Jews permission to rebuild their temple, and renew their long neglected worship. They set about the work with alacrity and high hope. But very soon they were compelled to stop. While the workmen were clearing awTay the rubbish, in order to lay the foundations, great balls of fire, dreadful to behold, bursting forth from the ground with terrible noise, and repeated earthquakes, full of strangeness and horror, caused every person to fly from the place, and so put an end to the work. Thus wonderfully, as we are assured by the most satisfactory testimony of history, did God blow upon and blast the design that was formed to counteract his holy will.
CHAPTER IV.
MINISTERS OP THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE.
God separated the tribe of Levi from all the other tribes, to attend upon the services of the sanctuary. They were taken in room of the first-born. (Num. iii. 5 — 13. 40 — 51. viii. 16 — 19.) They were not allowed, accordingly, to have any inheritance to themselves as a tribe among the others which composed the nation. The family of Aaron was taken out of this sacred tribe, and consecrated to the priest- hood, to which the care of the most holy duties, and the privilege of the nearest approaches to the Divine Majesty, were confined. The rest of the Levites were appointed to attend to duties less solemn.
SECTION I.
THE LEVITES.
The Levites were solemnly set apart to their ministry in the following way. — 1. Having washed and shaved the whole body, they presented themselves before the taberna- cle with two young bullocks, one for a burnt offering, the the other for a sin offering. 2. They were sprinkled with water of purifying by Moses. 3. The leading men of the whole nation laid their hands upon them, and by this cere- mony offered them to God as substitutes for themselves, and in the room of their first-born. 4. Aaron offered them be- fore the Lord, or, as it is literally expressed in the Hebrew, waved them for a wave-offering, before the Lord ; perhaps by causing them to fall down before God towards his holy Tabernaele, or as others have supposed, by requiring them to walk solemnly around the altar, in token of their dedi- cation to the Lord, as living sacrifices for his use. 5. They
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placed their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, which were then offered to make an atonement for them. (Num. viii. 5 — 22.) By these ceremonial signs was represented the perpetual consecration of the Levites, in place of the first-born of all the Israelites, to the service of the Sanctua- ry ; the purity which God seeks in all who come near to serve him ; the necessity there is, that for this end all such as belong to the family of Adam, should be cleansed, as it were with water and by blood, by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and through the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.
In the wilderness, the Levites had the charge of carry, ing the tabernacle, with all its vessels, from place to place. In this business, each of the three great families into which they were divided, had its particular department of duty assigned by God himself. In the land of Canaan, they were relieved, of course, from all this service. Only a part of them were needed to attend about the Sanctuary. The rest, scattered in their several cities through the land, seem to have been employed, as we have already seen, in vari- ous ways, for the promotion of piety and knowledge in the nation ; unless where they forgot their character, and lost the spirit of their office in the spirit of the world. That part of them which attended at the tabernacle or temple, were required to see that they wrere kept clean, and to have continually on hand all supplies, such as wine, oil, incense, &c, that were needed for the sanctuary service. The music of the temple, was committed to their care, many of them were employed as porters, and in later times, it be- came their business, also, to slay the victims that were brought to the altar. — At first, they began to wait upon the service of the tabernacle at the age of twenty-five, and were not admitted to their full ministration before the age of thirty, continuing their service till they reached their fiftieth year. (Num. iv. 3. viii. 24.) Afterward, however, under the temple, they began to attend upon some duties of their ministry as early as the age of twenty. (1 Chron. xxiii. 24—32.)
David divided the Levites into four great classes. The first class, consisting of 24,000, were appointed to assist the priests — to set forward the work of the house of the Lord.
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The second, of 6,000 were made officers and judges through the land. The third, amounting to 4,000 were porters. The fourth, amounting to 4,000 also, were musicians. (I Chron. xxiii. 3 — 5.) Those that were appointed to minister at the temple, were divided into courses or smaller classes, which followed one another in turn, each performing service for a week at a time ; thus only a small part of the whole number were present at once.
The business of the porters, was to open in the morn- ing and shut at night, the gates of the outer court; to at- tend them through the day, in order to prevent any thing contrary to the purity or peace of the temple ; to have charge of the treasure-chambers near the gates ; and to keep watch at different places through the night. The Jews tell us, that there were altogether, about the temple, twenty-four stations occupied every night by guards ; three of them in the Court of Israel, were guarded by priests, and the rest by Levites. Each of these guards, which consisted of several men, had its chief or command- er ; hence we read of the captains of the temple. (Luke xxii. 4. 52.) There was one with still higher authority, set over all the guards as their ruler, who is called in a more eminent sense, the Captain of the temple. (Acts v. 24.) This last, perhaps, was the same with the Man of the Mountain of the House, whose business we are told it was to walk round every night and see the guards at every station were not neglecting their duty. If he found any asleep, he immediately struck him, and might set fire to his garments, as at times he did not hesitate to do. Some have thought, that there is allusion to this usage of the temple iu Rev. xvi. 15.
The musicians, by their courses, had an important part to perform in the daily service of the Sanctuary. Each course had its leader placed over it, called the Chief Musi- cian ; which name we find in the titles of many of the psalms. Part of them sung with their voices, and the rest played on various instruments, standing all along in a row across the east end of the Court of the Priests, as we have noticed in the last chapter, with their faces toward the broad and lofty front of the temple. The time for the per- formance of this sacred exercise was when the solemn
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sacrifice was kindled upon the altar. " When the burnt- offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel : and all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded-" (2Chron. xxix. 25 — 28.) On common days, accordingly, the service of solemn-sounding praise was performed twice — namely, when the morning and the evening sacrifice ascended from the altar. On extraordinary days, when other public sacri- fices were appointed, the musicians were called of course to additional duty.
According to the Jews, a particular psalm was appointed for each day of the week, to be regularly sung with its or- dinary daily service, morning and evening. Thus, the 24th psalm was assigned to the first day, (our Sunday) — because, say they, on the first day of the creation-week God possessed the world as its maker, and so gave it to be for a possession to man : the 48th psalm was assigned to the second day, (our Monday,) — because on that day the Lord divided the waters and reigned over them : the 82d to the third day — because on that day the earth appeared, esta- blished by the wisdom of the Most High, and placed under his righteous government : the 94th to the fourth day — be- cause on that day He made the sun, moon, and stars, and so will take vengeance on all that worship them : the 81st to the fifth day — because of the variety of creatures made on that day to praise his name : the 93d to the sixth day — because on that day he finished his works, and made man who can understand the glory of the Creator. On the Sab- bath, our Saturday, (they sang the 92d psalm, which is enti- tled A Song for the Sabbath day. On extraordinary occasions, other psalms were sung. With additional sacrifices of the Sabbath, Num. xxviii. 9, 10,) they sang the two songs of Moses ; the one in Deut. xxxii. with the first offering, (or more properly, only a part of it each Sabbath,) and the one in Exod. xv., with the second offering, which was burned in the afternoon before the regular evening sacrifice. — Each psalm was divided into three parts ; and still, in sing ing, a considerable pause was made between the first and the second, and between the second and the third. The signal for commencing the song was given by the sound
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of the trumpets. These were not used in^he musical band of the Levites, but only by the priests ; certain of whom were stationed on the southwest side of the altar, to sound with them on these occasions. At the proper time, thrty made the well-known sounding of three successive blast?, (the first and last long and unbroken, while the middle one was brought out in a sort of flourish, with breakings and quaverings,) when instantly the whole band of voices, harps, psalteries, and cymbals, raised on higli the loud an- them of praise. Having gone through the first part of the psalm, the music was silent. During the pause, the trum- pets sounded again, and the people were expected to wor- ship in silent reverence. So it was also during the next pause, when the second part of the psalm was finished ; after which, the music started a third time and concluded the service. — Such, if we may believe the tradition of the Jews, was the general manner of the temple music.
The Levites were not required to perform themselves the more servile kind of employments about the Sanctuary, such as bringing water, splitting wood, &c. They were allowed servants for these labours. These seem to have been originally, such as were devoted to service of this sort by parents, masters, or their own religious choice. (Lev. xxvii. 1 — 8.) Afterward the number was greatly increased by the subjection of the Gibeonites and others to this busi- ness. (Josh. ix. 21 — 27.) More were added in the age of David and Solomon. (Ezra viii. 20.) — These servants were called Nethinims, that is, given or devoted ones.
SECTION II.
THE PKIE5T3.
The priestly office had its origin with the earliest times. Sacrifices, as we shall hereafter s?e, were appointed of God directly after the fall, and so accordingly there were priests, whose business it was to offer them. (Heb. v. 1.) At first, fathers were the priests of their own families. Such were Noah, Abraham, Job, <tc. As patriarchal estab- lishments grew to be large communities, their heads seem
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to have exercised* at least in many cases, a sort of priestly office for the whole, as well as a royal one. We read in the Bible of one ancient priest before the time of Moses, of peculiarly interesting' character. He was king of Salem, and invested at the same time with the highest dignity of the sacred office ; so that even Abraham, though he was priest in his own family, and honoured with the most re- markable favour of God, acknowledged in him a higher and more especially sacred minister of the Most High God. (Gen. xiv. 18—20. Heb. vii. 1—10.) He was con. stituted a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle fully teaches us in his epistle to the Hebrews. (Ps. ex. 4.) — With the institution of the Jewish Ceremonial Economy, God confined the priesthood to a particular family.
All the male descendants of Aaron were Priests : the first-born of the whole family, in continual succession, ac- cording to the regular order of earlier times sustained the still more important dignit)7 of High-Priest. We have an account of the manner in which they were consecrated to their office in Ex. xxix. I — 35. and Lev. viii. 1 — 36. The ceremonies were solemn and expressive, and for ever separated the family of the priests from all the rest of the nation. I. They were washed, and then clothed with their holy garments, to signify that they needed to be cleansed from sin, and clad with righteousness for their work. — 2. Aaron, the High-priest, was anointed with oil. (Ps. exxxiii. 2.) — 3. A sin-offering was offered to make atonement for them. (Lev. viii. 14) — 4. A burnt-offering followed, in token of their dedication to God, which could not be acceptable till sin was atoned for. — 5. A sacrifice of consecration was next necessary — having, in some sort, the nature of a peace-offering : by the significant cere- mony of putting a little of the blood on their ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the great toes of then right feet, it was intimated that their whole powers were to be considered as consecrated to God : part of the blood was mingled with holy oil and sprinkled over them, by which they and their garments were hallowed : part of the flesh, together with part of the bread provided for the occasion, was waved by the priests themselves, and given
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to God on the altar ; the rest, except the breast, which was given to Moses, became their own share, and was to be eaten on the same day in the holy court of the Sanctuary. — 6. They were to abide in the court seven days without going from it by day or by night, and every day a new sin-offering was to bleed at the altar, for atonement.
When employed in their sacred duties, the priests were required to wear a particular dress. An account of the holy garments which God directed to be made for their use, we have in the 28th chapter of Exodus. Those which the common priests were required to wear, are hardly more than mentioned, toward the end of the chapter ; so that we can learn little about them from scripture, except that they were, on the whole, very beautiful and rich. Reverence, it was supposed, could not allow the use of sandals or shoes in the performance of their holy minis- try. Accordingly, they served with naked feet at all times ; though the cold marble pavement of the temple rendered such exposure often injurious to health.
The duties of the priests at the sanctuary comprehended all the more solemn services of its worship, and such as, by reason of their direct and immediate reference to God, constituted the true life and substance of that worship. They had charge of the altar and its fire, and presented upon it the sacrificial offerings ; all the ministry that was done in the Holy Place was theirs, &c. To them was intrusted the superintendence of the whole sanctuary, with all its service: all was ordered under their care and direction : it was their business to see that the sacred sys- tem of worship which God had appointed, was carried for- ward in all its parts with decent and solemn action from day to day. — The age at which they entered upon their office was the same as in the case of the Levites.
To be qualified for discharging the priestly office, it was necessary, not only that a man could clearly show his descent from Aaron, (Ezra ii. 62,) but that he should also be free from bodily defects. (Lev. xxi. 17 — 24.) The meaning of this last requirement is plain. In the out- ward ceremonial arrangement by which the old dispensa- tion shadowed forth things spiritual and heavenly, free- dom from bodily imperfection represented that mora}
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soundness which is needed in such as draw near to the Holy One, and without which no man in the end shall see the Lord. (Heb. xii. 14.) So, in other respects, the priestly character was to be guarded with more than com- mon care from every thing that might seem to detract from its worldly honour, or to stain it with the smallest outward defilement, in signification of the spiritual dig- nity and purity which should characterize all who come nigh to God. (Lev. xxi. 1 — 9. xxii. 1 — 13.) In later times, it became the business of the Sanhedrim to examine can- didates for the holy office, and determine their fitness for it in all respects. If they could not bring sufficient evi- dence of their descent from Aaron, they were clothed in black, covered with a black veil, and sent home in dis- grace. If they had such evidence, they were then ex- amined as to their freedom from blemishes. Such as were found defective in this trial, were excluded from serving in the court of the priests ; but that they might have some service to perform at the temple, they ^vere put to the business of examining the wood that was pro- vided for the altar, in order to detect any pieces that might have worms in them, which were considered unfit for the sacred fire. The wood was deposited for this pur- pose in the building that occupied the nbrth-east corner of the Court of the Women : here these blemished priests at- tended from day to day, carefully searching every stick, to be sure that none polluted with a worm was carried to the altar. — Thus human authority added its uncommanded ceremonies to the original institution of God, disfiguring it, in this case, as in a thousand others, with vain and foolish superstition.
The piiests wTere forbidden to drink any wine or any strong drink when employed in the service of the sanc- tuary, lest they should become guilty of irreverence, and so provoke the anger of God. Nadab and Abihu, it seems, owed their crime, and their ruin, to an undue use of such liquor. (Lev. x. 1 — 11.)
In the time of David, the whole number of priests, which had then become very considerable, was divided into twenty-four classes, or courses, which were required to attend at the sanctuary in succession, each for a week
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at a time. (1 Chron. xxiv. 1 — 18.) Thus only a twenty- fourth part were employed, at once, in the service of God's House, and each part was called to engage in this employ- ment only once in about six months. The change of one class for another, week after week, always took place on the Sabbath ; on that day still, the courses, both of the priests and the Levites that had served their week, went out, and the next in order came in, to take their turn for the week to come. (2 Chron. xxiii. 4 — 8. 2 Kings xi. 5 — 7.) Each course had its own chief, and embraced within itself a particular great family of the general stock. At the return from the Babylonish captivity, as many as twenty of the original courses or families were found to be without representatives : only four, the Jews tell us, were represented among the priests that came back, so far as genealogical inquiry could ascertain. A new distribution, therefore, was necessary, in order to revive the old plan of twenty-four classes. Each of the four families that re- turned was divided, for this purpose, into six parts, which became so many new courses for the service of the second temple. To these new courses the names of the old ones were assigned by lot, and so they were numbered accord- ing to the original order of their first appointment. Thus the twenty-four ancient classes were revived in form and in name, though so many of them had been lost in reality. The ancient course of Abijah, which was the eighth in order, had been so lost with the captivity ; but a new one had, in this way, taken its place and name, and this was that course of Abia to which Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged. (Luke i. 5.)
The various daily services to be attended to, were distri- buted among the several priests of each course, by loU Thus it fell upon one to kill the sacrifice ; upon another to sprinkle the blood; upon another to dress the lamps, Sfc. According to this custom of the priests' office, it was the lot of Zacharias, while he ministered before God, in the order of his course, on the occasion mentioned in the gospel, to burn incense on the golden altar, in the Holy Place. As the number belonging to each course grew to be large, it seems that when one performed its week of service, all its members were not required to minister every day ; but a
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portion of them on one day, another portion on the next, &c., according to their families.
The whole Aaronick priesthood was a ceremonial insti- stution, shadowing', in solemn and expressive type, the mediatorial character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its mean- ing was not properly in itself, but in this great and glorious reality, of which it was the unsubstantial image. Accord- ingly, when Christ came, the ancient priesthood was brought to an end, as having accomplished all its purpose : the image yielded to the reality — the shadow to the substance. The priestly office is not wanting in the new dispensation introduced by the gospel. On the contrary it is found here in its highest dignity, and in its only true worth ; not com- mitted to a great family, and handed down from fathers to sons, as under the law, but gathered and consecrated, with unchangeable perfection, in one person. Jesus combines in himself, in the fullest reality, all that the Levitical priest- hood represented. It was established in the Ceremonial System, to be a mediating ministry between God and the church : it intimated that men, in themselves, are unfit to draw near to their Maker, and that he cannot regard them with any favour, or extend to them any blessing, except through some mediatorial agency interposing with sufficient merit on their behalf. All this agency is realized in Christ He is fully qualified to act for men, in things pertaining to God ; and, through him, God is abundantly willing to com- municate to the most unworthy of our family, the richest blessings of his grace. In every respect the church is blessed, in him, with such a priesthood as her wants demand.
Figuratively, or by way of metaphor, Christians are called priests. In the Old Testament, the whole Jewish nation, because it was so distinguished in religious advan- tages from the rest of the world, and brought so near to God, in comparison with other people, is thus styled a king- dom of priests. (Ex. xix. 6.) So, in the New Testament, believers in Christ are said to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, &c, (1 Pet. ii. 9,) made kings, and priests unto God, by the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rev. i. 6.) Through his redeeming mercy, they are icash- ed and clothed in robes of righteousness; consecrated by blood, and by the holy anointing of God's Spirit; separated
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from the world that lieth in sin, and permitted to come very near to the Lord in all spiritual services ; qualified to offer acceptable sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and sincere obedience, and to feed upon the holy provisions of God's house, and to enter within the Holy Place, and to approach, with sacred liberty, even to the mercy-seat, in the Holiest of all. (Heb. x. 19—22. 1 Pet. ii. 5.) Still, however, Christians are in all these respects only like priests, not priests in reality. Their privileges and services have their whole reason and value only in the priesthood of Christ. There is no other true priesthood in the church but this, of the All- sufficient Mediator, now passed into the heavens, and set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high.
SECTION III.
THE HIGH PRIEST.
The office of the High Priest claims a separate considera- tion. It embodied in itself all the attributes and all the meaning of the priesthood, in their highest perfection. The multitude of duties that belonged to the priestly office in the Jewish Ceremonial System, made it necessary to have a number of priests ; but to show that it was still considered one single and undivided thing, the whole ministry was united and bound together in subordinate relation to one representative Head. This Head was the High-priest. He was the centre and soul of the entire priesthood, compre- hending its most essential agency exclusively in himself, and gathering, as it were, into one simple whole, all the action of its several inferior parts.
We have seen how he was consecrated. His sacred dress was still more costly and beautiful than that of the other priests, and is more particularly described in the divine volume. (Ex. xxviii. 2 — 39.) The Robe and Ephod have been already noticed, in the first part of this work ; chap, v. sec. 1. The last was exceedingly splendid, and full of curious ornament. On each shoulder of it was fixed an onyx stone, having graven upon it the names of six of the
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tribes of Israel ; so as to have together all of them thus inscribed, to be borne before the Lord, for a memorial upon the High-priest. The broidered coat was a richly wrought tunic, which sort of garment has also been noticed, in the same section, as being the one that was commonly worn by all persons next to the skin. The Breast-plate was a square piece, measuring only a span each way, composed of the same sort of highly ornamented stuff as that of the ephod, and made double, in such a way, perhaps, as to form a sort of bag or pouch in the inside. On one side of it wa9 set four rows of precious stones, each row having three, and no two of all being alike, on every one of which was engraved the name of one of the twelve tribes. This was fastened to the front part of the ephod, with the side that was set with stones, outward ; and thus the names of the children of Israel were carried by the High-priest upon his breast, as well as upon his shoulders, for a memorial before the Lord, when he went into the Holy Place. In this way it was signified, that he was the mediatorial re- presentative of the whole church ; that all its access to God, and acceptance with him, was in and throagh his person, and that he continually acted for its universal body, in all his official ministrations. The Mitre was made of fine linen, folded many times round, and finished with peculiar ele- gance and taste. Upon the front of it was fixed a plate of pure gold, bearing upon it the expressive inscription, Holi- ness to the Lord. The robe covered the tunic ; and the ephod, as far as it reached down from the shoulders, was girded over the robe, outmost of all. (Ex. xxxix. 1 — 31.)
Thus splendid was the whole official dress which the High-priest wore on ordinary occasions. But on the great day of atonement, when he entered into the Holiest of all, he clothed himself with other garments, made altogether of linen, strikingly plain and simple. (Lev. xvi. 4. 23.)
As the High-priest was the most important, by far, of all the priests, and included in himself the highest and mosi essential dignity of the priestly office, he was required to guard himself with yet more care than the rest of his fami- ly, from every thing like degradation or defilement, in the smallest degree. (Lev. xxi. 10 — 15.) His office was origi- nally held for life, according to the divine intention. But
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in later times, after the captivity, it came to be oftentimes violently taken away from one, and given to another, with- out regard to the ancient usage. The right of birth too, which, under the first temple, confined the office to the line of the first born, was in this latter age trampled under foot. Wicked men sought the distinction in the most corrupt manner. Money and shameful intrigue were employed to get possession of it. More than once, the way to the Aaron- ick mitre, as oftentimes the way to a royal crown has been, was through murder itself; while the wearer displayed upon his forehead, engraven in gold, that signature, Holi- ness to the Lord, the guilt of blood polluted his soul with its foulest stain. Thus the office came to be held by the worst of men, following each other in quick succession, and piety had no place where it ought to have been found in its high- est perfection. Such unholy men were the High-priests that lived in the time of our Saviour. Such was that Caia- phas, who presided in the Sanhedrim, when it tried and condemned the Lord of glory. The place had been occu- pied some years before by flnnas ; on which account he is styled High-priest, in the history of Christ's crucifixion, although at that time he did not actually hold the office, having .been put out of it to make room for another. Be- tween him and Caiaphas, though both were living at the same time, there had been, in fact, no less than two other persons clothed for a little time with the dignity.
The High-priest might, at any time, if he chose, perform the sacred duties which were commonly discharged by the other priests. He was accustomed, the Jewish writers say, to offer a meat-offering of fine flour every day, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening, at his own ex- pense ; for so the law, in their view, was supposed to require, and not merely that he should present such an of- fering on the day of his consecration. His most solemn work, however, was performed on the most solemn of all the days of the year — the Great Day of atonement, which will come under consideration hereafter : the duties he had to discharge on that day, were such as no common priest could ever attempt to do. It was, moreover, particularly his business to consult God, when the interests of the people made it proper, by Urim and Thummim.
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It has been much inquired, what we are to understand by the Urim and Thummim, and how, by means of it, the will of God was discovered when sought in this way. Various conjectures, and some of them very foolish, have been imagined by learned men upon the subject. The account of it is thus given in the sacred volume : " Thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment, the Urim and Thummim ; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord : and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord, continually." (Ex. xxviii. 30.) The words Urim and Thummim signify, literally, Lights and Perfections : but as we are not furnished with any description of the thing itself so called, we must necessarily remain in the dark on this point. Whatever it was, it was immediately connected with the solemn consultation of the Divine will ; and by its heavenly appointment, it included in it a con- tinual assurance, that when God was inquired of on any suitable occasion in this way, his answer might be con- fidently expected. Some have thought, therefore, that we are to understand by it, merely a divine virtue imparted to the breast. plate of the High-priest, whereby it was, as it were, consecrated to its use, and became an effectual means of discovering the will of the Lord ; and that thus the breast-plate itself might well be called Urim. The lan- guage of the Bible, however, seems rather to intimate that some visible thing was added to the breast-plate, as the sign and pledge of this virtue which it was to possess. In either case, these names would denote the clear and perfect man- ner in which God made known his will, when consulted by this method. Counsel was asked of God by Urim and Thummim, only in difficult and important cases. The High-priest, clad in his sacred robes, with the breast-plate on his breast, presented himself in the Holy Place, and proposed the inquiry. The voice of the Most High sounded in distinct answers, as it seems, from between the cherubim behind the veil. Thus repeatedly, we are informed, counsel was sought and obtained in the time of the tabernacle. Even when the ark was away from its sacred tent, the priest, girded with his wonderful ephod, often stood before it, and had the will of the Lord made known in answer to
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his inquiries. (Judg. i. 1, 2. xx. 18, 23, 28. 1 Sam. xxii. 10. xxiii. 9 — 13. xxviii. 6.) We have no account of God being consulted in this way in the time of the temple.
As we have seen already, the High-priest was intrusted with the most important power as a judge, not only in sacred matters, but in questions also of a merely civil kind. He sustained, too, a chief rank in the royal court, as a counsellor, to whom the king was expected to have recourse in every great interest of the state.
We read in 2 Kings xxv. 18, and Jer. lii. 24, of a Second priest as well as a chief one. This seems to have been one appointed to assist the chief or High-priest, in the general oversightof the Sanctuary, and in cases of unexpected neces- sity, to take his place, even in the most solemn duties. Ashe might be suddenly unfitted for his peculiar work, by sick- ness or defilement, and yet it was of the most vital import- ance that on the great day of Atonement, especially, that work should not be omitted, it was certainly altogether expedient to have such a substitute, qualified in such emer- gencies to take upon himself the whole character of High- priest, in his stead, and so to accomplish the holy services, of the season in their proper place. The Jewish writers of later times, make frequent mention of such an assistant and substitute (when necessary) of the High-priest. They call him the Sagnn,
We have seen that the whole priesthood was iustituted of God, to represent, in shadowy type, the mediatorial cha- racter of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. To him the priestly office had regard from the beginning. It was only in its relation to him, that it had any meaning whatever. Hence, it is plain, the High-priest in the Jewish economy, was, more than any other single priest, a figure of this Great Mediator that was to come. As he was the sovil of the entire priesthood, and comprehended in himself, in a certain sense, the universal office, (though necessity required a distribution of its manifold duties among many secondary ministers, and reserved for him exclusively, only such as were mort vital and essential in their nature,) he of course embodied, in his official person, the largest measure, bv far, of that typical significancv that has been mentioned. This will appear with peculiarly striking evidence, when
108 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
we come hereafter to consider the solemn services which he was required to perform on the day of atonement. The Apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews, dwells at large upon the priestly character of Christ, and shows how infinitely it exceeded, in dignity and glory, all that had belonged, in the earthly pattern of heavenly things, to the Aaronick High-priest. He shows that the Holy Ghost had long be- fore taught, that the Levitical priesthood was not sufficient to secure the great ends, to which the priestly office, in its nature, has regard, and that it was, therefore, to be con- tinued but for a season, after which it should give place to one that would possess in reality, all the power that this had only represented in shadow. A new priesthood, it had been signified, was to be introduced after the order of Mclchi- sedek ; and the priestly character of that man had been so ordered, in the wise providence of God, as to evince sym- bolically that this new priesthood of which it was thus the mystical pattern, should have incomparably more excellence than that which distinguished the Jewish state. The priests under the law were made without an oath; but this one who was after the order of Melchisedek with an oath, by which solemnity on the part of God, his office was showed to be far more important than theirs. They were many, not being suffered to continue by reason of death ; but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an un- changeable priesthood. They had infirmity and sin of their own ; he is altogether holy, harmless and undefiled. (Heb. vii. 1 — 28.) Yet, though so glorious in his nature, he was not unqualified to feel for those on whose behalf he has undertaken to act. To be fit for his work, he clothed himself with the nature of man, so as to become familiar with all its infirmities and miseries, only without sin. Thus he was qualified to represent that nature in his me- diatorial agency, and at the same time to sympathise with it in its weaknesses and sorrows. In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted, and can be touched in all points with the feeeling of their infirmities. (Heb. ii. 14 — 18. iv. 14 — 16. v. 1 — 9.)
CHAPTER V.
SACRIFICES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS OFFERINGS.
A sacrifice has been defined to be something- that is offered immediately to God in such a way as to be con- sttrned or changed into some other form. Thus, animals were sacrificed when they were presented to God by being solemnly killed, and either altogether, or in part, burned upon some sort of altar ; and so was wine, when it was offered by being solemnly poured out. The Jewish law prescribed many sacrifices, as well as various other religious offerings.
SECTION I.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SACRED OFFERINGS IN USE AMONG THE JEWS.
Sacred offerings of different kinds were common long before the age of Moses, even from the earliest period of the world. Every one that has ever read the Bible, knows that sacrifices were in use directly after the fall, and all along down to the time when the Jewish church was sepa- rated from the rest of the world. We read of altars and priests. We have notices of different kinds of sacrifices. (Gen. iv. 3, 4. viii. 20. xxxi. 54.) We read of clean and uncMan animals. (Gen. vii.2.) We read also of first- lings and tythes being consecrated to God. (Gen. iv. 4. xiv. 20. xxviii. 22.) In the establishment of the Jewish econorn}r, however, a more regular and extensive system of sacrifices and religious offerings was instituted. The number of them was increased ; the different kinds of them more carefully distinguished ;% and the whole manner of them prescribed with particular and solemn direction. Some of the sacrifices appointed bv the Jewish law were Vol. II. K 109
110 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
bloody, requiring the death of animals : others were not so, consisting of cakes, meal, wine, &c.
BLOODY OFFERINGS.
The only animals that might be used in sacrifice, were those of the ox-kind, sheep, goats, turtle doves, and young pigeons. They were to be in all respects free from blemish or defect, because God ought to be served with the best of- ferings that man can bring. If we withhold from him our highest regard, and worship him only with a sort of half- way religion, devoting our chief time, care and thought to the world, while with little or no feeling we content our- selves with just so many outward duties of piety as are needed to keep a sleepy conscience quiet, we do but insult the greatest and best of all beings, and provoke his sore displeasure. " Cursed be the deceiver," saith the Lord of Hosts, " which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrifieth unto the Lord ^corrupt thing!" (Mai. i. 8, 13, 14.) For one particular class of sacrifices male victims alone were allowed, except in the case of birds, where the dis- tinction was not regarded. Except in the case of birds also, the victims were required to be not less than eight days, nor more than three years, old. The sheep and goats that were sacrificed were commonly a year old ; the bullocks three years. Wild beasts were not offered in sacrifice : hence that expression, to intimate that no religious sacred- ness was to be imagined in the slaying of animals in cer- tain cases ; Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten so shalt thou eat them ; the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike. (Deut. xii. 15, 21, 22.)
According to the law of Moses, sacrifices could not be offered upon the altar, except by the priests ; nor at any other place than in the Court of God's Sanctuary, the ta- bernacle first, and afterwards the temple. (Deut. xii. 5 — 28.)
Animal-sacrifices were of four general kinds : viz. Burnt Offerings, Sin Offerings, Trespass Offerings and Peace Offerings. We have a particular account of these in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. The three kinds first mentioned had an expiatory virtue ; that is, they made atonement for those that offered them. The Peace offerftigs were more particularly sacrifices expressive of gratitude
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. Ill
and praise for mercies received, or of supplication for mer- cies desired. Burnt offering's, however, were not exclu- sively expiatory in their character, but had in them also a meaning1 of thankful and adoring worship presented to the Most high : and in the nature of every class on the other hand, we are to suppose that some regard was had to the guilt of sin, which called for the shedding of blood, before man could be accepted with God in any service. Blood poured out in sacrifice of any sort, could have no mean- ing other than that of atonement. It was solemnly conse- crated by the Lord to be an expiation for the soul, and ac- cordingly never flowed about the altar, without a design of calling to remembrance the existence of sin, and sym- bolically washing away its evil. (Lev. xvii. 1 — 14.)
1. Burnt Offerings. These are sometimes styled holo- causts, that is, offerings wholly burned, because all the flesh of the victims employed in them was consumed by the fire upon the altar. The animals used for them might not be, except in the case of birds, any other than males. The sacrifices that were in use before the time of Moses seem to have been most generally of this sort. They ap- pear to have been expressive of religious worship in its widest nature ; so as to be employed in it with equal pro- priety, when it was exercised in the way of praising God for his past mercies, or in the way of imploring his favour and blessing, or of deprecating his displeasure, for time to come. They were offered to God as the Maker, Preserver, and Governor of the Universe, worthy of all honour and adoration : and were designed to recommend those that presented them to his holy regard, and to make their ser- vices of praise or prayer acceptable in his sight, which, by reason of sin they could not be, without the shedding of blood. Such offerings are said in the law to make atone- ment for the person that presented them ; but no particular cases of sin are mentioned for which they are to be brought to the altar. They seem to have had reference, in this re- spect, to the general sinfulness of heart and life, of which a man ought to be conscious in his own bosom, and for which he should continually feel that he needs to have his soul purged by sacrifice. We have an account of the man- tier uf the burnt offering sacrifice in the first chapter of
112 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
Leviticus. There we are informed, how the offerer was required to bring his victim to the front of the Sanctuary, beside the brazen altar, and solemnly to lay his hand upon its head, and then to kill it before the Lord; how the priests were to take the blood in a proper vessel, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar ; how all the parts of it, after the skin was taken off, were laid in order upon the wood and fire of the sacred hearth ; and how the whole was con- sumed, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.
2. Sin Offerings. These were altogether expiatory, and were to be presented for particular cases of transgres- sion. We have an account of the manner of them in the fourth chapter of Leviticus. The victims used for them were different, according to the character of the offerer. A bullock was appointed for the purpose, when atonement was to be made for the High-priest or for the people in ge- neral ; a male goat, when a civil magistrate was the of- fender ; and a female one or a lamb, when the guilty person was a common individual of the nation. If the person hap- pened to be so poor that he could not furnish a kid or a lamb, he was required to bring to the altar two turtle doves, or two young pigeons ; one of which was made a burnt offering, and the other a sin offering. If he was too poor even for this, he was still not excused ; but had to present an offering for his sin of mere flour, unaccompa- nied with oil or incense. The victim was presented and slain in the same manner as in the case of burnt offerings. Its parts, however, were disposed of differently. When it was offered for the High-Priest, or for the whole congrega- tion, the ministering priest was required to carry some of the blood into the Holy Place, there to sprinkle it with his finger seven times solemnly, toward the veil of the Holy of holies, and to stain with it the horns of the golden altar of incense ; after which, he returned and poured out all the rest of it at the bottom of the other altar without. Then the fat of the animal onlv, was consumed in the sacrificial fire, while all its other parts were borne forth without the camp, to an appointed place, and there burned together. But when the sin offering was presented by the ruler, or by one of the common people, the ceremonies were not equally
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 113
solemn. The blood then was not carried into the Holy Place ; it was enough to stain the horns of the brazen altar with it, before pouring- it out. The flesh too, after the fat was consumed, was not carried without the camp and burned, but was given to the priests to be eaten in the Court of the Sanctuary. The eating of it was a religious duty that might not be neglected. What it signified, we learn from Lev. x. 16 — 20.
3. Trespass Offerings. Of these we have account in the fifth and sixth chapters of Leviticus. Like the sin of- ferings, which they resembled in many particulars, they were altogether expiatory, and might not be offered at any time a man chose of his own free will to bring one, as was allowed and encouraged in the case of burnt offerings and peace offerings, but were to be presented only for particular offences ; and when these offences occurred they could not be withheld, without exposing the offender to the punish- ment of wilful transgression. They were never offered for the whole congregation, as we have seen the sin offerings sometimes were, but merely for single individuals. The common victim used was a ram. The ceremonies of sacri- fice were the same with those that were observed in the common cases of sin offerings ; only the blood was sprin- kled round about upon the altar, and no mention is made of its being put on the horns of it. The flesh was to be eaten by the priests.
What was the general distinction between offences that called for sin offerings, and those that called for trespass offerings, has been much disputed among learned men, and seems to be, on the whole, beyond satisfactory deter- mination. Some have thought, that trespass offerings were to be made in cases where there was a suspicion, but not a clear certainty, that an offence had been committed ; and sin offerings, in cases where, though at first the offence was unknown, it was afterwards understood. Sins, ac- cording to some, were offences of a more serious character ; trespasses, such as were of lighter evil. One of the most learned men the world ever produced, has told us, that trespasses in this case were offences of commission, such as violated the law by doing what it forbade to be done ; and that sins, on the other hand, were offences of omis-
114 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
sion, such as left undone what the law required to be per- formed. Another equally learned, has assured us, that it was just the other way ; that the sins were the faults of commission, and the trespasses such as consisted in omis- sion. Both opinions seem to be without foundation, as well as those that have been mentioned first. Another opinion is, that under the name of trespasses, were com- prehended cases of two general kinds ; viz. sucli as found a man's conscience in doubt whether he had not commit- ted an offence, which, if certainly known, would have called for a sin offering; and such as were offences of that nature, that they injured a man's neighbour : while sins, or those faults that required sin-offerings, are supposed to have been such transgressions of the law as did not directly affect a fellow-being, but had the whole reason of their unlawfulness in their contrariety to the pleasure of God, and which, being done in ignorance, or without thought, were afterwards clearly discovered to conscience. Lastly, it has been supposed by others, that no general distinction between these two classes of offences is to be inquired after ; that the distribution of particular offences to one and to the other, was made arbitrarily, or in compliance with the common usage of speech, concerning the reason of which it must be idle to seek information ; and that, therefore, we are to rest satisfied with the statement, as we find it in the Bible, that certain delinquencies which are mentioned, were reckoned as belonging to one class, and certain others to the other, without attempting to dis- cover any specific difference of nature that may satisfac- torily account for the arrangement.
4. Peace Offerings. The manner of these is told in the third chapter of Leviticus. The animals used for them were bullocks, heifers, rams, ewes, or goats : birds were not sacrificed in this way. Peace offerings, as we learn from Lev. vii. 11 — 20, wer9 presented, either in thankfulness for some special mercy received, or in the way of supplication for some special mercy desired. Sometimes, when a person was in distress, he accompa- nied his prayers to God for help with a vow, that he would afterwards present an offering, if preserved or prospered ■ and sometimes, of a man's free will he presented his of-
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 115
fering beforehand, together with his prayers for divine help or blessing. Hence arose the distinction of vow offer- ings and voluntary offerings, though both of these had in them the nature of supplication-sacrifices, and so differed from the other class of peace-offerings that were designed to express gratitude for favours already enjoyed. — In the case of these offerings, the person that presented the vic- tim, as in the other cases already considered, brought it to the altar, and laid his hand upon its head with solemn ceremony before the Lord. It was not slain, however, to the north of the altar, as the victims offered in the other sacrifices were, but to the south of it. After it was killed, the priest sprinkled the altar round about with its blood, and placed its fat upon the sacred fire, to be a sacri- fice of sweet savour unto the Lord : which being done, the flesh was divided between the priest and the offerer — the priest received for his part the breast and the right shoul- der, and the offerer had all the rest. The meat was not allowed, however, to be carried away and laid up for com- mon use, but was required to be all eaten on the same day that it was offered, or, at farthest, on the day after ; and if any part of it happened to be left till the third day, it was to be burned. Thus, in these peace-offerings, a communion of friendship was celebrated between God and his people, and he himself, as it were, and his ministers, and those that worship him in this way, partook together of the same sacred feast. At the same time, as already inti- mated, the death of the victim, after the solemn laying of hands upon its head, and the sprinkling of its blood upon the altar, called to remembrance the guilt of those who aspired to this sacred and precious privilege, and express- ively signified, that without atonement God never can hold friendly intercourse in any way with sinful, fallen man.
The number of peace-offerings sacrificed every year was very great. In addition to those that were presented without obligation, as piety or formality led individuals, from time to time, to come before the Lord in this way, a vast multitude were made necessary by the law. From Deut. xii. 17, 18, xv.19 — 23. and xiv. 22,23, itappears, that not only the tithes of every farmer's agricultural produce, with a portion of its several Jirst fruits, but the firstlings
116 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
also of his whole flock and herd, were to he consecrated to God as peace offerings, and solemnly feasted upon year by year ; only when the animals happened to have blemishes in them, they were considered unfit for sacrifice, and might be used in the common way, for food, at home ; in all other cases, they were either to be taken themselves tc the place of God's Sanctuary, or turned into monev, which should then be laid out for other victims in their stead, arid so entirely consumed according to the manner of thanks, giving sacrifices. In these sacred feasts, not only the fa- milies of those to whom the offerings belonged, servants and all, were to participate, but it was enjoined also, thai others, who were without portion of their own, should be remembered, and invited to take part in their joyous cele- bration. The hospitality thus recommended and com- manded, was powerfully enforced, at the same time, by the consideration, that all the provision made for these entertainments, which was most liberal, was to be con- sumed on tbeir several occasions, and could not, after the second day, be used at all : thus even those that in other cases were niggardly and inhospitable, could not well refuse to be generous and friendly enough in their peace-offering feasts. How much these feasts of friend- ship must have tended to promote good feelings among the people, and to secure proper regard to the lower classes of society, and such as were shut out from its more fortunate advantages, tke servant, the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the stranger, it is needless to suggest.
Under the general class of sacrifices of which we are now speaking, are properly to be reckoned those by means of which it was usual to ratify and confirm Cove- nants. These, indeed, were attended with some ceremo- nies peculiar to themselves, but had in them, on the whole, the nature of peace-offerings. The custom of confirming covenants in this way, had its origin very far back in an- tiquity. The manner of the solemnity, it seems, was for the persons who wished to enter into covenant, to slay and divide the victim, or victims, employed ; to place the partr: opposite each other ; and then to pass through between them, using, at the same time, we may suppose, som< torm of words suited to the transaction. The division of
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 117
the victim expressed, symbolically, the punishment which ought to fall upon him who should afterwards violate tiie agreement, while the offering of it in sacrifice to God was, in fact, calling upon him to witness what was engaged, and to take vengeance in future on either of the parties that might prove false to it ; thus laying conscience under the obligation of a most solemn oath. Part of the flesh, it is to be supposed, was afterwards converted into a feast, of which both parties partook together, in token of friendly agreement and confidence. It was in conformity with human usage in this thing, that God condescended to con- firm his covenant with Abraham in the remarkable man- ner that is recorded in Gen. xv. 8 — 17, causing a flame and a smoke, as the sign of his own presence, to pass in vision between the parts of the victims prepared for the occasion. We have notice of these Covenant sacrifices also in Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19 ; where it is intimated, that the ceremony just mentioned, was used in a solemn covenant entered into by Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem be- fore the Lord. They cut the calf in twain it is said, and passed bcticeen the parts thereof. From this case, thus in- cidentally noticed, it would seem that other covenants among the Jews were confirmed in like manner, although it is not expressly mentioned in the Bible, when other cases are spoken of. It is clear, however, that sacrifices were habitually made use of on such occasions. (Gen. xxxi. 53, 54. 1 Sam. xi. 15. Ps. 1. 5.) In the great cove- nant which God made with the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifices. (Ex. xxiv. 3—8. Heb. ix. 18—23.)
The sacrifice of the Passover lamb seems to have had in it also much of the nature of a peace offering. It had, how- ever, a peculiar character belonging to itself. A more par ticular consideration of it will come in our way hereafter
As we have already had occasion to notice, some sacri- fices were offered by single individuals for their own ad- vantage, and others were offered in behalf of the nation as a whole. Those of the first sort, if the case in Lev. xvi. 6, be excepted, were not regulated by times and seasons : but were presented, either freely at any time a man's heart moved him to render such worship to God, or in conformity
118 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
with the requirement of the law, when persons were brought into certain circumstances, which, according to the divine will called for particular offerings, in the way either of atonement for sin, or of thankful acknowledgment of the Lord's mercy. Of such offerings as were presented freely, various notices are found throughout the Bible ; of the others that were required from individuals in particular circumstances, besides the cases stated in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Leviticus, we have instances in Lev. xii. 6, 8. xiv. 10—31. xv. 14, 15, 29, 30. xix. 21. Numb. vi. 10— 21. — The other general class of offerings, viz. such as were made in behalf of the whole nation, were all, except the particular cases noticed in Lev. iv. 13, 14. Numb. xv. 22 — 26. and xix. 5 — 10, assigned to certain times, and had thei" regular periods when they were to be performed. Such were the daily morning and evening sacrifices ; (Ex. xxix. 38 — 41.) the Sabbath-day sacrifices ; the new moon sacri- fices, and the sacrifices that belonged to those three great festivals. For an account of all these, see the 28th and 29th chapters of Numbers. — The paschal lambs, sacrificed in vast multitudes on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, were offered severally in behalf of single families or 6mall companies. The victim required to be slain in cases of uncertain murder, was sacrificed in behalf of a particu- lar city or town. (Deut. xxi. 1 — 9.) This case, as well as the case of the red heifer to which reference has just now been made, was not in all respects a regular sacrificial of- fering, inasmuch as the victim was not brought to the altar and there killed ; both heifers, however, had in them the nature of expiatory sacrifices.
The regular stated sacrifices which the law required to be offered for the whole nation, in the course of each year, were as follow: viz. 1. On every day, two lambs ; amount ing altogether to at least 730.^-2. On every Sabbath, two additional lambs; making altogether 104. — 3. On the firsl day of every month, two bullocks, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat ; amounting in the year to at least 24 bullocks, 12 ram*, 84 lambs, and 12 goats. — 4. On each of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread, the same as in the case of every new moon just stated, (Numb, xxviii. 19 — 25.) and besides, an additional lamb on the second da)- with
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 119
the sheaf of first-fruits ; (Lev. xxiii. 12.) making altogether 14 hullocks, 7 rams, 50 Iambs, and 7 goats. — 5. On the day of Pentecost, the same also as for each new moon, (Numb. xxviii. 26 — 31,) and besides, with the two wave loaves, seven lambs, one bullock, two rams, and a goat, together with two other lambs for a sacrifice of peace offering ; (Lev. xxiii. 18, 19 ;) making altogether 3 bullocks, 3 rams, 16 lambs, and 2 goats. — 6. On the feast of trumpets, one bul lock, one ram, seven lambs, and a goat. — 7. On the great day of Atonement, the same, (Numb. xxix. 7 — 11,) and be- sides a ram and a goat when the High-priest performed his awful duty of entering the Most Holy Place, (Lev. xvi. 5,) making together, 1 bullock, 2 rams, 7 lambs, and 2 goats. — 8. On each of the eight days of the feast of the taberna- cles a number of different victims, equal altogether to 71 bullocks, 15 rams, 105 lambs, and 8 goats. (Numb. xxix. 12 — 38.) — Let us now put the whole together, thus :
1. Daily Sacrifices for 365 days,
2. Sacrifices for 52 Sabbaths,
3. Sacrifices for 12 New Moons,
4. Sacrifices for the Passover,
5. Sacrifices for Pentecost,
6. Sacrifices for the feast of trumpets,
7. Sacrifices for the day of Atonement,
8. Sacrifices for the feast of tabernacles, 71
114 40 1103 32
Thus, many were the victims whose blood was shed each vear, in the stated services of the sanctuary, for the whole congregation. The goats, in all these cases, were sin offer- ings ; and the other animals, except in the one instance noticed in the statement, burnt offerings. The blood of all these victims, however, formed only a small part of the whole quantity that was poured forth in the sacred court, )rear after year, from the sacrifices that were there pre- sented before the Lord. The largest stream by far flowed from the various victims that were led to the altar as pri- vate offer in gs.
|
B. |
R. |
L. |
G. |
|
— |
— |
730 |
— |
|
— |
— |
104 |
— |
|
24 |
12 |
84 |
12 |
|
14 |
7 |
50 |
7 |
|
3 |
3 |
16 |
2 |
|
1 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
7 |
o |
|
71 |
15 |
105 |
8 |
120 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
SACRIFICES THAT WERE NOT BLOODY.
Bloodless sacrifices, it has been already stated, consisted in meal, cakes, wine, &c. Of this class were the Meat Offerings, and the Drink Offerings that were in many cases required to accompany them. The latter were never presented separately from the first, and in all common cases both were found joined to other sacrifices of the bloody sort. There were, however, some bloodless sacri- fices that were offered by themselves without animal victims. We may, for the sake of order, distribute all into three classes, as follow.
1. Prescribed meat offerings accompanied with drink qf~ ferings. When united in this way, they were always at- tached to particular bloody sacrifices. In Numb. xv. 1 — 12, we have a statement of the different proportions of flour, oil, and wine, that were required to be used in such cases for different victims. It seems, that the animal sa- crifices which God designed to be accompanied with such offering's as we are speaking of, were all peace offerings, and all hunt offerings of the flock or herd, whether for inditiduals or for the whole congregation. (Numb. xv. 3; and chap, xxviii. 20.) Birds were not so accompanied, except in one case where they were substituted for other animals. (Lev. xiv. 31.) Sin offerings and trespass offer- ings of every kind were not to be attended even with any thing of the sort ; unless it be supposed, that in the single case of the leper's purification sacrifice, mentioned in Lev xiv. 10 — 20, such an offering, consisting of a tenth-deal of flour with a proportion of oil and wine, was designed for each of the three victims used on the occasion, out of that general meat offering which is there noticed : that the case was thus, we are assured by the Jewish writers ; but it seems natural and easy enough to consider all that meat offering as a. single one of peculiar character, intended particularly to accompany the burnt offering victim alone.
2. Meat offerings voluntarily added to other sacrifices. The offerings of the first class just considered were made necessary, in the cases that have been mentioned, and were accurately determined as to quantity by the law ; but these which Ave are now to notice, were such as individuals were
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led of their own free will to present at the altar, with their bloody offerings, over and above what was absolutely re- quired ; or, at least, such as, although they were directed to be presented in certain cases, were nevertheless left to be determined, as to their form and their amount by the of- ferers themselves. Of this sort are to be reckoned ail those that ara spoken of in the second chapter of Leviticus. From Leviticus vii. 12, 13, we learn that sacrifices of this sort were to be added to all peace offerings for thanksgiving. No mention is made of wine being joined to them : though no doubt it was often used with victims along with which they were brought to the altar ; only, however, as belong- ing to those other meat offerings that have been already noticed, which might be presented at the same time, and not as having any thing to do directly with these that are . now in question. Meat offerings of the first class were all of unbaked flour mingled with oil ; but these under con- sideration might be either thus unbaked or baked in various ways, and sometimes consisted of various fruits of the earth without any preparation A portion of the first-fruits, together with a tenth part of all the increase of the field was to be every year employed in this way. (Deut. xiv. 22 — 29. xxvi. 1—11.)
3. Independent meat offerings. This class comprehends those few bloodless sacrifices that were appointed to be offered, as it were, upon their own account, without being attached to any of the bloody class, or indebted to them for the occasions on which they were to be presented. These were either for the whole congregation, or for particular individuals. — Of the first sort were, 1st. The twelve loaves of shew-bread, set forth before the Lord in the Holy Place, 2nd. The sheaf of barley offered on the second day of the Passover. (Lev. xxiii. 10.) 3d. The two loaves of the first- fruits, offered on the day of Pentecost. (Lev. xxiii. 17.) With these Last, victims were indeed sacrificed; but they field only a secondary place in the solemnities ; while the 6heaf in one case, and the loaves in the other, were of chief and independent consequence. — Of the second sort, such as were offered for individuals, were, 1st. The offering of jealousy, of which we have an account in Numb. v. 15, 1 8, 25. 26, that was to have with it neither oil nor incense. 2d.
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The poor man's sin offering, mentioned in Lev. v. 11, that was to be offered in like manner, without oil or incense, when a man was notable to provide for himself even a pair of doves or pigeons. 3d. The priestly meat offering, which Aaron and his sons, it is said, were to present in the day of their anointing. (Lev. vi. 20 — 23.) Jewish tradition tells us that this last was twofold ; being required of every priest when he first entered upon his sacred office, and being re- quired besides of the High-priest every day during all the time of his ministry; but this does not clearly appear from the scriptures.
Every meat offering was required to be seasoned with salt, and might not, on any account, have in it a particle of honey, nor yet, in all common cases, a particle of leaven. The two loaves offered on»the day of Pentecost, were leaven- ed, and we read that leavened bread was brought also with sacrifices of thanksgiving, together with the unleavened cakes and wafers; (Lev. vii. 13 ;) but no part of such offer- ings could be presented upon the altar ; the universal statute was, that no leaven, nor any honey, was to be burned in any offering of the Lord made by fire. (Lev. ii. 11.) The shew- bread was accompanied with incense without oil ; the pre- scribed meat offering, to which wine was joined, had oil without incense ; the poor man's sin offering, the offering of jealousy, and the sheaf of first-fruits, had neither one nor the other ; while all the rest were enriched with both. — The incense, in every case, was all burned upon the altar ; in the case of the meat offering presented by a priest, and as it seems, on the whole, in the case of all those of the first class, such as were prescribed and accompanied with wine, the whole was in like manner given to the fire; but in other cases, only a part of the flour, or bread and oil, was burned, as a memorial for all, while the remainder was appropriated to the priests, as a gift from the Lord. The wine, when it was used, was solemnly poured out at the bottum of the altar.
In the general class of sacrifices of the bloodless sort, is to be reckoned also, besides those that have been styled rne.at offerings, the sacred incense that was offered every morning and every evening on the golden altar, and once
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in the year presented upon a censer filled with coals, within the Holiest of all.
FIRST-FRUITS, FIRST-BORN, TITHES, VOW-GIFTS, &C.
Besides those to which the name of sacrifice has been particularly appropriated, such as we have been hitherto considering, there were other sacred offerings appointed in the Jewish system that claim oui**attention. The most im- portant of them were of four principal kinds.
1. First-fruits. The first sheaf of barley, on the second day of the Passover, and the first loaves of Pentecost, were presented to God as offerings for the whole nation. But besides these, offerings of all sorts of first-fruits were re- quired to be made, year after year, by individuals ; first- fruits of the harvest and the vintage, from the threshing floor, the wine-press, the oil-press, and the honey-crowded hive, from the first baked bread of the new crop also, and from the fleecy treasures gathered at every time of shear- ing from the flock. (Ex. xxiii. 19. Numb. xv. 19 — 21.) These were not presented at the altar, but were assigned by God, to whom they were consecrated, for the use of his ministers, the priests. (Numb, xviii. 11 — 13.) How much should be given in these cases, the law left each person to decide for himself. The Jewish Doctors of later times, however, gave it as their judgment, that the smallest pro- portion which a man might conscientiously allow, was a sixtieth part of the whole produce from which it was taken.
In Deut. xviii. 3, we find the following statute : This shall be the priests'1 due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, lohether it be ox or sheep: — they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maio The word here translated, offer a sacrifice, has at times a more general meaning, and is used to signify the slaying of animals, for common use, in cases where nothing of a sacred nature was designed. It was understood accord- ingly ; and, as it would seem, correctly understood, that such an extent of meaning belonged to it in this present case ; and so it was the practice throughout the nation, as we are informed, on good authority, still to appropriate the parts that have been mentioned, to the priests, whenever, on any occasion, animals were killed at home only for the
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purpose of ordinary food. This gift may be looked upon as a sort of first-fruits of every man's meat, before it might be used for the table. It was not necessary, however, that this should be carried away to the sanctuary ; it was enough if it was given to some one of the priests in any place ; and, accordingly, every individual used to give it to any one who lived near him, as convenience or personal regard deter- mined his inclination. *
2. The first-borv. Ever after the awful night in which the Lord, for the deliverance of his people, smote all the first-born cf Egypt with death, all those of Israel that were males, in commemoration of that event, and in acknow- ledgment of the mercy that overwhelmed them not at that time with the same desolation, were consecrated to be, in a peculiar manner, the property of God. (Ex. xiii. 2, 12 — 15.) When the Levites were separated, for the service of the sanctuary, they were substituted, as far as their number reached, lor the first-born males of the whole people of that generation, and the cattle which they then owned, for all the firstlings of the cattle belonging to the nation ; and thus, at the same time, the priestly office, which originally was the rinrht of the first-born, was transferred and confined to this tribe. As on that occasion, however, the number of the first-born was found to be somewhat larger than that of the Levites, it was required that the 273 persons that were thus left without substitutes, should be redeemed by the payment of a certain price in money for every one. (Numb. iii. 12, 13, 40 — 51.) So, ever after, all the first-born of man were required to be redeemed in like manner ; and the redemption money became a part of the sacred revenue appointed for the support of the priests. (Numb, xviii. 15, 16.) A child could not be redeemed before it was a month old, and generally was not, until the time when its mother's purification offering was to be presented, which, in the case of sons, was at the end of forty days. Thus, when the infant Jesus was brought for the first time to the temple, two duties enjoined by the law were attended to ; the mother's sacri- fice was offered, and the child was redeemed. (Luke ii. 22 — 24.) The first-born of such beasts as might be used in sacrifice, were to be yielded to the Lord, without the liberty of redemption ; and after their blood and fat were
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given to the altar, their flesh was all appropriated to the priests. (Numb, xviii. 17, 18.) The first-born of other ani- mals, such as it was unlawful to sacrifice, might be redeem- ed ; though a man was not obliged to redeem them, as in the case of a first-born son. If they were not redeemed, they might be sold or destroyed. (Ex. xiii. 13. Lev. xxvii.27.)
3. Tithes. A tenth part of all the produce of every Is- raelitish farmer, was to be consecrated, in addition to the tribute already noticed, to the support of the national re- ligion. These tithes were appropriated to the Levites, as their salary, who in their turn were required to give a tenth of all that they thus received, to the priests. (Numb, xviii, 21 — 32.) In the case of the fruits of the earth, the owner might redeem the tithe that was due, by adding a fifth part to what was considered its proper value ; whereby, we may suppose, he might save himself the trouble of trans- porting the articles to the place where they were to be re- ceived. In the case of cattle, the same privilege was not allowed. Animals were tithed by being made to pass one by one, out of some enclosure, before a person appointed to number them, who held in his hand a rod, with which he touched every tenth one as it came along in its order, and thus designated it for the Levites : hence the expression to pass under the rod, applied to cattle that underwent tithing. No animal thus designated might be changed for another ; if a man was found guilty of making such an exchange, he forfeited both. (Lev. xxvii. 30 — 33. Jer. xxxiii. 13.) Re- ligious tithes were in use long before the time of Moses; as we may learn from Abraham's homage to Melchisedek, and from Jacob's vow on his way to Padan-Aram. They were in use also among almost all nations, in those early times, as we are taught by ancient history.
We have already had occasion to state, that the law re- quired a tenth part of every husbandman's agricultural pro- duce, and a portion of its first-fruits aiso, together with the firstlings of his flock and herd, to be devoted to God as peace offerings, and so turned into sacred feasts for the entertainment of the owner himself, with his family and others recommended to his hospitality. This we are clearly taught in Deut. xii. 17 — 19. xiv. 22 — 29. and xv. 19 — 22. But how are we to reconcile this with the posi- l2
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tive and explicit declarations found in other places, as we have just seen, that the tithes, firstlings, and first-fruits, were to be given to the Levites and priests ? Could they be thus appropriated, and yet feasted upon by those that pre- sented them ? There seems to be no way of getting clear of this difficulty, but by inferring that there was a double appropriation of each of these sorts of offerings — the first for the use of the priests and Levites, and the second for sacrifices of thanksgiving to be celebrated in the way that has been noticed, by the owners themselves. Thus we are to suppose, that the Jewish law required second tithes, se- cond firstlings, (if we may be allowed the term,) and se- cond first-fruits. That we are not told any thing expressly about the appointment of these, as distinct from those of the first class, but are made acquainted with their existence merely in the notice that is given of their nature and use, may be accounted for by supposing that they were in com- mon use before the time of Moses, and did not need, there- fore, to be formally distinguished. They are spoken of as being well known; and in no danger, accordingly, of being confounded at that time with the other sort, that were in- stituted for the support of religion, and so exalted to hold a rank of importance above them. What wre are thus taught indirectly from the law itself, we find confirmed by later testimony more explicit. In the apocryphal book of Tobit, mention is made of two sacred tithes : " The first tenth part of all increase," says the writer, describing his own piety, " I gave to the sons of Aaron, who ministered at Je- rusalem : another tenth part I sold away, and went and spent it every year at Jerusalem." (Tobit i. 7.) Jewish tradition, however, allows such a double tithe to have had place only in the case of the increase of the fields; while it affirms that the tithe of animals, which was single, was not given to the Levites at all for their use, but employed alto- gether in those peace-offering feasts that have been men- tioned. And, indeed, there is no intimation in the law of more than a single tithe of cattle : but it seems most rea- sonable to suppose, that this, if it was the only one, was consecrated to the Levites, and that these offering-feasts found no victims in this way ; especially, since in the enu- meration of the offerings to be used for the feasts, we meef
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with no mention of such animal-tithes, where it would seem, if the Jewish notion on this subject were correct, they ought not to have been left without notice. It appears, that every third year the people might, instead of carrying their second tithes to the sanctuary, make a feast of them at their own houses ; unless we suppose, with some, that the tithe which was required to be thus consumed at home each third year, was really a third one, which on every such year was to be paid, over and above the two regular tenths that have just been noticed. In the latter part of the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy, we have an account of a par- ticular solemnity that was to be observed on these occasions. The beautiful and impressive form with which the second sort of first-fruits was required to be presented before the Lord, is described in the first part of the same chapter. — In addition to the regular small portion of first-fruits which was consecrated in this way, to be used in the joyful peace- offering entertainments, the law directed that the whole produce of all manner of fruit-trees, after the three years during which it was considered uncircumcised, and might not be used at all, were over, should be in the fourth year devoted to religious use, in like manner. It was to be holy, it is said, to praise the Lord withal. (Lev. xix. 23 — 25.)
4. Vow-gifts. A vow is a solemn voluntary promise to God, either to do or abstain from doing something, or to give something, for his service and honour. Such religious engagements were not rare among the Jews. Of the first sort, we have an instance in the vow of Nazaritism, an ac- count of which may be found in the sixth chapter of Num- bers. Those of the second sort, such as bound persons to make some kind of sacred gift, more particularly claim our attention at present. We have already seen, that one class of peace offerings, noticed in the law, were such as men presented in consequence of vows made to the Lord in sea- sons of danger or distress. But these were only a part of what it was in some degree customary to consecrate to God in this general way. A man might thus sanctify to him at any time, not only common property of every sort, houses, lands, money, animals clean or unclean, &c. but servants also, and children, and even his own person. Animals so consecrated, that were fit for sacrifice, became victims for
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the altar ; those that could not be so used were sold, if not redeemed by the original owners themselves. Human per- sons became servants about the tabernacle or temple; with the privilege of being redeemed, however, when it was de- sired to embrace it. Other things in like manner, were rendered in this way holy to the Lord, to be employed for the support of religion, unless at any time recovered by re- demption according to certain regulations. (Lev. xxvii. 1 — 27.) The vow of an unmarried daughter, was not allowed to have force, if her father disapproved of it when it was made; so also that of a wife, if in like manner opposed by her husband. (Numb. xxx. 1 — 16.) In Matt. xv. 3 — 6, and Mark vii. 11, we have notice of a wretched abuse that was sometimes made of sacred vows in later times. An un- principled man would say to his parents, "Be it Corban,or a consecrated gift, whatsoever you shall receive of me !" and then, the Pharisees taught, he was not only not required to give them any help, but could not do it without sin ; be- cause after such a vow, any present that he might ever make them, although it was not holy or consecrated to the Lord before, immediately became so by the very act, and consequently would bring upon him the guilt of sacrilege as well as perjury, by being disposed of in this way. Such a manner of binding themselves in relation to certain things, by indirectly imprecating guilt of this sort upon their heads, if they failed to regard what they vowed, was not uncommon among the Jews, as we learn from other sources. Thus one would say, for instance, ' Let all the wine I ever drink be consecrated!' or, 'Consecrated be whatever of such a thing I ever taste !" and thus he laid himself under a curse, as it were, not to drink or taste in either case, because the moment he might do so the things became holy, and so unlawful to be so used. It was as if a man should say among us, ' The Lord destroy me, if I do this or that !' So foolish and wicked was the imprecation with which a man insulted his father or mother, in the case which our Saviour notices, in direct opposition to God's holy law.
There was one sort of consecration, of an awful charac- ter, from which there could be no redemption in any case. It was called by the Jews Cherem. Enemies were in some
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cases devoted, as it has been termed, in this way; and when they were so, they were to be pursued with the most un- relenting1 destruction, and their property treated in most cases as an accursed thing, which it was not lawful to make common use of. (Numb. xxi. 1 — 3. Josh. vi. 17 — 19. vii. 1.) From Lev. xxvii. 28, 29, we learn that a man might devote any sort of property that he owned with a vow of this nature, as well as with the more common one already noticed. What is there said about human beings thus devoted, viz. that they were to be put to death, is supposed to refer al- together to the case of such as were national enemies, which has just been stated ; or such as drew upon them- selves this curse by such guilt as is noticed in the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy. If Jephthah, therefore, in conse- quence of his rash vow, thought himself bound by this law to destroy his innocent daughter, as it seems to such ex- tremity he actually did proceed, he must be considered to have misunderstood its meaning. (Judges xi. 30 — 39.)
5. The half-shekel tax. In Ex. xxx. 11 — 16, a statute is recorded, which required every male Israelite over the age of twenty, whether rich or poor, to pay at that time half a shekel for the service of the sanctuary. It is not clear, that it was intended this should ever again be con- tributed ; much less, that such a tax should be rendered to the sanctuary every year. Such, however, was the inter- pretation put upon the law after the captivity. Every Jew, it was taught, was bound to pay a yearly tribute of half a shekel for the use of the temple; and it was insisted upon, besides, that it should be paid in Jewish coin. Hence arose a regular system of care for the collection of this sacred revenue. The money changers, of whom we read, that were accustomed to sit in the outer court of the temple, a short time each year before the Passover, were men whose busi- ness it was to receive this tribute, and to accommodate, at the same time, with Jewish half shekels, such as wanted to exchange other money for them. (Matt. xxi. 12.) It seems to have been this same tribute that was demanded of our Saviour in Capernaum ; which he intimated to Peter he was not properly under obligation to pay, inasmuch as he was the Son of that God to whom it was to be rendered. (Matt. xvii. 24—27.)
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From the general survey of the various sacred offerings which has now been taken, it appears, that it was no small portion of their worldly substance which the Jews were re- quired to consecrate to religious uses. Part of these offer- ing.-, indeed, were not altogether removed from the personal use of those that gave them; still, they were employed in a way that would not have been pursued if religion had not so ordered, and in a way that in a great measure deprived the offerers of all their real value in a worldly point of view, so that they had in them truly the nature of gifts presented to the Lord. But besides these, as we have seen, the Jew was called upon by his religion to render year by year a large tribute in the way of tithes, firstlings, &c. that went altogether to the support of the national worship; and was expected, moreover, to consecrate to God, in addition to all this, more or less of his property, in some way or other, of free and self-moving liberality. Thus the Lord reminded his people, that their earthly possessions were His ; and that when his glory was to be promoted, they should be ready to part with them in any measure, having all assurance that no employment of wealth can be more reasonable or well-directed than that which is made in his service, ac- cording to his will, whatever may be the way in which it is appointed to be used, and whatever the degree of li- berality that is called for.
Many who now call themselves the people of God would think it altogether unreasonable, if they were called upon to contribute such an amount of their property to religious purposes as was given in this way by the ancient Jews. And yet it is certainly not easy to find a satisfactory reason, why the Lord's people, at the present time, should be ex- pected to be less ready and liberal in service of this sort for the advancement of his glory, than the Lord's people were required to be in former times. It cannot be said, that there is less room or less call for such liberality in his service, since the passing away of that worldly outward economy under which the ancient church was placed. For, although it be not wanted in fact for the support of a costly ceremonial worship, it is still needed, we all know, for the building- up of Christ's spiritual kingdom in the earth. This latter was designed to be typically displayed
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in the Jewish state, and comprehends in it the substantial realities which the other but represented in airy shadow. How then can we suppose, that the church of old was bound to give more for the support of the Jewish religion — the way in which God then was pleased, in infinite wisdom, to have his name glorified and his truth honoured ; than the church of these latter days is bound to give for the en- largement of her boundaries and the salvation of the world — the way in which God is now to be glorified, and which he has appointed for the accomplishment of that great work of mercy that he is carrying forward in the earth ? The gospel has not, like the Jewish law, prescribed how much every individual shall contribute of his substance to the treasury of God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy ; but, while it urges the general duty, leaves every one to determine for himself his own particular measure. It seeks a spiritual service, such as is prompted by a willing heart, and not rendered with reluctance or by constraint : only, it reminds us, that " He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully ;" while it sots before us a dark, and lost, and dying world which our etibrts may help, and then, with weeping look and hand directed towards distant Cal- vary, exclaims, " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your salceshe became poor, that ye through his poverty might he rich .'" (2 Cor. viii. °. be. 6, 7. Acts xx. 35.)
SECTION II. SACRIFICIAL RITES.
Certain ceremonies and usages that were observed in the offering of sacrifices, claim a more particular notice than it was proper to bestow upon them in the general view of sacred offerings that has been taken in the preced- ing section.
1. Those who presented victims at the altar were ac- CUStomed, as we have seen, to lay their hands upon their heads, before they were slain. When offerings were re-
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quired to make atonement for the sins of the whole con- gregation, this ceremony was performed by some of the elders or rulers as their representatives. By this symbolic act, the animal was substituted in the place of the offerer, and solemnly devoted to God as a sacrifice for his altar. Accordingly, it was the practice to accompany it with some sort of prayer or confession suited to this idea. In fact, the ceremony of laying on hands in all cases, as well when it was to commend its objects to the mercy of God, (Gen. xlviii. 14. Matt. xix. 15,) or to set them apart to some par- ticular office, (Numb, xxvii. 18 — 23. Acts xiii. 3,) as when it was to devote them to death, (Lev. xxiv. 14,) seems to have been as a matter of course associated with the notion of some address to the Most High ; insomuch that when the first was enjoined or spoken of, the other was always understood to belong to it, even when it was not mentioned. In the case before us, when a sin offering or trespass of- fering was presented, the offender, with his hands between the horns of the victim and his eyes directed toward the front of the Sanctuary, made solemn confession of the particular transgression for which it was brought forward, and besought God, in his mercy, to receive its sacrifice as an atonement for his guilt, in room of that destruction which it was thus intimated might justly fall upon his own head. When a burnt offering was presented, a more gene- ral confession of sinful short-coming in the obedience thaf God's law demanded, seems to have been common. It is probable also, though we are not so told explicitly, that the address to God had in it on certain occasions, a supplication more especially for some other blessing than the forgive- ness of sin, or a thankful acknowledgment for some good- ness already experienced, according to the particular nature and design of the sacrifice that was offered. Especially may we suppose this would be the manner in the case of peace offerings, which were often presented with a par- ticular reference to some single end of this sort. At the same time, however, even in such cases there might have oeen mention made of sin, with a petition for pardoning mercy, in view of the life that was going to be poured out in sacrifice to the Holy One. — According to Jewish tradi tion, confession was made over victims offered to make
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expiation for sin by individual offenders, in some such form as this: " O Lord, I have sinned ! I have transgressed! [have rebelled! This have I done: — (and then he named the particular offence for which he sought forgiveness.) But now I repent ; and may this victim be my expiation .'"
2. Victims were slain immediately after the ceremony just noticed. Those that were presented for the whole congregation were required from the first to be killed by the priests or Levites. In other cases, it was originally the custom for the offerers themselves to perform the work ; but afterwards, the Levites, being more expert at such business than others, had it yielded altogether into their hands. The animals, we are told by the Jews, were fas- tened by the neck or feet to certain strong rings, fixed firmly to the pavement of the temple-court, beside the altar, for convenient slaughter. Life was then taken by cutting the throat with a single stroke of the knife, so deep that all the blood might flow out of the body. This, as it streamed from the dying victim, was carefully received into a sacred vessel kept for the purpose, to be made use of according to law.
3. The blood, as we have seen, was differently disposed of in sacrifices of different kinds. In a fsw peculiarly solemn cases, some ef it was carried within the Sanctuary, and sprinkled toward the mercy-seat, and placed upon the horns of the golden altar. In other instances, it was all employed about the altar of burnt offeiing. From the bottom of this altar, in the temple, there was a subterrane- ous passage, it is said, by which it was carried away into the brook of Cedron. — The sprinkling and pouring out of the blood formed a most material and essential part of the sacrificial service. Because, as we are tcld, it was the blood, which is represented to be in an especi:<l manner the seat of life, that made atonement for the soul ; and this application of the blood to the altar, in any particular case, was that especially which had in it the virtue of expiation included in the sacrifice.
On account of its use in this respect, blood was made most solemnly sacred. Not only in the case of sacrifices, but in every other case also, it was prohibited with the greatest care from being tasted as food or regarded as u
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common thing ; so that the most dreadful punishment was denounced against the man who should dare to transgress the divine commandment respecting it. Nor was it merely with the establishment of the Jewish economy, that this prohibition had place. It was spoken to Noah, the second lather of the whole human race, immediately after the flood, when permission to use animal food at all was first granted ; so that from the beginning of time man had not been allowed to eat blood. Nor does it appear to have been merely for a ceremonial reason, that the statute was thus early clothed with obligation. The only reason assigned at first was that the life was in the blood. (Gen. ix. 4.) Hence many have, not without cause, adopted the conclu- sion, that the original prohibition was intended to have force among all men till the end of time, as a memorial that life, even in its humblest character, is sacred, and that man has no right to destroy it in any case except as God, the author of it, has been pleased to give him explicit per- mission. This idea is supposed to receive great confirma- tion from the celebrated decree of that Christian council, held in the earliest age of the gospel at Jerusalem, of which we have an account in the 15th chapter of Acts. Others, however, reject this notion, and consider the prohibition of blood to have had respect from the beginning only to the ceremonial use to which it was, on account of its vital nature, consecrated in the institution of sacrifices, and which accordingly was brought to an end, with other shadows of the ancient economy, in the death of Jesus Christ. Whether it is lawful for a Christian or any person at the present time to eat blood, is therefore a disputed question. In such a case then, it is at any rate wise not to taste it. It may be, that the use of it is not unlawful, but it is certainly safer on the whole to act as if it were clearly ascertained to be otherwise ; especially, since the article is tn itself so pernicious to health, and so uninviting naturally to a sound taste, that it is truly marvellous how, through a process of strange and artificial preparation, it should, in some parts of our country, have found toleration, and even right friendly reception in civilized entertainments.
4. The blood being disposed of, the animal was rapidly stripped of its skin, and cut in pieces, and as far as it was
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to be consumed upon the altar, made ready for the fire. In the second temple, there were tables of marble, and pillars with hooks fixed in them for hanging victims upon, which afforded every convenience for this business. The skins were all given to the priests. The animal was cut up, not carelessly, but neatly, and according to rule. Certain parts were required to be carefully washed, that no sort of filth might be allowed to come upon the altar.
5. We read of particular parts of slain victims, as well as of whole offerings, at other times, both such as were bloody and such as were not, being presented to God with certain peculiar ceremonies, denominated heaving and waving. It is not clear what, precisely, these ceremonies were, or whether there was really any material difference between them. Some suppose, that the one was a lifting up of the offering, and the other merely a letting down of it again ; so that every heave offering necessarily became a wave offering. The Jews tell us, that to heave an offering was to lift it upwards, and that to wave it was to pass it this way and that way toward the four quarters of the world ; all which solemn ceremony was designed to signify that it was thus presented to Him who fills the uni- verse with his presence — the Maker and Possessor of hea- ven and earth with all their fulness. In a few instances, animals were subjected to this rite before they were kill- ed. (Lev. xiv. 24. xxiii. 20.) More commonly, it was performed with some particular parts, after they were cut up ; especially, with the breast and right shoulder, in all cases of peace offering sacrifices, which were appropriated for the use of the priests by a continual statute. Bloodless offerings, also, were at times presented with the same ce- remony. (Ex. xxix. 22 — 28.)
6. All fat, in sacrifices of every sort, that could be con- veniently separated from the flesh of victims, was required to be burned upon the altar. Thus, we find direction still given, however other parts of the victim mignt be disposed of, that those portions which were either altogether or prin- cipally composed of this substance, should be made an offering by fire unto the Lord. These being' the richest portions, it was thus intimated, as it was in other require- ments already noticed, that God ought to receive in all our
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worship, the best service which it is in our power to ren- der. Hence, fat became, in something of the same man- ner as blood, a sacred substance ; so that it was declared unlawful to eat those parts that have been referred to, in the case of any animal of the different classes from which the altar derived its victims, even when it was killed at home for common use. (Lev. vii. 23 — 25.)
Destitute as it was, besides, of all the advantages of but- ter or pork in any shape, this prohibition of all manner of fat, whether of the flock or of the herd, would have left the Jewish cookery in a sad predicament, had it not all been more than compensated for by the excellent oil of olive:j which the country yielded in such rich abundance. In these latter days, many of the scattered family of Abraham, who dwell in other countries, where the olive of their an- cient land is not known, have found themselves subjected to no inconsiderable inconvenience on this score. Butter, they maintain, was not only not in use among their an- cestors for the preparation of food, as it was in Egypt and other countries, but actually forbidden, as much as hog's lard and the other fat that has been mentioned, by the di- vine law. In this extremity, they have been compelled to put up altogether with such fat as can be procured from animals that were not reckoned in this prohibition, and are yet of that number that were considered clean ; among which they number the goose, though its claim to the lat- ter distinction is not entirely out of the reach of dispute, and have made it, accordingly, their most substantial re- source for this purpose, using its fat in the room of butter, for want of the favourite oil of their fathers. The law that has been supposed to forbid the use of butter, it may be remarked here, by the way, is the following : Thou shall not seeth a kid in its mother's milk. Nor is this interpre- tation without strong reason in its favour, however unnatu- ral it may seem at first glance. It is not without counte- nance from the usage of eastern language, that the phrase, a kid's mother, is understood to mean, universally, a goat that gives milk, without reference to any particular case ; or, that what is spoken particularly of one class of animals, is considered to include a general precept, having force in regard 1o others also, that gave similar room for its appli-
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cation. Thus, the milk of a kid's mother is interpreted to mean any sort of milk, and of course any thing produced from milk, as all butter is ; while the flesh of a kid means any sort of flesh ; so that, altogether, out of the sententious statute, Thou shalt not seeth a kid in its mother's milk, is derived this very practical signification, Thou shalt not dress meat with butter. However this interpretation may be received, it is clear, that the law gave no encourage- ment to the use of butter, but by prescribing oil in all meat offerings which were used in sacred entertainments, indi- rectly discountenanced it.
7. With all thine offerings, it was commanded in the law, thou shall offer salt. (Lev. ii. 13.) This statute, the Jews tell us, was so strictly regarded, that nothing came unsalted to the altar, but the wine of the drink offering, the blood sprinkled, and the wood that was used for the fire. Salt for this purpose, used to be kept always at the temple, provided at the public charge, so that it was not expected to be furnished by those who presented the offerings. It was customary, we are told, to salt the parts of victims that were to be burned, generally on the rise that went up to the altar, but in some cases, on the top of it. To the usage of salting sacrifices, our Saviour refers in Mark ix. 49. Especially was it enjoined, that this article should be found with every meat offering As it was the symbol of friend- ship, it was altogether fit that it should not be wanting in the sacred entertainments, where men were admitted, as it were, to participate with God on the most intimate terms. Because of its significance in this respect, it was denomi- nated the salt of the covenant.
8. The wood was always placed in order, and set on fire .first. Care having been taken to have it thus in readiness, the several parts of the sacrifice that were to be consumed, after the preparatory steps that have been noticed, were placed upon the burning pile. In the case of holocausts, or burnt offerings, as we have seen, the whole victim, ex- cept the skin, was thus destroyed : in other cases, only certain portions of it.
9. The altar having received its share, in those cases where the whole was not given to it, there were three different ways in which the remainder of the flesh, ac-
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cording to the nature of the sacrifice, was required to be disposed of. 1st. It was in some instances to be carried out of the camp, or out of Jerusalem, which, in the times of the temple, answered to the ancient camp in the wilder- ness, and burned as a polluted thing-. The bodies of those beasts, whose blood was carried into the Sanctuary, were all borne forth, and destroyed in this way. 2d. It was, in certain cases, to be eaten by the priests. Thus, all was appointed to be used in the case of common sin offerings, or trespass offerings, in which the blood was not taken into the Sanctuary, and also in the case of the two lambs offered on the day of Pentecost, as peace offerings for the whole congregation; and particular portions, viz: — the breast and the right shoulder, in the case of all peace of- ferings presented by individuals. In the cases first stated, it was considered especially holy, and might not be eaten any where out of the court of the Sanctuary, and only by such of the priestly family as were males. (Numb, xviii. 9, 10.) But the flesh allotted to the priests from common peace-offerings, like that which fell to them in the way of firstling dues, might be eaten, it seems, any where in Je- rusalem, and by all that properly belonged to their house- holds, if only they were free, at the time, from ceremonial uncleanness — a thing that was required in every person that tasted, in any case, food that was made sacred by be- ing presented at the altar. (Lev. xxii. 2—16. vii. 20, 21.) 3d. Whatever of the flesh of the sacrifices was not disposed of in the ways that have been already mentioned, was ap- propriated to the use of the offerers themselves, and might be eaten in the sacred entertainments, in which it was ex- pected to be all employed within less than two days, by all classes of persons that were clean, and in any part of Je- rusalem. Thus, all the flesh not claimed by the altar, ex- cept the breast and right shoulder, which fell to the priests, was made use of in the case of every common peace offer- ing. In these offering-feasts, as already intimated, a sort of sacred communion was instituted between God and his worshippers. The entertainment was furnished by him from the provisions of his House; and as with men, social feasts are always indicative of friendly feeling among those who unite in them, and in ancient times, especially,
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were used as signs and pledges of mutual good will and confidence between such as entered with each other into covenants of peace. (Gen. xxvi. 28 — 30. xxxi. 44 — 46. Josh, ix. 14, 15.) So those who were thus permitted to partake, as it were, of the Lord's table, in receiving entertainment from the altar, were supposed to enjoy the privilege of his friendship and peculiar favour, and to be, by this sign, in holy covenant with him, if not guilty of cold and false hypocrisy in their own hearts. (IWal. i. 7, 12.) The Apos- tle argues with the Corinthians against the use of meat that had been consecrated in sacrifice to idols, from this well-known principle ; showing, that, as under the Jewish law they who ate of the sacrifices were partakers of God's altar, so those who joined in the offering-feasts of the hea- then around them, might properly be said to have fellow- ship, in so doing, with devils. (1 Cor. x. 18, 20.)
SECTION III. MEANING AND ORIGIN OF SACRIFICES.
It must be felt by every person who seriously thinks upon the subject, that the use of sacrifices, which entered so extensively into the whole system of religious worship in ancient times, had in it something strange and difficult to be understood on the principles of mere natural reason. Offerings of the bloodless sort, indeed, might be imagined, without much objection, to have taken their origin from the suggestion of nature itself, and to have been reasonable expressions of thankful piety, to which men would be led under its influence in the most direct and easy manner. Thus it might be considered not altogether wonderful or unnatural, that they should have been moved solemnly to present to God, at times, some portion of the fruits of the earth secured by their labour, as Cain did, by way of ac- knowledging him to be the Author andGiverof all blessings, or to testify gratitude for special favours received from his hand. But, in the case of the Jews and of the pious pa- triarchs noticed in the Bible, offerings of this sort made but a small and secondary part of the general system of sa-
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crifices. All the more striking and distinguished features of that system, were portrayed with blood. The slaying and consuming of animal victims, entered essentially and primarily into its whole constitution, and formed both the basis and the principal body of all its peculiar structure. Here it is, that we are met with mystery in the institution, such as mere nature cannot help us to comprehend. What should lead men to suppose that God would be pleased with the slaughter of unoffending animals, in his worship ? What connexion was there between this apparently cruel destruction of life, and the divine favour ? or how could it express a pious temper in the person who thus sought to honour his Maker, or conciliate his friendship ? And still more, how is it to be accounted for, that God did, in fact, approve of this bloody service, and make it an essential part of the only true religion, for so long a period of ages ? Are we to imagine, that the Holy One could find satisfac- tion in the sufferings of his harmless creatures ? Could he be pleased, in itself, with the blood of bullocks or of goats, or be soothed into complacency by the savour of theii burning flesh ?
To these last inquiries, all reason and natural sense an- swer, No. Nor can it be, with any propriety, imagined that men should ever, of their own accord, have taken up the notion, that such service could, in itself, seem agree- able to the Creator of heaven and earth. How, then, the question remains, did the notion of bloody sacrifices come into existence ? and where shall we find a satisfactory rea- son for the fact, that such a strange and unnatural wor- ship was really acceptable to the Most High ? The Bible explains all this mystery. It teaches us the true meaning of this service, and so guides us to the discovery of its sa- cred origin. Let us attend to the instruction it imparls on these interesting points.
1. The meaning of sacrifices. The scriptures inform us, that the shedding of blood, in this ancient institution, had regard altogether to sin. Such a service was suited only to the worship of a guilty race, and never, in any case, left this consideration out of sight. Had men never fallen, it could never have had any meaning in their re- ligious worship ; and would never, accordingly, have found
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place in it. But the fall altered all their relation to God. It was no longer possible for the creature to come directly before the Creator, as when innocent and pure, with ac- ceptable homage or supplication. Guilt hung a dark and impenetrable curtain between the soul and the favour of its God, and shut out the voice, alike of prayer and praise, in deep and hopeless despair. No worship of man could be accepted, until this awful hinderance was taken out of the way. God, however, in his mercy, devised a plan for its removal. The plan was to secure complete satisfaction to his holy law, by suffering its vengeance to fall some- where else, (where it could be rightly received,) than upon the rebellious themselves — by vicarious sacrifice — by an adequate atonement, rendered through the shedding of blood, without which there could be no remission. Here, then, we have unfolded the general meaning of bloody sacrifices, and the general reason why the Most High re- garded them with approbation, and required them from his worshippers. The whole system had reference to the guilt of sin, and its necessary expiation. Blood, the sym- bol of animal life, was consecrated, by a divine appropria- tion, to this single holy use, and, in all its flowing at the altar, was expressive of atonement for the soul.
But could the blood of bulls and goats take away sin 1 Had it, in itself, the smallest efficacy to make atonement for guilt, and satisfy the holy law of God ? The Apostle assures us, that such a thing was not possible ; (Heb. x. 1 — 4;) and, if he had not told us so, the smallest reflection might convince us, that such sacrifices, however multi- plied, could never puree away the conscience of sin, and restore tranquillity or holy confidence to the guilty soul. We must not, for a moment, imagine, therefore, that an offering of this sort, in any case, did ever, of itself, make the smallest satisfaction for the offence of any sin, in the sight of the Most Holy. When we read of atonement being made in this way for particular sins, under the old dispensation, we are to understand, that while it actually availed, in consequence of the divine appointment, to sa- tisfy the requirement of the ceremonial, and in certain cases of the civil, law, it answered the claim of the moral law onlv in shadow, having nothing whatever, in itself.
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suited to its nature, but merely setting forth in typical re- presentation, a far more excellent sacrifice to come. The Ceremonial system was altogether, as we have seen, a shadowy exhibition of the Great Gospel Reality ; without substance, or value, or meaning, when looked upon wholly in itself, but full of expressive and instructive power when contemplated in its relation to this mystery of Grace. It had, accordingly, if we may be allowed the expression, a class of shadowy sins, among other things, for the more per- fect illustration of its shadowy atonement. The ceremonia? law imposed an obligation of its own, distinct from that of the moral law, and might be violated, so as to bring its condemnation upon a man, while no true guilt, such as arises only from an offence against the latter, was con- tracted. This ceremonial guilt, as it may be termed, might be entirely taken away, by the ceremonial means appointed for the purpose. The guilt and the removal of it, were alike symbolical ; although, at the same time, not to make use of the means for this removal, could not fail to bring upon the soul the stain of real guilt, inasmuch as it then became disobedience to God, and so a transgres- sion of the moral law. So, in particular cases, the re- quirement of the civil law, viewed entirely apart from moral duty, was completely satisfied by the same sort of means. Thus, a representation was given of the true atonement, by which alone, true sins were to be taken away. In some other cases, however, there was no claim of any law answered by these sacrificial offerings. They were presented altogether on account of moral transgres- sions, without regard to any of a merely ceremonial or civil sort ; and then, of course, they accomplished nothing at all in themselves : only, they pointed to an all-sufficien? sacrifice that was to be revealed ; and when offered by the truly pious, were acceptable to God, as containing m them an acknowledgment of guilt, and a renunciation of every other ground of hope for pardon and righteousness, but the great Provision which he himself had promised to make known in the latter days, for the purpose.
Such was the only value of the ancient sacrifices. They never purged the worshippers of God from the conscience of sins, and were therefore continually offered up, year after
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year, making continually new remembrance of guilt. To rely upon them, therefore, as taking away the guilt of sin, even when true repentance accompanied them, was to lean upon a broken reed,* and still more presumptuous was it to do so, when no such repentance was felt at all. Yet to this degree of presumption were the Jews ever prone to be tarried. They were apt to fall into the notion, that these sacrifices were in themselves, without regard to something else, highly acceptable to God, and that he could not refuse to be pleased with them, even when presented by the wick- ed. Hence we hear the Lord expostulating with them : Tu what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto rne? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats, $c (Is. i. 11—14. Ps. 1. 7—14.) And all along it was taught, that to obey was better than sacrifice, and to hearken to the Lord's voice better than the fat of rams. (1 Sam. xv. 22. Hosea vi. 6.) Without such a dis- position, it was not possible that the Lord could accept the service of any worshipper, though he appeared in his pre- sence with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil; nor yet, at the same time, even with this disposi- tion, could such expensive offerings, or the still more pre- cious offering of a first-born son itself, have the smallest efficacy in their nature, to remove the guilt of transgression. (Micah vi. 6 — 8.) Just as now, to belong to the church and partake of the Lord's supper, are things that can be of no avail without a heart ready to obey the will of God, and, even where there is such a readiness, cannot in themselves and on their own account, procure saving benefit to the soul, but merely help to direct it to the Great Original Resource of Grace, and serve as channels through which its streams may be received.
What the ancient sacrifices only represented in empty shadow, Jesus Christ, by the Sacrifice of Himself, actually accomplished. This we are expressly taught in the epistle to the Hebrews. As the whole priestly office had respect to the mediatorial character of our Saviour, and never had any other than a shadowy, unsubstantial character, except in him, as has been before remarked ; so also die entire scheme of sacrificial worship, had reference to
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his atoning death, which was in fact the only true and effi- cacious sacrifice ever made ; while all before it were mere pictures of its precious reality. Thus he was himself, at the same time, priest and victim. The typical priests be- fore him stood daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins ; but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God. (Heb. vii. 27. x. 11, 12.) In this sacrifice there was value enough to make full expia- tion for all the sins of the whole world ; and to as many as embrace its advantage, by faith, it will be found till the end of time, completely availing to remove the heaviest pressure of guilt, and to deliver them from its deepest condemnation, into a state of peace and reconciliation with a Holy God. Because the death of Jesus Christ was thus truly an atoning sacrifice, he is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. (John i. 29.) And in vision he appear- ed to the beloved disciple as a Lamb that had been slain : (Rev. v. 6 :) his blood also, which we are told cleanseth from all sin, is represented to be like that of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. (1 Pet. i. 19. 1 John i. 7.) We find his death, accordingly, all along spoken of as being on account of sin, and to make satisfaction for its guilt — sin that was not his own, but which he consented to bear in the room of his people, and to take away on their behalf, by becoming a sin offering for them, and pouring out his soul beneath the awful pressure of infinite justice. Besides the 53d chapter of Isaiah, the following passages may be con- sulted on this point : viz. Matt. xx. 28. xxvi. 28. Rom. iii. 25, 26. viii. 3. 2 Cor. v. 21. Eph. v. 2. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18 The death of atonement, then, which the Son of God died for our redemption, was that to which all sacrifices, from the earliest times, had respect as their great termination, and without which they would have been as destitute of reason, as they were, in their very nature, of all actual value- in the sight of Heaven. If holy men of old made an accepta- ble use of them, in drawing near to God, it was only by looking ihrough them to this all-perfect and sufficient sacri- fice which they prefigured. This great sacrifice, accord- ingly, being offered up in due time, all that were before i
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were completely done away, and all that ancient sort of worship went for ever out of use.
2. The origin of sacrifices. Having thus discovered the true meaning of sacrifices, we cannot hesitate in deciding the question, whether they were of divine, or of merely human origin. It is in fact decided already. For if the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the only one that ever had any proper and substantial reality, and all others were entirely unmeaning, except as faint images and pictures of this, it is manifest that the whole system must have been derived altogether from the appointment of God. As the original idea of atonement by blood, which in the fulness of time became realized in the death of the Son of God, was con- ceived from the beginning in the divine mind alone, so we are to trace back to the same source the entire plan of that preparatory representation by which it was held up for the encouragement and assistance of faith, in unsubstantial type, so many ages before its actual development. The great Pattern Sacrifice being altogether of heavenly device, and in its glorious nature a mystery, completely hidden from human knowledge till revealed in its own season, it would be absurd to suppose that other sacrifices before it, which answered so strikingly as shadows to its wonderful reality, and viewed in any other light, had no meaningvor reason whatever, might have come into use notwithstand- ing, through mere human fancy, and without any regard at first to the end which afterwards they were made to respect.
However, therefore, some have imagined that the use of sacrifices originated at first from men themselves, without any divine direction, and have attempted to show how they might have been led to adopt the strange and unnatural service ; it is clear, that as reason finds such a supposition attended with much difficulty, and feels dissatisfied with every explanation brought for its relief, so the whole re- presentation of the Bible urges us to embrace a different sentiment. True, we are not told explicitly that God direct- ed men in the beginning to worship him in this way : but the nature and design of the service are declared, and are found to be such as to forbid all thought of its having sprung from any other source than the express appointment of the
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Most High. And what is thus indirectly discovered, with almost irresistible evidence, is still l'arther confirmed by the historical account, as far as it reaches, which we have of ancient sacrifices All along, before the age of Moses, we find them constantly employed by the people of God, as an essential part of true religion, and honoured and accepted, and in certain cases ordered, of the Lord himself, as being not mere indifferent rites, but acts of piety of the first im- portance, and peculiarly well pleasing in his sight : all which would be strange indeed, if they had originally start- ed out of human will-worship, and had no respect at all in their design at that time to the Great Sacrifice to come, (as on such a supposition it must be believed,) but were used altogether according to some different view that led at first to the practice of them, which view must necessarily be considered at the same time to have been mistaken and false. But we are not left with the mere information that these early sacrifices were in use, to imagine that they might have been offered with a view altogether different from what was most particularly contemplated afterwards in those that were prescribed by the Jewish law. We have satisfactory evidence, that before, as well as after, the intro- duction of that law, the shedding of blood in sacrifice was regarded as an expiatory rite, having reference to guilt, and signifying that without atonement there could be no for- giveness or divine favour bestowed upon the sinner. That such was the fact, is abundantly manifest from the notion found to have been entertained among heathen nations in every age, that the anger of Heaven was to be appeased by bloody sacrifices, and that they could avail to do away the offensive guilt of injury and crime ; for these heathen sacri- fices, that have been common in every quarter of the world, were not borrowed in any measure from those of the Jews, but had their origin much farther back from those that were in use in the earliest times, when the family of man was not yet multiplied into different nations, or scattered over the face of the earth. Besides all this, too, we are expressly informed that the Patriarch Job, who was accustomed to worship God with these ancient sacrifices, offered them with a special reference to sin ; and that the Lord himself required burnt offerings from his three friends, to make
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expiation for their offence, and to turn away his wrath, that was kindled against them. (Job i. 5. xlii. 7 — 9.) It being clear, therefore, that while sacrifices, before the time of Moses, were held to be an essential part of religious worship, they were regarded to be such, especially on account of their expiatory meaning, the same by which they were so remarkably distinguished under the law, — we are furnish- ed with very conclusive evidence that they were suggested and enjoined from the first, by no other than that God who formed the design of the True Atonement, before the foundation of the world, and employed them so extensively and systematically, to shadow forth its mystery in the Cere- monial system of the Jews.
This conclusion, as far as it rests on historical grounds, becomes still clearer, when we go backward, under the guidance of revelation, and find this service in use, not merely before the flood, (as appears from the distinction of animals thus early into clean and unclean, and also by Noah's sacrifice when he came out of the ark, that was so acceptable to the Lord,) but in the family of Adam himself, in the earliest age of the earth. We read of Cain and Abel offering sacrifices ; and it is so mentioned as to leave the impression that such worship was not a new thing in this case : it had been practised undoubtedly before that, if not by these brothers themselves, yet at least by their father. But can it for a moment be imagined, that Adam should, of his own accord, have conceived the notion, directly after the fall, that God would be pleased with having the blood of peaceful animals poured out before him in solemn of- fering, when as yet, the liberty of using their flesh in any way for food, had not been granted? Are we not rather, in order to account for his practice in this respect, driven to the conclusion, that God himself, immediately after his ruin, when He revealed even then the promise of the New Cove- nant, appointed sacrifice to be a standing pledge of its grace, and the special means by which faith should be enabled to lay hold upon its blessings, until the fulness of time should come for the full manifestation of that great Real Atone- ment, on which the whole plan of mercy was to be builded and secured ? Thus, while the institution became a con- tinual monument of guilt and death, introduced by sin, ever
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calling them into remembrance, it was ordained to be at the same time a sure sign of salvation and life — a sacra- mental memorial, as one has expressed it, showing forth the Lord's death until he came, by the believing use of which, the full benefit of that death might be secured to the soul. In this way our first father, it seems, was instructed to exercise his faith and find spiritual encouragement, when there was yet none but himself and his guilty partner in the world. It has been supposed, with much probability, that the animals whose skins were employed at first to make garments for them, were slain and offered up as sa- crifices by the direction of God. What was thus required to be observed by the first man, as a necessary part of accept- able religious worship, was appointed at the same time to be observed by his posterity, and it became his duty ac- cordingly, to acquaint his immediate descendants with its meaning and obligation, so as to have the use of it handed down from generation to generation. Thus it was made a solemn duty to worship the Lord by this method — to make penitent acknowledgment of sinfulness and desert of death in the symbolic substitution of an unoffending victim to bleed at the altar, and to show at the same time a believing confidence in the divine plan for taking away guilt, though it was not yet understood, by looking in this way, with sim- ple obedience, for reconciliation and acceptance.
To make use of sacrifice, then, according to the com- mandment of God, and with the temper that has just been mentioned, was in any case an evidence of piety and faith. Thus did Abel bring an offering of the best of his flock, and presented it as a bloody sacrifice to the Lord : and hence he is commended to our notice as an example of faith, by which, it is said, his sacrifice was more acceptable on this occasion than that of his brother Cain. (Heb. xi. 4.) This faith clearly supposes a divine appointment, to which it had respect, and in the end of which it had full con- fidence, showing both by a simple obedience to the direction that had been given, in the whole manner of its service. Cain, on the other hand, evinced no such faith : he offered a sacrifice, but there was something in the service that was wrong — not in conformity with the divine direction, and accordingly it was not accepted. Now if we inquire
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wherein this want of faith particularly was found, it seems by no means an unlikely answer that has been given, that it was in refusing to offer a bloody sacrifice, as God had re- quired, and thus disregarding all the high and solemn de- signs for which the institution was appointed. He seems to have followed his own reason, rather than the command- ment of heaven, and, because he could discern no propriety in the slaying of an animal as an act of religious worship, to have persuaded himself that an offering without blood was the most suitable to be presented to a God who was in- finitely merciful and good. Thus he made no account of his own sinfulness, and slighted the blood of atonement, presumptuously pretending to come before the Holy One, as if he had never offended, and the way had been free of all hinderance to the throne of mercy.
It has been generally believed, that the way in which God discovered his acceptance of Abel's sacrifice, was by causing fire to descend in a miraculous manner, and con- sume it, while that of Cain received no such mark of re- gard. It is clear that some open and striking sign of his approbation was given, that was easy to be understood ; and it must be acknowledged altogether probable, that it was no other than this, which was in certain cases made such a token, we know, in later times. Thus the Lord tes- tified of his gifts, and showed himself well pleased with the piety that presented them, while those of Cain were left without approbation and without notice. We find in sub- sequent history, repeated instances, in which the divine acceptance of sacrifices was testified in this same way. Thus the Lord answered David and Elijah, and thus he fur- nished the altar with holy fire, directly after the consecra- tion of the tabernacle first, and afterwards of the temple. (Lev. ix. 24. Judg. vi. 21. 1 Kings xviii. 38. 1 Chron. xxi. 26. 2 Chron. vii. I.) Whence it is reasonable to suppose, that the same token was given also in other cases, where God is said to have accepted the service, though it is not expressly mentioned; and it is by no means unlikely, that all along from the beginning, such displays of heavenly ap- probation were often granted, for the encouragement of faith, and to put honour upon the divine institution of Sacrifice.
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As God's people are sometimes figuratively not properly, represented to be priests, so the various kinds of spiritual service with which they honour him, are not unfrequently, in the same figurative way, spoken of as sacrifices. As among the Jews, offerings of this sort entered so very ex- tensively into their whole system of worship, and were in their nature expressive of different pious feelings, unac- companied by which they had no worth, it was altogether natural, that the language of piety should borrow from their use, a great number of images, and mingle in its ha- bitual phraseology, a great variety of terms derived from the altar and its solemn rites. Thus, accordingly, we find it all through the sacred volume. The Psalms especially, and the writings of the prophets, abound with this sort of imagery and allusion. We meet with it also repeatedly in the New Testament : we are urged to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, to offer continually the sacrifice of praise, &c. ; so we hear Paul speaking of his ministry among the Gentiles as a priestly work, and of their conversion as an offering, rendered through his instrumentality, to the Lord ; and again, of his life being poured out as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice and service of their faith. (Rom. xii. 1. xv. 16. Phil. ii. 17. 2 Tim. iv. 6. Heb. xiii. 15, 16. 1 Peter ii. 5.)
CHAPTER VI.
SACRED TI3VEES A7STD SOLEMNITIES.
As certain places were more hely than others, in the Jewish economy, and were honoured with special regard, so there were certain hours and days and seasons, con- sidered in like manner more sacred than other times, and distinguished accordingly by particular religious ob- servances. These now call for our notice, and will lead us to contemplate in order the regular public worship of the Sanctuary ; as this, of course, was determined to such stated times from year to year.
SECTION I. THE DAILY SERVICE.
There was a regular public service required to be per- formed every morning and every evening. Each altar was to smoke so often, at least, with its appropriate offering, presented in behalf of the whole nation. (Ex. xxix. 38 — 42. xxx. 7, 8.) The hours at which these sacrifices were regu- larly performed, came naturally to be considered as some- what sacred and appropriate in a peculiar manner for the business of devotion.
The law prescribed no precise time for the service of the morning, but directed that the offering of the second lamb should take place between the two evenings. It is not clear, however, whether the first evening began originally, ac- cording to the way of reckoning that was used in later ages, sometime before the going down of the sun, and with it, gave place to the second ; or whether it only commenced itself at sunset, and yielded to the other at dusk. Of the particular manner, moreover, of either service before the captivity, we have no account. In later times, though con
151
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formed as far aa there was knowledge, to ancient usage, il was no doubt in many respects different from what it had originally been, especially by reason of various vain cere- monies added to it, such as were so abundantly multiplied during the second temple, in every part of the national religion. The Daily Service, as it was thus found in the age of our Saviour, is described with sufficient fulness in the Jewish writings, according to the very ancient tradi- tion of their ancestors. The following is a brief summarj' of the account of it that has been collected from this quarter.
The priests who were on duty at the temple, had their chief place of residence, when not immediately engaged in their public work, in the north-west corner of the Court of Israel. Here was a very large building, having a great room in the middle of it, with four others of less size, that opened into this, and were placed around it, one at each corner. This central hall was styled the House of burning, because a fire was kept constantly in it, m cold weather, by which the priests might warm themselves during the day, when chilled in their work, and be kept comfortable through the night. Here the principal one of their three particular guards or watches, was continually stationed. Such as were not required to continue awake in this ser- vice, sought sleep for themselves on benches round about the room, or, if they were of the younger class, on the naked floor itself. Having thus passed the night, they were required to have themselves in readiness here, very early in the morning, for going forth, according to order, to en- gage in the business of the day. This readiness consisted in being bathed, and dressed in their sacred garments. No one, it was held, might go into the Court where he was to serve, until he had washed his whole body in water ; and, accordingly, they had several rooms fitted up as bathing places for this purpose. After this first washing, it was not commonly necessary to wash again during the da}r, more than the hands and the feet : that, however, was to be done every time any one came into the Court of the priests, after having gone out, no matter how frequently this might be.
Thus ready, they waited till one styled the President came,
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according to his office, to lead them forth, and assign them their duties. When he was come, they all passed together out into the Court, with candles in their hands, and ihcre dividing themselves into two companies, began solemnly to move round the temple, half taking to the right, and the other half to the left. Having met on the opposite side, the inquiry was made, Is all safe and well ? and the answer returned, Yes, all is well ; and then immediately the pas- try-man, who had his chamber in that quarter, was called upon to wet ready the cakes for the high-priest's daily meat-offering. After this, they all withdrew to a particu- lar room, in a building of considerable size, that stood at the south-east corner of the court, for the purpose of having it determined by lot, who should perform the first duties of the day. This was done by the president.
The first lot designated the one who should cleanse the altar of burnt-offering ; and as soon as it was made known, he went out and set about his work. His particular part, however, was merely to make a beginning in this ser- vice, which was regarded as an honourable privilege, and not by himself to carry it through ; as soon as he had so done, other priests came to his assistance, and separating any pieces that might be left of the last day's evening sa- crifice, to the one side, scraped together the ashes, and had them in a short time carried away, so as to leave the altar fit for new employment. These ashes were borne to a place without the city, where the wind could not easily scatter them, and no person might ever put them to any use whatever. The cleansing of the altar in this way was be- gun, on common days, at the dawn of day ; but during the three great festivals, much sooner, and on the day of atone- ment, as early as midnight itself. The work was concluded by putting- the fire in order, and placing in it any pieces that were left of the last offered victim, so as to have them completely consumed.
This first service over, the priests withdrew again to the room where the lot was given, and had a second class of duties distributed among thirteen of their number. One of these duties was to kill the morning victim ; another, to sprinkle its blood ; a third, to dress the altar of incense, &c. Half of them were merely to carry certain particular por-
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tions of the sacrifice, after the lamb was slain and cut up, to the rise of the altar, where it was usual to lay them down to be salted. There were two more lots, a little after this ; one for the service of presenting the incense in the Holy Place, and the other for that of taking up the pieces of the sacrifice where they were first laid down, and bear* ing them to the top of the altar to be burned.
The lamb was slain as soon as it was fairly day. It was considered a matter of importance, however, that it should never be killed earlier than this, and care was taken to have it well ascertained beforehand, that day-light was truly come. Go, (the President was accustomed to say,) and see whether it be time to kill the sacrifice. Some one immedi- ately went up to the top of one of the buildings about the court, and when he saw it to be decidedly day, gave the word aloud, It is fair day. — But is the heaven bright all up to Hebron ? (the President would ask.) Yes. Go then, (he would say,) and bring the lamb out of the lamb-room. The lamb-room was one of those that were in the great build- ing that has been mentioned, at the north-west corner of the court, in the middle hall of which, most of the priests were accustomed to pass the night. There were always as many as six lambs kept in it, ready for sacrifice. When the victim was brought to the altar, although it had been well examined before, it was again diligently searched all over with the light of candles, to be sure that it was per- fectly free from imperfection and blemish. Those whose business it was, then proceeded to kill it, and dispose of it according to the common manner of sacrifice. In the meantime, the gates of the court had been thrown open, the trumpets sounded to call the Levites and others to their attendance, and the front door of the temple itself solemnly unfolded. It was just as this last thing was done, that the person who had to kill the victim, having every thing ready, applied the instrument of death to its throat. While the work of sprinkling the blood, cutting up the flesh, and carrying it to the altar, then went rapidly forward without, the two men on whom it had fallen to dress the golden altar and the candlestick, were found at their business in the Holy Place. All that he did who cleansed this altar, was merely to brush off the ashes and coals that were on it,
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into a golden dish kept for the purpose, which he then left standing by its side. The priest who dressed the lamps, examined them, lighted such as were gone out, supplied them with oil, &c.
All these duties being accomplished, the whole company of priests betook themselves again to the room of lots, and there united in offering up a short prayer to God, rehearsing the ten commandments, and saying over the Shema, as it was styled — a religious form consisting of certain passages of the law, which was regarded as particularly sacred, and necessary to be repeated on a variety of occasions. The Shema was so called because that was the word with which it always began, meaning in English, Hear ; for the passage that was first said over, was Deut. vi. 4 — 9, which begins, " Hear, O Israel," &c. And the other passages that belong- ed to it, were Deut. xi. 13 — 21, and Numb. xv. 37 — 41. Not only were the priests in the temple required to say over this Shema, but every Jew, it was held, was bound to do the same thing, wherever he might be, every morning and every evening. This service over, in the case before us, the lot was once more employed to determine the persons that should perform the next duties, when they immediately re- turned to the court of the sanctuary, to carry forward the morning work.
Then, while the pieces of the slaughtered lamb lay duly salted upon the rise of the altar, and ready to be carried to its top, the offering of incense was solemnly presented in the Holy Place. Two persons were always employed to perform the duty : one took in his hand a silver dish, in which was a censer full of frankincense, and the other carried, in a proper vessel, some burning coals from the summit of the brazen altar, and thus together they passed into the temple. Before they entered, however, they caused the great sounding instrument, that was provided for the purpose, to ring its loud note of warning, which directly brought the priests that might be out of the court, and any of the Levite musicians that happened to be away, to their proper places, and, at the same time, gave all the people notice, that they should be ready to put up their prayers with the incense that was to be offered. The two priests, also, who had been in a short time before, to dress the can-
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dlcstick and the altar, now went in a second time, just be- fore the other two that have been mentioned : but they came out directly again, bringing with them their vessels of service, which they had the first time left standing in the Holy Place ; and quickly after them, the one who took in the censer of coals, having placed them upon the altar, came out in like manner, leaving his companion, who had to offer the incense, alone in the sacred apartment. There he wait- ed, till the President without called to him, with a loud voice, Offer : at which signal he caused the incense to kindle upon the golden hearth ; when, all at once, the sanctuary was filled with its cloud, and its fragrant odour diffused itself all over the consecrated hill, while the multitude without united in solemn, silent prayer ; and oftentimes, no doubt, there went up from hearts, like those of Simeon and Anna, the breathings of true and fervent devotion, more acceptable to the Almighty, far, than all the sweetest tri- bute of the altar.
So soon as this offering of incense and prayer was con- cluded, the person whose lot it was to lay the pieces of the lamb upon the' altar top, with as much despatch as possible, committed them to the sacred fire. Then, while the dark smoke ascended toward heaven, some of the priests, espe- cially those who had just been in the Holy Place, took their station upon the flight of steps that led up to the entrance of the Porch ; and, lifting their hands on high, solemnly blessed the people ; one of them, (who, as it would seem from Luke i. 21, 22, was always the same that offered the incense,) taking the lead, and pronouncing the words first, and the others falling in and saying them over all along just after him, so as to make together one united benediction. The form of words which they used, was the one so beauti- ful and expressive, that is found in Numb. vi. 24 — 26 ; and in answer to it, as soon as it was uttered, the people return- ed aloud, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting ! After this blessing, the meat offering of the whole congregation was presented, then that of the High Priest, and last of all, the regular drink offer- ing ; when, immediately, the Levites lifted on high their song of sounding praise, after the manner that has been already described, and so concluded the morning worship.
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[t was not till about the third hour, or the middle of the forenoon, that' the whole service was thus finished, and hence the Jews were not accustomed to eat or drink before that time of day, holding it improper to do so, until after this stated season of sacrifices and prayer was over. (Acts ii. 15.)
The Evening Service began about the ninth hour, or the middle of the afternoon. (Acts iii. 1.) It differed only in some few points, of no importance, from that of the morn- ing1, and- needs not, therefore, 'any separate consideration. Generally, the particular duties were performed, severally, by the same persons that did them in the morning, so that no new casting of lots was required.
These were the stated services of every day ; whatever other duties might be required on some other extraordinary days, these were not allowed in any case to be omitted. Between the sacred seasons of the morning and the evening worship, there was no particular regular course of employ- ment in the temple : yet the interval was not unoccupied with acts of religion ; it was then, that other common sacri- fices, presented by individuals, were brought forward, from time to time, to the altar, of whatever sort they might be.
Ye shall reverence my sanctuary, was a holy command- ment of the Lord himself, and all-reasonable it cerfainly was, that so solemn a place, especially in the time of public worship, should not be profaned by impious or thoughtless folly. The Jews did not, therefore, at any time, manifest a too careful regard to this point, however solicitous they showed themselves, in a certain way, to have it secured in the smallest things. But their zeal was not sound or con- sistent withal. It became, in some particulars, trifling and superstitious, while in others, it showed a marvellous indif- ference to the whole honour of God's House ; here, as in many other cases, it strained out a gnat, and swallowed a camel. Thus, it was held unlawful to go out of the Court of Israel by the same gate that one came in by; or to retire, when their worship was over, any other way than walking backwards, lest it should seem disrespectful to the altar and the sanctuary, to turn the back upon them ; while yet, all manner of worldly traffic was allowed to be carried on in the outer court, without scruple or shame. In their care,
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too, of outward forms, they lost, in general, all concern about the inward temper, which God especially regards. Still, much of this attention to outward carriage and appearance was altogether highly becoming, since true reverence to- ward God requires this, as well as a right spirit in the soul, and it is not to be doubted, that the want of it must be truly offensive in his sight. No person was allowed to enter the ground of the temple with a staff in his hand, or with his scrip on, or with money in his purse, as if he were coming to a place of worldly business-; neither might he go in with dust on his feet, but must wash or wipe them beforehand ; nor might he spit upon the sacred pavement any where, nor might he pass across it, when going to some other place, because it happened to be the nearest way ; all which things would have been disrespectful. Nor was any light or careless behaviour, such as laughing, scoffing, or idle talking, allowed to be indulged, as being unseemly and irre- verent, in such a place : but those who came to worship were required to go to the proper place, with leisure and sober step, and there to stand during the service, each with his feet close together, his face turned toward the sanctua- ry, his eyes bended downward to the ground, and his hands laid one over the other upon his breast, having no liberty, in any case, to sit down, or lean, or throw his body into any careless posture whatever. — What a pity it is that such a regard to reverence, in outward carriage, is found in so small a measure in most Christian churches ! How little sense, alas, do the great multitude of those that visit the sanctuary now, seem to have of God's presence, even in his own house, as they come, with light and careless movement, into its solemn courts, and as they attend, with all manner of outward indifference upon its sacred services — bearing on all their looks the image of a worldly spirit, and in their whole deportment, showing more regard to themselves than to their Maker! Especially, what a spectacle of irreverence is olten displayed in the time of prayer : what roving of the eye, indicative of roving thought within — what show of list- less languor and weariness, that denotes a mind empty of all interest in the business of the place — what unseemliness of posture and manner, such as sitting without necessity, leaning this way and that way, lolling in every self-indnl-
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gent attitude, changing positions with continual impatience, &c, all evincing the little impression that is felt of the high solemnity and importance of the duty, and the little apprehension that is entertained of the presence and the majesty, and the infinite glory of the Being that is wor- shipped, before whom the seraphim are represented as stand- ing, with their faces and their feet covered, as they cry, in continual adoration, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts.
SECTION II.
THE SABBATH.
The origin of the Sabbath is known to every one that has read the three first verses of the second chapter of Ge- nesis, or learned to repeat the fourth commandment. It did not take its rise, like other sacred days and seasons, that are soon to be mentioned, with the Jewish system of worship, that was to pass away; nor was it instituted for any ceremonial reason, such as we have seen had place in the case of sacrifices, and of the priestly office from their earliest appointment. Nay, so remote was its nature from any such character as this, that it was originally set apart for the use of beings altogether innocent and holy ; for the seventh day was sanctified, or declared more holy than other days, before our first parents were become sinful and lost : even in paradise, where all days were so full of the worship of God, this of the Sabbath was to be distin- guished as peculiarly sacred, and to be observed as a con- tinual memorial of his goodness and power displayed in the great work of creation.
We have no express mention made of it again, in the history of the time that followed before and after the flood, till the age of Moses; (Ex. xvi. 22 — 30;) which is not to be wondered at, when we consider how very brief that history is. There is, nevertheless, sufficient evidence, that it was not forgotten among the people of God, nor altogether among those that departed from the true religion. Noah,
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we find, reckoned time by periods of seven days , and from him some tradition of the Sabbath and of the week passed down among the various tribes and nations of his descend ants, in every part of the world, as has been more par- ticularly mentioned already, when taking- notice of the ancient manner of dividing- time, in a former part of this work.
When God formed his covenant with the Israelitish nation, the ancient appointment of the Sabbath was so- lemnly called to remembrance, and clothed with fresh authority. Jehovah himself, from the midst of the awful darkness, uttered the commandment, in the hearing of all the people. (Ex. xx. 8 — 11.) It was still uttered, too, as in the beginning, not as a precept designed for a single dispensation merely, but as a statute of universal and per- petual obligation : it was given as one of the ten command- ments, which comprehended the whole moral law, and were proclaimed to the ancient church, as the original and fun- damental rule of God's moral Government, that was never to be lost sight of, while the world should stand.
At the same time, however, the Sabbath was made to bear something of a peculiar character, also, in the Jewish economy, such as it had not before, and was not designed to retain afterwards. It was invested with a certain cere- monial sacredness, in addition to that which it had of a purely moral sort. At least, it was required to be kept with a peculiar kind of outward observance, that belonged only to that system of carnal ordinances which was im- posed on the Israelitish church till the time of reformation. Hence, the apostle reckons the Jewish Sabbath among other ceremonial institutions, that were, he says a shadow of things to come. (Col. ii. 16, 17.) Still, the original and more essential nature of this institution was never suf- fered to pass out of sight; but may be found to have been, all along, distinctly recognized, in the peculiarly solemn authority with which its obligation was enforced, and in the moral and spiritual character of the observance with which it was enjoined to be kept, as well as of the reasons still assigned fox its sacredness. (Ex. xxxi. 13 — 17. Lev. xix. 30. Is. lviii. 13. Jer. xvii. 21—27.) To the Israelites, it was urged as an additional motive for them to remember
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the rest of the Sabbath, according' to its ancient appoint- ment, that the Lord, whose day it was, had redeemed them, in his mercy and by his mighty power, from the bondage of Egypt. (Deut. v. 15.) And because it was given from the beginning, to be a memorial of God's sovereignty, as the Creator and Governor of the world, and was designed to be religiously observed, in pious acknowledgment of this supreme dominion, it was regarded as a sign of the covenant that was formed between him and their nation, which had been taken out of the idolatrous world, to be his peculiar people; and hence, accordingly, when they ne- glected the Sabbath, it was considered to be a profane violation of the covenant itself, and a rejection of the origi- nal sovereign authority of God, that had in it the nature of idolatry outright. (Ex. xxxi. 13—17. Ezek. xx. 20.) The punishment for profaning the Sabbath day, like that of idolatry, was nothing less than death. (Ex. xxxv. 2. Numb. xv. 32—36.)
The law required a rigid observance of the sacred day. All the common employments of life, lawful on other days, were forbidden to be attended to on this. It was unlawful even to make a fire ; and a man, on one occasion, was put to death for gathering sticks, during its time of rest. The Jews, however, carried their regard to its outward obser- vance in this way, in later times, to a superstitious length. While they honoured it with little or no genuine regard in their spirits, they affected a most scrupulous care of offend- ing against the letter of the commandment, in their actions : and yet, even in this care, they showed great inconsistency, sometimes straining out a gnat, and at other times swallow- ing a camel. The Pharisees, especially in the days of our Saviour, laid claim to great conscientiousness on this point, and often found fault with him for disregarding, ac- cording to their notion, the sacredness of God's day ; though, all the while, it was not difficult to be perceived, that their hatred to Jesus, far more than their zeal for the Sabbath, called forth their censures and complaints. Our Lord exposed their malevolence and inconsistency, and taught the true nature of the sacred day. (Matt. xii. 1 — 15. Luke xiii. 10—17. John v. 16. vii. 22, 23. ix. 14, 16.) In the sanctuary, there was no rest on the Sabbath from o2
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the labour of other days ; but, on the contrary, an increase of work. Besides the daily offerings, two other victims were required still to smoke on that day, upon the altar : (Numb, xxviii. 9, 10,) and regularly, as we have seen, the old shew-bread was to be removed, and a new supply put in its place. Thus, the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, or spent it in work, and yet were blameless. (Matt. xii. 5.) It was meet that the public service of God should not be diminished, but increased upon his own day.
It was usual to make some preparation for the Sabbath toward the close of the sixth day. (Mark xv. 42.) Ac- cording to the Jews, it was customary to cease from la- bour on that day, at the time of the Evening Sacrifice ; and from that hour till the sun went down, all busied them- selves to get completely ready for the holy season that was at hand. Victuals were prepared, (for there might be no cooking on the Sabbath,) and all things attended to that were needful for orderly and decent appearance, such as washing the face, hands, and feet, trimming the beard, &c. that the day of rest might be entered upon without confu- sion, and in a manner of reverence and respect. A little before sunset, the Sabbath candle was lighted in each house, in token of gladness at the approach of God's day. At dark, they spread upon the table, from the provisions previously made ready, a supper, rather better than com- mon ; when the master of the family, taking a cup of wine in his hand, repeated the words in Gen. ii. 1 — 3, blessed God over the wine, said over a form of words to hallow the Sabbath, and raising the cup to his lips, drank off its contents ; after which, the rest of the family did the same ; and then, having washed their hands, they all join- ed in the domestic meal. Thus began the observance of the seventh day. On the next morning, they resorted to their synagogues : or if they lived at Jerusalem, and felt an inclination to attend the temple, they might go and worship there. After breakfast, they either went to some school of divinity, to hear the traditions of the elders ex- plained, or employed the time in religious duties at home, till the hour of taking dinner. About the middle of the afternoon, they again betook themselves to the synagogue or the temple, for worship. The day was afterwards closed
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with something1 of the same sort of ceremony with which it had been introduced. In this way, if we may believe Jewish tradition, the Sabbath was kept under the second temple.
How the Sabbath was spent before the captivity, when there were no synagogues, we are not informed. Those who lived nigh the Sanctuary, might attend its worship. Parents might instruct their children in the knowledge of the law, as, no doubt, many did with care, regarding the Lord's repeated injunction. It seems, also, to have been common to visit the prophets on that day, to receive their instruction and counsel. (2 Kings iv. 23.)
Our Saviour, who was Lord of the Sabbath, caused it to be changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, that it might be, till the end of time, a memorial of his re- surrection from the dead ; while, being still unaltered in its essential nature, it should continue to answer, also, as before, all the purpose of its original institution.
SECTION III.
NEW MOONS AND FEAST *OF TRUMPETS.
Every New Moon, or the first day of every month, was distinguished by a certain degree of sacredness, from other ordinary days. From Amos viii. 5, wye learn that it was not considered lawful to transact worldly business on such days : When rcill the New Moon be gone, the wicked are represented as saying, that we may sell corn ? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat ? Like the Sabbath, also, they were deemed fit times for visiting the prophets to receive instruction, and these holy men, it seems, were accustomed to appropriate them regularly to the sa- cred employment of giving direction and counsel to all, of every class, that were disposed to seek it from their lips. (2 Kings iv. 23.) At the Sanctuary, the New Moons were observed with particular sacrifices, over and above the daily sacrifices ; viz. two bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs, with their meat offering and drink offering, for a public holocaust or whole burnt offering, and a goat, be- sides, for a sin offering. (Numb, xxviii. 11 — 15.) These
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sacrifices were attended with the blowing of the sacred silver trumpets. (Numb. x. 10.)
There was one New Moon, however, distinguished in point of importance, above all the rest. This was the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, and so, of course, the first day of the civil year, which always, as we have seen, commenced with that month. It was more sacred than other New Moons, being especially set apart as a Sabbath or day of rest from all common work ; for the law did not forbid such work in the case of the others, although it was considered to have made it, to a certain extent, at least, improper and wrong, as has just been stated, by the reli- gious regard with which it distinguished them, in other respects. The return of this day, which ushered in the ancient year, was required to be announced and proclaim- ed with a special blowing of trumpets ; whence it was called '•'■the day of trumpet blowing" and also '■'■the memo- rial of blowing of trumpets." It was honoured at the Sanctuary, by peculiar offerings : the law prescribing for it, in addition to the sacrifices presented on other New Moons, a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, for a burnt offering, and a second,goat, as it would seem, for a sin of- fering. (Lev. xxiii. 24. Numb. xxix. 1 — 6.)
Thus, the months and the year were sanctified, as it were, by having the Jirst-fruits of their time still conse- crated to the Lord : thus, the Israelite was continually re- minded that his days, as well as his cattle and his crop, were all given to him from his Maker, and could not be employed too unreservedly in his service and for his glory. It were well, if the recollection of this fact could be ha- bitually pressed upon the soul, in every age. It were well, if Christians could be brought to feel, as they ought, that they are, in every respect, but stewards for God, under obligations to use all that they have in the way that may be most for his praise, and for the advancement of his kingdom; and, that if they are not themselves their own, but are bound to glorify God with body and with spirit, as altogether his, it must be strangely inconsistent to look upon their property, or their time, as less absolutely sacred for his use, (even if these things were not essentially join- ed together,) or to waste or misapply them, or to withhold
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them from his service, without a feeling of responsibility, or a single serious thought of the reckoning, that is surely to take place with every servant, for the manner in which he 6hall have improved each single talent given him to occupy — not for himself, but for his Lord. (Matt. xxv. 14_30.)
These New Moons differed from the Sabbath, in having only a ceremonial sacredness, while that, as we have seen, was, in its original institution, altogether of moral charac- ter. With the close of the Jewish dispensation, accord- ingly, they lost all their distinction in this respect : ('Gal. iv. 10. Col. ii. 16 :) whereas, the Sabbath, to this day, retains the whole of its essential nature, and the full measure of its earliest authority. Still, there can be no impropriety in setting apart such days, even now, for particular religious employment, as being naturally suited for profitable use in this way, if it be done voluntarily, for the sake of pious im- provement, and not through any superstition. And cer- tainly a special propriety there is, that the first day of the year should be observed publicly and privately, after such a manner. How much more becoming and rational, thus to recognise the fiig hi of time, so big with awful interest, than to celebrate its memorial with the shout of revelry, the boisterous laugh of folly, or the light extravagance of festivity and mirth!
SECTION IV. THE THREE GREAT FESTIVALS. Three times every year, all the males of the Jewish na- tion, who were of sufficient age, were required to make their appearance at the Sanctuary, (the tabernacle at first, and afterwards the temple,) for the solemn worship of God. " Three times Fn a year," was the commandment, " shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose ; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast cf -weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles ; and they shall not appear before the Lord, empty ; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of
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the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee." (Ex. xxiii. 14 — 17. Deut. xvi. 16, 17.) The feast of weeks lasted only for one day ; the feast of unleavened bread continued as many as seven, and that of tabernacles, eight, though only the first and last, in each case, were considered specially sacred, being set apart from all common work, except such as was needed for the preparation of food. (Ex. xii. 16.)
It was on these occasions, that the second sort of first fruits, firstlings, and tithes, noticed in the last chapter, were presented before the Lord, and then converted, accord- ing to his direction, into offering-feasts of sacred gratitude and joy. Free-will offerings, also, were presented more abundantly at these times, than through all the year besides, and made use of in the same way ; for those who lived at a distance, still kept such offerings, till they wore called to attend some one of the festivals, and then brought all their different gifts together to the House of God. Thus, all came furnished with presents, and no one appeared before the Lord empty; so that the most liberal provision was se- cured for the religious entertainments, with which the feasts were celebrated. These entertainments, it is to be remembered, were required to be widely social, and to be made free, especially to the destitute and the unfortunate. In this way, the people rejoiced together in the presence of their God, acknowledging his wonderful mercies, and showing forth his praise ; while, at the same time, they were drawn with kindly regard toward each other, and led to mingle their hearts in general benevolence and friend- ship, as forming altogether, only a single happy family, and having all a common interest in the kind care of the same bountiful and compassionate Father. During these festivals, also, the public service of the Sanctuary was in- creased with additional offerings, over and above the daily sacrifices, presented each day, in the name of the whole congregation. Thus, with public and private sacrifices to- gether, the altar found no rest, and the flowing of blood was not stayed from morning to night.
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THE PASSOVER.
The feast of unleavened bread, was so called, because, while it lasted, no leaven, whatever, was allowed to be made use of, but unleavened bread alone, was eaten by all the people. It was called, also, the Passover, because it was instituted in memory of that night of mercy, when the Lord passed over the families of his people, while he car- ried the terror of death into every household of Egypt. We have a full account of its original appointment, in Exod. xii. 1 — 28. In some circumstances, indeed, that first celebra- tion which was required in Egypt, was not imitated in those that were observed afterwards; but in all essential point*, the example of it was ever after followed. The fes- tival lasted from the 15th to the 21st of the month Abib or Nisan, the first of the sacred year. It always fell, accord- ingly, in the time of our month April, though it came in some years several days sooner than it did in others, as we have seen, when considering the Jewish manner of reckon- ing time. Sometimes, the 14th of the month was termed the first day of unleavened bread, because on that day, be- fore evening, all leaven was carefully removed from the houses, by way of preparation for the festival week.
The principal solemnity of the season, was the sacred supper with which it was introduced ; and this, more es- pecially and properly, was that which had the name of the Passover ; the rest of the feast being called so from it, on account of its primary importance. This supper was re- quired to be prepared by every family, unless in cases where they were small, when two might join and prepare it together. Nor were any who might be found uncon- nected with families, allowed to neglect it: such had either to find admission into some domestic society for the occa- sion, or to form themselves into companies of proper size, and so keep the feast by themselves. Each supper, it was directed, should consist of a whole lamb or kid, a male of the first year, without blemish, roasted whole, (that is without being cut up after it was butchered and dressed,) and served up with unleavened bread, and a salad of bitter herbs. The victims were to be selected on the 10th day of the month, and slain on the evening of the 14th, a short
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time before the 15th began to be reckoned; with the com- mencement of which, at night, the passover suppers were made ready and eaten. In the case of the first celebration of the feast, the lamb of each family or company, was killed at home, and its blood sprinkled upon the posts of the door; but afterwards, they were all required to be slain at the Sanctuary, and the blood and fat, as in the case of other sacrifices, appropriated to the altar. (Deut. xvi. 1 — 7.) The people were ordered to eat the first passover in haste, with their loins girded, and in a condition of full readiness for an immediate journey : this manner, however, which ex- pressed the quick and sudden departure which they were compelled to make out of Egypt, seems not to have been observed in succeeding time, at least not in the latter age of the nation. If any of the flesh of these sacrifices was not eaten on the night of the feast, it was to be burned the next morning.
Various ceremonies were attached to the celebration of the Passover, in latter times, of which no mention is made in the ancient law. The following is a brief account of the manner in which it was observed in the time of our Saviour, according to the tradition of the Jews,
Individuals might bring their lambs with them to Jeru- salem : but it was more common to purchase them at the temple itself, from the priests, who always had a large sup- ply of suitable ones, ready to be disposed of on the occasion ; being accustomed, it would seem, to select with care before- hand, (probably on the 10th day of the month,) from the general market which they encouraged to be held in the outer court at these seasons, such as were every way free from blemish, and to have them in readiness for as many as wanted to buy, so that they might have more security, in getting their victims, that they were altogether sound and perfect, as the law required, than they could have, if left to look for them themselves in the market, after they had arrived at the city. It was a regulation, that no lamb should be used for less than ten persons : each family, therefore, or company, was required to have at least that number of members; generally they had more, and some- times as many as twenty. They were all determined and fixed before the victims were brought to be slain.
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Women were not directly bound to appear, as the males were, at any of the three Great Festivals ; yet it was held, that indirectly the law made it their duty to attend, as far as circumstances might allow : especially were they under obligation, it was maintained, to be present at the Passover, inasmuch as it was written, " The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it. (Ex. xii. 6.) They were accustomed, therefore, to come up to the feast regularly, in its season, with their husbands or fathers. Thus, whole families attended together, and most of the paschal socie- ties were composed of one or more of them, husbands, wives, children, and servants, united to celebrate the sacred supper. In other cases, the companies were formed as con- venience or inclination directed.
It is easy to conclude, that every room in Jerusalem that was large enough would be wanted on these occasions, to accommodate the vast multitude that assembled to keep the feast. The Jews have a tradition, that the houses of the city were all at such times regarded as common property, and were opened to admit as many as they cculd conve- niently receive, without any charge whatever; so that strangers, when they came up from any part of the nation, might make use of any one they pleased that had room for them, free of all expense, and as a matter of right. Some have thought, that the inquiry of our Lord's disciples, " Where wilt thou that we prepare the passover?" proceed- ed upon the fact of such an usage ; and intimates, that it might have been made ready any where he thought proper ; and hence, also, it is to be accounted for, they imagine, that the man to whom they were directed, so readily gave them the use of his guest-chamber as soon as they asked for it. (Mark xiv. 12 — 16.) The tradition, however, like various other pretty stories that are told about the holy city, seems to have but a feeble claim to credit : and certainly it is not needed to explain the case now referred to; since the ques- tion of the disciples does not necessarily imply any such thing as it affirms ; and it was as easy for our Saviour to control the mind of the man whose guest-chamber he wanted, even if we suppose him to have been altogether unacquainted with him, as it was for him to make the own- ers of the colt content when it was said to them, The Mas-
Vol. ii. P
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ter hath need of him, or to rule the spirits of the powerful and the proud, as well as the affronted feelings of a com- pany of unprincipled rogues, when twice he overturned the tables of the money-changers, and drove from the temple those that profaned it with their worldly traffic.
Exceedingly great care was taken to have every particle of leaven cleared from the houses, before the time of the passover began. The law on this subject was very strict, and to make sure a proper observance of it, the most dili- gent pains were considered necessary. As early as the beginning of the 14th day, that is, the night before the feast, there was a general search made all over every house with lighted candles, not leaving unexamined the smallest cor- ner or hole where it was possible for leaven in any shape to be lodged. The next morning before noon, all that could be found was carefully burned, or thrown into the water, or scattered to the wind ; and every one, as he thus put it away, was accustomed to repeat the established form of execution, " All the leaven that is within ?ny possession, which I have seen or lohich I have not seen, which I have cast out or which I have not cast out, be it as though it were not ! be it as the dust of the earth .'" Thus was every house purged for the celebration of the passover ; and after this it was not considered proper, even so much as to make use of the word leaven, lest the thought of it should pollute the mind. The unleavened bread, which was now prepared for use, was baked in the form of thin cakes, full of holes, to keep them from the slightest fermentation, unseasoned with salt, and made only with water, without any sort of oil : in some cases, the higher class of the people had them enriched with sugar and eggs, though even such bread was not allowed on the first day of the feast, but only on those that followed.
The lambs were all slain, as other sacrifices, in the Court of the priests. It was a great work to kill and dress so many as were necessary for the occasion, and required a considerable part of the afternoon of the 14th day for its execution. Th^ Evening Sacrifice accordingly, on that day, was offered before the middle of the afternoon, and the rest of the day, from thtU time to the end of it, was occupied altogether with this preparation for the passover. Though
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only one person of each family or society entered into the court with the lamb that belonged to it, it needs not to be remarked, that it was still impossible for all these to go in at once. They were accordingly divided into three large companies, which were admitted one at a time in succes- sion. When one of these companies had entered, the gates were closed, and immediately the owners of the lambs, or those who brought them in, began to assist each other in killing them, taking off their skins, and removing the en- trails and fat. The blood was handed to the priests, to be sprinkled on the altar and poured out at its bottom, and the common portions of fat, to be burned upon its lop ; these standing all along in rows from the slaughtering places to the altar, and passing the articles from one to another con- tinually to where it stood. Meanwhile, the Levites sang over, once, twice, or three times, the 113th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th Psalms. These were denominated, when taken together, the Hallel, or hymn of praise, and sometimes the Lesser Hallel, to distinguish it from another that was in use, styled the Greater Hallel. As soon as the first company had their work done, they went out, and the second took their place, going over the same business in the same style : so in their turn, the third one filled the court ; after which it was all washed over with water, as we may well suppose it needed to be, after such an immense slaugh- ter. (2 Chron. xxxv. 1— 19.*)
The lambs thus butchered were carried away to the se- veral houses where they were to be eaten, and immediately made ready for roasting, by being thrust through from one end to the other, by a wooden spit or stake, and so placed before a large fire. According to the commandment, each was allowed to be thus exposed, till it was roasted in a per fectly thorough manner. Soon after it became dark, that is, with the commencement of the 15th day, the passover- table was spread, and surrounded by its little company, in all the houses of Jerusalem.
The supper commenced with the ceremony of drinking a small cup of wrine mingled with water, after having given thanks over it to God the Giver of all blessings. Every one had a separate cup poured out, but only one uttered the thanksgiving in the name of all. This was the Jirst cup
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Then followed the washing of hands, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, accompanied with another short form of thanksgiving to God. The table having been till this time unfurnished, was now supplied with its provisions, viz. the cakes of unleavened bread, the bitter salad, the lamb roasted whole, with its legs, heart, liver &c, and besides, some other meat prepared from the flesh of common peace- offerings, that had been presented during the day, and a dish of thick sauce, composed of dates, figs, raisins, vine- gar, &c.
The table thus furnished, the leading person, and all thfe rest after*him, took a small quantity of the salad, with an- other thanksgiving, and ate it. After which, immediately, all the dishes were removed from the table, and a second cup of wine placed before each of the company, as at first. This strange way of beginning the meal was designed to excite the curiosity of the children, that they might be led to inquire what it meaned, according to what is said in Ex. xii. 26. When the inquiry was made, (for if there was no child present, the wife or some other person brought it forward,) the person who presided began, and told how their fathers had all been servants in Egypt, and how with many signs and wonders the Lord had redeemed them from their cruel bondage, and brought them forth from the place of their oppression, with a mighty hand and an out- stretched arm. As he concluded the interesting story of Jehovah's mercies, the dishes that had been removed were again placed upon the table ; whereupon he said, This is the passover which we eat, because that the Lord passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt; and then holding up the salad, and after it the unleavened bread, he stated their design, viz. that the one represented the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage, and the other the sudden redemp- tion which the Lord wrought on their behalf, when he smote the first-born of their oppressors, so that they urged his people to depart without delay. Then he repeated the 113th and 114th Psalms, and closed with this prayer; " Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King Everlasting ! who hast redeemed us, and redeemed our fathers out of Egypt, and brought us to this night to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs :" which being uttered, all the company drank
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the wine that had been standing for some time before them. This was the Second cup.
Another washing of the hands now took place, when the person who presided, taking up the unleavened bread, brake one of the cakes in two, again gave thanks to God, and then with the rest began to eat ; each first making use of a piece of the bread, with some of the salad, and the thick sauce, then partaking of the peace offering meat, and last of all of the paschal lamb, with a separate thanksgiving, still pronounced before each dish. Every one was required to eat at least as much of the lamb as was equal to the size of an olive. The meal thus over, they all washed again, according to the usage of common meals, and then united in drinking another cup of wine and water. This was the third cup, and was called, by way of distinction, " the cup of blessing,'''' because while it stood before them ready to be drunk, the leader was accustomed to return thanks over it in a particular manner, for the blessing of the sacred supper, and for all the goodness of the Lord. There was yet another cup made ready a little time after, just before the company rose from the table. It was de- nominated the cup of the Hallel ; because it was the cus- tom to repeat, in connexion with it, the principal part of the hymn of Lesser Hallel : for as it was begun by the rehearsal of its first two psalms, the 113th and the 114th, over the second cup, (as we have seen,) so it was now fin- ished by being carried on through the following four. In all common cases, this fourth cup closed the celebration of the feast. It was held to be a duty absolutely incumbent upon all who took part in the supper, men or women, old or young, rich or poor, to make use of all the four cups that have been mentioned.
In the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, Luke xxii. 15 — 20, mention is made of two different cups, which appear to have been the last two of the four that have now been noticed. Having given thanks over the third one, and refused to drink it himself, our Saviour took some of the bread that was left of the feast, and gave thanks, and brake it, in representation of his broken body, and then made use of the cup after supper, or the fourth one, to represent, in like manner, the shedding of his blood :
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after which, as Matthew tells us, they sang a hymn, and so finished the solemn entertainment. Others, however, sup- pose, that the third cup was the one which was used in the appointment of this holy sacrament ; because they think it clear, from its being said that while they were eating Jesus took bread and brake it for this purpose, that it must have been done before the use of that cup, and not after it, as the other opinion presumes.
The day thus entered upon with the paschal supper was holy : till the going down of the next sun, it was not law- ful to attend to any common work. At the same time it abounded with sacrifices : every male, the Jews tell us, was under obligation to appear in the temple-court, during the course of it, with a burnt offering and a double peace offering. These particular peace offerings were called the Hagigah, and were considered to be altogether more im- portant than the common peace offerings that it was usual to present on other days of the festival. Hence the feast in which they were on that day employed, according to the manner of such sacrifices, seems to have been some- times styled simply by itself, the passover ; though that name properly belonged only to the paschal supper of the evening before. Thus, in John xviii. 28, we are told, that the Jews went not into Pilate's judgment-hall, lest they should be defiled ; but that they might eat the passover : while, at the same time, it is clearly stated in the gospel history, that the celebration of the true passover supper had taken place the preceding night. In this way, also, John xix. 14, may be explained; unless it be supposed, that the preparation of the Passover mentioned there, means simply the Passover preparation day, or that particular pre- paration day, (as every Friday, or day before the Sabbath, was called,) which fell in the week of the Passover. It is certain, that from the first, other sacrifices, besides those of the paschal lambs, were required at the paschal solemnity, which are spoken of also, as making a part of the Passover with them. (Deut. xvi. 2. 2 Chron. xxxv. 7, 8.) These, according to the Jewish notion, were all along made use of as peace offerings for the Hagigah, or sacred feast that took place on the morrow after the celebration of the paschal supper. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that
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there is no direct evidence that this Hagigah was ever de- nominated by itself the Passover ; and that the most natural way of understanding the language of John in the passage just noticed, would be as referring to the supper commonly so called. Not a few, accordingly, and these not lightly learned, have maintained, that our Saviour celebrated the passover a day sooner than the usual time. But this notion, whatever plausibility it may seem at first glance to derive from these passages, and John xiii. 1, inasmuch as it is confirmed by no other tolerable evidence whatever, and is accompanied with all manner of difficulty, ought not to be deemed worthy of much respect. The first day of the Passover was, it is true, a most unsuitable time for the confusion and care of a public trial and execution, having, in a good measure, the same holiness as the Sabbath itself; but envy and malice overleap every consideration of this sort ; and it was not hard for Jewish zeal to forget all its affected rigour, when an opportunity was found to destroy the hated Prophet of Galilee.
On the second day of the Passover, or the morrow after the Sabbath, (as its first day was called,) a sheaf of barley was waved before the Lord, as an offering of the first- fruits of the harvest, in the name of the whole people : a ceremony which was required to be accompanied with a special sacrifice, and that was necessary to introduce the harvest of every year. (Lev. xxiii. 10 — 14.) On every day of the paschal week, besides all the peace offerings and other sacrifices of individuals, there were regular public sacrifices peculiar to the festival, over and above the daily sacrifice. (Numb, xxviii. 16 — 25.)
The Passover, it is plain, might begin on any day of the week, being regulated altogether by the moon. When the 14th day of the month happened to be the regular Sabbath, the great work of killing the lambs was still performed as if it had been a common day ; for sanctuary work was held to be no profanation, in any case, of its sacred rest. In a case of this sort, however, it was not allowed to carry the lambs home till the Sabbath was over ; the people waited with them in the courts of the temple until it gave place, toward dark, to the second day of the week. Pre- sumptuously to neglect the passover, in its season, brought
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most dangerous guilt upon the soul; but if uncleanness, or other unavoidable cause prevented any one from keeping it at the proper time, he might keep it in the month follow ing and be accepted. (Numb. ix. 6 — 13.)
The sacrifice of the passover had a special reference to the death of Christ. This the gospel teaches us, when it says in the Scripture, A bone of him shall not he broken, which w?„s spoken so carefully concerning the paschal lamb, hid its fulfilment when the soldiers brake not the legs or the Saviour upon the cross. (Ex. xii. 46. John xix. 36.) The same thing the Apostle Paul teaches, when he expressly calls Christ our passover sacrificed for us, and represents the happy condition into which Christians are brought by his death, as a passover feast (not occasional and transient like those of the Jews, but of perpetual con- tinuance,) which ought to be kept, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor. v. 7, 8.) The whole transac- tion of the first passover in Egypt strikingly prefigured the saving efficacy of the Redeemer's sufferings. The sprink- ling of blood upon the door-posts, was only a picture of the atoning blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God applied to the sinner's soul : as that was made essential to deliverance and safety, when the angel of destruction passed through the land ; so this is needed to secure a far greater redemp- tion, availing, wherever it is found, to save from hell itself; while where it is not found, there can be no escape from eternal wrath ; it is only the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, that can ever turn away the sword of infinite justice from the guilty spirit, or shield it from the touch of harm when the Lord arises to his holy and terrible judg- ment. (Heb. xii. 24. 1 Peter i. 2.) In every succeeding Passover, there was a memorial of this same transaction in Egypt; and so, of course, an ultimate reference to the Great Redemption, of which that transaction was ordered to be so expressively an image and type : thus, while the institution looked backward, it looked at the same time yet more significantly forward, showing forth the Lord's death before it took place, as the Christian sacrament of the Sup- per has been appointed to do ever since. There was in it not only a symbolic prefiguration of the ransom secured
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by this death of the Saviour, but a signal also of all the living' benefit which his people continually derive from him by faith, in consequence of his amazing sacrifice ; inas- much as while the blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled to make atonement, its flesh was converted into a solemn peace-offering feast, in token of friendly covenant with God, and joyful participation of. his grace, which are secured only by that believing reception* of Christ which he him- self speaks of when he says, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (John vi. 51—56.)
THE FEAST OF WEEKS.
The feast of iceeks was celebrated at the close of harvest, as a festival of thanks for its blessings. It was required to be always observed at the end of seven weeks from the second day of the Passover, on which the sheaf of first-fruits was offered, as an introduction to the harvest, and lasted only for one day. It was because its return was determined by reckoning a week of weeks in this way, that it was de- nominated the feast of weeks ; as it was called also Pente- cost, or the fiftieth day, because this reckoning of weeks comprehended, of course, a period of forty-nine days. As it celebrated the goodness of God, in giving the fruits of har- vest, (whence it was named sometimes the feast of harvest,) it was distinguished by a first-fruit offering of two loaves of the new flour, presented in the name of the whole con- gregation. This offering was accompanied with several bloody sacrifices ; and there was, besides, a great public offering of such sacrifices prescribed for the day, which had no connexion with this, all over and above the regular daily service. (Lev. xxiii. 15 — 20. Numb, xxviii. 26 — 31.) There were at the same time many private free-will offerings pre- sented on the occasion, and converted into sacred entertain- ments. (Deut. xvi. 9 — 12.) During the public sacrifices that have been mentioned, it was usual, the Jews tell us, to sing over the Hallel.
As the Passover was instituted in commemoration of the wonderful night of redemption, in which the Israelites left Egypt, so it has been imagined that the Pentecost was de- signed to be a memorial of the giving of the law from
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Mount Sinai, which appears to have been just about fifty days later. Of such a design, however, we have no intima- tion in the Bible.
The da}' of Pentecost has been rendered especially memo- rable, in Christian history, by the remarkable event of which we have an account in the second chapter of Acts. By selecting such an occasion for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his disciples, our Lord caused this unanswerable vin- dication of his truth and power, to have the most extensive notoriety; for always, at that time, there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under hea- ven, gathered for the celebration of the joyful solemnity.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
The third great annual festival prescribed by the law, was called the feast of Tabernacles ; because, during its solemnity, the people were required to dwell in booths, or temporary habitations, constructed of the boughs of trees, such as were made use of in the journey through the wilder- ness, in memory of which it was appointed to be kept. It was celebrated from the 15th to the 23d of the seventh month, Tishri, with which the civil year had its commence- ment ; the first and the last, as in the case of the Passover, being considered more particularly sacred and important. Besides the design just noticed, viz. to be a memorial of the journey through the wilderness, its appointment had re- spect to the season of vintage and gathering of fruits, at the close of which it was observed ; so that it was intended at the same time to be a festival of thanks for these, or rathe? for all the produce of the year now gathered from the field, as the feast of weeks was for harvest, which is spoken of as the first-fruits of all. Hence it is called the feast of in- gathering. (Ex. xxiii. 16. Lev. xxiii. 34 — 44. Nehem. viii. 14—18.)
A great number of public sacrifices were required to be offered during this festival ; an account of which may be found in Numb. xxix. 12 — 38. The season was also distin- guished, as the other great festivals were, with private peace-offerings of various sorts, in dailv abundance. (DeuL xvi. 13—15.)
Under the second temple, certain peculiar ceremonies
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were introduced into the celebration of the feast of taberna- cles, in addition to those that belonged to it, originally, by divine appointment. The Jews pretend, indeed, that inti- mations of their use, before the captivity, are found in the Old Testament; but what they show for such, have no appearance of the sort, except by fanciful interpretation. Such were these that follow.
1. In the law it was commanded — Ye shall take you, on* the first day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook ; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. (Lev. xxiii. 40.) These boughs, the Sadducees rightly main- tained, were designed to be employed in making booths : but the Pharisees insisted they were designed to be carried by every individual, in his hand, in token of joy ; and they farther asserted, that, by the expression translated, the boughs of goodly trees, (which means, literally, the fruit of goodly trees,) was to be understood nothing else than apples of the citron tree, which, accordingly, were appointed to be carried in the same manner. This was established, there- fore, as the common usage. On the first day of the feast, every person provided himself with a small bunch of branches of palm, and willow, and myrtle, and was seen carrying it about, wherever he went, all the day long. On the following days it was not thus constantly carried, but only when individuals went up to the temple: each day, however, all were required to visit the temple, with their bunches in their right hands, and every one a citron in his left, and thus pass around the altar, crying aloud, Hosan- na, (which means, save now .') and repeating also the whole 25th verse of Psalm cxviii., whik; all the time the sacred trumpets were sounding without restraint. On the seventh day this ceremony was repeated seven times, in memory of the conquest of Jericho.
2. There was a still more remarkable rite, which con- sisted in the drawing of water, and solemnly pouring it out upon the altar. Every morning, duiing the feast, when the parts of the morning sacrifice were laid upon the altar, one of the priests went to the fountain of Siloam, and filled a golden vessel, which he carried in his hand, with its water. This he then brought into the court, and, having
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first mingled it with some wine, poured it out, as a drink- offering', on the top of the altar. And still, as this ceremony was performed each day, the Levites began their music, and sung over the Hallel; while at times, especially when the 118th Psalm was sung, the people all shook the branches which they held in their hands, to express the warm assent of their feelings to the sentiments breathed in the sacred nymn. The meaning of the ceremony is not clear : some of those who mention it, say it was significant of the bless- ing of rain, which was thus invoked from God ; others tell us, it was a sign merely of the joy that belonged to the occa- sion ; others, that it was a symbol of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said in Is. xii. 3. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, which, it is pretended, was spoken in allusion to the usage in ques- tion, and so evinces, at once, its antiquity and its sense.
3. Every night, we are told, there was a most extraordi- nary exhibition of joy, styled the rejoicing for the drawing of water. When the water was offered, in the morning, the solemnity of the worship then on hand would not admit the extravagance of this ceremony ; so it was put off till all the service of the day was over, when it began, without moderation, and occupied quite a considerable portion of the night. The scene of it, was the Court of the Women, which, for the occasion, was furnished with great lights, mounted upon four huge candlesticks that overtopped all the surrounding walls in height. Here, while the women occupied the balconies round about, above, as spectators, the Levites, taking their station on the steps that led up into the Court of Israel, at the west end, began to unite their instruments and voices, in loud music, and a general dance was started all over the square. It was, withal, a wild and tumultuous dance, without order, dignity, or grace; every one brandishing in his hand a flaming torch, leaping and capering with all his might, and measuring the worthiness of his service by its extravagance and excess. What made the exhibition still more extraordinary in its appearance, was the high and grave character of the persons that were accustomed to engage in it ; for it was not the common people that joined in this dance, but only those that were of some rank and importance, such as the members of the
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Sanhedrim, rulers of the synagogues, doctors of the law, &c. It was not until the night was far spent, that the strange confusion came to an end ; and then only to be renewed with like extravagance, on the next evening, (unless when it was particularly holy, as the eve that began the Sabbath,) as long as the feast lasted. He that never saw the rejoicing of the draioing of water, runs a Jewish saying, never saw rejoicing in all his life.
Some have thought, that the whole manner in which our Saviour was met, the last time he came up to Jerusalem, was borrowed from the usage, that has been noticed, of carrying branches in the hand, and shouting Hosanna, in the temple, on the feast of tabernacles ; and that the use of the ceremony, at this time, was designed to intimate, that what the prayer in Psalm cxviii. 25, then so much used, had respect to, viz. the coming of the Messiah, was now truly accomplished ; and that Jesus of Nazareth was no other than this glorious personage, the Son of David, the Redeemer of Israel, that should come into the world : whence it was cried, at the same time, in the language that begins the next verse of the same Psalm — Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord I (Matt. xxi. 8, 9, 15. John xii. 12, 13.) The use of palm branches on this occasion, as well as all the show of honour that was made, seems rather to have been taken from the general ancient manner of celebrating triumphs, or public entries of kings into cities ; but there can be no doubt, that the minds of the people were carried, at the same time, by natural asso- ciation, to the usage so familiar, of their great feast, and that their acclamations, accordingly, were really derived from that quarter. A reference to the ceremony of draw- ing and pouring out water also, is discovered in the gospel history : our Lord, it seems evident, had allusion to it, when, on the last day of the feast, he stood in the temple, and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink ! He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living \vater. It was in this way, he was continually in the habit of taking advantage of earthly objects and circumstances around him, to draw attention to spiritual truths, and to convey the most salu- tary instruction in a clear and impressive manner ; in the
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case before us, we are told, that he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. (John vii. 37 —39.)
SECTION V.
THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT.
There was no day in all the year, so important and so- lemn, in the Ceremonial System, as the 10th of Tishri, which fell, of course, not quite a week before the feast of tabernacles. This was the Day of Atonement, when guilt was called to remembrance in such a way as it was at no other time, and a service of expiation performed in behalf of the whole nation, altogether extraordinary and peculiar. It was required to be observed, therefore, not merely as a Sabbath of complete rest, but as a day of rigid fasting also, and general humiliation or affliction of soul, on account of sin. The atonement that was made, had respect to all the sins of all the people, from the highest to the lowest, com- mitted throughout the preceding year ; and was designed to clear away, as it were, by one general expiation, the vast array of guilt that was still left, after all the ordinary offerings for sin, resting with awful weight upon the na- tion. It comprehended in itself, in fact, the vitality and chief essence of the whole system of ceremonial expiation, and required for its accomplishment, accordingly, the ser- vice of the High-priest himself, in whom was concentrated the virtue of the entire priesthood, and an entrance with blood into the Holy of holies, where all the life and glory of the Sanctuary were appointed to reside.
We have a full account of the manner of this atonement in the 16th chapter of Leviticus. We are there told how the High-priest was required to make himself ready, by washing, and putting on his plain linen garments, in place of the richer apparel he usually wore ; how he came before the Sanctuary with a bullock, as a sin offering for himself and his family, and two goats for the whole congregation ; how he selected one of the goats by lot, for a sin offering, and set apart the other for a scape-goat into the wilder- ness; how he killed the bullock for himself, and after-
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wards the goat for the people ; how he first carried a cen- ser of coals, with some incense, into the Most Holy Place, and there caused a fragrant cloud instantly to spread over the mercy-seat, and fill the apartment; how lie then brought the blood of the bullock, and the blood of the goat, into the same awful place, and sprinkled them upon the mercy-seat, and seven times upon the floor in front of it ; how, when he came out into the Holy Place, he applied them also to the horns of the golden altar, and sprinkled them upon it seven times ; how he afterwards placed his hands upon the head of the living goat, confessed over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and then sent it away, thus loaded, as it were, with the people's guilt, into the wilderness ; and how, after all was over, he again washed himself in the Holy Place, put on his splendid dress, and offered a burnt-offering for himself and for the people, while the whole bodies of the bullock and the goat, wmose blood had been carried into the Sanctuary, were sent away to be burned without the camp, as altogether polluted and unclean.
It was an awful thing to come before the throne of God, as the High-priest did this day ; and no doubt the duty was often performed with fear and trembling. The great- est care was needful, to attend to every part of the service in a proper manner, and with becoming reverence, lest the anger of the Lord should suddenly display itself, to crush him with destruction. It was necessary that he should be free, at the time, from every sort of ceremonial defilement ; and it became his duty, accordingly, to guard himself with the utmost diligence, from every kind of contamination, for some time beforehand. In later times, if the Jews are to be believed, he used to retire from his own house, a whole week before the solemnity taking up his residence, for that time, altogether in a chamber of the temple, that he might the better be in readiness for his great duty ; for which he was accustomed to prepare himself by practice, in various ways, and by reading over, or having read to him, repeatedly, the order and manner of the service he would have to go through.
In the law, it is said, that the scape-goat should be let
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go in the wilderness, to carry clear away, as it were, the iniquity that was laid upon it, and it would seem that it was always allowed to escape with life ; but under the second temple, a different interpretation of the direction gained place, and it came to be held essential that the animal should be destroyed. This was always done, ac- cordingly, by precipitating it from a certain rock, about twelve miles off from Jerusalem, to which it was led away directly from the temple. The rock was very lofty and steep, so that when the unhappy beast came to the bottom, it was dashed to pieces.
There were particular public sacrifices prescribed for the day of atonement, besides those that were connected with the great expiation. (Numb. xxix. 8 — 11.) These, the Jews say, were offered directly after the regular morning sacrifice, before that solemn service commenced. They tell us, too, that no one but the High-priest might do any of the priestly work that belonged to these or to any other offer- ings of this day ; but that he was required to perform him- self, in his rich dress, all the morning service, and all that was connected with these additional offerings ; then to change his garments, and go through the work of atone- ment ; and afterwards, in his common apparel again, having first offered the two burnt offering rams, one for himself and the other for the people, to conclude all with the duties of the evening sacrifice.
The great annual atonement, embodying in itself, as we have seen, the essential virtue of the whole Jewish system of expiatory sacrifices, was, of course, the most perfect picture which the ceremonial dispensation had, of the true Atonement that was afterwards to appear. The whole in- stitution of sacrifice was a shadowy representation of the Redeemer's death, and the whole priestly service had re- spect to his mediatorial work ; they presented, in common cases, however, only some particular features of these mys- teries in any single view, without bringing the scattered sketches at any time together, or supplying, even in this separate way, all that were wanting for filling up the ge- neral representation. But, in the case before us, there was, as it were, an orderly and complete concentration of typical images, into a single, full, and striking exhibition of the
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whole at once ; such as, the more narrowly it is contem- plated, cannot fail to excite the higher admiration, and to display the more convincingly, in all its colouring, the in- imitable touches of a divine pencil.
Here was a symbolic representation of Christ's voluntary sacrifice for the sins of the world, and of his all-prevailing intercession in the presence of the Father, by which his people are made partakers of righteousness and eternal life. The Most Holy Place was a figure of heaven, where God dwells in eternal glory. As the High-priest entered into the one to intercede with incense for the Israelitish nation, so Jesus has ascended into the other, to intercede for the whole congregation of his church, gathered out of all the kingdoms of the world. But as the intercession, in the first case, could not be admitted, except as it came recommended by blood of expiation, previously shed, so, also, without shedding of blood, there could be no such intercession of any avail, in the second ; wherefore, our Lord appeared not before the infinite Majesty on high, for this purpose, till he had first offered an adequate sacrifice, on the merit of which he might found his mediation. He gave his blood for the remission of sins, and then presented himself in the presence of God, with the atonement, as it were in his hands, to make reconciliation with it for guilt, and to plead its virtue in favour of all who apply to him for life. In the typical transaction, there was not, indeed, an entire correspondence throughout, with the mystery it represented : it was not possible, in the nature of things, that it should be so. Thus, in the type, the High-priest and the victim were altogether distinct, while in the true transaction, they were found in one and the same person ; Christ was himself the sacrifice and the priest : he offered himself, of his own ac- cord, as a victim for sin, (as he says in John x. 17, 18, and in that plea of his prayer for his disciples, " For their sakes J sanctify myself f) endured, in his own person, all the suf- fering of an expiatory death ; and then passed, in the power of an all-sufficient High priest, into the Holy of holies on high, to sprinkle the mercy seat, as it were, with his own blood, and obtain eternal redemption for his church. In the type, moreover, there was, besides the offering for the peo- ple, a separate sacrifice for the High priest and his family, <i2
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inasmuch as he himself was encumbered with personal guilt, and needed atonement for his own sins, before he could come acceptably before God, to make intercession for the people : but the sacrifice of Christ was single, and had respect, altogether, to the sins of his people — he, himself, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. In the type, at the same time, besides the sin-offering sacri- fice, there was a scape-goat appointed, to bear away, sym- bolically, the sins of the nation : both these figures, how- ever, were answered at once in the death of Jesus Christ. They presented only two different aspects of the general nature of the atonement it accomplished; the one shadow- ing the transaction itself and its influence in heaven ; while the other expressed, in significant emblem, its full efficacy to purge the conscience from all guilt, and to remove the transgressions of all that make application for its benefit, so that they shall not be remembered in the way of judgment any more for ever.
The Apostle Paul dwells upon this subject in his epistle to the Hebrews ; representing the whole priestly office, and the whole sacrificial system, as typical of the mystery of redemption, but more particularly directing attention to the great service of the High-priest on the day of atonement, as that which comprehended in itself, more especially, its most perfect and expressive image. Christ being come, he tells us, an High Priest of good things to come ; by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made ivith hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For Christ, he adds in another place, is not entered into the holy places made icith hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the High-priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then ?nust he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once,inthe end of the world, hath he ap- peared,to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb. be. 11, 12, 24—26.)
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SECTION VI. SACRED YEARS.
The Sabbatic Year. Still more to impress the minds of his people with the great truth, that their time, as well as their property, was not their own ; and to carry out still more completely, the ceremonial scheme, God set apart every seventh year, also, in addition to the days that have been already noticed, to be, in some measure, sacred and free from the labours of other years. It was not required, indeed, that it should be all kept after the manner of a Sab- bath, or solemn festival, by a continual attendance upon re- ligious duties. We hear of no extraordinary public sacri- fices appointed for it, and the people seem to have been left to occupy the time in a worldly or religious way, according to their own choice, about as much as in ordinary years. The land, however, enjoyed a complete rest: the fields were not allowed to be tilled, nor the vineyards to be dressed ; and whatever they yielded without culture, was required to be regarded as common, for all to make use of as they needed, without being reaped or gathered. (Lev. xxv. 2 — 7. Ex. xxiii. 11.) The inquiry might naturally suggest itself, how the nation could be secure from the distress of poverty and famine, in the observance of such an institution ; but God, himself, silenced fear on this account: If ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year ? behold, we shall not sow, ?ior gather in our increase : Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit, until the ninth year. (Lev. xxv. 20 — 22.) As no produce was gathered from the soil, it was made a law, also, that no debts should be collected during the Sab. batical year : and it was, at the same time, solemnly en- joined, that no person should be moved by this considera- tion, to refuse lending to such as were in want, when it was at hand. The year was called, on this account, the year of release. Some have entertained the opinion, that this release required not merely, that debts should be allowed to lie over, without being exacted, till the eighth year, but that they should be altogether cancelled and never again called
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for: which, however, as it seems not easy in itself to be re- ceived, so it cannot be positively established from the Ian- guage of the law. (Deut. xv. 1 — 11.) The Sabbatical year, we must believe, had its beginning with Tishri, the first month of the civil year, when the produce of the land was all gathered in, and before the time of sowing for another crop.
During the feast of tabernacles this year, the whole law was to be publicly read over at the Sanctuary. How im- portant such a regulation was, when copies of the sacred writings were, of necessity, extremely scarce, needs not to be observed. (Deut. xxxi. 10 — 13.)
The Year of Jubilee. There was another year of pe- culiar and extraordinary character, appointed to be ob- served, in the Jewish economy. Its return was still at the end of every seventh sabbatical year, that is, only once in 50 years. The law directed that it should commence on the great day of atonement, and that it should then be ushered in with the sounding of trumpets, through all the land.
This Year of Jubilee, as it was called, was to be, in all respects, as much as the common sabbatical jears, a year of rest to the land, in which there might be neither seed time, harvest, or vintage. It enjoyed, however, additional distinctions, exclusively its own. It was a year of restitu- tion, when the whole state of society was to be, in some measure, re-organized, and brought back, as far as possible, to its original posture. It was ordained, that on every re- turn of the Jubilee, all servants of Hebrew origin, should obtain their freedom ; and that inheritances, which had been sold or given up, in the way of mortgage or pledge for debts, and not previously redeemed, should return, all over the land, to the families to which they at first belonged. A particular account of these regulations, and of the manner in which they were to be understood and regarded, as well as of the institution of the year of Jubilee in general, is found in the 25th chapter of Leviticus.
We may well conceive, that the return of the Jubilee would be hailed through the land, not merely with the Bound of trumpets, but with much gladness of heart and general manifestation of joy. It commenced, we may sup-
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pose, on the evening of the day of atonement, after its great solemnities were over; and so brought with it, as it were, a proclamation of peace and forgiveness, in answer to the deep humiliation, and the expiation so awful, with which the season had been distinguished. And truly, an interesting spectacle it must have been, and such as might well excite the most pleasant emotions, even in those who had no direct personal concern in the privileges of the time, to behold the gladsome change that was all at once accom- plished throughout the nation ; when the bond and the poor found themselves restored to freedom and a home ; when the unfortunate were raised from distress, and brought back, each to his ancient patrimony, and the dwelling place of his fathers ; when the obscure were seen suddenly rising into notice and importance ; and when the whole face of the community, in short, was moulded by an almost instanta- neous transformation, into something of the same general semblance of order and arrangement that it carried fifty years before. The whole formed a lively emblem of the joyful blessings, holy and spiritual, that are brought to men by the gospel of Jesus Christ, wherever it is received by faith ; and hence, accordingly, it is said of the Messiah in prophecy, with allusion to the proclamation of the Jubi- lee, that he should come to preach or proclaim the accept- able year of the Lord. (Isa. lxi. 2. Luke iv. 19.)
SECTION VII.
SACRED SEASONS OF HUMAN INSTITUTION.
To the sacred times which God himself appointed in the law, to be remembered and observed by his people, there were added, in later ages, some others, that rested, as far as we know any thing about them, on mere human authority. These remain to be briefly noticed.
Annual Fast-days. From the beginning, the Jewish nation was accustomed to observe public fasts, on occasions of general calamity or danger ; yet they had not, in the earlier periods of their history, any stated yearly day for
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fasting, except the great day of atonement, that has been already considered. During the captivity, however, no less than four additional days of this sort were established, which continued to be observed in all subsequent times. These were, first, The fast of the fourth month, in memory of the capture of Jerusalem. (Jer. lii. 6, 7.) Second, The fast of the fifth month, in memory of the burning of the temple. (Jer. lii. 12, 13.) Third, The fast of the seventh month, in memory of the death of Gedaliah. (Jer. xli. 1 — 4.) Fourth, The fast of the tenth month, in memory of the commencement of the attack upon Jerusalem. (Jer. lii. 4.) Mention is made of all these in the book of Zechariah, vii. 3, 5. viii. 19.
The feast of purim. This festival, as we have the ac- count of its origin in Esther ix. 17 — 32, was instituted to keep up the memory of that great deliverance which the Jews had from the wicked plot of Haman, in the days of Mordecai and Esther. It was celebrated about the middle of Adar, the twelfth, and regularly, the last month of the year, and had its name from the word Pur, which means a lot, because Haman had made use of the lot, in some way of idolatrous superstition, to determine the time when the massacre of the Jewish nation might be undertaken with the best success. (Esther iii. 6, 7.) Two days, viz. the 14th and 15th of the month, were set apart to be observed; though it was usual to confine the principal celebration to the first, while it became the practice to keep a preparatory fast on the 13th, in memory of that in Shushan, on ac- count of the decree that had gone forth for the destruction of the nation. The manner of celebrating this festival be- came, in time, very extravagant and licentious, and so it has continued to be down to this day. A principal service has been, to read over all the book of Esther, in the syna- gogues, and for all present, even the children, at every mention of the name of Haman, to clap with their hands, and stamp with their feet, and strike with mallets upon the benches, in token of deep abhorrence, crying out at the same time, Let his memory perish ! The part of the time that is not required to be spent in the synagogue, is occu- pied with all manner of festivity and mirth ; which it has not been unusual to*carry to a length not merely of ridicu-
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lous folly, but of downright intemperance, indecency, and outrageous revelry.
The feast of dedication. This feast was instituted by Judas Maccabeus, not more than 164 years before Christ, to be a memorial of the new dedication of the Sanctuary, that then took place, after it had been profaned by that wicked wretch Antiochus Epiphanes. This monarch had set himself, with all his might, to crush the Jewish reli- gion, and introduce idolatry in its room. He ordered the service of the temple to cease ; Sabbaths and festivals to be entirely neglected ; altars, groves, and chapels of idols to be set up through the land ; sacrifices of swine and other un- clean beasts to be offered, and incense to be burned at the doors of houses, and in the streets ; the whole law, in short, to be disregarded, and the whole Sanctuary polluted; thus requiring the people to "make their souls abominable, with all manner of uncleanness and profanation, to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances." The Bible was hunted with diabolical persecution, to be torn in pieces and burned ; and it was made an awful law, that whosoever was found with the sacred volume in his possession should be put to death. Among other things, the tyrant himself " entered proudly into the Sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table of shew-bread," with every precious vessel of the place, and carried them otf into his own land ; and afterwards he proceeded so far in his malice and profanity as to cause an image of Jupiter, the chief god of the heathen, to be placed in the temple, the Sanctuary itself, and its courts to be sprinkled with broth of swine's flesh, and a sow to be offered in sacrifice upon the altar of burnt offering. At length, however, God gave his people deliverance. Judas Maccabeus prevailed over the oppressor in war; liberty was recovered to the land; the worship of God was rescued from restraint and perse- cution. Whereupon, immediately, it was held necessary to make a public purification of the Sanctuary, and to dedi- cate it anew, as having been stripped of its sanctity by the wickedness of the heathen. New holy vessels "were made for its service, and a new altar also erected, in room of the old one, which it was thought best to pull down, lest
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it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen haq denied it. Then was it dedicated with appropriate sacri- fices, and with songs, and with instruments of music, all the people rejoicing and praising the God of heaven. The solemnity was continued for eight days ; and it was at the same time ordained, that a festival of so many days should afterwards be celebrated from year to year, with mirth and gladness, in commemoration of the interesting and joyful occasion. Ever since accordingly, such a festival has been observed among the Jews. The dedication of the altar took place on the 25th of the ninth month, which answered in part to our December, and so the feast came to have its commencement ever after, still with that day, falling of course in the season of winter. (John x. 22.) An account of the profanation of the temple may be found in the first chapter of the first book of the Maccabees ; and in the latter part of the fourth chapter of the same, is contained a his- tory of the dedication now mentioned, and a notice withal, of the original institution of this festival to which it gave
CHAPTER VII.
MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH CHURCH.
Having considered the Sanctuary, its ministers, and its service, it now becomes us to take some notice of the church at large ; to glance at the manner of its organization, and the principles that were appointed to unite andVegulate its general system.
The Jewish church had its origin in the person of the patriarch Abraham. From the midst of a world rapidly falling into the deep darkness of idolatry, God called him to become the Head of a chosen people, with whom his truth and promises might be deposited and preserved, till the fulness of time should come for the introduction of the gospel ; and entered, accordingly, into a gracious covenant with him, to be, not only his God, but the God, also, of his seed after him, and to take them for a peculiar nation, con- secrated to himself, out of all the families of the earth. That it might be a continual sign and seal of this covenant, he instituted the rite of circumcision, and required it to be observed with the greatest care. It became, therefore, a perpetual regulation, never to be dispensed with, that every male child among the Jews, arrived at the age of eight days, whether born in an Israelitish house, or bought with money of any stranger, should be circumcised. (Gen. xvii. 7 — 14.) The covenant thus solemnly entered into with Abraham, was afterwards renewed with his posterity at Mount Sinai. (Ex. xix. 3 — 8.)
Every descendant of Abraham, then, was a member of the Jewish church : his birth made him heir to all its pri- vileges, and subjected him to all its authority. He had no liberty ever to withdraw himself from the relation, if he might even have been inclined to do so. Hence, the whole nation was comprehended within the pale of the visible church, and was spoken of as a holy people — a. kingdom of priests, in covenant with God, and interested in his SDecial
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favour and care The whole nation, accordingly, carried the sign of God's covenant in their flesh, and all its mem- bers were required to confirm their assent to it, year after year, by solemnly observing the passover supper, and the various other institutions which the law ordained ; while they were, at the same time, considered equally partakers of all its earthly advantages, and equally concerned in all the public worship of the Sanctuary with which it was connected.
Still, there were certain qualifications of a ceremonial kind, required, in order to a full and free participation, at any time, of the outward privileges of the church. When these were wanting, individuals were removed, in some measure, from the advantageous state which the rest of the community enjoyed in this respect : they were not at once excluded, indeed, from their relation to God, as mem- bers of his visible family, but only shut out for a time, from the common liberty of its society ; yet, if the dis- qualification under which they laboured, was wilfully allowed to continue, when it might be put out of the way, it caused them to be, in the end, entirely cut off from the sacred household, and from the commonwealth of Israel, as transgressors of Jehovah's covenant, and despisers of its glorious promises. To have part in the outward privileges of the church, or to engage acceptably in its outward wor- ship, it was necessary, not only that a man should first of all have submitted to the rite of circumcision, but that he should be, at the time itself, ceremonially clean. Hereby, in that shadowy and symbolical system, it was signified, that moral purity is the first thing required for drawing near, acceptably, to the Most High, in any spiritual service, and that without holiness, no one can ever see the Lord in peace, or find admission into the happy family of Heaven.
Ceremonial uncleanness was contracted in a variety of ways, as may be seen by reading the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th chapters of Leviticus. Its necessary duralion also varied in different cases ; in some instances, continuing only till sunset ; in others, for a whole week ; and in a few others for a still longer period. While it lasted, it was at- tended with considerable inconvenience; for it not only shut out the subject of it from the privileges of the Sane-
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tuary, but cut him off, at the same time, from all free in- tercourse with liis friends and neighbours ; since, for any other person to touch one that was thus defiled, was to make himself in like manner unclean ; and he was bound, there- fore, to let his condition be known, and to keep clear of his acquaintances. The most distressing of all defilements, was that which the leprosy gave rise to. We have been called to notice already, how the unhappy victim of this disease, in addition to all the sufferings directly occasioned by his malady, was required to separate himself from society altogether, and to live a solitary outcast in the midst of the community, (unless he found some like himself, with whom to associate in melancholy fellowship,) all the days that his plague lasted upon him.
Uncleanness, however, though in most cases made ne- cessary only for a limited and short period, did not, in any case, pass away of itself, without some ceremony of purifi- cation, undergone by the persons on w horn it rested. In most cases, all that was required of such a person was to bathe his body and wash his clothes in water. In other instances, when the degree of defilement was considered to be greater, a more solemn purification was demanded. Thus, when one had become unclean by the touch of a dead bod^r, or a sepulcnre, or a single bone of any dead person, in which case the defilement could not be removed till a week was past, it was necessary that he should get Borne person that was clean, to sprinkle him, on the third and seventh days, by means of a bunch of hyssop, with Bacred water of separation ; after which, on the last day ; he bathed and washed his clothes, as in ordinary cases, and so became clean at evening. (Numb. xix. 11 — 22.) The purification of persons recovered from the leprosy, was ac- complished with a form of rites altogether peculiar, of which we have an account in the 14th chapter of Leviticus.
The water of separation, just mentioned, was pure fresh water, mixed in a vessel with some of the ashes of a red heifer, burned with particular solemnity for the purpose. An account of the singular manner in which it was burned, may be found in the first part of the 19th chapter of Num- bers. A supply of these ashes was always kept on hand, for the use of such as might need them for purification ;
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for still, as the quantity furnished by one victim came near to be exhausted, an additional stock was provided, by select- ing a new one and destroying it in the appointed way. As very little of the ashes was needed to make the water of separation in any case, the quantity supplied by one heifer lasted a great number of years; so that, according to the Jews, there were only eight burned for the purpose, dur- ing the whole time of the second temple. They tell us, also, that the one burned in the time of Moses, without any other, served the people as long as till the captivity ■ but in this, their tradition is not entitled to any credit. — As the service of burning the red heifer returned so seldom, i! naturally came to be regarded as a solemnity of great interest ; and in later times, accordingly, was burned with no small share of the general incumbrance of unmeaning and superstitious ceremonies, which tradition then con. trived to hang, with so much industry and zeal, about the whole ancient system of worship. In the fir|J; place, the most scrupulous care was employed in making choice of the animal ; for it was held, that if only two hairs could be found upon it of white or black colour, it could not be fit for this use. Then the priest who was to burn it, was shut up seven days beforehand, lest he might surfer some defile- ment by touching a grave or a dead body : for the purpose of preventing which, also, when he passed with a company of elders and other priests, from the temple to the place of killing the victim, a great causeway was raised upon arches, clear across the valley of Cedron, from the eastern gate of the outer court, in such a way that no grave could possibly hide in secret under the ground and so pollute the proces- sion, as it moved over it to the spot of its destination. This spot, which was arched underneath in like manner for the same purpose, was on the Mount of Olives, directly over against the front of the temple. When the company arrived there with the heifer, the person who had the prin- cipal service to perform, was required to bathe himself in a chamber erected there for the purpose ; while the other priests made ready the wood, tied the animal, and laid it upon the pile. The person just mentioned then came for- ward, applied the instrument of death to its throat with his right hand, received the blood into a vessel in his left, and
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immediately sprinkled it, with solemn silence, seven times, toward the front of the Sanctuary. The next thing was to set fire to the pile, and to throw into it, as it was burn- ing-, some cedar wood, some hyssop, and some scarlet wool ; first showing each of the articles, however, to the company around, and saying of it three times over in succession, This is cedar wood, or hyssop, or scarlet wool, as the case might be ; to which, in each case, they with great gravity replied, Well, well, well. After the burning was finished, the ashes were carefully collected, pounded, sifted, and laid up for use.
The red heifer, though not presented directly at the altar, had in it, notwithstanding, the nature of an offering for sin; as is manifest from the use that was required to be made of its blood, and from the fact that, like the bodies of those beasts whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, it polluted those who were concerned with the burning of it, as being itself a polluted thing, by reason of the guilt of the people that was supposed to be laid upon it. Its ashes, therefore, had a purifying efficacy, on the same principle that made Mood to be regarded, in other cases, as making atonement for the soul: they comprehended, as it were, the essential virtues of the expiatory death, by which they had been procured ; and, when applied to the unclean, were designed to signify, properly, an application of the merit of that death, as having, in its nature, power to cleanse them from defilement. Thus the whole institution pointed, with peculiar emphasis, to the death of Jesus Christ, and expressively represented its availing virtue to purge away the guilt of all sin from the conscience, as well as to pro- cure complete deliverance from its pollution and power. The Apostle Paul, accordingly, teaches us, that its shadowy and symbolical efficacy, like that of the sin offerings, pre- sented on the great day of atonement, found the actual reality, of which it was the figure, only in the blood of Calvary : for as the sprinkling of the water of separation upon such as were defiled, rendered them ceremonially clean, and so fitted them to come before God, in the solemn service of the sanctuary, from which they had been shut out ; so this blood, wherever its virtue is applied, cleanses the soul from real guilt, and qualifies it to approach tho k2
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living God, in an acceptable manner, with a service alto- gether spiritual, for which, until thus purged, it is found totally unfit, and can have no liberty whatever. " If the blood of bulls and of goats," the apostle argues, " and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself with- out spot to God, purge your conscience from dead vjorks to serve the living God .'"
PROSELYTES.
To be descended regularly from Abraham, the father of the chosen race, was accounted a distinction of the highest sort, and such as elevated every person to whom it belong- ed, far above all others of the human family. (John viii. 33—59. 2 Cor. xl 22. Philip, iii. 5.) Still, the Gentiles, who were destitute of this advantage, were not utterly shut out from the possibility of becoming united with the Jewish church, and obtaining a part in its sacred privileges. By renouncing idolatry, and every false religion, and consent- ing to embrace the faith, and follow the worship of Israel, they might find admission into the holy family, and become adopted, with all their posterity, into the same highly fa- voured state that its other members enjoyed, in virtue of their descent from its original head. Such as at any time made use of the opportunity thus afforded, were called pro- selytes.
There were some Gentiles who became convinced that the Jewish religion was true, and renounced all idolatry for the worship of the one living and true God of the Bible, and yet were not willing to take upon themselves the right of circumcision. These were not, of course, received as full members of the Israelitish church, and might not have part in its more important privileges ; still they were regarded with considerable favour, and were spoken of as pious per- sons. They were accustomed to frequent the synagogues in company with circumcised Israelites, and used often to visit the temple, also ; they were not bound, of course, to bring their sacrifices there, when they wished to offer any ; but as they were allowed to do so, they generally embraced the privilege, and had them presented at the altar of the
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6anctuary. They were not suffered, however, to offer sacri- fices there of any other sort than burnt offerings ; and it scarce needs to be mentioned, that they could not accom- pany their victims into the court where the altar stood, but were under the necessity of having them presented, alto- gether, through the priests. This class of persons, we are told, were denominated Proselytes of the Gate.
Such as came fully into the Jewish commonwealth and church, by submitting to the rite of circumcision, and taking upon themselves the obligation of the whole cere- monial law, were called Proselytes of righteousness. These were completely grafted into the Israelitish stock, and min- gled with the original branches, in the full and lasting par- ticipation of all its advantages. In latter times, the Jews, especially the Pharisees, exerted themselves with much zeal to bring other persons to embrace their religion ; though, according to the declaration of our Saviour, it was to no good purpose.*
* The former editions of this book have contained a more full dis- cussion of this subject than is here presented. It has been abridged by the committee of publication, for reasons which they doubt not would be entirely satisfactory.
CHAPTER VIII.
SYNAGOGUES.
Sacrifices could be offered no where else than at the sanctuary, the great centre of the whole Ceremonial Set- vice; but other exercises of religious worship might be per- formed in any place. The law, however, did not prescribe any other manner of public worship, than that of the taber- nacle and temple, and we are not informed that any regu- lar meetings of the people for social prayer and praise, and for the purpose of receiving religious instruction, were in use, at any time, before the captivity. There were schools of the prophets, indeed, where young men were trained up with every advantage of this sort, for the service of God ; and it was not uncommon, it seems, for persons that de- sired such a benefit, to betake themselves, on Sabbaths and new moons, to places where prophets resided, that they might be instructed from their lips; but all this brought only a small portion of the community under the direct in- fluence of such religious privileges, and fell far short of any thing like a general system of regular meetings through the nation, of the sort that has been mentioned. Some have been confident that such a system of regular weekly social worship, was actually in use, and have pretended to bring evidence for their opinion from the Bible ; but the evidence they produce is not satisfactory, and we are left at last to a mere conjecture, in support of the notion; that is, we find it, whether it be false or true, without historical notice. But of the state of things in this respect, under the second temple, we are not thus ignorant. After the captivity, so- cial meetings, held weekly, for religious worship, became common all over the land. They were styled Synagogues.
Of the origin of Synagogues, we have in history no ac- count. They seem, however, to have come into use, if not at an earlier period, at least immediately after the nation returned from its captivity. One opinion on the subject
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is, that Ezra, acting under the direction of God, caused them to be established for the purpose of securing among the people generally, a familiar acquaintance with the law, thus guarding them in the most effectual manner against the evil of idolatry ; for Ezra had a commission from Heaven, to restore the Jewish church, and re-organize its worship, after the confusion into which it had been thrown by the captivity, so that he has always been re- garded by the Jews as another Moses, and styled, accord- ingly, The second Founder of the Law. There can be no doubt that the institution, in whatever way it originated, was admirably adapted to answer the end that has been mentioned, and that it did actually operate with the most salutary influence, in this way, during all the period of the second temple.
The word Synagogue means, properly, a meeting or congregation ; it came naturally, however, to be used also as the name of the place or house where a congregation was wont to assemble. At first, synagogue-meetings ap- pear to have been held either in the open air, or in private houses ; but after some time, the idea of erecting buildings of a public kind, expressly for such use, was conceived and carried into practice. These soon rose wherever, in any country, a settlement of Jews was found, as well as over all their own land. Originally, we are told, it was usual to erect them in fields, some distance off from other houses ; but afterwards they were put up in cities ; and it was re- quired that they should always stand in the highest places, and should exceed in height all the houses about them. To build a Synagogue, was considered a deed of piety, greatly acceptable in the eye of God, as to build a church has often been esteemed in Christian countries. Hence it is not to be wondered at, that they were exceedingly mul- tiplied in some places, far more than the necessity of the people called for. Jewish tradition assures us that there were no less than four hundred and eighty of them, in the single city of Jerusalem : a lying statement we may well suppose ; but such, as in its exaggeration leaves no room to doubt that the number must have been very great. Any person, a Gentile as well as a Jew, might build a Syna- gogue ; for the holiness of the place was supposed to result
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altogether from its consecration, after it was put up, without being affected at all by any previous circumstances. (Luke vii. 4, 5.) This consecration was merely by prayer, with very little ceremony or formality.
We are told by Jewish tradition, that the general form of Synagogues was always the same. They consisted, in some measure, of two parts: one of which was called the temple, and was designed to have some correspondence with the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary, being, like it, retired in the back part of the building, and furnished also with an ark or chest, made after the model of the ark of the covenant, in which was kept a copy of the law for the ser- vice of the place ; the other, which occupied the principal body of the house, was appropriated for the use of the peo- ple, when they assembled for worship, and was provided accordingly, with ranges of seats or pews, for their accom- modation. Before the place where the ark was kept, and toward the middle of the Synagogue, was erected a low pulpit or platform, with a desk in front, where the law was read and expounded before the congregation. A few seats were placed behind this pulpit, on which those that were called elders were accustomed to sit, with their backs turned towards the ark, and their faces directed toward the rest of the people, who were all arranged round about in front of the reader, facing the end of the building in which the sacred chest of the law had its retreat. Those seats which were farthest up toward the pulpit, and the place where the ark was deposited, particularly the seats on which the elders sat, seem to have been the chief seats of the Synagogue, which it was considered honourable to occupy, and which, we are told, the hypocritical Pharisees were accustomed so much to covet on that account. (Matt, xxiii. 6.) The women, it is said, did not sit among the men, but in a sort of balcony or gallery that was raised along one side, from which they could see into the body of the house, and hear all the service of the place without be- ing themselves much exposed to view.
There is a different plan of building Synagogues in use, at the present day, in the East, more completely accom- modated to the manner of the ancient temple at Jerusa- lem. They are made to consist of a court with porches
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round about; a chapel in the middle of it (answering to the Sanctuary in the Court of the Israelites,) which is supported simply upon four columns, and has within it the desk on which the law is spread out and read ; and a co- vered hall near this last, furnished with seats, for the people to occupy when the weather happens to be stormy or cold. It has been imagined by some, that the ancient Synagogues were constructed upon this plan ; but since the New Testament leaves us without any hint to deter mine the matter, it becomes us rather to acquiesce in the general tradition upon the subject, and to adopt as correct, the representation already given.
It was a rule, we are told, that no place might have a Synagogue erected in it, unless it contained at least as many as ten persons of some learning and respectability, who were in such easy worldly circumstances that they could always have leisure to take care of its affairs, and devote some attention to the study of the law. A congre- gation, it was supposed, might not consist of any number smaller than this ; though there was no limit, other than covenience, to the greatness it might have; and in this way, accordingly, it was secured, that so many, at least, should be found in every assembly gathered for religious worship: for it was the duty of the ten men selected for the purpose, to take care that their Synagogue should never suffer a defect in its service in this respect. These select men seem always to have sustained the dignity of elders, (which title had respect not so much to their age, as to their gravity and authority,) and to have had their place, accordingly, on the seats that were fixed behind the pulpit. There is another opinion, however, respecting these ten men of leisure, as they were called, not without considerable reason in its favour, which represents them to have been only common persons hired to be always pre- sent at the Synagogue, when worship was to be performed, that there might be a certainty of having, at all times, a sufficient congregation for the purpose. It is a Jewish saying, that the Divine Majesty will not dwell among less than ten, that is, that God will not meet graciously with a less number assembled for public worship ; and he is re- presented as turning away in anger from a Synagogue
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that should happen to be found without that complement : but our Saviour inculcated a very different doctrine, for the encouragement of tbe pious in every age ; If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven : for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matt, xviii. 19, 20.)
Every Synagogue had its officers, appointed to manage its government, and conduct its religious services. The supreme direction of its affairs was committed to the care of a council of elders, and one styled the ruler of the Syna- gogue, who sustained among them the place of a President. These elders were persons of respectable and influential character in society, and such as had more than ordinary acquaintance with the law, so as to be qualified to take part with their President, and assist him with their coun- sel, in the government of the congregation. It seems, that, on account of their authority in this way, they also, at times, were called rulers of the Synagogue, though the title properly belonged only to the officer just mentioned, who was placed at their head. (Acts xiii. 15.) — Then, be- sides its presiding ruler and its company of elders, each Synagogue had its deacons, or collectors of alms, whose business it was to receive the charitable contributions of the congregation from week to week, and distribute them among the poor, as they might happen to be found in need of such assistance. It was usual, we are told, to have al- ways three persons appointed to manage this business ; who, although they acquired some considerable authority from the nature of their charge, were yet completely under the control of the superior officers just noticed, and could never dispose of the alms that were put into their hands in any way which these might refuse to sanction with their approbation. — There were also certain ministers, or attend- ants, of a still more subordinate character, who had parti- cular employment assigned to them connected with the general care of the Synagogue and its service ; one espe- cially, whose business it was to take the book of the law out of the chest in which it was kept, and give it to the person who was called upon to read, and afterwards to re-
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ceive it from him again and restore it to its place; who was intrusted, moreover, as it seems, with the charge of having the house in order for worship, took care that it should be swept, when necessary, and kept clean, anti still opened the doors and closed them before and after the times of meeting. (Luke iv. 20.)
It was the duty of the ruler of the Synagogue to preside in all its meetings, and to superintend and direct the whole of its worship. It was not considered necessary, however, that he should himself, or that some one of the elders asso- ciated with him should always take the lead personally in every religious exercise; though the whole right of doing this was vested altogether in their body ; and the exercise of it, accordingly, as well as its responsibility, seemed na- turally to devolve upon them alone : it was held to be suf- ficient, notwithstanding, if it proceeded merely under their immediate direction and oversight; so that other persons might, by their order or permission, perform such service with perfect propriety : and hence it was actually the cus- tom, to have it performed, to a considerable extent, in this way altogether. Thus in every meeting, different indi- viduals, who had nothing to do with the direction and go- vernment of the Synagogue, used to take part in conduct- ing its public exercises of worship, under the eye of the president and elders. One of these exercises was to lead in tli e prayers of the congregation ; another, to read a par- ticular portion of the Scriptures; another, to address the people. The person who performed the first mentioned service used to be denominated the angel of the Synagogue, that is, its delegate, or representative, appointed to address the throne of God in the name, and on the behalf, of the whole assembly. It was usual to have some one appointed to officiate in this character with Wgular and stated duty ; and it was a maxim at the same time, that the individual se- lected for the purpose should be one of the greatest dignity and worth, eminent above most others in the congregation for wisdom and virtue, and, if possible, clothed with the venerable solemnity of age and the experience of a multi- tude of days. In some cases, however, the angel of the Synagogue was constituted merely for a single occasion, and the person chosen to officiate sustained the character
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no longer than the particular service lasted which he was called upon to perform. The other exercises that have been mentioned were not appropriated, in any case, as stated services, to any particular individuals to the ex- clusion of others ; but different persons were in the habit of officiating on different occasions, as they were invited to come forward by the president, either to read or to speak, or as they received his approbation when they presented themselves of their own accord for the purpose, and he found no reason to deny them the liberty. The privilege of addressing the people, however, was considered much more important than that of reading, and was, accordingly, al- lowed with much less freedom : it was, in fact as it appears, confined in a considerable measure to those who had the supreme direction, the president either exercising the right himself, or yielding place only to some one of the company of elders of which he was the head ; and so far as it was not thus confined, (for it was still not uncommon to allow it to persons who held no office in the Synagogue,) it seems to have been a principle that no one should be suffered to teach in this way who was not in a more than ordinary degree versed in the knowledge of the law, and so entitled to rank among the icise men, as such used to be styled, by way of distinction from the common unlettered multitude.
As those who ruled the Synagogue, and superintended its regular service, wTere called presbyters or elders, so they were denominated, (especially, as it would seem, the presi- dent and such of the others as were accustomed to take part in teaching,) by a figure familiar to the east, pastors, or shepherds ; and had the title also of bishops, or, to use a different word of the same meaning, overseers, in reference to the watchful care and authority which it was their duty to employ in the government of the congregation for its general welfare and the right order of its public worship.
We find no express mention in the New Testament of public worship in the Synagogues, on any other day of the week than the Sabbath. Jewish tradition, however, asserts that it was common anciently, as well as in more modern times, to have it regularly celebrated also on the second and fifth days, (our Monday and Thursday,) and on all festival days besides, such as new moon, &c. We are told too. that
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it was usual to assemble on these days as many as three several times, viz. in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night : but on the week days the service was short, con- sisting chiefly of prayers, with the reading of only a small portion of the scriptures; and on the Sabbath, the princi- pal service was that of the morning, when there was a full reading of scripture, and an address made to the congrega- tion ; while the afternoon and evening meetings were occu- pied more particularly with prayers and singing. Prayer presented in public worship, was held to be more acceptable than prayer offered up in private ; so that as many as made any pretensions to piety were still disposed to resort to the Synagogues, on its meeting-days, for the performance of their morning and evening devotions, just, as it was cusfo- mar}' for serious persons who lived near the temple to go up to its courts at the times of the daily sacrifices. And it appears, that the Synagogue was considered an advanta- geous place for individuals to present their stated prayers even on days when there was no public service to be at- tended ; as we read that the Pharisees, to make an ostenta- tious show of religion, loved to repeat their private pray- ers standing in these churches; which at other times they did not scruple to do even in the most public places of the streets, pretending that when the seasons for this duty ar- rived, their consciences would not allow them to neglect it a moment, wherever they might be found, but all, in fact, to be seen of men and to obtain the praise of uncommon god- liness among the multitude of the world. (Matt. vi. 5.)
When the congregation was collected together for wor- ship on the morning of the Sabbath, the angel of the Syna- gogue began the services of the occasion with an ascription of glory to God, and a regular address of prayer toward his holy throne. Then the portion of the law which belonged to that day was read, and the reading of it closed with another doxology chanted to the praise of the Most High; after which followea the reading of the appointed portion from the prophets. Next came the address to the people, and afterwards another prayer, which concluded the exer- cises of the meeting. Such appears to have been the general order observed in the ancient service of the Synagogue, as well as it can be o-athered from the occasional hints of the
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New Testament compared with the manifold traditions of the Jews ; which, it is to be presumed, comprehend much correct information relative to the whole original manner of the institution, though it be so confounded with rubbish derived from more modern usage, as to be in no small de- gree difficult to be ascertained.
At the close of the prayers the whole congregation were accustomed to say, Amen, in token of their concurrence with him that uttered them, in the feelings of thankfulness or supplication which they expressed. So did they respond, also, when the priest pronounced the solemn benediction, according to the form in Numb. vi. 24 — 26. It was usual, we are told, when this was to be pronounced, for all the priests that were in the house, if there happened to be more than one, to take their station on the pulpit, and repeat it after the manner that was practised in the daily service of the Sanctuary. If there was no priest present, the angel of the Synagogue used to repeat it, still introducing it in some such way as this: Our God and the God of our fa- thers bless us now with that three-fold benediction appointed in the law to be pronounced by the sons of Aaron, according as it is said, " The Lord bless thee, &.c " The people, however, were instructed to withhold in such a case their customary response of Amen. So goes the tradition ; and it adds that this pronouncing of the benediction was toward the end of the principal prayer, though not altogether at the close of it.
It was the custom to have the whole law, that is, the five books of Moses, read over in the Synagogues, every year. Hence, for the sake of convenience and certainty, it was all divided into fifty-four sections, as nearly equal in length as they could be made without serious injury to the sense, which were appointed to be read in regular succession, one every week, till the whole was gone over. It was thought proper to have as many as fifty-four, because the longest years consisted of that number of weeks, and it was desired to leave no Sabbath in such a case without its particular portion; but as the common years were made up of fewer weeks, they used in the course of these to join certain shorter sections, so as to make one out of two, in order to bring the reading regularly out with the end of the year ; for it was held ab-
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Bolutely necessary to have the whole read over, without any omission, before it was commenced in course again, as it still was on the first Sabbath after the feast of taberna.cles. The copy of the law used for this purpose, which, like all books of ancient time, was in the form of a roll, was written witli great care, and generally with much elegance. It was not usual, we are told, for a single person to read over the whole section for any day, in the Synagogue : but several individuals, according to the Jewish representation exactly seven, were called upon to read in succession ; whence it became the practice to have each of the sections divided again into several smaller portions for their accommoda- tion. Any male person, who was not a servant, a tatter- demalion, or a fool, and was able to read with ease and distinct utterance, might be invited to bear a part in the exercise : only it was the custom to call upon some of the more honourable individuals present in the congregation, to take the lead in reading the first two or three portions of the section : particularly it was thought proper to have the first portion read by a priest, if any was in the house, and the second by a Levite. It is not clear, however, that this particular manner, though found prevailing at a later period, was all observed in this part of the Synagogue ser- vice in the time of our Saviour.
The reading of the prophets, which followed the reading of the law, was not practised in the synagogues from their first institution, but had the origin of its use in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. We have already, not long since, had occasion to mention the persecution which that wicked monster waged against the worship and the truth of the God of Israel. The rolls of the sacred law of Moses, whenever they could be discovered, were destroyed, and the punish- ment of death was denounced against every individual with whom a copy of it should be found. In this predica- ment, those of the nation who still adhered to the religion of their fathers, wore led to make choice of particular por- tions out of some of the other books of scripture, (which, be- cause they had not been in common use, like the books of Moses, in the public worship of the people, had not fallen under the same tyrannic condemnation,) and substitute them in room of the ordinary lessons from the law, in the ser- s 2
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vice of the synagogue. In this way a new set of lessons was introduced, which ever afterwards continued in use ; for although when the storm of that persecution had rolled away, the original reading of the law was restored as it had been in the beginning, it was still thought proper not to lay aside these other portions of scripture, but to have them read also, in regular order as before, so that it became a perpetual rule to have two lessons, one out of the law, and one from the prophets, repeated in this way every Sabbath. The Jews reckoned, in that class of their sacred books which they denominated the prophets, not only such as are actually prophetical in their character, but the chief of those, also, which are merely historical, such as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles : whence the second series of lessons comprehended portions from these last, as well as from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Sfc : And these were not connected in any sort of order with each other, but had been selected independently, just as they were thought to have some particular correspondence with the sec- lions of the law, to which they answered in the order of their course. As they were quite short, in comparison with the other lessons, they were not divided in the same way for several readers, but each used to be read altogether by a single person.
As the Jews, after the captivity, made use of a language materially different from that of their ancestors, in which their sacred books were written, it became necessary still to have the lessons of the Synagogue interpreted, as they were read, into the common tongue. It seems that even in the time of Ezra, immediately on the return of the nation to their own country, something of this sort was found neces- sary, when that holy man caused the law to be publicly read in the hearing of the people. (Neh. viii. 8.) In later times, however, especially from the age of the Maccabees, it became still more needful, and was secured, as it ap- pears, with more systematic arrangement. There is rea- son to believe, that the idea of distributing the scriptures into verses was conceived, and put into practice, originally, for the sake of convenience and order in the interpretation of the Synagogue lessons. As it was necessary for the reader to pause every few moments, till the interpreter be-
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side him turned what he read into the common tongue, it was natural to think of breaking the whole into little por- tions of suitable length, so that he might not be at a loss where to stop, or so liable to interrupt and confound the sense by injudicious division, as he must have been, if left in every case to cut it up according to his own pleasure : and when verses were thus introduced into the sacred rolls of the synagogue, it was not strange that they should, in time, become established throughout the whole Jewish Bible, as we have them handed down to our own time, and still every where in use. The ancient tradition of the Jews is, that these, as well as the fifty-four greater sections into vyhich the law was divided, had their origin from no less a source, than the inspired authority of Ezra himself. The chapters into which we find all the Bible now distributed, it may be here remarked, were invented more than 1200 years after the time of our Saviour, and the verses of the New Testament at a period considerably later still. Nor was it again, until some time after the whole Bible was thus divided and sub-divided, that the plan of separating the verses into distinct little paragraphs, as they are now found in our common copies of the sacred volume, came into practice; the original plan having been, to let them still follow each other, like common sentences in other writings, in regular order according to the sense, (as all Hebrew Bibles are still printed,) and to place all the figures, when the practice of numbering them was adopted, down along die margin, altogether out of the text itself. And truly it is much to be lamented, that God's holy word should ever have been allowed to be so cut up and broken into pieces, as it has now come to be in our common Bibles, by having the chapters and verses all completely separated through- out; as if the Spirit that inspired it, had given it for use in that style — whereas, the whole has been the contrivance of man, and tends only to darken the meaning of the sacred page from beginning to end.
Much of our Saviour's teaching was performed in the Synagogues. We are told that " he went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom." It appears, that be- fore he entered upon his public ministry, while he lived as
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a common man in the town of Nazareth, he regularly at tended the Synagogue of the place, as one of its members, and used often to bear part as a reader in its stated ser- vices : and we find him, directly after he had assumed his official character, clothed with the power of the Holy Ghost, addressing the same congregation as a preacher', in which capacity he continued afterwards to give instruc- tion in these Jewish churches all over Galilee, and in other parts of Judea, wherever he came. (Luke iv. 14 — 44.) As it is not to be supposed that he taught in this way, in any case, without the consent of the rulers of the Synagogues, if not by their express invitation, it has seemed strange to some, that a person so much disliked as he was, by the re- ligious leaders of his country, should have been suffered, to such an extent, to enjoy this great advantage for the dissemination of his doctrine among the people : but we are to remember, that he was not only a Jew himself, of fair and unblemished character, and strictly attentive to all the requirements of the law, but a man at the same time, of acknowledged wisdom and deep skill in the knowledge of religion, who had full claim to the title of Rabbi or Doctor • and that he was a prophet withal, " mighty in deed and word before God, and all the people," held in honour and glorified by the general multitude, notwithstanding the humble style in which he lived, and the weight of reproach that was flung upon him by the great and the learned of the land : so that there was no reason or room whatever, to hinder him from speaking in the Synagogues ; and those who had the direction of them, even if they had been other- wise disposed in their own hearts, could not refuse to al- low the privilege, where the right was so universally ac- knowledged, out of the respect which they were constrained to exercise toward popular sentiment. The apostles, who were also endowed with the highest ability to teach, made use of the same opportunity for preaching to the people ; and for a time, the Gospel uttered its loudest sound, week after week, from the pulpit of the Synagogue : but it soon became too offensive to Jewish prejudice and pride, to be quietly endured, and was, accordingly, expelled, to seek for itself a separate accommodation, in some different quar- ter. We have on record, a full exhortation delivered on one
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occasion by Paul, in the Synagogue of Antioch, in Pisidia, which niay give us some idea of the style in which he was accustomed to improve such opportunity for pro- claiming the glorious doctrines of {.lie cross. (Acts xiii. 14—41.)
It has been already intimated, that it was the business of those who had the supreme direction of the Synagogue, not only to superintend and direct its public worship, but to exercise some sort of government, also, over the congrega- tion that belonged to it. They were invested with authority to take cognizance of particular offences and inflict dis- cipline upon such of their society as were found guilty of them. They might employ, it seems, private reproof and public rebuke; and when the offence was held particularly grievous, or these milder means proved unavailing to bring the offender to repentance and amendment, the more ter- rible penalty of excommunication was at their disposal. This, we are told, might be either partial, in which case the person on whom it fell was cut off from the liberty of free intercourse with every person out of his own family, for the space of thirty days, though he was still allowed to enter the Synagogue, provided became not within four cubits of any body that was in it; and this was the lesser excom- munication: or it was complete, excluding him from all the privileges of the Synagogues, entirely, and cutting him 01T as a heathen man, from the worshipping assemblies of his people ; and then it was denominated the greater excom- munication. The design of each was to produce in the of- fender, humiliation and sorrow for his conduct, and to bring about a reformation of temper and practice, in whatever re- spect he had been found guilty ; whence it was common to inflict the heavier sentence, only after the other had been made use of once or twice, without accomplishing its pur- pose. It is not clear that these two sorts of excommunica- tion were e.o distinctly recognized in the time of our Saviour, as they came to be at a later period ; but we have sufficient notice that the punishment itself was in general use, and, as it seems, under its most severe form, so as to be held in universal dread by the people. The malice of our Saviour's enemies took advantage of the power which was thus lodged in then hands, to hinder the influence of his doctrine: they
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agreed, and caused it to be understood, that if an)r man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the Syna- gogue ; and many, we are told, even such as stood high in society, were deterred, by this consideration, from making such a confession, though they were convinced of his true character ; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John ix. 22, 34. xii.42,43.The rulers of the synagogue had power to inflict, also, when it was deemed proper, the punishment of scourging, which, as we have already seen, might consist of any number of stripes under forty, but was in no case allowed to exceed that amount. Though full enough of severity and shame, it was not reck- oned so disgraceful or terrible, by any means, as excom- munication. Our Saviour warned his disciples to expect the one as well as the other. (Matt. x. 17. John xvi. 2.)
The Jewish Synagogue is entitled to our careful atten- tion, on its own account, as an institution full of wisdom in all its general arrangement, to which the true religion has been greatly indebted in ancient time : but it derives a still stronger claim upon our interests and regard, from the consideration, that our Lord was pleased to have it used as a model or pattern, in the original constitution of the Chris- tian Church ; so that both in its service and in its govern- ment, as all who have thoroughly examined the matter are agreed, the latter became a lively image of the former ; and though in certain respects altered, of course, to a somewhat different aspect, was made to exhibit, on the whole, the ge- neral outline of its features, with clear and striking resem- blance. Hence, a familiar acquaintance with the order and usages of the Synagogue, cannot fail to contribute much to a right understanding of what we find written in the New Testament relative to the manner of the early churches ; and even the most general information on the subject sheds light, in this way, on such points, and is adapted to guard the mind from error, and help it to a fair conception of truth, when it attempts to interpret the language of revelation concerning them. As the Synagogues had their presidents, their companies of elders, and their deacons, so had the churches ; and as an evidence that the officers of one were considered as corresponding in every respect with those of the other, we find the names, as well as the general powers,
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with which they were distinguished in the Jewish congre- gations, faithfully appropriated to them in the assemblies of the Christians. (Acts vi. 1—6. xx. 17, 28. Philip, i. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 1—13. v. 17. Tit. i. 5, 7. Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 1 Pet. v. 1 — 4.) We find, too, as far as we have any information on the subject, the same mode of worship, in a great de- gree, with that of the Synagogues, practised in the early churches ; only those who had the direction of it, in the lat- ter case, were not accustomed to employ other persons to take the lead in religious exercises, under their eye, and in their stead, in the same way as the rulers of the Synagogues used to do ; but in almost all cases exercised, themselves, in this respect, the right, for the use of which they were re- sponsible. Thus there was no such a person in the churches as the angel of the Synagogue, who, without any official character, was employed to go before the congregation in their prayers: the presiding elder, or bishop, himself, dis- charged this duty, as well as that of addressing the people with religious instruction ; on which account, as it seems, lie was sometimes distinguished by the appellation of the angel of the Church * as we find the bishops of the seven churches of Asia, severally denominated in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation. It may be re- marked, also, that the Lord's Supper, which was regularly celebrated in the Christian churches every week, was an institution altogether peculiar to their worship, to which there was nothing that corresponded, in any way whatever, in the services of the Synagogue.
*"The only question respecting these angels, or bishops of the Churches, is. whether they were pasters of single churches, or dio- cesan bishops, who superintended all the churches within a certain district, an 1 who were superior, by their otnee, to presbyters. We are not disposed to enter into a discussion of this controverted! point. It manifi stly does not relate to tV vital principles of Christianity. Let every Man investigate this subject for himself, and be fully persuaded in his own mind. And let not the sweet bond of brotherly love be severed by differences of opinion respecting points of external order and government."
CHAPTER IX.
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
The Jews, before the time of Christ, had become very extensively dispersed. Various causes had contributed to scatter them into every country of the civilized world, and they did not fail to make proselytes to their religion wher- ever they happened to reside. Thus God was pleased, in his sovereign wisdom, to prepare the way for the dissemi- nation of the light of the gospel, among all nations; for, not only was some knowledge of the first principles of all true religion diffused abroad by this means, but an opening was secured for the introduction of Christianity into ever)' part of the Roman empire ; since, in every important place to which the Apostles came, they found those that professed the Jewish religion ; and being Jews themselves, were always allowed at first to preach in the Synagogues. These Jews, dispersed among the Gentiles, (John vii. 35,) care- fully preserved themselves, wherever they dwelt, separate from other people, and still continued to cherish, with reli- gious fidelity, their connexion with the temple of Jerusalem ; not only paying for its use the yearly half-shekel tax, as regularly as their brethren in Palestine, but making it their practice, also, to visit it personally, for the celebration of their great festivals, as often as circumstances would allow; or, when this could not be done, to send gifts by the hands of others. (Acts ii. 5 — 11.) In Egypt, indeed, where a great number of them resided, they had erected, about 150 years before the time of our Saviour, a new temple, exactly after the plan of that which was at Jerusalem, and established in it a separate system of public worship, under the care of Levites and regular priests of the family of Aaron, justify- ing the measure by a wrong interpretation of Isaiah xix. 18, 19 ; but still the superiority of the temple at Jerusalem was acknowledged, and the privilege of being connected with it, by no means relinquished ; so that the Jews of Pales-
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tine, although somewhat dissatisfied at first, were eoiitent in the end to wink at the irregularity, and keep up still a friendly correspondence with this important branch of their church. Such Jews as spoke the Greek language were called Hellenists, or Grecians. These were found not only in Greece, through Asia Minor, and in Egypt, but in various other countries of the Roman empire, (so extensive was the use of that language become,) and even to some extent, as we learn from Acts vi. 1, in Palestine itself. (Acts ix. 29. xi. 20.) The whole church, though joined together in gene- ral harmony as a single body, when its relation to the rest of the world was in question, was, nevertheless, not free from sectarian divisions and disputes. Three regular sects arose under the second temple, and continued to flourish till the destruction of the state, which differed widely in their religious sentiments, and charged one another with the most serious errors — which, in each several case, no doubt was done not without reason. The precise time when they took their rise is not known ; but we are assured that they were all flourishing in the age of the Maccabees, 150 years before Christ, and must refer their origin, therefore, to a more remote period. We will now proceed to give some account of the principles and character of each of them, in order, after which it will be proper to notice, also, the Sa- maritans, whose religious faith and worship, being derived altogether from the Jewish church, give them a natural claim to our attention in connexion with the Jewish sects.
SECTION I. THE PHARISEES.
The Pharisees borrowed their name from a word which means to separate, because they affected to be more strictly religious than other people, and to be distinguished from the common multitude, not only for their superior acquaint- ance with the divine will, but also by reason of their pecu- liar interest in the friendship and favour of God.
They believed, we are told, in the existence of angels, Vol. II. T
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and in the resurrection of the dead. (Acts xxiii. 8, 9.) At the same time, we learn, that they held the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, so important in certain systems of heathen philosophy, which pretends that they pass after death into other bodies, and so, completely forgetful of all their former condition, continue to act a part upon the theatre of life, while the frames in which they once resided lie mouldering in the dust. They held it not, however, in the same broad extent with which it has been received in these systems : they did not admit that a human soul might ever pass into the body of a dumb animal, so as to put any person in danger of destroying his grandfather, when ha might venture to kill a calf or a chicken ; and they did not allow that all souls were appointed to re-appear in succes- sive lives after this fashion. It was considered a privilege, it seems, which only the comparatively righteous were al- lowed to enjoy, after being rewarded for a time in their separate state, while the spirits of the wicked were doomed to go away into everlasting torments. It has been sup- posed, that there is a reference to this sentiment in that question which was put to our Saviour by his disciples, concerning the blind man, of whom we have an account in the ninth chapter of the gospel of John — Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? for it is not easy to understand how the birth of any one could be imagined to be thus unfortunate on account of his own sinfulness, unless under the idea of a previous life enjoyed by the soul in some other body. How this doctrine of transmigration was made to accommodate itself to the doc- trine of the resurrection, which it has just been intimated was entertained by the same sect, is not by any means clear. Some have thought, that they were not really dif- ferent doctrines at all, but that the resurrection which the Pharisees taught, was nothing more than this transmigra- tion itself, which brought such as were not notoriously wicked once more back among the inhabitants of the earth. Perhaps there was some diversity of sentiment among themselves in relation to the future fate of souls; in which case it might be that opinions which were never held actually at the same time in all their length and breadth by the same persons, but were only different notions of dift
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ferent classes belonging to the general body, have been im- properly joined together as entering alike into the common faith of the whole sect.
The Pharisees have been charged with holding the doc- trine of fate. But the doctrine of fate is, that all things take place by such a continual and inflexible necessity as leaves no room for the action of free causes, and makes it certain that an event will come to pass, as it does in the end come to pass, whether preparatory means, which in fact bring about its result, be put into previous operation or not — an absurd doctrine that carries its destruction in its own bosom ; whereas, the great Jewish historian assures us that this sect, while they held the absolute and unalter- able certainty of all things according to the eternal deter- mination of God, yet insisted that the will of man was free, and that its influence in the great machinery of action which fills the world, mighty and constant as it is, pro- ceeds with unrestrained and continual liberty. On this point, therefore, though these notions of theirs have seemed to some as incompatible as the two doctrines of transmi- gration and the resurrection, the Pharisees appear to have entertained, in the main, the same sentiment that is taught in the New Testament, and the only one which sound rea- son can approve. Admitting the self-evident proposition, that nothing can occur except in accordance with the plan of Infinite Wisdom, which stretches design through all the system of creation, and explores at one glance from be- ginning to end, the whole order of its innumerable changes, they embraced at the same time, the clear dictate of uni- versal consciousness, that every man chooses or refuses in all he does according to his own pleasure, without any other constraint whatever, so as to be altogether account- able for every thing that is wrong ; rightly concluding, that it is as easy for God to make events certain which de- pend on human will without interfering with its freedom, as it is for him to make certain those that depend on the ODcrations of the material world without hindering- their regular and natural order ; since we must allow, unless we would represent man to be the empty plaything of chance, that there is as much order and laic in the manner of all the changes that take place in his mind, as there is in the
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endless succession of changes which follow each other as causes and effects in the system of mere matter, though the nature of these laws and the way of their action be differ- ent in either case, according to the different quality of the subjects, viz. mind and matter, to which they respectively belong.
A primary article in the creed of the Pharisees, and one that became a most frightful source of evil in their charac- ter and conduct, was, that in addition to the written law found in the Bible, and for the purpose of explaining and completing its otherwise dark and defective system, God had given also an oral law, to be handed down, without be- ing committed to writing, by mere tradition, from genera- tion to generation ; and that this, accordingly, had full as much obligation upon men as the other, and was to bz deemed in fact even more important, inasmuch as without it the whole law, it was maintained, would have been with • out light, without order, and comparatively without use. It is needless to say, that the traditions of which this law con- sisted, were altogether of human authority , and that they had not all taken their rise at once, but were introduced gradually from the usages and opinions of different ages, still gathering new accession to their mass as it rolled for- ward, till it acquired that monstrous size which it had in the end. It seems to have been only about a hundred years before the time of Christ, that they came to be regarded as of such high importance, that the written law itself was less in honour and regard ; and the neglect of them was counted impious as the worst infidelity. Th* traditionary law, however, claimed for itself, of course, a far more honourable history, and since it aspired to equal authority with the true law of God given of old to Moses in the wil- derness, referred its origin to the same antiquity, and to the same high and holy source. The Lord, it pretended, had uttered it all in the ear of his servant on Mount Sinai, that it might serve to interpret and explain the other law which was committed to writing. Then Moses, when he came down into his tent had repeated it all over, first to Aaron alone, next to his two sons in his presence, then to the seventy elders, and lastly, while all these still listened, to the whole assembled congregation of Israel ; so that when
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he went out, Aaron, having heard it four times recited, was able to say it over in his turn, then his sons, after he withdrew, could repeat it again ; and on the departure of these, the seventy elders found no difficulty in rehearsing the whole still another time before the people — by which means every body gave it four hearings, and was able to go home and repeat it tolerably well to his family, while the priests and elders had it so fixed in their minds that it was not possible for a particle of it to be lost. Afterwards, Moses again carefully said it over, just before he died, to Joshua. Joshua delivered it to the care of the elders. The elders handed it down to the prophets. The prophets left it finally to the charge of the wise doctors who flourished under the second temple, and so it came down in all the perfection of its original revelation to the latest period of the Jewish state. Thus the oral law made out its goodly title to respect and veneration, and presumptuously chal- lenged for itself a right to control at pleasure the meaning of God's written word. The Pharisees discovered great zeal in the support of its claims, and employed it in many cases to counteract the true spirit of the Bible, actually making the word of God, as our Saviour said, of no effect by their traditions. (Mark vii. 1 — 13.) These traditions led them to observe a multitude of uncommanded ceremonies, as foolish oftentimes as they were useless, and loaded their religion with a weight of formality and superstition under which it was hardly possible for a single right principle of piety to avoid being crushed and destroyed altogether.
Thus the washing of hands before meals, which had a very good reason for its practice in the manner that they were anciently made use of in eating, was converted at length into a solemn religious duty, and the omission of it was looked upon as a crime of the most offensive sort, that merited no less a punishment than death itself. So other washings, as of cups, and pots, and tables, came to be esta- blished as sacred duties. In similar style, they added other precepts, without end, to the divine law ; and clothed indif- ferent or unmeaning practices with the highest solemnity of religion.
In all this zeal which they showed in favour of the tradi- tions of the elders, the Pharisees affected a character of ex- t2
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traordinary piety ; such as was not content to conform itself merely to the letter of the law, but sought, for its di- rection, a higher and more difficult rule. They measured the worth of their religion by the multitude of its outward observances, however empty and idle most of them might be, and fancied themselves more righteous than others in proportion as they outstripped them in the mere show of devotion ; though beneath it might be nothing but hyyocrisy and pride. It was not strange, accordingly, that hypocrisy and pride should actually characterize the sect, and that, since they looked upon mere external rites and appearances, such as strike the attention of the world, as having in them- selves the nature of righteousness and highest merit, they should indulge the most selfish passions, always so conge- nial to the human heart, even while they seemed to others and to themselves to be continual patterns of the most ri- gorous piety. The religion which they used, though in many respects it was severe and hard to be complied with, had nevertheless two attractions which would have made it welcome to the carnal mind, if it had been attended with yet far more difficulty : it was in its whole nature ostenta- tious, and adapted to secure worldly admiration for the gratification of pride ; and it was at the same time highly self-righteous, elevating the man to whom it belonged, ac- cording to its own representation, to the highest degree of earthly holiness ; and giving him assurance, on account of his merit in this respect, of the most unbounded favour of God — all, too, without any restraint upon the inward man, which might still rankle with all manner of corruption like the cavern of a whited sepulchre, and without any regard to the weightier matters of the law, such as judgment, mercy, and faith, which might still be disregarded with contempt, and wantonly trampled under foot. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the Pharisees — though they distinguished themselves from others as more excellent and holy than they, and were looked upon by the world as the most righteous of the earth — though they made many long prayers in the Synagogues and in the streets — though they fasted with a sad countenance on the second and fifth days of every week — though they washed with the most scru- pulous care day after day, and were so afraid of being con-
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taminated, that 1 hey would not so much as eat with Gentiles and those whom they counted sinners, such as puhlicans and harlots — though they paid tithes of all they possessed, so carefully that not even the smallest garden herbs, mint, anise, and cummin, were neglected — though they affected the most rigid respect to the sabbath, and to every form of worship in the temple and the synagogue — though they made the border-fringes of their garments large and their phylacteries broad in token of their piety — and though they professed the greatest veneration for the ancient prophets, and builded the tombs and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous dead — it is not to be wondered at, I say, that the Pharisees, with all this show of religion, were full of the most worldly spirit, and under the dominion of the most shameful principles — that they prayed and fasted and did ull their deeds of piety to be seen of men— that they courted every sort of distinction, the uppermost rooms at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogue, and respectful greetings and titles of honour in public places — that they neglected in a great measure altogether the practice of the highest moral virtues — and that many of them indulged all manner of secret iniquity in their hearts, and under the cloak of extraordinary piety were full of the vilest extortion and excess ; — while yet, all the time, they were blinded to the hollow worthlessness ot" their character, and really im- agined, that, on, account of their multiplied duties of out- ward religion, and the strictness of their formality, they stood high in the favour of Heaven as truly as they pro- cured for themselves the admiration and applause of men. (Matt. vi. 1, 2, 5, 16. xii. 1—14. xiii. 1—14. xxiii. 1—31. Luke xviii. 9 — 14.) We are not to suppose, however, that all who belonged to the sect were thus egregiously incon- sistent and hypocritical; though the general body was un- doubtedly corrupt, there were not wanting in it persons of truly excellent and upright character, whose principles of virtue were laid noon a deeper foundation, and whose mo- rality acknowledged a more enlightened and comprehen- sive rule.
Though we are told that those of them who occupied he seat of Moses, and undertook to explain the duties of religion, used to inculcate a more difficult and laborious
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lesson than they were willing- themselves to practise, binding heavy burdens on other men's shoulders to which they refused to apply one of their own fingers, (Matt. xxiiL 2 — 4,) it is yet certain, that, according to their own system of righteousness, which made the reality and merit of religion to consist especially in outward observances, the Pharisees, as a sect, were remarkably strict and severe. They are styled by the apostle Paul, the most straitest sect of the Jewish religion ; (Acts xxvi. 5;) and the occasional notices, that are scattered through the gospels, of their minute and careful attention to the wearisome and bur- densome forms of their own superstition, are enough to convince us that the character which they had in this re- spect, was not without reason in their general manner of life. That they had much of a certain sort of righteous- ness, which, though false and hollow in the eye of God, was nevertheless wrought out with exceedingly great care and pains, far surpassing the common diligence of men in this matter, is intimated also in that declaration of our Lord ; I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matt. v. 20.) The reputation and influence which they acquired by reason of this eminent character for religion, was very great, and made them altogether the most powerful party in the state — an advantage which their pride and ambition were ever prone to abuse, and which was actually employ- ed, from time to time, only to disturb the order and tran- quillity of the country.
But while the religion of this sect professed to take for itself the strictest rule, and affected to do even more than the letter of the written law required, it not only gave in- dulgence to the worst feelings and passions of the heart, as we have already noticed, but proceeded also to pervert the true meaning of the word of God, and to erect a differ- ent standard of morality, less at variance with the natural temper of the human mind. Thus, as it added to the truth of Heaven in one quarter, it secretly took away from it in another; loading it with the dreams of a self-righ- teous superstition, while it sought to strip it of its native spirituality and power, in order that it might seem to ac-
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cord completely with that defective and carnal, though highly imposing scheme of piety which they held up to the admiration of the world. In some cases, they perverted the spirit of Scripture, by exalting mere civil statutes into the place of?noral rules, or insisting, that whatever the law of Moses allowed must needs be in its own nature right and safe, under all circumstances; not making a proper discrimination between principles of public government, and principles of private morality; and forgetting that with- out a continual miracle exerted to control the minds of men, some things must be permitted, on account of the hardness of the people's hearts, in the constitution of every civil society, which are not in themselves proper, nor may at all be adopted as safe maxims for individual conduct. In this way, they derived some countenance from the Bible to maxims that were selfish and unjust, and contrary to the whole general tenor of the Scriptures. (Matt. v. 31 — 42. xix. 3 — 9.) At other times, they adhered too closely to the very letter of the law, or rather attached to the letter too narrow a sense, which was altogether at va- riance with its true spirit. Thus they limited the obliga- tion of the law, which required them to love every man his neighbour, to the narrow compass of their own friends around them, or at least their own people, and considered themselves at liberty to despise others, and to hate their enemies, as much as they pleased. (Matt. v. 43, 44. Luke x. 29 — 37.) By attaching, also, an undue importance to ceremonial precepts and outioard observances, or looking upon them as if they comprehended the greatest piety in their mere forms, they lost sight, in many cases, of true morality; and brought themselves to be indifferent about that spiritual service which the Lord requires in all who worship him, and without which the most diligent and la- borious show of religion can have no worth whatever in his sight. In this way they verified, in a remarkable manner, the old proverb which we find applied to them by our Saviour : Blind guides ! which strain out a gnat, and sicallow a camel! They made clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but gave themselves no concern about the much more serious defilement that lodged with- in ; so that, while it was counted a sin of dark enormity to
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neglect an appointed washing of the hands, anger and malice, and every impure affection were allowed and in- dulged with little or no sense of their offensive nature ; and it was even taught, that the commandments of God had respect only to the grosser forms of the evils they condemned, as if the secret workings of the soul came not equally under the eye of the Almighty, or the fountains of iniquity might have less odiousness in his sight than the streams that carried their pollution abroad. (Matt. v. 21 — 24. 27—30. xii. 7. xv. 1—14. Luke vi. 7—11.)
Though all the Pharisees maintained a general feeling of regard for each other, as members of one and the same sect, they were not at the same time without differences of sentiment and practice among themselves, such as divided them into various subordinate parties. Tradition tells us, that there were as many as seven regular classes of them, which were distinguished from each other with no incon- siderable unlikeness, and aimed at very various degrees of perfection. Mention has already been made, in a different part of this work, of the Galileans, who sprung, in a great measure, out of this sect about the twelfth year of our Sa- viour's life : they became a separate sect, distinguished more for their notions about government, or rather for their vio- lence in urging into practice the general notion of the Pha- risees on this subject, than for any thing else.
SECTION II.
THE SADDUCEES.
According to the common account of its origin, this sect took its rise between two and three hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. It derived its name, it is said, from one Sadoc, a disciple of one of the most celebrated teachers of the age, who fell into, what became afterwards, its principal error, by mistaking, or abusing, the sense of a particular doctrine inculcated by his master. That distin- guished man had taught, that the service of God, and the practice of virtue, ought to be disinterested, as being in
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their own nature excellent and reasonable, in the highest degree ; and that it was not proper, accordingly, to employ mercenary considerations, as he represented them, the fear of future punishment, or the hope of future reward, as mo- tives to persuade men to a life of piety. He did not say, however, or mean, at all, that rewards and punishments were not to be expected in a future state : but Sadoc, and another of his scholars, carried out his doctrine to the full point of this pernicious consequence, and publicly main- tained, in their subsequent career, that the idea of a world to come was a dream, and that the soul was destined to sink into an eternal sleep, with the ruin of the body — if soul it might be called, which was not allowed fo have any inde- pendent existence, or to be capable of separation from the material organization to which it belonged. Contrary as the infidel sentiment was to the word of God, it did not fail to find some considerable reception, and to perpetuate itself as a principal article in the creed of a distinct and important sect, even while the Scriptures were as universally as ever acknowledged to be of divine original and authority : for what inconsistency and extravagance will not the human mind, in its depravity, consent to, for the purpose of covering from its sight the awfulness of truth, and shielding its im- penitent slumbers from interruption, within the dark and thickly embowered refuges of error ? The wealthy, the ho- nourable, and the fashionable of the world, who, in every age, are tempted to seek for themselves an easy and gen- teel religion, that will agree to tolerate with widest libe- rality the manners and spirit of the earth, and to administer withal encouragement and quiet to the unregencrate con- science, gazing forward upon the future — were not dis- pleased, of course, with the doctrine of Sadoc ; and still as the number of his followers multiplied, and acquired to themselves some name and reputation among men, it assumed, in their eyes, a more reasonable and engaging aspect, and was found to bring upon their hearts arguments irresistible in its favour, till at length the wealthy, the great, and the fashionable of the land, were, in a large mea- sure, gathered into the sect of the Sadducees.
Because of the worldly importance, therefore, of most of its members, though in point of numbers it bore no com-
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parison with that of the Pharisees, it was a sect of consi- derable importance in the state. It does not appear, how- ever, that they took, generally, much part in the public affairs of the nation : the Pharisees had an influence among1 the people, which always secured to their sect the chief authority in the government, and against which it was vain to contend ; and, at the same time, the Sadducees seem to have been, to a considerable extent, of the opinion, that life might be enjoyed, on the whole, full as well, if not better, in the easy luxury of a private condition, crowded with all manner of worldly pleasures, as amid the cares of office and the drudgery of public service. Still, they were not ex- cluded by any means, nor did they withdraw themselves, altogether, from places of trust and power : some of their number occupied, at times, the highest offices in the state ; yea, more than once, the mitre of the High Priest itself was allowed to encircle the brow of an infidel Sadducee ! In such cases, however, they were under the necessity of comply- ing, in a great measure, with the views and wishes of the Pharisees, since they would not otherwise have been tole- rated by the people.
We find the great error of the sect noticed in the New Testament : they maintained, we are told, that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. (Matt. xxii. 23. Acts xxiii. 8.) From other authority we learn, that they erred also on the subject of the overruling providence of God: they thought that the doctrine of the Pharisees, which re- presented all events to be certain, as much before they come to pass as they are afterwards, according to the wise and eternal determination of Him who contrived, constructed, and continually sustains, the vast machinery of the uni- verse, was not compatible with that freedom of will and antion, of which every moral being is' conscious ; and they professed to believe, accordingly, that no such certainty exists ; but that the affairs of the world, at least as far as they are connected, directly or indirectly, with the actions of men, proceed in a way of liberty so absolute, as to be entirely uninfluenced by divine will, and utterly independ- ent of divine direction. Thus, in their zeal to escape the bug- bear of fatal necessity, and while they attempted to commit the reins of every man's destiny, as much as possible, into
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his own hands, they thrust God, in their doctrine, from the throne of the universe, divested him in part of his glorious perfections, and delivered the whole order of the world to the government of chance — if order, that might be called, which reason or rule could have none, but must, according to the idea of its highest perfection, unfold its series of events from day to day, altogether without determinate principle, and unconstrained by a single fixed or systematic influence.
If, in the points that have been mentioned, the creed of the Sadducees was sadly erroneous, when compared with that of the Pharisees, it was greatly to be preferred to it in the respect which it showed for the written word of God. It rejected altogether the authority of that oral law, of which the Pharisees made so wicked a use, and rightly in- sisted that the Scriptures, of themselves, were abundantly sufficient to direct the faith and practice of men ; that they ought to be received as the only infallible revelation of God's will; and that to allow any tradition whatever an equal sacredness, was presumptuous and profane. It has been suspected by some, that while it thus laudably trampled under foot the traditions of the elders, it covered the merit of that zeal with shame as great, by proceeding yet farther to disclaim a large part of the Bible itself; refusing to ac- knowledge as the word of God, any thing more than the pentateuch, or five books of Moses, after the manner of the Samaritans, with whom Sadoc, it is said, took refuge for a time, to escape the displeasure of his own country m-en, when he first began to publish his doctrine. This idea, it must be acknowledged, seems to have no small weight of proba- bility in its favour, from the consideration that there is such clear contradiction to the leading sentiment of the Sadducee sect, in other parts of Scripture, as it is hard to see how they could get along with it at all, unless by rejecting the whole; and it appears, moreover, to derive indirect con- firmation from the fact, that our Saviour, when he urged the authority of God's word against their doctrine, on a certain occasion, drew his argument only from the penta- teuch, when he might have brought more direct and expli- cit testimony, as it would seem, from other portions of revelation, if all the Jewish Bible had been received by those whom he undertook to convince of error. (Matt. xxii. 31,
Vol. II. U
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32.) Still, it is an idea unsupported by an)' positive evidence whatever ; and, more than this, it is pretty clearly disco- vered to be erroneous, from the use that is found, out of the Jewish writings, to have been made, in controversy with (he Sadducees, of other books of the Old Testament, besides those of Moses, and even by the sect itself, in support of its own opinions, while no charge of rejecting any part of re- flation is ever urged against them.
The Sadducees are represented to have been characterized in general, by a selfish and unsociable spirit. Without much sectarian interest to knit them in friendly union among themselves, they felt still less regard for other members of the community ; and as, according to their system, the man who secured for himself the greatest amount of personal enjoyment in this present world, was supposed to make the best use of life, they appear to have contracted the sympathies of their nature within a narrow compass, and to have made it their great concern to fill their own houses with comfort and pleasure, and to shut out from them the sound of sorrow, deliberately closing their hearts against all the gentle powers of charity, and leaving all the rest of the world to their fortune, evil or happy, with cold and careless indifference. The poor, and especially the unfortunate, were excluded from their fa- vourable regard : they overlooked them with unfeeling neglect. It may be, however, that calumny has flung a darker colouring over the picture of the Sadducee charac- ter, in this respect, than the original ever gave reason for.
The sect of the Sadducees, it seems, did not retain much of its importance long after the destruction of the temple and the state. It shrunk at last into insignificance, and expired ; while that of the Pharisees continually diffused and strengthened the authority of its creed, till in the end, though its name has passed out of use, its sentiments have become the most unanimous faith of the whole Jewish people. There is still, however, a little sect — a very little one — that dares to dissent from the general body, and reject, like the Sadducees of old, the whole system of traditions, acknow- ledging only the written word to be of supreme and divine authority, in every question of religious faith or practice. It has been imagined by some, that it ought to be regarded
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as the feeble remnant of the ancient sect of Sadoc itself, still struggling to sustain itself after so many centuries, amid the triumphs of its rival; but since it disclaims altogether the Sadducee infidelity, admitting the existence of angels, and allowing the reality of a future state, there seems to be no good reason to derive it from so foul an original. The sect of the Cardites (for so they are called) has been in existence more than a thousand years, all along bearing witness for the true word of God, against the overwhelming influence of the Kabbinists as the party that embraces the Pharisee doctrine of traditions, has come to be denomi- nated, and endeavouring to retain, in their little body, some image of the ancient faith of Israel, amid the melancholy rubbish of superstition and corruption that is gathered upon the ruins of their national religion.
SECTION III. THE ESSENES.
The Essenes are not noticed in the New Testament : for although their sect was in as flourishing a state in the days of our Saviour, as it ever was at any time, yet their manner of life separated them in a great measure from the scenes of his ministry, and cut them off from all connexion with the interesting events of his history. All our knowledge of this remarkable class of Jews, accordingly, is derived from other sources ; not, however, threugh the streams of uncertain tradition, as in some other cases we are compel- led to derive information from the distant region of anti- quity, but by the testimony of authentic history, conveyed in sure and regular channels over all the intervening waste of time.
The Essenes lived together in separate societies of their own, withdrawing themselves altogether from public cares, refusing to participate in the general employments and interests of the world, and adopting for their habitual use, a system of principles and maimers so utterly diverse from all the common plan of life around them, that it became
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completely impracticable for them to mingle in any free intercourse with the rest of the nation : they constituted, in short, an order of monks ; were led, by religious feeling, to tear themselves away from the whirlpool of society, so full of danger to the soul, and so fatal to almost all that move within its sweep, and to work out in retirement, with rigorous diligence, the great and arduous preparation for a world to come, for which, supremely, the trial of human life is allowed to every child of Adam. They considered the business of piety so important, that it called for the continual, and as far as possible for the exclusive, care of every person that hoped to secure its blessings ; and they looked upon the world, at the same time, as so contrary, in all its influence, to the spirit of devotion — and upon the constitution of the human heart, as so disposed through moral derangement to yield to this influence, and so almost inevitably liable to lead to ruin and death, when allowed to proceed in any measure according to its natural operation, — that it seemed to them the wisest and the only safe course, to seek security by flying, as far as it was in their power, from the vantage-ground of the enemy, and by making it the painful toil of life to extinguish or eradicate, by self-denial and mortification of the body, the treacherous principles of evil that lodged in their own bosoms. It was the same way of thinking, which, in later times, carried many a Christian hermit away from the tumult of society, to take up his lonely dwelling in the wilderness or the mountain cave, and in the end erected the monastery and the nunnery in every district of the church.
It has been conjectured, that this third Jewish sect had its origin in Egypt, where so large a body of the nation came to be settled under the second temple : an idea that gathers some plausibility from the consideration, that the climate of that country has always been peculiarly adapted to create and cherish such a temper of mind as disposes persons to the sort of feeling, and the manner of life, that monkery requires. At any rate, a very considerable pro- portion of the sect, which altogether, of course, was quite small, was found in Egypt ; and it was that part of it, too. which carried to the most rigorous extreme, the principles of its constitution. They had some little societies also
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in other countries, into which the Jews were dispersed : but still their chief strength was at last in Palestine itself, where, we are told, about four thousand of them resided, principally upon the western shore of the Dead sea. These last were in several respects less rigid than their brethren of Egypt, not thinking it necessary to retire so completely from the midst of ordinary life, and not caring to cut themselves off, to the same extent, from its common pur- suits. Hence the sect consisted properly of two classes of members, viz. the practical Essenes, who were found for the most part in Palestine ; and the contemplative Essenes, who had their residence especially in Egypt. The name Essenes, was appropriated, in a great measure, altogether to the practical class in Judea, while those in Egypt were styled Therapeutce ; the last name, however, is only the first one translated into Greek, and both mean Physi- cians ; a title which the sect assumed, not so much on ac- count of any acquaintance with the art of healing bodily diseases, which some of them might have had, as because they made the health of the soul their great care, and pro- fessed to cure its infinitely more dangerous maladies.
The Essenes of Palestine, although they deemed it ad- visable to keep at a distance from large cities, had no ob- jection to living in towns and villages, and were accustom- ed not only to pay some attention to agriculture, but to practise certain arts also, taking care only to avoid such as contribute in any way to the purposes of war and mis- chief. They held all their property in common, living, wherever they were found, in societies by themselves, uniting the fruits of their labour in one stock, and all re- ceiving out of it whatever they needed for the support and comfort of life. Their wants, at the same time, were not such as were very difficult to be supplied: their clothing was all of the plainest kind, and no one thought of having more than a single suit at once, which he wore till it was worn out : their food was at all times simple in the extreme, a piece of bread and a plate of soup being the ordinary portion of every individual, at their principal meal : their houses were humble, and altogether withoutornament: their whole manner of life, in short, was after the most frugal and unrefined style ; for it was their opinion, that only the u 2
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real wants of nature should be regarded in the provision that is made for the accommodation of our bodies in this world ; and that every sort of luxury and pleasure of mere sense, being suited only to strengthen the baser principles of our nature, and to hinder the soul in its attempt to emancipate itself from the dominion of the flesh, ought to be dreaded and avoided with the most anxious care. Com- merce, accordingly, as designed to minister only to the un- natural and unreasonable appetites of men, they considered altogether an unlawful employment. They made no use of wine : they held war to be in all cases sinful, and every art also that was designed to be subservient to its interests; yet when they travelled, they thought it not improper to carry weapons, in order to protect themselves from the rob- bers that abounded through the country : they held slavery under any form to be contrary to nature and reason ; they did not approve of oaths, and made no use of them, except when they became members of the society; on which occa- sion, having previously lived on trial for the space of two years, every one who joined them was required to bind himself in the most solemn manner to love and worship God, to deal justly with all men, to abstain from doing harm to any creature, &c. ; and yet they were remarkable for their strict regard to truth in all the concerns of life ; insomuch that the word of an Essene was allowed by all that had any knowledge of them, to be worth full as much as the oath of another man. They did not think it wrong to marry, and some of them, accordingly, consented to make the experiment of wedlock ; but it was considered to have so much hazard in it, that a single state was esteemed to be more desirable. In their religious duties, they were remarkably strict and regular : in the morning, they never uttered a word about common business before the rising of the sun, (the sun never found any of them in bed of course,) but occupied themselves till that time with their prayers : after this duty of devotion, they all went to their several employments : about eleven o'clock, they left their work, washed themselves with cold water, retired for a while to their several cells, or apartments, and then assembled in their dining room to partake of their plain meal of bread and soup ; the afternoon called them again to their work,
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and when it was over, brought them a second time round their common table, spread with a supper of the most fru- gal sort, after which each withdrew to attend to his evening prayers : at the commencement and the close of every meal, a short prayer was addressed to God, as the author of the blessing. The Sabbath they kept so carefully that they would not so much as move a dish in the house during the whole of it, lest it should be a violation of its holy rest ; and besides attending to private religious duties, they regu- larly met on that day for public worship in Synagogues which they had of their own, where the Scriptures were read, and explained by such among them as by reason of age and understanding were best qualified for the task. When any member was found guilty of gross crime, or unfaithful to his profession, they cut him off entirely from their society.
The Therapeutae of Egypt differed from the Essenes of Palestine, only in being more rigidly severe in their man- ner of life. They withdrew from the midst of the common world altogether, and gave themselves up almost entirely to solitude and contemplation. Those who joined them did not bring their property along with them, and put it into the common stock, as was usual with the Essenes, but leaving it all to their friends, whom they felt it their duty utterly to forsake, they came into the society unburdened with a particle of its care. Marriage was not in use among them at all. Their diet was merely coarse bread and salt, ac- companied sometimes with a little hyssop, and the only drink they ever allowed themselves, was water ; nor did they indulge themselves with even this scanty fare, except in the most sparing manner, making it their daily practice not to taste any food before sun-set, because they thought the day should all be appropriated to the cultivation of the soul, by meditation and study, and that the night alone ought to be employed in satisfying the necessities of the body — and little enough even of that was needed for this purpose, in their self-denying and abstemious manner of life ; some of them, it is said, used to become so absorbed in their contemplations, and so engrossed with their pursuit of wisdom, that they forgot to take their food even at the close of the day, and at times for as much as three whole
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days together — yea, in some instances, a whole week was passed almost without eating at all — so wonderfully did the entertainment with which the mind was fed in the ban- queting house of Philosophy, enable them to dispense with the grosser aliment that is appointed to invigorate and sustain our animal nature ! The women — for there were such belonging to the society — never came into company with the men, (who themselves, in fact, lived every one separate from the rest almost all the week,) except on the Sabbath, when they assembled with them in the Syna- gogue, though in a distinct part of the house, cut off by a wall of some height from that which the rest of the con- gregation occupied ; and also at the common table which it was the custom to spread on the evening of that sacred day for their whole company to partake together. In their worship, they made much of hymns, and on certain occa- sions joined in sacred dances.
The whole sect agreed with the Pharisees in their belief of the existence of spirits and the immortality of the hu- man soul, and seem also to have entertained the same general idea of God's sovereign providence in the govern- ment of the world. They denied, however, the resurrec- tion of the body ; and as they looked upon it as the chief hinderance to virtue and wisdom in this present state, and made it, accordingly, their great care to mortify all its na- tural appetites, while lodged in its fleshly prison, it did not seem to them desirable at all to have it recovered from its ruins ; or rather the thought of shutting up the emancipated spirit a second time within its walls, was utterly at va- riance with their whole notion of the blessedness of that future state to which they looked forward. They did not receive, it seems, the traditionary law of the Pharisees ; but, while they acknowledged the written word of God to be the only infallible rule of religion, they made use of a fanciful sort of interpretation in explaining it, which sub- jected it, after all, to the authority of human opinions, and opened a door for the introduction of all manner of error : they held that the Scriptures, besides the direct and natural sense of their language, have a deeper and more import- ant meaning, mystically buried in that first one, which alone constitutes the true heavenly wisdom of their pages,
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and merits the continual study of all that aspire after the perfection to which they are appointed to guide the soul; and this meaning-, accordingly, their teachers pretended to search out and bring forward, in their use of the sacred volume, turning it all into allegory, and so constraining it to speak, under the powerful control of fancy, whatever mystic sense they pleased. They did not bring sacrifices to the temple, as the law required ; and the Therapeutse, it seems, disapproved of bloody sacrifices altogether ; the Essenes of Palestine, however, admitted the propriety of such offerings, and used to present them, from time to time, in a solemn manner, among themselves; but with pe- culiar rites, altogether different from those which the law appointed. They were presented, it appears, on the occa- sions of their great solemnities, in the night, after the day had first been observed as a. fast, and were always wholly burned, together with much honey and wine. It is not im- probable, that the strange rites which they made use of, occasioned their separation from the temple ; since, even if they had been disposed to offer sacrifices in their way at that place, it would have been wrong for the priests to give them permission.
SECTION IV.
THE SAMARITANS.
The Samaritans, though accounted as little better than idolators outright, by the Jews, and though actually cut off from the sacred commonwealth of Israel, may, never- theless, be looked upon as, in some sense, a Jewish sect; since they not only had their origin, in some degree, from the holy stock, but received the law of Moses as the rule of all their religion, and looked forward to the hopes of the Jewish church, with all the confidence that was cherished by any of its tribes.
We have an account of their origin, in the 17th chapter of the second book of Kings. The king of Assyria, ac- cording to the cruel policy of that ancient age, carried the great body of the ten tribes away into a distant land, and
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settled their country with a colony of heathen strangers — a mixed multitude from Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sephar- vaim, on the other side of the Euphrates. These gradually amalgamated with each other, and with such of the Israel- ites as were still left in the land, so as to form a single people, who came to be called, from the name of their principal city, Samaritans. At first, they worshipped only the false gods of their native countries, but being chastis- ed by the Lord in a remarkable way, they' were led to de- sire some knowledge of the God of Israel, and the manner of his worship, and gladly received to instruct them, one of the captive priests of Israel, whom the Assyrian king sent back from Babylon, for the purpose : but they had no idea still, of giving up entirely their old idols ; they fool- ishly thought, that every country had its particular gods ; that the God of Israel was only one of the multitude among whom the earth was divided ; and that, although it was un- safe to neglect him altogether in his own territory, there could be no impropriety, having now learned the manner of his worship, and being careful to show him respect and fear according to his appointed way, in showing honour, at the same time, to other deities, and in mingling with their new religion, as they might please, the miserable idolatry of their fathers ; so they feared the Lord, after their own notion, and served their idol gods at the same time. la time, however, a more correct notion of religion began to gain ground ; and at length, after the Jewish captivity, idolatry disappeared from among them altogether.
When the Jews, on their return, began to rebuild their temple, the Samaritans sought to associate themselves with them in the work ; but that people would not con- sent at all to the proposal, perceiving that they were ac- tuated by no good motives in urging it, and that, notwith- standing their fair professions, they had still little regard for the true religion, and were still in love with their idola- try. This refusal filled the Samaritans with rage, and led them to use every means in their power to hinder the building of the temple ; in which attempts they were so successful, that the work was interrupted directly after its commencement, with a delay of full fifteen years. (Ezra, 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters.) The minds of the Jews were,
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of course, greatly embittered against them by this opposi- tion, and the enmity was still more increased by the ma- licious arts which they afterwards employed to prevent Nehemiah from restoring the walls of Jerusalem. (Neh. 4th and 6th chapters.)
When Nehemiah undertook to reform the abuses that existed among the Jews, and among other things, required them to put away their strange wives, Manasseh, the son of the High-priest who had married a daughter of San- ballat, prince of the Samaritans, refused to comply with the order, and being compelled to quit his own "people, sought refuge with his father-in-law. (Neh. xiii.28.) San- ballat, taking that advantage of the circumstances which he thought would be most offensive to the Jews, obtained permission from the Persian monarch, erected a new tem- ple on mount Gerizim, and constituted his son-in-law the father of its priesthood. Thus a regular system of national worship, corresponding in all respects to that of the true people of God, was established, and every vestige of the former idolatry became obliterated from the land. After this, it was usual for such Jews as became exposed to punishment in their own country, for violating its laws, or were excommunicated for their offences from religious and social privileges, to betake themselves, for security or re- lief, to the Samaritans, among whom they were received without difficulty. In this way, the jealousy and enmity of the two people, instead of wearing away with time, gathered continually fresh encouragement and renewed vigour. During the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes — that enemy of all righteousness and truth— the Samaritans, caring more for their worldly advantage than for their re- ligion, secured themselves from the desolating storm, by abandoning, altogether, their national worship: they com- plied with all the wishes of the tyrant, consecrated their temple to Jupiter, the chief of the heathen gods, and lent their aid in the war that was carried on against the Jews, to reduca them to the same apostacy. (1 Maccabees iii. 10.) After the persecution was over, they returned again to the religion of Moses; but their polluted Sanctuary was not allowed to stand much longer : John Hyrcanus, the tri- umphant Jewish prince, about 130 years before the time
240 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
of Christ, turned his arms against their country, subdued it completely, and destroyed, in anger, that proud temple of Sanballat.
All this, of course, had no tendency to remove the old hatred which each of the countries cherished for the other ; it struck its root still deeper, and flourished in yet greater and more active luxuriance. So bitter and rancorous did the mutual enmity become, that all intercourse between the two nations was brought to an end — the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans — and it was even counted somewhat unsafe for persons, of either country, to travel through the territories of the other ; or at least it was found so extremely inconvenient, by reason of the inhospitable treatment they were sure to meet with, that it was gene rally preferred to avoid it, though at the expense of making a considerable circuit out of the direct way ; whence it was usual for the Jews, in going from Galilee to Jerusa- lem, or the contrary, to cross the Jordan, and pass along through Gilead, on the east side, rather than go through Samaria, which lay directly between. We ought not to be surprised, therefore, at the question of the Samaritan woman, whom our Lord, oppressed with weariness and thirst, asked to give him some water, at Jacob's well : How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria ? (John iv. 4 — 9.) Nor should it seem strange, that, when Jesus, on another occasion, passing through that country, sent messengers before him to a certain village, to secure entertainment for the night, the inhabitants utterly refused to receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. (Luke ix, 51 — 56.) It appears, however, that the same prejudice was not cherished to such an extent among all the Samari- tans ; for we are told that he went to another village, where the people seem to have made no objection to his presence ; and it was the common custom of our Saviour to pass through their country with his disciples, in his journeys to and from Jerusalem ; so that he must have still been able to procure among them such accommoda- tions as his humble style of life required. There is reason to believe, in fact, that there was, at this time, altogether more of bitterness and malignity on the part of the Jews
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 241
than on that of the Samaritans, in the mutual hatred of the two people, (John viii. 48,) and that the Samaritan en- mity, though it was deeply settled, did not, nevertheless, so thoroughly as the Jewish, crush every sentiment of generous humanity under its weight : this our Lord seems to intimate in that parable which he employed, on a cer- tain occasion, to answer the inquiry, Who is my neigh- bour ? (Luke x. 31 — 37.) The readiness with whicn the inhabitants of Sychar, as we have account in the 4th chap- ter of John, laid aside all prejudice, honestly attended to the doctrine of Christ, and yielded to the evidence with which it was accompanied, is truly worthy of our admira- tion : and it ought to be remembered, that, when ten lepers were, on one occasion, all healed at once, while obeying the direction of the Saviour, the only one of all their num- ber who came back with an overflowing heart, to express his gratitude, and to give glory to God for the amazing benefit, was a Samaritan. (Luke xvii. 12 — 19.)
The Samaritans still continued, after the destruction of their temple, to worship on Mount Gerizim, and to insist as strenuously as ever, that no other place in the world had so good a claim to this distinction. For they had been accus- tomed, since the days of Sanballat, to challenge for the place of their Sanctuary, the highest measure of sacred- ness : they were not content to sustain its title to reverence on any thing short of a divine consecration, nor disposed at all to seek any compromise with the pretensions of Mo- riah ; but allowing with the Jews themselves, that God had made choice of only one place for his public worship, and that no other, accordingly, ought ever to be acknowledged, they boldly maintained that their own Gerizim had been, from the first, distinguished with the honour of this choice , and that the contrary claim which Jerusalem urged in fa- vour of her celebrated hill, was altogether unfounded and false. Here, they contended, altars were erected, and sa- crifices offered, by Abraham and Jacob, (Gen. xii. 6, 7. xxxiii.18 — 20,) and on this account, they said, the hill was afterwards appointed by God himself, to be the place of blessing, when the Israelites entered the promised land, and they were required to build an altar upon it, and to present burnt-offerings and peace-offerings there, before the
Vol. II.
242 BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.
Lord — by which direction, it was affirmed, God clearly sig- nified that he had chosen Mount Gerizim to be the place where, according to his promise, he would set his name, and actually consecrated it by a solemn appointment, to be the seat of his worship in all future time. The great objection to this argument is, that when we consult the 27th chap- ter of Deuteronomy, in which we have the divine direction relative to this matter recorded, we find the altar was or- dered to be set up, not on Gerizim, but on Mount Ebal, which stood directly over against it, (with the citv of She- chem, Sichem, or Sychar, in the valley between,) and was appointed to be on the same occasion, the hill of cursing. But in the Samaritan Bible — and they maintain their argu- ment, of course, on no other authority — the difficulty is not found ; for instead of the word Ebal, in the fourth verse, it reads Gerizim, and thus at once alters the whole case. It seems, that the controversy about the place of worship, was never allowed to sleep, but was that, which, at all times, most naturally presented itself, when the quarrel that ex- isted between the two nations came under consideration; and we find, accordingly, that the woman of Sychar, when she perceived that Jesus was a prophet, and then wished to give the conversation a turn, that might seem to be religious, while it should not continue the disturbance which she be- gan to feel in her conscience, without ceremony brought forward this subject of dispute : Our fathers loorshipped in this mountain, said she, pointing to Gerizim close at hand, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Our Saviour, while he assured her that the true church and worship of God were found among the Jews, directed her attention to that new dispensation which he was about to introduce, in which the pomp and form of the Ceremonial system should pass altogether away, and worship would be deemed acceptable, not at all as it should rise from Jerusalem, or the summit of Gerizim, or any other particular place, but only as it should carry on high the spiritual service of the heart, in whatever part of the world it might be found.
It may seem strange to some, that the Samaritans should have considered the whole controversy about the place of worship, decided in the single passage of Deuteronomy
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 243
just mentioned, and should not have felt themselves con- founded at all, by various other passages of scripture, that clearly decide the question in favour of the Jews : but it is to be recollected, that their Bible comprehended no more than the five books of Moses, and they paid no respect, ac- cordingly, to any testimony whatever, that might be brought forward from other parts of the sacred volume.
There is still a very small remnant of the Samaritan race found in their ancient country. Their principal resi- dence is in that same valley, at the foot of the sacred moun- tain, in which, of old, the city of Shechem or Sichem, de- nominated in later times, Sychar, (by the Jews, perhaps, in malignant derision — for Sychar means drunken,) had its beautiful retreat ; and in that same city, too, though greatly altered for the worse, like the whole face of Palestine, from its ancient state, and divested entirely of its original appel- lation, instead of which it now bears the name of Na polos e, or Nublous. Though reduced to insignificance, for their whole number, it is said, does not exceed forty, they still preserve themselves separate from the rest of the world around them, and adhere with the greatest constancy and zeal, to the faith of their fathers ; inveterate as ever in their opposition to the Jews, and jealous as of old, for the honour of Gerizim, on which they have a Synagogue, or rather a sort of a temple, of long standing, and which they still insist is the place where men ought to worship; though they have not themselves been allowed, of late years, by their Turkish masters, to visit its summit for that purpose.
APPENDIX.
List of the Principal Writers who have treated on the Anti- quities, Chronology, Geography, and other Historical cir- cumstances of the Scriptures.
The Antiquities of the Hebrew Republic. By Thomas Lewis M. A. 8vo. 4 vols. London, 1724-5.
This is a laborious compilation, from the most distin- guished writers, whether Jews or Christians, on the man- ners and laws of the Hebrews.
The most elaborate system of Jewish antiquities, per- haps, that is extant, is Godwin's Moses and Aaron ; a small quarto volume, now rather scarce : it was formerly in great request, as a text book, and passed through many editions: the latest, we believe, is that of 1678. Numerous other treatises on Hebrew antiquities are to be found in the 34th volume of Ugolini's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Hebraearum.
Jewish, Oriental, and Classical Antiquities ; containing Illustrations of the Scriptures, and Classical Records, from Oriental Sources, By the Rev. Daniel' Guildford Wait, LL. B. F. A. S. Vol. I. Cambridge, 1823, 8vo.
The object of this elaborate work is to illustrate Biblical and Classical Antiquities from the oriental writings. This first volume is exclusively devoted to a demonstration of the coincidence which subsists between these different de- partments of study; and that coincidence the author has satisfactorily shown by various examples. The subsequent volumes are announced to contain disquisitions on detached subjects, and elucidations of the text, and assertions of those Greek writers who have treated of Eastern History, or
244
APPENDIX. 245
alluded to eastern customs. Mr. Wait has long been known to biblical students as the author of numerous valuable arti- cles on sacred criticism, which have appeared in different volumes of the Classical Journal.
Various abridgements of sacred antiquities have been written by different authors : of these the following are the most valuable.
The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, containing an account of their peculiar customs, ceremonies, laws, polity, religion, sects, arts, and trades, &c. &c. By Claude Fleury, 8vo. London, 1809.
For this third and best edition, the public are indebted to Dr. Adam Clarke, who has enlarged the original work with much valuable information, from the principal writers on Jewish Antiquities. The Abbe Fleury's work was trans- lated many years since by Mr. Farnworth. The late ex- cellent bishop of Norwich, (Dr. Home,) has recommended it in the following terms : " This little book contains a con- cise, pleasing, and just account of the manners, customs, laws, policy, and religion of the Israelites. It is an excel- lent introduction to the reading of the Old Testament, and should be put into the hands of every young person."
Jewish Antiquities, or a Course of Lectures on the Three first books of Godwin's Moses and Aaron. To which is annexed a Dissertation on the Hebrew Language. By Lavid Jennings, D. D. 8 vo. 2 vols. London, 1766; Perth, 1808, and London, 1823, in one volume, 8vo.
This work has long held a distinguished character for its accuracy and learning, and has been often reprinted. " The Treatises of Mr. Lowman on the Ritual (8vo. London, 1748,) and on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, (8vo. London, 1740,) may properly accompany these works."
Jahn's Biblical Archaeology, an elaborate compendium of biblical antiquities, abridged from the author's larger work, on the same subject, in the German language, (in four large 8vo. volumes,) and arranged under the three di- visions of domestic, political, and ecclesiastical antiquities.
H 2
246 APPENDIX.
At the end of the volume are upwards of sixty pages of questions, framed upon the preceding part of the work ; the answers to which are to be given by students. A faithful English translation of " Jahn's Biblical Archaeology," was published at Andover, (Massachusetts,) in 1823, by T. C. Upham (assistant teacher of Hebrew and Greek in the Theo- logical Seminary at that place,) with valuable additions and corrections, partly the result of a collation of Jahn's Latin work, with the original German treatise, and partly derived from other sources.
The Antiquities of the Jews, carefully compiled from au- thentic sources, and their customs illustrated, by modern travels. By W. Brown, D. D. London, 1820, 2 vols. 8vo.
Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures, in three parts. By the Rev. George Paxton. Edinburgh, 1819, 2 vols. 8vo. Re- printed at Philadelphia, 1821, 2 vols. 8vo.
Scripture Costume, exhibited in a series of engravings, representing the principal personages mentioned in the sacred writings. Drawn under the superintendence of the late Benjamin West, Esq., P. R. A., by R. Satchwell ; with Biographical Sketches and Historical Remarks on the Man- ners and Customs of Eastern Nations. London, 1819. Ele- phant, 4to.
Observations on divers passages of Scripture, placing
many of them in a light altogether new, by means
of circumstances mentioned in books of voyages and travels into the east. By the Rev. Thomas Harmer. London, 1816, 4 vols. 8vo. best edition.
As books of voyages and travels are, for the most part, voluminous, the late reverend and learned Thomas Harmer formed the design, which he happily executed, of perusing the works of oriental travellers, with the view of extracting from them whatever might illustrate the rites and customs mentioned in the Scriptures. His researches form four vo- lumes in 8vo., and were published at different times, towards the close of the last century. The best edition is that above noticed, and is edited by Dr. Adam Clarke, who has newly
APPENDIX. 247
arranged the whole, and made many important additions and corrections. In this work numerous passages of Scrip- ture are placed in a light altogether new ; the meanings of others, which are not discoverable by the methods com- monly used by interpreters, are satisfactorily ascertained ; and many probable conjectures are offered to the Biblical student.
The Oriental Guide to the Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Two Discourses preached at Christ Church, Newgate street, with Illustrative Notes, and an Appendix, containing a general and descriptive catalogue of the best writers on the subject. By the Rev. Samuel Burder, A. M. London, 1823, 8vo.
*
Oriental Customs ; or an Illustration of the Sacred Scrip- tures, by an explanatory application of the customs and manners of the eastern nations. By the Rev. S. Burder, 6th edition, 1822. 2 vols 8vo.
This is an useful abridgment of Harmer's Observations, with many valuable additions from recent voyagers and travellers, arranged in the order of the books, chapters, and verses of the Bible. It was translated into German by Dr. E. F. C. Rosenmiiller, (5 vols. 8vo. Leipsic, 1819,) with ma- terial corrections, and much new matter. Such of these as were additions to the articles contained in the " Oriental Customs," have been translated and inserted in the 6ixth edition above noticed. But those articles which are entirely new, being founded on texts not before brought under Mr. Burder's consideration, are translated and inserted in —
Oriental Literature, applied to the Illustration of the Sa- cred Scriptures ; especially with reference to Antiquities, Traditions, and Manners, collected from the most celebrated writers and travellers, both ancient and modern; designed as a Sequel to Oriental Customs. By the Rev. Samuel Burder, A. M. London, 1822, 2 vols. 8vo.
The Eastern Mirror ; an Illustration of the Sacred Scrip- tures in which the customs of oriental nations are clearly
248 APPENDIX.
developed, by the writings of the most celebrated travellers By the Rev. W. Fowler. 8vo. Exeter, 1814.
An abridgment of Harmer's Observations, and the earlier editions of Burder's Oriental Customs, with a few unim- portant additions.
*** The mode of illustrating Scripture from oriental voyages and travels, first applied by Harnier, has been successfully followed by the laborious editor of the " Fragments," annexed to the quarto editions of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, and also by Mr. Vansittart in his " Observations on Select Places of the Old Testament, founded on a perusal of Parsons'Travels from Aleppo to Bagdad." 8vo. Oxford and London, IdLJ.
On the Divisions occurring in the Bible.
The Old Testament resolves itself into two grand divi- sions— the Canonical and Apocryphal books : the former were written under the guidance of divine inspiration; are part of the rule of faith and conduct of Christians ; and have ever been undisputed as regards their authority: the latter are of no divine authority, and are only useful as historical documents. The books of the Maccabees are of considerable value, as helping to fill up thchistory of that interval of time which elapsed between the ceasing of prophecy and the advent of the Messiah. It is to be regretted that some of the Apocryphal books contain gross and palpable perver- sions of truth, and some details of an indelicate nature.
The Jewish church divided the canonical books into three classes, under which form they weTe generally referred to and quoted. These were denominated the law — the pro phets — and the hagiographa, or Holy writings. The Law contained the five books of Moses, frequently called the Pentateuch, i. e. the Jive Books. The prophets comprised the whole of the writings now termed prophetical — from Isaiah to Malachi inclusively — and also the books of Job, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther ; these books having been either written or revised by prophets — probably the former. The hagiographa included the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
APPENDIX. 249
and the Song of Solomon. It is probable that our Saviour alluded to this division of the Old Testament when he said, "All things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concern- ing me ;" (Luke xxiv. 44 ;) for the Psalms standing first in this collection of books, gave its name to the division.
Since the completion of the canon of the entire Scrip- tures, the general or principal division adopted is that of the Old and New Testament. The books included under each of these divisions are too familiar to every reader to need repetition here. It must be observed, however, that the order of the books, as placed in bur translation, is not according to the times in which they were written, or the course of the history to which they relate. The several books stand as unconnected and independent documents.
The division into chapter and verse is a modern inven- tion, which it is to be regretted should ever have assumed a higher character than convenient divisions for the purposes of reference and quotation. They should be totally disre- garded in reading the Bible.
Of the Books of the New Testament.
The books of the New Testament are divisible into three classes — Historical, Doctrinal, and Prophetical. The first embraces the four gospels and the Acts of the Apos- tles; the second includes the Apostolic Epistles; and the last, the book of Revelation. We do not mean, however, that either of these classes excludes the subjects of the other : like all the other sacred books, those of the New Testament are of a mixed nature, and contain history, prophecy, and doctrine.
In the second and third centuries the New Testament was divided into two parts — the Gospels and the Epistles, or Gospels and Apostles. Other divisions have obtained in subsequent ages, with which it is unnecessary to trouble the reader.
The New Testament is called in the Greek, h kainh aia©hkh, e Kaine Diatheke. the New Testament or Cove.
250 APPENDIX.
nant, a title which was early borrowed by the Church from the Scriptures, (Matt. xxvi. 28; Gal. iii. 17; Heb. viii. 8; ix. 15, 20,) and authorized by the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. iii. 14. The word j»*s>ix>i, in these passages, denotes a cove- nant ; and in this view, The New Covenant signifies, " A book containing the terms of the new covenant between God and man." But, according to the meaning of the pri- mitive church, which adopted this title, it is not altogether improperly rendered New Testament ; as being that where- in the Christian's inheritance is sealed to him as a son and heir of God, and wherein the death of Christ as a testator (Heb. ix. 16, 17) is related at large, and applied to our bene- fit. As this title implies that in the Gospel unspeakable gifts are bequeathed to us, antecedent to all conditions re- quired of us ; the title of Testament may be retained, though that of Covenant is more exact and proper.
The term Gospel, which is more generally applied to the writings of the four Evangelists, comprising a history of the transactions of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not unfre- quently used in a more extended sense, as including tho whole of the New Testament Scriptures, and also that sys- tem of grace and mercy which they unfold. This word, which exactly answers to the Greek term, Zu»yyexicvt is derived from the Saxon words, God (Good) and spel (speech or tidings,) and is evidently intended to denote the good message, or the " glad tidings of great joy," which God has sent to all mankind, " preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, Acts x. 36.
Concerning the order of the New Testament books, bibli- cal writers are by no means agreed. The following table is compiled from Mr. Townsend's Chronological Arrange- ment, where the conflicting opinions of chronologists have been considered and decided upon with great care and judgment :
APPENDIX.
251
Book.
Gospel of Mat- thew Mark
Acts of the Apos- tles Epistle to the
Galatians First to the Thes-
salonians Second to the
Thessalonians Epistle to Titus First to the Cor. First Epistle to
Timothv Second Epistle to
the Coiinth. Epistle to the
Romans
— to the Ephes.
— to the Philip.
— to the Colos.
— to Philemon
— of James
Epistle to the He- brews
Gospel of St. Luke
Second Epistle to
Timothy First Epistle of
Peter
Second Epistle of Peter
Epistle of Jude
Book of Revela
tion Three Epistles of
John Gospel according
to John
Author.
Matthew Mark
Luke Paul
Paul Luke
Paul Peter
Jude John
Place at which it was writ- ten.
For whose use primarily in- tended.
Judea
Rome and Je. rusalem
Thessalonica Corinth
Nicopolis Ephesus
Macedonia
Philippi
Corinth Rome
James : Jerusalem
Italy Achaia
Jews in Judea Gentile Chris tians
A. D.
37 44
Italy or Rome
Probably Syria
Asia Minor
Jewish Chris tians
Jews
Gentile con- verts
Jews and Gen tile converts
Jewish & Gen- tile Chris- tians of the Dispersion
General
51
52 53 56
56 or 57 58
61
62
64
65 or 66
66
06 96 to 106
252 APPENDIX.
That all the books which convey to us the history of events under the New Testament, were written and imme- diately published by persons contemporary with the events, is most fully proved by the testimony of an unbroken se- ries of authors, reaching from the days of the Evangelists to the present times ; by the concurrent belief of Christians of all denominations ; and by the unreserved confession of avowed enemies to the Gospel. In this point of view the writings of the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church are invaluable. They contain not only frequent references and allusions to the books of the New Testament, but also such numerous professed quotations from them, that it is de- monstrably certain, that these books existed in their pre- sent state a few years after the conclusion of our Saviour's ministry. No unbeliever in the Apostolic age, in the age immediately subsequent to it, or indeed in any age what- ever, was ever able to disprove the facts recorded in these books ; and it does not appear that in the early times any such attempt was made. The facts therefore related in the New Testament, must be admitted to have really happened ; and these abundantly prove the divine mission of Christ, and the sacred origin and authority of the Christian reli- gion.
THE END.