(Numb. 6. 11-14); and by those referred to in Lev. 15. 1-15. When two doves were offered, one of them was made a burnt-offering, Lev. 5. 10. Hecatombs of such offerings were sometimes presented, Ezra 6. 17: 1 Chron. 29. 21; and in later times, even the heathen sometimes presented them, as did Augustus (Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii. 17.)

2. Trespass-offerings and sin-offerings are not easily distinguished. Trespass and The first were generally presented for a sin of omission, sin offerings. and the second for one of commission (Jahn and others), though this distinction does not always obtain, Lev. 5. 17-19: Numb. 6. 11: Lev. 15. 25, etc. The trespass has been thought the less guilty; the sin the more guilty; sometimes this rule seems reversed. In fact, the two are distinguished in Scripture, and the cases are prescribed in which each is to be offered.

Trespass-offerings are enjoined in Lev. 7. 1-10, and also in Numb. 6. 12: see ver. 14: Lev. 14. 12: see ver. 19: Lev. 19. 20-22: Ezra 10. 19. The victims offered were an ewe or she-goat, doves or fine flour, a ram or lamb, according to the nature of the case. Sin-offerings are enjoined, Lev. 4. 6, 25-30. They were offered by the highpriest when he had committed an offence, and brought guilt upon the nation; when the whole nation had sinned inadvertently, and afterwards repented; and on the great day of atonement. In the first and last cases the high-priest laid his hand on the head of the victim, confessing his sin. In the second case the elders laid their hand on the victim. The transactions of the great day of atonement are exceedingly significant: see Numb. 29. 7–11: Lev. 16. 1-34: 23. 26-32; the azazel, or scape-goat, carrying off the sins of the people, and forming, with the second goat, which was sacrificed, a single complete type of the work of our Lord. Sinofferings were also presented by magistrates and private persons, who had sinned through ignorance, Lev. 4. 22-26; and on various occasions of purification, Lev. 15. 25-30: 15. 2, 14, 15: Numb. 6. 10-14: Lev. 14. 19-31: 9. 23.

In all these offerings the idea of substitutionary expiation is involved. The blood was "the life;" and the life of the victim was accepted for the life of the offerer, Lev. 17. 1: 5. 18: 14. 19.

3. Thank-offerings consisted of the presentation of a bull, sheep, Thank-offer- or goat. It was brought by the offerer, with laying on ings. of hands, and was slain by him on the south side of the altar. The blood was sprinkled round the altar; the fat was burnt. The "heaved" breast and "waved" shoulder belonged to the priest, and the rest was used as a sacrificial feast: see 1 Cor. 10. 18. Thank offerings for particular blessings were called "sacrifices of praise" (71 D, dvoía duoλoyías); when presented from a feel

ing of pious devotedness, they were called free-will offerings. Sometimes they were offered in fulfilment of a vow, Numb. 6. 3. Peaceoffering is the general name for the whole of this kind; and though the expression of gratitude formed part of the offerer's aim, propitiation was also involved, as is proved by the title of peace-offering which was given to them.

Everything, therefore, under the law was purified with bloodthanksgivings and other religious acts, man's sins, and his corrupt nature itself. For the first, there was the sprinkling of the blood of the victim; for the second, there were sin and trespass offerings; and for the last, there were the whole burnt-offerings of the daily sacrifice and of the great festivals. God thus sought to impress upon the people their guilt and his holiness, and to reveal to them, by line upon line, the only way of access to himself.

The repeated purifications enjoined by the law were no less suggestive of the need of practical holiness, and of the sanctifying influence of the Spirit.

See on this section Winer's Realworterbuch, or the article on sacrifice, translated in Dr. Pye Smith's Four Discourses.

30. (4.) The festivals of the Jews were held weekly, monthly, and yearly. Each seventh and fiftieth year, moreover, was kept with peculiar solemnities.

Weekly.

The weekly festival was the sabbath, a day consecrated to rest and cheerful devotion (Psa. 68. 25-27, etc.) On this day additional sacrifices were presented (Lev. 24. 8: Numb. 28. 9). Children were instructed; and those who were not far distant visited the temple. Later than the days of the Pentateuch, the people seem to have visited the prophets (2 Kings 4. 23); and after the captivity synagogues were erected in many of the towns of Palestine, where the "law and the prophets" were read and expounded (Acts 13. 15). The monthly festival was held Monthly. on the day of the new moon, and was announced by the sound of silver trumpets (Numb. 10. 10). Labour was not interdicted, but additional sacrifices were offered. The new moon of the

seventh month (Tisri, or Oct.) commenced the civil year. The great annual festivals prescribed by the law were three; and Yearly. when they were celebrated, all the adult males in Israel were required to appear at the sanctuary (Exod. 23. 14-17). They were all intended to be seasons of joyous thanksgiving, and were commemorative of the kindness and favour of God.

I. The passover was kept in remembrance of the destruction of the first-born of the Egyptians, of the sparing of the

Passover.

Israelites, and of their departure from Egypt. It began

on the eve of the 14th of Abib; i. e., all leaven was removed from the house on the 14th day, between the evenings, the feast being reckoned from the 15th to the 21st. Between the evenings, also, the paschal lamb (a ram or a goat of a year old, Exod. 12. 1-16) was slain before the altar (Deut. 16. 2-6). The blood was sprinkled (originally on the door-posts, and later) at the bottom of the altar; the lamb itself was roasted whole, with two spits thrust transversely through it, and was then eaten with bitter herbs; unleavened bread was broken by the master of the family and distributed to each, not fewer than ten nor more than twenty being admitted to the feast. After the third cup (the "cup of blessing") had been drunk, praises were sung, generally, in later times, Psa. 115-118; and sometimes, in addition, Psa. 120-137. It was in connection with this feast, and towards its close, that our Lord instituted the last supper (Matt. 26: 1 Cor. 10: Mark 14). During every day of the festival additional sacrifices were offered; and on the 16th Abib, the first ripe ears of corn were presented at the sanctuary, and then the harvest commenced (Exod. 12. 1-27: Lev. 23. 9-14).

Pentecost.

2. The fiftieth day after the second day of the passover (the 16th), came the feast of pentecost, called also the feast of weeks (i. e., seven clear weeks from the 16th Abib). This was properly the feast of the completed harvest of the ground. Loaves made of the new meal and grain were offered as first-fruits (Lev. 23. 17). Many burnt offerings were now presented (Lev. 23. 18-20), and Jews residing out of Palestine generally chose this occasion for visiting Jerusalem.

3. In autumn, from the 15th to the 23rd of Tisri (October), the feast of tabernacles was celebrated, the 23rd being the

Tabernacles. chief day of the feast (Lev. 23. 34-42; John 7. 23). It commemorated the sojourning of the Israelites in the wilderness, and was intended also as the feast of the ingathering of all the fruits of autumn. Booths were constructed of branches of trees in all parts of the city, and here the people resided for the week. This feast was the most joyous of all; "the Great Hosanna" it was called; and more public sacrifices were offered than at any other (Numb. 19. 13-37: compare with Lev. 23. 38-40: Numb. 29. 39: Deut. 16. 14, 15). To the ordinary legal services of this festival later Jews added others. Water was drawn from the pool of Siloam, carried with great pomp to the temple, and poured before the altar (see Isa. 12. 3). Priests also ascended the steps which separated the court of the women from the inner court, singing the Psalms of Degrees, Psa. 120-134. These customs, however, are comparatively modern.

The fifth day before the feast of tabernacles, the 10th of Firi The day of (October), was the great day of atonement; the only atonement. fast appointed by the law (Lev. 23. 27-29: 25.9: Acts 27. 9). The people then bewailed the sins of the year, and ceremonial expiation was made by the high-priest, who on that day alone entered into the holy of holies, where he sprinkled the blood of the goat which had been sacrificed. This goat was one of two which had been appointed by lot to their separate destinations. The other, after the sins of the people had been confessed over it, and so laid upon its head, was sent alive to be lost in the wilder ness (Lev. 16. 6-10). All this was done to make expiation for the sins of the people (Lev. 16. 11-19).

Other fasts were instituted in later times, connected with the Other and siege of Jerusalem (10th of the 10th month), the caplater fasts. ture of the city (the 17th of the 4th month), the burning of the temple (the 9th of the 5th month), the death of Gedaliah (the 3rd of the 7th month): see Jer. 52. 6, etc.: Zech. 7. 3, 5;

8. 19.

The new year.

Purim.

The first day of the moon of Tisri (October) was celebrated as the commencement of the civil year. It was introduced, by the blowing of trumpets, with unwonted solemnity, and hence its name, the feast of trumpets, Jer. 23. 23-25. Additional offerings and sacrifices were now presented, Numb. 29. 29; and, unlike the ordinary new moons, it was kept as a festival. There were also two other feasts, though not appointed by law, which require notice, as they are often mentioned in Jewish history. The first is the feast of Purim (i.e. lots). It falls on the 14th or 15th of Adar (March), and commemorates the defeat of Haman's plot for the destruction of the Jews (Esth. 3. 7: 9. 26). It is also called Mordecai's day (2 Mac. The dedica- 15. 36). The other is the feast of the dedication, appointed to celebrate the re-establishment of Divine worship in Jerusalem, after Antiochus Epiphanes had been vanquished and the temple purified, B.C. 164, John 10. 22. observed for eight days, from the 25th of Kisleu (December), and It was was sometimes called the feast of lights, from the illuminations in which, at that season, the Jews indulged.

tion.

year.

Every seventh year was sabbatic; and during that year the land The sabbatic was untilled and fruits ungathered, except by the poor; the people, however, were free to hunt, to feed their flocks, repair their buildings, and engage in commerce. began on the Ist of Tisri, and the institution was intended to securo The year rest for the soil, to teach economy and foresight, and probably to impress upon the people their dependence. Special services were

held at the temple during the feast of tabernacles, Deut. 31. 10, 13: see Exod. 23. 10, 11: Lev. 25. 1-7: Deut. 26. 33-35. This institute, as Moses predicted (Lev. 26. 34, 35), was long disregarded, 2 Chron. 36. 21; but after the captivity it was observed more carefully. The year after seven sabbatic years, or the fiftieth, was the jubilee, Lev. 25. 8-11. This year was announced on The jubilee. the 10th of Tisri, the great day of propitiation.

In addition to the regulations of the sabbatic year, there were others quite peculiar. All servants, or slaves, obtained their freedom (Lev. 25. 39-46: Jer. 34. 8, etc.). All the land throughout the country, and the houses in the cities of the Levites, sold during the preceding fifty years were returned to the sellers, except such as had been consecrated to God, and not redeemed (Lev. 25. 10, 13-17, 24-28: 27. 16-21). All mortgaged lands, too, were released without charge.

The completeness of the release secured by these arrangements makes the jubilee a type of the gospel (Isa. 61. 2: Luke 4. 19).

The moral and spiritual uses of these festivals is plain. They all tended to unite the people in a holy brotherhood and to separate them from the heathen. They preserved the memory of past mercies. They illustrated the Divine holiness. They lightened the load of poverty, checked oppression and covetousness, and were all either types of gospel blessings, or suggestive, to a spiritual mind, of gospel truths.

31. Let the whole law be thus studied; regard it as a scheme intended to reveal, or suggest, or impress, or preserve, spiritual truth, and not only will objections be removed, but the whole will appear a gorgeous, instructive lesson, eminently suited to the condition of the nation to whom it was addressed.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL AND POETICAL BOOKS TO THE DEATH OF SOLOMON.

Sec. 1. The Historical Books of Scripture generally.

Historical

32. The historical books of Scripture-from Joshua to Nehemiah-contain the history of the Jewish books, Jew- church and nation from the first settlement in Canaan to their return after the captivity in Baby

ish arrange

ment of.