Commentary on the Holy Bible

The feasts of the Lord, 1, 2. The Sabbath, 3. TAe passover an«? unleavened bread, 4-8. The feast of first-fruits, 9-14. T/ie/ea^^ o/pentecost, 15-21. Gleanings to be left for the poor, 22. The feast of trumpets, 23-25. The great day of 3itonement, 26-32. The feast of ta.hcrr\a.c\es, 33-44.

Israel, and say unto them. Concerning ^ the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall *' proclaim

Verse 2. These are my feasts.] The original word ^J♦10 moad is properly applied to any solemn anniversary, by which great and important ecclesiastical, political, or providential facts were recorded; see on Gen. i. 14. Anniversaries of this kind were observed in all nations; and some of them, in consequence of scrupulously regular observation, became chronological

3 ° Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no

Verse 3. The seventh day is the Sabbath] This, because the first and greatest solemnity, is first mentioned. He who kept not this, in the most religious manner, was not capable of keeping any of the others. I The religious observance of the Sabbath stands at the i very threshold of all religion. See the note on Gen. ii. 3.

A. M. 2514. work therein: it is the Sabbath An. Exod. isr. 2. of the LoRD in all your dwell-

4 d These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons,

5 " In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.

6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

7 ^ In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, sWhen ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a ^ sheaf ^ of ^ the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest:

1 1 And he shall ^ wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

1 2 And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf, a he-lamb without blemish, of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto the Lord.

13 '"And the meat-offering thereof sAaZZ be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.

1 4 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day

Verse 5. The Lord's passover.^ See this largelyexplained in the notes on Exod. xii. 21—27.

Verse \\. He shall ivave the sheaf] He shall move it to and fro before the people, and thereby call their attention to the work of Divine Providence, and excite their gratitude to God for preserving to them the kindly fruits of the earth. See the notes on Exod. xxix. 27, and chap. vii. at the end.

Verse 14. Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears] It is right that God, the dispenser of every blessing, should be acknovledged as such, and the first-fruits of the field, &c., dedicated to him. Concerning the dedication of ihe first-fruits, unto your (jrod: it snail be a An. Exod. isr. 2. statute for ever throughout your Abib or Nisan. generations, in all your dwellings.

1 5 And " ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:

1 6 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number " fifty days; and ye shall offer " a new meat-ofiering unto the

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are 1 the first-fruits unto the

1 8 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt-offering unto the Lord, with their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour

1 9 Then ye shall sacrifice "" one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of ^ peace-offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits, /or a wave-offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: * they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.

21 And ye shall proclaim on th# selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 And " when ye reap the harvest of your

see the note on Exod. xxii. 29. Parched ears of corn and green ears, fried, still constitute a part, and not a disagreeable one, of the food of the Arabs now resident in the Holy Land. See Hasselquist.

Verse 15. Ye shall count unto you — seven Sabbaths] That is, from the sixteenth of the first month to the sixth of the third month. These seven weeks, called here Sabbaths, were to be complete, i. e., the fortynine days must be finished, and the next day, the fiftieth, is what, from the Septuagint, we call pentecost. See the note on Luke vi. 1.

Verse 22. Neither shall thou gather any gleaning] See the note on chap. xix. 9. a

A. M. 2514. land, thou shalt not make clean An. JExod. isr. 2. riddance of the corners of thy

field when thou reapest, "^ neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying. In the ^ seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, '^ a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the

27 y Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall he a day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.

29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, '^ he shall be cut off from among his people.

30 And whatsoever soul it he that doeth any work in that same day, =* the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

3 1 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall he a statute for ever throughout your generations, in all your dwelhngs.

Verse 24. A memorial of blowing of trumpets] This is generally called the feast of trumpets; and as it took place on the first day of the seventh month, Tisri, which answers to September, which month was the commencement of what was called the civil year, the feast probably had no other design than to celebrate the commencenaent of that year, if indeed such a distinction obtained among the ancient Jews. See the note on Exod. xii. 2. Some think creation began at this time.

Verse 28. A day of atonement] See the note on chapter xvi. 3, &c., where this subject is largely explained.

Verse 34. The feast of tabernacles] In this solemnity the people left their houses, and dwelt in booths or tents made of the branches of goodly trees and thick trees, (of what kind the text does not specify,) together with palm-trees and willows of the brook, ver. 40. And in these they dwelt seven days, in coma bath 01 rest, and ye shall aniict An.Exod. isr.2. your souls: in the ninth day of the Abib or Nisan. month at even, from even unto even, shall ye ^ celebrate your Sabbath.

34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, •= The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles, for seven days

35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: ^ on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is ^ a solemn assembly; ^ and ye shall do no servile work therein.

37 ^ These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, every thing upon his day:

38 ^ Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill-offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.

39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have ' gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall he a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.

memoration of their forty years' sojourning and dwelling in tents in the wilderness while destitute of any fixed habitations. In imitation of this feast among the people of God, the Gentiles had their feasts of tents. Plutarch speaks particularly of feasts of this kind in honour of Bacchus, and thinks from the custom of the Jews in celebrating the feast of tabernacles, that they worshipped the god Bacchus, " because he had a feast exactly of the same kind called the feast of tabernacles, "SiKTjvrt, which they celebrated in the time of vintage, bringing tables out into the open air furnished with all kinds of fruit, and sitting under tents made of vine branches and ivy." — Plut. Symp., lib. iv., Q. 6. According to Ovid the feast of Ajina Perenna was celebrated much in the same way. Some remained in the open air, others formed to themselves tents and booths made of branches of trees, over which they spread garments, and kept the festival with great rejoicings.

Directions concerning the

A. M. 2514. 40 And ^ ye shall take you on An. Exod. isr. 2. the first day the ^ boughs of

41'' And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

" Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt; Sunt, quibus e ramis frondea facta casa est. Pars sibi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis; Desuper extentas imposuere togas."

Concerning this feast of tabernacles, see the note on John vii. 37, 38; and for the various feasts among the Jews, see the note on Exod. xxiii. 14.

Verse 40. Boughs of goodly trees] The Jews and many critics imagine the citron-tree to be intended, and by houghs of thick trees the myrtle.

Verse 43. That your generations may know, c^c.] By the institution of this feast God had two great objects in view: 1. To perpetuate the wonderful display of his providence and grace in bringing them out

42 ° Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in

4 3 P That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

44 And Moses i declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

of Eg3rpt, and in preserving them in the wilderness. 2. To excite and maintain in them a spirit of gratitude and obedience, by leading them to consider deeply the greatness of the favours which they had received from his most merciful hands.

Signal displays of the mercy, kindness, and providential care of God should be particularly remembered. When we recollect that we deserve nothing at his hands, and that the debt of gratitude is all the debt we can pay, in it we should be cheerful, fervent, and frequent. An ungrateful heart is an unfeeling, unloving, unbelieving, and disobedient heart. Reader, pray to God that he may deliver thee from its influence and its curse.

Pure olive oil must be provided for the lamps, 1, 2. Aaron is to take care that the lamps he lighted from evening to morning continually, 3, 4. Hoio the shew-hread is to he made and ordered, 5-8. Aaron and his sons shall eat this hread in the holy place, 9. Of the son of Shelomith, an Israelitish woman, xvho blasphemed the name, 10, 11. He is imprisoned till the mind of the Lord should he knoivn, 12. He is commanded to he stoned to death, 13, 14. The ordinance concerning cursing and blaspheming the Lord, 15, 16. The law against murder, 17. The lex lalionis, or laio o/like for like, repeated, 18-21. This law to be equally binding both on themselves and on strangers, 22. The blasphemer is stoned, 23.

4 He shall order the lamps upon a. M. 2514.

5 And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve "^ cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.

6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, ® upon the pure table before the

7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a

_ 'Z °- Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, ^ to cause the lamps to burn continually.

3 Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning, before the Lord continually: it shall he a statute for ever in your generations.

Verse 2. Pure oil olive] See every thing relative to this ordinance explained on E.xod. xxvii. 20, 21. Verse 5. Bake twelve cakes] See the whole account of the shew-hread in the notes on Exod. xxv. 30; and relative to the table on which they stood, the golden candlestick and silver trumpets carried in triumph to Rome, see the note on Exod. xxv. 31.

il in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

9 And ^ it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; ^ and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it 15 most holy unto him, of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.

10 And the son of an Israelitish w^oman, vsrhose father was an Egyptian, v^rent out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

Verse 10. The son of an Israelitish ivoman, whose father was an Egyptian, dfc] This is a very obscure account, and is encumbered with many difficulties. 1. It seems strange that a person proceeding from such an illegal mixture should have been incorporated with the Israelites. 3. What the cause of the strife between this mongrel person and the Israelitish man was is not even hinted at. The rabbins, it is true, supply in their way this deficiency; they say he was the son of the Egyptian whom Moses slew, and that attempting to pitch his tent among those of the tribe of Dan, to which he belonged by his mother's side, ver. 1 1, he was prevented by a person of thai tribe as having no right to a station among them who were true Israelites both by father and mother. In consequence of this they say he blasphemed the name of the Lord. But, 3 The sacred text does not tell us what name he blasphemed; it is simply said nx ap''1 DtlTI vaiyikkob eth hashshem, he pierced through, distinguished, explained, or expressed the name. (See below, article 10.) As the Jews hold it impious to pronounce the name niri' Yehovah, they always put either 'JTN Adonai, Lord, or DBTI hashshem, the name, in the place of it; but in this sense hashshem was never used prior to the days of rabbinical superstition, and therefore it cannot be put here for the word Jehovah. 4. Blaspheming the name of the Lord is mentioned in ver. 16, and there the proper Hebrew term is used Q]if mn' shem Yehovah, and not the rabbinical OtJ^n hashshem, as in ver. 11. 5. Of all the manuscripts collated both by Kennicott and De Rossi, not one, either of the Hebrew or Samaritan, has the word Jehovah in this place. 6. Not one of the amiient versions, Targum of Onkelos, Hebrmo- Samaritan, Samaritan version, Syriac, Arabic, Septuagint, or Vulgate Latin, has even attempted to supply the sacred name. 7. Houbigant supposes that the Egypto-Israelitish man did not use the name of the true God at all, but had been swearing by one of his country gods; and if this was the case the mention of the name of a strange god in the camp of Israel would constitute a very high crime, son ' blasphemed the name oj the Aji. Exod. isr. 2. LORD, and " cursed. And they Abib or Nisan. ' brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)

1 2 And they "» put him in ward, '^ that " the mind of the Lord might be showed them.

13 And the Lord spake unto Moses,

1 4 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him p- lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15 And thou shalt speak unto the children

and certainly expose to the punishment mentioned in ver. 14. 8. Probably the word U\ifT\ hashshem was the proper name of some Egyptian deity. 9. The fifteenth verse seems to countenance the supposition that the god whose name was produced on this occasion was not the true God, for it is there said, luhosoever curseth his god, vnbx elohaiv, shall bear his sin — shall have the punishment due to him as an idolater; but he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, mn'' Diy shem Yehovah, shall surely be put to death — when he blasphemeth the name (Dt^ shem) he shall die, ver. 16. 10. The verb 3p3 nakab, which w^e translate blaspheme, signifies to pierce, bore, make hollow; also to express or distinguish by name; see Isa. Ixii. 2; Num. i. 17; 1 Chron. xii. 31; xvi. 41; xxviii. 15; or, as the Persian translator has it, -,U,,) y^ ^yT" ^>»t* sherah kerd, mir an nam, he expounded or intei-preted the name. Hence all that we term blasphemy here may only signify the particularizing some false god, i. e., naming him by his name, or imploring his aid as a helper, and when spoken of the true God it may signify using that sacred name as the idolaters did the names of their idols. On blaspheming God, and the nature of blasphemy, see the notes on Matt. ix. 3.

In whatever point of view we consider the relation which has been the subject of this long note, one thing is sufficiently plain, that he who speaks irreverently of God, of his ivorks, his perfections, his providence, &c., is destitute of every moral feeling and of every religious principle, and consequently so dangerous to society that it would be criminal to suffer him to be at large, though the longsuffering of God may lead him to repentance, and therefore it may be consistent with mercy to preserve his life.

Verse 14. Lay their hands upon his head] It was by this ceremony that the people who heard him curse bore their public testimony in order to his being fully convicted, for without this his punishment would not have been lawful. By this ceremony also they in effect said to the man. Thy blood be upon thy own head.

16 And he that ■■ blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

17 ^And he that * killeth any man shall surely be put to death.

18 "^ And he that killeth a beast shall make It good; ' beast for beast.

19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour: as "^ he hath done, so shall it be done to him;

yeliallel Elohaiv, he who makes light of him, who does not treat him and sacred things with due reverence, shall hear his sin — shall have the guilt of this transgression imputed to him, and may expect the punishment.

Verse 16. Blasphemeth Ihe name of the Lord] 3pJ1 niiT' DU' venoheb shem Yehovah, he who pierces, trans- Jixes, or, as some translate it, expounds, the name of Jehovah; see the note on the tenth verse. This being the name by which especially the Divine Essence was pointed out, it should be held peculiarly sacred. We have already seen that the Jews never pronounce this name, and so long has it been disused among them that the true pronunciation is now totally lost; see on the word Jehovah, Exod. vi. 3.

Verse 17. He that hilleth any man] Blasphemy against God, i. e., speaking injuriously of his name, his attributes, his government, and his revelation, together with murder, is to be punished with death: he that blasphemes God is a curse in society, and he who takes away, wilfully and by malicious intent, the life of any man, should certainly be put to death. In this respect God has absolutely required that life shall go for life.

Verse 20. Breach for breach] This is a repetition of the lex talionis, which see explained Exod. xxi. 24.

Verse 22. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger as for one of your own country] Equal laws, where each individual receives the same protection and the same privileges, are the boast only of a sound political constitution. lie who respects and obeys the laws has a right to protection and support, and his person and property are as sacred in the sight of justice as the person and property of the prince. He who does not obey tlie laws of his country forfeits all right and title to protection and privilege; his own actions condemn him, and justice takes him up on the evidence of his own transgressions. He who does what is right need not /ear the power of the civil magistrate, for he holds the sword only to punish transgressors. Universal obedience to the laws is the duty of every

20 Breach for breach, eye for a. m. 2514. eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath An. Exod. isr. 2. caused a blemish in a man, so ^bib or Nisan. shall it be done to him again.

2 1 ^ And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: y and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.

22 Ye shall have ^ one manner of law, as well for the stranger as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your

23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, '^that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

citizen; none can do more, none should do less: therefore each individual in a well regulated state must have equal rights and privileges in every thing that relates to the safety of his person, and the security of his property. Reader, such was the Mosaic code; such IS the BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

Verse 23. And stone him with stones.] We are not to suppose that the culprit was exposed to the unbridled fury of the thousands of Israel; this would be brutality, not justice, for the very worst of tempers and passions might be produced and fostered by such a procedure. The Jews themselves tell us that their manner of stoning was this: they brought the condemned person without the camp, because his crime had rendered him unclean, and whatever was unclean must be put ivithout the camp. When they came within four cubits of the place of execution, they stripped the criminal, if a man, leaving him nothing but a cloth about the waist. The place on which he was to be executed was elevated, and the witnesses went up with him to it, and laid their hands upon hirn, for the purposes mentioned ver. 14. Then one of the witnesses struck him with a stone upon the loins; if he was not killed with that blow, then the witnesses took up a great stone, as much as two men could lift, and threw it upon his breast. This was the coup de grace, and finished the tragedy. When a man was stoned by the mob, then brutal rage armed every man, justice was set aside, and the will and fury of the people were law, judge, jury, and executioner. Such disgraceful stonings as these were, no doubt, frequent among the Jews. See Calmefs Diet., article Stoning, and Ainsworth on this place.

What the crime of Shelomith's son was, we cannot distinctly say; doubtless it was some species of blasphemy: however, we find it was a new and unprecedented case; and as there was no law by which the quantum of guilt could be ascertained, nor consequently the degree of punishment, it was necessary to consult the great Lawgiver on the occasion; the man was therefore secured till the mind of the Lord should be known. Moses, no doubt, had recourse to the tabernacle, and received the directions afterward mentioned from Him who dwelt between the cherubim. In what way the answer of the Lord was communicated we know not, (probably by Urim and Thummim,) but it came in such a manner as to preclude all doubt upon the subject: the man was declared to be guUty, and was sentenced to be stoned to death; and on this occasion a law is made relative to blasphemy in general. However sinful the Jews might have been at this time, we have reason to believe they did not take the name of the Lord in vain, and blasphemy was not known among them. But what shall we say of Christians, so called, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness ■? Were every blasphemer among us to be stoned to death, how many of the people would fall in every corner of the land! God is longsufTering; may this lead them to repentance! We have excellent laws against all profaneness, but, alas for our country! they are not enforced; and he who attempts to put the laws in force against profane swearers. Sabbath breakers, &c., is considered a litigious man, and a disturber of the peace of society. Will not God visit for these things ■? This is not only contempt of God''s holy word and commandments, but rebellion against the laws.

The law concerning the Sabbatical or seventh year repeated, 1—7. The law relative to the jubilee, or fiftieth year, and the hallowing of the fiftieth, 8—12. In the year of jubilee every one to return unto his possessions, 13. None to oppress another in buying and selling, 14. Purchases to be rated from jubilee to jubilee, according to the number of years unexpired, 15—17. Promises to obedience, 18, 19. Promises relative to the Sabbatical year, 20-22. No inheritance must be finally alienated, 23, 24. No advantage to be taken of a man's poverty in buying his land, 25—28. Ordinances relative to the selling of a house in a ivalled city, 29, 30; in a village, 31. Houses of the Levites may be redeemed at any time, 32, 33. The fields of the Levites in the suburbs must not be sold, 34. No usury to be taken from a poor brother, 35—38. If an Israelite be sold to an Israelite, he must not be obliged to serve as a slave, 39, but be as a hired servant or as a sojourner, till the year of jubilee, 40, ivhen he and his family shall have liberty to depart, 41; because God claims all Israelites as his servants, having redeemed them from bondage in Egypt, 42, 43. The Israelites are permitted to have bond-men and bond-women of the heathens, ivho, being bought with their money, shall be considered as their property, 44—46. If an Israelite, grown poor, be sold to a sojourner who has waxed rich, he maybe redeemed by one of his relatives, an uncle or uncle's son, 47—49. In the interim between the jubilees, he may be redeemed; but if not redeemed, he shall go free in the jubilee, 50—54. Obedience enforced by God''s right over them as his servants, 55.

A ND the Lord spake unlo Moses in Mount Sinai, say-

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, W^hen ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land ^ keep ^ a Sabbath unto the Lord.

3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof:

4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord:

Verse 2. The land keep a Sabbath] See this ordinance explained in the note on Exod. xxiii. 11. It may be asked here: If it required all the annual produce of the field to support the inhabitants, how could the people be nourished the seventh year, when no produce was received from the fields 1 To this it may be answered, that God sent his blessing in an especial manner on the sixth year, (see verses 21, 22,) and it brought forth fruit for three years. How astonishing and convincing was this miracle! Could there pos-

thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

its own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes ^ of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

6 And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that

sibly be any deception here ■? NO! The miracle speaks for itself, proves the Divine authenticity of the law, and takes every prop and stay from the system that wishes to convict the Mosaic ordinances of imposture. See Exod. xxiii. 11. It is evident from this that the Mosaic law must have had a Divine origin, as no man in his senses, without God's authority, could have made such an ordinance as this; for the sixth year, from its promulgation, would have amply refuted his pretensions to a Divine mission.

An. Exod. isr. 2. increase tnereoi be meat. Abib or Nisan. g And thou shalt number sevcn Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet ® of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth dai/ of the seventh month, ^ in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and p proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; ^ and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Verse 8. Thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years] This seems to state that the jubilee was to be ce\ehrgited on the fortij-ninth year; but in ver. 10 and 11 it is said, Ye shall halloio the fiftieth year, and, A jubilee shall this fiftieth year be. Probably in this verse Moses either includes the preceding jubilee, and thus with Xhc forty -ninth makes up the number j?/i!y; or he speaks of proclaiming the jubilee on the fortyninth, and celebrating it on the fiftieth year current. Some think it was celebrated on the forty-ninth year, as is stated in ver. 8; and this prevented the Sabbatical year, or seventh year of rest, from being confounded with the jubilee, which it must otherwise have been, had the celebration of this great solemnity taken place on the fiftieth year; but it is most likely that the fiftieth was the real jubilee.

Verse 11. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be] The literal meaning of the word jubilee, S^V yobel in Hebrew, and ^^^V yobil in the Samaritan, has not been well ascertained. Josephus and the rabbins have caused many to err; the former says the word signifies liberty; EXevdspiav 6e arjfiatvei rovvo/ia, Antiq., 1. 3, cap. 12, edit. Haverc, vol. i., p. 184; but the word liberty signifies rather the intention of the institution, than the meaning of the Hebreio term. The rabbins say it signifies a ram's horyi, because the trumpets which were used in proclaiming this solemnity were made out of ram's horns. This meaning is adopted in a few places in our translation, but none of the ancient versions acknowledge this sense of the term, the Chaldee excepted. Some derive it from IT yabal, to bring, carry away, because the Israelites at this time carried away the right of repossessing their inheritances which had been forfeited or alienated. The most natural derivation is from b^2^7^ hobil, to cause to bring back, or recall, because estates, &c, which had lieen alienated, were then brought back to their primitive owners. This was a wise and excellent institution, but appears to have been little year be unto you: »ye shall not An. Exod. isr. 2. sow, neither reap that which Abib or Nisan. groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

1 2 For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ^ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

13 'In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ^ ye shall not oppress one another:

15° According to the number of years after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour; and according unto the number of years of the fruits, he shall sell unto thee:

regarded by the Jews after the Babylonish captivity. Indeed, it is not mentioned under the second temple, and the observance must have ceased among the Jews when they were brought under a foreign yoke.

The jubilee seems to have been typical, 1. Of the great time of release, the Gospel dispensation, when all who believe in Christ Jesus are redeemed from the bondage of sin — repossess the favour and image of God, the only inheritance of the human soul, having all debts cancelled, and the right of inheritance restored. Tt this the prophet Isaiah seems to allude, chap. xxvi. 13, and particularly Ixi. 1-3. 2. Of the general resurrection. " It is," says Mr. Parkhurst, " a lively prefiguration of the grand consummation of time, which will be introduced in like manner by the trump of God, 1 Cor. xv. 52, when the children and heirs of God shall be delivered from all ther forfeitures, and restored to the eternal inheritance allotted to them by their Father; and thenceforth rest from their labours, and be supported in life and happiness by what the field of God shall supply."

It is worthy of remark that the jubilee was not proclaimed till the tenth day of the seventh month, on the very day when the great annual atonement was made for the sins of the people; and does not this prove that the great liberty or redemption from thraldom, published under the Gospel, could not take place till the great Atonement, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, had been offered up? See ver. 9.

A'^erse 14. Ye shall not oppress one another] Ye shall take no advantage of each other's ignorance either in buying or selling; for he that buys an article at less than it is worth, or sells one for more than it is worth, taking advantage in both cases of the ignorance of the vender or buyer, is no better than a thief, as he actually robs his neighbour of as much property as he has bought the article at below or sold it above its current value.

An. Exod. isr! 2. of years, thou shalt increase the Abib or Nisan. p^.-^^ thereof; and according to the fewness of years, thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits, doth he sell unto thee.

17 "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; p but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God.

18 1 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; " and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

1 9 And the land shall yield her fruit, and « ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

20 And if ye shall say, * What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, ^ we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

2 1 Then I will "' command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

22 ^ And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of ^ old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

23 The land shall not be sold ^ for ^ ever:

purchases that were to be made of lands were to be regulated by the number of years unelapsed of the current jubilee. This was something like buying the unexpired term of a lease among us; the purchase is always regulated by the number of years between the time of purchase and the expiration of the term.

Verse 20. What shall we eat the seventh year?] A very natural question, which could only be laid at rest by the sovereign promise in the next verse: / will COMMAND my BLESSING upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. See on

Verse 23. The land shall not be sold for ever — the land is minel As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favourable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling that they had nothing which they could call their own upon earth, they must frequently, by this, be put in mind of the necessity of having a permanent dwelling in the heavenly inheritance, and of that preparation without which it could not be possessed.

Verse 25. Any of his kin come to redeem it] The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim

24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

25 •= If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if ^ any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall h« redeem that which his brother sold.

26 And if the man have none to redeem it and ® himself be able to redeem it;

27 Then ^let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.

28 But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it, until the year of jubilee: ^ and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

between jubilee and jubilee, by the former oioner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the text 7XJ goel or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus ■? That he might have a right to redeem man, he took upon him human nature, and thus became a kinsman of the great family of the human race, and thereby possessed the right of redeeming that fallen nature of which he took part, and of buying back to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by transgression.

Verse 29. Sell a divelling house in a walled city] A very proper difference is put between houses in a city and houses in the country. If a man sold his house in the city, he might redeem it any time in the course of a year; but if it were not redeemed within that time, it could no more be redeemed, nor did it go out even in the jubilee. It was not so with a house in the country; such a house might be redeemed during any part of the interim; and if not redeemed, must go out at the jubilee. The reason in both cases is sufficiently evident; the house in the city might be built for purposes of trade or traffic merely, the house in the country was built on or attached to the inheritance which God had divided to the respective families, and it was therefore absolutely necessary that the same law should apply to the house as to the inheritance. But the same necessity did not hold good with respect to

A. M. 2514. 30 And if it be not redeemed An. Exod. isr. 2. within the space of a full year, Abib or Nisan. ^|^g^ ^^le house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.

3 1 But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about them, shall be counted as the fields of the country: ^ they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.

32 Notwithstanding ' the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

33 And if ''a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, ^ shall go out in the year of jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

34 But ™the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and " fallen in decay with thee; then thou shall ° relieve him: p yea, though he he a stranger,

the house in the city: and as we may presume the house in the city was merely for the purpose of trade, when a man bought such a house, and got his business established there, it would have been very inconvenient for him to have removed; but as it was possible that the former owner might have sold the house rashly, or through the pressure of some very urgent necessity, a year was allowed him, that during that time he might have leisure to reconsider his rash act, or so to get through his pressing necessity as to be able to get back his dwelling. This time was sufficiently long m either of the above cases; and as such occurrences might have been the cause of his selling his house, it was necessary that he might have the opportunity of redeeming his pledge. Again, as the purchaser, having bought the house merely for the purpose of trade, ■manufacture, &c., must have been at great pains and expense to fit the place for his work, and establish his business, in which himself, his children, and his children's children, were to labour and get their bread; hence it was necessary that he should have some certainty of permanent possession, without which, we may naturally conjecture, no such purchases ever would be made. This sf^ms to be the simple reason of the law in both cases.

Verse 32. The cities of the Levites] The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise

3 6 1 Take thou no usury of him, Abib or Nisan. or increase: but "■ fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

38 ^la?n the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

39 And * if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not " compel him to serve as a bondservant:

40 But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee:

4 1 And then shall he depart from thee, hoth he and his children " with him, and shall return unto his own family, and "■" unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.

42 For they ore * my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold ^ as bondmen.

one. A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time in the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why 1 " Because Moses framed his laws so much in favour of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges ■?" &c. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favoured that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in: and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.

Verse 36. Take thou no usury of hirn] Usury, at present, signifies unlawful interest for money. Properly, it means the reward or compensation given for the use of a thing, but is principally spoken of money. See the definition of the original term in the note ori Exod. xxii. 25.

Verse 42. For they are my servants] As God redeemed every Israelite out of Egyptian bondage, they were therefore to consider themselves as his property, and that consequently they should not alienate themselves from him. It was iu being his servants, and devoted to his work, that both their religious and poa

44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall he of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

45 Moreover of "■ the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be yoiu possession.

46 And *^ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; ^ they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ^ ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

47 And if a sojourner or stranger? wax rich by thee, and ^ thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:

48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may ' redeem him:

49 Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto

litical service consisted. And although their political liberty might be lost, they knew that their spiritual liberty never could be forfeited except by an utter alienation from God. God therefore claims the same right to their persons which he does to their lands; see the note on ver. 23.

Verse 43. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour] What is rigorous service 1 " Service which is not determined, and service whereof there is no need." This is the definition given by the Jews; but much more is implied in this command than is expressed here. Labour beyond the person's strength, or labour too long continued, or in unhealthy or uncomfortable places and circumstances, or without sufficient food, &c., is labour exacted luith rigour, and consequently inhuman; and this law is made, not for the Mosaic dispensation and the Jewish people, but for every dispensation and for every people under heaven.

Verse 50. The price of his sale shall be, d^c] This was a very equitable law, both for the sojourner to whom the man was sold, and to the Israelite who had been thus sold. The Israelite might redeem himself, or one of his kindred might redeem him; but this must not be done to the prejudice of his master, the sojourner. They were therefore to reckon the yiars he must have served from that time till the jubilee; and then, taking the current wages of a servant per

50 And he shall reckon with him thai bought him, from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, ^ according to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him.

51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption, out of the money that he was bought for.

52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, a7id according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.

53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.

54 And if he be not redeemed ™ in these years, then ^ he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him.

55 For ° unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the

year at that time, multiply the remaining years by that sum, and the aggregate was the sum to be given to his master for his redemption. The Jews hold that the kindred of such a person were bound, if in their power, to redeem him, lest he should be swallowed up among the heathen; and we find, from Neh. v. 8, that this was done by the Jews on their return from the Babylonish captivity: We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethreyi the Jews, who were sold unto the heathen.

Verse 55. For unto me the children of Israel are servants] The reason of this law we have already seen, (see on ver. 42,) but we must look farther to see the great end of it. The Israelites were a typical people; they represented those under the Gospel dispensation who are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But these last have a peculiarity of blessing: they are not merely servants, but they are sons; though they also serve God, yet it is in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. And to this difference of state the apostle seems evidently to allude, Gal. iv. 6, &c.: And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an HEIR of God through Christ; genuine believers in Christ not being heirs of an earthly inheritance, nor merely of a heavenly one, for they are heirs of God.

God himself therefore is their portion, without whom even heaven itself would not be a state of consummate blessedness to an immortal spirit.

The jubilee was a wonderful institution, and was of very great service to the religion, freedom, and independence of the Jewish people. " The motive of this law," says Calmet, " was to prevent the rich from oppressing the poor, and reducing them to perpetual slavery; and that they should not get possession of all the lands by way of purchase, mortgage, or, lastly, usurpation. That debts should not be multiplied too much, lest thereby the poor should be entirely ruined; and that slaves should not continue always, they, their wives and children, in servitude. Besides, Moses intended to preserve, as much as possible, personal liberty, an equality of property, and the regular order of families, among the Hebrews. Lastly, he designed that the people should be strongly attached to their country, lands, and inheritances; that they should have an affection for them, and consider them as estates which descended to them from their ancestors which they were to leave to their posterity, without any fear of their going ultimately out of their families."

But this institution especially pointed out the redemption of man by Christ Jesus: 1. Through him. he who was in debt to God's justice had his debt dis charged, and his sin forgiven. 2. He who sold himself for naught, who was a bond-slave of sin and Satan, regains his liberty and becomes a son of God through faith in his blood. 3. He who by transgression had forfeited all right and title to the kingdom of God, becomes an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. Heaven, his forfeited inheritance, is restored, for the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers; and thus, redeemed from his debt, restored to his liberty, united to the heavenly family, and re-entitled to his inheritance, he goes on his way rejoicing, till he enters the paradise of his Maker, and is for ever with the Lord. Reader, hast thou applied for this redemption ■? Does not the trumpet of the jubilee, the glad tidings of salvation by Christ Jesus, sound in the land 1 Surely it does. Why then continue a bond-slave of sin, a child of wrath, and an heir of hell, when such a salvation is offered unto thee without money and without price 1 O suffer not this provision to be made ultimately in vain for thee! For what art thou advantaged if thou gain the whole world and lose thy soul?

Idolatry forbidden, 1. The Sabbath to be sanctified, 2, 3. Promises to obedience, of fruitful fields, plentiful harvests, and vintage, 4, 5. Of peace and security, 6. Discomfiture of their enemies, 7—9. Of abundance, 10. Of the Divine presence, 11-13. Threatenings against the disobedient, 14, 15. Of terror and dismay, 16. Their enemies shall prevail against them, 17, 18. Of barrenness, 19, 20. Of desolation by wild beasts, 21, 22. And if not humbled and reformed, loorse evils shall be inflicted upon them, 23, 24. Their enemies shall prevail, and they shall be toasted by the pestilence, 25, 26. If they should still continue refractory, they shall he yet more sorely punished, 27, 28. The famine shall so increase that they shall be obliged to eat their own children, 29. Their carcasses shall be cast upon the carcasses of their idols, 30. Their cities shall be wasted, and the sanctuary desolated, 31; the land destroyed, 32, themselves scattered among their enemies, and pursued with utter confusion and distress, 33—39. If under these judgments they confess their sin and return to God, he will remember them in mercy, 40—43; visit them even in the land of their enemies, 44; and remember his covenant loith their fathers, 45. The conclusion, stating these to be the judgments and laws which the Lord made between himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, 46.

neither shall ye set up any '^ image ^ of stone

in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am

Verse 1. Ye shall make you no idols] See the note on Exod. XX. 4, and see the note on Gen. xxviii. 18, 19, concerning consecrated stones. Not oiily idolatry in general is forbidden here, but also the superstitious use of innocent and lawful things. Probably the stones or pillars which were first set up, and anointed by holy men in commemoration of signal interpositions a 594

3 ^ If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

4 ^ Then I will give you rain in due season, ^ and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

of God in their behalf, were afterward abused to idolatrous and superstitious purposes, and therefore prohibited. This we know was the case with the brazen serpent, 2 Kings xviii. 4.

Verse 3. If ye walk in my statutes] For the meaning of this and similar words used in the law, see the

An. Exod. isr. 2. rcach unto the vintage, and the AbiborNisan. ^i^tage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ^ ye shall eat your bread to the full, and ^ dwell in your land safely.

6 And ™ I will give peace in the land, and " ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will ° rid p evil beasts out of the land, neither shall ' the sword go tlirough your land.

7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.

8 And "■ five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

9 For I will ^have respect unto you, and

is called the early and the latter rain. The first fell in Palestine at the commencement of spring, and the latter in autumn. — Calmet.

Verse 5. Your thi-eshing shall reach unto the vintage] According to Pliny, Hist. Nat., 1. xviii., c. 18, the Egyptians reaped their barley six months, and their oats seven months, after seed time; for they sowed all their grain about the end of summer, when the overflowings of the Nile had ceased. It was nearly the same in Judea: they sowed their corn and barley towards the end of autumn, and about the month of October; and they began their barley-harvest after the passover, about the middle of March; and in one month or six weeks after, about pentecost, they began that of their wheat. After their wheat-harvest their vintage commenced. Moses here leads the Hebrews to hope, if they continued faithful to God, that between their harvest and vintage, and between their vintage and seed-time, there should be no interval, so great should the abundance be; and these promises would appear to them the more impressive, as they had just now come out of a country where the inhabitants were obliged to remain for nearly three months shut up within their cities, because the Nile had then inundated the whole country. See Calmet.

" This is a nervous and beautiful promise of such entire plenty of corn and wine, that before they could have reaped and threshed out their corn the vintage should be ready, and before they could have pressed out their tvine it would be time to sow again. The Prophet Amos, chap. ix. 13, expresses the same blessing in the same manner: The ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who soweth seed." — Dodd.

Verse 11.7 toill set my tabernacle among yovi\ This wid the following verse contain the grand promise of a

1 0 And ye shall eat ^ old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.

11^ And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not ^ abhor you.

12^ And I will walk among you, and ^ will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

13 ^ I aw the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; * and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

14 '' But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

1 5 And if ye shall '^ despise my statutes, or

the Gospel dispensation, viz. the presence, manifestation, and indwelling of God in human nature, and his constant indwelling in the souls of his followers. So John i. 14: the Word was made flesh, Kai eaKrivuaev ev 7/fiLv, and made his tabernacle among us. And to this promise of the law St. Paul evidently refers, 2 Cor. vi. 16-18, and vii. 1.

Verse 15. If ye shall despise my statutes — abhor my judgments] As these words, and others of a similar import, which point out different properties of the revelation of God, are frequently occurring, 1 judge it best to take a general view of them, once for all, in this place, and show how they differ among themselves, and what property of the Divine law each points out.

1. Statutes, npn chukkoth, from pn chak, to mark out, define, &c. This term seems to signify the things which God has defined, marked, and traced out, that men might have a perfect copy of pure conduct always before their eyes, to teach them how they might walk so as to please him in all things, which they could not do without such instruction as God gives in his word, and the help which he affords by his Spirit.

2. Judgments. D'tOSt!' shephatim, from 031!' shaphat, to distinguish, regulate, and determine; meaning those things which God has determined that men shall pursue, by which their whole conduct shall he regulated, making the proper distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice; in a word, between what is proper to be done, and what is proper to be left undone.

3. Commandments. m:fD mitsvoth, from niV tsavah, to command, ordain, and appoint, as a legislator. This term is properly applied to those parts of the law which contain the obligation the people are under to

A. M. 2514. if your soul abhor my judgments, AiLExod.isr'.2. SO that yc will not do all my Abib or Nisan. commandments, but that ye break zny covenant:

1 6 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint ^ over you ^ terror, ^ consumption, and the burning ague, that shall ^ consume the

eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; a. m. 2514. and ^ye shall sow your seed in An. Exod.isr.2. vain, for your enemies shall eat it, Abib or Nisan. 17 And ' I will set my face against you, and ^ ye shall be slain before your enemies: ^ they that hate you shall reign over you; and "" ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

act according to the statutes, judgments, &c., already established, and which prohibit them by penal sanctions from acting contrary to the laws.

4. Covenant. n''"i3 berith, from 13 bar, to clear, cleanse, or purify; because the covenant, the whole system of revelation given to the Jews, was intended to separate them from all the people of the earth, and to make them holy. Berith also signifies the covenant-sacrifice, which prefigured the atonement made by Christ for the sin of the world, by which he purifies believers unto himself, and makes them a peculiar people, zealous of good ivorks. Besides those four, we may add the following, from other places of Scripture.

5. Testimonies, nn;^ edoth, from '^)? ad, beyond, farther, besides; becau.se the whole ritual law referred to something /arMer on or beyond the Jewish dispensation, even to that sacrifice which in the fulness of time was to be offered for the sins of men. Thus all the sacrifices, &c., of the Mosaic law referred to Christ, and bore testimony to him who loas to come.

6. Ordinances. ni"lDtyo mishmaroth, from "lOty shamar, to guard, keep safe, ivatch over; those parts of Divine revelation which exhorted men to watch their ways, keep their hearts, and promised them, in consequence, the continual protection and blessing of God their Maker.

7. Precepts. DHIpS pikkudim, from lp3 pakad, to overlook, take care or notice of, to visit; a very expressive character of the Divine testimonies, the overseers of a man's conduct, those who stand by and look on to see whether he acts according to the commands of his Master; also the visiters, because God's precepts are suited to all the circumstances of human life; some are applicable in adversity, others in prosperity; some in times of temptation and sadness, others in seasons of spiritual joy and exultation, &c., &c. Thus they may be said to overlook and visit man in all times, places, and circumstances.

8. Truth, nox emeth, from DX am, to support, sustain, confirm; because God is immutable who has promised, threatened, commanded, and therefore all his promises, threatenings, commandments, &c., are unalterable and eternal. Error and falsity promise to direct and sustain, but they fail. God's word is supported by his own faithfulness, and it supports and confirms them who conscientiously believe it.

9. Righteousness, npnv tsedakah, from pny, which, though not used as a verb in the Hebrew Bible, eeems to convey, from its use as a noun, the idea of giving just iveight or goo^ measure, see chap. xix. 36. This is one of the charactjers which is attributed to the revelation God makes of himself; (see Psa. cxix;) and by this the impartiality of the Divine testimonies is pointed out. God gives to all their due, and his word distributes to every man according to his state, circumstances, talents, graces, &c.; to none too much, to none too little, to all enough.

10. Word of Jehovah, mn'' "I3T debar Yehovah, from 13T daiar, to drive, lead, bring forward, hence to bring forward, or utter one''s sentiments; so the word of God is what God has brought forth to man from his own mind and counsel; it is a perfect similitude of his own righteousness, holiness, goodness, and truth. This Divine law is sometimes expressed by

11. mox imrah, speech or word, variously modified from IDX amar, to branch out, because of the interesting details into which the word of God enters in order to instruct man and make him wise unto salvation, or, as the apostle expresses it, " God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets," noXvfiepug kul noTivrpono)^, in many distinct parcels, and by various tropes or figures; a curious and elegant description of Divine revelation; Heb. i. 1.

12. All these collectively are termed the law, nnn torah, or mn"' min torath Yehovah, the laio of the Lord, from HT' yarah, to direct, set straight and true, as stones in a building, to teach and instruct, because this whole system of Divine revelation is calculated to direct men to the attainment of present and eternal felicity, to set them right in their notions concerning the supreme God, to order and adjust them in the several departments of civil and religious society, and thus to teach and instruct them in the knowledge of themselves, and in the true knowledge of God. Thus those who receive the truth become the city of the living God — the temple of the Most High, buU together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. To complete this description of the word laiv, see the note on Exod. xii. 49, where other properties of the law of God are specified.

Verse 16. I will even appoint over you terror, djrc] How dreadful is this curse! A whole train of evils are here personified and appointed to be the governors of a disobedient people. Terror is to be one of their keepers. How awful a state! to be continually under the influence of dismay, feeling indescribable evils, and fearing worse! Consumption, nsnt? shachepheth, generally allowed to be some kind of atrophy or marasmus, by which the flesh was consumed, and the whole body dried up by raging fever through lack of sustenance. See the note on chap. xi. 16. How cir*

1 9 And I wiU " break the pride of your power; and I p will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

20 And your i strength shall be spent in vain; for ' your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. '^

2 1 And if ye walk ^ contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.

22 ' I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and ^ your high ways shall be desolate.

23 And if ye ^ will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

24 ^ Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

25 And '^I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of mt/ covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, ^ I will send the pestilence among

cumstantially were all these threatenings fulfilled in this disobedient and rebellious people! Let a deist read over this chapter and compare it with the state of the Jews since the days of Vespasian, and then let him doubt the authenticity of this word if he can.

Verse 22. I will also send wild beasts among you] God fulfilled these threatenings at different times. He &eni fiery serpents among them. Num. xxi. 6; lions, 2 Kings xvii. 25; bears, 2 Kings ii. 24, and threatened them with total desolation, so that their land should be overrun with toild beasts, &c., see Ezek. v. 17. " Spiritually," says Mr. Ainsworth, " these are wicked rulers and tyrants that kill and spoil, Prov. xxviii. 15; Dan. vii. 3-6; Psa. Ixxx. 1 3; and false prophets that devour souls, Matt. vii. 15; Rev. xiii. 1, &c. So the prophet, speaking of their punishment by tyrants, says: A lion out of the forest shall slay them; a wolf of the evening shall spoil them; a leopard shall watch over their cities; every one thatgoeth out thence shall he torn to pieces, because their transgressions be many.

you; and ye shall be delivered a. m. 2514. into the hand of the enemy. An. Exwi.isr.2.

26 ^ And when I have broken -^i^'borNisan. the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and " ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

27 And ^ if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;

28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also " in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

29 ^ And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

30 And ® I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and ^cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall ^ abhor you.

31 ^And I will make your cities waste, and ' bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

32^ And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be ^ astonished at it.

33 And "" I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate,and your cities waste.

And of their prophets it is said: O Israel, thy prophets are like foxes in the deserts, Ezek. xiii. 4; Jer. viii. 17; xv. 3."

Verse 26. Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven] Though in general every family in the East bakes its own bread, yet there are some public bakehouses where the bread of several families is baked at a certain price. Moses here foretells that the desolation should be so great and the want so pressing that there should be many idle hands to be employed, many mouths to be fed, and very little for each: Tew women shall bake your bread in one oven, &c.

Verse 29. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, dfc] This was literally fulfilled at the siege of Jerusalem. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book vii., chap, ii., gives us a particular instance in dreadful detail of a woman named Mary, who, in the extremity of the famine during the siege, killed her sucking child, roasted, and had eaten part of it when discovered by the soldiers! See this threatened, Jer. xix. 9.

A. M. 2514. 34 ° Then shall the land enjoy An. Exod. isr. 2. her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth Abib or Nisan. ^esolate, and ye he in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths.

35 As long as it heth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your ° Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

36 And upon them that are left alive of you, P I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and i the sound of a "^ shaken leaf shall chafe them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

37 And ^ they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and * ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

39 And they that are left of you '^ shall pine away in their iniquity, in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

40 "^ If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;

41 And that I also have walked contrary

into the land 01 their enemies; An. Exod. isr. 2. if then their - uncircumcised AbiborNisan. hearts be ^ humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;

42 Then will I y remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will ^ remember the land.

43 '^ The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they ^ despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, *= I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.

45 But I will ^ for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, ^ whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of ^ the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.

46 ^ These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel ^ in Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.

Verse 34. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths] This Houbigant observes to be a historical truth. — "From Saul to the Babylonish captivity are numbered about four hundred and ninety years, during which period there were seventy Sabbaths of years; for 7, multiplied by 70, make 490. Now the Babylonish captivity lasted seventy years, and during that time the land of Israel rested. Therefore the land rested just as many years in the Babylonish captivity, as it should have rested Sabbaths if the Jews had observed the law relative to the Sabbaths of the land." This is a most remarkable fact, and deserves to be particularly noticed, as a most literal fulfilment of the prophetic declaration in this verse: Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies^ land.

May it not be argued from this that the law concerning the Sabbatical year was observed till SauPs time, as it is only after this period the land enjoyed its rest in the seventy years' captivity 1 And if that breach of the law was thus punished, may it not be 5S8 presumed it had been fulfilled till then, or else the captivity would have lasted longer, i. e., till the land had enjoyed all its rests, of which it had ever been thus deprived ■?

Verse 38. The land of your enemies shall eat you up.] Does this refer to the total loss of the ten tribes? These are so completely swallowed up in so7ne enemies^ land, that nothing concerning their existence or place of residence remains but mere conjecture.

Verse 44. Neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly] Though God has literally fulfilled all hi.s threatenings upon this people, in dispossessing them of their land, destroying their polity, overturning their city, demolishing their temple, and scattering themselves over the face of the whole earth; yet he has, in his providence, strangely preserved them as a distinct people, and in very considerable numbers also. He still remembers the covenant of their ancestors, and in his providence and grace he has some very important design in their favour. All Israel shall yet be saved, and, with the Gentiles, they shall all be restored to his favour; and under Christ Jesus, the great Shepherd, become, with them, one grand everlasting fold. Verse 46. These are the statutes, and judgments, 4-c.] See on ver. 15. This verse appears to be the proper concluding verse of the whole book; and I rather think that the 27th chapter originally followed ihe 25th. As the law was anciently written upon skins of parchment, sheep or goat skins, pasted or stitched together, and all rolled up in one roll, the matter being written in columns, one of those columns might have been very easily displaced, and thus whole chapters might have been readily interchanged. — It is likely that this might have been the case in the present instance. Others endeavour to solve this difficulty, by supposing that the 27th chapter was added after the book had been finished; and therefore there is apparently a double conclusion, one at the end of the 26th and the other at the end of the 27th chapter. However the above may have been, all the ancient versions agree in concluding both the chapters in nearly the same way; yet the 26th chapter must be allowed to be by far the most natural conclusion of the book.

The most important points in this chapter have already been particularly noticed in the notes; and to those on the 15th, 34th, and 44th verses, the reader is especially referred. How unwilling is God to cast off his people! and yet how sure is their rejection if they refuse to obey and live to him! No nation has ever been so signally elected as the Jews; and yet no nation has ever been so signally and so awfully reprobated. O Britain, be not high-minded, but fear! Behold here the goodness and severity of God!

Laws concerning vows, 1,2. Of males and females from twenty to sixty years of age, and their valuatton, 3, 4. Of the same from five to twenty years, 5. Of the same from a month to five years of age, 6. Of males and females from sixty years old and upwards, and their valuation, 7. The priest shall value the poor according to his ability, 8. Concerning beasts that are vowed, and their valuation, 9—13. Concerning the sanctification of a house, 14, 15. Concerning the field that is sanctified or consecrated to the Lord, to the year of jubilee, 16—24. Every estimation shall be made in shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, 25. The firstlings of clean beasts, being already the Lord^s, cannot be vowed, 26. That of an unclean beast may be redeemed, 27. Every thing devoted to God shall be unalienable and unredeemable, and continue the Lord's property till death, 28, 29. All the tithe of the land is the Lord''s, 30; but it may be redeemed by adding a fifth part, 31. The tithe of the herd and the flock is also his, 32. The tenth that passes under the rod shall not be changed, 33. The conclusion of the book, 34.

Israel, and say unto them, ''When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall he for the Lord, by thy estimation.

Verse 2. When a man shall make a singular voio] The verse is short and obscure, and may be translated thus: A man who shall have separated a voiv, according to thy estimation, of souls unto the Lord; which may be paraphrased thus: He who shall have vowed or consecrated a soul, i. e., a living creature, whether man or beast, if he wish to redeem what he has thus vowed or consecrated, he shall ransom or redeem it according to the priest's estimation; for the priest shall judge of the properties, qualifications, and age of the person or beast, and the circumstances of the person who has vowed it, and shall regulate the value accordingly; and the mocey shall be put into his hands for the service of the sanctuary. A vow (says Mr. Ainsworth) is a religious promise made unto the Lord, and for the most part with prayer, and paid with thanksgiving, Num. xxi. 2, 3; Psa. Ixvi. 13, 14. Vows were either of abstinence, such as are spoken of Num. XXX., and the vow of the Nazarite, Num. vi.; or they were to give something to the Lord, as a

sixty years old, even thy estimation ^ shall be fifty shekels of silver, ^ after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 And if it be a female, then thy

sacrifices, Lev. vii. 16, or the value of persons, beasts, houses, or lands, concerning which the law is here given. A man might vow or devote himself, his children, (ver. 5, 6,) his domestics, his cattle, his goods, &c. And in this chapter rules are laid down for the redemption of all these things. But if, after consecrating these things, he refused to redeem them, then they became the Lord's property for ever. The persons continued all their lives devoted to the service of the sanctuary; the goods were sold for the profit of the temple or the priests; the animals, if clean, were offered in sacrifice; if not proper for sacrifice, were sold, and the price devoted to sacred uses. This is a general view of the different laws relative to vows, mentioned in this chapter.

Verse 3. From twenty years old even unto sixty — fifty shekels'] A man from twenty to sixty years of age, if consecrated to the Lord by a vow, might be redeemed for ^/ify^^e^.?, which, at Zs. each, amounted to 11. lOs. sterling.

old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

6 And if it he from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall he three shekels of silver.

7 And if it he from sixty years old, and above; if it he a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

8 But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him.

9 And if it he a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the Lord, all that any man giveth of such unto the Lord, shall be holy.

10 He '^ shall not alter it, nor change it, a

the same age, vowed unto the Lord, might be redeemed for thirty shekels, 41. lOs. sterling, a little more than one half of the value of the man; for this obvious reason, that a woman, if employed, could not be of so much use in the service of the sanctuary as the man, and was therefore of much less value.

Verse 5. From five years old] The boy that was vowed might be redeemed for twenty shekels, 3/. sterling; the girl, for ten shekels, just one half, ll. lOs.

Verse 6. A month old] The male child, five shekels, 155., the female, three shekels, 9.$. Being both in comparative infancy, they were nearly of an equal value. None were vowed under a month old: the firstborn being always considered as the Lord's property, could not be vowed, see ver. 26.

Verse 7. Sixty years old] The old man and the old woman, being nearly past labour, were nearly of an equal value; hence the one was estimated at fifteen shekels, '21. 5s., the other at ten shekels, 1/. lOs. This was about the same ratio as that of the children, ver. 5, and for the same reason.

Verse 10. He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, dfc] Whatever was consecrated to God by a vow, or purpose of heart, was considered from that moment as the Lord's property; to change which was irnpiety; to withhold it, sacrilege. Reader, hast thou ever dedicated thyself, or any part of thy property, to thb service of thy Maker ■? If so, hast thou paid thy vows 1 Or hast thou altered thy purpose, or changed thy offering? Has he received from thy hands a bad for a good? Wast thou not vowed and consecrated to God in thy baptism 1 Are his vows still upon thee ■? Hast thou " renounced the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of th§ flesh]" Dost good for a bad, or a bad for a a. m. 2514. good: and if he shall at all An. Exod. isr. 2. change beast for beast, then it A^ib or Nisan. and the exchange thereof shall be holy.

1 1 And if it he any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest:

12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: ® as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.

13 f But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fihhpart thereof unto thy estimation.

14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to he holy unto the Lord, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.

15 ^ And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.

16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession,

thou feel thyself bound " to keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?" Was not this thy baptismal covenant 1 And hast thou renounced it 1 Take heed! God is not mocked: that which thou sowest, thou shalt also reap. If thou rob God of thy heart, he will deprive thee of his heaven.

Verse 13. Shall add a fifth part] This was probably intended to prevent rash vows and covetous redemptions. The priest alone was to value the thing; and to whatever his valuation was, a. fifth part must be added by him who wished to redeem the consecrated thing. Thus, if the priest valued it at forty shekels, if the former owner redeemed it he was obliged to give forty-eight.

Verse 14. Shall sanctify his house] The yearly rent of which, when thus consecrated, went towards the repairs of the tabernacle, which was the house of

Verse 16. Some part of a field] Though the preceding words are not in the text, yet it is generally allowed they should be supplied here, as it was not lawful for a man to vow his tvhole estate, and thus make his family beggars, in order to enrich the Lord's sanctuary: this God would not permit. The rabbins teach that the land or field, whether good or bad, was valued at forty-eight shekels, for all the years of the jubilee, provided the field was large enough to sow a homer of barley. The "ran chomer was different from the 10;; omer: the latter held about three quarts, the former, seventy-five gallons three pints; see the note on Exod. xvi. 16. Some suppose that the land was rated, not sX fifty shekels for the whole of the years of the jubilee, for this would be but about 3*. per annum;

17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand.

18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall ' reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.

19'' And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

2 1 But the field, ^ when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field ™ devoted; " the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

22 And if a man sanctify unto the Lord a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of ° his possession;

23 P Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the

but that it was rated according to its produce, fifty shekels for every homer of barley it produced.

Verse 21. As a field devoted] It is IZ3"in cherem, a thing so devoted to God as never more to be capable of being redeemed. See on ver. 29.

Verse 25. Shekel of the sanctuary] A standard shekel; the standard being kept in the sanctuary to try and regulate all the weights in the land by. See Gen. XX. 16; xxiii. 15.

Verse 28. No devoted thing — shall be sold or redeemed] This is the Oin chere?n, which always meant an absolute unredeemable grant to God.

Verse 29. Which shall be devoted of men] Every man who is devoted shall surely be put to death; or, as some understand it, be the Lord's property, or be employed in his service, till death. The law mentioned in these two verses has been appealed to by the enemies of Divine revelation as a proof, that under the Mosaic dispensation human sacrifices were offered to God; but this can never be conceded. Had there been such a law, it certainly would have been more explicitly revealed, and not left in the compass of a few words only, where the meaning is very difficult to be ascertained; and the words themselves differently translated by most interpreters. That there were a give thine estimation in that day, An. Exod. 1st. 2 as a holy thing unto the Lord. AbiborNisan.

24 1 1n the year of the jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

25 And all thy estimation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: ^ twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

26 Only the ^ firstling * of the beasts, which should be the Lord's firstling, no man. shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the Lord's.

27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, " and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.

28 ^ Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy

29 "^ None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

persons devoted to destruction under the Mosaic dispensation, is sufficiently evident, for the whole Canaanitish nations were thus devoted by the Supreme Being himself, because the cup of their iniquity was full; but that they were not sacrificed to God, the whole history sufficiently declares. Houbigant understands the passage as speaking of these alone; and says, Non alios licebat anathemale voveri, quam Chananaos, quos jusserat Dens ad internecionem deleri. " It was not lawful to devote any persons to death but the Canaanites, whom God had commanded to be entirely extirpated." This is perfectly correct; but he might have added that it was because they were the most impure idolaters, and because the cup of their iniquity was full. These God commanded to be put to death; and who can doubt his right to do so, who is the Maker of man, and the Fountain of justice? But what has this to do with human sacrifices? Just nothing. No more than the execution of an ordinary criminal, or a traitor, in the common course of justice, has to do with a sacrifice to God. In the destruction of such idolaters, no religious formality whatever was observed; nor any thing that could give the transaction even the most distant semblance of a sacrifice. In this way Jericho was commanded to be destroyed. Josh. vi. 17;

A. M. 2514. 30 And ' all the tithe of An. Exod. isr.' 2. the land, whether of the seed

the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the

3 1 y And if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part

32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever ^ passeth under

33 He shall not search whether Abib or Nisan. it be good or bad, » neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

34 ^ These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel, in Mount Sinai.

and the Amalekites, Deut. xxv. 19; 1 Sam. xv. 3: but in all these cases the people commanded to be destroyed were such sinners as God's justice did not think proper to spare longer. And has not every system of law the same power? And do we not concede such power to the civil magistrate, for the welfare of the state 1 God, who is the sovereign arbiter of life and death, acts here in his juridical and legislative capacity; but these are victims to justice, not religious sacrifices.

It may be necessary just farther to note that two kinds of vows are mentioned in this chapter: — 1. The 11 J neder, (see on chap, vii.,) which comprehends all those things which, when once devoted, might be redeemed at a certain price, according to the valuation of the priest. 2. The CDin cherem, those things vowed to God of which there remained no power of redemption; they were most holy, i. e., so absolutely devoted to God that they could neither be changed, alienated, nor redeemed: probably because no mental reservation had been made, as in the above case may be supposed. On this ground the word was afterward applied to the most solemn and awful kind of excommunication, meaning a person so entirely devoted to the stroke of vindictive justice, as never to be capable of receiving pardon; and hence the word may be well applied in this sense to the Canaanites, the cup of whose iniquity was full, and who were consigned, without reprieve, to final extermination.

Verse 30. All the tithe of the land] This God claims as his own; and it is spoken of here as being a point perfectly settled, and concerning which there was neither doubt nor difficulty. See my view of this subject Gen. xxviii., after ver. 22, to which I do not see the necessity of adding any thing.

Verse 32. Whatsoever passeth under the rod] The signification of this verse is well given by the rabbins: " When a man was to give the tithe of his sheep or calves to God, he was to shut up the whole flock in one fold, in which tliere was one narrow door capable of letting out one at a time. The owner, about to give the tenth to the Lord, stood by the door with a rod in his hand, the end of which was dipped in vermilion or red ochre. The mothers of those lambs or calves stood without: the door being opened, the young ones ran out to join themselves to their dams; and as they passed out the owner stood with his rod over them, and counted one, two, three, four, five, &c., and when the tenth came, he touched it with the coloured rod, by which it was distinguished to be the tithe calf, sheep, &c., and whether poor or lean, perfect or blemished, that was received as the legitimate tithe." It seems to be in reference to this custom that the Prophet Ezekiel, speaking to Israel, says: / will cause you to pass under the rod, and will bring you into the bond of the covenant — you shall be once more claimed as the Lor£s property, and be in all things devoted to his service, being marked or ascertained, by especial providences and manifestations of his kindness, to be his peculiar people.

Verse 34. These are the commandments] This conclusion is very similar to that at the end of the preceding chapter. I have already supposed that this chapter should have followed the 25th, and that the 26th originally terminated the book.

Mr. Ainsworth, the whole of whose writings are animated with the spirit of piety, concludes this book with the following excellent remarks: —

" The tithes in Israel being thus sanctified by the commandment of God to his honour, the maintenance of his ministers, and the relief of the poor, it taught them and teaches us to honour the Lord with our substance, (Prov. iii. 9,) acknowledging him to be the author of all our increase and store; (Deut. viii. 13-18; Hos. ii. 8;) to honour his ministers, and to communicate unto them in all good things, (1 Tim. v. 17, 18; Gal. vi. 6,) that they who sow unto us spiritual things should reap our carnal things, (1 Cor. ix. 11,) and to give alms of such things as ive have, that all things may be clear unto us, (Luke xi. 41,) yea, even to sell that we have, and give alms; to provide ourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, Luke xii. 33." They who forget their Maker, his ministers, and the poor, are never likely to hear that blessed word in the great day: " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; for I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; thirsty, and ye gave me drink; naked, and ye clothed me; sick and in prison, and ye came unto me."

Reader, thou hast now gone through the whole of this most interesting book; a book whose subject is too little regarded by Christians in general. Here thou mayest discover the rigid requisitions of Divine justice, the sinfulness of sin, the exceeding breadth of the commandment, and the end of all human perfection. And now what thinkest thou of that word, « Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law]" Rom. iii. 19. But who are under the law — the condemning power of the pure, rigid, moral law of God ^ Not the Jews only, but every soul of man: all to whom it is sent, and who acknowledge it as a Divine revelation, and have not been iiedeemed from the guilt of sin by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; for " cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." By this law then is the knowledge, but not the cure, of sin. Hear then what God saith unto thee: " If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what farther need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron ■? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law; Heb. vii. 11, 12. Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man; ibid, viii. 1, 2. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins; ibid. x. 4. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, — 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. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that, by means of death, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. And without shedding of blood is no remission. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation;" Heb. ix. 11, 12, 15, 22, 28. We see then that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness (for justification) to every one that believeth. " Unto him, therefore, who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. i. 5, 6.

SECTIONS in the Book of Leviticus, carried on from Exodus, which ends with the twentythird.

These sections, as was observed on Exodus, have their technical names from some remarkable word, either in the first or second verse of their commencement.