Commentary on the Holy Bible

In the above chapters and verses I have, in general, followed the division.s in the best Masoretic Bibles, from which our common English Bibles will in some cases be found to differ a little.

In the synago;jues the law is read entirely through in the fifty Sabbaths of their lunar year; for they join certain sections together, which are noticed at the end of the tables. But in their intercalated years, in which they add a month, they have then fifty-four Sabbaths, and this is one reason why we find fifty-four Parrshahs, and fifty-four Haphtaras, instcSid of fifty-two. See the concluding tables.

It has already been observed that when Antiochus Epiphanes conquered the Jews, about the year 168 before the Christian era, he forbade the law to bo publicly read in the synagogues, on pain of death. The.Tews, that they might not be wholly deprived of ihc word of God, selected from other parts of the sacred writings fifty-four portions, vvhicli were termed iiaphtahas, ni"lL3Dr! haphtaroth, from "lt3D pnlnr, he dismissed, let loose, opened — for thougli the Law was dismissed from their synagogues, and was closed to them by the edict of this persecuting king, yet the prophetic writings, not being under the interdict, were left open, and therefore they used them in place of the others. It was from this custom of the Jews, that the primitive Christians adopted theirs of reading a lesson every Sabbath out of the old and New Testaments; and on this custom the practice of the Church in our own country, in reading certain portions of the epistles and Gospels every Sunday in tlie year was foimded.

As a proper knowledge of these Haphtaras or prophetical sections may sometimes help to fix the chronology of some events in the New Testament, it hath been deemed proper to give a table of them in connection with the PareshiothoT sections of the law, in the place of which they were originally read; and with which, ever since the days of the Asmoneans or Maccabees, they continue to be read in the various synagogues belonging to the English, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and German Jews.

From tlie above tables the reader will perceive that though the Jews are agreed in the sections of the law that are read every Sabbath, yet they are not agreed in the Haphtaras or sections from the prophets^ as it appears above, that the Dutch and German Jews dilfer in several cases from the Italian and Portug'jese; and there are some sUghter variations besides those above, which I have not noticed

Through the course of thirteen Lunar Cycles, {which embrace every possible variation,) the \ day of the iveek with which the Jewish year begins, and on ivhich the Passover is

Containing the whole variations in the reading of the Pareshioth, or sectioiis of the Law, for every year of the Jewish Cycle of 247 years.

N. B. The indexes in Table I. are set down, in the order they are there foirnd, from the authority of Gabriel of Soranu there exist some small differences in the disposition of the indexes by different persons who have written upon this subject, i variations (which are adopted by the rabbins in the construction of their calendar) is thought essentially necessary to be giv( the following Tables are made to agree with it exactly. The variations are as below:—

TABLE III. I, with the help o/ Table IV., the day of the week upon which any Jewish new month or festival happens.

The Indexes of Tables I. and II. corresponding to the letters of the above Table are as below:—

To determine upon what day of the week any Jewish month commences for any given year, as also the day of the loeek upon which the Jews celebrate their principal fasts and festivals.

TABLE VI. — Containing the year of the Jewish Lunar Cycle, the Golden Number, the first day of the Jewish Passover, Easter Sunday, and the commencement of each Jewish Year, according to the Gregorian calendar, from A. D. IS\2 to A. D. IQQO {both inclusive.)

Before the reader enters upon the partictilar uses of each of the preceding tables, it will be necessary to give a detailed account of the rabbinical computation of time uponwhich they have been constructed. The year used by the Jews contains twelve or thirteen Ixmations, which are so artificially disposed that its commencement constantly happens about the time of the autumnal equinox. In order to effect this, they have been obliged to have recourse to the sun's revolution through the twelve signs of the zodiac, or, to speak more properly, to the quantum of time which the earth takes up in making one complete periodic revolution round the sun. This period of time, accordmg to the rabbins, (which is the same that is used in the construction of their calendar,) is 365 days, 5 hours, 997 chelakim, (points,) and 43 moments; which, reduced to our time, is equal to 365 days, 5 hours, 55 minutes, and 25 seconds — 1080 chelakim being contained in one hour, and 76 moments in a chelek. See Bibl. Rabb., Part II., p. 407.

The quantity of the synodical revolution of the moon, according to the rabbins, is 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 chelakim, which also reduced to our time, is equal to 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3i seconds; and twelve times this quantity, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 40 seconds, is equal to the Jewish common year, which is nearly 11 days short of the solar revolution; consequently, to keep the seasons of the year in their respective months, tlie rabbins employ an embolismic or leap year of 13 lunar months evei7 second or third year, by means of which, with other corrections which wiU be hereafter noticed, their years are found to correspond so exactly with the Gregorian calendar as not to deviate from it materially through the course of some centuries.

In the lunar cycle of 19 years, which embraces the principal variations in the motion of the moon, they have 12 common years of 12 lunar months, and embolismic years of 13 lunar months; and in order that all their months may begin as nearly as possible with the day of the conjunction of the sun and moon, they have alternately, for the most part, 29 and 30 days. Thus Tisri, their first month, contains 30 days; Marchesvan, their second month, 29 or 30; Cisleu, 29 or 30; Tebet, 29; Sebat, 30; Adar, 29; Nisan, 30; Ijar, 29; Sivan, 30; Tammuz, 29; Ab, 30; and Elul, 29. In the embolismic year, Adar always consists of 30, and the thirteenth month, which is named Veadar, always of 29 days.

The reason why an embolismic year for the most part succeeds two common years, is evident from the circumstance of the lunar year being nearly 11 days shorter than the solar, so that in three years the latter gains from the former not fewer than about 32 days, and as only a month of 30 days is intercalated in that time, at the commencement of the lunar cycle, it is manifest that two intercalary years must sometimes happen with only one common year between. Accordino-ly the 3d, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of every lunar cycle are denominated embolismic; see Table I. If the lunar synodic revolution consisted precisely of 29 days, 12 hours, the assigning to the Jewish months 29 and 30 days alternately, would be sufficient to fix the commencement of the different months about the day of the conjunction, ad infinitum; but as the synodic revolution, according to Rabbi Adda, contains 44 minutes 3| seconds more than 29^ days, it is demonstrable that the assignment of 29 and 30 days alternately to the months must be insufficient, and in the course of a few years must produce a very sensible enor.

Thus, in order to make this circumstance obvious to the lowest capacity, let the first paschal full moon in the lunar cycle be supposed to commence precisely at mid-day, then it is evident, from the quantity of a synodic revolution, as ascertained by the rabbins, that the nineteen paschal full moons which are contained in every cycle will, in this case, happen as in the following table; where the first column points out the year of the cycle; the second, the precise point of time in the lunar cycle of the respective paschal full moons; the tliird, the nearest corresponding day, omitting the fractional parts; and the fourth, the differences of the numbers in the third column, or in other words, the interval of time, expressed in whole numbers, which elapses between each successive paschal full moon.

From the last column of the preceding table, it is evident that the paschal full moons happen constantly after an Interval of 354, 355, 383, or 384 days, omitting the fractional parts; but the length of the Jewish year may be either 353. 354, 355, 383, 384, or 385 days. The reason of this discordance between the length of the Jewish year, and the interval between two consecutive paschal full moons, arises chiefly from the circumstance of never begfinning the year on the first, fourth, or sixth day of the week. Hence, if the new moon, which regulates the commencement of the year, should happen on the 1st day of the week, the year does not begin till the following day; and if on the 4th or 6th, the commencement of the year is dated from the 5th or Sabbath. The reason why the Jews never begin their year on the first day of the week, is to prevent the occurrence of the celebration of the festival of i/oianna Rabba on the Sabbath day, as some parts of this festival are deemed by them incompatible with the strict observance of the Sabbath enjoined on them by thefourtli commandment.

The reason why the year is ne^ner begun on the 4th or 6th days of the week, is to prevent the occurrence of the great day of Atonement on the 6th or Lord's day; for as the Jews are bound to keep this fast on the 10th of Tisri, and also to observe it as strictly as they would the Sabbath, in this case two Sabbaths as it were would come together and produce great inconvenience, as in their estimation it is not lawful to bury their dead or boil their food on either of these days.

Hence arises the necessity of adding or subtracting, from time to time, an entire day to or from the mean length of the common or embolismic year, which correction is always made in the month Marchesvan or Cisleu, just in the same manner as the intercalated day in the Gregorian calendar is always attached to the end of February.

From the different varieties in the length of the months Marchesvan and Cisleu, connected with the day of the week tipon which the year begins, are produced/our^een different kinds of years among the Jews, seven of which are common years, and the other seven embolismic; for sometimes these two months have each only 29 days, sometimes they have each 30 days, and at other times Marchesvan has 29, and Cisleu 30 days; and the new year may commence with the Sabbath, or the 2d, 3d, or 5th day of the week.

The indexes by which these different years are distinguished in the preceding tables are for the common years, 5Pl,5d7, 7D1, 7P3, 2 D 3, 2 P 5, and 3 d 5; and for the embolismic, 5 D 1. 3 d 7, 2 P 7, 5 P 3, 7 D 3, 7 P 5, and 2 D 5. The first figure of the index denotes the day of the week upon which the year commences, tliusS denotes the year to begin on the fifth day of the week or Thursday, 3 the third day of the week or Tuesday, &c., &c.; the letter of the index determines the length of the months Marchesvan and Cisleu; thus P stands for perfect, i. e., these two months are both perfect, each containing 30 days; D stands for defective, i. e., each of these months contains only 29 days; and a small d denotes that one of these months is defective, which in this case is always Marchesvan. The last figure of the indexshows the dayof the weekupon which the passoverhappens, just in the same manner as the first figure denotes the day of the week upon which the year begins.

For a farther explanation of the index, let it be required to find upon what day of the week the rabbinical year of the world 5570 begins; upon what day of the week the passover is held in that year; and also the length of the months Marchesvan and Cisleu. To solve this ■ question, we have only to refer to Table I., where we find the index of the year to be 2 D 5, i. e., the year commences on Tuesday, the passover is held upon Thursday, and the months Marchesvan and Cisleu are both defective, i. e., have only 29 days each.

Having premised thus much respecting the mode of constructing the Jewish calendar, we now come to explain tlie chief object of the preceding tables, which is to detemiine the order of reading the Pareshioth and Haphtaroth, or Sections of the Law and tlie Prophets for any given year. For this purpose Tables I., II., and V. are chiefly constructed. In Table I. the index for every Jewish year of the world from 5568 to 5814 (both inclusive) is given; and as these years correspond to all the years of our Lord from 1807 to 2054, both inclusive, it will be 242 years before this table, in its present form, will be en tirely antiquated; and it may be rendered perpetual by affixing the same routine of indexes to the 247 years, beginning with A. D. 2055 and ending with A. D. 2301; and to the 247 years subsequent to A. D 2301, &c., &c., ad infinitum. Table II. contains a calendar of Sabbatlis for the 14 different kinds of years made use of bv the Jews, together with the Pareshah or Pareshioth read on the different Sabbaths of each. In the first column of the months the black circle or astronomical sign of the conjunction of the sun and moon points out the fipjre annexed to it to be the day of the week upon which the montir begins, and when two numbers are affixed, it is to show that the conjunction of the luminaries corresponds to both days; the latter of which is always taken for the commencement of the month. All the other numbers in this column are the days of the month upon which the Sabbaths happen, except sometimes in the month Tisri. where two numbers occur together, i\\e first of which is the day of the week and the latter the corresponding day of the month. In order therefore to find what Pareshah or Pareshioth are read on anv given Sabbath, nothing more is necessary- than to look into Table I. for the index of tlie given year, and with it to enter Table II.. where against the given Sabbath, in the column of Pareshioth, will be found the given Pareshah or Pareshioth required.

Example 1. Required the Pareshah or Pareshioth appointed to be read in the synagogue on the second Sabbath of the month Sivan, A. M. 5572. In Table I. the index for the years 5 d 7. from which it appears by Table II. that it is the."jecond Jewish common year, and the second Sabbathof Sivan in this year is upon the 1 2th day of the month, over against which, in the column of Pareshioth, is 35, the number of the Pareshah required. By a reference to the list of Pareshioth given at the end of the commentarj' on the last chapter of Deuteronomy, we find that this section of the law commences with Num. iv. 21, and ends at vii. 89 of the same book. The Haphtara read on the Sabbath appears by the same list to be the xiiith chapter of Judges from the 2d to the 25th verse; in Table V. the 12th of Sivan, A. M. 5572, is the same with the 23d of May, 1812.

Example 2. Required the ParesJiah or Pareshioth appointed to be read on the fourth Sabbath ol Tammuz, A. M. 5584. In Table I. the index for the year is 7 D 3, which index corresponds to the fifth embolismic year in Table II., consequently the fourth Sabbath of Tammuz falls on the 28tli of the month, and the Pareshioth for the given day are the 42d and 43d. The former commences at the second verse of the xxxth chapter of Numbers, and the latter is continued from it to the end of the book. By a reference to Table V., the 28th of Tammuz, A. M. 5584, answers to the 24th of July, 1824.

N. B. The figure and capital letter found in tlie first column of Table V. at the beginning of each Jewish year, show to wliich of the fourteen kinds of years, according to their disposition in Table II., the said year belongs, thus 1 (; stands for the first common year; 5 E, the fiftli embolismic year, &c., &c., &c.

When, in the column of Pareshioth and Haphtaroth in Tables II. and v., the word Chippur is affixed to any particular Sabbatli, it points it out to be the great day of Atonement, for which a particular service is appointed. The portion of the law read on that day begins with the 27th verse of the xxiiid chapter of Leviticus, and ends with the chapter. The Haphtorah for this day is tlie book of the prophet Jonah.

When the word Succoth is affixed to any particular Sabbath, if it be the 15th of Tisri, it is the day upon which the Feast of Tabernacles commences; the portion of the law for wliich occasion begins at the?lth verse of the xxiiid chapter of Leviticus. The Haphtorah is the xivth chapter of the prophet Zechariah; but on the Sabbath whicli follows the 15th of Tisri, if it be within the octave of the Feast of Tabernacles, the portion of the prophets which is read is the xxxviiith chapter of Ezekiel, according to the German Jews, but the other Jews read from Ezek. xxxviii. IS, to xxxix. 16.

The capital letters B. L., which are affixed to the fifty-fourth section of the law in the third column of Table V., stand for ISook of the Law. This section is read on the 23d of Tisri, wliich is contrived so as never to happen on the Sabbath, as the day upon which it is read is a time of great festivity among the Jews for their having completed the reading of the fiftj-four Pareshioth, w'hich comprise the whole book of the law. The asterisk affixed to the 23d day of Tisri, in Table v., and its corresponding time in the Gregorian computation, is designed to show that this day happens on a week day andnot on the Sabbath, as all the other days in the same columns do.

When 1 Pas. or 2 Pas. is affixed to any particular Sabbath, it is the first or second Sabbath of thepassover, upon which, if the 15th of Nisan be the Sabbath day, the portion of the propliets read on the occasion is the vth chapter of Joshua, all but the first verse. If there be only one Sabbath in the feast of the passover, the Haphtorah is the 14 first verses of the xxxviith chapter of Ezekiel, to which some add the three following. If there be two Sabbaths in the feast of the passover, the latter is termed the octave, upon which they read the whole of the Canticles, and also tlie prophet Isaiah, from the 32d verso of the xth chapter to the end of the xiith.

When Pent, is affixed to any particular Sabbath, it is the second day of the Feast of Pentecost, upon which occasion the iiid, ivth, vth, and vilh chapters of the prophet Habahkuk, togctlier with the book of Ruth, are read.

Besides the 54 sections of the law which are regxdarly read through in the course of a Jewish year, whether it be common or embolismic, thore are four minor I'areshiotu which are generally read in the month Adar of a common, and in Veadar of an embolismic, year. These are Ql^lpa Shekalim,'yy2'^ Zachor,,TlS Para, and lanntl Hachodesh; and are marked down in Tables II. and V. by their initial letters S, Z, P, and 11. The minor Parcshah,SHEKALiM, commences with the 1 1th verse of the xxxth chapter of Exodus, and ends at the 16th verse of the same; Zachor begins with the I7th verse of the xxvth chapter oi Deuteronomy, and contains the Divine malediction upon the Amalekites; Para begins with tlio xixth chapter of Numbers, and ends with the chapter; and Hachodesh begins with the 10th verse of the xiith chapter of Exodus, and ends at the 20th verse of the same chapter.

Wlien the Jewish year commences on the Sabbath, (which circumstance is noticed in the third column of Table V. whenever it occurs,) Lev. xxiii. 24 and Num. xxix. 1-7 are read.

When the 25th of Cisleu falls on the Sabbath, the contraction En., for Encctnia, Dedication, is affixed to the number of the Pareshah in Tables II. and V., to show that it is the day to be heldin commemora tion of the altar's being dedicated afresh to the service of God after its purification from its pollutions by Antiochus.

Tables III. and IV. arc constructed to determine the day of the week upon which the principal Jewish Fasts and Feasts are held foi any given year. One example will be sufficient to illustrate these tables. Example. Required the day of the week upon which the principal Jewish fasts and feasts happen in the Jewish year of the world 5573. By a reference to Table I. this year corresponds to A. D. 1813; and in Table HI. in the same square with 1813 is the capital letter C, which shows that the numbers in column C of Table IV., over against the different fasts and festivals, are the days of the week required. Thus the commencement of Tisri is on the second and third days of the week; the Fast of Gedaliah on the 4th; the Fast of Atonement on the 4th; the Feast of Tabernacles on the 2d; Hosanna Rabbaon the 1st; the Latitia Legis, or Joy for the Law, on the 3d; the commencement of Marchesvan on the 3d and 4th; the commencement of Cisleu on the 5th; the Enccenia on the 1st; the commencement of Tebet on the 6th; the Fast of the 10th of Tebet on the 1st; the commencement of Sebat on the Sabbath; the commencement of Adar on the 1st and 2d; the commencement of Veadar on the 3d and 4th; the Fast of Esther on the 2d; the Feast of Purim on the 3d; the commencement of Kisan on the 5th; the Feast of the Passover on the 5th; the commencement of Jjar on the 6th and 7th; the 33 Omer on the 3d; the commencement of Sivan on the 1st; the Feast o{ Pentecost on the 6th; the commencement of Tammuz on the 2d Bind 3d; the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz on the 5th; the commencement of Ab on the 4th; the Fast of the 9th of Ab on the 5th; and the commencement of Elul on the 5th and 6th days of the week.

Table VI. needs little explanation; the titles of its different columns being sufficient for this purpose. The first column shows the year ol the world according to the Jewish reckoning. The second column, the year of our Lord; the letter B in the same column shows each Bissextile or Leap-year. The 3d and 4th columns contain the lunat cycle and golden numbers. The fifth column shows the month and day of the month on which the Jewish passover falls, from the year 1812 to the year 1900. The sixth column marks the day on which Easter falls during the same period. The seventh column shows the year of our Lord corresponding with the beginning of the Jewish year in the first column; and also on what day of what month the Jewish year, accordingto the Gregorian calendar, commences. By the shghtest inspection of these tables any person may at once see the day on which the Jewish passover and the Christian Easter falls for any year of the above period from 1812 to 1900.

On the subject of the preceding tables there will be doubtless various opinions among the readers of this work. Some may even think them t/«eZeM, while others will judge them of considerable importance. The writer has only to say that no other part of the work has occasioned so much labour and so much expense. Nothing of this nature, on the same plan, has ever before met the eye of the English reader; nor does any other language afford a similar subject at once so extensive in the plan, and so concise in the execution. Those who best understand the work will perceive that it required no common industry to say notliing of other requisite qualifications, to construct such tables, even with the extensive work o{ Bartolocci's Bibliotheca Rabbinica before him, to which the present collection of tables acknowledges high obligations. The w^riter could not consider his comment on the Pentateuch as even tolerably complete without such an apparatus as is here produced, which it is hoped every minister of the word of God will find of the utmost use to him in various matters connected with Jewish affairs; but on this subject nothing need be added, as the tables and their uses have been already so largely explained. In his prospectus the author promised " every requisite table;" and had he

PROM THE CREATION OF ADAM, A. M. 1, TO THE BIRTH OF PELEG, A. M. 1757, AND OF EACH SUCCESSIVE YEAR FROM THK DISPERSION OF MANKIND AT THE BIRTH OF PELEG, TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN. AT THE DEATH OF JOSHUA, A. M. 2561, INCLUSIVE; SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE PRINCIPAL EPOCHS IN USE AMONG THE DIFFERENT NATIONS OF THE WORLD, VIZ., THE YEAR OF THE WORLD, THE YEAR BEFORE CHRIST, THE YEAR BEFORE AND AFTER THE DELUGE, THE YEAR OF THE JULIAN PERIOD, AND THE YEAR BEFORE THE FIRST OLYMPIAD

The Reigns of the Contemporary Sovereigns of the most remarkable Monarchies, together with the Year of the Life of all the antediluvian and postdiluvian Patriarchs on record, corresponding with the Years of the principal Epochs mentioned above. Designed to save the curious reader the trouble of reducing the Years of any particular Epoch to those of another, in which he may wish to fix any Event that took place within the limits of these Tables; and to prevent the necessity of recurrence to systematic Chronologies for historic Facts in any wise connected with those mentioned in the Sacred Writings.

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF ALL THE PATRLVRCHS, FROM ADAM, A. M. f, TO REU,

The B signifies the year of the hirth, and the D of the death, of each Patriarch, a 875

In the foregoing chronological Tables, the numbers in the different columns are synchronical, taken collaterally, so that any event that has happened within the limits of the Tables may be found in from 10 to 17 different epochs. Thus, if the reader wishes to know in what year of the various epochs the death of Nahor the father of Abraham happened, he will at once see, by a reference to Table II., that this event took place in the year from the creation, according to Abp. Usher, 1997; the year before the incarnation 2007; in the year of the 7ulian period 2707; in the year from the deluge 340; and in the year before the first Olympiad 1231; all of which correspond with the 15th year of the reign of Apachnas, king of the Egyptians, and the 31st of the reign of Europs, king of the Sicyonians; wiuch also correspond with the 941st year of the life of Noah, the 439lh of that of Shem, the 339th of Arphaxad, the 304th of Salah, the 274th of Heber, the 21Wh of Reu, the 178th of Serug, and the 119th year of the life of Terah.

N. B. The numbers in Table II., pointing out the years of the life of the different Patriarchs, are all adapted to the commencement of th« corresponding tabular years of the world; so that the year of the birth of any Patriarch s not to be referred to the A. M. corresponding to the tabular year of his life 1, but to the year immediately preceding. Thus Aaron was bom some time in A. M. 2430; but at tba beginning of A. M. 2431, Table II. shows liim to have been in thejirst year ofhis life; yet before the conclusion of that year he entered upon his ttconi year, therefore A. M. 2433 corresponds to the tabular year of his life 9.