Commentary on the Holy Bible

TA* priests shall not mourn for the dead, except for near relatives, such as mother, father, son, daughter, and sister if a virgin, 1-4. Thetj shall not shave their heads nor beards, nor make any cuttings in the flesh, because they arc holy unto God, 5, 6. -4 priest shall not marry a tvornau who is a whore, profane, or divorced from her husband, 7, 8. Of the priest's daughter who profanes herself, 9, The high priest shall not uncover his head, or rend his clothes, 1 0; nor go in unto a dead body, 1 1; nor go out of the sanctuary, 12. Of his marriage and offspring, 13-15. No person shall be made a priest that has any blemish, nor shall any person with any of the blemishes mentioned here be permitted to officiate in the worship of God, 16-24.

them, " There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for liis son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,

3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

4 But ^ he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

o ■= They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

6 They shall be holy unto their God, and

Verse 1. There shall none be defiled for the dead].No priest shall assist in laying out a dead body, or preparing it for interment. Any contact with the dead was supposed to be of a defiling nature, probably because putrefaction had then taken place; and animal putrefaction was ever held in detestation by all men.

Versed. A chief m(m among his people] The word ly2 baal signifies a master, chief, husband, &c., and is IS lariously lranslati;d here. 1. He being a. chief.iniong the people, it would be improper to see him in fiuch a state of humiliation as mourning for the dead necessarily implic's. 3. Though a husband he shall not delile himself even for the death of a wife, because ihe anoinling of his God is upon him. But the first sense appears to be the best.

Verse 5. They shall not make baldness] See the note on chap. xix. 27. It is supposed that these things were particularly prohibited, because used superstiliously by the Egyptian priests, who, according to He- '■odotiu, shaved the, whole body every third day, that there might be no uncleanness about tlicm when they ministered in their temples. This appears to have a 578

•^ not profane the name of their a. M. 2514. God: for the offerings of the An. Eiod. isr! 2. Lord made by fire, and • the Abib or njsm.. bread of their God, they do ofTer; therefore they shall be holy.

7 '' They shall not take a wife that ts a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman? put away from her liusband: for he is holy unto his God.

8 Thou shalt sanctify liim therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: •" f or I the Lord, which sanctify you, am holy.

9 ' And the daughter of any priest, if slie profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

10 '' And Jie that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and ' that is consecrated to

been a general custom among the heathen. In the book of Baruch, chap. vi. 31, the priests of Babylon are represented sitting in their temples, with their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and having nothing upon their heads. Every person knows the tonsure of the Catholic priests. Should not this be avoided as an approach to a heathenish custom?

Put away from her husband] Because this veiy circumstance might lead to suspicion that the priest and the divorced woman might hav€ been improperly connected before.

Verse 9. She shall be burnt with fire.] Probably not burnt alive, but strangled first, and then burnt afterward. Though it is barely possible that some kind of branding may be intended.

1 1 Neither shall he ° go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

12 " Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for ^ the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.

1 3 And 1 he shall take a wife in her virginity.

14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or a harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.

15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for ' I the Lord do sanctify him.

see the note on Gen. xiv. 18. As the cliief or high priest was a representative of our hlessed Lord, tlierefore he was required to be especially holy; and he is represented as God's king among the people.

Verse 12. The crown of the anointing oil — \supon him] By his office the priest represented Christ in his sacrificial character; by his anointing, the prophetic influence; and by the crown, the regal dignity of our

Verse 13. He shall take a wife in her virginity.'] ri'Sin^ bethulei/ha. This is a full proof that nSlH^ bethulah is the proper Hebrew term for a virgin; from the emphatic root 1^2 bathal, to separate; because such a person was in her separate state, and had never been in any way united to man.

Verse 17. Whosoever — hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.] Never was a wiser, a more rational, and a more expedient law enacted relative to sacred matters. The man who ministers in holy things, who professes to be the interpreter of the will of God, should have nothing in his person nor in his manner which cannot contribute to render him respectable in the eyes of those to whom he ministers. II', on the contrary, he has arty personal defect, any thing that may render him contemptible or despicable, his usefulness will be greatly injured, if not entirely prevented. If however a man have received any damage in the work of God, by persecution or otherwise, his scars are honourable, and will add to his respectability. But if he be received into the ministry with any of the blemishes specified here, he never will and never can have that respect which is essentially necessary to secure his usefulness. Let no man say this is a part of the Mosaic law, and we are not bound by it. It is an eternal law, founded on reason, propriety, common sense, and absolute necessity. The priest, the prophet, the Christian minister, is the representative of Jesus Christ; let nothing in his person, carriage, or doctrine, be unworthy of the personage he

1 6 And tlie Lord spake imto A. M. 2514.

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Abib or Nisan. Whosoever he be of thy seed iii their generations that hath any blemisii, let him not * approach to offer the ' Ijrcad of his God.

18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing ° superfluous;

20 Or crook-backed, or '' a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scun^y, or scabbed, or " hath his stones broken:

2 1 No man that hath a blemish, of the seed of Aaron the priest, shall come nigh to '^ offer

represents. A deformed person, though consummate in diplomatic wisdom, would never be employed as an ambassador by any enlightened court, if any fit person, unblemished, could possibly be procured.

Verse 18. A blind man} That is, in one eye; for he that was utterly blind could not possibly be employed in such a service. A flat nose, like that of an ape; so the best versions. Any thing superfluous, such a.-, six fingers, six toes, &c.

A'^erseSO. Crook-backed] Hunch-backed or gibbous. A dwarf, pT dak, a person too short or too thin, so as to be either particularly observable, or ridiculous in his appearance.

A blemish in his eye] A protuberance on the eye, observable spots or suffusions.

Sruri-y, ur scabbed] A bail habit of body, evidenced by scorbutic or scrofulous atfeclions.

Stones broken] Is ruptured; an infirmity which would render him incapable of fulfilling the duties of his office, which might be often very fatiguing.

In the above list of blemishes ue meet with some that might render the priest contemptible in the eyes of men, and be the means of leading them, not only to despise the man, but to despise the ministry itself; and we meet with others that would be a very great impediment in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and therefore any person;hus blemished is by this law precluded from the ministry.

The blemishes here enumerated have been considered by some in an allegorical point of view, as if only referring to the necessity of moral purity; bat although holiness of heart and righteousness of life be essentially necessary in a minister of God, yet an absence of the defects mentioned above is, I fully believe, what God intends here, and lor the reasons too which have been already advanced. It must however be

22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the >■ most holy, and of the ' holy.

23 Only he shall not go in unto the veil,

granted, that there have been some eminent divines who have been deformed; and some with certain ulemishes have been employed in the Christian ministry, and have been useful. The Mosaic rule, however, will admit of but few exceptions, when even examined according to the more extended interpretation of the Christian system.

"The Hebrews say there are in all 120 blemishes which disable the priest — eight in the head, two in the neck, nine in the ears, iive in the brows, seven in the eyelids, nineteen in the eyes, nine in the nose, nine in the mouth, three in the belly, three in the back, seven in the hands, sixteen in the secrets, eight in any part of the body, eight in the skin, and seven in the strength and in the breath." — -Ainswovth. In ancient times, even among heathens, persons of the most respectable appearance were appointed to the priesthood; and the emperor, both among the ancient Greeks and Romans, was both king and priest. It is reported of Mctellus, that, having lost an eye in endeavouring to save the Palladium from the flames, when the temple of Vesta was on fire, he was denied the priesthood, though he had rendered such an excellent piece of service to the public; yet the public opinion was that a priest who was defective in any member was to be avoided as ominous. — See Dodd. " At Elis, in Greece, the judges chose the finest looking man to carry the sacred vessels of the deity; he that was next to him in beauty and elegance led the ox; and the third in personal beauty, &c., carried the garlands, ribbons, wine, and the other matters used for the sacrifice." — Athen. Deipnosoph., 1. xiii., c. 2.

nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that ° he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the Lord do sanctify them. 24 '' And Moses told it unto to his sons, and unto all the

Formerly the Church of England was very cautious in admitting to her ministry those who had gross personal defects; but now we find the hump-backed, the jolt-headed, bandy-legged, club-footed, one-eyed. Sic, priests even of her high places. Why do our prelates ordain such ^

Verse 23. He shall not go in unto the veil] The priest with a blemish was not permitted to enter into the holy of holies, nor to burn incense, nor to offer the shew-bread, nor to light the golden candlestick, &c. In short, he was not permitted to perform any essential function of the priesthood.

1. Thk great perfection required in the Jewish high priest was intended principally to point out the perfection of that priesthood of which the Jewish was only the type. And yet, as the aposlle assures us, that lawmade nothing perfect, but pointed out that most perfect priesthood and sacrifice by which we draw near to

2. As none who had a blemish could enter into the holy of holies, and this holy of holies was a type of the kingdom of God, so nothing that is defiled can enter into heaven; for he gave himself for his Church that he might purify it to himself, and present it at last before the presence of the Divine glory having neither spot nor tcrinkle, nor any such thing, Eph. v. 27; a passage which evidently refers to the directions in the preceding verse. Reader, art thou become a king and priest unto God and the Lamb? and hast thou obtained, or art thou earnestly seeking, that holiness without which thou canst not see the kingdom of heaven 1

Of the uncleanness of the priests, by which they were prevented from ministering in holy things, 1—5. How they should be cleansed, 6, 7. The priest must not eat of any animal that had died of itself, or was torn by wild beasts, but must keep God's ordinances, 8, 9. No stranger, sojourner, nor hired servant shall eat of the holy things, 10, A servant bought with money may eat of them, 11. Who of the priest's family may not eat of them, 12, 13. Of improper persons who partake of the holy things unknowingly, 14-16. Freewill-offerings, and sacrifices in general, must be without blemish, 17—35. The age at which different animals were to be offered to God, 26, 27. No animal and its young shall be offered on the same day, 28. Hmo the sacrifice of thanksgiving was to be offered, 29, 30. All God's testimonies to be observed, and the reason, 31-33.

sons, that they '^ separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they '' profane not my holy name in those things which they " hallow unto me: I am the Lord.

3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all yomseed, among your generations, that goelh unto the holy things which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord, * having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.

4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath " a '^ running issue; he sliall not eat of the holy things s until he be clean. And "^ whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or ' a man wliose seed goeth

' 5 Or "^ whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or ' a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;

6 The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat

of the holy things, unless he a.m. 2514. ■"wash his flesh with water. An.Exod.Tr'.2.

7 And when the sun is down, ^bib or Nisan. he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because " it is his food.

8 ° That which dielh of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the Lord.

9 They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, p lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the Lord do sanctify them.

10 1 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

1 1 But if the priest buy any soul ' with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house; ' they shall eat of his meat.

12 If the priest's daughter also be 7narried unto ' a stranger, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things.

1 3 But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is " returned unto her father's house, "' as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.

Verse 2. Spea/c unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves] The same subject is continued in this chapter as in the preceding, with this addition, that besides the perfection of the priests, it was indispensably necessary that the sacrifices also should be perfect. In the service of God, according to the law, neither an imperfect offering nor an imperfect offerer could be admitted. What need then of a mediator between a holy God and sinful men! And can we expect that any of our services, however sincere and ivelt-intentioned, can be accepted, unless offered on that living Altar that sanctifies the gift?

Verse 4. Is a leper, or hath a running issue] See the case of the leper treated at large in the notes on chapters.xiii. and xiv.; and for other uncleannesses, see the notes on chap. xv.

Verse 10. There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing] For the meaning of the word stranger, see the note on Exod. xii. 43. The Jews suppose that stranger here means one who has had his ear pierced, (see the note on Exod. xxi. 6,) and that sojourner means a servant who is to go free on the Sabbatical year. Neither of these was permitted to eat of the holy things, because they were not properly members *f the priest's family, and might go out and defile themselves even with the abominations of the heathen; but the servant or slave that was bought with money, ver. 10, might eat of these things, because he was the property of the master for ever.

We see that it was lawful, under the Mosaic economy, to have slaves under certain restrictions; but these were taken from among the heathen, and instructed in the true religion: hence we find, as in the above case, that they were reckoned as a part of the priest's own family, and treated as such. They certainly had privileges which did not extend either to sojourners or to hired servants; therefore their situation was incomparably better than the situation of the slaves under different European governments, of whose souls their pitiless possessors in general take no care, while they themselves venture to profess the Christian religion, and quote the Jlosaic law in vindication of their system of slavery. How preposterous is such conduct! and how intolerable!

Verse 13. But if the priest's daughter he a widow— and is returned unto her father's house] A widow in Bengal not unfrequently returns to her father's house on the death of her husband: the union betwixt her and her own family is never so dissolved as among European nations. Thousands of widows in Bengal, whose husbands die before the consummation of marriage, never leave their parents. — Ward.

»into it, and shall give it unto the priest with the liolv thing.

15 And "they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they ofTer unto the Lord;

1 6 Or '' suffer them ^ to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy tilings: for I the Lord do sanctify ihem.

18 Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, "Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will ofTer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill-offerings, which they will oflFer unto the Lord for a burnt-offering;

1 9 ^ Ye shall offer, at your own will, a male without blemish of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.

20 ' But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.

2 1 And ^ whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the Lord ° to accomplish

with the iniquity of trespass in their eating. ' Ver. 9. * Chap.

Verse 14. Then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto if\ The holy thing of which he has unknowingly eaten shall be fairly valued, and to this value he shall add one fifth more, and give the whole to the priest.

Ver.se 20. Whatsoever hath a blemish^ The same perfection is required in the sacrifice that was required in the priest; see on ver. 2, and the notes on the preceding chapter.

Verse 23. That hath any thing superfluous or lacking] The term >'nt7 sarua signifies any thing extended beyond the usual size, and the term DiSp kalut signifies any thing unusually contracted; and both mean any monstrosity, whether in redundance or defect. Such things, it seems, might be offered for a freewill-offering, because that was not prescribed by the law; God left it to a man's pietv and gratitude to ofTer such additional gifts as he could: what the law required was indispensably necessary, because it pointed out the Gospel economy; but he that made a votv to offer such a sacrifice as the law had not required, could of course bring an imperfect offering. Some contend that the last clause of this verse should be thus read: If thou offer it either for a freewill-offering, or for a vote, it shall not be accepted. It was the &83 beeves or ^ sheep, it shall be An. Exod. Isr. 2 perfect to be accepted; there ^bib or Niwn, shall be no blemish therein.

22 " Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make '" an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord.

2.3 Either a bullock or a ' lamb that hath any thing '' superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill-offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

24 Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.

25 Neither ' from a stranger's hand shall ye offer "■ the bread of your God of any of these, because their " corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them; they shall not be accepted for you.

27 " When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goal, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

opinion of the Jews, and it appears to be correct, that none of these imperfect animals were ever ofTered on the altar; but the person who made the freevvill-ofTering of such things as he had, sold the animal, and gave its price for the support of the sanctuary- Verse 24. Bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cvt} That is, no bullock or lamb that is injured in any of the above ways, shall be offered unto the Lord.

Verse 27. When a bullock — is brought forth] This is a most unfortunate as well as absurd translation. The creature called an ox is a bull castrated; surely then a bullock was never yet brought forth! The original word "Mi? shor signifies a bull, a fwllock, or indeed any thing of the neat kind: here, even common sense required that it should be translated calf; and did 1 not hold myself sacredly bound to print the text of the common version with scrupulous exactness, I should translate the former clause of this verse thus, and so enter it into the text: When a calp, or a i..\MB, or a KID is brought forth, instead of, When a bullock, a sheep, or a goat is brought forth, the absurdity of which is glaring.

A.M. 2514. 28 And whether it be cow or An. Exod. isr. 2. P ewe, ye shall not kill it i and

29 And when ye will ' offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.

30 On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave '' none of it until the morrow: I am the Lord.

propriety of this precept it may be justly asserted, that the flesh of very young animals is comparatively innutritive, and that animal food is not sufficiently uourisliing and wholesome till the animal has arrived at a certain growth, or acquired the perfection of its nature. There is something brutish in eating the young of heast or fowl before the hair and hoofs are perfect in the one, and the feathers and claivs in the other. Before this period their flesh is not good for food. See the note on chap. i.K. 1.

Verse 28. Ye shall not hill it and her young — m one day.^ This precept was certainly intended to inculcate mercy and tenderness of heart; and so the Jews understood it. When it is necessary to take away the lives of innocent animals for the support of our own, we should do it in such a way as not to blunt our moral feelings; and deplore the necessity, while we feel an express gratitude to God for permission, to do it.

Verse 30. Leave none of it until the morroxu\ See the note on chap. vii. 18.

Verse 32. Neither shall ye profane my holy name'\ God's name is profaned or rendered common when we

32 " Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but " I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord which ™ hal low you,

33 ^ That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.

treat his commands as we often do those of our fellows, when they do not appear to have self-interest to recommend them. He therefore profanes God"s holy name who does not both implicitly believe and conscientiously obey all his icords and all his precepts.

I will be hallowed amotig the children of Israel] The words children of Israel, Ssity" 'J3 beney Yishrael, which so frequently occur, should be translated either the descendants or posterity of Israel, or the people of Israel. The word children has a tendency to beget a false notion, especially in the minds of young people, and lead them to think that children, in the proper sense of the word, i. e., little ones, are meant.

Verse 33. Brought you out of the land of Egypt] By such a series of miraculous interferences, to be your God — to save you from all idolatry, false and superstitious ivorship, teach you the right way, lead and support you in it, and preserve you to my eternal kingdom and glory. God, infinite in his own perfections, has no need of his creatures; but they need him; and, as a source of endless felicity, he opens himself to all his intelligent offspring.

The feasts of the Lord, 1, 2. The Sabbath, 3. The passover and unleavened bread, 4-8. The feast of first-fruits, 9-14. TAe/eaj^ o/'pentecost, 15-21. Gleanings to be left for the poor, 22. The feast of trumpets, -23-25. The great day o/ atonement, 26-32. The feast of tabernacles, 33-44.

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

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

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 tlie most religious manner, was not capable of keeping any of the others. The religious observance of the Sabbath stands at the very threshold of all religion

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

4 ■* 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 aay unto them, s When 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-ofTering thereof sAaW 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-oflfering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.

14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green cars, until the selfsame day

Verse 5. T/ic Lord's j>assover.\ See this largely explained in the notes on Exod. xii. 21-27.

Verse 11. He shall wave the sheaf] lie shall move it to and fro before ihe people, and thereby call their.attention to the work of Divine Providence, and excite their gratitude to God for prescrvin!; to them the kindly fruits of the earth. See the notes on Kxod. xxix. 27, and chap. vii..at the end.

Verse 14. Yc shall eat neither hreatt, nor parehed com, nnr screen ears] It is right that God, the dispenser of every blessing, should he acknovledged as such, and the first-fruits of the field, Ac, dedicated lo him. Concerning the dedication of ihe first-fruits, that ye have brought an offering a. m. 2514, unto your bod: it shall be a An Exwi isr. 2. statute for ever throughout your ^^''' °^ '^'**°- 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:

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number ° fifty days; and ye shall offer p a new meat-offering unto the

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

18 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

19 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 the selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall he 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 com 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.

A'erse 15. Ye shall count unto you — seven Sabbaths} That is, from the sixteenth of the Jirst month to the sixth of the third month. These seven tveeis, called here Sabbaths, were lo be complete, i. e., the fortynine days must be finished, and the next day, the fiftieth, is what, from the.Septuagint, we call pentccost. See the note on Luke vi. 1.

A. M. 25U. land, thou shall not make clean An. Exod. isr. 2. riddance of the corners of thy Abib or Nisan. ggjj ^j^g^ jj^^^ rcapest, ^ neither

shall thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shall leave them unto the pour, 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 xmto the

27 '' 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 he 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 be a statute for ever throughout your generations, in all your dwellings.

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 commencement 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 com-

The feast of tabernacles.

32 It shall be unto you a Sab- a. M. 25U. bath of rest, and ye shall afflict An.E.xod.lsriz. your souls: in the ninth day of the ^b.b 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 he the feast of tabernacles, for seven days

35 On the first day shall he 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 tlie feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to he 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 he a Sabbath.

37. ^ Heb. day of restraint 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 nf tabernacles, iKTjvri, 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 Anna Perenna waa 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 lejoicings.

Directions concerning the

40 And '' ye shall lake you on ihe first day the ' boughs of goodly trees, branches of palmtrees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; ■" and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.

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

" Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt; Sunt, quibiis e raniis frondea facta casa est. Pars sibi pro rigidis calainos statuere columnis; Desuper extcntas 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 boughs of thick trees the myrtle.

Verse 43. That yonr generations may know, cj-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 tliut are Is-

raelites born siiall booths:

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 « declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

of Eg)T)t, 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 bands.

SiGN.\L 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 deUver thee from its ioflaence and its curse.

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

2 » 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 Withotit 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 be a statute for ever in your generations.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV. Verse 2. Pure oil olive] Sec every thing relative to this ordinance explained on Exod. xxvii 20, 21. Verse 5. Bake twelve cakes] See the whole account 6M

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 shall set them in two rows, six on a row, ° upon the pure table before the

7 And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it maj' be on the bread for a

of the shew-bread in the notes on Exod. xxt. 30; and relative to the table on which they stood, the golden raniileslick and silrer trumpets carried in triumph to Home, see the note on E.Yod. xxv. 31.

An. Exod. isr. 2. Dj fire unto the Lord. AbiborN.san. g f Every Sabbath he shall set il in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

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

10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the ciiildren of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish ivoman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

Verse 10. The son of an Israelitish looman, whose father was an Egyptian, c^c] 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. 2. 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. 11, lie was prevented by a person of that 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 HN Dp'l DSSTI 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 niiT Yehovah, they always put either 'iTN Adonai, Lord, or DtSTl 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 UVl nin'' shem Yehovah, and not the rabbinical iW7\ hashshem, as in ver. U. 5. Of all the manuscripts collated both by Kennicott and De Rossi, not one, either of the Hebrew or Samaritan, lias the word Jehovah in this place. 6. Not one of the ancient versions, Targum of Onkelos, He'^rrto- Samaritan, Samaritan version, Syriac, Arabic, Sepluagint, or Vulgate Latin, has even attempted to supply the sacred name. 7. Houbiganl 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,

1 1 And the Israelitish woman's A. M. 2514. son ' blasphemed the name of the a^. Exod. isr.'2. LORD, and ^cmscd. And they ^'"'' "'' ^'^^"- '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,

14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him f lay their hands upon his head, and let all the con gregation stone him.

15 And thou shalt speak unto the children

and certainly expose to the punishment mentioned in ver. 14. 8. Probably the word DBTl 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, whosoever curscth his god, vnSx elohaiv, shall bear his sin — shall have the punishment due to him as an idolater; but he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, niH" Dty shem Yehovah, shall surely be put to death — when he blasphemeth the name (DtV shem) he shall die, ver. 16. 10. The verb 3p: nakab, which we translate blaspheme, signifies to pierce, bore, make hollow; also to express or DISTINGUISH by n.\me; see Isa. Ixii. 2; Num. i. 17; 1 Chron. xii. 31; xvi. 41; xxviii. 15; or, as the Persian translator has it, _U ^) y^ ^yf ^yiii sherah kerd, mir an nam, he expounded or interpreted 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 sufllciently plam, that he who speaks irreverently of God, of his works, 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 1 4. 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 elTect said to the man, Thy blood be upon thy own head.

16 And lie that ' blasphemeth the name of the Lord, lie 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 blasphemelh the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

17 "And he that ' killcth any man shall surely be put to death.

18 " And he that kiUeth 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;

yekallel Elohaiv, he who makes light of him, who does not treat him and sacred things with due reverence,.ihall bear hi.'! sin — shall have the guilt of this transgression imputed to him, and may expect the punishment.

Verse 16. Blasphemelh the name of the Lord] Zpil mn' Q'lO venokeb shem Yehovah, he who pierces, transfijKs, 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 liilleth 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 constttulion. He 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 the laws of his country forfeits all right and title to protection and privilege; his own actions condemn him, and Justice takes him up on ibe evidence of his own transgressions. lie who does what is right need not/car the power oi the civil magistrate, for lie holds the sword only to punish transgressors. Uoiversal obedience to the laws is the duty of every

20 Breach for breach, eve for A. M 2514. eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath An. Eiod. Ui. 2. caused a blemish in a man, so *''''' °' ^"'*"- shall it be done to him again.

21 '^ 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 oi 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 icithout the camp. When they came within four cubits of the place of execution, they stripped the criminal, if a rnan, 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 him, 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 icill and fury of the people were law, judge, jury, and executioner. Such disgraceful stonings as these were, no doubt, frequent among the Jews. See CalmeCs Diet., article Stoning, and Ainsworth on this place.

W^HAT 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 punislmient, 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 guilty, 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 ivallcd city, 39, 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, when 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, who, being bought ivith their money, shall be considered as their properly, 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.

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

5 ■= That which groweth of 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

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them. When 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? 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- sibly be any deception here l 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

An. Exoil. isr. 2. incrcasc thereoi be meal. Abib_<nj«mn_ g And thou shall number seven Sabbaliis of years unto thee, seven limes seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbalh.s of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

9 Then shall iliou cause llic trumpet "^ of liic jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of tlic seventh month, ' in the day of atonement shall yc make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

10 And ye shall hallow tlie fiftieth year, and s proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it sliall 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 shall number seven Sabbaths of i/ears] This seems to state that tlie jubilee was to be celebrated on the /or^y-nmM year; but in ver. 10 and 11 it is said, Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and, A jubilee shall this fiftieth year be. Probably in this verse Moses either includes the preceding jubilee, and thus with thu forty-ninth makes up the number _^/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, whicii 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, hlV yobel in Hebrew, and h'^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; E7^eii$spiav dc ariiiaivn -ovvafia, Antiq., 1. 3, cap. 12, edit. Haverc., vol. i., p. 184; but the word liberty signifies rather the intention of the instilution, than the meaning of the Hebrew term. The rabbins say it signifies a ram's horn, 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 73' yabal, to bring, carry away, because the Israelites i at this time carried away tlie right of repossessing i their inheritances which had been forfeited or alien- { ated. The most natural derivation is from h'2\T\ ho- j bil, to cause to bring back, or recall, because estates,, &c, which had been alienated, were then brought back to their primitive owners. This was a wise and j excellent institution, but appears to have bceu little |

groweili of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of ihy 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 Antl 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 shall 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. Ti Vhis 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 Atonemetit, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, had been offered up? See ver. 9.

Verse 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 bui/er, is no better than a thief, as he actually robs his neighbour of as much property as he has bought the article at beloto or sold it above its current value.

1 6 According to the multitude of years, thou shalt increase the price 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; " but thou shalt fear tliy 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 y for ^ ever:

for ^ the land is mine; for ye A. M. 2514. are ''strangers and sojourners An. Exod. i9r'.2.

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 he redeem that which his brother sold.

26 And if the man have nono 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: s 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; luithin a full year may he redeem it.

purcha.ses that were to be made of lands were to be regulated by tlie number of j'ears 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 e.\piration 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: / wilt COMMAND niy BLESSING upon ijoti in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. See on

Verse 2 3. The land shall not be sold for ever — the land is mine] 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. A7iy of his kin come to redeem it] The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim between, jubilee and jubilee, by the former owner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the te.xt ^NJ gocl or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus 1 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 hack to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by transgression.

Verse 29. Sell a dwelling 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, nmst go out at the jubilee. The reason in both ca.scs is sufficiently evident; the house in tlie 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. 25H. 30 And if It be not redeemed

An. Enod. Isr. 2. wilhin the space of a full year, *'''^"'^""'" then the house that;.v in the walled city sludl be established for ever to liiin that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.

;j 1 Rut the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about thcni, sball be counted as the fields of the country: '' they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.

.32 NotvvithstaiidiMjr ' the cities of the Lees

vites, 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 shalt " 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, Ac, 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 liave some certainty of permanent possession, without which, we may n;ilurally conjecture, no such purchases ever would be made. This s<»cms 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 59S or a sojourner; that he may live A. M. 25H.

36 "Take thou no usury of him, *''''' "■• ^'""^- or increase: but ' fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

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

38 'lam 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 theri shall he depart from thee, both 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 are ^ my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold ^ as bondmen.

one. A Leviie could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any lime in the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the Ibllowing jubilee. And why ^ " Because Moses framed his laws so much in favour of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges 1" &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.

Averse 36. Ta/tc thou no usury of him] Usury, at present, signifies unlawful interest for money. Properly, it means the reward or compensation given for the use of a thing, but is principallj' spoken of money- See the definition of the original terra in the note oi. Exod. xxii. 25.

Verse 42. For they are my servants] As God redeemed evci-y 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 in being his servants, and devoted to his work, that both their religious and po-

A.M. 2514. 43 'Thou shall not rule over

44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shall have, shall be 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 tlieir families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your 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 chvelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to tlie 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 lust, they knew that their spiritual liberty never could be forfeited except by an utter alienation from Cod. God therefore claims the same right to their persons which he does to their lands; see the note on ver. 23.

Verse 43. Thou shall 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 loith 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, ^-c] This was a very equitable law, botli 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 bo done to the prejudice of his master, the sojourner. They were therefore to reckon the y;ars he nmst have.served from that time till tlie jubilee; and then, taking the current wages of a servant per

50 And he shall reckon with him that 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 cliildren 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 sura, and the aggregate was tlie sum to be given to his master for his redemption. Ttie Jews hold that the kindred of sucli 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 brethren the Jews, ivho were sold unto the heathen.

Verse 55. For unto me the children of Ztracl 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 Ciirist Jesus. But these last have a peculiarity of blessing: they are not merely servants, but they are sons; tliough they also serve God, yet it is in the netcness of the.■spirit, and not in the oldncss of the letter. And to this dilTerence of state the apostle seems evidently to allude, Gal. iv. 6, &c.: And because yc are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sun into your hearts, cri/ing Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a sebv.4NT, but a son; and if a son, then an HEIR of God through Christ; genuine believers in Cliristnot being heirs of an earthly inheritance, nor merely of a heavenly one, for they are heirs of God-

Laws against image worship.

The Sabbath to be sanctified

God himself therefore is their portion, without whom tiven kiavcn itself would not be a state of uonsumniatc 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 lliis law," says Calraet, "was to prevent the rich from iipprcssinf; the poor, and reducing llieiii 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;;ind that.T^art's should not continue always, they, their wives and children, in servitude. Besides, Moses infended 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 institation especially pointed out the redemption of man by Christ Jesus: 1. Through hint he who was in debt to God's justice had his debt dis charged, and his sin forgiven. 2. lie 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 alt 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 wilh the Lord. Reader, bast thou applied for this redemption? Does not the trumpet of the jubilee, the glad tidings of salvation by Christ Jesus, sound in the land ].Surely it does. Why theu 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? 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, S2, 3. Promises to obedience, of fruitful fields, plenttful harvests, and vintage, i,.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 jvild beasts, 21, 22. And if not humbled and reformed, worse evils shall be inflicted upon them, 23, 24. Their enemies shall prevail, and they shall be wasted by the pestilence, 25, 26. If they should still continue refractory, they shall be yet mure sorely punished, 27, 28. The famine sliall so increase that tliey 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 withutter confusion and distress, 33—39. If under titesc 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 with their fathers, 45. The conclusion, stating these to be the judgments and laws which the Lord made bctivcen himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, 46.

•3 ' Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reve-

Verse 1. Ye shall make you no idol.i] See the note on Exod. XX. 4, and see the note on Gen. xxviii. 18, 19, concerning consecrated stones. Not only idolatry in general is forbidden here, but also the superstitious ■Me of innocent and lawful things. Probably the stones or pillars which were first set up, and anointed >iy holy men in commemoration of signal interpositions » 694

.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 v,c 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

B. C. 1490., ■', °,, An. Exod. isr. 2. reach unto the vintage, and the AbiborNisan. ^intagg ghall 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 i the sword go through 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 xmto you, and

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

Verse 5. Your threshing 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 3«ch entire plenty of corn and wine, that before the/ could have reaped and threshed out their corn •'le vintage should be ready, and before they could have pressed out their wine 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 trcader of grapes him who aowelh seed." — Dodd.

Verse 11.7 irill set my tabernacle among you'] This «nd the following verse contain the grand promise of

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

1 1 ' 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.

13^1 am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondinen; " 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;

15 And if ye shall " despise my statutes, or

the Gospel dispensatio7i, 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 leas made fesh, Kai ecxtivaaev ev 71/uv, and made his tabernacle among us. AnA 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 — ah::,.r my judgments] As these words, and others of;i similar import, which point out different properties of the revelation of God, are frequently occurring, I judge it best to take a general view of them, once for all, in this place, and show how they diilcr among themselves, and what property of the Divine law each points out.

I. Statutes. Hpn chukkoth, from pn chak, to mark out, define, &c. This term seems to signify the thiuffs which God has defined, marked, and traced out, that men might have a perfect copy of pure conduct alvvais before their eyes, to teach them how they mielit walk so as to please him in all things, which they could not do without such instruction;i3 God oji'ds in his word, and the help which he affords by his Spirit.

2. Judgments. D'aSC shcphatim, from D217 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, mvo mitsvoth, from nii 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 abhoF my judgments, An. Eiod. Isr. 2. SO that vc wiU not do all my Abib or N.»an. commandments, but that ye break my covenant:

16 1 also will do this unto you; I will even appoint '' over you " terror, ' consumption, and the burning ague, that shall " consume the

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"13 bcrith, 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 PKike them holy. Bcrith also signifies the covenant-sacrifice, whicli 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 works. Besides those four, ■we may add the following, from other places of Scripture.

5. Testi.monies. nn^' edoth, from n^' ad, beyond, farther, besides; because the whole ritual law referred to something /ar//ifr 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, &e., of the Mosaic law referred to Christ, and bore testimony to him ivho tvas to come.

6. Ordinances. nnoB^O mishmaroth, from ID'iy shamar, to guard, keep safe, watch over; those parts of Divine revelation which exhorted men to watch their tvays, keep their hearts, and promised them, in consequence, the continual protection and blessing of God their Maker.

7. Precepts. Dnipi) pikkudim, from npiJ pakad, to overlook, lake care or notit:e 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.idversily, others in prosperity; some in times of temptation and sadness, others in seasons of s])iritual joy and exultation, Sec, &c. Thus tlicv mav be said to overlook and vis\t man in all times, jilaces, and circumstances.

8. Truth. HOX emeth, from DX am, to svppon,.lustain, confirm; because God is immutable who has promised, threatened, commanded, and therefore all his promises, threateninj^s, 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 failhfulncis. and it supports and confirms them who conscientiously believe it.

9. Righteousness. npiV tscdakah, from p^V, which, though not used as a verb in the Hebrew TJible, seems to convey, from its use as a noun, the idea of giving just weight or good miusure, see chap. xix. 36. This is one of the characters which is attributed to the

and " yc shall sow your seed in An. Exod. Isr.z. vain, for your enemies shall eat it. *'"'' " '^""°- 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.

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. TT\7\' "^21 debar Yehovah, from 131 dabar, 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. niDN imrah, speech or word, variously modified from 1"DN 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," woJ-i'^cpuf /cat xoXvrpoirwf, in 7nani/ distinct parcels, and by various tropes ox figures; a curious and elegant description of Divine revelation; Heb. i. 1.

12. All these collectively are termed the law, mm torah, or nirr min torath Yehovah, the law 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 taw, see the note on Exod. xii. 49, where other properties of the 'nw of God are specified.

''•'ersc 16. I icill even appoint over you terror, 4'C-] How ^readful 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 undei the influence of disnray, feeling indescribable evils, and fearing worse! Consumpl inn, 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 will " break the pride of your power; and I p will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

20 And your *• 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 my 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. / will also send wild beasts among you] God fulfilled these threatenings at different times. He seal 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 loild beasts, &c., see Ezek. v. 17. " Spiritually," says Mr. Ainsworlh, " these are wicked rulers and tyrants that kill and spoil, Prov. xxviii. 15; Dan. vii. 3-6; Psa. Ixxx. 13; 3.nd false prophets that devour souls, Matt. vii. 15; Rev. xiii. 1, &c. So the prophet, speaking of their punislimentby 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 that goeth out thence shall h» torn to pieces, because their transgressions be many.

you; and ye shall be delivered A. M. 2514. into the hand of the enemy. An^xod.*^'. 2.

26 ^ And when I have broken Ab.b or Nisan. the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver ijou 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 s abhor you.

3 1 *" 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 Hie 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: Ten wotnen shall bake your bread in one oven, &c.

Verse 29. Ye shall cat the flesh of your sons, t^c] 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 wlicn discovered by the soldiers! See this threatened, Jer. xix. 9.

A.M. 25H. 34 " Then shall the land enjoy An. Exod. isr. 2. her Sabbaths, as long as it liclh Abib or Wisan. desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths.

35 As long as it licth 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 faintncss into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and i the sound of a "■ siiakcn 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 heatiien, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

39 And they that arc left of you " shall pine away in their iniquity, in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall ihey 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;

4 1 And that I also have walked contrary

Verse 34. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths] This HnubigaiU observes to be a historical truth. — "From S.iiil to the Babylonish captivity are numbered about four hundred and ninety years, daring 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,.is 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 uas observed till Saul's time, as it is only after this period the land enjoyed ita rest in the seventy years' captivity \ And if that breach of the law was thus punished, may it not be unto them, and have brought them A. M. 2514. into the land ol their enemies; An. Exod i3r.2. if then their " uncircumcised AbiborNi^u. hearts be ' humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;

42 Then will I ^ 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

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

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 yott up.] Does this refer to the total loss of the ten tribes T These are so completely swallowed up in some enemies'" land, that nothing concerning their e.xistence or place of residence remains bnt mere conjecture.

Verse 44. Neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly] Though God has literally fulfilled all his 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, vvith the Gentiles, they shall all be r«- stored 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, <Jt;.] 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 thtise 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 agret in concldding both the chapters in nearly the same way; yet the 26th chapter nsust 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, 31th, and 44lh 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 valuation, 3,4. Of the same from five to twenty years, 5. Of the same from a month to five years of age, &. 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 sanctificat ion 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 saiictnary, 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; hut it may be redeemed by adding a fij'th part, 31. The tithe of the herd and the flock is also his, 32. 2'he tenth that passes under the rod shall not be changed, 33. The conclusion of the book, 34.