CONTENTS. VI. The Name of the Book. II. Relative Age of Animal and Vegetable Sacrifices V. The Hebrew Appellation of Sacrifice and its Meaning. VI. General Survey and Classification of the Hebrew Sacrifices 3. The gradual Abolition of Human Sacrifices. 289 291 302 341 351 XXV. Supplementary Note on the Human Sacrifices of the Hebrews XXVI. Conclusions and general Remarks on the Theology of the IV. Deviations from the Levitical Laws found in the historical Books of the Old Testament ... V. A historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the INTRODUCTION. I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN EXODUS AND LEVITICUS. THE ordinances concerning the public worship of the Hebrews which were commenced in the Book of Exodus, are continued, and in some respects completed, in Leviticus. They related, in the former Book, chiefly to the construction of the Sanctuary, and to the vestments and consecration of its ministers; while they refer in the latter, to sacrifices deemed to form the principal means of religious service, and to the duties and privileges of the priests. But the third Book unfolds, moreover, the laws and institutions designed to embody and to realise Israel's mission as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." It culminates in the doctrine "You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy." Thus its scope is immeasurably extended. It points out the means by which the covenant before concluded between God and Israel may be perpetually preserved and renewed. It impresses by manifold commands and symbols that the covenant can only be maintained by obedience and piety on the part of Israel, and by grace and forgiveness on the part of their God. It shows that this lofty aim is attainable, first and directly, by diligent service at the Sanctuary, by the absolute rejection of idolatry, and by the removal of every external impurity; but more unfailingly still, though less directly, by a life of virtue and rectitude. Therefore, the sacrificial and priestly regulations are followed by denunciations against every form of idolatry and superstition; by precepts upon purity in diet and in the general intercourse of life; by statutes on festivals and 1 Exod. XIX. 6. 2 Lev. XIX. 2; comp. XI. 46; XX. 7, 8, 26; XXII. 32. holy seasons; by rules settling the relations between God, the invisible King, and the persons or the land of the Israelites'; by commands relating to men or things sanctified by a vow2; and especially by a series of laws directing the moral conduct of individuals, both in reference to their families and their fellow-men generally, defining the ties of consanguinity and the rights of property, and securing the protection of the poor and the helpless and all these injunctions are properly concluded by a solemn blessing promised to attend their observance, and a vehement curse certain to follow their transgression. The Book, therefore, carries onward all the chief objects introduced in the preceding portion the religious and theocratic, the political and civil, and the purely ethical. It was evidently intended as a complete and organic work, twice wound up as it is by a formula of conclusion. It was meant to serve as a spiritual code both for individuals and the chosen people as a community. The election of Israel by Divine grace was to be justified and merited by Israel's zealous devotion. The covenant mercifully offered by God was to be converted into a covenant yearned for and treasured by Israel. Jehovah had manifested Himself as the God of the Hebrews; the Hebrews were now to prove themselves the people of God, by deed and thought, in life and faith. 3 II. DIVISION OF LEVITICUS. HOWEVER, the execution of the composition falls very considerably short of its conception. The arrangement discloses indeed, in general outlines, the three great divisions of Sacrifices, Purity, and Morals: but the details are desultory and often illogical. Statutes which should form one division, are scattered throughout the Book, and laws belonging to different sections, are agglomerated rather than combined. The Book possesses, therefore, in many respects, a fragmentary character. leaves to the reader the laborious task of effecting, by 1 The year of release (p) and of jubilee (1). חֵרֶם and נָזִיר 2 3 Comp. XXVI. 46; XXVII, 34. It constant separation and connection of its elements, a unity of design, the absence of which painfully strikes him on careful examination. This will be obvious from the following classified survey. I. Laws concerning Sacrifices and public Worship, Ch. I to X. a. First Code, ch. I to V. 1. Burnt-Offering (ny), ch. I. 2. The Bloodless Offering (7), ch. II. 4. Expiatory Offering, ch. IV and V. a. Sin-offering (non), ch. IV. 1-V. 13. B. Trespass-offering (DN), ch. V. 14–26. b. Another Code, Ch. VI and VII. 1. On the Service of the Altar of Burnt-Offering, ch. VI. 1–6 2. On Bloodless Offerings, ch. VI. 7-11. 3. On the Bloodless Offering of the High-priest on the Day of his Initiation, ch. VI. 12-16. 4. On Sin-Offerings, ch. VI. 17-23. 5. On Trespass-Offerings, ch. VII. 1-7. 6. The Portions of Burnt-Offerings and Bloodless Offer- 8. Prohibition against eating the Blood and Fat of 9. The Portions of Thank-Offerings falling to the Share of the Priests, ch. VII. 28-34. 10. Conclusion of this Code, ch. VII. 35—38. B. The Consecration of the Sanctuary and its Utensils, and of a. Consecration of the Sanctuary and of Aaron and his b. The first public Sacrifices performed by Aaron and his Sons, ch. IX. c. Offence of Aaron's two eldest Sons against the sacrificial Precepts; their Death; and Commands regarding the Holiness of the Priests and their Functions, ch. X. II. Precepts respecting Purity in Diet and Person, ch. XI to XV. A. Distinction between clean and unclean Animals, and Commandments with respect to them, ch. XI. |