In the synagogues of the Hellenists or Greek Jews, the law was always read in the Alexandrian or Greek version: but in those of the native Jews, the law was always read in Hebrew; whence it became necessary, as soon as that language ceased to be vernacular among the Jews, to establish an interpreter, by whom the Jewish Scriptures were expounded in the Chaldee dialect, which was spoken by them after the return from the Babylonian captivity. The doctor or reader, therefore, having the interpreter always by him, softly whispered in his ears what he said, and this interpreter repeated aloud to the people what had thus been communicated to him. To this custom our Saviour is supposed to have alluded when he said to his disciples, What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. (Matt. x. 27.)3 3. The third and last part of the synagogue service is, Exposition of the Scriptures, and Preaching to the people from them. The first was performed at the time of reading them, and the other after the reading of the law and the prophets. In Luke iv. 15-22. we have an account of the service of the synagogue in the time of Christ; from which it appears that he taught the Jews in both these ways: And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias; and when he had unrolled the volume he found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord!" And he folded the volume, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.

From this passage we learn, that when Jesus Christ came to Nazareth, his own city, he was called out, as a member of that synagogue, to read the haphtorah, that is, the section or lesson out of the prophets for that day; which appears to have been the fifty-first haphtorah, and to have commenced with the first verse of Isa. lxi. and not with the tenth, as in the table above given. "Have the Jews," asks an eminent commentator," altered this haphtorah, knowing the use which our blessed Lord made of it among their ancestors ?" Further he stood up (as it was customary, at least for the officiating minister to do out of reverence for the word of God) to read the Scriptures; and unrolled the manuscript until he came to the lesson appointed for that day; which having read he rolled it up again, and gave it to the proper officer; and then he sat down and expounded it, agreeably to the usage of the Jews. But when Christ entered any synagogue of which he was not a member (as it appears from Luke iv. 16. he always did on every Sabbath-day, wherever he was), he taught the people in sermons after the law and the prophets had been read. The Sacred Writings, used to this day in all the Jewish synagogues, are written on skins of parchment or vellum, and (like the ancient copies) rolled on two rollers, beginning at each end: so that, in read

will be found to vary a little. On the above tables, Dr. Clarke remarks, that though the Jews are agreed in the sections of the law that are read every Sabbath; yet they are not agreed in the haphtoroth, or sections from the prophets; as it appears above, that the Dutch and German Jews differ in several cases from the Italian and Portuguese; and there are some slighter variations besides those above, which he has not noticed.

1 Tertulliani Apologia, c. 18.

2 From this practice originated the Chaldee Paraphrases, of which an account has been given in the first volume of this work. Dr. Lightfoot's Horæ Hebraicæ, on Matt. x. 27. "AVARTUES TO 6.50v. This word signifies to unfold, unroll. The books of the ancients were written on parchment and rolled up. Hence the word volume. Αλλ' ουκ αναπτυξαντες αυτούς και τω χειρε περιβάλοντες AAA; Why do we not unfold our arms, and clasp each other in them? Dion. Halicarn. lib. vi. p. 392. Hudson. TY TITO ANAITYEAY, unfolding the letter. Josephus, de vitâ sua, p. 21. Havercamp. pas ες βιβλιον τα εβούλετο, άλλην των Περσών εποίησατο, μετα δε, ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΑΣ, TO BIBAION," [the very expression of the evangelist.] Herodotus, lib. i. c. 125. tom. i. p. 158. edit. Oxon. 1809. Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. p. 181. • Πτυξας το βιβλιον,

Dr. A. Clarke, on Deut. xxxiv.

In like manner, according to the custom of their public instructers, we find our Saviour sitting down (Matt. v. 1.) before he began to deliver his sermon on the mount to the assembled multitudes; and upon another occasion sitting down, and out of the ship teaching the people who were collected on the shore. (Matt. xiii. 1.) So also it is said of the scribes, who were the Jewish clergy, that they sat (Matt. xxiii. 2.) in Moses' chair: whatever therefore they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not after their works, for they say and do not.

ing from right to left, they roll off with the left, while they roll on with the right hand. The vignette, at the head of this section, will convey some idea of the manner in which the Synagogue Rolls are unrolled. It is taken from the original and very valuable manuscript in the British Museum, which is described in Vol. I. Part I. chap. iii. sect. i. § ii. "It should seem also, at least in foreign countries where places of worship were established, that when strangers, who were Jews, arrived at such towns, and went to offer their devotions, it was usual for the presidents of the synagogue, after the appointed portion out of the law and the prophets was read, to send a servant to them, and in a very respectful manner to request that if they could impart any thing that might contribute to the religious instruction and edification of the audience, they would deliver it. This token of respect and politeness shown to strangers, appears from the following passage in the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts xiii. 14, 15.) When Paul and his companions, on their arrival at Antioch in Pisidia, went into the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Upon which Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience."9

The synagogues, however, were not only places set apart for prayer; they were also schools where youth were instructed. The sages (for so were the teachers called) sat upon elevated benches, while the pupils stood at their feet or before them;10 which circumstance explains St. Paul's meaning (Acts xxii. 3.) when he says that he was brought up AT THE FEET of Gamaliel.

V. Those who had been guilty of any notorious crime, or were otherwise thought unworthy, were cast out of these synagogues, that is, excommunicated, and excluded from partaking with the rest in the public prayers and religious offices there performed; so that they were looked upon as mere heathens, and shut out from all benefit of the Jewish religion, which exclusion was esteemed scandalous. We are told that the Jews came to a resolution, that whoever confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (John ix. 22.) And, therefore, when the blind man, who had been restored to sight, persisted in confessing that he believed the person who had been able to work such a miracle could not have done it, if he were not of God, they cast him out. (ver. 33, 34.)!!

VI. The following are the Shemoneh Esreh, or nineteen prayers of the Jews, referred to in page 104. as translated by Dr. Prideaux. That which was formerly the nineteenth is now the twelfth in the order in which they stand in the Jewish liturgies. The first or precatory part of each article was pronounced by the priest, and the last or eucharistical part was the response of the people.

"1. Blessed be thou, O LORD our GOD, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the GOD of Jacob, the great God, powerful and tremendous, the high GOD, bountifully dispensing benefits, the creator and possessor of the universe, who rememberest the good deeds of our fathers, and in thy love sendest a Redeemer to those who are descended from them, for thy name's sake, O King our LORD and helper, our Saviour and our shield.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who art the shield of Abraham!

"2. Thou, O LORD, art powerful for ever; thou raisest the dead to life, and art mighty to save; thou sendest down the dew, stillest the winds, and makest the rain to come down upon the earth, and sustainest with thy beneficence all that

Dr. A. Clarke, on Luke vi. 17.

Dr. Harwood's Introd. vol. ii. p. 182.

10 Fleury, Lamy, and other eminent critics, have supposed that the Jew. ish youth sat on low seats or on the ground, at the feet of their preceptors, who occupied a lofty chair ; but Vitringa has shown, from Jewish authority, that the disciples of the rabbins stood before them in the manner above represented. See his treatise de Synag. Vet. lib. i. p. 1. c. 7. Kypke (Observ. Sacræ, in Nov. Fod. Libros, vol. ii. pp. 114, 115.) has collected a variety of passages from Greek writers, to show that the expression παρα τους πόδας at the feet, is equivalent to πλησιον, near or before.

11 The preceding account of the Jewish Synagogues has been compiled from Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol. ii. pp. 219-221. Prideaux's Connec tions (book vi. sub anno 444), vol. i. pp. 374-391. Fleury's Manners of the Israelites by Dr. Clarke, pp. 336-338. Pictet, Antiq. Judaiques, pp. 12-14. (Theol. Chret. tom. iii.) Schulzii Archæol. Hebr. pp. 225, 226. Reland's Antiq. Hebr. part i. c. 10. pp. 126-140. Ikenii Antiq. Hebr. parti. c. 9. pp. 100-105. Schachtii Animadversiones ad Ikenii Antiq. Hebr. pp. 452-470. Lardner's Credibility, book i. c. 9. §6. Pritii Introd. ad Nov. Test. pp. 447. 595-608.; and Dr. Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book ii. c. 2. Pareau, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 204-208. Beausobre's and L'Enfant's Introd. Bp. Watson's Theol. Tracts, pp. 158-169. On the synagogue-worship of the modern Jews, see Mr. Allen's Modern Judaism, pp. 319-354.

"13. Upon the pious and the just, and upon the proselytes of justice, and upon the remnant of thy people of the house of Israel, let thy mercies be moved, O LORD our GOD, and give a good reward unto all who faithfully put their trust in thy name; and grant us our portion with them, and for ever let us not be ashamed, for we put our trust in thee.Blessed art thou, O LORD, who art the support and confidence of the just!

are therein; and of thy abundant mercy makest the dead again to live. Thou raisest up those who fall; thou healest the sick, thou loosest them who are bound, and makest good thy word of truth to those who sleep in the dust. Who is to be compared to thee, O thou LORD of might! and who is like unto thee, O our King, who killest and makest alive, and makest salvation to spring as the grass in the field! Thou art faithful to make the dead to rise again to life. Blessed art thou, O LORD, who raisest the dead again to life! "3. Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. For a great king and a holy art thou, O GOD.-Blessed art thou, O LORD GOD, most holy!

4. Thou of thy mercy givest knowledge unto men, and teachest them understanding: give graciously unto us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who graciously givest knowledge unto men!

"5. Bring us back, O our Father, to the observance of thy law, and make us to adhere to thy precepts, and do thou, Ŏ our King, draw us near to thy worship, and convert us to thee by perfect repentance in thy presence.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who vouchsafest to receive us by repentance!

6. Be thou merciful unto us, O our Father: for we have sinned: pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed against thee. For thou art a God, good and ready to pardon.-Blessed art thou, O LORD most gracious, who multipliest thy mercies in the forgiveness of sins!

7. Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflictions. Be thou on our side in all our contentions, and plead thou our cause in all our litigations; and make haste to redeem us with a perfect redemption for thy name's sake. For thou art our GOD, our King, and a strong Redeemer.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, the Redeemer of Israel!

"8. Heal us, O LORD our GOD, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved. For thou art our praise. Bring unto us sound health, and a perfect remedy for all our infirmities, and for all our griefs, and for all our wounds. For thou art a GOD who healest and art merciful.-Blessed art thou, O LORD our God, who curest the diseases of thy people Israel!

"9. Bless us, O LORD our GOD, in every work of our hands, and bless unto us the seasons of the year, and give us the dew and the rain to be a blessing unto us, upon the face of all our land, and satiate the world with thy blessings, and send down moisture upon every part of the earth that is habitable.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who givest thy blessing to the years!

10. Gather us together by the sound of the great trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty; and lift up thy ensign to call together all the captivity, from the four quarters of the earth into our own land.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who gatherest together the exiles of the people of Israel!

"11. Restore unto us our judges as at the first, and our counsellors as at the beginning; and remove far from us affliction and trouble, and do thou only reign over us in benignity, and in mercy, and in righteousness, and in justice. -Blessed art thou, O LORD, our king, who lovest righteousness and justice.

"12. Let there be no hope to them, who apostatize from the true religion; and let heretics, how many soever they be, all perish as in a moment. And let the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out and broken in our days.-Blessed art thou, O LORD our GOD, who destroyest the wicked, and bringest down the proud!3

This is the prayer which was added by Rabbi Gamaliel against the Christians, or as others say by Rabbi Samuel the little, who was one of his

scholars.

14. Dwell thou in the midst of Jerusalem, thy city, as thou hast promised: build it with a building to last for ever, and do this speedily even in our days.-Blessed art thou, Ở LORD, who buildest Jerusalem!

"15. Make the offspring of David thy servant speedily to grow up, and flourish; and let our horn be exalted in thy salvation. For we hope for thy salvation every day.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who makest the horn of our salvation to flourish!

16. Hear our voice, O LORD our GoD, most merciful Father, pardon and have mercy upon us, and accept of our prayers with thy mercy and favour, and send us not away from thy presence, O our king. For thou hearest with mercy the prayer of thy people Israel.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who hearest prayer!

"17. Be thou well pleased, O LORD our GOD, with thy people Israel; and have regard unto their prayers; restore thy worship to the inner part of thy house, and make haste with favour and love to accept of the burnt sacrifices of Israel, and their prayers; and let the worship of Israel thy people be continually well pleasing unto thee.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who restorest thy divine presence to Zion!

"18. We will give thanks unto thee with praise. For thou art the LORD our GOD, the GoD of our fathers, for ever and ever. Thou art our rock, and the rock of our life, and the shield of our salvation. To all generations will we give thanks unto thee, and declare thy praise, because of our life which is always in thy hands, and because of thy signs, which are every day with us, and because of thy wonders, and marvellous loving-kindness, which are morning, and evening, and night before us. Thou art good, for thy mercies are not consumed; thou art merciful, for thy lovingkindnesses fail not. For ever we hope in thee. And for all these mercies be thy name, O king, blessed and exalted, and lifted up on high for ever and ever; and let all that live give thanks unto thee. Selah. And let them in truth and sincerity praise thy name, O GOD of our salvation, and our help. Selah.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, whose name is good, and to whom it is fitting always to give praise!

"19. Give peace, beneficence, and benediction, grace, benignity, and mercy unto us, and to Israel thy people. Bless us, our Father, even all of us together as one man, with the light of thy countenance. For in the light of thy countenance hast thou given unto us, O LORD our GOD, the law of life, and love, and benignity, and righteousness, and blessing, and mercy, and life, and peace. And let it seem good in thine eyes, to bless thy people Israel with thy peace at all times, and in every moment.-Blessed art thou, O LORD, who blessest thy people Israel with peace! Amen."

hilated speedily, and all the tyrants be cut off quickly; humble thou them quickly in our days.-Blessed art thou, O Lord, who destroyest enemies and humblest tyrants!" In the Prayer Book of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, this prayer runs thus :-"Let slanderers have no hope, and and those who hate thee, be suddenly cut off, and all those who act wickall presumptuous apostates perish as in a moment; and may thine enemies, edly be suddenly broken, consumed, and rooted out; and humble thou them speedily in our days.-Blessed art thou, O Lord, who destroyest the enemies and humblest the proud!" Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 329.

Concerning these supposed proselytes of justice, see p. 109. infra. i. e. The Adytum Templi, which in the temple of Jerusalem was the holy of holies, into which none ever entered but the high-priest once a year, on the great day of expiation. From this place, after the Babylonish captivity, were wanting the ark, the mercy-seat, the Shechinah of the divine presence, and the Urim and Thummim, which causing an imperfection in their worship in respect of what it was formerly, a restoration of them seems to be the subject of this petition.

it is said, that David delivered this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. (1 Chron. xvi. 7.) The principal persons of this order, who had the superintendency over all the rest, were Heman and Asaph of the line of Gershon, and Jeduthun of the line of Merari, of whom we have an account in 1 Chron. xxv.

The mere circumstance of birth did not give the Levites a title to officiate; they were obliged to receive a sort of consecration, which consisted chiefly in sprinkling them with water, in washing, and in offering sacrifices. (Num. viii. 6, 7, 8.) The usual age, at which the Levites were to enter on their office, was at five-and-twenty years, and they continued till fifty. (Num. viii. 24, 25.) But there was a particular precept which restrained the Kohathites (one of the three branches) from being employed to carry the holy things belonging to the sanctuary, till they were of the age of thirty (Num. iv. 30.), probably, because these being the most valuable and important of all the moveables belonging to the tabernacle, required therefore persons of greater experience and strength. Afterwards, when David new-moulded the constitution of the Levites, he (by the same authority which empowered him to give directions about the building and situation of the house of God) ordered that for the future the Levites should be admitted at the age of twenty years. (1 Chron. xxiii. 24.) It does not appear by the first institution of the Levites that they had any peculiar habit in the ceremonies of religion by which they were distinguished from other Israelites. None of the Levites, of what degree or order soever, had any right to sacrifice, for that was the proper duty of the priests, only: the Levites, indeed, were to assist the priests in killing and flaying the sacrifices, and, during the time they were offered up, to sing praises to God: and in this sense the two passages in 1 Chron. xxiii. 31. and 2 Chron. xxxi. 2. are commonly understood; neither had they any title to burn incense to the Lord; and though the speech of Hezekiah (mentioned in 2 Chron. xxix. particularly ver. 11.) seems to imply otherwise, yet we ought to consider that he is there speaking to the priests as well as to the Levites. It was on account of their aspiring to the priest's office in this particular of burning incense, that Korah and his company (who were Levites) were miraculously destroyed, and their censers ordered to be beaten into broad plates, and fixed upon the altar, to be perpetual monuments of their presumptuous sacrilege, and a caution to all the children of Israel, that none presume to offer incense before the Lord but the seed of Aaron, who alone were commissioned to the priestly office.

As the Levites were subordinate to the priests, so they (the Levites) had others under them, called NETHINIMS, whose business it was to carry the water and wood that was wanted in the temple for the use of the sacrifices, and to perform other laborious services there. They were not originally of Hebrew descent, but are supposed to have been chiefly the posterity of the Gibeonites, who for their fraudulent stratagem in imposing upon Joshua and the Hebrew princes (Josh. ix. 3-27.) were condemned to this employment, which was a sort of honourable servitude. We read in Ezra, that the Nethinims were devoted by David and the other princes to the service of the temple (Ezra viii. 20.), and they are called the children of Solomon's servants (Ezra ii. 58.), being probably a mixture of the race of the Gibeonites, and some of the remains of the Canaanites, whom Solomon constrained to various servitudes. (1 Kings ix. 20, 21.) They had a particular place in Jerusalem where they dwelt, called Ophel, for the conveniency of being near the service of the temple. (Neh. iii. 26.)

In order to enable the Levites to devote themselves to that service, forty-eight cities were assigned to them for their residence, on the division of the land of Canaan; thirteen of these were appropriated to the priests, to which were added the tithes of corn, fruit, and cattle. The Levites, however, paid to the priests a tenth part of all their tithes; and as they were possessed of no landed property, the tithes which the priests received from them were considered as the firstfruits which they were to offer to God. (Num. xviii. 21-24.)2

II. Next to the Levites, but superior to them in dignity, were the ordinary PRIESTS, who were chosen from the family of Aaron exclusively. They served immediately at the altar, prepared the victims, and offered the sacrifices. They kept up a perpetual fire on the altar of the burnt sacrifices, and

also in the lamps of the golden candlestick in the sanctuary; they kneaded the loaves of shew-bread, which they baked, and offered on the golden altar in the sanctuary: and changed them every Sabbath-day. Every day, morning and evening, a priest (who was appointed at the beginning of the week by lot) brought into the sanctuary a smoking censer of incense, which he set upon the golden table, and which on no account was to be kindled with strange fire, that is, with any fire but that which was taken from the altar of burnt sacrifice. (Lev. x. 1,2.) And as the number and variety of their functions required them to be well read in their law, in order that they might be able to judge of the various legal uncleannesses, &c. this circumstance caused them to be consulted as interpreters of the law (Hos. iv. 6. Mal. ii. 7, &c. Lev. xiii. 2. Num. v. 14, 15.), as well as judges of controversies. (Deut. xxi. 5. xvii. 8-13.) In the time of war, their business was to carry the ark of the covenant, to sound the holy trumpets, and animate the army to the performance of its duties. To them also it belonged publicly to bless the people in the name of the Lord.

The priests were divided by David into twenty-four classes (1 Chron. xxiv. 7-18.); which order was retained by Solomon (2 Chron. viii. 14.); and at the revivals of the Jewish religion by the kings Hezekiah and Josiah. (2 Chron. xxxi. 2. XXXV. 4, 5.) As, however, only four classes returned from the Babylonish captivity (Ezra ii. 36-39. Neh. vii. 39-42. xii. 1.), these were again divided into twenty-four classes, each of which was distinguished by its original appellation. This accounts for the introduction of the class or order of Abiah, mentioned in Luke i. 5., which we do not find noticed among those who returned from the captivity. One of these classes went up to Jerusalem every week to discharge the sacerdotal office, and succeeded one another on the Sabbath-day, till they had all attended in their turn. To each order was assigned a president (1 Chron. xxiv. 6. 31. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14.), whom some critics suppose to be the same as the chief priests so often mentioned in the New Tes tament, and in the writings of Josephus. The prince or prefect of each class appointed an entire family to offer the daily sacrifices: and at the close of the week they all joined together in sacrificing. And as each family consisted of a great number of priests, they drew lots for the different offices which they were to perform. It was by virtue of such lot that the office of burning incense was assigned to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, when he went into the temple of the Lord. (Luke i. 9.) According to some Jewish writers, there were three priests employed in the offering of the incense; one, who carried away the ashes left on the altar at the preceding service; another, who brought a pan of burning coals from the altar of sacrifice, and, having placed it on the golden altar, departed; a third, who went in with the incense, sprinkled it on the burning coals, and, while the smoke ascended, made intercession for the people. This was the particular office which fell by lot to Zacharias; and it was accounted the most honourable in the whole service. This office could be held but once by the same person.4

The sacerdotal dignity being confined to certain families, every one who aspired to it was required to establish his descent from those families: on this account the genealogies of the priests were inscribed in the public registers, and were preserved in the archives of the temple. Hence, in order to preserve the purity of the sacerdotal blood, no priest was permitted to marry a harlot or profane woman, or one who had been divorced; and if any one laboured under any bodily defect, this excluded him from serving at the altar. Purity of body and sanctity of life were alike indispensable; nor could any one undertake the priestly office, in the early period of the Jewish polity, before he had attained thirty years, or, in later times, the age of twenty years. According to Maimonides, the priest whose genealogy was defective in any respect was clothed in black, and veiled in black, and sent without the verge of the court of the priests; but every one that was found perfect and right was clothed in white, and went in and ministered with his brethren the priests. It is not improbable that St. John refers to this custom of the

3 See Matt. xxvii. 1. Acts iv. 23. v. 24. ix. 14. 21. xxii. 30. xxiii. 14. xxv.

15. xxvi. 10.; and also Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xx. c. 8. §8. De Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 3. $7. c. 4. § 3. et de vita sua, §§ 2. 5. 4 Macknight, and Wetstein, on Luke i. 9.

1 See p. 16. suprà.