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The mode of sacrificing was, for all cases, minutely laid down by the Law, and varied according to the different

occasions.

'As we survey the expiatory offerings of the Hebrews, which for purity stand unrivalled in the ancient world, we are bound to admit that they were pre-eminently calculated to keep alive among the nation those feelings on which all religious life depends, and from which it flows as its natural source, the feelings of human sinfulness, and the conviction of Divine holiness, by the standard of which that sinfulness is to be measured; they fostered, therefore, at once humility and an ideal yearning; and they effectually counteracted that sense of self-righteousness natural indeed to the pride of man, but utterly destructive of all nobler virtues. They were well suited to secure in the directest and completest manner that singleness of life and heart, which is the true end of all sacrifices. Every Israelite was to feel his transgression personally and individually; hence the sin-offerings were carefully and designedly varied according to the sinner's rank and position, both with regard to the choice of the victim and the mode of the ceremonial; whereas the holocausts, symbolising as they did merely a general admission of the common frailty inherent in human nature, were uniform for all persons.

But the religious legislation was not to be brought into collision with the civil and political enactments; it was, on the contrary, meant to support and strengthen them; so far from endangering the safety of the state by an illadvised leniency, it helped to eradicate the natural propensity to crime and lawlessness; its operation was therefore limited to involuntary trespasses, while the secular authorities were left free to deal with premeditated offences; it even abstained from interfering in some important cases of unintentional misdeeds, such as homicide

for which it prescribed no sacrifice, but admitted a worldly punishment: satisfied to act as a silent instrument for the reformation of the hearts, it indeed effectually contracted the application, but did not injudiciously weaken the authority of the criminal code. Hence, though bearing the character of vicariousness, the sin-offerings were far from encouraging an external worship by lifeless ceremonies; in themselves the spontaneous offspring of religious repentance, and thus naturally helping to nourish the same beneficent feeling, they were the strongest guarantee for a life of honesty and active virtue.' (Ibid. p.281.)

47. THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES.

[Exod. XXIX; LEVIT. VIII.-X. XXI. XXII; NUM. III. IV. VIII. etc.]

Before we proceed with our narrative, it is necessary to give a short account of the priesthood, which forms so important a part in the economy of the Hebrew institutions. Although the priests seldom evinced the sublime and pure devotion of the Hebrew prophets; although they were at times justly censured for venality, indolence, and faithlessness: they were the appointed guardians of the Law, and the elected intercessors between the chosen people and their God.

In the patriarchal ages, the father of each family was the priest of his own household. He built the altar, he burnt the incense, he offered the sacrifices. Thus there was a temple of God in each rude tent. This arrangement was strengthened by the prevailing notion that the first-born sons belonged specially to God, and were therefore naturally devoted to His service. But when, after the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt, a political commonwealth was to be organised, it was found a practical impossibility that just the chiefs of the families,

upon whom so many duties and responsibilities devolved, should give themselves up entirely to the priestly functions. It was, therefore, ordained that in the place of the firstborn of each family, a member of one chosen tribe should perform the offices of priesthood.

The tribe of Levi was, in early times, conspicuous for fierce and indomitable courage; it long preserved many of its characteristics of daring and violence; and it was from this hardy warrior tribe that the Hebrew priests were taken.

The Levites were invested with prominent lustre and glory by the name of Moses; and they had, on several important occasions, exhibited a praiseworthy zeal and devotion in the cause of religion. Yet the priesthood was not conferred upon Moses, but upon his elder brother Aaron and his lineal descendants; with remarkable consistency, all the remaining branches of the tribe-that is, the families of Gershon and Merari, of Izhar and Uzziel, and of Moses himself—were set apart as the ministers of the priests, or the Levites in the stricter sense, and had to perform the more menial duties in connection with the service of the Sanctuary.

The priests were required to be without personal blemish of any kind. They were probably only permitted to officiate during the best years of their strength, and thus they represented the flower and manhood of the people.

Next to righteousness of life and faultlessness of form, external purity was considered the chief emblem of godliness. Therefore, the priest had to keep aloof from everything that might make him unclean. He was not allowed to approach dead bodies except those of his nearest bloodrelations of his father and mother, of his son and daughter, his brother and unmarried sister; and if he officiated at the altar in a state of impurity, he had to fear the punishment of excision.

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However, piety and holiness were the first and chief requirements of the priest; for he was called upon to glorify God by his conduct and actions, and not by his teachings alone. Wine or any strong beverage, calculated to disturb perfect clearness of thought, was strictly forbidden during the time of ministrations. In affliction or bereavement, the priest was not to abandon himself to a vehement display of grief, but to maintain, as much as possible, a serene composure.

As it was deemed necessary to relieve the priests from material cares and anxieties, they were amply provided for by the Law, and received from the produce and the sacrifices of the Hebrews very considerable portions. Thirteen towns within the provinces of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, were assigned to them as their abodes. They were free from military service and all taxes. Thus they could devote themselves undisturbed to their important duties.

These duties were manifold. They embraced the service in the Court, the Holy, and the Holy of Holies. The priests had to perform all the significant rites connected with offerings, especially to sprinkle the blood and burn the flesh, to heave and wave the dedicated portions of victims, and to burn the memorial in cereal oblations. They had to keep up the perpetual fire on the brazen altar in the Court, and there to offer the regular daily holocausts. They had to burn the incense on the golden altar in the Holy, to dress the lamps of the Candlestick, and to remove every Sabbath from the Shew-bread table the twelve unleavened cakes, and to replace them by new ones. During the wanderings of the Hebrews, they had to guard the Tabernacle and its utensils, to wrap them up when the journeys were resumed, and to deliver them to the Levites for transport. Whenever individuals or the whole nation had publicly to perform religious rites, the priests were the mediators or agents; for instance, in the ceremonies

preceding the release of the Nazarite; at the ordeal prescribed for suspected wives; at the expiation of an untraced murder; and at the examination and cleansing of leprous persons, houses, and garments. They were probably the physicians of the nation, over which they exercised a kind of sanitary supervision. They regulated the calendar, and watched over the legal accuracy of weights and measures. They had, at certain times, in peace and war, to blow the silver trumpets. They accompanied military expeditions, sometimes with the Ark of the Covenant. Before the commencement of battle, they had to encourage the soldiers with the following address: • Hear, O Israel, approach this day to battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble nor be terrified on account of them; for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight with you against your enemies to save you.'

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As they were specially elected and invested with the Divine spirit, it was their particular mission to study the Law, to teach and to diffuse it, and to instruct the children of Israel in all the statutes which the Lord had spoken to them through Moses.' They had to read every seven years on the Feast of Tabernacles the principal laws of the Pentateuch to the assembled people, that they may listen and learn, and fear the Lord, and observe to do all the words of the Law.' It was their privilege to bless the people in the name of God, to consult the Ark of the Covenant or the Urim and Thummim in dangerous or important emergencies, and to act as supreme judges in difficult cases; for 'by their word shall every controversy and every violence be tried.'

From the nature of all these functions it is apparent that the priests required, on the one hand, a chief who could represent the whole order and act as the mediator between God and the entire people; and, on the other

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