the shoulder-straps of this ephod was fastened a precious stone, on which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 3. The breastplate of judgment or oracle, a piece of cloth doubled, one span square, and of similar texture and workmanship with the ephod: on it were set twelve precious stones, containing the engraved names of the twelve sons of Jacob, and also the words Urim and Thummim, signifying "lights and perfections," and emblematical of divine illumination. Concerning the nature of the Urim and Thummim, learned men are not agreed. All that we know with certainty is, that when the high priest went to ask counsel of Jehovah, he presented himself arrayed with this breastplate, and received the divine commands. This mode of consultation subsisted under the tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness, and until the building of Solomon's temple. 4. Lastly, the high priest wore a plate of pure gold upon his forehead, on which were engraven the two Hebrew words (KODESH LaJeнovaн), or Holiness unto the Lord, emblematical of that holiness which was the scope and end of the law. This plate was called the crown: it was tied to the high priest's tiara by a blue riband. With all these vestments he was obliged to be arrayed, whenever he ministered in the tabernacle or temple, but at other times he wore the ordinary dress of the priests: and this, according to some learned persons, was the reason why St. Paul (Acts xxiii. 5.) knew not that Ananias was the high priest, when he appeared before him in the Sanhedrin. The supreme pontiff was not allowed to rend his garments, as the other Jews did, on any occasions of domestic calamity (Levit. xxi. 10.); but in the time of Jesus Christ it had become lawful, or at least was tolerated as an expression of horror at hearing what was deemed blasphemy against God. This will explain the conduct of Caiaphas, who is said (Matt. xxvi. 65.) to have rent his garinents.?

The high priest, who was the chicf man in Israel, and appeared before God in behalf of the people in their sacred services, and who was appointed for sacrifice, for blessing, and for intercession, was a type of Jesus Christ, that great high priest, who offered himself a sacrifice for sin, who blesses his people, and who evermore liveth to make intercession for them. The terin priest is also applied to every true believer, who is enabled to offer up himself a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Christ. (1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. i. 6.)3

1 The dress and ornaments of the high priest, above noticed, together with the mode of consecrating him, as directed by Moses, are described at length in Exod.

xxviii. and xxix. 1-37.

2 Besides the authorities already cited in the course of this article, the reader who is desirous of investigating the nature and functions of the Jewish priesthood is referred to Reland's Antiquitates veterum Hebræorum, part ii. c. 1—6. pp. 141– 238.; Ikenius's Antiquitates Hebraicæ, part i. c. 10. & 11. pp. 105-128.; and to Schacht's Animadversiones ad Ikenii Antiquitates, pp. 471-544. Dr. Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, book i. c. 5. pp. 95-174. Michaelis's Commentaries on the Law of Moses, vol. i. pp. 251-262. and Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. pp. 401. 915— 918. and vol. ii. pp. 377-380. 397. 681.

3 The typical nature of the Jewish priesthood, especially of the high-priest, is discussed by the Rev. W. Jones, in his Lectures on the Figurative Language of Scripture, and on the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Works, vol. iii. pp. 58-62. 223 227.)

IV. Next to the Levites, priests, and high priests, the Officers of the Synagogue may be mentioned here, as being in some degree sacred persons; since to them was confided the superintendence of those places which were set apart for prayer and instruction. Their functions and powers have been fully stated in pp. 241, 242. supra. V. The NAZARITES or NAZARENES (as the Hebrew word Nazir implies) were persons separated from the use of certain things, and sequestered or consecrated to Jehovah. They are commonly regarded as sacred persons; a notice of their institute will be found infra in Chapter V. Sect. I. § III. 2.

In

VI. The RECHABITES are by many writers considered as a class of holy persons, who, like the Nazarites, separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order that they might lead a more pious life. But this is evidently a mistake: for they were not Israelites or Jews, but Kenites or Midianites, who used to live in tents, and traverse the country in quest of pasture for their cattle, as the Nabathæan Arabs antiently did, and as the modern Arabians, and Crim-Tatars (or Tartars) still do. Their manner of living was not the result of a religious institute, but a mere civil ordinance, grounded upon a national custom. They derived their name from Jonadab the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal for the pure worship of God against idolatry: who assisted king Jehu in destroying the house of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal. (2 Kings x. 15, 16. 23.) It was he who gave the rule of life to his children and their posterity, which is recorded by the prophet Jeremiah (xxxv. 5-7.); and which consisted of these three articles: 1. That they should drink no wine; 2. That they should neither possess nor occupy any houses, fields, or vineyards; and, 3. That they should dwell in tents. these regulations he appears to have had no religious, but merely a prudential view, as is intimated in the reason assigned for them, viz. that they might live many days in the land where they were strangers. And such in fact would be the natural consequence of their temperate and quiet mode of living. On the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, with intent to besiege Jerusalem, these Rechabites apprehending themselves in more danger in the open country, came to Jerusalem for safety by these people God intended to convince the Jews of their disobedience to him; and therefore he ordered his prophet Jeremiah to bring them to an apartment of the temple, and there offer them wine to drink, which when they refused, on account of its being contrary to their institute, which they never had violated, the prophet, after due commendation of their obedience, turned it upon the Jews, and reproached them who were God's peculiar people, for being less observant of his laws, than these poor Rechabites had been of the injunctions of their ancestors. (Jer. xxxv.) Wherefore Jehovah declares (ver. 18, 19.) that, because the Rechabites had obeyed the precepts of Jonadab their father, therefore Jonadab should

1 See Mrs. Holderness's Notes relating to the Manners and Customs of the CrimTatars. London, 1821. 12mo.

not want a man to stand before him for ever. The Rechabites flourished as a community about one hundred and eighty years: but after the captivity, they were dispersed, unless the Essenes, who are noticed in a subsequent section, succeeded them in their way of life.

VII. The PROPHETS were eminently distinguished among the persons accounted holy by the Jews: they were raised up by God in an extraordinary manner for the performance of the most sacred functions. Originally they were called Seers: they discovered things yet future, declared the will of God, and announced their divine messages, both to kings and people, with a confidence and freedom that could only be produced by the conviction that they were indeed authorised messengers of Jehovah. The gift of prophecy was not always annexed to the priesthood: there were prophets of all the tribes, and sometimes even among the Gentiles. The office of a prophet was not confined to the prediction of future events; it was their province to instruct the people, and they interpreted the law of God hence the words prophet and prophecy are, in many passages of the Scriptures, synonymous with interpreter or teacher, and interpretation or teaching. It is unanimously agreed both by Jews and Christians that Malachi was the last of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation: and it is a remarkable fact, that so long as there were prophets among the Jews, they were not divided by sects or heresies, although they often fell into idolatry. This circumstance may thus be accounted for.-As the prophets received their communications of the divine will immediately from God himself, there was no alternative for the Jews: either the people must obey the prophets, and receive their interpretations of the law, or no longer acknowledge that God who inspired them. When, however, the law of God came to be explained by weak and fallible men, who seldom agreed in their opinions, sects and parties were the unavoidable result of such conflicting sentiments.2

1 Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol. i. p. 223. Michaelis's Commentaries on the Law of Moses, vol. i. pp. 227, 228. Mede's Works, p. 127. Calmet, Commentaire Littérale, tome vi. p. xvii. The reader will find an instructive discourse on the history of the Rechabites, in Dr. Townson's Works, vol. ii. pp. 215-225.

2 For a more partieular account of the sacred prophets, see Vol. IV. Part I. Chap IV. pp. 137-144.

CHAPTER III.

SACRED THINGS.

On the Sacrifices and other Offerings of the Jews.

General classification of sacrifices and offerings;-I. BLOODY OFFERINGS, and the divine origin of sacrifices;-1. Different kinds of victims ;-2. Selection of victims ;-3. Manner of presenting them;-4. Libations ;-5. Immolation of the sacrifice;-6. The place and time appointed for sacrificing;-7. Different kinds of fire-sacrifices;-i. Burnt-offerings;-ii. Peace-offerings;-iii. Sin-offerings;-iv. Trespass-offerings ;-National, regular, weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices,-II. UNBLOODY OFFERINGS. III. DRINK OFFERINGS.-IV. ORDINARY OBLATIONS, -the show-bread and incense.-V. VOLUNTARY OBLATIONS.Corban.-VI. PRESCRIBED OBLATIONS;-1. First-fruits ;2. Tithes.

THE sacrifices and oblations of the Jews demand particular notice. in this sketch of their ecclesiastical state. Such a ritual as they were enjoined to observe, the multiplicity of victims they were appointed statedly to offer, together with the splendour of that external worship in which they were daily engaged,-all tended to replenish and adorn their language with numerous allusions, and striking metaphors derived from the pomp of their religion. Hence it is that the writings of the Jews, more than of any other people, abound with phrases and terms borrowed from the temple worship and service. The psalms and prophetical writings may in particular be adduced in illustration of this remark. Purge me with hyssop, says David, and I shall be clean. -Thou shalt be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. (Psal. li. 7. 19.) Let my prayer come before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psal. cxli. 2.) Therefore will I offer the sacrifice of joy. (Psal. cxvi. 17.) The sin of Judah, says Jeremiah, is----graven upon the horns of your altars. (Jer. xvii. 1.)-Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously; so will we render thee the calves of our lips. (Hos. xiv. 2.) Nor are similar examples wanting in the New Testament, whose inspired authors being educated in the Jewish religion, retain the same phraseology, which has enriched their writings with numerous beautiful and expressive allusions to the national sacrifices and ceremonies.

Michaelis classes the offerings prescribed to the Israelites under three general heads-namely, bloody offerings, or sacrifices strictly so called; unbloody offerings, or those taken only from the vegetable kingdom; and drink-offerings, or libations, which were a kind of accompaniment to the two preceding. We shall follow this classifi

cation, as enabling us to present to our readers the most compendious account of the Jewish sacrifices.

1. BLOODY OFFERINGS were sacrifices properly and strictly so called; by which we may understand the infliction of death on a living creature, generally by the effusion of its blood in a way of religious worship, and the presenting of this act to God as a supplication for the pardon of sin, and as a supposed mean of compensation for the insult and injury offered by sin to his majesty and government. Sacrifices have in all ages, and by almost every nation, been regarded as necessary to placate the divine anger, and to render the Deity propitious: but whether this universal notion derived its origin from divine revelation, or was suggested by conscious guilt and a dread of the divine displeasure, is a question that cannot be easily decided. It is however not improbable that it originated in the former, and prevailed under the influence of the latter. The Scripture account of sacrifices leads us to conclude that they were instituted by divine appointment, immediately after the entrance of sin by the fall of Adam and Eve, to be a type or significant emblem of the great atonement or all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. Accordingly we find Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job, and others, offering sacrifices in the faith of the Messiah that was to be revealed; and the divine acceptance of their sacrifices is particularly recorded.

1. In all bloody sacrifices it was essential that the animals slaughtered should be clean; but it does not appear that all clean animals were to be offered indiscriminately. Fishes were not brought to the altar; and hence the Israelites are no where prohibited from eating their blood, but only that of birds and quadrupeds. (Lev. vii. 26.) It would seem that all clean birds might be offered, (Lev. xiv. 4-7.) though the dove was the most common offering of this class. Of quadrupeds, oxen, sheep, and goats were the only kinds which were destined for the altar. No wild beasts were admissible: and hence comes the expression in the law of Moses (Deut. xii. 15. 22. xv. 22.), It shall be eaten like the roe or the hart; by which he means to intimate that, in killing a beast, all religious intention and all idea of sacrifice was to be avoided.3

2. In the selection of the victims, the utmost care was taken to choose such only as were free from every blemish. Unless it were pure and immaculate, it was to be rejected, as a sacrifice unacceptable to Jehovah. (Levit. xxii. 22.) In a beautiful allusion to this

1 To this notion of sacrifice our Saviour alluded in John xvi. 2. where he tells his disciples that such would be the enmity with which they should be pursued, that he who should kill them would be deemed to have slain a sacrifice highly acceptable to the Almighty-"He that killeth you shall think he doeth God service." "In reference also to this notion of sacrifice, the apostle by a very beautiful and expressive figure represents Christ as loving us, and giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, of a sweet-smelling savour. (Eph. v. 2.) Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol. ii. p. 218.

2 The divine origin of sacrifices is fully proved by Archbp. Magee, in his Discourses on the Atonement, vol. i. pp. 44-60. and vol. ii. pp. 22-46. 184–189. 3 Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 95.