The two loaves offered on the day of Pentecost, contained a tenth of an ephah each, made of the flour of new wheat. This kind of meat offering was to be offered to God by waving it before the altar; yet, because it was leavened, was not to be burnt on the altar, but was to be entirely given to the priests: for it was not lawful to burn on the altar any meat offerings that contained leaven. For this For this reason, the Jews say, the "leavened bread offered with sacrifices of "thanksgiving"* was not burnt on the altar, but given to the priests as the servants of God. The bread called "shew bread," literally in the Hebrew bread of faces, is supposed by some persons to have been so called, because it had four sides, or faces. But it is more justly concluded by others to have been thus denominated from its position on the sacred table in the outer sanctuary where it was " set "in order before the Lord." It was made of fine wheaten flour, two tenths of an ephah being allotted to each cake. The cakes were to be twelve in number, to be placed on the golden table "in two rows, "six on a row, and pure frankincense" to be " put "upon each row." They were to be removed, and replaced by fresh ones, every sabbath day; when the removed cakes were to be given to the priests, and the frankincense was to be burnt on the great altar.§ Nor let any one wonder that these cakes placed on God's table, for the golden table was eminently his, used to be reckoned among the meat offerings, though they were not laid on the altar with the other offerings of this class. For, as the altar was God's table, || so the table was one of God's altars, and evidently Levit. vii. 13. + Abraham Harophe in Schilte Hagibborim, c. 74. before the faces of Jehovah. § Levit. xxiv. 5-9. || Mal. i. 12. served the purpose of an altar, so that the cakes laid upon that table were considered as set before God, and as offered to him: which is fully implied in the language of the scripture, commanding them to be "set before the Lord," as we have already noticed. Nor was this confined to the Jews; we find that dedicated tables served the purposes of altars also among the heathens.. For in the Papyrian code,' says Macrobius, it is evidently stated, that a dedi'cated table may serve the purpose of an altar: as in the temple of Juno Populonia, there is said to be a consecrated table. For in temples, some things are ' utensils and vessels composing the sacred furniture, and other things are ornaments. The utensils and ' vessels are like necessary instruments, and are used in the performance of sacrifices. Shields, garlands, ' and similar votive gifts, are ornaments. Such gifts ' are not dedicated when the temple is consecrated; but tables and altars are usually dedicated on the same day as the temple itself. Wherefore a table 'thus solemnly dedicated in a temple serves the purpose of an altar, and obtains the same reverence as the temple in which it stands. It was therefore a legitimate libation that was made by Evander,* on 'that table which had been solemnly dedicated with 'the great altar, and in the consecrated grove, and in 'the sacred festivities in which they were engaged.'t 6 of VIII. The meat offerings for particular persons are affirmed by the Jews to have been nine which, they say, four were enjoined in the law, and the other five were the voluntary oblations of individuals. Of those which they consider as enjoined in the law, * Virg. Æneid. viii. 279. one is commonly called by them the meat offering of initiation, which they assert to have been commanded to be offered by every priest at his entrance on the priesthood: but of this command I cannot find that they produce any proof. They tell us, however, that this kind of meat offering consisted of one tenth of an ephah of fine wheaten flour, mixed with three logs of oil. Maimonides says: it used to be divided, in the case of a common priest, into ten cakes; and in the case of a high priest, into twelve; that a little frankincense was added to each cake, and all the cakes were to be burnt on the altar. A second they call the meat offering of the pan; for which was allotted the same portion of flour and oil, and which, according to Maimonides, was also distributed into twelve cakes, which were so equally divided, that one half of each was offered in the morning, and half in the evening; a handful of frankincense added to them, being in the same manner divided and burnt. Every high priest was to offer a meat offering of this kind, when he was anointed with the sacred oil;* and, if we believe the Jews, from that time forwards, every day, as long as he held the pontificate: but of this also they bring no sufficient proof from the scriptures. A third was the meat offering of the sinner; which contained one tenth of an ephah of wheaten flour, without the addition of any oil or frankincense.† This kind of offering was appointed for those who had been guilty of a sin requiring to be expiated by blood, but were not able to procure either a lamb or a kid, a turtle dove or a pigeon.‡ *Levit. vi. 20-22. Levit. v. 5---13. TR.---From the case described above, some persons have attempted to The fourth offering of this kind is commonly called the meat offering of jealousy; which a husband suspecting his wife of unchastity was to offer on her account, in order to prove her guilty or innocent. This offering consisted of one tenth of an ephah of barley meal, and, as in the last case, without the addition of any oil or frankincense.* For perfumes and delicacies were altogether incompatible with sacrifices offered for sins. It is stated by the Jews, that the meat offerings which were merely voluntary oblations of individuals, were never to contain less than an ephah of flour each; but that they might contain more at the option of the offerer, provided a log of oil were added to each ephah of flour. But the same quantity of frankincense, namely a handful, they consider as having been sufficient for the largest meat offerings: and the frankincense added to the meat offerings, as ought to have been mentioned before, was in all cases to be derive a general argument that the shedding of animal blood was not necessary to the remission of transgressions under the Mosaic law. But it should be observed that this regulation was merely an indulgence to circumstances of abject poverty; the animal sacrifice prescribed for the specified transgression being dispensed with, and an unbloody oblation admitted as a substitute for that sacrifice, which the poor Israelite had thus an opportunity of testifying his willingness to offer if it had been in his power. It will not be easy to find an instance which more strongly exemplifies the maxim, (exceptio firmat regulam) the exception confirms the rule. Every attentive reader of the Pentateuch must perceive it to have been a general and radical principle of the legal economy, that without the shedding of blood there could be no remission; for that it was the blood which made atonement for the soul. Nor could it with any plausibility be pretended, that, even in this case of partial exception, the remission of the offence was wholly irrespective of animal sacrifice; while the sacrifices appointed for the day of annual expiation were expressly declared "to "make an atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a "year." Levit. xvi. 34. Num. v. 15. wholly consumed upon the altar: of the meat offerings themselves, except when offered by a priest, or accompanied by a drink offering of wine, some portion was to be given to the priests; but those which were offered by the priests themselves were to be wholly consumed upon the altar.* The second was baked The third was baked in former was made thicker The meat offerings which were not commanded by the divine law, but were the votive or voluntary oblations of individuals, were of five kinds. The first consisted of fine flour unbaked. in a pan, or on a flat plate. a frying pan. Of these, the that it might not run over, and the latter was more liquid. The fourth was baked in an oven. All these were thoroughly mingled with oil: but the fifth was a thin cake like a wafer, and was to be anointed with oil, but not mingled with it. The four last sorts now described, the Jews say, used to be made so as for each offering to be divided into ten small cakes. IX. These observations may suffice on the various sorts of meat offerings among the Jews. Whether offered for the whole congregation, or for particular persons, they were all made of wheaten flour, except the omer of first fruits, and the meat offering of jealousy; these two were made of barley meal. Those which were made of wheaten flour were not only to be brought to the altar, but also to be heaved or elevated towards God, and, as the Jews tell us, to be waved on every side towards him. Moreover, to the shew bread was added frankincense, but not oil; to the meat offerings accompanied by a drink offering of wine, was added oil, but no frankincense: to all the * Levit. vi. 23. + Levit. ii. 1. 5. 7. ‡ Maimon, in Maase Korban. c. 13. § Levit. ii. 4. || Maimon. ibid. |