B.C. 1490. clean and unclean 29-32. (29) weasel, or perh. the mole. mouse, prob. the reptiles, etc., jerboa (Diptus Egyptius). tortoise, the great lizard, i.e. the land crocodile of LXX. (30) ferret, the gecko (Lacerta gecko). chameleon, prob. the frog (Lacerta nilotica). lizard, of the a Tristram, L. of monitor, or some other var. snail, perh. the slow worm. mole, chameleon. Heb., tinshemeth the inflater. (31, 32) these, etc., these laws, by inducing cleanliness of person and dwelling, I would tend to preserve health. Their sanitary, no less than their religious, effects should not be overlooked. I., 186. b Acc. to Tristram, the Uro mastix spinipes, Nat. Hist., 255, quist, its flesh is = Homiletic hints.-The law not only decides what to eat, but "Acc. to Hassel- how to prepare it for food. Cleanliness to be observed in the dried by some preparation of food. This a condition of health and appetite. E. nations as a Eating with a relish a condition of eating with profit. Good charm or medi- food often spoiled by absence of cleanly preparation. cine, wh., in past ages, was sent to Venice and Marseilles as an art. of commerce. He adds that the Arabs The tortoise.-The Heb. tsab, rendered tortoise, signifies, it is generally agreed, a kind of lizard, called in the Arabic dab or dhab. It is 18 in. long, 4 in. across the back, not venomous, burrows in the earth; it is common in Palestine. Gesenius derives its name from a Heb. word make to move slowly. It is not unlikely that our translators, at a time when Bible natural history was not minutely understood, were directed by the root of the word to the tortoise as a proverbially slow-moving creature. broth of its fresh flesh."-Spk. Com. c Topics, i. 30. things rendered unclean = 33-38. (33) break, hence carelessness involved loss of property. (34) water. . drunk, all subterfuges and evasions guarded against. (35) ranges, tripods, or stands, or racks of any kind. (36) that.. unclean, i.e. the vessel used for rethe touch of such moving the water. (37, 38) seed.. water, etc., the dry seed creatures with would resist, the wet imbibe pollution. By connecting ceremonial de- Homiletic hints. This law specially designed to secure care in filement, wh. re- the use of water as a beverage. Not enough to have water to quired immediately to be re drink, but to drink only clean water. Teachers may give useful moved, an effec- hints on the use of filters, etc. Many maladies-as "the Derbytual means was shire neck "-said to be the effect of drinking impure water. taken to prevent the bad effects of Many artificial beverages may be designated as good water venom and all spoiled. Droppings of stills, etc. Breweries are often fountains unclean or of corruption physically, socially, morally. noxious matter, see Port. Com. a Roberts. rules for those who have contracted The touch of unclean creatures.-This refers to any unclean or dead animal falling into or touching an earthen vessel. Most of the cooking utensils of the Hindoos are of earthenware. Should an unclean, or dead animal, or insect, touch or fall into them, they must be broken. Nay, should a person of low caste get a look at the cooking vessels of a Brahmin, or one of the Saiva sect, they will immediately be broken, and no small portion of abuse be poured upon the offending individual. Should an unfortunate dog, in his prowlings, find his way into the kitchen, and begin to lick the vessels, woe be to him, for he will not only have hard words, but hard blows; and then follows the breaking of the vessels. On this account the Brahmins and others conceal their earthenware when not in use." 39–43. (39) of.. eat, of a clean beast. die, not being properly slaughtered for food. (40) eateth, ignorantly. wash even, ignorance shall not exonerate. (41, 42) every.. uncleanness thing, etc., with above exceptions. (43) abominable, the abomination transferred to the eater. v. 42. In the Heb. word here rendered belly, Homiletic hints.-Unslaughtered meat to be avoided. 1. May have died of some disease; or, 2. Of poison; 3. The principle to be extended diseased animals not to be slaughtered for food; 4. Modern legislation concerning food attests the wisdom of the old law. B.C. 1490. one letter is printed in the Heb. Bibles larger than the tateuch. a Dr. Smith. Payne "The intention of human laws is to make amity the Divine law and because the similitude of The blood is the life.-It was left to Moses to reveal the significance of the blood. Till his time no special importance seems the Jews say, it rest, because, as to have been attached to it. It is in the Levitical law that its is the middle spiritual meaning is fully developed. Its mystical meaning had letter of the Penbeen pointed out long before when Noah was forbidden to eat it, as being the life; i.e. the physical means by which animal life is supported. As such it represented the higher element in man. On the one side was his flesh and bones, the material and earthly components of his being; on the other was the blood, which and friendship animated them, and carried to them that whereby they were among men; so maintained in existence. Withdraw the blood, and they fall the intention of back by an inevitable decay to that dust out of which they had is to make friendbeen taken. The blood, then, was the symbol of the immaterial, ship between of that which lives by itself, and is indestructible and immortal. man and God; In short, it was the soul, and in the Heb. the word used to Noah literally signifies the soul (Ge. ix. 4; Le. xvii. 14). As the symbol of the immaterial and immortal it was sacred to Him who is immaterial and immortal.a 44-47. (44) for, etc., the reason of these rules was to move them to impress the people with the holiness of God, and teach the need holiness." of personal holiness in those who were His people. (45) for.. the purpose Egypt, a motive to obedience. to.. God, the purpose for wh. of these He delivered them to form a people for His praise. (46, 47) laws this.. law, etc., i.e. as contained in foregoing vv. of this chap. a Ex. xix. 5, 6; Homiletic hints.-Higher purpose of these sumptuary laws. Le. xix. 2; xx. The separation of the animals into clean and unclean, would 7-26; 1 Th. iv. tend to separate the people from other nations. The Jews would 1 Pet. i. 14— 16; Ez. iv. 14. not join others in convivial feasts, social banquets. Joseph's brethren ate by themselves. Daniel rejected the food fr. the king's table, etc. manners is the cause of love, these injunctions were given to Ex. vi. 7. c Ac. xv. 10, 18 20; Col. ii. 16, 17; 1 Co. x. 25, The division of animals into clean and unclean.-If we take a survey, in closing, of the animals that are enumerated as unclean 26, 31; Ma. xv. and not suitable for food, we shall find that among the larger land 17, 18; xxiii. 23animals they were chiefly beasts of prey, that seize upon other 26. living creatures and devour them in their blood; among the d Delitzsch. water animals, all snake-like fishes and slimy shell-fish; among To build your birds, the birds of prey, which watch for the life of other animals hope of heaven and kill them, the marsh-birds, which live on worms, carrion, on your own righteousness, in and all kinds of impurities, and such mongrel creatures as the whole or in part, ostrich, which lives in the desert, and the bat, which flies about would be as in the dark; and lastly, all the smaller animals, with the excep- ridiculous as to tion of a few graminivorous locusts, but more especially the snake- attempt to raise like lizards-partly because they called to mind the old serpent, flower-pot. partly because they crawled in the dust, seeking their food in mire and filth, and suggested the thought of corruption by the slimy nature of their bodies. They comprised, in fact, all such walk under the animals as exhibited more or less the darker type of sin, death, greatest bondand corruption; and it was on this ethical ground alone, and not age. We can for all kinds of sanitary reasons, or even from political motives, only become free that the nation of Israel, which was called to sanctification, was forbidden to eat of them.d a n oak in a To walk in the ways of your own heart is to by becoming the servants of Christ. B.C. 1490. purification of women Is. xliii. 27; Lu. ii. 22. are most evident in the woman." -Diodati. c Ge. xvii. 12; Lu. i. 59, ii. 21 Jo. vii. 22, 23; Ga. v. 5, 6; Phi. iii. 3, 7-11; Ga. vi. 15, 16; 1 Co. 66 CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. с 1-5. (1) Moses, to the Lawgiver alone. (2) born..unclean," "Here is a proof of original sin." seven days, the a Ge. iii. 16, 20; period of uncleanness terminated by the circumcision of the child. (3) circumcised, "The C. of the child denoted its b Wordsworth. natural uncleanness." d (4) touch.. thing, admitted into "A figure of the society, but not into the sanctuary. (5) but.. maid-child, etc., corruption of fathers and mowas this a memorial of the greater culpability of Eve?"e thers in the geneThe hateful nature of sin.-From the scheme of man's redempration of chil- tion we learn that sin must be something far more hateful in its dren, whose signs nature, something of a deeper malignity, than is generally understood. It could be no inconsiderable evil that could require such a remedy as the humiliation of the second person in the Godhead. It is not to be supposed that any light cause would move the merciful Father of the universe to expose even an innocent man to unmerited sufferings. What must be the enormity of that guilt which God's mercy could not pardon till the only begotten Son of God had undergone its punishment? How great must be the load of crime which could find no adequate atonement till the Son of God descended from the bosom of the Father, clothed Himself with flesh, and, being found in fashion as a man, sub"He that allows mitted to a life of hardship and contempt, to a death of ignominy himself in any and pain! sin, or useth any From this scheme we learn further, that the good or ill conduct unnatural dalliof a man is a thing of far more importance and concern in the ance with any vice, does no-moral system than is generally imagined. Man's deviation from thing else, in re- his duty was a disorder, it seems, in the moral system of the ality, than enter-universe, for which nothing less than Divine wisdom could dæmon; he devise a remedy-the remedy devised nothing less than Divine titutes a wanton wisdom and power could apply. Man's disobedience was, in the soul, and forces moral world, what it would be in the natural, if a planet were to wander from its orbit, or the constellations to start from their the devil itself." appointed seats. It was an evil for which the regular constitution of the world had no cure, which nothing but the immediate interposition of Providence could repair. vii. 19. e Ibid., and see 1 Ga. iii. 28. tain an incubus pros it to commit lewdness with -John Smith. fBp. Horsley. offerings for b Lu. ii. 22-24, 6-8. (6) burnt-offering, wh. denoted total dedication and Divine acceptance: it was preceded by sin-offering." young pigeon, etc., see on i. 14. (7) shall.. blood, i.e. shall be counted clean. (8) able..lamb, etc., a merciful regard for the poor. This was the offering of the parents of our Lord, who became poor for our sakes. Homiletic hints (v. 8).-Relation of the poor to religious offerDuring Dr. Pay-ings. I. Poverty not to exempt any fr. the duty of personal son's last illness, sacrifices. II. Poverty taken into account in fixing the amount into his room of the offering. III. Poverty's offering as acceptable to God as said, "Well, I am that of the rich : ill. the widow's two mites. a friend coming on sorry to see you Treatment of lepers in England.-According to the tenor of lying here your back." "Do various old codes and local enactments, when a person became you not know affected with leprosy, he was looked upon as legally and poliwhat God puts us tically dead, and lost the privileges belonging to his right of for ?" said Dr. citizenship. By the laws of England lepers were classed with Payson, smiling. idiots, madmen, outlaws, etc., as incapable of being heirs. But on our backs B.C. 1490. "No," was the answer. "In or it was not by the eye of the law alone that the affected was looked upon as defunct, for the Church also took the same view, and performed the solemn ceremony of the burial of the dead over him, on the day on which he was separated from his fellow-der that we may creatures, and confined to a lazar-house. look upward." CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. а C 1-4. (1, 2) leprosy, Heb. tsaraah, fr. tsara, to strike down; leprosy a leper being one stricken of God. brought, unwilling to go of the person of himself: unconscious of the disease. (3) look, carefully examine. hair. . white, a characteristic symptom.d plague. flesh, lit. the stroke app. to be deeper than the scarfskin. (4) if, etc., case of suspected, but not distinctly or fully developed, leprosy. then.. days, omit “him that hath," and read “shall shut up the plague." a Ps. xxxviii. 5; Is. i, 5, 6; De. 17; De. xxiv. 8; xxviii. 27; Is. iii. Lu. xvii. 14. Beginnings of evil.-I. The corrupt tendencies of the heart should lead us to examine the moral character of all strange b Gesenius, 719. thoughts, words, deeds. II. If we are ourselves in doubt, the advice of others should be sought. The Lord should be inquired S. Mather, M.A., of the spirit of the Bible considered in relation to that wh. excites suspicion. III. Men should not wait till the faint indication of possible evil develops into distinct moral disease; and, presently, through neglect becomes chronic. Figures and Leprosy. Gk. was often Co of show. Ex. iv. 6; Nu. xii. 10; 2 K. v. 27. See also note on leprosy in Spk. Comm. ii. 559. Commencement and progress, etc., of leprosy.-The commencement of the leprosy is imperceptible; there appear only a few lepra, fr. lepis, a dark reddish spots on the skin of the whites; in the blacks they scale, bec. in this are of a coppery-red. These spots are at first not attended with disease the body pain, or any other symptom, but they cannot be removed by any vered with thin means. The disease increases imperceptibly, and continues for white scales, so some years to be more and more manifest. The spots become as to give it the larger, and spread indiscriminately over the skin of the whole appearance body: they are sometimes rather raised, though flat; when the disease increases, the upper part of the nose swells, the nostrils distend, and the nose itself becomes soft. Swellings appear on the jaw-bones, the eyebrows are elevated, the ears grow thick, the ends of the fingers, as well as the feet and toes, swell, the nails grow scaly, the joints on the hands and feet separate and c 2 Ch. xxvi. 20. die off; on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet there are deep dry ulcers, which rapidly increase, and then vanish d "The hairs again. In short, when the disease reaches its last stage, the upon the part patient becomes horrible, and falls to pieces. All these circum-bec. yellow and stances come on very slowly, for many years are often required a time' fall off, before they all occur; the patient has no severe pain, but he feels a kind of numbness in his hands and feet. These persons are not hindered, during the time, in any of the functions of nature, they eat and drink as usual, and even when some of their fingers and toes die off, the loss of the member is the only consequence, for the wound heals of itself without attention or medicine. But when the poor people reach this last period of the disease, they are horribly disfigured and most worthy of pity. It has been observed, that this disease has other dreadful properties, such, in fact, that it is hereditary, and, therefore, some families are more afflicted with it than others; secondly, that it knows it. stunted, and aft. leaving the hair bulbs empty and the face, so as to enlarged, esp. on present one of the most diagnostic signs of the malady."-Dr. Davison. He who has good health is a rich man, and rarely B.C. 1490. e Dr. Peysonnel's Report of Leprosy Is. i. 16-18. hair, wh. is infectious, and that it is propagated by persons sleeping together, or even having long-continued intercourse; thirdly, that it is incurable, or, at least, that no means to cure it have been discovered. 5-8. (5) stay," stand. spread not, i.e. does not advance. (6) dark, dim, fading away, not glossy, dull. scab, mark of some slight surface cutaneous disease. clean, as to leprosy. (7) "In the 'dusky' scab.. skin, the continued app. of evil may well strengthen variety, natural suspicion. (8) unclean, reversing the former decision, and is proving that even the priest might be deceived by appearances. usually black in leprosy, clearly pronounced; and to be treated as such. Egypt, is not Leprosy a type of sin.-I. Its nature: loathsome, hereditary, changed, and the contagious, injurious. II. Its progress: fr. small beginnings smooth, lumi- till the whole man is corrupted. III. Its power will manifest scales or patches itself: destroys influence, peace, etc. IV. Only the great H.-priest are not depressed can heal the sinner. He is able and willing. "Wilt thou be below the general made whole?" Palestine and nated circular skin, and do not surface of the The law of leprosy.-"Take a view of the ceremonial law of remain station- Moses; you shall find, besides the prefiguration of Christ, the ary at their first badge or difference of the people of God, the exercise and impressize, but con- sion of obedience, and other Divine uses and fruits thereof, that tinually enlarge their limits, and some of the most learned Rabbins have travailed profitably and are either scat- profoundly to observe, some of them a natural, some of them a tered or con- moral sense, or reduction of many of the ceremonies and ordifluent."-Kitto. nances. As in the Law of the Leprosy, where it is said: 'If the b Bacon, Ad. of whiteness have overspread the flesh; the patient may pass abroad Learning. for clean; but if there be any whole flesh remaining, he is to be shut up for unclean;' one of them noteth a principle of nature, that putrefaction is more contagious bef. maturity than aft.; and another noteth a position of moral philosophy, that men, abandoned to vice, do not so much corrupt manners as those that are half good and half evil. So in this, and very many other places in that law, there is to be found, besides the theological sense, much aspersion of philosophy." See Dr. T. Fuller. A triple reconciler. a Wordsworth. v. 13. "Why clean?' The true answer perh. is that it was owing to a dif. species 9-13. (9) when.. man, all doubt of its being there removed. then.. priest, a disease inflicted by God's stroke; can be mitigated or removed only by God's servant; and in God's way. (10) if.. white, lit. if there be a white rising. quick rising, denoting advance of the disease: perh. "proud flesh." or a dif, stage of (11) old.. flesh, confirmed, indisputable leprosy. and.. up, the disease; the no need of probationary test: the disease inveterate: see v. 46. partial being in- (12) and if, etc., the leprosy be clear to the eye-to every befectious, the total holder. (13) consider, having carefully examined. clean, Patrick supposes "nature has made a great effort, a vigorous struggle, and has that "that wh. is expelled the malady. The diseased matter turned into a scurf, here called 'lep- which peeled off, and died away.”a not."-Bush. But rosy' was not truly such, but another disease The old leprosy.-An image-I. Of indwelling sin manifesting itself upon occasions. II. Of the easily besetting sin revealing having so strong itself. III. Of the presence of an old habit that has been a resemblance to "scotched" but "not killed." the leprosy as to the same denomi prompt the Leprosy in South Africa.-In the South of Africa there is a large writer to give it lazar-house for lepers. It is an immense space, enclosed by a very high wall, and containing fields, which the lepers cultivate. Kitto observes, There is only one entrance, which is strictly guarded. Whenever "It is evident any one is found with the marks of leprosy upon him, he is nation." And |