3 If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a d Exod. 12. 5. ch. 3. 1, and 22. 20, 21. male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will Mal. 1. 14. Eph. 5. 27. Deut. 15. 21. Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 19. by two several terms, Nisheh, and olah, of which the first being a derivative from UN ish, fire, denotes an offering by fire, and is applied both to of ferings burnt wholly, and to those burnt in part. This word is generally rendered by offering by fire.' The word olah, on the other hand, literally signifying 'ascension,' from alah, to ascend, because these offerings went up in flame and smoke into the air, is applied to sacrifices wholly burnt, which the Greeks denominated λokavrwpara holokautomata, or ôλokavorov ho by the word' offer,' it is to be observed, that when any private individual is said to' offer an animal or other oblation, it is to be understood simply of his bringing it to the altar, not of his performing any part of the office which was exclusively appropriated to the Priests and Levites- Ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, (even) of the herd and of the flock. The term cattle' here is generic, including the 'herd' and the flock' mentioned in connection. The word 'even' is therefore properly supplied in our version, to indicate that herd' and 'flock' are ex-lokauston from which the word 'holoegetical of cattle.' The Heb. term tzon, comprehends both sheep and goats, as is evident from v, 10. It appears, therefore, that there were only five kinds of living creatures which were accepted in sacrifice, viz. of animals: beeves, sheep, and goats, including the young of each kind of eight days old, Lev. 22. 27; and of fowls: turtle-doves and young pigeons, 1. 44. These being of the most tame, gentle, and harmless species of creatures, the most easily obtained, as well as the most serviceable to man, were well adapted at once to point out the distinguishing moral attributes of Christ and his people, those 'living sacrifices' which were 'accept able to God,' and also to intimate man's absolute dependance upon God for those blessings to which he owes his food and raiment, the crowning comforts of life. Besides, as some of the sacrifices were followed by a feast on the victim, which was esteemed a covenant rite, therefore such animals as were allowed for food, would naturally be required to be offered in sacrifice. 3. A burnt-sacrifice. Heb. olah, more correctly rendered whole burntoffering. The prescribed sacrificial offerings are distinguished in Hebrew caust' has been transferred into our lan- ,tdmim מים .Heb at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. 4 eAnd he shall put his hand upe ch. 4. 15. and 3. 2, 8. 13. and 8. 14, 22. and 16. 21. (173lerûtzon).' Rosenmuller adopts the same construction. At the same time, the sense given in our version does no positive violence to the origi nal, and is supported by respectable names, but we think the other deci dedly preferable. At the door of the tabernacle. Because here in the open space of the court the altar of Burntofferings was placed, upon which alone, even on pain of death, these oblations were to be made. Comp. Lev. 17. 3-7, The additional phrase, before the Lord,' has its usual import of before the Shekinah, the visible symbol of the divine presence. By thus bringing his offering to the place prescribed, the offerer acknowledged that the Lord dwelt there in a peculiar manner, and he moreover publicly, before all the people acknowledged himself a sinner, like unto his brethren, and needing mer cy no less than the vilest of the human (i. e. a perfect male,) and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing,' where 'corrupt' is opposed to 'male.' This was a prefiguration of the perfect excellence of the sacrifice of Christ, who was 'a lamb without blemish and without spot.' 1 Pet. 1. 19. And not only so; it was doubtless de- | signed to intimate that we are to offer to God the best of all we have; the best of our time and strength, the vigor of our days, and the utmost of our talents. Will he who would have nothing but the best of Israel's herds and flocks, be pleased with such poor remnants of our time and thoughts as may be left from the service of the world? Had the Jew brought an inferior beast, it would have been rejected by the priest, or the offering would have been void by law. Let us not suppose that the defectiveness of our spiritual oblations will be overlooked by him who searches the heart. What a man soweth, that shall he reap. Niggardly and unwilling 4. Shall put his hand upon the head, gifts, weary and distasteful services, &c. From Lev. 16. 21, it is probable hasty and perturbed devotions, will that by 'hand' here is implied both the find no more acceptance than the Is- hands. The act denoted that the vicraelite's blemished ox.-All the Burnt- tim offered was thereby wholly given offerings of beasts were to be males, over and devoted to God, being as it but this is not prescribed in regard to were henceforth solemnly manumitted the fowls. Of his own voluntary from the possession of the offerer, who will. Heb. lirtzono, to his (i. e. from this time ceased to claim any farGod's) good pleasure, or favorable ac- ther interest in it or control over it. It ceptance. Thus the phrase is rendered significantly intimated, moreover, the by the Gr. dεkrov εvavri Kupiov, accepta- offerer's desire that his transgression ble before the Lord, and the Lat. 'ad might be put upon the animal thus placandum sibi Dominum,' to render sented, and that the death to which he the Lord propitious to him, and thus now devoted it, might be instead of by the Chaldee, that acceptableness that death which he had himself most may be to him before the Lord.' This justly deserved. The sinner who presense is moreover confirmed by v. 4 sented the victim thus disburdened him. following, and by Lev. 23. 11, And he self of the sin he acknowledged before shall wave the sheaf before the Lord God, and laid the weight of it upon the to be accepted for you, (53 lirtz- sacrifice. It thus taught the grand gos onekem),' and by Jer. 6. 20, Your pel doctrine of substitution. -T It burnt-offerings are not acceptable shall be accepted for him. race. pre. לך .Heb on the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be faccepted for him gto make atonement for him. f ch. 22. 21, 27. Isai. 56, 7. Rom. 12. 1. Phil. 4. 18. gch. 4. 20, 26, 31, 35, and 9. 7, 5 And he shall kill the hbullock before the LORD: iand the priests, and 16. 24. Numb. 15. 25. 2 Chron. 29. 23, 24. Rom. 5. 11 h Micah 6. 6. i 2 Chron. 35. 11. Heb. 10. 11. be covered, made safe, expiated, or atoned. Accordingly we find the pardon of sin expressly called the covering of sin, Nehem. 4. 4, 5, Our God give them for a prey in the land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee.' Ps. 32. 1, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Ps. 85.2, Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob; thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sin.' All such expiatory offerings pointed directly to Christ, who is the grand atonement or reconciliation for the sins of men. Dan. 9. 24. 1 John 2.2. Heb. 10, 8, 10. The burnt-offering, it is to be observed, had not, like the sin-offering, respect to any particular sin, but was designed to make atonement for sin in general. Thus it is said of Job, ch. 1. 5, That he offered burnt-offerings, (saying,) it may be that my sons have sinned.' nirtzâh lo, from the same root with ratzon, above v. 3, and confirming the interpretation there given. - To make an atonement for him. Heb. 733 lekappër âlauv. This was the great purport of the appointment. In hope of this the worshipper brought his offering; through it he sought pardon and reconciliation with God; and when he offered it rightly, it became an atonement for him, not for any value of its own, but by virtue of that great sacrifice which it prefigured. The original word kaphar signifies primarily to cover; not so much, however, in the sense of wrapping as with a garment, as in that of smearing or plaistering, it being applied, Gen. 6. 14, to the act of coating the ark with pitch. Its radical sense, therefore, is rather that of an adhesive than a loose covering. From this primary notion of covering, it came to be applied by met. aphorical usage to the appeasing of anger, or to that act of an offending party by which he succeeds in procuring favor and forgiveness from the person ¶ ve-shâhat; in all probably an inor party offended. In this sense it is stance of the usage very common in applied to the appeasing of an angry Hebrew, where a verb is employed in a countenance, Gen. 32. 20, For he said, kind of impersonal sense, equivalent to I will appease him, (Heb. will cover his the 'on dit,' one says of the French, or face) with the present.' 2 Sam. 21. 3, the 'man sagt,' id. of the German, both { What shall I do for you, and where- of which are evidently tantamount to with shall I make the atonement (Heb. the passive, it is said. The expression Cover)?' Prov. 16. 14, ' The wrath of a before us is not intended, we conceive, king is as messengers of death, but a to assert that the offerer, or any one in wise man will pacify it (Heb. will particular, was to kill the victim, but cover it).' Its predominant usage is in simply to say that one, some one, shall relation to the reconciliation effected kill it. In conformity with this idea, between God and sinners, in which the Gr. preserves the indefinite form of sense atonement for sin is the covering the expression, by rendering it opakovotv of sin, or the securing the sinner from they shall slay. A similar phraseology punishment. Thus when sin is par- appears in the following passages, Gen. doned, or its consequent calamity re- 11. 9, Therefore is the name of it callmoved, the sin or person may be said toed Babel (Heb. 10 one called 5. And he shall kill the bullock, Heb. Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, kand sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by k ch. 3. 9. Heb. 12. 24. 1Pet. 1. 2. the door of the tabernacle of the the name of it Babel).' Gen. 16. 14, or soul was especially in the blood, so 'Wherefore the well was called (the souls under the altar,' denotes the one called the well) Beer-lahai-roi. blood of the martyrs plentifully shed, Deut. 32. 37, And he shall say (and flowing as a sacrificial offering un one shall say—it shall be said) where der the altar. The act of sprinkling are their gods,' &c. Examples of this the blood was, during every period of usage might be almost indefinitely mul- the Mosaic economy, exclusively the tiplied, but those now adduced will prerogative of the priesthood. It was probably be sufficient to confirm our in the effusion of blood, which is the rendering in the passage before us. before us. It life, that the virtue of the sacrifice is highly probable that the offerer him- cousisted, it being always understood self and the common Levites united in that life went to redeem life. It was the act of slaughtering the animal. calculated and probably designed to Indeed Patrick labors to show from remind the offerer that he deserved to Maimonides, that the killing of the have his own blood shed for his sins, holy things might lawfully be done by and alluded moreover to the pacifying a stranger (one not of Aaron's seed), and purifying of the blood of Jesus shed yea, of the most holy things, whether for us for the remission of sins. Every they were the holy things of private reader of the New Testament knows persons, or of the whole congregation.' how much our salvation is attributed This would appear to be confirmed by to the blood of Christ; and this great 2 Chron. 30. 17, where it is said that evangelical truth was thus taught in 'there were many in the congregation | shadow to the Israelites under the Law. that were not sanctified; therefore the They were by this rite most impresLevites had charge of the killing of the sively taught that without the shedding passovers for every one that was not of blood there was no remission of clean; implying that if they had been sins; and however some of them might clean they would have been authorized have dim and darkened views on this to perform the service themselves.- subject, while the veil was upon their minds, we at least know the truth. We know that the blood of all the animals shed at the altar of burnt-offering owed all its excellency to its being a type of that blood of Jesus by which he hath obtained eternal redemption for us. ¶ Sprinkle the blood round about, &c. This is doubtless the true sense of the original, but both the Gr. and the Lat. render it by the stronger term 'pour,' 'pour out.' The sprinkling may be supposed perhaps to have been very copious, as Maimonides tells us that the priest was to sprinkle the blood twice on the upper surface of the altar, and the rest of the blood was to be poured out at the bottom of the altar on the south side-a rite to which there is doubtless allusion, Rev. 6. 9, I saw under the altar (i. e. at the bottom of the altar) the souls of them that were slain for the word of God.' As the life 6. He shall flay. Gr. deipavres they having flayed; shall divide,' &c. The Heb. ¬ hiphshit, one shall flay, doubtless affords another instance of the impersonal form of speech illustrated above. The meaning is simply that those whose office it was to perform this part of the ceremony should strip the skin from the victim, and then cut up the body into its appropriate 7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. 8 And the priests, Aaron's sons, 1 Gen. 22. 9. parts. This would seem from 2 Chron. word of truth.' shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the altar. 9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, 8. Shall lay the parts. Heb. D¬nham hannethâhim. As the same word is rendered in v. 6. ' pieces,' it would have conduced more to the absolute precision which ought to be consulted in every translation of the Scriptures to have preserved that rendering in the present instance. Uniformity's sake alone is often sufficient to determine a translator in his choice of one out of two or more renderings. This regular dividing and laying on of the pieces of the sacrifice was observed in all cases of the Burnt-offering. Comp. Ex. 29. 17, 18. 1 Kings, 18. 23, 33. Lev. 8. 20, 21.-9. 13. 9. His inwards and his legs shall he wash in water. These parts, in order that no filthy adhesions might pollute the sacred offerings, were not to be burnt upon the altar until they had been thoroughly cleansed by washing in water; a process which, according to Maimonides, was three times repeated before the ablution was thought to be 7. Shall put fire. Heb. A complete. The typical import of this nâthenu ish, shall give fire; by which ceremony is distinctly intimated by is probably meant stirring up, cherish- the Apostle, Heb. 10. 22, 'Let us draw ing, supplying fuel for, the fire that was near with a true heart, in full assurance originally kindled from heaven, and of faith, having our hearts sprinkled which was to be kept perpetually burn- from an evil conscience and our boing on the altar, as may be seen from dies washed with pure water.'-¶ The Lev. 6. 11.-¶ Lay the wood in order. priest shall burn all on the altar. Heb. Heb. âreku, implying, as rightly hiktir, shall burn as a perfume, 1575 -Opr rendered in our version, an orderly and as the original properly implies. Sce methodical arrangement, and spoken the import of the term fully explained of the setting or furnishing a table, in the Note on Ex. 29. 13. It is not the and marshalling the ranks of an army, usual word for consuming by fire, and Judg. 20. 22; also metaphorically of consequently we lose in our translation the proper disposition of words in a the peculiar expressiveness of the origi prayer or discourse, Ps. 5. 4. Job, 32. nal, especially when taken in connex14.-37. 19 ion with what follows. The burning |