Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

INTRODUCTION.

§ 1. Title, Author, Date, &c.

THE Hebrews, according to their usual custom, denominate this, the third book in the order of the Pentateuch, va-yikra, and he called, from its initial word. By the Septuagint it is called Acvïrikov, leuitikon (levitikon), of which the Vulgate title 'Leviticus' is the Latinized form; and this has been retained by our own and all the modern versions. It is so called from the fact that it treats principally of the rites and ceremonies, the services and sacrifices, of the religion of the Israelites, the charge of which was committed to the Levitical priesthood, that is, to Aaron and his sons, or descendants, who were of the tribe of Levi, and who alone of that tribe exercised the priestly office. It is not, therefore, the ministry of the Levites properly so called, who constituted a distinct order from the priests, and subordinate to them, that forms the subject of this book, for of their services a much fuller account is contained in the book of Numbers than in the present. It is of the peculiar functions of the sacerdotal body usually termed 'the sons of Aaron,' that the book, for the most part, treats, for which reason it is denominated by the Talmudists torath hakkohanim, the law of the priests, and p torath hakkorbanoth, the law of the offerings. The sons of Aaron,' or the priests, were merely assisted in the performance of their sacred office by the descendants of the other branch of Levi's family, who obtained the privilege of officiating as a kind of second order of the priesthood, in recompense of the ready zeal which they displayed against idolatry and the worshippers of the golden calf.

6

[ocr errors]

That Moses was the real author of this book, is proved, not only by the gen. eral arguments which demonstrate him to have written the whole Pentateuch, but by particular passages in other portions of the Scriptures where it is expressly cited as his inspired work. Thus, Nehem. 8. 14,' And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.' This ordinance is contained Lev. 23. 34, 42. Again it is said of the mother of Jesus, Luke 2. 22, that' When the days of her purification according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem,' a law which is to be found Lev. 12. 6. Once more, it is said 2 Chron. 30. 16, of the priests and Levites, that 'they stood in their place, after their manner, according to the law of Moses, the man of the Lord; the priests sprinkled of the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites.' This regulation occurs Lev. 1. 5. The true authorship of the book is by these passages put beyond question.

[ocr errors]

The time and place at which the book was written, are determined by the

[ocr errors]

words occurring ch. 27. 34, These are the commandments which the Lord com. manded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.' That this is to be understood not only of those laws which were orally promulgated at that time and place, but of those also which were committed to writing, may be inferred from the parallel expression, Num. 36. 13, These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, unto the child. ren of Israel, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho.' As it was in the plains of Moab here mentioned that Moses died, and as the precepts in the book of Numbers could not have been written either prior or subsequent to the period of the sojourn at that station, it is reasonable to conclude, that if in one case mention is made of written laws, the same is to be understood in the other. So that there is no room to question that this book was written during the encamp. ment of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. This is strikingly confirmed by such allusions as the following, indicating that the state of the Israelites at the time, was that of an encampment, instead of a permanent settlement in cities and villages. Lev. 4. 12, The whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp. v. 28, 'And afterward he shall come into the camp. Ch. 14. 33, And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan which I give to you,' &c. implying that they had not yet arrived there.

[ocr errors]

§ 2. The Period embraced by the History.

Archbishop Usher, who is followed by Mr. Horne, supposes that the book comprises the history of the transactions of a single month, viz. from April 21 to May 21, of the year 2514, which answers to the first month of the second year after the departure from Egypt. Others consider it as containing only the account of what passed during the eight days of the consecration of Aaron and his sons. The former is the more generally received opinion, but as the book itself contains no definite data by which the chronological arrangement of its facts can be adjusted, we can affirm nothing positive on the subject.

§ 3. Divisions, Contents, &c.

By the Jews this book is divided into ten

[ocr errors]

parashoth, or larger divisions, and twenty-three 70 siderim, or smaller divisions. These, in the arrangement of our Bibles, are comprised in twenty-seven chapters, of which the contents may be again subdivided and classified as follows:

PART I.-Laws concerning Sacrifices.

I. Of the burnt-offerings,

II. Of the meat-offerings, III. Of the peace-offerings,

IV. Of the sin-offerings,

V of the trespass-offerings,

PART II.-Institution of the Priesthood.

I. The consecration of Aaron and his sons,
II. The offerings at the consecration of the priests,
III. Death of Nadab and Abihu,

CHAPTERS

1

2

3

4,5

6,7

8

9

10

PART III-Distinction of Clean and Unclean Animals.

I. Unclean beasts, birds, fishes, &c. specified,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

PART VI.-Laws concerning the Festivals, Vows, and Tithes.
I. The sabbath, passover, pentecost, feast of trumpets, day of atone-
ment, and feast of tabernacles,

II. Various ceremonial and judicial rites relative to sacred festivals,

III. Law of the sabbatic year, year of jubilee, &c.

Although the book of Leviticus contains some matters purely historical, yet
its leading scope is to record the laws concerning the sacrifices, ordinances, and
institutions of that remarkable economy from which it derives its name. The
established worship of the Hebrews was offering-not prayer, said or chanted,
nor instrumental music, nor any like form of devotion-but the presenting to the
Deity certain articles of food and drink. This system of worship is not to be
understood as having originated at the time to which the book refers. As there
were moral laws in the world by which human conduct was more or less governed
prior to the delivery of the Decalogue from Mount Sinai, so it is evident from
the history of Cain and Abel, of Noah, of Abraham, and other patriarchs, that
sacrificial offerings are to be dated back to the earliest periods of which we have
any account. They constituted the prevailing form in which the spirit of devo-
tion was taught to express itself from the very infancy of the race. But as sac-
rifices were ordained to enter largely into the dispensation now about to be estab-
lished, they are in this book instituted, as it were, anew, placed upon their true
foundation, and commanded with circumstances which gave them greater im-
portance, and served to illustrate their typical character with more effect.

The sacrifices prescribed in the Levitical worship, were of two kinds; the
bloody and the unbloody; or the animal and the vegetable offerings; the latter
consisting of fruits and libations.

(I.) THE BLOODY SACRIFICES.-These consisted, (1
-These consisted, (1.) of Holocausts, which
were offered to the Lord entire, and were considered as ranking highest in dig.

nity and excellence, for which reason Moses commences the law of sacrifices with them. (2.) Sin and Trespass-offerings, distinguished from the holocausts by certain parts only of the animal being burnt on the altar, while the flesh was eaten by the priests. (3.) Eucharistical Sacrifices, or Thank-offerings. In these the fat only was consumed on the altar, a small portion being allotted by law to the priest, and all the rest being eaten at a solemn and joyful feast by the offerer and his guests.

(II.) UNBLOODY SACRIFICES, OR MEAT-OFFERINGS.-These consisted of flour, bread, cakes, and ears of corn and grain roasted, of which a full account is given in ch. 2. The libations were of wine, and although the mode of pouring them out is nowhere described, yet it is most likely that the wine was poured out of some vessel upon the top of the altar.

[ocr errors]

That these sacrifices had all of them a typical intent; that they were 'shadows of good things to come,' pointing more or less distinctly to the body which is of Christ,' the whole epistle to the Hebrews is a continued proof. The imposition of hands upon the head of the victim, the shedding of its blood, and the consumption of its members upon the altar, were prefigurative acts setting forth, by a kind of dramatic representation, the future offering of the 'Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world.' The requisite qualities of these sacrificial victims were emblematical of Christ's immaculate character, and the law of their oblation was a practical hieroglyphic of the great gospel truth of the atonement. So also were the outward washings and purifications enjoined by the Mosaic law, designed to intimate the necessity of inward purity. Indeed, if these institutions be severed from their New Testament relations, we have no key to unlock the hidden meaning of the Pentateuch, and the whole ritual contained in it dwindles down to a burdensome round of unmeaning ceremonies. But when regarded in the light now suggested, the whole service, like the veil on the face of Moses, conceals a spiritual radiance under an outward covering, and the wisdom of the various appointments appears at once worthy of its divine Author. To what extent the spiritual import of these rites was actually understood by the Jews themselves, it may not be easy to determine; but that something, over and above the simple act of slaying and offering the animal victim, was required by the spirit of the law is evident from the fact, that the obedience of the chosen people is frequently represented as faulty, notwithstanding their scrupulous observance of the outward rite. Thus Isai. 1. 11, 12, 'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.'

But while the Jews probably in great measure fell short of apprehending the true typical genius of their own dispensation, and consequently rejected its divine Fulfiller when he came, an error is often committed on the other hand, in modern times, by the attempt to elicit more from these figurative institutions than they were intended to convey. It by no means follows that because certain portions of the Levitical economy have a typical purport, we have therefore a right to give loose to imagination and multiply types at will, as if the Scriptures meant all that they can be made to mean. This was the fault of many of the earlier interpreters, who so abounded in mystical senses as to convert nearly the whole system into a mass of fancied allegories and typical allusions, which

Luther very properly characterized as the 'froth of scripture. To such lengths was this style of interpretation carried by Origen, Hesychius, and their disciples in later times, that one can scarcely open a volume of their commentaries without reading in the title-page that the mystical sense is duly expounded ;' evi. dently implying that the duty of the commentator was by no means discharged by the accurate grammatical exegesis of the text; but that he was bound in addition to penetrate beyond the surface of the letter, and enlighten his readers by an exhibition of the manifold occult meanings hidden beneath the surface, and constituting those abysmal depths of import, which the plummet of lexicogra phy could never presume to sound.

It may be difficult, indeed, to lay down precise rules which shall be universally applicable in the way of interpretation, but the grand canon undoubtedly is, to follow strictly the apostolical explanations, where we have them; and, where we have them not, to proceed with extreme caution, adhering rigidly to the analogy of faith, and standing as remote as possible from any thing which may appear fanciful, and give occasion to cavillers to discard typical expositions altogether. Under these restrictions we may safely recognize a typical import in many items of the Levitical law which are not expressly affirmed by the New Testament writers to be possessed of that character; and, in fact, in no other way will that wondrous polity disclose to us the whole richness of its evangeli cal implications.

§ 5. Commentators.

The remark made under this head in the introduction to the Notes on Exo. dus, holds strictly true of the book of Leviticus, viz. that it has been the subject of few commentaries except such as have at the same time embraced either the whole Pentateuch or the whole Bible. In pointing out therefore the sources of illustration for this portion of the Mosaic writings, I can do little more than recite the authorities already specified in my preceding volumes. They will be found enumerated at considerable length in the prolegomena to the work on Exodus, with critical estimates of the character and value of each. These it will be unnecessary to repeat at length in the present connexion, but it may subserve the convenience and information of the reader, to be furnished with the titles of those works, from which he may hope to derive the most essential aid in the study of the scope and genius of the Levitical law. The following may be cited as claiming perhaps the first place in this relation :—

Outram's Dissertations on the Jewish Sacri- | Saurin's Dissertations. fices.

Lowman on the Hebrew Ritual,

J. P. Smith on the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Christ.

Faber on the Three Dispensations.

Hore Mosaicæ.

Willett's Hexapla on Leviticus.

Pictorial Bible.

Lightfoot's Works.

Magee on the Atonement.

Witsius' Miscellanea Sacra.

Michaelis' Comment. on Laws of Moses.
Spencer de Legibus Hebræorum.
Graves on the Pentateuch.

Warburton's Divine Legation.

Davison on Sacrifices.

[blocks in formation]
« PredošláPokračovať »