CHAPTER I.

THE BURNT-OFFERING.

In the system of Jewish sacrifices, the Burnt-offerings, treated of in this chapter, held the most conspicuous place. They were of all others the most ancient; as the acceptable offering of Abel was undoubtedly of this description, and the worship both of Noah and Abraham, long prior to the time of Moses, included them as an essential element. Indeed, the directions concerning offerings in the chapter before us, are introduced in such a way as to indicate that the Lawgiver was not propounding a new form of worship, but regulating the ritual of one already understood and used: When any man of you shall bring an offering to the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.' The earliest records of heathen antiquity show, moreover, that such sacrifices were in use among nearly all nations, and distinguished by accompanying rites and ceremonies very similar to those observed by the Hebrews, clearly indicating that they derived their origin from the same source, to wit, a divine institution ordained to the parents of the race, and kept up among the antediluvians, from whom, through Noah and his family, it was transmitted to all subsequent generations of men, wherever dispersed over the earth.

The original term for burnt-offering,

olah, comes from the root, âlâh, to ascend. It is so called, be cause it was laid whole on the altar, and then, with the exception of the skin, being consumed by fire, the greatest part

of it ascended towards heaven. Its equivalents in other languages are as follows; Chal. by alta, ascension; 33 kelil, entireness; gemira, oblation. Gr. ὁλοκαρπασις, καρπωμα, όλε kavтwμa, all conveying the idea of a fire-offering wholly consumed, which is also clearly intimated by the Latin word 'holocaustum,' holocaust. The sacrifice consisted in the immolating of a male animal victim, which was sometimes a bull of three years old, some. times a sheep or goat of one year old, and sometimes, but more rarely, a turtle-dove, or young pigeon. But from whatever class of the animal kingdom it were taken, whether from the herd or the flock, whether it were bullock, ram, or goat, one thing was indispensableit was to be perfect in its kind, 'a male without blemish.' This rule was given to intimate to the people the reverence and respect with which they should regard God, and every part of his service. It would be highly unbecoming to offer to him any thing that was lame, or blind, or diseased, or in any other way of little value. He will be served with every creature's best. But this was not all. The animal was to be the most excellent of its kind, in order the more fitly to shadow forth the excellencies of Him who was to be the great substance of this type, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and who alone of all that ever partook of our nature was truly without sin. As he was to be a spotless Savior, so his representing type was to be a spotless victim. In addition to this it is to be observed, that the animal was to be selected from among those that were used for food, and were most eminently ser.

viceable to man; thus teaching him, that in serving God we are not to withhold from him even that which is most

near and dear to us, which goes to sustain our being and constitute our comforts. As we received all from him, so we must render back all to him. Nor must we here fail to notice that peculiar feature of the law, by which the oblation was to be varied according to the ability of the offerer. While the rich man presented his bullock, the considerate and benignant spirit of the law made provision for the poor man also, who, as his circumstances would permit, might bring a lamb or a pigeon, with the assurance of its being equally acceptable with the costlier gift of his neighbor. No one was to be discouraged from approaching God, by the consideration that he was not able to present to him such an offering as he could wish. He would have no man, however humble, excluded from the pleasures and benefits, to say nothing of the duties, of such a religious observance. So legibly do we find the stamp of the divine beneficence impressed upon the smallest items of his institutions.

The various ceremonies connected with the rite of the Burnt-offering, will be considered in detail, as we proceed in our annotations; but we observe here, in regard to the occasions on which this species of offering was made, that they were both public and private. As their design was, in the main, expiatory, they were presented, partly, in the name of the whole nation, daily, every morning and evening, as also in connexion with a sin-offering on the great day of atonement, and on the three principal anniversary festivals;—partly, on the solemnity of consecration to office-and partly by private persons, in order to be freed from the condition of Levitical uncleanness; namely, by women after child-bearing, at the end of the legally prescribed period for the purification,by lepers when cured, by Nazarites,

when they had touched a dead body,and by those referred to in Lev. 15. 1-15.

We say that the design of these offerings was mainly expiatory; and such was undoubtedly the case. At the same time, it is to be observed, that in the early ages of the world, when no other sacrifices were offered but whole burnt-offerings, this one kind of sacri fice was also petitionary and eucha ristic, and was in fact applied to every part of sacred worship, according to the circumstances and promptings of each individual. This is clearly deducible from the inspired history. Noah offered burnt-offerings as an expression of gra titude to God for the preservation of himself and his family through the perils of the deluge. Job added burntofferings to prayers, when he interceded for forgiveness for his sons and his friends. Balaam, following, beyond doubt, the general custom, directed burnt-offerings to be prepared when he was about to pray for safety to Balak, and destruction to the Israelites. That burnt offerings used also to be presented as votive and voluntary oblations, may be inferred from the language of David, Ps. 63. 13-15, 'I will go into thine house with burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt-sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats.' Ps. 61. 18, 19. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burntofferings and whole burnt-offerings ; then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.' In the former of these passages is doubtless to be understood votive offerings; and in the latter, voluntary ones.

And it is voluntary offerings, unquestionably, which are contemplated in the

CHAPTER I.

of the tabernacle of the congrega

sion.

ses, and spake unto himb out

a Ex. 19, 3.

chapter before us. The burnt-offering about which directions are here given, was not the public offering of the lamb, morning and evening, nor one pre scribed to the Israelites at any appointed time, or upon any particular occaIt had respect to an offering to be brought by any individual, whenever he felt himself so disposed. It was ordered in view of those seasons in the pious Israelite's experience, when he felt his mind under more than ordinary impressions; when he was sensible of his general sinfulness and deficiencies; and when he would humbly seek mercy for those manifold offences and failings which are not particularly specified, and had no express offering appointed for them.

As to the leading typical design of the Burnt-offering, nothing can be clearer than that it had a special regard to the offering of Christ in a human body. It is so stated in the epistle to the Hebrews; When he cometh into the world he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God.' Here were the sins of a whole world to be atoned for; here were innumerable transgressions of innumerable persons, which needed mercy.

The time was come when the cattle upon a thousand hills would be no longer accepted, but the offering of the Son of God was to supersede them

b Ex. 40, 34, 35. Num. 12, 4, 5.

intensity of his sufferings in undergoing that vicarious martyrdom is not inaptly denoted by the burning of the whole Burnt-offering which was so expressly enjoined. But without appearing to press the coincidences between the type and the antitype, when every thing is taken into consideration, we see not how a doubt can remain that the sacrifice of the Burnt-offering was designed as a piacular substitute for the individual in whose behalf it was brought to the altar. With thesc remarks we are prepared to enter upon the explication of the text.

1. And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him, &c. Heb. vayikra, and he called. The word 'Lord,' though inserted by our transla tors in the first clause, occurs in the original only in the second ;—' And he called unto Moses, and the Lord said,' &c. A similar construction occurs in Lev. 8. 15: And he slew it, and Moses took the blood,' &c.—where it would seem, from the context, that it was Moses who slew the sacrifice. Still the note on that passage will show that there is some degree of doubt as to the true construction. The Jerus. Targ. in this place renders,' And the Word of the Lord called,' &c. As the cloud of glory now filled the tabernacle, and prevented all access to its interior, Moses stood without while an audible voice from the mercy-seat addressed him in the words immediately follow. ing. The word ' called,' in the original, has the last letter written in smaller character than the rest, intimating, ac. cording to the Jews, that God now spake, not with a loud thundering voice, as upon Mount Sinai, but in lower and gentler tones, as befitted a milder and more permanent mode of communica.

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.

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 exegetical 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

male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will Deut. 15. 21. Mal. 1. 14. Eph. 5. 27.

Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 19.

by two several terms, N isheh, and

olah, of which the first being a derivative from W 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 by 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 oxavrwpara holokautomata, or ódoxavorov holokauston from which the word 'holocaust' has been transferred into our language. If rendered in English phrase, it should properly be 'whole burntoffering,' whereas by its being generally rendered by our translators burnt-offering,' the genuine distinction between the original words is hidden from the ordinary reader, as there is no differ ence between the expression 'burnt-offering,' and 'offering by fire.' But let the phrase 'whole burnt-offering' be employed, and the distinction is obvious. Every holocaust or 'olah,' was an 'isheh,' or offering by fire, but every 'isheh,' or fire offering, was not a holocaust. It may here be remarked, that the whole burnt-offering' was the first or principal sacrifice with which God was daily served by his people, Num. 28. 3, no part of it being eaten, but the whole consumed upon the altar. It pointed to the offering of the body of Christ, as is evident from Heb. 10. 10. In Deut. 33, 10, it is rendered

whole burnt sacrifice.'-¶ A male without blemish. Heb. Dan tâmim, perfect; i. e. having neither deformity, defect, nor superfluity of members, and free from distemper. Whence the prophet says, Mal. 1. 14, Cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male,