Once a year all these rites were to be observed. The seventh month was to be to them as memorable as the seventh day of every week. The Prophet Isaiah very sorely reproves the neglected observance of this holy day in chap. lviii. He says, ver. 3, "In the day of your fast ye find pleasure," not afflicting your souls, " and exact all your demands of labor," instead of doing no work at

all. God saw them in their houses, and observed that they secretly carried on their worldly business, and that their soul was unhumbled. Hence, he says, " Ye shall not fast as ye do this day. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul?" That is, Is it such a fast as yours? Is that like a day of soulaffliction? your bowing down your head as a bulrush? And ye have added external rites of your own, to hide the inward leanness, "putting sackcloth and ashes under you" (ver. 5). "Nay," saith the Lord, "loose the burdens which ye wickedly impose on the poor, and set free the bankrupt,* and thus make the day a real Sabbath. Also, let the poor have food (ver. 7), and help thy impoverished brother. Then, indeed, thou mayest expect to feel the joy of the expiation-day (vers. 8, 9), and all the year long thou shalt be kept and blessed (vers. 11, 12)." As surely as morn arose, after the atonement-day was done; and as surely as in the year of release that morn was ushered in with the joyful notes of jubilee, so certainly should they have reaped the blessing. Oh! if thou wouldst keep all his solemn Sabbaths, how blessed

* This may refer to the times when the year of jubilee, “the year of release," began on the evening of the day of atonement. Giving food to the poor (ver. 7), marked the year of jubilee also (Exod. xxiii. 11). The prophet chooses such a time, when there was double obligation on a Jew, in order to show their hypocrisy in a more marked form.

wouldst thou be (ver. 13, 14); and thy land a land of fruitfulness to thee!

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Happy art thou, O Israel, a people saved of the Lord!"

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The Ase of Animal Food Regulated."

WHETHER THEREFORE YE EAT, OR DRINK, OR WHATSOEVER YE DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD."-1 Cor. x. 31.

CHAPTER XVII.

Vers. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying, What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace-offerings unto the Lord."

HERE the people are addressed, as well as Aaron and his sons; for it was needful to show them that in requisitions that affected their private affairs, the scrutiny was made by the all-seeing God. It was important that the people should see plainly that this inspection of private

* We may call this portion of the book the second section of the Levitical code. The public services of the worshipper are over. Here begin some rules affecting their private morality and their secret devotions.

matters was the Lord's ordinance, not instituted by the priests nor by Moses. They would naturally be more jealous in regard to those institutions that touched upon their domestic habits.

There was little flesh used as common food in these eastern countries; it was used chiefly on feast days.* Hence the restrictions here were not burdensome. And when they reached Canaan, if they needed more animal food, and were further off from the tabernacle, these restrictions ceased, as Deut. xii. 13-15 declares, and as the constant use of "camp" in this place might lead us to suppose. The grand object of the law was to prevent idolatry. Heathen nations (see Ps. xvi. 4) used to take the blood of animals and pour it into a hole or trench in the earth, for food to their gods;t and there the dead were consulted. Now, a law like this ensured that the blood should not be so used. The ox, sheep, and goat (ver. 3) are selected as specimens; but no doubt any species of animal food was subjected to the same restrictions. They came with the animal to the door of the tabernacle; saw God revealing himself there; left the blood as an offering to him; and then returned home to their tent to feast. How solemn and how sweet to a true Israelite! He brings his food to the Lord, sees his majesty, acknowledges himself worthy to die, but redeemed by atoning blood; and thus goes to his table and eats his meat with gladness and singleness of heart! All their meat became a "peace-offering," ver. 5.

* It has been noticed by some that Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseb were the only tribes that had herds (Num. xxxii.); the other tribes possessed very few, and may even have borrowed from these when they needed sacrifices.

As we see in Homer's celebrated Nexvta.

Are we not here taught the duty of coming to the Lord at every season of food? owning him as preserver? feeling that blood has redeemed our life? and so going forward with hearts ever impressed and awed? We should eat our daily bread in his presence.' * We should remember the time when the grant of animal food was made, viz., after the deluge; and thus we would feel our common food to be a memorial of wrath passed and new mercy begun.

In ver. 5, "the sacrifices in the open field," mean all things slain; which they had hitherto killed anywhere, at home or publicly. These are now to be presented as peace-offerings; that is, they are to be presented to the Lord through the priest, and then given back to him, like as was done in the case of peace-offerings.

Ver. 6. "And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savor unto the Lord."

The fat and the blood are taken; see chap. iii. 17. When this is done, the blessing rests on them; "sweet savor” breathes from them.

Ver. 7. "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute forever unto them throughout their generations.”

The word here rendered "devils," , is equivalent to "goat-gods." It is originally used of "goats;" shaggy goats, whose appearance gave origin to the heathen idea

* Cudworth on the Passover suggests that the coming up to the three annual feasts effected the same end when Israel reached Canaan; for, then, they came up and eat before God, and carried home the solemn impressions then made for the rest of the year.