The reason for the laws A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. Abib or Nisan. a 47 To make a difference A. M. 2514. Abib or Nisan. 46 This is the law of the An. Exod. Isr. 2. beasts, and of the fowl, and of between the unclean and the An Exod. Isr. 2. every living creature that moveth clean, and between the beast in the waters, and of every creature that that may be eaten, and the beast that may not creepeth upon the earth: be eaten. can dwell with him in glory hereafter. conclusion of this chapter. THE contents of this chapter must furnish many profitable reflections to a pious mind. 1. From the great difficulty of ascertaining what animals are meant in this part of the law, we may at once see that the law itself must be considered as abrogated; for there is not a Jew in the universe who knows what the animals are, a very few excepted, which are intended by these Hebrew words; and therefore he may be repeatedly breaking this law by touching and being touched either by the animals themselves or their produce, such as hair, wool, fur, skin, intestines, differently manufactured, &c., &c. It therefore appears that this people have as little law as they have gospel. a Leviticus, chap. x. 10. See at the fit for food. The animals which do not ruminate do not concoct their food so well, and hence they abound with gross animal juices, which yield a comparatively unwholesome nutriment to the human system. Even the animals which have bifid hoofs but do not chew the cud, such as the swine, and those which chew the cud but are not bifid, such as the hare and rabbit, are by Him who knows all things forbidden, because he knew them to be comparatively innutritive. In all this God shows himself as the tender Father of a numerous family, pointing out to his inexperienced, froward, and ignorant children, those kinds of aliments which he knows will be injurious to their health and domestic happiness, and prohibiting them on pain of his highest displeasure. On the same ground he forbade all fish that have not both fins and scales, such as the conger, eel, &c., which abound in gross juices and fat which very few stomachs are able to digest. Who, for instance, that lives solely on swine's flesh, has pure blood and healthy juices? And is it not evident, in many cases, that the man partakes considerably of the nature of the brute on which he exclusively feeds? I could pursue this inquiry much farther, and bring many proofs founded on indisputable facts, but I forbear; for he who might stand most in need of caution, would be the first to take offence. 2. While God keeps the eternal interests of man steadily in view, he does not forget his earthly comfort; he is at once solicitous both for the health of his body and his soul. He has not forbidden certain aliments because he is a Sovereign, but because he knew they would be injurious to the health and morals of his people. The close connection that subsists between the body and the soul we cannot fully comprehend; and as little can we comprehend the influence they have on each other. Many moral alterations take place in the mind in consequence of the influence of the bodily organs; and these latter are greatly influenced by the kind of aliment which the body receives. God knows what is in man, and he knows what is in all creatures; he has therefore graciously forbidden what would injure both body and mind, and commanded what is best calculated to be useful to both. Solid-footed animals, such as the horse, and many-toed animals, such as the cat, &c., are here prohibited. Beasts which have bifid or cloven hoofs, such as the or and sheep, are considered as proper for food, and therefore commanded. The former are unclean, i. e., unwholesome, affording a gross nutriment, often the parent of scorbutic and scrofulous disorders; the latter clean, i. e., affording a copious and wholesome nutriment, and not laying the foundation of any disease. Ruminating animals, i. e., those which chew the cud, concoct their food better than the others which swallow it with little mastication, and therefore their flesh contains more of the nutritious juices, and is more easy of digestion, and consequently of assimilation to the solids and fluids of the human body; on this account they are termed clean, i. e., peculiarly wholesome, and - 544 3. As the body exists only for the sake of the soul, and God feeds and nourishes it through the day of probation, that the soul may here be prepared for the kingdom of heaven; therefore he shows in the conclusion of these ordinances, that the grand scope and design of all was that they might be a holy people, and that they might resemble him who is a holy God.— GOD IS HOLY; and this is the eternal reason why all his people should be holy-should be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. No faith in any particular creed, no religious observance, no acts of benevolence and cha|rity, no mortification, attrition, or contrition, can be a substitute for this.. We must be made partakers of the Divine nature. We must be saved from our sins from the corruption that is in the world, and be made holy within and righteous without, or never see God. For this very purpose Jesus Christ lived, died, and revived, that he might purify us unto himself; that through faith in his blood our sins might be blotted out, and our souls restored to the image of God.— Reader, art thou hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Then blessed art thou, for thou shalt be filled. Ordinances concerning the CHAP. XII. purification of women. CHAPTER XII. Ordinances concerning the purification of women after child-birth, 1; after the birth of a son, who is to be circumcised the eighth day, 2, 3. The mother to be considered unclean for forty days, 4. After the birth of a daughter, fourscore days, 5. When the days of her purifying were ended, she was to bring a lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, 6, 7. If poor, and not able to bring a lamb, she was to bring either two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, 8. A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, .Abib or Nisan. 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and borne a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity, shall she be unclean. d 3. And in the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. 6. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt4 And she shall then continue in the blood offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtle-dove, of her. purifying three and thirty days; she for a sin-offering, unto the door of the taber shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into nacle of the congregation, unto the priest : Chap. xv. 19.- b Luke ii. 22. Chap, xv. 19. xvii. 12; Luke i. 59; ii. 21; Johu vii. 22, 23. NOTES ON CHAP. XII. d Gen. Verse 2. If a woman have conceived] In the extent mentioned here the ordinances of this chapter have little relation to us; and to inquire into their physical reasons, as far as they related to the Jews, could afford but little edification; and to make such a subject sufficiently plain would require such minute examination and circumstantial detail as could scarcely be proper for general readers. All that is necessary to be said the reader will find on ver. 4. pregnancy takes place. Here is a series of mercies and wise providential regulations which cannot be known without being admired, and which should be known that the great Creator and Preserver may have that praise from his creatures which his wonderful working demands. 5. In pregnancy, that which was formerly evacuated is retained for the formation and growth of the fetus, or the general strengthening of the system during the time of pregnancy. 6. After the birth of the child, for seven or fourteen days, more or less according to certain circumstances, that superabundance, no longer necessary for the growth of the child as before, continues to be evacuated: this was called the time of the female's purification among the Jews. 7. When the lacerated vessels are rejoined, this superfluity of blood Verse 3. And in the eighth day] Before this time is returned into the general circulation, and, by a wise the child could scarcely be considered as having strength law of the Creator, becomes principally useful to the sufficient to bear the operation; after this time it was breasts, and helps in the production of milk for the not necessary to delay it, as the child was not consi-nourishment of the new-born infant. 8. And thus it dered to be in covenant with God, and consequently continues till the weaning of the child, or renewed not under the especial protection of the Divine providence and grace, till this rite had been performed, On circumcision see the note on Gen. xvii. 10. Cireumcision was to every man à constant, evident sign of the covenant into which he had entered with God, and of the moral obligations under which he was thereby Jaid. It was also a means of purity, and was especially necessary among a people naturally incontinent, and in a climate not peculiarly favourable to chastity. This is a light in which this subject should ever be viewed, and in which we see the reasonableness, propriety, expediency, and moral tendency of the ceremony. Verse 4. The blood of her purifying] A few words will make this subject sufficiently plain. 1. God designs that the human female should bring forth chil-easy to account for the difference in the times of pudren. 2. That children should derive, under his pro- rification, after the birth of a male and female child. vídence, their being, all their solids and all their fluids, After the birth of a boy the mother was considered in a word, the whole, mass of their bodies, from the unclean for forty days; after the birth of a girl, foursubstance of the mother. 3. For this purpose he score days. There is probably no physical reason for has given to the body of the female an extra quantity this difference, and it is difficult to assign a political of blood and nutritious juices. 4. Before pregnancy one. Some of the ancient physicians assert that a this superabundance is evacuated at periodical times.woman is in the order of nature much longer in comVOL. I. ( 36 ) The term purifying here does not imply that there is any thing impure in the blood at this or the other times referred to above; on the contrary, the blood is pure, perfectly so, as to its quality, but is excessive in quantity for the reasons above assigned. The idle tales found in certain works relative to the infectious nature of this fluid, and of the female in such times are as impious as they are irrational and absurd. Verse 6. When the days of her purifying] It is not 545 pletely recovering after the birth of a female than after the birth of a male child. This assertion is not justified either by observation or matter of fact. Others think that the difference in the time, of purification after the birth of a male and-female is intended to mark the inferiority of the female sex. This is a miserable reason, and pitifully supported. She shall bring a burnt-offering, and a sin-offering] It is likely that all these ordinances were intended to show man's natural impurity and original defilement by sin, and the necessity of an atonement to cleanse the soul from unrighteousness. Verse 8. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons] As the Virgin Mary brought only the latter, hence it is evident that she was not able, i. e., she was not rich enough to provide the former; for such a holy woman would not have brought the less offering had she been capable of bringing the greater. How astonishing is this! The only heir to the throne of David was not able to bring a lamb to offer in sacrifice to God! How abominable must SIN be when it required him who was in the form of God thus to empty and to humble him-. self, yea, even to the death of the cross, in order to make an atonement for it, and to purify the soul from all defilement ! relative to the leprosy. 8 And if h she be not able to A. M. 2514. Abib or Nisan. bring a lamb, then she shall bring An. Exod. Isr. 2. h Heb. her hand find not sufficiency of Chap. iv. 26. The priest shall make an atonement for her] Every act of man is sinful, but such as proceed from the influence of the grace and mercy of God. Her sorrow in conception, and her pain in bringing forth children, reminded the woman of her original offence; an offence which deserved death, an offence which she could not expiate, and for which a sacrifice must be offered: and in reference to better things the life of an animal must be offered as a ransom for her life. And being saved in. childbed, though she deserved to die, she is required, as soon as the days of her separation, were ended, to bring a sacrifice according to her ability to the priest, that he might offer it to God as an atonement for her. Thus, wherever God keeps up the remembrance of sin, he keeps up also the memorial of | sacrifice, to show that the state of a sinner, howsoever deplorable, is not hopeless, for that he himself has found out a ransom. Every where, in the law and in the Gospel, in every ordinance and in every ceremony, we may see both the justice and the mercy of God. Hence, while we have the knowledge of our sin we have also the knowledge of our cure. Reader, whilst thou art confessing thy own misery do not forget the Lord's mercy; and remember, he saves to the uttermost all that come through Christ unto him. CHAPTER XIII: Laws relative to the leprosy. It is to be known by a rising in the flesh, a scab, or a bright spot, 1, 2. When the priest sees these signs he shall pronounce the man unclean, infected with the leprosy, and unfit for society, 3. Dubious or equivocal signs of this disorder, and how the person is to be treated in whom they appear, 4-8. In what state of this disorder the priest may pronounce, a man clean or unclean, 9-13. Of the raw flesh, the sign of the unclean leprosy, 14, 15. Of the white flesh, the sign of the leprosy called clean, 16, 17. Of the leprosy which succeeds a boil, 18-20. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, 21, 22. Of the burning boil, 23. Of the leprosy arising out of the burning boil, 24, 25. Equivocal marks relative to this kind of leprosy, 26-28. Of the plague on the head or in the beard, 29. Of the scall, and how it is to be treated, 30-37. Of the plague of the bright white spots, 38, 39. of the bald head, 40, 41. Of the white reddish sore in the bald head, 42-44. The leper shall rend his clothes, put a patch on his upper lip, and cry unclean, 45. He shall be obliged to avoid society, and live by himself without the camp, 46. Of the garments infected by the leprosy, and the signs of this infection, 47-52. Equivocal marks relative to this infection, and how the garment is to be treated, by washing or by burning, 53-58. Conclusion relative to the foregoing particulars, 59. A. M. 2514. B. C-1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. a AND the LORD spake unto the skin of his flesh a rising, Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 When a man shall have in a Or, swelling. NOTES ON CHAP. XIII. Verse 2. The plague of leprosy] This dreadful disorder has its name leprosy, from the Greek λempa, 546 b a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like b Deut. xxviii. 27; Isa. iii. 17. A. M: 2514. B. C. 1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. The manner of discerning A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. CHAP. XIII. the plague of leprosy; then he An. Exod. Isr. 2. shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons Abib or Nisan. the priests: 3 And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. 4. If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; 'then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: 5 And the priest shall look on him the seventh day and, behold, if the plague in e Deut. xvii. 8, 9; xxiv. 8; Luke xvii. 14, hand of Moses, Exod. iv. 6, that it was leprous as snow.; and of Míriam, Num. xii. 10, that she became leprous, as white as snow; and of Gehazi, 2 Kings v. 27, that, being judicially struck with the disease, of Naaman, he went out from Elisha's presence a leper as white as snow. See the hote on Exod. iv. 6. In Hebrew this disease is termed ny tsaraath, from ytsara, to smite or strike; but the root in Arabic signifies to cast down or prostrate, and in Æthiopic, to cause to cease, because, says Stockius," it prostrates the strength of man, and obliges him to cease from all work and labour." There were three signs by which the leprosy was known. 1. A bright spot. 2. A rising (enamelling) of the surface. 3. A scab; the enamelled place producing a variety of layers, or stratum super stratum, of these scales. The account given by Mr. Maundrell of the appearance of several persons whom he saw infected with this disorder in Palestine, will serve to show, in the clearest light, its horrible nature and tendency. "When I was in the Holy Land," says he, in his letter to the Rev. Mr. Osborn, Fellow of Exeter College," I saw several that laboured under Gehazi's distemper; particularly at Sichem, (now Naplosu,) there were no less than ten that came begging to us at one time. Their manner is to come with small buckets in their hands, to receive the alms of the charitable; their touch being still held infectious, or at least unclean. The distemper, as I saw it on them, was quite different from what I have seen it in England; for it not only defiles the whole surface of the body with a foul scurf, but also deforms the joints of the body, particularly those of the wrists and ankles, making them swell with a gouty scrofulous substance, very loathsome to look on. I thought their legs like those of old battered horses, such as are often seen in drays in England. The whole distemper, indeed, as it there appeared, was so noisome, that it might well pass for the utmost corruption of the human body on this side the grave. And certainly the inspired penman could not have found out a fitter emblem, whereby to express the uncleanness different kinds of leprosy. B. C. 1490. his sight be at a stay, and the A. M. 2514. plague spread not in the skin; An. Exod. Isr. 2. then the priest shall shut him. Abib or Nisan. up seven days more : 6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean : it is but a scab and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 7 But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again : 8 And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is a leprosy. Chap. xi. 25; xiv. 8. and odiousness of vice."-Maundrell's Travels. Letters at the end. The reader will do well to collate this account with that given from Dr. Mead in the note on Exod. iv, 6. Verse 3. The priest shall-pronounce him unclean.] ins por vetimme otho; literally, shall pollute him, i. e., in the Hebrew idiom, shall declare or pronounce him polluted; and in ver. 23 it is said, the priest shall pronounce him clean, ¡727 157_vetiharo haccohen, the priest shall cleanse him, i. e., declare him clean, In this phrase we have the proper meaning of Matt. xvi. 19: Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. By which our Lord intimates that the disciples, from having the keys, i. e., the true knowledge of the doctrine, of the kingdom of heaven, should, from particular evidences, be at all times able to distinguish between the clean and the unclean, the sincere and the hypocrite; and pronounce a judgment as infallible as the priest did in the case of the leprosy, from the tokens already specified. And as this binding and loosing, or pronouncing fit or unfit for fellowship with the members of Christ, must in the case of the disciples be always according to the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven, the sentence should be considered as proceeding immediately from thence, and consequently as Divinely ratified. The priest polluted or cleansed, i. e., declared the man clean or unclean, according to signs well known and infallible. The disciples or ministers of Christ bind or loose, declare to be fit or unfit for Church fellowship, according to unequivocal evidences of innocence or guilt. In the former case, the priest declared the person fit or unfit for civil society; in the latter, the ministers of Christ declare the person against whom the suspicion of guilt is laid, fit or unfit for continued association with the Church of God. The office was the same in both, a declaration of the truth, not from any power that they possessed of cleansing or polluting, of binding or of loosing, but by the knowledge they gained from the infallible signs and evidences produced on the respective cases. Various signs whereby the A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. 9 When the plague of leprosy white rising, or a bright spot, An. Exod. Isr. 2. is in a man, then he shall be white, and somewhat reddish, An. Exod. Isr. 2. Abib or Nisan. brought unto the priest; and it be showed to the priest; e 10 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be 'quick raw flesh in the rising; 11 It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. Abib or Nisan. 20 And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil. 21 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: 22. And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean : it is a plague. 12 And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; 13 Then the priest shall consider: and, be-23 But if the bright spot stay in his place, hold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, and spread not, it is a burning boil: and the he shall pronounce him clean that hath the priest shall pronounce him clean. plague it is all turned white: he is clean. 14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. 15 And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. 16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed into white, he shall come unto the priest; 17 And the priest shall see him and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; thenthe priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean. 18 The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed; g 19 And in the place of the boil there be a Numbers xii. 10, 12; 2 Kings v 27; 2 Chronicles xxvi. 20. Verse 13. If the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean] Why is it that the partial leper was pronounced unclean, and the person totally covered with the disease, clean? This was probably owing to a different species or stage of the discase; the partial disease was contagious, the total not contagious. That there are two different species or degrees of the same disease described here, is sufficiently evident. In one, the body was all covered with a white enamelled scurf; in the other, there was a quick raw flesh in the risings. On this account the one might be deemed unclean, i: e., contagious, the other not; for contact with the quick raw flesh would be more likely to communicate the disease than the touch of the hard dry scurf. The ichor proceeding from the former, when brought into contact with the flesh of another, would soon be taken into the constitution by means of the absorbent vessels; but where the whole surface was perfectly dry, the absorbent 24 Or if there be any flesh, in the skin, whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish or white; 25 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. 26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: Exodus ix. 9. 27 And the priest shall look upon him the Hebrew, the quickening of living flesh.h Heb. a burning of fire. vessels of another person coming in contact with the diseased man could imbibe nothing, and therefore there was comparatively no danger of infection. Hence that species or stage of the disease that exhibited the quick raw rising was capable of conveying the infection for the reasons already assigned, when the other was not. Dr. Mead thus accounts for the circumstance mentioned in the text. See on ver. 18. As . the leprosy infected bodies, clothes, and even the walls of houses, is it not rational to suppose that it was occasioned by a species of animalcula or vermin burrowing under the skin? Of this opinion there are some learned supporters. Verse 18. In the skin thereof, was a boil] Scheuchzer supposes this and the following verse to speak of phlegmonic, erysipelatous, gangrenous, and phagedenic ulcers, all of which were subjected to the examination of the priest, to see whether they were infections, or whether the leprosy might not take its origin from |