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All sacrifices to be killed

LEVITICUS.

at the door of the tabernacle.

fully does the preservation of the Jews as a distinct a man imagine that the word bread can nourish his people bear testimony at once to the truth of their own body, as that the name Christ can save his soul. Both law which they acknowledge, and the Gospel of Christ must be received and applied in order that the man which they reject! may live.

2. But while the Jews sit in thick darkness, because of the veil that is on their hearts, though the light of the glory of God is shining all around them, but not into them because of their unbelief; in what state are those who profess to see their unbelief and obstinacy, acknowledge the truth of the New Testament, and yet are living without an atonement applied to their souls for the removal of their iniquities, transgressions, and sins? These are also in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity. An all-sufficient Saviour held out in the New Testament can do them no more good than a scape-goat and day of atonement described in the law can do the Jews. As well may

3. The Jews prepared themselves to get benefit from this most solemn ordinance by the deepest humiliations. According to their canons, they were obliged to abstain from all meat and drink from the bathfrom anointing themselves to go barefoot-and to be in a state of perfect continency. He who is likely to get benefit for his soul through the redemption that is in Christ, must humble himself under the mighty hand of God, confess his iniquity, abstain from every appearance of evil, and believe on him who died for his offences, and rose again for his justification. The soul that seeks not shall not find, even under the Gospel of Christ.

CHAPTER XVII.

The people are commanded to bring all the cattle they intend to kill to the door of the tabernacle, where they are to be made an offering to the Lord; and those who disobey are to be cut off, 1-5. The priest is to sprinkle the blood, 6. They are forbidden to offer sacrifices to devils, 7. The injunction to bring their offerings to the door of the tabernacle is repeated, 8, 9. The eating of blood is solemnly forbidden, 10. It is the life of the beast, and is given to make an atonement for their souls, 11, 12. If a bird or beast be taken in hunting, its blood must be poured out and covered with dust, for the reasons before assigned, 13, 14. None shall eat an animal that dies of itself, or is torn by beasts; if any act otherwise he must bathe his clothes and his flesh, or bear his iniquity, 15, 16.

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a See Deut. xii. 5, 15, 21.v. 13.

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offering unto the LORD before the
tabernacle of the LORD, blood shall An. Exod. Isr. 2.
be imputed unto that man; he
hath shed blood; and that mand shall be cut
off from among his people :-

5 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.
Deut. xii. 2; 1 Kings xiv. 23; 2 Kings xvi. 4; xvii. 10; 2 Chron.
xxviii. 4; Ezek. xx. 28; xxii. 9.

3 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, 4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an b Deut. xii. 5, 6, 13, 14. Rom. d Gen. xvii. 14.- -e Gen. xxi. 33; xxii. 2; xxxi. 54; NOTES ON CHAP. XVII. Verse 4. And bringeth it not unto the door] As sacrifice was ever deemed essential to true religion, it was necessary that it should be performed in such a way as to secure the great purpose of its institution. God alone could show how this should be done so as to be pleasing in his sight, and therefore he has given the most plain and particular directions concerning it. The Israelites, from their long residence in Egypt, an idola-ness, it was comparatively easy to prevent all abuses trous country, had doubtless adopted many of their usages; and many portions of the Pentateuch seem to have been written merely to correct and bring them back to the purity of the Divine worship.

That no blood should be offered to idols, God commands every animal used for food or sacrifice to be slain at the door of the tabernacle. While every animal was slain in this sacrificial way, even the daily

food of the people must put them in mind of the necessity of a sacrifice for sin. Perhaps St. Paul had this circumstance in view when he said, Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x. 31; and, Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

While the Israelites were encamped in the wilder

of this Divine institution; and therefore they were all commanded to bring the oxen, sheep, and goats to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, that they might be slain there, and their blood sprinkled upon the altar of the Lord. But when they became settled in the promised land, and the distance, in many cases, rendered it impossible for them to bring the animals to be slain for domestic uses to the temple, they were

Sacrificing to devils and

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f 6 And the priest shall sprinkle the LORD; even, that man shall An. Exod. Isr. 2. the blood upon the altar of the be cut off from among his Au. Exod Isr. 2. LORD at the door of the taberna- people. cle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

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

8 And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt-offering or sacrifice,

9 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto Chap. iii. 2. - Exod. xxix. 18; chap, iii. 5, 11, 16; iv. 31; Num. xviii. 17.- h Deut. xxxii. 17; 2 Chron. xi. 15; Psa. cvi. 37; 1 Cor. x. 20; Rev. ix. 20. Exod. xxxiv. 15; chap. xx. 5; Deut. xxxi. 16; Ezek. xxiii. 8. Chap. i. 2, 3.k Ver. 4. Gen. ix. 4; chap. iii. 17; vii. 26, 27; xviii. 26; Deut.

permitted to pour out the blood in a sacrificial way unto God at their respective dwellings, and to cover it with the dust; see ver. 13, and Deut. xii. 20, 21. Blood shall be imputed unto that man] Having poured out the blood improperly, he shall be considered as guilty of murder, because that blood, had it been properly and sacrificially employed, might have made atonement for the life of a man.

Verse 7. They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils] They shall not sacrifice D'y lasseirim, to the hairy ones, to goats. The famous heathen god, Pan, was represented as having the posteriors, hörns, and ears of a goat; and the Mendesians, a people of Egypt, had a deity which they worshipped under this form. Herodotus says that all goats were worshipped in Egypt, but the he-goat particularly. It appears also that the different ape and monkey species were objects of superstitious worship; and from these sprang, not only Mendes and Jupiter Ammon, who was worshipped under the figure of a ram, but also Pan and the Sileni, with the innumerable herd of those imaginary beings, satyrs, dryads, hamądryads, &c., &c., all woodland gods, and held in veneration among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

After whom they have gone a whoring.] Though this term is frequently used to express idolatry, yet we are not to suppose that it is not to be taken in a literal sense in many places in Scripture, even where it is used in connection with idolatrous acts of worship. It is well known that Baal Peor and Ashtaroth were worshipped with unclean rites; and that public prostitution formed a grand part of the worship of many deities among the Egyptians, Moabites, Canaanites, Greeks, and Romans. The great god of the two latter nations, Jupiter, was represented as the general corrupter of women; and of Venus, Flora, Priapus, and others, it is needless to speak. That there was public prostitution in the patriarchal times, see the note on Gen. xxxviii. 21. And that there was public prostitution of women to goats in Egypt, see Herodotus, lib. ii., c. 46,

10 m And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; "I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

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11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, P to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither

xii. 16, 23; xv. 23; 1 Sam. xiv. 33; Ezek. xliv. 7.- "Chap. xx. 3, 5, 6; xxvi. 17; Jer. xliv. 11; Ezek. xiv. 8; xv. 7. • Ver. 14. P Matt. xxvi. 28; Mark xiv. 24; Rom. iii. 25; v.. 9; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14, 20; Heb. xiii. 12; 1 Pet. i. 2; 1 John i. 7; Rev. i. 5.- - Heb. ix. 22.

p. 108, edit. Gale, who gives a case of this abominable kind that took place in Egypt while he was in that country. See also many examples in Bochart, vol. ii., col. 641; and see the note on chap. xx. 16.

Verse 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood] This sentence, which contains a most important truth, had existed in the Mosaic writings for 3600 years before the attention of any philosopher was drawn to the subject. This is the more surprising, as the nations in which philosophy flourished were those which especially enjoyed the Divine oracles in their respective languages. That the blood actually possesses a living principle, and that the life of the whole body is derived from it, is a doctrine of Divine revelation, and a doctrine which the observations and experiments of the most accurate anatomists have served strongly to confirm. The proper circulation of this important fluid through the whole human system was first taught by Solomon in figurative language, Eccles. xii. 6; and discovered, as it is called, and demonstrated by Dr. Harvey in 1628; though some Italian philosophers had the same notion a little before. This accurate anatomist was the first who fully revived the Mosaic notion of the vitality of the blood; which notion was afterward adopted by the justly celebrated Dr. John Hunter, professor of anatomy in London, and fully established by him by a great variety of strong reasoning and accurate experiments. To support this opinion Dr. Hunter proves,

1. That the blood unites living parts in some circumstances as certainly as the yet recent juices of the branch of one tree unite with that of another; and he thinks that if either of these fluids were dead matter, they would act as stimuli, and no union would take place in the animal or vegetable kingdom; and he shows that in the nature of things there is not a more intimate connection between life and a solid than between life and a fluid.

2. He shows that the blood becomes vascular, like other living parts of the body; and he demonstrated

Ordinance concerning

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shall any stranger that sojourneth | be of the children of Israel, or of
the strangers that sojourn among An. Exod. Isr. 2.
13 And whatsoever man there you, which hunteth and catch-
Heb. that hunteth any hunting.

this by a preparation in which vessels were clearly
seen to arise from what had been a coagulum of
blood; for those vessels opened into the stream of the
circulating blood, which was in contiguity with this
coagulated mass.

3. He proved that if blood be taken from the arm in the most intense cold that the human body can suffer, it will raise the thermometer to the same height as blood taken in the most sultry heat. This is a very powerful argument for the vitality of the blood, as it is well known that living bodies alone have the power of resisting great degrees of heat and cold, and of maintaining in almost every situation while in health that temperature which we distinguish by the name of animal heat.

4. IIe proves that blood is capable of being acted upon by a stimulus, as it coagulates on exposure to the air, as certainly as the cavities of the abdomen and thorax become inflamed 'from the same cause. The more the blood is alive, i. e., the more the animal is in health, the sooner the blood coagulates on exposure; and the more it has lost of the living principle, as in eases of violent inflammation, the less sensible it is to the stimulus produced by being exposed, and coagulates more slowly.

5. He proves that the blood preserves life in different parts of the body. When the nerves going to any part are tied or cut, the part becomes paralytic, and loses all power of motion, but it does not mortify. But let the artery be cut, and then the part dies and mortification ensues. It must therefore be the vital principle of the blood that keeps the part alive; nor does it appear that this fact can be accounted for on any other principle.

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Chap. vii. 26.

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ceeded originally from the blood admits of no doubt ; and it is natural and reasonable to suppose that as it was the cause under God which generated all the other parts of the body, so it still continues to be the principle of life, and by it alone all the wastes of the system are repaired. Two points relative to this subject are strongly asserted in Divine revelation, one by Moses, the other by St. PAUL.

1. Moses says, The LIFE of the flesh is in the BLOOD, ver. 11. This has been proved by the most indisputable facts.

2. St. Paul says, God hath made of ONE BLOOD all nations of men, Acts xvii. 26. And this is demonstrated, not only from there being only one pair from whom all the nations of men have been derived, but also from the fact that every human being, from the first-born of Eve to the present hour, has been formed out of and supported by the mother's blood; and that from the agency of this fluid the human body, after being born into the world, has its increment and support. The reason given by God for the law against eating blood is perfectly conclusive: I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood-for the LIFE (D) nephesh) of the flesh is in the BLOOD, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls (`) naphshotheychem, your LIVES :) for it is the blood (because it is the LIFE, VD) nephesh) that maketh an atonement for the soul ( bannephesh, for the life; for the word is the same in all these cases.) By transgression a man forfeits his LIFE to Divine justice, and he must die did not mercy provide him a substitute. The life of a beast is appointed and accepted by God as a substitute for the sinner's life (in reference to the life of Christ, which was to be given for the life of the world;) but as this

:

6. He thinks this vitality farther proved from the case of a person who was brought to St. George's hos-life is in the BLOOD, and as the blood is the grand prinpital for a simple fracture of the os humeri, and who ciple of vitality, therefore the blood is to be poured out died about a month after. As the bones had not united, upon the altar and thus the life of the beast becomes he injected the arm, and thus found that the coagulated a substitute for the life of the man. blood which filled the cavity between the extremities of the fractured bones was become vascular, and in some places very much so, which vessels, had it been dead matter, it never could have produced.

This system has been opposed, and arguments have been adduced to prove that the principle of vitality exists not in the blood but in the nervous system. But every argument on this ground appears to be done away by the simple consideration that the whole nervous system, as well as every other part of the body, is originally derived from the blood; for is it not from the blood of the mother that the fetus has its being and nourishment in the womb? Do not all the nerves, as well as the brain, &c., originate from that alone? And if it be not vital can it give the principle of vitality to something else, which then exclusively (though the effect of a cause) becomes the principle of vitality to all the solids and fluids of the body? This seems absurd, That the human being pro

And it is well worthy of being remarked, that Christ not only died for sinners, but our redemption is every where attributed to his BLOOD, and the shedding of that blood; and that on the altar of the cross, this might make an atonement for the lives and souls of men, he not only bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, but his side was opened, the pericardium and the heart evidently pierced, that the vital fluid might be poured out from the very seat of life, and that thus the blood, which is the life, should be poured out to make an atonement for the life of the soul.

The doctrine of Moses and Paul proves the truth of the doctrine of Harvey and Hunter; and the reasonings and experiments of Harvey and Hunter illustrate and confirm the doctrine of Moses and Paul.— Here then is a farther proof of the truth and authority of Divine revelation. See the note on Gen. ix. 4; Dr. J. Corrie's Essay on the Vitality of the Blood; and the article Blood, in the Encyclopædias.

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14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

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15. And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or An. Exod. Isr. 2. that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.

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16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.

xiv. 21; Ezek. iv. 14; xliv. 31. Heb. a carcass.- −y Ch. xi. 25.- Chap. xv. 5. Ch. v. 1; vii. 18; xix. 8; Num. xix. 20.

Verse 15. That which died of itself, or that which was torn] Because, in both cases, the blood was retained in the body; hence the council at Jerusalem forbade things strangled as well as blood, because in such beasts the blood was coagulated in the veins and arteries. See Acts'xv. 28.

Deut. xii. 16, 24; xv. 23.- Ezek. xxiv. 7.- Ver. 11, 12; Gen. ix. 4; Deut. xii. 23,- - Exod. xxii. 31; ch. xxii. 8; Deut. Verse 14. Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh] Independently of the moral reasons given above, we may add, 1. That blood, being highly alkalescent, especially in hot climates, is subject to speedy putrefaction. 2. That it affords a gross nutriment, being very difficult of digestion, so much so that bull's blood was used in ancient times as poison, "its extreme viscidity rendering it totally indigestible by the powers EVERY thing considered, surely there is as little of the human stomach." 3. It is allowed that when propriety in eating of blood as there is necessity to blood was used in this country in great quantities, the do it. They who will do otherwise must bear their scurvy was more frequent, than at other times. 4. It iniquity. If blood eating be no offence, then they have appears from history that those nations who lived mostno sin to answer for. The principal subjects of this on it were very fierce, savage, and barbarous, such as the Scythians, Tartars, Arabs of the desert, the Scandinavians, &c., &c., some of whom drank the blood of their enemies, making cups of their sculls!

chapter have been already so amply handled in the notes, that there is no need to add any thing by way of reflection or improvement.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The people are commanded to avoid the doings of the Egyptians and Canaanites, 1-3. They are to do God's judgments, and to keep his ordinances, that they may live, 4, 5. Marriages with those who are near of kin are prohibited, 6. None to marry with his mother or step-mother, 7, 8; with his sister or stepsister, 9; with his grand-daughter, 10; nor with the daughter of his step-mother, 11; nor with his aunt, by father or mother, 12, 13; nor with his uncle's wife, 14; nor with his daughter-in-law, 15; nor sisterin-law, 16; nor with a woman and her daughter, son's daughter, or daughter's daughter, 17; nor with two sisters at the same time, 18. Several abominations prohibited, 19-23, of which the Canaanites, &c., were guilty, and for which they were cast out of the land, 24, 25. The people are exhorted to avoid these abominations, lest they be treated as the ancient inhabitants of the land were treated, and so cast out, 26-28. Threatenings against the disobedient, 29, and promises to the obedient, 30.

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Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.

3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I

a Verse 4; Exodus vi. 7; chapter xi. 44; xix. 4, 10, 34; Ax. 7; Ezekiel xx. 5, 7, 19, 20.- bEzekiel xx. 7, 8; xxiii. 8.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII.

Verse 3. The doings of the land of Egypt-the land of Canaan] The worshipping of demons, beasts,

4 d Ye shall do my judgments, mine ordinances, to walk therein LORD your God.

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and keep I am the

5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he

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Marriages with near

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shall live in them: I am the thy mother's sister: for she is
LORD.

6 None of you shall approach

thy mother's near kinswoman.
14 m Thou shalt not uncover

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to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou their nakedness: I am the LORD. Ishalt not approach to his wife she is thine aunt.

7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness,

8 The nakedness of thy father's wife of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover; it is thy father's nakedness.

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13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of " pass through the fire to Molech, neither

Exod. vi. 2, 6, 29; Mal, iii. 6. Heb. remainder of his flesh.- Chap. xx. 11. - Gen. xlix. 4; chap. xx. 11; Deut. xxii. 30; xxvii. 20; Ezek. xxii. 10; Amos ii. 7; 1 Cor. v. 1. * Chap. xx. 17; 2 Sam. xiii. 12; Ezek. xxii. 11. Chap. xx. 19.m Chap. xx. 20. Gen. xxxviii. 18, 26; chap. xx. 12; Ezek. xxii. 11. 0 Chap. xx. 21; Matt. xiv. 4; see Deut. xxv. 5 Matt. xxii. 24; Mark xii. 19.- -P Chap. xx. 14.

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4 Or, one wife to another; Exod. xxvi. 3.- 1 Sam. i. 6, 8 Chap. xx. 18; Ezek. xviii. 6; xxii. 10. Chap. xx. 10; Exod. xx. 14; Deut. v. 18; xxii. 22; Prov. vi. 29, 32'; Mal. iii. 5; Matt. . 27; Romans ii. 22; 1 Cor. vi. 9; Heb. xiii. 4. "Chap. xx. 2; 2 Kings xvi. 3; xxi. 6; xxiii. 10; Jer. xix. 5; Ezek. xx. 31; xxiii. 37, 39.———————▾ 1 Kings xi. 7, 33; called, Acts vii. 43, Moloch.

marriage, unless the brother died childless. In that case it was not only lawful for her to marry her brother-in-law, but he was obliged by the law, Deut. xxv. 5, to take her to wife.

Verse 18. A wife to her sister] Thou shalt not marry two sisters at the same time, as Jacob did Rachel and Leah; but there is nothing in this law that rendered it illegal to marry a sister-in-law when her sister was dead; therefore the text says, Thou shalt not take her in her life time, to vex her, alluding pro

Verse 6. Any that is near of kin] 1 shear besaro, any remnant of his flesh, i. e., to any particularly allied to his own family, the prohibited degrees in which are specified from the 7th to the 17th verse inclusive, Notwithstanding the prohibitions here, it must be evident that in the infancy of the world, persons very near of kin must have been joined in matrimonial alliances; and that even brothers must have matched with their own sisters. This must have been the case in the family of Adam. In these first instances necessity required this; when this ne-bably to the case of the jealousies and vexations which cessity no longer existed, the thing became inexpedient and improper for two reasons: 1. That the duties owing by nature to relatives might not be confounded with those of a social or political kind; for could a man be a brother and a husband, a son and a husband, at the same time, and fulfil the duties of both? Impossible, 2. That by intermarrying with other families, the bonds of social compact might be strengthened and extended, so that the love of our neighbour, &c., might at once be felt to be not only a maxim of sound policy, but also a very practicable and easy duty; and thus feuds, divisions, and wars be prevented.

Verse 16. Thy brother's wife] This was an illegal

subsisted between Leah and Rachel, and by which the family peace was so often disturbed. Some think that the text may be so understood as also to forbid polygamy. Verse 19. As long as she is put apart] See the note on chap. xv. 24.

Verse 20. Thy neighbour's wife] See the note on Exod. xx. 14.

Verse 21. Pass through the fire to Molech] The name of this idol is mentioned for the first time in this place. As the word molech or melech signifies king or governor, it is very likely that this idol represented the sun; and more particularly as the fire appears to have been so much employed in his wor

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