V. The NAZARITES (as the Hebrew word Nazir implies) were persons separated from the use of certain things, and sequestered or consecrated to Jehovah. They are commonly regarded as sacred persons: a notice of their institute will be found infrà in Chapter V. Sect. I. § III. 2.

VI. The RECHABITES are by many writers considered as a class of holy persons, who, like the Nazarites, separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order that they might lead a more pious life. Butthis is evidently a mistake; for they were not Israelites or Jews, but Kenites or Midianites, who used to live in tents, and traverse the country in quest of pasture for their cattle, as the Nabathæan Arabs anciently did, and as the modern Arabians, and Crim-Tatars (or Tartars') still do. Their manner of living was not the result of a religious institute, but a mere civil ordinance, grounded upon a national custom. They derived their name from Jonadab the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal for the pure worship of God against idolatry, who assisted king Jehu in destroying the house of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal. (2 Kings x. 15, 16. 23.) It was he who gave the rule of life to his children and their posterity, which is recorded by the prophet Jeremiah (xxxv. 5-7.); and which consisted of these three articles: 1. That they should drink no wine; 2. That they should neither possess nor occupy any houses, fields, or vineyards; and, 3. That they should dwell in tents. In these regulations he appears to have had no religious, but merely a prudential view, as is intimated in the reason assigned for them, viz. that they might live many days in the land where they were strangers. And such, in fact, would be the natural consequence of their temperate and quiet mode of living. On the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, with intent to besiege Jerusalem, these Rechabites, apprehending themselves in more danger in the open country, came to Jerusalem for safety: By these people God intended to convince the Jews of their disobedience to him; and, therefore, he ordered his prophet Jeremiah to bring them to an apartment of the temple, and there offer them wine to drink which when they refused, on account of its being contrary to their institute, which they never had violated, the prophet, after due commendation of their obedience, addressed the Jews, and reproached them who were God's peculiar people, for being less observant of his laws, than these poor Rechabites had been of the injunctions of their ancestor. (Jer. xxxv.) Wherefore Jehovah declares (ver. 18, 19.) that, because the Rechabites had obeyed the precepts of Jonadab their father, therefore Jonadab should not want a man to stand before him for ever, The Rechabites flourished as a community about one hundred and eighty years, and were supposed to have been dispersed after the captivity; but modern travellers have discovered their descendants

1 See Mrs. Holderness's Notes relating to the Manners and Customs of the Crim-Tatars. London, 1821. 12mo.

Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol. i. p. 223. Michaelis's Commentaries on the Law of Moses, vol. i. pp. 227, 228. Mede's Works, p. 127. Calmet, Commentaire Littérale, tome vi p. xvii. The reader will find an instructive discourse on the history of the Rechabites in Dr. Townson's Works, vol. ii. pp. 215-225,

in a tribe of Bedouin Arabs, who dwell alone in the vicinity of Mecca, and are called Beni Khaibr, or the sons of Khaibr (that is, of Heber). They continue to obey the injunctions of their ancestor Rechab. "To this moment they drink no wine, and have neither vineyard, nor field, nor seed; but dwell like Arabs in tents, and are wandering nomades. They believe and observe the law of Moses by tradition, for they are not in possession of the written law."1

of

VII. The PROPHETS were eminently distinguished among the persons accounted holy by the Jews: they were raised up by God in an extraordinary manner for the performance of the most sacred functions. Originally they were called Seers: they discovered things yet future, declared the will of God, and announced their divine messages, both to kings and people, with a confidence and freedom that could only be produced by the conviction that they were indeed authorised messengers of Jehovah. The gift of prophecy was not always annexed to the priesthood: there were prophets of all the tribes, and sometimes even among the Gentiles. The office of a prophet was not confined to the prediction of future events; it was their province to instruct the people, and they interpreted the law of God: hence the words prophet and prophecy are, in many passages the Scriptures, synonymous with interpreter or teacher, and interpretation or teaching. It is unanimously agreed both by Jews and Christians that Malachi was the last of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation; and it is a remarkable fact, that so long as there were prophets among the Jews, they were not divided by sects or heresies, although they often fell into idolatry. This circumstance may thus be accounted for:- As the prophets received their communications of the divine will immediately from God himself, there was no alternative for the Jews: either the people must obey the prophets, and receive their interpretations of the law, or no longer acknowledge that God who inspired them. When, however, the law of God came to be explained by weak and fallible men, who seldom agreed in their opinions, sects and parties were the unavoidable result of such conflicting sentiments.

CHAP. III.

SACRED THINGS.

On the Sacrifices and other Offerings of the Jews.2

A SACRIFICE is an offering made to God upon his altar by the hand of a lawful minister. Sacrifice differs from oblation in this respect,

'Wolff's Missionary Journal and Memoir, p. 257.; Carne's Recollections of the East, pp. 95, 96. Mr. Margouliouth met with a caravan of Rechabites in the valley of Lebanon. Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers, vol. ii. pp. 225, 226.

* General authorities from which this chapter is compiled: - Schulzii Archæol. Heb. pp. 250-280. Lamy, Apparatus Biblicus, vol. i. pp. 187-203. Relandi Antiq. Sacr. Hebræorum, part iii. cap. 1-5. pp. 290-368. Ikenii Antiq. Heb. part i. cap. 13, 14 pp. 152-191. Beausobre and L'Enfant's Introd. to the New Test. (Bishop Watson's

viz. in a sacrifice there must be a real change or destruction of the thing offered: whereas, an oblation is only a simple offering or gift.'

The sacrifices and oblations of the Jews demand particular notice in this sketch of their ecclesiastical state. "Such a ritual as they were enjoined to observe, the multiplicity of victims they were appointed statedly to offer, together with the splendour of that external worship in which they were daily engaged,—all tended to replenish and adorn their language with numerous allusions and striking metaphors derived from the pomp of their religion. Hence it is that the writings of the Jews, more than of any other people, abound with phrases and terms borrowed from the temple worship and service. The psalms and prophetical writings may in particular be adduced in illustration of this remark. Purge me with hyssop, says David, and I shall be clean. Thou shalt be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. (Psal. li. 7. 19.) Let my prayer come before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psal. cxli. 2.) Therefore will I offer the sacrifice of joy. (Psal. cxvi. 17.) The sin of Judah, says Jeremiah, is---- graven upon the horns of your altars. (Jer. xvii. 1.) Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously; so will we render thee the calves of our lips. (Hos. xiv. 2.) Nor are similar examples wanting in the New Testament, whose inspired authors being educated in the Jewish religion, retain the same phraseology, which has enriched their writings with numerous beautiful and expressive allusions to the national sacrifices and ceremonies." 2

Michaelis classes the offerings prescribed to the Israelites under three general heads-namely, offerings of blood, or sacrifices strictly so called; unbloody offerings, or those taken only from the vegetable kingdom; and drink-offerings, or libations, which were a kind of accompaniment to the two preceding. We shall follow this classification, as enabling us to present to our readers the most compendious account of the Jewish sacrifices.

I. OFFERINGS OF BLOOD were sacrifices properly and strictly so called; by which we may understand the infliction of death on a living creature, generally by the effusion of its blood in a way of religious worship, and the presenting of this act to God as a supplication for the pardon of sin, and as a supposed mean of compensation for the insult and injury offered by sin to his majesty and government.

Sacrifices have in all ages, and by almost every nation, been regarded as necessary to appease the divine anger, and to render the Deity propitious but whether this universal notion derived its origin from

Tracts, vol. iii. pp. 196-199.) Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, book i. chap. v. Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. iii. pp. 94-97. 109-115. 246–254. Dr. Hales's Analysis, vol. ii. book ii. pp. 270-272. Jahn, Archæol. Biblica, §§ 373-390. Dr. Owen on the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. i. Exercit. xxiv. pp. 306-318. Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. pp. 926-941. folio edition, §§ 373-385. Ackermann, Archæol. Biblica, §§ 360-372. Tappan's Jewish Antiq. pp. 106-118. Bruning's Antiq. Hebr. pp. 172–192. Carpzovii Antiq. Hebr. Gentis, pp. 699-725.

' Calmet's Dictionary, voce Sacrifice.

2 Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol. ii pp. 216, 217.

To this notion of sacrifice our Saviour alluded in John xvi. 2. where he tells his disciples that such would be the enmity with which they should be pursued, that he who should kill them would be deemed to have slain a sacrifice highly acceptable to the

divine revelation or was suggested by conscious guilt and a dread of the divine displeasure, is a question that cannot be easily decided. It is, however, not improbable that it originated in the former, and prevailed under the influence of the latter. The Scripture account of sacrifices leads us to conclude, that they were instituted by divine appointment, immediately after the entrance of sin by the fall of Adam and Eve, to be a type or significant emblem of the great atonement or all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. Accordingly we find Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job, and others, offering sacrifices in the faith of the Messiah that was to be revealed; and the divine acceptance of their sacrifices is particularly recorded. This hypothesis, and this only, satisfactorily accounts for the early prevalence of religious sacrifices, not only among the worshippers of the true God, but also among Pagan idolaters.

I. In all bloody sacrifices it was essential that the animals slaughtered should be clean; but it does not appear that all clean animals were to be offered indiscriminately. Fishes were not brought to the altar; and hence the Israelities are nowhere prohibited from eating their blood, but only that of birds and quadrupeds. (Lev. vii. 26.) It would seem that all clean birds might be offered (Lev. xiv. 4-7.), though the dove was the most common offering of this class. Of quadrupeds, oxen, sheep, and goats were the only kinds which were destined for the altar. No wild beasts were admissible: and hence comes the expression in the law of Moses (Deut. xii. 15. 22., xv. 22.), It shall be eaten like the roe or the hart; by which he means to intimate that, in killing a beast, all religious intention and all idea of sacrifice was to be avoided.2

2. In the selection of the victims, the utmost care was taken to choose such only as were free from every blemish. Unless it were pure and immaculate, it was to be rejected, as a sacrifice unacceptable to Jehovah. (Lev. xxii. 22.) In a beautiful allusion to this circumstance, St. Paul beseeches Christians, by the mercies of God, to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is their reasonable service. (Rom. xii. 1.) Hence also Jesus Christ is styled a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Pet. i. 19.) Further, it was a custom among nations contiguous to Judæa, and particularly among the Egyptians, to set a seal upon a victim that was

Almighty" He that killeth you shall think he doeth God service." In reference also to this notion of sacrifice, the Apostle by a very beautiful and expressive figure represents Christ as loving us, and giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweetsmelling savour. (Eph. v. 2.) Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol. ii. p. 218.

The divine origin of sacrifices is fully proved by Archbishop Magee, in his Discourses on the Atonement, vol. i. pp. 44—60. and vol. ii. pp. 22-46. 184-189., and by Mr. Jerram in his Treatise on the Doctrine of the Atonement, pp. 90-292. Mr. Davison has argued on the contrary side in his Inquiry into the Origin of Sacrifice. (London, 1825. 8vo.) Mr. Faber, in reply, ably vindicated the divine origin of Sacrifices in a treatise published at London in 1827. 8vo.

Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 95.

The following account of the manner in which the Egyptians provided white bulls for their sacrifices, will materially explain the custom above alluded to:- "They sacrifice white bulls to Apis, and for that reason make the following trial. If they find one black hair upon him, they consider him as unclean. In order that they may know this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose views every part of the animal both stand

deemed proper for sacrifice. With this custom the Jews could not be unacquainted; and it is possible that similar precautions were in use among themselves, especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their sacrifices without spot and without blemish. To such a usage Jesus Christ is supposed to have alluded, when, speaking of the sacrifice of himself, he says-Him hath God the Father SEALED. (John vi. 27. 51.) "Infinite justice found Jesus Christ to be without spot or blemish, and therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him as a proper sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. Collate Heb. vii. 26-28.; Eph. v. 27.; 2 Pet. iii. 14.; and especially Heb. ix. 13, 14. For, if the blood of BULLS and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth,- how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offereth himself WITHOUT SPOT to God, purge your consciences from dead works ?"1

3. The victim thus chosen, being found immaculate, was led up to the altar by the person offering the sacrifice; who laid his hand upon its head, on which he leaned with all his strength2; and, while the sacrifice was offering, said some particular prayers; and if several persons united in offering the same victim, they put their hands upon it in succession. (Lev. iv. 13-15.) By this imposition of hands the person presenting the victim acknowledged the sacrifice to be his own; that he loaded it with his iniquities; that he offered it as an atonement for his sins; that he was worthy of death because he had sinned, having forfeited his life by violating the law of God; and that he entreated God to accept the life of the innocent animal in the place of his own. In this respect the victims of the Old Testament were types of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God that TAKETH AWAY the sin of the world (John i. 29.), and on whom Jehovah in the fulness of time laid the iniquity of us all. (Isa. liii. 6. with 1 Pet. ii. 24.)

Further, in certain cases it was required that the victim should be one on which never came yoke (Numb. xix. 2.; Deut. xxi. 3. ; 1 Sam. vi. 7.); because any animal which had been used for a common purpose was deemed improper to be offered in sacrifice to God.5

ing and lying on the ground; after this, he draws out his tongue, to see if he be clean by certain signs; and in the last place he inspects the hairs of his tail, that he may be sure they are as by nature they should be. If, after this search, the animal is found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a label to his horns; then, having applied wax, he seals it with his ring, and they lead him away, for it is death to sacrifice one of these animals, unless he has been marked with such a seal." Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 38. vol. i. p. 113. ed. Oxon.

' Dr. A. Clarke, on John vi. 27.

2 This ceremony, it is proper to remark, was omitted in respect to the turtle doves, and young pigeons, which were allowed to be offered in certain cases.

The nature and mystical import of laying hands on the head of the victim, are largely considered by Archbishop Magee in his Discourses on the Atonement, vol. i. pp. 336—

377.

On the vicarious import of the Mosaic sacrifices, see Archbishop Magee's Discourses on the Atonement, vol. i. pp. 352-366.

The heathens, who appear to have borrowed much from the Hebrews, were very scrupulous in this particular. Neither the Greeks, nor the Romans, (who had the same religion, and, consequently, the same sacrifices with the Greeks), nor indeed the Egyptians, would offer an animal in sacrifice that had been employed in agriculture. Just such a sacrifice as that prescribed here does Diomede vow to offer to Pallas. Iliad, x.