Again, whilst the Jewish law gave the creditor a right to the personal services of the debtor who could not pay his debt, and of his children along with himself, until the debt was cleared off, it provided against the possibility of any of the house of Israel being brought into permanent and hereditary bondage as slaves. When the trumpet of the Jubilee sounded, all debt was cancelled, and those who were in bondage not only became once more free, but returned to the full enjoyment of their patrimonial possessions. For thus it is written in the law, "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant. But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of Jubilee and then he shall depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return "(Lev. xxv. 39-41). The law of the Jubilee as to the possession of land is sufficiently explained by the reason annexed in the law itself:-"The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me; and in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land” (Lev. xxv. 23, 24). To which must be added the consideration, that the continued transmission of the land by inheritance was necessary to the preservation of the distinctness of tribes and of families, which was of importance in connection with the great promises concerning the Messiah, and concerning the particular tribe and family. Thus far, there appears nothing symbolic in the Jubilee, except in its most effectually reminding the Jews that they were indebted to God for all that they possessed, and therefore were bound to be always thankful to Him, and, as His peculiar people and servants, to use all His gifts unto His glory. Here therefore we find in the Jubilee another symbol teaching that great religious truth and principle which we have already seen that so many of the Jewish institutions and rites symbolically taught with astonishing variety of sym

bols. We find it, however, to have much more symbolical meaning than this, when we proceed to consider it with reference to the release of debtors from their debts and from the bondage into which these had brought them. The sound of the trumpet of Jubilee must, indeed, have been gladsome to many of the Jewish people. And thus it

a most expressive and significant symbol of the proclamation of that gospel which is set forth in the Old Testament as well as in the New, the glad tidings of the free and full pardon of sin, the remission of the greatest of debts, of that debt which if unredeemed must sink the sinner into eternal perdition. That the Jubilee had this symbolical meaning, that the sound of its trumpet represented the proclamation of the glad tidings of salvation for the chief of sinners, there can be no reasonable doubt. The Jubilee was symbolic or typical of that time of which the Psalmist says, "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. cxviii. 24), and the sounding of its trumpet supplies the figure in another psalm, when it is said concerning the great salvation, and the free proclamation of it, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance" (Ps. lxxxix. 15). It may not unreasonably be supposed that this symbolic meaning belonged to the blowing of the silver trumpets upon all days of gladness and occasions of religious solemnity. It must have been impossible for a Jew at any time to hear the sound of these trumpets without thinking of the Jubilee, to which many must always have had special reason to look forward with hope.

CHAPTER XXI.

JEWISH SYMBOLS. THE REMOVING OF THE UNCLEAN

FROM THE CAMP.

THE holiness proper to the people of the Lord, amongst whom He dwelt, and whose worship He required and accepted, was symbolised in the removal of the unclean out of the camp,-whose ceremonial uncleanness was symbolic of moral defilement. On this point, however, it is sufficient to quote the mere words of the law. The meaning of the symbol requires no further explanation. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: Both male and female shall ye put out; without the camp shall ye put them, that they defile not their camps, in the midst of which I dwell" (Num. v. 1-3).

CHAPTER XXII.

JEWISH SYMBOLS. THE NAZARITES.

THE Law of the Nazarites stands alone amongst the Jewish laws, very different from any other. No one was required to become a Nazarite, but it was permitted that any one who pleased should do so, and special rules were enacted concerning the conduct of the Nazarites whilst they were bound by the vow which they took," to separate themselves unto the Lord." "When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow the vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, nor dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body" (Num. vi. 2-6). Then follow regulations as to any case of accidental defilement by contact with a dead body, atonement to be made, and the recommencement of the days of separation according to the vow, all the days that were before being lost; also regulations concerning the sacrifices to be offered when the days of separation are completed and the vow fulfilled. It is added:-"And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall take the hair of the head of his

separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings" (Num. vi. 18). We read very little more of this remarkable Jewish institution, in any of the books of the Old Testament; although allusions made to it, show that it was familiar to the minds of the people, and make it probable that the vow of the Nazarite was not unfrequently taken by the more religious amongst the Jews. As to Samson, we read that he was specially called by the Lord to be "a Nazarite unto God from the womb," and, therefore, when his birth was predicted by an angel, his parents were enjoined "that no razor should come upon his head" (Judges xiii. 5). The enjoined abstinence of the Nazarite from wine is easily understood, as a mortifying of the flesh in order to the better fitting of the mind for religious exercises; and that this might be the more impressed upon the attention both of the Nazarites themselves and of all the people, the fruit of the grape in every form or condition was entirely forbidden. As to the requirement that the hair of the head should be allowed to grow during all the days of a Nazarite's separation, and that no razor should come upon his head, we learn from the instance of Samson to regard the hair as symbolic of strength; and the cutting off and burning of the hair when the days of separation were completed, and the vow was fulfilled, was probably an acknowledgment of the grace given to perform the vow, as it was also a significant token of re-entrance upon the duties and cares of everyday life.

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