PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus
Frederick Meyrick [1827-1906] · 410,653 words · 472 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND DY TTTE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY THE VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWL…
1,096 wordsSECTION 2The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 2
L The doctrine that sacrifices were originally the offsp!ing_ of human ignorance reflected on the Deity, is fairly summed up in the following extract from Mr. Conway's article to which I have alluded: 1 "Side by side," Mr. Conway writes, "in all ages and races, have struggled with each other the principle of ret.aliat…
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81\Crifices were commanded or sanctioned by Divine revelation, as " part of the· religious observances of the Jewish people; yet we find sacrifices of one kind or Bnothcr common to almost al1 ancient nations, and practised long before the Israelites were under Mount Sinai. Leaving out of sight, for the prese11t, the ob…
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Ignorance of the true historical origin of the teachings of Buddha, this is a subject, the discussion of which would be without the scope of this essay. The fact with regard to Buddhism as now known is that, while the idea of sacrifice is historically present, it has no reference to remission or forgiveness. Self-sacri…
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reflected his own imperfections on false gods, and may have made them vindictive, the Divine justice that underlies the Christian religion owns none of this Imperfection, but is in accordanoe with that perfect ideal that man is capable of forming, though not always of pl'IICtising. How, then, does the Christian rel…
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tbo FirstfruHs from the dead (" If Christ be not raised, then is our hope in vain"); to read a lesson to other spheres (" 'l'o the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom or God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ J…
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him fear. He surrounds this deity with a moral atmosphere of inflexible, uncompromi■• ing remorselessn8811-the moral shadow, we may say, of the character he attaches to the physical heavelll!. Suppose, then, that one day, when he and Ws sons are reaping their hanresi, their great desire being for a cloudless heaven …
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oentral fact to be taught we.s-the shedding of a life the salvation and life of the world. We are taught now to look upon that Sacrifice at a meal, because the atoning power must always be connected with the life-giving power. The eating of bread and the drinking of wine are signs distinct enough to keep the world in m…
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were nothing in themselves is a lesson constantly brought before the Jews. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of th8' burnt offerings of rams, I\Ild the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not tn the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats." That the offering …
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1>f an initial institution. Thus the very form and character of the tabernacle itself, and after it of the temple of Solomon, were precisely the same as we now find in many Hindu temples. We cannot think that the Hindus copied at any time the form of the tabernacle in the wilderness or of the temple on Mount Moriah.…
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"priest," "&!tu," with a prejudice, They were once God's ordinance. Are they 80 -fltill ? The Lord's Supper is manifestly a modification of the ancient prospective uorificial system, for the edification of the Church in retrospect. In what particulars, as regards .directions actually recorded, does the institution …
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retrospective adaptation of the once prospective eacri6ce. We cannot wonder, therl'- fore-though we know not the exact customs of the apostles themselves--tbat we should early read of the Christian aacrifice, the Christian priest, the Christian altar. The" elements" of the feast were a continuation of the" meat offerin…
1,105 wordsSECTION 13The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 13
TBA.T man or steel, as he was called, Origen, the greatest of the great Fathers or Alexandria, bad, to judge from his Eclogues and his Homilies on Leviticus, a very poor opinion of the literal interpretation of the ritualistic sections of the Book of the Law. The circumstantial and realistic observances of the Jew, bas…
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passing of the risen Christ int.o the heavena, there to await the advent of his elect.• Could exegetical caprice go further? That this "spiritualizing" method of interpretation has fallen somowh1,t Into disre- pute is due to an unexpected source of enlightenment. "It is an Ill wind that blows no one good," and a mo…
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playing thereby the salient a.nd instructive characteristics of the Levitical sacrificial cultue. Let the writer sto.te, however, once for a.II, that where ho ho.s expressed any -details of that cultus in a.s fitting a.nd a.ccura.te language a.s he is capable of in his earlier work, he ha.s not gone a.bout to seek a. …
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,ii dding the Levitical Mcrifices into sacrifices in general and altar 880rlficea-an un• necessary distinction, apt to conceal their common significance. Defining sacrifice, then, in accordance with both usage and etymology, aa a gift, a- presentation to God, a surrender to God of what has cost the offerer something, …
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eimply refer to the days of Zerubbabel's temple, 8till tl ,at later practice must point back to some earlier form of national representation. 1 Every sabbath the daily burnt offering was doubled night and morning (Numb. xxvliL 9, 10), On the first day of every month, or on the new moon as it was called, two young ·b…
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together with a fifth of an ephah of meal and a quarter of a hin of 'lline (comp. ob. xxiii. 9-14; Numb. xxviii. 17-25). Fifty days after the Paschal Supper came the Feast of Harvest-to use one of the i;everal designations of the final feast of the Passover cycle-so called from the time of its observance. Another n…
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3. Tlie ojferi11gs for the service of the holy place. These offerings consisted of the holy oil for the daily replenishing of the lamps of the golden candlesticks, a.rranged "from evening to morning" by the priesthood; of the incense, peculiarly compounded, and daily burnt upon the golden altar; and of the twelve loave…
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administered by them, neither in their representative nor lu their individual oapacity, but purely as officials. These rites pertained to the officials of Churoh and Stato and l!OCiety at large, and may be conveniently classified according as they attaohed to the priests, the kings, the elders, and the ministering w…
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3. The offerings of the holy women. In this case again we seem merely to have an .tn&tance or a class of presentations capable or infinite I epetition by BeCtions of Jewish Bociety. These holy women "served at the door of the tabernacle" (Exod. xxxviii. 8; 1 Sam. ii. 22), not aBBisting, of course, in any of the ritual …
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Meat and drink offerings accompanied this form of sacrifice, one of the cakes of the- meal offering always falling to the priest." Three occasions for the presentation of peace offerings are expressly mentioned: they might be made at special seasons of gratitude, and were then called thank offerings; they were presente…
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advisable to speak of meal ofl'erings, not meat offerings. These offerings were the Levitioal vegetable sacrifices, and were preceded, with two exceptions-the daily offer- ing of the high priest and that which was substituted by the poor for the burnt offering-by some form of blood 1180ri.fice, either a buint offeri…
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Divine. Origen's dilemma, that this cultus by presentation ls either unworthy of its -Creator, or its Creat-0r is himself unworthy, seems to have some reason on its side. Nor <loes his escape from the dilemma appear at first blush irrational; it may seem better to some to inquire as to what these laws may be made to me…
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the !!eneric term "qorban." After what has been already said upon the meaning anr} Biblical usage of this term for all forms of sacrifice, whether bloodless or marked by tho effusion of blood, whether presented at the altar or without discrimination of place, little further need be added. All the Levitical sacrifices w…
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the yet more significant technicalities, Into blood and bloodless offerings. The Idea, already educed render the interpretation of these two classes of material easy. Thfl bloodless offerings were presentations simply; they were gifts made to Jehovah upon approach to him in worship; they were this and nothing more, …
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meet" are the words of the Lord at the ordinance of the perpetual burnt offering at the door of tabernacle, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron an…
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offerer forcibly laid his hand upon its hoad j his hand, not his slave's ; bis hand, not hi11- substitute's, nor his wife's, but his own band "-to retranslate what Outram extracted from the Talmud. There was a forcible imposition of the hand upon the head of the victim by the offerer, whoever be might be, whether pries…
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the collection of the blood In a silver bowl they gave tho name of lekicha; the applica- tion of the blood so reserved to the altar they called serika; and the pouring out of the superfluous blood at the runnel of the altar, whence it flowed into the brook Kedron, they designated shepicha. 'l'his triple division is use…
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TM bloodless offerings. In these, as their name minchoth implies, the fact of presen- tation is alone emphasized. They were gifts to God simply; they were not a means of atonement. The whole ritual of their offering was adapted to express that they were presentations alone. Their further significance varied with their …
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element of gift nor of atonement was the prominent feature, but the element of restitution. In this class of sacrifice there was always an accompanying recompense, which was paid both to. God who has been offended by the trespass, and to man who has been defrauded. It was the fancy value which was put upon the ram and …
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mind, they were "holy convocations," labour boing remitted that religion might be the more engrossing. The rem11ining fest11l times and seasons had an additional oharacterist.lo. Besldos 'being "holy convocations," when there might bo a general adoration of Jehovah, and a general remembrance of his goodness, and a …
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was, as Its name Implies, that holy convocation In which the covenant people were oleansed from the sin contaminating their holiest service, "year by year continually.'' -the Fast of Absolution. Hence follows the meaning of that festival which formed the climax or the festive se8.llons of the year, the Feast of Tabern…
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the appointed meat and drink offerings. He is seen to lay his hnnd wHh some force upon the victim's head, thus dedicating it in the name of the entire people as a burnt offering in its behalf. He draws his knife and cuts its throat.: The priest, who is ready with a basin, collects the streaming blood and dashes it a…
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of individual sacrifices were, there was nn element of freedom in some, and of limitation in all; and llB mnnifestly ne the burnt offerings and peace offerings were purely volun- tary, it is equally evident that the sin offerings and trespass offerings were largely influenced by time and space. A Jew who lived remote f…
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might be occasionally witnessed, n:.imely, that of the purification of the dead and that of the consecration to the priesthood. Analyze, for example, the rites or,lained for the purification of the dead-interpret them by the light of the principles previously deduced-and the ceremony would suggest some such series …
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the cow was selected as the colour or the blood which atoned ; and so completely was the victim regarded as a substitute, that every ministrant at the ritual was rendered unclean thereby, and the high priest was precluded from officiating, lest he be inca- pacitated for his other exalted functions, and so his son, his …
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capable of proclaiming, in sanctuary, in palace, in market, in house, and in tent, religious truths of the highest importance. 'l'o this daily observance let the additional observances of the various festal seasons be added, and it will become yet more manifest how admirably this cultus of sacrifice at once educated…
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the high sea.son of the seventh month, heralded by the rousing blasts of the Feast of Trumpets. The seventh month affords two very excellent tests of the adequacy of these principles of interpretation, namely, in their application to the elncidation of the great Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. The ritua…
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doctrine of Old Testament theology, of its doctrine of sin and of salvation, of Its doctrine of God and of man. But after all, it is the practical aspect of this Old Testament faith which most calls for admiring regard. Its theological Implications are of interest to the theologian, its practical implications are of h…
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the daya of the great Cathers of the Hebrew nation. Whatever Divine influences were brought to bear upon Abel in the first recorded sacrifice-and it is ea.sy to exaggerate those influences to the detriment of the inspiriting teaching of the narrative-it is manifest that from that time onwards the ever-growing system of…
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F. THE LITEBATUBE oF THE LEVITICAL BAcnIFrOF.s. From the voluminous literature upon the Lcvitical sacrifices the following treatises are selected as of especial importance :- L BmLICAL DICTIONABIES AND CYCLOP.IEDIAB. See the relative articles in Herzog, ' Realencyklopiidie; ' Riehm, 'Hand worterbuch des Biblischen …
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INTRODUCTION. 1. SUBJFCl' oF THE BooJL LEVITICUS forms the centre and nucleus of the five books of Moses. Closely attached to it are the two Books of Exodus and Numbers, and out- side of them, on either side, stand Genesis and Deuteronomy. The subject of the Book of Leviticus is the Sinaitio legislation, from the tim…
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the previous sELcrifices, WELS first developed and exhibited in an explicit form by the Levitical regulations and institutions, which distinguish burnt offer• ings, meELt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings ; and the special significations of these several sacrifices have to be combined on…
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offence, but if they are not exacted, the guilt passes to the community. Yet a certain concession to human frailty is allowed. Moral offences differ in their character, according as they are committed with a determinate resolution to offend, or have arisen from inadvertence or moral weakness. It is for the former class…
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The Section, or Part, on holy days and seasons comprises chs. xxiii.-xxv. Ch. xxiii. The sacred days on which holy convocations are to be held. Ch. xxiv, Parenthetical. On the oil for the lamps, and the shewbread, and on blasphemy. Ch. xx:v. The sabbatical year and tho jubilee. § 5. Final E.chortatiOff. Many of the …
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olea.n a.nd unclean meats, the law of the Na.zarites, the use of burnt offerings a.nd peaoo offerings, the employment of trumpets as a means of obtaining Divine aid in war, the impiety of setting up a king," are ~numerated by Canon Rawlinson as "severally acknowledged, and con- stituting together very good evidence tha…
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CHAPTER L indicate that it had for its main subject the duties and functions appertaining to Tlll!l BAOBJFIOES (chs. i-vii). There are the chief house of the priestly tribe of Levi. five olasses of sacrifices instituted or regu- The word "and " connects the third with lated in the first seven chapters of Leviticus, t…
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Numbeni, were given during the fifty days to the altar, and to strike the inner sides or which intervened between the setting up of the altar with it. 2. To arrange the fire on the tabernacle (Exod. xl. 17) and the de• the altar. 8. To place upon the nltar the pnrture of the children of Israel from the head, and the…
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-ment offering, which always o.ccompanied that of sacrifices wholly conB1Jmed, we.a to the bumt offering. The place where the be sprinkled" (Edersheim,' The Temple'). presentation took place was the door of the Thie was in some respects the most es- tabernaole, that ia, the space immediately sential part of the cere…
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God for a sweet-smelling savour;" thus mestio fowl iu ancient Egyptian paintings. indicating, in an inci.Jental manner, the 'l'he domicile of the bird was still confined connection between the Jewish sacrifices to India. A single pi~eon or turtle-dove and the sacriftce of Cluist, as type aud formed a sacrifice, and …
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giving offence to the religious feelings of the E:zyptians (Exod. viii. 26) ; but the idea -0f sacrifice being the appointed means of serving God was preserved (Ei:od. v. 3; viii. 27). Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel took part in a sacrificial meal with Jethro in the wilderness (Exod. xviii. 12). And the cove…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Entire oonsecratiM, as i1lustrated in the burnt offeri-rig. Ch. i.; cf. Rom. xii. 1.- W e start with the assumption that the Book of Exodus presents "the history of redemption." It is an account of how the Lord delivered the people he had chosen out of bondage, and brought them to himself …
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Vera. 1-14.-The weakness of man and the gracd of God. Measureless is the distance between man and his Maker. .And it is sometimes emphasized in such a way as to repress thought and stifle the aspirations of the human breast. In Scripture it is not brought forward as a rayless truth, but is shown to be replete with prof…
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accomplishing the will of God, sanctifies all who make mention of his name. Who \\ill hesitate to appear before the Most High? Let faith lay her hand upon the Saviour, rejoicing in the conviction that " while we were yet sir.ners Christ died for us." 2. .A priesthood. The Levites were set apart for the servioe of Jeh…
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neglect of appointed mles. The love of an inferior for his superior must not prevent the exhibition of due re.qpect. God will be had in reverence by all that are about him. Nor is it open to man arrogantly to pronounce that a consecrated way of access·through- Jesus Christ may be set aside as unnecessary, Christiani…
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I. THE NATUIIE Oll' THE CHRISTIAN Oll'FERINO AS THUS SYMBOLIZED. 1. It is a wrre11d61' to God of sometl,ing tlvtt belongs to us. Property inherited and acquired is the material of the sacrifice. Not only what has come to us by natural endowment, but that which is the result of toil-the cattle that were given to us, and…
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iBut it is the disposition to honour and please God that he delights to observe in his -children. A parent may admire the rudest sketch if his little cne brings it e.s e. token of love, and may esteem the commonest fare a banquet, and ill-dressed food e. feast if regard and affection have contributed to its preparat…
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to eee the Designer in the works of design? (2) The Scriptures reco;!llize this voice- (Ps. ix. 1; xix. 1, etc.; Acts xiv. 17; xvii. 27; Rom. i. 20). 2. But thue are evident f>11ly after the hint of them is given. (1) We have no innate ideas. The Namaquans and other African tribes were found by Moffat, Ridsdale, and…
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In everything perfect. (3) We are further tau~ht that the best should be given to God. The best thoughts; the best affections; tne best gifts; the best service. II. As TO THE DUTY OF THE OFFERER. I. With a uiew to procuring thti acceptanrA -of his o.fferi11g. (1) His gift must be offered freely. "He shall offer it of …
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Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.