3. The truth we: contend for is made very plain by cuarrsr the ritual of the sacrifice, or the prescribed ceremonies, *"" which preceded and accompanied the slaughter of the victims. These were :-—
(1.) The laying on of hands.—This is prescribed in the case of all kinds of bleeding sacrifices, including the burnt and peace offering (Lev. 1 4; in. 2; iv. 4, 15; wl Diler e 2 Chron;, xxix. ree This is a natural and ex- pressive-s 1 of transfer.from.the parson ARO OSEDE 10
Ritual of sacrifice.
it is used to Ane a personal sabstitude or represen- tative. es haten Num, viii. 10, with viii. 16. Also to communicate official character and authority (Deut. poemivi 9; Acts vi, 6;.1 Tim, iv. 14). And. to com- municate the virtue which went out from Christ and his apostles when they wrought miraculous cures (Matt. ix, LS 5) Mark :vie 5 ; Acts ix,.L2, 17)! Now the sacrifice had its reason only in the sin of the offerer, and the dis- pleasure of God with him in consequence. He appeared before God with his sacrifice in his hand as a sinner. He uniformly accompanied the laying on of hands with the confession of sins. Outram quotes from the rabbini- cal writings the following ‘‘ Form of Deprecation used by a sinner offering a piacular sacrifice ; who said with his own mouth, while his hands were laid upon the head of the victim: ‘I beseech thee, O Lord; I have sinned, I have trespassed, I have rebelled ; I have done this or that;
. . but now I repent, and let THIS be my expiation.’ ” Aaron Ben Chajim says: ‘“ Where there is no confession _ of sins, there is no imposition of hands, because imposition of hands belongs to confession of sins.” * When the sacri- fice had reference to the sin of an individual, the man placed his own hands on the head of the victim and confessed. When it had reference to the sins of the
* Outram, De Sacrificiis, D. 1, C. 15, 22 8, 10, 11.
CHAPTER VIIlI.
126 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
whole congregation, the elders of the congregation (Lev. iv. 15) laid their hands upon the head of the bullock and confessed as the representatives of the whole body. Hence, in either case, he or they could have transferred to the victim nothing more than the guilt or obligation to punishment incidental to his or their sin, ‘This trans- ~ ference is expressly declared to be effected in the case of the sin-offering for the people on the great day of atone- ment (Lev. xvi. 7-22). The two goats presented at the © door of the tabernacle are expressly said to be one victim : “Two kids of the goats for a sin-offering ;”——‘“‘so that the sacrifice consisted of two merely from the hatural im- possibility of otherwise giving a full representation of what was to be done; the one being designed more especially to exhibit the means, the other the effect of the atonement.” That the two kids formed but one sac- rifice is plain from the entire reading of the passage. They are called so in verse fifth, They are brought and presented together to the Lord. The Lord decides by the lot which shall die and which shall go into the wil- derness. The one stands by and is atoned for by the dying victim (see Hebrew of verse 10), and.then»bears away the..sins.thus.expiated. into.the land-of~forgetful- ness for ever: “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, PUTTING THEM UPON THE HEAD OF THE GOAT;.... and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.” * (2.) The slaying of the victum.—tThe original sen- tence pronounced by God upon all sin, from the com- mencement, was death (Gen. ii. 17; iii. 3, 17, 19). The apostle declares that the principle abides for ever—that
* Magee on the Atonement, notes 89 and 71. Fairbairn’s Typology, book iii., chap. li1., sect. 5.
SACRIFICES PIACULAR AND TYPICAL. 127