SECT. 17-20. ] SACRIFICES OF THE OLD LAW. 535
called. The LXX. render it for the most part by 6aéxavoroy or dAoxau- auc, a8 doth our apostle, Heb. x. 6, —that which is wholly consumed or burned, as this was, all but the skin; for the 178 mentioned, Lev. i. 8, and chap. viii. 20, and nowhere else in the Scripture, rather signifies the whole trunk of the body, after the head was cut off, than the fat of the caul, as we render it. And it is not unlike but they might make use of the word éacxabrwu, because the beginning of it answers in sound unto the Hebrew 72; for that they were at a loss in ex- pressing the names of the particular sacrifices hath been declared. But 72¥ signifies “to ascend;” and because things that do so do dis- appear and seem not to be, it denotes also “to consume” or “to be consumed:” and from either of these significations this sacrifice, which was wholly burned, may take its name.
19. In the manner of this sacrifice, it is observable that he who brought it was to put his hand on the head of it: Lev. i. 4, 11} 720) nya wasn by ;—“ And put his hands upon the head of the burnt- offering;” lay them on, that the beast might seem to bear and sus- tain them. So we, after the Vulgar Latin, “manus suas,” “his hands;” in the original, “ his hand.” And the Hebrews are divided whether he laid on only one hand, his right hand, or both. In chap. xvi. 21, where the high priest was to perform this duty in the name of the people, it is said expressly that he shall put 12 °hY, “both his hands,” on the head of it; whence most conclude that both the hands are here also intended. But this seems rather to be an argu- ment unto the contrary ; for in saying that the high priest (who was to offer for himself as well as for the people), in his performance of this work, shall lay on “both his hands,” and when a private person did it he shall lay on “his hand,” the Holy Ghost seems to intimate a difference between them in this action. And this ceremony was ob- served only when the offering was of beasts, not so when it was of fowls or birds. And when the season of the sacrifice was stated by God’s prescription for the use of the people, the priest was to per- form this duty. The meaning of the ceremony was, “ quod illorum capiti sit,” typically and representatively to impose the sin of the offerer on the head of the offering; to instruct us in the bearing of our sin by Christ, when, through the eternal Spirit, he offered him- self unto God.
20. Secondly, The beast, now a corban, by being brought unto the altar, was to be slain: 1227 jD-NN ONY, Lev. 1. 5;—“ He shall kill the bullock.” That is, say some, he that brought the offer- ing was to kill it; for, say they, those that killed the offering are distinguished from them that took the blood of it, and sprinkled it on the altar: 2 Chron. xxix. 22, “So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar.” But those slayers seem not to have been the people, but the Levites,
536 SACRIFICES OF THE OLD LAW. [EXERC. XXIV.
who were to assist the priests in their service, Num. viii. 19, and who in all greater sacrifices did the outward work of killing and flaying, see 2 Chron. xxxv. 10, 11; as also it is said expressly that they slew the paschal lamb, 2 Chron. xxx. And unto this killing of the bullock, or kid, or lamb, answered the wringing off of the head of the bird, if the burnt-offering were of fowls, which is ex- pressly said to be done by the priest, Lev.i.15. And of him that kills the offering, verse 5, it is said, “ He shall flay it, and cut it into his pieces,” verse 6; which was the work of the priests and their assist- ants.
The place where it was to be killed was on the north side of the altar, verse 11; and when it was killed, the blood was taken, or wrung out, and “sprinkled about upon the altar,’ verse 5; which sprinkling of blood was used in all sacrifices of living creatures, as eminently prefiguring our sanctification, or purifying of our hearts from an evil conscience, by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, Heb. ix. 14, xii. 24.
21. The beast being killed, was flayed and opened,—made yumviv na) rerpaynrmowevor, “naked and opened;” which our apostle alludes — unto, Heb. iv. 13. Afterwards it was cut into pieces, Lev. i. 6; which pieces were salted, chap. i1. 13, and then laid in order on the wood upon the altar, chap. i. 8; as also were the legs and inwards, after they were washed, verse 9,—as our bodies, in our approach unto God, are said to be “washed with pure water,’ Heb. x.22. The everlasting fire, typing out the eternal Spirit, through which Christ offered himself unto God, Heb. ix. 14, being applied by the priest unto the wood, the whole was incinerated, Ps. xx. 3, continuing to burn, it may be, all night long, though no sacrifice was to be offered but by day, which made them “watch for the morning,” Ps. cxxx. 6. The dif- fering ceremonies in killing and offering of the fowls are clearly expressed in the same chapter.