42. The principal ceremony in the manner of its oblation was the disposal of the blood; for the blood of this sacrifice had a triple dis- posal. The main of the blood was poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offerings, in the court before the door of the taber- nacle, Ley. iv. 7. A part of it was taken and carried by the high priest _ into the sanctuary, and put upon the horns of the altar of incense that was therein, verse 7. The third part (which was first disposed of) was to be carried into the most holy place, as was done ac- cordingly on the day of expiation, Lev. xvi. But because it was not lawful for him to enter in thither but once in the year, namely, on that day, at all other times he dipped his finger in the blood, and sprinkled it seven times towards the veil that parted the most holy place from the sanctuary, Lev. iv. 6. So that every place of the taber- nacle, and all the concernments of it, were sanctified with this blood; even as Jesus Christ, who was represented in all this, was dedicated unto God in his own blood, “the bleod of the covenant,” Heb. x. 29. That seven is the number of perfection, greatly used and variously applied in the Scriptures, many have observed; and the perfect cleansing of sin by the blood of Jesus was evidently represented by this sevenfold sprinkling, Heb. ix. 18, 14; and therefore, in allusion hereunto, it is called “the blood of sprinkling,” Heb. xii. 24, even that which was prefigured by all the blood of the sacrifices that was sprinkled towards the most holy place and the mercy-seat therein.
43. The next sort of fire-offerings was the BU, “asham,” whose laws and ordinances are declared, Lev. v., and the particular occasion of it, chap. vii. We call it the “ trespass-offering.” And it differed very little from that next before described; for it is not only said concerning them, pnp nox Min OWN. NNON3,—“ As is the — chataath, or ‘sin-offering,’ so is the asham, or ‘trespass-offering;’ there is one law for them,” chap. vii. 7; but also that he who had
SECT. 41-45. ] SACRIFICES OF THE OLD LAW. 547
sinned or trespassed should bring his U8 (“his trespass-offering”’) “unto the Lorp, for his sin which he had sinned, a female from the flock, or a kid of the goats, NNN? ,”—*“ for a sin-offering.” Some think that there was a difference between them, and that it lay in this, that the chataath respected sins of omission, and the asham, sins of commission. But that this will not hold is openly evident in the text. Some think that whereas in both these offerings there was respect unto ignorance, that in the chataath was juris, of the right or law, that in the asham was factv, of the particular fact. But this opinion also may be easily disproved from the context. This to me seems to be the principal, if not the only difference be- tween them, that the asham provided a sacrifice in some particular instances, which seem not to be comprised under the general rules of the sin-offering. And hence in a peculiar manner it is said of Jesus Christ, that he should give 52 OWS, “his soul an asham,” or “ piacular sacrifice,” as for all, so for such delinquencies and sins as seem to bring a destroying guilt on the soul, Isa. li. 10. And this kind of offering also was DwIP WIP, “most holy,” Lev. vi. 23.
44, The last sort of fire-offerings were the DPD, which are reckoned as a distinct species of sacrifices, Lev. vii. 37,—that is, “plenitudinum, impletionum, consecrationum,” “sacrifices of conse- cration,” or that were instituted to be observed at the consecration of priests. Its name it seems to have taken from the filling of their hands, or their bringing their offering in their hands, when they approached unto the Lord in their setting apart unto office. And thence was the expression of him that came to be consecrated a priest ; 752 17) NPD? N21, 2 Chron. xiii. 9;—“He that came to fill his hand with a bullock.” The rise of this expression we have marked before on Exod. xxviii. 41. The Lord giving directions unto Moses for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, he tells him, DTN nxbo,—“ Thou shalt fill their hand;” that is, put the flesh of the sacrifice, with the bread and its appurtenances, into their hands, which, being the initiating ceremony of their investiture with office, gave name afterwards unto the whole. And hence the sacri- fices appointed then to be offered, although they differed not in kind from those foregoing, yet are accounted to be a distinct offering, and are called 0°84, or “ fillings.”
And this may suffice as a brief account of the fire-offerings of the
‘law of Moses, in whose use and end we are fully instructed in this Epistle to the Hebrews.
45. There was yet a second sort of corbans, or offerings unto God, under the law, which were of things, or parts of things, not burned on the altar, but one way or other devoted or consecrated to God and his service. These were the MiM4, “terumoth;” which we have rendered sometimes “ offerings” in general, and sometimes