1. The purifying offerings of menstrual women and of men after unclean issues were just the same (Lev. xv). And the eighth day after the cure was certain, each brought two turtle-doves, or young pigeons, to be slain by the priests— the one as a sin-offering, the other as a burnt-offering (xv, 14 sq., 29 sq.). Drink-offerings are not expressly mentioned in connection with these. See Woman.
2. The offerings of purification of women after child- birth (Lev. xii, 6-8), offered thirty-three or sixty-six days after confinement, consisted in a yearling lamb as a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove as a sin-offering. In case of poverty, two turtle-doves or young pigeons sufficed — the one as a burnt-offering, the other as a sin-offering (comp. Luke ii, 24). See Child.
3. More extended was the purifying ceremony of healed lepers (Lev. xiv; comp. Neguim, in the Gth part of the Mishna, ch. xiv). The ritual is composed of two parts: («) vers. 2-8. The healed leper brought to the priest for cleansing must present two small birds, alive and clean (according to the Negaim, xiv, 5, they must be in form, size, and value precisely alike and bought at the same time; but this was not necessary; comp. Lutz, ])< Duab. A i-ib. Purgat. Leprosi Destin. eurumq. Myster. [Hal. 1737]). The one was to be slain over an earthen vessel filled with fresh spring-water (and then buried; Negaim, xiv, 1), and the living bird, together with a bundle consisting of cedar-wood, scarlet wool, and hys- sop, was dipped into the vessel, now containing water and blood mixed together, and the leper was sprinkled with it seven times. The priest then let the living bird loose into the open air (perhaps bearing away the guilt). See Expiation. Then the man healed was required to wash, shave off all his hair, and bathe. He was now so far cleansed as no longer to render unclean the place he occupied {Negaim, xiv, 2), and might again abide in the city, but was required to " tarry abroad out of his own tent" or house. This is referred by the rabbins, as a euphemism, to sexual intercourse, but without reason (yet Bahr follows them ; Symbol, ii, 520 sq.). The cere- mony with the two birds is not a sacrifice, but a mere symbol of the purifying of the blood from the humors of the disease, and the return of freedom on the part of the leper again to associate with men (otherwise ex- plained in Bahr, op. eit. p. 515 sq.). (b) Vers. 9-31. On the seventh day, the leper was required again to shave his whole body with the utmost care — not even sparing the eyebrows — to wash, and to bathe. A special cham- ber was provided in a corner of the women's court-yard of the second Temple for this purpose (Middofh, ii, 5; comp. Negaim, xiv, 8. Bahr is mistaken, and contra- dicts Lev. xiv, 9, in referring this washing to the eighth day). On the eighth day he presented two lambs and a yearling sheep. The lamb was first slain as a tres- pass-offering, and the healed man was touched with its blood in three places— on the right ear, the right thumb, and the great toe of the right foot. Then the priest took the oil offered by the leper, and. after sprinkling of it seven times " before the Lord," touched the leper with it in the same three places of the body, and poured the remainder over his head. Finally, the sin-offering and the burnt-offering were slain. Poor persons were al- lowed to bring for these two turtle-doves or young pigeons. See Leprosy.
The putting of the blood on the body, as well as touching it with oil, in this second service, is considered as a ceremony expression- reconciliation ; but the rab-
VIII.-E E E
bins consider the final anointing with the oil as the es- sential part (Negaim, xiv, 10), because in this connec- tion alone is mention made of "an atonement before the Lord" (Lev. xiv, 1«). In other respects, the whole cere- mony strongly resembles the consecration of priests (Bahr, op. cit. 521 sip). The cutting-off of the hair be- longed to the medical police of the law, for the leprosy conceals itself most easily under the hair, and hence the last traces of the disease could thus be detected. ( >n the ceremonies of purification in consecrating priests and Levites, see those articles. — Winer, ii, 319. See Naz-
AEITE.
Purification - waters (m;-"1", mey-nicPddh\ properly wati rs qfunch anm as. i. e. of purification ; Sept.
i'Cwp pavTiapov, trill* r nf aprinldiiig, after the Chaldee usage; comp. nedah', mi to sprinkle [see Kosenmiiller, mi .Xii nth. xix. 9 j ). This was a holy water of cleans- ing, which was mixed with the ashes of a red or red- dish-brown heifer — one which had never been under the yoke (comp. Dent, xxi, 3; Bochart, liieroz. i, 328 : on the age of this heifer the interpreters of the law were not agreed; see Para, i, 1; Jonathan, on Numb. 1. c, speaks of a two-year-old). With this water those who bad contracted impurity by contact with a corpse or otherwise were sprinkled by means of a sprig or branch of hyssop, and were thus cleansed (Numb, xix, 2 sq. ; xxxi. 19 sip ; Heb. ix. 13; Joseph us, Ant. iv, 4, 6; comp. the Talmudical tract Para, in the (5th part of the Mish- na). The ceremony of burning the heifer, which was accounted a sin-offering (Numb. xix. 9, 17), was as fol- lows according to the law (comp. Mishna, Para. vi. 4 | : A priest, who had set himself apart and purified himself for this work for seven days previous (ibid, iii, 1 ; Jo- sephus ascribes the duty to the high-priest, which may have been the custom in his time, although the Mishna usually speaks only of a priest, iii, 1, 9, 10; comp. Philo, Opp. ii, 252; Para, iii, 8), led it out of the Temple (through the east door, Mishna, Middoth, i, 3) before the city (on the Mount of Olives, Para, iii, 6), slew it, and burned it entire, with its flesh, skin, blood, and dung (Numb, xix, 5), on a fire fed with cedar-wood, scarlet wool, and hyssop (comp. Lev. xiv, (i). The ashes were then gathered, and kept in a clean place outside the city (according to the Para, iii, 2, they wrere divided into three parts, one of which was kept in a court outside the Temple, the second on the Mount of Olives, and the third was given to the priests). A heifer was burned thus anew whenever the supply of ashes was exhausted. The Para (iii, 5) tells us that only nine in all were ever burned, and only one of them before the captiv- ity (Jerome, Ep. l<)<s ad Eustach., says that one was burned yearly). A part of these ashes was mixed with fresh water (comp. Para, viii, 8), and a clean person sprinkled with it the unclean on the third and on the seventh day after the contraction of uncleanness. With it, too, the house of the dead and the vessels rendered unclean by a corpse were sprinkled. He who burned the heifer, the priest who slew her, and the man who collected the ashes were unclean until evening (Numb, xix. 7. 8, 10). The same took place in the use of the water; he who sprinkled it on the unclean, and all that touched it, were unclean until evening (xix, 21 sq.). This is analogous to Lev. xvi, 24. 20. 28: although in that case the uncleanness contracted by contact with the goats was considered as removed immediately after the required washings. Clericus properly remarks on this passage in Numbers, " The victim was considered as unclean through the sins which the prayer of the priest placed on his head. The ashes of this victim cleansed the unclean by taking his pollution ; but they also de- filed the clean, because no pollution could seem to pass from them to the water." The last clause, however, is not clear.