The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 14

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 more vivid conception of the historical character of the Old Testament has been one of the good things which the ill wind of rationalism, with its microscopic and carping criticism of the letter, has blown to the Christian Churoh. When the rationalists frigidly maintained that the Old Testament was but II collection of the historical records of Judaism, to be regarded in the same light as a collection of the archives of Greece say, or Rome, the Church could at least cheerfully accept one part of the contention, and believe that the Old Testament was a historical record. Thus the Old Testament came to be studied for itself, as well as for its connection with the New. Thus the Old Testament came to be considered at least as worthy of examina- tion for its own sake, and apart from its relation to Christianity, as the sacred books of Mahomet or Zoroaster, Kakya-Mouni or Buddha. In fact, it is now readily acknow- ledged that the most repulsive details of the ceremonial law, to say nothing of the splendid eloquence of the prophets, are facts in religious history deserving of close investigation as such. Largely thanks to the indirect influence of the rationalistic movement, the Jews are now seen to have had a distinctive religion of contemporary as well as prospective value. To trace the outline of that Old Testament faith, to authenticate the credibility and the historical character of its records, to contrast that faith with the other religions of the world, to demonstrate its advance upon the creeds of heathendom and towards the creed of Christ,-such a task of elucidation, comparison, and defence is one of the press- ing needs of our day, to be satisfied only by the use of all modern appliances, and in view of all modern scholarship. One prominent phase of that Old Testament religion is that of Moss.ism, or the religion of the Hebrews as far as it can be deduced from the Pcntateuch. Further, of Mosaism the Levitical sacrifices form no unimportant section. To study the nature and significance of these Levities.I sacrifices, as they are in thom- sel ves, rather than in their connection with Christianity, is the aim of this introduction. In other words, our purpose is to"prosecute the literal interpretation of the injunctions of the Law which bear upon these sacrifices, and to see whither such interpretation will conduct ·us. The Levitical sacrifices will approve themsel~es a religious cultus not unworthy to be designated Divine. The course which will be pursued is as follows. A classification or the Levitical sacrifices will firat be given. Next, some principles will be deduced from the letter of Scripture by which the comprehension of the Levitical sacrifices will be facilitated. Thirdly, an application will be made of the principles thus deduced to the elucidation of the entire scheme of the Levitical sacrifices. Fourthly, the relation of this sacrificial worship to that of the patriarchal age will be pointed out. Fifthly, the relation of this sacrificial worship to the sacrificial views or the New 'l'estament will call for some remark . .And laatly, a few words may be bestowed upon the bibliography of the subject. And at this point the writer may advi1edly call attention to the different standpoint he here assumes to that occupied in his work upon 'The Scriptural Doctriue of Sacri- fice.' To put that standpoint briffly, he would say that, whereas his view of the Jewish sacrifices was previously more analytic, he aims in this introduction at a synthesis, at building up into a consistent whole the numerous details of the Mosaic ritual, and dis- 1 Lundiue, 'Die alten judischen Heiligth.aner, Gottesdienste ond Gewohnhelten dargeetellet.' Hamburg, 1695, 1693, 1704, 17 12; edited and annotated by Wolf, in a new uliLion, issued in I i38.  THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED. iii