The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 16

,ii dding the Levitical Mcrifices into sacrifices in general and altar 880rlficea-an un• necessary distinction, apt to conceal their common significance. Defining sacrifice, then, in accordance with both usage and etymology, aa a gift, a- presentation to God, a surrender to God of what has cost the offerer something, o material embodiment of the self-sacrificing sphit, and remembering that in the larg& majority of cases at least these sacrifices were associated with the holy places,-the several ordinances of the Mosaic Law in reference thereto will arrange themselves under- the following classes. There were the national sacrifices, or those presented in the name of the entire Jewish people by their representatives. There were the ojficial sacrifices, or the specific acts or worship by presentation prescribed for the ecclesiastical and political orders. And there were the personal sacrifices, which were made by individual' suppliants of the Heavenly Majesty. To the enumeration of the several varieties under each of these three divisions we now proceed, after uttering a proviso. When we speak of the Levitical sacrifices we do not mean those which are recorded in Leviticus simply, but those cont.ained in any or the legal portions of the Pentateuch. The Book of Leviticm does not contain the entire Mosaic ritual; its legal provisions are supplemented by parts of Exodus and Numbers. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the sharp separation of the Leviticus from the other parts of the Pentateuch is not of very late date. Apparently, to judge from the Jewish rolls of the Law, what we now call the Book of Leviticus was simply sections twenty-four to thirty-three of the Torab,1 the first division of the Hebrew Scriptures. L TBB RATIONAL SACRIFICES. Sacrifice, as a Corm o( Divine worship, was not confined under the Law to individ!!Bls, whether among the priests or the populace. The nation as such was identified with sacrificial observances. A national rejoicing was regarded as possible, and therefore a national thank offering. The chosen people were supposed to be collectively capable of humiliation and confession of sin, and therefore of a national atonement. Similarly, a national self-surrender to the will of Jehovah was deemed to be frequently appropriate, and hence national burnt offerings were consumed in the national behalf. This national identification with the Levitical sacrifices is a prominent characteristic of the Jewish Church. The national offerings consisted: 1. Of the serial offerings, or those daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices ordered to be presented in the nation's behalf. 2. Of the festal offerings, or the ceremonial appropriate to the several exceptional days of sacrificial observance. 3. Of the offerings for the service of the holy place; and 4. Of some extraordinary offerings instituted in response to a widely felt need for worship or- humilia.tion at extra.ordinary seasons. 1. The aerial offerings. Every day, morning and evening, the priests were bidden to. effect, in the name of the congregation, the burnt offering of a lamb of a year old, and to present therewith its appropriate meal offering and drink offering (Exod. xxix~ 38-42; eh. vi. 1-4; Numb. :u:viii. 3-a). The presentation was made according to the customary ritual for burnt offering. From the regularity of its succession this-. daily burnt offering is also called the II continual" or "continuous" burnt offering (Exod. :u:ix. 42; Numb. xxviii 6; comp. Dan. viii. 11). The only additional feature· of this daily offering to which attention need be called is the probability of a direct association with the people at large by a peculiarity of ritual. According to rabbinio tradition, the nation was expressly represented in the court of the Lord's house by certain ~PP- •~~~. or permanent officials, who performed the customary ~tee of_ !he· imposition of their hands upon the victim, and its slaughter. Should this tradition 1 J See •Commentary upon the Holy Bible,' edited by Canon Cook, Leviticus,' vol. 1.. p. 493.  THE LEVITICAL SACilIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED. v