The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 19

3. Tlie ojferi11gs for the service of the holy place. These offerings consisted of the holy oil for the daily replenishing of the lamps of the golden candlesticks, a.rranged "from evening to morning" by the priesthood; of the incense, peculiarly compounded, and daily burnt upon the golden altar; and of the twelve loaves, a.rra.nged in rows, with fra.nkincense and liba.tions of wine, to judge from the furniture of the table of shew- bread, which were laid before the Lord as a memoria.l at the beginning of every week, and eaten by the priests as "a most holy thing" at the close. In the present reference, the significant fact in connection with these offerings is that they were national rather than official, to say nothing of personal For the materials thereof were selected from offerings representatively made by the people. Thus it is the children of Israel, and. not the priests, who are bidden to bring pure olive oil for the lamps of the sanctuary. It would seem also that the constituents of the sacred incense were the gift of the people, seeing that in the first instance they were ordered to be provided by Moses, the representative of the tribes at large rather than of Levi. And, as regards the shew- bread, conceding that the number of its loaves did not point to the number of the tribes, as seems probable, it is expressly said, "every sabbath it shall be presented before Jehovah continually on the part of the s011s of Israel, an eternal covenant" (eh. xxiv. 8), Compare on the above statements, Exod. xxvii. 20; eh. :u.iv. 2; Exod. xu. 34-38; xxv. 30; eh. xxiv. 6 - 8 ; Numb. iv. 7; Exod. xxvii. 12. 4, Ths extraordinary offerings. Amongst these offerings, in· which we see the general theory of Old Testament sacrifice applied to unlooked-for waves of national sentiment, whether penitential or eucharistic, may be classed such abnormal offerings as those for the erection of the tabernacle; those at the consecration of Aaron; the surrender of their mirrors by the Hebrew women for the manufacture of the brazrn ]aver; the sin offerings presented by the congregation in acknowledgrnent of some special sin of national bearing, such as the crimes of Korab and Achan; or the multi- tude of sacrifices slaughtered at the consecration of the temple. A very interestin 6 series of instances, showing as they do a trial of old ordinances in new conditions, Rn application of the Law to changed circumstances, an apprehension of the spirit which is nobler than an obedience to the letter; and suggesting, as they undoubtedly do suggest, a variety of possible adaptations of the Law to religious ends not expressly contemplated. II. THE OFFICIAL BAORIFICEB. Not only did the officials of the Jewish nation act as the religious representatives of the tribes in the manner just described, not only did they approach the Majesty on high as individual suppliants in the manner about to be described, but, according to the dictates of the Mosaic Law, there were sacrificial rites viii THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED.