The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 27

meet" are the words of the Lord at the ordinance of the perpetual burnt offering at the door of tabernacle, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God" (Exod. :n:ix. 43, 44). Let it be noted, however, that, whilst the whole sanctuary was the abode of Jehovah, approach to him was limited by two conditions: first, certain sections of the sanctuary were allotted to certain sections of the people, the high priest a.Jone being allowed to enter the holy of holies, the priests' peculiar portion being the holy place, and the court being apportioned to the Jew; and secondly, the altars were, so to speak, the centres 0£ the several sections, in which their significance was concentrated and from which their power radiated. Thus we have express scriptural authority for saying that the varioll8 offerings were to be presented within the precincts of the holy place, each according to the status of the worshipper, because there Jehovah, the covenant God, had consented to reveal his Name, and be peculiarly present. The Bignificance of the officiating priuts. Not only was the large majority of sacrifices -0rdered to be made at a certain place, but by the mediation of a certain ecclesiastical executive. The Jews at 'large were not priests unto God, they did their priestcraft by deputy; and from the days of their unanimous refusal of the more exalted office -0f Divine administration, the tribe of Levi was set apart for holy service. The preceding description of the legal commands has already shown how large a part the priest played in sacrificial worship, how minute a rubric instructed the priest in the dutiful discharge of his sacred functions. For our present purpose, the tribe of Levi as a whole may be ignored; it is simply needful to concentrate attention upon the priests proper, the descendants of Aaron, and their official head, the so-called high priest. Had the fact of the mediation of priests any doctrine to convey to the reverent and thoughtful worshipper? Most assuredly. The priests were middle-men; they had an exceptional privilege of Divine approach; they represented God to man, and man to God. Every sacrifice presented through the priest was presented to Jehovah by the appointed medium -0f legal access. 2. The significance of the seueral detai?s of tluJ sacrificial ritwl. It is next necessary to consider the significance of the curious and precise ritual ordered to be adopted in Racrificial worship, and to see whether and how far religious truths were taught thereby. It will be seen that no prescribed act was meaningless, and that each stage in the elabo- rate act of worship had its own message to convey. The act of presentation. The first stage in every act of sacrifice was the deliberate presentation of the offerer and his gift at the appropriate alto.r. Entrance into the court -0f the Lord's house was not casual or heedless, but of set purpose. The offerer pre- sented himself and his offering solemnly before the priest. Nor was this presentation a. mere opportunity for an official examination into the fulfilment of the legal conditions of valid sacrifice, although the officiating priest was unquestionably bound to see that the victim had neither spot nor blemish nor any such thing. The presentation was itself a thoughtful religious act. Of what nature? Without entering upon the various replies which have been returned by Neumann, Keil, Kliefoth, Kurtz, and Wangemann, suffice it to say that the thebiah was a symbolical prayer for the privileges accruing to legal sacrifice. To come to the altar was to come to the Lord ; to come with a willing and -obedient mind, fulfilling tho conditions of the Law, was to ask for a share in the promises thereto attached. The imposition of the /'1<1ncl. The victim having been solemnly presented, "the x,i THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED.