the previous sELcrifices, WELS first developed and exhibited in an explicit form by the Levitical regulations and institutions, which distinguish burnt offer• ings, meELt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings ; and the special significations of these several sacrifices have to be combined once more, in order to arrive a.t the original, but at first lees clearly defined, notion of the institution, and to constitute a.n adequate type of that which we.s the one Antitype of them all. The typical character of sacrifices must not be confounded with their symbolical character. While they symbolize the need of reconciliation (sin and trespass offerings), ofloyal submission (burnt and meat offerings), and of peace (peace offering), they are the type of the one Sacrifice of Christ, in which perfect submission was yielded (burnt offering) and exhibited (meat offering) by man to God ; by which reconciliation between God and man were wrought by means of atonement (sin offering) and satisfaction (trespass offering); and through which the peace effected between God and man was set forth (peace offering). (See Notes and Homiletics on ohs. i.-vii.) The Section, or Part, on sacrifice, consists of ohs. i.-vii. Oh. L contains the law of the burnt offering. Oh. ii. ,, ,. meat offering. Oh. iii. ,, ,, peace offering. Ohs. iv., v. 1-13 ,. sin offering. Chs. v, 14-85; vi.1-7,, trespass offering. The following chapter and a half contain more definite instructions as to the ritual of the sacrifices, addressed particularly to the priests, namely- Oh. vi. 8-13. The ritual of the burnt offering. ,, 14-23. ,, ,, meat offering, and in particular of the priests' meat offering at their consecration . ., 24-30. 'l'he ritual of the sin offering. Oh. vii. 1-10. ,, ,. trespass offering. ,, 11-21 ; 28-34 ,, peace offering. ,. 22-27 contain a prohibition of eating the fat and the blood. ,. 36-38 form tho conclusion of Part I.
§ 2. Priesthood. The primary idea of a. priest is that of a. man who performs some function in behalf of men towards God which would not be equally acceptable by God if performed by themselves, and through whom God bestows graces upon men. The first priests were the heads of a family, as Noah; then the heads of a tribe, as Abraham; then the heads of a combination of tribes or of a nation, such as Jethro (Exod. ii. 16), Melchizedek (Gen. xiv. 18), Balak (Numb. xxii. 40). In many countries this combination of the highest secular and ecclesiastical office continued to be maintained-for example, in Egypt; but among the Israelites a sharp line of separation between them was drawn by the appointment of Aaron and his sons to tho priesthood. Priesthood and sacrifice are not originally correlative. A man who iv INTRODUCTION 'l'O
acts in behalf of others towards God, whether by making known to him their wants or interceding for them, is thereby a priest; and again, a man who acts in behalf of God towards man, by declaring to them hie will and conveying to them his blessing, is thereby a priest. Sacrifice being one means, and at a particular time the chief means, of "calling upon" or approaching God and of receiving graces at his hands, it naturally fell to the priest to perform it as one of his functions, and by degrees it came to be regarded as his special function, and yet never in so exclusive a manner as to shut out the functions of benediction and intercession. The man through whose action, sacramental or otherwise, God's graces are derived to man, and man's needs are presented to God, is, by that action, a priest of God. To suppose that sacrifice, and in particular the sacF-ifice of animals, is necessary for either one or the other of the priestly functions, is to narrow the idea of priesthood in an unjustifiable manner. When so complex a system as that of the Levitica.l sacrifices had been instituted, the appointment of an hereditary priesthood became necessary. And this appointment took away from the heads of families and the tribe leaders the old priestly rights which up to that time they had maintained, and which we see to have been exercised by Moses. We cannot doubt that this abolition of their ancient privileges must have been resented by many of the elder generation, and we find that it was necessary to enforce the new discipline by a strict injunction, forbidding sacrifices to be offered elsewhere than in the court of the tabernacle, and by other hands than those of the hereditary priesthood (see Notes and Homiletics on ohs. viii.-x. and xviii.). The Section, or Part, on the priesthood consists of ohs. viii.-x. Ch. viii. contains the ceremonies of the consecration of Aaron and his sons. Ch. ix. recounts their first priestly offerings and benediction. Ch. L contains the account of the death of Nadab and Abihu, and the law against drinking wine while ministering to the Lord. These three chapters constitute Pai;t II.
§ 3. Uncleannesa and its Removal. Offences are of two kinds, ceremonial and moral; the former must be purged by purifying rites, the latter by punishment. A ceremonial offence is committed by incurring legal uncleanness, and this is done (1) by eating unclean food or touching unclean bodies (eh. xi.), (2) by childbirth (eh. xii.), (3) by leprosy (chs. xiii., xiv.), (4) by issues (eh. xv.); whoever offended in any of these ways had to purge his offence-in light cases by washing, in grave cases by sacrifice. Moral offences are committed by transgressing God's moral law, whether w1itten on the human heart or in his Law. The list of these offences commences with an enumeration of unlawful marriages and lusts ( eh. xviii. ), to which are added other sins and crimes ( eh. xix. ). They must not be allowed to go unpunished; else they bring the wrath of God 'Jpon the nation. The peualties differ according to the heinousness of the 'l'HE llOOK OF LEVITIU1JS.