The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 58

iBut it is the disposition to honour and please God that he delights to observe in his -children. A parent may admire the rudest sketch if his little cne brings it e.s e. token of love, and may esteem the commonest fare a banquet, and ill-dressed food e. feast if regard and affection have contributed to its preparation. The agony and wounds of the Redeemer were not watched by the Father with unmingled delight. AB we shudder e.t the spectacle of the Holy One made a curse for us, and yet rejoice in the all-sufficiency of his burden-bearing ; so the Father felt the keenest pangs that rent the breast of his -beloved Son, and only joyed in the sublime manifestation of filial devotion content to en_dure torture and insult that ~he ~lot on his Fathe~•s world through the pr~sence of sin might _be erased e-yen 9:t such mfimte cost. Wherem we are partakers if the sufferings of Chnst..our Sacnfice 1s fragrant to the Fath~r. The apostles, in preaching the gospel, became unto God a sweet savour of Chnst." If we walk in love 1 we cause the ,incense of love to ascend with sweet odour to heaven (Eph. v. 2). Jesu s ministered to the wants of many, and the Philippians, in supplying the necessities of Paul, Christ's servant, were an " odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice well-plea.sing unto God," 2. If p,-ocuru for the offerer satisfaction of conscience and the favour of God. The sacrifice is accepted, communion is re-established, sin is covered. There is an inward content- ment in all religious acts that is of itself evidence of the reality of religion, and its adaptation to our circumstances. Never did any man abstain from selfish, sinful gratificati?n, or parsue the rugged path of holiness and virtue, without being solaced by the conscwusness of having done what was right, what was in harmony with the noblest dictates of bis nature. The self-denying, God-serving life is the happiest and most blessed life. Then do we walk in the light of God's countenance, and drink of the river of his pleasures.-S. R. A. Vers. 1, 2.-Sacrifa;ature. The Book of Exodus closes with e.n account of the entrance ,of the Shechinah into the tabernacle ; with the manner in which that sacred structur't was enveloped by the cloud of the Divine presence; also that in which, by rising from the tabernacle, God gave his order for his people to march, and, by resting upon it, to halt and encamp. The Book of Leviticus is concerned with the revelations which God gave to Israel from this habitation of his holiness, in which the laws published from Sinai were amplified (comp. eh. vii. 37, 38). 'fhe text lays down broad principles upon the subject of sacrificature, which is considered first in order, because of its great im- portance to the Levitical system, and to that more glorious system of the gospel which it shadowed forth. We learn that- L SACBIFICATUBE HAS GoD FOB ITS AUTHOR. 1. It efeisted before the time of Mosu. (1) Its prevalence amonust the nations argues its origin to be prior to the dispersion (Gen. xi. 9). How else ~n this fact be explained? (2) We read of it in patriarchal times. The Hebrew patriarchs offered sacrifices (Gen. xii. 7, et al,.freq.). So did Job, who lived in the land of Uz, on the border-land between Iduroea and Arabia, probably about the time of Joseph (Job i. 5; see also Exod. xviii. 12). So did Noah (Gen. viii. 20). (3) The first family had sacrifices which they presented when they appeared before the Shechinah, which flamed between the cherubic emblems set up eastward of Eden (Gen. iv. 3, 4). 2. lt could not have been invented by man. (1) It was in the nature of the thing, most unlikely to have occurred to any finite mind. (2) 'If it did so occur, would God have accepted it? Does he approve will-worship? (see eh. L 1, 2). What right has a sinner to propose terms of reconciliation to his Maker? His place is to throw himself absolutely upon the Divine mercy, and we.it to "hear what God the Lord may speak" (Ps. lxxxv. 7, 8). 3. Here we liave it authorized 'by God. (1) "And the Lord called unto Moses," etc. (2) So we find God directing Abraham respecting the manner in which sacrifices should be ordered in his worship (Gen. xv. 9 • see also xxii. 2). (3) The" coats of skins" in which our first parents were clothed wer; presumably from animals offered in sacrifice. Animals were not in those <lays killed for food (Gen. i. 29; comp. with ix. 3). Since it was "t~e Lord God" who clothed them, the institution of sacrificature would date from that time, and be e. reve- lation of mercy immediately from him. God is the Author of reconciliation (John iii. 16; Rom. v. 8; 1 John iv. 9). II. IT WAS PUBLISIIED FROM HIS SANCTUARY. 1. There are revelatio11s of God in uatu1'11. (1) These arc exhibited in our treatises on Natura.I 'l'heology. Who can fail OH. I. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 13