lllishna desoribes the ooremony IUl followe :- dipping each time he sprinkles. He goes " The leper stands before t~e tres~ off~r- before the leper, and on the spot where he ing, Jays his hl\nd upon 1t and kill~ 1t. had put the blood he puts the oil, as it Is Two priests catch up the blood one m a written, 'Upon the blood of the trespass vessel, the other in his hand. He who offering.' And the remnant of the oil that catches it up in the vessel goes and throws is in the priest's hand, he pours on the head it on the side of the altar, and he who of him that is cleansed, for an atonement; catches it in his hand goes and stands before if he so puts it, he is atoned for, but if not, the leper. And the leper who had pre- he is not atoned for. So Rabbi Akiba. nously bathed in the court of the lepers, Rabbi Jochanan, the son of Nnri, eaith, goes and stands in the gate of Nioanor. This is only the remnant of the ordinance, Rabbi Jehudah says he needs not bathe. whether it be done or not, the atonement He thrusts in his head (viz. into the great is made; but they impute it to him (the court, which he may not yet enter), a11sd the priest), as if he had not made atonement.'' priest puts of the blood upon the tip of his The double sprinkling with blood and oil ear; he thrusts in his hand, and he puts it betokened dedication as in the case of the upou the thumb of his ha.ad; he thrusts in priests, the blood specially denoting recon- his foot, and he puts it upon the great toe ciliation, and the oil the strengthening power of his foot'' (' Negaim,' xiv. 7, quoted by of God by which the new life was to be led. Edersheim, 'Temple Service,' eh. xviii.). No Vers. 19, 20.-The priest shall oft'er the doubt, the ear, the thumb, and the great toe sin offering. The sill offering is due, ac- are selected for the purpose of showing, as in cording to the regulation given in eh. v. 3, in the case of the consecration of the priest, consequence of the man having been in a tha.t the senses and the active powers of the state of uncleanness. It is followed by the restored Israelite must be dedicated hence- burnt offering and the meat offering, and forth to God. then the man is restored to his state of legal Vers. 15-18.-Ancl the priest shall t&ke cleanness, and of communion with God as some of the log of oil, and pour it into the well as with his fellows. palm of his own left ha.ncl. This ceremony Vere. 21--S2.-And if he be poor, a.nd oan- is altogether peculiar to this purification. not get so muoh. The concession to poverty The joint use of blood and oil is not singular consists in the substitution of two turtle- (see eh. viii 30), but elsewhere there is no doves, or two young pigeons, for the two &prinkling of the oil . , . seven times before Iambs required for the sin offering and the the Lord, and in the consecration of priests burnt offering, and one tenth-dee.I of flour there was no anointing of the different for three tenth-dee.ls of flour in the meat members with oil as well as with blood. offering. But no difference is made as to The Mi.shna (as before cited) continues the the lamb required for the trespass offering, description of the ceremony as follows:- or the log of oil. These must be provided by " The priest now takes from the log of oil the poor 88 well as by the rich, and the and pours it into the pa.Im of his colleague, ceremonies used at their offering must be though if he poured it into his own it were the same for poor and rich, as they are valid. -He dips hie finger and sprinkles essential to the rite. seven times towards the holy of holies,
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 1-32.-The cleansing of the leper f'epreaents the a'bsolution of the sinner, as his exclusion from the camp represented spiritual excommunice.tion. L THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN EXOOHMUNIOATION AND ABSOLUTION, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xvi. 19). "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviiL 18). "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted; and whose soever sins ye retain, they a.re retained" (John xx:. 23). II. THE UBE OF KEYS. 1. To admit. 2. To shut out. 3. To readmit. 1. The spiritual keys are wed by God's ministers for the purpose of admission, whenever they i':ltroduce into Christ's kingdom, the Church, a new member by the use of the initiatory nte of baptism, which they are commissioned to employ for that end, 2. They are used for the purpose of exclusion, whenever the Church, or any duly constituted section of the Church, following the example of the Corinthian Church, as instructed and Oil, :UV, 1-82.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 217