seven dr.ys is death if committed wilfully whioh the child wee placed and burnt with (eh. xx. 18) ; if fallen into unknowingly, a fire, while the priests were hen.tin.,. drums ceremonial penalty of seven days' unclean- in order to drown the noise of its° shrieks: ness is incurred (eh. xv. 24). It is twice lest the fathers might be moved with pity referred to by Ezekiel as a gross sin (Ezek. thereby." The place where the children xviii. 6; nii. 10). wer~ otre!ed, in the later period of the Ver. 20.-The second prohibition is, Thou Jew1sh.. h1stor,;r, wl!-~ the valley of Hinnom &halt not lie oarnally with thy neighbour's (Jer. vn. 31 ; xxxn. 85; 2 Kings xxiii. 10). wif&-a prohibition already made in other Ve~. 22.-The fourth prohibition forbids words in the ten cummandments. The t~e em of Sod~m (see Gen. xix. 5; Judg. pnnishment for adultery is death by stoning xi. 22 ; Rom. 1. 27; l Cor. vi. 9 • l Tim. (ch.xx.10; Dent. uii. 22; John ix. 5)- i. I 0). The penalty is death ( eh. x~. 13). s more severe penalty than was usually Ver. 23.-The fifth prohibition (see i.n.flictcd in other nations. Herod., ii. 16). The penalty is death (eh. Ver. 21.-The third prohibition is, Thou XX. 15). eh< not let any ot thy seed pass through Vers. 24-30.-These verses contain a tke fire to Molech. The words tJie fire are warning age.inst the sins of incest and im• properly inserted, though not expressed in purity already specified. The reason why the original ( cf. Deut. xviii. 10 j 2 Kings the Canae.nitea were cast out before the x:di. 10). What was the nature and pur- Isrs.eli tee was that they were defiled in all ·pose of the idoli!.trous rite in question is, these things, ... and the land was defiled by however, uncertain. It is generally as- them. God visited the iniquity of these 1mmed that reference is made to the practice de based races, and the land itself vomited of offering children in sacrifice to Molech, out her inhabitants on account of their Dent. xii 31, Ezek. xvi. 20, and Ps. cvi. e.bom.ine.tioI111, The fate of the Cane.a.nites was ·37 being quoted in support of that view. therefore a witness to them of what would But it is by no means certain that this WIii! be their fate if they did like them. Defile the case. It might have been a rite by not ye yourselves in any ot these things. which children were dedicated to Molech- . , . Ye shall not oommit any of these e.bomi- A be.ptism b_v fire, not resulting in the death natioIIII, . , . that the land spue not you out of the child. Its mention here, in close also, when ye defile it. Specie.I penalties connection with carnal sins, has led some to are appointed for particular sins further on. regard it as an impure rite; but this is a Here there are but two punishments de- mistaken inference, for the prohibition of nounced, one for individual sinners, the :adnltery naturally suggests the prohibition other nations.I. The individual sinner is to of a spiritual unfaithfulness. That it was be cut off from the nation by excommu- some kind of idolatrous ceremony is shown nication, For whosoever shall oommit any hy the addition of the words, neither shalt of these e.bominatioIIII, even the souls that; thou profane the name ot thy God. But if oommit them she.II be out ofl:' from among the children were burnt to death in honour their people. The nation, if it does not of the idol, from the beginning, we should thus purify itself by cutting off from itself es:pect to find a notice of the foot in !ess the authors of these corruptions, is to perish ambiguous language than the expression, like the Ca.naanites. The words vomiteth paH through the fire, conveys, earlier than (ver. 25) o.nd spuod out (ver. 28) are in that -the days of Ahaz. It is easy to imagine tense of the Hebrew verb which is genero.lly that what began as a dedication ceremony called by gramme.rie.Illl a preterite, but this may have become converted into an absolute tense does not necessarily imply a past time; sacrifice, retaining still its original designu.- the time referred to depends on the context. iion. Molech was a Cane.anitish and Phami- The previous verbs, "I oast out," "I do cie.n deity, the name meaning King, just as vioit," being present in sense, the two verbs, Bae.I means Lord (see Selden, 'De Dlie "vomiteth out (her inhabitants)," o.nd Syris,' i. 6). Je.rchi, quoted by Wordswo~th, "spued out ( the nations tho.t were before describes the idol as" made of braes, be.vlllg you)," are present also (see lutroduotion). the face of an ox, with arms stretched c 11t, in
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-18.-The restraints thrown about marriage by God's Law are not meant to confine within the narrowest limits that which is a necessary evil, but to guard ~ ~oly ins~itulion, and prevent its being corrupted by abuse, Manichree.nism and ascet1c1s_m, wh1c~ is essentially Manichiean in its character, denounce the body an~ the bodily affect1ons as being in themselves bad; stoicism strives to crush out or eradicate nature.I ou. xvm. 1-30.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 277