bumt oll'ering in the morning, i. e. in ad- day of atonement (Levit. xvi 29 ; xxiii. dition to, and immediately after, the usuo.l 27 sq.), morning so.crifice. Even when it is not ex- Ver. 12.--0n the fl.tteenth day. The first pressly stated, the presumption is that all day of the feast of tabernacles, which com- the sacrifices here treated of were cumulo.tive. menced at sunset on the fourteenth (Levit. Thus the sabbath of the passover (John xiL xxiii. 36). 81) would have the proper sacrifices (1) of the yer. 13.-Ye shall off'er a burnt offering. do.y, (2) of the so.bbath, (3) of the feast ofThis also was ordered, but not prescribed, in Mattsoth, comprising two bullocks, one ram, Levit. xxiii As it was the feast of the in- eleven lambs, with their meat offerings aud gathering, when God had crowned the year drink offe1ings. with his goodness, and filled the hearts or Ver. 26.-ln the day of the first-fruits. men with food and gladness, so it was cele- The feast of weeks, or. day of Pentecost brated with the greatest profusion of burnt (Levit. xxiii. 15-21). offerings, especially of the largest and cost- Ver. 27.-Ye shall offer the bumt off'er- liest kind. Thirteen young bullocks. The- ing. The festal sacrifice here prescribed is number of bullocks was so arranged as to be exactly the same as for the days of Mattsoth one less each day, to be seven on the seventh and for the feast of the new moon. It is not and last day, and to make up seventy alto- the same as that prescribed for the same day gether. Thus the sacred number was studi- ously emphasised, and the slow fadmg or in Levit. xxiii., and it is difficult to deter- mine whether it was meant to supersede the festal joy into the ordinary gladness of a. previous ordinance, or to be distinct and ad- grateful life was set forth. It seems quite aitional. The fact that no notice is taken fanciful to trace any connection with the of the sacrifice already ordered would seem waning of the moon. The observance of the- to point to the former conclusion ; but the heavenly bodies, although sanctioned in the further fact that no mention is made of the case of the new moon feast, was not further offering of wave-loaves, with which the sacri- encouraged for obvious reasons. fices in Leviticus were distinctively con- Ver. 36.-0n the eighth day. On th& nected, seems to show that the two lists twenty-second day of Ethanim (see on Levit. were independent (cf. Josephus, 'Ant.,' iii xxili. 36). The offering here specified re- 10, 6). The fact seems to be that through- turns to the smaller number ordered for the out this section no sacrifices are mentioned :first and tenth days of this month. The save i;ur.h as formed a part of the system feast of tabernacles ended with sundown on which is h9-o for the first time clo.borated. this day. Ver. 39,-These things shall ye do, or- Ch. xxix. 1.-In the seventl!. month, on " sacrifice." ~~J:1. Septuagint, raiira the :first day of the month. The month 1ronjrrere (cf. Luk~ xxii. 19). :Beside your Ethanim had been nlreadyspecially set apart vows, and your free-will offerings. These for holy purposes beyond all other months are treated of in Levit. xxii. 18 sq.; eh. (Levit. xxili. 23 sq.). xv. 3 sq. The words which follow nre Ver. 2.-Ye shall offer a burnt offering. dependent upon this clause. All the offer- Such an offering had been commanded ings commnnded in these chapters amounted (Levit. xxiii 26), but not specified. It com- to 1071 lambs, 113 bullocks, 37 rams, 30 prised one bullock less than the new moon goo.ta, in the lunar year, together with 11~ offering, but the reason of the difference is bushels of flour, more than 370 gallons of wholly unknown, unless it were in view of oil, and about 340 gallons of wine, supposing the large number of bullocks required at the that the drmk offering was proportionnte feast of tabernacles. throughout. Ver. 7,-0n the tenth day. The great
HOMILETICS. Chs. xxviii., nix.-T/ie perfect system Qfsacrifice. We have in this section the round of sacrifice-daily, weekly, monthly, nnd 11nnual-drawn out in nil its completeness and in all its symmetry. There were indeed other sacrifices ordnined, such as those of the goat for Azaztl and of the red heifer, which find no pince here; but these were essentially (as it would seem) of nn exceptional nature, and stood out agninst the unvarying background of the sacrificial routine here depicted. No longer left to be gathered from scattered enactments, it is here ordained as a system, pervaded and inspired by certain definite and abiding principles. That those principles were not read into a fortuitous assemblage of ancient rites by the pious ingenuity of a later- .and more self-conscious nge, but underlay those rites from the be;;inning, and deter- -882 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [cHs. xxvm., xx1x.