l ,l, 18 ; o.nd see Kurtz, • Sacrificial Worship priests-shall consecrate it; literally, j[fJ, ii• of the Old Testument,' § 86); and, in accord- hand. The phrase,,~ tt.79," to fill one's hand," o.nco with this, vers. 23 ancl 24 naturally ,c. with gifts, occurs with reference to follow on vers. 19-21, ver. 22 being inter- Jehovah (Exo<l. xxxii. 29: I Chron. xxi.x. posed because of the variation in the sin 5; 2 Chron. :nix. 31). It is also employed offering for the second day. in the sense of filling the hand of another, Ver. 25.-Seven days. Hitzig reckons e.a e.g. of e. priest, with sacrificial gifts, when these as additional to the first (ver. 19) he is institnted into bis sacrecl office (Exocl. and second (ver. 22) days: Kliefotl.t begins xxviii. 41; xxir. 9; Lev. xxi. 10; comp. them with the second; Keil, Schroder, Lev. viii. 27). Here the hand to be filled is Currey, and the majority of expositors ta.ke that of the altar, which is personified for the them as inclusive of the first and second. purpose (compare the use of the terms Hilzig's proposal may be set aside, since it "bosom" and "lip" in conIJ.ection with the cannot be maintained without erasing" thou altar). The meaning is that the altar, at shalt make atonement for U" in ver. 20, and its consecmtion, should have II plentiful the first half of the present verse. In favour supply of gifts, to symbolize that the offer- of Kliefoth's view may be urged that the ing of such gifts was the work for which .first day appears to stand out from the it was set apart, and that it should never others, and to be distinguished by the be without them. peculiar character of its offering-a young Ver. 27.-The eighth day, and so forward. bullock for a sin offering, without any ac- Omit" so." With this day the regular sacri- companying burnt offering: that the offer- ficial service should commence. Thence- ings on the second and subsequent days forward the priests should offer upon the are alike, a he-goat and a ram : that on each altar the burnt o:lferings and peaoe o:lfer- of the seven days a goat is mentioned for a inga of the people. The omission of sin sin offering, whereas on the first day it was offerings is explained by Keil, on the 11 young bullock that was afoin ; and that in principle that" burnt offerings~ and "peace Zech. iii. 9 occurs an allusion to what offerings " were " the principal and moat seems a special day such as this first day of frequent sacrifices, whilst sin offerings and Ezekiel. In support of Keil's interpreta- meat offerings were implied therein : " tion it is contended that the seven days Kliefoth adding that eh. xliv. 27, 29 ; were to be employed in purging or making xlv. 17, 19, 22, 23, 25; and :rlvi. 20 show it atonement for, and purifying the altar, oonnot be inferred that sin offerings were which was in po.rt at least (even admitting no more to be offered on this altar. At the 11 distinction in meaning between tt~i;:i and same time, the prominence given to" burnt" •'JQ) the bnsin0811 of the first day: that the and "peaoe" as distinguished from "sin genero.1 statement in ver. 20 as to a. goat for offerings" may, as Schroder suggests, have 11 sin offering on the seven de.ye admits of pointed to the fnot that the saorificera who easy qualification by the previous statement should use this alto.r would be "11 people in ver. 19; and that seven days was the in a state of grace," to whom Jehovnh was normal duration of religious solemnities prepared to say, I will a.ocept you, not your under the Law (see Lev. viii. 33; 1 Kings offerings alone, bnt your persona as well ; viii. 65; 2 Chron. vii. 8, 9). and not these because of those, but contro.ri- Ver. 26.-They shall purge the altar. wiae those on account of these. Kliefoth's Smend thinks it strange that only the puri- idea: thnt the first day ayrubolized the future fication of the a.lta.r should be mentioned day of Christ's eaorifioe, that the seven in- here, while that of the sanctuary is referred termediate days (on hie hypothesis) pointed to later (oh. xiv. 18), and finds in this an to the period of the Christian Church, and explanation (at least, perhaps) of the fa.et that the eighth day looked forwarJ to the that in Exod. xxi.x. 36 only the consecration timo of the end, while not without elements of the Mosaio altar-not of tho Moae.io of truth, is open to this objection, that in tabernacle-is reported. He conceives it the period of tl.te Christian Church thero likely that the author of Exod. xxi.x. 36 should have been "no more sacrifice for copied Ezekiel, but does not explain why sin;" and yet, as Kliefoth admits, "sin Ezekiel may not have copied the author of offerings" were afterwards to be made upon Exod. xxix. 36. And they shall ooneeorate this altar. themselves j more correctly, ther,-ie. the
HOMILETIOS. Ver. 2.-" The glory of the God of Israel." The visionary glory that dazzled tbo eyes of tho T1Lpt seer is but an earthly suggestion of that ineffable glory in which the 372 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [en. XLIII, 1-27.