RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Hexateuch
things needed in this approach of man to God: for defraying the expenses (xxx. 11-16) ; for priestly functions, viz., the laver (xxx. 17-21), oil for anointing the vessels (xxx. 22-33), and incense (xxx. 34-38); for the work of building the tabernacle, skilled artificers (xxxi. 1-11). In this description the altar of incense, which symbolized the obligatory and acceptable adoration of God by his people, is not mentioned until provision has been made for sinful man to approach Jehovah. The place given to it in the specifications has its reason in the symbolism. Other considerations determine the order of narration afterward; other laws of association prevail, and the altar of incense is grouped with the furniture of the tabernacle (xxxv. 15, xxxvii. 25), or is mentioned at the proper place locally (xl. 5). It belonged to the holy of holies, before the mercy seat (I Kings vi. 22 R.V.; Heb. ix. 4); but, since none might enter the most holy place save the high priest and he but once in the year, the altar of incense was set in the holy place, in front of the veil that separated the holy from the most holy place, in order that the priest might officiate at it daily. Wealth was lavished on this movable and evidently temporary sanctuary. The gold alone amounted to twenty-nine talents or nearly nine hundred thousand dollars, and the silver raised by taxation to two hundred thousand dollars (xxxviii. 24-31), and this in addition to the silver, bronze, and precious stones given voluntarily (xxxv. 5-8, 21-29). But the riches were not wasted. The journey to the promised land might be accomplished in a few days (Deut. i. 2), but the tabernacle must serve during the expected wars of conquest and during the confusion of settlement and home-making. And, moreover, costly stuff was not used for things of a temporary nature. The housing was comparatively inexpensive, and the materials for it were at hand. The acacia wood might be had in the wilderness for the cutting, and the skins for the outer covering of the tent from the aquatic animals in the neighboring sea; while from their own flocks the rams' skins and goats' hair were obtainable. The precious metals went into the costly furniture of the sanctuary, which might be used for centuries, and into the gold plating and silver sockets of the boards. They would not be lost to the treasury of the Lord, even though a more substantial temple might ultimately be erected.
The priests officiated at the altar; hence they were provided with (1) a directory of procedure to be observed by the worshiper and the priest at the offering of the various kinds of sacrifice (Lev. i.vi. 7), and a book on the disposal of the sacrifice (Lev. vi. 8-vii.). The priests required authorization; hence they had (2) the record
15. The of Aaron's consecration to the priest- Manual for hood, an official act that established the the order and placed it on a legal
Priests, basis, and the precedent for future inductions into the priestly office; together with laws enacted to meet the deficiencies in the legislation which were revealed on that occasion (viii-x.). Approach to Yahweh was conditioned upon holiness of life, both ceremonial and
moral; hence there was furnished for Israel and given to the priests as the teachers of the laws and guardians of the worship and overseers of the ritual: (3) a directory of ceremonial purity and a law of holiness, containing (a) laws concerning foods that defile, diseases or natural functions that render unclean, and an annual day of national ceremonial purification (xi.-xvi.), and (b) laws concerning holiness of life (xvii.-xxvi.), followed by an appendix on vows, tithes, and things devoted (xxvii.). These small collections of laws and precedent, all of which relate particularly to subjects of professional importance to the priests, form a distinct section of the Pentateuch — the book of Leviticus — and, as thus segregated, constituted a manual for the use of the priests. The laws contained in each of these divisions of the handbook, as it may be termed, were enacted at Sinai, according to express declaration. The directions for the consecration of Aaron and his sons were prepared during Moses' first sojourn of forty days in Mount Sinai (Ex. xxix.), and the instructions were carried out immediately after the erection of the tabernacle. The function occupied a week. At its end the punitory death of Nabad and Abihu was the occasion of new legislation (Lev. x. 6-20). The directory of procedure to be observed at the sacrificial services is dated after the erection of the tabernacle (i. 1); and the book on the disposal of the sacrifice was elaborated at the same general time, when " he commanded the children of Israel to offer their obligations to Jehovah " (cf. vii. 38 with i. 2). The appointment of an annual day of atonement was made sometime after the death of Aaron's older sons (xvi. 1), and met a requirement of the tabernacle law (Ex. xxx. 10). The regulations concerning ceremonial purity and holiness of life are throughout attributed to Moses, the representative of Yahweh (Lev. xvii. 1, xviii. 1 et passim), when he was in or, as the preposition may be translated, at Mount Sinai (xxvi. 1, xxvi. 46; for the usage of the preposition, cf. Num. xx. 23 with 25, xxxiii. 37 with 38; Deut. i. 6, ix. 8; and for the fact that some of the legislation was enacted in the camp, (cf. Lev. xxiv. 10-23). Possibly some laws, but certainly not all, that were enacted after the departure from Sinai were inserted for the sake of convenience in their proper place in the manual (cf. perhaps xxv. 32-34 with Num. xxxv.). And it may be added, though no importance is attached to the matter, that if changes took place in the priestly praxis at a later time, there could scarcely have been serious objection to the introduction of the necessary verbal modification into the text of the law as contained in the handbook.
Many orders were issued while the Israelites were still at Mount Sinai and during the march to Canaan which were recorded in the annals of the State, but did not belong in a law book. But there was also legislation of a permanent character upon civil, religious, and ecclesiastical matters enacted while the people were yet at the Mount and after their departure. The documents to which these laws bore relation were the book of the covenant, the specifications for the tabernacle, and the collections relating to the priests. Only
Hexateuch