the superior ornaments, in the annexed engraving (Cut 13); but it is hard to say which of them it may have most resembled in shape. It was not conical; and this stipulation concerning the priest's bonnet, as distinguished from the mitre of the high-priest, probably indicates that to have been conical. The predominance of the conical form in the Egyptian mitres is shown by our cut. We do not imagine that the mitre of the Jewish high-priest was like any of these. They were too much charged with the emblems and symbols of false gods to remain unaltered. But we think they show that the Hebrew mitre was something of the same kind, with the same arrangement of parts, and equally imposing. Here is first the cap for the head; then, above that, another cap, or towering ornament, of different colour, often of a conical shape, terminating sometimes in a cup or calyx. This is supported by a golden border, generally representing horns, and generally ornamented with a figure of the sun. Both these were idolatrous symbols, the one of the moon and the other of the sun. The golden crown, of which Josephus speaks, appears to have been of late introduction. But we may see that the Egyptian symbols, denoting the idolatrous appropriation, were very markedly displaced by the plate of gold which the law directed to be tied, with a blue lace, in front of the mitre, bearing the appropriate words, in p, HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. And here it may be observed, that the word translated 'plate' signifies a flower, and is rendered 'petal' (Téraλov), which may suggest that the plate was wrought with flowered work, or was itself in the form of a petal. In ch. xxxix. 6, this ornament is called nezer, from a verb signifying to separate, and hence signifying 'a crown,' as a mark of distinction and separation. Although, therefore, we think that the mitre cannot be identified with any of our specimens, it seems to have been a head-dress much of the same class, and not differing more from those of the Egyptian priests than these differed from one another.

39. The coat of fine linen.'-As this is scarcely more than named by Moses, we must, therefore, resort to the Jewish writers, who describe it as a long robe, fastened at the neck, and reaching to the ancles, with sleeves reaching to the wrist. This description answers very well to the priestly tunics which are shewn in some of the figures we

have had engraved, excepting that the full sleeves do not reach below the elbow; and considering the sort of duties the priests had to perform, particularly in attending to the fire of the altar, and in preparing the victims for sacrifice, we may be inclined to doubt the information which tells us that their sleeves reached to the wrist. Indeed, the Egyptian priests, in some of their ministrations, found it so convenient to have the upper part of their persons free, that they wore an ample robe or skirt, bound round the waist, and descending over the apron to the ancles, and also sustained by a strap which crossed the breast from the shoulders (see Figs. 2, 3, of Cut 7), and occasionally the priest who offered libations and incense wore a long full ment, reaching from below the arms to the feet, supported over the neck by straps (see Fig. 4 of Cut 7). The robe which covers the priest from neck to heels in Fig. 5, Cut 7, is seen only in processions; and this may be the woollen cloak already mentioned, since that was only laid aside on entering the temple.

gar

Girdle of needle-work.'-This was a piece of fine twined linen, embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet, and which went around the body. Josephus says it was embroidered with flowers; and also states that it was four fingers broad, and that, after being wound twice around the body, it was fastened in front, and the ends allowed to hang down to the feet, on common occasions; but that, when officiating at the altar, the priest threw them over his left shoulder. Maimonides says the girdle was three fingers broad, and thirty-two cubits long; being, as its length necessarily implies, wound many times around the body. As this girdle was so narrow, its length, if this statement be correct, will not seem extraordinary to those who are acquainted with the inordinate length of Oriental girdles, and the number of times they are carried around the body. This girdle was worn over the embroidered coat by the common priests, to whom this formed the outer garment.

40. Bonnets.'-These bonnets, or more properly turbans, seem to have been like those of the high-priest, except that they wanted the plate of gold. Josephus, however, says that the turban of the high-priest had a purple cover over it: if so, this must have constituted another distinction between his 'mitre' and the bonnets' of his sons. 42. Linen breeches.'-This piece of dress was fastened

round the loins, and descended so as to cover the thighs (compare Lev. vi. 10; Ezek. xliv. 18), reaching to the knees, as the Jewish writers understand. The decency of their service was given as the express reason for this, and Maimonides suspects there may have been some view to

14. DRAWERS AND GIRDLE.

the prevention of such obscenities as attended the worship of Baal-Peor. Now such drawers were commonly worn in Egypt. The sculptures and paintings of that country constantly present us with figures of workmen and servants who have no other article of dress than a kind of short kilt or apron, sometimes simply bound about the loins and lapping over in front. Others have short and loose drawers; and a third kind, fitting closely and reaching to the knees, appears in the figures of some idols-as in that which we have annexed. All these were worn by the priests, in common with other persons of the upper classes, under their other robes. This last sort seems to have been peculiar to the gods and the priests, whose attire was often adapted to that of the idols they worshipped. There was this difference, that, in Israel, drawers seem to have been peculiar to the priests; whereas they were, of their different kinds, worn by all classes in Egypt.

In concluding this account of the priestly robes, it may be useful to repeat that the robes common to all were-the drawers, the embroidered coat, the girdle, and the turban; but, besides this, the high-priest wore the ephod, the robe of the ephod with its bells and pomegranates, the breastplate over the ephod, the shoulder-pieces of onyx-stone, and the engraved ornament of pure gold in front of his turban. The rabbins seem to have the sanction of the Scripture for their opinion, that the robes were so essential a part of the priestly character, that without them a priest had no more right than private persons, or even foreigners, to officiate at the altar. It seems that the old robes of the priests were unravelled, to be burnt as wicks for the lamps at the feast of tabernacles. What was done with those of the high-priest is not known; but analogy would seem to render it probable that they were similarly used for the lamps in the tabernacle.

CHAPTER XXIX.

1 The sacrifice and ceremonies of consecrating the priests. 38 The continual burnt offering. 45 God's promise to dwell among the children of Israel. AND this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: "Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,

2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.

3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:

6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. 7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, pour it his head, and anoint him.

and

upon

8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.

9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them and the priest's office shall be their's for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt 'consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the

altar.

14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

15 Thou shalt also take one ram; and

6 Levit. 1. 4.

Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and 'unto his head.

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of

25 And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

26 And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the LORD: and it shall be thy part.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration,

even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel for it is an heave offering and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.

29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.

30 And "that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

31 And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.

34 And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.

36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:

40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the

13 Numb. 28. 3.

meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

14 Or, Israel.

44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.

45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

6

Verse 13. The fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver.'-' The fat that covereth the inwards' is the fat thin membrane extended over the intestines, and attached to the concave part of the liver, called the omentum, or caul. And by the caul above the liver' is commonly understood, after the Septuagint, the great lobe of the liver (major lobus hepatis), which, although part of the liver itself, may very properly be rendered the lobe over' or 'by the liver.' As to the caul, it was a common offering in the sacrifices of the ancient

CHAPTER XXX.

1 The altar of incense.

11 The ransom of souls. 17 The brasen laver. 22 The holy anointing oil. 34 The composition of the perfume.

AND thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be and two cubits shall be the height thereof the horns thereof shall be of the same.

:

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the 'top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn thereon 'sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8 And when Aaron 'lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a per

heathen; and Strabo remarks, that the Persians, in their sacrifices, offered nothing else upon the altar. Calmet, who gives these instances in his Commentaire Littéral, cites Athenæus in evidence that the ancients ate the liver covered with, or enfolded in, the caul: and he thinks it probable that the liver of the victim was, in the same manner, wrapped up in the caul before it was laid upon the altar; and that this is what Moses means by the * caul above' or upon the liver.

petual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

11 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after 'their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: 1 (a shekel is twenty gerahs :) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

12

15 The rich shall not "give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

5 Or, setteth up.

6 Heb. causeth to ascend. 10 Levit. 27. 25. Num. 3. 47. Ezek. 45. 12.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat :

20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

22 ¶ Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an 13hin :

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the "apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,

27 And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense,

28 And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot.

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy.

30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.

31 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations.

32 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you.

33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

34 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, 'tempered together, pure and holy:

36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.

38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

Verse 1. An altar to burn incense upon.'-This altar of shittim wood covered with pure gold, whence it is sometimes distinguished as the golden altar,' was very small, being little more than half a yard square; but it was higher in proportion than the other altars, being twice as high as broad. Like the altar of burnt offerings, it had 'horns,' with an ornamental rim ('crown'), like the ark and table of shew-bread; it had also rings with staves by which it might be carried from place to place. The word rendered 'top,' in verse 3, has been variously understood: the Septuagint and Vulgate make it a grate;' others suppose it was a vessel containing the fire upon the altar; but as the word ( gag) means in other places the flat roof of a house, we have little doubt that it here means merely the upper surface of the altar itself; and this reading best agrees with the context, the intention of which is to de

scribe the whole altar as overlaid with gold. In verse 6 it is directed that the altar should be placed, before 'the vail,' that is, the veil separating the most holy from the holy place. The Rabbins understood that the table of shew-bread stood at the distance of two cubits and a half from the north wall of the holy place, and the candlestick opposite to it at an equal distance from the south wall, the altar of incense being in the middle between them. Josephus seems to concur; and from comparing these statements with the text, we consider that it stood equidistant from the table and candlestick, but nearer to the veil than either. It would seem, from verses 7 and 8, as if only the high-priest was allowed to offer incense on this altar; but this is not the only instance in which the functions allotted to Aaron imply those of the inferior priests. The highpriest certainly did perform this service on great occa