Verse 8. Dieth of itself.'-This is a general interdiction for all the people, as given elsewhere. No remote reason need be sought for it, as its obvious propriety has recommended it to the adoption of all civilized nations. The Hebrews, however, without any express interdiction, would have been precluded from eating animals which died naturally or from disease, by the operation of that other law which forbade them to eat meat with its blood; that is, which had not been so slaughtered that its blood might be freely discharged. Mohammed, who in these matters mostly followed the law of Moses, allowed an animal apparently dying to be eaten, provided it was slaughtered before its death actually took place; but we do not know whether this would have been tolerated by the law of Moses. Mohammed was, however, also very anxious that animals used for food should be properly slaughtered, so that the blood should be fully discharged. One of his doctrines on this subject is very curious:Verily, God ordained it as proper to do good in all things, even in killing men and slaying animals; therefore when you kill (a man), do it well; and when you slay an animal, do it properly.' That which died from a blow or a fall, he equally interdicted with that which died by itself, and there is no doubt that such also was the intention of Moses.

'Torn with beasts.'-This law also is in conformity with our own usages and with those of the Arabians; and perhaps we should not be far wrong in considering the laws of Mohammed, in these matters, as forming a commentary on those of Moses, with whose writings the Arabian legislator was intimately conversant. As with us, if an animal torn by beasts was found while life remained, and then properly slaughtered, it might be eaten. Mohammed says generally that whatever died by teeth or claws might not be used for food, neither an animal gored to death by a horned beast; and it was doubtless the intention of the present law to understand torn' in the same large sense, not merely restricting it to the case of those animals destroyed by wild beasts. In Exod. xxii. 31, it is directed that meat thus rendered unfit for food, should be cast to the dogs. This instruction is different from that concerning the flesh of animals which died of themselves, which was to be given or sold to strangers-a fact which shews that the neighbouring people were in the habit of eating such food. As there seems no obvious reason for this distinction-for that which was torn by beasts would seem more fit for human food than that which died of itself-the instruction concerning the former would suggest a question, whether the Hebrews were in the habit of hunting with dogs like the Egyptians? We are not aware of any text which could be adduced to prove that they were so. They evidently had dogs; and they probably kept such of them as were not required for their flocks on much the same terms as the Mohammedans, who do not properly domesticate dogs, nor, in general, appropriate them as individual property; but allow them to establish themselves in their streets, and provide in some degree for their wants and accommodation. But among the Moslems also, although they certainly regard the dog as not less unclean than the Hebrews considered it, there are dogs trained with great care to assist in the chace. If we reasoned merely from probabilities, which we are on all occasions reluctant to do while illustrating the sacred volume, we should infer that the Hebrews acted in the same manner; for the value of the dog's services in capturing the fleet and valuable wild animals of the deer kind, which were allowed them for food, must have been very apparent to them.

EGYPTIAN HUNTSMAN.

But then, the difficulty would arise-Whether an animal torn and killed by dogs in the chace was to be considered fit for food. The instruction on this point, which Mohammed gave to the great sportsman Adi ibn-Hatim—the son of the renowned Hatim Tai, whose generosity remains a proverb in the East-is the authority on which Moslems usually act in this case: When you send your dog in pursuit of game, repeat the name of God, as at slaying an animal. If the dog holds the game for you, and you find it alive, then slay it; but if you find your dog has killed it, but not eaten of it, then eat it; but if the dog has eaten of it, do not you eat it, the dog has then kept it for himself. Again, if you find another dog along with yours, and the game killed, do not eat of it; for verily you know not which of the dogs killed it; and if the other dog killed it, it might so be that when he was let loose after the game, the name of God might not have been repeated.' In another case it is particularly provided that game killed by the dog of a fire-worshipper should not be eaten.

27. It shall be seven days under the dam.'-The Rabbins think that this command was because the world was created in seven days, or else that it was for the purpose that one sabbath might pass over it before it was slain. The more likely reason is that the animal was not considered pure or perfect until the eighth day. A similar regulation prevailed among the Romans, as we learn from Pliny, who states that the young of a sheep were not fit for sacrifice until the eighth day after their birth, nor of an ox until the thirtieth day.

28. Ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day.'— This precept seems to be confined to sacrifices, which were to be devoid of all appearance of cruelty. The Jews in general understood it as inculcating mercy. Maimonides expressly remarks that it was designed to prevent the slaughter of the young in the presence of the dam, because this occasions to animals extreme grief; nor is there in this respect a difference between the distress of a man and that of an irrational creature.' This is more than he could well know; but the explanation is as probable as any that has been offered.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 The feasts of the Lord. 3 The sabbath. 4 The passover. 9 The sheaf of firstfruits. 15 The feast of Pentecost. 22 Gleanings to be left for the poor. 23 The feast of trumpets. 26 The day of atonement. 33 The feast of tabernacles.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

3 Six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

4 T These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.

6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, ¶ saying,

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a "sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

14 And ye shall cat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering

unto your

God : it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; | seven sabbaths shall be complete :

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 ¶ And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, 'neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

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27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it

shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

28 And ye shall do no work in that same day for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye 1°celebrate your sabbath.

33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

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40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

11 Num. 29. 12.

12 John 7. 37.

Verse 10. A sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest?'There are several kinds of offerings called firstfruits,' which it will be well to distinguish. The present is an offering made immediately before the commencement of the harvest; the next was made after the harvest was gathered in, and before any person might lawfully use the produce. These were both general and national; that is to say, there was a single offering in the name of all the nation; and besides this, every person was obliged to make an individual offering of firstfruits from the corn and other produce of his ground. (See note on Deut. xxvi. 2, etc.) The second of these offerings is noticed below. That which is now under consideration consisted of a sheaf of barley, which is ready for the sickle sooner than the wheat, and which therefore was taken to introduce the whole harvest season. This sheaf was gathered on the 15th of the month Nisan (early in April), in the evening, when the first day of the Passover was ended and the second began. Three men were then deputed, according to the Jewish writers, to go and gather the barley; which was done with considerable ceremony, and in the presence of a great number of people from the neighbouring towns, the sheaf being always gathered in the territory of Jerusalem, after the temple had been erected there. When the deputies arrived at the appointed place, and after having assured themselves that the sun was set, and had obtained formal leave to cut the barley, they reaped it out of three different fields, with

three different sickles, and each man conveyed his portion separately to the court of the temple. There the sheaf, or rather the sheaves, were threshed, and a portion of the grain (about three pints) was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a mortar. It was then sprinkled with oil, and an handful of incense thrown upon it; after which the priest waved the offering before the Lord towards the four points of the compass, and then took a portion and threw it on the fire of the altar. The rest remained his own. Every person was, after this ceremony, at liberty to reap and gather in his harvest. The produce of agriculture is so much dependant on circumstances over which man has not the least control, that the idea is at once obvious and beautiful, of offering to God the firstfruits of the soil, in testimony of gratitude for his goodness. Accordingly we find, that amongst nearly all people who had, or have, an established system of offerings and sacrifices, an offering of firstfruits has rarely been omitted. It is useless to multiply instances of a custom almost universally prevalent under the given circumstances; but it is proper to observe that there never was a nation from whom such offerings came with such peculiar propriety as from the Hebrews. Any one who carefully considers the Hebrew constitution will perceive that God was, not metaphysically but actually, the Great Proprietor of the soil, and that the offerings of firstfruits were not merely expressions of thankfulness, but a sort of rent due to the Proprietor of all. We need not

enter into any proof on this point, as the fact that God was the supreme proprietor, is evinced by the whole texture of the Mosaical laws on the subject of land; so that, for instance, there was no ultimate proprietor but God, no man being allowed to sell or alienate, in perpetuity, the inheritance of land which the great original proprietor had granted to him.

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16. Fifty days.'-This feast, called the Feast of Weeks,' was one of the three great annual festivals of the Jews, and thus called on account of its being seven weeks, or, according to the Hebrew phrase, a week of weeks, from the first day of the Passover festival. It is also 'the feast of harvest' (Exod. xxiii. 16), that is, of the wheat harvest, the first fruits of which were offered on this occasion, whence it is also called the day of the first fruits' (Num. xxviii. 26). This offering consisted of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven,' to which were added the animal sacrifices specified in Lev. xxiii. 18, 19. The primary object of the festival was undoubtedly to thank God for the blessings of the season. In Deut. xxvi. 5-11, is given the beautiful form of thanksgiving which was appointed to be used on this occasion. It was one of the festivals at which all the adult males resorted to Jerusalem; and the vastness and mingled character of the concourse, in the later years of the Hebrew polity, is alluded to in Acts i. 2, and xx. 16; for this is the feast of Pentecost' of the New Testament, so memorable for the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, at that season, upon the Apostles and first disciples of Christ. The Greek name of the festival, Pentecost (ПEVтηKOσTH), is derived from the circumstance of its being celebrated on the fiftieth day after the first day of unleavened bread. The Rabbins call this feast the day of the giving of the law,' and believe, as do the modern Jews, that it was intended, at least in part, to celebrate that event, which they are perhaps correct in supposing to have taken place on the fiftieth day from the departure from Egypt and the first passover. The feast seems in some places to be mentioned as if only the festival of a day: it however lasted a week; but the first day only was distinguished by the peculiar solemnities to which we have adverted.

24. A memorial of blowing of trumpets.'-This was one of the new moon days, celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity, on account, probably, of its commencing the new year; for the first day of the seventh month of the sacred year was the new year's day of the more ancient civil year. It is the only one of the new moon days on which servile work is interdicted. It is called 'the feast of trumpets' and we are to understand that the trumpetblowing was greater on this day than on any other of the solemn festivals. The Scripture gives no reason for this peculiarity, or indeed for the festival itself. Numerous conjectures have been offered to supply the omission. Many Jewish writers think that the trumpets were blown in order to awaken men to repentance against the great fast, or day of expiation, which followed nine days after. But to this it has been well objected by Bishop Patrick, that the words (in zikron teruah) translated ‘a memorial of blowing of trumpets' in the parallel text, Lev. xxiii. 24, properly signifies a memorial of triumph, a shouting for joy, the word teruah being never used in Scripture but for a sound or shout of rejoicing. The opinion most commonly received by the Jews is, that the trumpets were blown in memory of the intention to offer Isaac in sacrifice, and the substitution of a ram in his place. On which account they say that the trumpets used on this occasion were made of rams' horns, and they still use such in their synagogues under this impression. They also inform us that a ram's head was eaten on this day for the same reason, and also to be token that the Jews would be the head and not the tail. A notion, derived from the Mishna, is also entertained that on this day God sits to determine the events of the following year, and to judge the conduct of men, who pass before him as a flock before the shepherd; and that the blowing of trumpets is to disturb Satan when he comes to accuse the Israelites. Some

of the Christian fathers think that the institution was to commemorate the delivery of the law on Mount Sinai, which was attended by the sound of the trumpet. The most general opinion, however, both among Jews and Christians, is, that the observance was instituted to commemorate the creation of the world when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy' (Job xxxviii. 7). This opinion has the advantage that it may be held in common with any of the others; and is not incompatible even with the view which we entertain, which is, that the day, being new year's day, was celebrated by the blowing of trumpets, for much the same reason that we celebrate the commencement of our new year by the ringing of bells, namely, to usher in the year by a public notification and with tokens of public rejoicing. It will be observed that the opinions concerning the creation of the world, of the judgment which takes place on that day, and of the intended sacrifice of Isaac, are not stated as opposite notions, since they are all entertained by the modern Jews, whose prayers for the day make frequent allusions to all the three circumstances.

34. The feast of tabernacles.'-This is the third of the three great annual festivals which required the presence of the people at the place of the sanctuary. Like the other two, it lasted a week, and commenced on the 15th day of the month Tishri. Its primary object was for a memorial of the dwelling of the Israelites in tents, while they wandered in the wilderness (vv. 42, 43). The continued existence of this institution is well adduced by the Rev. T. H. Horne, among other instances, to prove the credibility of the books of Moses. It is one of several institutions which have been held sacred by the Jews ever since their appointment, and which are solemnly and sacredly observed among them to this day; and for these observances it would be impossible to account on any principle but the evidence of the facts on which they were founded. This festival will sometimes appear as if its duration was eight days, and to be called the feast of in-gathering.' But it seems that the feast of thanksgiving for the fruits of the vine and of the other trees, which were gathered about this time of the year, was held on a day immediately following the seventh or last day of the proper feast of tabernacles, whence the whole eight days seemed to be one feast, and the name of either of the two was applied indefinitely to the whole period. The in-gathering feast appears to have been the great and concluding harvest festival, in acknowledgment of the plenty which the harvests and gatherings of the past season had afforded, and its celebration would seem to have been limited to the eighth day of the collective period which, after this explanation, we shall call generally the feast of tabernacles. The first day of the feast was kept as a sabbath (v. 39), and during that and the six following days the people were to dwell in booths or huts made of the branches of several sorts of trees, which are particularly mentioned in v. 40. What we there render 'goodly trees' (etz hadar), the Jews understand of the citron, which is certainly in its best condition at the time of this feast; about the second, the palm, there is no question; the third (na etz aboth) may be understood of any thick bushy wood, and is by the Jews considered to denote the myrtle; the last is allowed to be the willow. This is certainly a very beautiful assortment to form temporary huts with; but as a different list is given in the account of the great tabernacle feast kept in Nehemiah's time (Neh. viii. 15), we may conclude with the Karaite Jews, that the people were at liberty to employ whatever branches, fit for the purpose, they could procure at the place where they dwelt. In later times, the Sadducees differed from the Pharisees on this subject, the former concluding that the booths were to be made with the specified branches, and the latter holding that these branches were to be carried in procession. Josephus gives the latter sense, which seems also to have been that which prevailed in the time of our Saviour, and is still retained by the modern Jews. They bear them in their hands, the citron branch in their left hand, and the rest together in their right, and go in pro

cession round the reading-desk in their synagogues, singing hosannahs, whence the feast itself, and sometimes even the branches, are called 'Hosannah' by the Rabbins. The last day is called 'Hosannah Rabbah,' or the great hosannah, when the procession is repeated seven times-the single time of the former days, and the seven of the last day, being intended by them to commemorate an event which did not happen in the time of Moses, namely, the processions around Jericho, at the famous siege of that city. It seems that the ancient Jews did what is scarcely practicable to the Jews dispersed through Europe. They lived in green huts erected on the flat roofs of their houses, in their court-yards, and in the streets and open places, and seem to have passed their time with more external demonstrations of joy than at any other of their festivals. This was particularly the case on the eighth day, which is probably that distinguished by St. John (vii. 37), as the last day, that great day of the feast.' As this festival was held at or immediately after the vintage, and was partly a vintage feast, it gave occasion to the heathen to confound it with their own Bacchanalia, and to represent the Jews as worshippers of Bacchus. What Plutarch says on this subject is interesting, notwithstanding his mistaken inferences, as it gives a clear, and probably a fair, account

of the manner in which the feast was celebrated. He says that in the time of their vintage, the Jews spread tables furnished with all manner of fruits, and lived in booths, generally made of palm and ivy wreathed together, and that they called it the feast of tabernacles. A few days after, he says-probably referring to the last day of the feast-they kept another festival, which manifestly shewed that these observances were in honour of Bacchus; for they carried in their hands boughs of palms, etc., with which they went into the temple, preceded by the Levites, with instruments of music. It is observable that even this heathen philosopher, with all his wish to regard this festival as in honour of the god of wine, was not able to find any thing, in its harmless and social festivities, approximating its observances to the infamous orgies with which the pagan Bacchanalia were celebrated. The manner in which this feast was kept is peculiarly adapted to an Asiatic climate and Eastern habits of life; and we find that the Oriental Jews do still, in some parts, and with various modifications, live during its continuance in a sort of green booth sometimes constructed on the flat roofs of their houses, but more usually in the courts of their dwellings, where they are more secluded from observation.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, 'to cause the lamps to burn continually.

3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.

4 He shall order the lamps upon 'the pure candlestick before the LORD continually.

5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.

6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the

LORD.

10 T And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

11 And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan :)

12 And they put him in ward, "that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him 'lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

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17 ¶ And he that 'killeth any man shall surely be put to death.

18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; 'beast for beast.

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19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;

20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for