desire for water (though unreasonably and irreverently manifested) the rock in Horeb gave forth the stream which followed them in their subsequent desertwanderings. No stronger draughts, for health and strength, were required by them, their wives, and little ones, contrary to the opinion still prevalent which associates intoxicating liquor with necessary diet and refreshment. On this point ancient facts upset modern theory.

CHAPTER XXI. VERSES 28, 29.

28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

This Mosaic regulation was designed to impress the Jewish mind with the value of human life, and the duty of preventing whatever might endanger it. The passage plainly teaches—the lesson is world-wide and for all time—that in the Divine sight men are responsible for consequences which they may prevent, but do not; and it is no justification to plead that the consequences were not inevitable, nor designed, nor foreseen. Who can plead ignorance that the tendency of strong drink is to create a diseased craving for itself, or that the common sale of it actually and extensively produces habits of intemperance? And when these tendencies and results are clearly declared and well understood, the personal duty of abstinence from intoxicating liquor, and the national duty of legislative prohibition of traffic in it, become abundantly plain. Such a duty may be described as 'expediency,' but it is at any rate an expediency the neglect of which places the neglecters in no enviable position. Ignorance and error may be innocent, but not when they result from a voluntary rejection of knowledge. The existence of Temperance Societies thus increases the responsibility of all classes.

CHAPTER XXII. VERSE 5.

If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.

VINEYARD] Hebrew, kerem. To 'cause a field or vineyard to be eaten,' is an elliptical mode of expression. Bah-ar signifies to eat or consume, and is here used in the Piel conjugation to express the devastation which loose cattle would make in a field or vineyard. That the owner of the cattle should compensate in kind for the injury done was an equitable regulation. The Samaritan and Lxx. versions extend the verse by inserting after 'man's field' the following :—“he shall make restitution according to his produce; but if he has destroyed the whole field [of another], of the best," etc.

CHAPTER XXII. VERSE 29.

Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors.

THE FIRST OF THY RIPE FRUITS] The Hebrew is a single word, melaäthkah, literally 'thy fulness,' or ‘abundance,' here used to signify the first fruits due to the Giver of all good, and serving to remind the people that they were called upon to render to His service out of the abundance of His beneficence to them. "Freely ye have received, freely give."

AND OF THY LIQUORS] Hebrew, vě-dimakah, 'and of thy tear'; from děma, 'a tear,' an expressive metaphor of the gums and rich juices of trees and fruits that spontaneously drop from them. The same idiom is presented in the Greek dakruon tōn dendrōn, and the Latin arborum lacrima, 'tears of trees.' In Spain a wine called lagrima is made from the droppings of muscatel grapes, which, "melting with ripeness, are suspended in bunches" (Redding on Wines, p. 58); and the famous Tokay wine, or Tokay Ausbruch, i. e. flowing forth, derives its name from the juice which drops from the unpressed grapes grown in a single Hungarian vineyard. These droppings form the 'essence of Tokay,' which when mixed with the juice of the vat in the proportion of 61 parts to 84 of the latter, compose the 'Tokay Ausbruch.' Quite different from these droppings are 'the tears of the vine,' a limpid distillation of the sap at the time the plant is budding (Redding, p. 50).

The Lxx. renders the passage aparchas halōnos kai leenou sou, 'the fruits of the threshing-floor and thy wine-press.' The Vulgate reads, decimas tuas et primitias tuas, 'thy tenths and thy firstfruits.' Rosenmüller states, "Some understand by děma the best and choicest part of anything, since the liquor or sweetness which flows spontaneously from trees, vines, and shrubs, is their choicest produce." Kalisch renders "from the abundance of thy corn and the choicest of thy wine."

CHAPTER XXIII. VERSE II.

In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

WITH THY VINEYARD] Lě-karměkah. The soil was to be tilled and sown for six years in succession; on the seventh it was to lie fallow, and what it spontaneously produced was to be for the use, first of the poor, and then of the 'beasts of the field.' This humane law was applicable both to vineyards and oliveyards.

CHAPTER XXIII. VERSES 15, 18.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty.) 18 Thou shalt

not offer the blood of my sacrifices with leavened bread.

V. 15. THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, eth khag ham-matzoth, 'the festival of unfermented things.' [See Note on Exod. xii.] Lxx., azuma ; Vulgate, azymorum.

THE MONTH ABIB] Abib is the same as Nizan, the first month of the ecclesiastical year, and seventh of the civil year, the commencement of the Syrian springtime, corresponding to part of our March and April.

V. 18. WITH LEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, al-khahmātz, ‘with what is fermented'; LXX., epi zumee, 'with leaven'; Vulgate, super fermento, 'upon leaven.'

CHAPTER XXIX. VERSE 2.

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

UNLEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, lekhem matzoth, 'bread of unfermented materials,' i. e. a loaf made of unfermented dough.

AND CAKES UNLEAVENED] Hebrew, vě-khallath matzoth, and perforated cakes of unfermented materials.'

AND WAFERS UNLEAVENED] Hebrew, u-rqiqai matzoth, and thin-cakes of unfermented materials.'

CHAPTER XXIX. VERSE 23.

And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD.

UNLEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, ham-matzoth, the unfermented articles,' i. e. those enumerated in ver. 2.

CHAPTER XXIX. VERSE 40.

And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink-offering.

A HIN OF WINE] Hebrew, ha-hin yayin, 'the hin of YAYIN.' According to Josephus, it was equal to two Attic choes, each choes equal to six English pints; so that the hin was twelve pints, and the fourth part was three pints, English.

FOR A DRINK-OFFERING] Hebrew, vě-nāsek, ‘and (as) a libation,' from nahsak, 'to pour out.' The A. V. tends to convey the mistaken idea of nasek as an offering to be drunk. The LXX. reads, kai spondeen to tetraton tou ein oinou, ‘and for a libation the fourth part of a hin of wine.' The Vulgate has et vinum ad libandum ejusdem mensuræ, 'and wine of the same measure for pouring out.'

It may be asked, How could this command be carried out in the wilderness? Of course, obedience to all or any of the Levitical ordinances was dependent on the possession of adequate resources. Many of the prescriptions could not be completely complied with till after the arrival of Israel in the promised land. Some wine, however, was procurable during the desert sojourn, as appears from Lev. x. 9. For one explanation, see the legend of the Targum, quoted in the Note on Cant. i. 14.

CHAPTER XXX. VERSE 9.

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

DRINK-OFFERING] See Note above on chap. xxix. 40.

CHAPTER XXXIV. VERSE 18.

The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

UNLEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, matzoth, 'unfermented-cakes.'

CHAPTER XXXIV. VERSE 25.

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.

WITH LEAVEN] Hebrew, al-khahmatz,' with what is fermented'; Lxx., epi zumee, 'with leaven'; Vulgate, super fermento, upon leaven.'

D

THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.

CHAPTER II. VERSE 4.

And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

UNLEAVENED CAKES] Hebrew, kholloth matzoth, perforated cakes, unfermented.' [See Note on Exod. xxix. 2.]

AND UNLEAVENED WAFERS] Hebrew, u-rqiqai matzoth, and thin cakes unfermented.'

CHAPTER II. VERSE 5.

And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.

UNLEAVENED] Hebrew, matzah, 'sweet' or 'fresh.' Observe that the conventional word 'unleavened' does not express the wide meaning of unfermented.

CHAPTER II. VERSE II.

No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

SHALL BE MADE WITH LEAVEN] Hebrew, ta-ahseh khahmātz, 'shall be made with a fermented-substance.'

FOR YE SHALL BURN NO LEAVEN, NOR ANY HONEY] Hebrew, ki kahl-seor věkahldevash lo taqtiru, "for every [= any] ferment and every [= any] honey ye shall not burn." No seor (yeast, or fermenting substance) was to be present. The extension of this prohibition to honey (debash) has been referred to the readiness with which honey ferments in contact with ferment. Others suppose that honey was excluded because commonly used in heathen worship. Some find allegorical reasons for the prohibition, as Baal Hatturim:-"Honey is forbidden because the evil concupiscence is as sweet unto a man as honey." The question whether by debash was here intended the honey of bees or of dates, or grape-juice reduced to a honeyed consistence by boiling, or whether it included all kinds, cannot be satisfactorily settled. As in the next verse 'honey' is associated with the oblation of firstfruits,