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offerings as well as trespass offerings, are not to be taken into the account in this place) was not enjoined but upon those whose conduct was at once offensive to God, and injurious to their neighbour. Such was the case of those, who through ignorance defrauded the priests of any of the holy things which belonged to them:*of those also, who with false oaths denied their having possession of the property of another, which they had been intrusted with, or had found, or had seized by force, or obtained by fraud :†-of those, in the last place, (and there were no more who were commanded by the law to offer this kind of sacrifice :)-of those who violated the chasity of of a Jewish "bondmaid betrothed to an husband;"‡ by which they subjected the bride to be scourged, and caused pain and disgrace to the bridegroom.

IX. But whatever was the difference between the offences called sins and those denominated trespasses, it is evident that there were several points of difference between the sacrifices respectively designated by these terms. The sex of the victims and the rites to be performed in the trespass offerings, were altogether different from those prescribed for the sin offerings. The trespass offerings always consisted of rams and he-lambs, which were never used for sin offerings. The blood of the sin offerings was to be put upon the horns of the altar,§ and that of the trespass offerings was to be sprinkled on the sides of the altar. Sin offerings also, as we shall soon have occasion to show, were commanded to be offered for the whole congregation of Israel; but trespass offerings were only required from individuals. These

* Levit v. 15.

+ Levit. vi. 2—4. Levit. iv. 7. 18. 25. 30.

Levit. xix. 20, 21.

|| Levit. vii. 2.

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two kinds of sacrifices had this point of resemblance, that they were considered as legitimately offered, only in compliance with the express command of the law; neither of them was ever admitted as a votive or voluntary oblation: that was peculiar to peace offerings and burnt offerings. No one,' says Maimonides,* can legitimately promise a sin offering or trespass offering by a vow, or present either ' of them as a voluntary sacrifice. The only sacri'fices which are votive or voluntary, are burnt offerings and peace offerings.' Abarbinel maintains the same opinion; concluding, I apprehend, that there was no reason for the oblation of a piacular sacrifice, except by one who had been guilty of some crime that required sacrificial atonement. For though many sins were committed, which were never known to those who committed them, all transgressions of this kind were expiated by those expiatory sacrifices which were offered at stated seasons for the whole congregation of Israel.

X. From the sacrifices of individuals, we proceed to the paschal sacrifice, enjoined on separate families or small neighbourhoods. For whenever one family was large enough to eat the sacrificial feast on the appointed day, no more were to be invited to partake of one and the same victim. But if any family happened to be too small, then the requisite number was made up by the association of some of the nearest neighbours.-The paschal sacrifice derives its original appellation from a Hebrew word which sig

* Præf. ad Zebach. in Misna.

† Another victim of this description was the bullock offered as a sin offering for the family of Aaron on the day of atonement. Levit. xvi. 6.

Exod. xii. 3, 4.
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nifies to pass over. It was, as the scripture declares, "the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed

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over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, "when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered the "houses" of the Israelites* This victim, "a male "of the first year, without blemish, from the sheep "or from the goats," was to be chosen on the tenth day of the month Abib in every year, to be kept till the fourteenth day of the same month, and then to be slain in the evening. When it is commanded in the law, to "sacrifice the passover, of the flock and of the "herd;" this refers, not to the paschal victim properly so called, but to other sacrifices which were to be offered at the same time:|| and these, according

Exod. xii. 27.

+ TR.-As here is an express direction to take either a lamb or a kid, so the word used in this and the two preceding verses embraces both these species: but it is more generally rendered lumb, and it is probable that, for the passover, lambs were generally preferred. Theodoret understands the meaning of the law to have been, that whoever had a lamb, should 'immolate it; but whoever had not a lamb, should sacrifice a kid.' And the same sense is favoured by the version of the passage in the Vulgate. Pooli Synops. in Exod. xii. 3. 5.

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TR. Thus in the account of a solemn passover in the time of Josiah, 66 we read that "Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, "all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of "thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: and his princes-gave unto "the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred sinall cattle, and three hundred oxen ;-also, unto the Levites for passover 46 offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen." Here it seems rather doubtful whether the term " passover offerings," literally in Hebrew passovers, should be taken in an enlarged sense, comprehending all the cattle enumerated as allotted for that festival, both of the flock and of the herd; or whether it should be referred exclusively to the small cattle, lambs, and kinds. But in a subsequent part of the same narrative we find a clear distinction made between the passover itself, and the other oblations with which it was accompanied. "They roasted the passover "with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod "they in pots and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily

to the Jews, were burnt offerings of appearance, and festive and rejoicing peace offerings; of both which we have already treated.

XI. Nor ought it to be thought strange that we number the paschal victim among the proper sacrifices. For the animal used for this service is expressly called Corban in the scriptures; and after the departure of the people from Egypt, it was to be slain in the sanctuary, and the blood was to be sprinkled upon the altar by the priests :† circumstances sufficiently characteristic of a sacrifice. If it be inquired to what class of victims it belongs, I think it may properly be placed among the eucharistic. For though the first passover celebrated in Egypt was designed as the means of averting from the families of Israel the pestilence then awaiting the Egyptians, yet every anniversary of this festival had reference to the deliverance vouchsafed to the Israelites, when all the firstborn of the Egyptians, both man and beast, were suddenly destroyed: and hence the paschal ceremonies were always to include a brief commemoration of these events.

6. among all the people." II Chron. xxxv. 7, 8, 9. 13. So at the remarkable passover celebrated by Hezekiah, it is said, “ they did eat throughout "the feast seven days, offering peace offerings. II Chron. xxx. 22.

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CHAPTER XIV.

The Sacrifices of the Whole Congregation of Israel.

OUR attention is next called to the Sacrifices of the Whole Congregation; which are so denominated,— first, because they were enjoined upon the whole nation, as a religious community connected by certain laws;--and secondly, because they were to be procured by persons acting as representatives of the nation, because they were to be offered in the name of the whole congregation of Israel, and because their efficacy, by the appointment of the law itself, extended to all the people. Some of them were offered on particular occasions, and others at stated seasons. On one occasion, they were required to offer a young bullock for a sin offering;* in another case, they were to bring a kid for a sin offering, accompanied by a young bullock as a burnt offering.† And it is said by the Jews, that twelve victims of each of these species were to be sacrificed, whenever the people were drawn into strange worship by the influence or example of the great Sanhedrim; and the like number of bullocks, whenever the people were led by the error of the Sanhedrim to the commission of any sin, which, if perpetrated knowingly and deliberately, was to be punished with excision. The rabbies affirm also, that these kinds of victims were required to be offered, whenever a sin of this description was committed, either by a majority of the tribes, though they might be a minority of the nation; or by a majority of the nation, which might be a minority of the tribes. But if the people sinned of them+ Num. xv. 24.

*Levit. iv. 13, 14.

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