the priests to eat of it, except in case of necessity. 1 Sam. xxi; Matt. xii. *

The shew-bread was intended" for a memorial," that is, an acknowledgment of the goodness and the special providence of God to the Israelites; and to be a continual memorial of their dependence upon Him for the necessaries of life and their daily sustenance.

4. INCENSE, OR PERFUME OFFERING.--The incense was a kind of oblation, and was offered by the officiating priest twice every day, at the morning and evening sacrifice, upon the golden altar in the sanctuary, during which solemn rite, the people prayed without in silence. Luke i, 10. On the great day of expiation, the high priest himself took fire from the great altar in a golden censer; and, on descending from the altar, he received incense from one of the priests, which he offered on the golden altar within the vail. Lev. xvi, 12. During this offering, the people prayed silently without, to which solemn silence there seems to be an allusion in Rev. iii, 1. The incense was an emblem of the prayers and praises of the people of God: while the rite was performing by the priest, the people were employed in the thing signified. To this oblation of incense the Psalmist refers in his devotions, and explains his meaning by his application of it: "Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense." Psal. cxli, 2. "As the smoke and odour of this offering was wafted into the holy place, close by the veil of which stood the altar of incense, so do the prayers of the faithful

* Beausobre and l'Enfant's Introd. to the New Test. in Bp. Watson's Tracts, vol. iii, p. 149; Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i, pp. 720, 1083.

ascend upwards, and find admission to the highest heaven."*

The Hebrew term for incense is op, katereth, from TOP, katar, to burn, to make to smoke; because the incense was burnt on the golden altar. It consisted of several fragrant spices, enumerated and prepared according to the instructions given to Moses in Exod. xxx, 34--36. The employment of burning incense was one of the most sacred and mysterious functions of the priesthood, and was an emblem of the atoning merits and intercession of Christ. To the oblation of incense St. Paul compare's the acceptableness of the sacrifice of Christ to God, in Ephes. v, 2, "Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." It also represented the prayers of the saints, which, offered up on that altar, Jesus Christ, that sanctifies every gift, are highly pleasing in the sight of God. See Rev. v, 8.

Maimonides says, that the reason of burning incense continually, was to counteract the disagreeable smell that must have arisen from the slaughter of so many animals, the sprinkling of so much blood, and the burning of so much flesh, &c.‡

5. Vows.-Vows among the Hebrews were considered most strictly obligatory, of which there were two kinds. 1. The vow of consecration, when any thing was devoted either for sacrifice, or for the

* Rev. W. Jones on the Fig. Lan of Scrip. Lect. iv, at the end; see his Works, vol. iii, p. 66; Rev. T. H. Horne's Introd. vol. i, p. 129.

† See Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. under 2p, Katar.

Univers. Hist. vol. i, p. 629, fol. ed. note.

service of the temple, as wine, wood, salt, &c. 2. The vow of engagement, when persons engaged themselves to do any thing not in itself unlawful, as to refrain from some particular food, not to wear some particular apparel, to abstain from wine, and not to cut their hair, &c. When the Jews made a vow, they made use of one of these two forms: "I charge myself with a burnt offering;" or, "I charge myself with the price of this animal for a burnt offering." They had besides shorter forms, as for instance, when they devoted all they had, they merely said, "All I have shall be Corban," that is, "I make an oblation of it to God." Among other false doctrines of the Pharisees, who were the depositaries of the sacred treasury, was this, that when a son had pronounced to his father or mother, "Be it Corban, (that is, devoted or gift,) whatever of mine shall profit thee,"* (Mark vii, 11,) then he devoted or consecrated all he had to God, and must not afterwards give any thing to his indigent parents, if they solicited any support from him. With great reason our blessed Lord reproached the Pharisees with having destroyed by their tradition, not only the commandment of the law which enjoins children to honour their parents, but also another divine precept, which, under the severest penalties, forbad any dishonour by contumelious words. Mark vii, 9--13. They proceeded however further than this unnatural gloss; for, though the son did not directly give, or mean to give at that time any thing to God, yet if he did afterwards repent of his

* Fleury's Manners of the Israelites, p. 318, A. Clarke's ed.;

Rev. T. H. Horne's Introd. vol. i, p.129.

rashness, and did wish to supply his parents with any thing, his former vow precluded the possibility of his relieving them for his property became devoted to God, and, according to the Pharisaic doctrine, the sacred treasury had a claim upon it in preference to his parents. The words," be it Corban," or devoted, consequently implied an imprecation against himself, if he should ever afterwards bestow any thing for the relief of his parents as if he had said to them, "May I incur all the infamy of sacrilege and perjury if ever ye get any thing from me." What contemptuous cruelty of a son to his parents, and what a specimen of the religious tenets and traditions of the Pharisees!

The laws concerning vows are detailed in Lev. xxvii, where two kinds of vows are mentioned. 1. The 77, neder, which comprehends all those things, which when once devoted, might be redeemed at a certain price, according to the valuation of the priest. 2. The on, cherem, which comprehends those things devoted to God, of which there remained no power of redemption: they were most holy, that is, so absolutely devoted to God, that they could neither be changed nor redeemed. On this ground, the word was afterwards applied to the most solemn and awful kind of excommunication.

Though vows did partake of the nature both of sacrifice and oblation, yet they were not prescribed, but were engagements voluntarily taken. Lev. vii, 16.

VI. The First-fruits.

1. THE FIRST-BORN.-Besides the first-fruits of the soil, the first-born of man and beast was consecrated to God. The first-born were dedicated to God in commemoration of his preserving the first-born of the Israelites, when those of the Egyptians were destroyed. By the first-born, we are to understand males, for females were not offered; but in case a female had been previously born, then the first-born male was not consecrated; and in case a man had several wives the firstborn of each, if a male, was to be offered to God. The first-born of man and of unclean beasts were to be' redeemed, by giving to the priest five standard silver shekels, or shekels of the sanctuary, every shekel weighing twenty gerahs.* The first-born of clean beasts were to be sacrificed, their blood to be sprinkled on the altar, their fat to be a burnt-offering, and heir flesh was given to the priests. Exod. xiii, 1, 2; Num. iii, 13; xviii, 15--18.

As the redemption of the first-born was instituted in commemoration of sparing the first-born of the Israelites, when the first-born both of man and beast among the Egyptians were destroyed, so all the first-born were consecrated to God, and should have been employed in his service; but he permitted the first-born of a useful unclean animal to be redeemed by a clean animal of less value, as a lamb, or kid, or by paying five shekels to the priest. Exod. xiii, 13; Num. xviii, 15–18.

* A gerah, according to Maimonides, weighed sixteen barleycorns: a shekel three hundred and twenty. Dean Prideaux considers the shekel to be equal in value to three shillings English, the redemption money, then, must be about fifteen shillings.