SCRIPTURE ANTIQUITIES,

&c.

PART II.

THE

SACRIFICES AND OBLATIONS OF THE

ISRAELITES.

I. Of the Origin of Sacrifices. SACRIFICES have in all ages, and by all nations of the earth, been regarded as necessary to render propitious the Deity, and to pacify his anger. How this universal notion became prevalent, cannot be ascribed to any other cause than an express revelation from God. The Scripture account of sacrifices leads us to conclude that they were of divine institution, and that God gave instructions concerning them, immediately after the entrance of sin by the fall of our first parents, to be a type or significant emblem of the great atonement, or all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In Gen. iii, 21, it is recorded, that "the Lord God made coats of skins to Adam and his wife." The skins out of which their clothing was made, most probably were taken off animals sacrificed and offered under the direction of God himself, for we may with reason

presume that the notion of a sacrifice could never have occured to the mind of man without an express revelation from God.

Accordingly we find Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and others, offering sacrifices to God in faith of Him who in the fulness of time, was to make an atonement for the sin of the world by his death. Religion, or the true and proper mode of worshipping the Deity, is the institution and appointment of God himself; and sacrifice, in the very act and design, is the substance and essence of religion. So that without sacrifice actually offered or implied, there never was and there never can be, any true and real religion. We read in Rev. v, that in heaven a Lamb is represented as newly slain before the throne of God. And it may be further worthy of remark, that the design of sacrifice was to point out, by the slaying and burning of the victim, that the life of the sinner was forfeited to Divine Justice, and that his soul deserved the punishment and suffering of the fire of perdition.

II. Different kinds of Sacrifices and Oblations, with the mode of sacrificing.

THE sacrifices and oblations prescribed to the Israelites may be classed under three general heads:1. Animal Sacrifices. 2. Vegetable Offerings. And, 3. Libations, i. e. Liquid, or Drink-offerings.

In animal sacrifices, it was essentially necessary that the animals should be clean, and the most perfect of

their respective kinds. Lev. xxii. In allusion to this, St. Paul, in Rom. xii, 1, beseeches Christians by the mercies of God, to "present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is their reasonable service;" and hence also Jesus Christ is called a lamb without blemish and without spot. '

*

Of quadrupeds, bulls, oxen, cows and calves; hegoats, she-goats and kids; rams, ewes, and lambs, were the only kinds which were destined for the altar. It is probable that all clean birds might be offered, (Lev. xiv, 4--7.) though pigeons and turtle doves were the most common offerings of this kind; and in the case of cleansing the leper, sparrows were used. Wild beasts were not to be offered: and also fish were not admissible, because perhaps they could not be conveniently brought alive to the altar.

The victim thus selected, was led up to the Altar by the person offering the sacrifice; who laid his hand upon its hand, on which he leaned with all his strength, and in the case of the sin or trespass offering, he confessed his sin over the sin offering; and his trespass over the trespass offering, saying, "I have sinned, I have done iniquity, I have trespassed, and have done thus and thus, and do return by repentance before thee, and with this I make atonement."+ Then the animal

* See Dr. Magee's Disc. on the Atonement, vol. i, p. 336, &c. It is disputed among the Hebrew Doctors whether the person offering laid one band or both upon the head of the victim: they however conclude that whether he laid one hand or both, he must lay them on with all his strength. The Targum of Jonathan says, "he shall lay on his right hand with all his force: and Maimonides says, that he was to lay on both his hands, and that with all his might." Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i, p. 927.

Ε

was considered as vicariously bearing the sins of the person. And when several persons united in offering the same victim, they put their hands upon it in succession. By this imposition of hands, the person bringing the victim acknowledged the sacrifice to be his own, loading it with his own sins, and that he offered it as an atonement for his sins; that he himself deserved death because he had sinned, having forfeited his life by violating the law, of God; and that he entreated God to accept the life of the innocent victim instead of his own. In this respect the victims of the old Testament were types of Jesus Christ, whose life in the fulness of time was made a sacrifice for sin, on whom Jehovah " laid the iniquity of us all," being the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Isa. liii, 6; John i, 39.

*

When the victim was brought before the altar, the priest, having implored the divine favour and acceptance by prayer, poured wine upon its head; and after the performance of this solemn act of religion, which was called a libation, the victim was instantly killed. To this circumstance St. Paul, knowing the time of his martyrdom to be very near, has a very striking allusion in these words, "I am now ready to be offered;" (literally, I am already poured out as a libation;) “ the time of my departure is at hand." 2 Tim. iv, 6. He represents the rite of libation as already performed

The Rabbies say that the blood of the sinner in equity ought to have been poured out, and his body burnt; as was the blood of the victim, poured out, and its body burnt; and that God in his mercy and goodness took the victim instead of, and as an expi ation for, the offender. Jenning's Jewish Antiq. b. i, chap. v, p. 161; and Outram de Sacrificiis.

on him, and looks upon his own blood as the libation which was poured on the victim ready to be offered. A similar allusion to sacrifice occurs in Phil. ii, 17: "Yea, and if I be poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." Here the apostle represents the faith of the Philippians as the sacrificial victim, and compares his own blood shed in martyrdom* to the libation poured out on occasion of the sacrifice.

Then the animal was killed, by cutting the throat and windpipe entirely through with one stroke: the blood being caught in a vessel, and "sprinkled round about upon the altar." By the sprinkling of the victim's blood, the atonement was made; for the blood was the life of the beast, and it was always supposed that life went to redeem life. Lev. i, 5–7. The remainder of the blood, after the different aspersions according to the nature of the sacrifice, was poured out at the foot of the altar. Around the altar there was a kind of trench to receive the blood, whence it was conveyed by subterraneous channels into the brook Cedron. Father Lamy considers the Altar as a type of the cross to which our Saviour was fixed, and around which his precious blood was poured out.

Afterwards the skin of the victim thus immolated was stripped from the neck: its breast was opened: its entrails were exposed to view, and then taken out: and next it was divided exactly into two equal parts, by being cleft or split down the chine, and so exactly was this performed, that the spinal marrow was cloven down

*See Parkhurst's Greek Lex. under σTevdoμal, and Dr. Macknight, and Dr. A. Clarke on the passages cited.