burning up the cities which were accursed, the bodies of those stoned to death (Josh. vii. 26) and the bones of malefactors.

The burning of the red heifer was, by these flames of the curse (cherem), to the Israelites a warning that the unclean must be cleansed with the water for purification, which was mingled with the ashes of the red heifer as a sin-offering (Num. xix. 9).

Either the one fire or the other, says Christ (Mark ix. 43-49). Hence it is the calling of the Christian to offer his life as the burnt-offering of love and of the Spirit under God's leading, not willfully, but willingly, in accordance with the symbolic representation of sacrifice.

THE OFFERINGS OF BLOOD, THE GREAT SIN-OFFERINGS, TRESPASS-OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES OF EXPIATION.

With some commentators the offerings by fire retreat in just the degree in which the offerings of blood become prominent; with others the offerings by fire and those of blood are equally prominent.

Blood is the symbol of life and the soul; hence the positive statement of the Lord concerning life and death (Lev. xvii. 11). But the offering of blood expresses the giving up of the sinful life to God through the death decreed by God, which is the wages of sin.

The gradations in the movement of the sacrificial blood towards the mercy-seat in the Holy of Holies mark the solemn progress from devoted suffering of death to real atonement. The blood of the burnt-offering remained in the court; it was sprinkled upon the altar. The blood of the lesser sin-offering was partly poured upon the brazen altar and partly put upon the horns of the same altar. This appears to be the regulation also for the trespassoffering.

The greater sin-offerings, the offerings for the priest who had sinned, or for the whole. congregation, seem to be the especial offerings of blood. In these only a part of the blood is poured out on the brazen altar; the other part was carried into the sanctuary, and not only were the horns of the golden altar touched with it, but the priest was to sprinkle of this blood seven times towards the curtain before the Holy of Holies. With what reserve and timidity is the hopeful longing after the perfected typical atonement expressed in this act (ch. iv. 1-21).

On the great day of atonement the blood of atonement came into the Holy of Holies. First, Aaron must atone for himself with the blood of the bullock by significant symbolical sprinklings (ch. xvi. 14). Then he must atone for the sanctuary, because it, in a typical sense, is answerable for the uncleanness of the children of Israel and for their transgression, that is, this sacrifice was to supplement the imperfection of all ritual atonements, and by that point prophetically to the true sacrifice.

PEACE-OFFERINGS.

These offerings which are divided into the three classes, of thanksgiving and praiseofferings, of offerings because of vows, and of offerings of prosperity or contentment (ch. vii.), have little in common with the offerings by fire or the offerings of blood. The fat on the intestines, the two kidneys with their fat, and the caul upon the liver were to be burned. The blood was sprinkled on the altar round about. The priest received his portion of the flesh as well as of the meal-offering, of which a part was burned on the altar. The remainder was for the offerer and his friends to feast upon. The thank or praise offering was to be held as especially sacred. None of it was to be left till the next day. This occasioned the calling in of poor guests. Both the other offerings might remain for a feast on the second day, but not on the third. All remains of the peace-offerings were to be burned; they were thus distinguished from common feasts. These individual solemn offerings point to the festival offerings in a wider sense. Festival-offerings in a wider sense are those in which communion with God is celebrated. The first general festival-offering is the Passover, the offering of communion with God through redemption; the second general festival-offering ap

pears at the extraordinary solemnization of the legislation on Sinai (Ex. xxiv. 11), and was continued by ordinance in the new meal-offering at Pentecost (Lev. xxiii. 16), and then in the weekly offering of the show-bread, which was brought every Sabbath in golden dishes according to the number of the tribes of Israel (Ex. xxv. 30; Lev. xxiv. 5, 6; Num. iv. 7; 1 Sam. xxi. 6). The burnt offerings of usual worship were always attended by their meal and drink-offerings (Lev. xxiii.). Besides these meal and drink-offerings of usual worship, there were also the special meal and drink-offerings.

THE CONCRETE FORMS OF OFFERINGS.

The originally simple or elementary forms of offerings become concrete forms of offerings through the religious idea. In the bloody offerings man brings to Jehovah his possession; in the unbloody, the meal and drink-offerings, he brings the support of life. The best of his possessions and the best of his food are the expressions of the devotion of his whole being, with all that he possesses and enjoys. Hence each offering is, to a certain extent, an epitome of all the other offerings. This universality appears most plainly in that offering, which is the foundation of all the rest, the Passover lamb. The great fire-offering, or burnt-offering, which forms the centre of all offerings, is supplemented by various kinds of meal-offerings, which are again supplemented by oil, salt and incense. But since the meal-offering in great part was given to the priest, it became a peace-offering, except the meal-offering of the priest. The drink-offering is peculiarly an expression of this totality, for it was not drunk in the temple-enclosure, but was poured out on the altar. On the contrary, in the Passover, the cup is the centre of the feast. Even in the great sin-offering, the chief parts of which were burned without the camp, as a cherem, besides the expiation by sprinkling of the blood, the fat of the animal was made a burnt-offering; but of the lesser sin-offerings and trespass-offerings a part was taken as food for the priest. Besides the concrete acts of sacrifice, the elementary forms are also represented; the meal-offering with the drink-offering in the showbread, the fire-offering in the daily burnt-offering, the peace-offering in the slaughtering of animals for food before the tabernacle finally the cherem in theocratic capital punishment. Over the offering rose the offering of incense as the symbol of prayer.

It is plain from the distinct expressions of the Holy Scriptures (Ps. cxli. 2; Rev. viii. 4) that the offering of incense upon the golden altar is a symbolical and typical representation of the sacrifice of prayer. The basis of the incense-offering is the incense of the offerings which rose from the sacrificial fires, "the sweet savor," Eph. v. 2, particularly of the burnt-offering. There was no burnt-offering without incense, for no consecration to God is complete without a life of prayer, and this life of prayer was the soul of the offering. Hence it is placed in a class by itself, in the incense-offering on the altar of incense (Ex. xxx. 7, 10). And for this reason also it accompanies the various offerings, the meal-offering and drink-offering (Lev. ii. 16), and the offering of show-bread (Lev. xxiv. 7). Finally the offering of incense appears most prominently in connection with the offering on the great day of atonement. Then the high-priest was to envelop himself in the Holy of Holies in a cloud of incense lest he die (Lev. xvi. 13). Thus the offering of incense constantly pointed towards the spiritualization of the offering, that is, from the law to prophecy.

THE ORGANISM OF SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP.

All the various phases are contained in the Passover-offering. The fact is important, that in the offering of the Passover the father of the family acted as priest. The idea of the universal priesthood therefore is the foundation of all the offerings, and this proves that the office of the priesthood was only a legal and symbolical representation of the whole people.

The atoning blood, with which the door-posts of the house were smeared, was the most important part of the Passover-offering. On one side of this was the cherem, the slaying of the first-born of the Egyptians; on the other side was the peace or thank-offering of which the family partook in the Passover meal. On the one side were the slaughterings of animals for food before the tabernacle and the use of them in the meal at home; on the other, the

legal cherem of theocratic capital punishment extended in the death bringing curse which, with the fall, came upon all men. The most important part of the Passover was concluded by the burning of the remains of the feast.

From this basis are developed the various divisions of the offerings, to be united again in the single apex of the great offering of atonement in connection with the feast of tabernacles. By this apex Old Testament offerings point beyond themselves, making a plain distinction by means of the goats between pardonable sin and unpardonable sin, which was given over to the wilderness and Azazel.*

Between the basis and the apex of the offerings are found their numerous divisions. We distinguish between initiative, that is, offerings at times of consecration, and those expressive of communion, and offerings at times of restoration, with a parallel distinction between ordinary and extraordinary offerings. The distinction between bloody and unbloody offerings, or meal offerings, belongs to the offerings expressive of communion. The meal-offerings and drink-offerings may be regarded as the best expression of communion. They are connected with the burnt-offerings. One of the chief distinctions is found between the usual offerings in the worship of the congregation and the casual offerings. On the other hand there is a correspondence between the prohibition of unclean animals and that of some unbloody objects (honey, leaven).

1. OFFERINGS AT TIMES OF CONSECRATION.

1. The covenant-offering consisting of burnt-offerings and thank-offerings (Ex. xxiv. 5) performed by young men from the people; 2. The heave offering, or tax for the building of the tabernacle (Ex. xxxv. 5); 3. The anointing of the tabernacle, its vessels, and the priests (Ex. xl.: Lev. viii.); 4. The offerings at the consecration of the priests, consisting of the sin-offering, the burnt-offering, and the offering of the priest for thanksgiving (Lev. viii.), and, in connection with these, the offerings of the people as priests (Lev. ix. 3; ch. xv.); 5. The offerings of the princes, as heads of the state and leaders in war, for the temple-treasury (Num. vii. 1; the offerings at the consecration of the Levites (Num. viii. 6); the offerings for the candlestick and the table of show-bread (Lev. xxiv.).

2. OFFERINGS EXPRESSIVE OF COMMUNION.

a. Continual Offerings in the Temple by the Congregation.

1. Daily offerings (the fire never to be put out, Lev. vi. 13).

2. Sabbath-offerings.

3. Passover. Daily offerings for seven days. The sheaf of first-fruits, Lev. xxiii. 4. Pentecost. The wave-loaves. A burnt-offering of seven lambs, two young bullocks,

one ram, a he-goat for a sin-offering, two he-lambs for a thank-offering.

5. Day of Atonement, the great Sabbath on the tenth day of the seventh month, Lev. xxiii. The atoning offering of this day plainly belongs to the restorative offerings. The feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth of the seventh month. Daily offerings for seven days from Sabbath to Sabbath. Fruits, branches of palm trees, green boughs.

By the sabbatic year and year of jubilee the symbolic offerings pass into figurative ethical acts (Lev. xxv.). So also the tithes form a transition from the law of worship to the civil law, or rather indicate the influence of ecclesiastical law in the state.

Offerings expressive of communion, closely considered, are those from which the priests received their portion as food. Of these the principal was the show-bread; then the mealofferings and various other offerings.

[The author, together with many commentators, regards the word azazel, which occurs only in Lev. xvi. 8, 10, 26 as a proper name. Its position of antithesis to "Jehovah " lends some color to this assumption. But with equal exactness of philology, it may be a common noun, meaning "removal," or "utter removal." If we assume it to be a proper name, we enter into difficulties of interpretation that are insuperable: if we take it as a common noun, the meaning and interpretation are very plain and simple.-H. O.]

b. Individual, Casual and Free-will Offerings expressive of Communion.

The centre between the preceding and this division is formed by the Passover, supplemented by the little Passover (Num. ix.), which was at the same time universal and individual. Connected with it in universality is the offering of the Nazarite (Num, vi. 13 f., burntoffering, sin-offering, thank-offering).

In the middle stands the burnt-offering.

On one side of the burnt-offering stand the peace-offerings, of three kinds.

a. Offerings in payment of vows.

b. Thank-offerings.

c. Offerings of prosperity.

Beyond these were the slaughtering of animals for food before the tabernacle, which bore some similarity to a sacrifice, and marked the food of flesh as a special gift from God. On the other side of the burnt-offering stand the sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, of three kinds.

a. Sin-offerings.

b. Trespass-offerings, related to trespasses that became sin.

c. Trespass-offerings in the strict sense.

Beyond these was the curse, the cherem. The transition to the cherem was formed by the burnings without the camp, as of the great sin-offerings, and particularly of the red heifer from which the water for sprinkling was prepared (Num. xix.).

3. RESTORATIVE OFFERINGS, RESTORING COMMUNION.

The series of these offerings, which were preceded by purification, begins with the offering of women after child-birth (Lev. xii.). This was followed by the offering of the healed leper and the offering for houses cleansed of leprosy (Lev. xiii. and xiv.). All offerings of restoration culminate in the mysterious offering of the great day of atonement (Lev. xvi.). To the casual offerings of this kind belong the offering of jealousy and the water causing the curse (Num. v. 12 f); the offering of a Nazarite made unclean by contact with a dead body (Num. vi. 10); the water mingled with the ashes of a red heifer (Num. xix.). The cherem serves to distinguish the capital punishment with which those who sinned with uplifted hand were threatened, from the offerings for atonement of those who sinned unwittingly, in order to restore the purity of the people. Death is threatened against all conscious opposition to the law, whether of omission or of commission; the symbolic, significant putting away from the congregation of the living.

The common offerings, the wave-offering and heave-offering, the tithes for the offerings, and the supply of the oil for the light are closely connected with the life of the Israelite congregation, in which everything becomes an offering, the first-fruits of the field, the first-born of the house, the tithes of the harvest, the host for war. The extraordinary offerings exhibit the tendency of the offering towards a realization in the ideal offering. The Passover and the offerings at times of consecration, the offerings of the Nazarite, the offering of the red heifer, and even the offering of jealousy, were designed to exhibit the ideal host of God. The offering of atonement, of all the offerings in this class, encloses within itself the most complete types.

THE MATERIAL OF THE OFFERINGS AND THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE OFFERING TO THE GUILT.

The chief of these is the Passover-lamb according to the legal conditions (Ex. xii.). The burnt-offering was to consist of a male animal without blemish (Lev. i. 2). For spiritual worship there was required the manly spirit of positive consecration (Rom. xii. 1). Even when the offerer brought a sheep or a goat it must be a male (Lev. i. 10). But the poor, instead of these, might bring doves or young pigeons. The sin-offering of the anointed priest, as well as that of the whole congregation, was a young bullock. The sin-offering of

a prince must be a male; when from the flock, it must be a he-goat. On the other hand, one of the common people might offer a female, a she-goat; a very important scale of responsibility for transgressions. The transgression of the high-priest was equivalent to the transgression of the whole congregation, and greater than the transgression of a prince.

For the simple trespass-offering the least was required, a female of the flock, sheep or goat; or, when from the poor, two doves or young pigeons; and, if he was not able to get these, he might bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour. But, for trespass-offerings, which were ordained for great transgressions, a ram must be brought, and in addition to the restoration of that which was unjustly acquired, the fifth part of the same must be given. This tax is uniform as respects affairs of the Church, religious laws and private property. In peace-offerings it was optional with the offerer to offer an animal of the herd or of the flock, male or female, provided that it was entirely without blemish. The meal-offerings consisted of fine flour, uncooked, or baked, or roasted, with the accompanying oil and frankincense and salt. Honey and leaven were prohibited.

At the consecration of Aaron and his sons, at the beginning of the eight days of consecration, a bullock was offered as a sin-offering and a ram as a burnt-offering; in addition to these, a ram of consecration (Lev. viii. 22) and "out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord" "one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread and one wafer;" and at the end of the eight days there was offered a young calf as a sin-offering and a ram as a burnt-offering. The congregation of Israel also offered a he-goat as a sin-offering, and a calf and a lamb of a year old as a burnt offering. And, as expressive of the estimation of the priesthood by the congregation, they offered a bullock and a ram as a thank-offering. Even on the great day of atonement the high-priest must first atone for himself with a young bullock as a sin-offering and a ram as a burnt-offering. But the congregation, as a confession of their subordinate and less responsible spiritual position, offered two he-goats as a sinoffering, and a ram as a burnt-offering.

THE RITUAL OF THE OFFERINGS.

For the ritual of the Passover, see this Comm., Matt. xxvi. 17-30. For the ritual of the offerings generally, we refer to works on archæology and our exegesis. The duties of the offerer were: 1. The right choice of the animal; 2. To bring it to the priest in the court of the tabernacle; 3. To lay his hand upon the head of the animal as the expression of his making the animal the typical substitute of his own condition and intention; 4. To slay the animal; 5. To take off the skin. The duties of the officiating priest were: 1. The reception of the blood and the sprinkling of it; 2. The lighting of the fire on the altar; 3. The burning of the animal, and with this, 4. Cleansing the altar and keeping the ashes clean. Specially to be marked are: 1. The gradations of the burning; 2. The gradations of the sprinkling of the blood; 3. The gradations of the solemnity of the feast; 4. The gradations of the cherem.

THE PORTIONS OF THE OFFERINGS FOR THE PRIESTS.

The greater part of the meal-offerings was given to the priest; but his own meal-offering he must entirely burn up Lev. vi. 23. The flesh of the sin-offerings (except the great sinoffering of a priest or of the whole congregation, Lev. vi. 20) was given to the priest who performed the sacrifice; only the holy could eat it in a holy place Lev. vi. 27. and the same was true of the trespass-offering, Lev. vii. 7; comp. the directions concerning the mealoffering, ver. 9. Of the burnt-offering the priest received the skin, Lev. vii. 8. Of the mealofferings connected with the peace-offerings the priest received his portion, Lev. vii. 14. Of the thank-offering he received the breast and the right shoulder, Lev. vii. 31, 33. These portions of the offerings could support only those priests who officiated in the temple, not their families, or the priests who were not officiating. Their support they received under the ordinance respecting payments in kind, particularly the tithes paid by the people.