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THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.

CHAPTER II. VERSE 4.

And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering Laken 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, there may be reason for the note of Rabbi Solomon Jarchi, who understands by it 'the firstfruits of figs and dates.'

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 16.

And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

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

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 17.

It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin-offering, and as the trespass-offering.

LEAVEN] Hebrew, khahmütz, 'fermented-matter.'

CHAPTER VII. VERSE 12.

If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.

UNLEAVENED CAKES] Hebrew, kholloth matzoth, 'perforated unfermented.

cakes.'

AND UNLEAVENED WAFERS] Hebrew, u-riqiqai matzoth, ‘and thin unfermentedcakes.'

CHAPTER VII. VERSE 13.

Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.

LEAVENED BREAD] Hebrew, lekhem khahmūtz, ‘bread fermented.'

CHAPTER VIII. VERSE 2.

Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread.

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

CHAPTER VIII. VERSE 26.

And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder.

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

UNLEAVENED CAKE] Hebrew, kallath matzah, 'perforated unfermented-cake.'

CHAPTER X. VERSES 8-11.

8 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying,, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 1 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

DO NOT DRINK Wine nor strong DRINK] Hebrew, yayin vě-shakar al-tasht, 'yayin and shakar thou shalt not drink.' The Lxx. gives oinon kai sikera ou piesthe, 'wine and sikera ye shall not drink.' The V. has vinum et omne quod inebriare potest non bibetis, 'wine and whatever is able to inebriate ye shall not drink.' On Shakar, which here occurs for the first time as a noun, see Preliminary Dissertation. Whether the noun was derived from the verb-which signifies to drink freely of the sweet,'-or whether the verb was formed from the noun (the name of the thing-'sweet juice '-being borrowed to describe its copious consumption, i. e. to shakarize, to drink largely of shakar), there is nothing that necessarily connects the word, as verb or noun, with intoxicating qualities. Shakar may have originally denoted sweet juice of all kinds; but when distinguished from yayin (as here), may be regarded as generically referable to any sweet juice except the juice of the grape; just as yayin generically included the juice of the grape, however expressed or prepared. When shakar in its fresh state was mixed, either by accident or design, with a ferment, or time was allowed for its own albumen to decay, it would itself become fermented, and if then freely drunk, would intoxicate the drinker. But it is contrary to evidence and probability to suppose that shakar was drunk in that state only, and that 'to shakarize' was always tantamount to excessive indulgence in a fermented liquor.

The Lxx. in this place merely gives shakar a Greek garb―sikera; yet sikera was never a word current among classical Greek writers, or even in Hellenistic Greek,-i. e. the language as modified by the idioms of the Jews who wrote and spoke it. When, therefore, the lexicographers say that sikera signified 'all intoxicating liquors except wine,' they mean that shakar had that signification; but such a definition is intrinsically defective. Judea was celebrated for its palms; and palm-juice got by tapping the tree, or squeezing the date-fruit, may have first given occasion to the name, which would extend its reference as the sweet juices of other plants came into frequent use. Probably related to shakar was the Greek sakcharon, applied to the juice of the sugar-cane; from this sprang the Latin saccharum, from which the English household word 'sugar' is circuitously derived. The rendering of the Vulgate is periphrastic, and at the same time incorrect, if designed (as it doubtless was by St Jerome) to cover the whole meaning of the Hebrew shakar. The Targumists Onkelos and Jonathan in this place (and in this alone) render shakar by the Chaldee marvai and m'ravai, derived from ravah, 'to drink largely,' 'to drench,' and 'to make drunk' where the drink consumed was intoxicating,—

thus taking a similar extension of meaning to shakar, except that in m'ravai the idea of sweetness in the article used was not distinctly conveyed.

Observe-1. The matters of the prohibition—yayin and shakar.—If it be asked why all kinds of yayin (grape-juice) and of shakar (sweet juice in general) were prohibited, when the spirit of the interdict was limited to intoxicating species of both, it may be replied either (1) that the avoidance of all juices of the grape and other fruit when expressed was desirable in order to guard against mistake, where mistake would be so baneful; or (2) that the command was left to be interpreted by its spirit, just as a prohibition in the present day against 'drink' or 'liquor' would be universally understood as not extending to all drink and all liquor, but as applicable only to that of an intoxicating quality. The former view is confirmed by the extension of the Nazarites' vow of abstinence even to vine-fruit. The Rev. John Wesley, in his New Testament Notes, observes on the prohibition, "Nor eat grapes-forbidden him for greater caution, to keep him at the further distance from wine."

2. The occasion of the prohibition.-The Jewish rabbis, and most Christian commentators, connect it with the sin of Nadab and Abihu, described in ver. I; and the ground of this connection they find in the supposed commission of their sacrilege while under the influence of intoxicating drink. The Targum of Jonathan contains the clause, "As did thy sons, who died by the burning of fire." Keil and Delitzsch think that the only connection lay in the rashness of Aaron's sons, and the tendency of strong drink to induce a smilar disposition; but this will not account for the issue of such a prohibition immediately after such a sin. More to the purpose is the language of Rev. J. J. Blunt, B.D. (in his 'Undesigned Coincidences of Scripture'):-"Thus far, at least, it is clear that a grievous and thoughtless insult is offered to God by two of His priests, for which they are cut off; that without any direct allusion to their case, but still very shortly after it had happened, a law is issued forbidding the priests the use of wine when about to minister. I conclude, therefore, that there was a relation (though it is not asserted) between the specific offense and the general law; the more so because the sin against which that law is directed is just of a kind to have produced the rash and inconsiderate act of which Aaron's sons were guilty." Sad thought! that while the people generally, at that time, neither used nor craved for any intoxicating drink, two of Aaron's sons and assistants should have indulged in it till they fell into heinous guilt, and 'brought upon themselves swift destruction.' Thus early had the priests begun to err through wine, and through strong drink to wander from the way of obedience and safety.

3. The extent of the prohibition.-It had respect to all priests, through all generations, during all the period of their sacred ministrations. It is a remarkable proof of the tendency of the Rabbinical mind to make void the law of God, that some of the Jewish doctors of the post-Christian period (such as Maimonides) held that this statute was not broken if a small quantity was drunk, with a pause of time between, or if mixed with water, etc. Ainsworth rejects these equivocations. To infer that the use of intoxicating liquor was sanctioned at other times, or among other classes, is to overlook,—

4. The object of the prohibition.-This was to secure the sober, serious, and effectual performance of the priestly offices,-those that related to God (the discrimination of clean from unclean), and those which regarded the people (their instruction in the divine law). "This is a strong reason," observes Dr A. Clarke, "why they should drink no inebriating liquor."

5. The solemnity of the prohibition—'lest ye die.'—The meaning is either "Do not drink, lest ye die as the result of disobedience; " or, "Do not drink, lest ye die by imitating Nadab and Abihu's sin, and so incurring their capital penalty.” This proscription proclaims the concern of the Most High for His own glory, for the purity of His worship, the integrity of His ministers, and the welfare of His people.

As legitimate inferences from the whole passage, we may conclude (1) that God regards the use of intoxicating liquor as pregnant with danger to His servants, whatever their rank and attainments; (2) that the avoidance of this danger, by means of abstinence from such drink, having been a rule of His appointment, is still a course worthy of general imitation; (3) that the adoption of this abstinence As a habit of life is specially approved by Him in the case of those who are required as a holy priesthood' to offer up without ceasing "spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to him by Jesus Christ." [See Note on Ezek. xliv. 21, where the continuance of this rule is affirmed, and its application to Christian times demanded, unless a revival of the Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical service is to be expected.] Philo Judæus, the celebrated Alexandrian Jew and Platonist, who was contemporary with Christ, says in his treatise On Drunkenness (sect. 32) in reference to this text, "It is almost the only occupation of the priests and ministers of God to offer abstemious sacrifices, abstaining in the firmness of their minds from wine and from every other cause of folly. But Aaron is the priest, and the interpretation of his name is 'mountainous'; reasoning occupying itself with sublime and lofty objects. And no one who is so disposed will ever voluntarily touch unmixed wine or any other drug (pharmakon) of folly." [See also a quotation from Philo in the Note on Ezek. xliv. 21.] Some such impression St Jerome appears desirous of conveying in a passage in his letter to Nepotian concerning the life to be led by the clergy and monks (de vitâ clericorum et monachorum). In the section on 'feasts to be avoided' (convivia fugienda) he writes :"The apostle condemns, and the old law forbids, winebibbing priests (Lev. x.). Those who serve at the altar may not drink wine and sicera. Whatever inebriates and throws the mind off its balance, fly, in like manner as if it were wine. Nor do I say this in order that a creature of God should be condemned by us [Jerome, like many later theologians, confounds the corruption of the creature with the creature as formed by God], since, indeed, the Lord is called a wine-drinker (Matt. xiv.), and a small portion of wine was allowed to Timothy when suffering as to his stomach (1 Tim. v.); but in drinking we strictly require that there should be a measure according to the age, and the state of the health, and of the bodily members. So that if without wine I possess the glow of youth, and my blood affords sufficient warmth, and my system is vigorous and well strung, cheerfully will I abstain from the cup which is suspected to contain a poison."

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If St Jerome, who flourished at the close of the fourth century, reflects in this passage the fallacy which attributes salutary, or at least marked medicinal prop. erties, to intoxicating liquor; he no less clearly reflects the profound conviction of the purest minds, that the influence of such drink is dangerous to the moral and

* Vinolentos sacerdotes A postulus damnat et vetus lex prohibet. Qui altario deserviunt vinum et siceram non bibant. Quidquid inebriat et statum mentis evertit, fuge similiter ut vinum. Nec hoc dico quod Dei a nobis creatura dinistur. Siquidem et Dominos vina botator est appellatus, et Timotheo dolenti stomachum modica vini sorbitio relaxata est, sed modum pro attis et valetudinis et corporum qualitate exigimus in potando. Quod si absque vino ardeo adolescentia, et inflammor calore sanguinis, et succulento validoque sum corpore libenter carebo poculo in quo suspicio veneni est.

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