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and thummim upon his heart before the LORD continually. This certainly seems a more reasonable and proper account than that of Gesenius and others, who imagine that the urim and thummim were small oracular images, like the teraphim, by which revelation and truth were personified, and which were placed in the inner cavity of the breastplate. Spencer and others, who had previously entertained a similar view, fancy that the ornament was derived from the Egyptians, whose chief priest, who was also their supreme civil judge, wore, suspended from a golden chain around his neck, an ornament of precious stones called "Truth," and a cause was not opened till the judge had put on this ornament. We do not see much resemblance in this, except so far as any jewelled ornament worn about the neck may be said to resemble another. The jewel worn by the Egyptian judges was wholly judicial; whereas the urim and thummim were not only judicial but oraculous and sacerdotal.

There have been many fanciful conjectures as to the manner in which the Divine will was manifested to the priest. The most common of these imaginations is, that the letters engraved on the precious stones in the breastplate were affected in an extraordinary manner, so that the dimness or lustre, depression or elevation, of the successive letters composing the answer, enabled the high-priest to read the response in, or reflected from, his breastplate. The more received and probable opinion is, that the urim and thummim merely put the high-priest in a condition to receive responses, which, when he applied in a proper manner, were given in an audible voice from between the cherubim. This seems supported by the fact that this method of obtaining the Divine response is described as "asking at the mouth of the Lord." Whatever was the precise medium through which the response was conveyed, the mode in which the priest acted is sufficiently plain. When any national emergency arose for which the law had made no provision, the high-priest arrayed himself in his breastplate and pontifical vestments, and went into the holy place, and standing close before the vail, but not entering within it, stated the question or difficulty, and received an answer. Several instances will occur of this manner of consulting the Lord. It is an opinion which has at least the tacit sanction of Scripture, that the mode of consulting the Lord by urim and thummim only subsisted under the theocracy, and while the tabernacle still remained. Spencer strongly urges that the urim and thummim were essentially connected with the theocratic government of the Hebrews. While the Lord was their immediate governor and king, it was necessary that they should be enabled to consult him on important matters, and obtain his directions on occasions of difficulty. This method was also established for the purpose of consulting God in matters that concerned the common interest of the entire nation. On both these grounds the oracle might well cease when the theocracy terminated by the kingdom becoming hereditary in the person and family of Solomon; and still more, when the division of the nation into two kingdoms at his death rendered the interests of the nation no longer common. This is but an hypothesis: but it is certain that there are no traces in the Sacred books of consulting the Lord by urim and thummim from the time of the erection to the demolition of Solomon's Temple; and that it did not afterwards exist is on all hands allowed.

31. The robe of the ephod."-This was a long linen gown of light blue, reaching to the middle of the leg, or, as some think, to the feet. It was all of one piece, with a hole at top for the head to pass through, which opening was strongly hemmed round, that it might not be rent. We do not know on what authority this robe is said to be woollen, unless we are at liberty to infer as much from the fact that it is not, like the rest, said to be of linen. It seems to have been without sleeves, there being only holes in the sides for the arms. On the skirt at the bottom of the robe there were figures of pomegranates, wrought with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. These pomegranates, according to Jarchi, were hollow, and about the size and form of a hen's egg. If, however, they resembled hens' eggs, they could not be like pomegranates, which have a very different shape. Our version is no doubt right in saying that the bells were hung between the pomegranates, or that there was a bell and a pomegranate alternately; although some of the Rabbins have a conceit that the bells were inclosed within the pomegranates. The number of bells and pomegranates is not mentioned in Scripture ; and those who undertake to inform us differ much among themselves. Seventy-two is the number most commonly mentioned, but Clement of Alexandria says there were as many as days in the year. The object of these bells is not very clear: the reason given in verse 35-"That his sound may be heard....that he die not"-would seem to intimate that the sound of the bells was to be considered to harbinger his approach to the Sacred Presence; which, without such announcement, would be regarded as an unceremonious and disrespectful intrusion: the sound also intimated that he was clothed in his proper robes, to minister without which was death (verse 43). They might serve also to admonish the people of the sacred offices in which their priest was engaged.

34. "Pomegranate” (rimmon).—The Punica granatum, or pomegranate-tree, bears a leaf and a flower which resemble the myrtle. It was formerly ranked among the myrtaceous family. The flowers differ in different varieties, so that the writer, when at Macao, observed four several kinds about the wells and cultivated inclosures. The fruit is larger than the golden pippin, and filled with seeds, imbedded in a red pulp, which is the part eaten. The leaves, flowers, and fruit are remarkable for their beauty; hence the last were selected as objects of skilful imitation.

36-38. "Mitre."-This mitre was a turban of fine linen (verse 39), furnished in front with a plate of pure gold, on which were inscribed the words (HOLINESS TO THE LORD, or HOLY TO JEHOVAH), and which was attached to the turban by a blue lace. The word translated "plate" signifies a flower, and is rendered Tiraλs, “petal," in the Septuagint, which seems to show that the plate was wrought with flowered work, or was itself in the form of a flower or petal. In chap. xxxix. 6, this ornament is called (nezer), from a verb signifying "to separate," and hence denoting a crown, as a mark of separation or distinction. The same word is applied to the diadem of kings. Indeed, such turbans of fine linen, with an encircling or front ornament of gold or precious stones, seem to have been the usual diadems of ancient kings. Thus we read, in Justin, that Alexander the Great took his diadem from his head to bind up the wounds of Lysimachus; which shows clearly enough that it was of linen, probably with some distinguishing ornament on the same principle as this on the turban of the Hebrew pontiff.

39.

The coat of fine linen.”—This was the inmost of the sacerdotal vestments, and it was a long robe with sleeves to the wrists. This was not peculiar to the high-priest, but was similar to that worn by the other priests while officiating. What became of the tunic of the high-priest we do not know; but that of the common priests was unravelled when old, and made into wicks for the lamps burnt in the feast of tabernacles.

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Girdle of needle-work."-This was a piece of fine twined linen, embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet, and which went around the body. Josephus says it was embroidered with flowers; and also states that it was four fingers broad, and that, after being wound twice around the body, it was fastened in front, and the ends allowed to hang down to the feet, on common occasions; but that, when officiating at the altar, the priest threw them over his left shoulder. Maimonides says the girdle was three fingers broad, and thirty-two cubits long; being, as its length necessarily implies, wound many times around the body. As this girdle was so narrow, its length, if this statement be correct, will not seem extraordinary to those who are acquainted with the inordinate length of oriental girdles, and the number of times they are carried around the body. This girdle was worn over the embroidered coat by the common priests, to whom this formed the outer garment.

40. "Bonnets."-These bonnets, or more properly turbans, seem to have been like those of the high-priest, except that they wanted the plate of gold. Josephus, however, says that the turban of the high-priest had a purple cover over it; if so, this must have constituted another distinction between his "mitre" and the bonnets of his sons.

42. "Linen breeches."- More properly" drawers." The ancient Jews, like the modern Arabs and some other orientals, did not generally wear drawers or trowsers. Maimonides says that the drawers worn by the priests reached from above the navel to the knee, and had no opening before or behind, but were drawn up around the body by strings, like a purse. This resembles the linen drawers worn by the Turks and Persians at the present day, except that they reach rather below the knee. They are very wide altogether, and when drawn on are fastened very tight around the body by means of a string or girdle, which runs through a hem in the upper border.

In concluding this account of the priestly robes, it may be useful to repeat that the robes common to all were-the drawers, the embroidered coat, the girdle, and the turban; but, besides this, the high-priest wore the ephod, the robe of the ephod with its bells and pomegranates, the breastplate over the ephod, the shoulder-pieces of onyx-stone, and the engraved ornament of pure gold in front of his turban. The Rabbins seem to have the sanction of the Scripture for their opinion, that the robes were so essential a part of the priestly character, that without them a priest had no more right than private persons, or even foreigners, to officiate at the altar. It seems that the old robes of the priests, as already mentioned in the note on verse 39, were unravelled, to be burnt as wicks for the lamps at the feast of tabernacles. What was done with those of the high-priest is not known; but analogy would seem to render it probable that they were similarly used for the lamps in the tabernacle.

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3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:

6. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the

mitre.

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14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

15¶ Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and 'unto his head.

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:

23 And one loaf of bread, and one cake of

10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation and 'Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bul-oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket lock. of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD:

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.

24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

25 And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

26 And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it for

1 Levit. 9. 2. 2 Chap. 30. 25. 3 Heb. bind. 4 Heb. fill the hand of
8 It seemeth by anatomy and the Hebrew doctors to be the midriff.

5 Chap. 28. 41. 9 Or, upon.

6 Levit. 1. 4. 7 Levit. 3.3. 10 Heb. shake to and fro.

a wave offering before the LORD: and it shall be thy part.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.

29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.

30 And "that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

31 ¶ And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and scethe his flesh in the holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the 12bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.

34 And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.

36 And thou shalt offer every day a bul

| lock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even :

40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD,

42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.

45 ¶ And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

13 Num. 28.3. 14 Or, Israel. 15 Levit. 26. 12. 2 Cor. 6. 16.

11 Heb. he of his sons. 12 Levit. 9. 31. Matth. 12. 4. Verse 13. "The fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver."—" The fat that covereth the inwards" is the fat thin membrane extended over the intestines, and attached to the concave part of the liver, called the omentum, or caul. And by "the caul above the liver" is commonly understood, after the Septuagint, the great lobe of the liver (major lobus hepatis), which, although part of the liver itself, may very properly be rendered "the lobe over” or “by the liver." As to the caul, it was a common offering in the sacrifices of the ancient heathen; and Strabo remarks, that the Persians, in their sacrifices, offered nothing else upon the altar. Calmet, who gives these instances in his Commentaire Littéral,' cites Athenæus in evidence that the ancients ate the liver covered with, or enfolded in, the caul; and he thinks it probable that the liver of the victim was, in the same manner, wrapped up in the caul before it was laid upon the altar; and that this is what Moses means by the "caul above" or upon the liver.

CHAPTER XXX.

1 The altar of incense. 11 The ransom of souls. 17 The brasen laver. 22 The holy anointing oil. 34 The composition of the perfume.

AND thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the 'top thereof, and the 'sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn thereon 'sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8 And when Aaron 'lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

11 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after 'their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, 1 Heb. roof. 2 Heb. walls.

half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs :) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

15 The rich shall not "give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:

20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

22 Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin:

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the "apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony.

27 And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and thé altar of incense,

3 Heb. ribs. 4 Heb. incense of spices. 9 Heb. them that are to be numbered. 12 Heb. diminish, 13 Chap. 29. 40.

7 Heb. between the two evens, 8 Num. 1. 2. 5. 11 Heb. multiply.

5 Or, setteth up.

10 Levit. 27. 25. 14 Or, perfumer.

Heb. causeth to ascend. Num. 3. 47. Ezek. 45. 12.

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