any of the festivals, to remind the people that they were all guilty before God, and that their best services were not free from sin, and needed forgiveness. And also with all the sacrifices were offered always libations, or drink offerings of strong wine, and minchahs, or meat offerings, composed of fine flour, mingled with oil. Num. xxiii, 7-14. The divine service of the Hebrews was very heavy and expensive. At the public charge, there were annually offered to God at the tabernacles and at the temple, 1,101 Lambs, 132 Bullocks, 72 Rams, 21 Kids, 15 Goats: All these were independently of trespass offerings and voluntary vows, which, if they could be computed, must amount to an immense number. It is said that the number of lambs sacrificed annually at the Passover, amounted in one year to the number of 255,600 slain at the temple, which was the answer that Cestius the Roman general received, when he asked the priests how many persons had come to Jerusalem at their annual festivals the priests numbering the people by the lambs that had been slain, said, "twenty-five myriads, 5000 and 600."* * See Dr. Clarke's Com. on Numb. xxix, 12; Universal Hist, vol. iv, p. 268, fol. ed; Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. vii, ii, &c; Har mer's Observations, vol. i, p. 401, 5th ed. V. Sacrifices, termed Unbloody, or מנחה 1. MEAT OFferings.-The inanimate sacrifices are termed in the Scriptures meat offerings, and were taken solely from the vegetable kingdom. They consisted of meal, bread, cakes, ears of corn, and parched grain, with oil and frankincense prepared according to the divine command. Meat offering is termed in the Hebrew Minchah, from л, nach, to rest, or settle after toil or labour: we may consider it as having its name from that rest from labour or toil, which a man had after the in-gathering of the fruits of the earth; or when, in consequence of obtaining any rest, ease, &c. a significant offering or sacrifice was made to God. In general, the minchah was not a bloody offering, and was not used by way of atonement or expiation; but as an eucharistic offering, expressing gratitude to God for the fruits of the earth; yet, in some places of Scripture it appears that it included both bloody and unbloody offerings. The word meat offering conveys a quite different idea to the mere English reader, from its simple and original meaning. * In Lev. ii, Calmet has remarked that there are five kinds of minchah. 1. Simple flour or meal, ver. 1. 2. Cakes and wafers, or whatever was baked in the oven, ver. 4. 3. Cakes baked in the pan, ver. 5. 4. Cakes baked on the frying pan, or probably a gridiron, ver. 7. 5. Green ears of corn parched, ver. 14. *See Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. sub voce n, rach. All these were offered without honey or leaven, but accompanied with wine, oil, and frankincense. The minchahs, or meat offerings, were either public or private, when not accompanied with animal sacrifices: the public were the waved sheaf, the two wave loaves, and the twelve loaves of shew bread. Lev. xxxiii, 10~ 17; xxiv, 5. The private were, that of the priest at his consecration, which was always wholly burnt, (Lev. vi, 20--23.) and that, which the jealous husband was to offer, consisting of the flour of barley, or barley meal. Numb. v, 15.* Meat offerings could not be offered as sin offerings, except in the single case of the person who had sinned being so poor, that the offering of two young pigeons, or two turtle doves exceeded his means. Lev. v, 11. Every animal sacrifice was accompanied by a minchah, except the sin offerings, and the burnt offerings of birds. In every oblation it was required to add pure salt, that is, salt-petre; to signify the purity that was necessary in the worship of God. It is well known that salt possesses two peculiar properties. 1. It seasons and renders palatable the principal aliments used for the support of life. 2. It prevents putrefaction and decay. The covenant of God is called a covenant of * Some minchahs were eat by the priests without bringing them to the altar, as the two leavened wave loaves and the shew bread: some were entirely burnt on the altar. Lev. vi, 23. But most of them were partly consumed on the altar, and partly belonged to the priest. Lev. ii. It is supposed that the Minchah was the earliest oblations offered to the supreme Being, and was in use before sin entered into the world, and consequently before bloody sacri fices had been instituted. See Jenning's Jewish Antiq. b. i. chap. 5; Dr. A. Clarke's Com. on Lev. i, 1; Jameson's Expos. of the Pentateuch, p. 384; Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. 1, pp. 938, 939; Fleury's Manners of the Israelites, p. 311, A. Clarke's ed. salt, to denote its undecaying and incorruptible nature, relative to the redemption of the world by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ; and to point out its importance and virtues in the preservation of spiritual life. The grace of God by Jesus Christ is represented under the emblem of salt, (Mark ix, 40; Ephes. iv, 29; Col. iv, 6,) because of its nutritive and preserving quality. Without it, no offering, no sacrifice, no religious services, can be acceptable in the sight of God. In all things we must come unto the Father through Jesus Christ, and we must take heed that our sacrifices and services be not deficient of the salt of the covenant of our God. 2. DRINK OFFERINGS, or LIBATIONS.-Drink offerings were a kind of appendages to both bloody and unbloody sacrifices, and were never used separately, and consisted of wine which appears to have been partly poured on the head of the victim, in order to consecrate it, and at the base of the altar, and partly allotted to the priests, who drank it with their portions of both these kinds of offerings. When the libation of wine was poured out at the daily sacrifice, we are told that the Levites began to sing in the temple.* The Hebrew term for drink offering is ɔ, nesek, from nasak, to diffuse, or pour out. It was customary at the conclusion or ratification of a treaty or covenant, which was usually done by sacrifices, to pour out a libation. To this kind of offering there is frequent allusion and reference in the New Testament, as it typified the blood of Christ poured out for the sin of the world; נסך * Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i, pp. 922, 939. See also Rev. T. H. Horne's Introd. vol. i, p. 128. and to this our blessed Saviour alludes in the institution of the holy eucharist. The dispensation of the Gospel is represented as a covenant or treaty between God and man, Jesus Christ being not only the mediator, but the covenant sacrifice, whose blood was poured out for the ratification and confirmation of this covenant between God and man. 3. THE SHEW BREAD.-The shew bread consisted of twelve loaves according to the number of the tribes of Israel. They were placed hot, every sabbath day, by the priests, upon the golden table in the sanctuary before the Lord: they were made square, as the Jews say, and were in two rows of six each on the table. On the top of each row there was a golden dish with frankincense, which was burned before the Lord, as a memorial at the end of the week, when the old loaves were removed, and replaced by new ones: the priests had the former for their domestic use. * The shew bread in the Hebrew is termed on, lechem panaim, literally, bread of faces, so called, probably, because they were placed before the presence or face of God in the sanctuary. The loaves were ten hand-breadths long, and five broad, and seven fingers thick, each contained two omers, and were about the size of peck loaves, and might weigh about eight pounds each. They were always baked on the day before the sabbath; they were unleavened, and made of fine wheaten flour. shew bread was holy, it was not lawful for any but As the Between every loaf was a golden dish; or, as others say, the loaves were separated from one another, to keep them from moulding, by a kind of reeds. |