CHAPTER V.

SACRED OBLIGATIONS AND DUTIES.

SECTION I.

OF VOWS.

ature of Vows.-How far acceptable to God.—II. Requisites essential to the Validity of a Vow.—III. Different Sorts of
Vows-1. The Cherim, or Irremissible Vow.-2. Other Vows, that might be redeemed.-Of the Nazareate.

A vow is a religious engagement or promise voluntarily | Mark vii. 9-13. Christ himself notices the vow of Korban
rtaken by a person towards Almighty God. "Unless (already considered), which was common in his time, and
Deity has expressly declared his acceptance of human by which a man consecrated to God what he was bound to
, it can at best be but a very doubtful point, whether they apply to the support of his parents; and he declares it to be
cceptable in his sight; and if they are not so, we cannot so impious that we cannot possibly hold it to be acceptable
ce from them the shadow of an obligation; for it is not to God. In the New Testament, no vows whatever are obli-
a mere offer alone, but from an offer of one party, and gatory, because God has nowhere declared that he will accept
cceptance by another, that the obligation to fulfil an en- them from Christians. But the people of Israel had such a
ment arises. The divine acceptance of vows, we can declaration from God himself; although even they were not
o means take for granted; considering that from our counselled or encouraged to make vows. In consequence of
5 God can derive no benefit, and that, in general, they this declaration, the vows of the Israelites were binding; and
of just as little use to man."5 In Matt. xv. 4-6. and that not only in a moral view, but according to the national
law; and the priest was authorized to enforce and estimate
usden, Philol. Hebræo-Mixt. p. 309. Michaelis's Commentaries,
Pp. 376-356.
their fulfilment. The principal passages relating to this
point are Lev. xxvii. Num. xxx. and Deut. xxiii. 18. 21,

we have to add, 4. The person of the vower himself, with the like privilege. (Lev. xxvii. 1-8.) To this species of vow Michaelis thinks the second tenths may have belonged, as Moses nowhere speaks of them as a new institution. They most probably derived their origin from the vow made by Jacob, which is recorded in Gen. xxviii. 22.

lips, or what has gone forth from the mouth; and the same phrase occurs in Psal. Ixvi. 14. If, therefore, a person had merely made a vow in his heart, without letting it pass his lips, it would seem as if God would not accept such a vow; regarding it only as a resolution to vow, but not as a vow itself. This limitation is humane, and necessary to prevent much anxiety in conscientious people. If a vow made in the heart be valid, we shall often experience difficulty in distin-person engaged to abstain from any wine, food, or any other guishing whether what we thought of was a bare intention, or a vow actually completed. Here, therefore, just as in a civil contract with our neighbour, words-uttered words-are necessary to prevent all uncertainty."

2. The party making the vow must be in his own power, and competent to undertake the obligation. Therefore the vows of minors were void, unless they were ratified by the express or tacit consent of their fathers. In like manner, neither unmarried daughters, so long as they were under the parental roof, nor married women, nor slaves, could oblige themselves by vow, unless it was ratified by their fathers, husbands, or masters; the authority being given to the head of the family in every thing which might produce advantage or injury.3

3. The things vowed to be devoted to God must be honestly obtained. It is well known, that in ancient times, many public prostitutes dedicated to their gods a part of their impure earnings. This is most expressly forbidden by Moses. (Deut. xxiii. 18.)4

III. There are two sorts of vows mentioned in the Old Testament, viz. 1. The □ (CHEREM), which was the most solemn of all, and was accompanied with a form of execration, and which could not be redeemed; and 2. The (NEDERİM), or common vows.

ii. Vows of self-interdiction or self-denial were, when a

thing. These are especially distinguished by Moses from other vows in Num. xxx., and are there termed N (ASSAR), or by DN (ASSUR AL NEPHESH), that is, a bond upon the soul or person, a self-interdiction from some desire of nature, or of the heart, or, in other words, a vow of abstinence, particu larly from eating and drinking. Among this species of vows may be classed those of the Nazareute or Nazaritism; which, Michaelis is of opinion, was not instituted by Moses, but was of more ancient, and probably of Egyptian origin; the Hebrew legislator giving certain injunctions for the better regulation and performance of these vows. The statutes respecting the Nazareate are related in the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers. Lamy, Calmet, and others, have distinguished two classes of Nazarites: first, those who were Nazarites by birth, as Samson and John the Baptist were; and, secondly, those who were Nazarites by row and engagement; who followed this mode of living for a limited time, at the expiration of which they cut off their hair at the door of the tabernacle, and offered certain sacrifices. The Nazarites were required to abstain from wine, fermented liquors, and every thing made of grapes, to let their hair grow, and not to defile themselves by touching the dead; and if any person had accidentally expired in their presence, the Nazarites of the second class were obliged to recommence their Nazariteship.

1. The cherem is nowhere enjoined by Moses; nor does he specify by what solemnities or expressions it was distin- Similar to the Nazareate was the vow frequently made by guished from other vows, but pre-supposes all this as already devout Jews, on their recovery from sickness, or deliverance well known. The species of cherem with which we are best from danger or distress; who, for thirty days before they acquainted, was the previous devotement to God of hostile offered sacrifices, abstained from wine, and shaved the hair cities, against which they intended to proceed with extreme of their head. This usage illustrates the conduct of Paul, severity; and that with a view the more to inflame the minds as related in Acts xviii. 18. The apostle, in consequence of the people to war. In such cases, not only were all the of a providential deliverance from some imminent peril not inhabitants put to death, but also, according as the terms of recorded by the sacred writer, bound himself by a vow, which the vow declared, no booty was made by any Israelite; the the law in this case required him to pay at Jerusalem. In beasts were slain; what would not burn, as gold, silver, and consequence of this transaction, Luke relates that he shaved other metals, was added to the treasury of the sanctuary; his head at Cenchrea. Paul, in his intended journey afterand every thing else, with the whole city, burnt, and an im- wards to Judæa, says, he must needs go to Jerusalem: for the precation pronounced upon any attempt that should ever be laws respecting the Nazarite's vow required the person who made to rebuild it. Of this the history of Jericho (Josh. vi. had entered into this engagement, if he were in a foreign 17-19. 21-24. and vii. 1. 12-26.) furnishes the most re- country when he first laid himself under this solemn obligamarkable example In Moses's lifetime we find a similar tion, to go up to Jerusalem to accomplish it. Here several vow against the king of Arad. (Num. xxi. 1-3.) If an Is-appointed sacrifices were offered, and a certain course of raelitish city introduced the worship of strange gods, it was purifications and religious observances was prescribed and (as we have already seen) in like manner, to be devoted or performed. This appears from another passage in the same consecrated to God, and to remain un-rebuilt for ever. (Deut. sacred writer: (Acts xxi. 23, 24. 26, 27.) "We have four xiii. 16-18.) Jephthah's dedication of his daughter is gene- men who have a vow on them; them take and PURIFY thyself rally supposed to have been a cherem but we have shown with them, and be at charges with them, that THEY MAY SHAVE in another part of this work that he did not sacrifice her." THEIR HEADS. Then Paul took the men: and the next day The text (Judg. xi. 30.) says that Jephthah vowed a vow (73, purifying himself with them, entered into the temple, to signify NEDER), unto the Lord, and again. (verse 39.) that he did with the accomplishment of the days of purification: and that an her according to his vow (77). There is no word in either of offering should be offered for every one of them. And when the these passages that either expresses or implies a cherem. SEVEN days were almost ended," &c. Josephus presents us 2. The common vows were divided into two sorts, viz. i. with an instance parallel to this of Paul, in the person of Vows of dedication, and, ii. Vows of self-interdiction or Bernice, who went to Jerusalem, in order to perform a vow abstinence. which she had made to God.10

Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. ii. pp. 280, 281. • Ibid. p. 284.

i. The (NEDER) or vow, in the stricter sense of the word, was when a person engaged to do any thing, as, for instance, to bring an offering to God; or otherwise to dedicate any An usage similar to the vow of Nazariteship exists in Persia to this thing unto him. Things vowed in this way, were, 1. Un- day. It frequently happens after the birth of a son, that if the parent be clean beasts. These might be estimated by the priest, and in distress, or the child be sick, or that there be any cause of grief, the redeemed by the vower, by the addition of one fifth to the mother makes a vow, that no razor shall come upon the child's head for a certain portion of time, and sometimes for his whole life, as Samuel was. value. (Lev. xxvii. 11-13.)—2. Clean beasts used for offer-(1 Sam. 1. 11.) If the child recovers, and the cause of grief be removed, ings. Here there was no right of redemption; nor could the beasts be exchanged for others under the penalty of both being forfeited, and belonging to the Lord. (Lev. xxvii. 9, 10.)-3. Lands and houses. These had the privilege of valuation and redemption. (Lev. xxvii. 14—24.)—To these Michaelis's Commentaries on the Law of Moses, vol. ii. p. 269. Alber, Inst. Herm. Vet. Test. tom. i. p. 214.

* Maimonides's Reasons of the Law of Moses, by Dr. Townley, p. 308.
4 Schulzii Archeol. Hebr. p. 293.

Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. ii. pp. 272-275.
See vol. i. part ii. chap. vii. sect. v.

13.

and if the vow be but for a time, so that the mother's vow be fulfilled then she shaves his head at the end of the time prescribed, makes a smal entertainment, collects money and other things from her relations and friends, which are sent as Netzers or offerings to the mosque at Kerbelah, and are there consecrated. Morier's Second Journey, p. 109.

10 See Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol. i. p. 221. Calmet's Dictionary, voce Nazarite. Flery's Manners of the Israelites, pp. 338, 339. Lard ner's Credibility, book 1. c. 9. § 7. (Works, vol. i. pp. 208-212) Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book i. c. 8. Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol ii. p. 298. Reland's Antiq. Hebr. part i. c. 10. pp. 284-289. Schulzi Archaol. Hebr. pp. 294, 295. Dr. Brunings, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 138-204. Randolph's Discourse on Jephthah's Vow, in his View of Christ's Ministry, &c. vol. ii. pp. 166-195.

SECTION II.

ON THE PRAYERS AND FEASTS OF THE JEWS.

Fous appellations given to prayers.—II. Public prayers.-
Private prayers.-Attitudes of the Jews during prayer.
V. Forms of prayer in use among the Jews.-V. Fasts of
Jews.-1. Public fasts.—2. Private fasts.-3. Solemni-
of the Jewish fasts.

the ungrateful Israelites, BOWED HIS HEAD to the earth ana worshipped. (Exod. xxxiv. 8. Compare also Exod. ix. 29.) The humble and contrite publican, standing afar off, SMOTE ON HIS BREAST, and supplicated divine mercy. (Luke xviii. 13.) The prophet Isaiah, when reproving the hypocritical Jews, denounces that Jehovah would hide his eyes from them when they SPREAD FORTH their hands (Isa. i. 15.); and the LIFTING UP OF THE HANDS to heaven, in prayer, is expressly noted by the Psalmist (cxli. 2.) and by the prophet Jeremiah. (Lam. iii. 41.)6

If the

Similar postures were adopted by most of the heathen nations that pretended to any kind of worship, when approaching the objects of their adoration; which it is highly probable that they borrowed from the people of God. Kneeling was ever considered to be the proper posture of supplication, as it expressed humility, contrition, and subjection. person to whom the supplication was addressed was within reach, the supplicant caught him by the knees; for as, among the ancients, the forehead was consecrated to genius, the ear to memory, and the right hand to faith, so the knees were consecrated to mercy. Hence those who entreated favour, fell at and caught hold of the knees of the person whose kindness they supplicated. This mode of supplication is particularly referred to in Homer." In the same manner we find our Lord accosted, Matt. xvii. 14.-There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, govutetav autov, fulling down at his knees.

PRAYERS, or petitions addressed to the Almighty, are connected with sacrifices and vows. (Psal. 1. 14, 15.) US APPELLATIONS are given to the prayers mentioned in riptures. In Phil. iv. 6. and 1 Tim. fi. 1. five different are employed, viz. μr, or requests, which may be ered as a generic term, including powx, prayers for ing those things, whether temporal or spiritual, of we feel our need; danas, deprecations of evil of every PT, intercessions or prayers in behalf of others; yar, thanksgivings or addresses of praise to God the blessings conferred upon us. The mode of prayas two-fold; 1. Internal, in which mental prayer is from the heart alone (such was the prayer of Hannah, i. 13.); or, 2. External, being uttered aloud with the hence, in Psal. cxlv. 19. it is termed a cry. vers were either public, or private, or stated, that is, med at a particular time. The STATED HOURS were at As to the lifting up, or stretching out, the hands (often e of offering the morning and evening sacrifice, or at the joined to kneeling), of which we have seen already several and ninth hours (Acts ii. 15. and iii. 1.); although it instances, and of which we have a very remarkable one in he custom of the more devout Jews, as David (Psal. Exod. chap. xvii. 11. where the lifting up, or stretching out -) and Daniel (vi. 10.), to pray three times a day. of the hands of Moses was the means of Israel's prevailing went up on the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour. over Amalek; we find many examples of both in ancient x. 9.) A similar usage obtains among the Hindoos authors. In some cases, the person petitioning came forday. Previously to offering up their supplications ward, and either sat in the dust or kneeled on the ground, washed their hands, to signify that they had put away placing his left hand on the knee of him from whom he exd purposed to live a holy life. As the Jewish phyla-pected the favour, while he touched the person's chin with his prayers were long, and the canonical or stated hours right. We have an instance of this also in Homer.9

!

d them to repeat these prayers wherever they happened When the supplicant could not approach the person to the proud, vainglorious Pharisees contrived to be over-whom he prayed, as where a deity was the object of the in the streets, in order that they might be observed by prayer, he washed his hands, made an offering, and kneeling ople, and be applauded for their piety. Against this down, either stretched out both his hands to heaven or laid them spirit Jesus Christ cautions his disciples in Matt. upon the offering or sacrifice, or upon the altar. In this mode Homer represents the priest of Apollo as praying.10 PUBLIC PRAYERS were offered, at first, in the tabernand afterwards in the temple and synagogues, by the er appointed for that purpose, the people answering synagogues only) at the conclusion with a loud Amen.3 viii. 6.)

PRIVATE PRAYERS were offered by individuals in a me of voice with the head covered; either standing ling, sometimes bowing the head towards the earth, others with the whole body prostrate on the ground. times they smote upon the breast, in token of their deep ation and penitence, or spread forth their hands, or them up to heaven. Of these various postures in prayer instances occur in the sacred writers. Thus Hannah, r affliction, spake in her heart; her lips only moved, but DICE was NOT HEARD (1 Sam. i. 13.); and the proud see STOODS and prayed with (within) himself. (Luke 11.) David says, I STRETCH FORTH MY HANDS unto thee. cxliii. 6.) Solomon KNEELED down upon his knees before congregation of Israel, and SPREAD FORTH HIS HANDS is heaven. (2 Chron vi. 13.) Ezra fell upon his KNEES, PREAD out his HANDS to the Lord his God. (Ezra ix. Our adorable Redeemer, in his agony in the garden of emane, fell on his face (prostrated himself to the ground), ED down and prayed (Matt. xxvi. 39. Luke xxii. 41.); he protomartyr Stephen KNEELED down and prayed for arderers. (Acts vii. 60.) Moses, when interceding for r's History, &c. of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 342.

* Lightfoot and A. Clarke on Matt. vi. 5.

e Jews attribute a wonderful efficacy to this word; and have an ition that the gates of Paradise will be open to him who says Amen his might.

* reason of this custom was to profess themselves reverent and before God, and unworthy to appear before him. It was a maxim Jews,-"Let not the wise men, nor the scholars of the wise men, unless they be covered." It appears that the Corinthians, though red to the Christian faith, in this respect conformed to the Jewish te; and therefore St. Paul remonstrated against it. 1 Cor. xi. 4. 's Hor. Heb. in loc. (Works, vol. ii. pp. 769, 770.)

* practice of standing during prayer obtained among the Arabs in ne of Mohammed, who, in his Koran, repeatedly commands his folsto stand when they pray. C. B. Michaelis de ritualibus S. S. ex anc illustrandis, § xiv. in vol. ii. pp. 108, 109. of Pott's and Ruperti's Commentationum Theologicarum. See also Dr. Richardson's abong the shores of the Mediterranean, vol. i. pp. 463. et seq.

The practice of standing with their hands spread out towards heaven, was adopted by the primitive Christians

Schulzii Archeol. Hebraica, pp. 298, 299. Brunings, Antiquitates He brææ, pp. 193-198.

* Των νυν μεν μνήσασα παρεζες, και λαβε γούνων.
Now, therefore, of these things reminding Jove,
Embrace his knees.

To which the following answer is made:

Και τότ' έπειτα τοι ειμι Διος που, χαλκοβατες δω,
Και μεν γουνασομαι, και μιν πείσεσθαι οίω.
Then will I to Jove's brazen-floored abode,
That I may clasp his knees; and much misdeem
Of my endeavour, or my pray'r shall speed.
The following instances are taken from Virgil:-

Corripio è stratis corpus, TENDOQUE SUPINAS
AD CELUM cum voce MANUS, et munera libo.
I started from my bed, and raised on high
My hands and voice in rapture to the sky;
And pour libations.

Iliad I. 407.
COWPER.

Iliad I. 426, 427.

COWPER.

Eneid iii. 176, 177.

PITT.

when offering their supplications: they stood up, says Ter"Our Father, which art in heaven, be gracious unto us! tullian, and directed their eyes towards heaven with expanded O Lord our God, hallowed be thy name, and let the rememhands. A similar testimony is given by Clement of Alex- brance of thee be glorified in heaven above, and upon earth andria :-"We lift up our head and elevate our hands here below. Let thy kingdom reign over us, now and for towards heaven." So also, St. Paul, when exhorting Chris-ever. The holy men of old said, Remit and forgive unto all tains to pray for all classes of persons, describes the gesture men whatsoever they have done against me. And lead us then used in prayer (1 Tim. ii. 8.):—wherefore LIFT UP holy not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil thing. For HANDS without wrath or doubting. Those who affected supe- thine is the kingdom, and thou shalt reign in glory for ever, rior sanctity, or who from motives of ostentation and hypo- and for evermore." crisy, it appears, prayed in the streets, and made long prayers, were severely censured by our Lord for their formal and hypocritical devotion. (Matt. vi. 5. and xxiii. 14.) When at a distance from the temple, the more devout Jews turned themselves towards it when they prayed. We have an instance of this in the conduct of Daniel. (Dan. vi. 10.) When the Orientals pray seriously, in a state of grief, they hide their faces in their bosom. To this circumstance the Psalmist alludes (xxxv. 13.), when he says, My prayer returned into mine own bosom.

IV. Various FORMS OF PRAYER were in use among the Jews from the earliest period of their existence as a distinct nation. The first piece of solemn worship recorded in the Scripture is a hymn of praise composed by Moses, on occasion of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians, which was sung by all the congregation alternately; by Moses and the men first, and afterwards by Miriam and the women (Exod. xv. 1. 20, 21.); which could not have been done,unless it had been a precomposed set form. Again, in the expiation of an uncertain murder, the elders of the city which lay nearest to the party that was slain, were expressly commanded to say, and consequently to join in, the form of prayer appointed by God himself in Deut. xxi. 7, 8. In Num. vi. 23-26. x. 35, 36. Deut. xxvi. 3. 5-11. and 13-15. there are several other divinely appointed forms of prayer, prescribed by Moses. On the establishment of the monarchy, David appointed the Levites to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even (1 Chron. xxiii. 30.); which rule was afterwards observed in the temple erected by Solomon, and restored at the building of the second temple after the captivity. (Neh. xii. 24.) And the whole book of Psalms was, in fact, a collection of forms of prayer and praise, for the use of the whole congregation; as is evident from the titles of several of those divinely inspired compositions, as well as from other passages of Scripture.7

What the stated public prayers were in the time of our Lord, it is now impossible exactly to ascertain: it is, however, probable that many of the eighteen prayers, which have been given in pp. 106, 107. and which are said to have been collected by Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder, the master of St. Paul, were then in use; and as all persons were not able to commit them to memory, it is also probable that a summary of them was drawn up. But we know certainly that it was customary for the more eminent doctors of the Jews to compose forms of short prayers, which they delivered to their scholars. Thus John the Baptist gave his disciples such a form; and Jesus Christ, at the request of his disciples, gave them that most perfect model emphatically termed The Lord's Prayer, which, the very learned Mr. Gregory has shown, was collected out of the Jewish euchologies: he has translated the whole form from them as follows:

1 Apolog. c. 30..

See

2 Stromata, lib. ii. p. 722. Dr. Harwood's Introd. vol. ii. p. 302. The practice of extending the hands in prayer still obtains in the East. Harmer's Observations, vol. ii. pp. 511-513. Fragments supplementary to Calmet, No. cclxxviii.

This practice is also general throughout the East. Both Hindoos and Musulmauns offer their devotions in the most public places; as, at the landing places of rivers, in the public streets, and on the roofs of boats, without the least modesty or effort at concealment. Ward's History of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 335. See also Fragments, No. cv. Morier's Second Journey, p. 208. Dr. Richardson's Travels, vol. i. p. 75. and Lightfoot's Hora Hebraicae on Matt. vi. 5. (Works, vol. ii. p. 156.)

♦ Lamy is of opinion that Hezekiah did so, and that we are to understand his turning his face to the wall 2 Kings xx. 2.) of his turning towards the temple. De Tabernaculo, lib. vii. c. 1. § 5.

Burder's Oriental Literature, vol. ii. p. 20.

See the titles of Psalms iv. v. vi. xlii. xliv. xcii. &c.

See 1 Chron. xvi. 7. 2 Chron. xxix. 30. and Ezra iii. 10, 11. Wheatley on the Common Prayer, Introduction, p. 2.

See the Works of the Rev. and learned Mr. John Gregoric, p. 168. London, 1683. See also Dr. Lightfoot's Hor. Heb. on Matt. vi. 9-13. Drusius, in Critici Sacri. vol. vi. col. 259, 260. Whitby and other com mentators, in loc. Dr. Hales has an excellent commentary on this prayer, in his Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book ii. pp. 1005-1011. The forins, &c. of prayer of the modern Jews are described by Mr. Allen. Modern Judaism, pp. 326-354.

V. To prayers the Jews sometimes added FASTS, or religious abstinence from food: these fasts were either public or private.

1. The PUBLIC FASTS were either ordinary or extraordi nary. Moses instituted only one ordinary annual public fast, which was solemnized on the day of atonement, other public fasts being left to the discretion of the nation. Of extraordinary fasts appointed by authority of the civil magis trate, several instances are recorded in the Old Testament. See 1 Sam. vii. 5, 6. 2 Chron. xx. 3. and Jer. xxxvi. 9. After the return of the Jews from captivity, Ezra proclaimed a fast at the river Ahava, in order to implore the direction and blessing of God (Ezra viii. 21.): and several other fasts were subsequently added, to commemorate particular melancholy events, of which we read in Zech. viii. 19.; viz. the fast of the fourth month, which was instituted in memory of the famine in Jerusalem (Jer. lii. 6.); the fast of the fifth month, for the destruction of the temple (Zech. vii. 3.); the fast of the seventh month, on account of the murder of Gedaliah (2 Kings xxv. 28.); and the fast of the tenth month, when Jerusalem was besieged. (Jer. lii. 4.) Extraordinary public fasts were also held when the Jews were threatened with any imminent danger. (Joel i. 14. ii. 12.) In like manner the people of Nineveh, on hearing the prophetic message of Jonah, whom they believed to be truly sent by God, proclaimed a fast; and by a decree of the king and his nobles, neither man nor beast, neither herd nor flock, was permitted to taste any food, or even to drink any water. (Jonah iii. 6, 7.) This was carrying their abstinence to a greater degree of rigour than what we find recorded of the Jews; for though, during seasons of public calamity, they made their children to fast (as may be inferred from Joel ii. 15, 16.), yet we nowhere read of their extending that severity to cattle.

2. PRIVATE FASTS were left to the discretion of individuals who kept them, in order that they might by prayer and fasting avert imminent calamities, and obtain the favour of God. So David fasted and prayed during the sickness of his child by Bathsheba (2 Sam. xii. 16.); Ahab, when he heard the divine judgments which were denounced against him by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings xxi. 27.); and the pious Jews, Ezra (x. 6.), and Nehemiah (i. 4.), on account of the calami ties of their country and of the Jews. In the time of Jesus Christ, private fasts appear to have been deemed necessary, in order to yield an acceptable worship to God: such at least was the case with the Pharisees and their followers, who affected more than ordinary devotion; and who fasted twice in the week, on the second and fifth days (Luke xviii. 12.) to which acts of devotion they ascribed a marvellous efficacy,

3. With regard to the SOLEMNITIES OF THE JEWISH FASTS, the precept of the law simply enjoined that they should afflict their souls (Lev. xvi. 29.); conformably to which the hearts and not their garments. From various passages of prophet Joel (ii. 13.) exhorts his countrymen to rend their Scripture, it appears that the Jewish fasts, whether public or private, were distinguished by every possible mark of grief; the people being clothed in sackcloth, with ashes strewed on their heads, downcast countenances, rent gar ments, and (on public occasions) with loud weeping and supplication. (2 Sam. xiii. 19. Psal. xxxv. 13. Isa. viii. 5. Lam. ii. 10. Joel i. 13, 14. ii. 12, 13.) At these times they abstained from food until evening. The sanctimonious Pharisees affected the utmost humility and devotion, disfiguring their faces and avoiding every appearance of neatness; against this conduct our Lord cautions his disciples in Matt. vi. 16, 17.11

• See an account of this fast in p. 127. supra.

10 Lightfoot's Hor. Hebr. on Matt. ix. 14. Schulzii Archæologia Пebraica, pp. 301, 302. Home's Hist. of the Jews, vol. ii. pp. 279, 280.

See Lightfoot's Hor. Heb. on Matt. vi. 9-13, and Luke xviii. 12 Jose phus, Ant. Jud. lib. iii. c. 10. § 3. Schulzii Archæol. Hebr. pp. 301, 302.

SECTION III.

ON THE PURIFICATIONS OF THE JEWS.

aterials with which the purifications of the Jews were permed.—II. Ceremonies of purification.-III. Of the persons #rated.—IV. Account of the different kinds of legal impues, particularly,-1. The leprosy of the person.-2. The osy of clothes.-3. The house leprosy.-V. Minor legal Durities, and their lustrations.

where the being wholly washed implies one who had become a disciple of Christ, and consequently had renounced the sins of his former life. He who had so done was supposed to be wholly washed, and not to need any immersion, in imitation of the ceremony of initiation, which was never repeated among the Jews. All that was necessary in such case was the dipping or rinsing of the hands and feet, agreeably to the customs of the Jews. Sometimes the lustration was performed by sprinkling blood, or anointing with oil. Sprinkling was performed either with the finger or with a branch of cedar and hyssop tied together with scarlet wool. (Lev. xiv. 4. 6. Num. xix. 18. Psal. li. 7.)

III. The objects of lustration were either persons or things

was requisite that every one who was about to make offering to Jehovah should be cleansed from all impuri-dedicated to divine worship. The Levites, priests, and above

or lustrated-to adopt an expression in common use g the Romans. The materials, form, and ceremonies of lustrations, which were prescribed by Moses, were us, according to different circumstances. The design em all was not only to preserve both the health and Is of the Israelites, but also to intimate how necessary s to preserve inward purity, without which they could e acceptable to God, though they might approach his

uary.

The purifications were for the most part performed with r, sometimes with blood (Heb. ix. 21, 22.), and with Exod. xxx. 26-29. Lev. viii. 10, 11.) The water of cation was to be drawn from a spring or running stream, was either pure, or mixed with blood (Heb. ix. 19.), or the ashes of the red heifer. For preparing these ashes, ifer of a red colour was burnt with great solemnity. ceremony is described at length in the nineteenth chapf the book of Numbers. As all the people were to be ested in it, the victim was to be provided at their charge. Jewish rite certainly had a reference to things done r the Gospel, as St. Paul has remarked in his Epistle e Hebrews-For if the blood of bulls and of goats (alludto the sin-offerings, and to the scape-goat), and THE ES OF A HEIFER, Sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the fying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of purge (or purify) your conscience from dead s to serve the living God. As the principal stress of alluin this passage is to the ordinance of the red heifer, we certainly conclude that it was designed to typify the fice of our adorable Redeemer.

st....

he animal being slain, and her blood sprinkled as directed um. xix. 3, 4., was then reduced to ashes, which were e collected and mixed with running water (ver. 9. 17.), he purpose of lustration.

all, the high-priest, underwent a purification previously to
undertaking their respective offices. In like manner the Is-
raelites were commanded to sanctify themselves by ablutions
both of their persons and clothes, &c. previously to receiving
the law (Exod. xix. 10, 11. 14, 15. Heb. ix. 19.); and after
the giving of the law and the people's assent to the book of
the covenant, Moses sprinkled them with blood. (Exod.
xxiv. 5-8. Heb. ix. 19.) So also were the tabernacle, and
all its sacred vessels anointed with oil (Exod. xxx. 26-28.
xl. 9-11. Lev. viii. 10, 11.), and as Saint Paul further inti-
mates, were sprinkled with the blood of the victims.
Those who were about to offer sacrifice unto Jehovah were
also to be lustrated (1 Sam. xvi. 5.); as well as those who
were repairing to divine worship to offer their prayers (Judith
xii. 7,8.); and especially the priest and the high-priest, before
they executed their respective offices. (Exod. xxx. 20.)
Lastly, all who according to the Mosaic law were adjudged
impure, were to be purified before they could be admitted into
the congregation of the Lord. (Num. xix. 20.)

IV. In the Mosaic law, those persons are termed unclean, whom others were obliged to avoid touching, or even meeting, unless they chose to be themselves defiled, that is, cut off from all intercourse with their brethren; and who, besides, were bound to abstain from frequenting the place where divine service and the offering-feasts were held, under penalties still more severe.

The duration and degrees of impurity were different. In some instances, by the use of certain ceremonies, an unclean person became purified at sunset; in others, this did not take place until eight days after the physical cause of defilement the ordinance of the red heifer, we may perceive the ceased. Lepers were obliged to live in a detached situation, om of Moses (uuder the guidance of Jehovah) in taking separate from other people, and to keep themselves actually y precaution that could prevent the Israelites from falling at a distance from them. They were distinguished by a peidolatry. The animal to be selected was a heifer, in op-culiar dress; and if any person approached, they were bound ion to the superstition of the Egyptians, who held this to give him warning, by crying out, Unclean! unclean! al to be sacred, and worshipped Isis under the form of a Other polluted persons, again, could not directly touch those r:-it was also to be a red heifer, without spot, that is, that were clean, without defiling them in like manner, and rether red, because red bulls were sacrificed to appease were obliged to remain without the camp, that they might not evil demon Typhon, that was worshipped by the Egyp- be in their way. (Num. v. 1-4.) Eleven different species ; wherein was no blemish, so that it was free from every of impurity are enumerated in the Levitical law, to which the rfection;-on which never came yoke, because any animal later Jews added many others. But the severest of all was, had been used for any common purpose was deemed im- 1. The Leprosy, an infectious disease of slow and imperer to be offered in sacrifice to God.2 ceptible progress, beginning very insidiously and gently, for the most part with one little bright spot, which causes no trouble, though no means will make it disappear: but increasing with time into furfuraceous scales that ultimately become a thick scab, it imperceptibly passes into a disease, which, though divested of its deadly nature in our temperate climates and by our superior cleanliness, is in the East attended with the most formidable symptoms: such as mortification and separation of whole limbs, and when arrived at a certain stage, it is altogether incurable. As the varieties and symptoms of this frightful malady are discussed at length in a subsequent part of this work, it will be sufficient to remark, for the present, that, among the heathens, the leprosy was considered as inflicted by their gods, by whom alone it could be removed, and the same notion appears to have prevailed among the Israelites; for when the king of Syria sent Naahis commander-in-chief, to the king of Israel, to heal him of his leprosy, the latter exclaimed,Am I Gov, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto ME, to recover a man of his leprosy? (2 Kings v. 7.) Some instances are also recorded in which this disease is represented as a punish ment immediately inflicted by God for particular sins; as in the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and king Uzziah. This circumstance, connected with the extreme foulness of the disorder, rendered it a very striking emblem of moral pollution; and the exclusion of persons infected with it from the worship and people of God was fitted not only to humble and reform the

The Jews had two sorts of washing; one, of the le body by immersion, which was used by the priests at consecration, and by the proselytes at their initiation; e other, of the hands or feet, called dipping, or pouring eter, and which was of daily use, not only for the hands feet, but also for the cups and other vessels used at their Is. (Matt. xv. 2. Mark vii. 3, 4.) The six water-pots one, used at the marriage-feast of Cana, in Galilee (John were set for this purpose. To these two modes of úcation Jesus Christ seems to allude in John xiii. 10.;

sephus, Ant. Jud. lib. iii. c. 8. § 6.

This opinion obtained among the ancient Greeks.
See particularly
84, x. 291-293. and Odyssey, iii. 382., and Virgil's Georgies, iv.

51

Dr. A. Clarke on Num. xix. 2.

While Mr. W. Rae Wilson (who visited Palestine in 1819) was at Cana, women having their faces veiled came down to the well, each carry on her head a pot for the purpose of being filled with water. These a were formed of stone, and something in the shape of the bottles in our country for containing vitriol, having great bodies and small with this exception, they were not so large; many had handles the1to the sides; and it was a wonderful coincidence with Scripture, the vessels appeared to contain much the same quantity as those, the Evangelist informs [us] had been employed on occasion of the Wilson's Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land, p. 339. first edition.)

celebration," viz. "three firkins," that is, about twelve gallons

man,