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The portion granted to

A. M. cir. 2533.
B: C. cir. 1471.

cir. 20.

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16 And those that are to be 18 And the flesh of them shall

thine.

An. Exod. Isr. redeemed from a month old shalt be thine, as the
thou redeem, according to thine and as the right
estimation, for the money of five shekels, after
the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty
gerahs.

17. But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

b Lev. xxvii. 2, 6; chap. iii. 47. - Exod. xxx. 13; Lev. xxvii. 25; chap. in. 47; Ezek. xlv. 12.- k Deut. xv. 19.

wave-breast, shoulder are

A. M. cir. 2533
B. C. cir. 1471.

An. Exod. Isr.

cir. 20.

19 All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD, unto thee and to thy seed with thee. 20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither m Exod. xxix. 26, 28; Lev. vii. 31, 32, 34. Lev. ii. 13; 2 Chron. xiii. 5.

e Lev. iii. 2, 5.-
n Ver. 11.

1. The flesh of the SIN-OFFERING, whether of beasts or fowls, Lev. vi. 25, 26.

2. The flesh of the TRESPASS-OFFERING, Lev. vii. 1, 6. 3. The PEACE-OFFERINGS of the congregation, Lev. xxiii. 19, 20.

4. The remainder of the OMER or SHEAF, Lev. xxiii. 10, &c.

5. The remnants of the MEAT-OFFERINGS of the Israelites, Lev. vi. 16.

Verse 16. Shalt thou redeem-for the money of five say twenty-four gifts were given to the priests, and shekels] Redemption of the first-born is one of the they are all expressed in the law. Eight of those rites which is still practised among the Jews. Ac-gifts the priests ate nowhere but in the sanctuary: cording to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the fol- these eight are the following: lowing manner :-When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup containing several pieces of gold and silver coin, The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the, mother, says: Is this thy son ?-MOTHER. Yes. PRIEST. Hast thou never had another child, male or female, a miscarriage or untimely birth?-MOTHER. No.-PRIEST. This being the case, this child, as first-born, belongs to Then, turning to the father, he says: If it be thy desire to have this child, thou must redeem it.FATHER. I present thee with this gold and silver for this purpose.-PRIEST. Thou dost wish, therefore, to redeem the child?-FATHER. I do wish so to do.The priest then, turning himself to the assembly, says: Very well; this child, as first-born, is mine, as it is written in Bemidbar, (Num. xviii. 16,) Thou shalt redeem the first-born of a month old for five shekels, but I shall content myself with this in exchange. He then takes two gold crowns, or thereabouts, and returns the child to his parents.

me.

-

6. The two LOAVES, Lev. xxiii. 17. 7. The SHEW-BREAD, Lev. xxiv. 9. 8. The LOG of OIL offered by the leper, Lev. xiv. 10, &c.

Five of those gifts they ate only in Jerusalem :— 1. The breast and shoulder of the PEACE-OFFERINGS, Lev. vii. 31, 34.

2. The HEAVE-OFFERING of the sacrifice of confession, Lev. vii. 12–14.

3. The HEAVE-OFFERING of the Nazarite's ram, Lev. vi. 17-20.

4. The FIRSTLING of the clean beast, Num. xviii. 15; Deut. xv. 19, 20.

5. The FIRST-FRUITS, Num. xviii. 13. FIVE gifts were not due unto them by the law, but in the land of Israel only :

1.

2.

The heave-offering or FIRST-FRuits, Num. xviii.

The heave-offering of the TITHE, Num. xviii. 28. 3. The CAKE, Num. xv. 20. These three were holy. 4. The first-fruits of the FLEECE, Deut. xviii. 4. 5. The FIELD of POSSESSION, Num. xxxv. These two were common.

Verse 19. It is a covenant of salt] That is, an incorruptible, everlasting covenant. As salt was added to different kinds of viands, not only to give them a - relish, but to preserve them from putrefaction and decay, it became the emblem of incorruptibility and per-12. manence. Hence, a covenant of salt signified an everlasting covenant. We have already seen that, among the Asiatics, eating together was deemed a bond of perpetual friendship; and as salt was a common article in all their repasts, it may be in reference to this circumstance that a perpetual covenant is termed a covenant of salt; because the parties ate together of the sacrifice offered on the occasion, and the whole transaction was considered as a league of endless friendship. See the note on Lev. ii. 13.

Verse 20. I am thy part and thine inheritance] The principal part of what was offered to God was the portion of the priests, therefore they had no inheritance of land in Israel; independently of that they had a very ample provision for their support. The rabbins

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FIVE gifts were due unto them both within and without the land :—

1. The gifts of the BEASTS SLAIN, Deut. xviii. 3. 2. The redemption of the FIRST-BORN SON, Num. xviii. 15.

3. The LAMB for the firstling of an ass, Exod. iv 20; Num. xviii.

4. The restitution of that taken by violence from a stranger, Num. v. 8.

5. All DEVOTED things, Num. xviii. 14.
44* )

The Levites to have no inheritance, CHAP. XVIII.

A. M. cir. 2533.

B. C. cir. 1471. An. Exod. Isr. cir. 20.

of Israel,

but the tenth of the produce.

shalt thou have any part among up a heave-offering of it for
them I am thy part and thine the LORD, even y a tenth part of
inheritance among the children the tithe..

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25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer

P Deut. x. 9; xii. 12; xiv: 27, 29; xviii. 1, 2; Josh. xiii. 14, 33; xiv. 3; xviii. 7; Psa. xvi. 5; Ezek. xliv. 28.- - Ver. 24, 26; Lev. xxvii. 30, 32; Neh. x. 37; xii. 44; Heb. vii. 5, 8, 9. Chap. iii. 7, 8.- Chap. i. 51. Lev. xxii. 9." Heb. to die.

ONE gift was due unto them from the sanctuary :1. The skins of the burnt-offering, and all the skins of the other most holy things, Lev. vii. 8. In all 24. See Ainsworth.

The gifts which the females of the priests' families had a part in were these:

1. The heave-offering, or first-fruits. 2. The heave-offering of the tithe. 3. The cake. 4. The gifts of the beast, Deut. xviii. 3. 5. The first of the fleece. See Mishna, Tract. Biccurim, and Ainsworth on the Pentateuch.

Besides all this the priests had the tribute money mentioned Num. xxxi. 28, 29.

Verse 21. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth] First, the Levites had the tenth of all the productions of the land."

2. They had forty-eight cities, each forming a square of 4,000 cubits.

3. They had 2,000 cubits of ground round each city. Total of the land they possessed, 53,000 acres. 4. They had the first-fruits and certain parts of all the animals killed in the land.

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27 And this your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshing-floor, and as the fulness of the wine-press.

28 Thus ye also shall offer a heave-offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD's heave-offering to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave-offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. 30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine-press.

b

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congre gation.

32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.

e

Chap. iii. 7. Ver. 21. Ver. 20; Deut. x. 9; xiv. 27, 29; xviii. 1. - Neh. x. 38.- Ver. 30.- a Heb. fat; ver. 12.b Ver. 27. Matt.x. 10; Luke x. 7; 1 Cor. ix. 13; 1 Tim. v. 18.- Lev. xix. 8; xxii. 16.— Lev. xxii. 2, 15.

11,264,000 divided by 53,000, quotes only 212}}. See Lowman, Dodd, &c. But though this was a very small proportion for a whole tribe that had consented to annihilate its political existence, that it might wait upon the service of God, and labour for the people's souls; yet let it be considered that what they possessed was the best of the land: and while it was a slender remuneration for their services, yet their portion was such as rendered them independent, and kept them comfortable; so that they could wait on the Lord's work without distraction. This is a proper pattern for the maintenance of the ministers of God: let them have a sufficiency for themselves and families, that there may be no distracting cares; and let them not be encumbered with riches or worldly possessions, that they may not be prevented from taking care of souls.

Verse 28. Thus ye also shall offer a heave-offering] As the Levites had the tithe of the whole land, they themselves were obliged to give the tithe of this tithe to the priests, so that this considerably lessened their revenue. And this tithe or tenth they were obliged to select from the best part of the substance they had reCanaan contained about 11,264,000 acres; there-ceived, ver. 29, &c. A portion of all must be given fore the portion possessed by the Levites was rather to God, as an evidence of his goodness, and their deless than as one to two hundred and twelve; for pendence on him. See the end of chap. xx.

The ordinance of

NUMBERS.

CHAPTER XIX.

the red heifer.

The ordinance of the red heifer, 1, 2. She shall be slain by Eleazar without the camp, and her blood sprinkled before the tabernacle, 3, 4. Her whole body and appurtenance shall be reduced to ashes, and while burning, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, shall be thrown into the fire, 5, 6. The priest, and he that burns her, to bathe themselves and be reputed unclean till the evening, 7, 8. Her ashes to be laid up for a waler of purification, 9. How, and in what cases it is to be applied, 10-13. The law concerning him who dies in a tent, or who is killed in the open field, 14–16. How the persons, tent, and vessels are to be purified by the application of these ashes, 17-19. The unclean person who does not apply them, to be cut off from the congregation, 20. This is to be a perpetual statute, 21, 22.

A. M. cir. 2533. AND the LORD spake unto blood directly before the taberna- A. M. cir. 2533. Moses and unto Aaron, say-cle of the congregation seven

B. C. cir. 1471. An. Exod, Isr. cir. 20.

ing,

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times :

B. C. cir. 1471. An. Exod. Isr. cir. 20.

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Deut. xxi. 3; 1 Sam. vi. 7.b Lev. iv. 12, 21; xvi. 27; Heb. Exodus xxix. 14; Lev. iv. 11, 12. Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 49. xiii. 11. Lev. iv. 6; xvi. 14, 19; Heb. ix. 13.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIX.

Verse 2. Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring thee, &c.] The ordinance of the red heifer was a sacrifice of general application. All the people were to have an interest in it, and therefore the people at large are to provide the sacrifice. This Jewish rite certainly had a reference to things done under the Gospel, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has remarked: "For if," says he, "the blood of bulls and of goats," alluding, probably, to the sin-offerings and the scape-goat, "and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God!" Heb. ix. 13, 14. As the principal stress of the allusion here is to the ordinance of the red heifer, we may certainly conclude that it was designed to typify the sacrifice of our blessed Lord. We may remark several curious particulars in this ordinance.

1. A heifer was appointed for a sacrifice, probably, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition which held these sacred, and actually worshipped their great goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely because males in general were preferred for sacrifice, yet here the female is chosen.

2. It was to be a red heifer, because red bulls were sacrificed to appease the evil demon Typhon, worshipped among the Egyptians. See Spencer.

3. The heifer was to be without spot-having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch remarks, De

f Lev. xi. 25; xv. 5.

Iside et de Osiride, that if there was a single hair in the animal either white or black, it marred the sacrifice. See Calmet, and see the note on chap. viii. 7.

4. Without blemish-having no kind of imperfection in her body; the other, probably, applying to the hair or colour.

5. On which never came yoke, because any animal which had been used for any common purpose was deemed improper to be offered in sacrifice to God. The heathens, who appear to have borrowed much from the Hebrews, were very scrupulous in this particular. Neither the Greeks nor Romans, nor indeed the Egyptians, would offer an animal in sacrifice that had been employed for agricultural purposes. Of this we have the most positive evidence from Homer, Porphyry, Virgil, and Macrobius.

Just such a sacrifice as that prescribed here, does Diomede vow to offer to Pallas.-Iliad, lib. x., ver. 291. Ὡς νυν μοι εθελουσα παρίστασο, και με φυλασσε Σοι δ' αν εγω εξω βον ηνιν ευρυμέτωπον, Αδμητην, ἣν ουπω ύπο ζυγον ηγαγεν ανήρ' Την τοι εγω ῥέξω, χρυσον κερασιν περιχευας. "So now be present, O celestial maid;

So still continue to the race thine aid; A yearling heifer falls beneath the stroke, Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke, With ample forehead and with spreading horns, Whose tapering tops refulgent gold adorns.” Altered from Pope. In the very same words Nestor, Odyss., lib. iii., ver. 382, promises a similar sacrifice to Pallas.

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9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

to unclean persons.

slain with a sword in the open
fields, or a dead body, or a bone
of a man, or a grave, shall be
unclean seven days.

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B. C. cir. 1471. An. Exod. Isr. cir. 20.

17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:

18 And a clean person shall take "hyssop, 10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon until the even and it shall be unto the chil- the persons that were there, and upon him dren of Israel, and unto the stranger that so- that touched a bone, or one slain, or one journeth among them, for a statute for ever. dead, or a grave: 11 He that toucheth the dead body of any * man shall be unclean seven days.

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12 He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. 13 Whosoever toucheth the dead, body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because "the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

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14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.

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19 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.

20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.

22 And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that

16 And whosoever toucheth one that is toucheth it shall be unclean until even.

8 Heb. ix. 13.

_h Ver. 13, 20, 21; chap. xxxi. 23. 16; Lev. xxi. 1; chap. v. 2; ix. 6, 10; xxxi. 19; Lam. Hag. ii. 13.- k Heb. soul of man, Chap. xxxi. 19.xv. 31. Ver. 9; chap. viii. 7.

-i Ver. iv. 14; Lev.

The Romans had the same religion with the Greeks,

Lev. vii. 20; xxii. 3.-P Lev. xi. 32; chap. xxxi. 20, 9 Ver. 11. Heb. dust.- Ver. 9. Heb. living waters shall be given; Gen. xxvi. 19.—" Psa. li. 7. Lev. xiv. 9 w Ver. 13. X Hag. ii. 13.- Lev. xv. 5.

Verse 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any

and consequently the same kind of sacrifices; so Vir-man shall be unclean seven days.] How low does this gil, Georg. iv., ver. 550.

Quatuor eximios præstanti corpore tauros Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas.. "From his herd he culls

For slaughter four the fairest of his bulls; Four heifers from his female stock he took, All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke."-DRYDEN. It is very likely that the Gentiles learnt their first sacrificial rites from the patriarchs; and on this account we need not wonder to find so many coincidences in the sacrificial system of the patriarchs and Jews, and all the neighbouring nations.

lay man! He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day, Lev. xi. 24, 27, 39; but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to mark the peculiar impurity of man, and to show his sinfulness-seven times worse than the vilest animal! O thou son of the morning, how art thou fallen!

Verse 12. He shall purify himself with il] 19 sonn' yithchatta bo, literally, he shall sin himself with it. This Hebrew form of speech is common enough among us in other matters. Thus to fleece, to bark, and to skin, do not signify to add a fleece, another bark, or a skin, but to take one away; therefore, to sin himself, Verse 9. For a water of separation] That is, the in the Hebrew idiom, is not to add sin, but to take it ashes were to be kept, in order to be mixed with wa-away, to purify. The verb on chata signifies to ter, ver. 17, and sprinkled on those who had contract-miss the mark, to sin, to purify from sin, and to make ed any legal defilement. a sin-offering. See the note on Gen. xiii. 13.

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THE Hebrews generally sacrificed males, no matter of what colour; but here a heifer, and a heifer of a red colour, is ordered. The reason of these circumstances is not very well known.

"The rabbins, with all their boldness," says Calmet, "who stick at nothing when it is necessary to explain what they do not understand, declare that the cause of this law is entirely unknown; and that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not find it out."

Several fathers, as well modern as ancient, profess to understand the whole clearly. 1. The red heifer with them signifies the flesh of our Lord, formed out of an earthly substance. 2. Being without spot, &c., the infinite holiness of Christ. 3. The sex of the animal, the infirmity of our flesh, with which he clothed himself. 4. The red colour, his passion. 5. Being unyoked, his being righteous in all his conduct, and never under the yoke of sin. 6. Eleazar's sacrificing the heifer instead of Aaron, ver. 3, signifies the change

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where Miriam dies.

of the priesthood from the family of Aaron, in order that a new and more perfect priesthood might take place. 7. The red heifer being taken without the camp (ver. 3) to be slain, points out the crucifixion of our Lord without the city. 8. The complete consuming of the heifer by fire, the complete offering of the whole body and soul of Christ as a sacrifice to God for the sin of man: for as the heifer was without blemish, the whole might be offered to God; and as Christ was immaculate, his whole body and soul were made a sacrifice for sin. 9. As the fire of this sacrifice ascended up to God, so it points out the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord. 10. And as the ashes of this victim communicated a legal purity to those who were defiled, so true repentance, signified by those ashes, is necessary for the expiation of the offences committed after baptism, A great part of this is true in itself; but how little evidence is there that all these things were intended in the ordinance of the red heifer? See on chap. viii. 7, ;

CHAPTER XX,

The Israelites come to Zin, and Miriam dies, 1. They murmur for want of water, 2–5. Moses and Aaron make supplication at the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appears, 6. He commands Moses to take his rod, gather the congregation together, and bring water out of the rock, 7, 8, Moses takes the rod, gathers the Israelites together, chides with them, and smites the rock twice, and the waters flow out plenleously, 9-11. The Lord is offended with Moses and Aaron because they did not sanctify him in the sight of the children of Israel, 12. The place is called Meribah, 13. Moses sends a friendly message to the king of Edom, begging liberty to pass through his territories, 14-17. The Edomites refuse, 18. The Israelites expostulate, 19. The Edomites still refuse, and prepare to attack them, 20, 21. The Israelites go to Mount Hor, 22. Aaron is commanded to prepare for his death, 23, 24. Aaron is stripped on Mount Hor, and his vestments put on Eleazar his son; Aaron dies, 25-28, The people mourn for him thirty days, 29.

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B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40.

a

THEN came the children of Israel, even the whole con gregation, into the desert of Zin, in the first month; and the people abode in a Chap. xxxiii. 36. b Exod. xv. 20; chap. xxvi. 59. NOTES ON CHAP. XX.

Verse 1. Then came the children of Israel, &c.] This was the first month of the fortieth year after their departure from Egypt. See chap. xxxiii. 38, compared with ver. 28 of this chapter, and Deut. i. 3. The transactions of thirty-seven years Moses passes by, because he writes not as a historian but as a legis, lator; and gives us particularly an account of the laws, ordinances, and other occurrences of the first and last years of their peregrinations. The year now spoken of was the last of their journeyings; for from the going out of the spies, chap. xiii., unto this time, was about thirty-eight years, Deut. i, 22, 23, ii. 14.

Desert of Zin] Calmet contends that this is not the same desert mentioned Exod. xvi. 1, where Israel had their eighth encampment; that in Exodus being called in the original o sin, this here 3 tsin: but this is no positive proof, as letters of the same organ are frequently interchanged in all languages, and particularly in Hebrew.

b

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Kadesh; and Miriam died there, A. M. 2553. and was buried there.

B. C. 1451. An. Exod. Isr. 40.

And there was no water for congregation: and they gathered them

2

C

the

e Exod. xvii. 1.. -d Chap. xvi. 19, 42.

And Miriam died there] Miriam was certainly older than Moses. When he was an infant, exposed on the river Nile, she was intrusted by her parents to watch the conduct of Pharaoh's daughter, and to manage a most delicate business, that required much address and prudence. See Exod. ii. It is supposed that she was at the time of her death one hundred and thirty · years of age, having been at least ten years old at her brother's birth. The Catholic writers represent her as a type of the Virgin Mary; as having preserved a perpetual virginity; as being legislatrix over the Israelitish women, as Moses was over the men; and as having a large portion of the spirit of prophecy. Eu sebius says that her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of Petra, in his time. She appears to have died about four months before her brother Aaron, chap. xxxiii. 38, and eleven before her brother Moses; so that these three, the most eminent of human beings, died in the space of one year!

Verse 2. And there was no water for the congrega

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