of the Women; when sodden, the priest came and took out the other or left shoulder, laid it upon the hands of the Nazarite, with one of the cakes of unleavened bread and one of the wafers of the meat-offering, placed above these the heave shoulder and wave breast which he had formerly cut off, and then laid the inwards and fat above them all, in order to be waved before the Lord; which being done, the fat and inwards were burnt upon the altar in the way we have frequently described; the cake and wafer were also burnt according to the law of the meat-offerings; the heave shoulder, wave breast, the shoulder that was sodden, and the rest of the cakes and wafers were the property of the priest; the remaining part of the victim was eaten by the Nazarite, either in the precincts of the Temple or at Jerusalem; and after that, he was released from his vow. SECT. III. Meat and Drink-offerings: Wave and Heave- Meat-offerings-Thirteen kinds of them; rules for managing them: the proportion of meat-offerings for the different kinds of sacrifices under the Tabernacle and first Temple; why honey forbidden. The alterations introduced under the second temple. The manner of offering them in our Saviour's days. Drink-offerings-what; the quantity required for the different animals; the sacrifices that had both meat and drink-offerings. The drink-offering of the daily sacrifice was the signal for the music to begin. Heave and Waveofferings their nature; the property of the priests. An equitable regulation about the dead and of spoil founded on them. Two questions answered; 1st. How the persons liable for offerings were induced to pay them? 2nd. At what time the offerings which they owed became due? We are now come to the fifth class of offerings, or those known by the name of meat-offerings (,) of which there were thirteen kinds; three for the whole congregation, and ten for particular persons. The three for the whole congregation were as follow:-1. The twelve loaves of shew bread, which were set before the Lord every sabbath, removed on the sabbath following, and eaten by the priests. 2. The sheaf, or, as the word also signifies, the omer of the first-fruits of their harvest." This Dr. Lightfoot informs us was barley, because the harvest of that grain was the earliest. It was waved before the Lord, part of it was offered, and part of it eaten. "Every waving," says Rabbi Solomon on Lev. xxiii. 9, "is bringing it this way and that way, up and down: and the waving it this way and that way, was for the restraining of evil winds; while the waving of it up and down was for the restraining of evil dews." The third meat-offering for the whole congregation, consisted in the two wheaten wave loaves, that were offered at the feast of pentecost, as the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. 2. Such were the three meat-offerings that were peculiar to the whole congregation.-The ten for particular persons were as follow:-1. The daily meat-offering of the high priest; which was the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour baked in a pan with oil, and the half of it offered in the morning, and the other half at night. The meat-offering of initiation; which every priest brought in his hand at his first entrance into the office. 3. The sinners' meat-offering; or that which a poor man who should have brought a sin-offering, substituted in place of it, on account of his poverty. This is mentioned in Levit. v. 11, and shews the regard that God had for those who were in indigent circumstances. It was the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, without either oil or • Exod. xxv. 30. Levit. xxiv. 5-9. Ib. xxiii. 15-17. b Levit. xxiii. 9-14. d Ib. vi. 20-22. Ib. vi, 20-23. frankincense. 4. The jealousy meat-offering; or the of fering brought with the suspected wife, and mentioned in Num. v. 15. It was the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without either oil or frankincense and it is worthy of remark, that this, and the meat-offering of the first-fruits of the barley harvest, were the only meat-offerings which were enjoined to be of barley; for all the other kinds were of the fine flour of wheat. 5. The meat-offering of fine flour unbaked, which was prepared by pouring oil and frankincense upon it. This is mentioned in Lev. ii. 1-3. 6. The meat-offering baked in the oven; which was either unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. These are mentioned in Lev. ii. 4. 7. The meat-offering baked in a pan; which was fine flour unleavened mingled with oil, parted in pieces, and oil poured on the pieces. This is mentioned in Lev. ii. 5, 6. 8. The meat-offering that was made in the frying-pan; and which was fine flour mingled with oil. This is mentioned in Lev. ii. 7. 9. The wafers baked in the oven, which were classed with the unleavened cakes, in No. 6. And, 10. The offerings of the first-fruits by individuals at the feast of pentecost, as we shall have occasion to notice in a subsequent page. Such were the different kinds of meat-offerings; both of a public and private nature, which were enjoined upon the Jews. rules for managing them out of the law, were generally as follow:-They were brought to the priest, who carried them to the altar, took a handful from each of them as an oblation, salted it, and burnt it upon the altar: after which the remainder became the property of the priesthood, and was eaten by those whose course it was to serve. No leaven or honey was allowed in any of a The a Lev. ii. 14-16. Deut. xxvi. 1-10. b Lev. ii. 2. 8,9, 10; vi. 14-18; x. 12, 13. VOL. I. X x ferring. And the last appears the more singular, that it was apparently agreeable in itself, and honourable to God. But the reasons may have been, first, that God might not appear pleased with things merely on account of their sweetness; and, secondly, because the heathens offered honey to Bacchus, the dii superi and the dii inferi, and departed heroes. Hence Orpheus, in the beginning of his Hymns, calls the infernal gods usin Oɛol, and the souls of the dead, uɛ2σou. The origin of which custom is thus explained by Porphyry: 66 They made honey a symbol of death; and therefore poured out a libation of honey to the terrestrial gods." But as meat-offerings were commonly the attendants on animal sacrifices, it is proper here to state the proportions. Three tenth deals mingled with half a hin of oil, were the quantity for a bullock; two tenth deals mingled with the third of a hin of oil, for a ram; and one tenth deal mingled with the fourth of a hin of oil, for a lamb. These were the general directions: but in Lev. xiv. 10, we find a log ordered for three tenth deals in the meat-offering of the leper: and in the same chapter a log of oil is ordered to but one tenth deal of fine flour, in the case of those lepers that were poor; so that a log, in the cleansing of the leper, seems to have been both the largest and the least allotted quantity. In the meatoffering that was attached to the morning and evening sacrifice, the quantity of oil to a tenth deal of flour was the fourth part of a hin. And if we descend to the times of Ezekiel, we shall find that the flour, in the meat-of a Lev. ii. 11. b Ovid. Fast. lib. iii. 735. Pausan. in Eliac. prior p. 415. Strabo, Geog. lib. xv. Odyss. x. 518; xi. 26. Euripid. Orest. vers. 115. Eschyl. in Pers. vers. 611. De Antr. Nymphar. p. 262. 8 Num. xv. 1-12; xxviii. 28, 29. i Exod. xxix. 40. Num, xxviii. 5. 7. f Spencer, Leg. Heb. lib. ii. cap. 11. ferings of the morning and evening service, was the sixth part of an ephah mixed with the third part of a hin of oil; while to meat-offerings in general the common allowance was a hin of oil, or seventy-two egg-shells full, to an ephah.b The arrangement for the meat-offerings, under the second Temple, is thus described by Lightfoot from the Jewish writings:-1. No offering was to consist of less than the tenth part of an ephah and a log of oil. Yet as many more tenth parts might be offered as the offerer pleased, provided only that not above sixty were in one vessel, and that a log of oil was joined with every tenth part. 2. When the meat-offering was one of the four kinds that were formerly described as baked, they formed the tenth deal of flour into ten cakes; so that whatever number of tenth deals were offered, there were always so many times ten cakes. But in the high-priest's meat-offering, they departed from this rule, and made his into twelve; dividing every cake into two parts, and offering twelve of these halves in the morning, and twelve in the evening. 3. There were some meat-offerings that required both oil and frankincense; some, that required oil without frankincense; some, frankincense without oil; and some, that neither needed frankincense nor oil. Of the first kind was the meat-offering of fine flour unbaked; the four that were baked, the meat-offering of the high priest, that of the priest's initiation, the offering of firstfruits, and the meat-offerings that were made by heathens, or women. Of the second kind were the meat-offerings that were joined with drink-offerings. Of the third kind, was the shew bread. And of the fourth, were the sinner's meat-offering, and the meat-offering of the suspected wife. These are Lightfoot's words, and he is |