in

generally kept at Shiloh, but was carried with their armies war, and served in point of fact as a moveable sanctuary. We hear nothing of it for a very considerable period, and with the destruction of Solomon's temple it vanishes entirely from history.

Jehovah was supposed to dwell more especially wherever the ark happened to be placed; but we find nevertheless, in the earliest times, that places of sacrifice, altars and sanctuaries, almost without number, are mentioned where Jehovah was publicly worshiped, and whither Movers, on no sufficient evidence, supposes the ark to have been transferred. Among these places, to which men were wont to repair in order to ask counsel of Jehovah1, and most of which are provided with local traditions in Genesis, the following are frequently mentioned,-Bethel, Hebron, Sichem, Shiloh, Bethlehem, Mizpeh, Gibeah, Nob, Ramath, and Gilgal2. Samuel himself dwelt at Ramath and built an altar there3, but he made a yearly circuit to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpeh, in order "to judge Israel.” Micah, a man of Ephraim, had a "house of God" of his own, and had moreover hired a Levite to officiate as his priest, but "then there was no king in Israel, and every one did what was right in his own eyes." The prophet

1 "And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first."-Judges xx. 18.

2 See De Wette, i. 226, &c.; Bleek, Stud. and Krit., 1831, iii. 503.

3 "And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places."-1 Sam. vii. 16. 4"And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest." —Judges xvii. 5.

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NUMEROUS SACRED ALTARS.

Gad, also, commanded David to build an altar on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite1, and it seems by no means improbable that the forty-eight cities of the priests and Levites2 may all originally have been "holy places3." Each of these of course had its separate body of priests; thus Ahimelech and his company were at Nob, of whom Saul slew eighty-five, and all of these wore linen ephods and are termed priests of the Lord; the ark however could not have been there, and thus it would appear that a perfect freedom of worship (which even temples of stone can never entirely restrain) must at this time have everywhere prevailed. The Pentateuch, nevertheless, in order to pre

1 "And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite."-2 Sam. xxiv. 18.

2 "All the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities them shall ye give with their suburbs. And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have many ye shall give many: but from them that have few ye shall give few every one shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth."-Numb. xxxv. 7,8.

See note on Gen. xlix. 7. "I will divide them [Simeon and Levi] in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."

3 Credner, on Joel ii. 25, p. 214.

4 “Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest.”—1 Sam. xxi. 1. [See also the following verses :

"And the king [Saul] said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob the city of the priests smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword."-1 Sam. xxii. 17, 18, 19.]

FREEDOM OF WORSHIP.

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vent all unauthorized worship, and guard the rights of the priests from even the possibility of infringement1, enjoins, under pain of death, that every offering should be brought to one sanctuary, the tabernacle of the congregation, and so by implication to the temple at Jerusalem; thus in

1 Compare Levit. xvii. 8, 9. "And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people."

2 "To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord."-Lev. xvii. 5. So also Num. xvii. 3. [and 8.] and the following verses :

ye

"But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye shall dwell in safety; then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you ; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest."-Deut. xii.

dulging, it would seem, the poetical idea that the priests in a body should receive all the firstlings of the herds and flocks of the people in one and the same place; nay, that every firstling should be actually eaten in the temple', -a plan, it is manifest, that must have remained a mere pious imagination, and could never have been carried into practice.

The Pentateuch, moreover, is not only familiar with many articles of luxury and refinement, with gold and silver in abundance, signet-rings3, woven veils1, crimson 5, and so forth, but even presents us in the deserts of Arabia with a sacred tent [or tabernacle] of the most costly materials,

1 “All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God......Thou shalt eat it [the. firstling bullock or sheep] before the Lord thy God, year by year, in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household."-Deut. xv. 19, 20.

2 "And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.”— Gen. xiii. 2.

"And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." -Gen. xxiii. 16.

“And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold." Gen. xxiv. 35.

:

"And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears."—Gen. xxxv. 4. 3" And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand."-Gen. xxxviii. 18.

4" She took a vail, and covered herself."-Gen. xxiv. 65.

"And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself.”— Gen. xxxviii. 14.

5 "The midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread." Gen. xxxviii. 28.

6

'According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the taber

in which, besides the gorgeous dresses of the priests', and the large store of foreign spices2, gold and silver, brass and precious stones, silk and purple, were used in the utmost profusion. We learn, nevertheless, from the records of ancient commerce, that many of these articles (as silk and jewels for instance) were only introduced into western Asia by the trade which arose under Solomon; that gold came from a distance3; and that purple was extravagantly dear, (a pound of it being valued at £24 sterling, so late as the reign of Augustus), whilst the entire description is open to strong objections of a totally different character. The mythical character of the whole of this narrative is clearly betrayed in the statement, that the Deity himself is said to have given the plan for the tabernacle, and that at the same time (from the utter want of order that prevails in the plan which is given) no artist could possibly have constructed it4.

nacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."-Exod. xxv. 9.

"And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars."-Exod. xl. 18.

"And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre and a girdle and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office."-Exod. xxviii. 4.

2 "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."-Exod. xxx. 23.

3 "Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder.”Jerem. x. 9.

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks."-Job xxii. 24.

4 See Vater on Exod. xxvi. [The position intended for the eight boards at the western extremity of the tabernacle, six on the two