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wards, (Levit. vii, 15,) because after that time they became tainted and putrid.

For the special honour of Oblations, and all those things which were devoted to the Great and Ever-Blessed God, it was commanded, (Levit. v, 16,) that whoever should apply any hallowed thing to his own use, should be considered as committing a trespass, and requiring atonement, and should add a fifth part and give it to the priest, even if he had committed the trespass through ignorance. In like manner it is forbidden (Deut. xv, 19) "to do any work with the firstlings of our bullocks, or to shear the firstlings of our sheep," on account of the reverence which ought to be entertained for things consecrated to God. In the law too we are cautioned against altering or changing Sacred Things: for if this were suffered, a bad thing might be substituted for a good one, under a pretence of its being better, and therefore it was decreed, “It, and the exchange thereof, shall be holy."(Lev. xxvii, 10.) Nor is the reason obscure why it was enjoined (Levit. xxvii, 13,) that, he who wished to redeem any of his devoted things should "add a fifth part to it;" for men always regard their own advantage, and are naturally inclined to parsimony and avarice, so that they seldom accurately estimate the value of any sacred thing, or so fully exhibit it as that an adequate price may be affixed to it, and, therefore, they were ordered to make an addition to the price, to

render it equal to the sum for which they would be willing to sell another. The whole of these injunctions were likewise designed to prevent any thing being despised which bore upon it the name of GoD, and was consecrated to Him. (104)

Every Mincha, or Meat-Offering for the priest, was commanded "to be wholly burnt, and not eaten," (Levit. vi, 23,) because every priest had to offer the oblation for himself; but if he had brought the Meat-Offering, and yet had been permitted to eat it, it would have been doing nothing, for, of the oblation of any other, who was a private man, the frankincense and a handful of flour was all that was offered; (Levit. ii, 2;) and such a diminution of the oblation would not have been sufficient, if he who brought it might have eaten the rest, nor would it have appeared to be an act of worship, and, therefore, it was ordered to be burnt.

The reason for the peculiar statutes and customs of the Passover, such as, that it was to be eaten merely roasted with fire,-to be eaten in one house, and not to have a bone of it broken, (Exod. xii, 9, 46,) is evident and clear; for as unleavened bread was used because of haste, so for the same reason also roasted meat was preferred, because there was not time for food to be daintily cooked and prepared, nor could the stay to break the bones and take away what, in other cases, was forbidden. The law adduces this reason for these things, when it says, (Exod. xii. 11,) “ Ye

shall eat it in haste;" for when persons are in haste there is no opportunity for breaking bones, or for sending flesh from one house to another, and waiting the return of the messenger, for all these things require time and leisure; and the cause of their being "in haste," was, lest any one should be retarded so long as to be prevented from departing with the multitude, and should be intercepted and killed: they were also ordered to be always observed, that the memory of the passover might be perpetuated according to that which is said, (Exod. xii. 24,) "Ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever."

The Paschal Lamb was to be eaten by a certain number of persons, (Exod. xii. 4,) that every one might seriously and diligently provide it for himself, and not trust to any friend or neighbour who might neglect it.-The uncircumcised were forbidden to eat of it, for which our Rabbins offer the following reason: They omitted, say they, the precept of Circumcision during their long sojourning in Egypt, that they might be like the Egyptians: when, therefore, the ordinance of the Passover was enjoined us, God annexed this condition to it, that no one should slay it until he had circumcised himself, and his sons and domestics, and then he might eat it. All circumcised themselves, and such was the number of the circumcised, that the blood of circumcision was mingled with the blood of the Passover ; and some vestiges of this we have in the Prophet, (Ezek.

xvi. 6,) saying, “And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood,” i. e. in the blood of the Circumcision and in the blood of the Passover.

Besides, although Blood was in some sort considered as unclean and impure in the eyes of the Zabii, yet it was eaten by them, because they supposed it to be the food of demons, and that he who ate it acquired, by that means, some kind of communion with them, so that they would converse familiarly with him, and reveal to him future events, according to what is generally attributed to demons by the vulgar. There were, however, some among the Zabii, to whom the eating of blood appeared loathsome and repulsive, being what men, in general, naturally abhor. These, therefore, slew a beast and caught the blood, which they poured into a vessel or small hole in the ground, and then sitting in a circle round the blood, ate the flesh, imagining that by this action the demons drank the blood as their food, whilst they themselves were eating the flesh, and that friendship, fraternity, and familiarity

thereby contracted with them, because they had eaten at the same table and reclined on the same seat; besides which, they also believed, that demons appeared to them in their sleep, indicating many things that were to come, and discovering others. In fact, these opinions were, at that time, universally viewed and approved, and no one doubted the truth of them.

For this cause, therefore, the Divine Law, which renders those who know it perfect, was given to eradicate those inveterate diseases, by prohibiting the eating of blood, and, as in the case of idolatry, enforcing the prohibition by an additional sanction; for God says of eating blood, (Levit. xvii. 10.) "I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people ;" and in the same manner he says concerning him who sacrifices his son to Moloch, (Levit. xx. 3,)" I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given his seed to Moloch."-A mode of expression never used but respecting idolatry and the eating of blood, and denounced against the latter because it induced and encouraged that species of idolatry which consisted in the worship of demons. (105)

But notwithstanding this, the law pronounced blood to be clean, and those who touched it, not to be polluted, as it is said, (Exod. xxix. 21,) "Thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar,—and altar, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him."-It was also commanded to "sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about." (Exod. xxix. 20.) But this injunction was added, that every act of this kind of wor