secure,

1. The first thing we notice is the morning service. After having enjoyed their repose, the priests bathed themselves in the rooms provided for that purpose, and waited the arrival of the president of the lots. This officer having arrived, they divided themselves into two companies, each of which was provided with lamps or torches, and made a circuit of the temple, going in different directions, and meeting at the pastryman's chamber, on the south side of the gate Nicanor. Having summoned him to prepare the cakes for the high-priest's meat-offering, they retired with the president to the south-east corner of the court, and cast lots for the duties connected with the altar. The priest being chosen to remove the ashes from the altar, he again washed his feet at the laver, and then, with the silver shovel, proceeded to his work. As soon as he had removed one shovelful of the ashes, the other priests retired to wash their hands and feet, and then joined him in cleaning the altar and renewing the fires. The next duty was to cast lots for the thirteen particular duties connected with offering the sacrifice, which being settled, the president ordered one of them to fetch the lamb for the morning sacrifice. While the priests on this duty were engaged in fetching and examining the victim, those who carried the keys were opening the seven gates of the court of Israel, and the two doors that separated between the porch and the holy place. When the last of the seven gates was opened, the silver trumpets gave a flourish, to call the Levites to their desks for the music, and the stationary men to their places, as the representatives of the people. The opening of the folding-doors of the temple was the established signal for killing the sacrifice, which was cut in pieces and carried to the top of the altar, where it was salted and left, while the priests once more retired to the room Gazith to join in prayer. While the sacrifice was being slain in the court of the priests, the two priests appointed to trim the lamps and cleanse the altar of incense

* Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii., pp. 169, 170. The whole congregation was divided into twenty-four clases, each of which sent a representative.

tween the sprinkling of the blood and the laying the pieces upon the altar, in the morning; and in the evening, between the laying of the pieces upon the altar and the drink-offering. As they proceeded to the temple they rang the megemphita, or great bell, to warn the absent priests to come to worship; the absent Levites to come to sing; and the stationary men to bring to the gate Nicanor those whose purification was not perfected. The priest who carried the censer of coals, which had been taken from one of the three fires on the great altar, after kindling the fire on the incense altar, worshipped and came out into the porch, leaving the priest who had the incense alone in the holy place. As soon as the signal was given by the president, the incense was kindled, the holy place was filled with perfume, and the congregation without joined in the prayers.‡ These being ended, the priest, whose lot it was to lay the pieces of the sacrifice upon the altar, threw them into the fire, and then, taking the tongs, disposed them in somewhat of their natural order. The four priests who had been in the holy place now appeared upon the steps that led to the porch, and extending their arms, so as to raise their hands higher than their heads, one of them pronounced the solemn blessing, Numb. vi. 24— 26. After this benediction, the daily meat-offering was offered; then the meat-offering of the high-priest; and last of all the drink-offering; at the conclusion of which the Levites began the song of praise, and, at every pause in the music, the trumpets sounded and the people worshipped. This was the termination of the morning service.|| It should be stated, that the morning service of the priests began with the dawn of day, except in the great festivals, when it began much earlier: the sacrifice was offered immediately after sunrise.

2. During the middle of the day the priests held themselves in readiness to offer the sacrifices that might be presented by any of the Israelites, either of a voluntary or an expiatory nature. Their duties would therefore vary according to the number and nature of the offerings they might have to present.

+ See Luke i. 9, &c. Lightfoot, Temple Service, chap. ix.

liar to himself, belonged exclusively to the highpriests, while the rest of the offices might be legitimately performed by the other priests.

2. In addition to the splendour of his dress and the dignity of his office, of which we shall presently speak, there were certain things of a civil nature in which the high-priest differed from other men. It was necessary, for instance, that he should be free from bodily defect, Lev. xxi. 17-21. He could neither marry a widow, nor a woman that had been divorced, nor a profane woman; but only a virgin, ver. 7-15. He might not be defiled for the dead, or mourn, except for his nearest relations, ver. 1-3. He might not be veiled if others were, or unveiled if they happened to be so; and while others sat on the ground, he sat on a seat. In short, the Jewish policy seems to have been, never to allow that principal functionary to forget that he was the priest of God, and solemnly separated from the rest of men. Yet, high as his character was, in a sacred point of view, he was not raised above the law; for there were circumstances which show that, in civil matters, the crown was always superior to the mitre. Thus, he might be a witness in a civil cause, and, if necessary, evidence might be given against him. He might act as a judge occasionally; and, when guilty, could himself be judged. If he so far forgot the sanctity of his character, as to do any thing that required whipping, he was suspended from his office, punished by the Sanhedrin, and then deposed. His shoe might be pulled off, for not raising seed unto his brother (Deut. xxv. 5), although he was not permitted to marry a widow, Lev. xxi. 13, 14. These, and several other things which might be mentioned, serve to show that the sanctity of his character did not raise him above civil control.*

3. That no species of sanctity or honour might be wanting to the priesthood, the Aaronic priests were consecrated to their office by various rites and ceremonies, in the following manner :-The first part of the consecration commenced with ablution (Exod. xxix. 4; Lev. viii. 6), to teach them the necessity of holiness to the proper discharge of so sacred an office. As soon as the lustrations had been duly performed on Aaron and his sons, Aaron himself was arrayed in the pontifical attire; the splendour and magnificence of which were proportioned to the dignity of the priesthood, and of the services to be performed. Hence they are said to have been made "for glory and for beauty," Exod. xxviii. 2. The vestments

Lightfoot, Temple Service, chap. iii. See also Brown's Jewish Antiq., vol. i., pp. 248, 249.

of the high-priests were the coat, the drawers or breeches, the girdle, the robe, the ephod, the breast-plate, the mitre, and the crown; all which, being very beautiful, and some of them made of gold, have been called by the Jews golden vestments, Exod. xxviii. These were put upon Aaron, and used to be worn by every high-priest in the performance of all the sacred functions, except only on the day of annual atonement. In the services of that day no others were worn than the coat, the drawers, the girdle, and the mitre; these were made of linen, and are called by the Jews white vestments. Grief became that day, and pompous attire is unsuitable to grief. When arrayed with these vestments, Aaron was further dignified by being anointed with the holy oil (Exod. xxix. 7, xxx. 25; Lev. viii. 12), which the Jewish writers say was profusely poured over his head, and thence drawn over his forehead, so as to describe on it, according to some, the Greek X, according to others the K, or according to others the Hebrew, which is the first letter of the word priest in that language; for there is nothing which the Jews leave uninvolved in their subtleties. The holy unction, however, was significant of honour and joy, as well as of sanctity and divine inspiration. In allusion to this, David says, “Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows," Ps. xlv. 7. Hence it is, also, that the Son of God, being endued with the Holy Spirit without measure (John iii. 34), is called Messiah, Christ, the anointed. Hence, likewise, Christians themselves, who are made spiritual kings and priests (Rev. i. 6), are said to be "anointed," and to have "received an unction," 2 Cor. i. 21. And hence, in the last place, among the ancient Christians unction was connected with baptism.†

4. These rites having been performed upon Aaron, his sons were next enrobed with the vestments appointed for them, and then the oblation of three sacrifices for the whole of them followed. First, a sin-offering, as a kind of expiation by which they were to be purified. Secondly, a burnt-offering, as a gift or present to recommend them to their Lord; and, lastly, a peace-offering, as a sacred feast by which they were introduced into the family of God. For even the offerers themselves were permitted to feed upon peaceofferings; and those who rightly fed upon them were considered as God's domestics, Exod. xxix. ; Lev. viii. With the blood of the ram, which was immolated as a peace-offering, the right ears of all the priests were then imbued, and the thumbs

Tertullian de Baptism, chap. vii.

of their right hands, and the great toes of their right feet, Exod. xxix. 20; Lev. viii. 23, 24. By this ceremony every priest was admonished what great attention he was required to give to the study of the law, to the sacred services, and to his ways a term by which the Hebrews denote the general conduct. Abarbanel observes, that these ceremonies were performed on the right ear, right hand, and right foot, to teach the priest that his hearing, his actions, and his manners ought always to have a right tendency: for the right denotes perfection.* After these things were done, Moses, who was appointed to officiate as a priest in these solemnities, "took of the ram" last mentioned, “the fat and the rump, and all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and the right shoulder; and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one unleavened wafer, and put all in the hands of Aaron and his sons;" and placing his hands under their hands, he "waved them" all to and fro, and presented them to God, the possessor of all things; and having thus presented them, he "took them from off their hands," and proceeded to "burn them upon the altar," Lev. viii. 25-28; Exod. xxix. 22-25. The breast of this ram he waved in the same manner, and took for himself, that being his share, as he had done the duty of a priest. He then sprinkled Aaron and his sons, and all their garments, with blood taken from the altar, and with the holy oil. In this manner he consecrated both the priests themselves and the sacerdotal vestments, Lev. viii. 29, 30.

5. By these rites and ceremonies, repeated for seven successive days, the whole family of Aaron was originally invested with the priesthood, Lev. viii. 33, 34. But as long as any of the holy oil remained, all his successors in the priesthood, when about to enter on their office, were anointed and arrayed with the pontifical vestments, for the same number of days, Exod. xxix. 29, 30. Hence the high-priest is sometimes designated in the Scripture as "the priest that is anointed," Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16. But after the consumption of the sacred oil made by Moses, which the Jews affirm was never made again, it was a sufficient investment in the high-priesthood to be arrayed in the pontifical robes for seven successive days; after which he was said to be "consecrated by the garments." The case of the high-priest differed from that of the common priests, who were never consecrated afresh after the original consecration of

* Ad Exod. xxix.

their fathers, the immediate sons of Aaron. The reason of this difference was, that the pontificate descended according to personal claims, but the priesthood by hereditary right.†

6. The high-priest, being thus installed, was prepared for discharging the various parts of his office, which were as follow:-(1) To offer sacrifices for the people; some of which he performed alone, as on the great day of atonement, in the most holy place; some with the assistance of the priests, as the offering of incense, and trimming the lamps, at certain times, in the holy place; and some with the assistance of both priests and Levites, as all the services of the brazen altar, where the priests in killing, and the Levites in removing what was offensive about the bodies of the beasts that were sacrificed.—(2) To bless the people, either at stated seasons, according to the form prescribed in Numb. vi. 23-27, or occasionally, as when Eli blessed Hannahı, 1 Sam. i. 17.-(3) To judge the people, either in things concerning the house and worship of God (Zech. iii. 6, 7), or in hard and difficult cases of a civil nature, when he was joined with the civil judge or ruler, Deut. xvii. 12. Dr. Owen makes him also to have been, ex officio, a member of the Sanhedrin, which he thinks is countenanced by Deut. xvii. 8-13, although he owns that this is denied by some of the Jews.||

7. The high-priest held his office for life, that is, he could not be deposed by any legal procedure. But it frequently happened, in the times toward the end of the Jewish polity, that the office was made an object of emolument and ambition, and priests were deposed and installed according to the pleasure of those who wielded the supreme authority in the state. See the books of Maccabees, and Josephus's Jewish Wars, b. iv., c. 3.

8. In closing these observations, we must not omit to notice the typical character of the highpriest, the illustration of which truth is one of the objects proposed by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews. As our great high-priest, Christ has offered a more excellent sacrifice than those with which Aaron was provided. He, "through the Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God," and then passed through the heavens into the most holy place, to present the oblation of his blood on our behalf.

Outram on Sacrifices, Diss. i., c. 5.
Brown's Jewish Antiq., vol. i., p. 247.

|| Exercit. 23, in vol. i. of his Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. For a more detailed account of the vestments and duties of the high-priest, see Jennings's Jewish Antiq., b. i..c 5.