Sacrifices
Lev. 1: 2.—If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—Only such animals as formed part of their herds and flocks, and were used for food, should be offered for sacrifice. This formed one important distinction between the sacrifices of the Hebrews and those of other ancient nations; for although the latter sacrificed oxen, sheep and goats, they also offered many other animals, clean and unclean, wild and tame. Thus, horses were sacrificed to the sun, hogs to Ceres and to Bacchus, dogs to Hecate, and wolves to Mars. In Arabia, camels were anciently sacrificed, as is still done occasionally—Pict. Bib. In loco.
Lev. 1:4.—And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
REV. J. ROBERTS.—It is a fact, that when a Hindu makes an offering of a goat or a ram, he puts his hand on the head of the victim, while the, priest repeats the mantherams or prayers; after which the head is struck off at one blow.—Orient. Illust., p. 83.
Lev. 1:5.—And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—Many curious and illustrative traces of this custom of sprinkling or offering the blood may be discovered among nations remote from each other in time and place. Among the Greeks the blood was reserved in a vessel and offered on the altar. Among the Scythians (who often sacrificed men) the blood of the victims was sprinkled on their deity; with blood also they profusely sprinkled the trunks of their sacred trees. The Indians who reside among the hills Rajamahall sprinkle the blood of their sacrifices on the shrine Chumda. Some Indian tribes worship a rude stone by an offering of blood. The Chaman Tartars stain their idols with blood—Pict. Bib. In loco.
The Sacred Fire
Lev. 6:13.—The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.
REV. J. J. STEWART BROWNE, B. D.—This fire was the symbol and token of the perpetual worship of Jehovah. For inasmuch as the whole religion of Israel was concentrated in the sacrifices which were offered, the extinguishing of the fire would have looked like the extinguishing of the religion itself.—In Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 76.
REV. THOMAS S. MILLINGTON, M. A.—The Chaldeans and Persians, and after them the Greeks and Romans, had sacred hearths on which they preserved a perpetual fire. In the temple of Apollo Carneus at Cyrene the fire upon the altar was never suffered to be extinguished: the same is related of the sacred fire in the temple of Aderbain in Armenia: the Caimachitæ of India also maintained a perpetual fire. Pausanias mentions the lamp of Minerva Pallas, at Athens, which never went out: and many of the Romans maintained a constant fire, not only in the temple, but in their private houses.—Testimony of the Heathen, p. 109.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—In imitation of this perpetual fire (upon the Hebrew altar), he ancient Persian Magi, and their descendants the Parsees, kept up a perpetual fire: the latter continue to the present day.—Note In loco.
Fat and Blood Prohibited
Lev. 7:23, 26.—Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—The prohibition on eating fat was salubrious in a region where skin diseases are frequent and virulent; and that on blood had, no doubt, a similar tendency.—In Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 3346.
Ablutions
Lev. 8:6.—And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—We find at the heathen temples, lavers of a similar use to this at the tabernacle. The Egyptian priests washed themselves with cold water twice every day, and twice at night; the Greeks had their sprinklings, the Romans their lavations and lustrations; the ancient Christians practiced ablution before receiving the sacrament, and also bathed their eyes on entering a church. The Roman Catholic Church retains something of the practice of ablution before, and sometimes after, mass; and Calmet says that the holy-water vessels at the entrance of the churches are in imitation of the laver of the tabernacle. The Mohammedans wash before entering a Mosque. The Hindus rejoice in the purifying virtues of the Ganges. In fact, nothing is, or has been, more common than ablutions in the worship which different nations render to their gods; and there are few acts connected with their service which are not begun or ended with some rite symbolical of purification—Pict. Bib. In loco.
Clean and Unclean Animals
Lev. 11:2.—Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts' hat are on the earth.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—As regards the animals allowed for food, comparing them with those forbidden, there can be no doubt on which side the balance of wholesomeness lies. Nor would any dietetic economist fail to pronounce in favor of the Levitical dietary code as a whole, as insuring the maximum of public health.—In Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 3346.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—The close connection that subsists between the body and the soul, we cannot fully comprehend; and as little can we comprehend the influence they have on each other. Many moral alterations take place in the mind in consequence of the influence of the bodily organs; and these latter are greatly influenced by the kind of aliment which the body receives. God knows what is in man, and he knows what is in all creatures; he has, therefore, graciously forbidden what would injure both body and mind, and commanded what is best calculated to be useful to both.—Comment on chap. 11., in fine.
Lev. 11:3.—Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—Here we have a specific allusion to that order of the Mammalia which are called the Ruminantia, as embracing all those animals that chew the cud, and have the foot divided into two principal toes. The reader will not fail to observe that the beautifully simple and scientific division of quadrupeds here stated on Divine authority at so early a period, is one which has never yet, after all the improvements in natural history, become obsolete; but on the contrary, is one which the greatest masters of the science have continued to consider useful—Pict. Bib. In loco.
Lev. 11: 7, 8.—And the swine... of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcass shall ye not touch: they are unclean to you.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—Swine are said to be peculiarly liable to disease in their own bodies. This probably means that they are more easily led than other creatures to the foul feeding which produces it; and where the average heat is great, decomposition rapid, and malaria easily excited, this tendency in the animal is more mischievous than elsewhere. A meazel or mezel, from whence we have "measled pork," is the old English word for a “leper," and it is asserted that eating swine's flesh in Syria and Egypt tends to produce that disorder.—In Smith's Dict. of the Bible, P. 3346.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—Of all animals, the hog is the only one subject to leprosy, and also to measles, and a disorder resembling the king's evil. The Hebrews were aware of this, and had a saying that the hogs received nine out of ten measures of leprosy that descended on the world—Pict. Bib. In loco.
MICHAELIS.—Whoever is afflicted with any cutaneous diseases must carefully abstain from swine's flesh if he wishes to recover. It has likewise long ago been observed, that the eating of swine's flesh produces a peculiar susceptibility of itchy disorders. Now in the whole tract of country in which Palestine lies, something more to the south, and something more to the north, the leprosy is an endemic disease: in Egypt it is peculiarly common; and the Israelites left that country so far infected with it, that Moses was obliged to make many regulations on the subject, that the contagion might be weakened, and the people tolerably guarded against its influence. Every physician will interdict a person laboring under any cutaneous disease from eating pork—Obs. In loco.
PLUTARCH.-As for swine's flesh, the Jews have it in great abomination. They suppose that the white leprosy may be engendered by feeding upon it—Sympos, 1. iv., qu. 5.
IDEM.—The bodies of those who drink the milk of swine break out into leprous and rough scabs.— De Isid. et Osirid., c. 8.
PLINY.—In cases of scrofula, the use of swine's flesh is forbidden to the patient. —.Hist. Nat., 1. xxx., c. 12.
Lev. 11:9, 12.—These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—Amongst fishes, those which were allowed contain, unquestionably, the most wholesome varieties, save that they exclude the oyster. —Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 3344.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—We may observe that the fish with fins and scales are generally to this day regarded as wholesome, and often delicious, while the rest that differ in these particulars are frequently looked upon with disgust, and sometimes with horror, from the belief that they are sometimes poisonous. It is interesting to remark how the sentiments of mankind do generally, in this instance, coincide with the Divine precept—Pict. Bib. In loco.
Lev. 11:13.—And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls: they shall not be eaten.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—By the law of Moses, birds were divided into two classes, so far as food was concerned-the clean and the unclean. The unclean included all birds of prey, and carrion and fish-feeders. On other classes, as the passerine birds, game and poultry groups, the Duck tribe, and most of the Waders, excepting only the Herons and Storks, there was no restriction. In fact, the Mosaic Law permitted the eating of all those birds which are considered edible now, and only forbade those which, however repugnant to our tastes, are yet eaten by many of the half-savage tribes of Syria and Arabia; as the mountaineers of Lebanon will devour the flesh of the Eagle without scruple. The Law of Moses in this respect did but sanction by legislative enactment that which the instinct of civilized man has in all ages approved.—Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 158.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—As regards birds, the Raptores have commonly tough and indigestible flesh, and some of them are in all warm countries the natural scavengers of all sorts of carrion and offal. This alone begets an instinctive repugnance towards them, and associates them with what was beforehand a defilement. Thus to kill them for food would tend to multiply various sources of uncleanness.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 3345.
Lev. 11:22.—Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, etc.
HERODOTUS. —The Nasamones hunt for locusts, which, having dried in the sun, they reduce to a powder, and eat, mixed with milk.—Lib. iv., c. 172.
STRABO. —There is a people of Arabia whose food consists of locusts, which the southwest and west winds, when they blow violently is the spring-time, drive in bodies into the country. The inhabitants catch them, by throwing into the ravines materials which, when ignited, cause a great deal of smoke. The locusts as they fly across the smoke are blinded, and fall down. They are pounded with salt, made into cakes, and eaten as food.—Lib. xvi., c. 4.
PLINY.—Some tribes of the Ethiopians subsist on nothing but locusts, which are smoke-dried and salted as their provision for the year.—Nat. Hist. 1. vic. 35.
M. LEWYSOHN.—A regular traffic used to be carried on with the chagabim (locusts), which were caught in great numbers, and sold after wine had been sprinkled over them; but the Israelites were only allowed to buy them before the dealer had thus prepared them—Zoölog. des Talm., § 384.
REV. WILLIAM HOUGHTON, M. A., F. L. S.—There are different ways of preparing locusts for food; sometimes they are ground and pounded, and then mixed with flour and water, and made into cakes, or they are salted and then eaten; sometimes smoked; boiled or roasted; stewed, or fried in butter.— Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1673.
Purification after Childbirth
Lev. 12:1-6.—If a woman have conceived seed, and borne a man-child: then shall she he unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean... And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three-score and six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering, etc.
ROBERTS.—After the birth of a child, the mother of the Brahmin caste is unclean eleven days; of the royal family, sixteen; of the merchant caste, twenty-one; of the Vellalah, and other castes, thirty-one days. No difference is made in the time of purification for a male or female child. As were the Hebrew women, so are these: they cannot touch any hallowed thing, nor even the vessels used for domestic purposes. When the days of her purification are over, the woman either takes or sends an offering to the temple. Orient. Illust., p. 86.
Leprosy
Lev. 13:2.—When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—The Egyptian bondage, with its studied degradations and privations, and especially the work of the kiln under an Egyptian sun, must have had a frightful tendency to generate this class of disorders; hence Manetho asserts that the Egyptians drove out the Israelites as infected with leprosy.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1630.
Lev. 13:9-11.—When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; and the priest shall see him: and behold if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—There is a remarkable concurrence between the Æschylean description of the disease which was to produce " lichens coursing over the flesh, eroding with fierce voracity the former natural structure, and white hairs shooting up over the part diseased," and some of the Mosaic symptoms; the spreading energy of the evil is dwelt upon both by Moses and by Æschylus, as vindicating its character as a scourge of God. But the symptoms of " white hairs " is a curious and exact confirmation of the genuineness of the detail in the Mosaic account, especially as the poet's language would rather imply that the disease spoken of was not then domesticated in Greece, but the strange horror of some other land.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1633.
Lev. 13:47-49.—The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woolen garment or a linen garment; whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of woolen; whether in a skin, or in anything made of a skin; and if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a plague of leprosy.
Lev. 14:34, 35.—When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; and he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest.
HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—This classing of garments and house-walls with the human epidermis, as leprous, has moved the mirth of Some, and the wonder of others. Yet modern science has established what goes far to vindicate the Mosaic classification as more philosophical than such cavils. It is now known that there are some skin diseases which originate in an acarus, and others which proceed from a fungus. In these we may probably find the solution of the paradox. The analogy between the insect which frets the human skin and that which frets the garment that covers it, between the fungus growth that lines the crevices of the epidermis and that which creeps within the interstices of masonry, is close enough for the purposes of a ceremonial law, to which it is essential that there should be an arbitrary element intermingled with provisions manifestly reasonable. It is evident also that a disease in the human subject caused by an acarus or by a fungus would be certainly contagious, since the propagative causes could be transferred from person to person. Some physicians indeed assert that only such skin diseases are contagious. Hence perhaps arose a further reason for marking, even in their analogues among lifeless substances, the strictness with which forms of disease so arising were to be shunned.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1634.
Offerings for the Household
Lev. 16:6.—And Aaron shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house.
ROBERTS.—The Hindus make offerings for each other; thus a husband for his wife, or a brother for his brother. Should a person at a distance be in doubtful circumstances, his friends will make an offering for him. Whilst Kāsināden was being tried for his life, before the Supreme Court, his mother was making offerings for him at the different temples; and, after his acquittal, he employed two days in making additional ones, before he returned to his house. A father, in the offerings for his family, mentions the names of the different members. It is, however, more common for the priest to do this, and when he presents them, he repeats the name of the individual, as, “In the name of Muttoo."—Orient. Illust., p. 87.
Lev. 16:10.—But the goat, on which the lot fell to be a scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
ROBERTS.—When a person is sick, he vows, on his recovery, to set a goat at liberty, in honor of his deity. Having selected a suitable one from his flocks, he makes a slit in the ear, or ties a yellow string round its neck (as the Jewish High Priest did a long fillet), and lets it go whithersoever it pleases. Whoever sees the animal knows it to be a nate-kadi," the vowed goat," and no person will molest it. But it is not merely in time of sickness that they have recourse to this practice—when a person has committed what he considers a great sin, he does the same thing; but in addition to other ceremonies, he sprinkles the animal with water, puts his hands upon it, and prays to be forgiven.—Orient. Illust., p. 88.
The Blood
Lev. 17:10, 11.—I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people: for the life of the flesh is in the blood.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—" For the life of the flesh is in the blood "—this sentence, which contains a most important truth, had existed in the Mosaic writings for 3600 years, before the attention of any philosopher was drawn to the subject. That the blood actually possesses a living principle, and that the life of the whole body is derived from it, is a doctrine of divine revelation, and a doctrine which the observations and experiments of the most accurate anatomists have served strongly to confirm.—Note In loco.
PROF. T. H. HUXLEY, LL. D., F. R. S.—The function of the blood is to supply nourishment to, and take away waste matters from, all parts of the body. It is absolutely essential to the LIFE of every part of the body that it should be in such relation with a current of blood, that matters can pass freely from the, blood to it, and from it to the blood, by transudation through the walls of the vessels in which the blood is contained. And this vivifying influence depends upon the corpuscles of the blood. The proof of these statements lies in the following experiments: If the vessels of a limb of a living animal be tied in such a manner as to cut off the supply of blood from the limb, without affecting it in any other way, all the symptoms of death set in. The limb will grow pale and cold; it will lose its sensibility, and volition will no longer have power over it; it will stiffen, and eventually mortify and decompose. But, even when the death stiffening has begun to set in, if the ligatures be removed, and the blood be allowed to flow into the limb, the stiffening speedily ceases, the temperature of the part rises, the sensibility of the skin returns, the will regains power over the muscles, and, in short, the part returns to its normal condition.—Element. Physiology, p. 72.
Marriage Restrictions
Lev. 18:3.—After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: etc.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—The just and wise regulations which this chapter contains, forbidding the marriages of near relations, form the basis of the laws on this subject now in operation in most Christian States... A laxity respecting marriages among relatives distinguished the Egyptians, whose doings in this respect the Israelites are forbidden to imitate. The marriage with a sister, in particular, so strongly forbidden by Moses, was considered among them as unconditionally allowable. Philo (" De Spec. Legg.," p. 780) relates of the Egyptian Lawgiver, that he gave permission to all to marry their sisters, those who were sisters by birth not less than step-sisters, those of like age and older not less than younger. And Wilkinson says that by the sculptures in Upper and Lower Egypt it is a fact fully authenticated, that this law was in force in the earliest times. ("Anct. Egypts.," II., 63.)—Pict. Bib, In loco.
DIODORUS SICULUS.—It is, contrary to the common custom, lawful among the Egyptians to marry a sister, since such a union was, in the case of Isis, so fortunate in its consequences—Hist., I., 27.
PAUSANIAS.—Philadelphus in marrying his own sister did that which is by no means lawful among the Macedonians, but entirely in accordance with the law of the Egyptians, over whom he ruled.—Attica, I., 7.
Lev. 18:6.—None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness.
REV. WILLIAM LATHAM BEVAN, M. A.—There is a difference in kind between the affection that binds the members of a family together, and that which lies at the bottom of the matrimonial bond; and the amalgamation of these affections cannot take place without a serious shock to one or the other of the two; hence the desirability of drawing a distinct line between the provinces of each, by stating definitely where the matrimonial affection may legitimately take root. —Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 1798.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—The duties owing by nature to relatives, might not be confounded with those of a social or political kind: for could a man be a brother and a husband, or a son and a husband, at the same time, and fulfill the duties of both? Impossible.—Comment. In loco.
REV. WILLIAM JENKS, D. D.—Distinguished physiologists assert, that in man, as in other animals, the offspring of near relations is deteriorated physically, and of course mentally. Michaelis allows that the offspring becomes smaller, and goes on to depict the terrible effects of the marriages here forbidden, from passion, jealousy, covetousness and ambition, which would be so rife, where continual family intimacy would present provocations, inducements and opportunities, unless checked by an inculcated horror of such connections. Domestic life being thus embittered by those worst of quarrels, family quarrels, the fountains of human happiness would be broken up, desecrated and poisoned:—reason enough why these laws are still binding on us and ours to the end of time.—Comprehensive Commentary, In loco.
Reproof
Lev. 19:17.—Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.
PLAUTUS.—To reprove one's friend for a fault that deserves it, is a thankless task; but sometimes it is needful and profitable. Therefore this day I will soundly reprove my friend for a fault that much deserves it. Unwilling am I, indeed, did not my friendship bid me do it—Trinum., Act I., sc. 1.
ARISTOTLE.—It is the characteristic of the good neither to commit faults themselves, nor to suffer their friends to be subservient to that which is wrong. —Eth., 1. viii., c. 8.
Retaliation
Lev. 19:18.—Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
PLATO.—It is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however one may have suffered from him—Crito, c. 10.
JUVENAL.—
To brutes our Maker, when the world was new,
Sent only life; to men a spirit too,
That kindred feelings might our state improve,
And mutual wants conduct to mutual love.
—Sat. XV.
Self-Mutilation
Lev. 19:28.—Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead; nor print any marks upon you.
HERODOTUS.—The royal Scythians on the death of their king cut off a part of their ear, shave their heads in a circular form, take a round piece of flesh from their arm, wound their foreheads and noses, and pierce their left hand with arrows.—Lib. iv., c. 7!.
PLUTARCH.—Solon forbade the people to tear themselves at funerals. —Solon., C. 21,
Honor to Age
Lev. 19:32.—Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God.
HERODOTUS.—The Egyptians surpass all the Greeks, the Lacedæmonians excepted, in the reverence they pay to age. If a young man meets his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if a senior enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats. This ceremony is observed by no other of the Greeks. —Herodot., 1. ii., c. 80.
ARISTOTLE,—To every old man honor is to be rendered, according to his age, by rising up and giving way to him, and in other similar ways—Arist., Eth., 1. ix., c. 2.
The Promised Land
Lev. 20:24.—I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—Few countries are more admiralty adapted for bees than this, with its dry climate, and its stunted but varied flora, consisting in large proportion of aromatic thymes, mints, and other labiate plants, as well as of crocuses in spring; while the dry recesses of the limestone rocks everywhere afford shelter and protection for the combs. Hence the rocks are spoken of as the treasure houses of the bees.—Nat. list. of the Bible, p. 323.
Blemishes in Priests
Lev. 21:16-24.—Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, etc.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—A similar regulation operated in most ancient nations. A general opinion prevailed that the presence of a priest who was defective in any member was to be avoided as ominous of evil. Such persons were seldom admitted to the priesthood, or allowed to remain in it. Candidates were examined with great care; and if it happened that a priest, after consecration, suffered any bodily deprivation, he was expected to lay down his office. Several instances of this occur in the Roman history. Metellus, who lost his sight in preserving the Palladium from the flames which destroyed the temple of Vesta, was obliged to resign his priestly office, as was also M. Sergius when he lost his right hand in defense of his country—Pict. Bib. In loco.
ROBERTS.—The priesthood among the Hindus is hereditary, but a deformed person cannot perform a ceremony in the temple; but he may prepare the flowers, fruits, oils and cakes for the offerings, and also sprinkle the premises with holy water. The child of a priest deformed at the birth will not be consecrated. A priest having lost an eye or a tooth, or being deficient in any member or organ, or who has not a wife, cannot perform the ceremony called Teevasam, for the manes of departed friends. Neither will his incantations, or prayers, or magical ceremonies have any effect.—Orient. Illust., p. 92.
Feast of Tabernacles
Lev. 23:34.—Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
REV. THOMAS HARTWELL HORNE, B. D.—The Feast of the Tabernacles is one of several institutions which have been held sacred by the Jews ever since their appointment, and which are solemnly and sacredly observed among them to this day, and for these observances it would be impossible to account on any principle but the evidence of the facts on which they were founded.— Introd., p. 67.
PLUTARCH. —At harvest time the Jews observe one of their greatest and principal feasts; they spread out tables with all kinds of fruits under tents formed of vine branches and ivy woven together, and the day before this they call the Feast of Tabernacles, and a few days later they celebrate another feast, not under a figure, but openly in the name of Bacchus. There is also a feast of carrying vine branches, and another of carrying wands wreathed with ivy. These they bear into the temple, but what they do with them we know not. —Sympos., lib. iv., qu. 6.
The Sabbath
Lev, 25:4.—But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard.
TACITUS. —The Jews kept every seventh day a holiday; afterward through the growth and allurements of laziness, every seventh year, too, was devoted to sloth—Hist., 1. v., c. 4.
Predicted Judgments
Lev. 26:14-39.—But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments... I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, etc.
REV. THOMAS SCOTT, D. D.—This chapter is a kind of prophetic history of the Jewish nation, even to this present time, which could never have been written, except by inspiration of God.—Note In loco.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—How circumstantially were all these threatenings fulfilled in this disobedient and rebellious people! Let a Deist read over this chapter, and compare it with the state of the Jews since the days of Vespasian, and then let him doubt the authenticity of this word if he can.—Note in loco
Your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
DR. ALEXANDER KEITH.—By the concurring testimony of all travelers, Judea may now be called a field of ruins. Columns, the memorials of ancient magnificence, now covered with rubbish, and buried under ruins, may be found in all Syria. From Mount Tabor is beheld an immensity of plains, interspersed with hamlets, fortresses, and heaps of ruins. Of the celebrated cities Capernaum, Bethsaida, Gadara, Tarichea and Chorazin, nothing remains but shapeless ruins. Some vestiges of Emmaus may still be seen. Cana is a very, paltry village. The ruins of Tekoa present only the foundations 'of some considerable buildings. The city of Nain is now a hamlet. The ruins of the ancient Sapphura announce the previous existence of a large city, and its name is still preserved in the appellation of a miserable village called Sephoury. Ludd, the ancient Lydda and Diospolis, appears like a place lately ravaged by fire and sword, and is one continued heap of rubbish and ruins. Ramla, the ancient Arimathea, is in almost as ruinous a state. Nothing but rubbish is to be found within its boundaries. In the adjacent country there are found at every step dry wells, cisterns fallen in, and vast vaulted reservoirs, which prove that in ancient times this town must have been upwards of a league and a half in circumference. Cæsarea can no longer excite the envy of a conqueror, and has long been abandoned to silent desolation. The city of Tiberias is now almost abandoned, and its subsistence precarious; of the towns that bordered on its lake there are no traces left. Zabulon, once the rival of Tyre and Sidon, is a heap of ruins. A few shapeless stones, unworthy the attention of the traveler, mark the site of the Saffre. The ruins of Jericho, covering no less than a square mile, are surrounded with complete desolation, and there is not a tree of any description, either of palm or of balsam, and scarcely any verdure or bushes to be seen about the site of this abandoned city. Bethel is not to be found. The ruins of Sarepta, and of several large cities in its vicinity, are now mere rubbish, and are only distinguishable as the sites of towns by heaps of dilapidated stones and fragments of columns... How marvelously are the predictions of their desolation verified, when in general nothing but ruined ruins form the most distinguished remnants of the cities of Israel, and when the multitude of its towns are almost all left, with many a vestige to testify of their number, but without a mark to tell their name.— Evid. from Proph., p. 93.
Devoted Thing
Lev. 27:28.—No devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord.
ROBERTS.—Among the Hindus, whatever has been devoted to the gods can never be sold, redeemed, or applied to any other purpose.... When a child becomes sick, the parents forthwith inquire, “Have we given all the things which we had devoted to the gods?" The medical man also (when the disease baffles his skill) inquires, “Have you given all the things which you devoted to the gods?"— Orient. Illust., p. 95.