4th 10 2 14
5th 9 2 14
6th 8 2 14
7th 7 2 14
with their meat and drink-offerings. And _each_ of the seven days _one goat for a sin-offering_. And on the eighth day a holy convocation, with offerings of one bullock, one ram and seven lambs, with accompaniments, and _one ram for a sin-offering_. "These things shall ye do unto the Lord in your set feasts, besides your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt-offerings, and for your meat-offerings, and for your drink-offerings, and for your peace-offerings" (Num. xxix. 1239).
The service of the Tabernacle and its offerings were supplied by contributions of half a shekel per head on all that were numbered, from twenty years old and upwards. The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less. It was offered to the Lord to make an atonement for their souls (Exod. x.x.x. 1416).
As indicated in the latter portion of the above quotation (Num. xxix.
39), besides these stated daily, monthly, and annual sacrifices, which were of a public or general character, there were-
1st. _Voluntary offerings_, which do not seem to have been specially enjoined, nor to have had reference to any particular sins, but arose from the voluntary will and devotion of the person offering, and the priest sprinkled the blood round about upon the altar; "and _it was accepted for him to make an atonement for him_" (Lev. i. 25); "an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord" (ver. 9). It was required to be a male without blemish of the herd or of the flock, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons (vers. 2 and 1017).
2nd. _Peace-offerings_, also for the most part voluntarily, in which the offerer shared with the priest the offering-a male or female of the herd without blemish, or a lamb or goat (Lev. iii. 1, &c.).
3rd. _The Sin-offering_ for sins of ignorance afterwards brought to light (Lev. iv. 13, &c.).
4th. _The Trespa.s.s-offering_.-If any one sinned in hearing swearing and not uttering it, or in any uncleanness, or swearing, he was to take a lamb or a kid (a female), or two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, or, if too poor for any of them, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, "and the priest shall make an atonement for him for the sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him" (Lev. v. 113).
In every case the offering was required to be perfect in its kind, and without blemish.
The sin-offering was more especially for atonement; but the voluntary and other offerings are spoken of as contributing thereto (Lev. i. 3): coming from the voluntary will of the people, they expressed the heart"s devotion, and bore a "sweet savour to G.o.d."
But in the days when Isaiah wrote, and when great corruption prevailed, it is said, "Incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of a.s.semblies, I cannot away with" (Isa. i. 13).
And Amos says, "I will not smell in your solemn a.s.sembly" (Amos v. 21).
The people drew near with the lip, but the heart was far from G.o.d (Isa.
xxix. 13); so the sacrifices bore with them no sweet savour of devotion to Him.
In contemplating the ma.s.s of sacrifices thus noted, we may easily enter into the feeling expressed by Paul (more especially as regarded circ.u.mcision)-"which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear;" and we can the more fully appreciate the blessing of the Gospel, which has relieved us from all such burdens, and given us individually a free access (whether Jew or Gentile) to the Father of Mercies, through the one only High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord.
But it was not so much to point out the burdens which our forefathers in the faith of Christ had to bear-burdens which, nevertheless, were light compared with the burden of unforgiven sin-that we have traced the requirements of the law; but to point to the testimony they bore to Christ and His Kingdom.
Under the law no Israelite could obtain pardon for his sin except through the _Priest_, who was the appointed mediator-to him he brought the prescribed offering, and slew it at the Tabernacle door; the priest received the blood, and some of the internal fat; the former he sprinkled, and the latter he burned, on the altar; and, in the words of the text, "_The priest shall make an atonement for his sin_, _and it shall be forgiven him_."
We may not be able to define the extent to which the Holy Ghost was then enjoyed, but we cannot doubt that the testimony of a conscience free of offence towards G.o.d was sealed on the mind of the offerer when the atonement was made agreeably to the words, "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do he shall live in them" (Lev.
xviii. 5).
The Apostle Paul confirms this language, saying, "The man that doeth them" (the statutes of the Law) "shall live in them" (Gal. iii. 12); and when we consider the words of the same writer: "The children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished" (2 Cor.
iii. 13), we need not suppose the offerers had, in general, any understanding that what they did had a special relation to the better Mediator to come. As in the case of the brazen serpent they looked to it and were healed; so here they made their offerings believing in their efficacy, and reaped the fruit of pardon and peace.
This divinely-inst.i.tuted law was enjoined on the people under the most solemn a.s.surances of blessings for obedience, and cursings for disobedience, viz.: "Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your G.o.d which I command you this day: and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your G.o.d, but turn aside after other G.o.ds" (Deut. xi. 2628; xxvii. 1526; and ch. xxviii.). "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy G.o.d, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them"
(Deut. x.x.x. 19, 20).
They did what G.o.d had provided to enable them to walk with Him, and when they erred or failed to keep His holy law they brought the means of reconciliation He had appointed. In such way a man might do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with his G.o.d, which is the whole duty of man.
"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace" (Ps. x.x.xvii. 37), might be applied to such an one, and the model may perhaps be useful in enabling us to understand the higher perfection required by the Gospel. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John i. 7).
If we look for the essential principle of this elaborate system of priestly mediation for the forgiveness of sins, as well as for presenting to G.o.d the freewill offerings or devotions of the people, it will be found in the 11th verse of the 17th chapter of Leviticus, viz.: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."
Such were the conditions under which the law given from Mount Sinai was presented to or enjoined on the people. They were to choose between life or death, blessing or cursing, obedience with the Divine favour, or refusal to obey, with the Divine displeasure. The eyes of the Lord would be over the righteous, and His ear open to their cry; but the face of the Lord would be against them that did evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth-Ps. x.x.xiv. 15, 16-conditions so different as to const.i.tute the highest happiness man was capable of at that time, or the deepest degradation and misery which he could endure in this life, with no better prospect beyond.
The consequences of G.o.d"s favour and blessing are set forth with peculiar strength in Deuteronomy (see pp. 33, 34), together with the consequences of His favour being withdrawn, which we may do well to ponder; as the language quoted above from the Psalms is adopted by the Apostle Peter as applicable equally to Christian times, and the principles of the quotations from Deuteronomy are equally applicable to the old or new dispensations-viz., obedience to the revealed will of G.o.d with life and blessing, or disobedience with death and misery.
"He that despised Moses" law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of G.o.d, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?" (Heb. x. 28, 29).
CHAPTER III.
THE HEBREW SACRIFICES FROM THE CHRISTIAN POINT OF VIEW. THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST THEIR TRUE COMPLEMENT.
When we consider the bearings of the Mosaic laws on the religion of Christ, it is impossible to avoid a careful attention to the Epistle to the Hebrews, which so clearly sets forth the unity of design between the different revelations, and the manner in which the inst.i.tutions of the former prefigured and led up to the higher, purer, and holier covenant of the Gospel.
The mode in which the author deals with the highest subjects and persons bespeaks for him the position of one of the chiefest apostles, to whom abundance of revelations had been made, and whose mind was disembarra.s.sed from the prejudices of the past, and accepted without reserve the fully developed light and spirit of the Gospel. Who else could venture on language like the opening verses of this book; or those words in the second chapter, "_For it became Him_, _for whom are all things_, _and by whom are all things_, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Heb. ii. 10).
To him the transition from the Law to the Gospel is perfectly natural and necessary. As the morning dawn pa.s.ses on into the perfect day, so the Law, having done its preparatory work, merges into the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ; or, to use the author"s own simile, the Law decays, waxes old, and vanishes away just as the glory of the Gospel appears.
The one must increase, the other decrease; the type be swallowed up in the ant.i.type. Nothing is discordant; everything fits naturally to its bearings on the other. Moses as lawgiver gives place to the Prophet whom the Lord would raise up to His people. The priesthood of Aaron and his sons is superseded by the High Priesthood of Christ. The blood of animals, which had no inherent healing power-by the blood of Him, who (uniting the Divine and the human-G.o.d and Man), "through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to G.o.d," "an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour" for the sins of men. The beneficent provisions of the Mosaic laws-of which Moses could say (Deut.
iv. 8): "What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?"-give place to the yet purer principles of the Gospel of Christ.
Had it not been for the long course of typical sacrifices, continued through so many ages, how would it have been possible in the latter days to establish the value and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ? The sacrificial rites of heathen nations, so degrading to morality and purity of thought and life, would _alone_ have led no one to imagine such a sacrifice as His: although when viewed as corruptions of revealed truth they have, as accessories, a valuable significance.
We propose now to look at the intrinsic value of the sacrifices under the Mosaic inst.i.tutions from the Christian point of view, and the superiority of the sacrifice and religion of Christ, as explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Chapter 1 sets forth that G.o.d, who had formerly spoken to men by _Prophets_, has now spoken to us _by His Son_, who, being the brightness of His glory and express image of His person, when He had by Himself _purged our sins_, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Here is the first recognition of the teaching and High Priesthood of Christ. _He speaks to us the things of G.o.d_, _and purges away our sins by Himself_ (vers. 13).
Chapter 2 opens with the exhortation that for this reason we ought to give the more earnest attention to what He taught. {42}
Chapter 2 sets forth also that Christ had pa.s.sed through suffering, in order that He "might be a merciful and faithful _High Priest_ in things pertaining to G.o.d, _to make reconciliation for the sins of the people_"
(c. ii. 17).
Chapter 3 opens with an invitation to consider this _Apostle_ and _High Priest_ of our profession, faithful in all things to Him that appointed Him-far exceeding Moses in glory-for Moses was faithful as a servant; Christ as a son over His own house (vers. 16).
Chapter 5 says, "Every _high priest_ taken from among men _is ordained for men in things pertaining to G.o.d_, that he may offer both gifts and _sacrifices for sin_" (ver. 1), that no man takes this honour unto himself, but he that is called of G.o.d as was Aaron. So Christ glorified not Himself, to be made a high priest; but He that said unto Him, "Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee!" and again, "Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (vers. 4, 5, 6).
Further on, after setting forth, in the seventh chapter, the surpa.s.sing excellence of the High Priesthood of Christ in comparison with that of Aaron, and marking how exactly such a High Priest was adapted to our every need, "holy, harmless, undefined, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (c. vii. 26), the Apostle sums up his argument in the eighth chapter: "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum, We _have_ such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens-a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man (Heb. viii. 1, 2). And inasmuch as every high priest _is ordained to offer_ both gifts and sacrifices, it is _of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer_" (Heb. viii. 3).
Jesus was proved to be our High Priest by offering up His own body for our sins, which is stated in the most explicit terms. "But Christ being come, a High Priest of good things to come; . . . neither by the blood of goats and calves, but _by His own blood_ He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption (for us)" (Heb. ix. 11, 12).
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit _offered Himself without spot to G.o.d_, _purge_ your conscience from dead works to serve the living G.o.d?" (Heb. ix. 14). (See also ver. 15.)
"Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to PUT AWAY SIN _by the_ SACRIFICE _of Himself_" (Heb. ix. 25, 26).
"So Christ was once _offered to bear the sins_ of many," _i.e._, of all that look to Him for salvation (Heb. ix. 28).