The right and the advantage of private property are everywhere assumed by Moses. To facilitate its increase, to regulate its use, and to provide for its distribution are leading objects of his Law. A political community could not be organized except upon a basis of individual property and right. This is the only bond strong enough to hold such an association together. The ownership by each member of the body politic of his tools, arms, clothing, and habitation, is essential to the rudest form of civil society. None would be willing to till the ground, if others had an equal right with him to gather the harvest. If the idle and the industrious, those who waste and those who save, have the same rights, and are to share alike in the fruits of the earth and the products of labor, then prudence, frugality, thrift, and provision for the future become simple impossibilities. All this is recognized in the legislation of Moses. That legislation has no sympathy with a social theory which places activity, industry, ability, and virtue upon the same level with indolence, idleness, incapacity, and vice. E. C. W.

The protection of person and property from the force of the violent and from the frauds of the dishonest is one of the chief objects of all criminal law; and this object is compassed, or at least aimed at, by means of punishments or penalties annexed to crime. The most obvious, appropriate, and efficacious punishment for stealing is, that the thief should be compelled to restore many times the value of that which he had stolen; and in this we find the principle of the ensuing statutes concerning theft. Bush.

Ex. 22: 1. The staple penalty for theft was restitution, yet varying widely in amount to meet the peculiarities of the case. In pastoral life cattle were specially exposed; therefore the Law ordained that if the thief had killed the animal or sold it, he must restore—of oxen five for one; of sheep, four. But if the animal was found alive in his hand, the restitution was only double—two for one. The indolent or unprincipled man who thought to live upon his neighbor’s toil would find stealing very unprofitable. The Law had the more grip in those times because if a man tried to put his property out of his hands to evade the demand for restitution, or were in fact too poor to restore four or five fold, there was always the last resort—the Law could take him for a slave (“servant”) and make him work it out. This was one of the incidental benefits of a hard system: it could be applied so as to make the penalties for theft effectually stringent. The Law punished trespass upon another’s property and want of care for its due protection—on which points subsequent statutes reaffirm and expand what we first find in Ex. 22. H. C.

The different proportions in which reparation is to be made for an ox or a sheep (or goat, the Hebrew word being one for smaller cattle generally) are due apparently to the fact that the ox, as the companion of man’s labor at the plough, has a value in the eyes of its master far exceeding that of a sheep, and the loss of one might stop his tillage altogether. The law of fourfold restoration for a sheep is cited by David in reply to Nathan’s famous parable (2 Sam. 12 : 6), and alluded to as a general rule by Zacchaeus. Alf.

What we call money was not then in existence; an ox was given for an ox, or a sheep for a sheep; or if a man wished to buy a robe or a wardrobe, he gave so many sheep or oxen for it. And this usage of cattle as money is the origin of our word “pecuniary.” The Latin word pecunia, “money,” is derived from the Latin word pecus, “cattle.” The first coins had struck upon them oxen or sheep, indicating that cattle was the substantial property; and that gold, silver, or copper coins were but the conventional representations of that property. J. C.

2,3. It is remarkable that the laws of most nations have punished more severely an attack by night than by day. The Jewish law made it justifiable to kill a house-breaker only in the case of a nocturnal attempt; the Athenian and Roman laws enacted the same; and by the English law, if a person attempts to break open a house in the night-time and is killed in the attempt, the slayer is acquitted; not so in the day-time, unless the act carries with it an attempt at robbery also. Blackstone.—It was no crime before the Law to kill a thief breaking into a house by night. After sunrise it became a crime of blood to take his life—it being assumed that he might be caught and compelled to make restitution, and that the peril to your own life and that of your family is materially lessened. The Law carefully guarded the defenceless hours of sleep by night. If a thief in defiance of this law played the burglar by night, he must run his own risk of death. H. C.

Damage or Loss—Penalties.

Ex. 22 : 5. From loose beasts. This was a case of trespass upon another man’s grounds, where the intruder sent in his cattle to feed upon and eat down the grass, vines, or fruit-trees of his neighbor. The penalty was that he should make restitution of the best of his own.

6. From kindled fires. It is a plain principle running through these enactments, that men should suffer for their carelessness, as well as for their wickedness; that they are to consider themselves accountable not only for the injury they do, but also for that which they occasion through inadvertency. Here it is not necessary to suppose that he who kindled the fire designed the mischief that ensued.

7-13. From loss of intrusted goods or cattle. When valuable articles were left for safe keeping in the hands of any one, and while thus intrusted were in some way missing, if the thief were found he was to restore double. But if not, there was at least a suspicion that he who had the articles in keeping had secreted or abstracted them, and a judicial inquiry was thereupon to be instituted. The depositary was to be summoned before the magistrates, and his oath that he knew nothing of them was to be accounted a full acquittance. Bush.

11. “An oath of the Lord” is an oath wherein God is appealed to as the only witness, there being no need of this oath where there was any other witness. He that had stolen was forced to forswear himself if he would avoid discovery. Hence it is that theft and perjury are so often mentioned together in Scripture, one very often inferring the other. (See Lev. 19 : 11, 12 ; Prov. 30 : 8, 9.) Bp. Kidder.

14, 15. From loss of things borrowed. In the case of a borrowed beast of burden, as an ox, an ass, or a horse, receiving any hurt, or coming by his death, the borrower was to make it good, provided the owner were not present. Bush.

Lev. 18 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 2 say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye 3 dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall 4 ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their statutes. My judgements shall ye do, and my statutes 5 shall ye keep, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgements: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. 6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which 25 I cast out from before you: and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof 26 upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and my judgements, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the homeborn, nor the 27 stranger that sojourneth among you: (for all these abominations have the men of the land 28 done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) that the land vomit not you out also, 29 when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whosoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their 30 people. Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that ye do not any of these abominable customs, which were done before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

[Omitted text sufficiently indicated and explained.]

These ordinances cover the principal topics included under the head of Moral Uncleanness, and naturally follow the subjects previously considered under the head of Cremonial Uncleanness. Moreover, while they partake largely of a moral and civil character, there are in them some elements which affiliate them with the ceremonial institutes. Still further, the principle underlying these ordinances is identical with that of a large portion of the ceremonial laws—viz., the inculcation of purity in the individual, the family, and the community. For these three reasons they are placed in this connection, as an appendage to the ritual ordinances.

Beside certain special laws (touching divorce, the marriage of a deceased brother’s widow, the trial of a wife’s alleged criminality, and the punishment of a slandering husband) this section covers the main prohibitions and penalties respecting “the abominations of the Egyptians and Canaanites, incestuous connections and similar sins contrary to temperance and modesty, both in and out of marriage.” B.—The aim of the Lawgiver was the preservation of personal purity, especially by the strict laws against all unnatural marriages and lusts, and against fornication and prostitution. The Law of Moses, like that of Christ, takes cognizance of sins against a man’s own self, and that not so much in the light of self-interest or even of self-respect, but from that principle of holiness to God which is so emphatically laid down by the Apostle Paul. P. S.

Lev. 26 1 Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it : for I am the LORD your God.

De. 16 21 Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar ; which the LORD thy God hateth.

De. 12 1 These are the statutes and the judgements, which ye shall observe to do in the land which the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath given thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree : and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire ; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods ; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

De. 17 2 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.

De. 13 1 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to draw thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.

Lev. 19 31 Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor unto the wizards; seek them not out, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. Neither shall ye use enchantments, nor practise augury.

Lev. 20 27 A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

De. 18 9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearken unto them that practise augury, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

Lev. 18 21 And thou shalt not give any of thy seed to make them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.

Lev. 20 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I also will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from that man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and put him not to death: then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

Idolatry had overspread the earth, and was the universal religion of mankind, when the Law was proclaimed from Sinai. There was scarcely an object, element, or living creature in nature which did not receive a heart-debasing and life-corrupting worship. Dead men, celestial luminaries, light, air, wind, fire, hills, streams, groves, beasts, birds, reptiles, plants, darkness, storm, pestilence, the fates, the furies, and other like objects, were deified, and adored by trembling votaries. By a system of worship so blind and degrading, reason, truth, and virtue were well-nigh obliterated from the human heart; and in their place folly, falsehood, and vice reigned with almost undisputed sway. Not only in the ruder and more uncivilized, but even in the most enlightened and polished nations of Gentile antiquity, immoralities the most revolting and crimes the most unnatural were sanctioned by the example and consecrated in the worship of the gods. Lewdness was practised in the temples, and human victims bled upon the altars of these impure and sanguinary deities. E. C. W.

The religion of the natives, in whose territory the Israelites were about to settle, appears to have been a depravation of the purer Tsabaism, or worship of the host of heaven. On this primitive form of idolatry had gradually been engrafted a system of rites absurd, bloody, or licentious. Among the Canaanites human sacrifices were common—babes were burned alive to Moloch. The inland tribes, the Moabites and Midianites, worshipped that obscene symbol which originally represented the generative influence of the sun, but had now become a distinct divinity. The chastity of their women was the offering most acceptable to Baal Peor. It was this inhuman and loathsome religion which was to be swept away from the polluted territory of Palestine by the exterminating conquest of the Jews; against the contagion of these abominations they were to be secured by the most rigid penal statutes, and by capital punishments summary and without appeal. All approximation to these horrible usages was interdicted with equal severity. The Canaanites had no enclosed temples, their rites were performed in consecrated or open spaces on the summits of their hills, or under the shade of groves devoted to their deities. The worship of God on mountain-tops, otherwise a sublime and innocent practice, was proscribed. The strictest personal purity was enjoined upon the priests; the prohibition against prostituting their daughters, as well as that which forbids the woman to appear in the dress of the man, the man in that of the woman, are no doubt pointed against the same impure ceremonies. Milman.

There was nothing more common among all the peoples of antiquity, including the inhabitants of Canaan and adjacent lands, than the practice of magic in some of its numerous forms. Ancient Egypt abounded in it, and the monuments of Assyria and Babylon show that these nations in their religious, social, and even political, life were no less under its influence. And as one of the most subtle and fascinating forms of idolatry, it was natural that the Mosaic Law should take cognizance of it, and denounce the severest penalties against it. In this particular all the codes agree; there is not one of them that does not adjudge so gross a violation of its fundamental principles as worthy of death. E. C. B.

Dc. 18:9-14. Different names are here assigned to persons dealing in the arts of magic. “One that useth divination,” professing to gain power and knowledge more than human. “One that practiseth augury,” or covert arts. “An enchanter;” the original suggesting the serpent, and implying the practice of charming serpents, yet always connected with the arts of divination. “A sorcerer;” the Hebrew word signifying one who mutters incantations, but only in the bad sense of seeking help from others than God. “A charmer;” a word which suggests binding as with the spell of enchantment. “A consulter with a familiar spirit.” The English phrase signifies spirits who stand in such a relation to the performer that they come at his call. Of course it is pretended that these spirits are other and greater than human. The original Hebrew [Ob] comes down to us in the African “Obe-man” who still follows the same profession, by means of similar arts. “A wizard” is one who claims superhuman wisdom, the old English accurately translating the Hebrew: the distinctively wise one. The word is restricted in usage to superior wisdom gained by the arts of magic. “A necromancer;” precisely the spiritist of modern times, or rather, of all time, who claims to have communion with the spirits of dead men. [The word necromancer comes from the Greek; necros—a dead one; and “mantis” divination—gaining superhuman knowledge from the dead.]

This analysis of the original words may aid toward some just conception of the associated ideas which cluster round the magic arts of the Hebrew age. Their name and their arts are legion. Think of so many classes—professions—of men and women naturally shrewd, sharp, cunning; practising upon the superstitions and fears of the millions; working upon their imagination, haunting them with the dread of unknown powers, bringing up to them ghosts from the invisible world, claiming to give auguries of the future, playing in every way upon their fears and hopes, to extort their money or to make sport of their fears or to gratify their own or others’ malice. A system so near akin in spirit and influence to idolatry, which so thoroughly displaces God from the hopes and fears of men, and which seeks so successfully to install these horrible superstitions in his place;—a system which perverts the powers of the world to come to subserve ungodliness and which practically rules out the blessed God from the sphere of men’s homage, fears, and hopes;—this system has always been worked by wicked and never by good men, has always subserved all iniquity, but piety and morality never;—this has been a master stroke of Satan’s policy and one of the most palpable fields of his triumph through all the ages. Let it not surprise us that God’s Law given through Moses denounced it unqualifiedly and made it punishable with death. The nations whom God drove out of Canaan were steeped in its abominations and ripened under its influence for their righteous doom. Not even one pagan, idolatrous nation, known to history since the world began, has been free from this abomination—the arts of magic. Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, India, Africa, historic Greece, and Rome; the old nations of Northern Europe, the savages of America—all testify that they have been cursed by its presence and power. H. C.

Witchcraft not only gives that honor to the devil which is due to God alone, but bids defiance to the Divine Providence, wages war with God’s government, and puts His work into the devil’s hand, expecting him to do good and evil, and so making him, indeed, the God of this world; justly therefore was it punished with death, especially among a people that were blessed with a Divine revelation and cared for by Divine Providence above any people under the sun. H.

The methods of modern so-called “spiritualism” are so nearly analogous to those of ancient times, that it is as needful now to warn the people against them as it was for Moses to warn the Hebrews. Even among them the roothold of this superstition was so strong that Isaiah had to caution the men of his time against it, and to remind them of the more excellent way (Is. 8:19, 20). What we really need is light for the future, not light on it; and light concerning the invisible world, not light into it. And these are given to us in the revelation of the Divine Word. It opens up immortality and life. By its light we know that our departed ones in Christ, though absent from the body, are present with the Lord. Cheered by its words of hope we can sing, “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory!” Be it ours to study the Book of God: to take it not only as a guide, but the guide; not simply as the only guide, but as the all-sufficient one, “until the day break, and the shadows flee away.” C. C.

Child-Sacrifice to Molech.

Ex. 22 22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

De. 24 17 Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take the widow’s raiment to pledge: but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

De. 10 18 He doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Ex. 23 9 And a stranger shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Lev. 19 33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Lev. 19 9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

De. 24 19 When thou reapest thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

De. 23 24 When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into thy neighbour’s standing corn, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

Ex. 22 25 If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him usury.

Lev. 25 35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no usury of him or increase; but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor give him thy victuals for increase. I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.

De. 23 19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it.

De. 24 10 When thou dost lend thy neighbour any manner of loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring forth the pledge without unto thee. And if he be a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

Ex. 22 26 If thou at all take thy neighbour’s garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down: for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

De. 24 6 No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.

14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy breth- 15 ren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates : in his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it ; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it : lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

Lev. 19 13 Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, nor rob him : the wages of a hired ser- vant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

[Only two or three equivalent texts omitted.]

No portion of our study of this Divine legis- lation has more profoundly affected us than the precepts grouped in this and the following sec- tions. The text itself, if thoroughly pondered, seems scarcely to require exposition or com- ment. We earnestly bespeak the reader’s delib- erate and thoughtful reading before proceeding to the explanatory and suggestive paragraphs that follow. B.

How imperfectly do those understand the He- brew legislation, who accuse it of inhumanity! Its distinctive character is gentleness and benefi- cence. No ancient legislation will bear a mo- ment’s comparison with it in this respect. It forbids to cherish sentiments of hatred and re- venge. It enjoins the forgetfulness of injuries, the cultivation of mutual love, and the practice of kindness even to enemies. It commands re- spect and compassion toward the aged, the deaf, and the blind. It enjoins that the travel- ler uncertain of his route be directed in the right way. It requires benevolence and gener- osity toward the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. For them the corners of the field were to remain unreaped, and the forgotten sheaf was to be left where it had fallen. For them the husbandman was forbidden to go over his corn patch a second time, or to twice glean the grapes of his vineyard and shake the boughs of his olive trees. E. C. W.

The Mosaic Law was infinitely superior in point of humanity to all the institutions of the most celebrated lawgivers of antiquity. It abounds with injunctions of mercy and pity, not only to Jews but to strangers, to enemies, and even to those who had most cruelly op- pressed and injured them. The Divine legisla- tion thought no creature below its notice ; and extended itself to the minutest articles of social and domestic life, which, though unnoticed by less benevolent lawgivers, do in fact constitute a very great and essential part of human happi- ness and misery. Porteous.

The spirit of the Hebrew law was broader than race, or country, or kindred. Among the ancients generally a foreigner had no rights in any country but his own. In some languages the very word “stranger” was synonymous with enemy. Against these race hatreds Moses set up this command, “Thou shalt not oppress a stranger”—which he enforced upon the Israel- ites by the touching remembrance of their own bitter experience—for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing “ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” But not only were foreigners to be tolerated; they were to receive the fullest protection: “Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger as for one of your own country.” If they chose to be naturalized, they became entitled to all the privileges of Hebrews. Field.

Ex. 22:21. A stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither oppress him. This was not only a humane law, but it was a sound policy. Do not wrong a stranger; remember ye were strangers. Do not oppress a stranger; remember ye were oppressed. Therefore do unto all men as ye would they should do to you. Let strangers be well treated among you and many will come among you, and the strength of your country will be increased. If refugees of this kind be treated well they will become proselytes to your religion, and thus their souls may be saved. In every point of view, therefore, justice, humanity, sound policy, and religion, say—Neither wrong nor oppress a stranger. A. C.

Lev. 19:34. Thou shalt love him as thyself. The apostle makes use of a strong argument to induce men to hospitality toward strangers. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Moses also uses a powerful motive: ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. A. C.—The purpose of this humane law was, as these words show, to keep Israel in mind that it was only of God’s grace that he had been chosen above all other people; and that they who were now defenceless strangers, might also some day become God’s people. All other ancient nations, especially the Egyptians, were notoriously unkind to strangers. Geri.

De. 10:18. As the God of the whole earth, he loveth the stranger, helpless or oppressed, and giveth him food and raiment. Following him, Israel, as his people, were to be benevolent to the stranger, inasmuch as they themselves knew by experience what it was to be a stranger. They were to love the stranger as God loves him, by relieving his necessities. W. L. A.

Lev. 24:22. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country. Equal laws, where each individual receives the same protection and the same privileges, are the boast only of a sound political constitution. He who respects and obeys the laws has a right to protection and support; and his person and property are sacred in the sight of justice. Therefore each individual in a well-regulated State must have equal rights and privileges in everything that relates to the safety of his person and the security of his property. Such was the Mosaic code. A. C.

No part of the code of Moses seems to be more deeply imbued with the tenderness and pity of the Lord than the provisions made for the poor, and the restrictions and limitations upon personal servitude. In all his utterances on these points the Lord assumes that no interests of man more need his protection than these, and he comes promptly to the front to give it. He would have us know that over these interests his watchful eye never sleeps; his quick ear is never shut to any cry for help. The rich and the mighty may get on without his special aid; the poor are his own wards and shall never lack his sympathy nor his present hand. Human laws are in great part worthless—at least they miss their most important function—unless they make it their chief endeavor to protect the interests and rights of those who, powerless in themselves, rest upon the strong arm of law for their defence. H. C.

The Open Hand and Heart Enjoined (De. 15:7-11). He commands that the poor brother shall be relieved. “Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand,” he says, “from thy poor brother.” But beyond this point, where mere human law must stop short, he goes on to say: “And thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him” (verse 10). He enjoins upon masters that they load their departing slaves with gifts and rewards: “Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor and out of thy wine-press.” But it is no injunction, it is a moving entreaty, when he adds: “It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee.” E. C. B.

The declaration, “There shall always be poor in the land; therefore I command thee to open thine hand to thy brother, and to the poor and needy in thy land” (verse 11), does not encourage begging, but exhorts to anticipate and to supply the wants of the needy. The idea of anticipating and preventing forms the basis of the whole system of the poor laws enacted in the Pentateuch. Ginsburg.

Ex. 22 : 22-24. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Je- hovah here avows himself the husband of the widow and the father of the orphan. He virtually says of himself, what is emphatically affirmed by the Psalmist (Ps. 68 : 5), “A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widow, is God in his holy habitation.” In thus forbid- ding his people to afflict widows and orphans he does in fact enjoin upon them to comfort and assist them, and to be ready on all occa- sions to show them kindness. Bush.—The Law took under its care all whom death had deprived of their natural protectors. They were sacred by misfortune. God would punish cruelty to them : “If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry unto me, I will surely hear their cry ; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Thus under the He- brew law, sorrow, widowhood, orphanage, all threw a shield of protection over the desolate and the unhappy. Field.

It is remarkable that offences against this law are not left to the discretion of the judges to be punished ; God reserves the punishment to himself. It is no common crime, and shall not be punished in a common way ; the wrath of God shall wax hot against him who in any wise afflicts or wrongs a widow, or a fatherless child ; and we may rest assured, that he who helps either, does a service highly acceptable in the sight of God. A. C.—Those whom God makes his especial charge can never be injured or as- sailed with impunity. Let the parallel mo- nition therefore of the wise man be reverently re- garded (Prov. 23 : 11), “Enter not into the fields of the fatherless ; for their Redeemer is mighty ; he shall plead their cause with thee.” Bush.

shall restore the pledge when the sun goeth down. If the debtor was needy, and being such could give in pledge only some necessary article, such as his upper garment in which he slept at night, the pledge was to be returned ere nightfall, that the man might sleep in his own raiment, and have a grateful feeling toward his creditor. In many parts of the East, with the Arabs notably, it is customary for the poor to sleep in their outer garment. W. L. A.

De. 24 : 6. The mills of the ancient Hebrews probably differed but little from those at present in use in the East. These consist of two circular stones, about eighteen inches or two feet in diameter, the lower of which is fixed, and has its upper surface slightly convex, fitting into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. So essential were millstones for daily domestic use, that they were forbidden to be taken in pledge, in order that a man’s family might not be deprived of the means of preparing their food. Dic. B.—He prohibits the taking of anything in pledge which is necessary to the poor for the support of existence; for in the words upper and nether millstone, he includes all other instruments which workmen require in earning their daily bread. This is sufficiently clear from the context, where it is said, “He taketh a man’s life to pledge,” together with his millstones. He, then, who takes in pledge what supports a poor man’s life, it is as if he should take away bread from a starving man, and thus his life itself, which is sustained by labor. Calc.

De. 24 : 13. It shall be righteousness unto thee. It is only when we bear in mind the laws enacted in favor of the poor that we can understand the expression tzedakah which the Old Testament uses to express the idea of charity (Prov. 10 : 2 ; 11 : 4, etc.). This expression, which literally denotes right, acts of right or justice, came to mean “charity,” because, as we have seen, according to the Mosaic Law the poor had an inalienable right to certain produce of the soil. Hence it does not exactly correspond to our term “alms,” but occupies the midway position between deeds of right and of love. Ginsburg.—If the concession be an act of sterling love, pure from the alloy of selfishness, it is an act of righteousness—the fruit of the Divine Spirit’s grace. This is not self-righteousness, for genuine love to men is a gracious affection. It does not begin with self; it does not terminate in self. God is its object; hence it shall be counted for righteousness. As Abraham’s faith counted for righteousness, so does also genuine love. D. D.

De. 24 : 14, 15. This needs no comment. B.

De. 16 18 JUDGES and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes.

De. 17 8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days: and thou shalt inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgement: and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall shew thee from that place which the LORD shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee: according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgement which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

Ex. 22 28. Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.

Ex. 23 6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no gift: for a gift blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

De. 1 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgement; ye shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgement is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.

Lev. 19 15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

De. 16 18 They shall judge the people with righteous judgement. Thou shalt not wrest judgement; thou shalt not respect persons: neither shalt thou take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

De. 17 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.

De. 19 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.

Ex. 23 1 Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak [or, bear witness] in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest judgement: neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.

De. 19 16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong doing; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee.

De. 25 1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgement, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked; and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

De. 24 16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

The Civil Code of the Hebrews did much to develop kindness and humanity among the people. The mere rehearsal of its main provisions is its noblest panegyric. If we compare its details with the enactments of other nations, we see how much the world has owed in the matter of jurisprudence to the Hebrew Lawgiver; for in the very points in which the best modern legislation has outgrown his system, it has done so only by the ampler development of its principles. W. M. T.—From the enactments of Moses almost all legislation has been drawn, both as to principle and as to form; and where any departure from this grand outline is attempted, the change has been perceptibly for the worse. Enc. Met.

The Hebrew Code and its system of jurisprudence were benefited by the Egyptian in the example and silent influence of a full civil, written code of law. That Egypt had such a code admits of no question. The Hebrew patriarchs, prior to the sojourn in Egypt, had nothing of the sort. Their life in Egypt therefore gave them their first lessons, their first ideas of a complete code of written law. We shall be in small danger of over-estimating the value of these lessons and ideas in their bearings upon a higher civilization. So, also, Egypt gave to the Hebrew mind the example of a well-digested system of judicial procedure, established courts and forms of trial; laws put in force by the aid of judges, witnesses, and the systematic execution of penalties. Remarkably the last quarter of a century has brought to light documentary evidence of a judicial trial in Egypt as far back as the age of Moses. H. C.

Laws and not men are the rulers in every justly constituted State. The difference is broad and impassable between a government of will and a government of law. Under the Hebrew constitution, the poor and the weak were not to be the victims of the rich and the strong. The small as well as the great were to be heard, and equal justice awarded to all without fear or favor. That terrible and ruinous evil, “the law’s delay,” was unknown to the Hebrew jurisprudence. Courts of various grades were established, from high courts of appeal down to those ordained for every town. “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates,” was the constitutional provision on this subject. To what a minute subdivision the judiciary system had been carried in the wilderness appears from the ordinance which required “rulers over thousands, rulers over hundreds, rulers over fifties, and rulers over tens [of families], who should judge the people at all seasons. (See previous section) Care was thus taken that in suits and proceedings at law every man should have what was just and equal, without going far to seek it, without waiting long to obtain it, and without paying an exorbitant price for it. With a judiciary constituted in this manner justice could be administered promptly, while provision was made against the evils of hasty decisions in the right of appeal to higher courts; in important cases even to the venerable council of seventy, composed of the wisest, the gravest, the ablest, the most upright, and trustworthy men in the nation. E. C. W.

De. 16:18. Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates. In anticipation of their settlement in Canaan and dispersion in towns and villages over the whole land, Moses here enacts that judges and officers were to be appointed by the people in all their gates, in all their places of residence which the Lord should give them. The “officers” (shoterim, writers) associated with the judges both in the earlier arrangements and in that which was to succeed were secretaries and clerks of court, and acted also as assessors and advisers of the judges. No instruction is given as to the number of judges and officers, or as to the mode of appointing them; nor was this necessary. The former would be determined by the size and population of the place where they were appointed, and the latter would follow the method instituted by Moses in the earlier arrangement.

Thy gates. Judicial proceedings were conducted at the gates of the city, and in some place outside the walls the sentence was executed on the condemned criminal (Neh. 8:1, 3), just as during the journey through the wilderness it had been outside the camp that transgressors were punished. W. L. A.—The seat of justice—the place for holding court—was “in the gates of the city.” Hence this being with all Orientals the place of public resort, the courts were public—open to all. H. C.—The chamber over one of the principal gates of each city was in ancient times the council chamber, where the judges sat, and causes were tried; as in 2 Sam. 18:33; 19:8; Ps. 69:12). And “to speak with the enemy in the gate” is to plead against an adversary in court (Ps. 127:5). So, “to be crushed in the gate,” and “to be afflicted in the gate,” is to lose the cause and to be condemned in court. Pyle.

The Supreme Court (De. 17:8-13).

So long as Moses was with the people, they had in him one to whom, in the last resort, cases might be brought for decision which were found too difficult for the ordinary judges. But as he was not to be always with them, it was needful to provide a Supreme Court, to which such cases might be carried when they could no longer be decided by him; and such a court is here appointed to be held at the sanctuary. W. L. A.—The provision for a Supreme Judicature, which we find to have been established by the constitution, is in the following words (verses 8, 9): “If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates (i.e., in the inferior, local courts), then thou shalt arise, and get thee unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment.” “The priests the Levites and the judge” here evidently mean a national council or court. The phrase must be interpreted of such priests and Levites only as had some commission to give judgment in the place which Jehovah should choose. On account of their learning and knowledge of the laws they would naturally be esteemed best qualified to be chosen to interpret them. This Supreme Judicature, composed of persons of the greatest ability, experience, and learning in the laws, was not only highly important and useful as a court of appeal in adjudicating difficult cases, and those in which great interests were at stake between individuals, but it was indispensable for the decision of controversies which might arise between different tribes. As no one tribe had any authority or jurisdiction over any other, such controversies could be decided only by some common judge. The tribes, as sovereign States, were subject to no lower court than the supreme judicial council of the whole nation. What concerned one tribe was by no means to be determined by the judges of another. It is hardly necessary to add that the judgment of this court was final. Hence it was enacted (verses 10, 11): “Thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose (the supreme court) shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do all according to all that they inform thee; according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand nor to the left.” The judicial office among the Hebrews was elective. (See previous section.) Even the supreme judge was chosen by the free suffrages of the people. The historian distinctly informs us that “the people made Jephthah head and captain over them.” Four stages may be noted in the proceedings relating to Jephthah—the preliminary discussion, the nomination, the presentation to the people, and the installation. E. C. W.

8. Between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke—i.e., in cases where blood had been shed and death had ensued, either accidentally or from murderous intent; in cases of disputed rights and claims; and in cases where corporeal injury had been suffered, whether in strife or from assault; and, in general, wherever matters of controversy—disputes as to what was lawful and right, might arise in their towns and villages. In all such cases recourse was to be had to the court at the sanctuary. W. L. A.

Ex. 22:28. He commands that they should think and speak reverently of judges and others who exercise the office of magistrate; in the ordinary idiom of the Hebrew language he repeats the same thing twice over—the same persons are called “gods” and “rulers of the people.” The name of God is, figuratively indeed but most reasonably, applied to magistrates, upon whom as the ministers of his authority he has inscribed a mark of his glory. For as honor is due to fathers because God has associated them with himself in the possession of the name, so also here his own dignity is claimed for judges in order that the people may reverence them, because they are God’s representatives. And so Christ, the surest expositor, explains it (John 10:34) when he quotes the passage from Ps. 82:6. Calv.

Ex. 23:19. The first of the first-fruits thou shalt bring. It was a precept of the ceremonial law that the firstlings of the flock and the first and best fruits of the earth should be offered to God : not as if the first was more valuable in his account than the last, or the most early fruits in the spring more pleasing to him than the later in the autumn ; but it was instructive that our love, the “first-born of the soul and the beginning of its strength,” should be consecrated to God. Bates.—The Israelites are commanded to offer their first-fruits for the same reason that they were to pay the tribute for every soul ; that they might confess that they themselves and all that they had belonged to God. Calv.

In the Law, God called for the first of all things ; he required not only the first-fruits, but the very first of the first ; and in Lev. 2 : 14, he is so set upon having the first of the first that he will not stay till the ears of corn are ripe, but will have the green ears dried in the fire. And what would God teach us by all this but to serve him with the first-fruits of our age, the morning of our youth ? Brooks.

Special Law. Newly planted Trees.

Lev. 19 : 23-25. The people of Israel was to have in nature everywhere a mirror of God’s moral governance, and a guide to him. As every child from his birth was unclean, until by the covenant of circumcision he was given to God and sanctified, so are all the fruits of the earth to be regarded as unclean until they have been sanctified. Moreover, as nothing small, unripe, imperfect, might be sacrificed to the Lord, the full perfection of the fruit in the fourth year was to be waited for before the consecration followed. Geri.

Lev. 11 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the living things which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that part the hoof: the camel, because he cheweth the cud but part-

5 eth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud but 6 parteth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. And the hare, because she cheweth the cud 7 but parteth not the hoof, she is unclean unto you. And the swine, because he parteth the 8 hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you. Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcases ye shall not touch; they are unclean unto you.

9. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the 12 waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination unto you.

13. And these ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are 14 an abomination: the eagle and the gier eagle, and the ospray; and the kite, and the falcon 15 after its kind; every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night hawk, and the sea- 16, 17 mew, and the hawk after its kind; and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl; 18 and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture; and the stork, the heron after its 19 kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

20. All winged creeping things that go upon all four are an abomination unto you. Yet these 21 may ye eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all four, which have legs above their 22 feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.

39. And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be 40 unclean until the even. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

De. 14 21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God.

Ex. 22 31 And ye shall be holy men unto me: therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.

Lev. 7 22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 23 ing, Ye shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. And the fat of that which dieth of itself, 24 and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service: but ye shall in 25 no wise eat of it. For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people. 26 And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwell- 27 ings. Whosoever it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people.

Lev 20 24 I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from the peoples. Ye shall 25 therefore separate between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any 26 thing wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that ye should be mine.

Lev. 11 43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, 44 neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am the LORD your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon the earth. 45 For I am the LORD that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

46. This is the law of the beast, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in 47 the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.

[Omissions of text for economy of space. Substance indicated in the comment.]

This and the three following sections, 148- 150, treat of ceremonial uncleanness, which may be removed by ceremonial observances. B.—There now follows a long list of regula- tions with respect to pollution. One kind of this pollution was the eating of unclean food. The other kinds were natural and bodily condi- tions. These concern the disease of leprosy, the relations of the sexes, child-bearing, and death. The object of the Law in all these cases is continually to remind the people of God of sin, and of their own call to holiness. Although generation, birth, nourishment, sickness, and death are all God’s ordinances, and therefore good, still there clings to them partly sinful lust, partly they stand in distinct relation to it as its punishment (thou shalt bring forth with sorrow (Gen. 3 : 16) ; with sorrow shalt thou eat until thou return again to the earth, verses 18, 19). For this reason, during the time of nonage laws must be of the greatest consequence which taught men to see in bodily uncleanness emblems of spiritual defilement, in bodily purification the image of cleanness of heart. Gerl.

Observe how under the ancient economy the idea of the holiness of God was revealed. The heathen nations have no word which properly represents this attribute, and to the Jews it needed to be suggested by a special institution. In preparation for this arrangement, all animals were divided from the first into clean and unclean. From the clean one was afterward chosen without spot or blemish ; a peculiar tribe selected from the other tribes was appointed to present it, the offering being first washed with pure water, and the priest himself undergoing a similar ablution. Neither priest nor victim, however, much less the offerer, was deemed sufficiently holy to come into the Divine presence ; but the offering was made without the holy place. The idea of the infinite purity of God was thus suggested to the minds of observers ; and holiness in things created came to mean, under the Law, purification for sacred uses. Angus.

In accordance with the character of a dispensation which put moral and spiritual ideas into visible and material forms, the distinction between the clean and the unclean was marked in the creatures used for food as well as for sacrifice. All the living creatures around were made to suggest moral conceptions to an Israelite, and it was arranged that the very question, “What to eat, and what to drink,” should act as a bridle upon his will. D. F.—There can be no doubt that there was a sanitary element in this distinction ; but it is evident that this was not the main idea ; for it is not “wholesome and unwholesome,” but “clean and unclean.” It was not simply and solely a natural distinction, but also and mainly ceremonial. J. M. G.

The distinction of the animal tribes into clean and unclean, is founded not so much upon anything in the nature of their habits as more or less cleanly, but upon the circumstance that one class of them was to be eaten for food, and the other not. If, then, to declare an animal clean or unclean, was merely to pronounce it fit or unfit to be eaten, it follows that there was nothing contemptuous or degrading in the use of the epithet unclean in this connection. Bush.—God does not condemn his work in the animals, but he would have them accounted unclean that the people may abominate that which is forbidden them. It is only transgression which defiles : for the animals have never changed their nature ; but it was in God’s power to determine what he would have to be lawful or unlawful. Christ declares that “not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man.” When God forbade the Israelites to eat this or that kind of food, they were admonished by this ceremonial precept how abominable is the inward corruption of the heart. But by such elementary teaching they were led onward to spiritual doctrine. Calc.—They were to learn that even the common business of eating was to be governed by holy laws. By minute obedience to precept, they were to be indoctrinated into the principles of holiness. Their social board was to be a standing protest against idolatrous customs, and also a perpetual rebuke of impurity and of any infringement of sanitary law. C. C.

Further, this arrangement served for the daily discipline of obedience and faith. Apart from the command they might have eaten, or abstained from eating, without any violation of conscience. This would make the matter a better test of obedience. In abstaining from such and such meat they did no one wrong ; they violated no law of nature, no law of God ; they did themselves no injury. They still had enough to meet all the necessities of hunger. Here, then, was a true test whether men would simply obey God’s word, even though obedience should mean privation. This was the discipline of faith. D. D.

The food allowed the Hebrew nation, as an holy people, were the gentler sort of creatures and of most common use, such as were bred about their houses and in their fields ; they were creatures of the cleanest feeding, which gave the most wholesome nourishment and were of a better taste, and might be had in greater plenty and perfection by a proper care of their breeding and feeding ; they seem, therefore, naturally fit to be chosen as a better kind of food. Such a difference as the ritual makes between foods was wisely appointed to encourage the improvement of their ground, to contribute to the health of their bodies, and to the ease of their employment in life, no inconsiderable part of the blessings of the promised land.

Lowman.—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 and yet of national distinctness, procured, however, by a minimum of the inconvenience arising from restriction. Dic. B.

Lev. 11 : 3-23. Among the clean creatures are the ox, the sheep, the goat, the lamb; all fishes with fins and scales, and of the fowls, the dove, the pigeon, the lark, whose habits are agreeable, and their flesh grateful. On the other side we find the dog, the swine, the wolf, the fox, the lion, the tiger; of birds, the vulture, the kite, the raven, the owl, the bat; of reptiles, the whole serpent tribe, with the eel and the water-snake; and finally all insects and worms, and the various species of testacea. Bush.—All these marks of distinction in the Levitical Law are wisely and even necessarily made on the basis of popular observation and belief, not on that of anatomical exactness. These matters are often referred to as scientific errors; whereas they were simply descriptions, necessarily popular, for the understanding and enforcement of the Law. Gardiner.

Distinction of Beasts.