as were numbered among the most holy sacrifices; the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings. This was expressly commanded in the law.* And the peace offerings of the whole congregation being included, as we have already stated, in the same rank, they also were considered as required to be slain on the same side of the altar. But all the victims denominated light or inferior sacrifices, the peace offerings of individuals, the paschal victim, the firstlings, and the tithes, might lawfully be slain in any part of the court of the priests:† for there was no particular part of that court appointed in the law for this purpose. But all these things are to be understood of victims selected from quadrupeds, and not of birds. For birds were to be killed with the priest's nails at the horns of the great altar and according to the Jews those which were designed for burnt offerings, at the north-eastern horn of it; and those which were for sin offerings, at the south-western horn. In the former the head was to be divided from the body, which was never to be done in the latter.§ : II. When the victim was killed, the blood was immediately to be sprinkled; but in different ways and in different places in different kinds of sacrifices. There were some victims, whose blood was to be carried into the tabernacle or temple. Such were all the occasional sin offerings of the whole congregation; the goat for the whole congregation, and the bullock for the family of Aaron, both slain on the day of atonement; and the bullock appointed as an occasional sin offering for the high priest.|| Concerning the rest of the sacrifices, it was commanded that the blood of some should be sprinkled on the horns of the great altar, and of others on its sides. When victims for sin offerings were taken from bullocks, sheep, or goats, some of the blood was to be put, by the priest's finger,* upon the horns of the great altar, and the rest of it was to be poured out at the bottom of that altar; and this according to the rabbies, towards the south-western corner, where there were two holes through which it ran into a subterranean conduit, and thence into the brook Kidron. The blood to be. sprinkled on the sides of the altar, the rabbies say, was to be sprinkled, in some cases above the middle of the altar, and in others below it: wherefore, to prevent any mistake, the middle of the altar was encircled with a scarlet line.§ Above the middle was to be sprinkled the blood of those birds which were sacrificed as burnt offerings; and that of those which were designed for sin offerings, below it. Below the middle of the altar, it is also said, was to be poured out the blood of all the victims, with which its sides were to be sprinkled; but not all in the same manThe blood of the paschal lamb, of the male firstlings, and of the tithes, was considered as rightly sprinkled, if it were only poured out at either corner of the altar which had a base, or projecting foundation; and there was this projection at every corner except the north-eastern.** But of burnt offerings selected from quadrupeds, of peace offerings, and ner. ¶ Ibid. c. 5. The Jews say that the blood was to be sprinkled with the fore finger. + Levit. iv. 25. 34. + Misna in Middoth, c. 3.. § Ibid. || Maimon. in Maase Korban, c. 6. ** TR.-For some curious information concerning the traditions on this subject, the learned reader is referred to Middoth, Bartenora, & L'Empereur, in Misna Surenhus. tom. v. p. 348, 349. 353, 354. trespass offerings, the blood was to be "sprinkled "round about upon the altar,' the altar,"* or as the Jews understand these words, on all the sides of it. Hence in these sacrifices, it used to be sprinkled on two opposite corners, the north-eastern and south-western, in such a manner that two sprinklings wetted all the four sides. Whence those two sprinklings were called 'two sprinklings which are like four.' The custom of pouring blood round an altar was also practised among the heathens: as appears from Lucian, who introduces a priest as performing it. III. This may suffice concerning the sacrificial blood that was to be sprinkled without the temple. There were other victims, as we have already stated, whose blood was commanded to be sprinkled within that edifice. And among these there was this difference: the blood of some was to be sprinkled only in the outer sanctuary, and that of others in both. Of the former kind were the bullocks that were slain as occasional sin offerings, either for the high priest or for the whole congregation; and also the goat which was commanded to be sacrificed for the whole congregation as an atonement for a sin of ignorance;|| supposed by the Jews to be that of strange worship: this goat being, as Maimonides has justly observed, of the same kind of victims with those bullocks.¶ 'The law has not directed, how or where the blood ' of goats sacrificed to atone for strange worship was 'to be sprinkled. But these being sin offerings of 'the whole congregation, similar to the bullock offered 'for a sin of ignorance, all that is said of the one, Levit. i 5. iii. 2. 8. 13. vii. 2. + Maimon. in Maase Korban. c. 5. relative to the sprinkling of the blood, the burning of carcass, and the defilement of persons employed in burning it, is equally applicable to the other.' Whenever any of these victims were slain, the blood was to be carried into the outer sanctuary, and was to be sprinkled with the high priest's finger, seven times towards the vail of the inner sanctuary, and then once upon each of the horns of the golden altar; after which all the remainder was to be poured out at the bottom of the great altar.* IV. The blood of the young bullock slain as a sin offering for the family of Aaron on the day of atonement, and of the goat sacrificed on the same day as a sin offering for all Israel, the high priest was commanded to carry into the inner sanctuary.† First, he was to carry in the blood of the bullock, and with his finger to sprinkle part of it towards the mercy seat, according to the Jews, once upwards and seven times downwards; then to return to the outer sanctuary, and to sprinkle another part of the blood towards the vail of the inner sanctuary in the same manner as he had sprinkled towards the mercy seat, that is, once upwards and seven times downwards: after which he was to repeat all the same process with the blood of the goat. When these ceremonies were finished, the blood of both victims, it is said, was to be poured together into one vessel, and some of it was to be sprinkled with the high priest's finger, once on each of the horns, and seven times on the top, of the golden altar;§ and the remainder was to be poured out at the bottom of the great altar. That the blood of both these victims was to be sprinkled towards the + Levit. xvi. 14, 15. This is supposed to be implied in Levit, xvi. 18. § Levit, xvi. 18, 19. * Levit. iv. 6, 7. 17, 18. mercy seat eight times, once upwards and seven times downwards, is asserted by Maimonides from tradition; and is inferred from the scripture itself by Solomon Jarchi, who thus expounds the injunction of the law respecting this matter: "And he shall "sprinkle with his finger; here is evidently one sprinkling: "And before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times;" 'that is once upwards and seven times downwards.' I understand the language of Moses as directing the blood to be sprinkled not upon the mercy seat, but towards it; and this is also the opinion of the rabbies. Thus Bartenora:§ The drops of blood reach not to the mercy seat, but fall down upon the ground.' The same also is affirmed concerning the vail : 'He 'sprinkles not upon the vail, but before the vail.' That the blood of these victims was to be sprinkled in the outer sanctuary towards the vail, the same number of times as in the inner sanctuary towards the mercy seat, is inferred from these words: "And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congrega'tion:"¶which are thus expounded by Jarchi: “ As he 'sprinkles part of the blood of each victim in the inner sanctuary once upwards and seven times downwards, so he sprinkles it also in the outer sanctuary once upwards and seven times downwards.' And the septenary number was frequently used in sacred rites. V. And here it may be remarked on this appointment; that as God created the universe in six days, and rested on the seventh day, he not only commanded every seventh day to be kept sacred in memory of his creation of the world, but also enjoined a very frequent * In Jom. Hachip. c. 3. Ad Joma, c. 5. + Ad Levit. xvi. 14. In Gemara, ibid. Levit. xvi. 14, 15. |