This chapter treats of the trespass offering for sins committed knowingly and wilfully, Lev 6:1 and of the law of the burnt offering, and of cleansing the altar of burnt offering, and keeping the fire burning on it continually, Lev 6:8 and of the meat offering, which is repeated with some additional circumstances, Lev 6:14 and of the offering at the consecration of the high priest, Lev 6:19 and of the sin offering, and where to be killed and eaten, and by whom, Lev 6:24.
saying: as follows.
and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep; whether money or goods, or any living creature, sheep, cow, horse, &c. and should deny that ever anything was delivered to him, and take his oath upon it; which is a very grievous crime, and not to go unpunished, as was known by the light of nature, and declared by the Heathen oracle (h); and yet there was to be a trespass offering to make atonement for such a sin: Jarchi thinks, by his neighbour is meant a third person between them; but if that third person was a witness of the goods being delivered, there would have been no occasion of an oath, as follows: the case supposed seems to be, when anything was delivered to the care and custody of another, without the knowledge of any but the person that delivered it, and he to whom it was delivered; who retaining it for his own use, embezzling the goods, and acting the unfaithful part, affirms to the owner he never had anything of him, and so lies to him, and to that lie adds an oath of perjury:
or in fellowship: in partnership; as, for instance, having received money belonging to them both, denies he ever received any, and so cheats his partner of what was his due, and being put to his oath, takes it: or, "in putting of the hand" (i), as persons usually do when they enter into fellowship or partnership, they give each other their hand in token of it; or in putting anything into the hand, as money to trade with, and he denies he received any; or by way of purchase for anything bought, and the person of whom the purchase is made affirms the purchaser never put anything into his hand, or paid him anything, but insists upon being paid again; or in a way of lending, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom, because then money is put into the hand of him that receives it, and, in the case supposed, the borrower denies that ever any was put into his hand, or he borrowed any; and being called upon to swear, swears falsely:
or in a thing taken away by violence: without the will and knowledge of the owner; privately and secretly, but being suspected, is challenged with it, and denying it, is made to swear, which he does falsely:
or hath deceived his neighbour; cheated him in trade and commerce, defrauded him in business, extorted money from him; or by calumny and false accusation got anything out of his hands, see Luk 19:8 or by detaining the wages of the hireling; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom.
(h) "Spartano cuidam respondit", &c. Juvenal. Satyr. 13. prope finem. (i) "in positione manus", Montanus.
and sweareth falsely; which is to be understood, not of the last case only, but of all the rest, or of anyone of them, as it follows:
in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein; by unfaithfulness in a trust, cheating, defrauding, lying, and false swearing.
(k) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40.
that he shall restore that which he took violently away: whether money, goods, or cattle:
or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten; by outwitting him, by extortion, by false accusation, or detention of wages:
or that which was delivered him to keep; in which he was unfaithful to his trust, be it what it will:
or the lost thing which he found; and denied he had it.
he shall even restore it in the principal; whatsoever he has embezzled, or cheated another of, or detained from the right owner, the whole of that was to be restored:
and shall add the fifth part more thereto; to the principal, see Lev 5:16 but Maimonides (l) says, this was an instruction to add a fifth to a fifth; and Aben Ezra takes the word to be plural, and observes, that the least of many is two, and so two fifths were to be added to the principal, but the first sense seems best:
and give it unto him to whom appertaineth; as, to his neighbour, who had deposited anything in his hands; or his partner, he had any ways wronged; or whomsoever he had defrauded in any respect; or the proprietor of lost goods; Ben Gersom observes, it was not to be given to his son, nor to his messenger: in the case of taking anything away by violence, though but the value of a farthing, it is said, that he shall be obliged to bring it after him (from whom he has taken it) even unto Media (should he be there); he shall not give it to his son, nor to his messenger, but he may give it to the messenger of the sanhedrim; and if he dies, he must return it to his heirs (m):
in the day of his trespass offering; when he brings that, but restoration must first be made: the Targum of Jonathan renders it, in the day he repents of his sin: and so Aben Ezra interprets it,"in the day he returns from his trespass;''when he owns and confesses it, is sorry for it, and determines to do so no more. Maimonides observes (n), that one that takes away anything by violence (which is one of the cases supposed) is not fined so much as a thief; he only restores the principal; for the fifth part is for his false oath; the reasons of which are, because robbery is not so frequently, and is more easily committed, and is more open, and against which persons may guard and make resistance, and the robber is more known than a thief who steals secretly; see Exo 22:1.
(l) In Misn. Trumot, c. 6. sect. 1. (m) Misnah Bava Kama, c. 9. sect. 6. (n) Ut supra, (l)) c. 41.
a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering unto the priest; the same offering that was ordered for a trespass through ignorance, Lev 5:16 typical of the sacrifice of Christ offered up both for sins of ignorance and wilful transgressions, for his blood cleanses from all sin; see Gill on Lev 5:16; the phrase "with thy estimation", used there also Lev 5:16, is here interpreted by Ben Gersom of two shekels, the value the ram was to be of, brought for the trespass offering.
and it shall be forgiven him, for anything of all that he hath done, in trespassing therein; any and everyone of the above sins, with all the aggravations of them, were forgiven, upon the atonement made, though they were so enormous; and, indeed, all manner of sin is forgiven for Christ's sake, except the sin against the Holy Ghost: and L'Empereur (o) rightly observes, against the Socinians, who deny that sacrifices were offered for crimes very grievous, that these were of such a nature; for what more vile than unfaithfulness in a trust, than cheating and defrauding, stealing, lying, and perjury?
(o) In Misn. Bava Kama, c. 9. sect. 5.
saying; as follows:
saying, this is the law of the burnt offering; of the daily sacrifice, morning and evening:
it is the burnt offering, because of, or for the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning; as there was nothing offered on the altar of burnt offering after the evening daily sacrifice, nor anything before the morning daily sacrifice, it was the more difficult to keep the fire of the altar burning in the night; wherefore a slow fire was used in the evening sacrifice, and several things remained to be burnt in the night: so Maimonides (p) says, the remainder of the fat of the members were burnt all night until the pillar of the morning (first rays of the rising sun, Editor.):
and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it; not without it, as Aben Ezra observes, but on it; that is, should be ever burning on it, night and day, as it is after declared.
(p) In Misn. Beracot, c. 1. sect. 1.
and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh; to cover his nakedness; that indecency might be prevented, and that he might not be exposed to ridicule; and though these two garments are only mentioned, yet the wise men say the word "put on" includes the bonnet and the girdle; for the removing of the ashes from the altar, which is the thing he was to be thus clothed to do, was done in the four garments, though the Scripture mentions but two (r):
and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed, with the burnt offering on the altar; this was the first thing the priests did in a morning, and which in later times they cast lots for, and the first lot was for this service, and which was performed very early (s);"every day they cleansed or swept the altar, at cockcrowing or near it, whether before or after, and on the day of atonement at midnight, and at the feasts from the time of the first watch:"
and he shall put them beside the altar: without, at the corner of the altar, as Aben Ezra, on the east side of it; so says Jarchi, the priest takes a full censer of the innermost consumptions (that is, of the innermost parts of the sacrifice reduced to ashes), and puts them in the east of the rise of the altar; or, as by another (t) expressed, he takes the ashes in a censer, more or less, and lays them down at the east of the rise of the altar, and there leaves them, and this is the beginning of the morning service: and we are told by another writer (u), that there was a place called the house of ashes, and it was at the east of the rise of the altar, at a distance from the foot of it ten cubits and three hands' breadth; where the priest, before they began to sacrifice, laid the ashes of the sacrifices, and of the candlestick, and of the altar of incense, and of the offering of the fowl that were cast out.
(q) "est" "proprie vestis commensurata corpori", Munster; so Jarchi. (r) Maimon. in Misn. Tamid, c. 5. sect. 3. (s) Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 8. (t) Bartenora in ib. (u) Jacob. Jud. Leo. Tabnitid Hecal, No. 90. apud Wagenseil. Sotah, p. 426.
and put on other garments; not common garments or lay-habits, what the priests wore when they were not on duty; for, as Ben Gersom says, these were priestly garments, though meaner than the first, or those that were put off: and so Jarchi says, they were worse than they were: it seems as if they were such that were spotted and dirty, and threadbare, almost worn out, and only fit for such sort of work as to carry out ashes: and so Maimonides (w) observes, that these other garments are not to be understood of common garments; but of such that are meaner in value and esteem, for both are holy garments; and, indeed, nothing belonging to the priestly office was to be performed but with the priestly garments, and they were only to be worn by the priests while in service:
and carry forth the ashes; when these, gathered on a heap, were become large, as Jarchi says, and there was no room for the pile of wood, they carried them out from thence; and this, he observes, was not obligatory every day, but the taking of them up, as in the preceding verse Lev 6:10, they were bound to every day: and these they carried
without the camp, unto a clean place; for though they were ashes, yet being ashes of holy things, were not to be laid in an unclean place, or where unclean things were: as the burnt offering was a type of Christ in his sufferings and death, enduring the fire of divine wrath in the room and stead of his people; so the carrying forth the ashes of the burnt offering, and laying them in a clean place, may denote the burial of the body of Christ without the city of Jerusalem, wrapped in a clean linen cloth and laid in a new tomb, wherein no man had been laid, Mat 27:59.
(w) In Misn. Tamid, c. 5. sect. 3.
and the priest shall burn wood in it every morning: until the fourth hour of the day, according to the Targum of Jonathan; that is, unto ten o'clock in the morning:
and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; both morning and evening, and as often as any sacrifices of that kind were offered up:
and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings; that which was upon the inwards and covered them, and upon the kidneys, and flanks, and caul of the liver; see Lev 3:3.
(x) Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 2. sect. 4. Bartenora in Misn. Tamid, c. 2. sect. 4. & in Yoma, c. 4. sect. 6. (y) In ib. sect. 5. & in Yoma, c. 4. sect. 6. (z) Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 2. sect. 7, 8, 9. (a) Ibid. sect. 6.
it shall never go out; as it is highly probable it never did, until the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar; though the author of second Maccabees states that:"For when our fathers were led into Persia, the priests that were then devout took the fire of the altar privily, and hid it in an hollow place of a pit without water, where they kept it sure, so that the place was unknown to all men.'' 2 Maccabees 1:19)pretends that some devout priests, who were carried captives into Persia, hid the fire of the altar privily in the hollow of a pit, where was no water, and in which it was kept sure and unknown to men, and was found and restored in the times of Nehemiah,"20 Now after many years, when it pleased God, Neemias, being sent from the king of Persia, did send of the posterity of those priests that had hid it to the fire: but when they told us they found no fire, but thick water; 21 Then commanded he them to draw it up, and to bring it; and when the sacrifices were laid on, Neemias commanded the priests to sprinkle the wood and the things laid thereupon with the water. 22 When this was done, and the time came that the sun shone, which afore was hid in the cloud, there was a great fire kindled, so that every man marvelled.'' (2 Maccabees 1)but this is contrary to what the Jews always assert (b), that the fire from heaven was wanting in the second temple; and yet from the account Josephus (c) gives of a festival called "Xylophoria", or the feast of the wood carrying, it seems to have been then in being, and great care was taken to preserve it that it might not go out; for, he says, at that feast it is a custom for all to bring wood to the altar, that so there might never be wanting fuel for the fire, for it always remained unextinguished: as to, what some have observed out of Diodorus Siculus (d), that Antiochus Epiphanes, when he went into the temple, quenched this fire, it appears to be a mistake; for Diodorus does not say that he put out the fire of the altar, but that he extinguished the immortal lamp, as it was called by them (the Jews), which was always burning in the temple; by which he plainly means the lamp in the candlestick, and perhaps what the Jews call the western lamp, which was always burning, and was the middle lamp bending to the west, and to which the rest bent: the Heathens in many places imitated this perpetual fire: the Brahmans among the Indians speak of fire falling from heaven, kept by them on everlasting hearths, or in fire pans (e), for that purpose: the Persians had their perpetual fire, having a great opinion of that element: in the march of Darius against Alexander, it is observed by the historian (f), that the fire which the Persians call sacred and eternal was placed on altars of silver, and he is said to adjure his soldiers by the gods of their country, and by the eternal fire on the altars, &c. to rescue the Persian name and nation from the last degree of reproach (g): the Grecians have many traces of this continual fire on the altar among them: at Mantinia, as Pausanias (h) relates, was a temple of Ceres and Proserpina, where a fire was kindled, and great care taken that it might not be extinguished; and in the temple of Pan, a fire burned which was never quenched: and the same writer says (i), with the Eleans was an altar which had fire continually burning on it night and day: and Aelianus (k) makes mention of an altar of Venus at Eryce in Sicily, which burnt night and day; and of which he says many things wonderful and fabulous: and it is well known that the Romans had their goddess Vesta, whom Velleius Paterculus (l) calls the keeper of the perpetual fires; and there were certain virgins, called the "vestal" virgins, whose business it was to take care that the fire never went out; and is by Virgil (m) called the eternal fire: and Vesta itself is thought by some learned men to be the same with "Esh-jah", the fire of Jehovah: now these were all satanical imitations of the perpetual fire on the altar of God.
(b) T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 65. 1. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 2. (c) De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 17. sect. 6. (d) Eclog. 1. ex l. 34. p. 902. (e) Ammian. Marcellin. l. 23. (f) Curt. Hist. l. 3. c. 3. (g) Curt. Hist. l. 4. c. 14. (h) Arcadica sive, l. 8. p. 469, 516. (i) Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 316. (k) Hist. Animal. l. 10. c. 50. (l) Hist. l. 2. in fine. (m) "Vos aeterni igneis", &c. Aeneid. l. 2.
the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord; being brought unto them by the children of Israel:
before the altar; or at the face of it, for what was properly offered was burnt upon it, as in the following verse Lev 6:15, for it should be rather rendered "in", or "on the altar" (n); the face of it is the top of it, on which every sacrifice was offered, and not before it.
(n) "in altari", Noldius, p. 82. No. 391.
with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; or rather, "unleavened shall it be eaten"; for it cannot well be thought that bread of any sort should be eaten with this offering, which, properly speaking, was itself a bread offering, and so it should be called, rather than a meat offering; and certain it is, that no meat offering was to be made of leaven, but of fine flour unleavened, and so to be eaten, not by the priests in their own houses, but in the tabernacle; not in that part of it properly called the holy place, in distinction from the holy of holies, but as it follows:
in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it; in a room provided in that court for that purpose, as afterwards in the temple.
I have given it unto thee for their portion of my offerings made by fire; this was part of the provision made for the maintenance of the priests, as it was but just that they that ministered at the altar should live of it; and the rather, as the priests and Levites had no portion and inheritance in the land of Israel, and therefore must be supported in another way, which the Lord took care of:
it is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the trespass offering; as they, so this being devoted to sacred uses, what were not consumed upon the altar belonged to the priests, and were their perquisites, nor might they be appropriated to the use of any other.
it shall be a statute for ever in your generations, concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire; a statute to last till the Messiah should come, the true meat or bread offering; and the bread he gave was his flesh, and he that eats of it shall not die, but live for ever, Joh 6:27,
everyone that toucheth them shall be holy; signifying, that no one ought to touch them but a holy person, one devoted to holy services, the priests and their sons; or "whatsoever" (o) toucheth them, the dishes they eat those offerings out of, or the knives they cut them with, were not to be used for anything else.
(o) "quicquid", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.
saying; as follows.
which they shall offer unto the Lord in the day when he is anointed; when he, or any of his sons in his stead, were anointed, for as yet he himself was not; see Lev 8:2 some, as Aben Ezra observes, think that "in", is instead of "from", and that the sense is, that Aaron, or his successor, and every of them, were to offer the following offering perpetually from the time of their being anointed, and put into the office of the high priest, and which certainly was the case, as appears by what follows:
the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual; which was an omer, and as much as a man could eat in one day; and this the high priest offered every day, as long as he lived, or was in his office, and that at his own expense, as Josephus says (p), not altogether, but in the following manner:
half of it in the morning, and half of it at night; so that this constantly returned as the morning and evening sacrifices did, and followed them. Jarchi says of this, that it was the common meat offering at the consecration of a priest, but the high priest offered it every day; and it appears from the Misnic writers (q) that this meat offering consisted of twelve cakes, the same number as those of the shewbread; the same phrase, a "perpetual statute", being used of one as the other; and six of these were offered in the morning, and six at evening; and this as the daily sacrifice had the same mystical meaning, and respected the continual efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ.
(p) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 10. sect. 7. (q) Misn. Menachot, c. 6. sect. 5. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
and when it is baked, thou shalt bring it in; not thoroughly baked, but very little, as says Josephus, hastily, so that it swells, and rises up in bubbles. Jarchi says, the flour was first mixed in hot water, and after that it was baked in an oven, and then fried in a pan:
and the baked pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the Lord; or the meat offering cut in pieces shalt thou offer, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; the twelve cakes were broken each into two, and twelve halves were offered in the morning, and twelve at evening: the manner in which it was done was, the priest divided every cake into two by measure, so that he might offer half in the morning, and half in the evening; and he took the halves and doubled everyone of them into two, and broke them, until he found every broken piece doubled into two, and he offered the halves with half the handful of frankincense in the morning, and in like manner in the evening (u): this may have respect to the body of Christ being broken for us, whereby he became fit food for faith, and an offering of a sweet smelling savour to God.
(r) Misn. Menachot, c. 5. sect. 8. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. Maimon. Maasch Hakorbanot, c. 13. sect. 7. (s) Misn. Middot, c. 1. sect. 4. (t) In ib. (u) Maimon. Misn. Middot. sect. 4.
it is a statute for ever unto the Lord; which he by an everlasting statute appointed to be offered to him by every high priest, until the Messiah should come:
it shall be wholly burnt; of a common meat offering only a handful was burnt, and the rest was the priest's; see Lev 6:15.
it shall not be eaten; neither by himself, nor any other priest. The priests by eating the offerings of the people bore their iniquities, and made atonement for them, Lev 10:17 but the priests might not eat their own sacrifices, to show that they could not bear their own sins, and make atonement for them; and this proves the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices, and the need there was for one to arise of another order to take away sin; and it is thought by some to be typical of the active obedience of Christ (w), every day yielded to the law and will of God, and is perfect, as the word here signifies, and to be distinguished from "a burnt offering".
(w) Vid. Michaelis Observ. Sacr. Exercitat. 6. p. 57. & Mede in ib. p. 58.
saying; as follows.
in the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; and that was on the north side of the altar, see Lev 1:11 and so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom observe, that the place of slaying every sin offering was the north; and some have observed that Mount Calvary, where our Lord was crucified, lay pretty much to the north of Jerusalem, see Psa 48:2,
it is most holy; sacred to the Lord, offered up to him, and accepted by him, and typical of the most pure and holy sacrifice of Christ, who was made sin, and an offering for sin, in the room and stead of his people.
in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation; within the hangings, as Ben Gersom's note is, with which the court of the tabernacle was hung and made; in some room in that part of the sanctuary did the priest, with his sons, eat of the holy offerings that were appropriated to them; an emblem of spiritual priests, believers in Christ, feeding in the church upon the provisions of his house, the goodness and fatness of it.
and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment; the garment of the priest that slays and offers it:
thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place; it was not to be carried out of the tabernacle, and washed elsewhere, but in the sanctuary; either at the laver, where the priests washed their hands and feet, or in some room in the court for that purpose. This was done to preserve an esteem and value for the blood of the sacrifice, as typical of the precious blood of Christ.
and if it be sodden in a brazen it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water; brass, being more valuable, must not be destroyed; and besides the liquor could not soak into that, and whatever scent it retained was easily and soon removed by scouring and rinsing; the former was with hot water, and the latter with cold, as Ben Gersom affirms.
(x) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 1.
it is most holy; See Gill on Lev 6:25.
it shall be burnt in the fire. Ben Gersom says, it was burnt in its place in the court, in a place prepared there to burn things rejected, and sanctified; and I think, adds he, this place was on the east side, i.e. of the court; but it is clear from Lev 16:27 where the above case is mentioned, that it was to be carried out without the camp, and burnt there. What use the apostle makes of this, applying it to Christ, see Heb 13:11.