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in the sixth chapter of Zechariah, "Behold the man whose name is, as we render it, the branch," ver. 12; but according to the versions just mentioned, avatoλy, or oriens. However, the true reason of his sprinkling the blood eastward is evidently because the mercy seat, before which he was to sprinkle it, stood on the east side of the holy of holies, the side by the veil, which parted it from the sanctuary. It is said, "he shall sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat;" by which one would think he sprinkled the mercy seat itself with some of the blood. But the Jews unanimously understand it otherwise; and indeed - gnal-pene, which we render" upon," may as well be translated "towards;" or, as we express it, over against the face of the mercy seat." The difference betwixt "by gnal-penè and "lippenè, which we render "upon," and "before," is only this, that the former signifies towards the top, and the latter towards the lower part of the mercy-seat*."

The rabbies represent the high priest as washing himself all over, and changing his dress several times during the service of this day, sometimes wearing the white and sometimes the golden vestments+.

As to the spiritual or evangelical meaning of these rites, the apostle hath very particularly explained them in the ninth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. As the high priest was a type of Christ, his laying aside those vestments which were "made for glory and for beauty," Exod. xxviii, 2, and appearing only in his white garments, might signify our Lord's state of humiliation, when he "laid aside the glory which he had with the Father before the world was," and " was made in fashion as a man."

The expiatory sacrifices, offered by the high priest, were typical of the true expiation which Christ made for the sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself; and the priest's confess

* Deylingii Observat. Sacræ. part. ii, observ. xiii, sect. xxvi, xxvii, p. 194, 195.

+ Vid. Reland. Antiq. part. iv, cap. vi; Mishn. tit. Joma, cap. iii, sect. iii—vii, p. 218—221; cap. iv, sect. v, p. 230; cap. viii, sect. iii, iv, p. 247, 248, tom. ii, Surenhus.; Maimon. de Solenni Die Expiationum, cap. ii, sect. i-vi, p. 658-662; cap. iv, sect. i, p. 678; sect. ii, p. 685, 686, Crenii Fascic. Septimi.

ing the sins of the people over, and putting them upon the head of the scape-goat, Lev. xvi, 21, was a lively emblem of the imputation of sin to Christ, "who was made sin for us," 2 Cor. v, 21; for "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," Isa. liii, 6. And the goat's "bearing upon him all the iniquities of the Jews into a land not inhabited," Lev. xvi, 22, signifies the effect of Christ's sacrifice in delivering his people from guilt and punishment. The priest's entering into the holy of holies, with the blood of the sacrifice, is interpreted by the apostle to be typical of Christ's ascension, and heavenly intercession for his people, in virtue of the sacrifice of his death*.

* For a more particular account of the spiritual design of the rites attending the service of the day of expiation, see Witsius de Econom. Fœderum, lib. iv, cap. vi, sect. Iviii. Concerning the day of expiation, see the commentators on the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus, particularly Ainsworth, Lightfoot's Temple Service, and the Mishnical tract Joma, with Sheringham's notes.

CHAP. IX.

OF THE SABBATICAL YEAR, OR SEVENTH YEAR'S

REST.

AMONG the πτωχα σοιχεία, or beggarly elements of the Jewish dispensation, the apostle mentions days, and months, and times, and years, Gal. iv, 9, 10. For besides the weekly sabbath, or days of rest, the law prescribed the observance of the monthly new moons, and annual festival seasons, such as the passover, pentecost, feast of tabernacles, &c., which are the xaipo, or times, to which the apostle refers; and likewise whole years, to be observed with peculiar regard after certain returning periods, such as every seventh year, called the sabbatical year: and every seven times seventh, styled the jubilee.

שנה השבעית It is sometimes called

It is the former which falls under our present consideration*; and in the law of Moses it is distinguished from all others by several names. shanah hashebingnith, the seventh year, xar' ex; sometimes na sabbath haarets, the sabbath, or rest of the land; and sometimes now shemittah Laihovah, the release of the Lord.

The peculiar observances of this year were the four following:

1st, A total cessation from all manner of agriculture.

2dly, Leaving all the spontaneous product of the ground to be used and enjoyed in common; so that no person was to claim any peculiar property.

3dly, The remission of all debts from one Israelite to another.

4thly, The public reading of the law at the feast of tabernacles.

* The institution of the sabbatical year is in Exod. xxiii, 10, 11; Lev. XXV, 2-7; Deut. xv, 1-18; and xxxi, 10-13.

Before we consider these several particulars, there are two chronological questions to be briefly discussed:

1st, From whence the computation of the sabbatical year commenced; and,

2dly, At what season of the year it began.

1st, It is made a question, from whence the computation of the sabbatical year commenced, or how soon it began to be observed by the Jews. In the general, it was when they came into the land of Canaan. For they received this command, while they were yet in the wilderness, "When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the Lord," Lev. xxv, 2. Nevertheless, it is far from being settled what year after their entrance into Canaan was observed as their first sabbatical year. Archbishop Usher* determines it to be the seventh year after the manna ceased, from which time the Israelites lived upon the fruits of the land of Canaan, Josh. v, 12; and six years being taken up in the conquest and division of the land, the seventh proved in all respects a year of rest, when they peaceably enjoyed the fruits of their victories, and of the country they had subdued.

"Six

Nevertheless, others observing that the sabbatical year is enjoined to be observed after six years of agriculture, years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof, but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land," Lev. xxv, 3, 4; I say others for this reason conceive it more probable, that the six years preceding the sabbatical year did not commence till after the conquest and division of the land. For it is not to be supposed, that they could apply themselves to agriculture till they had actually conquered it, or that they would do it till each man's property was assigned him. Now the year in which Joshua divided the land may be thus computed Caleb was forty years old when Moses sent him from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, Josh. xiv, 7; and this was in the autumn of the second year from their exodos, or at the season when the grapes, pomegranates, and figs were ripe, of which the spies brought a sample with them, Numb. xiii, 23. But Caleb was eighty-five years old at the time of the division of the land, Josh. xiv, 10; it was, therefore, forty-five years

:

Usser. Annales, A. M. 2554.

since he went as a spy; to which adding one year and a half before elapsed betwixt that time and the exodos, and the division of the land will appear to have been made in the fortyseventh year of their departure from Egypt; from which subtracting forty years, the time of their wandering in the wilderness, Numb. xiv, 33, 34, and there remain six years and an half from their entrance into Canaan to the division of the land, which was completed the latter end of the summer; insomuch that every man's property was assigned him against the ensuing seed time, with which began the six years that preceded the first sabbatical year. Probably, therefore, the first sabbatical year was not kept till the fourteenth year from their entrance into Canaan*.

2dly, The other chronological question is, at what season the sabbatical year began, whether with the month Nisan in the spring, or Tisri in autumn; or, in other words, whether the sabbatical year was reckoned by the ecclesiastic or civil computation.

This question, though not expressly determined by the Mosaic law, is, I apprehend, not very difficult to be decided. That the sabbatical year followed the civil computation, beginning with the month Tisri, may be strongly inferred from a passage in the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus, ver. 3, 4, where they are commanded to "sow their fields and prune their vineyards, and gather the fruit thereof, for six years successively, and to let the land rest," or lie fallow, "on the seventh." Doubtless therefore the seventh, or sabbatical year, began after the harvest and fruits were gathered in, and against the usual season of ploughing and sowing. It must then have begun in autumn+; for had it begun with the month Nisan, they must have lost a crop of the last year's sowing, as well as have neglected the seed time for the next year; which is inconsistent with the law in the twenty-third of Exodus, ver. 10, "Six years shalt thou sow thy land, and gather in the fruits thereof."

We proceed to consider the particular observances of the sabbatical year. The

First is, The total cessation from all manner of agriculture.

* Maimon. de Anno Sabbatico et Jubilæo, cap. x, sect. ii. + Mishn. Rosh Hashanah, cap. i, sect. i, p. 300, tom. ii.

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