sins, the energy, the devotion of the people penetrated into the presence of the unseen world. The imposition of hands on the head was the form alike of dedicating the victim and the Levite. In each case the spark of life was conveyed, through the hands and fingers, full of vital warmth, into the recipient; as if magnetically to communicate the spirit and will, as the case might be, of the Israelite who offered the victim, of the Israelitish people who offered the Levite. When the new High Priest was clad from head to foot 2 in the robes of his predecessor, and the Priests appeared on great days in their white mantles, there were at least some to whom the sight suggested the aspiration after a higher investiture of moral qualities. "Let thy priests be clothed "with righteousness." "I will clothe her priests with "salvation." "I have caused thine iniquity to pass "from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of "raiment." 3 Subordi of instruc There were, in addition to these national and symbolical functions, a few subordinate duties of the Levitical Priesthood, which give it, in the Christion. tian sense of the word, something of a directly religious character. Within a very limited circle, probably merely for the sake of pointing out ceremonial offerings or duties, they were to teach the frequenters of the Temple, and judge for them the complicated questions of ceremonial casuistry; and further to pre 1 The offerer, not the Priest, laid his hands on the head of the victim (Lev. i. 6). The people, not the Priests, laid their hands on the head of the Levite (Numb. viii. 10). For the whole idea see Ewald, Alterth. 44. This, after the Captivity, was the only consecration. He wore the vestments only in the Temple. After the banishment of Archelaus, they were kept in the fortress of Antonia, and given out on the four great so lemnities (Joseph. Ant. xv. 11, § 5 Reland, Ant. ii. 1, § 11). 3 Ps. cxxxii. 9, 16; Zech. iii. 4. serve, and from time to time to recite, the precepts of the Law. Their aggregation in particular cities pre cludes the notion of their having been employed as general instructors. But, doubtless, as the moral and spiritual character of the religion was developed, the area of their teaching was enlarged. The Levites especially took part in the instruction, and this widened the breach which existed more or less between them and the Priests. "A teaching Priest "4 was regarded as an object to be desired, and there was "a knowledge" 5 of which his lips were claimed to be the guardians. Now and then, as in the case of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, a prophet rose out of their ranks; and in Ezra there took place the union, ominous for evil, when viewed in connection with its terrible future, but for the time indicating the highest spiritual point to which the Levitical functions ever reached the union of Priest and Scribe. It was this union, doubtless, that, whether in Ezra or his successors, produced one of the chief Levitical books of the Hebrew Scriptures, in which the priestly character is the most apparent, the Book of Chronicles. Though the latest of all the canonical writings - latest, probably, in point of time, last certainly in the place which it holds in the original Canon, it represents the workmanship of many generations. It re 1 Deut. xxi. 5; xvii. 8-13, 18; xxxi. 10-13; Ezek. xliv. 23, 24. 2 See Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, Art. 52. He takes a somewhat wider view of the teaching duties of the Levites, than has been here described, but points out clearly how the mere circumstance of the Priests and Levites, having their fixed bode in forty-eight distinct cities of their own, incapacitated them from performing the duties of clergy in 6 See Lecture XL. 7 See an admirable statement of the case, in Dean Milman's· History of the Jews, i. 328. sembles the structure of an ancient cathedral, with fragments of every style worked into the building as it proceeded, — here a piece of the most hoary antiquity, there a precious relic of a lost hymn or genealogy of some renowned psalmist or warrior, but all preserved, and wrought together, as by the workmen of mediæval times, under the guidance of the same sacerdotal mind, with the spirit of the same priestly order. Far below the Prophetic books of the Kings in interest and solidity, it yet furnishes a useful counterpart by filling up the voids with materials which none but the peculiar traditions and feelings of the Levitical caste could have supplied. It is the culminating point of the purely Levitical system, both in what it relates, in what it omits, and the manner of its relations and its omissions. Side by side with this occasional and undefined duty of instruction were two other functions, of Oracular responses. which one died out early — the other, alone of all, has lasted to this day. In the Chief Priest resided a power of oracular response to inquirers on certain great emergencies. Unlike the great Prophetic messages which came, each charged with the spirit dwelling within the Prophet himself, stamped with his peculiar style, clothed in his peculiar imagery, carrying with it principles of eternal truth and morality, the answers of the High Priest had no connection with his moral being, and were confined within a circle as narrow and outward as the office which he held. They were, in some unexplained manner, uttered or conveyed, not by himself so much as by his mere outer vestment or ornament. The jewels which hung on his neck or breastplate, like those worn by the priests of Egypt, or the white cape (Ephod) which was thrown over his shoulders, sufficed for the purpose. 2 Even the Ephod1 itself, beside the Priest, seems to have been used for this object. And the answers which were given were limited with the strictest reserve to the immediate occasion which evoked them, -hardly more than an affirmative or negative,never more than a single positive statement or command. Of all the institutions of the Jewish Church, it is the one which approached most nearly to the divinations and oracles of the heathen world, and, as such, it was the first to pass away. The latest High Priest who was thus consulted was he who especially belonged to the older age, Abiathar, the last of the house of Ithamar, and with him, according to the Jewish tradition, the power expired. In the period on which we now enter it never appears. The "Light and Truth," which the words "Urim" and "Thummim" seem to express, grew brighter and brighter as this its outward symbol was lost. "A Priest with Urim “and Thummim” was hoped for, but never seen, after the Captivity; and the last prophetic or inspired utterance that a Jewish High Priest ever delivered was of so terrible an import as to cast a shade on all like responses which had ever issued from that office. tions. The one remaining function to be noticed was of a more elevating and enduring kind. The BenedicPriests had the peculiar privilege of pronouncing a solemn benediction on the people. It was in that triple form which conveyed a sense of absolute completeness, and, according to Jewish belief, was pronounced with a corresponding triple division of the 1 1 Sam. xiv. 3, 18 (LXX.); xxiii. 6, 9. 2 Judg. xx. 18; 1 Sam. xiv 87; xxiii. 11, 12. 3 Judg. i. 2; 2 Sam. xxi. 1 4 Neh. vii. 65. 5 John xi. 49-51. 6 Num. vi. 22-27. lingers of the upraised hand. The hand' spread over the people seemed to give back to them the life which had been, by the touch of their hands, communicated to the Priest. The hand of a Priest was lifted above the head; of a High Priest, above the shoulders. And the word Jehovah, which, in later days, was elsewhere altered to Adonai, in this solemn act was retained unchanged, as if in a sacred charm.2 Alone of the many occupations of the Jewish Priests, this is retained by their descendants at the present day, in however degraded and secular condition they may be. The ancient melody of the blessing is said to be preserved in the chants of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogues. Alone of their many vocations -military, nomadic, ceremonial, sacrificial, dramatic, judicial, oracular-it has passed into the Christian Church. The upraised hand is still preserved by the Presbyterian clergy of Scotland. When once a year the English clergyman is required to make a slight variation from the usual Christian words of benediction, and recur to the older form, in this alone of all his ministrations has he preserved a fragment of the ancient Levitical ritual, and stands in the place of a genuine son of Aaron, The Lord bless thee and keep thee; The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. the office. It will naturally be supposed that if we turn from History of the office to its history, the personal interest is less than that of any other of the great Jewish institutions. The Prophet and the King had each his own characteristic qualifications. A bad King 1 Lev. i 22. See Ewald, Alterthümer, 44. 2 Reland, Ant. 3 Engel's History of Ancient Music, 114, 325. 4 Commination Service. |