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plain; that of the high priest richly embroided with gold, blue, purple, and crimson. Ex. xxviii. 6.

Incense, or frankincense, is an aromatic gum which exudes from incisions made in a tree found in the East Indies, but chiefly in Arabia and Syria. Male incense, which is the best, is round, white, fat, and kindles on being put to the fire. The incense offered in the temple morning and evening, was a mixture of frankincense with various other spices. Ex. xxx. 34-36.

Shittim-wood, of which Moses made the greater part of the tables, altars, and planks belonging to the tabernacle, is believed to be the black Aca'cia, which is found in the deserts of Arabia, and is very common about Mount Si'nai. It resembles the white thorn, but grows to a much larger size, and the wood is of great beauty, solidity, strength, and smoothness.

Goph'er-wood, of which Noah's ark was built, is supposed to be the cypress, a wood esteemed by the ancients as very durable against rot and worms. Some conjecture that gopher may have been a general name for such trees as abound with resinous juices; as the cedar, cypress, pine, &c.

High Places. The prophets reproach the Israelites for worshipping on the high places, and we find them highly commending those kings who destroyed them. It had been one of the injunctions laid on their forefathers, when they came in to possess the land, that they should quite pluck down all the high places, for there the idolatrous nations who were before them had worshipped. Under the Judges they seem to have been tolerated; and Samuel offered sacrifice in several places where the ark was not present. Even in David's time, the people sacrificed to the Lord at Shiloh, Jerusalem, and Gibeon.

Baal or Bel, a false god, worshipped by almost all the Eastern nations, is supposed to represent the sun, as Ash'taroth, or Astar'te, denoted the moon. Manas'seh adored Baal, planted groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven; but Josi'ah, desirous to repair the evil introduced by Manas'seh, put to death "the idolatrous priests that burnt incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven." He

commanded all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove (Ash'reh, or Ash'taroth), and for all the host of heaven, to be brought forth out of the temple. "He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire." 2d Kings, xxiii. Baal was the most ancient god of the Ca'naanites, and perhaps of the East, and as they offered to him human sacrifices, he was probably the same as the Moloch of the Am'monites. Few things are more revolting to humanity, than the custom so often mentioned in Scripture, of making children "pass through the fire to Moloch." Some think that they merely walked through the fire, or passed between two fires; and this may have been true in some of their rites: but the language of Scripture leaves us no room to doubt, that in others, the wretched victims were actually consumed in the flames. Jer. xix. 5, vii. 31; Lev. xviii. 21. 2d Kings, xvi. 3; 2d Chron. xxviii. 3. The worship of Baal was once common throughout the whole British Islands, his priests being called Druids; and in some of the rural sports at the present day, are still to be traced relics of that cruel superstition. (Statist. Account of Scotland, vol. xi. p. 621.)

To'phet, or tho valley of Hin'nom, lay to the south of the city of Jerusalem, where the offal and other filth brought from the city was burnt. It was memorable in ancient times for the sacrifices offered there to the god Moloch.

The Behemoth, and the Levi'athan, two remarkable animals, are described in highly poetic language in the book of Job. It is now generally agreed that the Be'hemoth is the Hippopotamus, and the Levi'athan the Crocodile. It has been thought by some, that the description given of the Behemoth, is more applicable to the Mammoth, a huge and formidable animal, which now no longer exists, but whose fossil remains found in Siberia, the north of Europe, and America, strike us with astonishment, as they show it to have been of no less a magnitude than twelve or fifteen feet high, and about thirty feet long. Some have thought the Levi'athan denoted the whale. Maʼgi, or wise men, were an order of priests among

the Persians, who applied themselves to the study of na ture and religion.

Areopagus, inaccurately rendered Mars hill, was the court in which the Areopagites, the supreme judges of Ath'ens, assembled.

Sanhedrim, house of judgment, the supreme council of the Jews, consisting of seventy-one or seventy-two Judges, who held their meetings in a hall, built half within the temple, and half without. "Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment," that is, the tribunal of the twenty-three judges" And whosoever shall say to his brother, Ra'ca, shall be in danger of the council," that is, of the great San'hedrim, which had the power of life and death. Matt. v. 22.

Ra'ca, "brainless, beggarly, worthless," a term expressive of the utmost contempt among the Jews.

Teraphim, idols, or superstitious figures, to which extraordinary influences were ascribed. The Eastern nations are still much addicted to this superstition of talismans.- "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim ;" weaned even from their private superstition, or deprived of the means of indulging it. Hosea, iii. 4, 5.

Man'drake, a plant common in Judea, is a species of melon, to which, in ancient times, a foolish virtue was ascribed. Philters and love-potions appear to have been made of it; and married women sought after it on account of its supposed genial influences. Gen. xxx. 14, 15, 16. Cant. vii. 13.

Gourd, a plant which produces leaves and shoots similar to garden cucumbers, and bears fruit the size and figure of an orange. A modern traveller says, "the plant el-kherra, when near a rivulet, or in a moist soil, shoots up very rapidly. One I saw at Bas'ra, had, in five months, risen above eight feet, and bore at once flowers and fruit ripe and unripe. The flowers and leaves when plucked, withered in a few minutes, as do all plants of rapid growth." This tree is called at Aleppo, Palma Christi.

Another traveller, speaking of the vegetation of Egypt, says, "Wherever plants have water, the rapidity of their growth is prodigious. Whoever has travelled to Cairo, or Rosetta, knows that the species of gourd called Kherra, will, in twenty-four hours, send out shoots nearly four inches long."

Anath'ema Maranath'a, is a Syriac exclamation, importing "let him be accursed when the Lord comes.' It was the expression wherewith the Jews began their greatest excommunications.

Phylacteries, were little rolls of parchment, in which were written certain words or precepts of the law, and which were worn by the Jews upon their foreheads, and upon the wrist of their left arm. This custom, which was very prevalent in the time of our Saviour, was founded on a mistaken interpretation of Exodus, xiii. 9. "And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes."

Rabbi, "master," was a title of honour among the Jews, introduced after the Babylonish captivity. It had reference to learning, being applied to Doctors or teachers of the law.

Scribe, "a clerk, writer, or secretary." The scribes, so often mentioned in the Gospels, were public writers, and professed doctors of the law, which they read and explained to the people. Their original office was to make copies of the law; but they soon began to read and expound it. In the time of our Saviour, they had almost laid aside the Scriptures for their traditions which had then grown large: these in the New Testament are called the tradition of the elders; and were, when afterwards reduced to writing, called the Mis'nah; or the oral or traditional law. Most of the Scribes were Phar'isees; and we generally find them united in the New Testament. The Lawyers who principally taught the traditionary or oral law, appear to have been in some respects distinct from the Scribes. See Luke, xi. 45.

The word Law often implies the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

The word Selah, which frequently occurs in the Psalms. is supposed to signify pause or rest, and to call us to ob serve particularly what has been said.

D

Publican, a tax-gatherer, or officer of the revenue among the ancient Romans, particularly odious to the Jews, both for their extortion, and because they reminded them of their subjection to a foreign yoke.

Various.

XII. Explanations continued.

THE Jews began their day at the setting of the sun, and an hour with them was the twelfth part of the time the sun continued above the horizon. The night was divided into four parts or watches, each lasting three hours. The natural day was 24 hours, reckoning from one sun-setting to another. The civil day was 12 hours, reckoning from the rising to the setting of the sun.

The proper place where sacrifice could be offered was at the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple. On every day throughout the year, one lamb was offered in the morning, and one in the evening, as a burnt-offering for the sins of the people. Ex. xxix. 38. On Sabbath the daily sacrifice was doubled. Only five sorts of animals could be offered in sacrifice, viz. bullocks, sheep, goats, pigeons, and turtle-doves. The other offerings were, libations, first-fruits, tenths, and perfumes. All sacrifices were typical of Christ. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Heb. x. 4.

The HIGH PRIEST was the first character in the Jewish Government, and the medium of communication with God. He had one kind of garments for his usual service, and another which was only put on once a-year, when he entered the holy of holies on the great day of atonement. The Priests were the ministers of religion for common purposes-conducting the temple service, offering sacrifices, and teaching the law of God to the people. They were all descendants of Aaron. The LE'VITES were the descendants of Levi, who were not of the family of Aaron: they waited on the priests, doing the lower services of the sanctuary. They were dispersed also among the tribes as teachers of the people, and as magistrates or judges. They had no inheritance in the land, though they possessed cities; for God was their inheritance, and he gave them

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