[himself in water and be unclean until the even. And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, 8 and be unclean until the even. And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until 9 the even. And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath 10 the issue shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even : and he that beareth [any of] those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until 11 the even. And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until 12 the even. And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which

hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall 13 be rinsed in water. And when he that hath an issue is cleansed .of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.

14

And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them 15 unto the priest: And the priest shall offer them, the one [for] a sin offering; and the other [for] a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the 16 LORD for his issue. And if any man's seed of copulation go I out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and 17 be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every

skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with 18 water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie [with] seed of copulation, they shall [both] bathe [themselves] in water, and be unclean until the

even.

19 And if a woman have an issue, [and] her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever 20 toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every

thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean; 21 every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And

whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe 22 [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until 23 the even. And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be un24 clean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all,

It is very probable that they had public baths in every town or city, as bathing was so frequently necessary.

and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven 25 days and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the

time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation : she [shall be] unclean. 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separa27 tion. And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and 28 be unclean until the even. But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that 29 she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the con30 gregation. And the priest shall offer the one [for] a sin offering, and the other [for] a burnt offering; and the priest. shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness.

31

Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they 32 defile my tabernacle that [is] among them. This [is] the law of him that hath an issue, and [of him] whose seed goeth 33 from him, and is defiled therewith; And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her which is unclean.

A

CHAP. XVI.

The great day of atonement.

ND the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, 2 and died; And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy [place] within the veil before the mercy seat, which [is] upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat; or, I will be approached in a cloud of incense; for it was a bright flaming appearance that was on the mercy seat, 3 called the Glory of the Lord. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy [place] with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering for himself and his house, that is, the 4 whole Levitical family, v. 6. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre

shall he be attired: these [are] holy garments; therefore 5 shall he wash his flesh in water, and [so] put them on.* And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering for the whole congregation, beside that which he offered for himself, v. 3.

6

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which [is] for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house, for all the priests and Levites.

7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, for his use and service, by way of sacrifice, and the other 9 lot for the scape goat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, and offer him [for] a sin of10 fering for all the people. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scape goat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, in the manner mentioned, v, 21, 22. [and] to let him go for a scape goat into the wilder

ness.

11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which [is] for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the 12 sin offering which [is] for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and 13 bring [it] within the veil :† And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that [is] upon the testimony, that he die not.

14

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, which he was to go out again and fetch, for both his hands were full before, and sprinkle [it] with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with 15 his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that [is] for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and 16 before the mercy seat: And, lest God should be provoked by the sins of the people to withdraw himself from among them, he shall make an atonement for the holy [place,] because of the

It seems that the whole work, which was peculiar to this day, was performed by the high priest. The Jewish writers tell us, that he took some extraordinary care for some preceding days, to purify himself from all kinds of pollution, and that he sat up the night before, and was watched by inferior priests, that nothing of that kind might accidentally befall him.

+ This was the first time of his entrance into the most holy place. He never entered there without incense, the cloud of which, rising between him and the Shekinah, prevented his prying too minutely into the divine appearance, or glory,

This was the third time of his entrance,

uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins, the imperfections and miscarriages of their holy services, which would have hindered the efficacy of the high priest's mediation on their behalf, if God had not been reconciled to them and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness, in the midst of a sinful people, who defile not only themselves, but God's sanctuary also, 17 Ezekiel xxiii. 38, 39. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy [place,] until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and 18 for all the congregation of Israel. And he shall go out of the holy place unto the altar that [is] before the LORD, to the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put [it] upon the horns of the 19 altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

20

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy [place,] and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, 21 he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, that is, sins of all sorts, both of the priests and people, putting them upon the head of the goat, charging them, and the punishment due to them, on the goat, which, though only a ceremony, yrt being done according to God's appointment, was available to this end; and the priest shall send [him] away by the hand of a fit man into the wil 22 derness, to denote the removal of their sins far away: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.† 23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy [place,] and shall leave them 24 there the Jews say, never to be worn any more. And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his golden garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make, or rather, having made, an atonement for himself, and for the people, by the 25 foregoing sacrifices. And the fat of the sin offering shall he

:

Accordingly, in e. 20. it is called. A reconciliation for the sanctuary. In allusion to this, the apostle argues, Heb, ix. 13, that heaven itself would be polluted by the en trance of such sinful creatures as we, were it not for the blood of Christ, that better sacrifice, by which we are purified.

Herein he was a type of Christ, on whom the Lord laid our iniquities, Isa. liii, 6. and who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Peter ik. 24.

26 burn upon the altar. And he that let go the goat for the scape goat, being polluted by touching the beast charged with the sins of all the people, shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 27 And the bullock [for] the sin offering, and the goat [for] the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy [place,] shall [one] carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, 28 and their dung. And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

29

And [this] shall be a statute for ever unto you: [that] in the seventh month, on the tenth [day] of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, [whether it be] one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among 30 you For on that day shall [the priest] make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, [that] ye may be clean from all your 31 sins before the LORD.* It [shall be] a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls by a statute for ever.t

32

And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen 33 clothes, [even] the holy garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and 34 for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.||

ΤΗ

REFLECTIONS.

HE apostle, Heb. ix. 7-12. hath so plainly traced an analogy between the institutions of this day, and the atonement of Christ, and his intercession founded on the efficacy of his sacrifice, that none can reasonably deny the former to have been a type of the latter. Let us learn then, to be thankful for the atonement and intercession of Jesus Christ; and consider the nature and meaning of it by the light of this important chapter :

It is observable, that this was the universal atonement, and the only sacrifice that was offered for all the sins of the priests and the people, and for all the accidental errors in the service of the sanctuary, and that degree of pollution which even the most sacred things were exposed to in consequence of their being among a sinful people.

pravity.

Accordingly, the Jews always observed this day in the midst of their greatest de

This is expressed so frequently to show the great importance of it.

That this chapter may be better understood, compare it with the eighth and minth chapters of the Hebrews.