year, if the sabbatical year began in March; but it makes scarcely more than two years, and does not extend beyond the eighth year if the account began in September. We are quite aware that the part of a year is frequently stated for the whole in Hebrew; but mention of the ninth year, when considered with reference to the season of harvest in Palestine, seems to us to render the reference of the sabbatical year to the sacred rather than to the civil account perfectly definite and lucid. To render this evident, the following comparison may be useful, as offering considerations which have not hitherto been brought to bear on the subject. We assume an arbitrary number in the form of a date, according to our own computation of a year, in order to render the distinction more intelligible.

From the promise in the text, that the sixth year should produce sufficient returns to last for three years, Warburton, and, after him, Faber and others, deduce an important evidence for the truth of the Mosaic narrative. The people are required to rely for their subsistence on a miracle which the Lord pledged himself to work in their favour: and it is asked whether any lawgiver would have ventured to propose such a law, unless he had the most perfect reliance that the promised miracle would be accomplished; and whether any people would have given such a law the least attention unless they had the fullest conviction that it had been dictated by One, greater than Moses, of whose power to give it full effect they were quite assured? Hence there was the most perfect confidence on both sides, and that confidence manifests the Divine authority under which the Hebrew legislator acted. In the present instance, we do think this argument for the Divine mission of Moses deserves much attention, although it must be confessed that arguments of this class are not generally applicable, and cannot always be used without danger.

23, 24. "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, &c.”—In this passage we have the principles of those laws of property which were to be established in the Promised Land: and a short general statement on the subject will tend to the better understanding of this and other passages which refer to it. The principle of the law is, that the land to be conquered should be distributed by lot, and in equal portions, among the Israelites, and then become absolutely inalienable, continuing for ever the property of the descendants of the original possessor. In order to render this perpetual inalienability of lands the more secure and inviolable, the principle was, in the first instance, adopted of that law which Joseph had introduced into Egypt, and to which the Israelites had been accustomed from their youth (see Gen. xlvii. 20-25). By this law all the land belonged to the king; and the husbandmen were not the proprietors of the grounds they cultivated, but only farmers or tenants, who had to pay to the king one-fifth of the produce in the way of rent. In like manner, God, who had condescended to become the Sovereign of Israel, was declared sole proprietor of the soil in that country wherein he was about to fix them by his most special Providence, while the people were to be merely his tenants, without any right to alienate in perpetuity the domains which they held under him. In like manner, also, they were, as the Egyptians did, to pay one-fifth of the produce in the form of two tithes; one of which went to the Levites, in compensation for their having no lands of their own, and for the many important services which it became their duty to perform. This alone can be called a tax; and it was a very fair one, considering the various capacities of useful service in which the Levites acted, and considering also that the other tribes had the more land because the Levites did not participate in the division. The other tithe was not paid to any persons, and was scarcely a tax, the amount being to be consumed by the parties themselves in making entertainments during the great festivals. The principle of the law being thus established, its operation did not preclude a person who fell into distress from selling his land for a term of years, the price he received being regulated according to the distance or nearness of the jubilee year (v. 15), when the property thus sold must revert again to the seller or to his heirs. In the meantime he had a right to recover his land, on returning to the purchaser a sum proportionate to the number of years which remained unexpired: it was also within the power of a near relative of the seller to exercise the same right if he had the means. The houses that were on the lands, and also the houses in the Levitical cities, were placed on the same footing with the lands themselves: the latter because they formed the sole inheritance of the Levites; and the former because they belonged to the lands on which they were built. But houses in other than Levitical cities, being less connected with land, could only be redeemed within the year after sale; and if not redeemed, did not, like land, revert at the jubilee to the person who had sold them (v. 29-34). Hence, of course, foreigners might purchase, and hold in perpetuity, houses in towns, though they could not permanently hold land. We confess, however, that we do not, with some, view this law as intended to encourage strangers to settle in the country-which seems to have been far from an object of the Mosaical policy-but rather to enable proselytes to acquire fixed property, which they could not otherwise do, unless they married heiresses, or brought under culture the waste lands beyond Jordan.

47. "Sell himself unto the stranger."-It will be well, in reference to the laws concerning slavery in this chapter, to recollect that Moses is not originating laws to give a sanction to slavery, but is interposing, under the Divine command, to regulate for the better a system already in operation. We discover the existence of slavery in the book of Genesis, and are aware of its early prevalence in all countries. Those who are acquainted with the condition of slaves in ancient nations will not fail to recognise the wisdom and mercy of the various regulations on the subject which are given here and elsewhere, and which, when carefully considered, will be found in all instances to have an obvious tendency to protect a bondman, and to ameliorate his condition, whether a native or a foreigner. The law of the present chapter is so clearly announced as to require no particular exposition. On the above-cited verse we may however observe, that foreigners among the Jews seem to have been in a much more privileged condition than they are at present in the same or any Mohammedan country. We see that a resident foreigner is allowed to purchase any Hebrew whose. distressed circumstances make him wish to sell his liberty. At present no Christian or Jew in a Mohammedan country is allowed to have as a slave, we will not say any native, but any Mohammedan of any country-nor, indeed, any other than Mohammedans, except negroes-who are the only description of slaves they may possess.

Psal. 97. 7. 2 Or, pillar. 3 Or, figured stone. 4 Heb. a stone of picture. 7 Job 11. 18. 8 Job 11. 19. 9 Heb. cause to cease. 10 Josh. 23. 10. 11 Ezek. 37. 26. Lam. 2. 17. Mal. 2. 2. 14 Heb. upon you. 15 Prov. 28. 1. 16 Or, at all adventures with me, 17 2 Sam, 22. 27. Psal. 18. 26.

30 And I will destroy your high places, | and "cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.

35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

20

36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat

you up.

39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemics'

19 2 Chron. 34. 7. 20 Heb. driven.

lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary

unto me;

41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:

42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.

43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, "I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.

45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

21 Deut. 4. 31. Rom. 11. 26.

Verse 1. "Image of stone" ( 8, eben maskit).-What this is, as distinguished from the others, it is difficult to determine. The precise sense is, as given by Boothroyd, "sculptured stone;" but this is indefinite, and leaves us still to conjecture what kind of sculptured stone is intended distinct from the statues (“standing image") which precede it in the list. In Ezek. viii. 8-11, there is a description of a subterraneous vault, the walls of which were covered with images of quadrupeds and creeping things, exactly like those of Egypt which are covered with hieroglyphic figures. In the 12th verse this vault is called (hadar maskit), which our translation excellently renders "chambers of imagery." Now the same word being used in two places with an analogous context, it is fair to infer, that if an hieroglyphic cave is intended in Ezekiel, an hieroglyphic stone is intended here; which is the more probable when we recollect that the Israelites were at this time fresh from Egypt, and deeply infected with the rank idolatries of that country-insomuch that whenever Moses interdicts, at this early period, a particular form of idolatry, we should invariably feel disposed to look to Egypt, in the first instance, for the example. It is well known that the Egyptian priests, in order to preserve the treasures of knowledge and their discoveries in natural science, and at the same time to render them inscrutable to any but the initiated few, made use not of common writing but of hieroglyphics, with which they inscribed obelisks, walls, and even subterraneous chambers and galleries, as well as square stones. These monuments were deified by the multitude, who worshipped in them, Thoth, the Egyptian god of learning. This was a sufficient reason for their interdiction by Moses. But had he no further reason? As this law, if it be thus rightly understood, would operate to the exclusion of hieroglyphics, are we not at liberty to infer that Moses or rather his Divine Instructor-thus expressed his abhorrence of a practice which locked up knowledge to the people for the purpose of enabling the privileged few, by virtue of that power which knowledge gives, to hold in entire thraldom their minds, bodies, and estates? Michaelis, whose view of this text we have followed, well observes, “Had Moses been only a wise and benevolent impostor; had he given himself out for a divine messenger, without being so, and merely from love to an oppressed people; and had his miracles been nothing more than human devices; it is scarcely conceivable how he could ever have gone the length of abolishing an expedient so artfully contrived, and so

favourable to the views of priestcraft, for the concealment of the sciences. The legislator, therefore, who relinquished such an expedient, and at the same time founded his polity on the commandments of a Deity, could be no impostor, but must have been an honest man."

26. "Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven."-In the note to chap. ii. 4, we remarked that in the East it was a general custom for families to bake their own bread in the sort of ovens which we there described. The performance of this duty always falls to the lot of the women. These ovens are, as we have seen, small, and only suited to the use of a family; but it is by no means impossible to bake at one of them an adequate supply of bread for ten families, although, of course, the process would consume time. We therefore do not, with most expositors, understand scarcity to be implied in the simple fact that ten families baked their bread in an oven for one; but that ten families, represented by their females, clubbed their dough together, and the produce being no more than an ordinary supply for one family, it was baked in one oven, instead of each family, as usual, making a separate baking. Afterwards, the cakes thus baked were proportioned by weight to the respective contributors-so precious was the bread. This is implied in the words, "shall deliver you your bread again by weight;" which shows that the bread was previously theirs, and had been baked for them, not that it was sold to them by weight.

34. "The land shall enjoy her sabbaths."-See the note on 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21.

CHAPTER XXVII.

1 He that maketh a singular vow must be the
Lord's. 2 The estimation of the person. 9 Of a
beast given by vow. 14 Of a house.
16 Of a
field, and the redemption thereof. 28 No devoted
thing may be redeemed. 32 The tithe may not be
changed.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation.

he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.

11 And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the beast before the priest:

12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: 'as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.

13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.

14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so

3 And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 And if it be a female, then thy estima-shall it stand. tion shall be thirty shekels.

5 And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for

the female ten shekels.

6 And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver.

7 And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

8 But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him.

9 And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy.

10 He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if

15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.

16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand.

18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.

19 And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

1 Heb. according to thy estimation, O priest, &c.

21 But the field, when it goeth out in the

Or, the land of an homer, &c.

jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

22 And if a man sanctify unto the LORD a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession;

23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him. the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD.

24 In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

26 Only the 'firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD's firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD'S.

27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.

Exod. 30. 13. Num. 3. 47. Ezek. 45. 12.

28 'Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.

29 None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD.

31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.

33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

34 These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.

Verse 2. "When a man shall make a singular vow."-It is and always has been customary in different countries, and under various systems of religion, for persons in peculiar circumstances of prosperity or difficulty, to vow that they will make certain offerings or devote certain properties to the service of God. To such vows most of this chapter refers. This kind of vow is properly called 77, neder; which it is proper to remark, as the discriminating terms employed in the original enable us in most cases to understand what is intended better than the less marked distinctions of the translation.

"The persons."-A man might dedicate himself to the service of the sanctuary, and became, as it were, a servant attached thereto. In the same way he might vow his child. Samuel was thus devoted by his mother, and remained in the service of the sanctuary; for that appropriation being apparently satisfactory to all parties, he was not redeemed according to the valuation here fixed for different ages and sexes. The rate of valuation, it will be observed, is low, and might be reduced, at the discretion of the priest, if the person were poor. It would appear that the appropriation of the devoted persons who remained unredeemed was at the discretion of the priest. Their duties were probably of the more servile kind, until after the Gibeontes were enthralled and obliged to do the hard work. We see that Samuel was treated with much consideration by the high-priest.

9. "A beast."-That is, a clean beast, such as was usual for sacrifice or food. This could not be redeemed; and the firstlings, being already consecrated to God, could not be thus devoted.

11. "Unclean beast."-Probably an ass, camel, or some other beast of burden; for it is difficult to understand what other sort of beast a man was likely to devote. This might be redeemed on paying one-fifth more than the estimated value.

16. "Part of a field."-This refers to inherited property, which was in ordinary circumstances inalienable. If a man, however, devoted it to the sanctuary, he was at liberty to redeem it on the usual terms—that of giving twenty per cent. beyond the estimated market value of the crops between the time of the transaction and the year of jubilee; but if then it remained unredeemed, it did not revert to the owner, but became the inalienable property of the sanctuary. This singular exception to the general release which the jubilee effected, we do not conceive to have been with any view of accumulating landed property in the hands of the priests, to which the policy of the Mosaical law is evidently averse, but to oblige every man to redeem his property, under the fear of losing it entirely at the jubilee. We must also consider that the nearest kinsman had the right to redeem; and as the Hebrews were strongly averse to let hereditary property go out of the family, it is not likely that the priests could get much land under this law.

22. "A field which he hath bought."-The view taken in the preceding note seems corroborated by the present direction. Acquired property in land, reverted to the owner at the jubilee in the usual way; while the inherited property, for the perpetuity of which the law is so careful to provide, was then lost. We should have expected the reverse to have been the case, if the object were not to impose on a man a sort of moral obligation to redeem his hereditary land, to prevent its absolute alienation.

28. "Devoted thing."-This is not the neder, or common vow, such as we have previously considered, but another and more solemn, called, cherem. The difference seems to have depended on the form of the vow, the latter 322