CHAPTER IV.

1 The age and time of the Levites' service. 4 The carriage of the Kohathites, when the priests have taken down the tabernacle. 16 The charge of Eleazar. 17 The office of the priests. 21 The carriage of the Gershonites. 29 The carriage of the Merarites. 34 The number of the Kohathites, 38 of the Gershonites, 42 and of the Merarites. AND the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:

5¶ And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.

7 And upon the table of 'shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:

8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.

9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

10 And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar.

11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:

12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar: 13 And they shall take away the ashes

1 Exod. 25. 30. 2 Or, pour out withal.

from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:

14 And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the 'basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

16¶ And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the 'sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.

17 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:

19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. 21 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

22 Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families;

23 From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for 'burdens:

25 And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers' skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,

26 And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the

8 Exod. 25. 31. 4 Exod. 25, 37, 38. 5 Or, bowls. 6 Exod. 30. 34, 7 Exod. 30, 23. 8 Heb, to war the warfare. 9 Or, carriage.

10 Heb. mouth. 11 Heb. warfare. 12 Exod. 26. 15.

Verse 3. "From thirty years old and upwards.”—This appears to contradict chap. viii. 24, where twenty-five years is mentioned as the age at which the service of the Levites commenced. Maimonides and other Jewish writers account for the variation by stating, that, from twenty-five to thirty years of age, the Levites attended in order to be instructed in

their duties, but did not enter upon actual service until they were full thirty years of age. Aben Ezra, and other Rabbins, however, affirm that the Levites did enter on the easier and lighter parts of the service, such as keeping watch and bearing a part in the choir, at twenty-five, but did not, until thirty-five, enter on the more laborious branches of Levitical duty. The Jews, indeed, inform us that the Levites passed through four stages of preparation for their peculiar office. From one month old to their twentieth year, they were instructed in the law of God; from twenty to twenty-five, in the functions of their ministry; and from thence to thirty they served a sort of apprenticeship, beginning to exercise themselves in some of the lower branches of the sacred service; and, lastly, when they had attained their thirtieth year, they were fully instituted in their office. Jennings points out the analogy between this and the usages among the virgin priestesses of Vesta. They were bound to the strictest chastity for thirty years, the first ten of which they spent in learning the mysteries of their profession; the second ten they ministered in holy things; and the last ten they were employed in bringing up young novices. (See Jennings's Jewish Antiquities.") David altered to twenty years the period for the commencement of the Levitical service, and to this he was avowedly influenced by the consideration that their labours had become less onerous, and required less bodily strength than in the times when they had charge of a moveable tabernacle.

-"until fifty years."-This direction, for the cessation of the services of the Levites at the age of fifty, is more fully repeated in chap. viii. 28, but it is there immediately added, that although they were no longer to perform the customary service, they remained still in attendance "to keep the charge," &c. From this it seems that they were not dismissed when they reached the age of fifty; but, while thenceforth exempted from all laborious employment, continued to exercise the easier parts of their ministry, and perhaps instructed the younger Levites in the duties of their office. The exceptions from laborious service probably referred in a particular manner to the toilsome duty of conveying the tabernacle and its various utensils. The Levites also were so numerous, in proportion to the work they had to do, that there was the less occasion to require from individuals a protracted period of active service.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, that
they put out of the camp every 'leper, and
every one that hath an issue, and whoso-
ever is defiled by the 'dead:

3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.

4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.

5¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

6 Speak unto the children of Israel, "When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

:

7 Then they shall confess their sin which they have done and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.

8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

9 And every offering of all the holy

things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.

10 And every man's hallowed things shall be his whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.

11 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;

14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:

17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water;

18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in

1 Levit. 13. 3. 2 Levit, 15.2. 3 Levit. 21. 1. 4 Levit. 6. 3.

5 Levit. 6. 5. Or, heave-offering. 7 Levit. 10. 13.

her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:

19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse :

8

20 But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:

21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to "rot, and thy belly to swell;

22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall, say Amen, amen.

23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

8 Or, being in the power of thy husband.

25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:

26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall

conceive seed.

29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

31 Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

9 Heb. under thy husband. Heb.fall.

Verse 2. "Put out of the camp every leper."-This exclusion of lepers from society has been acted upon in nearly every country; and it affords almost the only instance in which any kind of attention is paid in the East to the prevention of contagion. Europe seems to have taken from the East not only the disease, but the manner of treating the leper. It seems that the leprosy was introduced into Europe by the crusaders and pilgrims, on their return from the East; although some French writers say it was introduced, at least into their country, by trade with Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. At first, until lazarettoes were established, the lepers were treated with greater severity than their condition warranted; very much as the Orientals at present treat them, and perhaps as the Jews did. Indeed the idea of the usages on this point which we find in other nations, seems to have been suggested, generally, by the course which Moses was directed to take. In Normandy, for instance, lepers could not inherit any property while their malady continued; they could not be witnesses in any case; and they were expelled from all intercourse with men, banished to small huts by the way-side, and furnished with a grey cloak, a cap, and a wallet. They were obliged to give the approaching stranger warning of their proximity by striking the clapper-dish with which they were furnished. At last hospitals were built for their reception. Almost every town had one such hospital; and we find Louis the Seventh, of France, bequeathing legacies to no less than two thousand such establishments. In the twelfth century an order of knighthood, dedicated to St. Lazarus, was instituted, the members of which were entrusted with the charge of lepers, and the control of the hospitals, which were then first called "lazar-houses," or "lazarettoes." When the disorder ceased to be strange, the lepers were allowed to live in more comfort than before. This we gather from the decree of the General Council of Lateran, in 1179, which censures certain of the clergy for preventing lepers from erecting churches for themselves, notwithstanding they were prohibited from entering other churches; and it was decreed, that whenever a sufficient number of lepers were living together, they should be allowed a church, a cemetery, and a priest; and should be exempted from paying tithes upon the fruits of their gardens, or on the cattle which they fed. The leprous virus seems to have weakened in the course of time, so that since the sixteenth century leprosy has ceased, in Europe, to be a common disease, or remarkable for its malignancy. The manner in which lepers were formerly treated in Europe is most touchingly described in an old metrical romance, published in Weber's Collection. It relates how a certain knight, called Amiloun, of great wealth and power, became a leper, and was without pity cast forth, forlorn and poor, to beg his bread through the world. During three years of his calamity he lived upon casual charity, occupying a lodge by the highway, at no greater distance than five miles from the splendid halls of which he had once been lord, and where all eyes had looked up to him. The exclusion of the leper from society was not, even in ancient Asia, a practice peculiar to the Jews: a similar usage among the Persians attracted the attention of Herodotus. He says, that a leper was forbidden to enter a town, or to hold intercourse with other Persians; and if a foreigner appeared to be infected with this disease the mob expelled him from the country (Clio. 138). Such usages still, more or less, prevail in Asia and North Africa, among people who do not think the least precaution against the plague or cholera necessary: but, judging from personal observation, we think that in Asia the disease has now much abated in frequency and virulence. The comparatively mild bohak is the form in which it usually appears, even in the countries where the disorder is or

was endemic. Small societies of excluded lepers may still be sometimes seen outside the towns. They in general live miserably in paltry huts. Many of them are beggars, going out into the roads to solicit alms, which they generally receive in a wooden bowl; charitable people also sometimes bring different articles of food, which they leave on the ground at a short distance from the hut of the lepers for whom it is intended. They are generally obliged to wear a distinctive badge of some kind or other, differing in different neighbourhoods, so that people may know them at first sight, and be warned to avoid them.

17. "Holy water."-That is, water from the laver.

22. "Amen, amen."-This is an instance of what we have already mentioned, that an oath was not pronounced at length by the persons who took it, but was read or pronounced to them by a proper officer. When he had finished, the party swearing appropriated its terms as his own by saying, AMEN, AMEN!" So let it be "-or some equivalent expression. Although, however, this was the formulary of assent to an oath, it did not in all cases bear that force, being sometimes merely a protestation. The word amen, like the words hallelujah and hosannah, has been retained in the religious services of the western Christian church, and is understood as an expression of assent on the part of the people to that which the minister has said in their name; thus formally adopting his expressions. It was probably thought that the word, as well as the others we have mentioned, possessed in the original a peculiar emphasis and force, for which it would be difficult to find a precise equivalent in any European language.

23. “Book.”—The whole context is quite averse to this rendering of the word (sepher) in this place. The word is generally applicable to every roll, scroll, or tablet, on which any thing was written; and the context must in all cases determine the probability as to what is intended. The Rabbinical writers think that the curse in this awful ceremony was written on a scroll of vellum or parchment. This we may very well doubt; but without at present inquiring whether the art of preparing vellum was known at this time, it seems more probable that, for such a temporary purpose as the present, the writing was made on a tablet of wood, properly prepared. Such tablets were very anciently used, and still are so, in some countries, not only for writing intended to be soon obliterated, but for that which is designed to be permanent. Whatever was used in the present instance, it was certainly nothing at all resembling in its form the idea which the word "book" suggests to our minds.

"Blot them out."-It would seem from this that the ink made no permanent marks on the skin, linen, wood, or whatever other substance the words were written on. It is precisely the same with the ink now in use in the East. In its composition no calx of iron, or other material that could make a permanent dye, is employed; and although the writing made with it has an intense and brilliant black colour, which will remain unchanged for ages, the characters may at any time be spunged or washed out with water. We have, while writing this note, tried this; and find it quite easy to obliterate, by the slightest action of the moistened finger, words which were written several years since, at different times, with inks procured in different countries of Western Asia. It is therefore unnecessary to suppose, with some who judge only from our own ink, that the ink employed on the present occasion was prepared in a peculiar manner, and used only on this occasion.

24. "Shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water.” There is still a strong impression entertained among the inhabitants of Africa and some Asiatic countries, that the full force of a charm, or of a prayer or curse, is obtained by having it written, and by washing the writing off in water, and drinking the draught. The idea on which this is founded is sufficiently intelligible when the virtue of a written charm is believed--and such belief is by no means rare in countries nearer home than those of Africa or Asia. It is then an obvious act of the mind, or rather of superstition, to conclude that the virtue inhering in the written charm may be best imbibed by its words being swallowed, which they cannot well be by any process more convenient than that of washing them off in water. Travellers, particularly African travellers, abound in instances of their being applied to for written charms, by drinking the words of which the applicants believed that they would obtain some desired good, some security from evil, or a remedy for disease. One instance from Mungo Park will illustrate this subject. "At Koolkorro, my landlord brought me his writing-board, that I might write him a saphie to protect him from wicked men. I wrote the board full, from top to bottom, on both sides; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little water, and having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful draught; after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the board until it was quite dry." (Travels,' p. 236.)

29. "This is the law of jealousies."-The law punished proved adultery with death. But cases would frequently occur connected with which the husband might suspect adultery without being able to prove it, and, in that case, the man and wife could not fail to live miserably together, or else the man would feel inclined to act on his own impressions, and take the law into his own hands. To meet such a case, a trial was instituted, by which the innocence or guilt of a suspected wife might be established beyond question. The trial of a case only of suspected guilt, and incapable of proof, could not be other than an ordeal; and no one who pays attention to this awful process can doubt that it must have had a powerful effect for the intended purpose, or believe that any really guilty woman could go through it and brave its results. The known punishment for proved adultery, and this trial for that which admitted no proof, must have tended much to keep the crime in check. It must have been an awful thing even to the innocent, who knew that the result would clear their character from suspicion; and this perhaps was intended in order that their conduct might not only be free from actual guilt, but that they might avoid all conduct calculated to give cause for suspicion. We read no instance in which the trial took place; and if the administration of the ordeal were really infrequent, we may regard that as an evidence of its practical utility. For it would seem that the trial and its result were so dreadful, that the guilty rather confessed their crime, as they were earnestly exhorted to do, than go through it. We might particularly expect this, if the Rabbins are right when they say that a woman who confessed in such circumstances was not put to death, but only divorced without dowry. The innocent only would then drink the bitter water; and as it produced no marked effect on them, this may have led to the gradual disuse of the trial, under the impression that it had ceased to be operative. The Jews, however, say that this form of trial continued in use till towards the latter end of the second temple; for they were of opinion that the bitter water would have no effect if the husband himself were guilty of a similar crime to that with which he charged his wife; and they add, that the adulteries of men became so common, that the ordeal ceased to distinguish the guilty woman from the innocent. It will not fail to be observed that this ordeal was such as, at all events, to be harmless to the innocent, which is more than can be said of many that have been or are in use in different countries in all parts of the world. This was the character of the only ordeal in use among the Hebrews. But this character belonged to few of those which prevailed among other nations, which generally rendered it only possible for the innocent to escape by accident, or made the danger equal to the innocent and the guilty. A few were so far favourable to the innocent as to be incapable of doing harm, except by accident, to either