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goat was burnt a bull, not brought by the people, but by the high-priest, at his own charges; which, when it was slain, he brought of the blood into the holy place, together with the blood of the kid of the goats, and sprinkled the ceiling with his finger seven times, as also its pavement, and again as often toward the [most] holy place, and about the golden altar: he also at last brings it into the open court, and sprinkles it about the great altar. Besides this, they set the extremities, and the kidneys, and the fat, with the lobe of the liver, upon the altar. The high-priest likewise presents a ram to God

as a burnt-offering.

4. Upon the fifteenth day of the same month, when the season of the year is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles in every one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that time of the year: as also, that when we shall arrive at our own country, and come to that city that we should have then for our metropolis, because of the temple therein to be built, and keep a festival for eight days, and offer burnt-offerings, and sacrifice thank-offerings, that we should then carry in our hands a branch of myrtle, and willow, and a bough of the palmtree, with the addition of the pomecitron. That the burntoffering on the first of those days was to be a sacrifice of thirteen bulls, and fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, with the addition of a kid of the goats, as an expiation for sins: and on the following days the same number of lambs, and of rams, with the kids of the goats; but abating one of the bulls every day, till they amounted to seven only. On the eighth day all work was laid aside, and then, as we said before, they sacrificed to God a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, with a kid of the goats, for an expiation of sins. And this is the accustomed solemnity of the Hebrews, when they pitch their tabernacles.

5. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, in the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries, (for on this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians,) the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt, and which we called the Passover: and so do we celebrate this passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following. The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the passover, and falls

on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days, wherein they feed on unleavened bread; on every one of which days two bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats, which is added to all the rest, for sins; for it is intended as a feast for the priest on every one of those days. But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. And while they suppose it proper to honour God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in the first place, they offer the first fruits of their barley, and that in the manner following. They take an handful of the ears, and dry them, then beat them small, and purge the barley from the bran; they then bring one tenth deal to the altar, to God; and casting one handful of it upon the fire, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. And after this it is that they may publicly or privately reap their harvest. They also, at this participation of the fruits of the earth, sacrifice a lamb as a burnt-offering to God.

6. When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty-nine days,) on the fifteenth day, which is Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs; and when they have only presented them to God, they are made ready for supper for the priests; nor is it permitted to leave any thing of them till the day following. They also slay three bullocks for a burnt-offering, and two rams; and fourteen lambs, with two kids of the goats for sins; nor is there any one of the festivals but in it they offer burnt-offerings; they also allow themselves to rest on every one of them. Accordingly, the law prescribes in them all what kinds they are to sacrifice; and how they are to rest entirely, and must slay sacrifices, in order to feast upon them.

7. However, out of the common charges baked bread [was set on the table of shew-bread,] without leaven, of twenty-four tenth deals of flour, for so much is spent upon this bread: two heaps of these were baked; they were taken the day before the Sabbath, but were brought into the holy place on the morning of the Sabbath, and set upon the holy table, six on an heap, one loaf still standing over against

another; where two golden cups full of frankincense were also set upon them, and there they remained till another Sabbath, and then other loaves were brought in their stead, while the loaves were given to the priests for their food, and the frankincense was burnt in that sacred fire wherein all their offerings were burnt also; and so other frankincense was set upon the loaves instead of what was there before. The [high] priest also, of his own charges, offered a sacrifice, and that twice every day. It was made of flour, mingled with oil, and gently baked by the fire; the quantity was one tenth deal of flour: he brought the half of it to the fire in the morning, and the other half at night. The account of these sacrifices I shall give more accurately hereafter; but I think I have premised what for the present may be sufficient concerning them.

CHAP. XI.

Of the purifications.

1. MOSES took out the tribe of Levi from communieating with the rest of the people, and set them apart to be an holy tribe; and purified them by water, taken from perpetual springs, and with such sacrifices as were usually offered to God on the like occasions. He delivered to them also the tabernacle, and the sacred vessels, and the other curtain which were made for covering the tabernacle, that they might minister under the conduct of the priests, who had already been consecrated to God.

2. He also determined concerning animals; which of them might be used for food, and which they were obliged to abstain from: which matters, when this work shall give me occasion, shall be farther explained; and the causes shall be added, by which he was moved to allot some of them to be our food, and enjoined us to abstain from others. However, he entirely forbade us the use of blood for food, and esteemed it to contain the soul and spirit. He also forbade us to eat the flesh of an animal that died of itself; as also the caul, and the fat of goats, and sheep, and bulls.

3. He also ordered, that those whose bodies were afflicted with leprosy, and that had a gonorrhoea, should not come

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into the city: nay, he removed the women when they had their natural purgations, till the seventh day; after which he looked on them as pure, and permitted them to come in again. The law permits those also who have taken care of funerals to come in after the same manner, when this number of days is over; but if any continued longer than that number of days in a state of pollution, the law appointed the offering of two lambs for a sacrifice; the one of which they are to purge by the fire, and for the other the priests take it for themselves. In the same manner do those sacrifice who have had the gonorrhoea. But he that sheds his seed in his sleep, if he goes down into cold water, he has the same privilege with those that have lawfully accompanied with their wives. And for the lepers, he suffered them not to come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained, by prayer to God, the recovery from that distemper, and had gained a healthful complexion again, such an one returned thanks to God, with several sorts of sacrifices: concerning which we will speak hereafter.

4. Whence one cannot but smile at those who say, that Moses was himself afflicted with leprosy, when he fled out of Egypt; and that he became the conductor of those who on that account left that country, and led them into the land of Canaan: for had this been true, Moses would not have made these laws to his own dishonour, which indeed it was more likely he would have opposed, if others had endeavoured to introduce them; and this the rather, because there are lepers in many nations, who yet are in ho nour, and not only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been great captains of armies, and been intrusted with high offices in the commonwealth; and have had the privilege of entering into holy places and temples: so that nothing hindered, but if either Moses himself, or the multitude that was with him, had been liable to such a misfortune, in the colour of his skin, he might have made laws about them for their credit and advantage, and have laid no manner of difficulty upon them. Accordingly, it is a plain case, that it is out of violent prejudice only that they report

We may here note, that Josephus frequently, calls the camp the City, and the court of the Mosaic tabernacle a Temple, and the tabernacle itself an Holy House, with allusion to the latter city, temple, and holy house, which he knew so well afterwards.

these things about us. But Moses was pure from any such distemper; and lived with countrymen who were pure of it also, and thence made the laws which concerned others that had the distemper. He did this for the honour of God. But as to these matters, let every one consider them after what manner he pleases.

5. As to the women, when they have born a child, Moses forbade them to come into the temple, or touch the sacrifices, before forty days were over, supposing it to be a boy; but if she hath born a girl, the law is that she cannot be admitted before twice that number of days be over. And when after the before-mentioned time appointed for them, they perform their sacrifices, the priests distribute them before God.

6. But if any one suspect that his wife has been guilty of adultery, he was to bring a tenth deal of barley flour: they then cast one handful to God, and gave the rest of it to the priests for food. One of the priests set the woman at the gates that are turned towards the temple, and took the vail from her head, and wrote the name of God in parchment, and enjoined her to swear that she had not at all injured her husband; and to wish that if she had violated her chastity, her right thigh might be put out of joint, that her belly might swell, and that she might die thus: but that if her husband, by the violence of his affection, and of the jealousy which arose from it, had been rashly moved to this suspicion, that she might bear a male child on the tenth month. Now when these oaths were over, the priest wiped the name of God out of the parchment, and wrung the water into a vial. He also took some dust out of the temple, if any happened to be there, and put a little of it into a vial, and gave it her to drink; whereon the woman, if she were unjustly accused, conceived with child, and brought it to perfection in her womb but if she had broken her faith of wedlock to her husband, and had sworn falsely before God, she died in a reproachful manner; her thigh fell off from her, and her belly swelled with a dropsy. And these are the ceremonies about sacrifices, and about the purifications thereto belonging, which Moses provided for his countrymen. He also prescribed the following laws to them.

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