Part 10

The time when the _Paschal Lamb_ was to be slain, was at the _Evening_, _Exod. 12. 6._ Or, as the Original reads, _between the two evenings_. Here _Divines_ move the question, what part of the day should be understood by this phrase. Some distinguish the _two evenings_ thus,[305] That there was _Vespera Solis_, the _evening of the Sun_; namely, when the body of the Sun setteth: and _Vespera luminis_, _the evening of the light_, when the beams and shining of the _Sun_ is also gone from off the earth; The space or interim between these _two Evenings_, is thought to be one hour, and the third part of an hour; in which space of time, they say, the _Paschal Lamb_ was slain. Others[306] admit a greater latitude, and distinguish thus: There is say they, _Vespera declinationis_, the _Evening of the Sun declining_; and _Vespera occasus_, the _Evening of the Sun setting_; and their meaning is, that their _Passover_ was offered in this intermediate time, between noon and night. This latter answer seemeth most agreeable to the truth. First because by this speech we must understand a latitude of time wherein might be offered not only the _Passover_, but the _daily Evening Sacrifice_ also, for even that likewise was commanded, _Inter duas Vesperas_, _between the two evenings_, _Num. 28. 4._ Now this might be offered in the former part of the after-noon. The manner of their sacrificing, in regard of this time, we find thus registred,[307] if we count the hours according to our usual computations: the _daily sacrifice of the evening Lamb_ was usually _slain_ between _two_ and _three_, it was _offered_ between _three_ and _four_: upon the _Passover Eve_ it was slain between _one_ and _two_, it was _offered_ about half an hour before _three_; but if their _Passover Eve_ hapned to be the same with their _Sabbath Eve_, then the daily _Evening Sacrifice_ was _slain_ between _twelve_ and _one_, it was offered half an hour before _two_; and afterward the _Passover_. Secondly, this agreeth with the Oblation of the true _Paschal Lamb_; for, as the time of his crucifying began in the third hour of the day, with the _daily morning sacrifice_, _Mark 15. 25._ so it ended at the ninth hour, _Mark 15. 34._ which was the time of their ordinary _evening sacrifice_: but upon their _Passover Eve_, it was the time when their _Paschal Lamb was slain_.

[305] _Aben Ezra, Exod. 12._

[306] _R. David. in Radic. Hoc etiam colligi potest ex Pirk. Aboth. c. 5._

[307] _Talmud. tract. de paschate. c. 1. in initio._

Furthermore, the _Lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs_: the reason of this command is, that thereby they might be moved to thankfulness towards _God_, for their deliverance from the _Egyptian bondage_, in which their lives were made bitter unto them, _Ex. 1. 14._

These _bitter herbs_ they dipt in a certain sauce thick like Mustard, called _Charoseth_,[308] which thick sauce (say they)[309] was a memorial of the _day_ wherein they _wrought_ in _Egypt_. This is thought of some[310] to be that wherein _Christ_ diped the sop which he gave to _Judas_. Of this sauce the _Hebrews_ write thus;[311] they used to dip the _unleavened bread_ in that sauce _Charoseth_, and to eat; then they dipt the bitter herbs in the _Charoseth_, and did eat them. It was made[312] of the Palm-tree branches, or of dry Figs, or of Raisins, which they stamped and put Vinegar thereto, and seasoned it, and made it like Clay; and brought it unto the Table in the night of the _Passover_.

[308] _‎‏חרוסת‏‎_

[309] _Moses Kotsensis, fol. 118_

[310] _Scalig. de emend. temp. l. 6. p. 272._

[311] _Maim. de fermento. c. 8. sect. 7._

[312] _Maimon. in ‎‏חמץ ומצה‏‎ c. 7. sect, 11._

The other seven daies following the fourteenth of _Nisan_, were in strictness of speech a distinct Feast, as is above-shewed; namely, _the Feast of unleavened bread_ because in that space of time, no _leavened bread_ ought to be found in their houses;[313] their degrees[314] of _preparation to this feast_ are _four_. 1. _Expurgatio fermenti_, _the cleansing of_ all their _houshold stuff_ and _vessels_, unto which _leaven_ might haply cleave; and this was done two or three daies before the _Passover_. 2. _Inquisitio fermenti_, the _searching after leaven_ throughout all the rooms of their houses, even to the Mouse-holes: this they did with a waxen Candle, and as _Buxtorfus_ noteth, upon the night before the _Passover_: and _Scaliger_ delivereth it in other words to the same purpose, namely,[315] that this search was made, _Ineunte quarta decima, usque ad quartam horam post ortum solis_. _At the beginning of the fourteenth day, until the fourth hour after the rising of the Sun._ Now, the beginning of the fourteenth day was the night going before; for the _Jews_, in the computation of their Holy-daies, counted their day from even to even. 3. There was _Exterminatio_, or _Conflagratio fermenti_, _A burning of the leaven_; and this was done from the fourth to the sixth hour, about dinner-time; at which time followed the last degree, which _Scaliger_ hath ommitted, namely, _Execratio fermenti_, the _cursing of the leaven_, in this form:[316] _Let all that leaven, or whatsoever leavened thing is in my power, whether it were seen of me, or not seen, whether cleansed by me, or not cleansed; let all that be scattered, destroyed, and accounted as the dust of the earth_.

[313] _Huius moris vestigia quædam sunt reperta in Roman. Flamine Diali. A. Gell. noct. Attic. lib. 10. c. 15._

[314] _Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 12. p. 317._

[315] _Scalig. de emend. Temp. in prolegom._

[316] _Buxtorf. Synag. c. 12. p. 325._

In case any did eat leavened bread those seven daies, the penalty was, that such a _soul_ should be _cut off from Israel_, _Exod. 12. 15._ Which penalty hath amongst Expositors a three-fold interpretation.[317] Some understand thereby such a man to be _cut off from his heavenly inheritance_: others, that _God_ would _cut off such from the living by an untimely death_: others, that he should _die without children_, leaving no posterity behind him: To this purpose their Proverb is,[318] _A man childless is lifeless_.

[317] _Vid. P. Fag. in Exod. 12._

[318] _Vid. P. Fag. ibid._

Of these three, the first is most probable in this place, though the same Text may admit the second interpretation in other places of Scripture, as is declared in the Chapter of Circumcision. Notwithstanding here let the judicious Reader determine, whether these words do not imply, besides the secret actions of God touching the soul of such a Delinquent, a direction unto the Church how to deal with parties thus offending by censuring them with Excommunication, which kind of censure elsewhere the Scripture calleth, _A casting out of the Synagogue_, _John 16. 2._ A speech much like this, _A cutting off from Israel_.

Three things may be here demanded. First, who killed the _Paschal Lamb_? Secondly, where it was killed? Thirdly, where it was eaten? First, it was killed by the _Priests_, _2 Chron. 35. 6._ Secondly, it was killed after the first time in the _Court of the Temple_, the place which _God_ had chosen. _Deut. 16. 6._ Thirdly, the owner of the Lamb took it of the _Priest_, and did eat it in his own house at _Jerusalem_, _Christ with his disciples kept the Passover in an upper-chamber at Jerusalem_.[319]

[319] _Maimon. in Korban Pesach c. 1. sec. 6._

It may further be demanded, whether the Passover consisted of two suppers, one immediately succeeding the other? Some affirm it, and their reasons are these: First, say they, the _Passover_ was eaten _standing_, but _Christ_ used another gesture. This argument of all other is the weakest, for _Christ_ used the gesture of lying on his body, as well in the eating of the _Passover_, as at the consecration of the _Sacrament_, and the _Jews_, generally after the first institution, in all their _Passovers_, used rather this posture of their body, than the other of standing, in token of rest and security, as appeareth in the _Chapter of Feasts_. Secondly, they say, the _Paschal Lamb_ was wont to be rosted; but in the last _Passover_ which our _Saviour_ celebrated, there was _Jus cui intingebatur panis_, _Broth into which he dipped the bread_. This reason is as weak as the former, because though there was a command to eat the _Paschal Lamb rosted_; yet there was no prohibition to joyn their ordinary supper with the eating thereof, and that might admit broth: but, as it is shewn above, the matter into which the sop was dipped, was thought to be the sauce _Charoseth_. Thirdly, they urge _John 13. 2._ That the first supper was done, when _Christ_ arose and washed his Disciples feet, and after that he gave _Judas_ the sop, which must argue a second sitting down. This foretelling his _Disciples_, that one of them should betray him, is likewise by Saint _Luke_ recited after the consecration of the _Sacrament_. This is the strongest argument, and yet not of sufficient validity, because by a kind of _Prolepsis_, or anticipation of time, it is not unusual, in the Scripture, to relate that first, which according to the truth of the History, should be last. Thus _John 11._ mention is made of _Mary_ which anointed the _Lord_, yet her anointing of him followeth in the next _Chapter_. And this same History of betraying _Christ_, Saint _Matthew_, and Saint _Mark_ recite it before the consecration of the _Sacrament_. Whence the _Jews_ have a Proverb,[320] _Non esse prius aut posterius in scriptura_; That _first_ and _last_, must not be strictly urged in Scripture. Together with these answers, consider how improbable it is, that ten persons (for sometimes they were so few) should eat a second supper, after they had eaten _A Lamb of the first year_, which might be an year old. It is evident also by that of _Barabbas_, that it was a received custom on the _Passover_, to let loose and enlarge one Prisoner or other. Concerning the reason hereof, the conjecture is three-fold, Some think this custom to have been used in memory of _Jonathan_ the son of _Saul_, when the people rescued him from the hands of his Father. Others say that the reason hereof was, that the Feast might be celebrated with the greater joy and gladness. Others more probably think, it was done in remembrance of their deliverance from the _Egyptian bondage_.

[320] _‎‏אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה‏‎ Salom. Iarchi. in Gen. 6. 3._

Again, here is to be observed, that the _Jews_, speaking of their _Passover_, did sometimes speak according to their _civil computation_, wherein they measured their days from _Sun-rising_ to _Sun-rising_: sometimes according to their _sacred computation_, which was from _Sun-set_ to _Sun-set_. This serveth for the reconciliation of that, _Numb. 12. 18._ which seemeth to make the fourteenth day of the first month, the first day of unleavened bread. And _Josephus_[321] telleth us that they numbered _eight days_ for that Feast. In like manner the Disciples are said to come unto _Christ_ the _first day of unleavened bread_, saying unto him, _Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?_ _Mat. 26. 17._ as if the _first day of unleavened bread_, were before the _Passover_. All these are true according to the computation of their _civil days_, though according to the computation of their _Holy-days_, the _feast of unleavened bread_ began the fifteenth day, and continued seven days only, and the _Passover_ was before the _feast of unleavend bread_.

[321] _Joseph. Antiq. l. 2. c. 5. p. 65._

In the last place we must know, that there was permitted a _second Passover_ to those who could not be partakers of the _first_, by reason either of their uncleanness by a dead body, or of their far distance from the place where it was to be offered. This was to be observed in the second month, the fourteenth day thereof, according to all the Ordinances of the first _Passover_, _Numb. 9._ Touching that permission of a _second Passover_, to those that were in a journey _far off_: the _Hebrew_ of this word _far off_, hath extraordinary pricks over it, for special consideration. Hereby the Lord might intimate, that we Gentiles which were unclean, even dead in trespasses and sins, and _far off_, _Ephes. 2. 13._ should be made _nigh_ by the blood of _Christ_, and so partakers of him, the _second Passover_. Of this legal Ordinance the _Hebrews_ say,[322] What is this journey _far off_? fifteen miles without the walls of _Jerusalem_, who so is distant from _Jerusalem_, on the fourteenth day of the first month, fifteen miles or more, when the Sun riseth, Lo, this is a journey _far off_; if less than this, it is not a journey _far off_, for he may come to _Jerusalem_ by after midday, though he go on foot, easily. The Agreement between the _Paschal Lamb_ and _Christ_ standeth thus,

[322] _Maimon. in Korban. Pesach c. 5. sect. 8, 9._

_Christ is our Passover_, _1 Cor. 5._

The Paschal Lamb was, Christ was,

1 One of the flock. 1 _Perfect man_, _John 1._ 2 Without blemish. 2 _Without sin._ 3 To be sacrificed and 3 _Suffered and died._ roasted. 4 His bones were not 4 _They brake not his legs_, broken. _John 19. 33._ 5 About the Evening. 5 _In the end of the world_, _Heb. 9. 26._ 6 Their door-posts were 6 _The Blood of Christ purgeth to be sprinkled with our consciences._ the blood. 7 That the punishing 7 _That sin and death might Angel might pass over not prevail against us._ them. 8 It was eaten in their 8 _He is applied by Faith._ several families. 9 The whole Lamb. 9 _According to all the Articles of the Creed._ 10 Without Leaven. 10 _Without Hypocrisie_, _1 Cor. 5._ 11 With bitter herbs. 11 _With patience under the Cross._ 12 In haste, and in the 12 _With an earnest and manner of Travellers. longing expectation of life eternal._ 13 Only by the Circumcised. 13 _Only by the faithful_, _1 Cor. 11._

CHAP. V.

_Of their Pentecost_

This Feast was called πεντεκοστὴ, _the Pentecost_; which word signifieth the _fiftieth day_, because it was observed upon the _fiftieth day after the second of the Passover_, which was the _sixteenth of Nisan_. Here in the first place we must note, that the fourteenth of _Nisan_ was τὸ πάσχα, the _Passover_; the _fifteenth_ ἑορτὴ τοῦ πάσχα, the _Feast of the Passover_: or πρώτη τοῦ πάσχα,[323] the _first of the Passover_: the sixteenth was δευτέρα τοῦ πάσχα, the _second of the Passover_; or _the morrow after the Passover_, _Levit. 23. 11._ which is all one, as if it had been said, the _morrow after the feast of the Passover_; for in those feasts which consisted in many daies, the _first_ and the _last_ were termed _Sabbaths_. Now these fifty daies were in truth the appointed time of their Harvest, their Harvest, being bounded as it were, with two remarkable daies, the one being the _beginning_, the other the _end_ thereof: the _beginning_ was δευτέρα τοῦ πάσχα the _second of the Passover_; the _end_ was πεντεκοστὴ, the _fiftieth day after_, called the _Pentecost_. Upon the δευτέρα, then they offered[324] a _sheaf of the same fruits of their harvest_, _Levit. 23. 10._ Upon the _Pentecost_, then they offered two _wave loavs_, _Levit. 23. 17._ the _sheaf_ being an Oblation offered in the name of the whole Congregation, whereby all the after-fruits throughout the Land were sanctified,[325] it being from thence afterward lawful, and not before, to reap the Corn, the _two loavs_ being not only an _Eucharistical Oblation_, but also a token of the Harvest finished and ended. In the second place we are to know, that they did count these fifty daies by numbring the _Weeks_ from the δευτέρα, whence it was called a _Feast of weeks_. The manner how they counted the _weeks_, was, according to the number of the _Sabbaths_ following the δευτέρα. Thus the first _Sabbath_ following they called δευτερόπρωτον σάββατον: the second, δευτεροδεύτερον: the third δευτερότριτον, _&c._ So that[326] all the _Weeks_ and _Sabbaths_, during the time of the _Pentecost_; as the _first_, _second_, _third_, and _fourth_, _&c._ took their denomination from δευτέρα, which observation giveth light to that of S. _Luke_, _Luke 16. 1._ where there is mention of a _Sabbath_ termed δευτερόπρωτον, that is, the _second first Sabbath_, and by it is meant the _Sabbath next after the sixteenth of Nisan_, which was the δευτέρα. Seeing that these _fifty daies_ did measure out the time of their Harvest, it will not be amiss to observe the difference betwixt their Harvest and ours, which chiefly consisted in their anticipation of time; for both the _Canaanites_ and the _Ægyptians_ began their Harvest about the first of _April_,[327] it was quite finished in _May_.

[323] _Seniores appellabant hunc diem, πρώτην τῶν σαββάτων. Lev. 23. 11._

[324] _Scalig. de emend. temp. l. 6._

[325] _Καὶ τότε λοιπὸν δημοσίᾳ ἔξεστι πᾶσι καὶ ἰδίᾳ θερίζειν, Joseph. Antiq. l. 3. c. 10._

[326] _Scalig. lib. 6. de emend. temp. p. 260._

[327] _Plin. l. 18. cap. 18. Illud ipsum confirmat Leo Afr. testis αὐτόπτης Descript. Afr. lib. 8. c. 4._

CHAP. VI.

_The Feast of Tabernacles_

The _Greek_ word used to express this Festivity, properly signifieth the _making of Tabernacles_:[328] the _Hebrew_ word, a _Feast of Tabernacles_.[329] The reason of both is, because all the time of this _Feast_, which was full seven daies, (from the fifteenth of _Tisri_, untill the one and twentieth thereof) the people remained in _Tabernacles_ and _Booths_ made of Boughs, in manner of Arbors and Bowers; yet so, that the first day of those seven, and the last, were after a more special manner to be observed as _holy Convocations_.

[328] _Jansen. Concord. cap. 73. Item Tollet. in Joan. 7. σκηνοπαγία, non σκηνοφαγία._

[329] _‎‏חג הסכות‏‎ Chag hasuccoth._

Concerning these Booths, the _Jews_ write thus:[330] They ought to be made in the open Air, not within doors, nor under the shelter of a Tree; they ought not to be covered with cloaths, nor to be made too close with the thickness of the Boughs, but with such holes that the Sun and the Stars might be seen thorow them, and the rain likewise descend thorow them. In these they ought to dwell those seven days, as in their houses; they ought to furnish them with houshold-stuff to ly under them, and sleep under them; only in rainy weather, then they had liberty to eat and sleep in their houses, untill the rain was over-past. Feeble persons also, which could not endure the smell of the earth, were permited to stay at home. In _Nehemiah_’s time they made their Booths, some upon the roof of their houses (for their houses were made flat above) _Deut. 22. 8._ Some in their Courts, some in their streets, _Nehem. 8. 15._

[330] _Munster Levit. 23._

_Plutarch_ making mention of this Festivity, saith,[331] that these _Booths_ were made principally of Ivy boughs: but the Scripture reckoneth up _four distinct kinds_, _Levit. 23. 40._ which are thought to be, 1. _The Cittern tree._ 2. _The Palm-tree._ 3. _The Myrtle tree._ 4. _The willow of the brook._ The _Rabbins_ teach,[332] that every man brought every morning his burden of the boughs of these four Trees, otherwise he fasted that day. And this burden they termed[333] _Hosanna_: in allusion unto this the people cutting down branches from the Trees, and strewing them in the way when our _Saviour_ did ride into _Jerusalem_, cried, saying, _Hosanna_ to the _Son of David_, _Mat. 21. 9._ _Plutarch_ scoffing the _Jews_, compares this Feast with that drunken Festival in the honour of _Bacchus_, in which the _Bacchides_ ran up and down with certain Javelings in their hands, wrapped about with Ivy, called θυρσοὶ and in this respect he termeth this feast of the _Jews_ θυρσοφορίαν _A bearing about of these Thyrsi_. That feast which the _Athenians_ term Εἰρεσιώνη, was not much unlike.

[331] _Plutarch. Sympos. 4. Problem. 5._

[332] _P. Fag. Levit. 23._

[333] _Elias Thisbit._

Moreover on the next day after this feast, they compassed the Altar[334] _seven times_ with Palm-boughs in their hands, in the remembrance of the overthrow of _Jericho_: for which reason, or else because that Palm branches were the chief in the bundle, it was called _Dies Palmarum_, _Palm Feast_.

[334] _Hospinian. de Orig. fest. cap. 7. It. Munst. in Calendar. p. 150._

Concerning the reason of this Feast; some are of opinion, that it was instituted in memory of that protection which the Lord vouchsafed the _Israelites_ by the Cloud, when they travelled thorow the Wilderness, under the shadow of which they travelled, as under a _safe Booth_ or _Tent_. _Onkelos_ in his _Chaldee Paraphrase_, seemeth to incline to this opinion. Where the _Hebrew_ readeth; _That your posterity may know, that I have made the children of Israel to dwell in Booths_, _Lev. 23. 43._ The _Chaldee_ rendereth it, _That your posterity may know that I have made the children of Israel to dwell in the shadow of Clouds_.[335] Others think[336] it was instituted as a solemn thanksgiving unto _God_ for their Vintage, which was gathered in at that time of the year; thence it is that they conceive those Psalms of _David_, which are entituled ‎‏על הגתית‏‎ _pro torcularibus_, to have been composed for this feast. Others speak more probably, who assign the cause to be in memory of their Fore-fathers _dwelling in Tents and Tabernacles_; the Text is clear, _Levit. 23. 43._

[335] _‎‏במטלת עננין‏‎_

[336] _Theophylact. John 5._

The Sacrifices which were offered these seven daies, are prescribed: _Numb. 29._ from the thirteenth verse to the thirty fourth, where we shall read every day the like Sacrifice, but only with this difference, that upon the first day they offered _thirteen_ young bullocks, upon the second _twelve_, upon the third _eleven_, and so forward, ever diminishing the number by one. The reason of which diminution, the _Jews_ deliver to be this:[337] the whole number of bullocks to be offered at this solemnity was _seventy_, according to the Languages of the _seventy Nations_, (for whom, as they teach, these sacrifices were performed) signifying thereby, that there should be a diminution of those Nations, until all things were brought under the government of the _Messias_ who was the expectation and Hope of the _Gentiles_.

[337] _Hospinian. de Orig. hujus fest._