And if the rulers offer sacrifices for their sins, they bring the same oblations that private men do; except they so far differ, that they are to bring for sacrifices a bull, or a kid of the goats, both males.

Now the law requires, both in private and public sacrifices, that the finest flour be also brought; for a lamb, the measure of one tenth deal; for a ram, two; and for a bull, three. This they consecrate upon the altar, when it is mingled with oil: for oil is also brought by those that sacrifice; for a bull, the half of a hin; for a ram, a third part of the same manner; and one quarter of it for a lamb. They bring the same quantity of oil which they do of wine, and they pour the wine about the altar; but if any one does not offer a complete sacrifice of animals, but brings fine flower only for a vow, he throws a handful upon the altar as its first fruits; while the priests take the rest for their food; either boiled, or mingled with oil, but made into cakes of bread: but whatsoever it be, that a priest himself offers, it must of necessity be all burnt. Now the law forbids us to sacrifice any animal at the same time with its dam; and in other cases, not till the eighth day after its birth.

Other sacrifices are also appointed for escaping distempers, or for other occasions; in which meat-offerings are consumed, together with the animals that are sacrificed; of which it is not lawful to leave any part till the next day, only the priests are to take their own share.

CHAP. X.

CONCERNING THE FESTIVALS, AND HOW EACH DAY OF SUCH FESTIVAL IS TO BE OBSERVED.

THE law requires, that out of the public expenses a lamb of the first year be killed every day, at the beginning and ending of the day; but on the seventh day, which is called the Sabbath, they kill two, and sacrifice them in the same manner. On the new moon they both perform the daily sacrifices, and slay two bulls, with seven lambs of the first year, and a kid of

Exod. xxix. 38. Numb. xxviii, 3.

the goats also, for the expiation of sins, that is, if they have sinned through ignorance.

On the seventh month, which the Macedonians call Hyperberetæus, they make an addition to those already mentioned, and sacrifice a bull, a ram, seven lambs, and a kid of the goats for sins.

The tenth day of the same lunar month they fast till the evening; and this day they sacrifice a bull, two rams, seven lambs, and a kid of the goats for sins; and besides these, they bring two kids of the goats, one of which is sent alive out of the limits of the camp into the wilderness, for the scape-goat, and to be an expiation of the sins of the whole multitude; but the other is brought into a place of great cleanness, within the limits of the camp, and is there burnt, with its skin, without any sort of cleansing. With this goat is burnt a bull not brought by the people, but by the high-priest, at his own charge, which, when it is slain, he brings of the blood into the holy place, together with the blood of the kid of the goats, and sprinkles the ceiling with his finger seven times, as also its pavement, and as often towards 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, and the high-priest presents a ram to God as a burnt-offering.

On 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, but so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that time of the year; as also that when we should arrive at our own country, we should come to that city which 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 palm-tree, with the addition of the pomecitron; that the burnt-offering on the first of those days. was to be a sacrifice of thirteen bulls, fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, with the addition of a kid of the goats, as an expia

Numb. xxix. 2.

Levit. xxiii. 27.

Numb. xxix. 12.

tion for sins; that 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, seven lambs, and a kid of the goats for an expiation of sins: and this is the accustomed solemnity of the Hebrews when they pitch their tabernacles.

But in the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan,* and is the beginning of our year, on 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 observed we slew when we came out of Egypt, and which was called the Passover; and so do we celebrate this passover in companies, and leave 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 a handful of the ears, and dry them; they then beat them small, and cleanse 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 first fruits of the earth, sacrifice a lamb as a burnt-offering to God.

When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, which weeks contain forty and nine days; on the fiftieth* day, called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf made of wheat flour, of two tenth Ideals 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.

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 a 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, at his own expense offered a sacrifice 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.

* Levit. xxiii. 16

CHAP. XI.

OF THE PURIFICATIONS.

MOSES took out the tribe of Levi from communicating with the rest of the people, and set them apart to be a 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 also delivered to them the tabernacle, and the sacred vessels, and the other curtains which were made for covering the tabernacle, that they might minister under the conduct of the priests, who had been already consecrated to God.

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 induced to allot some of them to be our food, and enjoined us to abstain from others. However, he forbade us entirely the use of blood for food, and esteemed it to contain the soul and spirit. He also forbade us to eat the flesh of the animal that died of itself, as also the caul, and the fat of goats, and sheep, and bulls.

He also ordered that those whose bodies were afflicted with leprosy, and that had a gonorrhoea, should not come into the city;* nay, he removed the women, under certain situations, till the seventh day, after which he looked upon 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 two lambs for a sacrifice, one of which they are to purge by the fire, and the other the priests

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 a holy house, with allusion to the latter city, temple, and holy house, which he knew so well long afterwards.