offering the fhew-bread; only they were allowed to live upon a portion of the offerings that were made there e. 2. His confecration. This ceremony was prefcribed by Confecra GOD himself on the mount f, and was performed by Mo- tion. fes, upon his brother Aaron, with a folemnity answerable to the facredness of his office. It confifted, chiefly, in the fix following particulars, which the reader will find in the margin (S). THERE is one thing to be obferved in this first confecration, that not only Aaron, but his fons, were confe • Ibid. xxi, & feq. (S) 1. Before all things, he was prefented to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle, in the prefence of all the people. 2. He was to wash himself all over in pure water, which was drawn out of a large capacious yeffel, that stood near the altar, and was fet up there for all fuch purposes. 3. He was then immediately invefted with all the pontifical vestments, of which we fhall fpeak under the next head, and with the breaft plate and urim. 4. His next bufinefs was, offering the facrifices appointed for this purpose; namely, a bullock for a fin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, and another for his confecration; with the blood of which, Mofes, 5. Anointed the tip of his right-ear, his thumb, and great toe; befides the usual afperfions on the altar, and other wave, meat, and drink-offerings. The laft ceremony was, the anointing him with the facred oil, whofe compofition was likewife prefcribed by God (40), and was not to be used for any other purpose. Thefe ceremonies were repeated seven days (40) Exod. xxx. 22, & feq. & pall. vid. ver. 23, 24. f Exod. xl. 12, & feq. fucceffively, at leaft as far as relates to the washing, the facrifices, and the unction: for it doth not appear, that the ceremony was repeated relating to their putting on the priestly garments (41). During all this time, Aaron and his fons were not permitted to go out of the tabernacle, but continued there, and feafted themselves with the daily facrifices, which they offered for their confecration, of which no fragment was to be left till the next morning, but was to be burnt that very night. On the eighth day Aaron entered into his office by a double facrifice, one which he offered for himself, and the other for the people, whom he blessed for the first time; and this his inauguration was fignalized by the glory of God appearing unto all the people, and by the defcent of the holy fire from heaven (42), which was thenceforwards preferved till the deftruction of the first temple,and the ufe of any other in the facred miniftry exprefly forbid, under pain of death, as we shall fee in the sequel. His dress. crated at the fame time, and with the fame ceremoni though these were to continue ftill in the rank of comm priefts. This may be the reason why Eleazar is afterwar faid to have been inftalled into the high-priesthood, by t fole inveftiture of his father's garments, without any oth ceremony from which feveral commentators have co. cluded, that the reft were not to be ufed at the inftallatic of any new high-prieft. It is true, we can offer nothin conclufive out of the Mofaic text, to confute that notion yet, if we believe the antient Jews, who may be properl enough looked upon as the beft judges, they will tell us that the unction did always accompany the inveftiture_ti the deftruction of the firft temple, when Jofiah depofite the facred oil in fo fecret a place, that it could never b found out after their return from the Babylonifh captivity from which time, and not till then, they began to conten themselves with the bare inveftiture, without the unction k However that be, it seems reasonable to think, that Mofes was commanded to confecrate Aaron's two fons, Eleazar and Ithamar, at that grand ceremony, as being the two branches unto which the high-priesthood was confined, as he did, at the fame time, all the priestly garments, the tabernacle, and all the facred utenfils of it, which were to be intirely dedicated to the fervice of GOD ever after 1, 3. His prieftly veftments; concerning which, all that we can, with any certainty, advance, is, that they were likewise prescribed by GoD himself, and confifted of every thing that could make them truly rich, fumptuous, and venerable; fuch as a great variety of precious ftones, gold, filver, purple, fcarlet, the fineft of filk, linen, and the like: but, as to the fashion of them, all that has been advanced about it, though with ever so positive an air, is mere conjecture; because Mofes has contented himself with giving us the names of them, without any farther defcription, as being altogether needlefs. Jofephus has, indeed, been more particular, in this refpect m; but all we can depend upon him for is, that he has defcribed them as they were worn in his time: and how far the fafhion of them might have altered, during fo long a space, and fuch a variety of circumftances which the Jewish commonwealth went through, is not eafy to guefs. The rabbies vary greatly from him, in their description of them; and St. Jerom both Vid. SELD. de fucceffione ad pontificat. 1. ii. c. 9. BASNAG, rep. Hebr. tom. i. l. ii. c. 7. from from him, and them : fo that we may truly fay, that thofe moderns who have lately given us fuch lively descriptions of them, both in writing, and in various prints, have rather furnished the world with new models for masquerading habits, than informed us of any thing, either certain, or, indeed, material. This caution being premifed, we fhall now endeavour to give our readers, in the following note (T), the best account we can of them, with any tolerable HIERON. ad Fabiol. (T) They were of two forts, one made of linen, and common to him and all the other priests; and, if there was any difference between them,it was, that the former was made of finer linen,and woven in a richer manner. We have already mentioned them under the head of expiation, they being the only ones that he is fuppofed to have worn when he went into the holy of holies. Only one would be apt to think, that these were made of a finer linen, because they are called by another name, namely, heh, which is thought a fine Egyptian fort; whereas that which is called bad, is a more common one: these were the mitre, or turbant, long robe, or veft, his drawers, and his girdle: the others, which were peculiar to him,and which he was to wear upon all folemn days and occafions, were fo rich and magnificent, that the Jews called them bagde zabab, veflures of gold, to exprefs the richness of them; and Mofes, the glory and ornament of Aaron (43). The firft was a blue er purple robe, which he put over his linen veft; this garment had no fleeves, nor any feam, according to Jofephus, being woven, like that of our Saviour's, from top to bottom, with a flit to put his head thro', The border of it, which reached almost to his ankles, was trimmed with a rich fringe, to which were interchangeably hung little bells and pomgranates, curioufly wrought in pure gold, at equal diftances one from another, that, by their tinkling, his approach might be the more eafily diftinguished: this veft was tied round with a rich girdle, which went twice about his body, and hung down a convenient length before him. Over this veft was a third, called the ephod, curiously wrought with gold, and other variegated embroidery, not unlike a fhort coat, about two feet in length: on the top of it, on each fide, were two fhoulder-pieces, to which were faftened two precious stones, fet in gold, on which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes, fix upon each ftone, that he might always have before his eyes thofe that were committed to his paftoral care: upon the breaft of it was a vacancy of about half a cubit in length, (43) Exod. xxviii. 2. and rable certainty; and refer the reader to Jofephus,and those modern authors who have treated more fully of them P. WHAT this oracle confifted in, and how it was confulted, fhall be fhewn, in a more proper place: and, as to its form and fhape (X), we are left fo much in the dark, that it P Ant. 1. iii. c. 7. CUNEUS, BASNAG. LAMY, CALMET, & al. and a proportionable breadth, on which the breaft-plate was to be fastened; this was a folded piece of the fame rich embroidered tiffue, on which were fet twelve precious ftones, in gold, on each of which was engraven the name of one of the tribes: these were fet in four rows, three in each row, and the whole was faftened at the four corners, thofe on the top to each shoulder-piece by a golden hook, or ring, at the end of a wreathed chain; and those below to the girdle of the ephod, by two blue ftrings, or ribbands, which had likewife two rings and hooks; fo that the whole might be tied faft to the garment, beyond the danger of falling off; for these were never to be fevered: and the Jews tell us, that if the highprieft did, at any time, either through inadvertency, or wil fully, put on one without the other, he was to be punifhed for it: this ornament is therefore called the memorial, to put him in mind how dear thofe tribes ought to be to him, whofe names he wore over his breaft: it is also call'd the breaftplate of judgment, because it had the divine oracle faften'd to it; at least the far greatest part of interpreters have understood the command of God to Mofes, of putting the urim and thummim to the breaft-plate (51), as if it implied them to be a diftinct thing from it: and this has made them run into various notions, as we shall shew prefently. (X) The ftones of the breaftplate were divided from each other by the golden partitions into which they were fet, and were ranged in the following order; to which we have added their Hebrew names, together with the tribe that was engraven upon each of them (52). Phiterah SIMEON Shebo Agate 9. Amethyft Barketh LEVI Achlamah ISSACHAR Emerald Nophek JUDAH Saphire Saphir DAN Diamond Jahalom NAPHTALI (51) Exod. xxviii. 30. Yashphe BENJAMIN. (52) Vid. Exod. xxviii. 17, & feq. Some it would require a new urim and thummim to acquaint us with it; because no infpired writer has given us any hint: and those who have fince wrote their conjectures about it, feem to have given fo great a scope to their fancy, that one fhall scarce find two or three of them agreeing in the fame notion. Some antients thought, that there was a thirteenth ftone in the breaft-plate, whofe extraordinary luftre and beauty, above the reft, did fignify to the high-priest GOD'S approbation or diflike of the thing inquired about 9. And though St. Auftin has plainly proved, that there was not the leaft foundation for fuch a fupernumerary ftoner, fome moderns have not fcrupled to add another, in order to answer the two names of urim and thummim s. An antient father, who is followed by a great many moderns, thinks, that those two words were either engraven on a plate of gold, and fixed to the breast-plate; or imbroidered,in raised work, upon itt. Most of the Jews believe, that it was the tetraxii. gemmis. SUIDAS in Epod. S ARR. MONT. & al. I CYRIL. 1 EPIPHAN. tract. de Quæft. in Exod. 117. expofit. fymbol. Some of thefe ftones, it must be owned, are of fo hard a nature, especially the diamond, that one may juftly queftion how they came fo foon by the art of engraving on them. But here the Talmudifts wonderfully help us out, by affuring us, that they were not engraven by any tool, which would have wafted fome part of the ftone, but by a miraculous worm, not now in being, which, when fet upon each of these ftones, did fink it. felf all along thofe places which Mofes had chalked to it, and fo impreffed the letters into the ftones, in the fame manner as we might do into fome things of a foft and yielding fubftance, without taking off any part of it. They relate, likewife, feveral other wonders about this worm, and these precious ftones, which we shall not trouble our readers with, after what we have own'd in the last note, concerning the little certainty we can have, from any good authority, of even the true fignification of their names. The Jews,among other things, tell us, that the names of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, were engraven also over the name of Reuben, in the first ftone, and in the last,under that of Benjamin the words, , fbibte-Jah, the tribes of the Lord; in order to make up the whole alphabet, fome letters of which were wanting in the names of the twelve patriarchs (53). But this is only to confirm an hypothefis of theirs, that the divine oracle was known by the protuberance, or fuperior luftre, of fuch letters as compofed the answer. But of this we fhall fpeak in the fea quel. (53) Maimon, kele bammikda, c. 9. grammaton |