[Page 62.]—Touching a grave.] According to the law respecting impurities contracted by this means, (Num. xix. 19.) there should have been a purification on the third day.
[Page 64.]—Share of the priests.] See Deut. xviii. 1-5. Lev. vii. 28-38. Num. xviii. 8-20.
[Page 66.]—Removal of the Nazarite’s vow.] Numb. vi. 13-21. comp. Acts xxi. 24. Reland, Ant. Heb. 287. Id. 328. of the sacrifices which might or might not be eaten. Of the court of the Nazarites, Lightfoot, Works, i. 1092. As these sacrifices were expensive, it appears to have been a usual act of pious benevolence, to “be at charges” for poorer Nazarites. So Josephus (Ant. xix. 6.) relates, that Agrippa, on his coming again to his government, caused many Nazarites to be shaved. If the Apostle Paul’s vow was really a Nazarite’s, which many doubt, it should seem as if it sometimes extended only to seven days, the term during which, according to the original law, he remained unclean by funereal defilement, while his vow was upon him.
[Page 78.]—Gazith.] According to Reland, Ant. Heb. p. 104, half of this hall was in the court of the priests, half in the Chel. (See vol. i. p. 253.) The reason for this division was, that the court of the priests was within the precincts of the sanctuary, in which no one was allowed to sit, except kings of the family of David. The Sanhedrim sat therefore in the part which was not in the court of the priests. See Maimon. de Æd. Templi, vii. 6. Lightfoot, Works, i. 2005. It is said to have been built by Simeon Ben Shetach, a little later than the time of John Hyrcanus.
[Page 79.]—The Sanhedrim.] When Moses found the burden of judging the people too great for him, (Numb. xi. 16.) he appointed seventy men, elders of the people, to assist him. In the succeeding times of the judges and kings, the traces of this institution disappear; but after the captivity a great council (Synedrium) was formed, on the model and consisting of the same number as this, uniting the political functions of the diet and the juridical duties of Moses’s judges. Lowman, Heb. Gov. ch. ix. Mich. Mos. Law, § 50. Seventy was a favourite number, Jos. B. J. ii. 20. 5.
[Page 80.]—Scrutiny of the priests.] Reland, Ant. Heb. 184. Maim. de Rat. ad. Templi. c. vi.
[Page 82.]—Clad in black.] Josephus (Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7.) says, those who were excluded from the priesthood for bodily defects, wore common garments.
[Page 83.]—Sacerdotal robes.] Lightfoot, Works, i. 2049. Of the position of the vestry, see Reland, 104. The girdle was hollow like a purse: this is what is meant by being like a serpent’s skin.
[Page 85.]—The unction was imputed to him.] “Sacerdotes gregarii semel modo in solitudine adspersi fuere, uti Judæi tradunt, sic ut vi unctionis illius vel adspersionis posteri eorum consecrati censerentur.” Reland, Ant. Heb. 148.
[Page 90.]—Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things.] Such is the turn which the author gives to the words, which in our version are rendered, “Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” The whole connection is unfavourable to this interpretation, for David is evidently praying for moral purity. “Truth in the reins” is, probably, sincerity in virtue; and wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, is often used in the same sense. It may be observed here, once for all, that the author appears to put into the mouth of the old man of the temple, his own opinions respecting the typical nature of the ordinances and sacrifices of the law. Into this much controverted question the translator does not consider himself called upon to enter. Every reader will judge according to his own interpretations of the language of Scripture.