4. The land was to lie untilled, and the vine-yards and olive-yards were to be free for every one to come and eat of the fruit thereof every seventh year; designed more especially for the relief of the poor, amongst them, who had no distinct inheritance of their own, chap. xxiii. 10.
5. They were prohibited from taking usury of an Israelite, though they might of a stranger. The reason of which law might be, either that they might exercise brotherly kindness and charity to one another, in which sense the law is in force to this day; especially when the poor borrow money to supply themselves with necessary food, in which case it is now unlawful to take usury. Or else it is to be considered, that the Israelites lived upon their farms or cattle, by which they seldom got more than what was a necessary provision for their families. And therefore the paying usury whenever they were necessitated to borrow money, would have procured their ruin in the end. Therefore they were not to take usury of an Israelite, but of a stranger they might; because they enriched themselves by merchandise, and were gainers in a way of trade, by what they borrowed.
6. All the males were to come up to Jerusalem, to appear before God, and perform public worship in the temple three times a year, viz. at the solemn festivals; the passover, pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles, Deut. xvi. 16, 17.
7. Six cities of refuge were appointed for those to fly to, for protection, who killed any one by accident. Though a near kinsman, as an avenger of blood might kill the man-slayer before he came to one of these cities. The design of which law was to induce them to take care that none might lose their lives through inadvertency. And there was provision made in these cities for the man-slayer to dwell safely; whereby a just difference was put between such an one, and a wilful murderer, Numb. xxxv. 15, 26, 27. Thus concerning the judicial laws.
II. We now proceed to consider the ceremonial laws that were given them, the end whereof was to lead them into the knowledge of Christ, and the way of salvation by him, then to come, Heb. x. 1. Gal. iii. 24, 25. These may be considered under six heads, which we shall speak briefly to;
[1.] It was ordained, that all their males should be circumcised. This was designed to be a visible mark put on the church, whom God had set apart for himself, that hereby they might be distinguished from the world: But the principal design hereof was, that it might be a sign or seal of the blessings of the covenant of grace, in which God promised that he would be a God to them; and they were hereby to own themselves as his people, Gen. xvii. 7, 10.
[2.] There were various ways whereby persons were reckoned unclean, and ordinances appointed for their cleansing. They were rendered unclean, by eating those birds, beasts, fishes, and creeping things, which God had pronounced unclean, and not designed for food, Lev. xi. Moreover, they were polluted by touching the dead bodies of such unclean birds, beasts, fishes, or creeping things, ver. 31. Again, some diseases, incident to the bodies of men, which were more than ordinarily noisome, rendered them unclean, as the issue, leprosy, &c. Lev. xv. 2, & seq. and ch. xiii. and the clothes they wore, the houses they lived in, the beds on which they lay, their ovens and the vessels used in eating or drinking, were, on several accounts, deemed unclean, and accordingly were either to be cleansed or destroyed; otherwise the owners thereof would be polluted hereby[[203]].
This law was designed to signify how odious and abominable sin, which is a moral pollution, is, in God’s account, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, Hab. i. 13. We might also observe; that there are various ordinances appointed for their cleansing, in order to which, several sacrifices were to be offered, and divers washings with water, Lev. xiii—15. The former of these signified the way of our being delivered from sin by the blood of Christ, as the procuring cause of forgiveness, Heb. ix. 13, 14. Eph. i. 7. the latter, our being cleansed from sin by the internal, powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, in regeneration and sanctification, Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27. Heb. x. 22. Tit. iii. 5, 6.
[3.] There were holy places, such as the tabernacle and temple, with the vessels and ornaments thereof. The tabernacle was erected according to the pattern which God shewed to Moses in the mount, Exod. xxv. 40. and was so framed, that it might be taken to pieces, and removed from place to place, as often as the host of Israel changed their station in the wilderness: And accordingly there were Levites appointed to take it down and set it up; and also waggons with oxen, to carry it, excepting those parts of it which belonged to the holiest of all, which were to be carried on their shoulders, Numb. vii. 6.
The temple was that fixed place appointed for public worship at Jerusalem; first built by Solomon, and afterwards rebuilt by Zerubbabel. And both this and the tabernacle signified, that God would dwell in the midst of his people, and accept of that solemn and instituted worship that was to be performed by his church, in all ages. This was designed to be a type of the incarnation of the Son of God, who is styled Emmanuel, God with us; and in allusion hereunto, he calls his body a temple, John ii. 19.