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geon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest: 7. And he shall offer

demanded by necessity, and convinced that the intention and the frame of mind are more essential than the offering itself (see 1. c. p. 51), but unconcerned at the logical offence of adding an appendix to a final conclusion.

But why did he not, in extreme cases of poverty, permit a cereal offering, as he did in several other instances? Without desiring to speak with decision where the Bible affords no hint whatever, we may suggest, that he possibly deemed the sacrifice of a living creature appropriate on occasions connected with life and birth, and therefore eminently requiring the embodiment of the idea of "life for life", or of a vicarious sacrifice (see 1. c. pp. 291 sqq.).

PHILOLOGICAL REMARKS.-The word

(ver. 2) no doubt means "she brings forth seed" i. e. is delivered

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זורע זרע and מזריע זרע .of a child (comp

Gen. I. 11, 12, 29), since is commonly used for progeny, offspring; so also Ebn Ezra and Abarban. (

), Gerlach, Johlson, Herxh., Keil, Luzzatto, Bunsen, a. o.; it does not mean "she has conceived seed", so Targ. Onk. and Jon. (" and ", see Nachman. in loc.), Sept. (¿àν TEрματισθῇ, comp. σπερματίζειν τι to som something, Stob. Ecl. I. p. 131, ed. Meinecke), and Vulg., Luther, and Engl. Vers., Rosenm. a. o. Origen, believing the word superfluous in reference to women in general, since they cannot bring forth children without conceiving, considers it to point to the virgin Mary “quae sine semine concepit et peperit" (In Lev. Hom. VIII. p. 314). The phrase (Gen. VII. 3; XIX. 32) has a different sense, viz. "to keep alive seed" or "to secure descendants" (comp.

signifies also the period of her impurity, and is therefore likewise employed in the simple accusative. Indistinct is the rendering of the Septuagint κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ χωρι σμοῦ τῆς ἀφέδρου αὐτῆς, and of the English Version "according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean"; inexact

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it before the Lord, and make atonement for her, that she may be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This

; (מנודה ממגע כל אדם, 19 .Rashi on XV

but then it means that which is to be shunned and avoided, that is, impurity, used paralleland coupled with

(XVIII. 19; Ezek. XXXVI. 17; Ezra IX. 11), whether the impurity is physical, as the menstruation of women (XV. 19 sqq.; Ezek. XVIII. 6; XXII. 10), or moral, that is, iniquity (Zech. XIII. 1) and abomination, as incest (Lev. XX. 21) and idolatry (2 Chr. XXIX. 5; comp.

and

in) תשב

p), or loathing and disgust in general (Ezek. VII. 19, 20; Lam. I. 8, 17), while(Num. XIX. 9sqq.; XXXI. 23) is water of or for impurity, i. e. for the removal of impurity. It will be seen that the word occurs only in works written during and after the Babylonian exile; it became current in late periods only, when the laws of levitical cleanness were fully developed (see p. 194). The derivations from, so that would be formed like (Fürst), or from the Arabic root N to ripple, to flow (Wogue), are doubtful. vers. 4, 5) is hardly "she shall remain at home" (so Luther, Michael., Dathe, Knob., Bunsen, a. o.), much less, as Nachmanides fancifully interprets, "she shall sit, and not walk", since "by her steps she defiles the earth and taints the air" (Gen. XXXI. 35 affords no proof); but simply "she shall continue" in the blood of her purification (so Vulg. manebit in sanguine, Engl. Vers., Herxh., Cahen, Johlson, a. o.); an active Hebrew woman, so useful in field and vineyard, could not be expected to stay at home for full 40 or 80 days from her confinement, and long after she had recovered her full vigour and power for work; the construction

(in

ver. 5) also favours the latter inter

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pretation; although some codices read both times 2 (see De Rossi, Var. Lectt. I. 96), and the Sept., Vulg., Chald., and Ar. render so (v, in, etc.): passages like Gen. XIII. 18 and Deut. I. 46, in which the place is mentioned after a, or like Hos. III. 3(), are not parallel with ours. It is, therefore, impossible to entertain the view of Theodoret (Quaest. in Lev. XIV) and others (as Trusen, Sitten etc. p. 112), that 40 or 80 days of impurity were fixed merely with the object of securing to the woman complete rest after her exhausting pains; they were not fixed as a matter of expediency but of religion, and "the rest", especially with regard to conjugal intercourse, ceased after the first short terms of 7 and 14 days.

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(vers. 4, 5) is the impure blood, the removal of which effects purification, whence the Sept.renders the words indifferently αἷμα καθαρι σμού (ver. 4) and αἷμα ἀκάθαρτον (ver. 5). Rabbinical interpretation too decidedly explains them to mean “pure blood" which is not defiling, in contradistinction to (Ebn Ezra, Rashb., Nachman. fol. 92a; see infra; comp. Geiger, Jüd. Zeitschr. II. 27, 28; comp. I. 51, 52; Michaelis also has "reiner Blutabgang"); and Rashi renders by way of hypallage "purification of blood." rb (vers. 4, 6) is the constr. inf. Kal of 2, formed in the manner of verbs, like st (Ezek. XXXIII. 12), rsiz (Prov. VIII. 13), etc.; see Gramm. II. § LXVI. 13.

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the time of her menses" (see supra); Sept. κατὰ τὴν ἄφεδρον αὐτῆς, and more distinctly still Vulg. juxta ritum fluxus menstrui; Onk. and Jon. inaccurately; Dathe incorrectly pro duratione puerperii sui.

is the law for her that gives birth to a male or female 8. And if her fortune does not suffice for a lamb,

child.

,(6 .ver) בֶּן־שְׁנָתוֹ The term

The sense (ver. 6) is "with reference to - or at the birth of a son or a daughter", for the mother and not the child required purification; Sept. correctly p' vigèni doyarpí; Clericus ob filium vel filiam, i. e. prout marem aut foeminam peperit. an animal one year old (Sept. ¿viaútos, Vulg. anniculus, etc.), instead of the more usual, is found exclusively in later writings, viz. in Ezekiel (XLVI. 13), and the middle Books of the Pentateuch(Lev. XXIII. 12; Num. VI. 12, 14; VII. 15-81; and Lev. XIV. 10; Num. VI. 14; XV. 27), and is, therefore, like an incidental proof of the late origin of this section (see p. 194). The verb s (ver. 6) has three different complements; hence the Vulgate, to render the construction easier, inserts before the third a new verb "et tradet sacerdoti." The

ver. 7) is) וְכִפֶר and וְהִקְרִיבוּ subject of

,והקריבו The suffix in

of course (comp. ver. 8), to be supplied from the preceding verse; it is added in a codex of Kennic., and expressed by the Samar., Sept., Syr., and Jonath. though in the singular, refers, collectively, to both sacrifices (Ebn Ezra 110m) VADA AM), and not, as Rabbinical interpreters maintain, to the sin-offering only, on which the purification and atonement of the mother are supposed to depend (Siphra in loc. fol. 59a ed. Schlossb.): the holocaust being the older, and for a long time perhaps the only sacrifice presented, it is in the prescribed ritual at least of equal importance with the sin-offering. on Lev. I. p. 476; the Vulg. paraphrases (in vers. 7 and 8) "et orabit pro ea"; and the Sept. renders the fol

lowing xai xadapieł aútýy, as if

וְטִהֲרָה reading מקיר The sense of

(lit. "the spring of her blood") cannot be doubtful (comp. XX. 18); Sept. any tou afuatos, Vulg. profluvium sanguinis, Luther a. o. Blutgang; inaccurately Onkel.

, Michael. Wochenbett, a. o. Several manuscripts, the Samarit. Text and Vers., and the Arab., have map (ver. 7) instead of is, which is indeed an unessential deviation, since also has occasionally disjunctive force (Gr. § 107. 1o); but as this is very strongly expressed in the double

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Comm. on Lev. I. 515 (on V. 7). - The Samar. and Syr. Vers., and a codex of Kennicot, give (in ver. 8) to N precedence before, evidently in order to obviate difficulties which have been discussed above. The Rabbinical, and no doubt the correct interpretation of this chapter, as embodied in the Targum of Jonathan, is this: the mother is unclean only during the first seven or fourteen days after childbirth; on the eighth or fifteenth day, after having bathed, she is clean (ver. 3, ), and fit for conjugal intercourse; and her discharges in the following 33 or 66 days are also clean (ver. 4, 1); yet she is during this time to keep aloof from the Sanctuary and all sacred things (as tithes, , and the flesh of thank-offerings): thus a double "flow of blood", a clean and an unclean one,

.Ver מבוע תרין דמחא) is distinguished

.see Comm כְּפֶר על On

7; Talm. Nidd. 35, 42a; Shabb. 64";

she shall bring two turtles or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, that she may be clean.

Yor. Deah 11. cc.; Mitzv. Hashem p. 27). The Sadducees, on the other hand, and with them the Samaritans and Karaites, though admitting a difference of degree between the two periods, declared the woman even during the second term too unclean for matrimonial connection;

SUMMARY.

they are, therefore, in this instance, more strict than the Rabbanites, who have certainly the tenour and the wording of the Law on their side. — The Mishnah (Kerith. I. 3-7) ordains sin-offerings also in certain cases of

abortion.

CHAPTER XIII.

ON LEPROSY OF PERSONS AND GARMENTS AND ITS TREATMENT. 1. Leprosy developed from plague-spots in the skin (vers. 1—8). A rising (N), or scab (E), or bright spot (2) on the skin, with the hair on that part turning white, and the part itself appearing to be deeper than the rest of the skin, constitutes a leprous disease ( :) and causes uncleanness (vers. 1-3). But a white spot which does not appear to be deeper than the other skin, and the hair of which does not turn white, is a doubtful symptom requiring to be carefully tested: if after a week's seclusion of the person so affected, the disorder does not spread, but remains unchanged in appearance, he is to be subjected to another term of confinement of the same duration; if then the diseased part is found to be påler and has not extended farther, it is merely affected with a scab (p), and washing of garments suffices to restore cleanness (vers. 4-6). But if at the end of the first or second week, the disorder has spread, and, on renewed inspection by the priest, is discovered to have made another advance, it is polluting leprosy (vers. 7, 8). 2. Leprosy breaking out direct on the body, and not from plague-spots (vers. 9-17). The presence of raw flesh, and whiteness of the hair on a white rising, characterise confirmed and defiling leprosy (vers. 9-11). White leprosy extending equally over the skin of the whole body, is not considered a tainting disease (vers. 12, 13); yet it becomes one by the appearance of red raw flesh on any part (vers. 14, 15); when such flesh disappears and the original white colour returns, the sufferer is restored to a state of cleanness (vers. 17, 18). — 3. Leprosy arising in consequence of a healed boil (vers. 18—23). A white rising or a reddish white spot appearing in the place of a healed boil (7), is real leprosy, if it seems lower than the skin, and if the hair on it turns white; but it is merely a scabby scar left by the boil if it does not show these two symptoms, is pale in colour, and does not spread within seven days of seclusion after the first inspection by the priest. 4. Precisely the same regulations apply to the bright spot which may arise in the place of a burning (s, vers. 24—28). 5. Leprosy on hairy parts of the head and face (vers. 29-37). If an eruption on the head or at

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the beard appears deeper than the other skin, and is covered with yellow thin hair, it is a scall (pr), or leprosy of the head or beard (vers. 29, 30). Now, if indeed the diseased part seems not deeper than the other skin, but has yellow hair upon it, it is examined again after seven days of isolation: if then the disorder has not spread, and the yellow hair has vanished, the sufferer is to shave his body with the exception of the afflicted parts; and if, after other seven days of separation, the scall has preserved the same limited extent, he is to be declared clean by the priest, and has merely to wash his garments; yet if after that time the evil spreads, he is unclean, whether yellow hair shows itself or not; and he becomes only clean when the irregularity ceases, and black hair grows on the affected place (vers. 31-37). · 6. Harmless leprosy (vers. 38, 39). A palish white eruption on the skin (a or p) is harmless, and does not render unclean. 7. The same applies to baldness at the back of the head or at the forehead (vers. 40, 41); but a reddish white rising on the bald places, resembling in appearance leprosy of the skin, is looked upon as that disease, and causes uncleanness (vers. 42-44). 8. Social status of the leper (vers. 45, 46). - He shall rend his clothes, bare his head, cover his beard, and at the approach of strangers exclaim, "Unclean, unclean!"; during the whole time of his illness he is to stay in an isolated place without the camp. — 9. Leprosy of garments (vers. 47–58). If garments, or linen and woollen stuffs, or objects made of skin, show greenish or reddish spots, they may possibly be affected with leprosy; hence they are to be shut up by the priest for a week; if on the seventh day the spots have spread, it is a case of malignant leprosy, and the garments and stuffs must be burnt; but if the spots have not extended, the things are to be washed, and removed for other seven days; if after the washing, the spots do not change their colour, whether they spread farther or not, the garments are unclean, and must be burnt; if the spots become pale after the washing, the part is to be torn out, and if they yet appear in the stuffs, these are to be burnt; for it is a spreading leprosy; but if the spots vanish altogether after the washing, the objects are washed a second time, and thus become clean. Then follows 10. the concluding formula (ver. 59).

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2. If a man has in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his flesh a plague of leprosy; he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. 3. And

1-8. Of the various diseases endemic among the ancient Hebrews, none was more inveterate, and none more disastrous, than leprosy. It clung to them from the earliest to the latest times; it was by all but general tradition attributed to them during their stay in Egypt, especially in the age

of Moses, and was together with other contagious disorders, not unfrequently represented as having caused their expulsion from that country (comp. Manetho, Chaeremon, and Lysimachus ap. Joseph. C. Ap. I. 26, 32, 34; Tacit. Hist. V. 3; Justin. XXXVI. 2; Diod. Sic. XXXIV. 1;

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