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Deut. 12:30 ff.; 18:10. 2 Kings 3:26 f. (the King of Moab). 2 Kings 17:31 (the Sepharvites). The passages in the Pentateuch shew how great the temptation would be to the Jew to try whether his own faith could rival the devotion of the neighbouring nations.

(2) Among the Jews: Judg. 11:30 ff. (v. 31 distinctly suggests a human offering; so LXX. oJ ejkporeuovmeno" , Vulg. quicunque primus fuerit egressus. Comp. 5:2).

[The incident in 2 Sam. 21:1-14 is in no sense a sacrifice. See also 2 Sam. 12:31.]

2 Kings 16:3 (Ahaz): 2 Chron. 28:3. 2 Kings 17:17 (the children of Israel). 2 Kings 21:6 (Manasseh): 2 Chron. 33:6. 2 Kings 23:10.

Is. 57:5 (the people). Jer. 7:31 (the children of Judah). Jer. 19:5 ( — ). Jer. 32:35 ( — ). Ezek. 16:20 f. (Jerusalem). Ezek. 20:25 f., 31 (the house of Israel). Ps. 106:37 f.

Comp. Mic. 6:7.
2.
The Levitical Sacrifices. . The Levitical Sacrifices were based upon existing customs (Lev. 17:1-
7). They were in some sense a concession to the spiritual immaturity of the people (Jer. 7:22 f.); but at the same time the legislation by which they were regulated guarded them from superstitious excesses, and preserved the different true ideas to which natural sacrifice bore witness, and completed this instructive expression of devotion by fresh lessons corresponding with deeper knowledge of God and man.

(1) The general idea. The Levitical offerings express the main thoughts which are expressed by the Gentile offerings though they express much more. They are in a true sense a tribute brought by a people to its Sovereign (Ex. 23:15; 34:20; Deut. 16:16 f.); and they represent what man, in human fashion, conceives of as ‘the bread—the food—of God’ (Lev. 3:11, 16; 21:6, 8, 17, 21; 22:25; Num. 28:2, 24; Ezek. 44:7).

This conception was embodied specially in ‘the Shew-bread’; and in those sacrifices which are described as ‘of a sweet savour’ (Lev. 1:9, 13, 17; 2:2, 9, 12; 3:5; 4:31; 6:15; 8:21; 26:31; Num. 15:7, 10, 13 f.; 28:6, 13; 29:2, 6. Comp. Gen. 8:21; Ex. 29:18; 1 Sam. 26:19; Phil. 4:18; Eph. 5:2).

The idea is naturally connected with idolatrous services (Deut. 32:38; Is. 65:11; Jer. 7:18; Ezek. 16:19; 23:41; Bel and Dr.); but it admits of a true spiritual interpretation. In this sense it has been most justly remarked that God says to us, ‘Give Me my daily bread’ (Hengstenberg); and under one aspect the Jewish sacrifices were a type of this ‘reasonable service’ (comp. Jos. B. J. 6.2, 1 hJ kaqj hJmevran trofh; [ tou' qeou' ]).

At the same time while God is represented as accepting these gifts from men, it is carefully laid down that He does not need them (Is. 40:16 f.;


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