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themselves, who, in their ignorance killed the Christ. In this sense, God judges them to be innocent. They are guilty of blood which they could not bear; but guilty in their ignorance like Saul himself, who is a striking figure, as an abortion (ектршμа, 1 Cor. 15, 8), of this same position. Such a murderer, however, remains out of his possession, until the death of the priest living in those days. And so it will be with regard to Israel. As long as Christ retains his actual priesthood above, Israel will remain out of their possession, but under the safe keeping of God. The servants of God at least, who have no inheritance, serve as a refuge to them, and understand their position and welcome them as being under the keeping of God. When this priesthood above, such as it is, ends, Israel will return into their possession. If they did before, it would be to pass over the blood of Christ, and the land would be defiled thereby. Now, the actual position of Christ is always a testimony of this rejection, and of His death in the midst of the people. Therefore God keeps the inheritance such as He has appointed it (xxxvi). All this then presents, not the passage itself through the desert, but the relations between that position and the possession of the promises and of the rest which follows. It is in the plains of Moab that Moses bore testimony, and a true testimony, to the perverseness of the people; but where God justified them, shewing His counsels of grace, in taking their side against the enemy, without even their knowledge, and pursued all the designs of His grace and of His determinate purpose for the complete establishment of His people in the land He had promised them. Blessed be His name! Happy are we, in being allowed to study His ways!

D.

NUMBERS.

The name NUMBERS is probably taken from the LXX, in which 'Apopo is the title of the Book. In Hebrew 7 is the title; which is the fifth word in the first verse of its first chapter, “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the Wilderness."-Ed.

No. XX.

NUMBERS, CHAPTER VI.

SINNING BY THE DEAD AND ATONEMENT MADE; OR, THE NAZARITE DEFILED AND RESTORED.

THE 6th of Numbers is here presented arranged in this manner, followed by a brief explanation thereof, in order to show its typical application to the WHOLE ELECT FAMILY-to those destined for Heaven, in the first place; and next, to those for whom earthly blessing is prepared in the kingdom.

THE THREEFOLD VOW OF SEPARATION. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord" (verses 1, 2).

ABSTINENCE FROM WINE.

He shall separate himself from WINE and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk” (verses 3, 4).

THE HAIR SUFFERED TO GROW.

"All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD GROW (verse 5).

SEPARATION FROM THE DEAD.

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"All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall come at NO DEAD BODY. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because the consecration of his

God is upon his head (ver. 6, 7). All the days of his separation he is HOLY UNTO THE LORD" (ver. 6-8).

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION.

An undefined period, according to the Nazarite's choice, during which
he keeps his vow, as above.

THE NAZARITE DEFILED-HIS CLEANSING.

"And if any MAN DIE VERY SUDDENLY BY HIM, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he (having been unclean seven days see Numb. xix. 19), shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing (namely, by the ashes of the red heifer, with the water of separation, see Numb. xix. 12), on the SEVENTH DAY SHALL HE SHAVE IT" (verse 9).

SEVEN DAYS

Of uncleanness.

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION BEGIN AFRESH.

"And on the EIGHTH DAY he shall bring TWO TURTLES, or TWO YOUNG PIGEONS, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he SINNED BY THE DEAD, and shall hallow his head (as in verse 5), that same day. And he shall CONSECRATE UNTO THE LORD THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION (as in verse 8), and shall bring a LAMB of the first year for a trespass offering: but THE DAYS THAT WERE BEFORE SHALL BE LOST (see verse 8), because his separation was defiled" (verses 10-12).

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION

Repeated, an unlimited period as at first, during which the threefold vow
is again observed.

THE OFFERINGS AT THE END.

"And this is the law of the Nazarite when THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION ARE FULFILLED: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one HE LAMB of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one EWE

LAMB of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one RAM without blemish for peace offerings, and a BASKET OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, (namely) CAKES of fine flour mingled with oil, and WAFERS of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their MEAT offering, and their DRINK offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering [the ewe lamb] and his burnt offering [the he lamb]: and he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering" (verses 13-17).

HIS HAIR DEDICATED.

"And the Nazarite shall SHAVE THE HEAD OF HIS SEPARATION at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the PEACE OFFERINGS" (verse 18).

WAVE AND HEAVE OFFERINGS.

"And the priest shall take the sodden SHOULDER OF THE RAM [namely, the peace offering, verse 14] and one unleavened CAKE out of the basket, and one unleavened WAFER, and shall put them upon THE HANDS OF THE NAZARITE, after the hair of his separation is shaven; and the priest shall wave them for a WAVE OFFERING before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the WAVE BREAST AND HEAVE SHOULDER [both of them belonging to the ram of the peace offering. See Levit. vii. 30, 32], and after that THE NAZARITE MAY DRINK WINE" (verses 19, 20).

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE.

"This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed (see verses 3-8), and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation (see verses 10-17), beside that that his hand shall get (see verses 19, 20) according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation" (verse 21).

THE BLESSING.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto AARON, and unto HIS SONS, saying, On this wise ye shall BLESS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, saying unto them, THE LORD bless thee, and keep thee: THE LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: THE LORD lift

up the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" (ver. 24-26).

And they [AARON AND HIS SONS] shall PUT MY NAME UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; AND I WILL BLESS THEM” (verse 27).

EXPLANATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTER.

THE object of throwing this 6th of Numbers into the foregoing form, accompanied by the following brief explanation thereof, is to show that the Nazarite, as he is here represented, under three distinct aspects--namely, devoting himself to the Lord; then becoming defiled by the dead; and lastly, after seven days of uncleanness (the number seven denoting his perfect defilement), shaving his head, beginning his vow over again, and then with sacrifices, and so on, bringing all to a close-presents, in his single person, a type of all the elect, through the whole course of their history upon earth, from the entrance of sin to their ascension to heaven, and the times of restitution of all things.

Renunciation of the world, power in the Spirit, and moral separation from death, here shown by the threefold Nazarite vow as to abstinence from wine, the growth of the hair, and not touching the dead, were ever the great leading characteristics of the people of God. The world at the fall became wholly defiled; hence, though outwardly linked with an earthly order of things, such as the Jewish dispensation especially was, the saints all the while were not of the world, they were a Nazarite people set apart for the service and glory of God, their hope and their home being in heaven. An hour however arrived, when the whole of this elect family found themselves suddenly and unexpectedly defiled; when they, together with others, became involved in a sin of the deepest atrocity even the sin of PUTTING JESUS TO DEATH! Human nature in that solemn moment was tested, and fearfully failed: hence they were not exempt from the general guilt. They took no part, it is true, in

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