Page 234.—_Searching for leaven._] This part of the paschal ceremonies was not ordained by the Mosaic law. See the Rabbinical authorities collected by Lightfoot, Works, i. 963. Page 237.—_The temple rose above the rest of the city._] The hill of Acra had been reduced in height by Simon, (Ant. Jud. xiii. 6. 6.) that the temple might be higher than all the surrounding buildings. This and the solidity of its construction made it an almost impregnable fortress in the war with the Romans. Page 231.—Josephus (Bell. Jud. vi. 9.) makes a calculation of the number of persons present at the Passover from the number of lambs killed. They were 256,000; and as each was to be eaten (Exod. xii.) by not fewer than ten persons, and usually was so by more, he reckons that 2,700,000 persons must have been in Jerusalem. In Bell. Jud. ii. 14. he reckons all the inhabitants at the time of the Passover at 3,000,000. Page 239.—_Papyrus._] The process of preparing the papyrus is here described after Pliny, N. H. xxx. 12. A drawing of the plant, on a large scale, may be seen in Hayter’s Report on the Herculaneum MSS. The book of Jesus the son of Sirach was evidently written by a Jew of Palestine, (xxiv. 10. l 25.) who had seen the high-priest Simon, son of Onias, (ch. l.) probably the second; the author may have lived a short time before the commencement of the cruelties of Epiphanes, or about 180 B. C. (Eichh. Einl. 4. 36. seq.) According to the same author, the translation was made by his grandson a little more than a century before Christ. Ib. p. 41. Page 240.—_Travellers coming from a heathen land._] John xviii. 28. The law imposes no such purification; but it was agreeable to the spirit of the times to require it. (Acts x. 28.) Perhaps the purifications of Paul (Acts xxi. 24.) may have reference to this. The Rabbins speak of intercourse with idolaters as equal to Levitical uncleanness, from which every one must be purified before the Passover. John xi. 55. Page 241.—The word Jehoshaphat signifies _Jehovah judgeth_; and it is very doubtful whether in this passage any place so denominated was intended, and not rather some spot, which, by being the scene of Jehovah’s judgment, would deserve this name. “Judæi arbitrantur ultimo tempore quando Hierusalem fuerit instaurata, sævissimas gentes Gog and Magog contra Dei populum esse venturas et in valle Josaphat quæ ad orientalem portam templi sita est, esse sævituras.” Hieron. in Joel. iii. 12. There is in the valley, through which the Kedron runs, a sepulchre, which is now shown to travellers as that of Jehoshaphat, (Maund. p. 103) but without any warrant from antiquity. It appears, however, that a great many sepulchres were excavated in the rocks which form the eastern side of this valley. See Clarke, 4. 333. 349. It is still the most earnest desire of the Jews to be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat.