Page 61.—_Being cut off from the people._] It is probable that in all cases where this is denounced as the punishment for violations of the Levitical law, it was supposed that they were committed presumptuously; and the omission of purification from forgetfulness would not have entailed the punishment. Mich. Mos. Law, § 249. Comp. 2 Chron. xxx. 18. “Quidquid de pœnâ excisionis statuendum fuerit, certius nihil est quam eam nec a Talmudicis nec a Karæis inter humanas aut forenses pœnas censeri, sed pro divinitus tantum infligencâ accipi.” Selden de Synedr. p. 95. This is not probable. Page 62.—_Touching a grave._] According to the law respecting impurities contracted by this means, (Num. xix. 19.) there should have been a purification on the third day. Page 64.—_Share of the priests._] See Deut. xviii. 1-5. Lev. vii. 28-38. Num. xviii. 8-20. Page 66.—_Removal of the Nazarite’s vow._] Numb. vi. 13-21. comp. Acts xxi. 24. Reland, Ant. Heb. 287. Id. 328. of the sacrifices which might or might not be eaten. Of the court of the Nazarites, Lightfoot, Works, i. 1092. As these sacrifices were expensive, it appears to have been a usual act of pious benevolence, to “be at charges” for poorer Nazarites. So Josephus (Ant. xix. 6.) relates, that Agrippa, on his coming again to his government, caused many Nazarites to be shaved. If the Apostle Paul’s vow was really a Nazarite’s, which many doubt, it should seem as if it sometimes extended only to seven days, the term during which, according to the original law, he remained unclean by funereal defilement, while his vow was upon him. Page 78.—_Gazith._] According to Reland, Ant. Heb. p. 104, half of this hall was in the court of the priests, half in the Chel. (See vol. i. p. 253.) The reason for this division was, that the court of the priests was within the precincts of the sanctuary, in which no one was allowed to _sit_, except kings of the family of David. The Sanhedrim sat therefore in the part which was not in the court of the priests. See Maimon. de Æd. Templi, vii. 6. Lightfoot, Works, i. 2005. It is said to have been built by Simeon Ben Shetach, a little later than the time of John Hyrcanus. Page 79.—_The Sanhedrim._] When Moses found the burden of judging the people too great for him, (Numb. xi. 16.) he appointed seventy men, elders of the people, to assist him. In the succeeding times of the judges and kings, the traces of this institution disappear; but after the captivity a great council (Synedrium) was formed, on the model and consisting of the same number as this, uniting the political functions of the diet and the juridical duties of Moses’s judges. Lowman, Heb. Gov. ch. ix. Mich. Mos. Law, § 50. Seventy was a favourite number, Jos. B. J. ii. 20. 5. Page 80.—_Scrutiny of the priests._] Reland, Ant. Heb. 184. Maim. de Rat. ad. Templi. c. vi.