Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior.Strauss, Friedrich
History
Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior.
Strauss, Friedrich
Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D. -- Fiction
Page 297.—_A goat for a sin-offering._] The directions for sin-offerings
are found, Lev. iv. Num. xv. 22. From these passages it appears, that
these offerings were prescribed in the case of sins of ignorance;
unintentional, and at the time unobserved, violations of the Levitical
law. The sacrifice of Helon in the text, appears to be represented by
the author as a voluntary expression of remorse for his unjust conduct;
a purpose very foreign from the design of the sin-offerings spoken of in
the passages above quoted. It may also be observed, that the law takes
no notice of the case of a priest incurring guilt: perhaps he might be
included under the general term ruler.
Besides sin-offerings, (called הטאת) trespass-offerings אשם were also to
be presented, Lev. v. vi. xiv. 12, 13. xix. 20. 22. Num. vi. 11, 12.;
chiefly in cases of the breach of some social duty, and in addition to
the penalties provided against the offence, but also for Levitical
defilement and sins of ignorance. They differed chiefly in this, that a
sin-offering was sometimes made for the whole congregation; a
trespass-offering only for individuals; a bullock was never sacrificed
for a trespass-offering, and the blood of the latter was sprinkled at
the bottom of the altar, not dropped on the horns. Jennings’s Jew. Ant.
ii. 332. Lightfoot, Works, i. 929. &c.
Page 302.—The ritual for the day of atonement will be found, Lev. xvi.
xxiii. 27-32. Num. xxix. 7-11. What is described in the text beyond the
warrant of these passages, is derived from Rabbinical authority. See the
treatise Joma יומא i. e. _the_ day κατ’ ἐξοχὴν) in Surenh. Mischna, ii.
206. et seq. Lightfoot, i. 961. It is doubtful whether a substitute were
chosen to fill the place of the high-priest; for Josephus (xvii. 6. 4.)
mentions an instance in which, having incurred pollution just before the
day of atonement, it was necessary to create another for the rites of
this day. As the high-priest had on this day to perform the office of a
common priest, for which his splendid robes of ceremony would have been
inconvenient, he went through this part of his duties in the ordinary
sacerdotal dress of byssus, i. e. probably at this time cotton. The word
by which the material of the priest’s dress is described in the Mosaic
law is שש or בד, בוץ (byssus) not occurring in any of the books of
Scripture before the captivity. As the Jewish ritual was formed in so
great a degree upon that of Egypt, where the priests certainly wore
linen garments, in a country early celebrated for its flax, (Exod. ix.
31.) it is probable that the garments of the priests were directed by
the law to be made of this material, but that when the use of cotton was
learnt, it was substituted for linen. This appears to have been the case
in Egypt also; for Herodotus (ii. 81.) describes the priests as wearing
κιθῶνας λινεόυς, but the mummies as being swathed, σινδόνος βυσσίνης
τελαμῶσι (85.) while Pliny (N. H. xix. 1.) says, “Superior pars Ægypti,
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