every sin-offering had a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, the kid offered on this day by the masses of the people is treated in Heb. xiii. as having a very special application to Him, from the blood having been carried within the veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, and from the body having been burned without the camp.  So Jesus, having suffered without the gate, and having obtained eternal redemption for us, not by the blood of others, but by His own blood, having “given Himself a ransom for all,” entered not into the holy places made with hands, but into Heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us.

Again, in the scape-goat, which was the complement of the sin-offering, we have a reference to the Lord Jesus bearing away our sins “in His own body on the tree,” so that they should be no more remembered against us (1 Pet. ii. 24).

9th.  There remains one more appointed festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering (Exod. xxiii. 16) on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the crops of wine and oil had completed the harvest labours.  It lasted seven days, during which numerous sacrifices were ordained, viz.,—

The 1st day, 13 bullocks, 2 rams, 14 lambs,

2nd „ 12 „ 2 „ 14 „

3rd „ 11 . „ 2 „ 14 „

4th „ 10 „ 2 „ 14 „

5th „ 9 „ 2 „ 14 „

6th „ 8 „ 2 „ 14 „

7th „ 7 „ 2 „ 14 „

with their meat and drink-offerings.  And each of the seven days one goat for a sin-offering.  And on the eighth day a holy convocation, with offerings of one bullock, one ram and seven lambs, with accompaniments, and one ram for a sin-offering.  “These things shall ye do unto the Lord in your set feasts, besides your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt-offerings, and for your meat-offerings, and for your drink-offerings, and for your peace-offerings” (Num. xxix. 12–39).

The service of the Tabernacle and its offerings were supplied by contributions of half a shekel per head on all that were numbered, from twenty years old and upwards.  The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less.  It was offered to the Lord to make an atonement for their souls (Exod. xxx. 14–16).

As indicated in the latter portion of the above quotation (Num. xxix. 39), besides these stated daily, monthly, and annual sacrifices, which were of a public or general character, there were—

1st.  Voluntary offerings, which do not seem to have been specially enjoined, nor to have had reference to any particular sins, but arose from the voluntary will and devotion of the person offering, and the priest sprinkled the blood round about upon the altar; “and it was accepted for him to make an atonement for him” (Lev. i. 2–5); “an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord” (ver. 9).  It was required to be a male without blemish of the herd or of the flock, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons (vers. 2 and 10–17).

2nd.  Peace-offerings, also for the most part voluntarily, in which the offerer shared with the priest the offering—a male or female of the herd without blemish, or a lamb or goat (Lev. iii. 1, &c.).

3rd.  The Sin-offering for sins of ignorance afterwards brought to light (Lev. iv. 13, &c.).

4th.  The Trespass-offering.—If any one sinned in hearing swearing and not uttering it, or in any uncleanness, or swearing, he was to take a lamb or a kid (a female), or two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, or, if too poor for any of them, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, “and the priest shall make an atonement for him for the sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him” (Lev. v. 1–13).

In every case the offering was required to be perfect in its kind, and without blemish.

The sin-offering was more especially for atonement; but the voluntary and other offerings are spoken of as contributing thereto (Lev. i. 3): coming from the voluntary will of the people, they expressed the heart’s devotion, and bore a “sweet savour to God.”

But in the days when Isaiah wrote, and when great corruption prevailed, it is said, “Incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with” (Isa. i. 13).  And Amos says, “I will not smell in your solemn assembly” (Amos v. 21).  The people drew near with the lip, but the heart was far from God (Isa. xxix. 13); so the sacrifices bore with them no sweet savour of devotion to Him.

In contemplating the mass of sacrifices thus noted, we may easily enter into the feeling expressed by Paul (more especially as regarded circumcision)—“which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear;” and we can the more fully appreciate the blessing of the Gospel, which has relieved us from all such burdens, and given us individually a free access (whether Jew or Gentile) to the Father of Mercies, through the one only High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But it was not so much to point out the burdens which our forefathers in the faith of Christ had to bear—burdens which, nevertheless, were light compared with the burden of unforgiven sin—that we have traced the requirements of the law; but to point to the testimony they bore to Christ and His Kingdom.

Under the law no Israelite could obtain pardon for his sin except through the Priest, who was the appointed mediator—to him he brought the prescribed offering, and slew it at the Tabernacle door; the priest received the blood, and some of the internal fat; the former he sprinkled, and the latter he burned, on the altar; and, in the words of the text, “The priest shall make an atonement for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.”

We may not be able to define the extent to which the Holy Ghost was then enjoyed, but we cannot doubt that the testimony of a conscience free of offence towards God was sealed on the mind of the offerer when the atonement was made agreeably to the words, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do he shall live in them” (Lev. xviii. 5).

The Apostle Paul confirms this language, saying, “The man that doeth them” (the statutes of the Law) “shall live in them” (Gal. iii. 12); and when we consider the words of the same writer: “The children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished” (2 Cor. iii. 13), we need not suppose the offerers had, in general, any understanding that what they did had a special relation to the better Mediator to come.  As in the case of the brazen serpent they looked to it and were healed; so here they made their offerings believing in their efficacy, and reaped the fruit of pardon and peace.

This divinely-instituted law was enjoined on the people under the most solemn assurances of blessings for obedience, and cursings for disobedience, viz.: “Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day: and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside after other gods” (Deut. xi. 26–28; xxvii. 15–26; and ch. xxviii.).  “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose