Writers upon the types and symbols of the Scriptures too often fail to recognize or appreciate their unity, symmetry, and completeness as a system, and the just proportion and propriety of each several part in its relation to the whole. That such must have been their character was impressively intimated to Israel by the emphasis with which Moses was admonished to “look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.”—Ex. xxv, 40; xxvii, 8; Num. viii, 4. The reason of this particularity is stated by Paul. “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”—Heb. viii, 5. The tabernacle and its appurtenances were a systematic and luminous exposition of the plan of grace. Approaching it from without, the first object that presented itself was the brazen altar of burnt-offering, exhibiting the price of redemption. Between it and the door of the tabernacle stood the laver, the pure water of which symbolized the Holy Spirit, through whom is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, the essential condition precedent to admittance to the fold of Christ. Entering the tabernacle, the first apartment represented the church on earth, the fold of the covenant. In it the light always shone from the seven branched golden candlestick, the lamps of which, continually replenished with oil by the priest, symbolized the church shining as the light of the world, through the oil of grace, the unction of the Holy One, ministered by our great High Priest. The table of show bread always supplied with twelve loaves, according to the number of the twelve tribes, set forth that Bread of life ever abundant for all, which nourishes the people of God in the earthly church, in preparation for the heavenly. Immediately before the veil, and before the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies stood the altar of incense, the fire of which, kindled with coals from the altar of burnt-offering, set forth the prayers of God’s people, made acceptable and fragrant before the throne, by virtue of the atonement and intercession of Christ. Within the veil,—thin curtain between the earthly and the heavenly house,—the mercy seat covering the ark, and the tables of the covenant law enclosed therein, represented the throne of God’s grace resting upon the firm foundation of his eternal law, thus showing that mercy to man is conditioned upon satisfaction to that law by the blood of atonement sprinkled there. All the other features of the system, its rites and ceremonies, were constructed and ordered in a strictly symmetrical and congruous relation to these. A recollection of these points will aid in a just appreciation of the points involved in the present discussion.
Of the form and dimensions of the laver, the Scriptures give no account, except that it stood on a foot or pedestal. (Ex. xxx, 18.) It was, however, of such size and proportions as to be carried about with Israel in their journeyings, probably with bars, borne on the shoulders of the Levites, as was the altar. In preparing facilities for the purpose of immersion, our Baptist brethren invariably sink the font to such a level that the minister and the subjects of the rite may descend into it. And this arrangement is a dictate, not of convenience only, but of decency, in the performance of the service. But, to suppose the laver sufficiently large and deep to serve as an immersion font, and then place it upon a pedestal, involves an elevation which must have rendered it, practically, inaccessible for such purposes, and precludes the idea that it was intended to be so used. In fact, the laver was not a bath tub, nor ever used as such, but a containing vessel from which was drawn water for all the uses of the sanctuary. The engravings which appear on pages 200, 207 below, precisely correspond with the Mosaic description of the laver, and probably give a very closely approximate idea of its form, size, and proportions.
In the temple of Solomon, the one laver of the tabernacle was replaced by a “sea of brass,” and ten lavers. The sea was appropriated to the washings of the priests, whilst the lavers were used for washing the sacrifices. That they were used as fountains of supply, and not as vessels in which the sacrifices were washed, appears from the fact that they rested on bases four cubits square, by three cubits high, and were of the same proportions. (1 Kings vii, 27, 38.) The Hebrew text gives the length, breadth, and height of the bases, but only the length and breadth of the lavers. The Septuagint and Josephus give the former dimensions, and add the height of the lavers—three cubits. Thus, the bottoms of the lavers were four and a half feet above the pavement on which they stood, and their brims, nine feet above it. They were, moreover, provided with wheels, so as to be removed from place to place, as occasion required. That the sacrifices were not immersed in them is evident. The Talmud states that they were washed upon marble tables; and this is the mode for which provision is made in the vision of Ezekiel. (Ezek. xl, 38-43.)
The sea of brass was ten cubits in diameter, and five cubits high; that is, about fifteen feet by seven and a half.half. It was elevated on twelve brazen oxen, the height of which is not given. But if we allow them no greater height than the bases of the lavers, the whole height was about twelve feet; a height not suggestive of convenience for immersions.
2. The brazen sea was no part of the tabernacle furniture when God directed Moses to “bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water.”—Ex. xl, 12; comp. xxix, 4. “And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.”—Lev. viii, 5, 6. Respecting this, the facts are so evident as to admit but one conclusion. (1.) The command given was not to immerse Aaron and his sons, but (rāhatz), to wash them, according to the proper meaning of that word, as already shown, and after the ordinary manner of ablution. (2.) The transaction is thrice described, in the places referred to above; but the laver is not once mentioned, nor any means of immersion. (3.) The place of the washing is so described as to exclude immersion. Thrice repeated, it is still, “at the door,” of the tabernacle. (Lev. viii, 4.) If the priests were immersed, on this occasion, the laver was the only vessel in which it can have been done; and, not only was it so constructed as to render its use impossible, but the language of the account is such as to conceal the fact. But here was no immersion. As commanded, Moses washed Aaron and his sons.
3. When Moses was ordered to make the laver, its purpose was stated: “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or, when they come near to the altar, to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.”—Ex. xxx, 19-21. Not only were the priests thus to wash their hands and their feet, but also certain parts of the sacrifices.—“The priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar; but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water; and the priest shall burn all on the altar.”—Lev. i, 8, 9, 13; viii, 21; ix, 14.
Should we set aside the arguments arising from the meaning of the word employed,—from the customs of the people as to personal ablutions,—and from the form and elevation of the laver, the present facts discover an insurmountable objection to the idea of immersion. Or, will it be insisted that the priests as they came into the sanctuary at the appointed times of service, successively, climbed to the top of the laver and, balancing on its brim, immersed their hands and feet; and, then, in fulfillment of their official duties, immersed in the water thus fouled, the inwards, or bowels and intestines, and the pieces of the sacrifices, about to be offered to God? The supposition would be indecent and profane. And yet, this is the unavoidable result of demanding immersion, in this case. For, the same language is used in requiring the washing of the priests and of the sacrifices, and there was but one laver, to supply all demands for water at the sanctuary.
4. But, again: On the day of atonement, the high priest was required, at a certain time in the order of observances for the day, being alone in the sanctuary, to “wash his flesh with water in the holy place.”—Lev. xvi, 24. Here, at least, there is no room for controversy. The laver was outside the door of the tabernacle. The priest was within, “in the holy place.” In it, there was no vessel in which an immersion could take place. Immersion was not merely improbable.—It was impossible. The circumstances compel us to accept the language of the place, just as it stands; and to believe that the high priest, on this occasion washed himself, and that he did so, as all washings of the person are performed, “with water,” as an instrumental means; and that it was applied with his own hands to his own person.
5. Living or fresh water is the most familiar Scriptural symbol of the Holy Spirit. This is fully considered elsewhere. In the symbolism of the tabernacle and temple, the water of the lavers and sea of brass was the appointed symbol of that blessed Person, as the source of all cleansing and sanctifying influences. In this view, the fact is instructive, that, in the temple of Ezekiel’s vision, (Ezek. xl-xlviii) there was no laver; but, instead, the waters of the river of life flowed from the spot on which the laver should have stood. Jewish tradition states the laver to have stood on the south side of the door of the tabernacle, which looked toward the east. That was the position of the brazen sea. “He set the sea on the right side of the house, eastward, over against the south.”—1 Kings vii, 39. “On the right side of the east end, over against the south.”—2 Chron. iv, 10. In Ezekiel, “the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house at the south side of the altar.”—Ezek. xlvii, 1. Nor is it unworthy of consideration, that, if the laver was designed as a baptistery or immersion font, the living stream described by Ezekiel was wholly inadequate to such a purpose; being, at that point, but a rivulet, not ankle deep. (Ib. 3-5.)
6. The meaning of the water, taken in connection with the relation which Moses, by divine appointment, sustained to Aaron, suggests the interpretation of the washing of the latter by Moses. Moses was to Aaron “instead of God” (Ex. iv, 16); and since Aaron’s priesthood was typical of that of the Lord Jesus, it follows, that the action of Moses, in washing his brother, and then robing him in the holy garments of the priesthood, was typical of the agency of the Father, in endowing our great High Priest, through the Holy Spirit, with a sinless humanity, (Heb. x, 5-7) and in it, investing him with the eternal priesthood which he now fulfills. This washing of Aaron is to be discriminated from his official anointing. The latter signified the official gifts and qualifications of Christ, whilst the former had respect to his birth and growth in personal holiness. (Luke ii, 52.)
7. The significance of the feet, in the figurative system of the Scriptures, appears in the proverb, which, among the things that the Lord hates, enumerates “feet that be swift in running to mischief.”—Prov. vi, 18. On the other hand, the Psalmist says,—“I turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”—“I refrained my feet from every evil way.”—Ps. cxix, 59, 101. The hands and feet, together, represent, fully, the active energies of man. And the priests washing their hands and feet, when they came to minister at the altar was typical of the active righteousness of the Lord Jesus. This is the more apparent, when associated with the other fact, that in fulfilling the office for which they thus washed themselves, they were required, as already stated, to wash the inwards and the legs of the burnt offerings, (Lev. i, 9, 13; etc.); the inwards, or bowels representing the affections, and the legs the active powers. Thus, the priests and the sacrifices together typified the essential holiness and the active obedience of the Lord Jesus, “who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself, without spot, to God.”—Heb. ix, 14. In all this, there is still nothing to demand, to suggest, or allow, the idea of immersion. The significance of the rites accords perfectly with all the other irresistible indications, which lead us to the conclusion that under no circumstances was immersion ever used in the washings of the priests, or the rites of the tabernacle and temple service.
The conclusion just indicated as to the washings of the priests, carries with it a like decision respecting all the self-performed washings.
1. The word rāhatz, to wash, is used in the same manner, in the directions given with respect to all the various cases, of hands, feet and person,—of priests and people, and of the sacrificial pieces, alike.
2. The self-washings imposed on the people were of the same essential nature and meaning as those of the priests. In both, the idea was that of holiness and purity of heart and life, maintained by personal watchfulness and efficiency through the grace of the Holy Spirit. If this idea was properly symbolized by the priestly ablutions without immersion, the conclusion is unavoidable, that among the people immersion was unknown. To them, the mode used by the priests would be the standard of propriety.
3. It is impossible to elicit any consistent meaning out of the supposed immersions. The ritual system was characterized by congruity in all its parts, and meaning everywhere. What else upon Baptist principles, can the immersions be thought to mean, if not the burial of Christ? But how, then, are we to understand the grades of washings, of the hands, and feet, and garments, as so carefully distinguished from each other, and from that of the person? What means the fact, which is so clearly marked, that these washings were self-performed? Did Christ entomb himself? How are we to explain the washing of Aaron by Moses? If immersion is typical of the burial of the Lord Jesus, what pertinence could it have to his birth and inauguration as priest? What mean the peculiar times at which the self-washings were to be performed,—the priests being required always to wash before offering sacrifice or ministering at the altar; whilst, the unclean for seven days performed the same rite at the end of the seven days, after they had been restored from typical death? Was Christ buried before he had made of himself an offering and a sacrifice? Or, again, was it after he had, by the Spirit, risen from the dead? On the immersion theory, the facts can not be reconciled.
Whilst all these considerations point decisively to one conclusion, there is not a fact nor a circumstance to occasion even a moment’s embarrassment in its acceptance. Assume the washings to have been immersions, and confusion and perplexity invest the subject. Recognize them in their true character as ablutions and not immersions, and all is clear and congruous. The customs of the people,—the circumstances in which the rites were performed,—the words used to describe them,—the ritual relations in which they occur,—the analogies of the whole system,—the examples of the priests, and every casual incident and allusion,—all find, in this view, a center around which they cluster and shine, in perfect harmony, clearness and congruity of meaning.
The conclusion is impregnable. Immersion, as a rite of cleansing or purifying, was utterly unknown to Israel. And, particularly, there is nothing whatever to be found, in all the records of the Levitical system to which the advocates of immersion can point and say,—“Here are the ordinances of which Paul speaks, wherein divers immersions were imposed on Israel, until the time of reformation.” It is therefore certain that in the vocabulary of Paul, Baptizo did not mean, to immerse, and baptism is not so performed.
Things, as well as persons, were liable to defilements, both the major and the minor, and the law made correspondent provision for their cleansing.
1. To the class of minor defilements belonged those of wooden vessels, and bags of cloth or skin, which had been touched by the dead carcase of an unclean animal. “It must be put into water,” and be unclean until the even. (Lev. xi, 32.) Here, at last, is an immersion; the only one found in the entire law. The case is of great interest as illustrating the ease and clearness with which immersion is expressed when it was intended. We search in vain for any corresponding directions, in the case of persons:—“They must be put into water.” This rule moreover is of great importance, as constituting a standard of reference by which to ascertain the divine estimation of the value of immersion as a ritual purifying. Of certain animals, the ordinance was that “whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even. And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even;—so it shall be cleansed.”—Ib. 31, 32. Thus, it appears, from both examples,—of persons and of things,—that the uncleanness described was of the minor grade, which continued only till the even. In fact, it seems to have been the lightest form of this grade. For, while the law provided that he that bore such carcase must “wash his clothes,” (vs. 25, 28) and be unclean until the even,—it directed, concerning the present case of mere casual and momentary contact by touching it, that he shall be “unclean until the even,” without any prescription of cleansing rites. (Compare also, v. 29.) The meaning of this may be gathered from a comparison of 1 Cor. v, 9-13. In the Levitical system, unclean beasts seem to represent unregenerate men. To God’s people, a certain amount of contact with them is inevitable; from which, therefore, and its defiling influences, the only remedy is to be looked for in the ending of this life, and the entrance upon heaven’s rest. The emphasis of the ritual warnings was, therefore, directed, not against involuntary and casual contact with the evil, but against dalliance with it, expressed by carrying and eating the unclean. The immersion which we have found to be prescribed, was appointed, not for persons, but for things,—and for things tainted with this slightest of all the defilements known to the law. On the other hand, as we shall presently see, for major defilements of things,—by the dead and by leprosy,—the same sacrificial rites, and sprinkling of water were ordained, as in the case of persons. Such is the divine testimony as to the relative ritual value of immersion and sprinkling. I will not wrong the intelligence of the reader, by discussing the possibility of this immersion, being what Paul meant by the “divers baptisms” of the law.
Other minor defilements of things were, (1.) Brazen vessels used for cooking the flesh of the sin offerings. They were to be “scoured and rinsed in water.” If the vessel was of earthenware, it was to be broken. (Lev. vi, 28. Compare 1 Cor. xi, 24.) (2.) “The vessel of earth that he toucheth, which hath an issue, shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.”—Ib. xv, 12.
2. Things defiled by the dead, were to be sprinkled with the water of separation, on the third day and on the seventh. (Num. xix, 14, 15, 18.) In the case of the spoil of Midian, there was a further purifying.—“Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire; and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation; and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.”—Num. xxxi, 23. The word “go through,” here, is the same that is used when Jesse is said to have caused seven of his sons to “pass by,” and to “pass before” Samuel, (1 Sam. xvi, 9, 10); when Jacob caused his household to “pass over” the brook, (margin, Gen. xxxii, 23); and when God promised to make all his goodness to “pass before” Moses. (Ex. xxxiii, 19.) The alternatives here of fire and water seem to have reference to the two great facts of purgation in the world’s history, of which Peter speaks. (2 Pet. iii, 5-7.) The deluge was a purifying of the earth, defiled by sin, and so will the fire be, in the final day.
3. A house infected with leprosy, when cured, was treated in a manner essentially the same as was a person so afflicted. (Lev. xiv, 34-53.)
The rite of purifying with the ashes of the red heifer was one of the most familiar and impressive of the Mosaic institutions. That its observance was maintained through the whole course of Israel’s history, is evinced by the frequent allusions of the sacred writers. King Saul found in the ordinances on this subject an explanation of David’s absence from his table.—“Something hath befallen him. He is not clean: surely he is not clean.”—1 Sam. xx, 26. The words of David himself have been referred to already, as he cries,—“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”—Psa. li, 7. This was written about five hundred years after the giving of the law. Three centuries later, the Lord says to Israel by Hosea,—“Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners,” (that is, bread made or touched by those that were defiled by the dead), “all that eat thereof shall be polluted.”—Hosea ix, 4. Isaiah began his prophecy about twenty-five years later,—about B. C. 760-698. In his time a great revival took place, under the hand of King Hezekiah, in connection with which the laws of purification came into prominent notice. It began with the exhortation of Hezekiah, to the priests and Levites.—“Hear me, ye Levites; sanctify” (or, cleanse) “now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers; and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.”—2 Chron. xxix, 5. When this was done, the king appointed a service of dedication. In it “the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings; wherefore, their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.”—vs. 34. Immediately afterward the king kept a great passover, gathering the remnants of the ten tribes, with Judah. “And the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves, ... for there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”—Ib. xxx, 15-20.
In Isaiah, occurs that prophecy of God’s grace for the Gentiles, “Behold my servant, ... as many were astonied at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men; so shall he sprinkle many nations.”—Isa. lii, 13-15. There are two words in the original Hebrew, meaning, to sprinkle. That which here occurs is used to describe the purifying of the leper, and of those defiled by the dead. The priest, with the scarlet wool, cedar wood and hyssop, “shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy, seven times.”—Lev. xiv, 7. “A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons.”—Num. xix, 18. The Jewish translators of the Septuagint, have rendered the passage, “so shall he astonish many nations.” But this only shows how willingly those writers would have obliterated from the text the promise of salvation for the Gentiles, which it contains. We know that the Gentiles were by the law, held to be unclean—“dead in trespasses and sins.”—Eph. ii, 1, 11; Acts x, 14-16, 28; xv, 9. We have seen baptism by sprinkling to have been appointed for the purifying of every kind of uncleanness, and witnessed its use in the reception of the children of Midian. Moreover, the word here found in the original is everywhere else used in the sense of sprinkling. With one exception, it is invariably employed as descriptive of the ritual purifyings. The exception describes the sprinkling or spattering of the blood of Jezebel, when she was hurled from the height of the palace. (2 Kings ix, 33.) There is no conceivable reason for making the text an exception to the meaning thus invariably indicated. Christ, the Baptizer, will sprinkle many nations. He “will pour out of his Spirit on all flesh.”—Acts ii, 17; Joel ii, 28. Of this it is that Isaiah speaks in the place in question.
The same grace was promised to Israel by the prophet Ezekiel (B. C. 595-574), in language which we have already quoted, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.”—Ezek. xxxvi, 24-27. In this prophet’s vision of the future temple, he says of the priests: “They shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court to minister in the sanctuary he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord God.”—Ezek. xliv, 25-27.
About fifty years after the close of Ezekiel’s prophecy Haggai was sent to Judah (B. C. 520). He inquires of the priests, respecting “bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat,” “If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these shall it be unclean? And the priests answered, and said, It shall be unclean.”—Hag. ii, 13.
Except the brief testimony of Malachi, Zechariah was the last of the prophets. His ministry closed, about B. C. 487. In his prophecy occurs that promise of “a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”—Zech. xiii, 1. The word, “fountain,” in the original means a flowing spring, “opened,” as was the rock in the wilderness; of which the Psalmist says, “He opened the rock and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.”—Psa. cv, 41. The language of Zechariah seems to be an allusion to this.
We have thus traced the baptism of purifying with the water of separation through the writings of the prophets for a thousand years, from the time of its institution to within less than five hundred years of the coming of Christ. We shall presently follow it down to the time of Christ and to the destruction of Jerusalem.
According to Jewish tradition the burning of the red heifer took place but nine times, from the beginning, until the final dispersion of the nation. The first was by Eleazar, in the wilderness. (Num. xix, 3.) This, they say, was not repeated for more than a thousand years, when Ezra offered the second, upon the return of the captivity from Babylon. From that time, until the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was about five hundred years, during which they report seven heifers to have been burned—two by Simon, the just, two by Johanan, the father of Matthias, one by Elioenai, the son of Hakkoph, one by Hananeel Hammizri, and one by Ishmael, the son of Fabi. Since then, it has been impossible for them to fulfill the rite according to the law, as the altar and temple are no more. The tenth they say will be offered by the Messiah, at his coming.[22] Lightfoot finds in the increased frequency with which the heifer was burned, during the later period of Jewish history, a circumstantial illustration of the growing spirit of ritualism, which multiplied the occasions of using the ashes. It is, however, impossible to accept the account, at least, as to the earlier period, as authentic history. It is probably mere conjecture, suggested by the silence of the Scriptures, and is most improbable in itself. But the later tradition is more reliable; as, at the time when it was put upon record, the Jews were undoubtedly in possession of abundant historical materials, for the period subsequent to the return of the captivity under Ezra. According to this account, seven heifers served all the purposes of that form of purification, for five hundred years. In that time, over fifteen generations, or not less than fifty millions of Jews were consigned to the sepulcher, and the consequent sprinkling administered to the families, attendants, houses, and furniture. If we ignore all other applications of these ashes, to those defiled by the slain in battle, and to those subject to other causes of defilement, it is still evident that the sufficiency and virtue of the rite were not held to depend upon the quantity of the ashes employed, and that the amount actually used was so minute that it can not have been perceptible in the water. The manner of administration was thus true to the nature of the ordinance, as having no intrinsic virtue, in itself, but only in its significance as addressed to intelligence and faith. And it prepared the minds of the people to witness without perplexity, the change from water in which an inappreciable quantity of ashes appealed to the imagination, to that in which, while no ashes were used, the association of ideas and meaning remained the same.
Not only are the Old Testament Scriptures full of the doctrine of the outpouring of the Spirit, under the figure of living water; but one of the most remarkable of the institutions observed by the Jews from the days of the prophets here last quoted, had immediate relation to the same thing. It was called “The festival of the outpouring of water.” Its origin was by the Jews attributed to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, under whose ministry the temple was rebuilt, and the ordinances restored; a tradition which is confirmed by internal evidence. The festival was incorporated with the feast of the ingathering, or tabernacles. That feast seems to have been the pre-eminent type of the prosperity, the rest and gladness of the kingdom of Messiah. By the law, the people were required to gather “the boughs” (in the margin, “the fruit”) “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.”—Lev. xxiii, 40. They used the fruit of the citron or lemon, with branches of the palm and the myrtle, and willows from the brook Kedron. These tied together in one bunch were called, the lulab. Early on the morning of the first day of the feast, the people, clothed in holiday garb, assembled at the temple, each having a lulab in one hand and a citron in the other, and each carrying a branch of willow, with which they adorned the altar round about. As soon as the morning sacrifice was placed on the altar, a priest descended to the fountain of Siloam, which flowed from the foot of the temple mount, bearing a golden vase or pitcher, which he filled with water. As he entered the court, through that gate which was hence called “the water gate,” the trumpets sounded. He ascended to the great altar of burnt offering, where were placed two silver bowls, one on the east side of the altar and the other on the west, one of which contained wine. Into the other, he poured the water from the golden vessel, and then mingling the water and wine, slowly poured it on the ground, as it would seem, to the east and to the west, as the bowls were placed. (Compare Zech. xiv, 8.) In the mean time the temple choir sang the Hallel to the accompaniment of instruments of music.[23] Then, the people who thronged the court marched in procession about the altar, waving their lulabs, and setting them bending toward it, the trumpets sounding and the people shouting, “Hallelujah!” and “Hosanna!” with ejaculations of prayer, thanksgiving and praise, selected from the Psalms. In this service, even the little children, as soon as able to wave a palm branch, were encouraged to join. After this they went home to dine, and spent the afternoon reading the law or hearing the expositions of learned scribes. In the evening commenced the festive joy of the outpouring of the water. The water was drawn and poured out, at the time of the morning sacrifice and in connection with it,—a solemnity in the presence of which any hilarious demonstrations were inopportune. The festivity was therefore reserved until the evening. The multitude then assembled in the court of the women, that being the largest court, and the nearest approach that the women as a body could make to the holy house. On this occasion they occupied the galleries which surrounded the court, whilst the men thronged the open space. At suitable places, in the court there were great candelabra of such size and height that they overlooked the whole temple mount. A ladder stood by each, by means of which young priests from time to time ascended and replenished the oil, of which each bowl is reported by the Talmud to have held seven or eight gallons. Many of the people also carried torches, so that the whole mount was flooded with light. The festivity was begun by the temple choir of priests, who, standing in order upon the fifteen steps that led down from the court of Israel to that of the women, chanted some of the “songs of degrees,” to the accompaniment of instruments; whilst such of the people as were skilled in music joined their voices and instruments. Then, the chief men of the nation, rulers of synagogues, members of the sanhedrim, scribes, doctors of the law, and all such as were of eminent rank or repute for gifts or piety laid off their outer robes, and joined in a joyous leaping and dancing, in the presence of the multitude, singing and shouting Hosannas and Hallelujahs, and ejaculating the praises of God. Thus a great part of the night was expended, each one emulating the others in imitation of the humility of David, at the bringing up of the ark (2 Sam. vi, 15, 16); for, the excitement now indulged in, the leaping and dancing, were, at other times, accounted unbecoming the dignity of the nobles of Israel. At length, two of the priests, standing in the gate of Nicanor, which was at the head of the stairway, sounded their trumpets, and descending the steps continued to sound as they traversed the court, until they came to the eastern gate. Here they turned around toward the west, so as to face the temple. They then cried,—“Our fathers who were in this place, turned their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east.[24] But as for us, we turn to Him, and our eyes look unto Him.” The assembly then dispersed. With slight variations, the same order was observed each of the seven days of the feast.[25]
The joy of the people at the ingathering of the harvest and the prosperous end of the labors of the year,—the gay and festive appearance of the city, every housetop and open space, and even the sides and top of the mount of Olives, covered with the green booths,—the extraordinary services at the temple, where more sacrifices were offered during the week than in all the other feasts of the year together,—the green willows adorning the altar and daily renewed—the processions around it, the branches carried by the people,—the trumpets, songs, and Hosannas,—and, at night, the flaming lights, the jubliant concourse, the waving of the lulabs, the music and dancing, the shoutings, songs, and trumpets, must have presented a scene of exhilaration and gladness hard to conceive. It was a saying of the rabbins, that “He that has not witnessed the festivity of the pouring out of the water, has never seen festivity at all.”
The rabbins are obscure in their explanations of the observance here described. Some would represent it as a thanksgiving for the rains by which the soil had been fertilized and the harvests matured. But with a better appreciation, Rabbi Levi is reported in the Talmud, “Why is it called the drawing of water? Says Rabbi Levi, Because of the receiving of the Holy Spirit, according to that which is written,—With joy will we draw water from the wells of salvation.”—Isa. xii, 3. That the outpouring had reference, not to the receiving of the Spirit by Israel, but to its outpouring upon the Gentiles, in the days of the Messiah, is confirmed by the tenor of the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, the authors of the observance, and by language of our Savior, which expositors agree in referring to this rite. Both of those prophets encouraged Judah in rebuilding the temple by the assurance that “the Desire of all nations should come” to it.—Hag. ii, 7. Said the Lord, by Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation: lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass.... It shall come to pass, in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.... In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.... And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea. In summer and winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: In that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one.... And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up, from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”—Zech. ix, 9; xii, 9, 10; xiii, 1; xiv, 8, 9, 16.
To all this, reference is evidently had in the incident related by the evangelist, John, as occurring at this feast.—“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”—John vii, 37-39. These words of Jesus, as will hereafter appear, had distinct reference to the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles. A few additional facts will shed a clearer light upon the meaning of the festival.
The feast of tabernacles, strictly so called, was of seven days’ continuance; during which the people dwelt in booths. On the eighth day, they removed the booths and re-entered their houses. They observed that day as a distinct and peculiar festival. “On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; it is a solemn assembly.” (Lev. xxiii, 36; Deut. xvi, 13-15.) During the seven days the offerings upon the altar had a very remarkable order. On the first day, they were “thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year,” and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. These were in addition to the ordinary daily offerings. On each successive day, the number of the bullocks was reduced by one, whilst the other offerings remained the same. But on the eighth day the offering was one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs, and one goat for a sin offering. (Num. xxix, 12-38.) On this peculiar order of sacrifices, the explanations of the scribes are various. In the Talmud, Rabbi Solomon states the bullocks, whose aggregate number for the seven days was seventy, to have represented the seventy idolatrous nations; that being, as the Jews supposed, their number. These must be continually diminished, while Israel, represented by the other offerings, remains.[26] Says Pool,—“The eighth day was the great day, not by divine appointment, but from the opinion of the Jews, who regarded the sacrifices and prayers of the other days as made, not so much for themselves as for the other nations; but the eighth, as being solely for themselves.”[27] Hence the Targum,—“The eighth day shall be holy. Thou seest, O God, that Israel in the feast of tabernacles, offers before thee seventy bullocks, for the seventy nations, for which they ought to love us. But for our love, they are our adversaries. The holy blessed God therefore saith to Israel, Offer for yourselves on the eighth day.”[28]
The gospels render us familiar with the religion of the scribes. By the help of tradition it sought to divest the law of God of its claim upon the allegiance of the heart, to obscure and set aside the spiritual meaning of its rites, and to substitute a system of minute outward observances, and a fanatical pride in the blood of Abraham, which looked scornfully down on all other nations as unclean and accursed. This system was embodied in the Talmud, and culminated in the compilation of that work, several centuries after the destruction of the temple and the downfall of the nation. When, therefore, among the idle traditions which fill the pages of that work, we come upon occasional traces of a profounder spiritual exegesis, and sentiments respecting the Gentiles more in harmony with the spirit of Old Testament prophecy, we may confidently recognize them as precious vestiges of truth, which have escaped obliteration, as they were transmitted through that uncongenial channel, from a distant and purer antiquity.
Such is the conviction which will result from a careful comparison of the traditions above cited with the accounts of the rites in question, the language of the prophets, and the words of Jesus to which reference has just been made. By the light thus concentrated, we see, in the ingathering of the harvest of the holy land and the festivities following, a type and prophecy of the ingathering of the nations into the fold of Israel, under the scepter of Messiah, and the songs and joy that hail their coming. Then the solemnity of the eighth day may have anticipated the time when, opposition withdrawn, all nations “shall go up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles,” when “the Lord shall be King over all the earth, and there shall be one Lord, and his name One.” In this light, Israel appears in her lofty character and office as the priest-kingdom, standing as mediator for the nations, and making for them offerings of atonement and intercessions. Nor less significant was the drawing of the water from