were spoken but a few days before the Passover, when the fresh coating of white paint would be conspicuous on all the adjoining hills and valleys; and when we consider the striking contrast that must have been presented between the graceful architecture and carefully dressed appearance of these tombs without, and the disgusting relics of (11) Monuments. Monuments of this elegant description were erected to many of the prophets and other holy men who figured as prominent characters in the early history of Israel, and it seems to have been considered, in the degenerate age of our Lord, an act of great piety to repair and ornament with fresh devices the sepulchers of those ancient worthies (Matt. xxiii :29). The art and taste of the times would, of course, expend their chief resources in what was deemed the patriotic service of adding fresh beauty and at traction to edifices which contained such venera ble and precious dust. But humbler tombs re ceived also some measure of attention, all in the neighborhood of Jerusalem being at certain seasons whitewashed (Matt. xxiii :27). The ori gin of this prevailing custom is to be traced not so much to a desire of rendering all such objects of interest in the environs of Jerusalem pleasing to the eye, as of making them easily discernible, and so preventing the risk of contracting ceremonial defilement through accident or ignorance, more especially at the annual festivals, when multitudes unacquainted with the localities resorted to the capital. To paint them with white was obviously the best preservative against the apprehended dan ger; and the season chosen for this garniture of the sepulchers was on the return of spring, a lit tle before the Passover, when, the winter rains being over, a long unbroken tract of dry weather usually ensued. The words of Christ referred to mortality that were moldering within, we cannot fail to perceive the emphatic energy of the language in which our Lord rebuked the hypoc risy of the Pharisees.
(12) Visits to Tombs. During the first few weeks after a burial, members of a family, es pecially the females, paid frequent visits to the tomb. This affecting custom still continues in the East, as groups of women may be seen daily at the graves of their deceased relatives, strewing them with flowers, or pouring oilier them the tears of fond regret. And hence, in the interesting narrative of the raising of Lazarus, when Mary rose abruptly to meet Jesus, whose approach had been privately announced to her, it was natural for her assembled friends, who were ignorant of her motives, to suppose 'she was going to the grave to weep there' ( John xi :31). Bing ham. Orig. Eccles., bk. xxiii, ch. ii, iii ; Jandon Eccl. Dict., i, 448. R. J. (barnt-61' far-Ings), (Heb.
o-law', from aw-law', to ascend), sacri fices which owed their Hebrew name to the circum stance that the whole of the offering was to be consumed by fire upon the altar, and to rise, as it were, in smoke towards heaven; hence also the term kalil (Deut. xxxiii:to; I Sam. vii:9; Ps. li:16; Comp. Judg. xx:4o); Gr. ONoKairedita, toh-ma, entire burnt-offering, alluding to the fact that, with the exception of the skin, nothing of the sacrifice came to the share of the officiating priest or priests in the way of emolument, it being wholly and entirely consumed by fire.
(1) Origin. Such burnt-offerings are among the ancient, if not the earliest, on scriptural record. We find them already in use in the patri archal times ; hence the opinion of some that Abel's offering (Gen. iv :4) was a burnt-offering as regarded the firstlings of his flock, while the pieces of fat which he offered was a thank-offer ing, just in the manner that Moses afterwards ordained, or rather confirmed from ancient cus tom (Lev. i. sq.). It was a burnt-offering that Noah offered to the Lord after the Deluge (Gen. viii :20).
(2) Material. Only oxen, male sheep or goats, or turtledoves and young pigeons, all without blemish, were fit for burnt-offerings. The of ferer, in person, was obliged to carry this sacrifice first of all into the fore-court, as far as the gate of the tabernacle or temple, where the animal was examined by the officiating priest to ascertain that it was without blemish.
(3) Ceremonies. The offerer then laid his hand upon the victim, confessing his sins, and dedicated it as his sacrifice to propitiate the Al mighty. The animal was then killed (which might be done by the offerer himself) towards the north of the altar (Lev. i:t t), in allusion, as the Talmud alleges, to the coming of inclement weather (typical of the Divine wrath) from the northern quarter of the heavens. After this be gan the ceremony of taking up the blood and sprinkling it around the altar, that is, upon the lower part of the altar, not immediately upon it, lest it should extinguish the fire thereon (Lev. iii :2; Deut. xii :27 ; 2 Chron. xxix :22). The next act was the skinning or flaying of the animal, and the cutting of it into pieces, actions which the offerer himself was allowed to perform (Lev.
i :6). The skin alone belonged to the officiating priest (Lev. vii :8). The dissection of the animal began with the head, legs, etc., and it was divided into twelve pieces. The priest then took the right shoulder, breast, and entrails, and placing them in the hands of the offerer, he put his own hands beneath those of the former, and thus waved the sacrifice up and down several times in acknowl edgment of the all-powerful presence of God (Tract Cho/in, i :3). The officiating priest then retraced his steps to the altar, placed the wood upon it in the form of a cross, and lighted the fire. The entrails and legs being cleansed with water the separated pieces were plai.ed together upon the altar in the form of a slain animal. Poor people were allowed to bring a turtle-dove or a young pigeon as a burnt-offering. these birds be ing very common and cheap in Palestine (Mai monides, Morelt Nevochim, iii :46). With regard to these latter, nothing is said about the sex, whether they were to be males or females. The mode of killing them was by nipping off the head with the nails of the hand.