The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 26
CHAP. XXVI. The Gate of the Firſtlings.
THis Gate which was next beyond the buildings laſt mentioned, weſt-ward, was called by two names. Sometimes foreign [a]vid. C. Lemp. pag. 17. in Mid.The gate of offering: ſo ſome read it: but moſt commonly foreign [b]Mid per. 1. & 2. & Shekalim per. 6.The Gate of the Firſtlings: both which names redound but to one and the ſame ſenſe, for the gate tooke its denomination,[c]Barten. in Mid. from the bringing of the Firſtlings through it to be offered up.
The law concerning conſecrating to the Lord whatſoever firſt opened the wombe and matrix, Exod. 13. was intricated by the Jewiſh tradition with a world of difficulties, but for an ultimate reſolution, of what Firſtlings were fit to be offered and what not, there was one appointed whom they called foreign Mum…hth, who did determine it: of this title the Gloſſaries give this interpretation and account.[d]Gloſſ. in Becoroth. per. 4. Mumcheh is derived from the word Machah as it ſignifieth in that clauſe foreign And it reacheth to the Sea of Cinnereth, Num. 34.11. which betokeneth going ſtraight: And this word Mumcheh meanes that he was skilfull: and be received authority from the preſident of the Sanhedrin or from a Sanhedrin in the land of Iſrael, of men ordained. [e]Maym. in Becor. per. 3.The head of the Sanhedrin gave him power for this office ſaying to him foreign: Looſe Firſtlings concerning blemiſhes: that is, take thou power to binde and to looſe as concerning bleiſhes of Firſtlings, to determine what blemiſhes do hinder them from being offered and what not: The Talmudiſts doe uſe the phraſes of binding and looſing in reference to things prohibited or permitted: as foreign [f]Tanch. fcl. 1 Col. 3.Ʋpon neceſſity the Lord looſed ſalvation on the Sabbath, that is, they permitted it.[g]Talm. in leſachin. per. 4. The Schoole of Shammai foreign bound working on the Eve of the Paſſeover, that is, prohibited it; but the Schoole of Hillel foreign looſed it: that is, permitted it, or held and taught that it was lawfull.[h]Maym. in Mamets &c. per. 1. The Scribes have bound leaven: And[i]Tanch. fol. 74. Col. 3. The wiſe men have looſed all fat things, &c. It were not a very hard taske to produce hundreds of examples out of Jewiſh writers to this purpoſe, wherein their uſe of the expreſſion of binding and looſing doth moſt ordinarily refer to things and to things lawfull or unlawfull as they were ſo held out by the law and by their doctors: And particularly the binding and looſing of Firſlings, and the binding and looſing of vowes, were of ſingular note and notice among them,[k]Iuchaſin fol 50. And the looſing of Firſtlings (ſaith Abraham Zaccuth) was a matter of more difficultie then looſing of vowes: where, by looſing of vowes, he meaneth not that any one had power to abſolve and acquit from lawfull vowes once made, but that there were ſome appointed to judge of vowes, and to determine concerning them whether they were lawfull or not lawfull, and whether they bound or bound not.
No Firſtling muſt be kild or offered till it had been firſt viewed by the Mumcheh: [l]Talm. in Becoroth per. 4.And he that was not a Mumcheb (appointed by the Sanhedrin) and yet would take on him to view a Firſtling, and ſo it was killed upon his approvall, he was to make it good: and he that received a reward or was hired to view a Firſtling, it was not currant, unleſſe he were authoriſed by the Sanhedrin ſo to doe, as Ailah a wiſe man of Jabneh, to whom the wiſe men per mitted to take 4 foreign Aſſarii for viewing a leane Firſtling, and 6 for viewing a fat, &c.
A Firſtling lambe or calle, approved by the Mumcheh as fit for ſacrifice and brought to the Temple for that purpoſe, was ſlaine on the ſouth ſide of the Altar, or at the leaſt on the ſouth ſide of the Court. The Talmudick tract Zevachin in the fifth chapter doth purpoſely diſcuſſe what ſacrifices were to be ſlain on the North ſide of the Altar, and what other where: And having nominated particularly what on the North ſide; it ſaith[m]Id. in Zevachin per. 5. That a ſacrifice of thanksgiving, the Nazarites ram, the ordinary peace-offerings, the Firſtlings, tithe, and Paſſeover were ſlaine in any part of the Court: where by any part of the Court, it meaneth the South ſide, in oppoſition to the North of which it had ſpoken before, and it meaneth the South ſide in ſuch a latitude, as not onelyonly juſt over againſt the Altar, but in a larger extent, as we ſhall ſhew more fully when we come to ſurvey the ſides of the Court it ſelfe.
The Firſtlings then being to be ſlaine on this South ſide of the Court, on which we are ſurveying the gates and buildings, they were brought in at this gate which we are upon, and from thence it tooke the name of the gate of the Firſtlings. The watergate indeed was nearer the Altar, and a more direct way to it, but to have killed the beaſts thereabout would have hindred the paſſage to the Altar, from the Draw-well, Water-gate and wood-roome, unto which places there was very frequent recourſe from the Altar, and therefore the Firſtlings and other Sacrifices that were to be ſlaine on the South ſide of the Court, were brought in at the gate above, as more out of the way, and ſlaine thereabout as in a place of leſſe interruption. Now whereas the tradition mentioned, doth allot the South ſide of the Court for the proper place of ſlaying thoſe particular ſacrifices that it nameth, yet doth it ſpeak it in this latitude foreign That their killing might be in any part of the Court: becauſe that though ordinarily and regularly they were to be ſlaine on the South ſide of the Court, yet if they were numerous and could not conveniently be ſlaughtered in that place, they might be ſlaine on the other ſide, as the Paſſeover were killed on both the ſides, becauſe of their number: whereas the ſacrifices that were to be ſlaine on the North ſide muſt be ſlaine there, and there was no diſpenſation to remove them thence.
The preſenting of the Firſtlings at the gate that we are about, may put us in remembrance of preſenting the firſt borne; All the males of Iſrael were to appeare before the Lord thrice every yeare, Exod. 23.17. now this command did not take in children (as their tradition did interpret it)[n]Id. in Hagiga per. 1. till they were able to walke up out of Jeruſalem to the Temple in their fathers hand: and the preſenting of the firſt borne to the Lord, was not inforced by that command, but by that, Exod. 13.12. & 22.29. where both the Targums of Jonathan and Onkelos, doe expound the ſetting apart of the firſt borne to be before the Lord, or at the Temple: and ſo doth the text of Scripture it ſelfe in Num. 18.15. Luk. 2.23. The place where they were preſented, was in the gate of Nicanor, for that was both the moſt peculiar place of appearing before the Lord, and there women that had borne children did ſtand to have their atonement made for them: And there it was where the virgin Mary preſented our Saviour Luk. 2. and there ſhe payed five ſhekels for his redemption, Num. 18. And Hanah did the like at Shilob: 1 Sam. 1.34. onelyonly ſhe had kept her ſonne longer then ordinary becauſe when ſhe did preſent him at the Sanctuary ſhe meant to leave him there for ever, and for that reaſon, ſhe relieved him not neither, but gave him to the Lord.