The Temple Service in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. Of the manner of the celebration of their Passeover.
THE great and mysterious sacrament of the Passeover, is so copiously related and the History of it given, in Exod. 12. that it is needlesse to speak any thing of it, as to its story: But the celebration of the Passeover in after times, especially in the times of our Saviour, when traditions were come to their height, did so far differ in various circumstances from that, that was ordained in Aegypt, and had so various rites put upon it by their traditions above that, that the discovery of the manner of it in those times, deserveth some copious discourse and scrutiny from their own traditions and antiquities, that put those circumstances upon it. It wil therefore not be amisse to trace these particulars step by step, out of such writing and writers, as speak purposely and largely of this matter, and that the rather, b…cause the New Testament in severall places and passages doth referre to some of these circumstances which wee call additionall.
First therefore we will begin with the difference which the Jewish Doctors hold out, between the Passeover in Egypt, and the Passeover in succeeding ages, which[a]Tosaphta in Pessach. per. 8. Tosaphta on the treatise Pessachin holdeth out thus.
The Passeover in Egypt, the taking of it up, was on the tenth day, and the killing of it was on the fourteenth, and they were not guilty for it of cutting off. The Passeover in succeeding generations they are liable concerning it to cutting …ff.
Of the Passeover in Egypt it is said, Let him and his neighbour next to him take a Lamb, but it is not so said of the Passeover in succeeding generations: But I say, saith R. Simeon, it is so said of the Passeover in future times: And that because a man should not leave his neighbour whose house is neer unto him, to keep his Passeover with his companion: for it is said; Better is a neighbour that is neere, then a Brother that is farre off.
The Passeover in Egypt was not charged with sprinkling the blood and fat upon the Altar: but it is otherwise with the Passeover in after times.
Of the Passeover in Egypt it is said, Yee shall put of the blood upon the two posts, and the upper door post: but it is not so with the Passeovers afterward.
At the Passeover in Egypt it is said, None of you shall goe out of the doore of his house till morning: but it was not so in after generations.
The Passeover in Egypt was slain by every one in his owne house, but the Passeovers afterward, all Isra…l slew them in one place.
Where they eat the Passeover in Egypt, there also they were to lodge: but in after times, they might eat it in one pla…e, and lodge in another.
Yet was the Passeover in Egypt, and succeeding Passeovers all one: whosover had servants that were not circumcised, and maidens shat were not baptized, they restrained them from eating the Passeover. But I say, saith Rabbi Eliezer the sonne of Jacob, the scripture speaks only of the Passeover in Egypt.
In these things the Passeover in Egypt, and in succeeding times was alike.
The Passeover in Egypt was in three Houses, so also was it with future Pass…overs.
The Passeover in Egypt was of the flock, a male, without blemish, of the first ye…r: After-passeovers were so likewise.
Of the Passeover in Egypt it is said, yee shall not leave ought thereof till morning: the like was it also with after Passeovers.
Rabbi Josi the Galilean saith, I say that leaven in Egypt was forbidden but for one day.
The Passeover in Egypt required a song: so did the Passeovers in after times require a song.
Thus is the Jewish differencing and parallelling the first Passeover, and those succeeding: in which passage before we leave it, these things are observable.
1. That whereas it is said, that as to the Passeover in Egypt, there was no liablenesse to cutting off, it it spoken in comparing the relation of the institution of the first Passeover, in Egypt, Exod. 12. with the renewing of the command of the Passeover in the Wildernesse, Numb. 9. For when God first ordaines the Passeover, there is cutting …ff mentioned indeed in some reference to it; for it is said that whoso…ver eateth leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, shall be cut off, Exod, 12.15. but it is not expresly said, he that keeps not the Passeover shall be cut off, but when God comes to renew the command and to give the law for it, for after times, he then saith expresly, that the man that is cleane and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keepe the Pass…v…r, that soule shall be cut …ff, &c. Numb. 9.13.
2 Whereas it is said that the Passeover in Aegypt was in three houses, and so also the Passeover in after times; it is not to be understood, as if the Paschall Lambe might be so divided as that part of him might bee eaten in one house, and part of him in another, for that was expresly against the command, Yee shall bring nothing of him forth out of the house, Exod. 12.46. but it meaneth that severall families might joyne together in one society to the eating of one Lambe; and so it was in Aegypt, and so also was it in after times.
The first command toward this solemnity was, the taking up of the Lamb on the tenth day, and so keeping him up till the fourteenth, Exod. 12.3, 6. Which whether it were a perpetuall command, or onelyonly for that Passeover in Aegypt is disputed:[b]Ezra in Exod. 12. Aben Ezra saith it is a matter of doubtfulnesse; but Rabbi Solomon plainly determines that it was a command of practise onelyonly confined to that one time in Aegypt; [c]R. Sol. ib.which though it may be true in some circumstances, yet may it bee questioned whether it held universally true or no. It is not to be doubted but every one in after times took up their own Lambs, as they did in Aegypt, but it is somewhat doubtfull whether they did it in the same manner. It is exceeding probable, that as the Priests tooke up the Lambs for the dayly sacrifice four dayes before they were to be offered, as we have observed elsewhere; so also that they provided Lambs for the people at the Passeover, taking them up in the market four dayes before, and picking and culling out those that were fit, and agreeable to the command. For whereas the Law was so punctuall that they should be without blemish, and their traditions had summed up so large a summe of blemishes, as that they reckon[d]Maym. in Issure Mizbeah. per. …. seventy three, it could not be, but the law and their traditions which they prized above the law, should be endlesly broken, if every one took up his Lamb in the market at Jerusalem at adventure. The Priests had brought a market of Sheep and Oxen against such times as these into the Temple, (for had it not bin their doing, they must not have come there) where they having before hand picked out in the ma…k…t, such Lambs and Bullocks as were fit for sacrifice or Passeover, they sold them in the Temple at a dearer rate, and so served the peoples turne and their owne profit, for which amongst other of their hucksteries our Saviour saith, they had made the house of prayer, a den of theeves. Id. in Corb. Pessah.Thus he that would, might bring up his Lamb with him, and he that did not might buy a Lamb at Jerusalem when he came there; and whether of these our Saviour did at his last Passeover, the Gospell is silent; it is most probable hee did the latter; See Luke 22.8. John 13.29.
It is the opinion of some of the Jewish Nation,[f]Vid. Abarbinel. in Exod. 12. that those that took up the Lamb on the tenth day, and kept him till the fourteenth, did tie him al that while at one of their beds feet, that he might be in their eye to view him oft whether he were right and lawfull, and to mind them of what they were to goe about; but howsoever it was in this, or the other particulars that have be…n mentioned, it must not be omitted to observe how the Lamb of God, the true Paschall, by whose bloud is everlasting deliverance, did answer this figure of the Lambs being taken up on the tenth day, when on that very day he rode upon an Asse into Jerusalem, and offered himselfe to be taken up for that sacrifice, which within six dayes after, he was made for sin and offered up. See John 12.1.12.
Sect. 1. Their searching out for Leaven.
THE next care they were to have in reference to the Passeover, was to refraine from the eating and use of Leaven at Passeover time, and that at the time when the Passeover was slaine it should not be found within their houses. The Law in this point was exceeding strict. In the first month on the fourteenth day of the month at even, yee shall eat unleavened bread, untill the one and twentieth day of the month at Even. Seven dayes there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soule shall be cut off from the Congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or borne in the land, Exod. 12.18, 19. & 13.7. and so in Lev. 23.6. Numb. 28.17.
Now what analogy there was between this Law and their redeeming out of Aegypt, and what relation the one could have to the other, Abarbinel disputing, concludeth thus,[a]Abarbinel. in Exod. 12. fol. 151. that it lay in this, because it signified unto them the hastinesse of their comming out of Aegypt, insomuch that they had not time to leaven their bread, as Exod. 12.39. and he addeth withall, that in those hot countries, bread will not keep above a day unlesse it be leavened: so that the command of unleavened bread might read unto them in that respect a lecture of dependence upon providence, when they were enjoined to forsake the common and knowne way of preserving their bread, and to betake themselves to a way extraordinary and unsafe, but onelyonly that they had the command of God and his injunction for that way, and they must learne to live by the word of God.
The Jewes to meet with this command that was so exceeding strict, and to make sure to provide for its observance soone enough, foreign [b]Talm. in Pesachin. per. 1.Did on the fourteenth day while yet there was some light, make search for leaven by the light of a candle. Thus is the Tradition, in which by the light of the fourteenth day their Glossaries tell us that wee must understand[c]R. Sol & Gloss. in R. Alphes. in Pesach. per. 1. Maym. in Hhamets umatsah. per. 2. the thirteenth day at even, when it began to bee duskish and candle-lighting. The rubrick of the Passeover in the Hebrew and Spanish tongues renders it in Hebrew letters, but in the Spanish language thus, foreign En entrada di quatorze del mez de Nisan, [d]Seder Haggadah Shel. Pesach. fol. 1.At the entrance of the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, they searched for leaven in all the places where they were wont to use leaven, (in barnes, stables, and such out houses they needed not to search) even in holes and cranies, and that not by light of Sun and Moon, or torch, but by the light of a wax candle, foreign i. e. foreign con candela di cera. And the reason why they used a candle rather then any other light, was[e]R. Alphes ubi supr. because it is the fittest for searching holes and corners,[f]Tosapht. in Pesach. per. 1. and because the Scripture speaketh of searching Jerusalem with candles.
[g]Seder Haggadah ubi supr.After the evening of the fourteenth day was come in, (which was after sun setting) they might not go about any work (no not to the study of the law) till they had gone about this search; therefore[h]Maym. ubi supr. there were not so much as divinity Lectures that evening, lest they should hinder that worke.
[i]Id. ibid cap. 3. & Seder Haggad. ubi sup.Before he began to search he said this short ejaculation, Blessed be thou ô Lord our God the King everlasting, who hath sanctified us by his commandements, and hath enjoyn…d us the putting away of leaven. And he might not speak a word betwixt this praying and searching, but must fall to worke, and what leaven hee found he must put it in some box, or hang it up in such a place as that no mouse might come at it. And he was to give it up for nul in these words foreign. All the leaven that is within my possession, which I have seene, or which I have not seene, be it null, be it as the dust of the earth.
Sect. 2. The passages of the forenoone of the Passeover day.
VVHen the Pass…over day it selfe was now come (which the New Testament commonly called the first day of unleavened bread, from their custome newly mentioned, but the Jewish writers do ordinarily call it foreign the Pass over eve) some part of the people made it a holiday by ceasing from bodily labour all the day long, and others made it but halfe holiday, by leaving worke at noone;[a]Talm. in Pesach. per. 4. &c. the Talmud relates that in Galilee they left worke all the day long from morning till night, but in Judea that they wrought till noone and then gave over: which may seeme somewhat strange that those further off were so observant of the Passeover, and those nearer hand were so much lesse; but the reason is this, because in Galilee those that were at home on that day, had nothing else to do towards the Passeover, but onelyonly to meditate upon it, and rest from labour in honour of it; but those in Judea, it may be they travelled all forenoone to get up to Jerusalem, or had some worke to do towards the forwarding of the Passeover, or to dispatch, that they might follow their Passeover work the better.
It is in dispute in the place cited immediately before, concerning resting from labour on this day that we have in hand, and it proves a controversie betweene the schooles of Shammai and Hillel, whether they should not also rest from labour the night before: but at last the determination comes so low, as that it gives liberty to workes that were begun on the thirteenth day to be finished on the fourteenth; nay yet lower, that where the custome was to leave off work for all day, there they should leave off work; and where it was the custome to work till noon there they should do according to the custome.
But whatsoever they did in this case, cease from their labour in the forenoone or cease not, one worke they must not fail to do, and that was to cast out and put away leaven out of their houses, this day (as they had searched for it the night before) and that it might not be seen nor found amongst them. The Law indeed concerning this worke, doth pitch upon the fifteenth day for the doing of it, as if it were soon enough to do it on the fourteenth day at Even, Exod. 12.18, 19. but the Jewes do not impertinently observe that the expelling of leaven was by the Law to be before the time wherein the eating of it was forbid len:[b]Maym. in Hhamets umats. per. 2. For whereas it is said, on the first day you shall put leaven out of your houses, their tradition taught them, that by the first is meant the fourteenth day: And a proofe for this there is from what is written in the Law. Thou shalt not kill the bloud of my sacrifice with leaven, that is, Thou shalt not kill the Passeover, whilest leaven is yet remaining; now the killing of the Passeover was on the fourteenth day in the afternoone.
On this fourteenth day therefore, for a good part of the forenoone, they might eat leaven or leavened bread, and[c]Pesach per. 2. in Mishu. might give it to any bird or beast, or might sell it to a stranger, but the fixing of the certaine time is not without some debate.[d]Ibid. per. 1. in Gemara. Rabbi Meir saith, they might eat it all the fifth hour, and were to burne it at the beginning of the sixth. Rabbi Judah saith, they might eat it all the fourth houre, and they were to suspend all the fifth, and at the sixth houre they were to burne it. Which dispute Maymonides sifteth into this resolution,[e]Maym. ubi supr. per. 1. It was lawfull to eat leaven on the fourteenth day till the end of the fourth houre, but they might not eat it the fifth houre, yet they might use it; but he that eat it the sixth boure was beaten with the Rebels beating, and he that eat it from the beginning of the seventh, was to be whipt.
Twelve a clocke or thereabouts, therefore being come, it had been a strange sight to have seen every one of them either firing, or drowning, or scattering their leaven into the winde (for any of these wayes served for the expelling of it, and this command and practise wrought over all the country) and you might have seen them do it with this Valediction.[f]Seder Haggadah ubi supr. All the leaven that is within my possession, which I have seen, or which I have not seen, which I have cast out, or which I have not cast out, be it null, be it as the dust of the earth.
Sect. 3. The time of killing the Passeover.
ABout the day of celebrating the Passeover, there needeth no discourse to fix it, it is so plainly pointed out to be the fourteenth day of the first month that nothing can be plainer, therefore when we speake of the time of killing the Passeover we speak not of the day of the month, which is so well known, but of the time of the day which is not so clearly pointed out.
The Tosaphta indeed upon the Treatise Pesachin, relateth that[a]Tosaphta in Pesach. per. 1. ad med. the Cuthaeans sometimes kept their Passeover a day before the Israelites did, and sometimes a day after, (where the word Cuthaeans might breed some dispute, for in the Talmudicks language, it means sometimes Samaritans and sometimes Christians, but we shall not insist upon it.) And there have been some Christians that have held, that Christ and his Disciples kept their last Passeover one day before the Jewes kept theirs, conceiting this from that which is spoken in Joh. 18.28. where it is related that when Christ was brought into Pilates Judgement Hall (which was when he had eaten the Passeover, as all the other Evangelists declare abundantly) the Jewes durst not goe into Pilates Hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passeover. To which mistake I shall onelyonly give some words of Maymony at this present for answer, for the ground of the mistake we shall have occasion to looke after in the ensuing discourse.[b]Maym. in Corban. Pesach. per. 1. It is an affirmative command (saith he) to kill the Passeover on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan in the afternoone, and they kill it not but only of Lambs or Kids, a male of the first yeare, and both men and women are alike liable to this command; and he that breaks this command presumptuously, and passeth the fourteenth day and offereth not, if he be not uncleane or in a long journey, he is guilty of being cut off; but if he transgresse the command ignorantly, he is quit. They kill not the Passeover but in the Court even as the rest of the holy offerings, yea even in those times when high places were permitted, they offered not the Passeover in a private high place, but in the publicke, (that is, the Temple) and he that offered it in a private high place was to be whipt. From which words, it being observed what penalty lay upon him that passed the fourteenth day, and what tye there was to slay the Paschall Lamb in the Court, it will appeare extreame absurd to imagine that any Israelite should keep his Passeover before the fixed day. What the Cuthaeans or Samaritans might do at their Mount Gerizim it is no matter, but for any Jewes to celebrate the Passeover at Jerusalem, (for no where else it might be done) before the proper and fixed time, could not have been without evident danger to them that did it; it being so diametrically contrary both to the Law and to their traditions, and yet we finde not Christ was ever toucht with the least occasion about his Passeover as if he kept it on the wrong day.
But to let this passe, which indeed is too plaine to be disputed (for the Evangelist most plainely tels us that on the day of unleavened bread when the Pass…over must be killed, Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare his Passeover, Luke 22.7, 8.) and now to come to looke after the time of the day when the Passeover was killed, we must take these two maxims with us.[c]Id. ibid. 1 That the Passeover was not lawfull if it were killed before noone; and the reason of this is easie to give, namely because the Law doth expresly appoint, that they should kill it between the two evenings, Exod. 12.6. And 2 that the dayly evening sacrifice was to be killed before they b…gan to kill the Passover; and the reason of this is also readily to be given, namely, because an extraordinary service must not prevent one ordinary, and constant,[d]Id. ibid. After they had burnt the incense of the evening Sacrifice, and after they had dressed the Lamps then they began to kill the Pass…over, and so continued till the end of the day. The times they divided thus,[e]Talm. in Pesach. per. 5. they slew the dayly Sacrifice at the eight houre and an halfe, and they offered it up at the ninth houre and an halfe: but on the Eve of the Passeover, they slew it at the seventh houre and an halfe and offered it up at the eight houre and an halfe, whether the day were a common day or the Sabbath: and if the Eve of the Passeover fell on the Eve of the Sabbath, the dayly Sacrifice was killed at the sixth houre and halfe an houre past, and offered it up at the seventh hour and halfe an hour past, and the Passeover after it.
It was the command both for the Passeover and for the daily Evening Sacrifice, that they should bee slaine and offered foreign between thc two Evenings, Exod. 12.6. & 29.39. foreign [f]Ab. Ezra in Exod. 12.A very hard expression (saith Aben Ezra) and he gives as very hard an interpretation of it; for he judgeth the two Evenings to be these, the one when the Sunne sets and goes out of fight, and the other when the day closes in and all the light is cleane gone, which he saith is ordinarily about an houre and three quarters after Sunne setting; and so he will have the dayly Sacrifice to be offered up at this time, and though all the Passeovers could not be killed in this space yet he conceiveth that it is commanded they should be killed between the two Evenings, because most of them were slaine in this space though all could not. I shall not insist to shew the improbability of this Tenet, he himselfe that holds it, is in a manner glad at last to betake himselfe to the generall and common received opinion, which was, that the two Evenings were these, the first from that time of the day that the Sunne began to decline from his verticall or noone-tide point toward the West, and the other from his going downe and out of sight. And according to this construction did they go in killing and offering up their Evening Sacrifice, taking up an houre for that businesse just in the middle of the afternoon (counting at Aequinox time) namely from halfe an houre past two, to halfe an houre past three, and so there were two houres and an halfe from the Suns beginning to decline to the time they killed, and two houres and an halfe from the time they offered it up, till the Sun went downe.
Now occasionall Sacrifices did sometimes cause an alteration of the time of the dayly, for that being to be ever offered the first as being the fixed and appointed service of the day, that the others might have roome to be offered up in due time, that removed out of its place, to somewhat earlyer in the day, sometimes an hour, and sometimes two, as in the traditions alledged, and especially this was for the sake of the Passeover, when Lambs were exceeding many: The common time therefore to begin to kill the Passeover was, from about half an hour past two a clock, and little more, and so continued all afternoone: and if the Passeover lighted on the Eve of the Sabbath, (that is, on the day preceding the Sabbath) they began an hour sooner, that they might the better dispatch their businesses by the time that the Sabbath began.
Sect. 4. The Paschall Societies.
BEfore the Paschall Lamb was slain, they first agreed and concluded upon the Company that should eat him: for foreign,[a]Maym. in Corban. Pesach. per. 2. They might not slay the Passeover but for persons numbred before, or a number agreed on before for his eating. And this caution was not unwarrantably taken up, from that command in Exod. 12.4. Every man according to his eating: ye shall make your count for the Lamb: So that while the Lamb was yet alive, it was to be certainly concluded, who, and how many would join together for his eating, and he might not be slain but for societies so agreed and numbred.[b]R. Sol. in Exod. 12. If any of the societie, after the number was agreed on, saw occasion to withdraw from that company, and to go to another, he must do it before the Lamb was slain, for after he might not. These societies were called every one of them foreign, or foreign, and the number of the persons in them was not certain, but sometime more, sometime lesse, according to their proportionablenesse of eating, because of the command, Every one according to his eating: were there among the company those that were sickly and aged, and little eaters, then they might take the more into the company, but if they were healthy and lively, and like to eat more freely, then was the number lesse: He that was to eat the least, was to eat as much of him, as came to the quantity of an olive, and if he could not eat so much, they counted not him in the number: And they might number so many in a society, as if there were the quantity of an olive for every one to eat, it was enough.
1. Although women were not directly bound to appear three times a year before the Lord, as the males were, yet were they bound to some particular services that attended the three appearances, and so that brought them in: but especially to the Passeover, for to the observation of that they were obliged by those expresse words of the commandement, The whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it foreign [c]Maym. ubi sup.And men and women were bound to this command alike: Now in forming up these societies that were severally to eat the Lambs, they suffered not any companies to consist of servants and women only, nor of servants and children only, lest there should be some lightnesse among them, and not that gravity that became so great a solemnity: nor to consist of old or sickly persons only, lest they should leave any of them, and so transgresse the command, Ye shall leave nothing of him till the morning: Nor to consist of Proselytes only, or of children only, because they were unlikely to speak of those memorable things that were to be spoken of at the Passeover. But a society might be only of women, or only of servants, but ordinarily they were of whole families, one or more united, husbands, wives, children, servants, all together. Our Saviou…s society was himself and the twelve, Mat. 26.20. Luk. 22.14.
Sect. 5. The killing of the Passeover.
THe Passeovers were slain in three companies [a]Pesachin. per. 5.foreign: And the ground of this practise and tradition they make to be those words of the institution, The whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it: where[b]Vid. Gemar. ib. in Talm. utro{que} R. Sol. in Exod. 12. because, there are three words, Assembly, Congregation, and Israel, applyed to the killing of the Passeover, they divided the killing of it into three companies according to that number.
[c]Maym. in Corhan. Pesach. per. 1. Gemara Bab. in Pesach. fol. 64.There were not to bee lesse then thirty men in every company: yet found they out a shift to make fifty men (if there were no more) to make thirty men three times over, for the three companies; and their way was this. Thirty of the fifty went into the Court, (for there only might the Passeover bee killed) and when they had killed their Lambs, ten of them went out, and ten of those, that stood without, came in and killed theirs, and then ten others went out, and the other ten that stood without came in and killed theirs, and so there were thirty in the Court continually, while the Lambs were killing.
But this was only a provision for a pinch; namely, if such an exigent should occurre, as that there should be but fifty Lambs presented, or at least but fifty persons present, (for ordinarily every one of the numbred Paschall societies that have been spoken of, sent their Lamb by one of their company only, and under fifty there was no Passeover killing) but commonly every one of these three companies we are speaking of, were as many as ever the Court could hold.
The first company came in, till the Court was filled, and then the doores were locked, and they fell to killing the Lambs, and while they were about this worke, the Levites sang, and the trumpets sounded: It is a tradition [d]Talm. Ier. in Pesach. per. 5.saith the Ierusalem Talmud, The dayly sacrifice which hath a drink offering, they blew the trumpets at the time of the drink offering: but at the Passeover which hath no drink offering, they blew the trumpets at the killing of it. Which the Glosse upon the Babylon Talmud doth utter more punctually,[e]Gloss. in Succah. fol. 54. At the killing of the Passeover there were seven and twenty soundings with the trumpets: for the Passeover was killed in three compani…s one after another, &c.
Now the song that was sung at this time while they were killing the Passeovers, was called the Hallel foreign: so saith the same Gloss in the same place. Every c…mpany said over the Hallel three times: for their Paschalls were many, and they were bound to the saying over of the Hallel at the staying of them. And Maymony more largely.[f]Maym. ubi sup. All the time that they were killing and offering the Levites said over the Hallel: if they had finished the Hallel, and the company had not yet done, they said it over again: And if they had finished saying it over again, and the company had not yet done neither, they set to it a third time. And both these speak this, from the Mishueh in the treatise Pesachin where it is said,[g]Pesa. per. 5. They said over the Hallel, and when they had finished they said it over a second time, & when they had done that, they said it over a third time.
The Jews do make exceeding frequent mention in their writings of the Hallel or the Hymne; (for so wee may translate it from Mat. 26.30.) And they distinguish it into the common or lesser Hallel, and the greater: The lesser Hallel they also call the Egyptian Hallel, because it was sung more especially in remembrance of their delivery out of Egypt: and it was the 113, and 114, and 115, and 116, and 117, and 118, Psalms. Concerning the choice and use of which it may not bee amisse to take up two or three of their traditions.
1. The Jerusalem Talmud in the treatise Pesachin hath this relation.[i]Talm. Ierus. in Pesach. per. 5. R. Jacob Bar Aha in the name of Rabbi Jasa saith▪ Strength was given to Moses his voice, and his voice went through all Egypt forty daies journey: And what said he? One company from such a place to such a place, and another company from such a place, to such a place. And wonder not at it: for if of dust whose nature is not to go, it be said, it shall become dust through all the land of Egypt, (Exod. 9.9.) much more might a voice go abroad, whose nature is to go. Rabbi Levi said, As strength was given to Moses his voice, so strength was given to Pharoahs voice, and his v…ice went throughout al Egypt forty dayes journey. And what said he? Arise, get ye out from among my people: For, as for the time past ye have b…en the servants of Pharaoh, but from henceforth ye must b… the servants of the Lord. From that hour they said, Praise ye the Lord, praise him yee servants of the Lord, Psal. 113. and now no more the servants of Pharaoh.
2. Maymony in his treatise of M…gillah, and Chanuchah, or of the feast of Purim and of Dedication, saith[k]Maym. in Megillah. &c. per. 3. & Gloss. in Succ. fol. 38. The custome of saying over the Hallel in the dayes of the former wisemen, was thus, The chief among them that was to read the Hallel after he had said a prayer, began thus, Hallelujah; and all the people answered Hallelujah. Hee goes on and sayes, Praise ye the servants of the Lord; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He prec…eds and sayes, Praise the name of the Lord; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He say…s further, Blessed be the name of the Lord▪ from this time f…rth, even for evermore; and all the people answered Hallelujah. And so at every passage, till th…y answered Hallelujah, an hundred and three and twenty times over, and of that number were the years of Aaron.
Now when he that read it, came to the beginning of any Psalm, as when he read, When Israel came on of Egypt, the people repeated and said, When Israel came out of Egypt; but when he said, And the House of Jacob from a strange people, then the people answered Hallelujah: and so forward, till he came to, I love the Lord because hee hath heard my voice, and there the people repeated, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice: And so when he said, Praise the Lord all ye Nations, they repeated, Praise the Lord all yee Nations: And when he came to, Save now Lord I beseech thee, the people repeated, Save now Lord I beseech thee; though it were not the beginning of a Psalme: And when he said, I beseech thee now send prosperity, they rehearsed and said, I beseech thee now send prosperity. And when he said, Blessed is hee that commeth in the name of the Lord, all the people answered, Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord.
3. This saying over of the Hallel, [l]Maym. ubi sup.is acknowledged by the Jews to be an institution of the Scribes; and the reason of the picking out of these Psalms for that pu…pose, was[m]Vid. Kim…. in 1 Chron. 16. because of their beginning or ending with Hallelujah; and partly because they contain, not only so high and eminent memorialls of Gods goodnesse and deliverances unto Israel; as is intimated by that passage alledged in the Jerusalemy; From that time they said, Praise ye the Lord, ye servants of the Lord, and no more of Pharaoh; but also sev…ral other things of high and important matter and consideration) for the[n]Tal. in Pes. fol. 118. Hallel (say they, recordeth five things: the comming out of Egypt, the dividing of the sea, the giving of the Law, the resurrection of the dead, and the lot of Messias.
4.[o]Maym. ubi sup. & Talm. utrumque in Succah. per. 5. This Hallel was said over eighteen days in the year and one night; namely, at the killing of the Passeover, at the feast of Pentecost, on the eight dayes of the feast of tabernacles, and on the eight dayes of the feast of D…dication, and on the Passeover night. With the manner of its saying over, the p…ople stil answering Hallelujah: compare the redoubled Hallelujahs, in Rev. 19.1, 3, 4, 6.
Besides this Hallel, which they called the Egyptian Hallel, there is frequent mention of the great Hallel foreign as the treatise Taanith telleth a story[p]Taan. per. 3. that they appointed a fast at Lod (or Lydda, Act. 9.35. & this fast was for rain, which they wanted exceedingly) And rain came down for them before midday. Rabbi Tarphon saith to them, Go eat, and drink, and keep holiday: They went and ate, and drank, and kept holiday, and came at Even, and said over the great Hallel: and we shall observe anon, that at the eating of the Passeover, as they used constantly to say over the Hallel commonly so called, so did they sometimes add the great Hallel to it; and when wee come to speak of the time when this was rehearsed, we will then observe what this great Hallel was.
So that (now to return where we were again) the first company being come into the Court, and having filled it, and the doors locked upon them, and they falling to kil the Passeovers, this Hallel or these Psalmes were begun to bee sung, the people answering as hath been related. And when they had sung them over once, and the work not yet done, they set to them again, and a third time, and by that time they had gone over the third time, the work was commonly done, and they began not again. And therefore those words which are very usual with those Jews which treat upon this subject, foreign are to be construed, that when they had sung it over a second time, they began a third, although they went not through a third time in all their dayes: for before they had gone through, the work was done, and then they had done also.
[q]Pesach. per. 5. Sect. 9.The first company being thus dispatched, went out of the Court with their slain and fleaed Passeovers (how they fleaed them, was observed erewhile) and they stood in the mountain of the House: And now there comes in the second company, as many as the Court would hold, & while they are killing, sprinkling the blood, and burning the fat, the Hal…el is begun again, and sung even as it was before, and when that company had done they went out, and the third came in, and they did as the others before, till all was finished.
They did not only slay the Passeovers whilst they stood thus in the Court, but the blood was also sprinkled by the Priests, they standing in rowes from the slaughter place to the Altar, conveying the bloud from hand to hand, and so they crowded not, nor troubled not one another, which they would have done had they run singly from every slain lamb to bring the bloud to the Altar. The blood brought thither in such handing rows was powred at the foundation of the Altar. The owners fleaed their Lambs, the most of them hanging him upon a staffe on their shoulders, and he hanging beween them, and they helping one another: They took out his entrails, cleans…d away his ordure, separated his inwards, put them in a dish, salted them, and laid them on the fire on the Altar: and when the three companies were so dispatched, the Priests (as there was no small need) did wash the Court.
If the Passeover killing did fall upon the Sabbath, yet did they not abate of any of this work, no not of washing the Court; for they had a traditionall warrant which bare them out foreign which was, that there was no prohibition concerning resting in the Sanctuary: and that which was prohibited elsewhere, and obliged others, about resting from work upon the Sabbath, did not oblige the Priests at the temple: and to this our Saviour speaketh Mat. 12.5. On the Sabbath dayes the Priests in the Temple prophane the Sabbath and are blamelesse. Now although they killed, and fleaed, and opened the Passovers on the Sabbath, yet did they not carry them home to their lodgings at Jerusalem til the Sabbath was out: But when the first company had dispatched in the Court, they went and stood in the mountain of the House, and the second being dispatched, went and stood in the chel, and the third continued in the Court till the Sabbath ended: and when it was done, they went away with their lambs to their severall companies. And the reason of this was, because the killing and offering of the Passeover was by the expresse commandem…nt of the Law, bound to its time, which they might not transgresse, but must doe it, though it were on the Sabbath, but the taking of the Lamb home, was not so bound but that it might very well be delayed till the Sabbath was ended.