but it principally denotes those who were employed in the lowest
ministries of the temple, by which they were distinguished from the
priests, who, being descended from Aaron, were likewise of the race of
Levi by Kohath, but were employed in higher offices. The Levites were
descendants of Levi, by Gershom, Kohath, and Merari, excepting the
family of Aaron; for the children of Moses had no part in the
priesthood, and were only common Levites. God chose the Levites instead
of the first-born of all Israel, for the service of his tabernacle and
temple, Num. iii, 6, &c. They obeyed the priests in the ministrations of
the temple, and brought to them wood, water, and other things necessary
for the sacrifices. They sung and played on instruments, in the temple,
&c; they studied the law, and were the ordinary judges of the country,
but subordinate to the priests. God provided for the subsistence of the
Levites, by giving them the tithe of corn, fruit, and cattle; but they
paid to the priests the tenth of their tithes; and as the Levites
possessed no estates in the land, the tithes which the priests received
from them were looked on as the first-fruits which they were to offer to
the Lord, Num. xviii, 21–24. God assigned them for their habitations
forty-eight cities, with fields, pastures, and gardens, Num. xxxv. Of
these thirteen were given to the priests, six of which were cities of
refuge, Joshua xx, 7; xxi, 19, 20, &c. While the Levites were actually
employed in the temple, they were subsisted out of the provisions in
store there, and out of the daily offerings there made; and if any
Levite quitted the place of his abode, to serve the temple, even out of
the time of his half-yearly or weekly waiting, he was received there,
kept and provided for, in like manner as his other brethren, who were
regularly in waiting, Deut. xviii, 6–8. The consecration of Levites was
without much ceremony. They wore no particular habit to distinguish them
from the other Israelites, and God ordained nothing particularly for
their mourning, 2 Chron. xxix, 34. The manner of their consecration may
be seen in Num. viii, 5–7, &c.
Josephus says, that in the reign of Agrippa, king of the Jews, about A.
D. 62, six years before the destruction of the temple by the Romans, the
Levites desired permission from that prince to wear the linen tunic like
the priests; and this was granted. This innovation was displeasing to
the priests; and the Jewish historian remarks, that the ancient customs
of the country were never forsaken with impunity. He adds, that Agrippa
permitted likewise the families of the Levites, whose duty it was to
guard the doors, and perform other troublesome offices, to learn to sing
and play on instruments, that they might be qualified for the temple
service as musicians. The Levites were divided into different classes:
Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronites or priests, Num. iii,
&c. The Gershonites, whose number was seven thousand five hundred, were
employed in the marches through the wilderness in carrying the veils and
curtains of the tabernacle; the Kohathites, whose number was eight
thousand six hundred, in carrying the ark and sacred vessels of the
tabernacle; the Merarites, whose number was six thousand two hundred, in
carrying the several pieces of the tabernacle which could not be placed
upon the chariots; and the Aaronites were the priests who served the
sanctuary. When the Hebrews encamped in the wilderness, the Levites were
placed around the tabernacle; Moses and Aaron at the east, Gershon at
the west, Kohath at the south, and Merari at the north. Moses ordained
that the Levites should not begin in the service of the tabernacle till
they were five-and-twenty years of age, Num. viii, 24–26; or, as he says
elsewhere, from thirty to fifty years old, Num. iv, 3. But David,
finding that they were no longer employed in these grosser offices of
transporting the vessels of the tabernacle, appointed them to enter on
service at the temple at twenty years of age. The priests and Levites
waited by turns, weekly, in the temple. They began their weeks on one
Sabbath day, and on the Sabbath day in the following week went out of
waiting, 1 Chronicles xxiii, 24; 2 Chron. xxi, 17; Ezra iii, 8. When an
Israelite made a religious entertainment in the temple, God required
that the Levites should be invited to it, Deut. xii, 18, 19.
LEVITICUS, a canonical book of Scripture, being the third book of the
Pentateuch of Moses; thus called because it contains principally the
laws and regulations relating to the Levites, priests, and sacrifices;
for which reason the Hebrews call it the law of the priests, because it
includes many ordinances concerning their services. See PENTATEUCH.
LIBATION. This word is used in sacrificial language, to express an
affusion of liquors, poured upon victims to be sacrificed to the Lord.
The quantity of wine for a libation was the fourth part of a hin, rather
more than two pints. Libations among the Hebrews were poured on the
victim after it was killed, and the several pieces of it were laid on
the altar, ready to be consumed by the flames, Lev. vi, 20; viii, 25,
26; ix, 4; xvi, 12, 20. These libations consisted in offerings of bread,
wine, and salt. The Greeks and Latins offered libations with the
sacrifices, but they were poured on the victim’s head while it was
living. So Sinon, relating the manner in which he was to be sacrificed,
says he was in the priest’s hands ready to be slain, was loaded with
bands and garlands; that they were preparing to pour upon him the
libations of grain and salted meal:--
_Jamque dies infanda aderat, mihi sacra parari,
Et salsæ fruges, et circum tempora vittæ._
Æneid ii, 130, 131.
[And now the horrible day being come, they began to prepare for me the
sacred rites.]
The salted barley on my front was spread,
The sacred fillets bound my destined head.”
PITT.
And Dido, beginning to sacrifice, pours wine between the horns of the
victim:--
_Ipsa tenens dextra pateram pulcherrima Dido,
Candentsi vaccæ media inter cornua fudit._
Æneid iv.
The queen before the snowy heifer stands,
Amid the shrines, a goblet in her hands;
Between the horns she sheds the sacred wine,
And pays due honours to the powers divine.”
PITT.
St. Paul describes himself, as it were, a victim about to be sacrificed,
and that the accustomed libations of meal and wine were already, in a
manner, poured upon him: For I am ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure is at hand,” 2 Tim. iv, 6. The same expressive sacrificial
term occurs in Phil. ii, 17, where the Apostle represents the faith of
the Philippians as a sacrifice, and his own blood as a libation poured
forth to hallow and consecrate it: “Yea, and if I be offered, σπένδομαι,
upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, ἐπῖ τῆ θυσίᾳ καὶ
λειτουργίᾳ, I joy and rejoice with you all.”
LIBERTINES. Mention is made of the synagogue of the Libertines, Acts vi,
9; concerning whom there are different opinions, two of which bid
fairest for the truth. The first is that of Grotius and Vitringa, that
they were Italian Jews or proselytes. The ancient Romans distinguished
between _libertus_ and _libertinus_. _Libertus_ was one who had been a
slave, and obtained his freedom; _libertinus_ was the son of a
_libertus_. But this distinction in after ages was not strictly
observed; and _libertinus_ also came to be used for one not born, but
made free, in opposition to _ingenuus_, or one born free. Whether the
_libertini_ mentioned in this passage of the Acts were Gentiles, who had
become proselytes to Judaism, or native Jews, who having been made
slaves to the Romans were afterward set at liberty, and in remembrance
of their captivity called themselves _libertini_, and formed a synagogue
by themselves, is differently conjectured by the learned. It is probable
the Jews of Cyrenia, Alexandria, &c, built synagogues at Jerusalem at
their own charge, for the use of their brethren who came from those
countries; as the Danes, Swedes, &c, build churches for the use of their
own countrymen in London; and that the Italian Jews did the same; and
because the greatest number of them were _libertini_, their synagogue
was therefore called the synagogue of the Libertines. The other opinion,
which is hinted by Œcumenius on the Acts, and mentioned by Dr.
Lardner, as more lately advanced by Mr. Daniel Gerdes, professor of
divinity in the university of Groningen, is this, that the Libertines
are so called from a city or country called Libertus, or Libertina, in
Africa, about Carthage. Suidas, in his Lexicon, on the word λιβερτινος,
says it was ονομα εθνους, _nomen gentis_. [The name of a nation.] And
the _glossa interlinearis_, of which Nicolas de Lyra made great use in
his notes, hath over the word _libertini, e regione_, denoting that they
were so styled from a country. In the acts of the famous conference with
the Donatists at Carthage, A. D. 411, there is mentioned one Victor,
bishop of the church of Libertina: and in the acts of the Lateran
council, which was held in 649, there is mention of _Januarius gratiâ
Dei episcopus sanctæ ecclesiæ Libertinensis_; [Januarius by the grace of
God bishop of the holy church of Libertina;] and therefore Fabricius, in
his Geographical Index of Christian Bishoprics,” has placed Libertina in
what was called Africa Propria, or the proconsular province of Africa.
Now, as all the other people of the several synagogues, mentioned in
this passage of the Acts, are denominated from the places from whence
they came, it is probable that the Libertines were so too; and as the
Cyrenians and Alexandrians, who came from Africa, are placed next to the
Libertines in that catalogue, it is probable they also belonged to the
same country. So that, upon the whole, there is little reason to doubt
of the Libertines being so called from the place from whence they came;
and the order of the names in the catalogue might lead us to think, that
they were farther off from Jerusalem than Alexandria and Cyrenia, which
will carry us to the proconsular province in Africa about Carthage.
LIBNAH, a city in the southern part of the tribe of Judah, Joshua xv,
42, of which a cession was made to the priests for their habitation, and
which was declared a city of refuge, 1 Chron. vi, 57.
LIBYA. The name, in its largest sense, was used by the Greeks to denote
the whole of Africa. But Libya Proper, or the Libya of the New
Testament, the country of the Lubims of the Old, was a large country
lying along the Mediterranean, on the west of Egypt. It was called
Pentapolitana Regio by Pliny, from its five chief cities, Berenice,
Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene; and Libya Cyrenaica by
Ptolemy, from Cyrene its capital. Libya is supposed to have been first
peopled by, and to have derived its name from, the Lehabim, or Lubim.
These, its earlier inhabitants, appear in the times of the Old
Testament, to have consisted of wandering tribes, who were sometimes in
alliance with Egypt, and at others with the Ethiopians of Arabia; as
they are said to have assisted both Shishak and Zerah in their
expeditions into Judea, 2 Chron. xii, xiv, xvi. They were for a time
sufficiently powerful to maintain a war with the Carthaginians, by whom
they were in the end entirely overcome. Since that period, Libya, in
common with the rest of the east, has successively passed into the hands
of the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks. The city Cyrene, built by a
Grecian colony, was the capital of this country, in which, and other
parts, dwelt many Jews, who came up to Jerusalem at the feast of
pentecost, together with those dispersed among other nations, and are
called by St. Luke dwellers in the parts of Libya about Cyrene,” Acts
ii, 10.
LICE. Swarms of lice was the third plague with which God punished the
Egyptians, Exod. viii, 16. The Hebrew word בנים, which the LXX render
σκνίφες, some translate flies,” and think them the same as gnats. Origen
says that the _sciniphe_ is so small a fly, that it is scarcely
perceptible to the eye, but that it occasions a sharp stinging pain.
However, the original, according to the Syriac, and several good
interpreters, signifies lice.”
But Josephus, the Jewish rabbins, and most of the modern translators
render the Hebrew word at large _lice_; and Bochart and Bryant support
this interpretation. The former argues that _gnats_ could not be meant.
1. Because the creatures here mentioned sprang from the dust of the
earth, and not from the waters. 2. Because they were both on men and
cattle, which cannot be spoken of gnats. 3. Because their name comes
from the radix כון, which signifies _to make firm, fix, establish_,
which can never agree to gnats, flies, &c, which are ever changing their
place, and are almost constantly on the wing. 4. Because כנה is the term
by which the talmudists express the term louse, &c. To which may be
added, that if they were winged and stinging insects, as Jerom, Origen,
and others have supposed, the plague of flies is unduly anticipated; and
the next miracle will be only a repetition of the former. Mr. Bryant, in
illustrating the aptness of this miracle, has the following remarks:
“The Egyptians affected great external purity, and were very nice both
in their persons and clothing; bathing and making ablutions continually.
Uncommon care was taken not to harbour any vermin. They were
particularly solicitous on this head; thinking it would be a great
profanation of the temple which they entered, if any animalcule of this
sort were concealed in their garments.” The priests, says Herodotus, are
shaved, both as to their heads and bodies, every third day, to prevent
any louse, or any other detestable creature, being found upon them when
they are performing their duty to the gods. The same is mentioned by
another author, who adds, that all woollen was considered as foul, as
from a perishable animal; but flax is the product of the immortal earth,
affords a delicate and pure covering, and is not liable to harbour lice.
We may hence see what an abhorrence the Egyptians showed toward this
sort of vermin, and what care was taken by the priests to guard against
them. The judgments, therefore, inflicted by the hands of Moses, were
adapted to their prejudices. It was, consequently, not only most noisome
to the people in general, but was no small odium to the most sacred
order in Egypt, that they were overrun with these filthy and detestable
vermin.
LIGHT, φῶς, is used in a physical sense, Matt. xvii, 2; Acts ix, 3; xii,
7; 2 Cor. iv, 6; for a fire giving light, Mark xiv, 54; Luke xxii, 56;
for a torch, candle, or lamp, Acts xvi, 29; and for the material light
of heaven, as the sun, moon, or stars, Psalm cxxxvi, 7; James i, 17.
Figuratively taken, it signifies a manifest or open state of things,
Matt. x, 27; Luke xii, 3; also prosperity, truth, and joy.
God is said to dwell in light inaccessible, 1 Tim. vi, 16. This seems to
contain a reference to the glory and splendour which shone in the holy
of holies, where Jehovah appeared in the luminous cloud above the mercy
seat, and which none but the high priest, and he only once a year, was
permitted to approach unto, Lev. xvi, 2; Ezek. i, 22, 26, 28; but this
was typical of the glory of the celestial world. It signifies, also,
instruction, both by doctrine and example, Matt. v, 16; John v, 35; or
persons considered as giving such light, Matt. v, 14; Rom. ii, 19. It is
applied figuratively to Christ, the true Light, the Sun of
Righteousness, who is that in the spiritual, which the material light is
in the natural, world; who is the great Author, not only of illumination
and knowledge, but of spiritual life, health, and joy to the souls of
men.
The images of light and darkness, says Bishop Lowth, are commonly made
use of in all languages to imply or denote prosperity and adversity,
agreeably to the common sense and perception which all men have of the
objects themselves. But the Hebrews employ those metaphors more
frequently and with less variation than other people: indeed, they
seldom refrain from them whenever the subject requires or will even
admit of their introduction. These expressions, therefore, may be
accounted among those forms of speech, which in the parabolic style are
established and defined; since they exhibit the most noted and familiar
images, and the application of them on this occasion is justified by an
acknowledged analogy, and approved by constant and unvarying custom. In
the use of images, so conspicuous and so familiar among the Hebrews, a
degree of boldness is excusable. The Latins introduce them more
sparingly, and therefore are more cautious in the application of them.
But the Hebrews, upon a subject more sublime indeed, in itself, and
illustrating it by an idea which was more habitual to them, more
daringly exalt their strains, and give a loose rein to the spirit of
poetry. They display, for instance, not the image of the spring, of
Aurora, of the dreary night, but the sun and stars as rising with
increased splendour in a new creation, or again involved in chaos and
primeval darkness. Does the sacred bard promise to his people a renewal
of the divine favour, and a recommencement of universal prosperity? In
what magnificent colours does he depict it! Such, indeed, as no
translation can illustrate, but such as none can obscure:--
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold.”
Isaiah xxx, 26.
But even this is not sufficient:--
No longer shalt thou have the sun for thy light by day;
Nor by night shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee:
For Jehovah shall be to thee an everlasting light,
And thy God shall be thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more decline;
Neither shall thy moon wane;
For Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light;
And the days of thy mourning shall cease.”
Isaiah lx, 19, 20.
In another place he has admirably diversified the same sentiment:--
And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shall be ashamed;
For Jehovah, God of Hosts, shall reign
On Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem:
And before his ancients shall he be glorified.”
Isaiah xxiv, 25.
On the other hand, denouncing ruin against the proud king of Egypt:--
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heavens,
And the stars thereof will I make dark:
I will involve the sun in a cloud,
Nor shall the moon give out her light.
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee,
And I will set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord Jehovah.”
Ezekiel xxvii, 7, 8.
These expressions are bold and daring; but the imagery is well known,
the use of it is common, the signification definite: they are therefore
perspicuous, clear, and truly magnificent.
LIGN-ALOES. See ALOE.
LIGURE, לשם, Exod. xxviii, 19; xxxix, 12, a precious stone of a deep red
colour, with a considerable tinge of yellow. Theophrastus and Pliny
describe it as resembling the carbuncle, of a brightness sparkling like
fire.
LILY, שישן, 1 Kings vii, 19, 22, 26; 2 Chron. iv, 5; Cant. ii, 2, 16;
iv, 5; v, 13; vi, 2, 3; vii, 2; Hosea xiv, 5; κρίνον, Matt. vi, 28; Luke
xii, 27; a well known sweet and beautiful flower, which furnished
Solomon with a variety of charming images in his Song, and with graceful
ornaments in the fabric and furniture of the temple. The title of some
of the Psalms upon Shushan,” or Shoshanim,” Psalms xlv; lx; lxix; lxxx,
probably means no more than that the music of these sacred compositions
was to be regulated by that of some odes, which were known by those
names or appellations. By the lily of the valley,” Cant. ii, 2, we are
not to understand the humble flower, generally so called with us, the
_lilium convallium_, but the noble flower which ornaments our gardens,
and which in Palestine grows wild in the fields, and especially in the
valleys. Pliny reckons the lily the next plant in excellency to the
rose; and the gay Anacreon compares Venus to this flower. In the east,
as with us, it is the emblem of purity and moral excellence. So the
Persian poet, Sadi, compares an amiable youth to the white lily in a bed
of narcissuses,” because he surpassed all the young shepherds in
goodness. As, in Cant. v, 13, the lips are compared to the lily, Bishop
Patrick supposes the lily here instanced to be the same which, on
account of its deep red colour, is particularly called by Pliny _rubens
lilium_, and which, he tells us, was much esteemed in Syria. Such may
have been the lily mentioned in Matt. vi, 28–30; for the royal robes
were purple: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil
not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these:” so in Luke xii, 27. The
scarcity of fuel in the east obliges the inhabitants to use, by turns,
every kind of combustible matter. The withered stalks of herbs and
flowers, the tendrils of the vine, the small branches of rosemary, and
other plants, are all used in heating their ovens and bagnios. We can
easily recognize this practice in that remark of our Lord, If God so
clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”
Matt. vi, 30. The grass of the field, in this passage, evidently
includes the lilies of which he had just been speaking, and, by
consequence, herbs in general; and in this extensive sense the word
χόρτος is not unfrequently taken. Those beautiful productions of nature,
so richly arrayed, and so exquisitely perfumed, that the splendour even
of Solomon is not to be compared to theirs, shall soon wither and decay,
and be used as fuel. God has so adorned these flowers and plants of the
field, which retain their beauty and vigour but for a few days, and are
then applied to some of the meanest purposes of life: will he not much
more take care of his servants who are so precious in his sight, and
designed for such important services in the world? This passage is one
of those of which Sir Thomas Browne says, The variously interspersed
expressions from plants and flowers elegantly advantage the significancy
of the text.”
Mr. Salt, in his Voyage to Abyssinia,” says, “At a few miles from Adowa,
we discovered a new and beautiful species of _amaryllis_, which bore
from ten to twelve spikes of bloom on each stem, as large as those of
the _belladonna_, springing from one common receptacle. The general
colour of the corolla was white, and every petal was marked with a
single streak of bright purple down the middle. The flower was sweet
scented, and its smell, though much more powerful, resembled that of the
lily of the valley. This superb plant excited the admiration of the
whole party; and it brought immediately to my recollection the beautiful
comparison used on a particular occasion by our Saviour: ‘I say unto
you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’”
And Sir James E. Smith observes, “It is natural to presume the divine
Teacher, according to his usual custom, called the attention of his
hearers to some object at hand; and as the fields of the Levant are
overrun with the _amaryllis lutea_, whose golden lilaceous flowers in
autumn afford one of the most brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature,
the expression of ‘Solomon in all his glory not being arrayed like one
of these,’ is peculiarly appropriate. I consider the feeling with which
this was expressed as the highest honour ever done to the study of
plants; and if my botanical conjecture be right, we learn a
chronological fact respecting the season of the year when the sermon on
the mount was delivered.”
LIME, שיד, Deut. xxvii, 2, 4; Isaiah xxxiii, 12; Amos ii, 1; a soft
friable substance, obtained by calcining or burning stones, shells, or
the like. From Isa. xxxiii, 12, it appears that it was made in a kiln
lighted with thorn bushes; and from Amos ii, 1, that bones were
sometimes calcined for lime. The use of it was for plaster or cement,
the first mention of which is in Deut. xxvii, where Moses directed the
elders of the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command
you this day. And it shall be on the day when you shall pass over Jordan
unto the land which the Lord your God giveth you, that you shall set up
great stones, and plaster them with plaster, and shall write upon them
all the words of this law,” &c. The book of the law, in order to render
it the more sacred, was deposited beside the ark of the covenant. The
guardians of the law, to whom was entrusted the duty of making faithful
transcripts of it, were the priests. But Moses did not account even this
precaution sufficient for the due preservation of his law in its
original purity; for he commanded that it should beside be engraven on
stones, and these stones kept on a mountain near Sichem, in order that a
genuine exemplar of it might be transmitted even to the latest
generations.