Compare also 2Maccabees ii.5, where only the table,
but not the altar, is hidden by Jeremiah.
So much for the offering of incense and its altar. We may in
like manner venture to regard it as a kind of refinement, though
rather a refinement of idea, that the flesh of the sacrifice in the
Priestly Code is no longer boiled, but consigned to the altar
flames in its raw condition. Such was not the ancient custom, as
is seen, not only from the case of Gideon already cited (Judges
vi.), but also from the procedure at Shiloh, described in 1Samuel
ii., where the sons of Eli will not wait until the flesh of the
sacrifice has been boiled, and the altar pieces burnt, but demand
their share raw for roasting. The meal which the Deity shares
with men is prepared in the same way as for men. This naive
conception gave way before advancing culture, and that at a
comparatively early date. It is possible that another cause may
also have co-operated towards this result. The old method of
preparing flesh in general use among the people, at a later period
also, was by boiling. The word B#L (to seethe in water) occurs
with extreme frequency; CLH (to roast), on the other hand, only
in Exodus xii.
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