26, xxi. 4;
1Sam xiii. 9-12). That perfect propriety was not always observed
might be taken for granted, and is proved by Isaiah xxviii. 8
even with regard to the temple of Jerusalem; "all tables are full
of vomit, there is no room." Hence also Eli's suspicion regarding
Hannah was a natural one, and by no means so startling as it appears.
How different from this picture is that suggested by the Priestly
Code! Here one no longer remarks that a meal accompanies every
sacrifice; eating before Jehovah, which even in Deuteronomy is
just the expression for sacrificing, nowhere occurs, or at all
events is no act of divine worship. Slaying and sacrificing are no
longer coincident, the thank-offering of which the breast and right
shoulder are to be consecrated is something different from the old
simple Zebah. But, precisely for this reason, it has lost its
former broad significance. The _mizbeah_, that is, the place where
the _zebahim_ are to be offered, has been transformed into a _mizbah
ha-'olah_. The burnt-offering has become quite independent and
comes everywhere into the foreground, the sacrifices which are
unconnected with a meal altogether predominate,--so much that, as
is well known, Theophrastus could declare there were no others
among the Jews, who in this way were differentiated from all
other nations.
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