17 [16]), which
perhaps already also admitted of being paid in kind; probably in
the seventh century, which seems to have been very open to the
mystery of atonement and bloodshedding, and very fertile in the
introduction of new religious usages. /1/
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1. Consider for example the prevalence of child sacrifice precisely
at this time, the introduction of incense, the new fashions which
King Manasseh brought in, and of which certainly much survived
that suited the temper of the period, and admitted of being conjoined
with the worship of Jehovah, or even seemed to enhance its dignity
and solemnity.
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The sin and trespass offerings of the Pentateuch still bear traces
of their origin in fines and penalties; they are not gifts to God,
they are not even symbolical, they are simply mulcts payable to the
priests, partly of fixed commutation value (Leviticus v. 15). Apart
from the mechanical burning of the fat they have in common with
the sacrifice only the shedding of blood, originally a secondary
matter, which has here become the chief thing.
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