17). It is as if money payments were in the eye of
the law too profane; for atonement there must be shedding of blood.
That the skin of the holocaust, which cannot well be consumed on
the altar, should fall to the priest is so natural an arrangement,
that one will hardly be disposed to regard it as new, although
Ezekiel is silent about a due which was not quite worthless
(xliv. 28-31).
So far then as departures from earlier custom can be shown in the
sacrificial dues enjoined by the Priestly Code, they must not
indeed be treated as purely local differences, but neither are
they to be regarded as on the whole showing a serious raising of
the tariff. But in the Code the sacrificial dues are only a
subordinate part of the income of the priests. In Deuteronomy the
priests are entirely thrown upon the sacrifices; they live upon
them (xviii. 1) and upon invitations to the sacred banquets (xii.
I2, 18 seq.); if they are not exercising the priestly function
they must starve (1Samuel ii. 36). On the other hand, the
Aaronidae of the Priestly Code do not need to sacrifice at all,
and yet have means of support, for their chief revenue consists
of the rich dues which must be paid them from the products of
the soil.
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