Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1
25. Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy.
25. Alloquere Aharon et filios ejus, dicendo, Ista eat lex hostile pro peccato, In loco in quo mactabitur hostia holocausti mactabitur hostia pro peccato coram Jehova, quia sanctificatio sanctificationum est.
30. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into
30. Omnis autem hostia pro peccato, de cujus sanguine inferetur aliquid in tabernaculum conventionis, ad expiandum in sanctuario non comedetur, igni comburetur.
the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.
9. Command Aaron and his sons. He more distinctly explains what might have appeared to be omitted; nor is it without reason that he carefully enters into these full details, for since God prefers obedience to all sacrifices, he was unwilling that anything should remain doubtful as to the external rites, which were not otherwise of great importance; that they might learn to observe precisely, and with the most exact care, whatever the Law commanded, and that they should not obtrude anything of themselves, inasmuch as the purity of the holy things was corrupted by the very smallest invention. He would, therefore, leave nothing to the people's judgment, but directed them by a fixed rule even in the most trifling matters. As to the burnt-offerings, he commands that they should not be taken away from the altar till they were consumed by the fire; but after they were put on, he commands them to be burnt in a constant fire till the morrow. With this intent, he expressly says, that the fire should be kept alight on the altar all the night, since the sacrifices would not have been reduced to ashes without the application of fuel. Secondly, he commands the priest, clothed in the linen garment, and breeches, as he was wont to be in the performance of his sacred duties, to go to the altar, and to take away the ashes and put them by the side, or at some part of the altar; but when he shall have gone away from the altar, he bids him take off his holy garments, and carry the ashes out of the camp to a clean place. But what he had before briefly adverted to as to the supply of wood, he immediately declares more fully to be, lest the fire should go out. Again, he assigns to the priest the office of setting the wood in order every morning. But, because in the sacrifices 617 of prosperities the Law commanded the fat only to be burnt, Moses now
Or peace-offerings, vide supra, p. 105.