be selected for the burning of the
flesh; but inasmuch as they were typically laden with the curse of sin,
they were carried without the precincts of the camp where God dwelt, and
there consumed, where the ashes of all the bloody offerings were poured
out. Lev. 4:11, 12, 21; 16:27. The man, moreover, who performed the
service of burning the sin-offering on the day of atonement, having been
typically defiled by contact with it, was required to wash his clothes
and bathe his flesh in water before coming into the camp. Lev. 16:28. In
the case of the scape-goat, "the wilderness," the "land not inhabited,"
answered to the place without the camp where the sin-offering was
burned; and the man that led him away was, in like manner, required to
wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water before reentering the
camp. Lev. 16:26.

17. The _distinctions between clean and unclean_ in respect to articles
of food and various other particulars, had also a typical meaning. That
the regulations in regard to these matters were promotive of physical
purity and health is undoubtedly true; yet we are not to consider them
as simply a sanitary code. They reached to the inner man. Through these
physical distinctions of clean and unclean God educated the people to an
apprehension of the difference between moral purity and impurity.

The Levitical view of sickness and every bodily infirmity is deep and
fundamental. All is referred to sin as the primal cause. The sufferer
from leprosy and various other infirmities (Lev. chaps. 12-15) is
regarded not as a sinner above other men (Luke 13:1-5), but yet as
suffering in the character of a sinner. Hence the ceremonial uncleanness
of such persons, and the expiatory offerings required in the case of
those who have been healed.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY.

1. The scriptural idea of prophecy is widely removed from that of human
foresight and presentiment. It is that of _a revelation made by the Holy
Spirit respecting the future_, always in the interest of God's kingdom.
It is no part of the plan of prophecy to gratify vain curiosity
respecting "the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his
own power." Acts 1:7. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God"--this is its key-note. In its form it is carefully adapted to this
great end. Its notices of the future are interwoven with exhortations
and admonitions, encouragements and warnings, promises and threateni