The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

SECT. V. The killing of the Passover.

THE Passovers were slain in three companies * 1.1: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And the ground of this practise and tradition they make to be those words of the instituti∣on, The whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it: where ‖ 1.2 because, there are three words, Assembly, Congregation, and Israel, applied to the killing of the Passover, they divided the killing of it into three companies according to that number.

* 1.3 There were not to be less than thirty men in every company: yet found they out a shift to make fifty men (if there were no more) to make thirty men three times over, for the three companies; and their way was this. Thirty of the fifty went into the* 1.4 Court, (for there only might the Passover be killed) and when they had killed their Lambs, ten of them went out, and ten of those, that stood without, came in and killed theirs, and then ten others went out, and the other ten that stood without came in and killed theirs, and so there were thirty in the Court continually, while the Lambs were killing.

But this was only a provision for a pinch; namely, if such an exigent should occur, as that there should be but fifty Lambs presented, or at least but fifty persons present, (for ordinarily every one of the numbred Paschal societies that have been spoken of, sent their Lamb by one of their company only, and under fifty there was no Passover killing) but commonly every one of these three companies we are speaking of, were as many as ever the Court could hold.

The first company came in, till the Court was filled, and then the doors were locked, and they fell to killing the Lambs, and while they were about this work, the Levites sang, and the trumpets sounded: It is a tradition, * 1.5 saith the Jerusalem Talmud, The dayly sacrifice which hath a drink offering, they blew the trumpets at the time of the drink of∣fering: but at the Passover which hath no drink offering, they blew the trumpets at the kil∣ling of it. Which the Gloss upon the Babylon Talmud doth utter more punctually, ‖ 1.6 At the killing of the Passover there were seven and twenty soundings with the trumpets: for the Passover was killed in three companies one after another, &c.

Now the song that was sung at this time while they were killing the Passovers, was called the Hallel 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 so saith the same Gloss in the same place. Every company said over the Hallel three times: for their Paschals were many, and they were bound to the saying over of the Hallel at the slaying of them. And Maymony more largely. * 1.7 All the time that they were killing and offering the Levites said over the Hallel: if they had finished the Hallel, and the company had not yet done, they said it over again: And if they had finished saying it over again, and the company had not yet done neither, they set to it a third time. And both these speak this, from the Mishneh in the treatise Pesachin where it is said, ‖ 1.8 They said over the Hallel, and when they had finished they said it over a second time, and when they had done that, they said it over a third time.

The Jews do make exceeding frequent mention in their writings of the Hallel or the Hymne; (for so we may translate it from Matth. 26. 30.) And they distinguish it into the common or lesser Hallel, and the greater: The lesser Hallel they also call the Egyptian Hallel, because it was sung more especially in remembrance of their delivery out of Egypt: and it was the 113, & 114, & 115, & 116, & 117, & 118, Psalms. Concerning the choice and use of which it may not be amiss to take up two or three of their traditions.

1. The Jerusalem Talmud in the Treatise Pesachin hath this relation. * 1.9 R. Jacob Bar Aha in the name of Rabbi Jasa saith, Strength was given to Moses his voice, and his voice went through all Egypt forty days journey: And what said he? One company from such a place to such a place, and another company from such a place, to such a place. And wonder not at it: for if of dust whose nature is not to go, it be said, it shall become dust through all the land of Egypt, (Exod. 9. 9.) much more might a voice go abroad, whose nature is to go. Rabbi Levi said, As strength was given to Moses his voice, so strength was given to Pharaohs voice; and his voice went throughout all Egypt forty days journey. And what said he? Arise, get ye out from among my people: For, as for the time past ye have been the servants of Pharaoh, but from henceforth ye must be the servants of the Lord. From that hour they said, Praise ye the Lord, praise him ye servants of the Lord, Psalm 113. and now no more the servants of Pharaoh.

2. Maymony in his Treatise of Megillah, and Chanuchah, or of the Feast of Purim and of Dedication, saith * 1.10 The custom of saying over the Hallel in the days of the former wise∣men, was thus, The chief among them that was to read the Hallel after he had said a prayer, began thus, Hallelujah; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He goes on and says, Praise

ye the servants of the Lord; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He proceeds and says, Praise the Name of the Lord; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He says further, Blessed be the Name of the Lord from this time forth, even for evermore; and all the people answered Hallelujah. And so at every passage, till they answered Hallelujah, an hundred and three and twenty times over, and of that number were the years of Aaron.

Now when he that read it, came to the beginning of any Psalm, as when he read, When Israel came out of Egypt, the people repeated and said, When Israel came out of Egypt; but when he said, And the House of Jacob from a strange people, then the people answered Hallelujah: and so forward, till he came to, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice, and there the peo∣ple repeated, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice, And so when he said, Praise the Lord all ye Nations, they repeated, Praise the Lord all ye Nations: And when he came to, Save now Lord I beseech thee, the people repeated, Save now Lord I beseech thee; though it were not the beginning of a Psalm: And when he said, I beseech thee now send prosperity, they rehearsed and said, I beseech thee now send prosperity. And when he said, Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord, all the people answered, Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

3. This saying over of the Hallel, * 1.11 is acknowledged by the Jews to be an Institution of the Scribes; and the reason of the picking out of these Psalms for that purpose, was ‖ 1.12 because of their beginning or ending with Hallelujah; and partly because they contain, not only so high and eminent memorials of Gods goodness and deliverance unto Israel; as is intimated by that passage alledged in the Jerusalemy; From that time they said, Praise ye the Lord, ye servants of the Lord, and no more of Pharaoh; but also several other things of high and important matter and consideration; for the * 1.13 Hallel, say they, recor∣deth five things: the coming out of Egypt, the dividing of the Sea, the giving of the Law, the Resurrection of the dead, and the lot of Messias.

4. ‖ 1.14 This Hallel was said over eighteen days in the year and one night; namely, at the kil∣ling of the Passover, at the Feast of Pentecost, on the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and on the eight days of the Feast of Dedication, and on the Passover night. With the manner of its saying over, the people still answering Hallelujah: compare the redoubled Hallelujahs, in Rev. 19. 1, 3, 4. 6.

Besides this Hallel, which they called the Egyptian Hallel, there is frequent mention of the great Hallel 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as the Treatise Taanith telleth a story * 1.15 that they appointed a Fast at Led (or Lyddo, Act. 9. 35. and this Fast was for rain, which they wanted ex∣ceedingly) And rain came down for them before midday. Rabbi Tarphon saith to them, Go eat, and drink, and keep holiday: They went and eat, and drank, and kept holiday, and came at Even, and said over the great Hallel: and we shall observe anon, that at the eating of the Passover, as they used constantly to say over the Hallel commonly so called, so did they sometimes add the great Hallel to it; and when we come to speak of the time when this was rehearsed, we will then observe what this great Hallel was.

So that (now to return where we were again) the first company being come into the Court, and having filled it, and the doors locked upon them, and they falling to kill the Passovers, this Hallel or these Psalms were begun to be sung, the people answering as hath been related. And when they had sung them over once, and the work not yet done, they set to them again, and a third time, and by that time they had gone over the third time, the work was commonly done, and they began not again. And therefore those words which are very usual with those Jews which treat upon this subject, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are to be construed, that when they had sung it over a second time, they began a third, although they went not through a third time in all their days: for before they had gone through, the work was done, and then they had done also.

* 1.16 The first company being thus dispatched, went out of the Court with their slain and flead Passovers (how they flead them, was observed erewhile) and they stood in the mountain of the House: And now there comes in the second company, as many as the Court would hold, and while they are killing, sprinkling the blood, and burning the fat, the Hallel is begun again, and sung even as it was before, and when that company had done they went out, and the third came in, and they did as the others before, till all was finished.

They did not only slay the Passovers whilst they stood thus in the Court, but the blood was also sprinkled by the Priests, they standing in rows from the slaughter place to the Al∣tar, conveying the blood from hand to hand, and so they crowded not, nor troubled not one another, which they would have done had they run singly from every slain Lamb to bring the blood to the Altar. The blood brought thither in such handing rows was poured at the foundation of the Altar. The owners flead their Lambs, the most of them hanging him upon a staff on their shoulders, and he hanging between them, and they

helping one another: They took out his entrails, cleansed away his ordure, separated his inwards, put them in a dish, salted them, and laid them on the fire on the Altar: and when the three companies were so dispatched, the Priests (as there was no small need) did wash the Court.

If the Passover killing did fall upon the Sabbath, yet did they not abate of any of this work, no not of washing the Court; for they had a traditional warrant which bare them out 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which was, that there was no prohibition concerning rest∣ing in the Sanctuary: and that which was prohibited elsewhere, and obliged others, about resting from work upon the Sabbath, did not oblige the Priests at the Temple: and to this our Saviour speaketh, Matth. 12. 5. On the Sabbath days the Priests in the Temple pro∣phane the Sabbath and are blameless. Now although they killed, and fleaed, and opened the Passovers on the Sabbath, yet did they not carry them home to their lodgings at Jeru∣salem till the Sabbath was out: But when the first company had dispatched in the Court, they went and stood in the mountain of the House, and the second being dispatched, went and stood in the chel, and the third continued in the Court till the Sabbath ended: and when it was done, they went away with their Lambs to their several companies. And the reason of this was, because the killing and offering of the Passover was by the ex∣press commandment of the Law, bound to its time, which they might not transgress, but must do it, though it were on the Sabbath, but the taking of the Lamb home, was not so bound but that it might very well be delayed till the Sabbath was ended.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Pesachin per. 5.
• ‖ 1.2

  Vid. Gemar. ib. in Talm. utro{que} R. Sol. in Exod. 12.
• * 1.3

  Maym. in Corban. Pesach. per. 1.
• * 1.4

  Gemara Bab. in Pesach. sol. 64.
• * 1.5

  Talm. Ier. in Pesach. per. 5.
• ‖ 1.6

  Gloss. in Suc∣cah. sol. 54.
• * 1.7

  Maym. ubi sup.
• ‖ 1.8

  Pesa per. 5.
• * 1.9

  Talm. Ierus. in Pesach. per. 5.
• * 1.10

  Maym. in Migillah. &c. per. 3. & Gloss. in Succ. sol. 38.
• * 1.11

  Maym. ubi sup.
• ‖ 1.12

  Vid. Kimc. in 1 Chron. 16.
• * 1.13

  Tal. in Pes. fol. 118.
• ‖ 1.14

  Maym. ubi sup. & Talm. utrum∣que in Succah. per. 5.
• * 1.15

  Taan. per. 3.
• * 1.16

  Pesach. per. 5. Sect. 9.