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[197]
Moses now purified the tabernacle and the priests; which purification
was performed after the following manner: - He commanded them to take five
hundred shekels of choice myrrh, an equal quantity of cassia, and half
the foregoing weight of cinnamon and calamus (this last is a sort of sweet
spice); to beat them small, and wet them with an bin of oil of olives (an
hin is our own country measure, and contains two Athenian choas,
or congiuses); then mix them together, and boil them, and prepare
them after the art of the apothecary, and make them into a very sweet ointment;
and afterward to take it to anoint and to purify the priests themselves,
and all the tabernacle, as also the sacrifices. There were also many, and
those of various kinds, of sweet spices, that belonged to the tabernacle,
and such as were of very great price, and were brought to the golden altar
of incense; the nature of which I do not now describe, lest it should be
troublesome to my readers; but incense 1
was to be offered twice a-day, both before sun-rising and at sun-setting.
They were also to keep oil already purified for the lamps; three of which
were to give light all day long, 2
upon the sacred candlestick, before God, and the rest were to be lighted
at the evening.
1 The incense was here offered, according to Josephus's opinion, before sun-rising, and at sun-setting; but in the days of Pompey, according to the same Josephus, the sacrifices were offered in the morning, and at the ninth hour. Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 3.
2 Hence we may correct the opinions of the modern Rabbins, who say that only one of the seven lamps burned in the day-time; whereas our Josephus, an eyewitness, says there were three.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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