'superintendent of turtle-doves and pigeons,' required for certain purifications, and the
holder of that office is mentioned with praise in the Mishnah. 25 Much, indeed, depended
upon his uprightness. For, at any rate as regarded those who brought the poor's offering,
the purchasers of pigeons or turtle -doves would, as a rule, have to deal with him. In the
Court of the Women there were thirteen trumpet-shaped chests for pecuniary
contributions, called 'trumpets.'26 Into the third of these they who brought the poo r's
offering, like the Virgin-Mother, were to drop the price of the sacrifices which were
needed for their purification. 27 As we infer,28 the superintending priest must have been
stationed here, alike to inform the offerer of the price of the turtle -doves, and to see that
all was in order. For, the offerer of the poor's offering would not require to deal directly
with the sacrificing priest. At a certain time in the day this third chest was opened, and
half of its contents applied to burnt, the other half to sin-offerings. Thus sacrifices were
provided for a corresponding number of those who were to be purified, without either
shaming the poor, needlessly disclosing the character of impurity, or causing unnecessary
bustle and work. Though this mode of proced ure could, of course, not be obligatory, it
would, no doubt, be that generally followed.
17. So Dr. Geikie.
18. So Dr. Geikie, taking his account from Herzog's Real-Encykl. The mistake about the
mother being sprinkled with sacrificial blood originated wit h Lightfoot (Horę Hebr. on
St. Luke ii. 22). Later writers have followed the lead. Tamid v. 6, quoted by Lightfoot,
refers only to the cleansing of the leper. The 'prayers' supposed to be spoken, and the
pronouncing clean by the priests, are the embellishm nts of later writers, for which
e
Lightfoot is not responsible.
19. According to Sifra (Par. Tazria, Per. iv. 3): 'Whenever the sin -offering is changed, it
precedes [as on ordinary occasions] the burnt-offering; but when the burnt -offering is
changed [as o n this occasion], it precedes the sin -offering.'
20. But this precise spot was not matter of absolute necessity (Seb. vi. 2). Directions are
given as to the manner in which the priest was to perform the sacrificial act.
21. Kinnim i. 1. If the sin -offering was a four-footed animal, the blood was sprinkled
above the red line.
22. Sebach. vi. 5.
23. Comp. Kerith. i. 7.
24. Sheq. iv. 9.
25. Sheq. v. 1.
26. Comp. St. Matt. vi. 2. See 'The Temple and its Services,' & c. pp. 26, 27.
27. Comp. Shekal. vi. 5, the Commentaries, and Jer. Shek. 50 b.
28. Tosepht. Sheq.
iii. 2.
We can now, in imagination, follow the Virgin-Mother in the Temple.29 Her child had
been given up to the Lord, and received back from Him. She had entered the Court of the
Women, probably by the 'Gate of the Women,'30 on the north side, and deposited the
price of her sacrifices in Trumpet No. 3, which was close to the raised dais or gallery
where the women worshipped, apart from the men. And now the sound of the organ,
which announced throughout the vast Temple-buildings that the incense was about to be