in which hands were laid on were those for sins of public ignorance (Lev 4:15; 16:21),

when the 'elders' acted as representing the people --to which some Rabbinical

authorities add public sin -offerings in general (on the ground of 2 Chron 29:23)--and

the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, on which the high-priest laid his hands. In all

private sacrifices, except firstlings, tithes, and the Paschal lamb, hands were laid on, and,

while doing so, the following prayer was repeated: 'I entreat, O Jehovah: I have sinned, I

have done perversely, I have rebelled, I have committed (naming the sin, trespass, or, in

case of a burnt-offering, the breach of positive or negative command); but I return in

repentance, and let this be for my atonement (covering).' According to Maimonides, in

peace-offerings a record of God's praise, rather than a confession of sins, was spoken.

But, as the principle prevailed that frequent confession even without sacrifice was

meritorious, another formula is also recorded, in which the allusion to sacrifices is

Closely connected with this was 'the lifting and waving' of certain sacrifices. The priest

put his hands under those of the offerer, and moved the sacrifice upwards and

downwards, right and left; according to Abarbanel also 'forwards and backwards.' The

lamb of the leper's trespass-offering was waved before it was slain (Lev 14:24); private

peace-offerings, only after they had been slain; while in public peace-offerings, the

practice varied.

Under ordinary circumstances all public sacrifices, and also always that of the leper,

were slain by the prie sts. 41

The Talmud declares the offering of birds, so as to secure the blood, 42 to have been the

most difficult part of a priest's work.

For the death of the sacrifice was only a means towards an end, that end being the

shedding and sprinkling of the blood, by which the atonement was really made. The

Rabbis mention a variety of rules observed by the priest who caught up the blood--all

designed to make the best provision for its proper sprinkling. 43

Thus the priest was to catch up the blood in a silver vessel pointed at the bottom, so

that it could not be put down, and to keep it constantly stirred, to preserve the fluidity

of the blood. In the sacrifice of the red heifer, however, the priest caught the blood

directly in his left hand, and sprinkled it with his right towards the Holy Place: while in

that of the leper one of the two priests received the blood in the vessel; the other in his

hand, from which he anointed the purified leper (Lev 4:25).

According to the difference of sacrifices, the blood was differently applied, and in

different places. In all burnt-, trespass-, and peace-offerings the blood was thrown

directly out of the vessel or vessels in which it had been caught, the priest going first to

one corner of the altar and then to the other, and throwing it in the form of the Greek

Letter gamma, so that each time two sides of the altar were covered. Any blood left after

these two 'gifts,' as they were called (which stood for four), was poured out at the base

of the altar, whence it flowed into the Kedron. In all sin -offerings the blood was not

thrown, but sprinkled, the priest dipping the forefinger of his right hand into the blood,

and then sprinkling it from his finger by a motion of the thumb. According to the

importance of the sin -offering, the blood was so applied either to the four horns of the

altar of burnt-offering, or else it was brought into the Holy Place itself, and sprinkled

first seven times towards the veil of the Most Holy Place (Lev 4:6,17), and then on the