Page:Annotated Edition of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.djvu/44

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Israel; he protects his possession and will take care of its future welfare.

At that time will I bring you in (בָּעֵת הַהִיא), Zephaniah iii. 20.

The Sacrifices.

Pages 9-13. The Sacrifices. We now reach citations from the Pentateuch and the Mishnah treating of the sacrifices. The devout recital of these passages is to take the place of the sacrifices of former days (Talmud, Taanith 27 b; Menaḥoth no a). Compare Hosea xiv. 3, " We will render as (or, in the place of) bullocks the offering of our lips." Prayer is described by the Rabbis (Taanith 2 a) as "the service of the heart," the word for service (עֲבוֺדָה) being identical with the term used of the sacrificial rites. Further, the recitation of the sacrificial passages is a reminder that the Synagogue services were constituted in correspondence to the Temple sacrifices (Berachoth 26 b).

Page 9. And the Lord spake unto Moses (וַידֲבֵּר יְיָ אֶל מֹשֶה), This passage from Numbers xxviii. 1-8 describes the regular daily sacrifices (tamid, תָּמִיד) which were offered morning and evening, and also the regular sacrifices for Sabbaths and New Moons (Numbers xxviii. 9-15). The early morning tamid was accompanied by the prayers which, as explained above in the Introduction to these Notes, formed the nucleus of our present ritual. At the end is added (page 10) a verse from Leviticus (i. n), And he shall slay it. . .northward (וְשָׁחַט אֹתוֺ... צָפֹנָה). The Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah, ch. ii.) interprets this verse as containing an allusion to the binding of Isaac, an act of obedience and devotion which God is represented as holding in lasting memory. In some rites the Akedah, the account of the binding (עֲקֵידָה) of Isaac (Genesis xxii.), is included in this place; in the P.B. the chapter is printed on page 91.

Page 11. Which are the places where the sacrifices were offered? (אֵיזֶהוּ מְקוֺמָן). This chapter of the Mishnah (Zebaḥim v) serves a double purpose. It is, in the first