OR THE BURNING OF THE DEAD. 105 



<c the fire, ye shall make go through the water *." In the re - 

 moval of defilement by the dead, the use both of fire and of 

 water was necessary. A red heifer was to be killed, and com- 

 pletely burnt without the camp ; the ashes of which were to be 

 carefully collected, and laid up for future use in regard to all 

 who had " touched a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a 

 " grave." The law, enjoining the necessary purification, is 

 thus expressed : " For an unclean person," that is, one pollu- 

 ted by the dead, " they shall take of the ashes of the burnt hei- 

 " fer of purification," or of atonement for sin, ",and running wa~ 

 " ter shall be put thereto in a vessel : and a clean person," a 

 priest, according to the Targufn of Jonathan, " shall take hys- 

 " sop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, 

 " and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were 

 " there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or 

 " one dead, or a grave : and the clean person shall sprinkle 

 upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day : 

 and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his 

 clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at 

 even *f." Pierius, as we have seen, while he marks the de- 

 signed distinction between the use of fire and that of water 

 says that the fire was viewed as purifying, the water as possess- 

 ing the power of expiation. This, however, was reversed 

 among the Hebrews. The ashes of the burnt heifer seem to 

 have respected the expiation of guilt, and the running water 

 the removal of pollution. Not only in the Hebrew, but in the 

 Roman ritual, sprinkling was expressly enjoined. According 

 to both, it was administered by similar means. In the one 

 case, a branch of olive, the emblem of peace and reconciliation, 

 was used instead of a bunch of hyssop in the other. 



Vol. VIII. P. I. O It 



* Num. xxxi. 22, 23. + Num. xix. 1,-19. 



