ns, such as a wedding, the
birth of a child, the beginning of a war, or the celebration of a
victory, the entire animal was burned on the altar. The first-born
calves, or lambs, or kids of any animal mother were also regarded by
the Hebrews as sacred and were burned as whole burnt-offerings to
Jehovah.

SACRIFICES IN CANAAN

After the Hebrews settled in Canaan they adopted other kinds of
sacrifices. Grains and fruits were offered as well as animals. Wine
and oil were poured on the altars. Baked cakes were burned. One sheaf
from every harvest field of wheat or barley was supposed to be waved
back and forth before an altar of Jehovah. This was a sort of
religious drama by which Jehovah was thought to receive a share of the
grain.

=Religious feasts.=--In Canaan also the Hebrews observed certain
religious festivals, which corresponded to the early, middle, and late
harvest seasons; they were called respectively, the "Feast of
Unleavened Bread," the "Feast of Weeks" (or Pentecost), and the "Feast
of Tabernacles." All of these were joyous occasions somewhat like our
Thanksgiving Day, and at all of them each family offered to Jehovah
some part of the products of their fields.

PRIESTS AND THEIR DUTIES

The altars where these sacrifices were offered were in charge of a
special class of men, the priests. In the early days, in Canaan, there
was a little temple, or shrine, outside each town and village with one
or more priests in charge of it. Sometimes wealthy men had private
shrines and hired their own special priests. It was the business of
these men to know just how a sacrifice must be offered in order that
it might be pleasing to Jehovah. There were certain rules and
regulations handed down from generation to generation. There were
certain kinds of animals which could not be offered. It was important
to know just what parts of each victim were to be burned. The various
meal offerings had to be prepared in a certain way. Yeast could not be
used, nor honey.

=The increasing number of priestly rules.=--As the centuries passed
more and more rules were worked out by the priests. This was their
whole business in life, and, of course, they made much of it. More and
more different kinds of offerings were invented; for example, incense,
which was the burning of herbs which made a sweet-smelling smoke. The
books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, especially Leviticus, are
largely composed of these rules for sacrifices. Th