1. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his 2 household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah: Issachar, Zebulun, and 3, 4 Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins 5 of Jacob were seventy souls: and Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his 6 brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased 7 abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. The manner in which the last four of the five books of Moses are made up is peculiar and should have special attention. Their striking peculiarity is the blending of matters pertaining to the religious system, to the civil code, and to the national history, with no well-defined order or method—the historic facts taking their place probably as they occurred and came before the writer, and the other topics being arranged quite miscellaneous. For the most part the record in these four books pertains to the first two years after Moses entered upon his great mission and the last two years before his death. There was a long interval between these periods of which nothing special is said. Passing the first twenty chapters of Exodus, which are history and follow the natural order of the events; and passing also the thrilling and solemn scenes of Sinai—the great work of Moses was to receive and record the statutes of the civil code, and the directions respecting their religious system, including the construction of the tabernacle; the services of the priests and Levites; the sacred festivals, and the whole ritual of worship. H. C. Moses (the Servant of the Lord in writing for him, as well as in acting for him—with the pen as well as with the rod of God in his hand), having in the first book of his history preserved and transmitted the records of the church, while it existed in private families, comes in this second book to give us an account of its growth into a great nation. The beginning of the former book shows us how God formed the world for himself; the beginning of this shows us how he formed Israel for himself, and I both to show forth his praise (Is. 43 : 21). There we have the creation of the world in history, here the redemption of the world in type. The Greek translators called this book Exodus (which signifies a departure, or going out), because it begins with the story of the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt. Some observe that immediately after Genesis, which signifies the beginning, or original, follows Exodus, which signifies a departure; for a time to be born is immediately succeeded by a time to die. H. The general scope of the book is plainly to preserve the memorial of the great facts of the national history of Israel in its earlier periods, to wit, their deliverance from Egypt, the kindness and faithfulness of God in their subsequent preservation in the wilderness, the delivery of the Law, and the establishment of a new and peculiar system of worship. There is no book in the Bible that records such an illustrious series of miracles, or that keeps the divine agency so constantly before the mind's eye. Nor are its moral lessons less prominent and striking. Advertising to the course of Israel's experience as a nation, Paul adds, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." No sooner had he adverted to their privileges than he describes their chastisements, as inflicted to the intent that we should not so imitate their sin, as to provoke a visitation of the same vengeance. Their whole history forms one grand prediction and outline of human redemption, and of the lot of the church. In the servitude of Israel we behold a lively image of man's natural bondage to sin and Satan. In the deliverance from Egypt is foreshown redemption from this thraldom; and the journey through the wilderness is a graphic programme of a Christian's journey through life to his final inheritance in the heavenly Canaan. So also, without minute specification, the manna of which the Israelites ate and the rock of which they drank, as well as the brazen serpent by which they were healed, were severally typical of corresponding particulars under the Christian economy. Add to this, that under the sacrifices and ceremonial service of the Mosaic institute, were described the distinguishing features of the more spiritual worship of the Gospel. Bush. It may seem strange that we have so considerable a blank in the history between Genesis and Exodus, and that the long period of time from Jacob's going down into Egypt and his death, and until Moses' birth, is passed silently over. But Israel has no history except so far as it is the organ of revelation. How full of blanks is the historical account of the centuries in the time of the Judges, on account of the broken state of the theocratic life! and how little do we know of the exile, which yet belongs entirely to the historical time! or of the centuries from Ezra to the Maccabees, and beyond them! It is the peculiarity of Israel to possess history and historical literature in the full sense of the words only in proportion as it realizes its vocation in the history of the world. O.—As the express design of the work embraced merely the relation of Israel to Jehovah, the writer was content to pass over the whole interval during which the chosen people were growing into a great people according to the prophecies in the book of Genesis, and simply state that those prophecies were fulfilled. This was all that the centuries in question contributed to the development of the theocratic plan, and in this respect they stood far behind the few days, in which Jehovah magnified himself in his people before the eyes of the Egyptians. Ranke.—There is no historical work in which the selection and arrangement of the events narrated are so exclusively and unmistakably regulated by one idea as in the historical books of the Old Testament. Everything is looked at from one point of view; prosperity and misfortune, slavery and redemption, joy and sorrow, are all regarded as operations of God on behalf of his people. There is nothing mentioned which does not admit of being easily and intelligibly described from this point of view. This will explain the fact that nothing is said of the lengthened period during which the Israelites were in Egypt, and so little of the period of the Judges. The historical writings of the Hebrews are as different as they possibly can be from chronicles and annals, or a mere recital of naked facts. Bertheau. Ex. 1 : 1-7. The first seven verses are introductory to the whole book. In accordance with the almost invariable custom of the writer, we find a brief recapitulation of preceding events, and a statement of the actual condition of affairs. The names of the Patriarchs and the number of distinct families at the time of the immigration into Egypt are stated in six verses: a single paragraph then records the rapid and continuous increase of the Israelites after the death of Joseph and his contemporaries. Cook. The closing years of the three and a half centuries since their entrance into Egypt found Israel peaceful, prosperous, and probably, in many respects, assimilated to the Egyptians around. "The fathers" had fallen asleep, but their children still held undisturbed possession of the district originally granted them. The land of Goshen, in which they were located, is to this day considered the richest province of Egypt, and could, even now, easily support a million more inhabitants than it numbers. Goshen extended between the most eastern of the ancient seven mouths of the Nile and Palestine. The border-land was probably occupied by the more nomadic branches of the family of Israel, to whose flocks its wide tracts would afford excellent pasturage; while the rich banks along the Nile and its canals were the chosen residence of those who pursued agriculture. Most likely such would also soon swarm across to the western banks of the Nile, where we find traces of them in various cities of the land. There they would acquire a knowledge of the arts and industries of the Egyptians. The simple patriarchal forms of worship would suit the circumstances in Egypt much better than those which the religion of Israel afterward received. Three great observances here stand out prominently. Around them the faith and the worship alike of the ancient patriarchs, and afterward of Israel, may be said to have clustered. They are: circumcision, sacrifices, and the Sabbath. We have direct testimony that the rite of circumcision was observed by Israel in Egypt (Ex. 4 : 24-26). As to sacrifices, even the proposal to celebrate a great sacrificial feast in the wilderness implies that sacrificial worship had maintained its hold upon the people. The direction to gather on the Friday two days' provision of manna, and the introduction of the Sabbath command by the word "Remember," convey the impression of previous Sabbath observance on the part of Israel. Indeed, the manner in which many things, as, for example, the practice of vows, are spoken of in the law, seems to point back to previous religious rites among Israel. These outward observances indicate how, even during those centuries of silence and loneliness in Egypt, Israel still cherished the fundamental truths of their ancestral religion. A. E. As God had chosen the people of Israel as conservators of his Unity and Providence, and of his slowly brightening promises of Redemption, so he perpetually interferes to keep alive the remembrance of these great truths, the object of their selection from mankind; and which nothing less, it should seem, could have preserved through so many ages. In other respects the chosen people appear to have been left to themselves to pass through the ordinary stages of the social state. Mishnu.—Rightly to estimate even the ethnical position and character of the Israelites, it is indispensable that we keep in mind the peculiar work for which, both by prophecy and history, they were specially set apart by God. It is the more necessary to keep their true mission and aim in view, because there are no results beyond those connected with that mission and aim, to justify their claim to be regarded as the peculiar people of God, dealt with as God never dealt with any other nation. Apart from their relation to the spiritual kingdom of Christ, they never made any great figure in the world's history. They had the same pursuits as their neighbors; they were animated by the same pride of race, the same patriotism, the same ambition for national greatness. They had no higher aims, and as a rule only reached much lower attainments than many other nations. For a brief period, in the reigns of David and of Solomon, worldly glory appeared to be within their reach. The momentary splendor faded amid the troubles of the disruption of the kingdom which followed the death of Solomon. Upon the whole, many other nations have been more prosperous; have, by policy or force of arms, acquired greater power and wider territories; have, within the sphere of action common to them all, exercised more influence on the world's history. Other nations have done more to promote intellectual culture; to advance the physical sciences; to extend commerce; to perfect the useful arts, as well as what are called the fine arts; to further the progress of philosophy, jurisprudence, political economy; and to enrich the world with masterpieces in architecture, painting, sculpture, and some departments of literature. As a nation, the only distinction which can be claimed for Israel is that already noticed. Nor, according to the Bible, was any other distinction ever contemplated. Temporal blessings were conditionally promised, the condition being fidelity on their part in carrying out their true destiny; but even with this limitation mere worldly greatness was not an achievement which they were at any time encouraged to hope for. Any promises which appear at first sight to point to such a result will be found, on investigation, to require to be interpreted figuratively as looking forward to a kingdom which is not of this world—the kingdom of Him who was a greater even than Solomon, and in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek, for all are one in Him. Nor, let it be added, is any other reason for even the most extraordinary of the instances of God's distinguishing favor to the chosen seed required. Lee. In the rich and fruitful land of Egypt, and especially in the country of Goshen, had the descendants of Israel become a great, powerful people, amounting to more than two million souls. We here behold the first instance of that remarkable phenomenon, which afterward is often presented to our view,—that God's covenanted people are placed beside and in the midst of the most cultivated and powerful nations of antiquity in order to enjoy the advantages of their worldly civilization; at the same time, by their marked severance from the idolatry of these nations, and by their permanence (while one people after another beside them decayed and passed away), to bear witness to their own Divine origin. Egypt is that ancient kingdom which has erected monuments of its grandeur surpassing those of any early state, which still remain and astonish us by the magnificence of their design and by the degree of cultivation displayed in them. Geri. One important result of late Egyptian researches is the establishment of a complete system of transcription of Hebrew and Egyptian characters. At present no doubt remains as to the exact correspondence of the Hebrew letters with phonetic signs, or groups of common occurrence in papyri and monumental inscriptions. Cook.—The Egyptian monuments furnish the most striking proofs of the veracity of the Biblical narratives. Any one must be blind who refuses to see the flood of light which the papyri and other Egyptian monuments are throwing upon the venerable records of Holy Scripture. Brogach. We may conclude from the words of Joseph (Gen. 46 : 31, 32) that the Israelites pursued in Egypt—in the pasture lands of Goshen, on the borders of the wilderness—that patriarchal, pastoral mode of life which their fathers had done in Canaan. But we are expressly told that they likewise followed field tillage and gardening. They sowed and watered after the manner of the Egyptians (Deut. 11:10, 11). There were "cunning" artificers among them, who could work in cutting precious stones, in gold and in silver (Exod. 35:32, 33). They learned the arts of weaving, spinning, the preparation of leather, from the people, the most celebrated in the ancient world as the inventors of such arts. They made the bricks for the fortresses, Pithom and Rameses. Even when living among the dominant people, they were governed by the heads of their own tribes, who had gradually sprung up from out of the original family government of the patriarchs. Geri.—As the tribes had their princes, so these clans, families, or thousands had their respective chiefs, who were called heads of houses of fathers, heads of thousands, and sometimes simply heads. Harrington denominates these two classes of officers phylachs, or governors of tribes, and patriarchs, or governors of families. Both, while the Israelites were yet in Egypt, were comprehended under the general name of elders. That the tribes were governed, each by its own prince, that they were subdivided into clans, or groups of related families, having also their respective chiefs, and that these princes of tribes and chiefs of clans received the common appellation of "elders of Israel," will be evident to any one who will compare the first chapter of Numbers with Exod. 3:16; 4:29, and 6:14, 15. These princes of tribes and heads of thousands, the elders of Israel, were the rulers of the people, while they remained still subject to the power of the Pharaohs, and constituted a kind of "imperium in imperio." E. C. W. Kitto regards the Israelites, at the period of their descent into Egypt, as distinguished by all the characteristics of the wandering and barbarous shepherd tribes, and not improbably giving occasion at first, by some overt acts of plunder, to the Egyptian government to adopt harsh measures toward them. Hengstenberg, on the other hand, maintains that the roughness and barbarity properly distinguishing the shepherd tribes never belonged to the Hebrews,—that their possessing the character of shepherds at all, arose chiefly from the circumstances in which they were placed during their early sojourn in Canaan,—that they were glad to abandon their wandering life and dwell in settled habitations, whenever an opportunity afforded,—that, set down, as they afterward were, in one of the most fertile and cultivated regions of Egypt, which they held from the first as a settled possession, their manner of life was throughout different from the nomadic, was disdistinguished by possessions in lands and houses, and by the various employments and comforts peculiar to Egyptian society. This view must be adopted with some modification as to the earlier periods of their history; for though the Israelites never entered fully into the habits of the nomad tribes, yet they were manifestly tending more and more in that direction toward the time of their descent into Egypt. The tendency was there gradually checked, and the opposite extreme at last reached,—as it appears that at the time of the Exodus they had all houses with door-posts (Ex. 12:4, 7, etc.), lived to a considerable extent intermingled with the Egyptians in their cities (Ex. 3:20-22; 11:1-3; 12:35, 36), were accustomed to the agricultural occupations peculiar to the country, took part even in its finest manufactures, such as were prepared for the king (1 Chron. 4:21-23), and enjoyed the best productions both of the river and the land (Num. 11:5; 20:5). It is but natural to suppose, however, that some compulsion was requisite to bring them to this state of civilization and refinement; and as it was a state necessary to fit them for setting up the tabernacle and occupying aright the land of Canaan, we see the overruling hand of God in the very compulsion that was exercised. P. F.—It is a mistake to regard the Israelites at their exodus from Egypt as a rude race of nomads, in whom we may not presuppose even the smallest beginnings of culture. They appear in the Pentateuch as an unmanageable, but not as an uncultivated people. While, for example, to take a single illustration, the Pentateuch gives no trace of the art of writing in the time of the patriarchs, this is presupposed as employed among the people when they went out of Egypt, as the name of their functionaries which were taken from the people shows—they were Shoterim, or writers. O.—The art of writing, in Babylon as in Egypt, goes back to the most ancient period. On the bricks of the oldest cities we find letters in use, and that not in their first stage; that is, not hieroglyphic. Southall.—That the Israelites possessed an alphabet and knew the art of writing in the Mosaic age is not subject to reasonable doubt, and is now almost universally admitted. Kurnen.—We need not scruple to assume that Israel knew and used an alphabet in Egypt before Moses. Eseahl. Europe has learned from Egypt its earliest lessons of geometry, chemistry, medicine, architecture, and sculpture. We are beginning more and more to understand this, as we learn that much of the discovery in science and the arts heretofore attributed to the Greeks and the Arabians existed long previously in Egyptian papyri. It is very wonderful to find in these ancient documents, chemical facts, arithmetical formulae, and medical recipes, almost in the identical forms in which they were copied by Greeks and Arabs, heretofore believed to be their authors. Independently of this we can discern in the great works of the early Egyptians more of knowledge both of nature and of practical science, than we can gather from the scanty remains of their writings. Early Egyptian art has also in it the germs of all that has succeeded it. Dawson. 7. On the boundary of the Holy Land the Lord had encouraged Israel: "Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation." And the Book of Exodus opens with the record that this promise had been fulfilled, for "the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." A. E. Each of the twelve patriarchs, when they went down into Egypt, would probably carry with him a household of herdsmen and retainers; and all the males born in the house being circumcised, their descendants would be reckoned as "children of Israel." Thus the original number that multiplied into 2,000,000 was not seventy, but more probably some 2000 or 3000. And with this agrees the narrative, which tells us how they brought all their flocks and their herds with them, implying a very large number of servants and herdsmen, and how a large tract of country was at once assigned them. J. P. N. How long a period elapsed between the migration into Egypt under Jacob, and the Exodus, or departure, under Moses, has been a question debated from the earliest ages by Jewish, no less than Christian writers. While some assign the whole duration of 430 years to the captivity in Egypt, others include the residence of the patriarchs, 215 years, within this period. The vestiges of this controversy appear in all the earlier writings. The Hebrew and Samaritan texts, the different copies of the Greek version of the Scriptures, differ. Stephen, in the Acts, seems to have followed one opinion, Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, the other. Josephus contradicts himself repeatedly. The great body of English divines follow the latter hypothesis; the great modern scholars of Germany generally prefer the former. The following brief statement may throw some light on this intricate subject. The Jews were firmly and religiously persuaded that their genealogies were not merely accurate, but complete. As then only two names appeared between Levi and Moses, those of Kohath and Amram, and the date of life assigned to these two seemed irreconcilable with the longer period of 430 years, they adopted very generally the notion that only 215 years were passed in Egypt. They overlooked, or left to miraculous intervention to account for a still greater difficulty, the prodigious increase in one family during one generation. In the desert the males of the descendants of Kohath are reckoned at 8609. Kohath had four sons, from each son then, in one generation, must have sprung on the average 2150 males. On this hypothesis the alternative remains, either that some names have been lost from the genealogies between Kohath and Amram, or between Amram and Moses, a notion confirmed by the fact that in the genealogy of Joshua in the book of Chronicles, he stands twelfth in descent from Joseph, while Moses is the fourth from Levi: or, as there are certain grounds for suspecting, some general error runs through the whole numbering of the Israelites in the desert. . . . Some curious particulars of this period may be gleaned from the genealogies (1 Chron. 7: 21, 22). Some intercourse with the native country was kept up for a time. Certain sons of Ephraim were slain in a freebooting expedition to drive the cattle of the inhabitants of Gath. Another became ruler of the tribe of Moab. Some became celebrated in Egypt as potters, and manufacturers in cotton (byssus). Milman. (See p. 325.) The scriptural name "Ham" seems to be identical with the indigenous name of Egypt, as it appears in hieroglyphics, "Khemmi," and refers to the black color of the soil. The special name in scriptural geography was "Mizraim," a noun in the dual number, signifying the two (i.e., the Upper and Lower) Misr the name by which Egypt is still designated by the Arabs: it means "red mud." The Nile is occasionally named "Shihor" (Is. 23: 5); but more commonly "Yeor" (Gen. 41: 1; Ex. 1: 22), after the Coptic iaro, "river;" the Hebrews also applied to it sometimes the term yom, "sea" (Is. 19: 5; Ex. 32: 2). The ancient history of Egypt may be divided into three portions:—the old monarchy, extending from the foundation of the kingdom to the invasion of the Hyksos; the middle, from the entrance to the expulsion of the Hyksos; and the new, from the re-establishment of the native monarchy by Amosis to the Persian conquest. Of the middle monarchy we only know that a nomadic horde called Hyksos for several centuries occupied and made Egypt tributary; that their capital was Memphis; that in the Sethroite name they constructed an immense earth-camp, which they called Abaris, that at a certain period of their occupation two independent kingdoms were formed in Egypt, one in the Thebaid, which held intimate relations with Ethiopia; another at Xois, among the marshes of the Nile; and that, finally, the Egyptians regained their independence, and expelled the Hyksos, who thereupon retired into Palestine. The Hyksos form the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth dynasties. Manetho says they were Arabs, but he calls the six kings of the fifteenth dynasty Phœnicians. The New Monarchy extends from the commencement of the eighteenth to the end of the thirtieth dynasty. The kingdom was consolidated by Amosis, who succeeded in expelling the Hyksos, and thus prepared the way for the foreign expeditions which his successors carried on in Asia and Africa, extending from Mesopotamia in the former to Ethiopia in the latter continent. The glorious era of Egyptian history was under the nineteenth dynasty, when Sethi I., B.C. 1322, and his grandson, Rameses the Great, B.C. 1311, both of whom represent the Sesostris of the Greek historians, carried their arms over the whole of Western Asia and southward into Soudan, and amassed vast treasures, which were expended on public works. Under the later kings of the nineteenth dynasty the power of Egypt faded: the twentieth and twenty-first dynasties achieved nothing worthy of record; but with the twenty-second we enter upon a period that is interesting from its associations with biblical history, the first of this dynasty, Sheshonk I. (Seconchis) B.C. 990, being the Shishak who invaded Judea in Rehoboam's reign and pillaged the Temple (1 Kings 14:25). Of this event and of the subsequent history of Egypt, we shall have further occasion to speak. P. S. The land of Egypt has well been called "the land of wonders." The nature of the country and the history of its people are equally extraordinary. For the most part, the land of Egypt is just a narrow strip, extending to the breadth of a few miles on each side of the river Nile, but expanding, toward the mouths of that river, into an extensive plain, called, from its resemblance to the Greek letter Δ, a Delta. Its total length is about 500 miles; so that, with Palestine, Greece, Rome, and Britain, it ranks among the very small countries that have had a wonderful influence on the rest of the world. W. G. B. There has probably been little change in the physical aspect of Egypt since the days when Joseph was made "ruler over all the land of Egypt," or since those in which Moses led the Israelites from the land of their bondage. The Valley of the Nile, or Upper Egypt, must always have presented the same general appearance; the mysterious river rolling silently northward between two, almost unbroken, table-topped walls of limestone, which here approach the water, there retire from it, leaving large plains of the richest soil, to which new life is given each year by the fertilizing waters of the great river. Over these flats is spread a carpet of luxuriant vegetation of the brightest green, which is in striking and not unpleasing contrast to the yellow hills of the barren desert on either side. So, too, the Delta must always have been a great plain, intersected by the many arms of the river and by innumerable canals, which irrigated the country and spread the life-giving waters over an area far greater than that which is now cultivated. The sands of the desert have been allowed to encroach and swallow up large tracts, such as the "land of Goshen," which was formerly the "best of the land," but is now little better than the surrounding desert; and many of the canals and lakes, once well stocked with fish, have dried up, and no longer fertilize the land; such is especially the case with the great canal that connected the Nile with the Gulf of Suez, and gave life to the Wady Tumeilat, which is now covered with sand. The Delta is triangular in form, its eastern and western faces being bounded by branches of the river, and its base by the sea; its fertility was surprising, and is alluded to in several passages of the Bible, as in Gen. 13:10, where the Jordan valley is said to have been "like a garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." The rainfall is so slight that it has no influence on the cultivation, a peculiarity noticed by Zechariah (14:18); and the necessity for irrigation is mentioned in Deut. 11:10, 11, where a contrast is drawn between the land of bondage and the Promised Land, which was to be "a land of hills and valleys," that "drinketh water of the rain of heaven." Wilson. Egypt in that age stood at the summit of the world's civilization, a fully organized kingdom, a great and highly cultured people. There is most ample proof that Egypt was then eminent above any other nation in learning, wisdom, science, and art; in jurisprudence, and in the administration of law; in industry and in wealth; in short, in all the main appliances and results of a high civilization. The antiquities of Ancient Egypt are the marvel of our times. Her temples, pyramids, and obelisks; her paintings and works of art, have come down to our age in most wonderful preservation, living witnesses to her ancient greatness. There was no other kingdom on the face of the earth where a man like Moses could have been educated and trained to become the law-giver of the Hebrew nation, or where such a system of civil law as God gave his people by the hand of Moses could have taken its rise and could have been understood, accepted, appreciated, and ultimately wrought into established usage and into the national life. H. C. The temples reared by the Egyptians to their gods were exceedingly magnificent. The remains of some of them are still among the wonders of the world. The priesthood was a large, wealthy, and highly privileged class, with the king himself, as high priest, at their head. Their sacred rites were numerous and varied, and included much that was fitted to dazzle the senses of the multitude. Prominent in their religious belief was the doctrine of future retribution. This was frequently depicted in paintings. W. G. B.—Where could Clio write their history so appropriately as on the walls of their temples? And never were pages more graphic. The gathering, the march, the melee—the Pharaoh's prowess, standing erect as he always does in his car, no charioteer, the reins attached to his waist, the arrow drawn to his ear, his horses all fire, springing into the air like Pegasus, and then the agony of the dying, transfixed by his dart, the relaxed limbs of the slain,—Homer's truth itself; and lastly, the triumphant return, the welcome home, and the offerings of thanksgiving to Amunre—the fire, the discrimination with which these ideas are bodied forth, they must be seen to judge of it. Lord Lindsay. All hereabout is full of deepest interest—sepulchres, monuments, historical records, and sites of ancient cities. We are in a land of dreams, and all the surroundings bear dreamy outlines; gigantic in their proportions, and rendered even more gigantic by the manner in which they are disposed. Probably the most magnificent of these monuments in Upper Egypt—the Pathros of Scripture—are those of its capital, Thebes, the No, or No Amon of the Bible. It were impossible in brief space to describe its temple. The sanctuary itself was small, but opposite to it a court opened upon a hall into which the great cathedral of Paris might be placed, without touching the walls on either side! One hundred and forty columns support this hall, the central pillars being sixty-six feet high, and so wide that it would take six men with extended arms to embrace one of them. The mind gets almost bewildered by such proportions. All around, the walls bear representations, inscriptions, and records—among others, those of Shishak, who captured Jerusalem during the reign of Rehoboam. But the temple itself is almost insignificant when compared with the approach to it, which was through a double row of sixty or seventy ram-headed sphinxes, placed about eleven feet apart from each other. Another avenue led to a temple which enclosed a lake for funeral rites; and yet a third avenue of sphinxes extended a distance of 6000 feet to a palace. A. E. The incidental confirmations of the Bible from the tombs are numerous and striking. It seems, as one goes from tomb to tomb, that he is visiting the picture galleries, the manufactories, and the private houses of the old Egyptians, and mingling familiarly in their everyday scenes. It is not death, but life, one here beholds; or, rather, as at Pompeii, life exhumed from the chambers of the dead. In the eloquent language of Cardinal Wiseman, "When, after so many ages of darkness and uncertainty, we see the lost history of this people revive, and take its stand beside that of other ancient empires; when we read the inscriptions of its kings, recording their mighty exploits and regal qualities, and gaze upon their monuments, with the full understanding of the events which they commemorate, the impression is scarcely less striking to an enlightened mind than what the traveller would feel, if, when silently pacing the catacombs at Thebes, he should see those corpses, which the embalmer's skill has for so many ages rescued from decay, on a sudden burst their cerements, and start resuscitated from their niches." These old Egyptians, whose tombs and temples are now open to our inspection, and whose social, commercial, religious, and political history is written upon the imperishable rock, where all may read it—these ancients, over whom we of this nineteenth century are wont to boast in all the "improvements" and the material comforts of life, had wealth beyond all computation; commerce in all the "precious things" of Arabia, of Persia, and the Indies, in gold, and jewels, and spices, and silks, and aromatics; manufactures of fine linen and embroidered work, of vases of porcelain and pottery, of oil, of chariots, of baskets and wickerwork, of glass ornaments and utensils, and of many other articles of comfort and of luxury; husbandry that made Egypt the granary of the world, and once and again the support of neighboring nations in time of famine; civilization that well supplied the comforts of domestic life, that furnished their houses with chairs, sofas, and couches for their parlors, as well as with copper utensils, caldrons, tripods, mortars, pallets, ovens for their kitchens; mechanic arts to fabricate various and formidable weapons of war, and to erect buildings and monuments that would now exhaust the combined strength and treasures of all the nations of Europe; an art that could excavate from the quarry a block of sienite weighing nearly nine hundred tons, that could transport it more than a hundred miles,—the distance of the nearest quarry,—and that could erect this block, when carved into a statue, upon a pedestal prepared for it at the gateway of a temple whose porch was lined with similar, though smaller figures; an art that could arrange in perfect order a double row of fourteen pillars, each upward of seventy feet high by thirty-six in circumference, and raise to the top of these stones thirty feet in length by six feet in breadth, and the same in thickness, and then dispose about this central avenue other avenues formed by a hundred and twenty-two majestic pillars, in like manner capped with gigantic stones, until the roofed temple covered an acre and a half, and with its surroundings ten times that surface, and this centuries before Solomon built the inferior temple at Jerusalem; an art, in short, that could build Karnac and the pyramids: fine arts also; sculpture, which if it be less delicate than that of Greece, is more grand and spirited, which at times unites beauty with grandeur, but which in majesty of conception is rivalled only by the contemporary sculptures of Nineveh; painting, which after four thousand years retains the freshness of its colors; music, which invented both wind and stringed instruments; mathematical science, that could arrange with precision and skill all architectural lines and forms; astronomical science, that decorated the ceilings of temples with celestial signs; geological science, so far as this relates to the selection of different qualities of stone for different qualities of soil; philosophy, that evolved the great idea of a judgment and a future state and the soul's immortality, though in the form of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, a philosophy that Moses and Plato studied, and that gave wisdom to the world; and all these under the guardianship of a physical force that was for centuries victorious upon every field, that subdued Ethiopia and Judea, and swept Syria to the Euphrates, and that was shielded at home upon three sides by the mountains and the desert, and on the fourth side by the sea. And yet with all its wealth, and commerce, and manufactures, and agriculture, and civilization, and art, and science, and philosophy, and material force, and natural barriers, Egypt has perished, utterly and forever perished. The mighty conquerors of Egypt, too, have perished. The Persian empire, the Macedonian, the Roman, are fallen to rise no more. J. P. T. [For other notices of Egypt, see Sections 39 and 67.] 8. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his 9 people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come, 10 let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them 11 up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their 12 burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were 13 grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to 14 serve with rigour : and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigour. 15. And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was 16. Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah : and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool ; if it be a son, then ye shall kill 17 him ; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not 18 as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have 19 saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women ; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwife 20 come unto them. And God dealt well with the midwives : and the people multiplied, and 21 waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made 22 them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. 8-14. The oppression of Israel by the Egyptians. The new king who arose appears not to have been merely another king, in ordinary succession, but a king of a new dynasty, foreign to the traditions and maxims of his predecessors. Alf.—The first persecutor of the Israelites may be distinguished as the Pharaoh of the Oppression, especially as he commenced, and probably long carried on, the persecution. The general view is that he was an Egyptian, a king of the nineteenth dynasty. The chief points in favor of this are the name of the city Ramses, whence it has been argued that one of the oppressors was a king Ramses, and the probable change of line. The first king of this name known was head of the nineteenth dynasty. Manetho says the Israelites left Egypt in the reign of Menptah, who was great-grandson of the first Ramses, and son and successor of the second. Dic. B. From the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty, when the Hyksos were expelled by Aahmes I., the monumental history of Egypt is tolerably complete ; the succession of nearly all the Pharaohs and the principal events in the reigns of the most distinguished are distinctly recorded. The chronology, however, is uncertain. 18th Dynasty.—Aahmes I. (Nefertari Queen), Amenhotep I., Thotmes I. (Aahmes Regent), Thotmes II., Thotmes III., Amenhotep II., Thotmes IV., Amenhotep III., Amenhotep IV. (who took the name Khun-Aten), three other kings not recognized as legitimate, Horemheb. 19th Dynasty.—Rameses I., Seti I., Rameses II., Menptah I., Seti II. or Menptah II., Amemmeses, Siptah, and Tauser. Cook. The period of the sojourn reckoned at 430 years, the administration of Joseph would fall in the time of the Shepherd Kings, while their successors of the XVIIIth Dynasty would mark the beginning of the period of oppression. All Egyptologists now hold Ramses II. and his son Menptah to be the great oppressor and the Pharaoh of the Exodus respectively. Their combined reigns correspond with the length of the persecution in the Bible, and their characters in their own records are the counterparts of the Biblical portraits of the inflexible tyrant and his vacillating successor. The evidence of Manetho and the researches of Lepsius and Brugsch have placed this beyond doubt. R. S. Poole. [See Sections 84, 90, close.] That Ramses II. was the Pharaoh of the oppression, has long been suspected by Egyptian scholars. The accounts of the wars of himself and his predecessors in Canaan show that up to the date of his death that country was not yet inhabited by the Israelites. But the question as to the date of the Exodus, and consequently as to the Pharaoh of the oppression, has now been finally set at rest by the excavations recently undertaken at Tel-el-Maskhūta. This is the name of some large mounds near Tel-el-Kebir and other places which were the scene of the late war ; and M. Naville, who has excavated them for the Egyptian Exploration Fund, has found inscriptions in them which show not only that they represent an ancient city whose religious name was Pithom, while its civil name was Succoth, but also that the founder of the city was Ramses II. In Greek times the city was called Heroöpolis, or Ero, from the Egyptian word ara, “a storehouse,” reminding us that Pithom and Raamses, which the Israelites built for the Pharaoh, were “treasure-cities” (v. 11). M. Naville has even discovered the treasure-chambers themselves. They are very strongly constructed, and divided by brick partitions from eight to ten feet thick, the bricks being sun-baked, and made some with and some without straw. In these strawless bricks we may see the work of the oppressed people when the order came: 'Thus saith the Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.' The treasure-chambers occupy almost the whole area of the old city, the walls of which are about 650 feet square and 22 feet thick. Its name Pithom—in Egyptian Pa-Tum—signifies the city of the Setting Sun; and since it had another name, Succoth, we can now understand how it was that the Israelites started on their march not from Goshen, but from Succoth (Ex. 13:20), that is, from the very place where they had been working. Sayce. 11. The taskmasters were Egyptian bailiffs or general managers; the officers (5:6) were Hebrews, and had each the charge of a certain number, of whom and their work they had to keep account (hence called Sholerim or Writers). When recently in Egypt, I saw this very system still in operation on a road which the Viceroy was constructing. W. L. A.—The Israelites were employed in forced labors, probably in detachments, each under an Egyptian 'taskmaster' but they were not reduced to slavery, properly speaking, nor treated as captives of war. They continued to occupy and cultivate their own district, and they retained possession of their houses, flocks, herds, and other property until they emigrated from Egypt. Cook.—The ancient monuments of Egypt confirm the statements of sacred history, showing that the Egyptians employed national bondmen in the construction of their vast national works; that they placed over them taskmasters; that when the workmen fell short of the required tale of brick, their masters put them to more severe labors, and in some cases to labors of other sort. It should be noted that this bondage differed from the slavery of modern times in this one respect—that the bondmen were held by the king and the nation in their national capacity and not by individuals. The Hebrews were not held as private but as public property. The king and the nation as such bore therefore the responsibility and guilt of this oppression, and God let his judgments smite them for the most part in such a way as to indicate their sin. H. C. 11,14. The construction of 'store-cities' at the required period has received recent illustration of the most remarkable kind. The explorers have uncovered near Tel-el-Kebir an ancient city, which the inscriptions found on the spot show to have been built, in part at any rate, by Rameses II., and which is of so peculiar a construction as to suggest at once to those engaged in the work the idea that it was built for a 'store-city.' The town is altogether a square, enclosed by a brick wall. The area contained within the wall is estimated at about ten acres. Nearly the whole of this space is occupied by solidly built square chambers, divided one from the other by brick walls from eight to ten feet thick, which are unpierced by window or door, or opening of any kind. It further appears, from several short inscriptions, that the name of the city was Pa-Tum, or Pithom; and there is thus no reasonable doubt that one of the two cities built by the Israelites has been laid bare, and answers completely to the description given of it. Of the twin city, Rameses, the remains have not yet been identified. We know, however, from the inscriptions, that it was in the immediate vicinity of Tanis, and that it was built perhaps in part by Seti I., but mainly by his son Rameses II. It lends additional interest to the discovery of Pithom that the city is found to be built almost entirely of brick. It was in brick-making that the Israelites are here said (Exodus ch. 1:14; 5:7-19) to have been employed. G. R. The discovery of Pithom by Naville is of incomparable value: 1. In attesting the truth of the sacred narrative in the Hebrew ('treasure' or 'store' city) and Septuagint ('fortified') versions, and in its local coloring of bricks with or without straw, with stubble, and of the use of mortar. 2. In identifying Rameses II., 'the Pharaoh of the oppression,' as the builder of Pithom. 3. In disclosing valuable monumental records, especially the 'Stone of Pithom,' relating to its subsequent history. 4. In identifying the site with Heroopolis and Ero, the Greek and Roman towns. 5. In monumentally showing Succoth to have been the civil name of Pithom, and that Pithom-Succoth was the capital of the district, which was Succoth. 6. In its relation to the geography of the Exodus route and 'the land of Goshen,' Brugsch and Ebers representing German, Revillout French, Pleyte Dutch opinion, have accepted the site disclosed by Naville as that of Pithom. So have Maspero, Rawlinson, Poole, Miss Edwards, Tomkins, Sayce, and the Americans, J. A. Paine, A. H. Kellogg, and H. C. Trumbull. The explorations of São Tanis (the biblical Zoan) by Petrie, although in comparative incipiency, have proved Avaris, the long-lost capital of the Shepherd Kings, to have been there; have disclosed the 'colossus of colossi,' the most gigantic of all statues known to man (that of Rameses II.), and the wall of the great temple; statues, pylons, sphinxes, tablets, Ptolemaic and other household and sacred relics; articles in glass, bronze, porcelain, alabaster, etc.; silver and gold, and even that rare metal in Egypt, iron. W. C. Winslow. 15-22. The new Pharaoh oppresses them cruelly; they are a prey to the miseries of slavery, the contagion of idolatry, to all the evils, all the perils, physical and moral, which can afflict a nation numerically weak, fallen under the yoke of one powerful and civilized. The Hebrews nevertheless persist in their religious faith, cling to their national reminiscences; they do not suffer their nationality to be lost in and confounded with that of their masters; they endure without offering any active resistance; they await their Deliverer. Guizot. 21. Made them houses. They married Hebrews and became mothers in Israel. The expression is proverbial (see 2 Sam. 7 : 11, 27). Cook.—As they preserved the people and promoted their increase, therefore God blessed them in the preservation and increase of their families. Gerl.—Scripture has preserved the names of these courageous women, and told us that their motive was “fear of God” (in the Hebrew with the article, “the God,” as denoting the living and true God). And as they were the means of “making” or upbuilding the houses of Israel, so God “made them houses.” It is true that, when challenged by the king, they failed to speak out their true motive; but, as Augustine remarks, “God forgave the evil on account of the good, and rewarded their piety, though not their deceit.” A. E. 22. In the whole of this history, as in so many in the Old Testament, sin and its punishment are shown to us in a close relation to each other. As the children of the Israelites were thrown into the water, so do we find that the Egyptians themselves perish in the water. Gerl.—All these plans of Pharaoh are destined to come to naught. Persecution and death cannot damage the Church of God. The Christian is not weakened thereby; but the Church ever increases under the Cross, under the tyranny of the world and of the Devil: as an old doctor of the Church, Tertullian, hath said, “The Church is watered by the blood of Christians.” Luther.—The church was lying on the burning coals of persecution—a hard duty; but great good must ever have its birth in the house of great sorrows. Then followed the school-days, when the church sat down before Sinai, received the Law, and the rites and ceremonies embodying great principles and great truths. The Levitical was the material age, when the child must be instructed by pictures, disciplined and corrected till ripe for something better. Todd. It is no new thing for Egypt to be unkind and cruel to Israel. Israelites and Egyptians are of contrary dispositions and inclinations; the delight of one is the abomination of the other. Besides, it is the duty of Israel to depart out of Egypt. Israel is in Egypt in respect of abode, not of desire. Egypt is not Israel’s rest. If Egypt were an House of hospitality, it would more dangerously and strongly detain the Israelites, than in being an house of bondage. The thoughts of Canaan would be but slight and seldom, if Egypt were pleasant. It is good that Egyptians should hate us, that so they may not hurt us. When the world is most kind, it is most corrupting; and when it smiles most, it seduceth most. Were it not for the bondage in Egypt, the food and idols of Egypt would be too much beloved. Blessed be God, who will by the former wean us from the latter; and will not let us have the one without the other: far better that Egypt should oppress us, than we oppose God. Jenkyn. 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the 2 woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid 3 him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bul- rushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it 4 in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done 5 to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water. 11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together; and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely the thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a sojourner in a strange land. 1-10. By the cruel edict which required the Hebrews to cast all their male children into the river Nile, Pharaoh intended to check the growing greatness of a nation whose numbers he began to dread. But God designed it as the occasion of the adoption of Moses by no less a personage than the daughter of the reigning sovereign; and this to the intent that the future leader and lawgiver of the Hebrew people might be educated for his responsible office. E. C. W.—The decree designed by Pharaoh to inflict the death-blow on Israel's hopes of honor and enlargement, was made to prepare and fashion the living instrument through whom these hopes were soon to be carried forth into victory and fruition. Forced by the very urgency of the danger on the notice of Pharaoh's daughter, and thereafter received under her care and patronage into Pharaoh's house, the child Moses possessed in the highest degree the opportunity of becoming "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and grew up to manhood in the familiar use of every advantage which it was possible for the world at that time to confer. P. F.—Divine Providence had determined to raise up that man who was to release this oppressed people, and after having seen and intimately known the civil and religious institutions of this famous country was deliberately to reject them, to found a polity on totally different principles, and establish a religion the most opposite to the mysterious polytheism of Egypt; a polity and a religion which were to survive the dynasty of the Pharaohs and the deities of their vast temples, and exercise an unbounded influence on the civil and religious history of the most remote ages. Milwan. Everything here is strictly Egyptian; even some of the terms used in the Hebrew are derived from the Egyptian. The papyrus no longer grows below Nubia, but the Egyptian monuments exhibit many such "arks" and boats made of the plant, and similarly prepared. The "flags" were a smaller species of papyrus. A. E.—The story of Moses reproduces the country and the times. The branches of the Nile were anciently lined with reeds. The papyrus was woven into baskets, mats, and even little boats, which were made water-tight with the resin, or bitumen, in common use for mummy-wrappings. The sanitary customs of the Egyptians united with their religious feeling to recommend bathing in the sacred river; and the monuments show, that, in ancient Egypt, women had much greater freedom than is now accorded them in Oriental countries. Thus everything is here pictured to the life. J. P. T. No romance could have been more skilfully framed for the purpose of setting all the affections in play, than this simple and beautiful story—the placing of the babe by the river side—the watching of him by his sister—the approach of Pharaoh's daughter to the spot—the crying of the child and its influence on the sensibilities of a woman's heart—the offer of the sister to call a nurse, and thus the restoration of the babe to its own mother again. In the epistle to the Hebrews this act of Moses' parents is said to have been by faith: and we cannot doubt that all was overruled by the providence of God, even to the very suggestion which prompted the measure they took with their child. Whether they had in any degree the light of a revelation for what they did, they must at least have left a certain confidence in the protection of Him who is invisible, else they would not have been remarked by the Apostle among the Old Testament worthies who through faith obtained a good report. T. C. We shall study the history of Moses without the key if we overlook the point made by the writer to the Hebrews (11:23): "By faith Moses when he was born was hid three months because they saw that he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Faith in God made them fearless of Egypt's cruel king. It may sometimes happen that profound interest in a babe of apparently rare promise shall run in a very low and selfish channel, suggesting how much he may do to comfort their own hearts, or to build up the glory of their house or of their name;—but when by a heavenly faith it takes hold of useful work for God, when it prompts to a special consecration of all the possibilities of his future to the kingdom of Christ, it is morally sublime. Such seems to have been the faith of the parents of the child Moses. How their faith prompted ingenious methods of concealment; how it wrought in harmony with God's wise providence, not only to preserve the life of this consecrated child, but to give him a place in the heart of Pharaoh's daughter, and thus open to his growing mind all the wealth of Egypt's culture and wisdom, we learn somewhat from this story. H. C. 1. A daughter of Levi. The idiom which calls even a remote descendant the son or daughter is common to the Old and New Testament, and this passage may be understood to mean that both parents of Moses were of the house and lineage of Levi. Thus the Vulgate renders the verse, "and he took a wife of his own family;" the LXX. has "a wife of the daughters of Levi." 2. Bare a son. Not her firstborn, Aaron and Miriam were older than Moses. The object of the writer is simply to narrate the events which led to the Exodus, and, as usual, he omits to notice what had no direct bearing upon that object. E. H. B. 3. She took for him an ark of bulrushes. The bulrush is the papyrus or paper-reed of the ancients. It grows in marshy places, and was once most abundant on the banks of the Nile; but now that the river has been opened to commerce it has disappeared, save in a few unfrequented spots. It is described as having "an angular stem from three to six feet high, though occasionally it grows to the height of fourteen feet; it has no leaves; the flowers are in very small spikelets, which grow in thread-like, flowering branchlets, which form a bushy crown to each stem." It was used for many purposes by the Egyptians; for shoes, baskets, vessels of different sorts, and boats; but it was especially valuable as furnishing the material corresponding to our paper, on which written communications could be made. To obtain this last fibre, the coarse exterior rind was taken off, and then with a needle the thin concentric layers of the inner cuticle, sometimes to the number of twenty in a single plant, were removed. These were afterward joined together with a mixture of flour, paste, and glue; and a similar layer of strips being laid crosswise in order to strengthen the fabric, the whole sheet was subjected to pressure, dried in the sun, beaten with a mallet, and polished with ivory. When completed and written over, the sheets were united into one, and rolled on a slender wooden cylinder. Thus was formed a book, and the description of the process gives the etymology and primal significance of our own word "volume." W. M. T. Laid it in the flags. The mother of Moses laid the ark by the river's brink. She could not have laid it so courageously upon the Nile, if she had not first devoutly laid it upon the care and love of God. We are often surprised at the outward calmness of men who are called upon to do unpleasant and most trying deeds; but could we have seen them in secret we should have known the moral preparation which they underwent before coming out to be seen of men. Be right in the sanctuary, if you would be right in the market-place. Be steadfast in prayer, if you would be calm in affliction. J. P. 4. The mother has done her part. The rushes, the slime, and the pitch were her prudent and necessary preparations; and the great God has been at the same time preparing his materials, and arranging his instruments. He causes everything to concur, not by miraculous influence, but by the simple and natural operation of second causes, to bring about the issue designed in his counsels from everlasting. Bush. 5. Daughter of Pharaoh. God fetches her thither, to deliver the deliverer of his people. His designs go beyond ours. We know not, when we set our foot over our threshold, what he hath to do with us. This event seemed casual to this princess, but predetermined and provided by God, before she was: how wisely and sweetly God brings to pass his own purposes, in our ignorance and regardlessness! She saw the ark, opens it, finds the child weeping; his beauty and his tears had God provided for the strong persuasions of mercy. This young and lively oratory prevailed. Her heart is struck with compassion, and yet her tongue could say, "It is a Hebrew child." Bp. II.—6. The princess "saw the child." That single sentence contains an argument. It was an appeal to the woman's heart. It mattered not that she was a princess, nor that she belonged to the proudest class of the most exclusive nation in the world. Rank, caste, nationality, all melted before the great fact of womanhood. She was a woman, and before her lay an outcast child. F. W. R. In the fact that the deliverer of Israel from the power of Egypt was himself first delivered by the daughter of the king of Egypt, we find the same interweaving of the history of Israel with that of the Gentiles already observed in the history of Joseph; and we may now regard it as a law, that the preference shown to Israel when it was selected as the chosen seed on whom the blessings were first bestowed, was to be counterbalanced by the fact that the salvation of Israel could not be fully effected without the intervention of the Gentiles. This was the opinion of Cyril of Alexandria, which he expressed in his usual allegorical style by saying: "the daughter of Pharaoh is the community of the Gentiles." Bawm.—Thereby he meant to illustrate this great truth, which we trace throughout history, that somehow the salvation of Israel was always connected with the instrumentality of the Gentiles. It was so in the history of Joseph and even before that; and it will continue so till at the last, through their mercy, Israel shall obtain mercy. A. E. The phrase "special providence" is liable to be misunderstood. The teaching of this book is, not that God overrules some things more than others, but that he is in all alike, and is as really in the falling of a sparrow as the revolution of an empire. God was as truly in the removal of the little ones that were taken away, as he was in the saving of Amram's son; and there were lessons of love and warning from the one, no less than of love and encouragement from the other. Nay, more, God is in the daily events of our households precisely as he was in those of the family of the tribe of Levi long ago. The births and the bereavements; the prosperity and the adversity; the joys and the sorrows of our homes, are all under his supervision. He is girding us when we know it not; and his plan of our lives, if we will only yield ourselves to his guidance, will one day round itself into completeness and beauty. Every one of us here has as really been preserved from childhood to this hour by the providence of God, as Moses was delivered on the occasion before us. It is not only when one is snatched out of visible danger, that we should speak of God's care. The protection is as real, though we may not be so conscious of it when no danger is seen. W. M. T. 8. Mother. So, by a merciful arrangement of God's providence, the mother received her child back again, and kept it with her until its third year, when children were wont to be weaned. Gerl.—There is a higher destiny for Jochebed than that she should be merely nurse to her own child, for she is also to become the early guide of him who shall be Israel's guide. Nor will he leave her ere the grand traditions of God's covenant with his friend, of Jacob's death, and Joseph's last command, of Canaan as the land destined for Israel, and of the great deliverance that has been promised for the world, have all been impressed upon his mind. And can we Christians doubt that the relationships of early life must have conduced to bring us where God's hand has afterward conducted us; that every one of us has his own special destiny, for which, like Moses, we are frequently prepared, though all unconsciously, throughout a series of years; that even our first impressions, like the later lessons we receive, are all appointed and arranged by higher wisdom than our own? Van O.—The seeds of his world-conquering faith must have been dropped early into his tender mind. This hired Hebrew nurse, permitted to come into the royal palace by some back-way, was indulged this privilege freely, we know not precisely how long; but let us presume that the same faith and prayer kept this door open, at least for her occasional visits in his future years. How many testimonies of God's love to the fathers of their nation she dropped into his youthful ear; how much she told him of God as "the exceeding great reward" of his believing people; how well she put the contrast between "the treasures of Egypt" and the treasures laid up for God's then persecuted people:—these points are rather left to our inference than definitely stated; but we may be very sure that the faith of Moses took hold of these grand truths of then extant revelation; fixed its hold early; and held fast through all his future life. H. C. He became her son. Her adopted son. Accordingly she gave him a princely education; and caused him to be instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Bp. Patrick.—Thus did he find an asylum in the very palace of his intended destroyer; while his intercourse with his own family and nation was still most naturally maintained. And while he was instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and bred up in the midst of a luxurious court, he acquired the knowledge of the promised Redemption of Israel: and, "by faith in the REDEEMER CHRIST," refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Hales. Those whom God designs for great services, he finds out ways to qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a court, is the fitter to be a prince and king in Jeshurun; by having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then was), is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of Egypt, is the fitter to be employed, in the name of God, as an ambassador to that court. H.—The adopted son of the daughter of an Egyptian king must have been trained in all the wisdom of Egypt. This is also in harmony with the tradition reported by Manetho, which makes Moses a priest of Heliopolis, and therefore presupposes a priestly education. It was precisely this education in the wisdom of the Egyptians, which was the ultimate design of God in all the leadings of his providence, not only with reference to the boy, but, we might say, to the whole of Israel. For it was in order to appropriate the wisdom and culture of Egypt, and to take possession of them as a human basis for divine instruction and direction, that Jacob's family left the land of their fathers' pilgrimage, and their descendants' hope and promise. But the guidance and fate of the whole of Israel were at this time concentrated in Moses. "As Joseph's elevation to the post of grand-vizier of Egypt placed him in a position to provide for his father's house in the time of famine, so was Moses fitted by the Egyptian training received at Pharaoh's court to become the leader and lawgiver of his people." (Baum.)—There can be no doubt that the foster-son of the king's daughter, the highly-gifted and well-educated youth, had the most brilliant course open before him in the Egyptian state. Had he desired it, he would most likely have been able to rise like Joseph to the highest honors. But affairs were very different now. Moses could not enter on such a course as this without sacrificing his nation, his convictions, his hopes, his faith, and his vocation. But that he neither would, nor durst, nor could. And hence it is with perfect truth that the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, when tracing the course of the history, says (ch. 11:24-26): "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." K. Faith breaks the force of opposite propensities and attractions. If the world stand in the way of duty, "faith overcometh the world;" partly by bringing Christ into the combat for us, partly by spiritual replies and arguments. Reason urges "we must be for ourselves;" Faith tells us "we must be for God." Reason says, "If I take this course I shall undo myself." Faith, by looking within the veil, declares it is the only way to be saved. Reason presents the treasures of Egypt, Faith the recompense of reward. Manton.—It is not a question of rationality, as between the conduct of the Christian and other men. It is a question, rather, as to the relative value of the things which he gives up and those which he is seeking to attain, Moses thought the reproach of Christ was greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. If he was right in so thinking, his choice was every way rational. But was he right? Let the nobleness of his character, the influence of his writings, and, more especially, his appearance in glory by the side of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, answer. He was right in his estimate; he was justified in acting on it; and this decision was the first step in that ascending ladder of which the other rounds were Horeb, Sinai, Pisgah, Heaven. W. M. T. "Christ" is the Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew "Messiah." If we inquire whether the Hebrews in the age of Moses knew of a promised Messiah, we answer in the affirmative. Indeed it may be assumed and defended that they knew far more than the current opinion of this nineteenth century gives them credit for. To Abraham, God gave new forms of Messianic promise. The lips of the dying Jacob made yet another fresh addition under the name "Shiloh," who should "come" (Gen. 49:10). We have seen that a wealth of promise lay garnered in the birthright of the sons in Abraham's line. A promised Messiah was no inconsiderable element of that wealth. At this late hour of the Christian centuries men are beginning to learn that "all the wisdom of Egypt" had a larger significance than had been dreamed of for ages, and that it behooves us to be more reserved in fixing limitations upon the extent of their knowledge. The idea of a divine incarnation—some form of God, taking upon himself human flesh—has been current ever since the world began, wherever human thought has reached any considerable culture; and it seems more philosophical to find the origin of this idea in the fact of revealed promise than in the fancy of uninspired minds. H. C. 11-15. Moses records no incident of his life during the following years. His object, as Ranke observes, was not to write his own biography, but to describe God's dealings with his people. Later tradition would have been full of details. At the end of 40 years, when, according to Stephen, Moses visited his brethren, the princess was probably dead, as Syncellus relates, and the events which follow took place under another Pharaoh. Cook. We have three co-ordinate narratives of the early years of Moses; that given in Heb. 11:24-27, very brief, and touching only its specially religious side; while that of Stephen (Acts 7:20-29) is full, even somewhat more full than the narrative here. Particularly Stephen adds that Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and mighty in words and in deeds"—a man like Joseph of immense efficiency:—also that he was "full forty years old" when it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel—a statement which shows that he distinctly recognized this relationship of brethren. Seeing a brother Hebrew abused by an Egyptian he interposed, smote the Egyptian dead, and buried him in the sand. Stephen's words suggest that this was not merely one of those quick, spontaneous impulses felt by noble souls in view of outrageous wrong, but was a first step toward a contemplated career of interposed force for the rescue of his people from their oppression. "For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not" (Acts 7:25). H. C.—The attachment to his own people and to their God must have accompanied him throughout and have matured his final resolve. Even so we may infer had his patriotism been growing and coming to a head, before the incident here related could have taken place. As Stephen shows, he must have in his mind matured his view of himself as the future deliverer and judge of Israel, before he undertook thus first to deliver and then to judge between his brethren. Faith was throughout his guiding principle, dependence on his divine mission, and on God, who called him to it. Observe the stress laid on the word his brethren. It was this feeling which was uppermost in his mind, the tie which bound him to Israel, and his mission of deliverance. Alf. Oppressions may not be righted by violence, but by law. The redress of evil by a person unwarranted, is evil. Moses knew that God had called him; he knew that Pharaoh knew it not; therefore he hides the Egyptian in the sand. Those actions which may be approved unto God are not always safe with men; as contrarily, too many things go current with men, which are not approved of God. Bp. II.—While we cannot approve of the rashness of Moses, we must admire his decision; for now he fully and conclusively gave up all the advantages of an Egyptian prince, and cast in his lot with the people of God. W. M. T.—By his "refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," we are to understand that he positively declined all the honor and aggrandizement implied in that relation. This was his deliberate choice, and no man was ever called to make a choice under circumstances more trying, or made one which redounded more to his credit. It is to be remembered that Moses was at this time of mature age, "full forty years old," says Stephen. It was a decision formed under circumstances in which deep principle must have been the ruling motive; for while in a worldly sense he had nothing to hope from a transfer of himself, he had everything to lose. Bush. 13,14. The same fire of patriotism which thus roused him as a deliverer from the oppressors, turns him into the peacemaker of the oppressed. It is characteristic of the faithfulness of the Sacred records that his flight is occasioned rather by the malignity of his countrymen than by the enmity of the Egyptians. And in Stephen's speech it is this part of the story which is drawn out at greater length than in the original, evidently with the view of showing the identity of the narrow spirit which had thus displayed itself equally against their first and the last Deliverer. A. P. S. 15. Sought to slay Moses. This was perhaps not so much with a view to avenge the death of a single individual of the Egyptian race, as because Moses had by this act discovered himself to be a friend and favorer of the oppressed Israelites, and given the king reason to suspect that he was secretly cherishing the purpose of one day attempting to effect their liberation. His only safety therefore was in flight. Bush. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh. Though he could satisfy his own conscience in having killed the Egyptian, yet he had not received a commission from God to act publicly as the deliverer of the Israelites, and so could not justify his action to Pharaoh: nor had he reason to expect that God would protect him in an extraordinary manner since his safety could be provided for by ordinary means; namely, by withdrawing from Egypt. Dr. Wells. The time for deliverance was not yet come. The Israelites as a whole were not sufficiently prepared for it; and Moses himself also was far from being ready for his peculiar task. Before he was qualified to take the government of such a people, and be a fit instrument for executing his difficult and complicated part, he needed to have trial of an altogether different kind of life; amid the desolation and solitude of the desert to become habituated to solemn converse with God, and formed to the requisite gravity, meekness, patience, and subduedness of spirit. Thus God overruled his rash interference with the affairs of his kindred to the proper completion of his own preparatory training, and provided for him the advantage of as long a sojourn in the wilderness to learn divine wisdom, as he had already spent in learning human wisdom in Egypt. P. F. 15. Midian was the son of Abraham, and half-brother of Isaac. The Midianites were, therefore, the kinsfolk of Moses. A great part of Arabia, indeed, was occupied with descendants of Heber, the ancestor of Abraham and the Israelites. Thither it was natural for Moses to flee. M.—We should look for the settlements of this tribe of Midianites somewhere to the east or north-east of Sinai, but still on the western side of the gulf. But we must at all events regard the Midianitish tribe of which Reuel was the head as a nomadic branch, which had separated from the main body of the nation, and never united with the rest again; for while the great mass of the Midianites always maintained a hostile position toward Israel, the descendants of Reuel continued friendly to the last. K. 18. Reuel their father. The name of the priest of Midian was Jethro (ch. 3:1): so that either Reuel was his name as well as Jethro; or else Reuel was the father of Jethro, and grandfather of these young women. Bp. Patrick.—It appears probable that Reuel was the grandfather, Jethro the father, and Hobab the brother, of Zipporah. Hence, after forty years, Reuel is no more spoken of. Walter.—Reuel, here called “father,” was the grandfather, and probably the hereditary office of the priesthood was exercised by Jethro in conjunction with his father; or, perhaps, before the events mentioned (ch. 3), Reuel was dead and Jethro had succeeded to his office. Gerl.—The treatment of Jethro and Hobab by Moses perfectly accords with the above view, which recognizes the former as his father-in-law, and the latter as his brother-in-law. B. 18-20. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is described in general terms as the priest and prince of Midian—combines in himself, therefore, both sacerdotal and royal functions. More particularly, he is the chief of the Kenites, a clan of the vast tribe of Midian, dwelling on the shores of the Gulf of Akaba. He is the very type of the Arab chief, such as he remains to the present day. His numerous flocks feed round the well of Midian, tended by the seven daughters for whom, when the rough shepherds would have driven them from the well, Moses stood up. He is very grateful to “the Egyptian” who “delivered his daughters out of the hand of the shepherds, and drew water, and watered their flocks.” He treats him with the princely hospitality and courtesy which are still to be found in the Arabian tents, and gives him one of the seven daughters to wife. Cox. 21. Was content to dwell with the man. This conveys the true sense of the Hebrew. It implies that Moses recognized in Reuel a man in whom he could confide; and in his family a fitting home. So quietly, and yet so impressively, Moses records the entrance upon a long period, extending over forty years of mature life. Cook. 21. He gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. The sacred authors do not relate all the particulars of a story, but such only as are material. We may therefore suppose that a great many things intervened between Moses’ entrance into Jethro's family, and his marriage to his daughter; especially considering that his children were so young at his return into Egypt after an absence of forty years. Stack-house. Moses was certainly not yet ripe for the arduous contests which awaited him; having been brought up in the Court, he was not prepared for the great and continual anxieties of which the sequel of the history will show him the conqueror. Therefore God withdrew him that He might gradually render him fit and equal to undertake so difficult a task. For the experience of forty years in a laborious and ascetic mode of life did not a little avail to prepare him for enduring any hardships; so that the Desert may well be called the school in which he was taught, until he was invited to his more difficult charge. Culc.—Egypt accomplished him for a scholar, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would be afterward of use to him; but yet lacketh he one thing. He that was to do all by divine revelation, must know, by a long experience, what it was to live a life of communion with God; and in this he would be greatly furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb, near which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know what it is to be alone with God in holy exercises, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh. H.—It is in solitude that the heroic soul must be matured for its grand destiny; God's friends are always formed in such a way. It is just in the stillness of that same Arabian desert that Paul ripens into the Moses of the New Covenant, whose it shall be to lead out Christianity from the hard bondage of the law. The training-time of Moses is a long one,—just as long as his life-task. But that which is most excellent, both in the natural and moral world, is always slowest in attaining full maturity. Respectful silence, careful choice, complete obedience,—such are the leading lessons taught by his experience in his training-time. Van O. Little did Moses dream that in the very practice of this art of waiting he was preparing for a life the reverse of asceticism. While through these forty years "he endured as seeing him who is invisible, he imagined that he was being trained for separation from the world; in truth, he was being trained for life in the world, not the life of the world-worshipper, but the career of the world-reformer. Endurance was to be, indeed, the very key-note of his destiny. His life was to be one long waiting, only not the waiting for an invisible but for a visible glory, the glory of God in the world. In the wilderness of Midian he was enduring silence, solitude, the sense of spiritual elevation above the brotherhood of humanity. But the object which God was preparing him to endure was the brotherhood of humanity itself; this, and not the study of the invisible, was the yoke which was to try his meekness; it was for this he was being exercised in the long practice of waiting. Matheson. : 23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them. 3: 1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush 4 is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him 5 out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 6 thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was 7 afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for 8 I know their sorrows ; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey ; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the 9 Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me ; moreover I have seen the oppression where- 10 with the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should 12 bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee ; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee : when thou hast 13 brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say to me, What is his 14 name ? what shall I say unto them ? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he 15 said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto 16 all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt : 17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the 18 Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice : and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us : and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD 19 our God. And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a 20 mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which 21 I will do in the midst thereof : and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians : and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, 22 ye shall not go empty : but every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters ; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. 4 : 1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto 2 my voice : for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said 3 unto him, What is that in thine hand ? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent ; and Moses fled from 4 before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail : 5 (and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand :) that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God 6 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said further- more unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his 7 bosom : and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as while as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. (And he put his hand into his bosom again ; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.) 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the 9 first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land : and the water which 10 thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the LORD, Oh Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak. And he said, Oh Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God. And thou shalt take in thine hand this rod, wherewith thou shalt do the signs. 2:24, 25. The whole history of Israel is foreshadowed in these words. The accumulation of so-called anthropomorphic terms in this passage is remarkable. God heard, remembered, looked upon, and knew them. It evidently indicates the beginning of a crisis marked by a personal intervention of God. Cook.—God heard. The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention toward them. Their groaning. He took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel. God remembered his covenant. Which he seemed to have forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. God looked upon the children of Israel. Moses looked upon them and pitied them (v. 11); but now God looked upon them and helped them. God had respect unto them. A favorable respect unto them as his own. Now we are to expect something great. Opus Deo dignum—A work worthy of God. His eyes which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf. H. God heard their groaning. He hears all groanings. He also remembered his covenant with their fathers. He not only heard, but saw the sons of Israel under the oppressor. He not only observed with the outward senses, but knew with the inward mind, took knowledge, and acknowledged them to be the seed of the covenant. Such is the manner in which the narrator lays emphasis on the earnest attention with which the Lord regards the affliction of his people. M.—The bondage of the Israelites was wisely permitted, that they might with less reluctance leave a country where they had suffered the greatest oppression and indignities. Had they not suffered severely, no inducements could have been sufficient to have prevailed on them to leave it. And yet their leaving it was of infinite consequence in the order both of grace and providence, as it was indispensably necessary that they should be a people separated from all the rest of the world, that they might see the promises of God fulfilled under their own eyes, and thus have the fullest persuasion that their law was divine, their prophets inspired by the Most High, and that the Messiah came according to the prophecies before delivered concerning him. A. C. Ch. 3: Forty years were spent by Moses in the land of Midian. To Moses it was the middle period of life, ordinarily the period of strongest action, of sternest realities. Yet this was the period in which he lived in seclusion and quiet, preferring the humble duties of pastoral life. He married; he had two sons; he led his flock to the pastures and the waters. These few acts form, as far as regards him, the history of that period of life which is to other men the time of the most vehement action. Kit.—A mind so active as that of Moses could not want occupation these forty years. It would be employed partly in devotional thoughts, in communing with that God whose works he now beheld; and partly in digesting the learning, and the knowledge of the ways and workings of mankind acquired in Egypt, and in considering how these might be turned to practical account. Unconsciously to himself, Moses would thus be preparing for the arduous task of judging and governing his people, when he should have led them out of Egypt. W. G. B. The years of the life of Moses are remarkably divided into three forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun. He had now finished the second forty, when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out to that work which he designed them for, and has been graciously preparing them for. Moses was born to be Israel's deliverer, and yet not a word is said of it to him till he is eighty years of age. H. 3 : 1. Of the second forty-year period in the life of Moses, little is reported save its first scenes and its last. This verse opens the latter. Moses is keeping the flock of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He has "led them to the back side of the desert"—i.e. to the west side of it, for in designating the points of compass the Hebrews always turned the face toward the east. The east is in front—before; and of course the west is behind. Horeb and Sinai lay on the western margin of the great Arabian desert. H. C.—The peninsula of Sinai is about 150 miles in greatest breadth, and in greatest length 200. Its more northern part is hilly, rather than mountainous; but toward the southern angle the mountains are crowded together with bewildering profusion; and some of them rise to the height of 9000 feet. The two great characteristics of the region are,—majesty and desolation. W. G. B. The mountain of God, Horeb. A proof that the call of Moses took place on the very same spot which was afterward to be the scene of the calling of the people, the conclusion of the covenant, and the giving of the law. Even now it was holy ground; so that when Israel departed from Egypt to offer sacrifice to the Lord in the desert, they had a definite spot in view and one which had been already appointed by God. K. The southern end of the peninsula of Sinai consists of a confused mass of peaks, some of dark green porphyry, but mostly red granite of different hues, broken by strips of sand or gravel, intersected by wadies or glens, which are the beds of winter torrents, and dotted here and there with green spots, chiefly due to perennial fountains. The great central group among these mountains is that of Horeb, and one special height in it Sinai, the "mount of God." Here amid this awful desolateness the most fertile places in "the wilderness" are found. Even in our days part of this plateau is quite green. Fruit-trees grow in rich luxuriance in its valleys, and "the neighborhood is the best watered in the whole peninsula, running streams being found in no less than four of the adjacent valleys." It was thither that Moses, probably in the early summer, drove Reuel's flock for pasturage and water. Behind him, to the east, lay the desert; before him rose in awful grandeur the mountain of God. The stillness of this place is unbroken; its desolateness only relieved by the variety of coloring in the dark green or the red mountain peaks. 2, 3. All at once truly a "strange sight" presented itself. On a solitary crag, or in some sequestered valley, one of those spiked, guarled, thorny acacia trees, which form so conspicuous a feature in the wadies of "the desert," of which indeed they are "the only timber tree of any size," stood enwrapped in fire, and yet "the bush was not consumed." At view of this, Moses turned aside "to see this great sight." A. E. Not consumed. The fire which lights up but does not consume points, on the one hand, to the tribulations which then visited the people of Israel; on the other hand, light and fire are constant emblems of the Divine glory. The figures combined represent that the affliction is sent from God; that by means of it God will reveal himself to his people, but not consume them. The emblem of the Scottish Church is a burning bush, with the words, "nec tamen consumebatur," "and yet was not consumed." Gerl. From this time the chosen people of God are frequently and variously referred to under the figure of a bush or tree. The Fraz is always used in the Scriptures as a symbol of divine holiness. And this is the case here; for the record expressly says that the presence of God was made known in the fire: "the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bush;" God spake "out of the midst of the bush;" Moses had to take off his shoes, because the place on which he stood was rendered holy by this appearance; he "hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." The burning brier, therefore, was a symbol of the community of God, in which the holiness of God had its abode. The brier was in the fire, and it was a miracle that it was not consumed. And thus was it also a miracle of mercy, that the holiness of God could dwell in a sinful community without consuming it. There was also another fact of great importance represented by this symbol, viz., that the fire of divine holiness, which burned in Israel without consuming it, served also as an outward defence. "I will be unto her a wall of fire rowed about," said the Lord by the prophet Zechariah (2 : 4), "and will show my glory in the midst of her." Pharaoh was soon to find this out. K. 5,6. That the angel here spoken of was no created being is plain from the whole context, and especially from his saying, "I am the Lord God, the Jehovah." No angel, without blasphemy, could take these titles; and since neither God the Father nor God the Holy Ghost is called an angel, that is, a messenger; whereas God the Son is called "the Angel of the Covenant" (Mal. 3 : 1), it seems to follow that this was God the Son, who might properly be called an Angel because, in the fulness of time, he was to be sent into the world in our flesh as a messenger from God. Sackhouse.—The ancient teachers of the Church have rightly understood that the Eternal Son of God is so called in respect to his office as Mediator, which he figuratively bore from the beginning, although he really took it upon him only at his Incarnation. And Paul expounds this mystery to us when he plainly asserts that Christ was the leader of his people in the Desert (1 Cor. 10 : 4). Nor had the saints ever any communication with God except through the promised Mediator. It is not then to be wondered at if the Eternal Word of God, of one Godhead and essence with the Father, assumed the name of "the Angel" on the ground of his future mission. Cale.—That the Messiah, the Angel of the Covenant, was present with the Church of the Fathers, and that his upholding power was manifested in miraculous interferences for their welfare, was a truth acknowledged no less by the Jew than by the Christian. Alf. 5. Holy ground.** The place was holy by reason of God's special presence and of his intention to select it in the future as the spot for proclaiming his holy law. But the soles of Moses' sandals had come into contact with much that was polluted, and were too impure to tread upon consecrated ground. In thus commanding, God speaks not of a holiness belonging to the spot which lay in his own mind, but accommodates himself to the apprehension of the finite mind. To a creature like man one spot might be more holy than another, because it suggested to his thoughts some special manifestation of the divine presence; and Moses, in order to show his sense of this holiness or his reverence for God, might with reason be called upon to perform a symbolical act which was suited to the genius of the age, was the natural language of the sentiment, and without which the sentiment would be chilled or stifled. Woolsey. 6. Hid his face.** The respect due from the feet to the clean place, represented the reverence with which the inward man should approach the Holy One. As soon as Moses perceived that God was in the fire, he hid his face; a sinful man cannot look openly and freely at the self-revealing holiness of God, and therefore he shuts or hides his eyes. K.—This was his first meeting with God; further acquaintance makes him familiar, and familiarity makes him bold, frequency of conversation gives us freedom of access to God; and makes us pour out our hearts to him, as fully and as fearlessly as to our friends. But now at first he made not so much haste to see as to hide his eyes. And if Moses cannot abide to look upon God's glory when he descends to us in mercy, how shall wicked ones abide to see his fearful presence when he sets upon vengeance! In this fire he flamed, and consumed not, but in his revenge "our God is a consuming fire." Bp. II. The signs of God's presence do not now force themselves upon our eyes; so that we may, if we choose, walk on our own way, without turning aside to see and observe them. And thus we do not see God, and do not, therefore, hide our faces for fear of him, but go on, and feel no fear, till the time when we cannot help seeing him. And it may be, that this time will never come till our life, and with it our space of trial, is gone forever. Here, then, is our state, that God will manifest himself no more to us in such a way as that we cannot help seeing him. The burning bush will be no more given us as a sign; Christ will no more manifest himself unto the world. And yet, unless we do see him, unless we learn to fear him while he is yet an unconsuming fire, unless we know that he is near and that the place whereon we stand is holy ground, we shall most certainly see him when he will be a consuming fire, and when we shall join in crying to the mountains to fall on us, and to the hills to cover us. Every person who thinks at all must be satisfied that our great want, the great need of our condition, is this one thing—to realize to ourselves the presence of God. Thoughtfulness, in one sense, is indeed likely to come with advancing years: we are more apt to think at forty than at fifteen; but it by no means follows that we are more apt to think about God. In this matter we are nearly at a level at all times of our life: it is with all of us our one great want, to bring the idea of God, with a living and abiding power, home to our minds. Arnold. 6. I am the God of thy father.** In this, the first revelation that had been made for 400 years, God announced himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All that God had effected and promised during the first stage of the covenant, was summed up in the name, "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This name was now inscribed on the portal of the further historical development of the covenant (in the form of a nation), and it continued to be the seal of that covenant, till the Old Testament expanded into the New, till the covenant with one nation gave place to the covenant with all, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; until the time arrived in which the new Israel found in Christ the author and finisher of faith, and in the Spirit of God the fountain of life. K.—Those favored men of old were happy in being permitted to enjoy such immediate intercourse with God; but happier we who enjoy the full revelation of the gospel. Whatever the promises given to them, we are in possession of better. Whatever the covenant made with the fathers, a better one has been established with us, their spiritual descendants. Whatever the encouragement granted to them, we have still greater afforded to us in every part of the work which we have to do, in every trial and danger to which we may be exposed. We do not now draw nigh unto a burning bush or a flaming mount, but to a mercy-seat to which we are commanded to come with filial boldness to obtain all needed grace. Bush. God doth not say, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob;" but, "I am." The patriarchs still live, after so many thousand years of dissolution. No length of time can separate the souls of the just from their Maker. Bp. H.—For God to be one's God necessarily implies a present relation that God hath to him; and no relation can continue when either of the parties ceases and is taken away; whence it clearly follows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive, and did subsist (that is, in their spirits) when God spake these words to Moses, that is, many ages after the death of their bodies. Bp. Bull.—According to the authoritative interpretation of our Saviour, the doctrine not only of a future life, but even of a resurrection from the dead, is taught in this passage. It must therefore be regarded as containing something more than a mere hint of another life. It is a distinct revelation of it. E. C. W.—God calls himself the "God of Abraham;" and Christ tells us (Luke 20 : 37) that in this simple announcement was contained the promise that Abraham should rise again from the dead. God did not say the God of Abraham's soul, but simply of Abraham. He blessed Abraham, and he gave him eternal life; not to his soul only without his body, but to Abraham as one man. Newman. When Jesus argues from the fact that God calls himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that the patriarchs and their true seed shall rise again, because God is not a God of the dead but of the living (Matt. 22 : 31), we may all the more certainly conclude that these men during their earthly life were in communion with God, and must have attained to a high degree of faith. God would not otherwise have taken them into his august title—as it were, into his own name. With this name which God gives himself, the Mosaic revelation properly begins. And it is thus expressly and fundamentally connected with the Patriarchal. Even Ewald admits there is a connection between the religion of these great patriarchs and Mosaism. "Among all the reminiscences, even the oldest, of the Mosaic religion," he says now, "none stand more sure than this, that the God to the worship of whom Moses summoned the people is the same God who was once the God of the fathers, different from the gods of the other nations, but essentially the same that the great ancestors of this one people worshipped." 11. Who am I? These words indicate humility, not fear. Among the grounds which he alleges for his hesitation, in no instance is there any allusion to personal danger; what he feared was failure owing to incompetency, especially in the power of expression. This shrinking from self-assertion is the quality which seems to be specially intimated by the word rendered "meek" in Numbers 12 : 3. Cook. Why did God select Moses to be the lawgiver and guide of his people during their forty years' pilgrimage? Why did he confer on one man, for nearly half a century, powers almost absolute? Not because the Levite was slow of speech; not because he was a meek man, any further than his meekness was a qualification for his work. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as well as in that practical experience which he had acquired in his long sojourn in the deserts of Arabia. A man was demanded for the service, of great powers of mind, ready to meet emergencies, whose acknowledged talents would overawe the fractious multitude, whose clear intellect, co-operating with the Divine teaching, could frame a wise system of laws, and also enable him to act as the only historian of the world for almost one half of its duration thus far. God did not alight upon Moses by accident. He selected him as probably the only man in the nation competent to the work. Again, why were the principal writers of the Old Testament taken from the most intelligent men of their times, some of them priests, who were required to be educated? Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the writer of the book of Job, considered merely in an intellectual point of view, would have been the glory of any age. B. B. E. 13. What is his name?** The meaning of this question is evidently: By which name shall I tell them the promise is confirmed? Each name of the Deity represented some aspect or manifestation of his attributes. El, Elohim, or Shaddai would speak of majesty or might. What Moses needed was not a new name, but direction to use that Name which would bear in itself a pledge of accomplishment. Cook. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 15-22. The new Pharaoh oppresses them cruelly; they are a prey to the miseries of slavery, the contagion of idolatry, to all the evils, all the perils, physical and moral, which can afflict a nation numerically weak, fallen under the yoke of one powerful and civilized. The Hebrews nevertheless persist in their religious faith, cling to their national reminiscences; they do not suffer their nationality to be lost in and confounded with that of their masters; they endure without offering any active resistance; they await their Deliverer. Guizot. 21. Made them houses. They married Hebrews and became mothers in Israel. The expression is proverbial (see 2 Sam. 7 : 11, 27). Cook.—As they preserved the people and promoted their increase, therefore God blessed them in the preservation and increase of their families. Gerl.—Scripture has preserved the names of these courageous women, and told us that their motive was “fear of God” (in the Hebrew with the article, “the God,” as denoting the living and true God). And as they were the means of “making” or upbuilding the houses of Israel, so God “made them houses.” It is true that, when challenged by the king, they failed to speak out their true motive; but, as Augustine remarks, “God forgave the evil on account of the good, and rewarded their piety, though not their deceit.” A. E. 22. In the whole of this history, as in so many in the Old Testament, sin and its punishment are shown to us in a close relation to each other. As the children of the Israelites were thrown into the water, so do we find that the Egyptians themselves perish in the water. Gerl.—All these plans of Pharaoh are destined to come to naught. Persecution and death cannot damage the Church of God. The Christian is not weakened thereby; but the Church ever increases under the Cross, under the tyranny of the world and of the Devil: as an old doctor of the Church, Tertullian, hath said, “The Church is watered by the blood of Christians.” Luther.—The church was lying on the burning coals of persecution—a hard duty; but great good must ever have its birth in the house of great sorrows. Then followed the school-days, when the church sat down before Sinai, received the Law, and the rites and ceremonies embodying great principles and great truths. The Levitical was the material age, when the child must be instructed by pictures, disciplined and corrected till ripe for something better. Todd. It is no new thing for Egypt to be unkind and cruel to Israel. Israelites and Egyptians are of contrary dispositions and inclinations; the delight of one is the abomination of the other. Besides, it is the duty of Israel to depart out of Egypt. Israel is in Egypt in respect of abode, not of desire. Egypt is not Israel’s rest. If Egypt were an House of hospitality, it would more dangerously and strongly detain the Israelites, than in being an house of bondage. The thoughts of Canaan would be but slight and seldom, if Egypt were pleasant. It is good that Egyptians should hate us, that so they may not hurt us. When the world is most kind, it is most corrupting; and when it smiles most, it seduceth most. Were it not for the bondage in Egypt, the food and idols of Egypt would be too much beloved. Blessed be God, who will by the former wean us from the latter; and will not let us have the one without the other: far better that Egypt should oppress us, than we oppose God. Jenkyn. 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the 2 woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid 3 him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bul- rushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it 4 in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done 5 to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water. 11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together; and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely the thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a sojourner in a strange land. 1-10. By the cruel edict which required the Hebrews to cast all their male children into the river Nile, Pharaoh intended to check the growing greatness of a nation whose numbers he began to dread. But God designed it as the occasion of the adoption of Moses by no less a personage than the daughter of the reigning sovereign; and this to the intent that the future leader and lawgiver of the Hebrew people might be educated for his responsible office. E. C. W.—The decree designed by Pharaoh to inflict the death-blow on Israel's hopes of honor and enlargement, was made to prepare and fashion the living instrument through whom these hopes were soon to be carried forth into victory and fruition. Forced by the very urgency of the danger on the notice of Pharaoh's daughter, and thereafter received under her care and patronage into Pharaoh's house, the child Moses possessed in the highest degree the opportunity of becoming "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and grew up to manhood in the familiar use of every advantage which it was possible for the world at that time to confer. P. F.—Divine Providence had determined to raise up that man who was to release this oppressed people, and after having seen and intimately known the civil and religious institutions of this famous country was deliberately to reject them, to found a polity on totally different principles, and establish a religion the most opposite to the mysterious polytheism of Egypt; a polity and a religion which were to survive the dynasty of the Pharaohs and the deities of their vast temples, and exercise an unbounded influence on the civil and religious history of the most remote ages. Milwan. Everything here is strictly Egyptian; even some of the terms used in the Hebrew are derived from the Egyptian. The papyrus no longer grows below Nubia, but the Egyptian monuments exhibit many such "arks" and boats made of the plant, and similarly prepared. The "flags" were a smaller species of papyrus. A. E.—The story of Moses reproduces the country and the times. The branches of the Nile were anciently lined with reeds. The papyrus was woven into baskets, mats, and even little boats, which were made water-tight with the resin, or bitumen, in common use for mummy-wrappings. The sanitary customs of the Egyptians united with their religious feeling to recommend bathing in the sacred river; and the monuments show, that, in ancient Egypt, women had much greater freedom than is now accorded them in Oriental countries. Thus everything is here pictured to the life. J. P. T. No romance could have been more skilfully framed for the purpose of setting all the affections in play, than this simple and beautiful story—the placing of the babe by the river side—the watching of him by his sister—the approach of Pharaoh's daughter to the spot—the crying of the child and its influence on the sensibilities of a woman's heart—the offer of the sister to call a nurse, and thus the restoration of the babe to its own mother again. In the epistle to the Hebrews this act of Moses' parents is said to have been by faith: and we cannot doubt that all was overruled by the providence of God, even to the very suggestion which prompted the measure they took with their child. Whether they had in any degree the light of a revelation for what they did, they must at least have left a certain confidence in the protection of Him who is invisible, else they would not have been remarked by the Apostle among the Old Testament worthies who through faith obtained a good report. T. C. We shall study the history of Moses without the key if we overlook the point made by the writer to the Hebrews (11:23): "By faith Moses when he was born was hid three months because they saw that he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Faith in God made them fearless of Egypt's cruel king. It may sometimes happen that profound interest in a babe of apparently rare promise shall run in a very low and selfish channel, suggesting how much he may do to comfort their own hearts, or to build up the glory of their house or of their name;—but when by a heavenly faith it takes hold of useful work for God, when it prompts to a special consecration of all the possibilities of his future to the kingdom of Christ, it is morally sublime. Such seems to have been the faith of the parents of the child Moses. How their faith prompted ingenious methods of concealment; how it wrought in harmony with God's wise providence, not only to preserve the life of this consecrated child, but to give him a place in the heart of Pharaoh's daughter, and thus open to his growing mind all the wealth of Egypt's culture and wisdom, we learn somewhat from this story. H. C. 1. A daughter of Levi. The idiom which calls even a remote descendant the son or daughter is common to the Old and New Testament, and this passage may be understood to mean that both parents of Moses were of the house and lineage of Levi. Thus the Vulgate renders the verse, "and he took a wife of his own family;" the LXX. has "a wife of the daughters of Levi." 2. Bare a son. Not her firstborn, Aaron and Miriam were older than Moses. The object of the writer is simply to narrate the events which led to the Exodus, and, as usual, he omits to notice what had no direct bearing upon that object. E. H. B. 3. She took for him an ark of bulrushes. The bulrush is the papyrus or paper-reed of the ancients. It grows in marshy places, and was once most abundant on the banks of the Nile; but now that the river has been opened to commerce it has disappeared, save in a few unfrequented spots. It is described as having "an angular stem from three to six feet high, though occasionally it grows to the height of fourteen feet; it has no leaves; the flowers are in very small spikelets, which grow in thread-like, flowering branchlets, which form a bushy crown to each stem." It was used for many purposes by the Egyptians; for shoes, baskets, vessels of different sorts, and boats; but it was especially valuable as furnishing the material corresponding to our paper, on which written communications could be made. To obtain this last fibre, the coarse exterior rind was taken off, and then with a needle the thin concentric layers of the inner cuticle, sometimes to the number of twenty in a single plant, were removed. These were afterward joined together with a mixture of flour, paste, and glue; and a similar layer of strips being laid crosswise in order to strengthen the fabric, the whole sheet was subjected to pressure, dried in the sun, beaten with a mallet, and polished with ivory. When completed and written over, the sheets were united into one, and rolled on a slender wooden cylinder. Thus was formed a book, and the description of the process gives the etymology and primal significance of our own word "volume." W. M. T. Laid it in the flags. The mother of Moses laid the ark by the river's brink. She could not have laid it so courageously upon the Nile, if she had not first devoutly laid it upon the care and love of God. We are often surprised at the outward calmness of men who are called upon to do unpleasant and most trying deeds; but could we have seen them in secret we should have known the moral preparation which they underwent before coming out to be seen of men. Be right in the sanctuary, if you would be right in the market-place. Be steadfast in prayer, if you would be calm in affliction. J. P. 4. The mother has done her part. The rushes, the slime, and the pitch were her prudent and necessary preparations; and the great God has been at the same time preparing his materials, and arranging his instruments. He causes everything to concur, not by miraculous influence, but by the simple and natural operation of second causes, to bring about the issue designed in his counsels from everlasting. Bush. 5. Daughter of Pharaoh. God fetches her thither, to deliver the deliverer of his people. His designs go beyond ours. We know not, when we set our foot over our threshold, what he hath to do with us. This event seemed casual to this princess, but predetermined and provided by God, before she was: how wisely and sweetly God brings to pass his own purposes, in our ignorance and regardlessness! She saw the ark, opens it, finds the child weeping; his beauty and his tears had God provided for the strong persuasions of mercy. This young and lively oratory prevailed. Her heart is struck with compassion, and yet her tongue could say, "It is a Hebrew child." Bp. II.—6. The princess "saw the child." That single sentence contains an argument. It was an appeal to the woman's heart. It mattered not that she was a princess, nor that she belonged to the proudest class of the most exclusive nation in the world. Rank, caste, nationality, all melted before the great fact of womanhood. She was a woman, and before her lay an outcast child. F. W. R. In the fact that the deliverer of Israel from the power of Egypt was himself first delivered by the daughter of the king of Egypt, we find the same interweaving of the history of Israel with that of the Gentiles already observed in the history of Joseph; and we may now regard it as a law, that the preference shown to Israel when it was selected as the chosen seed on whom the blessings were first bestowed, was to be counterbalanced by the fact that the salvation of Israel could not be fully effected without the intervention of the Gentiles. This was the opinion of Cyril of Alexandria, which he expressed in his usual allegorical style by saying: "the daughter of Pharaoh is the community of the Gentiles." Bawm.—Thereby he meant to illustrate this great truth, which we trace throughout history, that somehow the salvation of Israel was always connected with the instrumentality of the Gentiles. It was so in the history of Joseph and even before that; and it will continue so till at the last, through their mercy, Israel shall obtain mercy. A. E. The phrase "special providence" is liable to be misunderstood. The teaching of this book is, not that God overrules some things more than others, but that he is in all alike, and is as really in the falling of a sparrow as the revolution of an empire. God was as truly in the removal of the little ones that were taken away, as he was in the saving of Amram's son; and there were lessons of love and warning from the one, no less than of love and encouragement from the other. Nay, more, God is in the daily events of our households precisely as he was in those of the family of the tribe of Levi long ago. The births and the bereavements; the prosperity and the adversity; the joys and the sorrows of our homes, are all under his supervision. He is girding us when we know it not; and his plan of our lives, if we will only yield ourselves to his guidance, will one day round itself into completeness and beauty. Every one of us here has as really been preserved from childhood to this hour by the providence of God, as Moses was delivered on the occasion before us. It is not only when one is snatched out of visible danger, that we should speak of God's care. The protection is as real, though we may not be so conscious of it when no danger is seen. W. M. T. 8. Mother. So, by a merciful arrangement of God's providence, the mother received her child back again, and kept it with her until its third year, when children were wont to be weaned. Gerl.—There is a higher destiny for Jochebed than that she should be merely nurse to her own child, for she is also to become the early guide of him who shall be Israel's guide. Nor will he leave her ere the grand traditions of God's covenant with his friend, of Jacob's death, and Joseph's last command, of Canaan as the land destined for Israel, and of the great deliverance that has been promised for the world, have all been impressed upon his mind. And can we Christians doubt that the relationships of early life must have conduced to bring us where God's hand has afterward conducted us; that every one of us has his own special destiny, for which, like Moses, we are frequently prepared, though all unconsciously, throughout a series of years; that even our first impressions, like the later lessons we receive, are all appointed and arranged by higher wisdom than our own? Van O.—The seeds of his world-conquering faith must have been dropped early into his tender mind. This hired Hebrew nurse, permitted to come into the royal palace by some back-way, was indulged this privilege freely, we know not precisely how long; but let us presume that the same faith and prayer kept this door open, at least for her occasional visits in his future years. How many testimonies of God's love to the fathers of their nation she dropped into his youthful ear; how much she told him of God as "the exceeding great reward" of his believing people; how well she put the contrast between "the treasures of Egypt" and the treasures laid up for God's then persecuted people:—these points are rather left to our inference than definitely stated; but we may be very sure that the faith of Moses took hold of these grand truths of then extant revelation; fixed its hold early; and held fast through all his future life. H. C. He became her son. Her adopted son. Accordingly she gave him a princely education; and caused him to be instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Bp. Patrick.—Thus did he find an asylum in the very palace of his intended destroyer; while his intercourse with his own family and nation was still most naturally maintained. And while he was instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and bred up in the midst of a luxurious court, he acquired the knowledge of the promised Redemption of Israel: and, "by faith in the REDEEMER CHRIST," refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Hales. Those whom God designs for great services, he finds out ways to qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a court, is the fitter to be a prince and king in Jeshurun; by having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then was), is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of Egypt, is the fitter to be employed, in the name of God, as an ambassador to that court. H.—The adopted son of the daughter of an Egyptian king must have been trained in all the wisdom of Egypt. This is also in harmony with the tradition reported by Manetho, which makes Moses a priest of Heliopolis, and therefore presupposes a priestly education. It was precisely this education in the wisdom of the Egyptians, which was the ultimate design of God in all the leadings of his providence, not only with reference to the boy, but, we might say, to the whole of Israel. For it was in order to appropriate the wisdom and culture of Egypt, and to take possession of them as a human basis for divine instruction and direction, that Jacob's family left the land of their fathers' pilgrimage, and their descendants' hope and promise. But the guidance and fate of the whole of Israel were at this time concentrated in Moses. "As Joseph's elevation to the post of grand-vizier of Egypt placed him in a position to provide for his father's house in the time of famine, so was Moses fitted by the Egyptian training received at Pharaoh's court to become the leader and lawgiver of his people." (Baum.)—There can be no doubt that the foster-son of the king's daughter, the highly-gifted and well-educated youth, had the most brilliant course open before him in the Egyptian state. Had he desired it, he would most likely have been able to rise like Joseph to the highest honors. But affairs were very different now. Moses could not enter on such a course as this without sacrificing his nation, his convictions, his hopes, his faith, and his vocation. But that he neither would, nor durst, nor could. And hence it is with perfect truth that the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, when tracing the course of the history, says (ch. 11:24-26): "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." K. Faith breaks the force of opposite propensities and attractions. If the world stand in the way of duty, "faith overcometh the world;" partly by bringing Christ into the combat for us, partly by spiritual replies and arguments. Reason urges "we must be for ourselves;" Faith tells us "we must be for God." Reason says, "If I take this course I shall undo myself." Faith, by looking within the veil, declares it is the only way to be saved. Reason presents the treasures of Egypt, Faith the recompense of reward. Manton.—It is not a question of rationality, as between the conduct of the Christian and other men. It is a question, rather, as to the relative value of the things which he gives up and those which he is seeking to attain, Moses thought the reproach of Christ was greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. If he was right in so thinking, his choice was every way rational. But was he right? Let the nobleness of his character, the influence of his writings, and, more especially, his appearance in glory by the side of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, answer. He was right in his estimate; he was justified in acting on it; and this decision was the first step in that ascending ladder of which the other rounds were Horeb, Sinai, Pisgah, Heaven. W. M. T. "Christ" is the Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew "Messiah." If we inquire whether the Hebrews in the age of Moses knew of a promised Messiah, we answer in the affirmative. Indeed it may be assumed and defended that they knew far more than the current opinion of this nineteenth century gives them credit for. To Abraham, God gave new forms of Messianic promise. The lips of the dying Jacob made yet another fresh addition under the name "Shiloh," who should "come" (Gen. 49:10). We have seen that a wealth of promise lay garnered in the birthright of the sons in Abraham's line. A promised Messiah was no inconsiderable element of that wealth. At this late hour of the Christian centuries men are beginning to learn that "all the wisdom of Egypt" had a larger significance than had been dreamed of for ages, and that it behooves us to be more reserved in fixing limitations upon the extent of their knowledge. The idea of a divine incarnation—some form of God, taking upon himself human flesh—has been current ever since the world began, wherever human thought has reached any considerable culture; and it seems more philosophical to find the origin of this idea in the fact of revealed promise than in the fancy of uninspired minds. H. C. 11-15. Moses records no incident of his life during the following years. His object, as Ranke observes, was not to write his own biography, but to describe God's dealings with his people. Later tradition would have been full of details. At the end of 40 years, when, according to Stephen, Moses visited his brethren, the princess was probably dead, as Syncellus relates, and the events which follow took place under another Pharaoh. Cook. We have three co-ordinate narratives of the early years of Moses; that given in Heb. 11:24-27, very brief, and touching only its specially religious side; while that of Stephen (Acts 7:20-29) is full, even somewhat more full than the narrative here. Particularly Stephen adds that Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and mighty in words and in deeds"—a man like Joseph of immense efficiency:—also that he was "full forty years old" when it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel—a statement which shows that he distinctly recognized this relationship of brethren. Seeing a brother Hebrew abused by an Egyptian he interposed, smote the Egyptian dead, and buried him in the sand. Stephen's words suggest that this was not merely one of those quick, spontaneous impulses felt by noble souls in view of outrageous wrong, but was a first step toward a contemplated career of interposed force for the rescue of his people from their oppression. "For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not" (Acts 7:25). H. C.—The attachment to his own people and to their God must have accompanied him throughout and have matured his final resolve. Even so we may infer had his patriotism been growing and coming to a head, before the incident here related could have taken place. As Stephen shows, he must have in his mind matured his view of himself as the future deliverer and judge of Israel, before he undertook thus first to deliver and then to judge between his brethren. Faith was throughout his guiding principle, dependence on his divine mission, and on God, who called him to it. Observe the stress laid on the word his brethren. It was this feeling which was uppermost in his mind, the tie which bound him to Israel, and his mission of deliverance. Alf. Oppressions may not be righted by violence, but by law. The redress of evil by a person unwarranted, is evil. Moses knew that God had called him; he knew that Pharaoh knew it not; therefore he hides the Egyptian in the sand. Those actions which may be approved unto God are not always safe with men; as contrarily, too many things go current with men, which are not approved of God. Bp. II.—While we cannot approve of the rashness of Moses, we must admire his decision; for now he fully and conclusively gave up all the advantages of an Egyptian prince, and cast in his lot with the people of God. W. M. T.—By his "refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," we are to understand that he positively declined all the honor and aggrandizement implied in that relation. This was his deliberate choice, and no man was ever called to make a choice under circumstances more trying, or made one which redounded more to his credit. It is to be remembered that Moses was at this time of mature age, "full forty years old," says Stephen. It was a decision formed under circumstances in which deep principle must have been the ruling motive; for while in a worldly sense he had nothing to hope from a transfer of himself, he had everything to lose. Bush. 13,14. The same fire of patriotism which thus roused him as a deliverer from the oppressors, turns him into the peacemaker of the oppressed. It is characteristic of the faithfulness of the Sacred records that his flight is occasioned rather by the malignity of his countrymen than by the enmity of the Egyptians. And in Stephen's speech it is this part of the story which is drawn out at greater length than in the original, evidently with the view of showing the identity of the narrow spirit which had thus displayed itself equally against their first and the last Deliverer. A. P. S. 15. Sought to slay Moses. This was perhaps not so much with a view to avenge the death of a single individual of the Egyptian race, as because Moses had by this act discovered himself to be a friend and favorer of the oppressed Israelites, and given the king reason to suspect that he was secretly cherishing the purpose of one day attempting to effect their liberation. His only safety therefore was in flight. Bush. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh. Though he could satisfy his own conscience in having killed the Egyptian, yet he had not received a commission from God to act publicly as the deliverer of the Israelites, and so could not justify his action to Pharaoh: nor had he reason to expect that God would protect him in an extraordinary manner since his safety could be provided for by ordinary means; namely, by withdrawing from Egypt. Dr. Wells. The time for deliverance was not yet come. The Israelites as a whole were not sufficiently prepared for it; and Moses himself also was far from being ready for his peculiar task. Before he was qualified to take the government of such a people, and be a fit instrument for executing his difficult and complicated part, he needed to have trial of an altogether different kind of life; amid the desolation and solitude of the desert to become habituated to solemn converse with God, and formed to the requisite gravity, meekness, patience, and subduedness of spirit. Thus God overruled his rash interference with the affairs of his kindred to the proper completion of his own preparatory training, and provided for him the advantage of as long a sojourn in the wilderness to learn divine wisdom, as he had already spent in learning human wisdom in Egypt. P. F. 15. Midian was the son of Abraham, and half-brother of Isaac. The Midianites were, therefore, the kinsfolk of Moses. A great part of Arabia, indeed, was occupied with descendants of Heber, the ancestor of Abraham and the Israelites. Thither it was natural for Moses to flee. M.—We should look for the settlements of this tribe of Midianites somewhere to the east or north-east of Sinai, but still on the western side of the gulf. But we must at all events regard the Midianitish tribe of which Reuel was the head as a nomadic branch, which had separated from the main body of the nation, and never united with the rest again; for while the great mass of the Midianites always maintained a hostile position toward Israel, the descendants of Reuel continued friendly to the last. K. 18. Reuel their father. The name of the priest of Midian was Jethro (ch. 3:1): so that either Reuel was his name as well as Jethro; or else Reuel was the father of Jethro, and grandfather of these young women. Bp. Patrick.—It appears probable that Reuel was the grandfather, Jethro the father, and Hobab the brother, of Zipporah. Hence, after forty years, Reuel is no more spoken of. Walter.—Reuel, here called “father,” was the grandfather, and probably the hereditary office of the priesthood was exercised by Jethro in conjunction with his father; or, perhaps, before the events mentioned (ch. 3), Reuel was dead and Jethro had succeeded to his office. Gerl.—The treatment of Jethro and Hobab by Moses perfectly accords with the above view, which recognizes the former as his father-in-law, and the latter as his brother-in-law. B. 18-20. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is described in general terms as the priest and prince of Midian—combines in himself, therefore, both sacerdotal and royal functions. More particularly, he is the chief of the Kenites, a clan of the vast tribe of Midian, dwelling on the shores of the Gulf of Akaba. He is the very type of the Arab chief, such as he remains to the present day. His numerous flocks feed round the well of Midian, tended by the seven daughters for whom, when the rough shepherds would have driven them from the well, Moses stood up. He is very grateful to “the Egyptian” who “delivered his daughters out of the hand of the shepherds, and drew water, and watered their flocks.” He treats him with the princely hospitality and courtesy which are still to be found in the Arabian tents, and gives him one of the seven daughters to wife. Cox. 21. Was content to dwell with the man. This conveys the true sense of the Hebrew. It implies that Moses recognized in Reuel a man in whom he could confide; and in his family a fitting home. So quietly, and yet so impressively, Moses records the entrance upon a long period, extending over forty years of mature life. Cook. 21. He gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. The sacred authors do not relate all the particulars of a story, but such only as are material. We may therefore suppose that a great many things intervened between Moses’ entrance into Jethro's family, and his marriage to his daughter; especially considering that his children were so young at his return into Egypt after an absence of forty years. Stack-house. Moses was certainly not yet ripe for the arduous contests which awaited him; having been brought up in the Court, he was not prepared for the great and continual anxieties of which the sequel of the history will show him the conqueror. Therefore God withdrew him that He might gradually render him fit and equal to undertake so difficult a task. For the experience of forty years in a laborious and ascetic mode of life did not a little avail to prepare him for enduring any hardships; so that the Desert may well be called the school in which he was taught, until he was invited to his more difficult charge. Culc.—Egypt accomplished him for a scholar, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would be afterward of use to him; but yet lacketh he one thing. He that was to do all by divine revelation, must know, by a long experience, what it was to live a life of communion with God; and in this he would be greatly furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb, near which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know what it is to be alone with God in holy exercises, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh. H.—It is in solitude that the heroic soul must be matured for its grand destiny; God's friends are always formed in such a way. It is just in the stillness of that same Arabian desert that Paul ripens into the Moses of the New Covenant, whose it shall be to lead out Christianity from the hard bondage of the law. The training-time of Moses is a long one,—just as long as his life-task. But that which is most excellent, both in the natural and moral world, is always slowest in attaining full maturity. Respectful silence, careful choice, complete obedience,—such are the leading lessons taught by his experience in his training-time. Van O. Little did Moses dream that in the very practice of this art of waiting he was preparing for a life the reverse of asceticism. While through these forty years "he endured as seeing him who is invisible, he imagined that he was being trained for separation from the world; in truth, he was being trained for life in the world, not the life of the world-worshipper, but the career of the world-reformer. Endurance was to be, indeed, the very key-note of his destiny. His life was to be one long waiting, only not the waiting for an invisible but for a visible glory, the glory of God in the world. In the wilderness of Midian he was enduring silence, solitude, the sense of spiritual elevation above the brotherhood of humanity. But the object which God was preparing him to endure was the brotherhood of humanity itself; this, and not the study of the invisible, was the yoke which was to try his meekness; it was for this he was being exercised in the long practice of waiting. Matheson. : 23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them. 3: 1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush 4 is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him 5 out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 6 thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was 7 afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for 8 I know their sorrows ; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey ; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the 9 Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me ; moreover I have seen the oppression where- 10 with the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should 12 bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee ; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee : when thou hast 13 brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say to me, What is his 14 name ? what shall I say unto them ? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he 15 said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto 16 all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt : 17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the 18 Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice : and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us : and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD 19 our God. And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a 20 mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which 21 I will do in the midst thereof : and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians : and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, 22 ye shall not go empty : but every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters ; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. 4 : 1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto 2 my voice : for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said 3 unto him, What is that in thine hand ? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent ; and Moses fled from 4 before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail : 5 (and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand :) that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God 6 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said further- more unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his 7 bosom : and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as while as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. (And he put his hand into his bosom again ; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.) 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the 9 first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land : and the water which 10 thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the LORD, Oh Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak. And he said, Oh Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God. And thou shalt take in thine hand this rod, wherewith thou shalt do the signs. 2:24, 25. The whole history of Israel is foreshadowed in these words. The accumulation of so-called anthropomorphic terms in this passage is remarkable. God heard, remembered, looked upon, and knew them. It evidently indicates the beginning of a crisis marked by a personal intervention of God. Cook.—God heard. The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention toward them. Their groaning. He took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel. God remembered his covenant. Which he seemed to have forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. God looked upon the children of Israel. Moses looked upon them and pitied them (v. 11); but now God looked upon them and helped them. God had respect unto them. A favorable respect unto them as his own. Now we are to expect something great. Opus Deo dignum—A work worthy of God. His eyes which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf. H. God heard their groaning. He hears all groanings. He also remembered his covenant with their fathers. He not only heard, but saw the sons of Israel under the oppressor. He not only observed with the outward senses, but knew with the inward mind, took knowledge, and acknowledged them to be the seed of the covenant. Such is the manner in which the narrator lays emphasis on the earnest attention with which the Lord regards the affliction of his people. M.—The bondage of the Israelites was wisely permitted, that they might with less reluctance leave a country where they had suffered the greatest oppression and indignities. Had they not suffered severely, no inducements could have been sufficient to have prevailed on them to leave it. And yet their leaving it was of infinite consequence in the order both of grace and providence, as it was indispensably necessary that they should be a people separated from all the rest of the world, that they might see the promises of God fulfilled under their own eyes, and thus have the fullest persuasion that their law was divine, their prophets inspired by the Most High, and that the Messiah came according to the prophecies before delivered concerning him. A. C. Ch. 3: Forty years were spent by Moses in the land of Midian. To Moses it was the middle period of life, ordinarily the period of strongest action, of sternest realities. Yet this was the period in which he lived in seclusion and quiet, preferring the humble duties of pastoral life. He married; he had two sons; he led his flock to the pastures and the waters. These few acts form, as far as regards him, the history of that period of life which is to other men the time of the most vehement action. Kit.—A mind so active as that of Moses could not want occupation these forty years. It would be employed partly in devotional thoughts, in communing with that God whose works he now beheld; and partly in digesting the learning, and the knowledge of the ways and workings of mankind acquired in Egypt, and in considering how these might be turned to practical account. Unconsciously to himself, Moses would thus be preparing for the arduous task of judging and governing his people, when he should have led them out of Egypt. W. G. B. The years of the life of Moses are remarkably divided into three forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun. He had now finished the second forty, when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out to that work which he designed them for, and has been graciously preparing them for. Moses was born to be Israel's deliverer, and yet not a word is said of it to him till he is eighty years of age. H. 3 : 1. Of the second forty-year period in the life of Moses, little is reported save its first scenes and its last. This verse opens the latter. Moses is keeping the flock of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He has "led them to the back side of the desert"—i.e. to the west side of it, for in designating the points of compass the Hebrews always turned the face toward the east. The east is in front—before; and of course the west is behind. Horeb and Sinai lay on the western margin of the great Arabian desert. H. C.—The peninsula of Sinai is about 150 miles in greatest breadth, and in greatest length 200. Its more northern part is hilly, rather than mountainous; but toward the southern angle the mountains are crowded together with bewildering profusion; and some of them rise to the height of 9000 feet. The two great characteristics of the region are,—majesty and desolation. W. G. B. The mountain of God, Horeb. A proof that the call of Moses took place on the very same spot which was afterward to be the scene of the calling of the people, the conclusion of the covenant, and the giving of the law. Even now it was holy ground; so that when Israel departed from Egypt to offer sacrifice to the Lord in the desert, they had a definite spot in view and one which had been already appointed by God. K. The southern end of the peninsula of Sinai consists of a confused mass of peaks, some of dark green porphyry, but mostly red granite of different hues, broken by strips of sand or gravel, intersected by wadies or glens, which are the beds of winter torrents, and dotted here and there with green spots, chiefly due to perennial fountains. The great central group among these mountains is that of Horeb, and one special height in it Sinai, the "mount of God." Here amid this awful desolateness the most fertile places in "the wilderness" are found. Even in our days part of this plateau is quite green. Fruit-trees grow in rich luxuriance in its valleys, and "the neighborhood is the best watered in the whole peninsula, running streams being found in no less than four of the adjacent valleys." It was thither that Moses, probably in the early summer, drove Reuel's flock for pasturage and water. Behind him, to the east, lay the desert; before him rose in awful grandeur the mountain of God. The stillness of this place is unbroken; its desolateness only relieved by the variety of coloring in the dark green or the red mountain peaks. 2, 3. All at once truly a "strange sight" presented itself. On a solitary crag, or in some sequestered valley, one of those spiked, guarled, thorny acacia trees, which form so conspicuous a feature in the wadies of "the desert," of which indeed they are "the only timber tree of any size," stood enwrapped in fire, and yet "the bush was not consumed." At view of this, Moses turned aside "to see this great sight." A. E. Not consumed. The fire which lights up but does not consume points, on the one hand, to the tribulations which then visited the people of Israel; on the other hand, light and fire are constant emblems of the Divine glory. The figures combined represent that the affliction is sent from God; that by means of it God will reveal himself to his people, but not consume them. The emblem of the Scottish Church is a burning bush, with the words, "nec tamen consumebatur," "and yet was not consumed." Gerl. From this time the chosen people of God are frequently and variously referred to under the figure of a bush or tree. The Fraz is always used in the Scriptures as a symbol of divine holiness. And this is the case here; for the record expressly says that the presence of God was made known in the fire: "the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bush;" God spake "out of the midst of the bush;" Moses had to take off his shoes, because the place on which he stood was rendered holy by this appearance; he "hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." The burning brier, therefore, was a symbol of the community of God, in which the holiness of God had its abode. The brier was in the fire, and it was a miracle that it was not consumed. And thus was it also a miracle of mercy, that the holiness of God could dwell in a sinful community without consuming it. There was also another fact of great importance represented by this symbol, viz., that the fire of divine holiness, which burned in Israel without consuming it, served also as an outward defence. "I will be unto her a wall of fire rowed about," said the Lord by the prophet Zechariah (2 : 4), "and will show my glory in the midst of her." Pharaoh was soon to find this out. K. 5,6. That the angel here spoken of was no created being is plain from the whole context, and especially from his saying, "I am the Lord God, the Jehovah." No angel, without blasphemy, could take these titles; and since neither God the Father nor God the Holy Ghost is called an angel, that is, a messenger; whereas God the Son is called "the Angel of the Covenant" (Mal. 3 : 1), it seems to follow that this was God the Son, who might properly be called an Angel because, in the fulness of time, he was to be sent into the world in our flesh as a messenger from God. Sackhouse.—The ancient teachers of the Church have rightly understood that the Eternal Son of God is so called in respect to his office as Mediator, which he figuratively bore from the beginning, although he really took it upon him only at his Incarnation. And Paul expounds this mystery to us when he plainly asserts that Christ was the leader of his people in the Desert (1 Cor. 10 : 4). Nor had the saints ever any communication with God except through the promised Mediator. It is not then to be wondered at if the Eternal Word of God, of one Godhead and essence with the Father, assumed the name of "the Angel" on the ground of his future mission. Cale.—That the Messiah, the Angel of the Covenant, was present with the Church of the Fathers, and that his upholding power was manifested in miraculous interferences for their welfare, was a truth acknowledged no less by the Jew than by the Christian. Alf. 5. Holy ground.** The place was holy by reason of God's special presence and of his intention to select it in the future as the spot for proclaiming his holy law. But the soles of Moses' sandals had come into contact with much that was polluted, and were too impure to tread upon consecrated ground. In thus commanding, God speaks not of a holiness belonging to the spot which lay in his own mind, but accommodates himself to the apprehension of the finite mind. To a creature like man one spot might be more holy than another, because it suggested to his thoughts some special manifestation of the divine presence; and Moses, in order to show his sense of this holiness or his reverence for God, might with reason be called upon to perform a symbolical act which was suited to the genius of the age, was the natural language of the sentiment, and without which the sentiment would be chilled or stifled. Woolsey. 6. Hid his face.** The respect due from the feet to the clean place, represented the reverence with which the inward man should approach the Holy One. As soon as Moses perceived that God was in the fire, he hid his face; a sinful man cannot look openly and freely at the self-revealing holiness of God, and therefore he shuts or hides his eyes. K.—This was his first meeting with God; further acquaintance makes him familiar, and familiarity makes him bold, frequency of conversation gives us freedom of access to God; and makes us pour out our hearts to him, as fully and as fearlessly as to our friends. But now at first he made not so much haste to see as to hide his eyes. And if Moses cannot abide to look upon God's glory when he descends to us in mercy, how shall wicked ones abide to see his fearful presence when he sets upon vengeance! In this fire he flamed, and consumed not, but in his revenge "our God is a consuming fire." Bp. II. The signs of God's presence do not now force themselves upon our eyes; so that we may, if we choose, walk on our own way, without turning aside to see and observe them. And thus we do not see God, and do not, therefore, hide our faces for fear of him, but go on, and feel no fear, till the time when we cannot help seeing him. And it may be, that this time will never come till our life, and with it our space of trial, is gone forever. Here, then, is our state, that God will manifest himself no more to us in such a way as that we cannot help seeing him. The burning bush will be no more given us as a sign; Christ will no more manifest himself unto the world. And yet, unless we do see him, unless we learn to fear him while he is yet an unconsuming fire, unless we know that he is near and that the place whereon we stand is holy ground, we shall most certainly see him when he will be a consuming fire, and when we shall join in crying to the mountains to fall on us, and to the hills to cover us. Every person who thinks at all must be satisfied that our great want, the great need of our condition, is this one thing—to realize to ourselves the presence of God. Thoughtfulness, in one sense, is indeed likely to come with advancing years: we are more apt to think at forty than at fifteen; but it by no means follows that we are more apt to think about God. In this matter we are nearly at a level at all times of our life: it is with all of us our one great want, to bring the idea of God, with a living and abiding power, home to our minds. Arnold. 6. I am the God of thy father.** In this, the first revelation that had been made for 400 years, God announced himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All that God had effected and promised during the first stage of the covenant, was summed up in the name, "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This name was now inscribed on the portal of the further historical development of the covenant (in the form of a nation), and it continued to be the seal of that covenant, till the Old Testament expanded into the New, till the covenant with one nation gave place to the covenant with all, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; until the time arrived in which the new Israel found in Christ the author and finisher of faith, and in the Spirit of God the fountain of life. K.—Those favored men of old were happy in being permitted to enjoy such immediate intercourse with God; but happier we who enjoy the full revelation of the gospel. Whatever the promises given to them, we are in possession of better. Whatever the covenant made with the fathers, a better one has been established with us, their spiritual descendants. Whatever the encouragement granted to them, we have still greater afforded to us in every part of the work which we have to do, in every trial and danger to which we may be exposed. We do not now draw nigh unto a burning bush or a flaming mount, but to a mercy-seat to which we are commanded to come with filial boldness to obtain all needed grace. Bush. God doth not say, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob;" but, "I am." The patriarchs still live, after so many thousand years of dissolution. No length of time can separate the souls of the just from their Maker. Bp. H.—For God to be one's God necessarily implies a present relation that God hath to him; and no relation can continue when either of the parties ceases and is taken away; whence it clearly follows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive, and did subsist (that is, in their spirits) when God spake these words to Moses, that is, many ages after the death of their bodies. Bp. Bull.—According to the authoritative interpretation of our Saviour, the doctrine not only of a future life, but even of a resurrection from the dead, is taught in this passage. It must therefore be regarded as containing something more than a mere hint of another life. It is a distinct revelation of it. E. C. W.—God calls himself the "God of Abraham;" and Christ tells us (Luke 20 : 37) that in this simple announcement was contained the promise that Abraham should rise again from the dead. God did not say the God of Abraham's soul, but simply of Abraham. He blessed Abraham, and he gave him eternal life; not to his soul only without his body, but to Abraham as one man. Newman. When Jesus argues from the fact that God calls himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that the patriarchs and their true seed shall rise again, because God is not a God of the dead but of the living (Matt. 22 : 31), we may all the more certainly conclude that these men during their earthly life were in communion with God, and must have attained to a high degree of faith. God would not otherwise have taken them into his august title—as it were, into his own name. With this name which God gives himself, the Mosaic revelation properly begins. And it is thus expressly and fundamentally connected with the Patriarchal. Even Ewald admits there is a connection between the religion of these great patriarchs and Mosaism. "Among all the reminiscences, even the oldest, of the Mosaic religion," he says now, "none stand more sure than this, that the God to the worship of whom Moses summoned the people is the same God who was once the God of the fathers, different from the gods of the other nations, but essentially the same that the great ancestors of this one people worshipped." 11. Who am I? These words indicate humility, not fear. Among the grounds which he alleges for his hesitation, in no instance is there any allusion to personal danger; what he feared was failure owing to incompetency, especially in the power of expression. This shrinking from self-assertion is the quality which seems to be specially intimated by the word rendered "meek" in Numbers 12 : 3. Cook. Why did God select Moses to be the lawgiver and guide of his people during their forty years' pilgrimage? Why did he confer on one man, for nearly half a century, powers almost absolute? Not because the Levite was slow of speech; not because he was a meek man, any further than his meekness was a qualification for his work. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as well as in that practical experience which he had acquired in his long sojourn in the deserts of Arabia. A man was demanded for the service, of great powers of mind, ready to meet emergencies, whose acknowledged talents would overawe the fractious multitude, whose clear intellect, co-operating with the Divine teaching, could frame a wise system of laws, and also enable him to act as the only historian of the world for almost one half of its duration thus far. God did not alight upon Moses by accident. He selected him as probably the only man in the nation competent to the work. Again, why were the principal writers of the Old Testament taken from the most intelligent men of their times, some of them priests, who were required to be educated? Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the writer of the book of Job, considered merely in an intellectual point of view, would have been the glory of any age. B. B. E. 13. What is his name?** The meaning of this question is evidently: By which name shall I tell them the promise is confirmed? Each name of the Deity represented some aspect or manifestation of his attributes. El, Elohim, or Shaddai would speak of majesty or might. What Moses needed was not a new name, but direction to use that Name which would bear in itself a pledge of accomplishment. Cook. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Moses fell back upon his own unworthiness. He forgot the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee." The moment we get away from Divine promise and forget great principles, we degrade all service. Self-consciousness is the ruin of all vocations. Let a man look into himself and measure his work by himself, and the movement of his life will be downward and exhaustive. Let him look away from himself to the Inspirer of his life and the Divine reward of his labors, and he will not so much as see the difficulties which may stand ever so thickly in the way. J. P. Would that there were no Christians who, like Moses, we might almost say, delight in heaping up objections, and in answering that grand, irrevocable "Yea" of God's word with an everlasting "But!" This was forgiven Moses; he was, moreover, wholly cured of it. The Lord will bear with this in you too, ye who are upright in heart. God gives complete solution of the trifling difficulties and objections which we raise; but after that, we must advance at his appointed time. Then, in God's name, advance! from faith to stronger faith, and straightway, too, from light to greater light, from strength to strength, from victory to victory,—still on! Even in the darkest night, only let that name shine on you as if it were inscribed with stars, the name which God gives himself, I AM. He lives, and he abides; then, whether it be here on earth or up in heaven, we must all live by him, for him, with him! Van O. 18. AND Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, my firstborn: and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn. And it came to pass on the way at the lodging place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the circumcision. 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs 31 in the sight of the people. And the people believed : and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. 5 : 1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? 3 I know not the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us : let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God ; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the 4 sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose 5 the people from their works ? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the 6 people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And the 7 same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather 8 straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish aught thereof : for they be idle ; therefore they cry, 9 saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that 10 they may labour therein ; and let them not regard lying words. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get you straw where ye can find it : for 11 nought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout 12 all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, 13 Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and to-day, in making brick as 14 heretofore ? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants ? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick : and, behold, thy servants are beaten ; but the fault 15 is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle ; therefore ye say, Let us go 16 and sacrifice to the LORD. Go therefore now, and work ; for there shall no straw be given 17 you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, when it was said, Ye shall not minish aught from your bricks, 18 your daily tasks. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth 19 from Pharaoh : and they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge ; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou evil entreated this people ? why is it that thou hast sent 20 me ? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath evil entreated this people ; 21 neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. And the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh : for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 20. It pleased God, who could have wrought his wonders without any visible signs, that Moses should use the rod in external demonstration of the divine power : yet the Lord uses such means as have no power of themselves, or likelihood to effect that which is wrought, that the work should not be ascribed to the means. Willet. 21. I will harden his heart. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is in this narrative ten times ascribed to the Lord. But it is also twice ascribed to Pharaoh himself. In seven other passages it is stated simply as a fact, without assigning any cause. It is evident of itself that this fact is ascribed to God and to Pharaoh in different respects ; so that the two assertions are consistent with each other. It is equally plain that the act in question belongs to Pharaoh, as the moral agent by whose intention it was performed. It belongs to God as the Designer, Creator, and Supreme Governor of the existing universe, of which free agents and their voluntary actings form a part. M.—Calamities which do not subdue the heart harden it ; and the effects of God's judgments being foreknown are willed by him. We should not therefore adopt a forced interpretation of this expression in order to explain away its apparent harshness. The hardening itself is judicial, and just, when it is a consequence of previously formed habits; in the case of Pharaoh it was at once a righteous judgment, and a natural result of a long series of oppressions and cruelties. Theodoret thus deals with the question: "The sun by the action of heat makes wax moist, and mud dry, hardening the one while it softens the other, by the same operation producing exactly opposite results; thus from the long-suffering of God some derive benefit and others harm, some are softened while others are hardened." The reason why the action of God rather than the character of Pharaoh is dwelt on in this passage would seem to be that it was necessary to sustain the spirit of Moses and the people during the process of events, which they were thus taught were altogether foreseen and predetermined by God. Cook. [See Section 85.] 22. God had promised him (v. 12), I will teach thee what thou shalt say; and here he does teach him. He must deliver his message in the name of the great Jehovah, Thus saith the Lord; this is the first time that preface is used by any man, which afterward is used so frequently by all the prophets: whether Pharaoh will hear or whether he will forbear, Moses must tell him, Thus saith the Lord. H. My son, my firstborn. By calling Israel His son, God claims liberty for him. By calling him His firstborn, He prefers him to the other nations; as though He had said that he was raised to the primogeniture and was superior to all the world. Calv.—Only those who are begotten according to the counsel of salvation can be called sons of Jehovah. Israel was not called a son of Jehovah merely, but the firstborn son, who would be followed by other sons, begotten in the same manner. The election of Abraham, with all the consequent leadings and promises, the blessings and chastisements, had made Israel a son. K. 24-26. This surprising occurrence must be accounted for by remembering that Moses was an Israelite, bound to God by the covenant of circumcision, and that he was bringing his family to Egypt uncircumcised, having apparently conceded this point to the national habits of his wife. God had attached to the neglect of circumcision the penalty of death (Gen. 17:14). How God met with him we are left to surmise: possibly in a dangerous stroke of illness or sudden incapacity, as would appear from his inability to circumcise his own child. This took place not in the inn (A. V.), for there were not and are not in the East any buildings corresponding to our inns, but at the resting-place for the night. Alf.—The most obvious explanation of the passage is that Moses had omitted the circumcision of his son—his eldest son, it seems—probably because Zipporah, the mother, objected to the dangerous operation. For this he is punished; for, as Knobel well observes, "he who is to bring Pharaoh to do his duty to God's firstborn must fulfil his own duty to the firstborn son who is under him, but belongs to God." To save her husband, Zipporah performs the circumcision, but tells him that she is united to him in a marriage the children of which must be bought with blood. O.—Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment, and particularly the contempt and neglect of the seals of the covenant; for it is a sign that we undervalue the promises of the covenant. God takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the sins of his own people; if they neglect their duty, let them expect to hear of it by their consciences, and perhaps to feel from it by cross providences. H. After this transaction and the developments attending it, we must suppose that Moses (prudently) sent back his wife and the two children to remain with her father until the redeemed Israelites should reach the home of Jethro. We hear no more of her and her children till the narrative in Ex. 18 brings them to view thus: "When Jethro had heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and Israel, he took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons and brought them to Moses." H. C. 27. The Lord said to Aaron. By some secret movement on Aaron's mind or by some voice, he was now directed to go and meet his brother Moses, and so correctly was the information given to both that they arrived at the same time on the sacred mountain. A. C.—Aaron, although the elder, not only paid honor to his brother, whom he knew to be a Prophet of the Lord; but willingly submitted himself to him as to an angel. The kiss is mentioned as a sign of recognition, by which he testified the firmness of his faith. Calv.—28. Moses was met by Aaron, as God had foretold, on the very spot where he had received the revelation, which he rehearsed to his brother, with its attendant miracles, in the mount of God. P. S.—29. Elders of Israel. Their existence and office seems to infer an organization in Israel, which must have arisen in Egypt before the days of their oppression began. Alf. 5 : 1. The Pharaoh under whom the Exodus actually took place could not have been Rameses II. himself, but his son and successor, Meneptah II. His reign lasted but a short time, and it was disturbed not only by the flight of the Children of Israel, but also by a great invasion of Northern Egypt by the Libyans, which was with difficulty repulsed. This took place in his fifth year. Sayce. Came unto Pharaoh. The kings of Egypt probably held that sort of open court or divan, usual in oriental monarchies, in which any one may appear who would claim justice or petition for favor. Moses and Aaron stand before this throne, and solicit the temporary release of all their people, that they may offer sacrifice to their God. Milman. 2. Who is the Lord.** Rather, "Who is Jehovah? I know not Jehovah." This title should here be rendered verbatim, "Jehovah," rather than "Lord," since it is mentioned as the peculiar name of the God of Israel; whereas the title "Lord" was common to the heathen deities, many of them being called "Baalim," "Lords." This makes Pharaoh's answer more emphatic, "Who is Jehovah?"—a name of which he had never before heard. From the despised character of the people of Israel, he formed his estimate of the God whom they professed to serve. Their God was no more entitled to reverence as a deity than they were to respect as a people. Bush.—Egypt was then the most powerful nation of the world. Exposed on either side to the invasion of nomadic hordes, it had of necessity its standing army, and its kings, in consequence, were haughty and boastful. No other nation at that era could have produced the Pharaoh of Moses' age. And in this Pharaoh was represented—nay, as it were, concentrated—the spirit of the people. S. R. He says he does not know Jehovah; he does not recognize his authority or admit his claims. His soul is full of practical unbelief in God—a fact which commonly lies at the bottom of all the hardening of sinners' hearts in every age. Pharaoh did not at first contemplate crossing swords and measuring strong arms with the Almighty God. If he had taken this view of the case, he might have paused awhile to consider. So it usually is with sinners. Unbelief in God conduces to launch them upon this terrible conflict. Once committed, they become more hardened; one sin leads on to more sinning till sin becomes incurable—shall we say it?—an uncontrollable madness. H. C. 3. Lest he fall upon us.** Lest he send a plague upon us for our neglect of him. They neither wrought any miracle nor threatened any punishment upon Pharaoh on their first application to him, but told him the danger to which they were themselves exposed, if they did not obey their God. Patrick.—All that Moses was instructed to ask for was permission to go into a part of the desert where the people might offer sacrifices without interruption from the Egyptians. It is evident from Pharaoh's answer that he did not see in the request any indication of an intention to escape from Egypt. Cook.—The request for a three days' pilgrimage into the wilderness to sacrifice unto God was all the more reasonable, that Israel's sacrifices would have been "an abomination" to the Egyptians, and might have led to disturbances. It was infinite condescension to Pharaoh's weakness, on the part of God, not to insist from the first upon the immediate and entire dismissal of Israel. Less could not have been asked than was demanded of Pharaoh, nor could obedience have been made more easy. Only the most tyrannical determination to crush the rights and convictions of the people, and the most daring defiance of Jehovah, could have prompted him to refuse such a request, and that in face of all the signs and wonders by which the mission of Moses was accredited. Thus at the first his submission was to be tried where it was easiest to render it. A. E. 4-19. Instead of completing at one blow what he had promised his people and threatened Pharaoh, the Lord commences with this refusal of the king a series of trials for Israel and chastisements for Pharaoh. He purposes neither to subdue the king by the mere exercise of power, nor to assist the people without the trial of their faith. The immediate consequence of the first appeal to Pharaoh is that their condition becomes worse, and their belief in the word of promise is contradicted by the present appearance of affairs. Gert. 4. 5. Pharaoh takes no notice of what Moses and Aaron had said to him respecting the liberation of the people, but treats them merely as the disturbers of the peace of his kingdom. 6. The taskmasters and their officers. These "taskmasters," lit. "exactors," constituting the highest grade of officers, were Egyptians appointed to exact labor of the Israelites. But those termed "officers" appear (vs. 14-16) to have been Israelites set over their brethren, under the taskmasters. Bush. One of the most interesting tombs at Thebes is that of Rochscore, "the overseer of public buildings," under Thommes III. On the walls of this tomb the monarch is seen presenting obelisks to the divinity, and these obelisks are found at this day in the temple of Karnac. Here, too, is depicted the whole process of brick- making—the slaves of the king shaping the mud of the Nile into crude brick, just as the fellahs are seen doing at this day. Taskmasters with whips are stationed at intervals among the workmen, a pictorial representation of the scenes that daily occurred among the Israelites in their cruel bondage. In this picture some of the laborers are employed in transporting the clay in vessels; some in working it up with the straw; others are taking the bricks out of the moulds and setting them in rows to dry; while others, by means of a yoke upon their shoulders, from which ropes are suspended at each end, are seen carrying away the bricks already dried. 13-17. The result was, that the taskmasters, who were responsible to the government for the production of the bricks, reprimanded and even beat the Hebrew overseers (officers), who were accountable to them. The beating is characteristic of the people; for one needs only to look into a book of Egyptian antiquities to see how freely the stick was administered to people of all ages, and of either sex. In fact, from the evidence this people have themselves left to the world in their monuments, it would seem as if Egypt was, as much as China at the present day, ruled by the rod. The overseers were at length urged to carry their complaints to the king. But the stern answer was, "Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to Jehovah. Go therefore now and work." Kit. 22. Moses could not reconcile the adverse providence with the promise and commission he had received. He had indeed been taught to anticipate Pharaoh's refusal to let the people go, but he was taken by surprise on finding their burdens increased. It seemed that his mission was utterly abortive, and that thus far not one step had been taken toward their deliverance. But we can put a more correct construction upon this apparently mysterious style of dispensation. To us it is not a strange spectacle to see the most merciful counsels of God ushered in by a train of events apparently the most disastrous; to see his dearest servants reduced to the utmost straits just when he is ready to appear for their deliverance. This result is suffered to take place that we may learn to cease from man, and that the divine interpositions may be more endeared to the hearts of those that wait for them. Bush.—If Moses did amiss in repining, he did well in "returning unto the Lord," and making his complaint, not to others, but to him. So did David, the man after God's own heart: "When I am in heaviness," saith he, "I will think upon God; when my heart is vexed, I will complain" (Ps. 77 : 3). So did Paul, when buffeted by the messenger of Satan he applied himself to God for relief, and besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him; but the answer was (and he acquiesced in it), "My grace is sufficient for thee." Wogan.—With every fresh movement of God's grace in the inner life, fresh difficulties and questions are raised. If we will bring these before the Lord, though it should be with the expression of trembling and grief, yet are they not to be regarded as signs of unbelief, but rather of the struggles and contests of faith; and the Lord is patient toward the doubtings of human shortsightedness. Gerl. 6 : 1. To the almost reproachful utterance of Moses, God answers patiently, saying that it is his glory to see that what he has promised and predicted will come to pass. It is not ours to question that God will fulfil his promises; it is ours always and everywhere to fulfil the obligations that he has laid upon us. God says, that, so far from Pharaoh succeeding, he will be glad to let these poor brickmakers and slaves go forth from his land. There is something very encouraging in this; that God, instead of rebuking strongly the unbelief of his servants, gives another manifestation of his greatness to their senses, in order to overcome by love, instead of repressing by rebuke, their unbelief and suspicions. J. C. The first interview of Moses with Pharaoh served to determine the relationship of all parties in reference to the Divine command. It had brought out the enmity of Pharaoh, ripening for judgment; the unbelief of Israel, needing much discipline; and even the weakness of Moses. A. E. The period now commonly assigned to the Exodus is the reign of Meneptah, son of Rameses II. The father, Rameses (the great "Sesostris"), would thus have been on the throne at Moses' birth, and in his long reign of sixty-six years would have been the great oppressor. His policy and sceptre passing into the hands of his feebler son, brought on the crisis and the deliverance. This is the view of Rouge, Mariette, Lenormant, Maspero, Ebers, Brugsch, Bunsen, Birch, and Poole. The name of the stronghold, "Rameses," points at once to a monarch of that name; and there is nothing to connect the only previous monarch of that name, Rameses I. (the grandfather of Rameses II.), obscure and short-lived, with the enterprise. But the long reign of Rameses II., his boastful spirit, his foreign wars, his vast public works, including numerous temples, the canal, and a line of fortresses on his eastern frontier (a circumstance which coincides with the fears expressed in Ex. 1:10), and the air of oppression which the monuments ascribe to his reign, all furnish a strong basis for the theory. No name is so boastfully and ubiquitously spread over the buildings of Egypt as that of Rameses II. Of his son Menetphah's reign, the notices are exceedingly slight. No monumental record of his bears date later than his second year, although a tablet describing a victory over the Libyanis is referred to his eighth year, soon after which the Exodus is supposed to have taken place. In the time of Menetphah Egypt was a mighty empire of ancient civilization. Most of her huge edifices, including nearly all the vast structures of Thebes, were in existence. The complication of her social life, even to the elaborate cuisine, may be read in the tombs of the kings and men of wealth. The skill of her jewellers in the eighteenth dynasty may be admired in the museum at Boolak. The processes of her goldsmiths in the twelfth dynasty are seen delineated at Beni-Hasan. The temper of her cutting tools may be witnessed in the multitudinous and deep inscriptions on her granite obelisks. The greatness of her revenues is exhibited in the records of Theotnes III. Her military resources in the time of Menetphah's father are boastfully set forth in the poem of the Pentaur. S. C. B. If Menetphah I., the son and successor of Rameses II., was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it follows necessarily that his father, the great Rameses, was the king of Ex. 2, from whom Moses fled, and after whose death he was directed to quit Midian and return into Egypt for the purpose of delivering his brethren (ch. 2:23; 4:19). But as Moses was eighty years old at this time (ch. 7:7), it is evident that the Pharaoh from whom he fled cannot be the same with the one who, more than eighty years previously, gave the order for the destruction of the Hebrew male children (ch. 1:22). The narrative of Exodus must speak of three Pharaohs, of the first in ch. 1, of the second in ch. 2, and of the third in chs. 5-14. If the second of these is Rameses II., the father of Menetphah I., the first must be Seti I., the father of Rameses II. Now, it happens that Seti I. and Rameses II. are among the most distinguished of all the Egyptian monarchs, great warriors, great builders, setters-up of numerous inscriptions. We know them almost better than any other Egyptian kings, are familiar with their very countenances, have ample means of forming an estimate of their characters from their own words. Seti I. may well be the "new king, which knew not Joseph." Rameses II. was associated on the throne by his father when he was ten or eleven years of age. The two kings then reigned conjointly for about twenty years. Rameses outlived his father forty-seven years, and probably had the real direction of the government for about sixty years. There is no other reign in the New Empire which reaches nearly to the length of his. He was less of a warrior than his father, and more of a builder. Among his principal works was the completion of the city of Rameses (Pi-Ramesu), begun by his father, and made by Rameses the residence of the court, and one of the chief cities of the empire. He appears also to have completed Pithom Pi-Tum), and to have entirely built many other important towns. All his works were raised by means of forced labor; and for the purpose of their construction he required an enormous mass of human material, which had to be constantly employed under taskmasters in the most severe and exhausting toil. Besides his suitability in character to be the Pharaoh who continued the severe oppression begun by Seti I., Rameses II., by the great length of his reign, exactly fits into the requirements of the Biblical narrative. He alone verges upon the time at which the severe oppression must necessarily be placed. It can scarcely be a coincidence that Egyptian tradition should point out Menetphah I. as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and that, the Biblical narrative assigning to his predecessor an exceptionally long reign, the monuments and Manetho should agree in giving to that predecessor the exceptionally long reign of sixty-six or sixty-seven years. The portraits of the first and second Pharaohs mentioned in the Book of Exodus are only faintly and slightly sketched. That of the third monarch—"the Pharaoh of the Exodus," as he is commonly termed—is, on the contrary, presented to us with much clearness and distinctness, though without effort or conscious elaboration. He is an oppressor as merciless as either of his predecessors, as deaf to pity, as determined to crush the aspirations of the Hebrews by hard labor. To him belongs the ingenious device for aggravating suffering, which has passed into the proverbial phraseology of modern Europe, the requirement of "bricks without straw." He disregards the afflictions of his own countrymen as completely as those of his foreign slaves, and continues fixed in his determination not to "let Israel go," until he suffers the loss of his own firstborn. When finally he has been induced to allow the Hebrews to withdraw themselves from his land, he suddenly repents of his concession, pursues after them, and seeks, not so much to prevent their escape, as to destroy them to the last man (15:9). To this harshness and cruelty of temper he adds a remarkable weakness and vacillation—he will and he will not; he makes promises and retracts them; he "thrusts the Israelites out" (11:1; 12:31), and then rushes after them at the head of all the troops that he can muster (14:5-9). Further—and this is most remarkable—unlike the generality of Egyptian monarchs, he seems to be deficient in personal courage; at any rate, there is no appearance of his having imperilled himself in the attack made on the Israelites at the Red Sea,—"the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen" (14:23); but not, so far as appears, Pharaoh himself. Neither the narrative in Exod. 14 nor the song of rejoicing in the following chapter contains the slightest allusion to the Pharaoh's death, an omission almost inconceivable if he really perished with his warriors. Further the Pharaoh of the Exodus seems to have been grossly and abnormally superstitious, one who put trust in magicians and sorcerers, and turned to them in times of difficulty. What, then, does profane history tell us of the Meneptah whom we have shown to be at once the traditional "Pharaoh of the Exodus" and the king pointed out by chronological considerations as the ruler of Egypt at the period? M. Lenormant begins his account of him by observing, "He was neither a soldier nor an administrator, but one whose mind was turned almost exclusively toward the chimeras of sorcery and magic." "The Book of Exodus," he adds, "is in the most exact agreement with historical truth when it depicts him as surrounded by priest-magicians, with whom Moses contends in working prodigies, in order to affect the mind of the Pharaoh." Later on in his history of Meneptah, M. Lenormant has the following passage, referring to his repulse of the great Libyan invasion in his fifth year. "Sending forward in advance, first of all, his chariot-force and his light-armed auxiliaries, the Pharaoh promised to join the battle array with the bulk of his troops at the end of fourteen days. But he was not personally fond of actual fight, and disliked exposing himself to the chance of defeat. An apparition of the god Phthah, which he saw in a dream, warned him that his lofty rank required him not to cross the river. He therefore sent his army to the combat under the command of some of his father's generals, who were still living." The dream is clearly a convenient fiction, by means of which he might at once conceal his cowardice and excuse the forfeiture of his word. The Egyptian monuments thus confirm three leading features in the character of Meneptah,—his superstitiousness, his want of courage, and his weak, shitty, false temper. Moses fell back upon his own unworthiness. He forgot the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee." The moment we get away from Divine promise and forget great principles, we degrade all service. Self-consciousness is the ruin of all vocations. Let a man look into himself and measure his work by himself, and the movement of his life will be downward and exhaustive. Let him look away from himself to the Inspirer of his life and the Divine reward of his labors, and he will not so much as see the difficulties which may stand ever so thickly in the way. J. P. Would that there were no Christians who, like Moses, we might almost say, delight in heaping up objections, and in answering that grand, irrevocable "Yea" of God's word with an everlasting "But!" This was forgiven Moses; he was, moreover, wholly cured of it. The Lord will bear with this in you too, ye who are upright in heart. God gives complete solution of the trifling difficulties and objections which we raise; but after that, we must advance at his appointed time. Then, in God's name, advance! from faith to stronger faith, and straightway, too, from light to greater light, from strength to strength, from victory to victory,—still on! Even in the darkest night, only let that name shine on you as if it were inscribed with stars, the name which God gives himself, I AM. He lives, and he abides; then, whether it be here on earth or up in heaven, we must all live by him, for him, with him! Van O. 18. AND Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, my firstborn: and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn. And it came to pass on the way at the lodging place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the circumcision. 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs 31 in the sight of the people. And the people believed : and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. 5 : 1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? 3 I know not the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us : let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God ; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the 4 sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose 5 the people from their works ? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the 6 people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And the 7 same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather 8 straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish aught thereof : for they be idle ; therefore they cry, 9 saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that 10 they may labour therein ; and let them not regard lying words. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get you straw where ye can find it : for 11 nought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout 12 all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, 13 Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and to-day, in making brick as 14 heretofore ? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants ? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick : and, behold, thy servants are beaten ; but the fault 15 is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle ; therefore ye say, Let us go 16 and sacrifice to the LORD. Go therefore now, and work ; for there shall no straw be given 17 you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, when it was said, Ye shall not minish aught from your bricks, 18 your daily tasks. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth 19 from Pharaoh : and they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge ; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou evil entreated this people ? why is it that thou hast sent 20 me ? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath evil entreated this people ; 21 neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. And the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh : for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 20. It pleased God, who could have wrought his wonders without any visible signs, that Moses should use the rod in external demonstration of the divine power : yet the Lord uses such means as have no power of themselves, or likelihood to effect that which is wrought, that the work should not be ascribed to the means. Willet. 21. I will harden his heart. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is in this narrative ten times ascribed to the Lord. But it is also twice ascribed to Pharaoh himself. In seven other passages it is stated simply as a fact, without assigning any cause. It is evident of itself that this fact is ascribed to God and to Pharaoh in different respects ; so that the two assertions are consistent with each other. It is equally plain that the act in question belongs to Pharaoh, as the moral agent by whose intention it was performed. It belongs to God as the Designer, Creator, and Supreme Governor of the existing universe, of which free agents and their voluntary actings form a part. M.—Calamities which do not subdue the heart harden it ; and the effects of God's judgments being foreknown are willed by him. We should not therefore adopt a forced interpretation of this expression in order to explain away its apparent harshness. The hardening itself is judicial, and just, when it is a consequence of previously formed habits; in the case of Pharaoh it was at once a righteous judgment, and a natural result of a long series of oppressions and cruelties. Theodoret thus deals with the question: "The sun by the action of heat makes wax moist, and mud dry, hardening the one while it softens the other, by the same operation producing exactly opposite results; thus from the long-suffering of God some derive benefit and others harm, some are softened while others are hardened." The reason why the action of God rather than the character of Pharaoh is dwelt on in this passage would seem to be that it was necessary to sustain the spirit of Moses and the people during the process of events, which they were thus taught were altogether foreseen and predetermined by God. Cook. [See Section 85.] 22. God had promised him (v. 12), I will teach thee what thou shalt say; and here he does teach him. He must deliver his message in the name of the great Jehovah, Thus saith the Lord; this is the first time that preface is used by any man, which afterward is used so frequently by all the prophets: whether Pharaoh will hear or whether he will forbear, Moses must tell him, Thus saith the Lord. H. My son, my firstborn. By calling Israel His son, God claims liberty for him. By calling him His firstborn, He prefers him to the other nations; as though He had said that he was raised to the primogeniture and was superior to all the world. Calv.—Only those who are begotten according to the counsel of salvation can be called sons of Jehovah. Israel was not called a son of Jehovah merely, but the firstborn son, who would be followed by other sons, begotten in the same manner. The election of Abraham, with all the consequent leadings and promises, the blessings and chastisements, had made Israel a son. K. 24-26. This surprising occurrence must be accounted for by remembering that Moses was an Israelite, bound to God by the covenant of circumcision, and that he was bringing his family to Egypt uncircumcised, having apparently conceded this point to the national habits of his wife. God had attached to the neglect of circumcision the penalty of death (Gen. 17:14). How God met with him we are left to surmise: possibly in a dangerous stroke of illness or sudden incapacity, as would appear from his inability to circumcise his own child. This took place not in the inn (A. V.), for there were not and are not in the East any buildings corresponding to our inns, but at the resting-place for the night. Alf.—The most obvious explanation of the passage is that Moses had omitted the circumcision of his son—his eldest son, it seems—probably because Zipporah, the mother, objected to the dangerous operation. For this he is punished; for, as Knobel well observes, "he who is to bring Pharaoh to do his duty to God's firstborn must fulfil his own duty to the firstborn son who is under him, but belongs to God." To save her husband, Zipporah performs the circumcision, but tells him that she is united to him in a marriage the children of which must be bought with blood. O.—Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment, and particularly the contempt and neglect of the seals of the covenant; for it is a sign that we undervalue the promises of the covenant. God takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the sins of his own people; if they neglect their duty, let them expect to hear of it by their consciences, and perhaps to feel from it by cross providences. H. After this transaction and the developments attending it, we must suppose that Moses (prudently) sent back his wife and the two children to remain with her father until the redeemed Israelites should reach the home of Jethro. We hear no more of her and her children till the narrative in Ex. 18 brings them to view thus: "When Jethro had heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and Israel, he took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons and brought them to Moses." H. C. 27. The Lord said to Aaron. By some secret movement on Aaron's mind or by some voice, he was now directed to go and meet his brother Moses, and so correctly was the information given to both that they arrived at the same time on the sacred mountain. A. C.—Aaron, although the elder, not only paid honor to his brother, whom he knew to be a Prophet of the Lord; but willingly submitted himself to him as to an angel. The kiss is mentioned as a sign of recognition, by which he testified the firmness of his faith. Calv.—28. Moses was met by Aaron, as God had foretold, on the very spot where he had received the revelation, which he rehearsed to his brother, with its attendant miracles, in the mount of God. P. S.—29. Elders of Israel. Their existence and office seems to infer an organization in Israel, which must have arisen in Egypt before the days of their oppression began. Alf. 5 : 1. The Pharaoh under whom the Exodus actually took place could not have been Rameses II. himself, but his son and successor, Meneptah II. His reign lasted but a short time, and it was disturbed not only by the flight of the Children of Israel, but also by a great invasion of Northern Egypt by the Libyans, which was with difficulty repulsed. This took place in his fifth year. Sayce. Came unto Pharaoh. The kings of Egypt probably held that sort of open court or divan, usual in oriental monarchies, in which any one may appear who would claim justice or petition for favor. Moses and Aaron stand before this throne, and solicit the temporary release of all their people, that they may offer sacrifice to their God. Milman. 2. Who is the Lord.** Rather, "Who is Jehovah? I know not Jehovah." This title should here be rendered verbatim, "Jehovah," rather than "Lord," since it is mentioned as the peculiar name of the God of Israel; whereas the title "Lord" was common to the heathen deities, many of them being called "Baalim," "Lords." This makes Pharaoh's answer more emphatic, "Who is Jehovah?"—a name of which he had never before heard. From the despised character of the people of Israel, he formed his estimate of the God whom they professed to serve. Their God was no more entitled to reverence as a deity than they were to respect as a people. Bush.—Egypt was then the most powerful nation of the world. Exposed on either side to the invasion of nomadic hordes, it had of necessity its standing army, and its kings, in consequence, were haughty and boastful. No other nation at that era could have produced the Pharaoh of Moses' age. And in this Pharaoh was represented—nay, as it were, concentrated—the spirit of the people. S. R. He says he does not know Jehovah; he does not recognize his authority or admit his claims. His soul is full of practical unbelief in God—a fact which commonly lies at the bottom of all the hardening of sinners' hearts in every age. Pharaoh did not at first contemplate crossing swords and measuring strong arms with the Almighty God. If he had taken this view of the case, he might have paused awhile to consider. So it usually is with sinners. Unbelief in God conduces to launch them upon this terrible conflict. Once committed, they become more hardened; one sin leads on to more sinning till sin becomes incurable—shall we say it?—an uncontrollable madness. H. C. 3. Lest he fall upon us.** Lest he send a plague upon us for our neglect of him. They neither wrought any miracle nor threatened any punishment upon Pharaoh on their first application to him, but told him the danger to which they were themselves exposed, if they did not obey their God. Patrick.—All that Moses was instructed to ask for was permission to go into a part of the desert where the people might offer sacrifices without interruption from the Egyptians. It is evident from Pharaoh's answer that he did not see in the request any indication of an intention to escape from Egypt. Cook.—The request for a three days' pilgrimage into the wilderness to sacrifice unto God was all the more reasonable, that Israel's sacrifices would have been "an abomination" to the Egyptians, and might have led to disturbances. It was infinite condescension to Pharaoh's weakness, on the part of God, not to insist from the first upon the immediate and entire dismissal of Israel. Less could not have been asked than was demanded of Pharaoh, nor could obedience have been made more easy. Only the most tyrannical determination to crush the rights and convictions of the people, and the most daring defiance of Jehovah, could have prompted him to refuse such a request, and that in face of all the signs and wonders by which the mission of Moses was accredited. Thus at the first his submission was to be tried where it was easiest to render it. A. E. 4-19. Instead of completing at one blow what he had promised his people and threatened Pharaoh, the Lord commences with this refusal of the king a series of trials for Israel and chastisements for Pharaoh. He purposes neither to subdue the king by the mere exercise of power, nor to assist the people without the trial of their faith. The immediate consequence of the first appeal to Pharaoh is that their condition becomes worse, and their belief in the word of promise is contradicted by the present appearance of affairs. Gert. 4. 5. Pharaoh takes no notice of what Moses and Aaron had said to him respecting the liberation of the people, but treats them merely as the disturbers of the peace of his kingdom. 6. The taskmasters and their officers. These "taskmasters," lit. "exactors," constituting the highest grade of officers, were Egyptians appointed to exact labor of the Israelites. But those termed "officers" appear (vs. 14-16) to have been Israelites set over their brethren, under the taskmasters. Bush. One of the most interesting tombs at Thebes is that of Rochscore, "the overseer of public buildings," under Thommes III. On the walls of this tomb the monarch is seen presenting obelisks to the divinity, and these obelisks are found at this day in the temple of Karnac. Here, too, is depicted the whole process of brick- making—the slaves of the king shaping the mud of the Nile into crude brick, just as the fellahs are seen doing at this day. Taskmasters with whips are stationed at intervals among the workmen, a pictorial representation of the scenes that daily occurred among the Israelites in their cruel bondage. In this picture some of the laborers are employed in transporting the clay in vessels; some in working it up with the straw; others are taking the bricks out of the moulds and setting them in rows to dry; while others, by means of a yoke upon their shoulders, from which ropes are suspended at each end, are seen carrying away the bricks already dried. 13-17. The result was, that the taskmasters, who were responsible to the government for the production of the bricks, reprimanded and even beat the Hebrew overseers (officers), who were accountable to them. The beating is characteristic of the people; for one needs only to look into a book of Egyptian antiquities to see how freely the stick was administered to people of all ages, and of either sex. In fact, from the evidence this people have themselves left to the world in their monuments, it would seem as if Egypt was, as much as China at the present day, ruled by the rod. The overseers were at length urged to carry their complaints to the king. But the stern answer was, "Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to Jehovah. Go therefore now and work." Kit. 22. Moses could not reconcile the adverse providence with the promise and commission he had received. He had indeed been taught to anticipate Pharaoh's refusal to let the people go, but he was taken by surprise on finding their burdens increased. It seemed that his mission was utterly abortive, and that thus far not one step had been taken toward their deliverance. But we can put a more correct construction upon this apparently mysterious style of dispensation. To us it is not a strange spectacle to see the most merciful counsels of God ushered in by a train of events apparently the most disastrous; to see his dearest servants reduced to the utmost straits just when he is ready to appear for their deliverance. This result is suffered to take place that we may learn to cease from man, and that the divine interpositions may be more endeared to the hearts of those that wait for them. Bush.—If Moses did amiss in repining, he did well in "returning unto the Lord," and making his complaint, not to others, but to him. So did David, the man after God's own heart: "When I am in heaviness," saith he, "I will think upon God; when my heart is vexed, I will complain" (Ps. 77 : 3). So did Paul, when buffeted by the messenger of Satan he applied himself to God for relief, and besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him; but the answer was (and he acquiesced in it), "My grace is sufficient for thee." Wogan.—With every fresh movement of God's grace in the inner life, fresh difficulties and questions are raised. If we will bring these before the Lord, though it should be with the expression of trembling and grief, yet are they not to be regarded as signs of unbelief, but rather of the struggles and contests of faith; and the Lord is patient toward the doubtings of human shortsightedness. Gerl. 6 : 1. To the almost reproachful utterance of Moses, God answers patiently, saying that it is his glory to see that what he has promised and predicted will come to pass. It is not ours to question that God will fulfil his promises; it is ours always and everywhere to fulfil the obligations that he has laid upon us. God says, that, so far from Pharaoh succeeding, he will be glad to let these poor brickmakers and slaves go forth from his land. There is something very encouraging in this; that God, instead of rebuking strongly the unbelief of his servants, gives another manifestation of his greatness to their senses, in order to overcome by love, instead of repressing by rebuke, their unbelief and suspicions. J. C. The first interview of Moses with Pharaoh served to determine the relationship of all parties in reference to the Divine command. It had brought out the enmity of Pharaoh, ripening for judgment; the unbelief of Israel, needing much discipline; and even the weakness of Moses. A. E. The period now commonly assigned to the Exodus is the reign of Meneptah, son of Rameses II. The father, Rameses (the great "Sesostris"), would thus have been on the throne at Moses' birth, and in his long reign of sixty-six years would have been the great oppressor. His policy and sceptre passing into the hands of his feebler son, brought on the crisis and the deliverance. This is the view of Rouge, Mariette, Lenormant, Maspero, Ebers, Brugsch, Bunsen, Birch, and Poole. The name of the stronghold, "Rameses," points at once to a monarch of that name; and there is nothing to connect the only previous monarch of that name, Rameses I. (the grandfather of Rameses II.), obscure and short-lived, with the enterprise. But the long reign of Rameses II., his boastful spirit, his foreign wars, his vast public works, including numerous temples, the canal, and a line of fortresses on his eastern frontier (a circumstance which coincides with the fears expressed in Ex. 1:10), and the air of oppression which the monuments ascribe to his reign, all furnish a strong basis for the theory. No name is so boastfully and ubiquitously spread over the buildings of Egypt as that of Rameses II. Of his son Menetphah's reign, the notices are exceedingly slight. No monumental record of his bears date later than his second year, although a tablet describing a victory over the Libyanis is referred to his eighth year, soon after which the Exodus is supposed to have taken place. In the time of Menetphah Egypt was a mighty empire of ancient civilization. Most of her huge edifices, including nearly all the vast structures of Thebes, were in existence. The complication of her social life, even to the elaborate cuisine, may be read in the tombs of the kings and men of wealth. The skill of her jewellers in the eighteenth dynasty may be admired in the museum at Boolak. The processes of her goldsmiths in the twelfth dynasty are seen delineated at Beni-Hasan. The temper of her cutting tools may be witnessed in the multitudinous and deep inscriptions on her granite obelisks. The greatness of her revenues is exhibited in the records of Theotnes III. Her military resources in the time of Menetphah's father are boastfully set forth in the poem of the Pentaur. S. C. B. If Menetphah I., the son and successor of Rameses II., was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it follows necessarily that his father, the great Rameses, was the king of Ex. 2, from whom Moses fled, and after whose death he was directed to quit Midian and return into Egypt for the purpose of delivering his brethren (ch. 2:23; 4:19). But as Moses was eighty years old at this time (ch. 7:7), it is evident that the Pharaoh from whom he fled cannot be the same with the one who, more than eighty years previously, gave the order for the destruction of the Hebrew male children (ch. 1:22). The narrative of Exodus must speak of three Pharaohs, of the first in ch. 1, of the second in ch. 2, and of the third in chs. 5-14. If the second of these is Rameses II., the father of Menetphah I., the first must be Seti I., the father of Rameses II. Now, it happens that Seti I. and Rameses II. are among the most distinguished of all the Egyptian monarchs, great warriors, great builders, setters-up of numerous inscriptions. We know them almost better than any other Egyptian kings, are familiar with their very countenances, have ample means of forming an estimate of their characters from their own words. Seti I. may well be the "new king, which knew not Joseph." Rameses II. was associated on the throne by his father when he was ten or eleven years of age. The two kings then reigned conjointly for about twenty years. Rameses outlived his father forty-seven years, and probably had the real direction of the government for about sixty years. There is no other reign in the New Empire which reaches nearly to the length of his. He was less of a warrior than his father, and more of a builder. Among his principal works was the completion of the city of Rameses (Pi-Ramesu), begun by his father, and made by Rameses the residence of the court, and one of the chief cities of the empire. He appears also to have completed Pithom Pi-Tum), and to have entirely built many other important towns. All his works were raised by means of forced labor; and for the purpose of their construction he required an enormous mass of human material, which had to be constantly employed under taskmasters in the most severe and exhausting toil. Besides his suitability in character to be the Pharaoh who continued the severe oppression begun by Seti I., Rameses II., by the great length of his reign, exactly fits into the requirements of the Biblical narrative. He alone verges upon the time at which the severe oppression must necessarily be placed. It can scarcely be a coincidence that Egyptian tradition should point out Menetphah I. as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and that, the Biblical narrative assigning to his predecessor an exceptionally long reign, the monuments and Manetho should agree in giving to that predecessor the exceptionally long reign of sixty-six or sixty-seven years. The portraits of the first and second Pharaohs mentioned in the Book of Exodus are only faintly and slightly sketched. That of the third monarch—"the Pharaoh of the Exodus," as he is commonly termed—is, on the contrary, presented to us with much clearness and distinctness, though without effort or conscious elaboration. He is an oppressor as merciless as either of his predecessors, as deaf to pity, as determined to crush the aspirations of the Hebrews by hard labor. To him belongs the ingenious device for aggravating suffering, which has passed into the proverbial phraseology of modern Europe, the requirement of "bricks without straw." He disregards the afflictions of his own countrymen as completely as those of his foreign slaves, and continues fixed in his determination not to "let Israel go," until he suffers the loss of his own firstborn. When finally he has been induced to allow the Hebrews to withdraw themselves from his land, he suddenly repents of his concession, pursues after them, and seeks, not so much to prevent their escape, as to destroy them to the last man (15:9). To this harshness and cruelty of temper he adds a remarkable weakness and vacillation—he will and he will not; he makes promises and retracts them; he "thrusts the Israelites out" (11:1; 12:31), and then rushes after them at the head of all the troops that he can muster (14:5-9). Further—and this is most remarkable—unlike the generality of Egyptian monarchs, he seems to be deficient in personal courage; at any rate, there is no appearance of his having imperilled himself in the attack made on the Israelites at the Red Sea,—"the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen" (14:23); but not, so far as appears, Pharaoh himself. Neither the narrative in Exod. 14 nor the song of rejoicing in the following chapter contains the slightest allusion to the Pharaoh's death, an omission almost inconceivable if he really perished with his warriors. Further the Pharaoh of the Exodus seems to have been grossly and abnormally superstitious, one who put trust in magicians and sorcerers, and turned to them in times of difficulty. What, then, does profane history tell us of the Meneptah whom we have shown to be at once the traditional "Pharaoh of the Exodus" and the king pointed out by chronological considerations as the ruler of Egypt at the period? M. Lenormant begins his account of him by observing, "He was neither a soldier nor an administrator, but one whose mind was turned almost exclusively toward the chimeras of sorcery and magic." "The Book of Exodus," he adds, "is in the most exact agreement with historical truth when it depicts him as surrounded by priest-magicians, with whom Moses contends in working prodigies, in order to affect the mind of the Pharaoh." Later on in his history of Meneptah, M. Lenormant has the following passage, referring to his repulse of the great Libyan invasion in his fifth year. "Sending forward in advance, first of all, his chariot-force and his light-armed auxiliaries, the Pharaoh promised to join the battle array with the bulk of his troops at the end of fourteen days. But he was not personally fond of actual fight, and disliked exposing himself to the chance of defeat. An apparition of the god Phthah, which he saw in a dream, warned him that his lofty rank required him not to cross the river. He therefore sent his army to the combat under the command of some of his father's generals, who were still living." The dream is clearly a convenient fiction, by means of which he might at once conceal his cowardice and excuse the forfeiture of his word. The Egyptian monuments thus confirm three leading features in the character of Meneptah,—his superstitiousness, his want of courage, and his weak, shitty, false temper. It was not to be expected that the general series of events related in the first fourteen chapters of Exodus should obtain any direct mention in the historical records of Egypt. As M. Chabas remarks, "events of this kind were not entitled to be inscribed on the public monuments, where nothing was ever registered except successes and triumphs." The court historiographers would naturally refrain from all mention of the terrible plagues from which Egypt suffered during a whole year, as well as from any record of the disaster of the Red Sea; and the monarch would certainly not inscribe any account of them upon his edifices. G. R. # PLEDGES RENEWED TO ISRAEL. CHARGE TO MOSES AND AARON. HEADS OF HOUSES. HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART. 6 : 2 AND God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am JEHOVAH : and I appeared unto 3 Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH I was not 4 known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land 5 of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. And moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I 6 have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments; 7 and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God : and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage : I am Jehovah. 9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel : but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. 10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, 11 that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before the LORD, 12 saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh 13 hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 14 These are the heads of their fathers' houses : the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; 15 Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi : these are the families of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon : Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a 16 Canaanitish woman : these are the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations : Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari : and the 17 years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. The sons of Gershon ; 18 Libni and Shimei, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath ; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty 19 and three years. And the sons of Merari; Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the 20 Levites according to their generations. And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an 21 hundred and thirty and seven years. And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nephreg, and 22 Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. And Aaron took him 23 Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, to wife; and she bare him 24 Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and 25 Abiasaab; these are the families of the Korahites. And Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas. These are the heads of the 26 fathers' houses of the Levites according to their families. These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according 27 to their hosts. These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron. 28 And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of 30 Egypt all that I speak unto thee. And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of unciv- 7:1 cumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pha- 3 raoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's 4 heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people 5 the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgements. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out 6 the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did so; as the LORD com- 7 manded them, so did they. And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto 9 you, saying, Shew a wonder for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and 10 cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod be- 11 fore Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like man- 12 ner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became 13 serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. 6:2-13. The oppression of the people, Moses' call and going down into Egypt, his first announcement of the Divine will to Pharaoh, the refusal of the king, the still harder servitude of Israel,—all this combined had extorted from Moses the almost despairing cry of complaint (ch. 5:22, 23). Now commences properly the history of the deliverance. In another appear- ance and address, God renews the former dec- larations and promises. He explains more fully the name by which it was his wish to be known to Israel. Even this fresh and solemn declaration of his gracious purposes makes no impression on the people under their hard burdens, and Moses repeats his complaints. Henceforth begin the deeds of the Lord—his wonders in Egypt. Gerl. 3. I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (Hebrew El-Shaddai), but by my name Je- hovah was I not known to them.** It was not the name, but the true depth of its significance which was unknown to and uncom- prehended by the patriarchs. They had known God as the omnipotent, El-Shaddai, the ruler of the physical universe, and of man as one of his creatures; as a God eternal, immutable, and true to his promises he was yet to be revealed. Dic. B.—The meaning is, not that the name Jehovah was never used by them or given of God to them; but that its special significance had not been manifested to them as he was now about to make it manifest. His power God had revealed—his power to protect them in their perils, his power to fulfil to Abraham the prom- ise of a son; but such a glorious testimony to his faithfulness in fulfilling promise as was now to be given, the patriarchs had never seen. The redemption of Israel from Egyptian bond- age was destined to stand through all the ages of their history as the crowning manifestation of God's faithfulness—the standard and unsur- passed testimony to the significance of his most honored name Jehovah. By this shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God when I bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and bring you into the land given by solemn oath to your fathers and to their posterity for a heritage (vs. 7, 8). H. C. El-Shaddai is the Almighty God, who by his creative omnipotence prepared the natural conditions and vital agencies required for the development of salvation, and hence the word sets forth one view of the Elohistic existence of God, on which it was necessary that peculiar stress should be laid. Jehovah is the God engaged in the development of salvation, who enters into it himself, manifests himself in it and with it, and therefore conducts it with absolute certainty to the desired result. All that Jehovah had performed in connection with the patriarchal history was limited to the election and call of individuals, to the communication of directions and promises, and the fostering of faith in the directions and promises given. Hitherto there had been no embodiment in fact; there had been merely the introduction of an idea, which was to be realized and embodied for the first time at Sinai. Hence the patriarchs could only grasp the operations of Jehovah in faith and hope; they could not see them; they did not feel and know them as something actually accomplished and fulfilled. This was reserved for their descendants, to whom Moses was sent with the message that it was now about to happen. This then, and this alone, is the meaning of the words of God: "They have known me, my nature, and my operations, as El-Shaddai, but not as Jehovah; you shall soon know me as Jehovah also. K.—The time was now come when God was to be known by his name "Jehovah," in the doing of what he had before decreed, and the fulfilling of what he had before promised. Accordingly in the words immediately following (vs. 4-8), God goes on to assure them that he will make good his promise by establishing his covenant. Bush. The name Jehovah was (or rather became) undoubtedly a new one then, but only in the sense in which Christ said, "A new commandment give I unto you," whereas he merely repeated one of the primary commandments, which we find in the Old Testament and meet with on every hand in the laws of Moses. It was a commandment, however, the fulness and depth, the meaning, force, and value of which were first unfolded by the gospel. And just as the greatest act of love which the world ever witnessed provided a new field for the exemplification of this command in greater glory than was possible under the law, and thus the old commandment became a new one; so did the new act of God in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, furnish a new field in which the ancient name of God struck fresh and deeper roots, and thus the ancient name became a new one. K. The Divine Being who appeared to these ancient saints many times in various visible forms and covenanted with them, did never assume the name Jehovah to himself in the appearances, nor covenant with them by this name. He appeared unto Abraham, entering into covenant with him as El-Shaddai, "God Almighty." Isaac in transferring the blessings of the covenant to Jacob used the same covenant title, "God Almighty bless thee." So when God appeared to Jacob, again the title El-Shaddai was the covenant name used. God might say, "I am Jehovah, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by my name, Jehovah, was I not made known to them." Observe, it is not "I was not known," but "not made known"—that is, did not reveal myself by that name in any theophany to covenant with them. And not only is this statement in precise harmony with the facts of the previous history, but is itself the key to the singular fact, that though so often spoken of as Jehovah in other relations, God had not announced himself as such in any of the many covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This term Jehovah, while it is applied to the invisible God, is applied in the narration also to the visible God manifest in the flesh and in the shadowy forms of the ancient theophanies which foreshadowed the incarnation. Not without abundant reason in the history might Jesus assume to himself the title "Ehjeh," saying, "Before Abraham was I AM." And if it was Jesus in his pre-existing nature, the second person of the Godhead, that in this patriarchal history made these appearances to Abraham and entered into the covenant with him—and this is Jesus Christ the second person of the Godhead who appears in the burning bush and speaks to Moses—then have we found the clew of the somewhat singular application of the titles of God found in the patriarchal history. If Jesus is the Jehovah in the revelation of the burning bush, then he is also, for he declares he is, the El-Shaddai—Almighty God—who covenanted with Abraham—and the Angel of the covenant so often mentioned in the history of the patriarch. And he is called the Angel because, as mediator and messenger of the Infinite, invisible God, he is sent on these missions to earth. Now, though the name Jehovah was from the beginning well known as the title of the eternal, invisible and incomprehensible God, it was not known as a name also belonging to the "God manifest," the visible representative Angel of God, until the secret is revealed to Moses at the burning bush. And the fact that Moses wrote the book of Genesis after this revelation explains why he represents the Angel who appears to make these covenants, and to execute the fulfilment of them, as also the Jehovah whom the patriarch conceived of only as the invisible and incomprehensible God. S. R. 4. 5. Two reasons are assigned for the promise that follows, viz. the old covenant with the patriarchs, and the divine compassion for the sufferings of Israel. Cook.—6-8. Here is line upon line to assure them, that they should be brought triumphantly out of Egypt, and should be put in possession of the land of Canaan; I will bring you out. I will rid you. I will redeem you. I will bring you into the land of Canaan, and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. H.—8. I am Jehovah. The continual repetition of the covenant promise in connection with the name JEHOVAH marks forcibly the inauguration of that sacred name as the future appellation of the God of Israel. Alf.—In the dawn of Hebrew history God gives his people a memorial name, by which he should be known forever.—Jehovah,—a seal upon his covenant with them, a name of promise, pointing to a deliverance to come, a Saviour, a Messiah; and that mighty name stood, on the lips and in the mind of the chosen tribes, through centuries of trial and expectation, an impregnable defence, an inexhaustible hope, an unfailing herald of redemption to come. F. D. H. 9. They hearkened not unto Moses. Ah, how frail is poor human nature! How weak is the faith of this long-oppressed people! But God's compassions are a great deep and he does not frown severely upon them, broken down though they were in their manhood and in their religious trust. Moses too seems to falter before this stern reception from Pharaoh and this disheartening attitude of Israel (v. 12); but the loving-kindness of the Lord endures, despite of these sad imperfections in his servants. For the glory of his own name and not for the worthiness or virtue of his people, he has entered upon this redeeming work and he will carry it through. H. C.—Insurmountable, to human apprehension, are the difficulties which surround the Hebrew leader; and the most fearful of them are those which he has to contend with in his own countrymen. There is neither union nor confidence among them. There is neither courage nor self-respect. Long endurance of slavery and misery has extinguished such sentiments. From this people he can expect nothing. Yet without this people he can do nothing. What remains to him? Before he gives them freedom, he must make them capable of freedom. He must restore to them those elements of humanity which they have lost. He must give back to them the qualities which a long persecution has smothered. He must rekindle in them hope, courage, generosity, self-respect, and enthusiasm. E. C. W. 10. 11. God still moved forward in his measures for their relief, as if he heard not or heeded not their unbelieving complaints. But the punishment which is ripening even for Pharaoh is not to be inflicted without further warnings. When the Lord is about to visit with judgments, we see him advancing as with slow and reluctant steps. When misery is to be relieved, benefits conferred, or sins forgiven, the blessing makes haste to spend itself upon its objects. But when the wicked are to be dealt with, justice seems to regret the necessity under which it is laid to maintain itself, and the sinner is not destroyed till the equity of his condemnation is manifest, and everything around him calls for vengeance. Bush. 11. Go out of his land. There is now a change in the demand; the first of a series of changes. Moses is now bidden to demand not a permission for a three days' journey, which might be within the boundaries of Egypt, but for departure from the land. 13. Unto Moses and unto Aaron. The final and formal charge to the two brothers is given, as might be expected, before the plagues are denounced. With this verse begins a new section of the history, and as in the book of Genesis "there is in every such case a brief repetition of so much of the previous account as is needed to make it an intelligible narrative in itself; a peculiarity which extends to the lesser subdivisions also." Cook. 14-27. The occasion of this solemn inauguration of the mission of Moses and Aaron is taken to insert the genealogical notice of the heads of the houses of the tribes until Levi, from whom the descent of Moses and Aaron is given. The whole of this portion is remarkably illustrative of the fragmentary and compound character of this part of the history. Alf. We have here a genealogy of those two great patriots, Moses and Aaron, to show that they were Israelites, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, whom they were sent to deliver, raised up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver, of the people of Israel, and whose genealogy also was to be carefully preserved. The heads of the houses of three of the tribes are here named. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are thus dignified here because they three were left under marks of infamy by their dying father, Reuben for his incest, and Simeon and Levi for their murder of the Shechemites; and therefore Moses would put this particular honor upon them to magnify God's mercy in their repentance and remission, as a pattern to them that should afterward believe: the two first seem to be mentioned only for the sake of Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish church. H.—It is easily seen that he especially refers to the tribe of Levi. This is the point to be observed, that the minister of their deliverance, by whose hand God would ratify the truth of his promise, was chosen from the race of Abraham. Colo. Beyond all question some links have been omitted in tracing the line of Moses' descent. The genealogies of the Bible are frequently abbreviated by the omission of important names. In fact, abridgment is the general rule. W. H. G. 20. Amram.** This can scarcely be the same person who is mentioned in v. 18, but his descendant and representative in the generation immediately preceding that of Moses. The intervening links are omitted, as is the rule where they are not needed for some special purpose, and do not bear upon the history. Between the death of Amram and the birth of Moses was an interval which can scarcely be brought within the limits assigned by any system of chronology to the sojourn in Egypt. Thus Tiele, quoted by Keil: "According to Numbers 3 : 27, in the time of Moses the Kohathites were divided into four branches, that of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel: their number amounted to 8600 males; of these the Amramites were about one fourth, i.e. more than 2000 males. This would be impossible were Amram the son of Kohath identical with Amram the father of Moses. We must therefore admit an omission of several links between the two." Cook. 23. Elisheba.** Elizabeth, of the tribe of Judah, sister to Nahshon, prince of that tribe. While making prominent this high connection of Aaron, and recording the names of his sons, Moses makes no reference to his own family. B. 26,27. This emphatic repetition shows the reason for inserting the genealogy. The names of Moses and Aaron are given twice and in a different order; in the 26th verse probably to mark Aaron as the elder in the genealogy, and in the 27th to denote the leadership of Moses. Cook. 7 : 1. Made thee a god to Pharaoh. Moses was to be God's representative in this affair, as magistrates are called gods because they are God's vicegerents, authorized to speak and act in his name. Aaron was to be to Moses what Moses himself was to God. The Most High does not scruple to clothe his humblest servants with a kind of divinity when he would make them oracles to his people or instruments of wrath to his enemies. Bush. 3. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart.** We have seen the process already begun. The very patience and moderation which were calculated to subdue a will amenable to reason, only aroused the resistance and vengeance of Pharaoh. Every succeeding step in the procedure of God is dictated by a like consideration and forbearance. Though it be true, therefore, that God did harden Pharaoh's heart, yet it was by measures that would have disarmed the opposition, and commanded the acquiescence of an upright mind. M. [See close of this Section.] 5. The Egyptians were to be convinced that Jehovah was the true God by their own false gods falling before him: but this was a knowledge of discomfiture, not of conversion; Israel was by the same series of judgments to acquire the same knowledge; but this was to be a knowledge of conversion and attachment. God's sword is two-edged. Aif. 6. So did they. All unwillingness to obey, arising from unbelief or fear on their parts, had now ceased forever. 7. Old.** In this great turning-point of the history their age is mentioned (as before, their descent), in order to throw light on the narrative. The longevity of the human race still continued down to this time, though it becomes less and less. We are to regard Moses as in the full possession of vigor and energy. Gerd. 9. It is taken for granted that Pharaoh would demand a miraculous testimony in proof of their commission from God. The Scriptures go all along on the admitted principle that the performance of miracles is the true seal of a divine commission. Bush. Moses was the first teacher of religion to whom the power of working miracles was granted. Miracles were not necessary to Adam or to Noah, as they each possessed sufficient evidence of the truths they taught: they were not necessary to Abraham, as he was the reformer only of the religion of Noah. Moses was empowered to work miracles for the purpose of establishing a new dispensation. In the same manner, Christ, the prophet "like unto Moses," wrought his wonderful miracles to convince the world of the dissolution of the Levitical dispensation in favor of the Christian covenant. Horæ Mosaicae. 10. The command to Moses and Aaron to work the miracle was predicated on the contingency of Pharaoh's asking it, and we must presume that this condition occurred. But the sacred writers study the extremest brevity upon all points that do not positively require specification. Up to this point Moses and Aaron had simply delivered their message, their instructions, to Pharaoh; the time had come for them to produce their credentials. Bush. 11,12. And now commenced a contest, unequal it would at first appear, between two individuals of an enslaved people, and the whole skill, knowledge, or artifice of the Egyptian priesthood, whose sacred authority was universally acknowledged; their intimate acquaintance with all the secrets of nature extensive, their reputation for magical powers firmly established with the vulgar. The names of the principal opponents of Moses, Jannes and Jambres, are reported by Paul from Jewish tradition. Milman.—It was not to the secular power of the Egyptian monarch, but to his gods, that the gauntlet was thrown down. It was in the domain of miracles that the battle was to be fought—a domain in which Egypt regarded itself as peculiarly strong—for it was in Egypt, the land of conjurors and magicians, of interpreters of dreams and signs, that magic, that mysterious life-blood of heathenism, had put forth its marvellous power in its most fully developed forms. K.—From the nature of the case, the conflict could only be one of miracles; which, also from the nature of the case, must increasingly become miracles of judgment. Kit.—Since the pride, the madness and the obstinacy of the king were indomitable, every door was closed until broken down miraculously, and by various means. In employing these miraculous means God chose more clearly to lay open his power. He wished this monument to exist of his singular love to his elect people. He wished to accustom his servants in all ages to patience, lest they should faint in their minds if he does not immediately answer their prayers and relieve their distresses. He wished to show that against all the strivings and devices of Satan, against the madness of the ungodly and all worldly hindrances, His hand must always prevail; and to leave no room to doubt that whatever we see opposing us will at length be overcome by Him. By detecting the illusions of Satan and the magicians, he would render his Church more wary, that she might carefully watch against such devices, and that her faith might continue invincible against all the machinations of error. These things must be attentively observed in the course of the narrative, if we desire to profit by it. Calv. 11. Magicians.** "As there is no nation without religion, so there is also none without magic, which clings like a shadow to religion in all its forms." Magic, according to the notions prevalent among those who placed implicit confidence in it, is a power, acquired or inherited, which enables the possessor, by means of some secret art or science, to employ at will the forces of a supernatural world of spirits or deities, either for the purpose of finding cut what is naturally hidden from human knowledge (augury), or of performing things, beyond the natural power of the human will (magic). K.—The Egyptians were famous for legerdemain and for charming serpents; and the magicians having had notice of the miracle which they were expected to imitate, they might make provision accordingly, and bring live serpents, which they might have substituted for their rods. And though Aaron's serpent swallowed up their serpents, showing the superiority of the true miracle over the false, it might only lead the king to conclude that Moses and Aaron were more expert jugglers than Jannes and Jambres, who opposed them (2 Tim. 3:8). Hales.—It was necessary that these magicians should be suffered to exert the utmost of their power against Moses, in order to clear him from the imputation of magic or sorcery; for, as the notion of such an extraordinary art was rife not only among the Egyptians but all other nations, if they had not entered into this competition with him and been at length overcome by him, both Hebrews and Egyptians would have been apter to have attributed all his miracles to his skill in magic, than to the divine power. It was necessary, too, to confirm the faith of the wavering and desponding Israelites; by making them see the difference between Moses' acting by the power of God, and the sorcerers by the arts of jugglers. And it was necessary, in order to preserve them afterward from being seduced by any false miracles from the worship of the true God. It may be added: God permitted this in mercy to the Egyptians, that they might see that the gods in whom they trusted were utterly incapable of saving them; that they could not undo or counteract one of the plagues sent upon them. A. C. Scripture not only regards magicians with abhorrence; but brands their miracles as "lying wonders," and makes the teaching of false doctrine a test of the false pretence of supernatural power. And, when we pass from principles to facts, there is not a well-authenticated case of an apparent miracle, wrought by others than the Scripture witnesses for God, which excludes the possibility of imposture and leaves no room for doubt. In the case of the Egyptian magicians, their own exclamation, "This is the finger of God," involves the confession that they had been aided by no divine power, not even by their own supposed deities. P. S.—Their power stopped where that of all dealers in legerdemain must stop—at the failure of proper materials with which to work. Egypt abounds with serpents; blood could be easily procured in a quantity equal to the water that could then be found, on which the experiment was to be made; and without difficulty they might have frogs in abundance from the river or the canals. But when Moses produced lice from the dust of the ground, the magicians, who had it not in their power to collect a sufficient number of these insects, were compelled to own this to be the finger of God. In our translation it is, indeed, said, that when Aaron had cast down his rod, and it became a serpent, the magicians also did in like manner with their enchantments; but the words translated, did in like manner, and did so, may indicate nothing more than the attempt; for the very same words are employed to denote what they did in the case of the lice, in which they confessed that they had failed. It is to be observed, too, that the original term, rendered their enchantments, being derived from a root which signifies to hide or cover, fully expresses the secret deceptions of legerdemain or sleight of hand to impose on the spectators. There is, therefore, no necessity for calling in the aid of supernatural agency to the magicians on this occasion, nor is it probable that they laid claim to such aid. Bp. Gleig. On the position of magic at the court of the Pharaohs, M. Maspero makes the following statement: "Magic was in Egypt a science, and the magician one of the most esteemed of learned men. The nobles themselves, the prince Khamuas and his brother, were adepts in supernatural arts, and decipheres of magic formularies, in which they had an entire belief. A prince who was a sorcerer would nowadays inspire a very moderate sentiment of esteem. In Egypt the profession of magic was not incompatible with royalty, and the sorcerers of a Pharaoh had not uncommonly the Pharaoh himself for their pupil." The magical texts form a considerable proportion of the MSS, which have come down to us from ancient times, particularly from the nineteenth dynasty; and the composition of some of them was ascribed to a Divine source. G. R. 12. Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. We do not read that they either attempted to prevent this, or to follow it by an imitation. By this, and by the serpent reverting to a rod when Aaron took hold of it, the superior nature of the power he exercised, and that it was far above all delusive art, was shown. Kit. 13. It should be, And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, so that "he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said," or foretold. The original is so rendered by all the ancient versions without exception, and by the most judicious modern translations. Our translators incorrectly render, "And he hardened Pharaoh's heart," inconsistently with their rendering of the same phrase, and of a phrase with the same construction afterward (7:22; 8:19; 9:7), for Pharaoh hardened his heart several times before God began to harden it. They seem to have been led into this error by the expression, "as the Lord had said," referring to the foregoing, "But I will harden his heart" (4:21), and "I will harden Pharaoh's heart" (7:3). But this did not take place till Pharaoh became obdurate and incorrigible (9:12). Hales.—There is not in any of these three verses, the 13th, the 14th, and the 22d of this chapter, the least mention of any person by whom his heart was hardened. Nor is there any other hardening implied than what proceeded from his own settled resolution not to lose the service of the Israelites. Bp. Patrick. Before Moses had returned into Egypt (Ex. 4:21), God had declared of Pharaoh, "I will harden his heart," placing this phase in the foreground, that Moses might be assured of God's overruling will in the matter. For a similar purpose, only much more fully expressed, God again announced to Moses, before the commencement of the ten plagues (7:3), "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt." These are the first two statements about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. In both cases the agency is ascribed to God; but in both cases the event is yet future, and the announcement is only made in order to explain to Moses what his faith almost needed to know. Twice ten times in the course of this history does the expression hardening occur in connection with Pharaoh. Although in our English version only the word "harden" is used, in the Hebrew original three different terms are employed, of which one literally means to make hard or insensible, the other to make heavy, that is, unimpressionable, and the third, to make firm or stiff, so as to be immovable. Now it is remarkable, that of the twenty passages which speak of Pharaoh's hardening, exactly ten ascribe it to Pharaoh himself, and ten to God, and that in both cases precisely the same three terms are used. The ten passages in which the hardening is traced to Pharaoh himself are: Ex. 7: 13 ("the heart of Pharaoh was firm" or "stiff"); ver. 14 ("was heavy"); ver. 22 ("firm"); 8: 15 ("made heavy"); ver. 19 (was "firm"); ver. 32; 9: 7, 34 ("heavy"); ver. 35 ("firm"); 13: 15 ("Pharaoh made hard," viz., his heart). The ten passages in which it is traced to the agency of God are: Ex. 4: 21; 7: 3; 9: 12; 10: 1, 20, 27; 11: 10; 14: 4, 8, 17. With the exception of the two passages in which the Divine agency in hardening is beforehand announced to Moses for his instruction, the hardening process is during the course of the actual history, in the first place, traced only to Pharaoh himself. Thus, before the ten plagues, and when Aaron first proved his Divine mission by converting the rod into a serpent, "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," that is, by himself (7: 13, 14). Similarly, after each of the first five plagues (7: 22; 8: 15, 19, 32; 9: 7), the hardening is also expressly attributed to Pharaoh himself. Only when still resisting after the sixth plague do we read for the first time, that "the Lord made firm the heart of Pharaoh" (9: 12). But even so, space for repentance must have been left, for after the seventh plague we read again (9: 34) that "Pharaoh made heavy his heart;" and it is only after the eighth plague that the agency is exclusively ascribed to God. Moreover, we have to consider the progress of this hardening on the part of Pharaoh, by which at last his sin became ripe for judgment. It was not only that he resisted the demand of Moses, even in view of the miraculous signs by which his mission was attested; but that, step by step, the hand of God became more clearly manifest, till at last he was, by his own confession, "inexcusable." If the first sign of converting the rod into a serpent could in a certain manner be counterfeited by the Egyptian magicians, yet Aaron's rod swallowed up theirs. But after the third plague, the magicians themselves confessed their inability to carry on the contest, declaring: "This is the finger of God." If any doubt had still been left upon his mind, it must have been removed by the evidence presented after the fifth plague, when "Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead." Some of the Egyptians, at least, had profited by this lesson, and on the announcement of the seventh plague housed their cattle from the predicted hail and fire (9: 20, 21). Lastly, after that seventh plague, Pharaoh himself acknowledged his sin and wrong (9: 27), and promised to let Israel go (ver. 28). Yet after all, on its removal, he once more hardened his heart (ver. 35)! Can we wonder that such high-handed and inexcusable rebellion should have been ripe for the judgment which appeared in the Divine hardening of his heart? A. E. From the various uses of the three Hebrew root-forms, the sullen stubbornness of Pharaoh appears attributable to himself directly, while in the expressions referring to God's action the main thought appears to be of encouragement and emboldenment. How this agrees with Pharaoh's renewed confidence following each release from judgment is obvious. The conclusions to be drawn may, perhaps, follow this train: 1. As seen in Egyptian History, Meneptah, the senile and obstinate Pharaoh, appears the man to play a weak and vacillating part in a critical time. 2. That God, designing to work mightily, predetermined to harden Pharaoh's heart, and that this design was carried into effect. 3. That the result was accomplished, not by an irresistible pressure of Divine Will upon Pharaoh's mind, of which there is no mention, as by the employment of wonders and signs, which, acting upon a better heart, would have wrought obedience and submission, but with the haughty spirit of Pharaoh, produced boldness and hardness of heart. 4. That in the hardening of his heart the responsibility rests upon the king. But for his own sullen obstinacy his calamities might have softened him, his reliefs have conquered him. But his stubbornness impelled him to extremities, and so, though God gave the occasion, Pharaoh himself was responsible for the fact. 5. And, finally, that no charge can be laid to the Almighty. As Dr. Hodge wisely says, "Some things He purposes to do, others he decrees to permit to be done. He effects good, he permits evil. He is the author of the one, but not of the other." Summerbell. It was before the plagues began to be inflicted that the Lord announced to Moses that he would “harden Pharaoh’s heart;” but it is a remarkable fact that the threat was constantly suspended, in order, as it appears, that Pharaoh might “set his heart” to God’s judgments and be obedient to his word. Five plagues had already been wrought in his presence by “the finger of God,” and he had previously hardened his heart against these unequivocal testimonies of Almighty power before the sentence of the Divine wrath was accomplished against him, “and the Lord hardened his heart, as he had spoken by Moses.” This result was drawn down upon him by his own previous obstinacy and numerous provocations. That he hardened his own heart was his sin; that the Lord hardened it was his punishment. It was an act of righteous retributive justice upon an impenitent and obstinate sinner, who had despised the riches of God’s mercy and forbearance and challenged the severity of his anger. Bp. Mant. The expressions employed and the facts themselves lead to the conclusion, that hardening can only take place where there is a conflict between human freedom and divine grace. It can only result from a conscious and obstinate resistance to the will of God. It cannot take place where there is either ignorance or error. The hardening of the heart commences from the moment in which a man becomes clearly conscious that he is resisting God, and it increases in proportion as this consciousness becomes stronger and clearer, and the testimony of God comes home to his mind with greater vividness and power. The course of Pharaoh’s history will show how truly this applied to him. Hardening, then, cannot even commence till some manifestation of God has been brought home to a man, with the express declaration and proof that it is such a manifestation. The moral condition which is the prerequisite of hardening, the soil from which it springs, is a man’s own fault, the result of the free determination of his own will. But it is not without the co-operation of God, that this moral condition becomes actual hardness. Up to a certain point the will of God operates on a man in the form of mercy drawing to himself, he desires his salvation; but henceforth the mercy is changed into judicial wrath, and desires his condemnation. K. The Gospel is “the savor of life unto life, and of death unto death,” as one and the same savor is to some creatures refreshing, to others poisonous. But that the Gospel is unto death, is not a part of its original intention, but a consequence of perverse unbelief; but when this takes place, that it is unto death comes as a punishment from God. Thus the expression “hardening” presupposes an earlier condition when the heart was susceptible, but which ceased in consequence of the misuse of Divine revelations and gifts. As Pharaoh hardens himself, so God hardens him at the same time; and the prediction of this hardening would give Moses the assurance that the outbursts of his rage were all under the Divine control, and that the very punishment which befell him was ordained of God. Gerl. Every wicked man, like Pharaoh, is under the dominion of sin: he is so voluntarily, but while under its power, the forms and the occasions of sin showing itself in action are not under the sinner’s control, but are as the sinner himself, at God’s disposal, and in subserviency to the ends of his moral government. The fact of a moral agent being a sinner, or the enemy of God, and so not willing to render the service due, cannot exempt him from it; and if he will not serve God in one capacity, he must be made to serve him in another. Now, the hardening of a sinner, either total or partial, is not the beginning of his sin, or the inducement of an evil state or disposition. God did not sinfully dispose any of his creatures, but they being so, he, nevertheless, employs them to carry out his purposes; while this hardening itself may be viewed as a punitive retribution, —a manifestation of righteous judgment. In the present instance such a manifestation was specially needed. A counteraction was required, both for the despondency of the Israelites and the arrogance of their oppressor. The opposition of Pharaoh, not less than his destruction, tended to glorify God; and his very obduracy called into action the Divine power, justice and grace. D. M. First and foremost, we learn the insufficiency of even the most astounding miracles to subdue the rebellious will, to change the heart, or to subject a man unto God. Our blessed Lord himself has said of a somewhat analogous case, that men would not believe even though one rose from the dead. And his statement has been only too amply verified in the history of the world since his own resurrection. Religion is matter of the heart, and no intellectual conviction, without the agency of the Holy Spirit, affects the inmost springs of our lives. Secondly, a more terrible exhibition of the daring of human pride, the confidence of worldly power, and the deceitfulness of sin than that presented by the history of this Pharaoh can scarcely be conceived. And yet the lesson seems to have been overlooked by too many! Lastly, resistance to God must assuredly end in fearful judgment. Each conviction suppressed, each admonition stifled, each loving offer rejected, tends toward increasing spiritual insensibility, and that in which it ends. It is wisdom and safety to watch for the blessed influences of God's Spirit, and to throw open our hearts to the sunlight of his grace. A. E. 7:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened. Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD; behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river. 8:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: and the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs: and the frogs shall come up both upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did in like manner with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice unto the LORD. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Have thou this glory over me: against what time shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses, and remain in the river only? And he said, Against to-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and 12 from thy people; they shall remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD concerning the frogs which he had brought upon 13 Pharaoh. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the 14 houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps: 15 and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of 17 the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and there were lice upon man, and upon beast; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land 18 of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they 19 could not; and there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. The predicted trial, provoked through the daring of man, in measuring his strength against that of the living God, was to establish two facts for all ages and to all mankind. In sight of Egypt (7:5) and of Israel (10:2) it was to evidence that God was Jehovah, the only true and living God, far above all power of men and of gods. This was one aspect of the judgments which were to burst upon Egypt. The other was, that he was the faithful Covenant-God who remembered his promises, and would bring out his people "with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments," to take them to himself for a people, and to be to them a God (6:1-8). These are the eternal truths which underlie the history of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. How Israel understood and taught them to their children, appears from many passages of Scripture, especially from Ps. 78 and 105. Nor is their application less suited to our wants. It exhibits alike the Law and the Gospel—the severity and the goodness of God—and may be summed up in that grand proclamation unto all the world: "Jehovah reigneth." A. E. The results produced by these plagues were calculated to prepare the mind of Moses for the arduous work which lay before him in the leading of the tribes through the wilderness. That enterprise would task to the utmost his courage, his patience, and his faith; and reluctant to undertake it at the first, he might have been often tempted to give it up in despair, had he not been fortified with the assurance which the sight of these plagues produced within him, that the Lord whom he served was indeed Jehovah, and had the resources of the universe at his command. Already the Lord was fulfilling to him the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee;" and this foretaste of his faithfulness strengthened him ever afterward. A similar effect would be produced on the Hebrews themselves, who needed this quickening of their faith even more than Moses. They might forget what they had seen done for them by God in Egypt; but when it was recalled to their recollection they would rise to faith in the majesty of God; while the fact that they themselves experienced the effects of the first four plagues would tend to produce in them a fear of offending him who was "the great and dreadful God." W. M. T. The first miracle is wrought to accredit the mission of the brothers; it is simply credential, and unaccompanied by any infliction. Now come signs which show that the powers of nature are subject to the will of Jehovah, each plague being attended with grave consequences to the Egyptians, yet not inflicting severe loss or suffering; then in rapid succession come ruinous and devastating plagues, murrain, boils, hail and lightning, locusts, darkness, and, lastly, the death of the firstborn. Each of the inflictions has a demonstrable connection with Egyptian customs and phenomena; each is directly aimed at some Egyptian superstition; all are marvellous, not for the most part as reversing, but as developing forces inherent in nature, and directing them to a special end. The effects correspond with these characteristics; the first miracles are neglected; the following plagues first alarm, and then for a season, subdue, the king, who does not give way until his firstborn is struck. Even that blow leaves him capable of a last effort, which completes his ruin and the deliverance of the Israelites. Cook. From the fruitlessness of the first sign, it was evident that Pharaoh would not learn wisdom, till he had been made to suffer. The great judgments and strong arm of the Lord therefore began at once to be manifested. Signs gave place to plagues; but the plagues still continued to be signs, which demonstrated the weakness of the gods of Egypt, and the complete supremacy of the God of Israel. The peculiarity of these plagues was, that they possessed at the same time a natural and a supernatural character; and therefore the way was left perfectly open for the exercise of either faith or unbelief: the more so as even that which was supernatural, when compared with the similar efforts of the Egyptian sorcerers, might be set down by unbelief as the result of ordinary magic. The first two plagues were repeated by the sorcerers; but their weakness was manifested in the fact, that they could only increase the evil, and were unable to remove the plagues, or render them harmless. But at the third plague their magical art was entirely exhausted, and they were unable to continue even their miserable imitations. K. The significance of these plagues consists in this, that well-known visitations occurred with unusual violence and in rapid succession—that they were called forth and ceased at Moses' word—that the Egyptian sorcerers at the outset can only increase, not remove, the visitation; and, finally, are obliged to declare themselves powerless and vanquished. This it is which proves to the Egyptians, under these circumstances, the mighty saying of Jehovah, "All the earth is mine." At length a plague is inflicted which exceeds all the former in its awfulness, since it leaves the ground of nature on which the others were exhibited—this is the slaughter of the firstborn. The number of the plagues is ten—the number of completeness—to signify the entire subjection of the land under its rightful Owner. Geri. The plagues were miraculous—yet not so much in themselves as in the time, the manner, and the measure in which they came upon Egypt. As so often, the Lord here employed ordinary natural events. The supernaturalness of the plagues consisted in their severity, their successive occurrence, their coming and going at the word of Moses, their partial extent, and the unusual seasons and manner in which they appeared. We also mark in them a regular arrangement and steady progress. Properly speaking, there were only nine plagues (3 x 3), the tenth "stroke" being in reality the commencement of judgment by Jehovah himself, when he went out "into the midst of Egypt" to slay its firstborn. Of these nine, the first three were in connection with that river and soil which formed the boast of Egypt, and the object of its worship. They extended over the whole country, and at the third the magicians confessed: "This is the finger of God." By them the land was laid low in its pride and in its religion. The other six came exclusively upon the Egyptians, as the Lord had said: "I will put a division between my people and thy people," "to the end that thou mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the land." If the first three plagues had shown the impotence of Egypt, the others proved that Jehovah reigned even in the midst of Egypt. Finally, the three last "strokes" were not only far more terrible than any of the others, but intended to make Pharaoh know "that there is none like me in all the earth." To show that Jehovah, He is God; that He was such in the midst of Egypt; and finally, that there was none like Him in the midst of all the earth—or, that Jehovah was the living and the true God—such was the threefold object of these "strokes." As to the length of time occupied by all, it seems likely that from the first plague an interval of 10 months elapsed prior to the slaying of the firstborn. All this time Pharaoh was on his trial! A. E. ##### The Water of the Nile turned into Blood. The purport of this plague is evident when we consider the sacredness of the Nile in the religious system of the Egyptians, the importance of the water of the river, as well as of its abundant supply of fish, and the extent to which the Egyptians depended upon these to supply their daily wants. On the monuments it is called the god Nile, the life-giving father of all that exists, the father of the gods, etc. The Egyptians were and still are enthusiastic in favor of the Nile water, which is in fact almost the only drinkable water in Egypt. The Turks enjoy the water so much, that they eat salt in order that they may be able to drink all the more of it. K. 17. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord.** Pharaoh had asked, in a contemptuous manner, "Who is the Lord?" God therefore now bids Moses tell him, He would make him know that He is the almighty Lord of the world. Bp. Patrick.—One great design of these visitations, growing more awful in their progress, was to make Pharaoh know and confess that the GOD OF THE HEBREWS was the SUPREME LORD; to exhibit his power and his justice in the strongest light to "all the nations of the earth," and to execute judgment upon the Egyptians, and upon their gods. Hales. 19. The expressions in this verse show an accurate knowledge of Egypt, where the water system was complete at a period long before Moses. Lepsius describes it carefully. Their streams mean the natural branches of the Nile in Lower Egypt. The word rivers should rather be canals. They were of great extent, running parallel to the Nile, and communicating with it by sluices, which were opened at the rise, and closed at the subsidence of the inundation. The word rendered “ponds” refers either to natural fountains, or more probably to cisterns or tanks found in every town and village. The “pools,” lit. “gathering of waters,” were the reservoirs, always large and some of enormous extent, containing sufficient water to irrigate the country in the dry season. Cook.—By stretching out his arm, and waving his rod in different directions over the land, the judgment was to become universal. The various branches of the Nile, the canals derived from it, the ponds and reservoirs, all were to exhibit the spectacle of the same hideous and nauseous transformation! Bush. 21. Pharaoh adores the life-sustaining power of nature, as embodied in the majestic river before him. The God of nature transforms the running water into a river of death before his eyes. It demonstrates, in the way that was most striking to the Hebrew and the Egyptian, that the God of Israel was the true and only God of heaven and earth, and that all other objects of worship were but the creatures of God or the works of men’s hands. M.—The fish died. “We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely,” said the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness, from which it is obvious that fish constituted no small part of the food of the country. 22. The magicians did so. The shallowness of their pretences was palpable in their proposing to show their skill by increasing an evil which was already intolerable. If they had had any confidence in their own art they would rather have attempted to turn the blood into water than the reverse. But they chose to ape the miracle of Moses, and though there is no evidence of their succeeding even in this, yet the result went to harden still further the obdurate heart of Pharaoh. Bush. Frogs Swarming from the River. 1,2. God again threatens the plague, before he inflicts it, that Pharaoh might know it came not by chance, but by His determinate counsel; and that he might prevent it by repentance and submission to the Divine commands. Bp. Patrick. 5,6. All God’s judgments stand ready, and wait but till they be called for. They need but a watchword to be given them. No sooner is the rod lift up, but they are gone forth into the world; presently, the waters run into blood, the frogs swarm about, and all the other troops of God come rushing in upon his adversaries. Bp. H.—In this case also, a creature honored by the Egyptians was made the instrument of their affliction, and they were compelled to regard it with disgust and horror. In the Egyptian mythology the frog was an emblem of man in embryo. There was also a frog-headed god and goddess,—the former supposed to be a form of Pthah, the creative power. The importance attached to the frog, in some parts of Egypt, is shown by its being embalmed and honored with sepulture in the tombs of Thebes. Kit. 7. The magicians did so. As in the two former cases, so here also we see no positive evidence that the magicians did anything more than go through certain preliminary ceremonies of jugglers which may perhaps have deceived the senses of the spectators, or they might have obtained them from among the multitudes produced by Moses and Aaron. Bush.—The jugglers of India will for a few pence do tricks with serpents far more wonderful than making them rigid so as to resemble staves; and any juggler could make water in a tank resemble blood; or, when the country was already swarming with frogs, could cover some place that had been cleared for the purpose with these reptiles, as if he had suddenly produced them. W. L. A. 8. The plague was too formidable to be despised, too mighty to be resisted, too extensive to be remedied. In the case of the waters turned into blood there was some mitigation of the scourge. They could procure pure water, though with great labor, by digging around the river. But from the plague of the frogs there was no respite or relief. In their houses, in their beds, at their tables, they were incessantly infested by these hated intruders. The judgment in its extremity is no longer endurable. Pharaoh is compelled to intercede for its removal. Bush.—The fact that Pharaoh was at first inclined to yield (and we have no reason to doubt his sincerity for a moment), is a proof that his heart was not yet thoroughly hardened, that he still possessed a certain amount of susceptibility for impressions from the testimony of God. But his relapse after the plague had been removed is also a proof that the process of hardening had previously commenced. K. In the expression, “Intreat Jehovah, that he take away the frogs,” Pharaoh distinctly admits the impotence of the magicians and acknowledges the supreme might of Jehovah. 9. In the responsive utterance of Moses, his generous and noble spirit not only foregoes reproach or taunt, but he honors the royalty of Pharaoh. B—How is God's might glorified in the willing humility of his messenger, who, by allowing Pharaoh to fix the time, puts at the same time before him a proof of the greatness of God! Gerl. 12-15. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. This is the second and decisive part of the miracle. The frogs suddenly die out of the land, are gathered in heaps or measures, and emit a grievous stench. Thus at the word of Moses they come, and at his word they go. There is a power here above nature. The God of nature is with Moses. He accomplishes what the magicians did not attempt. Pharaoh, however, thinks not of this demonstration of the divine power and mercy, but only of the "respite." On obtaining relief, his obduracy of heart returns. M.—The usual effect of the intermission of divine judgments upon obstinate offenders is here strikingly displayed. "Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord" (Is. 26:10). The respite granted in order to lead the rebellious king to repentance serves but to embolden him in the career of disobedience, and harden his heart afresh. Bush.—Not the least sense of gratitude for the favor—the mercy of removing the plague! How many of the sinners of our world have done this very thing! Stricken down with sickness, have they not begged for life and besought the prayers of the good, and promised the Lord that with restoring mercy they would give him their hearts and their lives? But when the respite came their vows were forgotten; their hearts were hardened. H. C. THIRD PLAGUE (vs. 16-19). The Dust became Lice. 16. Stretch out thy rod. The judgment now to be inflicted was to be inflicted without any previous warning. On the other hand, the fourth and fifth were preceded by a warning, while the sixth was not; again, the seventh and eighth were announced, but not the ninth; under the tenth the people were sent away. Bush.—The two preceding plagues fell upon the Nile. This fell on the earth, which was worshipped under the name Seb, its personification, regarded, in the pantheistic system of Egypt, as the father of the gods. Cook.—In the third plague, the Hebrew word for "lice" were better rendered gna's. Herodotus (B.C. 400) speaks of the great trouble which they cause and of the precautions used against them. Hartmann testifies: "All travellers speak of these gnats as an ordinary plague of the country." "So small as to be scarcely visible to the eye, their sting notwithstanding causes a most painful irritation. They even creep into the eyes and nose, and after harvest rise in great swarms from the inundated rice fields." (Keil.) H. C. 18. The magicians did so. That is, they tried the utmost of their skill, either to produce these insects, or to remove this plague; but they could not—no juggling could avail here. A. C.—With all their skill in magic, and with all their dexterity in deceiving spectators, they could not even succeed so far as they had already done in producing a specious counterfeit of the work of Moses. Had they hitherto performed real miracles, how came they to be baffled now? It cannot be a greater miracle to produce lice or gnats than to turn rods into serpents, water into blood, or to create frogs. Now, as the plague came without warning, they had no opportunity for contriving any expedient for imitating or impeaching the act of Moses. Bush. The relative power of the Egyptian magicians in the beginning must serve to show in so much clearer light their entire impotence, as it was first exhibited in the little gnats, and then continued invariable. The contest was first intentionally carried on in a sphere to which the Egyptian magicians, as we certainly know with reference to the first sign, had hitherto shown their principal power. After they had there been vanquished, the scene was changed to a sphere, in which they could not at all further contend, and the doom which in this way came upon them fell through them upon their gods. Hengs. 19. The magicians try, but make an utter failure, and (what is to Pharaoh more provoking still) they frankly declare to him, "This is the finger of God." They retire from the contest, and leave Pharaoh to fight it out alone. They can help him no longer. He is apparently vexed and maddened, but not at all subdued. Rather, he rouses himself to greater desperation, for the record puts these points in the closest connection: the frank admission, "This is the finger of God;" and the stiffening of Pharaoh's rebellious will—"And Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them." H. C.—Who would not have thought that this confession of the magicians, which was a virtual avowal of the impotency of their craft, together with the striking displeasure of the Almighty, manifested in the new calamity visited upon him, would have made the haughty monarch at least begin to waver in his resolution? But we read that he grew more and more obstinate. Bu-h. Pharaoh saw real miracles. He never thought of questioning their genuineness; and if he had, the words of his own magicians, "This is the finger of God," would have reproved him. Yet he did not submit himself to Jehovah. He preferred his own royal pride to the humility of obedience; and so, the miracles notwithstanding, he resisted Jehovah. In the same way the Scribes and Pharisees saw Christ's miracles, but were not thereby induced to become his followers. They would not join his ranks, not because they disputed the reality of his miracles, but because they rebelled against the searching inwardness of his doctrines. And, in these days of ours, many men profess that they cannot believe in Jesus because of intellectual difficulties; when the truth is, that they will not believe in him because their lives are condemned by his words. Even if they were to see miracles wrought in his name before their eyes, it would make no difference to them; they do not wish to have him as their Lord, and that is all. For all its intellectual pretensiveness, infidelity springs from a heart that is wrong with God, far more frequently than from a head which is unusually acute. W. M. T. Miracle and prophecy are the two indispensable accompaniments, vehicles, and messengers of revelation. In each there is a manifestation to man of the fulness of the godhead; in the former of the power of God, in the latter of his wisdom. And through each the divine fulness enters into a covenant association with the history of humanity, co-operates in its development, and insures its safe arrival at its destined end. That end is the incarnation of God and the consequent entrance of the whole fulness of the divine essence, in a living and personal form, into an intimate and abiding union with man. It is a striking fact, that in the whole of the patriarchal history, and in the primeval history anterior to it, we do not meet with a single miracle performed by a man. Where any miracles occur, they are performed solely and exclusively by God himself. We have in this fact a decisive argument against every mythical explanation of the patriarchal history, and a strong proof of the historical credibility of this portion of sacred history. This absence of miraculous powers and of the gift of prophecy in the patriarchal age, and the frequency with which God appeared, are easily explained as parts of God's regular plan for gradually revealing and communicating himself to the people of the covenant. It was an essential element in the gifts of miracles and prophecy, that the performer of miracles did not work them primarily for himself, but for others, and that the prophet did not proclaim the message from God for himself, but for those around. Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the solitary recipients of the divine call; God was related to them as a friend to a friend, and all the blessing, the protection, and the light, which he had to impart to them, were necessarily imparted directly to themselves, since there was no third person in existence who could mediate between the two. It was very different when the seed of Abraham had become a numerous people. Individuals could then be raised up, endowed with divine power and wisdom, to be the channels of power and light from God to the rest of the people. In fact, it was necessary that such persons should rise up, to be the typical representatives of the perfect mediatorship of the Godman, to whom the whole history of the covenant pointed, and at the same time to prepare the way for his coming, so that when he appeared, it might be as the ripe fruit, the complete and mature result of the entire history. Hence we find that Moses was the first prophet sent by God, and, more especially, the first worker of miracles in the history of the world. K. Moses was the first to bear a Divine commission to others. He was also the first to work miracles. Miracles present to us the union of the Divine and the human. All miracles pointed forward to the greatest of all miracles, "the mystery of godliness, into which angels desire to look;" the union of the Divine with the human, in its fullest appearance in the Person of the God-Man. Thus in these two aspects of his office, as well as in his mission to redeem Israel from bondage and to sanctify them unto the Lord, Moses was an eminent type of Christ. "Wherefore" let us "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." A. E. The miracles of Moses were twofold in character and purpose; one class designed to identify God to the people and be a witness to his present hand, to confirm their faith in him as their Deliverer: the other designed by terrible inflictions of calamity, to force upon Pharaoh's hardened heart the conviction of Jehovah's power and compel him to let God's people go. These two objects were to be accomplished; the Hebrew people were to be assured that their own God had indeed come; Pharaoh must be made to know who Jehovah is; how fearful the judgments of his uplifted hand are; and how vain it is for mortals, though on thrones of human power, to lift up themselves against the Almighty. H. C. The historian intends to produce the impression that these plagues were miraculously inflicted. The matter to be established was the personal existence and supremacy of Jehovah. The ground on which the demand of Moses was based was not that the Hebrews had a right to their civil freedom, though that was true, but that Jehovah had the prior claim to their service, and that Pharaoh too was bound to yield him obedience. The great reason constantly assigned by God for Pharaoh's submission to him was, "I am Jehovah." This involved an assertion of his sovereignty over the universe; and he could prove that he was the upholder of the common order of nature only by deviating from that order in certain previously indicated instances. If there be an intelligent and personal Cause sustaining the common order of nature, it is just as possible for him to deviate in exceptional cases, and for a worthy end, from that order, as it is for him to carry it continuously on. So, if the being of God be admitted at all, the possibility of miracles is involved in that admission. But Pharaoh admitted in the abstract the being of Deity, only he contended that the god whom he worshipped was the true God; and now by this series of miracles Jehovah demonstrated that He alone is the ruler of the universe. W. M. T. When God sent Moses to deliver a new law to the Israelites, he attended him with a miraculous power, to testify it to be his will that what Moses delivered should be entertained. So the miracles performed by Christ were a confirmation of his commission. They were miracles of that nature that had not been performed by any prophet before him. And those miracles done by him which were of the same kind with those done by the prophets of old, were done with more ease, and in a way of absolute authority. These were such credentials, that the very devils knew him to be the Messiah, the Sent of God. But when a doctrine is settled and a Church established, God forbears those extraordinary works, as he did the raining down manna after the Israelites' entrance into Canaan, where they might have provision in an ordinary way of providence. We have now rational ways to introduce us to a belief of the Christian doctrine; and hence miracles, as of old, have ceased. Charnock. Creation is God's bringing his creatures into existence. Ordinary Providence is God's sustaining and governing all his creatures and all their actions after they are created. This ordinary providence always works through natural causes and according to the uniformities of natural law. The supernatural working of God embraces all of his various modes of acting upon or through his creatures, which produces effects beyond their natural powers to produce, and different from the uniform method of natural law. This includes special interventions, gracious operations, revelations, and specifically, miracles. "Miracle," as a technical word, refers only to a class of supernatural events alleged to have occurred in connection with the origin of the Jewish and of the Christian religions, which are recorded in the Old and New Testament Scriptures as a mode of divine attestation to the divine origin of these religions. We exclude from this term, miracle: 1. All spiritualistic phenomena—ghost-flitting, spirit-rapping, demonic possession or other manifestation of merely superhuman power. 2. Extraordinary providences, as the draught of fishes and flight of quails mentioned in Scripture. 3. All possible special intervention and modification of the ordinary course of providence in the spiritual education of souls. 4. All the gracious acts of God in the spiritual sphere, regenerating and sanctifying the souls of his people. 5. His supernatural operations in the minds of his prophets, revealing truth, disclosing future events and inspiring them as public teachers. The "Miracle" should be defined thus: An event, occurring in the material world, obvious to the senses, of such a nature that it can be rationally referred only to the immediate act of God as its direct cause, accompanying a teacher of religion sent from God, and designed to authenticate his divine commission. A. A. Hodge. If men are blind to God and divine things, having chosen not to retain him in their knowledge; so that the works of nature and his ordinary Providence do not bring him before their minds—so that he is hidden from them; how shall he make himself known? In what other way than by miracles, or by a supernatural manifestation? When the heavens no longer declare his glory, nor the firmament his handiwork, when the Creation and secondary causes are falsely looked upon as self supported and ultimate, how shall he reveal himself save by a supernatural incoming into the order of nature and of history, by which his presence shall be undeniably recognized? The miracle in some form is the only conceivable mode of revelation to men who see not God in the ordinary course of things, or to the world as it is, under the dominion of sin. Miracle and revelation are interchangeable terms. To believe in the possibility of a miracle is simply to believe in God—in fact, every one does believe in a miracle who believes in a creator. To believe in the fact of a miracle, simply requires that an adequate motive for one should exist; that a sufficient motive should be presented to the Divine benevolence. Grant such a motive, and every presumption against the occurrence of a miracle disappears. To suppose that the power of God is restrained by the Creation, or that his benevolence is shut up to the usual methods of blessing mankind by the regular operation of natural causes, is to deny God. Belief or disbelief in the miracles depends at last on whether you deem the occasion for them, or the need of light and help from above, to be a real and sufficient occasion; whether, in short, you believe and think it credible and desirable that a benevolent God should reveal himself to mankind. Belief or disbelief is thus contingent on the moral views and the moral state, the opinion which men have of their character and spiritual wants, and the sense they have of the evil and danger of being separated from God. It is here that the Bible places the grounds of faith and of unbelief. G. P. Fisher. God can override every force by a higher force; but this higher force is no created energy, but his creative fiat—his will—whose function is to suspend every other force, and to control every law. Every disturbance that might occur in consequence he can avoid by the same energy by which he suspends any natural force. Should he arrest a planet in its orbit, he could provide all the compensations that might be required to avert or check or turn aside the results that might otherwise ensue. His hand is not only on the driving lever that starts and stops and regulates the engine, but his presence and spirit are in all the wheels, and pulsate in that vast organization which we call the universe of matter and spirit. For God to suspend a force or break a law, is, however, never a lawless or an unreasonable act. Every miracle is performed for some reason. No force of nature is ever suspended, no law is broken, except to reveal a present and personal God, and to enforce a sense of his presence which is yet above nature, by some manifestation through nature, in order that some impressive moral or spiritual lesson may be conveyed. It follows that a story of a miracle is credible whenever a sufficient reason for its occurrence can be given or supposed. We believe that a miracle is credible whenever it is required for any worthy end which God may propose, for the same reason that we believe in the unbroken reign of law in the ordinary routine of nature, because of the ends which this dominion of law will subserve. We believe that the laws of nature may be broken when the occasion requires, for the same reason that we believe them to be unbroken in the ordinary routine of life. Not only is a miracle credible, but it becomes probable, when the occasion justifies it. The end proposed in a miracle may not only justify our reason in believing it, it may even require this faith of both reason and conscience. Is what is usually called nature the whole of the universe? Or if you enlarge the conception of nature, so as to take into it spiritual beings who are immortal, are all their interests limited to power, wealth, enjoyment, to social affection, culture, art, and civilization, and even to character—if you leave out of character responsibility to one's self and to God, with its results of confirmed sin or confirmed holiness—are these all that man should care for, or all that God does care for? If there is more, this outweighs all the rest. If man is responsible, then he is guilty and weak, and needs forgiveness and help. He also needs the assurance of both in such form that he cannot doubt the reality and cannot help being moved by the love. In one word, he needs the supernatural and the miraculous Christ, just the Christ of the gospel story, and he needs him more than anything and everything besides. If there is a living and loving God, shall he not supply this want? If, in order to supply it, he must meet man with such miraculous works as break through the order of nature in order to manifest his presence, shall we believe the story the less or the more because it records supernatural deeds? Well might Coleridge say, "Evidences of Christianity! I am weary of the phrase—make a man feel his need of Christianity, and give him right conceptions of what Christianity is, and he cannot but believe it to be from God, and this by a most natural and rational judgment." N. Porter. [See New Testament, vol. 1, Section 177.] 8 : 20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh ; lo, he cometh forth to the water ; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses ; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there ; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people : by to-morrow shall this sign be. And the LORD did so ; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses ; and in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies. And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God : lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us ? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness ; only ye shall not go very far away : intreat for me. And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to-morrow : only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses ; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people ; there remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go. 9 : 1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the herds, and upon the flocks : there shall be a very grievous murrain. And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt : and there shall nothing die of all that belongeth to the children of Israel. And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died : but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the people go. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh ; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven ; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils : for the boils were upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them ; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses. 13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people ; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth : but in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand, for to shew thee my power, and that my name may be declared 17 throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt 18 not let them go? Behold, to-morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous 19 hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. Now therefore send, hasten in thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field ; for every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come 20 down upon them, and they shall die. He that feared the word of the LORD among the 21 servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses : and he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the 23 field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven : and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down unto the earth ; and the LORD 24 rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, 25 very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and 26 beast ; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only 27 in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time : the 28 LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Intreat the LORD ; for there hath been enough of these mighty thunderings and hail ; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no 29 longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD ; the thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more 30 hail ; that thou mayest know that the earth is the LORD's. But as for thee and thy ser- 31 vants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. And the flax and the barley were 32 smitten : for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled. But the wheat and the 33 spelt were not smitten : for they were not grown up. And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD : and the thunders and hail 34 ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his 35 heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the children of Israel go ; as the LORD had spoken by Moses. # Swarms of Flies. Some may inquire, why did God punish the country by such minute and contemptible ani- mals as frogs, lice, flies, rather than by bears, lions, leopards, or other kinds of savage beasts, which prey on human flesh ? or if not by these, why not by the Egyptian asp, whose bite is in- stant death ? First, God chose rather to correct than to destroy the inhabitants ; for if he de- sired to annihilate them utterly, he had no need to have made use of animals as his auxiliaries, but of the divinely inflicted evils of famine and pestilence. Next, men, when they war, seek the most powerful aid to supply their own weakness ; but God, the highest and greatest power, who stands in need of nothing, if at any time he chooses to employ instruments to inflict chastisement, chooses not the strongest and greatest, but rather the mean and the minute, which he endues with irresistible power to chas- tise offenders. Philo. 21-23. The first three plagues were inflicted alike on the Egyptians and Hebrews. But as this may have contributed to prevent the Egyptians from seeing the finger of God in the pre- vious plagues, a distinction was henceforth to be made, and the land of Goshen to be exempted from the calamities still impending. 24-27. It is evident that each successive plague thus far exceeded in intensity that which went before it, and so grievous was the present, that with a view to its removal Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and proposed to them a compromise. Unable to bear the tormenting scourge, and yet unwilling to resign his grasp of his Hebrew bondmen, by a half-way measure he would secure himself from injury in both respects. He consents that they should sacri- fice to their God, provided they would do it in the land of Egypt. The reply of Moses was prompt and decided. Implicit obedience was his only rule of conduct, and by adhering in the most inflexible manner to the expressed will of Jehovah, the name of Moses has come down to the latest generation honored by the testimony of pre-eminent fidelity—“Moses was faithful in all his house." Far from accepting this concession, he tells Pharaoh there is no alternative. His entire requisition must be complied with. Bush.—Nor is there little praise due to the firmness of Moses, who boldly and unreservedly rejected the pretended moderation of the tyrant, because it would have interfered with the will of God. He declares that the Israelites would do no otherwise than as God had prescribed. Calv. 28. The demand does not refer to a journey to Sinai, which would have occupied much longer time. Pharaoh grants the permission, not however without imposing a condition which would have enabled him to take effectual measures to prevent the final emigration of the Israelites. The power of the Pharaohs extended far beyond the frontier, especially on the road to Palestine. Cook.—Whether he was henceforth to lose entirely so considerable and so useful a part of the population of the kingdom, was the Egyptian king's view of the question; to which is to be added the apprehension that becoming thus independent of their control, they might one day resolve themselves into a very dangerous hostile power on the frontiers, whether in the desert as pastoral nomads, or as a settled people in Palestine. Viewing the matter thus, as the Egyptian king unquestionably did, his conduct, though no more excusable, is somewhat less surprising. Bush. 29. How ready God is to accept sinners' submissions. Pharaoh does but say, Extreat for me (though it is with regret that he humbles so far), and Moses promises immediately, I will entreat the Lord for thee; that he might see what the design of the plague was, not to bring him to ruin, but to bring him to repentance. With what pleasure did God say (1 K. 21: 29), Seest thou how Ahab humbles himself? H.—Deal deceitfully. It was an act of extraordinary boldness openly and before the tyrant's face to reproach him for his falsehoods, and at the same time to threaten him with punishment unless he desisted from them. Calv. 30-32. The issue of all was, that God graciously removed the plague (vs. 30, 31), but Pharaoh perfidiously returned to his hardness, and would not let the people go (v. 32). His pride would not let him part with such a flower of his crown as his dominion over Israel was, nor his covetousness with such a branch of his revenue as their labors were. H.—By a law of our nature the insensibility of conscience grows apace with every act of defiance to its suggestions; and if the warnings of one adverse providence have failed to impress, another and another, each more fitted to appall and arrest than the former, may fall short of its moral efficacy for turning us from the evil of our ways. When Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he fell from his promises and professions, and relapsed into his former hardness, and—as is the case with all backsliding—into a greater hardness than before. T. C. Cattle destroyed by a Murrain. The word murrain, i.e. a great mortality, exactly expresses the meaning. This terrible visitation struck far more severely than the preceding, which had caused distress and suffering; it attacked the resources of the nation. 3. The camels. These animals are only twice mentioned, here and in Gen. 12: 16, in connection with Egypt. In this passage the enumeration of cattle is studiously complete. Cook. We may observe a particular scope and meaning in this calamity with regard to the Egyptians, which would not have existed in respect to any other people. It is well known that they held in idolatrous reverence the lion, wolf, dog, cat, ape, and goat. But they had gods which they held in still greater reverence than these; such were the ox or steer; the cow and heifer; and the ram. Among these the Apis and Mnevis are well known; the former, a sacred bull adored at Memphis; and the latter at Heliopolis. There was also a cow or heifer which had the like honors at Momemphis. To these may be added the goat at Mendes, though perhaps not so celebrated as the others. This judgment, therefore, upon the kine of Egypt, was very significant in its execution and purport. The Egyptians not only suffered a severe loss, but, what was of far greater consequence, they saw the representative of their deities, and their deities themselves, sink before the "God of the Hebrews." There is reason to think that both the camel and ass were held sacred, which were involved in the same calamity. Hence it is said by the sacred writer, "Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments" (Num. 33: 4). To the Israelites, the worship of the Egyptians must at this time have appeared in a contemptible light, and their gods despicable. Their separation too and exemption during these evils must have had still greater weight. It rendered them more ready to quit a people from whom they were so distinguished. Bryant. 5. To-morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.** The fixing of the time in this manner would make the judgment when it came the more remarkable. "We know not what any day will bring forth, and therefore cannot say what we will do to-morrow, but God can." 6. All the cattle of Egypt died. That is, some of all sorts; not absolutely each and every one; for we find (vs. 19, 25) some remaining which were smitten by a subsequent plague. This peculiar usage of the word "all," as denoting some of all kinds, instead of the absolute totality of the number spoken of, is of great importance to a right understanding of the sacred Scriptures throughout. Bush. THE SIXTH PLAGUE (vs. 8-12). Boils upon Man and Beast. This marks a distinct advance and change in the character of the visitations. Hitherto the Egyptians had not been attacked directly in their own persons. It is the second plague which was not preceded by a demand and warning, probably on account of the peculiar hardness shown by Pharaoh in reference to the murrain. Cook.—Hitherto the Lord has tried to move the heart of the king by a series of external privations and penalties. The want of water, the presence of a loathsome reptile, the creeping and biting of a nauseous insect, the fierce stinging of the fly swarm, and the loss occasioned by the pestilence among the cattle, have been all in vain. Now the life is menaced. M. 9. A boil breaking forth with blains. The word rendered boil is derived from "burning inflammation," and is used elsewhere of plague boils, of the leprosy, and elephantiasis. Here it means probably a burning tumor or carbuncle breaking out in pustulous ulcers. Cook. 11. The magicians could not stand before Moses. They had probably hitherto continued to linger about the person of Pharaoh, confirming him in his obstinate refusal to let the people go, and pretending that though Moses had thus far performed works beyond their skill, yet they should doubtless be too hard for him at last; but now, being seized with these loathsome and painful ulcers, they were utterly confounded and henceforth no more heard of. Bush.—Thus they were driven the field. Their power was restrained before, but they continued to confront Moses and confirm Pharaoh in his unbelief, till now they were forced to retreat and could not stand before Moses, to which the apostle refers (2 Tim. 3:9), when he says, that their folly was made manifest unto all men. H. 12. God had threatened that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, but we do not, until we come to the present passage, find it expressly said that he did harden it. Not that God, by a positive act, created any hardness of heart in Pharaoh, or that he immediately put forth any influence to render him callous and incapable of right feeling. He had before hardened his own heart by resisting both the grace and the wrath of heaven. Bush.—Now "the Lord," for the first time, "hardened the heart of Pharaoh," after he had so repeatedly hardened it himself, "and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had foretold unto Moses." Though Pharaoh probably felt the scourge of the "boil," as well as his people, it did not soften nor humble his heart. And when he wilfully and obstinately turned away from the light, and shut his eyes against the luminous evidences vouchsafed to him of the supremacy of the God of the HEBREWS, and had twice broken his promise, when he was indulged with a respite, and dealt deceitfully, he became a just object of punishment. And such is the usual and the righteous course of his providence; when nations or individuals despise the warnings of heaven, abuse their best gifts, and resist the means of grace, "God then delivers them over to a reprobate or undiscerning mind" (Rom. 1:28; Eph. 4:19). Hales.—Before, he had hardened his own heart, and resisted the grace of God; and now, God justly gave him up to his own heart's lusts, to a reprobate mind, and strong delusions, permitting Satan to blind and harden him, and ordering everything from henceforward so as to make him more and more obstinate. Wilful hardness is commonly punished with judicial hardness. If men shut their eyes against the light, it is just with God to close their eyes. Let us dread this as the sorest judgment a man can be under on this side hell. H. (Sec. 85.) When we have accounted for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart satisfactorily on the one principle—the well-known proclivities and activities of a proud, stubborn human heart, it is entirely unphilosophical to bring in another principle, viz. the miraculous, immediate, direct action of Almighty Power. When we have proved the former power adequate to produce all the results, we have virtually precluded the latter. There can be no reason whatever for assuming a joint, co-ordinate action of both the natural laws of the human mind and of the supernatural power of God. If the former suffices, the latter is uncalled for. Miracles are never to be assumed where non-miraculous agency is fully adequate. It is of no use for us to find fault with the way in which the Scriptures speak of God's hand in the existence of sin. There is no special mystery about it. It certainly does not involve the least moral obliquity on God's part; and it is therefore every way prudent and wise to interpret such language in harmony with the common-sense of the case and with the well-known character of God. H. C.—Merciful warnings harden men every day. They were full, frequent, sincere, and earnest in Pharaoh's case; and sustained by prodigies of power which should have secured conviction. Favorable opportunities of repenting and returning to duty harden men every day. But they are surely granted in mercy. The withdrawing of His Spirit, oft resisted, is a terrible but righteous procedure. Hardness of heart inevitably ensues. An. # THE SEVENTH PLAGUE (vs. 13-35). Thunder, Hail and Fire. With this begins the last series of plagues, which differ from the former both in their severity and their effects. Each produced a temporary, but real change in Pharaoh's feelings. The plagues which precede appear to have been spread over a considerable time; the first message of Moses was delivered after the early harvest of the year before, when the Israelites could gather stubble, i.e. in April and May: the second mission, when the plagues began, was probably toward the end of June, and they went on at intervals until the winter; this plague was in February. Cook. 13-15. Six times the demand had been made in vain, yet Moses must make it the seventh time, Let my people go (v. 13). A most dreadful message Moses is here ordered to deliver to him, whether he will hear, or whether he will forbear. He must tell him that he is marked for ruin; that he now stands as the butt at which God would shoot all the arrows of his wrath. H.—If lesser judgments do not do their work, God will send greater. Moses is charged to tell Pharaoh that, in the plagues that remained to be inflicted there would be a kind of concentrated terribleness, so that each one should come upon him as if with the accumulated weight of all the rest. They were to be such plagues as should not only endanger the body, but smile the heart, the inward spirit with such terror, that it would seem as if the whole magazine of heaven's vengeance were opened upon him and his people. This seems to be what is intended by the language—"I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart," where we are probably to understand by "this time," the time occupied by the whole ensuing course of judgments that should finally end in the utter destruction of Pharaoh. Bush. 15,16. The reason why God did not at once destroy Pharaoh and his people is thus stated by the Lord Himself: "For now if I had stretched forth my hand and smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence, then hadst thou been cut off from the earth. But now in very deed for this cause have I let thee stand (made thee stand, raised thee up), for to show in thee my power (perhaps, to let thee see or experience it—this is the first reason; the second)—and that my Name may be declared throughout all the earth." That this actually was the result we gather from Chap. 15:14. Nay, the tidings spread not only among the Arabs, but long afterward among the Greeks and Romans, and finally, through the Gospel, among all nations of the earth. A. E. The Greek translates very justly, "For this cause thou hast been preserved:" and most of the versions express the true meaning of the passage better than our English translation. The reason of the words and the true meaning of them is this: Moses had wrought several miracles before Pharaoh without effect. Hereupon he delivers him a severer message, threatening that God would send all his plagues upon his heart, to smite him with pestilence and to cut him off from the earth: and, "indeed," continues he, speaking still in the name of God, "for this cause have I preserved thee hitherto, to show in thee my power:" that is, I had cut thee off sooner for thy obstinacy, but that I intended to make my power over thee more conspicuous. So that the words signify, that Pharaoh was hitherto preserved by the forbearance of God to be a more remarkable example; not that he was born to be brought to ruin. Shuckford. The issue is to be joined between Jehovah and his people with the great central civilization of earth, with a view to recall the world to a knowledge of the true God. It is important to the interests of the world and the interests of God's truth that the real wickedness of Pharaoh shall be brought out, and the justice of God's dealings with him be evinced. Hence the apostle, in Romans, cites this case as the grand historical illustration of the sovereignty of God, in glorifying himself by the destruction of the impenitent as well as by the salvation of the believing penitent. It is no question here of ethics as between man and man from the human point of view, but of the purposes and the honor of God from a divine point of view. S. R.—It was a most signal and memorable instance of the power God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. Everything concurred to signalize this, that God's name, that is, his incontestable sovereignty, his irresistible power, and his inflexible justice might be declared throughout all ages while the earth remains. H. From this and other express declarations we know that the Hebrew institutions were not designed for the exclusive benefit of the Hebrew people. Solomon prays (1 K. 8 : 60) that God would "maintain the cause of his people Israel at all times, that all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else." According to this decisive testimony, the Hebrew history and institutions from the very first stood connected with the communication of the knowledge of the true God to all the people of the earth. E. C. W. 18-21. Only one day for thought and repentance was granted to Pharaoh before the seventh stroke descended. It consisted of such hail as had never been seen in Egypt, mingled with thunder and fiery lightning. The cattle in Egypt are left out to graze from January to April, and such of the Egyptians as gave heed to the warning of Moses withdrew their cattle and servants into shelter, and so escaped the consequences; the rest suffered loss of men and beasts. That some "among the servants of Pharaoh" "feared the word of Jehovah" (v. 20) affords evidence of the spiritual effect of these "strokes." A. E. 22-25. In Egypt hail is unknown, and rain is a rare phenomenon. A storm in which these elements were combined with prodigious power—the rain in floods, hailstones of prodigious size and force, thunder in awful crashes, and lightning that ran like fire along the ground—must have been a most astonishing and dreadful spectacle to the Egyptians. Nor was the terror all. The actual calamity inflicted was most serious. Those who, despite the warning, left their cattle abroad in the fields, saw them stricken dead by the hailstones, and it also smote every bush, and broke every tree of the field. Kit. 27. Pharaoh's confession reaches further than before, even to the acknowledgment of personal guilt: Jehovah is in the right,—he and his people in the wrong. But it is only this time; he does not include the former times. It is a touch of nature in the narrative, that the spirit of Pharaoh is dismayed by the awful and to him unusual terrors of the thunderstorm. At such times even the bravest and hardest are frequently affrighted by an unaccountable panic. Aif. 28. Amid all these storms Pharaoh sleepeth; till the voice of God's mighty thunders, and hail mixed with fire, roused him up a little. Now, as betwixt sleeping and waking, he starts up and says, "God is righteous, I am wicked; Moses, pray for us;" and presently lays down his head again. God hath no sooner done thundering, than he hath done fearing. All this while you never find him careful to prevent any one evil, but desirous still to shift it off when he feels it; never holds constant to any good motion; never prays for himself, but carelessly wills Moses and Aaron to pray for him; never yields God his whole demand, but would get a release with the cheapest; first, "They shall not go;" then, "Go and sacrifice, but in Egypt;" next, "Go sacrifice in the wilderness, but not far off;" after, "Go ye that are men;" then, "Go you and your children only;" at last, "Go all save your sheep and cattle." Bp. H.—Pharaoh's repentance here was destitute of humiliation. There was no real humbling of himself; and there was no renunciation of his sin. His cry was always, "Take away the frogs, take away the hail," but never "take away the sin." And it was temporary. He no sooner felt it, than it was dissipated, and disappeared. J. C. 29. It was not Pharaoh's personal intention or change of heart on which the matter turned; but as king he stood on one side—God on the other: and his public position before the world was the point to be regarded. As he now gave God the honor and humbled himself under His hand, immediately the removal of the plague follows. So now is a national blessing the certain fruit of an open confession of the service due to the true God, on the part of the rulers. Gerl. 31. The flax was boiled.** In blossom. This marks the time. In the north of Egypt the barley ripens and flax blossoms about the middle of February. Cook. 33. Although Pharaoh's confession was insincere, yet as he publicly honored God by his humiliation, the plague is immediately removed. Thus, frequently in the after history of the Old Testament, threatened evil was withheld and even great personal and national blessings bestowed, upon the open confession of the true God by kings and peoples. And this principle of the Divine dealing with nations has ever since obtained. B. 34. The thunders and the hail ceased.** The prayer of Moses was in this case invested with a power like that of Elias, and the two witnesses of the Apocalypse, to open and shut heaven, and yet the mercy now accorded to Pharaoh tended as little to soften his heart as the previous judgment had done. The language implies that his increased hardness of heart was an increased measure of guilt: "He sinned yet more and more, and hardened his heart;" i.e. sinned by hardening his heart. God's foretelling the result, therefore, and permitting it, did not go to lessen his criminality. Bush. —The mercy of God, which should have led him to repentance, had a contrary effect upon him, and made him more obstinate. For an hardened heart is neither cut by compunction, nor moved by entreaties, nor yields to threatenings, nor feels the smart of scourges. It is ungrateful to benefactors, treacherous to counsels, sullen under judgments, fearless in dangers, forgetful of things past, negligent of things present, and improvident for the future. All these bad qualities seem to have concentrated in Pharaoh. It was, therefore, entirely agreeable to the rules of Divine justice, when nothing would reclaim this wicked king, when even that which wrought upon the magicians made no impression on him, to let his crime become his punishment, and to leave him to eat the bitter fruit of his own ways and to be filled with his own devices. Stackhouse. True repentance has, as its constituent elements, grief and hatred of sin, and also an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. It hates the sin, and not simply the suffering or penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered God's love. How much of our penitence is like this of Pharaoh! and how many are saints on a sick-bed, but as wicked as ever when they recover! W. M. T. Upon the land. The land is to be understood of the portion of the earth's surface known to man. This, with an unknown margin beyond it, was covered with the waters. But this is all that Scripture warrants us to assert. Concerning the distant parts of Europe, the continents of Africa, America, or Australia, we can say nothing. All the high hills were covered. Not a hill was above water within the horizon of the spectator or of man. 20. Fifteen cubits upward. This was half the depth of the ark. It may have taken this draught of water to float it. If so, its grounding on a hill under water would indicate the depth of water on its summit. The gradual rise of the waters was accomplished by the depression of the land, aided, possibly, by a simultaneous elevation of the bed of the ocean. The water, by the mere necessity of finding its level, overflowed the former dry land. The sobriety and historical veracity of the narrative are strikingly exhibited in the moderate height to which the waters are said to have risen above the ancient hills. M. 21. All flesh died—and every man. At length there was the entire surface of the solid globe without sin!—But to think that it could not be so but by being without men! The numbers of men—the towns—the camps—the arts, the works, the revels, the crimes,—the very face of nature itself?—All swept from the creation! A deserted, desolate planet that had been populous in God's creation! Nothing short of having gone to another world could be so strange. And for sin this mighty destruction had passed over the world! J. F.—If future punishment for sin be a myth, the past judgments of God are without import. If men are not held to an accountability beyond the grave—that accountability to give an impress to their future—then see the necessary transformation into benefits of conspicuous displays of God's judicial wrath. The flood lifted to heaven the souls of the wave-washed multitudes covered by its foam—those waters, the retribution due to idolatry and sensuality—while, as his reward for piety, Noah was imprisoned in a floating ark, which constituted his only inheritance. Leech. The outward results appear to have been twofold—on the one side preservation, on the other destruction. But when we look a little more closely we perceive that there was properly but one object aimed at in the dispensation. That object was, in the words of Peter, "the saving of Noah and his house"—saving them as the spiritual seed of God. But saving them from 10:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and 2 the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs in the midst of them: and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am 3 the LORD. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before 4 me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, 5 behold, to-morrow will I bring locusts into thy border: and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which 6 groweth for you out of the field: and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he 7 turned, and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their 8 God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are 9 they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we 10 must hold a feast unto the LORD. And he said unto them, So be the LORD with you, as I 11 will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. 12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, 13 even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and 14 when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; 15 before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of 16 Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned 17 against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death 18 only. And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. And the LORD turned 19 an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red 20 Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go. 21. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may 22 be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of 23 Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three 24 days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: 25 let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must also give into our hand 26 sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we 27 come thither. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; 29 for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more. 11 : 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely 2 thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels 3 of gold. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people. 4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of 5 Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the 6 mill; and all the firstborn of cattle. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land 7 of Egypt, such as there hath been none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. 8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you: that my wonders 10 may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. Locusts covering the Earth and filling the Houses. Every judgment and every deliverance from it would have led an ingenuous mind to see the wrath of God for disobedience, and his clemency upon promise of amendment. But this heart was so proud and audacious as to contend with the Almighty; it was exasperated with severity, and conceived vain hopes upon the removal of a judgment, that the hand of God was tired and would yield to the obstinacy of man. With respect to this perverse temper, it was that God says, I have hardened Pharaoh's heart; meaning, by his dealings with him, which were intended to correct and amend him, but by his misapplication of them, they still left him more incorrigible, and finally ended in his utter destruction. Reading. Alas for man's perverse and false nature—his proud heart and his lying lips! How readily he relapses back into his old and much-loved sin and becomes more hardened than ever! The judgments of God extort confessions and tears and prayers; but God's mercies let off this pressure and leave the guilty soul to fly back to its old sins again. So it was with Pharaoh. God's mercies, abused, worked out his ruin. But it were simply monstrous to say that this showing of mercy is on God's part a moral wrong and that it throws over upon him the moral responsibility of hardening the sinner's heart. Yet it was precisely in this way—perhaps more really and potently than in any other—that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. H. C.—Who can deny that what God did on Pharaoh was much more proper to soften than to harden his heart; especially when it is observable, that it was not till after seeing each miracle, and after the ceasing of each plague, that his heart is said to have been hardened? Psalmanecer. 2. That thou mayest tell. We have here for the first time the far-reaching purpose announced, of the transmission by report of these Jehovah's wonderful dealings from generation to generation in Israel. As a sample of this transmission see Ps. 78 and 105. Alf.—The events of this wonderful conflict and victory were stamped into the national life of Israel; they reappear all along the course of future ages, interwoven into the very warp and woof of her national history and into the moral forces which developed the nation's piety. It might as reasonably be maintained that there never was any Hebrew nation as that God did not bring them forth out of Egypt with a high hand, first loosing Pharaoh's grasp by these ten plagues, and last, burying his pursuing hosts in the waters of the Red Sea. H. C.—And ye shall know that I am the Lord. The grand scope of all these signs was to reveal the Creator in his true character to man. This is the lesson of nature, of providence, and of grace, to those who read and understand. 3. How long dost thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Eight signs, one of them instructive and seven corrective, had already been given to him. His haughtiness of spirit is not subdued; to humble himself even before God he has not yet learned. M. 7. I am not surprised that Pharaoh's servants remonstrated against his folly and madness when they heard the plague of locusts announced. Let the men go, said they to their proud master, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? And when they came they were very grievous, for they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, and there remained not any green thing in the trees, nor in the herbs of the field. Moses declared that they should cover the face of the earth so that one cannot be able to see the ground. I have this dreadful picture indelibly fixed on my mind. For several nights after they came to Abeih, as soon as I closed my eyes the whole earth seemed to be creeping and jumping, nor could I banish the ugly image from my brain. The coming of locusts is a sore judgment from God. If I command the locusts to devour the land, says the Lord to Solomon. Yes, it is the command of God that brings these insects to scourge a land for the wickedness of the inhabitants thereof. W. M. Thompson. 8,9. But who are they that shall go? Hebrew, Who and who (are) going? The repetition of the interrogative is emphatic. He was to specify with the utmost distinctness who were to go, and who were to stay behind. Moses in reply tells him plainly that they were to serve God with their all; that their wives and their children, their flocks and their herds, without exception or reservation, must go with them. 10. The bold and positive declaration of Moses was too much for Pharaoh. Greatly exasperated by this uncompromising statement he answers in a style of mingled irony and wrath, "Let the Lord do with you as I will let you go;" q. d. "If this be the proposed condition of your going, that you take your little ones with you, then may the God whom you serve favor you as much with his presence as I do with my consent, and no more. In this case your prospects are sorry indeed." It is a very strong and emphatic mode of denying them the permission which they sought. Bush. 14,15. By the hail and thunder and fire mingled with rain, both the barley and flax were ruined, and their pastures must have been greatly injured. But the wheat and the rye were not yet in ear; and such was the fruitfulness of the soil, that a very short time would have sufficed for the leaves of the trees, and for the grass of the field to have been recruited. It pleased God, therefore, to send an host of locusts, to devour every leaf and blade of grass which had been left in the former devastation, and whatever was beginning to vegetate. It is hard to conceive how widely the mischief extends, when a cloud of these insects comes upon a country. Though it were a paradise before, it is soon rendered a desert. They devour to the very root and bark; so that it is a long time before vegetation can be renewed. Scarcely any misfortune can so effectually damage a land, but that room will be left for them to add to the mischief. How dreadful their inroads at all times were, may be known from a variety of authors, ancient and modern. They describe them as being brought on upon a country by one wind, and carried off by another; and speak of their numbers as past all conception. As Egypt is, in great measure, bounded to the east and north by seas, and is far removed from those regions in Africa where locusts particularly generate, it is not much infested with them. However, at the time spoken of, an east wind prevailed "all day and all night;" and the whole country in the morning swarmed with these insects. Hence we know that they came from Arabia. Bryant.—Generally, it is not the east but the south wind that brings the locusts, from Ethiopia or Libya. It was purposely from a long distance that they were sent, to show that Jehovah reigned everywhere. A. E. 17. So formidable was the calamity, that although Pharaoh had previously driven Moses and Aaron from his presence, yet he is now constrained to send for them again, to avow his fault, and to beg for one reprieve more. His confession now has more the air of unfeigned repentance than on any former occasion. He acknowledges that he had sinned against God and his servants, humbly asks their forgiveness, and sues for their intercession. So there are but too many who in the hour of sickness and in the fear of death, have prayed to be delivered only this once, with promises of amendment, but who yet upon recovery have returned, Pharaoh-like, to their former impenitence, worldliness, and sin. They forget that these repeated lapses and broken vows are all the while swelling guilt to fearful dimensions, and making more and more ripe for a sudden destruction. Bush. The conviction was forced upon Pharaoh and the confession extorted from his lips (utterly against his will), that God's hand wrought these achievements; that these calamities came at his command, and could be removed by his power and not otherwise. Hence over and over he begs Moses to pray to his God for their removal. See this in the case of the frogs (8 : 8); of the flies (8 : 28, 29); of the hail (9 : 27-29); and the locusts. It is not easy to see how stronger testimony to the reality of miracles can ever exist. That these plagues were real miracles, direct from the hand of God, it is unquestionably the intent of the whole narrative to set forth and affirm. So much, no candid reader of the account has ever questioned. Some may say, the narrator was himself deceived: none will deny that he saw God's finger there and meant to make all his readers see it. None can deny that according to his account even proud Pharaoh saw and felt the very finger of God in them. In fact the narrative makes this its main purpose, viz. to show that these judgments were nothing less than immediate visitations from the hand of the Almighty. Take out this element and there is nothing left. H. C. 19. There remained not one locust. The sudden and complete disappearance of the locusts is a phenomenon scarcely less remarkable than their coming; the putrefaction of such immense masses not unfrequently causes a terrible pestilence near the coasts of the sea into which they fall. Cook. Three Days' Thick Darkness. 22,23. No sooner had Pharaoh's request been granted, than his rebellion returned. Then, once more unannounced, came the ninth stroke, more terrible than any that had preceded. A thick darkness covered the whole land, except Goshen. There was this peculiar phenomenon about it, that, not only were the people unable to see each other, but "neither rose any from his place for three days." A. E.—Their great divinity, the Sun, was put to shame before the God of the slave and the stranger. For three whole days, as Moses stretched his hand toward heaven, a darkness, described with unexampled force as a DARKNESS THAT MIGHT BE FELT, overspread the land; not merely was the sun unable to penetrate the gloom, and enlighten his favored land, but they could distinguish nothing, and were constrained to sit in awe-struck inactivity. Milman.—So deep was the darkness that during the whole of this time, "they saw not one another." So overwhelming were the amazement and sorrow, that during this period no man "rose from his place." Uncertain whether they should ever again see the light, they lay paralyzed in a darkness that could be felt. Here the triumph of the God of Israel was complete, and the perfect vanity of Egyptian idolatry demonstrated. Egypt, with all her learning and prowess, supported by a gorgeous and almost boundless range of idolatrous religion, is exhibited as convicted, punished, and without any power to escape, or any hope of alleviation. Smith's Heb. People.—What madness could be greater than theirs, when in their hardness of heart they cease not to contend against God's hand, formidable as it was? Their waters turned into blood had denied them drink; frogs and other animals had filled the whole country; their limbs had been enfevered by boils; the hail had destroyed part of their corn; the locusts had brought still increased destruction; the very hosts of heaven were armed against them. Calv. But in Goshen all these three days was light and festive joy. For while thick darkness lay upon Egypt, the children of Israel, as directed by God, had already on the tenth of the month—four days before the great night of woe—selected their Paschal lambs, and were in waiting for their deliverance. And alike the darkness and the light were of Jehovah—the one symbolical of his judgments, the other of his favor. A. E.—During these three days of darkness to the Egyptians, if God had so pleased, the Israelites by the light which they had might have made their escape, and without asking leave of Pharaoh; but God would bring them out with a high hand, and not by stealth or in haste (Is. 52: 12). H. 24-28. Once more, Pharaoh now summoned Moses. This time he would let all the people go, if only they would leave their flocks behind as pledge of their return. And when Moses refused the condition, the king "said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself; see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die." It was a challenge which sounded not strange in Moses' ears, for before this interview God had informed him what would happen, and directed that Israel should prepare to leave. A. E.—Pharaoh quails before the appalling darkness. He yields another point. The women and children may go with the men, but not the flocks and the herds. Moses, however, cannot go to hold a national festival unto the Lord without sacrifices. Not a hoof of their cattle must be left behind. Pharaoh is again exasperated. His proud heart becomes hard as the nether millstone. A reckless madness takes possession of him. He forbids Moses to appear before him again on pain of death. There is something ominous in the reply of Moses. "Well hast thou spoken; I will see thy face no more." He means, as we shall see, more than is here expressed. M. Now Pharaoh proves like to some beasts that grow mad with baiting: grace often resisted turns to desperateness: "Get thee from me; look thou see my face no more; whensoever thou comest in my sight, thou shalt die." As if Moses could not plague him as well in absence: as if he, that could not take away the lice, flies, frogs, grasshoppers, could at his pleasure take away the life of Moses, that procured them. What is this, but to run upon the judgments, and run away from the remedies? Evermore, when God's messengers are abandoned, destruction is near. Moses will see him no more, but God will now visit him more than ever. The fearfulest plagues God still reserves for the upshot: all the former do but make way for the last. Pharaoh may exclude Moses and Aaron, but God's angel he cannot exclude: invisible messengers are used, when the visible are debarred. Bp. H. 29. Spoken well.** The ungodly king, carried away by his rage, prophesies against his will. God repays on Pharaoh's own head what he had threatened Moses. But we must remember that Moses did not speak on his own impulse, but at God's command. Had he not been informed that this was the last communication, he would still have been ready to do his part. Calv.—No more. It is not said that Moses went out. His departure took place ch. 11: 8; therefore that which follows, though it happened somewhat earlier, is placed after this to explain the speech of Moses. Gert. 11: 1-3. The first three verses of Ex. 11 must have been spoken to Moses before his last interview with Pharaoh. Verse 1 should be rendered: "And Jehovah had said unto Moses," etc. They are inserted after 10: 29, because they account for and explain the confident reply with which Moses met the challenge of Pharaoh. Evidently, 11: 4, and what follows, form part of that reply of Moses to Pharaoh which begins in 10: 29. A. E.—1. The Lord said. Or "the Lord had said." Commentators generally agree that the first three verses of this chapter are parenthetical. The most probable account of their insertion in this place appears to be that, before Moses relates the last warning given to Pharaoh, he feels it right to recall to his readers' minds the revelation and command which had been previously given to him by the Lord. Cook. 2. Ask.** Neither here, nor in ch. 3: 22, ch. 12 : 35, is it said that the Israelites had “borrowed” the vessels; nor ch. 12 : 36, that the Egyptians had “tent” them; but the former had demanded, the latter had yielded to the demand: when the transaction took place, the journey out was determined on, and even desired by the Egyptians, and there was no thought on either side of “giving back.” Moreover, this “spoiling” has not the signification of secretly taking away,—but that of openly taking possession of anything. The significance of the Divine command, and of the conduct of the Israelites, is rather this: Egypt and Pharaoh had sinned in manifold ways, by robbery and tyranny against Israel—they deny the people independence, and liberty to worship their God: their God takes the part of his first-born son, and smites, after many other signs, the firstborn in the whole of Egypt. The heathen king and people are humbled, and lose courage; they entreat Israel to be gone, and drive them forth; and the Egyptians give them all they can in order to appease them. Thus it comes to pass, that without violation of right, the powerless, oppressed, poor people spoil their tyrants, and depart laden with their treasures. Gerl. 3. The people favor. Moses was great.** This favor shown to the Israelites and this deep reverence for Moses are noted as conjoint effects of the previous judgments. The mention of this second result, as well as the former, is essential to the moral completeness of the narrative. It is a strange mistake to suppose that the words contain a “laudation of Moses.” Birks.—With historical faithfulness and unaffected simplicity Moses makes these remarks about his own person; they are historical facts; and he relates them with the same objective impartiality with which Xenophon speaks of himself in the Anabasis, or Cæsar in his Commentaries. Kalisch. 4. And Moses said. The following words must be read in immediate connection with the last verse of the preceding chapter. It is not there stated that Moses left the presence of Pharaoh; this passage tells us what took place after his declaration that this would be his last interview. About midnight.** This marks the hour, but not the day, on which the visitation would take place. There may have been, and probably was, an interval of some days, during which preparations might be made both for the celebration of the Passover, and the dedeparture of the Israelites: in the mean time Egypt remained under the shadow of the menace. 5. The firstborn.** Two points are to be noticed: 1. The extent of the visitation: the whole land suffers in the persons of its firstborn, not merely for the guilt of the sovereign, but for the actual participation of the people in the crime of infanticide. 2. The limitation, Pharaoh’s command had been to slay all the male children of the Israelites, one child only in each Egyptian family was to die. Cook. Now is threatened the greatest and most awful of the plagues. The first came out of the river, the benefactor of the land; the third and fourth from the earth; the rest from the air. All stood in close connection to the idolatrous land, whose Lord the God of Israel would show himself to be. But now he will smite them with another plague, not only far exceeding all the rest, but also coming so directly from God’s hand, that none of the natural phenomena peculiar to Egypt could offer any resemblance to it. Gerl.—This had been the first threatened (ch. 4 : 23, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn), but is last to be executed; lesser judgments were tried, which, if they had done the work, would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath; and how willing to be met with in the way of his judgments, and to have his anger turned away, and particularly how precious the lives of men are in his eyes: if the death of their cattle would have humbled and reformed them, their children had been spared; but if men will not improve the gradual advances of divine judgments, they must thank themselves, if they find, in the issue, that the worst was reserved for the last. H. 8. After that I will go out.** Moses has thus far recited the words of God’s message to Pharaoh, but here he begins to speak in his own person, announcing the speedy submission of Pharaoh’s servants to him, and their humble and earnest request that he should “depart out of their coasts.” We must bear in mind that Moses says this in his repres-native character, and that it is to the Most High in Moses that this submission was to be made. It is indeed wonderful to see God thus identifying himself with a creature who speaks in his name, and yet it is unquestionable that the Scriptures afford repeated instances of the same usage of speech. Bush. In hot anger. It is the Holy Spirit which here inflames the heart of Moses with holy zeal, and preserves it from all mixture of unholy passion. Much reason have we, when moved by righteous indignation, to pray for the spirit of forbearance and singleness of mind to preserve us from excess. Yet we see from Moses' anger, that God does not desire that we should be cold and indifferent in the execution of his commands. Calv. 9,10. These two verses are a recapitulation of all that has been related after the introductory paragraph in the seventh chapter, especially ver. 3. This verse is the prediction; the intervening narrative sets forth the details, and the two verses now before us are the logical conclusion or summing up of the whole. This inferential summary could not come in before the speech of Moses, threatening the death of the firstborn, as this occurs at the closing interview between him and Pharaoh, and presents the latter with the last occasion for rejecting the demands of the Lord. And it could not come in after the death of the firstborn, because then Pharaoh at length yielded, whereas these verses record his long-continued resistance. They form therefore the methodical recapitulation of the opposition of Pharaoh foretold by the Lord, when that opposition has come to its last efforts. "Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Muraim," for the perpetual instruction of mankind in certain sublime and necessary principles of theological truth. And so it has accordingly happened. M.—It is impossible to read the conclusion of this chapter without being reminded of the very similar ending of the chapter in John (12) which precedes the narrative of the great Passover itself: v. 37, "Although he had done all these miracles before them, yet believed they not on him,"—in words almost the reproduction of those used here. Alf. Look at that world-ideal of the irresponsible tyrant. No fancy ever made him; no human imagination could have kept up a consistency, so well sustained, of character and destiny. Leave out, if you please, all that is miraculous in the plagues, or resolve them into strictly physical events coming at longer seeming intervals, and having a miraculous air by being crowded upon a brief historical canvas. There stand the figures of the king and the prophet; we have before us that truest of despots, that grandest of seers. Pharaoh and Moses,—we image them, at once, as forms of living men; they have more life for us than Solon and Crus, than Socrates and the Athenian judges, than Seneca and Nero, than any characters that were ever drawn by the genius of Homer, or sketched by the graphic pen of Tacitus. The scenes are so vivid, though so far away; so lifelike, though of such high proportion; so natural, though so grand, that we can hardly conceive their falsehood. What convergency of scattered myths could have grown into such a consistent whole? What single mind could ever have created a picture so defiant of the antiquating power of time? It has the same life for us now, in this remote Western world, that it had more than three thousand years ago on the banks of the Nile. There it stands right before us, as though written yesterday, clear as the pyramids, fresh as the sculptures on the Karnak, and with a meaning for the world how far beyond any wisdom we may ever hope to get from folios of monumental learning. It is, in fact, a painting that never can grow old; for it is engraved, photographed, we might say, in our human nature; age only adds to the brightness of its coloring; the most minute inspection, under the highest lens of antiquarian learning, only reveals its perfect accuracy of line and shade. T. L. It is impossible, as we read the description of the Plagues, not to feel how much of force is added to it by a knowledge of the peculiar customs and character of the country in which they occurred. It is not an ordinary river that is turned into blood; it is the sacred, beneficent, solitary Nile, the very life of the state and of the people, in its streams and canals and tanks, and vessels of wood and vessels of stone, then, as now, used for the filtration of the delicious water from the sediment of the river-bed. It is not an ordinary nation that is struck by the mass of putrefying vermin lying in heaps by the houses, the villages, and the fields, or multiplying out of the dust of the desert sands on each side of the Nile valley. It is the cleanliest of all the ancient nations, clothed in white linen, anticipating, in their fastidious delicacy and ceremonial purity, the habits of modern and northern Europe. It is not the ordinary cattle that died in the field, or ordinary fish that died in the river, or ordinary reptiles that were overcome by the rod of Aaron. It is the sacred goat of Mendes, the ram of Ammon, the calf of Heliopolis, the bull Apis, the crocodile of Ombos, the carp of Latopolis. It is not an ordinary land of which the flax and the barley, and every green thing in the trees, and every herb of the field are smitten by the two great calamities of storm and locust. It is the garden of the ancient Eastern world,—the long line of green meadow and cornfield, and groves of palm and sycamore and fig-tree, from the Cataracts to the Delta, doubly refreshing from the desert which it intersects, doubly marvellous from the river whence it springs. If these things were calamities anywhere, they were truly "signs and wonders"—speaking signs and oracular wonders—in such a land as "the land of Ham." A. P. S. This was the season of the greatest and most stupendous miracles of any recorded in the history of the world, whether we look to the period of its duration, or to the magnitude of the scale on which the miracles were wrought. The public ministry and miracles of Moses lasted a great deal longer than those of Jesus Christ. And, generally speaking, Moses' miracles were of wider and larger operation, and bearing in the greater number of instances the same relation to the other miracles, whether of the Old or the New Testament, that nations do to individuals. T. C. The Plagues are divided first into nine, and one, the last one, standing clearly apart from all the others, in the awful shriek of woe which it draws forth from every Egyptian home. The nine are arranged in threes. In the first of each three the warning is given to Pharaoh in the morning (7 : 15 ; 8 : 20 ; 9 : 13). In the first and second of each three, the plague is announced beforehand (8 : 1 ; 9 : 1 ; 10 : 1), in the third not (8 : 16 ; 9 : 6 ; 10 : 21). At the third the magicians of Pharaoh acknowledged the finger of God (8 : 19), at the sixth they cannot stand before Moses (9 : 11), and at the ninth Pharaoh refuses to see the face of Moses any more (10 : 28). In the first three Aaron uses the rod; in the second three it is not mentioned; in the third three Moses uses it, though in the last of them only his hand is mentioned. All these marks of order lie on the face of the narrative, and point to a deeper order of nature and reason out of which they spring. The gradation in the severity of these strokes is no less obvious. In the first three no distinction is made among the inhabitants of the land; in the remaining seven a distinction is made between the Israelites, who are shielded from, and the Egyptians, who are exposed to, the stroke. In these seven which are peculiar to the Egyptians, the order is the reverse of that in the work of creation. Three refer to the animal creation, and three to the vegetable world, the support of animal life. The last of these six is darkness, the opposite of light, the product of the first day; and the seventh is death. The first three affect the health and comfort of man; the next three take away the staff of life; then comes death itself, and the work of destruction is complete. M. The whole period covered by the Plagues was about ten months. The delay occasioned by Pharaoh's repeated refusals to listen to the commands afforded ample time for preparation on the part of the Israelites. Two full months elapsed between the first and second interview of Moses with the king. During that time the people, uprooted for the first time from the district in which they had been settled for centuries, were dispersed throughout Egypt, subjected to severe suffering, and impelled to exertions of a kind differing altogether from their ordinary habits, whether as herdsmen or bondsmen. This was the first and a most important step in their training for a migratory life in the desert. Toward the end of June, at the beginning of the rise of the annual inundation, the first series of plagues began. The Nile was stricken. Egypt was visited in the centre both of its physical existence and of its national superstitions. Pharaoh did not give way, and no intimation as yet was made to the people that permission for their departure would be extorted; but the intervention of their Lord was now certain, the people on their return wearied and exhausted from the search for stubble, had an interval of suspense. Three months appear to have intervened between this and the next plague. There must have been a movement among all the families of Israel; as they recapitulated their wrongs and hardships, the sufferings of their officers, and their own position of hopeless antagonism to their oppressors, it is impossible that they should not have looked about them, calculated their numbers and resources, and meditated upon the measures which, under the guidance of a leader of ability and experience, might enable them to effect their escape from Egypt. Five months might not be too much, but were certainly sufficient, to bring the people so far into a state of preparation for departure. The plague of frogs coincided in time with the greatest extension of the inundation in September. Pharaoh then gave the first indication of yielding; the permission extorted from him, though soon recalled, was not therefore ineffectual. Moses was not likely to lose any time in transmitting instructions to the people. The first steps may have been then taken toward an orderly marshalling of the people. The third plague must have followed soon after that of the frogs, early in October. It marks the close of the first series of inflictions, none of them causing great suffering, but quite sufficient on the one hand to make the Egyptians conscious of danger, and to confirm in the Israelites a hope of no remote deliverance. The second series of plagues was far more severe; it began with swarms of poisonous insects, probably immediately after the subsidence of the inundation. It is a season of great importance to Egypt; from that season to the following June the land is uncovered; cultivation begins; a great festival (called Chabsta) marks the period for ploughing. At that time there was the first separation between Goshen and the rest of Egypt. The impression upon Pharaoh was far deeper than before, and then, in November, the people once more received instructions for departure; there was occasion for a rehearsal, so to speak, of the measures requisite for the proper organization of the tribes and families of Israel. The cattle plague broke out in December, or at the latest in January. It was thoroughly Egyptian both in season and in character. The exemption of the Israelites was probably attributed by Pharaoh to natural causes; but the care then bestowed by the Israelites upon their cattle, the separation from all sources of contagion, must have materially advanced their preparation for departure. Then came the plague of boils, severe but ineffectual, serving however to make the Egyptians understand that continuance in opposition would be visited on their persons. With this plague the second series ended. It appears to have lasted about three months. The hailstorms followed, just when they now occur in Egypt, from the middle of February to the early weeks of March. The time was now drawing near. The Egyptians for the first time, show that they are seriously impressed. There was a division among them, many feared the word of the Lord, and took the precautions, which, also for the first time, Moses then indicated. This plague drew from Pharaoh the first confession of guilt; and now for the third time, between one and two months before the Exodus, the Israelites receive permission to depart, when formal instructions for preparation were of course given by Moses. The people now felt also for the first time that they might look for support or sympathy among the very servants of Pharaoh. The plague of locusts, when the leaves were green, toward the middle of March, was preceded by another warning, the last but one. The conquest over the spirit of Egypt was now complete. All but the king gave way (see 10:7). Though not so common in Egypt as in adjoining countries, the plague occurs there at intervals, and is peculiarly dreaded. Pharaoh once more gives permission to depart; once more the people are put in an attitude of expectation. The ninth plague concludes the third series. Like the third and the sixth, each closing a series, it was preceded by no warning. It was peculiarly Egyptian. Though causing comparatively but little suffering, it was felt most deeply as a menace and precursor of destruction. It took place most probably a very few days before the last and crowning plague, a plague distinct in character from all others, the first and the only one which brought death home to the Egyptians, and accomplished the deliverance of Israel. We have thus throughout the characteristics of local coloring, of adaptation to the circumstances of the Israelites, and of repeated announcements followed by repeated postponements, which enabled and indeed compelled the Israelites to complete that organization of their nation, without which their departure might have been, as it has been often represented, a mere disorderly flight. Cook. 10:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and 2 the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs in the midst of them: and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am 3 the LORD. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before 4 me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, 5 behold, to-morrow will I bring locusts into thy border: and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which 6 groweth for you out of the field: and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he 7 turned, and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their 8 God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are 9 they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we 10 must hold a feast unto the LORD. And he said unto them, So be the LORD with you, as I 11 will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. 12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, 13 even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and 14 when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; 15 before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of 16 Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned 17 against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death 18 only. And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. And the LORD turned 19 an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red 20 Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go. 21. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may 22 be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of 23 Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three 24 days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: 25 let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must also give into our hand 26 sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we 27 come thither. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; 29 for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more. 11 : 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely 2 thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels 3 of gold. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people. 4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of 5 Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the 6 mill; and all the firstborn of cattle. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land 7 of Egypt, such as there hath been none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. 8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you: that my wonders 10 may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. Locusts covering the Earth and filling the Houses. Every judgment and every deliverance from it would have led an ingenuous mind to see the wrath of God for disobedience, and his clemency upon promise of amendment. But this heart was so proud and audacious as to contend with the Almighty; it was exasperated with severity, and conceived vain hopes upon the removal of a judgment, that the hand of God was tired and would yield to the obstinacy of man. With respect to this perverse temper, it was that God says, I have hardened Pharaoh's heart; meaning, by his dealings with him, which were intended to correct and amend him, but by his misapplication of them, they still left him more incorrigible, and finally ended in his utter destruction. Reading. Alas for man's perverse and false nature—his proud heart and his lying lips! How readily he relapses back into his old and much-loved sin and becomes more hardened than ever! The judgments of God extort confessions and tears and prayers; but God's mercies let off this pressure and leave the guilty soul to fly back to its old sins again. So it was with Pharaoh. God's mercies, abused, worked out his ruin. But it were simply monstrous to say that this showing of mercy is on God's part a moral wrong and that it throws over upon him the moral responsibility of hardening the sinner's heart. Yet it was precisely in this way—perhaps more really and potently than in any other—that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. H. C.—Who can deny that what God did on Pharaoh was much more proper to soften than to harden his heart; especially when it is observable, that it was not till after seeing each miracle, and after the ceasing of each plague, that his heart is said to have been hardened? Psalmanecer. 2. That thou mayest tell. We have here for the first time the far-reaching purpose announced, of the transmission by report of these Jehovah's wonderful dealings from generation to generation in Israel. As a sample of this transmission see Ps. 78 and 105. Alf.—The events of this wonderful conflict and victory were stamped into the national life of Israel; they reappear all along the course of future ages, interwoven into the very warp and woof of her national history and into the moral forces which developed the nation's piety. It might as reasonably be maintained that there never was any Hebrew nation as that God did not bring them forth out of Egypt with a high hand, first loosing Pharaoh's grasp by these ten plagues, and last, burying his pursuing hosts in the waters of the Red Sea. H. C.—And ye shall know that I am the Lord. The grand scope of all these signs was to reveal the Creator in his true character to man. This is the lesson of nature, of providence, and of grace, to those who read and understand. 3. How long dost thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Eight signs, one of them instructive and seven corrective, had already been given to him. His haughtiness of spirit is not subdued; to humble himself even before God he has not yet learned. M. 7. I am not surprised that Pharaoh's servants remonstrated against his folly and madness when they heard the plague of locusts announced. Let the men go, said they to their proud master, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? And when they came they were very grievous, for they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, and there remained not any green thing in the trees, nor in the herbs of the field. Moses declared that they should cover the face of the earth so that one cannot be able to see the ground. I have this dreadful picture indelibly fixed on my mind. For several nights after they came to Abeih, as soon as I closed my eyes the whole earth seemed to be creeping and jumping, nor could I banish the ugly image from my brain. The coming of locusts is a sore judgment from God. If I command the locusts to devour the land, says the Lord to Solomon. Yes, it is the command of God that brings these insects to scourge a land for the wickedness of the inhabitants thereof. W. M. Thompson. 8,9. But who are they that shall go? Hebrew, Who and who (are) going? The repetition of the interrogative is emphatic. He was to specify with the utmost distinctness who were to go, and who were to stay behind. Moses in reply tells him plainly that they were to serve God with their all; that their wives and their children, their flocks and their herds, without exception or reservation, must go with them. 10. The bold and positive declaration of Moses was too much for Pharaoh. Greatly exasperated by this uncompromising statement he answers in a style of mingled irony and wrath, "Let the Lord do with you as I will let you go;" q. d. "If this be the proposed condition of your going, that you take your little ones with you, then may the God whom you serve favor you as much with his presence as I do with my consent, and no more. In this case your prospects are sorry indeed." It is a very strong and emphatic mode of denying them the permission which they sought. Bush. 14,15. By the hail and thunder and fire mingled with rain, both the barley and flax were ruined, and their pastures must have been greatly injured. But the wheat and the rye were not yet in ear; and such was the fruitfulness of the soil, that a very short time would have sufficed for the leaves of the trees, and for the grass of the field to have been recruited. It pleased God, therefore, to send an host of locusts, to devour every leaf and blade of grass which had been left in the former devastation, and whatever was beginning to vegetate. It is hard to conceive how widely the mischief extends, when a cloud of these insects comes upon a country. Though it were a paradise before, it is soon rendered a desert. They devour to the very root and bark; so that it is a long time before vegetation can be renewed. Scarcely any misfortune can so effectually damage a land, but that room will be left for them to add to the mischief. How dreadful their inroads at all times were, may be known from a variety of authors, ancient and modern. They describe them as being brought on upon a country by one wind, and carried off by another; and speak of their numbers as past all conception. As Egypt is, in great measure, bounded to the east and north by seas, and is far removed from those regions in Africa where locusts particularly generate, it is not much infested with them. However, at the time spoken of, an east wind prevailed "all day and all night;" and the whole country in the morning swarmed with these insects. Hence we know that they came from Arabia. Bryant.—Generally, it is not the east but the south wind that brings the locusts, from Ethiopia or Libya. It was purposely from a long distance that they were sent, to show that Jehovah reigned everywhere. A. E. 17. So formidable was the calamity, that although Pharaoh had previously driven Moses and Aaron from his presence, yet he is now constrained to send for them again, to avow his fault, and to beg for one reprieve more. His confession now has more the air of unfeigned repentance than on any former occasion. He acknowledges that he had sinned against God and his servants, humbly asks their forgiveness, and sues for their intercession. So there are but too many who in the hour of sickness and in the fear of death, have prayed to be delivered only this once, with promises of amendment, but who yet upon recovery have returned, Pharaoh-like, to their former impenitence, worldliness, and sin. They forget that these repeated lapses and broken vows are all the while swelling guilt to fearful dimensions, and making more and more ripe for a sudden destruction. Bush. The conviction was forced upon Pharaoh and the confession extorted from his lips (utterly against his will), that God's hand wrought these achievements; that these calamities came at his command, and could be removed by his power and not otherwise. Hence over and over he begs Moses to pray to his God for their removal. See this in the case of the frogs (8 : 8); of the flies (8 : 28, 29); of the hail (9 : 27-29); and the locusts. It is not easy to see how stronger testimony to the reality of miracles can ever exist. That these plagues were real miracles, direct from the hand of God, it is unquestionably the intent of the whole narrative to set forth and affirm. So much, no candid reader of the account has ever questioned. Some may say, the narrator was himself deceived: none will deny that he saw God's finger there and meant to make all his readers see it. None can deny that according to his account even proud Pharaoh saw and felt the very finger of God in them. In fact the narrative makes this its main purpose, viz. to show that these judgments were nothing less than immediate visitations from the hand of the Almighty. Take out this element and there is nothing left. H. C. 19. There remained not one locust. The sudden and complete disappearance of the locusts is a phenomenon scarcely less remarkable than their coming; the putrefaction of such immense masses not unfrequently causes a terrible pestilence near the coasts of the sea into which they fall. Cook. Three Days' Thick Darkness. 22,23. No sooner had Pharaoh's request been granted, than his rebellion returned. Then, once more unannounced, came the ninth stroke, more terrible than any that had preceded. A thick darkness covered the whole land, except Goshen. There was this peculiar phenomenon about it, that, not only were the people unable to see each other, but "neither rose any from his place for three days." A. E.—Their great divinity, the Sun, was put to shame before the God of the slave and the stranger. For three whole days, as Moses stretched his hand toward heaven, a darkness, described with unexampled force as a DARKNESS THAT MIGHT BE FELT, overspread the land; not merely was the sun unable to penetrate the gloom, and enlighten his favored land, but they could distinguish nothing, and were constrained to sit in awe-struck inactivity. Milman.—So deep was the darkness that during the whole of this time, "they saw not one another." So overwhelming were the amazement and sorrow, that during this period no man "rose from his place." Uncertain whether they should ever again see the light, they lay paralyzed in a darkness that could be felt. Here the triumph of the God of Israel was complete, and the perfect vanity of Egyptian idolatry demonstrated. Egypt, with all her learning and prowess, supported by a gorgeous and almost boundless range of idolatrous religion, is exhibited as convicted, punished, and without any power to escape, or any hope of alleviation. Smith's Heb. People.—What madness could be greater than theirs, when in their hardness of heart they cease not to contend against God's hand, formidable as it was? Their waters turned into blood had denied them drink; frogs and other animals had filled the whole country; their limbs had been enfevered by boils; the hail had destroyed part of their corn; the locusts had brought still increased destruction; the very hosts of heaven were armed against them. Calv. But in Goshen all these three days was light and festive joy. For while thick darkness lay upon Egypt, the children of Israel, as directed by God, had already on the tenth of the month—four days before the great night of woe—selected their Paschal lambs, and were in waiting for their deliverance. And alike the darkness and the light were of Jehovah—the one symbolical of his judgments, the other of his favor. A. E.—During these three days of darkness to the Egyptians, if God had so pleased, the Israelites by the light which they had might have made their escape, and without asking leave of Pharaoh; but God would bring them out with a high hand, and not by stealth or in haste (Is. 52: 12). H. 24-28. Once more, Pharaoh now summoned Moses. This time he would let all the people go, if only they would leave their flocks behind as pledge of their return. And when Moses refused the condition, the king "said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself; see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die." It was a challenge which sounded not strange in Moses' ears, for before this interview God had informed him what would happen, and directed that Israel should prepare to leave. A. E.—Pharaoh quails before the appalling darkness. He yields another point. The women and children may go with the men, but not the flocks and the herds. Moses, however, cannot go to hold a national festival unto the Lord without sacrifices. Not a hoof of their cattle must be left behind. Pharaoh is again exasperated. His proud heart becomes hard as the nether millstone. A reckless madness takes possession of him. He forbids Moses to appear before him again on pain of death. There is something ominous in the reply of Moses. "Well hast thou spoken; I will see thy face no more." He means, as we shall see, more than is here expressed. M. Now Pharaoh proves like to some beasts that grow mad with baiting: grace often resisted turns to desperateness: "Get thee from me; look thou see my face no more; whensoever thou comest in my sight, thou shalt die." As if Moses could not plague him as well in absence: as if he, that could not take away the lice, flies, frogs, grasshoppers, could at his pleasure take away the life of Moses, that procured them. What is this, but to run upon the judgments, and run away from the remedies? Evermore, when God's messengers are abandoned, destruction is near. Moses will see him no more, but God will now visit him more than ever. The fearfulest plagues God still reserves for the upshot: all the former do but make way for the last. Pharaoh may exclude Moses and Aaron, but God's angel he cannot exclude: invisible messengers are used, when the visible are debarred. Bp. H. 29. Spoken well.** The ungodly king, carried away by his rage, prophesies against his will. God repays on Pharaoh's own head what he had threatened Moses. But we must remember that Moses did not speak on his own impulse, but at God's command. Had he not been informed that this was the last communication, he would still have been ready to do his part. Calv.—No more. It is not said that Moses went out. His departure took place ch. 11: 8; therefore that which follows, though it happened somewhat earlier, is placed after this to explain the speech of Moses. Gert. 11: 1-3. The first three verses of Ex. 11 must have been spoken to Moses before his last interview with Pharaoh. Verse 1 should be rendered: "And Jehovah had said unto Moses," etc. They are inserted after 10: 29, because they account for and explain the confident reply with which Moses met the challenge of Pharaoh. Evidently, 11: 4, and what follows, form part of that reply of Moses to Pharaoh which begins in 10: 29. A. E.—1. The Lord said. Or "the Lord had said." Commentators generally agree that the first three verses of this chapter are parenthetical. The most probable account of their insertion in this place appears to be that, before Moses relates the last warning given to Pharaoh, he feels it right to recall to his readers' minds the revelation and command which had been previously given to him by the Lord. Cook. 2. Ask.** Neither here, nor in ch. 3: 22, ch. 12 : 35, is it said that the Israelites had “borrowed” the vessels; nor ch. 12 : 36, that the Egyptians had “tent” them; but the former had demanded, the latter had yielded to the demand: when the transaction took place, the journey out was determined on, and even desired by the Egyptians, and there was no thought on either side of “giving back.” Moreover, this “spoiling” has not the signification of secretly taking away,—but that of openly taking possession of anything. The significance of the Divine command, and of the conduct of the Israelites, is rather this: Egypt and Pharaoh had sinned in manifold ways, by robbery and tyranny against Israel—they deny the people independence, and liberty to worship their God: their God takes the part of his first-born son, and smites, after many other signs, the firstborn in the whole of Egypt. The heathen king and people are humbled, and lose courage; they entreat Israel to be gone, and drive them forth; and the Egyptians give them all they can in order to appease them. Thus it comes to pass, that without violation of right, the powerless, oppressed, poor people spoil their tyrants, and depart laden with their treasures. Gerl. 3. The people favor. Moses was great.** This favor shown to the Israelites and this deep reverence for Moses are noted as conjoint effects of the previous judgments. The mention of this second result, as well as the former, is essential to the moral completeness of the narrative. It is a strange mistake to suppose that the words contain a “laudation of Moses.” Birks.—With historical faithfulness and unaffected simplicity Moses makes these remarks about his own person; they are historical facts; and he relates them with the same objective impartiality with which Xenophon speaks of himself in the Anabasis, or Cæsar in his Commentaries. Kalisch. 4. And Moses said. The following words must be read in immediate connection with the last verse of the preceding chapter. It is not there stated that Moses left the presence of Pharaoh; this passage tells us what took place after his declaration that this would be his last interview. About midnight.** This marks the hour, but not the day, on which the visitation would take place. There may have been, and probably was, an interval of some days, during which preparations might be made both for the celebration of the Passover, and the dedeparture of the Israelites: in the mean time Egypt remained under the shadow of the menace. 5. The firstborn.** Two points are to be noticed: 1. The extent of the visitation: the whole land suffers in the persons of its firstborn, not merely for the guilt of the sovereign, but for the actual participation of the people in the crime of infanticide. 2. The limitation, Pharaoh’s command had been to slay all the male children of the Israelites, one child only in each Egyptian family was to die. Cook. Now is threatened the greatest and most awful of the plagues. The first came out of the river, the benefactor of the land; the third and fourth from the earth; the rest from the air. All stood in close connection to the idolatrous land, whose Lord the God of Israel would show himself to be. But now he will smite them with another plague, not only far exceeding all the rest, but also coming so directly from God’s hand, that none of the natural phenomena peculiar to Egypt could offer any resemblance to it. Gerl.—This had been the first threatened (ch. 4 : 23, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn), but is last to be executed; lesser judgments were tried, which, if they had done the work, would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath; and how willing to be met with in the way of his judgments, and to have his anger turned away, and particularly how precious the lives of men are in his eyes: if the death of their cattle would have humbled and reformed them, their children had been spared; but if men will not improve the gradual advances of divine judgments, they must thank themselves, if they find, in the issue, that the worst was reserved for the last. H. 8. After that I will go out.** Moses has thus far recited the words of God’s message to Pharaoh, but here he begins to speak in his own person, announcing the speedy submission of Pharaoh’s servants to him, and their humble and earnest request that he should “depart out of their coasts.” We must bear in mind that Moses says this in his repres-native character, and that it is to the Most High in Moses that this submission was to be made. It is indeed wonderful to see God thus identifying himself with a creature who speaks in his name, and yet it is unquestionable that the Scriptures afford repeated instances of the same usage of speech. Bush. In hot anger. It is the Holy Spirit which here inflames the heart of Moses with holy zeal, and preserves it from all mixture of unholy passion. Much reason have we, when moved by righteous indignation, to pray for the spirit of forbearance and singleness of mind to preserve us from excess. Yet we see from Moses' anger, that God does not desire that we should be cold and indifferent in the execution of his commands. Calv. 9,10. These two verses are a recapitulation of all that has been related after the introductory paragraph in the seventh chapter, especially ver. 3. This verse is the prediction; the intervening narrative sets forth the details, and the two verses now before us are the logical conclusion or summing up of the whole. This inferential summary could not come in before the speech of Moses, threatening the death of the firstborn, as this occurs at the closing interview between him and Pharaoh, and presents the latter with the last occasion for rejecting the demands of the Lord. And it could not come in after the death of the firstborn, because then Pharaoh at length yielded, whereas these verses record his long-continued resistance. They form therefore the methodical recapitulation of the opposition of Pharaoh foretold by the Lord, when that opposition has come to its last efforts. "Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Muraim," for the perpetual instruction of mankind in certain sublime and necessary principles of theological truth. And so it has accordingly happened. M.—It is impossible to read the conclusion of this chapter without being reminded of the very similar ending of the chapter in John (12) which precedes the narrative of the great Passover itself: v. 37, "Although he had done all these miracles before them, yet believed they not on him,"—in words almost the reproduction of those used here. Alf. Look at that world-ideal of the irresponsible tyrant. No fancy ever made him; no human imagination could have kept up a consistency, so well sustained, of character and destiny. Leave out, if you please, all that is miraculous in the plagues, or resolve them into strictly physical events coming at longer seeming intervals, and having a miraculous air by being crowded upon a brief historical canvas. There stand the figures of the king and the prophet; we have before us that truest of despots, that grandest of seers. Pharaoh and Moses,—we image them, at once, as forms of living men; they have more life for us than Solon and Crus, than Socrates and the Athenian judges, than Seneca and Nero, than any characters that were ever drawn by the genius of Homer, or sketched by the graphic pen of Tacitus. The scenes are so vivid, though so far away; so lifelike, though of such high proportion; so natural, though so grand, that we can hardly conceive their falsehood. What convergency of scattered myths could have grown into such a consistent whole? What single mind could ever have created a picture so defiant of the antiquating power of time? It has the same life for us now, in this remote Western world, that it had more than three thousand years ago on the banks of the Nile. There it stands right before us, as though written yesterday, clear as the pyramids, fresh as the sculptures on the Karnak, and with a meaning for the world how far beyond any wisdom we may ever hope to get from folios of monumental learning. It is, in fact, a painting that never can grow old; for it is engraved, photographed, we might say, in our human nature; age only adds to the brightness of its coloring; the most minute inspection, under the highest lens of antiquarian learning, only reveals its perfect accuracy of line and shade. T. L. It is impossible, as we read the description of the Plagues, not to feel how much of force is added to it by a knowledge of the peculiar customs and character of the country in which they occurred. It is not an ordinary river that is turned into blood; it is the sacred, beneficent, solitary Nile, the very life of the state and of the people, in its streams and canals and tanks, and vessels of wood and vessels of stone, then, as now, used for the filtration of the delicious water from the sediment of the river-bed. It is not an ordinary nation that is struck by the mass of putrefying vermin lying in heaps by the houses, the villages, and the fields, or multiplying out of the dust of the desert sands on each side of the Nile valley. It is the cleanliest of all the ancient nations, clothed in white linen, anticipating, in their fastidious delicacy and ceremonial purity, the habits of modern and northern Europe. It is not the ordinary cattle that died in the field, or ordinary fish that died in the river, or ordinary reptiles that were overcome by the rod of Aaron. It is the sacred goat of Mendes, the ram of Ammon, the calf of Heliopolis, the bull Apis, the crocodile of Ombos, the carp of Latopolis. It is not an ordinary land of which the flax and the barley, and every green thing in the trees, and every herb of the field are smitten by the two great calamities of storm and locust. It is the garden of the ancient Eastern world,—the long line of green meadow and cornfield, and groves of palm and sycamore and fig-tree, from the Cataracts to the Delta, doubly refreshing from the desert which it intersects, doubly marvellous from the river whence it springs. If these things were calamities anywhere, they were truly "signs and wonders"—speaking signs and oracular wonders—in such a land as "the land of Ham." A. P. S. This was the season of the greatest and most stupendous miracles of any recorded in the history of the world, whether we look to the period of its duration, or to the magnitude of the scale on which the miracles were wrought. The public ministry and miracles of Moses lasted a great deal longer than those of Jesus Christ. And, generally speaking, Moses' miracles were of wider and larger operation, and bearing in the greater number of instances the same relation to the other miracles, whether of the Old or the New Testament, that nations do to individuals. T. C. The Plagues are divided first into nine, and one, the last one, standing clearly apart from all the others, in the awful shriek of woe which it draws forth from every Egyptian home. The nine are arranged in threes. In the first of each three the warning is given to Pharaoh in the morning (7 : 15 ; 8 : 20 ; 9 : 13). In the first and second of each three, the plague is announced beforehand (8 : 1 ; 9 : 1 ; 10 : 1), in the third not (8 : 16 ; 9 : 6 ; 10 : 21). At the third the magicians of Pharaoh acknowledged the finger of God (8 : 19), at the sixth they cannot stand before Moses (9 : 11), and at the ninth Pharaoh refuses to see the face of Moses any more (10 : 28). In the first three Aaron uses the rod; in the second three it is not mentioned; in the third three Moses uses it, though in the last of them only his hand is mentioned. All these marks of order lie on the face of the narrative, and point to a deeper order of nature and reason out of which they spring. The gradation in the severity of these strokes is no less obvious. In the first three no distinction is made among the inhabitants of the land; in the remaining seven a distinction is made between the Israelites, who are shielded from, and the Egyptians, who are exposed to, the stroke. In these seven which are peculiar to the Egyptians, the order is the reverse of that in the work of creation. Three refer to the animal creation, and three to the vegetable world, the support of animal life. The last of these six is darkness, the opposite of light, the product of the first day; and the seventh is death. The first three affect the health and comfort of man; the next three take away the staff of life; then comes death itself, and the work of destruction is complete. M. The whole period covered by the Plagues was about ten months. The delay occasioned by Pharaoh's repeated refusals to listen to the commands afforded ample time for preparation on the part of the Israelites. Two full months elapsed between the first and second interview of Moses with the king. During that time the people, uprooted for the first time from the district in which they had been settled for centuries, were dispersed throughout Egypt, subjected to severe suffering, and impelled to exertions of a kind differing altogether from their ordinary habits, whether as herdsmen or bondsmen. This was the first and a most important step in their training for a migratory life in the desert. Toward the end of June, at the beginning of the rise of the annual inundation, the first series of plagues began. The Nile was stricken. Egypt was visited in the centre both of its physical existence and of its national superstitions. Pharaoh did not give way, and no intimation as yet was made to the people that permission for their departure would be extorted; but the intervention of their Lord was now certain, the people on their return wearied and exhausted from the search for stubble, had an interval of suspense. Three months appear to have intervened between this and the next plague. There must have been a movement among all the families of Israel; as they recapitulated their wrongs and hardships, the sufferings of their officers, and their own position of hopeless antagonism to their oppressors, it is impossible that they should not have looked about them, calculated their numbers and resources, and meditated upon the measures which, under the guidance of a leader of ability and experience, might enable them to effect their escape from Egypt. Five months might not be too much, but were certainly sufficient, to bring the people so far into a state of preparation for departure. The plague of frogs coincided in time with the greatest extension of the inundation in September. Pharaoh then gave the first indication of yielding; the permission extorted from him, though soon recalled, was not therefore ineffectual. Moses was not likely to lose any time in transmitting instructions to the people. The first steps may have been then taken toward an orderly marshalling of the people. The third plague must have followed soon after that of the frogs, early in October. It marks the close of the first series of inflictions, none of them causing great suffering, but quite sufficient on the one hand to make the Egyptians conscious of danger, and to confirm in the Israelites a hope of no remote deliverance. The second series of plagues was far more severe; it began with swarms of poisonous insects, probably immediately after the subsidence of the inundation. It is a season of great importance to Egypt; from that season to the following June the land is uncovered; cultivation begins; a great festival (called Chabsta) marks the period for ploughing. At that time there was the first separation between Goshen and the rest of Egypt. The impression upon Pharaoh was far deeper than before, and then, in November, the people once more received instructions for departure; there was occasion for a rehearsal, so to speak, of the measures requisite for the proper organization of the tribes and families of Israel. The cattle plague broke out in December, or at the latest in January. It was thoroughly Egyptian both in season and in character. The exemption of the Israelites was probably attributed by Pharaoh to natural causes; but the care then bestowed by the Israelites upon their cattle, the separation from all sources of contagion, must have materially advanced their preparation for departure. Then came the plague of boils, severe but ineffectual, serving however to make the Egyptians understand that continuance in opposition would be visited on their persons. With this plague the second series ended. It appears to have lasted about three months. The hailstorms followed, just when they now occur in Egypt, from the middle of February to the early weeks of March. The time was now drawing near. The Egyptians for the first time, show that they are seriously impressed. There was a division among them, many feared the word of the Lord, and took the precautions, which, also for the first time, Moses then indicated. This plague drew from Pharaoh the first confession of guilt; and now for the third time, between one and two months before the Exodus, the Israelites receive permission to depart, when formal instructions for preparation were of course given by Moses. The people now felt also for the first time that they might look for support or sympathy among the very servants of Pharaoh. The plague of locusts, when the leaves were green, toward the middle of March, was preceded by another warning, the last but one. The conquest over the spirit of Egypt was now complete. All but the king gave way (see 10:7). Though not so common in Egypt as in adjoining countries, the plague occurs there at intervals, and is peculiarly dreaded. Pharaoh once more gives permission to depart; once more the people are put in an attitude of expectation. The ninth plague concludes the third series. Like the third and the sixth, each closing a series, it was preceded by no warning. It was peculiarly Egyptian. Though causing comparatively but little suffering, it was felt most deeply as a menace and precursor of destruction. It took place most probably a very few days before the last and crowning plague, a plague distinct in character from all others, the first and the only one which brought death home to the Egyptians, and accomplished the deliverance of Israel. We have thus throughout the characteristics of local coloring, of adaptation to the circumstances of the Israelites, and of repeated announcements followed by repeated postponements, which enabled and indeed compelled the Israelites to complete that organization of their nation, without which their departure might have been, as it has been often represented, a mere disorderly flight. Cook. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall 2 be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak 3 ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take 4 to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for an household: and if the household be too little for a lamb then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make 5 your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year : ye 6 shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats : and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month : and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at 7 even. And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel, 8 upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast 9 with fire, and unleavened bread ; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire ; its head with its legs and with the inwards 10 thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning ; but that which remaineth 11 of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it ; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand : and ye shall eat it in haste : it 12 is the LORD's passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast ; and against all the gods of Egypt 13 I will execute judgments : I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are : and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no 14 plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD : throughout your genera- tions we shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you 22 lambs according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason ; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until 23 the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and 24 will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe 25 this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye 26 shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, 27 What mean ye by this service ? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, 28 and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the chil- dren of Israel went and did so ; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 29 And it came to pass at midnight, that the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was 30 in the dungeon ; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there was not 31 a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel ; and 32 go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, 33 and be gone ; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send 34 them out of the land in haste ; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon 35 their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses ; and they 36 asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : and the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they spoiled the Egyptians. A nobler spectacle of a people's faith can scarcely be conceived than when, on receiving these ordinances, " the people bowed the head and worshipped" (v. 27). Any attempt at de- scription either of Israel's attitude or of the scenes witnessed when the Lord, passing through the land " about midnight," smote each firstborn from the only son of Pharaoh to the child of the maidservant and the captive, and even the firstborn of beasts, would only weaken the impression of the majestic silence of Scripture. In that midnight hour did Je- hovah execute " judgment against all the gods of Egypt," showing, as Calvin remarks, how vain and false had been the worship of those who were now so powerless to help. That was also the night of Israel's birth as a nation : of their creation and adoption as the people of God. 2. Hence the very order of the year was now changed. The month of the Passover (Abib) became henceforth the first of the year. The later Jews had a twofold computation of the year—the ecclesiastical year, which began with the month Abib, or Nisan, and by which all the festivals were arranged; and the civil year, which began in autumn, in the seventh month of the sacred year. A. E.—Moses appointed that Nisan should be the first month; so that this month began the year, as to all the solemnities they observed in honor of God, although they preserved the original order of the months as to buying and selling, and other ordinary affairs. Josephus. Months of the ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL years compared with our months. | Ecclesiastical Year. | Civil Year. | | --- | --- | | 1. Nisan or Abib, | 7. part of March and April. | | 2. Jyar or Zif, | 8. " April and May. | | 3. Sivan, | 9. " May and June. | | 9. Kisleu (Chisleu), | 10. " June and July. | | 10. Thebet, | 11. " July and August. | | 11. Sebat, | 12. " Aug. and Sept. | | 12. Adar, | 1. " Sept. and Oct. | | 4. Thammuz, | 2. " Oct. and Nov. | | 5. Ab, | 3. " Nov. and Dec. | | 6. Elul, | 4. " Dec. and Jan. | | 7. Tizri, | 5. " Jan. and Feb. | | 8. Marchesvan, | 6. " Feb. and March. | As the Jewish years were lunar years, and therefore consisted of only 354 days and 8 hours, they were accommodated to solar years by the addition of a month at the end of the Ecclesiastical year, and this intercalary month, which came after the month Adar, was called Ke-Adar, or the Second Adar. H. C. Still there remains among the Jews a twofold manner of dating and counting their years. In all matters which relate to the common business of life they retain the old and natural computation, beginning with Tizri or September, so that the first month is the beginning of Autumn; but in religious matters and festivals they follow the injunctions of Moses and begin with Nisan; and this is the legal year, beginning nearly with our month of March, yet not precisely, because we have not their ancient embolisms; for, since twelve circuits of the moon would not equal the sun's course, they were obliged to make an intercalation. Thence it happens that the month Nisan, in which they celebrated the Passover, begins among the Jews sometimes earlier and sometimes later, according as the intercalation retards it. Calv. INSTRUCTIONS TO MOSES RESPECTING THE PASSOVER (vs. 3-14). 3-7. The sacrifice was chosen by each household four days before the "Passover" actually took place—most probably in remembrance of the prediction to Abraham, that "in the fourth generation" the children of Israel should come again to the land of Canaan. The sacrifice might be a lamb or a kid of goats, but it must be "without blemish, a male of the first year." Each lamb or kid should be just sufficient for the sacrificial meal of a company, so that if a family were too small, it should join with another. The sacrifice was offered "between the evenings" by each head of the company, the blood caught in a basin, and some of it "struck" "on the two side-posts and the upper door-post of the houses" by means of "a branch of hysop" (v. 22). A. E. 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish. All the types of the grandest ordinance of the Mosaical dispensation, the feast of the Passover, were accomplished in that day when "Christ our passover was sacrificed for us." By no undesigned coincidence the two events were made even in time to concur; and the Jews celebrated the passover and consummated all its types, by bringing to his death on the same day, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The victim was to be a lamb, the most gentle and innocent of all God's creatures; and therefore the most fitting emblem of "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." It was to be a lamb of the first year, without blemish. If it bore the mark of the slightest deformity, or even deficiency, it would have been a forbidden sacrifice, and a victim unfit to represent him of whom it is said, "we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Kit. 6. Keep it until the fourteenth day. The lamb or kid was to be taken from the flock on the tenth day, and kept up and fed by itself till the fourteenth day, when it was to be sacrificed. This was never commanded nor practised afterward. The Rabbins mark four things that were required in the first passover, that were never required afterward: 1. The eating of the lamb in their houses dispersed through Goshen. 2. The taking the lamb on the tenth day. 3. The striking of its blood on the door-posts and lintels of their houses. And 4. Their eating it in haste. These things were not required of the succeeding generations. A. C.—At even. The sacrificial lamb was to be offered "between the evenings" (marginal rendering), that is, according to Jewish tradition, from the time the sun begins to decline to that of its full setting, say, between 3 and 6 o'clock P.M. A. E. 7. Take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts.** This was to be done by dipping a bunch of hyssop into the blood, and thus sprinkling it upon the posts, etc. (see ver. 22). That this sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb was an emblem of the sacrifice and atonement made by the death of Jesus Christ, is most clearly intimated in the Sacred Writings (1 Pet. 1 : 2 ; Heb. 9 : 13, 14 ; 8 : 10). It is remarkable that no blood was to be sprinkled on the threshold, to teach a reverent regard for the blood of Christ, that men should not tread under foot the Son of GOD, nor count the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing (Heb. 10 : 29). A. C. The regular practice under the law was to sprinkle the altar with the blood of the offering (Lev. 1 : 5 ; 4 : 5). But in Egypt, where there was no tabernacle and no altar, each house was the place of offering, and was treated as an altar. Of houses as well as of cities, the door, or gate, was the representative part (see ch. 20 : 10 ; Deut. 5 : 14). The door consisted of lintel, posts, and threshold. Of these the two former only were to be sprinkled, as the blood on the threshold would be liable to be trodden under foot. The sprinkling was significant of atonement and cleansing from sin, for it was to be performed (ver. 22) with hyssop, invariably used in the law when cleansing from sin was symbolized (Lev. 14 : 49 ; Num. 19 : 18). Aff. It was not enough that the blood of the lamb was shed, but it must be sprinkled; denoting the application of the merits of Christ's death to our souls; we must receive the atonement (Rom. 5 : 11). It was to be sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop (v. 22), dipped in the basin. The everlasting covenant, like the basin, is the conservatory of this blood, the benefits and privileges purchased by it are laid up for us there; faith is the bunch of hyssop by which we apply the promises to ourselves, and the benefits of the blood of Christ laid up in them. The blood of sprinkling is the saints' security, in times of common calamity; that is it that marks them for God, pacifies conscience, and gives them boldness of access to the throne of grace, and so becomes a wall of protection round them, and a wall of partition between them and the children of this world. H. — The sprinkling of blood was a representation of the offering of the life, substituted for that of the firstborn in each house, as an expiatory and vicarious sacrifice. 8. In that night. The night is thus clearly distinguished from the evening when the lamb was slain. It was slain before sunset on the 14th, and eaten after sunset, the beginning of the 15th. Cook. — Roast with fire.** Because it could sooner be made ready by roasting than by boiling. This circumstance constituted a marked difference between the Passover-lamb and all the other peace-offerings, the flesh of which was usually boiled, in order to be eaten both by the people and the priests, as something additional even at the paschal solemnity. Wherefore in 2 Chron. 35 : 13, the two kinds of offerings are accurately distinguished: "And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans." Bush. Eat the flesh. The paschal lamb was killed, not to be looked upon only, but to be fed upon; so we must by faith make Christ ours, as we do that which we eat, and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our food, and have delight and satisfaction in him, as we have in eating and drinking, when we are hungry or thirsty (see John 6 : 53-55). H. Unleavened bread. Leaven, as the cause of fermentation, solution, corruption, was regarded as an emblem of impurity; and therefore unleavened bread, as a type of what God's redeemed people ought to be, was to be eaten seven days. To be cut off from the people was the penalty of eating leavened bread. The whole feast had thus the name of the feast of unleavened bread; and all leaven was with the most scrupulous care removed from their houses during the days of the feast. Geri. 9. This entire consumption of the lamb constitutes one marked difference between the Passover and all other sacrifices, in which either a part or the whole was burned, and thus offered directly to God. The whole substance of the sacrificed lamb was to enter into the substance of the people, the blood only excepted, which was sprinkled as a propitiatory and sacrificial offering. Another point of subordinate importance is noticed. The lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled by the head of each family: no separate priesthood as yet existed in Israel; its functions belonged from the beginning to the father of the family. 11. With your loins girded.** These instructions are understood by the Jews to apply only to the first Passover, when they belonged to the occasion. There is no trace of their observance at any later time; a striking instance of good sense and power of distinguishing between accidents and substantial characteristics. Each of the directions marks preparation for a journey. Cook.—It is obvious that this injunction as to the manner of eating the Passover applied only to the first time of its celebration in Egypt. The loins were to be girded—the long loose robes bound up round the waist; the sandals on the feet, as was the custom when a long or rough journey was to be undertaken; the staff in the hand, betokening the same purpose; and it was to be eaten in haste, literally, in trepidation or anxiety, as the occasion was fearful and urgent. Aif. The Lord's passover. A most important statement. It gives at once the great and most significant name to the whole ordinance. Cook.—It is a feast of passing over in sparing mercy, instituted by the Lord himself, and to be observed by all his people in obedience to his word. The essential parts of this solemnity are the lamb, the time of sacrificing and eating it, the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the seven days' feast of unleavened bread. The keeping up from the tenth day was afterward omitted; the domestic observance by the men, women, and children, was succeeded by the celebration at the place which the Lord had chosen (Deut. 16:6) by the men only or chiefly; the lamb was slain by the house-father or the priest; the blood was sprinkled, not on the lintel and posts of the house, but apparently on the altar (2 Chron. 30:16); and the attire and attitude of haste and readiness for travelling were afterward omitted. Of the three things essential to the salvation of a fallen creature, two are represented by circumcision and the passover, regeneration and redemption. Circumcision denotes the new birth, without indicating any of its fruits. The passover, like all sacrificial feasts, points out not only the act, but the effect of redemption. The slaying of the lamb is the act, being the giving up of the life of one for another: the eating of the sacrifice is the effect, being the reception of the rights and enjoyments recovered on its death. Circumcision was to continue as long as the visible Church was limited to the natural or adopted descendants of Israel: the passover was to be observed until the true Lamb of God should come, of which it was only the type. M. The primary purpose of this festival was to commemorate Jehovah's "passing over" the houses of the Israelites when he "passed through" the land of Egypt to slay the first-born in every house. But just as the history of Israel was typical of the whole pilgrimage of man, and as their rescue from Egypt answers to that crisis in the life of God's redeemed people, ple, at which they are ransomed by the blood of the atonement from the penalty of sin, to which they also are subject, so we trace this wider and higher meaning in every feature of the institution. P. S. 12. I will pass through. The word rendered "pass through" is wholly distinct from that which means "pass over." The passing through was in judgment, the "passing over" in mercy. Against all the gods of Egypt.** The meaning of this and of the corresponding passage (Num. 33:4) is undoubtedly that the visitation reached the gods of Egypt. The true explanation in this case is that in smiting the firstborn of all living beings, man and beast, God smote the objects of Egyptian worship. It is not merely that the bull and cow and goat and ram and cat were worshipped in the principal cities of Egypt as representatives, or, so to speak, incarnations, of their deities, but that the worship of beasts was universal; every home, every town had its sacred animal, including the lowest forms of animal life; the frog, the beetle, being especial objects of reverence as representing the primeval deities of nature. In fact not a single deity of Egypt was unrepresented by some beast. Cook. 13. See the blood.** A similar mode of expression with that concerning the rainbow (Gen. 9:16). Although the Lord "knoweth His own," and so far requires no sign, yet still by this strong human mode of expression is the great truth represented that the sign was essential and had a power and meaning in it, and that the atonement which the sacrifice effected was a needful one. The blood, therefore, is by no means merely for a confirmation of the faith of the Israelites. Geri. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague destroy you. The grand central truth of all the objective truths here is shadowed forth in that blood of the spotless lamb shed and sprinkled on the door-posts. It has a deep, mysterious meaning and finds its interpretation in the history of Calvary and the cross, far onward yet, even fifteen hundred years, in the history. The blood-marked house is but representative of every soul tenement on earth, the dweller in which—made alive to the impending doom by the voice that cries from Sinai, "whosoever sinneth, him will I blot out from my book," and by the voice crying from the depths within—hath fled from under the dark thundercloud of wrath, to him who was lifted up on the cross. This blood is not only the central idea of this, but of all the revelations of God. The whole gospel is, in fact, summed up just here, when I see the blood I will pass over.” Blood! blood! this is the one cry of the gospel—the Alpha and the Omega of the gospel. All hope of the divine favor—all strength to resist and conquer sin—all power of a holy life comes from this blood. Is man redeemed? It is because “we have redemption through his blood.” Are any ransomed from sin? “Not by corruptible ransom of silver and gold” are they purchased, “but by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot.” Are these justified? “Being justified by his blood.” Are these cleansed and made holy? “His blood cleanseth from all sin.” Are they, as strangers and wanderers from God, restored? “Ye who sometime were afar off are now made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Have they access to the Father’s presence in prayer? It is because the High Priest hath gone before “sprinkling the blood.” Are they arrayed in spotless robes to appear at the court of the Great King? “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Are sinners cast off at last to eternal death? It is because “they have trampled under foot the blood of the Son of God.” Thus in the gospel revelations, all mercy, compassion, and grace of God, have their ground in that blood. All conviction of sin, all holy desire and emotion in the soul, all strength to overcome sin; as all hope and trust and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, come from that blood. S. R. 14. This passover was ordained by God to be observed by every Israelite at every return of this day of the year; not only because it was to be a standing proof to all future ages of this their deliverance, but also a standing figure or type of a much greater. Bp. Wilson.—As the Israelites were instructed to keep the passover in remembrance of their escape from the Egyptian bondage, so are we required to observe the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, in memory of our deliverance from the yoke of sin. And it is remarkable, that both the Jewish and the Christian rite were enjoined in commemoration of events, which had not yet happened, with the same degree of precision as if they had actually taken place. Polichele. The redemption of Israel out of Egypt was, as a matter of indisputable fact, accomplished by Moses. It was accomplished on his part reluctantly. It was accomplished, as he believed, in obedience to a divine command. It was accomplished without bloodshed or the drawing of a sword. It was accomplished at once, and without failure or delay. It was accomplished in connection with certain circumstances—such as the institution of the Passover, for example—which gave it a peculiar significance. For fifteen hundred years the Passover was kept, and it was utterly devoid of meaning if it did not point backward to the deliverance out of Egypt. But, unless the record of its institution is altogether untrustworthy, it rested on precisely the same authority as that deliverance itself; and yet that deliverance is the most remarkable event in all history. Every great stage in the historic development of Israel is distinctly announced beforehand. The thraldom in Egypt was announced to Abraham; the deliverance from Egypt was announced to Moses; the establishment of the throne of Judah was announced to David; the captivity was announced to Hezekiah; the return was announced to Jeremiah; the ingathering of the Gentiles was announced to Hosea and to Malachi. The fulfilment of the last elucidates the fulfilment of the others. Hosea’s prophecy was eight centuries before the fact. We dare not, in the face of that, assert that the record of all the others was written after the event to which it referred—to say nothing of such a theory involving so much acquiescence of the nation in the open falsehood of the writers as is absolutely inconceivable. Leathes. 21-27. Directions which, in obedience to the command, Moses gave at the time to the people. This method of composition occurs frequently in the Pentateuch: it involves of course some repetition, from which no very ancient writer would shrink, but it would scarcely have been adopted by a compiler. Moses is ever careful to record first the commands which he receives, and afterward the way in which he executed them. Cook. 21. Families.** No single sacrifice could be offered for the community, because Israel had no existence as a community yet. If Israel was to be reconciled as a whole, that it might escape the coming judgment, it was necessary that each of the separate family-groups into which it was divided should offer for itself the atoning sacrifice, and protect itself from the wrath of the judge with the atoning blood of the victim. When this atoning blood had been smeared upon the lintel and door-posts, the whole house was protected and everything in it; for the entrance represented the entire house. K. Kill the passover. The lamb was called the paschal or passover lamb; the animal that was to be sacrificed on this occasion got the name of the institution itself. Paul copies the expression (1 Cor. 5:7). Christ our passover (our paschal lamb) is sacrificed for us. A. C. 21-24. The night of the fourteenth day of the month Nisan—that night of grief to the Egyptians—was a night of earnest waiting and of solemn preparation by the Israelites. They had received instructions for its observance in that form in which it was to become a yearly commemorative festival of their deliverance to all generations. It thus, like the great Christian rite of the Lord's Supper, was instituted previous to the occurrence of the event, the memory of which it was designed to keep alive in coming ages. Intended to be the great national festival of the Israelites, "the Passover" commemorated not only the deliverance wrought for them by their Almighty Protector, but their introduction into an independent national existence, and the solemnities with which it was to be observed were directed to be such as should call up vividly to the mind the remembrance of that event. As each house had its own special deliverance from the calamity which carried wailing into the houses of Egypt, so there was to be in each a domestic celebration. As in this night of emancipation no Israelitish house marked with the blood of the slain lamb was invaded by death, so the sprinkling of the lamb's blood on the door-posts or the altar was to make, through all time, a part of the commemoration. And they were to eat unleavened cakes, in remembrance of the urgent circumstances which, on that memorable night, had prevented the usual preparation for the making of bread. Kit. 21-24. The provision here made was that the Israelites and whosoever would, should take a lamb, that lamb being typical and significant of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; that lamb they were to kill, and sprinkle its blood upon the lintel, and wherever the destroying angel saw this, from that house he should reverently retire, holding it and its inmates safe and sacred things. This was not that God required blood sprinkled on the lintel to let his messenger know who were his people, and who were Pharaoh's, but it was to be a typical and significant rite. While it answered the great purpose of distinction for the day, it was to endure as a lasting and expressive lesson book inculcating a great truth, until the fulness of the times should come, when the Passover, like a dim morning star, should be merged in the splendor of the rising and increasing Sun of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. J. C. The blood of the paschal lamb did not save the Israelites by being shed, but by being sprinkled. It is not the blood of Christ as shed on Calvary, but as sprinkled on the soul, that saves us from the wrath to come. Kit.—Blood sprinkled on the lintel and door-posts alone was the safety of Israel. Not deeds—not race—not anything inside the house—but wholly the blood outside was safety. There might be doubt or fears within, but those did not weaken the protection. The blood of Jesus is our safety—and it alone. J. C.—The shedding of blood holds forth the great idea of atonement for sin by the substitution of the life of the victim,—which "life is in the blood"—for the forfeited life of the sinner. But you may observe here the exhibition of the mode in which, and the conditions on which, the penitent becomes clothed with the rights of the substitute. This consists simply in sprinkling the blood—nothing else. "For when he seeth the blood the Lord will pass over." The hyssop branch, with which the blood was struck on the door, is the simple emblem of the appropriating faith which applies the blood to the sin-stained soul. Hence David, under a deep sense of his sinfulness, cries "purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean." The unleavened bread which is to be eaten betokens the sincerity and truth with which the act is to be done. The bitter herbs so specially commanded are a significant reminder, not only of the sorrowful eating of "the fruit of their own doings," to which they were doomed, but also a warning that redemption by the sprinkled blood may be consistent with many a disagreeable cross and trial. Yea, and the very mode of the eating, with the staff in hand, loins girt, and sandals on the feet—"eating in haste"—is a significant reminder that though they are the redeemed of Jehovah, they are still pilgrims and strangers, as all their fathers were. That they have no abiding city here, but must be up and journeying from the land of Egypt and its bondage to a better country, even the land of which the Lord hath spoken to the fathers. Thus suddenly we come here upon a gospel of full detail, which is henceforth to take the place of that more general and indefinite gospel of salvation by atoning blood which has hitherto been revealed. S. R. 23. When he seeth.** The sign is properly for him, who sees it and judges accordingly; now the blood was seen by Jehovah, as he himself said, and not by the Israelites who were sitting in the houses. And it was just because the blood availed as a sign for Jehovah, that it furnished Israel with a firm ground of confidence. Baum.—The separation between Israel and the Egyptians was not such as to amount to isolation. Goshen would be chiefly, but not exclusively, inhabited by Israelites. These would mingle even in the agricultural districts, but, naturally, much more in the towns, with their Egyptian neighbors. Accordingly, it needed the Paschal provision of the blood to distinguish the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians; while Exodus 3 : 22 seems to imply that they were not only neighbors, but perhaps, occasionally, residents in the same houses. This also accounts for the “mixed multitude” that accompanied Israel at the Exodus, and, later on, in the wilderness, for the presence in the congregation of offspring from marriages between Jewish women and Egyptian husbands. A. E. 21. Observe this thing forever.** The repetition of this solemnity in the return of every year was designed, First, To look backward as a memorial, that in it they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. The word pesach signifies a leap or transition: it is a passing over; for the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites, and did not destroy their first-born. When God brings utter ruin upon his people, he says, I will not pass by them any more (Am. 7 : 8 ; 8 : 2), intimating how often he had passed by them, as now when the destroying angel passed over their houses. Distinguishing mercies lay under peculiar obligations. When a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, and yet we are preserved, and have our lives given us for a prey, this should greatly affect us (Ps. 91 : 7). If the arrow of death has passed by us, passed over us, hit the next to us, and just missed us, we must not say it was by chance that we were preserved, but by the special providence of our God. Old mercies, to ourselves or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, but be had in everlasting remembrance, that God may be praised, our faith in him encouraged, and our hearts enlarged in his service. Secondly, It was designed to look forward as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time, instead of us and our firstborn; we were obnoxious to the sword of the destroying angel, but Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, his death was our life, and thus he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, from the foundation of the Jewish church: Moses kept the passover by faith in Christ, for Christ was the end of the law for righteousness. H. 27. Shall say.** On this is founded the beautiful custom, which has always prevailed among the Israelites in later times, at least since the dispersion, that the son of the house, at an appointed time in the Paschal Supper, shall ask the father of the family, “What meaneth all this?” and the father answers: “We eat this Passover, because the Lord passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt. We eat these bitter herbs, because the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers bitter in Egypt. We eat this unleavened bread, because our fathers had not time enough to leaven their dough before the Lord appeared and redeemed them. Therefore shall we confess, laud, praise, and magnify him who hath shown unto us and our fathers so great wonders, and hath brought us from bondage into freedom, from sorrow into joy, from darkness into great light.” This is called the “Haggada,” the declaration—explanation. Gerl. THE FIRST PASSOVER OBSERVED (v. 28). 27,28. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded, so did they.** From Heb. 11 : 27, 28, we learn that that first Passover evening was another illustration of faith. Noticeably, the writer speaks of both the leaving of Egypt and the keeping of the Passover as illustrating the faith of Moses rather than of the whole people of Israel. “By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt;” “by faith he (Moses again) kept the Passover.” Moses knew better than they the mighty issues that were pending; the fearful peril they were escaping. The mighty faith of these transactions was his rather than theirs. H. C. THE TENTH PLAGUE—SMITING OF THE FIRST-BORN (vs. 29, 30). It was not called forth by either the rod or hand of Moses, nor did it proceed from the water, the earth, or the air; but the hand of Jehovah himself was stretched forth (as he had said, v. 12): “At midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and smite all the firstborn in Egypt, both of man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of the Egyptians, I Jehovah!” In the tenth plague the idea and intention of all the plagues were embodied and fulfilled. It was thought of and announced first (chap. 4 : 22, 23), but it was necessarily the last to appear. If it had been the first to appear, the fact would not have been so completely and universally displayed, that Jehovah was the Lord in the midst of the land (8 : 22), the Lord over the water, the earth, and the air, over gods and men, cattle and plants, and that there was none like him in all the earth (3:14). For this purpose it was necessary that there should be many miracles wrought in the land of Egypt (11:9); and it was also requisite that they should have both sharply defined natural features and an unmistakably miraculous character, in order that freedom of choice might be left for faith or unbelief. But the tenth plague bore upon the face of it a purely supernatural character, and because it was the tenth, i.e. the one which gave a finish and completeness to the whole, it exhibited in a clear and unequivocal manner the design of all the plagues from the very commencement; for the last furnished the key to the entire series. And inasmuch as Pharaoh's resistance was overcome by the tenth plague, although the hardness of his heart was complete; this fact alone was sufficient to prove that the obstinacy of his refusal had only served to glorify the name of Jehovah, and that the words of Jehovah were fulfilled: "For this cause have I raised thee up, to show in thee my power." K. 29. All firstborn. The destroying angel selects from each family through the land of Egypt the single victim pointed out; and while with unerring hand he aims this shaft of death, he passes over every habitation of Jacob, marked with the sign appointed by the divine command. Do we not in all this discover the plain operation of that Being, who alone is the God of nature and the Lord of life; whose will controls every element and directs every event? Dr. Graves.—We may suppose that the Israelites had finished the paschal supper, and were awaiting, in awful suspense, the next great event, when the midnight cry of anguish arose through all the land of Egypt. At that moment Jehovah slew the firstborn in every house, from the king to the captive; and, by smiting also all the firstborn of cattle, he "executed judgment on all the gods of Egypt." P. S.—The circumstance, that it was not merely the firstborn of the god-king Pharaoh and of the sacred animals that were slain, but all the firstborn of man and beast, from the son of Pharaoh who sat upon his throne, to the son of the slave-woman that stood behind the mill, from the Apis that was kept in the temple and worshipped as a god, to the most common and unclean of the beasts, was the most humiliating part of the whole to the gods of Egypt, for it was a practical declaration of the absolute equality of both of them. K. They had slain the Hebrews' children, and now God slew theirs. Thus he visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; and he is not unrighteous who taketh vengeance. It reached from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level before God's judgments, for there is no respect of persons with him. H. 30. Now God begins to call for the blood they owed him: in one night every house hath a carcass in it; and, which is more grievous, of their firstborn; and, which is yet more fearful, in an instant. No man could comfort other: every man was too full of his own sorrow; helping rather to make the noise of the lamentation more doleful and astonishing. Bp. H.—The blow was universal and irresistible. There was no respect of persons in the indiscriminate destruction of the appointed victims. All the firstborn, from man in the vigor of manhood to the infant which had just been born, died in that hour of death. The stay, the comfort, the delight of every family was annihilated at a single stroke! And how natural was it for them in such a scene of carnage to fancy that they were all doomed to destruction, and that the work of death would not cease till they had all perished? Bash.—The horrors of this night may be better conceived when we call to mind that the Egyptians were noted for the wild and frantic wailings with which they lamented their dead. Screaming women rush about with dishevelled hair, troops of people assemble in tumultuous commiseration around the house, where a single corpse is laid out—and now every house and every family had its victim. Hebrew tradition has increased the horror of the calamity, asserting that the temples were shaken, the idols overthrown, the sacred animals, chosen as the firstborn, involved in the universal destruction. Milman.—Is this a dreadful picture? Yet it is but a type of what must be—a shadow merely of the wrath to come to all the unsprinkled souls' tenements in eternity. Ye that affect to think so lightly of death and eternity! see here this shadow and gather the elementary ideas of what shall be, from what has been, already, under the government of God. Standing, in imagination, amid these complicated horrors in Egypt—the groans of the dying, mingling with the shrieks of the living, throughout a whole empire:—all earthly pomp and power levelled to mingle its unavailing cries with the lowest and meanest in a common woe—here see what it is for "God to whet his glittering sword and his hand to take hold on vengeance." S. R. But on that eventful Passover night, what a contrast lay there side by side between the homes of Israel and the dwellings of Egypt— the Angel of God's mercy presiding at the tables of the one, but the Angel of Death bursting open every door and singling out every first-born in the other; the quiet repose of faith smiling over the domestic scenes of the one, but the agonies of death and the wails of smitten hearts desolating the other! That was indeed a lesson in faith, witnessing to the potency of the blood of sprinkling, signifying that under its wing there was pardoning mercy, and "the peace of God that passeth all understanding." H. C. 31-36. How soon hath God changed the note of this tyrannical people! Egypt was never so stubborn in denying passage to Israel, as now importunate to entreat it: Pharaoh did not more force them to stay before, than now to depart: whom lately they would not permit, now they hire to go. Their rich jewels of silver and gold were not too dear for them, whom they hated; how much rather would they to send them away wealthy, than to have them stay to be their executors! Their love to themselves obtained of them the enriching of their enemies; and now they are glad to pay them well, for their old work, and their present journey: God's people had stayed like slaves, they go away like conquerors, with the spoil of those that hated them; armed for security, and wealthy for maintenance. Bp. II. 31,32. Called for Moses and Aaron.** As Moses had before this withdrawn from the presence of Pharaoh, with the determination to see his face no more, this must be understood to mean that Pharaoh sent his servants to Moses and Aaron, and communicated his message to them. This was a striking fulfilment of Moses' previous declaration (ch. 11:8), and clearly proving that he then spake under a divine impulse; "And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee." Bush. The messengers were undoubtedly chief officials; they bowed themselves before Moses, who was now recognized as "very great," and delivered their master's message, which granted in express terms all that Moses had ever demanded. And bless me also. Here Pharaoh's humiliation reaches its extreme point. He is reduced by the terrible calamity not only to grant all the demands made of him freely and without restriction, but to crave the favor of a blessing from those whom he had despised, rebuked, thwarted, and finally driven from his presence under the threat of death. Those with whom were the issues of life and death must, he felt, have the power to bless or curse effectually. G. R. Yet the sequel shows clearly that even now he was not penitent. He submitted not in heart, nor sincerely humbled himself before God. He let them go by constraint and most unwillingly. He would still have held out if he had dared, and he yielded only because he could oppose no longer. He made a forced show of obedience, but his heart was as hard and rebellious as ever. 33. And the Egyptians were urgent.** The same word in the original with that which is, for the most part, applied to the hardening (strengthening) of Pharaoh's heart, implying a most vehement, pressing urgency. Ps. 105:38, "Egypt was glad when they departed; for the fear of them fell upon them." Jerus. Targ. "The Egyptians said, If Israel tarry one hour, lo, all the Egyptians are dead men." For aught they knew, the plague they had experienced might be but the precursor of another still more dreadful, that would sweep off the whole population in a mass. Bush. 35,36. The Israelites then did what Jehovah had previously commanded them to do: they asked the Egyptians for articles of gold and silver (trinkets and jewels) and for clothes (festal clothing). And Jehovah caused his people to find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they gave without hesitation whatever was demanded. K.—36. Spoiled the Egyptians. This was in fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham (Gen. 15:14), "They shall come out with great substance" Israel came into Egypt few in numbers; but they go out from the land of their oppressors greatly increased, mighty, and formidable; laden with the spoils of their cruel oppressors, the well-earned reward of the labors of many years, and of much sorrow. In allusion, perhaps, to this event, God says by the prophet Ezekiel (ch. 39:10), "And they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob them that robbed them, saith the Lord God." Bush. There is not a word in the text about borrowing or lending. The Hebrews demanded, and the Egyptians in their panic encouraged them to demand, the articles mentioned. The spoiling of Egypt was but the right of Israel, who had been so long spoiled of just wages by servile oppression. It is remarkable how prominent a part this circumstance, the enriching of Israel at the cost of the Egyptians, has played since the first announcement of the Exodus to Abraham: compare Gen. 15:14; ch. 3:21, 22; 11:2, 3, in which latter place it would almost appear that the process must have begun even before the last plague. It was regarded all the way through as a lawful booty gained from enemies, who had long oppressed and defrauded them. Alf. Israel required these things for their religious worship; and they could no more depart without them than without their cattle, as these "jewels of silver and jewels of gold" were to serve in forming a sanctuary for the people's worship, and were under their circumstances quite needful. Gerl.—Although the quantity of golden ornaments required to make the golden calf must have been far from inconsiderable, and this calf was subsequently destroyed (Ex. 32:20); we read shortly afterward (Ex. 35:21, seq.), that the whole community, both men and women, brought "clasps and earrings, signet rings, necklaces, and all sorts of trinkets of gold," as a free-will offering toward the erection and furnishing of the tabernacle. Let any one think for a moment what a mass of gold must have been used in connection with the tabernacle, when the beams were all plated with gold, and the articles of furniture were either made of solid gold or at least covered with it, and he will be obliged to admit not only that the quantity of gold in the possession of the Israelites was extraordinary, but that if we were not acquainted with the circumstance narrated here, it would be incredible and inconceivable. K. In this history is typically represented to us the condition of the Church of the Lord among the people of the earth at all times. The people of God are really free, and called to serve their Lord. For a while the Lord allows them to suffer oppression, under which they sigh; but at last he leads them forth from their captivity, inflicting heavy punishment on their oppressors, and with the spoil taken from their enemies may they now glorify their Lord. Hence the intellectual culture which the Christian Church learnt from heathen antiquity was rightly called by the fathers of the Church, "The spoils of Egypt." Gerl. Among the various festivals of the Jewish Church, one only was distinctly historical. In the feast of the Pascha or Passover, the scene of the flight of the Israelites, its darkness, its hurry, its confusion, was acted year by year, as in a living drama. In part it is still so acted throughout the Jewish race; in all its essential features (some of which have died out everywhere else) it is enacted, in the most lively form, by the solitary remnant of that race which, under the name of Samaritan, celebrates the whole Paschal sacrifice, year by year, on the summit of Mount Gerizim. So has lived on for centuries the tradition of the Deliverance from Egypt; and so it lives on still, chiefly in the Hebrew race, but, in part, in the Christian Church also. Alone of all the Jewish festivals, the Passover has outlasted the Jewish polity, has overleaped the boundary between the Jewish and Christian communities. The Paschal Lamb, in deed or in word, is become to us symbolical of the most sacred of all events. Jew and Christian both celebrate what is to a certain extent a common festival; even the most sacred ordinance of the Christian religion is, in its outward form, a relic of the Paschal Supper, accompanied by hymn and thanksgiving, in the upper chamber of a Jewish household. A. P. S. #### The Divine Legation of Moses. When eighty years old, an age which according to the present proportion of life may be fairly reckoned at 60 or 65, when the fire of ambition is usually burnt out and the active spirit of adventure subsided, entirely unattended, Moses appears again in Egypt, and boldly undertakes the extraordinary enterprise of delivering the people of Israel from their state of slavery, and establishing them as a regular and independent commonwealth. To effect this he had first to obtain a perfect command over the minds of the people, now scattered through the whole land of Egypt, their courage broken by long and unintermitted slavery, habituated to Egyptian customs and even deeply tainted with Egyptian superstitions; he had to induce them to throw off the yoke of their tyrannical masters, and follow him in search of a remote land, only known by traditions many centuries old as the residence of their forefathers. Secondly, he had to overawe and induce to the surrender of their whole useful slave population, not merely an ignorant and superstitious people, but the king and the priesthood of a country where science had made considerable progress, and where the arts of an impostor would either be counteracted by similar arts, or instantly detected and exposed to shame and ridicule. Milman. Moses was either a true prophet, an enthusiast, a dupe, or an impostor. That he was not an enthusiast, may be argued from his learning; he was versed in all the learning of Egypt—from his education among the courtiers of Pharaoh—from the diffidence with which he received the first annunciation of his mission—from the admirable suitableness of his law to the accomplishment of the object proposed— the knowledge therein displayed of human nature—the connection of laws politically necessary with religion. He could not have been a dupe; for if the appearance in the burning bush had not been real—if he had been deceived in the evidences of his mission—if the miracles wrought to convince him that he was the chosen prophet of God had been only natural phenomena, he could not have inferred from them that he was to be the legislator and deliverer of the Jews. Neither was he an impostor. An impostor would not have chosen to suffer affliction with a degraded race, rather than to indulge in the gayeties and fascinations of a court—an impostor would not have exposed himself to the danger of death, by vindicating the cause of the oppressed—he would not, if banished to a desert be contented with his lot—forget his schemes of ambition, intermarry among the natives of an obscure province, and calmly sink into the condition of a shepherd. Even if he were at length to rouse from this strange lethargy, and resolve to deliver his countrymen or perish in the attempt, an impostor would have proceeded with some address and policy—he would not enter abruptly into the presence of an absolute sovereign and peremptorily insist on the liberation of a race of “useful slaves:” neither would an impostor commit himself by predicting a series of miraculous judgments if these slaves were not permitted to emigrate. If Moses, too, had been any of these, he could not have conquered armies without fighting, or impressed a whole nation with imaginary terrors—or guided or fed a whole nation for forty years in the wilderness;—he could not have compelled and he could not have persuaded the Egyptians and their king to resign their dominion over the Israelites, unless he had been possessed of powers more than human. That is, he was a true prophet—he wrought miracles—he was the character he professed to be. The mere fact, that Moses was not a true prophet, and yet delivered the Israelites, would be a much greater miracle than any he is related to have performed. G. T. # POINTS OF HISTORY (Recapitulation). Altogether, the arguments in favor of the nineteenth dynasty being that which held the throne at the time of the events recorded in Exodus seem to preponderate considerably over those which can be adduced in favor of the eighteenth. The eighteenth was too powerful and warlike to have feared invasion, or to have regarded Israel as a danger. It built no “store cities.” It was unacquainted with the name Rameses. It did not hold its court at Tans. It contained neither king nor prince of the name of Sethos (Seti). The nineteenth was differently situated. It combined the various particulars to which the eighteenth was a stranger. Moreover, it terminated in such a time of weakness as might have been expected to follow the calamities recorded in Exodus; while the eighteenth was glorious to its very close, and gave no indication of diminished greatness. On the whole it would seem to be most probable that the Israelites, having come into Egypt in the reign of Apophis (Apepi), the last Shepherd King, who was a thoroughly Egyptianized Asiatic, remained there as peaceable subjects under the great and warlike eighteenth dynasty for some three hundred years, gradually, as the memory of Joseph’s benefits faded, suffering more and more oppression, but multiplying in spite of it, till at length a change of dynasty occurred, and with it a change of policy in respect of them. Moderate ill-usage was succeeded by the harshest possible treatment; their “lives were made bitter with hard bondage.” The “new king who knew not Joseph” (Exod. 1:8) is, perhaps, in the mind of the writer, rather Sethos I, than Rameses I, who reigned but a year and four months. Sethos, threatened on his north-eastern frontier by the Hittites, and fearing lest the Hebrews should join them, devised the plans ascribed to the “new king” in Exod. 1—set them to build “store cities, Pithom and Rameses,” the latter named probably after his son; when this had no effect, sought to check their increase by means of the midwives; and finally required that all their male offspring should be thrown into the Nile. There is nothing in the character of Seti I, as represented upon his monuments, to render these severities improbable. He was a good son and a good father, but an implacable enemy and a harsh ruler. His treatment of prisoners taken in war was cruel beyond the wont of his time, his campaigns were sanguinary, and his temper fierce and resentful. If Moses was born under Seti I, and bred up by his daughter, the king under whom he found himself when he grew to manhood, and from whom he fled to the land of Midian, must have been Rameses II. Seti associated his son Rameses when he was about twelve years of age, and shortly afterward he practically transferred to him the reins of power. Rameses II, claims to have held the throne for at least sixty-seven years, and was assigned sixty-six by Manetho. His reign is the longest of all the Egyptian reigns, except that of Phiops. He was a king likely to have continued the "hard bondage" of the Israelites, for he was the most indefatigable of builders, and effected the greater number of his constructions by the instrumentality of forced labor. Lenormant says that "during his reign thousands of captives must have died under the rod of the taskmaster, or have fallen victims to overwork or privations of every description;" and that "in all his monuments there was not, so to speak a single stone which had not cost a human life." It was the sight of oppression such as this which provoked the indignation of Moses, and led to the rash act which caused him to quit Egypt and fly to Midian. So long as Rameses II, lived, the exile felt that he could not return. It must have been weary waiting for the space of forty years or more, while the great Pharaoh made his expeditions, excavated his canal and erected his numerous buildings. The weariness of prolonged exile shows itself in the name given by Moses to his eldest son: "He called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." At length, "in process of time"—after a reign which exceeded sixty-six years—"the king of Egypt died" (Exod. 2:23); and Moses, divinely informed of the fact (Exod. 3:19), returned to Egypt to his brethren. If Seti I, be the king who commenced the oppression, and Rameses II, the monarch from whom Moses fled, the Pharaoh whom he found seated in the throne upon his return must have been Meneptah. The character of this king, as depicted in the Egyptian monuments, bears a considerable resemblance to that of the adversary of Moses. He was proud, vainglorious, disinclined to expose his own person in war, yet ready enough to send his soldiers into positions of peril. The cruelties that he sanctioned in his Libyan war are worthy of the monarch who, when a subject people complained of their burdens, met the complaint by making their burdens heavier. He appears in Egyptian history as the weak successor of two powerful monarchs; he has one military success, due not to himself, but to his generals, after which his reign is inglorious and closes in disaster. Meneptah, like his father, commonly held his court at Tanis. It would be there, "in the field of Zoan," that Moses and Aaron confronted him and wrought their "wonders." The struggle, the departure, the pursuit, the disaster in the Red Sea, may belong to the king's sixth year; and two years afterward he may have succumbed to revolutionary movements consequent upon the losses which he suffered in the Red Sea catastrophe. His reign certainly ended amid clouds and darkness, and was followed by a period of civil disturbance, terminating in bloodshed and anarchy. The troubles of this period, described in the "Great Harris Papyrus," together with the remarkable successes of Rameses III., second monarch of the twentieth dynasty, would fall into the period passed by Israel in the "Wilderness of the Wanderings," and would thus naturally obtain no direct mention in the sacred narrative. Rameses may, however, have been the "hornet" which God sent before Israel to break the power of the Canaanites and Hittites (Exod. 23:28), and render the conquest of Palestine more easy. He seems certainly to have made at least one great expedition into Asia, and to have reduced under his sway the whole tract between "the river of Egypt" and the Euphrates. Had the Israelites been in possession of Palestine at the time, he must have come in contact with them, and have seriously interfered with their independence. As it was, his Syrian wars, by weakening the Canaanite nations, paved the way for the victories of Joshua and the Israelite occupation of the "Land of Promise." The depressed state of Egypt between the death of Rameses III. and the accession of the first Sheshonk accounts for the absence of all mention of the Egyptians from the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. G. R. Lev. 23 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is the LORD's 6 passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto 7 the LORD: seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy 8 convocation: ye shall do no servile work. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. Nu. 28 19 Ye shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven he-lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you 20 without blemish: and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil: three tenth parts shall 21 ye offer for a bullock, and two tenth parts for the ram; a several tenth part shall thou offer 22 for every lamb of the seven lambs: and one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for 23 you. Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual 24 burnt offering. After this manner ye shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt 25 offering, and the drink offering thereof. And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. Lev. 23 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 10 say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest : 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you : on the morrow after the 12 sabbath the priest shall wave it. And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he- 13 lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the meal offering thereof shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour : and the drink offering thereof shall be of 14 wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God : it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 12 43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover : 44 there shall no alien eat thereof : but every man's servant that is bought for money, when 45 thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A sojourner and an hired servant shall 46 not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten ; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh 47 abroad out of the house ; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of 48 Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it ; and he 49 shall be as one that is born in the land : but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn ; and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 13 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, what- 2 soever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. 11 And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite, as he sware 12 unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the womb, and every firstling which thou hast that cometh of a beast; the males 13 shall be the LORD's. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the firstborn of man among thy 14 sons shalt thou redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out 15 from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the womb, being 16 males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. And it shall be for a sign upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. De. 15 19 All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear 20 the firstling of thy flock. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place 21 which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, 23 and as the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water. Ex. 22 29 Thou shalt not delay to offer of the abundance of thy fruits, and of thy liquors. 23 19 The first of the firstfruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. No. 15 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you, then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD. Of the first of your dough ye shall offer up a cake for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering throughout your generations. Lev. 27 30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof. And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai. De. 14 22 Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed, that which cometh forth of the field year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God shall bless thee: then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee, and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God: and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household: and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee. At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: and the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. The burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, in which the unity of the soul with God is expressed, find their parallels in the gifts, the firstlings, the first-born, the tithes, the shewbread, the eternal fire on the altar of burnt-offering, the daily and festal burning of incense, the washings before every sacred act of prayer or sacrifice, and in the vows of the Nazarite and the Rechabite; in all these things the desire is expressed to authenticate by outward acts the readiness to surrender one's self unreservedly to God. Tholuck. EFFERING OF FIRST-BORN OF MAN AND BEAST. Ex. 13:1, 2, 11-16; 22:29, 30; 34:19, 20. Lev. 27:26. De. 15:19, 20. 2. Sanctify unto me all the first-born.** To sanctify, kadesh, signifies to consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person from all secular purposes, to some religious use. A. C.—As a permanent memorial of God's having graciously spared them in Egypt, every first-born male, both among men and cattle, was henceforward by the Divine command to Moses to be declared holy—i.e., was to be separated from others, and devoted to God and to his service. They were thus to be put into his possession, because by sparing them in Egypt he had shown that they belonged to him. C. G. B. We see throughout the patriarchal period a prominence given to the right of the first-born, who received a double inheritance and authority over the family. The reason for this was chiefly founded on the great importance attached in ancient times to the keeping together of families, the transmission of their traditions, the maintenance of discipline and morality, of steadfastness and community. This family relationship had clearly continued in Egypt, and preserved Israel from disruption. It was in after times one of the foundation-stones of the Israelitish political constitution. Among the people of God the first born was the head, the centre of unity in the family, and so God's representative. After the judgment on the Egyptian first-born, Israel was now in a double way God's peculiar possession. He had spared them of his mercy, as he had punished the Egyptians. As a thank-offering were all the first-born to be given up to him. This sacrifice consisted in the perfect surrender to the service of the Lord; in which respect the tribe of Levi in later times stood in the place of the first-born (Nu. 3:13), and the first-born were hence under an obligation to tax themselves for its support; at the same time the first-born was yet further released by an express offering. In all this we perceive a type of him who is "the first-born of every creature" (Col. 1:15); who gave himself to God by the sacrifice of his own will once for all, for the sanctification of all, and not merely as a typical service. His death became at the same time the effectual sin-offering for men (cf. Heb. 10:5-10). This is the deep significance of the Law before us, by means of which Moses was led to a clearer understanding of what took place before his eyes. Gerl. The earliest birth is here regarded as the representative of all the births; so that the dedication of the whole family was involved in that of the first-born. The difference between the first-born of Israel and the first-born of Egypt was this: the Egyptians refused to render to Jehovah that which was due and continued most obstinately to resist his will; Israel did not draw back from the dedication required, and covered their previous omissions by the atoning blood of the sacrificial lamb. Now the Law of the kingdom of God is, that everything which will not voluntarily consecrate itself to the Lord, for the purpose of receiving life and blessedness through this self-dedication, is compulsorily dedicated in such a manner as to receive judgment and condemnation. The slaughter of the first born of the Egyptians is therefore to be regarded as of the nature of a ban, an involuntary, compulsory, dedication. But Israel's self-dedication to Jehovah had hitherto been insufficient, and hence the necessity for the expiatory sacrifice to cover the defects. The necessary complement of reconciliation is sanctification. By virtue of the atoning paschal blood the first-born of Israel had been spared; but if they were to continue to be thus spared, the sanctification of the first-born must follow. And as the first-born of Egypt represented the entire nation and in their fate the whole people were subjected to a compulsory dedication; so was the voluntary dedication of the whole nation of Israel set forth in the sanctification of the Israelitish first-born. K. Observe that this order for the consecration of the first-born, which lies at the foundation of the whole system of provision for the ministry and ordinances of religion subsequently, grows immediately out of and connects with the Passover covenant and its blessings. "The first-born is mine," saith Jehovah. Of course, all things are his, of right, by creation. But this call for the consecration of the first-born is founded upon an act of redemption—the preservation of the first-born of Israel in the blood-sprinkled houses when the first-born of Egypt were slain. It was, therefore, to be a perpetual reminder of this work of redemption, and in token of their gratitude for it this portion was to be devoted to God as his peculiar portion, and if reappropriated by themselves it must be redeemed by an equivalent. When, subsequently, the new system of religious worship was formally inaugurated, a whole tribe—the tribe of Levi—was taken as a substitute for the first-born of every family, so that thus a ministry was provided. But the consecration of the firstlings of animals was still required, together with the tithe of one tenth of the produce of the land for the maintenance of religion. The whole system subsequently adopted had, however, its original root in this ordinance of consecration of the first-born. Thus it will be perceived that the provision made for the support of religious ordinances even in the Old Testament, though, as to its subsequent form it was represented by the consecration of a whole tribe to religion, and of a tenth of the income of the land for its maintenance, was, in principle and in the ground of it, the same as under the New Testament. The consecration of one's self to the redeeming Christ involves the consecration of all that is his so far as it is needed to promote the honor and advancement of Christ's cause. And thus in the ancient Church was developed the principle laid down by Christ that the test to determine the measure of one's love to God, and how high he stands in our affections, is how much we are willing to part with of what we love best in this world. The Church of Pentecost, whose members no longer "called anything their own" as against the needs of the cause of God, was indeed a fit successor to the newly-redeemed Church of the Passover in Egypt. And fitting and beautiful, as the title of a church which had such an origin to its ministry and ordinances, is that title "the Church of the first-born," and Christ himself the "first-born of many brethren." S. R. Ex. 13 17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said, Lest 18 peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt : but God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea : and the chil- 19 dren of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him : for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will 20 surely visit you ; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilder- 21 ness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; that they might go by day 22 and by night : the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from before the people. 14 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before 3. Baal-zephon : over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them 4 in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them ; and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host ; and the Egyptians shall know that I 5 am the LORD. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled : and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from 6 serving us ? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him : and he 7 took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all 8 of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel : for the children of Israel went out with an high 9 hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. Nu. 33 6 And they journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of 7 the wilderness. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon : and they pitched before Migdol. Notwithstanding the difficulty of exactly identifying localities after an interval measured by thousands of years, it is, on the whole, surprising to see how near an approach can be made to a determination of the route by which Israel went up out of Egypt. The exceptional configuration and condition of the country are, and always have been, such as to guide and restrict the movements of large companies ; and the ascertainment of a few places goes far toward settling the whole line of march. The Wady Tumilat is a narrow fertile strip lying some thirty-five miles north of the latitude of Cairo, and extending from the Nile delta to the eastern edge of Egypt. A little north of Cairo the two limestone ridges that shut in the Nile break down and swing off to the northeast and the northwest respectively, making room for the delta. The northeastern line, greatly reduced in height, opens at a place nearly east of Zagazig, and lets a narrow tapering valley or depression of surface shoot directly east, almost to Birket Timsah, the Crocodile Lake. It is the Wady Tumilat. Goshen unquestionably included Wady Tumilat, the valley of the modern canal and railway. Along this valley ran the ancient canal of the time of the exodus, though not then, as afterward, extended to the Red Sea. From Zagazig the railway runs almost due east, soon entering and following Wady Tumilat. For a long distance the valley seemed the most productive part of Egypt that I had seen. In its wider parts it may be two miles or more in breadth, growing steadily narrower, till be-  fore reaching Ismailia, on the Crocodile Lake (Timsah) (which is by rail forty-seven miles east of Zagazig), it entirely fades out. The railway and the Sweet Water Canal run through its entire length. Bartlett. 13:17. God led them not by the way of the Philistines. The reason is here given in advance for the change in their route indicated in the emphatic command to Moses (14:1, 2). B. 18. The Way of the Wilderness by the Red Sea, or "The Way of the Red Sea," was the road which swept out of Egypt, across the wilderness between the two arms of the Red Sea, from the head of the Gulf of Suez to the head of the Gulf of Akabah. It is today the great Hajj route from Egypt toward Mecca. It is frequently referred to in the narrative of the exodus and wanderings. H. C. T. To say nothing of the Divine purposes relative to the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and the humbling and proving of the Israelites by a protracted sojourn in the wilderness, they could not enter Canaan by the direct route without encountering the Philistines, who then occupied all its southern borders. These Philistines were a powerful and warlike nation, between whom and the Israelites there seems to have been an ancient grudge existing from a circumstance mentioned 1 Chron. 7:21, 22. To avoid, therefore, the perils of battle, Moses is directed to take another far more circuitous and difficult route "by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." Moses was directed in this, for the circumstances clearly evince that he could have been no self-appointed lawgiver, leading forth the Israelites from Egypt of his own motion, but that he all along acted under Divine dictation and control. Bush. Their spirits were broken with slavery; the Philistines were formidable enemies, too fierce to be encountered by raw recruits; it was more suitable that they should be prepared for the wars of Canaan, by experiencing the difficulties of the wilderness. God proportions his people's trials to their strength, and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able. He tried their faith and patience and dependence upon God, and inured them to the hardships of the wilderness, and so instructed them. Every stage had something in it that was instructive; even when he chastened them, he thereby taught them out of his Law. It is said (Ps. 107 : 7) that he led them forth by the right way; and yet here, that he led them about; for God always leads his people the right way, however to us it may seem about; so that the farthest way about proves, if not the nearest way, yet the best way home to Canaan. How God instructed them is explained long after (Neh. 9 : 13), Thou gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments; and especially (verse 20), Thou gavest them also thy good Spirit to instruct them; and he instructs effectually. We may well imagine how unfit that people had been for Canaan, had they not first gone through the discipline of the wilderness. H. In this wilderness route there were great purposes to be accomplished in the moral training and culture of the nation and in the manifestations of the God of their fathers before their eyes. That way lay the passage of the Red Sea which God provided as the burial-place for the proud hosts of Pharaoh; that way lay Sinai—those grand mountain cliffs which God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and the flame of his glorious presence, that the Law might be written in letters of fire upon the souls of the whole people; that way lay the long, breadless, waterless route of almost forty years wandering and sojourning in which the Lord fed the people with angels' food—bread from the lower heavens—the manna of the desert, and with water once and again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river—that they might learn the power and the love of their God; that way lay also their long tuition and training into their religious system—a wonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordinances for which the lifetime of a generation was scarcely too long. All these great results and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this choice of the wilderness route as their way to the land of Canaan. H. C According to the course of the country, Moses might have marched the people a much shorter way, and, supported by the power of God, have taken possession of the land of Canaan at once; but such rapid proceedings would not have served the purpose for which the children of Israel were separated from all other nations. It is evident, from Moses's supposing that they would ask the name of the God of their fathers, that they had become polytheists during their residence in Egypt. Their making and worshipping of the golden calf is a proof of the strength of their attachment to the idolatry of their late masters; and the readiness with which they suffered themselves to be seduced by the daughters of Moab, indicated their proneness to idolatry of every kind. God drew them, as he says himself (Hos. 11 : 4), "With the cords of a man, and bands of love," that, by appeals made to their understandings and their affections, they might see reason to become attached to him and habituated to his worship; but this could be done only by detaining them in the wilderness till their religious principles should be fixed and their trust in him and attachment to his service be strengthened into habit by numerous displays of goodness and power, such as were never vouchsafed to any other people. Had they been carried to Canaan by the shortest way and settled there at once by the extermination of the seven nations, nothing would ever have been heard, either by them or by us, of the Angel of God's Presence visibly preceding them; nothing of his dividing the sea to facilitate their passage; nothing of his overwhelming their enemies in those very floods, which to them were a kind of wall on each side; nothing of his drawing out rivers of water from the stony rock; nothing of his (Ps. 78 : 24), "sending down manna upon them, and giving them food from heaven;" nothing of his "raining flesh, as thick as dust, and feathered fowls, like as the sand of the sea," nothing of his amazing descent upon Mount Sinai, when, in the lofty words of the Psalmist (Ps. 18 : 9, etc.), "he bowed the heavens, and came down, and it was dark under his feet; he rode upon the cherubims, and did fly; he came flying upon the wings of the wind; he made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him with dark water, and thick clouds to cover him: There went a smoke out of his presence, hailstones, and coals of fire, so that the earth trembled and quaked; the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed." The wilderness, in short, was the scene which God had made choice of for the display of his almighty power and goodness: there it was that he laid bare his arm, as he calls it, to the Israelites; that every day he took care of their meat and drink and clothing; and had he not detained them there so long, he had not been so kind. It may be considered further, that, before this people were to be admitted into the possession of the inheritance which God had promised them, all matters were to be adjusted between him and them; and to this purpose laws were to be given, ordinances instituted, and covenants sealed. Stackhouse. In the sacred story there are three great typical lands: Egypt, Arabia, Canaan. Egypt is the Land of Bondage; Arabia is the Land of Training; Canaan is the Land of Rest. He who would pass from Egypt to Canaan must needs go through Arabia. It was into Arabia that Moses was led, in his training for his work as leader and lawgiver, after his dwelling in Egypt. Elijah the prophet had his training lessons there (1 Kings 19:1-18). And thither was Paul sent in preparation for his work as the apostle to the Gentiles (Gal. 1:17). H. C. T. 19. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Nothing in all Joseph's life showed his heart so plainly as the directions he left at his death. After a long life spent in their service, he so loved his kindred and had such faith in his God that he thought only of how he could best make even his dead body serve his people and glorify God. It was not merely a desire to be buried with his fathers; for all Egypt would have united with his kindred in carrying him thither. They had thus carried Jacob; still more willingly would they have heeded the wish of their great statesman who for eighty years had governed Egypt so wisely and so well. But he would serve his people and honor his God with his dead body. A long life of service did not satisfy him so long as there was aught he could do. He believed God would visit the people and lead them out of Egypt. But the time might be long and their faith fail as they waited. Nothing he could say or do would so keep the coming exodus in their minds as to leave his bones among them unburied, waiting to be carried up from hence. Nothing would serve so effectually to keep in their minds and hearts the wonderful story of God's dealings with Joseph himself: his rescue from the pit and from the dungeon, and his deliverance of his father's family from the famine. Year after year, as they march back and forth through the desert, while slowly the condemned generation died out among them, that coffin is borne on by his descendants. Those who bore it on that night-march from Egypt had died, and their sons, who stood looking upon it then with wondering eyes, had taken their place. And still they wandered in the desert, and still no burial-place was found for Joseph. But, as it had done in Egypt, that coffin strengthens their faith in their desert march. Does despondency seize upon some son of Manasseh, and does he say gloomily to his comrade, "We shall all perish in this wilderness; it would have been better to have remained in Egypt, for none of us will ever reach the land of Abraham?"—one look toward that body waiting there, and which had waited so long, would silence him. If Joseph had such faith so long ago, why should his children doubt? That coffin stood a silent pledge that the wanderings should cease and they rest in the land promised to their fathers. It preached to them not only faith but patience. Why should they be weary of these few years, when Joseph had waited for burial through centuries? Hom. Rev. 21. The Lord went before them. That by the Lord here is meant the Lord Jesus, we have the authority of Paul to believe (1 Cor. 10:9). It was He whose spirit they tempted in the wilderness, for it was He who led them through the desert to the promised rest. In a pillar of cloud—of fire. This pillar or column which appeared as a cloud by day, and a fire by night, was the symbol of the Divine presence, the Shekinah or Divine dwelling-place, and was the continual proof of the presence and protection of GOD. A. C.—It was manifestly the visible presence of Jehovah with his people. It was to be both a guide to them in all their wanderings, a shelter in the day from the blazing sun of the desert, and at night a light to illuminate the encampment; as a protector to flame forth against their enemies, or on some special occasions, as upon the doomed violators of his covenant, in the way of executing the wrath of Jehovah against offenders. As to the form and structure and outward appearance of this remarkable symbol, we are led to conceive of it as a majestic column, with base perhaps broad enough to shade the whole camp of Israel from the sun, which must have been six or eight miles square. By day it was an opaque body, by night the ineffable brightness from within shone through the encircling opaque cloud. This remarkable pillar of cloud and of fire is spoken of as the Angel of Jehovah (Ex. 23:20-23); as the glory of the Lord whose sight was like devouring fire (Ex. 24:17). So in De. 1:32, 33: "The Lord, your God, went in your way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night to show you by which way ye should go, and in a cloud by day." According to the teaching of these passages, this cloud-fire pillar was to Israel the Angel Jehovah of the nation, and they looked upon that sublime and awful column as the visible embodiment of their ever-present God looking out from it upon them, and from whom the most secret action could not be hid. It was also their oracle for the time—their Shekinah, or visible glory. On occasion it rose from their camp and ascended to the summit with attendant lightnings and thunders; or again descended from Sinai and stood over the newly-erected tabernacle, where God talked with Moses and delivered all the precepts of the Levitical Law. In short, this was the symbol of the Divine presence with his people, and as a theophecy typified the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus "the brightness of the Father's glory." S. R. This inwrapped inner splendor is more appropriately termed "the Glory of the Lord;" and this "Glory" is said to have appeared in the daytime, when God would express his displeasure on account of the people's transgressions, or when he would strike them with a trembling awe of his majesty, as at the giving of the Law from Sinai. In like manner, when the two sons of Aaron, Nabab and Abihu, offended by strange fire in their offerings, a fatal flash from the cloudy pillar instantaneously extinguished their lives. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this majestic pillar of cloud was intended to serve as the Shekinah, or visible representative of Jehovah, dwelling in the midst of the chosen people. The Divine nature—that is, the Divine power, efficacy, authority, majesty, and omniscience, would be associated with the external visible symbol. To all practical purposes, therefore, this cloudy pillar was to them the "Angel Jehovah," CHRIST, the God of their nation, and they were to look up to that sublime and awful column as a visible embodiment of their covenant God, as an ever-present witness, from whom not even their slightest word or deed could be hidden. This view of the cloudy pillar as a kind of watch-tower of the Almighty, an aerial Mizpeh, or "place of espial," is expressly recognized in the remarkable passage (Ex. 14:24, 25). Bush. In each of the aspects which this pillar assumed, we find the corresponding feature most fully verified in Christ. He is the light of men. The glory of the Father shines forth in him as full of grace and truth. He alone has revealed the Father, and can give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Therefore he is the Word or Revealer of God, the effulgence of his glory. And while merciful and compassionate in the last degree to sinners—the very personification of love—he yet has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet as of burning brass; and he walks amid the golden candlesticks, as he did in the camp of Israel, to bring to light the hidden works of darkness, and cause his indignation to smoke against the hypocrites. P. F. Christ was with the Church in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:9). Now their king passed before them, even the Lord on the head of them (Mic. 2:13). Those whom God brings into a wilderness, he will not leave nor lose there, but will take care to lead them through it. They needed not to fear missing their way who were thus led, or being lost who were thus directed; they needed not to fear being benighted who were thus illuminated, nor being robbed who were thus protected. They who make the glory of God their end and the Word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the guide of their affections and the providence of God the guide of their affairs, may be confident that the Lord goes before them, as truly as he went before Israel in the wilderness, though not so sensibly; we must live by faith. H. Nothing less than an identification of Christ with the "Jehovah" or the oracular Presence, the Shekinah, of the Old Testament was manifest in that overwhelming display of which John, Peter, and James were eye-witnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration, when there was a temporary laying aside of the veil of his flesh, the cloud of his human nature, and a transient disclosure of the indwelling Shekinah, the glory of his Godhead. This was a preintimation to the senses of that ineffable light and splendor in which he will appear when he comes with the retinue of his saints to be the luminary of the New Jerusalem, which is to come down from God out of heaven. The whole scene seems to have been intended to afford a demonstration to the senses of the substantial identity of the person of the incarnate Redeemer with the manifested Jehovah of the Jewish dispensation. Consequently, whatever of essential divinity is indicated by the title "Jehovah," it is unquestionably to be considered as belonging to Christ. Bush. To lead them the way. The custom of guiding caravans by means of smoke and light is referred to by many authors. Curtius tells of Alexander the Great employing this method in his campaigns. A beacon or cresset on a lofty pole before his headquarters pavilion could be seen by all from near and far; and it was a guide to all. "Fire was to be the signal by night; smoke by day." "We cannot but acknowledge," says Kurtz, "that in the pillar of cloud and of fire, in which Jehovah himself accompanied and conducted his people, there was some reference to the ordinary caravan-fire, which served as a guide as well as a signal of encampment and departure to the caravans and armies of the East. For in the design and form of the two phenomena we can trace exactly the same features; the difference being that the one was a merely natural arrangement, which answered its purpose but very imperfectly and was exceedingly insignificant in its character, while the other was a supernatural phenomenon, beyond all comparison more splendid and magnificent in its form, which not only served as a signal of encampment and departure, and led the way in an incomparably superior manner, but was also made to answer far greater and more glorious ends." Trumbull. The pillar of fire and cloud had also certain offices to perform to the Israelites. These were for guidance and protection. It was by this that the Lord directed their course through the dreary and trackless waste which lay between Egypt and Canaan, showing them when to set forth, in what direction to proceed, where to abide, and also affording light to their steps when the journey was by night. In addition to these benefits, the pillar also served as a shade from the heat of a scorching sun; and on one occasion at least, when the Israelites were closely pursued by the Egyptians, it stood as a wall of defence between them and their enemies. P. F.—Some such guidance as was afforded the people in the pillar of cloud and of fire was necessary. The host of Israel being so numerous, having with them their flocks and herds, and being only to a small extent organized, it is difficult to see how they could possibly have kept together so as to march in any one direction or to come into camp without some provision like this of the cloudy pillar, rising high over the desert. N. C. B.—As far as the purposes of the Israelites were concerned, that cloudy-fiery pillar was the Shekinah or dwelling-place of Israel's God; it was the manifestation of his friendly protecting presence in their midst. There was sure guidance in its goings—a pledge of safety in its presence; by day a welcome awning in its shadow, and by night an illumination no less welcome in its forth-flowing effulgence. Hamilton. 22. The pillar of cloud departed not. It did not vanish from their view, but was a constant and unerring signal before or in the sight of the people. We have not now the pillar of fire and cloud, but we have the Word of God, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. This also is a supernatural revelation of the present Lord and his Messiah by the eternal Spirit, conveyed through the minds and words of holy men. This spiritual flame, kindled from heaven and enshrined in the cloud of human speech, has not been lost or extinguished, but continued from generation to generation, and is in the way of being diffused throughout the whole world, to be the guide of the nations to the land of promise till the days of darkness disappear. It remains a speaking token of the continual presence of the God of all grace, of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost in his church. M.—The Israelites were not to look at the road they traversed, whether it was rough or smooth; their business was to look only upon the cloud, and follow wherever it led them. And is not this our course? We are not responsible for the roughness or length of the road; we are only responsible for obeying the command of him who has placed us in it. In walking through life, as we traverse the desert and march toward Emmanuel's land, we are to look only for guidance, for strength, for pardon, for peace, for success, to the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night—the brightness of the Father's glory, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. J. C. 20. Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. We are to look not for a city, but for a region of that name. The papyrus of Saneha says that leaving the lake Kemuer (Timsah) he arrived at a place called Atima, which could not be very far distant. And the papyrus Anatasi, VI., a document of the time of the exodus, has this passage: "We have allowed the tribes of the Shasu of the land of Atuma to pass the stronghold of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth, toward the lakes of Pithom of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth." That I consider the region of Etham, the land which the papyri call Atima or Atuma. It was inhabited by Shasu nomads, and as it was insufficient to nourish their cattle, they asked to share the good pastures assigned to the Israelites. Both the nature of the land and its name agree well with what is said of Etham, that it was "in the edge of the wilderness." I believe Etham to be the region of Atuma, the desert which began at Lake Timsah, and extended south of it near the Arabia Gulf. Naville. We best meet the requirements of the narrative if we suppose Etham to have been beyond the eastern end of Wady Tumilat, toward Palestine, and not far from the northern end of Lake Timsah. It would thus lie on "the edge of the wilderness—" that is, on the line where Egypt ends and the Arabian desert begins. It would be where the way was open before Israel, either to pass over the heights of Guisr, or to strike northward into the main road to the Philistine territory and to Palestine. The command at that place, to move in the direction of Suez, would indeed be an order to "turn back." Bartlett.—All the desert east of the present Suez Canal was called the desert of Etham; and the "edge" of this desert on the route followed by the Israelites must have been near the present town of Ismailia, at the head of Lake Timsah. At this point the desert portion of the journey direct to Palestine begins; and here, between Lake Timsah and Lake Ballat, is the highest part of the isthmus and the best road out of Egypt to the east. Dawson. Had the Israelites passed out of Egypt at this point, the march would naturally have been across the desert some way south of Lake Serbonis to the Wady El Arish, and thence along the coast of the Mediterranean to Gaza and the low tract of the Shefeleh. But the nation was not yet in a fit condition to meet and contend with the war-like people of that rich and valuable region—the Philistines. God accordingly, who guided the march by the pillar of the cloud and of fire (verses 21, 22), "led them not the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest the people repent when they see war." G. R. The general line of march is clearly indicated through Succoth to Etham "on the edge of the wilderness" that lies east of Egypt, then by a "turn" to the Red Sea by a route probably not far from the line of the present railway from Ismailia to Suez. S. C. B.—This route would save the crossing of two high, rocky ridges, which run from west to east parallel with the canal, and would afford a broad plain of desert over which to march southward, in accordance with the Divine purpose, when God "led the people about" to the Red Sea. Dulles. Ex. 14:2. Turn back. They are to turn to the south, at right angles to their former course, along the west side of Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes. This would have the temporary advantage of keeping them for a little longer within reach of water and pasturage, but the great disadvantage of obliging them at some point to the southward to cross the Red Sea, an operation which they might hope to perform if unmolested and with abundance of time, but not otherwise. Dawson.—As you go southward from Ismailia, the lakes on your left, now filled by water from the Mediterranean, glitter with tints of blue that are exquisite, contrasting delicately with the amber-colored sand, while the gravelly desert on your right, with a stunted herbage, glows in the hot sunlight up to the foot of the hills which are bare and desolate masses of rock. The way to Suez, at the head of the western arm of the Red Sea, is broadly open for a moving caravan. But a little south of Suez, on the western side, a mountain ridge, the Gebel Attaka, runs boldly from the northwest across the southward path, abuts upon the sea, and renders a forward movement impracticable. Dulles. 14:2. Encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-Zephon, by the sea. They were near the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea; near the modern way of the Hajj out of Lower Egypt, a highway which has swept across the desert, from gulf to gulf, from time immemorial. They were not far from the shore of the Red Sea; in a locality where three well-known landmarks were back of them, or about them: Migdol, Pi-hahiroth, and Baal-Zephon. Migdol was the outlook tower which overlooked that southernmost road desertward. H. C. T.—Migdol means fort or tower, and might designate simply a fortified place. Niebuhr first suggested for it Bir-Suweis, two miles from Suez, where there are two wells of very brackish water and a massive stone building of the seventeenth century. Kalisch favors it; and Canon Cook, in view of an investigation by Chabas, showing that "Maktal," or Magdal, which Seti I. visited on his return from Syria, was built over a well, thinks there is "scarcely any room for doubt." We may accept it as a very suitable conjecture. Pi-hahiroth is written in Numbers "Hahiroth," giving some support to the opinion that the syllable "pi" is only the Egyptian article, and that the essential word is Hahiroth. There seems, on the whole, to be good reason for finding Hahiroth at Ajrood. It is the view of Jablonsky, Laborde, Winer, Kurtz, Keil, Knobel, Ebers, Sharpe, and apparently of Lange and Ewald. The name Hahiroth, as they have shown, corresponds in its consonant elements very closely to Ajrood. This name is certainly as old as the twelfth century. Other reasons concur. The situation and circumstances well correspond. The distance from the sea, four hours northwest of Suez, is suitable. A large plain, adapted to an encampment, ten miles long and nearly as broad, stretches to the sea. This camping-  ground lies in front, or, as the Hebrew might be translated, east of the place. A deep well (two hundred and fifty feet), though containing bitter water, must have made the spot a place of mark in former as in recent times. A fortress stands there now. These several circumstances will satisfy the conditions. Bartlett. Baal-Zephon is the name of a divinity. It represents a combination of Semitic and Egyptian objects of worship. The name itself of the dualistic deity in its Semitic-Egyptian form of Ba'ali-Zapoona, or Ba'ali-Tsapuna, is found on the monuments; and that this is the same name as the Ba'al-Zephon (or the Ba'al-Tsephon) of the Hebrew Scriptures does not admit of serious question. In fixing the location of the shrine of Ba'al-Zephon there are helps in its mention in the text. The place of the encampment of the Israelites by the Red Sea is described by four cardinal points. It is in some way bounded, or indicated, by: Migdol, the sea, Pi-hahiroth, and Ba'al-Zephon. The sea must, in the nature of things, have lain at the eastward. As the commandment was to encamp "between Migdol and the sea," Migdol is naturally to be looked for at the westward of the Sea. And as Pi-hahiroth is said to be "before," or "over against," Ba'al-Zephon, while the camp is at one time said to be "before," or over against Pi hahiroth, and again to be "before" or "over against" Ba'al-Zephon, at the same time that it was "before" Migdol, it follows that Pi-hahiroth and Ba'al-Zephon must have been in the relation of northerly and southerly to each other; since Migdol was westerly, as over against the Sea which lay easterly. This corresponds with the supposed identifications of Migdol, at or near Muktala; and of Pi-hahiroth, or Hahiroth, at Ajrood. The landmarks at the northerly and westerly bounds of the place of encampment are at points which conform with all the indications of the text. This goes to fix the shrine of Ba'al-Zephon as at some point southerly from Ajrood, and southward of a line running from Muktala to the sea. In that direction the mountains of Atakah stand out too prominently to be overlooked as a probable site of such a shrine as that of Ba'al-Zephon must have been. Their summit commands a view of the isthmus, of the sea, and of the desert eastward. Ebers has advocated Gebel Atakah as a site of Ba'al-Zephon, and other scholars have accepted his judgment on this point as probably correct. It is not easy to find any sound reason for questioning its correctness. Trumbull. At the western edge of the plain northwest of Suez the station Muktala (Migdol) is found. The Israelites "encamped between Migdol and the sea," for which there would be abundant room, as the distance is above ten miles. They were "beside Pi-hahiroth and before Baal-Zephon." These conditions would be sufficiently answered if Pi-hahiroth were at Ajrood, and Baal-Zephon were on the northeastern flank of Jebel Atakah. We can only say that here, on the western coast of the Gulf of Suez, would be ample room for the encampment of the entire Israelitish host; that in this position it might well seem that "the wilderness had shut them in" (verse 3); and that the host would be "before a Migdol" (Nu. 33:7), and perhaps "beside a Pi-hahiroth." The sea in front was but two or three miles across, and might easily have been passed in a night; the bottom was such as would naturally clog the Egyptian chariot wheels, and the further shore was destitute of springs, a true "wilderness," where the Israelites may well have gone "three days without water." G. R. That the place of the passage called "Pi-hahiroth before Baal-Zephon" was in the neighborhood of the present town of Suez, at the head of the gulf, there can be little doubt. Hull.—They remained within the territory of Egypt, going southward to a point where they were completely shut in, by the sea and mountains in front and on the two sides and by Pharaoh's chariots in the rear. If we look for a spot on the western shore of the gulf which answers to this description, we find it in the plain of Suez. This plain is large enough to hold two millions of men; it is bounded on the west and southwest by the mountains of Atakah, and these mountains approach so nearly to the sea, which is here considerably widened in consequence of a rapid curve to the west, that very few men could pass side by side along the shore. K. Here are found all the requisites of the Scripture narrative—"entangling land" and a wilderness to "shut them in," a place of encampment "by the sea," wind, high and low water, a possible passage, a practicable distance, and a natural connection with the subsequent journey. The landmarks are here, and apparently one of the names, "Hahiroth," in Ajrood, and the traditional name of "Moses's Wells" on the opposite shore. That the names should not be universally or generally traceable through the journey, except in some frequented watering-place like these, is perfectly natural in a region where there has never been a settled population. Names perish, though landmarks remain. At the northwestern side of the Gulf of Suez lies a plain ten miles long and nearly as broad. Accepting Ajrood at its northern extremity for Hahiroth (Pi-hahiroth, with the Egyptian article prefixed), where the name is handed down in connection with the deep well which made it a place of resort; "Migdol" may have been at Bir Suweis, two miles north of Suez, where are two wells of brackish water and a stone building of the seventeenth century, in a region where Seti I. is shown by Chabas to have visited "Maktal" built over a well; and "Baal-Zephon" may well have been the high and precipitous mountain Jebel Atakah, the chief object in full view of Ajrood, shutting down sharply to the western shore some distance southwest of Suez, and sweeping off indefinitely westward. Here they were absolutely shut in by Jebel Atakah in front, and the sea on the east, extending two miles or more north of Suez, and terminating in a marshy region, and with the enemy in the rear. S. C. B. 3-5. We find here the same miraculous guidance of the Lord which at all times attends God's kingdom on earth. He might have permitted his people to gain the wilderness by the accustomed route, and there by simple means have defended them from the power of Pharaoh; but he willed to make known his glory on this self-willed heathen, and at the same time, by a mighty miracle of deliverance, to sever his people, and forever, from fellowship with the heathen. When the need has reached its highest point, the Lord shows himself a deliverer in the mightiest way. Gerl. The last movement of Heaven in this marvellous chain of providences—the leading of the children of Israel as into a net, between the Red Sea and the mountains of the wilderness—was fitted to suggest the thought to Pharaoh, when he had recovered a little from his consternation and felt the humiliation of his defeat, that now an opportunity presented itself of retrieving his lost honor and with one stroke avenging himself on his enemies. He was thus tempted in the confident hope of victory to renew the conflict, and when apparently sure of his prey was led, by the opening of the sea for the escape of the Israelites, and the removal of the Divine cloud to the rear so as to cover their flight, into the fatal snare which involved him in destruction. In the whole we see the directing and controlling agency of God, not in the least interfering with the liberty of Pharaoh or obliging him to sin, but still, in judgment for his sinful oppression of the Church of God and unjust resistance to the claims of Heaven, placing him in situations which, though fitted to influence aright a well-constituted mind, were also fitted when working on such a temperament as his to draw him into the extraordinary course he took. P. F. The best proof of its Divine character is that it is a movement which no human leader would have directed. It was to lead to a yet more signal display of the Lord's power in the discomfiture of the Egyptians, and was designed for the deliverance of Israel, not only from present danger, but from the future fears from the side of Egypt. To the Egyptians, who took care to watch the movements of the Hebrew host, this must have seemed the height of suicidal infatuation. The king, concluding that they were forsaken by the God whose power he had full cause to know, resolved to take advantage of such egregious folly, and pursue them with all the forces at his disposal. This shows that notwithstanding the humbled language he had used in allowing the Israelites to take their departure, his heart was still essentially unsoftened; and now that the opportunity seemed to offer of avenging the disgrace and loss he had sustained, he prepared for action against the fugitive host. Kit. The fact that Pharaoh had not the remotest idea that the Israelites would return, but on the contrary regarded it as certain that they would not, is clearly proved by his astonishment when he heard that they had not gone straight into Asia, but were still within the borders of Egypt on this side of the Red Sea. "They have missed their way," he said, "the wilderness hath shut them in." K.—The Bible meaning of the word wilderness is that of "a wide open space, with or without actual pasture; the country of the nomads, as distinguished from that of the agricultural and settled people." In our country, the word wilderness suggests a forest, and it is difficult for the ordinary Bible reader not to attach this preposterous feature to the wilderness of Sinai or Judea. The kindred word, "desert," in the Bible, does not commonly indicate a barren region, but rather an uninhabited region, which may be either barren or fertile. N. C. B.—As a matter of fact, in the supposed track of the Israelites, sand deserts without vegetation are the exception. S. C. B. 5. They inquire among themselves, Why they have let the children of Israel depart? as if they had not endeavored in every way to prevent their free exit; as if their pertinacity had not been ten times divinely overcome; as if God had not at length torn the people from them, in spite of their reluctance. They were worn out by fierce and dreadful punishments; but now as if nothing had happened they discuss why they had not resisted God even to the end, when he had compelled them to submit with extreme reluctance, after they had ten times found out that they struggled against him in vain. Such is the pride by which the reprobates are driven onward to their own destruction, when they fight against God. Calv. #### Pursuit of Pharaoh and his Army. 6-9. It was in that part of Lower Egypt which lay toward the Red Sea, the most exposed of all the borders of Egypt, that according to the accounts of profane authors almost the entire military power of Egypt was concentrated. E. C. W.—The great caste of the warriors, the second in dignity, were regularly quartered in certain cities on the different frontiers of the kingdom, so that a considerable force could be mustered on any emergency. With great rapidity he drew together 600 war chariots and a multitude of others, with their full equipment of officers. Milman. The military organization of the Egyptians at the time of the exodus is represented as very complete. Now, it appears by the Egyptian monuments that the military system was brought to its highest perfection by Seti I. and Rameses II. It is certain that, in their time, the army was most carefully organized, divided into brigades, and maintained in a state of constant preparation. The chariot force was regarded as of very much the highest importance, and amounted, according to the lowest computation, to several thousands. G. R.—The strength of Pharaoh's army consisted chiefly in his war chariots. Hengstenberg has shown how strongly this account is supported by information derived from the monuments respecting the customs of ancient Egypt. The chariots on the Egyptian monuments are drawn by two horses, and generally hold one driver and one warrior. Pharaoh hastily gathered together all the available chariots that could be procured, and did not wait till the entire force could be brought from the most distant military stations. In addition to the charioteers, he was also attended by a proportionate number of horsemen. K. The Isthmus of Suez at its narrowest part is seventy-two miles wide. The canal, indeed, measures one hundred miles from Port Said to Suez, but it does not cross the narrowest place  nor follow a straight line. Following the line of the canal southward, we pass for many miles through the broad Lake Menzaleh, and reach first a series of sandy downs, the highest point of which is Kantara, "the bridge" between the eastern and the western deserts. Here ran one of the greatest thoroughfares of the world, the highway between Egypt and the East. Passing next the shallow Lake Ballah, we reach El Gisir, the greatest elevation on the isthmus, about ten miles in width, and at its highest point sixty-five feet in height. Then comes Lake Timsah, the "crocodile" lake, midway between the two seas. South of it is the second elevation, the heights of Serapeum, about eight miles broad, and at its highest point sixty-one feet high. South of this lie the Bitter Lakes, a great depression, extending southeasterly some twenty-two miles in length, and from two and a half to five miles in breadth. Their greatest depth is about thirty-five feet below the sea-level. Before the water was admitted in 1867 by the modern canal, this depression was and had for ages been dry. The bottom was covered with a layer or layers of salt of great extent (seven miles by five) and of variable thickness, but reaching the depth of thirty-three feet. Between the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea lies the third and last barrier, the heights of Chaloof, about five miles broad from north to south, and rising for a short distance twenty feet or more above the sea-level. Then follows the sandy plain of Suez for a distance of about ten miles, rising but a few feet (about four on the average) above the level of the sea. Since the geological times the heights of Gisir must have formed an effectual barrier to the Red Sea; and it will hardly be claimed that within historic times these waters have extended over the ridge of Serapeum. But some reasons have been urged for supposing that in the times of the exodus the Bitter Lakes were but part of a continuous arm of the Red Sea. Three circumstances have been adduced for this opinion: First, the deposits of salt found in the Bitter Lakes; secondly, the identity of shells found at the sides and bottom of the lakes with those of the Red Sea; and, thirdly, the name "Bitter Lakes," implying the knowledge of a time when they were filled with salt water. But neither the deposits of salt nor of shells, unless the shells were of modern species (which is not affirmed), would determine the question whether such a connection existed during the present geological condition of the earth. It is not doubted that during and before the tertiary period this connection existed, and, indeed, many hold that at some time anterior the Red Sea and Mediterranean were connected. The name "Bitter Lakes" is accounted for either by the salt marshes which existed there before the modern canal introduced the sea water, or it may point back to an earlier time involved in the Arab tradition (mentioned by Robinson), that these marshes "were made by a canal cut thus far from the Red Sea, and then neglected." But the decisive objection to the theory of a connection between the Red Sea and these lakes in modern geological times is found in the fact that the impassable bar of Chaloof is a tertiary formation. Such is the positive testimony of Fraas, and of M. Mauriac, the engineer of the Suez Canal Company, and the admission of M. Ritt. Secondly, there is apparently clear testimony that in early times the breadth of the isthmus was substantially the same as now. Thirdly, the remains of the ancient canal leading northward from the gulf toward the Bitter Lakes complete the evidence. They show that in ancient times, as in modern, the connection was an artificial one. Burckhardt recognized the line of the canal long ago, and Rüppell travelled for an hour and a half along its bed, where it was, as he judged, one hundred feet broad. Herodotus distinctly describes the course of this canal in his day as leading eastward from Bubastis, near Patumos, and skirting the base of the hills, till it "turns southward and enters the Arabian Gulf." He affirms that this southern connection was completed by Darius, and a stone bearing the name of that monarch, in Persian characters, near the terminus of the canal, sustains his statement, and carries us back nearly five hundred years before the Christian era. Of course, the construction of the canal disproves the natural extension of the gulf to the Bitter Lakes at that time. We may assume, till positive evidence is adduced to the contrary, that as in the time of Darius so in that of Moses, the Red Sea did not connect with the Bitter Lakes, but that the ridge of Chaloof, rising far above the highest known seas, and sending off a branch northerly and northwesterly to form the western bank of the Bitter Lakes, and to join the eastern slope of Jebel Geneffé, was then, as now, an impassable barrier. At the same time, the appearances about Suez, the constant drifting of the sands, and the present low level of the plain, would justify the belief that the gulf may have extended somewhat further north than at present. Schleiden may be right in supposing that the whole distance, if we accept the heights of Chaloof, was more marshy than now, and probably untravelled, if not impassable. Bartlett. At a time when existing species of shells were living, the waters of the Red Sea extended over the lands of Egypt and along the shore of the Gulf of Suez to a height of 200 feet above the present level of these waters. The process of elevation of this sea-bed over so large a tract was probably exceedingly gradual, and at the date of the exodus the elevation may not have taken place up to the present extent. A strip of Red Sea water—not very deep—may at this time have stretched northward from the Gulf of Suez, forming to the host of Israel an effective barrier to their progress into the desert. Hull. In his correspondence with President Bartlett, M. Mauriac held that "the ridge of Chaloof is now far above the highest known seas;" that "it is of the same age with the mountain Geneffeh, of which it is a kind of buttress or prolongation;" that the overflow of the Red Sea into the basin of the Bitter Lakes, which left there the existing strata of salt, "could not have taken place during the present geological condition of the globe;" that the level of the Red Sea has not materially changed within this geological epoch; and that there has been "no communication of the lakes with the Red Sea except in pre-historic times." Again, Dr. Klunzinger, a naturalist of no mean degree, who went to Egypt directly in the interests of science, and "with the special object of making zoological investigations and collections on the Red Sea," has recently furnished important testimony on this point, as a result of observations in his particular sphere. He says: "The arm of sea which springs from the great Indian Ocean, and bears the name of Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, is a genuine tropical sea, although it stretches northward far beyond the tropic. Though it is separated from the Mediterranean Sea only by the Isthmus of Suez, in the character of its animal life it is sharply distinguished from the former sea, and only a few cosmopolitan forms are common to both, a proof that in recent epochs at least there has been no communication between the two." Trumbull. The exact spot of the passage through the Red Sea will never probably be identified. It is difficult even to determine how great a change the lapse of 3500 years may have made in the condition of the gulf. Its head has evidently been silted up to some extent, but the ruins of an ancient town at Suez seem to point to the fact that the level of its shores has not materially altered. The passage of the Israelites is generally supposed to have taken place in the immediate neighborhood of Suez, and a careful examination of the isthmus and head of the gulf has led me fully to concur in this opinion. Holland. Wellsted judiciously remarks thus, on the whole aspect of the case: "When I look away from all hypotheses, and confine myself to the Holy Scriptures, I must decide that the passage took place in the neighborhood of Suez. The objection that the water was not sufficient to drown the whole host of Pharaoh has no weight. It is now certainly enough, and must formerly have been more than enough, whereof there exist most striking evidences. It is expressly related in the Bible that a strong wind co-operated with the miracle. At Suez the water recedes when the northeast wind has blown for some time; and if a southeast wind follows it, then the water suddenly rises more than six feet, and causes the ford itself, one and a half English miles north of the town, to become impassable. Fatal accidents not seldom take place. We have only to think of Bonaparte, who on the passage had nearly perished. In other parts of the Red Sea, the rise and fall of the water is dependent on the winds, but nowhere so greatly as here at the end of it. If we suppose the passage of the Israelites at Suez, the determination of the next stations has no difficulty; since, on the modern journey from Suez to Sinai, they easily come round of themselves. The Desert of Shur, wherein they spent three days, is the desert stretching between Suez and Hawarah, upon which to-day no drinkingwater is found. The whole distance between these two points amounts to fifteen hours (33 to 35 miles); and if they marched five hours on each of the three days, travelling with their baggage and effects, that would be as much as we could expect. Hawwarah, with its bitter waters, must be Marah, since, so far as I could find, there are no other bitter fountains in the region. Gharandel, where there are water and palms, becomes the biblical Elim." And fixing the Encampment by the Sea near Ras Selima, he adds, "From Ras Selima to Mount Sinai are expressly made five more stations. I used twenty-five hours; which gives for the Israelites, again, five days' marches of five hours each." Bartlett. The topography of the head of the Red Sea we found to be as follows: The sea coming up from the south is several miles wide, and is deep enough for the largest ships, until within two or three miles of Suez. Then the water shoals rapidly, so that, at low tide, wide sand-flats are exposed, and the water is reduced to a small river-like and shallow stream. At the same time the sea is narrowed to the width of perhaps two miles, by the coming in from the west of the sandy peninsula on which stands the town of Suez. The sea running northward, from below Suez, makes a sudden bend to the west around this peninsula, so as to pass along the northern side of the town from east to west. Before fairly clearing the town it turns again northward, but after a short distance loses itself in a tangle of shallows and sand-banks. N. C. B. In a line running southeast from the town, directly toward "the wells of Moses," is a comparatively shallow region where at low tide the Arabs have always, prior to the dredging of a channel for the ship-canal, been in the habit of fording the gulf, and where they now pass, after crossing the dredged channel with a boat. This passage is now a little less than three miles in length, with much deeper water on each side. When a northeasterly wind concurs with low tide on the one hand, or a strong southerly wind with high tide on the other, the differences in depth, as shown by the Maritime Canal Company's chart, amount to ten feet and seven inches. The Scripture narrative distinctly introduces the wind, which blew "all that night and made the sea dry" (Ex. 14:21), and again says in the sequel (15:10), "Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them." (It has sometimes been objected as an inconsistency to recognize the introduction of a natural cause here. But the inconsistency would be in not recognizing a fact explicitly asserted in the narrative itself. The prevalent winds are north or northwest winds, but "the most terrible," says M. Mauriac, the engineer of the Canal Company, are "those from the southwest," which would accompany the returning tide.) The distance across and the time assigned, as shown by Dr. Robinson in detail, would correspond with what was practicable for such a host. "The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left—" that is, completely protected their flanks from attack. With the morning light came the returning tide and changing wind, and the fate which Napoleon narrowly escaped at another ford two miles north befell the Egyptian army. Bartlett. From the Bible account of this miracle, it appears, first, that the miracle was of a mediate character, or that, as has well been said, it was wrought by natural causes supernaturally applied. The waters retired from before the Israelites through the agency of a wind which the Lord caused to blow just at the right time and in the right direction for the purpose. The language is: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." So, after the crossing, it was the wind blowing from the opposite quarter which brought the sea back overwhelmingly upon the Egyptians. Thus sang Miriam: "Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them." Secondly, the passage occurred in the nighttime, and, it would seem, in a single night. The continuance of the wind was "all that night," and it was "in the morning watch" that "the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians," and troubled them, prior to their destruction in the waters. Now, both these items argue for the view that the place of the crossing was near the head of the sea, where the waters were shallow and narrow, rather than farther down, where they were deep and broad. N. C. B. Ex. 14 10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them ; and they were sore afraid : and the 11 children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness ? 12 wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt ? Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians ? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we 13 should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you to-day : for the 14 Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me ? speak unto the 16 children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it : and the children of Israel shall go into the 17 midst of the sea on dry ground. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them : and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, 18 and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, 19 upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ; and the pillar of cloud 20 removed from before them, and stood behind them ; and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel ; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet 21 gave it light by night : and the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were 22 divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground : and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their 23 left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, 24 all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass in the morning watch, that the LORD looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through 25 the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians. And he took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily : so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel ; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled against it ; and the LORD over- 28 threw the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them 29 into the sea ; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea ; and the waters were a wall unto 30 them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians ; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea 31 shore. And Israel saw the great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD, and in his servant Moses. No. 33 8 And they journeyed from before Habioth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness. The Captain takes command in person. Centuries have gone by; plans have been matured, man developed. Now is the crisis. The nation is a compact host, well ordered by families, ready to march. The Captain of their salvation and ours takes command in person; for this "Angel of Jehovah," that appeared to Abram, that rained destruction on Sodom, who wrestled with Jacob, and appeared unto Moses, is no other than the Lord Jesus. The cloudy pavilion is his chariot; from it he looks with loving light on his beloved; from it he looks wrath and hurls thunder and panic on his enemies. This is the beginning of his forty years' leading of Israel like a flock in the wilderness. Warren. 10-14. As Luther puts it, they were like a mouse in a trap or a partridge in a snare. The desert, the sea, the enemy, were their alternatives. And as they camped, they saw in the distance the rapid advance of the dreaded force of chariots. No wonder that they lost heart. Moses alone keeps his head and his faith. A. M. —In a human point of view their case was bad enough. The mountains were on the west and south, the sea on the east, and the war chariots of the well-appointed foe advancing on the north. There was not the slightest prospect of ultimate escape for a fugitive people scantily furnished with the means of defence. M. Shut in between mountains, the sea, and Pharaoh's host; neither prepared nor able to fight, and without the least human prospect of victory, deliverance, or flight; the people now began to despair. "Were there no graves in Egypt," they cried out to Moses, "that thou shouldst lead us away to die in the wilderness?" Nor did Moses see any human way of escape. But his faith expected deliverance from Jehovah, and from Jehovah it came. "Fear not," said he to the desponding people, "stand firm, and see the salvation which Jehovah will effect for you to-day. Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall be still." It was now to be clearly shown that the ways of God, though they may appear to be foolish by the side of the wisdom of men, insure the result in the safest, quickest, and most glorious way. K. 13. Stand still. What would this be in any mere human leader but the ravings of frenzy? Yet, wonderful to relate, the event accords with it. The Israelites escape "by the way of the sea;" the Egyptians perish in the same sea. Graves.—The Lord did not propose to bring the people into battle with the trained hosts of Egypt at this early stage of their new life of freedom. They were in no manner prepared for the conflict of arms. This time the Lord alone would go into battle against Egypt. Israel might stand still and look on! H. C.—If God himself bring his people into straits, he will himself discover a way to bring them out again. In times of great difficulty and great expectation, it is our wisdom to keep our spirits calm, quiet, and sedate; for then we are in the best frame both to do our own work, and to consider the work of God. Your strength is to sit still (Is. 30: 7). H. "Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; the Lord will fight for you." Thus speaks the true hero, and the type of all true heroic men of all ages, amid all the darkness of overshadowing danger, whether divinely inspired by direct inspiration or not. Fear not; you have obeyed plain orders. You can do nothing more. But what of that, if it is really and truly the fact that ye have done all and have nothing more to do. Leave the rest to God. Make no vain efforts in your frantic fear. Stand still and see the salvation of God. Would to God the Church in this age could thoroughly grasp the great idea of this exhortation, and learn that this want of earthly resources, and numbers, and wealth, and worldly influence need cause no solicitude or discouragement to his faithful people. Would that the Church could learn that her success is "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," and thus learn to cast away all dependence on external power and influence, and simply standing still, look up to the unseen shrine of her risen Saviour, and look for Pentecostal effusions of the Holy Spirit as the power which alone can give the Gospel success against all opposition and deliverance out of all difficulties however insuperable. S. R.—As long as human means can avail, it is a man's duty, trusting to Divine help, to employ them. To sit and wait, where effort can avail, is to insult God's providence. The "salvation of the Lord" is when all conceivable means have been employed, and have failed. The hand can do, the heart can devise, nothing more. Such positions are frequently arrived at in life. We feel that we are at the end of all endeavor, and the object has not been gained. Our strength and resources—all possible expedients—have been brought into exercise. The last reserve has been thrown into the battle, and yet it goes against us. We may struggle on with a blind despair, and as long as strength remains we must struggle on; but this power, too, seems to be failing. It is then that the case rises distinctly into "the salvation of the Lord." Nothing can save us but his marked interposition, and the heart must put itself in the attitude of "hope and quiet waiting" for it. Ker. Ye shall see them again no more. Here was strong faith, accompanied by the spirit of prophecy. God showed Moses what He would do; "he believed, and therefore he spoke." A. C. It is the littleness of our faith which makes us dwarfs in spiritual stature, cowards in conflict and in enterprise, narrow-minded in our views and plans of duty, and niggards in sacrifice and in contribution to the cause of Christ. It is the sin and the misery even of the sincere disciples of Christ that the promises of God have so little daily influence on their practical habits. Be afraid of unbelief; be ashamed of unbelief; only believe, and act as if you believed, and you shall see the salvation of God. S. Miller. 15. We hear not one word of Moses's praying; and yet the Lord asks why he cries unto Him? From which we may learn that the heart of Moses was deeply engaged with God, though he did not articulate one word. A. C.—His heart's language God well understood, and took notice of. Moses's silent prayers of faith prevailed more with God than Israel's loud outcries of fear (verse 10). Moses had bidden them stand still, and expect orders from God; and now orders are given. They thought they must have been directed either to the right hand or to the left. "No," says God, "speak to them to go forward, directly to the sea-side;" as if there had lain a fleet of transport-ships ready for them to embark in. When we are in the way of our duty, though we meet with difficulties, we must go forward, and not stand in mute astonishment; we must mind present work, and then leave the event to God; use means, and trust him with the issue. H. There was no occasion to cry to the Lord; for he had already manifested so decidedly that he was determined to deliver his people, that neither they nor Moses ought to have had a doubt about it. And this was no time for prayer. There was something else to be instantly done. It was the time for him and them to act. "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." In the most difficult and appalling circumstances, the command is often to be heard by us, "Go forward." Though there may be mountains of opposition or seas of danger in the path of duty, yet the word is "Go forward." Faith has its most perfect work in the hour of darkness. Follow its guidance, and "a way shall be made in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters." Bush. When God leads us into danger, he will take us safely through it. Had the Israelites gone of their own accord to encamp at Pi-hahiroth, they would have had no claim on the Divine protection; but because God had taken them thither, he stood near to help them. It makes all the difference in the world, when I am in danger, whether I am there for my own pleasure and of my own motive, or on the business and at the bidding of the Lord. In the former case, I have no warrant for his protection; in the latter, I may be sure that he will put himself between me and the peril, and make himself indeed my shield. This principle is far-reaching, and may be applied by us to business, to amusements, and, indeed, to every department of life. To go into danger thoughtlessly, is rashness; to go into it wantonly, is foolhardiness; but to go into it because only thereby can I follow my Master, and do what he commands, is true courage; and at such times I shall always find Him at my side. Pharaoh tried to cross the sea without warrant, and he was drowned; but the Hebrews, following their God, went over on dry land. Faith is one thing; presumption is another. To expect that God will keep me, no matter though I go recklessly into danger, is presumption; to go through that danger on his service, is courage. W. M. T. It is no tame application, no degradation of the Divine watchword, if we say to one another, Go forward! Go forward in faith and holiness, in activity and zeal; go forward in brotherly kindness and charity, in devotion and self-denial; go forward in the self-knowledge which destroys confidence in the flesh; go forward in the courage which waxes strong in Christ Jesus; go forward in the humility which, conscious of unworthiness, still high-hearted and hopeful, seeks the things above; and forward in that seriousness which, taking truer views of life and its outgoings, has also joys and consolations unguessed by carnal levity. Go forward! for in the van are the bravest and best; go forward, for the guiding pillar is far before—so far before that the Bible is sometimes like to get out of our sight altogether; go forward, for the Forerunner has passed ahead, and they are the happiest pilgrims who so far can overtake as to pursue their course "looking unto Jesus." Go forward! for the best accommodations and refreshments await those who are farthest in advance; and "from strength still onward unto strength," their burdens are the lightest and their difficulties the fewest who, "forgetting the things that are behind," evermore "press forward—" forward on the way where the guiding pillar precedes, "to the prize of our high calling," even the place which Christ has prepared. Hamilton. 19. That the Israelites might not be dismayed at the appearance of their enemies, and that these might not be able to discern the object of their pursuit, the pillar of cloud moved from the front to the rear of the Israelitish camp, so as perfectly to separate between them and the Egyptians. A. C.—The pillar of fire and cloud, the symbol of the Divine Presence, passes from the van to the rear. Its guidance was not needed when but one path through the sea was possible. Its defence was needed when the foe was pressing eagerly on the heels of the host. His people's needs determined then, as they ever do, the form of the Divine Presence and help. Long after the prophet seized the great lesson of this event, when he broke into the triumphant anticipation of a yet future deliverance, which should repeat in fresh experience the ancient victory, "The Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward." In the place where the need is sorest and in the form most required, there and that will God ever be to those who trust him. A. M. 20. And it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. As an obstruction and a barrier to the former. The next clause is strictly translated in the Revision, And there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night. This sets forth the double aspect and function of this supernatural pillar. It is evident from the connection that the reference is not here, as in Ex. 13:21, to its different appearance by day and by night. These two aspects are not successive, but simultaneous, and set forth what it was upon its two sides. On one side it was all cloud and darkness; on the other it was luminous. The dark side was turned to the Egyptians and the bright side to the Israelites; and this is confirmed by Josh. 24:7. The obscurity prevented the Egyptians from seeing the retreating host before them and from seeing their own way, and thus perplexed them and retarded their progress. So that the one came not near the other all the night: Pharaoh and his army, thus checked, were not able to advance upon the Israelites, although they were already in such close proximity to them. W. H. G. Darkness . . . yet light. In its typical sense, especially on the occasion of passing through the sea, on this occasion the pillar strikingly represents the twofold providence of God which are light to his people while death to his enemies; looking down upon the one with kindness and love, while he frowns in wrath upon the other. S. R.—It was a guide and a light to the believing, but a darkness and terror to the unbelieving. In the approach of difficulty, it was a protection to one and a destruction to the other. "By faith his people passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." So it is with the principles and promises of God's Word. Without faith working by and through love, receiving the truth in the love of it, we are mere children of sense and of darkness, mere Egyptians; and the Word, instead of being a pillar of fire by night, a flame of holy animating light, is a cloud of thick judgment and terrible darkness. There are nothing but elements of condemnation in it. And so, too, it must be with God's providences. There is a bright side to them and a dark one; not indeed in themselves, for with reference to God they are all bright, as revelations of his attributes and parts of his administration. But to the view and experience of different souls, as submissive and believing or unsubmissive and unbelieving, as selfish and dark or loving and bright, God's providences are all just like that pillar of cloud and flame. It was only the side toward God's own people that was bright; the side toward the Egyptians was darkness. So it ever must be with all God's dispensations. They have a bright and a dark side; but the bright side is bright only to faith, and the dark side is dark only to unbelief. Cheever. It is fire as life, and not as death, that is the symbol of God. It speaks the might of his transforming power, the melting, cleansing, vitalizing influence of his communicated grace, the warmth of his conquering love. It hath, indeed, an under side of possible judgment, punishment, and destruction, but it hath a face of blessing, of life-giving, of sanctifying power. And therefore the Baptist spake glad tidings when he said, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." A. M. 21. The process is definitely stated in the Scripture narrative, by which the sea was divided and reunited: "The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." This clearly asserts that the effect was wrought by a natural agency, though preternaturally applied. S. C. B.—It would be a great mistake to imagine that the passage of such a great caravan (as the Israelites) could have been effected by purely natural means. No caravans go this way nowadays, at least from Cairo to Sinai, though it would be a great saving of distance if they could. But it was even less possible for the children of Israel to cross thus, thousands of years ago, for the water was then apparently broader and deeper. The water seems not only to have retreated since, but the bottom of this shallow point appears to have been raised by the sand blown in for ages from the desert. Niebuhr. Wonder did now justly strive with fear in the Israelites, when they saw the cloud remove behind them, and the sea remove before them. They were not used to such bulwarks. God stood behind them in the cloud; the sea reared them up walls on both sides them. That which they feared would be their destruction protected them. Bp. II. Every one must see a miracle of the most wonderful kind in producing the effect here narrated—viz., the passage on dry ground of two millions of men, with their herds, during a space of twelve hours. Whoever receives the account as true will feel even now, on reading it, an awe in thought of the Divine Majesty which then revealed itself. Gerl.—In the Scriptures the supernatural element is continually presented, with simplicity, dignity, and a tone of authority; is treated as familiarly, with as little attempt at startling expression, as if it lay level with the commonest experience, yet with astonishing harmony and majesty in the outlines and vast adumbrations of its glory. No greater mistake can possibly be made than to suppose this amazing supernatural element—whose recognized presence in the Scriptures leads some to repel them—depressing or harassing to the stimulated mind. Above all things else, it is the one power which exalts, inspires, and re-enforces. R. S. S. 22. And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.** It would be consistent with these words to assume that the channel which was laid dry for the passage of the children of Israel was bordered by deep water on either hand, which thus was a wall of defence to them on both sides (compare Nah. 3:8). It is not, however, consistent with Ex. 15:8, according to which the waters stood in a perpendicular mass, as though they were congealed. It is expressly declared that this was the fact at the crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 3:16), and there is no reason why it may not likewise have been the case in this instance. . . . These various miracles were wrought by the immediate exercise of God's power. Yet Moses's instrumentality was used in announcing and effecting them, in order to put honor upon Moses as God's agent and duly accredited messenger. Moses's rod and his hand had no efficiency in dividing the sea. And yet stretching them forth was the divinely ordained means for accomplishing this result; and the sea would not have been divided had not Moses stretched them forth. It is thus with the appointed means of grace—the Word as read or preached, the sacraments, and prayer. They are made efficient only by the accompanying power of the Spirit of God. W. H. G. The graphic description of the passage needs little comment. The author describes all so concisely and in a tone so unimpassioned, that it is difficult to realize that he is describing one of the most stupendous miracles in the history of the race since the flood. S. R.—He uses no ornaments of language in celebrating this miracle. He simply says that the sea was divided by the rod of Moses; that space enough for the passage of the people was dry; that the mighty mass of waters stood like solid rocks on either side. Designedly has he set the whole matter before our eyes bare of all verbal splendor; although it will be celebrated soon after, in accordance with its dignity, in the Canticle, and it is everywhere more splendidly magnified by the prophets and in the Psalms. Calv. The scene, conceived of even according to the ascertained facts of the case, was more sublime than we commonly imagine. Remember that the passage was made in the night; made amid the howlings of that eastern blast which bore down on the waters of the sea with resistless force. And then take into the account what we learn from descriptions given in the Psalms; that this was a tempestuous wind, of clouds, and poured-out rains, and lightnings shooting athwart the sky, and thunders pealing round the horizon and shaking the earth, while the mysterious fiery cloud of God sent forth its ruddy glare on the scene. Says the Psalmist (77:16-20): "The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." N. C. B. The Epistle to the Hebrews takes this as an instance of "faith" on the part of the Israelites; and truly we can feel that it must have taken some trust in God's protecting hand to venture on such a road, where, at any moment, the walls might collapse and drown them all. They were driven to venture by their fear of Pharaoh; but faith, as well as fear, wrought in them. Our faith, too, is often called upon to venture upon perilous paths. We may trust him to hold back the watery walls from falling. The picture of the crossing carries eternal truth for us all. The way of safety does not open till we are hemmed in, and Pharaoh's chariots are almost come up. It often leads into the very thick of what we deem perils. It often has to be ventured on in the dark, and with the wind in our faces. But if we tread it in faith, the fluid shall be made solid, and the pathless passable, or any other apparent impossibility be realized, before our confidence shall be put to shame, or one real evil reach us. A. M.—The passage through the sea turns out to be much safer than the path along the quiet shore, as soon as it appears that God is with us; for—and let it be inscribed on all our hearts—safety does not depend upon the road, but on the guide we choose. Far better to pursue what seems a hopeless track with God upon our side, than without God or against his will to tread a path, however smooth, that flesh and blood has opened up to us. Why should we, then, retreat a single inch-breadth, even on a road beset with every kind of difficulty, when the God who calls is also faithful, and does far above what we can ask or think? Van O. 24,25. Now when God sees the Egyptians too far to return, he finds time to strike them with their last terror: they know not why, but they would return too late. Those chariots in which they trusted now fall them, as having done service enough to carry them into perdition. God pursues them, and they cannot fly from Him. Bp. H. 24. In the morning watch. The Hebrews, as well as the Romans, divided the night into four parts, or watches, of about three hours each; so called, because at the beginning of each part the guard of soldiers who kept watch was changed. The morning watch was the last of them, immediately before sunrise. Bp. Patrick.—The LORD looked forth. We know of no sentence more memorably impressive in the Bible than that which tells us that God looked out of the pillar of cloud and of the fire, and troubled the Egyptians. Such is the difference between the light of his countenance and the rebuke of his countenance. T. C. 25. Let us flee. The Egyptians now repented of their precipitate madness, and determined, as conquered by God's power, to leave the children of Israel and to return home; but God shut up the way of escape at this very crisis. That we may know how evident a miracle was here, Moses adds (verse 27) that the morning then appeared, so that the broad daylight might show the whole transaction to the eyes of the spectators. Calv.—Israel is now, all of a sudden, become as much a terror to them as they had been to Israel. They might have let Israel alone and would not; now they would flee from the face of Israel and cannot. Men will not be convinced till it is too late that those who meddle with God's people meddle to their own hurt; when the Lord shall come with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment, the mighty men will in vain seek to shelter themselves under rocks and mountains from the face of Israel and Israel's King (Rev. 6:15). God reckoned with Pharaoh for all his proud and insolent conduct toward Moses his ambassador; mocking the messengers of the Lord and playing the fool with them, bring ruin without remedy: now God got him honor upon Pharaoh H. 27. And Moses stretched forth his hand. The rod of Moses is again stretched over the sea, and it returns to its strength. Those very waters which had guarded the passage of Israel again obey the suspended law of gravitation, and rushing down upon the heads of the Egyptians with overwhelming force, engulf them all beyond the power or possibility of escape. "The sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." The same element is the defence of the one and the destroyer of the other. Not an Israelite perished, not an Egyptian survived. Bush. 30. Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. Thus Israel went beyond the Land of Bondage into the Land of Training, as a nation of freemen. H. C. T. Often mentioned both in the Old and New Testament, the dividing of the Red Sea before the children of Israel was the terror of the Canaanites (Josh. 2:9, 10), the praise and triumph of the Israelites (Ps. 114:3; 106:9; 136:13, 14). It was a type of baptism (1 Cor. 10:1, 2). Israel's passage through it was typical of the conversion of souls (Is. 11:15), and the Egyptians' perdition in it was typical of the final ruin of all impenitent sinners (Rev. 20 : 14).—The Old Testament people confess that the exodus from Egypt was their redemption. The bringing back from Babylon is a fact in holy history ; but the bringing out of Egypt stands high above it. It is an article of the Israelite creed, holding the first place in the Decalogue, included among the reasons for observing the Sabbath commandment (De. 5 : 15), solemnized by two feasts at the beginning of the ecclesiastical year (the pascha) and of the civil year (the feast of tabernacles), urgently impressed by the prophets and splendidly celebrated in many psalms. Delitzsch. 31. The people feared the Lord. They were convinced by the interference of Jehovah that his power was unlimited, and that he could do whatsoever he pleased, both in the way of judgment and in the way of mercy. And believed in the Lord.** They clearly discerned that God had fulfilled all his promises, and that not one thing had failed of all the good which he had spoken concerning Israel. And they believed his servant Moses. They had now the fullest proof that he was divinely appointed to work all these miracles, and to bring them out of Egypt into the promised land. Thus God got himself honor upon the Egyptians, and credit in the sight of Israel. After this overthrow of their host, the Egyptians interrupted them no more in their journeyings. How strange that after such displays of the justice and mercy of Jehovah the Israelites should ever have been deficient in faith or have given place to murmuring ! A. C. So complete, so marvellous was the deliverance : thus the Israelites were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. When they left Baal-Zephon they were separated finally from the idolatry of Egypt ; when they passed the Red Sea their independence of its power was sealed ; their life as a nation then began, a life inseparable henceforth from belief in Jehovah and his servant Moses, only to be merged in the higher life revealed by his Son. Cook.—This great work which God wrought for them by the ministry of Moses bound them effectually to follow his directions, under God. This confirmed their faith in the promises that were yet to be fulfilled ; and being brought thus triumphantly out of Egypt, they did not doubt that they should be in Canaan shortly, having such a God to trust to and such a mediator between them and Him. Oh, that there had been such a heart in them as now there seemed to be ! Sensible mercies when they are fresh make sensible impressions ; but with many these impressions soon wear off : while they see God's works and feel the benefit of them, they fear him and trust in him ; but they soon forget his works, and then they slight him. H. The beginnings and foundations of true religion do not rest upon human but upon Divine productivity and human receptivity. The Divine productivity is seen in the supernatural revelation ; the human receptivity in faith, which receives the revelation. At the beginnings, in the case of Abraham (Gen. 15 : 6) and here in the Mosaic age, faith, elsewhere rarely occurring in the Old Testament, is expressly mentioned. Auberlen. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 15 1 THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously : The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation : This is my God, and I will praise him ; My father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war : The LORD is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea : And his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The deeps cover them : They went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is glorious in power, Thy right hand, O LORD, dasheth in pieces the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou overthrowest them that rise up against thee : Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble. 8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up, The floods stood upright as an heap ; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil : My lust shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them : They sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods ? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 12. Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, The earth swallowed them. 13. Thou in thy mercy hast led the people which thou hast redeemed : Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. 14. The peoples have heard, they tremble : Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. 15. Then were the dukes of Edom amazed ; The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them : All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. 16. Terror and dread falleth upon them ; By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone ; Till thy people pass over, O LORD, Till the people pass over which thou hast purchased. 17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, The sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established. 18. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 19. For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them ; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the 20 midst of the sea. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, 21. Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 1. Then sang Moses. On this memorable deliverance Moses composed a thanksgiving, which he and the Israelites sang unto the Lord. It is also a sublime prophecy, foretelling the powerful effect of this tremendous judgment on the neighboring nations of Edom, Moab, Palestine, and Canaan; the future settlement of the Israelites in the promised land; the erection of the temple and sanctuary on Mount Sion; and the perpetuity of the dominion and worship of God. Hales.—The most ancient of all poems now extant is this thanksgiving ode of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea: it is at the same time most perfect in its kind. It shows the early connection which subsisted between poetry and religion, and is an example of that species of poetical composition which the Hebrews cultivated more than all others, and in which they particularly excelled—namely, the rendering of public thanks in songs of triumph to God for prosperity in their enterprises and for success in war. Bp. Lowth. As the Jewish nation produced men of great genius, without considering them as inspired writers, they have transmitted to us many hymns and Divine odes, which excel those that are delivered down to us by the ancient Greeks and Romans in the poetry, as much as in the subject to which it was consecrated. Addison.—The poetry of the Hebrew was the handmaid of his religion; there is therefore in the poetry of the Bible something which elevates it above all other literature of the same kind. It is the supreme excellence of Hebrew poetry that it raises the strain not of courage and virtue only, mighty as these are, but of truth and holiness, of faith and hope, of progress and perfection, of fidelity to God and unbroken trust in his goodness and love. Ever since it was poured forth from the full hearts of the singers of Israel, the world has been drinking deep draughts of life and strength from its stream. Whatever dreams of future glory humanity shapes for itself, the poetry of the Bible is not excluded, but is welcomed as the music of the kingdom of heaven. Aglen. If this poem contains parts which, it might seem, could not well have been sung in that period, it must be remembered that the temple, the holy places, and the land which the Israelites were destined to occupy existed already clearly in God's and Moses's minds; and the latter prepared the people successfully for the exertions and sacrifices necessary for the realization of their hopes. Herder.—This song is honored among the Jews by being commonly call Shirah, the song, par excellence. It is not only publicly recited in the synagogues on the seventh day of the Passover, when the transit of the Israelites is believed to have taken place, but it has been embodied in the daily prayers. Kulisch. The song of Moses is a proof of the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. There has been no period since the Hebrew nation left Egypt in which this song was not found among them, as composed on that occasion and to commemorate that event. It may be therefore considered as completely authentic as any living witness could be who had himself passed through the Red Sea, and whose life had been protracted through all the intervening ages to the present day. It is a song of triumph for the deliverance of the people of God; and it was intended to point out the final salvation and triumph of the whole Church of Christ. A. C.—This song of thanksgiving and triumph, repeated every Sabbath in the temple when the drink-offering of the festive sacrifice was poured out, reminded Israel that to all time the kingdom was surrounded by the hostile powers of this world; that there must always be a contest between them; and that Jehovah would always himself interpose to destroy his enemies and to deliver his people. Thus that great event for all times has been a prophecy, a comfort, and a song of anticipated sure victory to the Church. A. E. Of this song, "composed on the instant of deliverance, and chanted to the music of the timbrel," Milman justly says: "What is the Roman arch of triumph or the pillar crowded with sculpture compared, as a memorial, to the Hebrew song of victory, which, having survived so many ages, is still fresh and vivid as ever, and excites the same emotions of awe and piety in every human breast susceptible of such feelings which it did so many ages past in those of the triumphant children of Israel?" How the act of victorious judgment this ode celebrates was intended to foreshadow the final putting down of all power that exalts itself against the kingdom of Christ, is manifest from Rev. 15:3, where the glorious company above are represented as singing at once the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in the immediate prospect of the last judgments of God, and of all nations being thereby led to come and worship before him! P. F. This very incident has for its last echo in Scripture that wonderful scene in the Apocalypse where, in the pause before the seven angels bearing the seven plagues go forth, the seer beholds a company of choristers, like those who on that morning stood on the Red Sea shore, standing on the bank of the "sea of glass mingled with fire"—which symbolizes the clear and crystalline depth of the stable Divine judgments, shot with fiery retribution—and lifting up by anticipation a song of thanksgiving for the judgments about to be wrought. That song is expressly called "the song of Moses" and "of the Lamb," in token of the essential unity of the two dispensations, and especially of the harmony of both in their view of the Divine judgments. Its ringing praises are modelled on the ancient lyric. It, too, triumphs in God's judgments, regards them as means of making known his name, as done not for destruction, but that his character may be known and honored by men, to whom it is life and peace to know and love him for what he is. That final victory over "the beast," whether he be a person or a tendency, is to reproduce in higher fashion that old conquest by the Red Sea. There is hope for the world that its oppressors shall not always tyrannize; there is hope for each soul that, if we take Christ for our deliverer and our guide, he will break the chains from off our wrists, and bring us at last to the eternal shore, where we may stand, like the ransomed people, and as the unsettling morning dawns see its beams touching with golden light the calm ocean, beneath which our oppressors lie buried forever, and lift up glad thanksgivings to him who has "led us through fire and through water, and brought us out into a wealthy place." A. M. All this is rich in spiritual suggestion for us. They who are now the people of God are not only rescued from bondage, but are baptized into Christ, and, being made partakers of his resurrection, sing to the Lord a new song, and then set out on a new career. That career must be in separation from the world, and lowly dependence on Christ for bread and water of life, and for victory over those that war against their souls. It is a walk by faith, not sight, and though marred by murmuring and folly on the part of the pilgrims, it is guarded day and night by the power of God, and reveals the riches of his long-suffering grace. D. F.—And when it is considered that the whole of this transaction shadowed out the redemption of the human race from the thraldom and power of sin by the LORD JESUS, and the final triumph of the Church of God over all its enemies, we also may join in the song and celebrate Him who has triumphed so gloriously, having conquered death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. A. C. 1-11. The night of doom to Pharaoh was the night of redemption to Israel. With the morning light they "saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore." Men in their armor of battle, horses in the proud trappings of Egypt, broken chariots, all powerless now, are dashed up by the waves of the turbid sea and lie strewn upon the eastern shore—memorials at once of the danger that was and of the victory and triumph that are to be the joy of God's redeemed people. Most fifty the deep emotions of the people seek expression in song. The oldest song known to history and one of the grandest is here before us. "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." It was the Lord who wrought the victory, who went down alone into that eventful battle, and who came back the mighty conqueror! "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Over and over this central idea appears: "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; his chosen chariots also are drowned in the Red Sea." "Thou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." Let the Great God of Israel be praised for all this! Appropriately this is the burden of the song: "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation." "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" H. C. The burden of this magnificent ode sank into the hearts of the Hebrew race and fired the genius of inspired poets century after century, reappearing again and again in psalm and prophecy. As here, the strain of all these allusions to the great deliverance is, that "not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake." Geikie.—1. This song is sung "to Jehovah." The people are filled with the thought of him and his great act. It has been rightly called the marriage hymn of Israel; as the bride rejoices in the bridegroom, so the people here rejoice in God. Auberlen.—Its most characteristic and outstanding feature is the entire absence of self-glorification or mere national exultation. From the beginning to the end it celebrates the praises of Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel. J. M. G. The entire hymn consists of two parts. The first looks back on the past, on the mighty deed of Jehovah just experienced; the other looks forward with confidence to the future—the rest and peace in Canaan—and so becomes at the same time a prayer. Thankfulness for the mercy received is the ground of hope that the Lord will not leave the work he has begun. We find in this hymn the first traces of that arrangement of Hebrew poetry which divides each verse into two, and often more, lines. Apparently these hymns were sung from the first responsively or antiphonally. As soon as the chorus of men had finished, the chorus of women repeats the whole. The song, by the peculiar force and beauty with which it sets the whole history before us, had also the purpose of being a living, continual witness to the great event. It was intended to declare to posterity through all ages that so many hundred thousands beheld the great works of the Lord which gave existence to his people, and left behind them such a monument for their children. Therefore we find in many poetical parts of the prophets echoes of this song of Moses. Gerl. 3. The Lord—i.e., JEHOVAH, is his name. He has now, as the name implies, given complete existence to all his promises. A. C.—In the story of the exodus deliverance breathes out from every line, and “JEHOVAH” is the great Deliverer. Jehovah destroys the Egyptians, “passes over” the dwellings of his people, and institutes the great feast of the “Passover,” to be perpetuated as a “memorial” together with his “memorial name” to all generations. That great feast, to be called by the Israelites “JEHOVAH’S Passover,” is still observed throughout all Christendom, with a change, and yet a correspondence of emblems, in commemoration of the deliverance of “Christ our Passover,” and is called “the Lord’s Supper”—thus perpetuating the great “memorial” of Israel’s deliverance from bondage, and the yet greater deliverance foreshadowed in the prophetic name of JEHOVAH. So also the great and final act of JEHOVAH in delivering his people from the power of the Egyptians is commemorated in a song of Moses and the hosts of Israel, which song also is in the Revelation represented as sung by the redeemed hosts of Christ the Deliverer. “And they sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb.” The union of the song of Moses with that of the Redeemed through Christ is a union of the two great historic divisions of the Church in a common song of deliverance. And deliverance is the grand representative idea of the Jewish system. He who was to become the Theocratic Head of the nation, their Lawgiver and King, takes upon himself the name of Deliverer, and in illustration of that name, introduces his government by a glorious act of deliverance. Thus in the history of Israel as a nation, before the idea of the Lawgiver and the subject, comes that of Redeemer and Redeemed. McWhorter. 11. Lit.: “Who is as thou among the gods, Jehovah? who is as thou, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doer of wonders?” His matchless greatness forces itself on the observance of those who consider his deeds. Among the gods. He compares the Lord with all heathen deities. The expression is a bold poetic figure of speech, by which the nothingness of the gods is designated. God is glorious in holiness: all the glorious attributes of his Divine nature are pervaded and animated by his holiness. Gerl.—It is this which makes all his attributes beautiful, for which he claims the supreme reverence and delight of angels and men, and for which he is the highest object of complacent delight to his own infinite mind. H. B. Smith. The Divine holiness is so familiar a thought with us, enters so necessarily into all our conceptions of God, that it is difficult for us to realize its coming into the minds of men as something entirely new. But so it was. The heathen nations were destitute of the idea; and the people of God had to be taught it for the first time at the period of the exodus. The word “holy” does not occur in Genesis. The first introduction of it is at the burning bush: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” 13. The biblical idea of holiness is, throughout, associated with that of love and mercy; and herein we see the appropriateness of this reference in the Red Sea Song of salvation: “Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed.” Just as it is through “the apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ” that a sinner is led to true repentance, so the revelation of the Divine love is the path through which alone we can reach the knowledge of the Divine holiness. J. M. G. 14. The peoples. An expression now justified by usage, and necessary in this passage to give the true meaning. The inhabitants of Philistia—i.e., the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would expect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheartedness of the Israelites. It is obvious that the order of thoughts would have been very different had the song been composed at a later period, since in fact Philistia was the last district occupied by the Israelites. Cook.—15, 16. In this magnificent hymn of thankfulness there breathes for the first time a consciousness of the high destiny that was in store for them. Already they seem to see the Philistines, the Edomites, the Moabites, and all the inhabitants of Canaan "amazed" and "melting away" before their triumphant march, and themselves, the redeemed of Jehovah, entering upon their long promised inheritance, the Holy Land or "sanctuary," where Jehovah should reign over them "for ever and ever." J. P. N. The signal display of Divine power for their protection must have deeply impressed them with a conviction of the Lord's goodness and power. Their tendency to distrust and unbelief must have been greatly checked by it; and although that tendency broke out in repeated acts of discontent and rebellion, nothing can more clearly show the strong, salutary impression produced than the prominent manner in which this event is set forth and the pointed way in which it is referred to in all the subsequent literature of the people, especially in the Psalms of David. Kit.—Two ways this great deliverance was encouraging. First, it was such an instance of God's power as would terrify their enemies and quite dishearten them (verses 14-16). The very tidings of the overthrow of the Egyptians would be more than half the overthrow of all their other enemies; it would sink their spirits, and that would go far toward the sinking of their powers and interests. The Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Canaanites (with each of which nations Israel was to grapple) would be alarmed by it, and would conclude it was in vain to fight against Israel when a God of such power fought for them. It had this effect: the Edomites were afraid of them (De. 2:4), so were the Moabites (Nu. 22:3), and the Canaanites (Josh. 2:9, 10). Thus God sent his fear before them (ch. 23:27), and cut off the spirit of princes. Next, it was such a beginning of God's favor to them as gave them an earnest of the perfection of his kindness. This was but in order to something further (verse 17). Thou shalt bring them in. If he thus bring them out of Egypt, notwithstanding their unworthiness and the difficulties that lay in the way of their escape, doubtless he will bring them into Canaan; for has he begun (so begun), and will he not make an end? Our experiences of God's power and favor should be improved for the support of our expectations: "Thou hast—therefore not only thou canst, but we trust thou will," is good arguing. H. 20. "Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron," whose name now first appears in the history of the Church, afterward to become so renowned through its Grecian and European form of Maria and Mary, came forth, as was the wont of Hebrew women after some great victory, to meet the triumphant host, with her Egyptian timbrels and with dances of her country-women. A. P. S.—Miriam is called a "prophettess," but this often means in Scripture only one who says or makes known the doings of God or his praises, whether with or without musical instruments. Thus the singers appointed by David are called "prophets," and are said "to prophesy with harps," etc., and "to give thanks and to praise the Lord" (1 Ch. 25:1-3). Geikie.—Miriam is described as the sister of Aaron. At the very outset the position is indicated which she afterward occupied in the community of Israel. She is called the sister of Aaron, and not the sister of Moses, because her position was co-ordinate with that of Aaron, but subordinate to that of Moses. Although Aaron was the brother of Moses, yet in his official position he was only the mouth, the prophet of Moses. In the same way Miriam was placed in a position of subordination to the brother she had saved; for Jehovah had chosen him to be the mediator of his covenant, and placed him at the head of Israel. Hence she entirely mistook her position when at a later period she took upon herself to rebuke him. K. The monuments reproduce this scene in all its parts. Separate choirs of men and women are represented on them, singing in alternate responses; the timbrel, or tambourine, is represented as the instrument of the women, as the flute is that of the men; and the playing of the tambourine, unaccompanied, as here, by other instruments, is represented in connection with singing and the dance. Further, it appears from the monuments that music had eminently a religious destination in Egypt, that the timbrel was specially devoted to sacred uses, and that religious dances were performed in the worship of Osiris. E. C. W.—In the tombs at Thebes timbrels, like Miriam's, round and square, are seen in the hands of women; while pipes, trumpets, sistrums, drums, and guitars are there in great abundance and variety, and harps not much unlike the modern instrument, with varying numbers of strings up to twenty-two. The colored pictures of the harp and the player in one of the tombs are as fresh as those of a Roman gallery. S. C. B. The history of the Jewish exodus, or deliverance from Egypt under the direction of Moses, was undoubtedly preserved in the Egyptian records, and from thence was derived the strange and disfigured story which we read in Diodorus, Strabo, Justin, and Tacitus. Unfortunately, the ancient enmity between the Egyptian and Hebrew people was kept alive by the civil, religious, and literary dissensions and jealousies under the reign of the Ptolemies in Alexandria. Josephus, in his treatise against Apion, has extracted the contradictory accounts of his ancestors from three Egyptian historians, Manetho, Chæremon, and Lysimachus. In each of these there is the same attempt to identify or connect the Jews with the earlier shepherd-kings, the objects of peculiar detestation to the Egyptian people. So much is their history interwoven, that some learned writers, probably Josephus himself, considered the whole account of the fierce and conquering shepherds a fable, built on the history of the Israelites. He states, though in somewhat ambiguous terms, that in another copy of Manetho the word Hyksos, usually translated shepherd-kings, was also rendered shepherd-captives. Yet the Egyptian monuments conclusively prove the existence of this distinct race of conquerors. Mibman. One of the most enlightened, discriminating, and cautious of scholars—Sir Gardner Wilkinson—bears this distinct and important testimony: "Wherever any fact is mentioned in the Bible history, we do not discover anything on the monuments which tends to contradict it." In all the references to Egypt contained in the Pentateuch, though so many and so various, though scattered through every part of the writing and mixed up with almost every topic which it embraces, there cannot be detected a single element which is not clearly and decisively Egyptian. Could a fictitious narrative, fabricated in a remote country and a distant age, accomplish such a result? Equally with the extent and accuracy of the writer's knowledge of Egypt, does the manner in which he brings it out seal the trustworthiness of the narrative. This is always so incidental, so unpremeditated, so undesigned, so perfectly inartificial, and so destitute of all explanatory remarks as not necessary for his immediate readers, as to constitute an indubitable signature of truth. Such a manner would be quite natural in Moses, but most unnatural, and indeed impossible, in a mythic historian. It is a manner which cannot be assumed by an impostor. We have here, then, both in the Egyptian knowledge of the author and in the manner of its exhibition, a strong internal proof of the credibility of the Pentateuch, of its composition in the age of Moses, and consequently of its Mosaic origin. He who is not convinced by it of the genuineness and authenticity of the work, is certainly very far removed from credulity; but then he stands at an equal distance from that intelligent candor which feels and owns the force of truth. E. C. W. THREE STAGES ONWARD FROM THE RED SEA: I. MARAH; BITTER WATERS SWEETENED. II. ELIM, WITH ITS SPRINGS AND PALM TREES. III. ENCAMPMENT BY THE SEA. Ex. 15 22 And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them; and he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters. Nu. 33 8 And they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in 9 Marah. And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. 10 And they journeyed from Elim, and pitched by the Red Sea. In studying the geography of the peninsula, the first lesson to be learned is to know what is meant by a wady. Destitute as these broad stretches of barrenness are of springs or running brooks, yet at times they are swept by terrific storms, when torrents dash down the mountain-side, and plough deep furrows in the sandy waste. The dry beds which they leave behind are wadies. These wadies, depressed below the level of the surrounding plain, are the favorite places for pitching tents, as the banks on either side furnish a shelter from the winds that sweep over the desert. Several of these we crossed today, in which the half-dried mud showed that there had been recent rains. Wherever the moisture had touched, there were signs of vegetation. Field. Ayun Musa [or Wells of Moses, opposite Suez] is an oasis reclaimed from the hopeless sand by a supply of unpalatable water, which is arrested and brought to the surface by the labor of infinitesimal insects. The only springs which are still left in their natural state are at the extreme south of the locality, outside of all the enclosures. But the principal flow of water is now found (or diverted) elsewhere; for at a short distance to the north is a series of five large gardens or plantations, enclosed by high reed fences, and partly filled with palms, tamarisks, apricots, pomegranates, and other trees, and occupied chiefly by beds of vegetables and herbs, irrigated by the water from these wells. Some of these enclosures contain small summerhouses, and are places of resort from Suez. In the southernmost of these plantations was a large pool a hundred and sixty-five feet in circumference, as I paced it, kept full by a spring which bubbles up vigorously near the centre and flows off at the side. The traditional name, "Moses's Wells," carries with it intrinsic probability. A situation so important, with fountains at a suitable distance to supply the van and the rear of the immense host, could hardly have failed to be a place of encampment, even though the place of crossing had not been in the immediate neighborhood, and much more if it was. S. C. B. Israel now entered on the long march in the wilderness, through which he was to reach the Promised Land. The Red Sea is divided on the north side into two long bays, that of Heroopolis and Ælan—or, as they are now called, of Suez and Akaba. Between these two is situated the peninsula which, together with the breadth of desert to the north, on the Mediterranean and south border of Palestine, is called Arabia Petraea. Gerl.—Their route lay southward down the east side of the Gulf of Suez, and at first along the shore. The station of Ayun Musa (the Wells of Moses), with its tamarisks and seventeen wells, served for their gathering after the passage. They marched for three days through the wilderness of SHUR or ETHAM, on the southwest margin of the great desert of Paran (et-Tih), where they found no water. The tract is a part of the belt of gravel which surrounds the mountains of the peninsula, and is crossed by several wadies, whose sides are fringed with tamarisks, acacias, and a few palm-trees. P. S.—As the Israelites, leaving Ayun Musa, turned their faces southward away from the land of their bondage and the scene of their great deliverance, they must have gazed on the same features that now strike the eye of the traveller on his way from Suez to Jebel Musa, for the general aspect of the desert can have altered little. On their left would be the long level range of Er-Rahah; in front, the terraced plain several miles broad, sloping gently down to the bright blue sea, and beyond the sea westward the picturesque line of cliffs, on one point of which the name of Ras Atakah (Mount of Deliverance) still lingers. Wilson. 22. The wilderness of Shur. This name has before occurred in Gen. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18. The wilderness includes the district lying east of Egypt between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It is called in Nu. 33:8, "the wilderness of Etham," and Josephus renders it by "the desert of Pelusium." Mr. Holland says of the desert east of Suez: "Some twelve or fifteen miles from the coast, and parallel to it, runs Jebel er-Rahah, appearing in the distance as a long flat-headed range of white cliffs, which form as it were a wall enclosing the desert on the north." Alf.—When Hagar fled from Palestine to Egypt, the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain in the desert on the way to Shur. Abram lived for some time at Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. According to the other passages, Shur stood "in front of Egypt." The whole of these passages lead to the conclusion that the desert of Shur was the entire tract of desert by which Egypt was bounded on the east. K. A favorite identification of Shur [Holland, Palmer, Wilson, etc.] has been in a range of mountains a little to the eastward from the Gulf of Suez, having the appearance of a wall, and bearing the name Jebel er-Rahah, being in fact the northwestern end, or extension, of Jebel et-Tih. But Jebel er-Rahah does not stand "before Egypt as thou goest to Assyria" (Gen. 25:18). It is too far south for that. "Shur" means "a wall;" and from its meaning, as well as from the various references to it in the text (Gen. 16:7, 14; 20:1; 25:18; 1 Sam. 15:7; 27:8), it would seem clear that Shur was a border wall, or extended line of fortifications, across the entire northeastern front of Lower Egypt, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez. This wall was the closure of the only entrance by land to Egypt from the East; and it was from the East alone that there was, in those days, any special danger of invasion. References to this wall are found in the Egyptian records, both before and after the supposed date of the exodus. Its earliest mention, as yet ascertained, is in what is known as the St. Petersburg Papyrus, which treats of Egyptian history prior to the tenth dynasty. There, according to Golenischeff as cited by Meyer, it is known as "the Royal Wall for defence against the 'Amu,'" or Amorites. Again it finds mention in a papyrus of the twelfth dynasty, prior to the Hykshos invasion. It is there spoken of as a barrier "which the king had made to keep off the Sakti," or Eastern enemies of Egypt. Yet again it is brought into notice in a papyrus of the nineteenth dynasty, in a manner which seems to indicate its extended stretch. The historic data thus cited cover a period from before the days of Abraham to Moses. If, indeed, there were no corroboratory facts or traditions, these Egyptian references to the border wall of Egypt would, in themselves, be sufficient to justify a conviction of its existence; for the term which is employed in its mention is recognized by Egyptologists generally as indicative of a continuous wall, or of an extended line of fortifications, which in reality amounts to a defensive wall. But, on the other hand, there is no lack of corroboratory facts and traditions. H. C. T.—[For a full discussion of this interesting question, see "Kadesh-Barnea," pp. 44-58, and Sunday-school Times, May 14th, 1887.] Journey to Marah; Murmuring of Israel; Sweetening of the Waters (verses 22-26). 22. Three days. The distance between Ayun Musa and Hawara, the first spot where any water is found on the route, is thirty-three geographical miles. Cook.—With such a host, encumbered as they were with women and children, and flocks and herds, the distance of a day's march cannot have averaged more than twelve miles. How striking to find that even now a journey of about thirty-five miles has to be made before water is reached, and then that the water is bitter and unwholesome, as were the waters of Marah! Holland. 23. The place of encampment at MARAH has been almost universally recognized, since the time of Burckhardt, as identical with the well (Ain) Hawara, which had never been mentioned before. It is situated at a distance of fifteen or sixteen hours' journey from the wells of Moses—a distance which answers admirably to the three days' journey of the Israelites. The country between is a sandy desert, entirely destitute of water. The water of the Hawara well is impregnated with alum and salt, and more bitter than any other water that is met with in the ordinary routes of the peninsula. The basin, whose white rocky substance has evidently been formed in the course of time by a precipitate from the water, is said by Robinson to be six or eight feet across, while the water is about two feet deep. K.—The soil throughout this part of the country, being strongly impregnated with natron, produces none but bitter or brackish water; and the first of these springs with which we meet, Ain Hawara, is reached on the third day of our desert journey to Sinai. Palmer. The heat continued oppressive till we reached Hawara. We did not wonder that the Israelites, who passed along here perhaps a month later in the season, after their long, hot, and dreary march, and their fresh recollections of the water of the Nile, were dreadfully discouraged when they reached Marah and found no good water. This fountain varies somewhat from time to time in the surroundings and in the quality of the water. At times, probably when the flow is very copious after rains, the water is drinkable, but statedly it is disagreeable, and sometimes even nauseous. The palm-bushes near it are the first that the traveller encounters after leaving Ayun Musa. In favor of this place as the Marah of the Scriptures, there are the distances from Ayun Musa (a fair "three days' journey" for such a company), the fact that it is the first water lying directly on their track, and the expectation naturally awakened by the palm-bush indications, the quality of the water itself, still presented and still recognized, the correspondence of the next station, Elim, and perhaps we may add the not unsuitable camping-ground a little beyond the place. S. C. B. 24-26. The people, tormented with thirst, murmured against Moses, who, at the command of God, cast a certain tree into the waters which made them sweet. This was the first great trial of their patience; and God who had healed the waters, promised to deliver them from all the diseases of Egypt, if they would obey him, and confirmed the promise by the name of "Jehovah the Healer." P. S.—Here is the first handsel that God gives them in their voyage to the Land of Promise—thirst and bitterness. Satan gives us pleasant entrances into his ways, and reserves the bitterness for the end: God inures us to our worst at first, and sweetens our conclusion with pleasure. The same God that would not lead Israel through the Philistines' land lest they should shrink at the sight of war, now leads them through the wilderness, and fears not to try their patience with bitter potions. If he had not loved them, the Egyptian furnace or sword had prevented their thirst, or that sea whereof their enemies drunk dead; and yet see how he diets them. Never any have had so bitter draughts upon earth as those he loves best; the palate is an ill judge of the favors of God. Bp. H. To realize their suffering, to have an adequate idea of it, we should need to be put in their situation, beneath a burning sun, a cloudless sky, surrounded by the bare, dry, gray, shining desert. This seemed indeed a deplorable commencement of their journey. They thought when God had brought them safely through the Red Sea, that that was the way in which he would cause them to triumph continually. They knew very little of themselves, still less of God. They knew very little of God's methods of discipline, very little of their own need of that discipline. They could sing God's praises on occasion of a great deliverance, provided Moses would prepare an ode for them. But their obligations to God and their dependence upon him they had scarcely begun to realize. All the discipline of faith they were yet to experience. And therefore, after the first triumph, after God had brought them safely out of Egypt, and across the Red Sea, their first experience was trial and disappointment. Cheever. 24. These Israelites, instead of praying, murmur; instead of praying to God, murmur against Moses What hath the righteous done? He made not either the wilderness dry or the waters bitter; yea, if his conduct were the matter, what one foot went he before them without God? The pillar led them, and not he; yet Moses is murmured at. Never any prince so merited of a people. He thrusts himself upon the pikes of Pharaoh's tyranny. He brought them from a bondage worse than death. His rod divided the sea, and shared life to them, death to their pursuers. Who would not have thought these men so obliged to Moses, that no death could have opened their mouths or raised their hands against him? Moses took not on him their provision but their deliverance. He was in the same want of water with them, in the same distaste of bitterness, and yet they say to him, "What shall we drink?" Bp. H. Never once during his twelve months of conflict with the power of Pharaoh had the faith or courage of Moses quailed. Contemned, cajoled, threatened, spurned from the royal presence, he had never faltered. And now his triumph over Egypt was complete. But the far greater difficulties of his task had yet to begin. As he had learned forty years before, to crush the oppressor is easier than to discipline and educate the oppressed. The very people who but now were singing the praises of Jehovah, and feeling as though the Promised Land was already in their grasp, were three days later "murmuring against Moses" because the waters of the wilderness were bitter. J. P. N. 25. What course doth Moses now take? That which they should have done and did not: they cried not more fervently to him than he to God: if he were their leader, God was his; that which they unjustly required of him, he justly requires of God, that could do it; he knew whence to look for redress of all complaints; this was not his charge, but his Maker's, who was able to maintain his own act. It is to thee, O God, that we must pour out our hearts, who only canst make our bitter waters sweet. Bp. H.—Ye who are bravely battling for the right, the pure, the benevolent, whether it be in the sweeping out of corruption from political offices, or in the closing of those pestilential houses which are feeding the intemperance of our streets, or in the maintenance in the churches of the faith once delivered to the saints—take heart of grace from Moses here. Go with your causes to the Lord, and be sure that they who are on his side are always in the end victorious. W. M. T. He cried unto the Lord. Moses was not only their leader, but also their mediator. Of prayer and dependence on the Almighty, the great mass of the Israelites had little knowledge at this time. Moses, therefore, had much to bear from their weakness; and the merciful Lord was long-suffering. A. C.—The hand of faith never knocked at heaven in vain: no sooner hath Moses shown his grievance than God shows him the remedy; yet an unlikely one, that it might be miraculous. He that made the waters could have given them any savor; the same hand that created them might have immediately changed them. But Almighty Power still works by means; and the glory of Omnipotence is manifested by the improbability of the means which He employs. Elisha with salt, Moses with wood, shall sweeten the bitter waters. Let no man despise the means, when he knows the Author. Bp. II. The water is bitter—so bitter as to be loathsome even to their intense agony of thirst. Pity them; but judge them not too severely if, in that awful moment of disappointed hope, with the waters of Marah before their faces and the waters of the Nile before their thoughts, they did murmur, they did complain that they had been brought from unfailing waters to perish in that thirsty desolation. They should have trusted in God. They had been rescued from more imminent danger; and it was no arm of flesh, but the sacred pillar of cloud, which had indicated their way, and brought them to that place. They should have prayed to their Divine Protector to supply their wants, as he was well able to do; and although there is much in the real misery they suffered to extenuate this offence, their forgetfulness and neglect was most blameworthy. Yet, in consideration of their sufferings, God himself excused them in this more readily than man has done. It will be seen in the sacred record that he dealt tenderly with them. He did not, as on other occasions, when they sinned in like manner without the like excuse, reprove them; but when Moses cried to him for help, he, in the tenderness of his great pity, at once healed the waters, and made them sweet and salutary. Kit. God sends trial for the purpose of teaching faith, and when that is somewhat accomplished, his wisdom and love are glad to bestow blessings. It was infinitely better to have bitter water with God's healing, than the best of water without God. The very trials and disappointments of a Christian, if God comes with them, are better than all the blessings of the worldling. It was better to have the disappointment at first, and God's interposition afterward, than to have found a sweet fountain at once. Cheever.—Of all gifts, Christ is the sweetest gift. As the tree "sweetened the bitter waters," so this gift, the Lord Jesus, sweetens all other gifts that are bestowed upon the sons of men. He turns every bitter into sweet, and makes the sweet more sweet. Brooks. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. The "statute," or principle, and "the ordinance," or right, was this, that in all seasons of need and seeming impossibility the Lord would send deliverance straight from above, and that Israel might expect this during their wilderness journey. This "statute" is, for all times, the principle of God's guidance, and this "ordinance" the right or privilege of our heavenly citizenship. But he also ever "proves" us by this, that the enjoyment of our right and privilege is made to depend upon a constant exercise of faith. A. E. 26. The scriptural record expressly describes the event at Marah under the aspect of a trial. They had left Egypt, with its abundance of sweet and wholesome water, for the purpose of escaping from slavery; but the desert, the place of freedom, the asylum of safety, threatened them with death from exhaustion. Then they murmured against Moses; and to murmur against Moses was, in fact, to murmur against Jehovah. How ungrateful and unbelieving, and yet how natural! But this was just the intention of the trial. The unholy, natural root of the heart was to be laid bare, that it might be healed and sanctified by the discipline and mercy of God; it was necessary that the murmuring should be heard, in order that it might be brought to shame, and counteracted by the mercy and faithfulness of God. This really occurred: the bond by which Israel was united to his God was thus drawn closer and knit more firmly; and, as a seal thereof, God gave the people on this occasion "a statute and an ordinance," and said: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and do that which is right in his sight, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am Jehovah, thy Physician." Thus the difference which Jehovah had already made in Egypt between Israel and the Egyptians was to be still perpetuated so long as Israel would maintain its own distinction from the heathen, as the people of God, by obedience to Jehovah's will. K.—The prophet Jeremiah, a thousand years afterward, referred to it to show, that from the very earliest period of Israel's covenant relation to God, their sacrifices had been held as of no account compared with obedience (Jer. 7: 22, 23), "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burntofferings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." Nor is it less important for us at this day to be assured that God will deal with us according as we demean ourselves toward to him. The retribution may not indeed be now so visibly marked by outward signals, but it will be no less real in secret visitations upon the spirit, in the conscious well or ill being of the inner man. And in many cases the frown or the smile of God will be evident in the dispensations of his Providence. Bush. God taught his people by actions, as well as words. This entrance showed them their whole journey; wherein they should taste of much bitterness, but at last, through the mercy of God, sweetened with comfort. Bp. II.—Two great objects God had in view: first to show the people themselves, and next to show them himself. Neither of these lessons can be taught at a sitting. It is only by degrees that we learn how poor and weak and helpless we are; and how great and loving and helpful God is; and so we need not wonder that, with a people so slow to learn, the lesson should extend over forty years. But though it takes a long time to teach it practically, we can see it very readily in a picture; and it is painted there in characters quite large and striking, on this Marah page of Israel's history. What had become of that splendid faith in God which found expression in the Red Sea song? Why did it never occur to these people that he who had opened a way through the sea could very easily provide for them in the desert? The truth is, that while faith is very easy after a great deliverance, it is exceeding hard before it. When our hearts are filled with gratitude to God at a time when there is nothing to try us, let us not build too much upon it as an evidence of Christian character, for it may not be so certain after all whether it is God or self we are in love with. The test will be when sorrow comes, when you are thirsty, and, stooping down to drink, you find the waters bitter—then if you can still praise God, and trust his love and power, you prove yourself a disciple indeed. But with many the time of trial is a time of humiliating disclosures of weakness and faithlessness, as it was in the case of Israel so lately triumphant, but whose very first trouble was too much for them. But God does not leave his people thus. Having taught them the sad lesson of what they are, he presently comforts them by showing them what he is. As soon as they cried to him he found (how easily) a way to make the bitter waters sweet, and thus made himself known as Jehovah the Healer (verse 26). He had already fully revealed himself as Jehovah the Saviour, their great Deliverer from Egyptian bondage. His work as the healer of his people follows next in order. "Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." The Marah "statute and ordinance" is the first trace of Law in God's dealing with his people. Up to this time it has been all Gospel. They have had simply to "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Not a word has been said to them about "doing that which is right in his sight," and "keeping his statutes," till now. Thus we find that the order of the New Testament is also the order of the Old. It is not, "obey and be saved," but "be saved and obey." It is not, "obey in order that you may be saved," but "obey because you have been saved." There had been certain acts of obedience, of course; but these were all in the way of accepting a salvation already provided, as for instance when they killed the lamb and sprinkled the blood, which was simply their acceptance of the atonement provided by the Lord; or again, when at the word of the Lord they walked through the sea; but up till this time there is not a single intimation of good deeds as a condition of blessing. God did not give them his Law in Egypt and tell them if they kept it he would bring them out. No: he first brings them out, and then says, "Keep my Law." J. M. G. Elim, with its Twelve Springs and Seventy Palms. Ex. 15:27; Nu. 33:9. Wady Gharandel may be safely identified with Elim. The whole desert is almost absolutely bare and barren, but Wady Gharandel is fringed with trees and shrubs, forming a charming oasis. Here are the stunted palms, with their hairy trunks and dishevelled branches. Here, too, are the feathery tamarisks, with gnarled boughs, their leaves dripping with what the Arabs call manna; and here is the acacia, with its gray foliage and bright blossoms, tangled by its desert-growth into a thicket. Pleasant is the acacia to the sight wearied by the desert-glare; but it has a higher and holier interest, as the tree of the "Burning Bush" and the "shittim-wood" of the tabernacle. J. L. P.—The Wady Gharandel is one of the most fertile valleys in the desert. It descends from the east along the base of a ridge of limestone fully two thousand feet in elevation. To the west, bordering the sea, was the corresponding limestone ridge of Jebel Hamman, at the base of which breaks forth the warm springs of the Hamman Faroun. Hull. Just below the point where the road crosses [Wady Gharandel], several water holes are found, which have been frequently described. But it is not generally known how large a supply of water is to be found about two miles lower down the wady. A stream here gradually oozes out from the bed of the wady, and soon forms considerable pools of water, which are overgrown with rushes, and affords a favorite resort for wild ducks and other birds. An abundant supply of water is to be found here during the whole year. The banks of the stream and dry pools from which the water has evaporated are often covered with a white deposit of natron, and the standing water is brackish and unwholesome; but when running briskly and freshly drawn, it is very drinkable, and the traveller's water-skins are generally filled here on his way to and from the south. The lower portions of Wady Gharandel are well clothed with tamarisks and palms. Hollond. —A very large area around was enclosed by a sheltering circle of hills, perhaps sixty feet high; and as we looked back upon the place on leaving it, we could not help thinking what an admirable and inviting spot for a large encampment. The water we found to be excellent—as good as the Nile water. And nowhere on the peninsula except at Wady Feiran did we find it so copious. Nearly every traveller and scholar from the time of Burckhardt have recognized this as the Elim of the Bible, where were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm-trees. The relative situation, next to Marah and a very short march from it, the abundant water and the trees, and all the peculiarly marked and inviting features of the place, make the supposition in the highest degree credible, and render it even improbable that it should not have been occupied as a camping-place. S. C. B. This refreshing valley may be regarded as the first resting place of the sons of Israel after their departure from Egypt. Here, accordingly, they remained for the space of three weeks (16 : 1), during which they had leisure to accommodate themselves in some measure to desert life and to the habits of freedom and independence. M. Elim presents the same contrast to Marah as the temptation on the part of God to the fruit of that temptation, or as the state of heart evinced by the murmuring people to the loving-kindness and mercy of Jehovah. Marah was the representative of the desert, so far as it was the scene of trial and discipline; Elim, so far as it was the place in which a covenant was made with God, and his gracious guidance was enjoyed. Elim was a place expressly prepared for Israel, for it bore the characteristic mark of the nation, in the number of its wells and palm-trees; there was a well for every tribe ready to refresh both man and beast, and the shade of a palm-tree for the tent of every one of the elders of the people (ch. 24 : 9). K. Their bitter disappointment at first, and God's merciful interposition, had begun to teach them that everything of good must come from God. They were beginning to learn this great lesson of faith; and now these twelve wells and seventy palm-trees were from him also; and his previous discipline with them made them feel this. It is one lesson of faith, perhaps the latest learned, and also it is one of the greatest proofs of faith, to receive our daily mercies as from God. This is the life of faith amid sense. What are our daily mercies but daily miracles, daily and remarkable interpositions of God's mercy, preventing the ordinary course of nature? It is quite out of the course of nature for a rebellious race to receive mercies, and it is only by God's interposition in Christ that we do receive them; a greater miracle by far than when God interposed to heal the fountain in the desert. Justice to the full would be the course of nature, but the supernatural cross intervenes, and miracles of mercy are wrought for us. Our life is a perpetual miracle. It is a proof of faith to feel this, and it is a blessed life of faith to live thus upon God. Cheever. Is there ever a Marah without an Elim near it, if only we follow on in the way the Lord marks out for us through the wilderness? The notice of Elim occupies less than four lines, while there are as many verses in the record of Marah, and a whole chapter following about the Wilderness of Sin; and we are apt to draw the hasty inference that the bitter experiences were the rule, and the delightful ones the exception. And so it often seems in the checkered life of the tried disciple of the Lord. But look again. The bitter time at Marah was quite short, though it occupies a great deal of space in the history. These four verses tell the story probably of as many hours or less. But the four lines about Elim are the story of three weeks, during which "they encamped there by the waters." When troubles come, the time seems long; when troubles have gone, the time seems short; and so many are apt to think that they are hardly dealt with, whereas if they would look more carefully into the Lord's dealings with them, they might find that they have far more to be thankful for than to grieve over. Hours at Marah are followed by weeks at Elim. J. M. G. No. 33 : 10. Encampment by the Red Sea. After passing the Wady Tayibeh, the route descends through a defile on to a beautiful pebbly beach, the ENCAMPMENT BY THE RED SEA, which is mentioned in Numbers next to Elim, but is omitted in Exodus. Here the Israelites had their last view of the Red Sea and the shores of Egypt. P. S.—The plain at the mouth of Wady Tayibeh has been suggested as the probable site of the Encampment by the Red Sea. As from a comparison of the various routes we (of the Ordnance Survey) were unanimously of opinion that the Israelites must have taken the lower route by the sea-shore, and as the Wady Tayibeh is the only valley by which they could have descended to the sea-shore after crossing Wady Gharandel, we acquiesced in this identification. Palmer. (See map, Sec. 98.) If they proceeded south from the Wady Gharandel or the Wady Useit, they cannot have reached the Red Sea by any other route than through the Wady Tayibeh; for there is a range of mountains at the south of the Wady Useit which approaches so nearly to the sea as to render it impossible to pass along the shore. The Israelites must therefore have gone round these mountains. The next valley, the Wady Thal, which passes through the mountains to the sea merely as a narrow gorge, must also have been crossed. They then arrived at Wady Shebekeh, from which the Wady Tayibeh branches off toward the east and leads to the sea-shore. "We reached," says Strauss (p. 142), "the broad and beautiful valley of Tayibeh, which is covered with tamarisks and fresh herbage. The valley winds about between steep rocks, and frequently appears to lead into an enclosure from which there is no outlet, until suddenly an opening is discovered at the side. After travelling about eight hours from Gharandel, we arrived once more at the Red Sea (near Ras Zelimeh). To the north the mountains and rocks came close upon the sea, but toward the south a plain opened before us, which was bounded on the east by wild and rugged rocky formations." This was undoubtedly the station of the children of Israel by the Red Sea. The sandy plain, on which there is a great quantity of vegetation, runs along by the sea-shore for three or four miles, and is about three quarters of a mile in breadth; but after this the rocky wall approaches so nearly to the sea, that it is only at the ebb that there is any road at all. K. Suddenly the cliffs opened, and before us lay the Red Sea, beyond which was a range of mountains, the line of which was broken by peaks shooting up here and there, like the cliffs of Capri or the islands of the Greek Archipelago. It was now five o'clock, and the sun was sinking in the west, so that every point of that long serrated ridge stood up sharp and clear against the sky. Here was a scene which no artist could transfer to canvas. We had before us at once the mountains and the sea, and mountains on both sides of the sea. Field.—Turning the corner at the end of the valley, our tents stood on the left, the Red Sea glistened and rippled in front, and a spacious area lay spread out between the hillside and the water's edge. It was a sandy plain, extending some four or five miles along the shore, shut in by a range of wild cliffs, and terminated by a high promontory on the north, and a rocky wall approaching close to the sea on the south. There is scarcely room for doubt that here was the "Encampment by the Sea," and that down this very valley of Tayibeh the Israelites had travelled before us. Here was room for a great camp. S. C. B. In a host like that of the Israelites, consisting of more than two millions of people, with many flocks, it can hardly be supposed that they all marched in one body. More probably the stations, as enumerated, refer rather to the headquarters of Moses and the elders, with a portion of the people, who kept near them; while other portions preceded or followed them at various distances, as the convenience of water and pasturage might dictate. Robinson.  Distance from the Wells of Moses to the Convent 153 Miles. Camel's Journey a day 20 to 25 Miles. Route Camps Ras Mohammed Nu. 33 11 And they journeyed from the Red Sea, and pitched in the wilderness of Sin. Ex. 16 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after 2 their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the chil 3 dren of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness : and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat bread to the full ; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly 4 with hunger. Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you ; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, 5 that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it 6 shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out 7 from the land of Egypt : and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD ; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD : and what are we, that 8 ye murmur against us ? And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full ; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him : and what are we ? your 9 murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD : 10 for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, 11 and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. And the LORD spake 12 unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel ; speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled 13 with bread ; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp : and in the morning the 14 dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the 15 ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it ? for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, It is the bread which 16 the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating ; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them which are in his tent. 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when 18 they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack ; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said unto them, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding 20 ing they hearkened not unto Moses ; but some of them left of it until the morning, 21 and it bred worms, and stank : and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating : and when the sun waxed 22 hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one : and all the rulers of the congregation came 23 and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath spoken, To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto the LORD : bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that which ye will seethe ; and all that remaineth over lay up for 24 you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses 25 bade : and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day ; for to-day is a sabbath unto the LORD : to-day ye shall not find it 26 in the field. Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in 27 it there shall be none. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out 28 some of the people for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto 29 Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days ; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place 30 on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. And the house of 31 Israel called the name thereof Manna : and it was like coriander seed, white ; and 32 the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept for your genera- tions ; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I 33 brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for 34 your generations. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the 35 Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited ; they did eat the manna, until they came unto 36 the borders of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. 1. The next station is the Wilderness of Sin, which we would identify with El Markha, an extensive plain on the coast, open, level, covered in parts with slight vegetation, and well suited for a large encampment. Wilson.—South of the Encampment by the Sea (at the mouth of Wady Tayibeh) the mountains approach nearer to the sea, but sufficient space is left for a road along the shore for several miles until the mountains again recede and the plain of El Markha is reached. There can be little doubt that this plain marks the site of the Wilderness of Sin, where the children of Israel made a long halt, and where God gave them bread from heaven, and they were fed with manna and quails. This plain extends as far south as Wady Feiran, a distance of about twenty-five miles. Like most of the coast plains, it is somewhat barren now ; still, it is not without some vegetation, and probably in former days, when the rainfall was larger, and the drainage from the mountains descended gradually, instead of sweeping every thing before it by a flood as at the present time, it would have afforded excellent pasturage. Holland. (See map, Sec. 98.) Fifteenth day of second month. When precisely one month had passed since their departure out of Egypt (compare Nu. 33 : 3), they murmured again, this time for want of bread. It was by means of such privations and trials that God was testing the fidelity of his people, and imparting to them a better acquaintance with himself, with the resources at his command, and of his readiness to employ them for their benefit, and thus training them to a more devoted attachment to his service (De. 8 : 15, 16). That faith in God which can trust him in the midst of plenty and prosperity, but which grows faint and fails in the time of privation and peril, has great need of being strengthened—if, indeed, it deserves the name of faith. One great object of God's dealings with his children in this world is the same that he had in view in the discipline of the wilderness—namely, to train them to the exercise of faith in him, and to develop and strengthen that faith. W. H. G. 3. The stores of wheat, flour, and food of various kinds, brought from Egypt, which must have been enormous to have lasted so long, began to fail, in spite of any additions which may have been procured at their last station. Water had failed them before, and the intolerable agonies of thirst had raised murmurs against Moses. Famine now threatened, and in the presence of this new fear, the miracles of the past were forgotten. Geikie. Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord. And by whose hand would they die if they perished by famine? God carried them forth ; God restrained his creatures from them ; and while they are ready to die thus, they cry, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord!" It is the folly of men that in immediate judgments they can see God's hand, not in those whose second causes are sensible ; whereas God holds himself equally interested in all, challenging that there is no evil in the city but from him (see Amos 3 : 6). It is but one hand and many instruments that God strikes us with. It is our want of faith that in visible means we "see" not "HIM that is invisible." Bp. H. Their faith was sorely tried. A military man who has witnessed the difficulty of providing a regular supply of victuals even in a peopled country for a large body of men, whether by purchase or by enforced contribution, can better than any other person appreciate the faith required from Moses when he undertook to lead into "the waste howling wilderness," where no provisions existed or could be obtained by force or purchase, a people whose numbers exceeded by threefold the largest army which the ambition or pride of man ever brought together. We have often had occasion to reflect upon this fact, and have always returned to it with new and increased astonishment at the "largeness of heart" it is possible for God to bestow on man—in that he gave such incredible capacity of faith to Moses as enabled him to believe that the immense host which he had led from amid the fairness of Egypt would, by the power of God's bountiful right hand, be sustained in the wilderness. Kit. We sat by the flesh pots, and we did eat bread to the full. What vivid likenesses we still have of those old flesh pots! For what the flesh pots were to the complaining Hebrews on their way to Canaan, the sweets of sin are to men yet, when the Good Spirit is striving to get us out of our low estate into "the liberty of the children of God." It is the sheerest assumption and shallowest sing-song that we hear from those who speak of man's natural aspiration for moral excellence. Man has no such natural aspiration. From the lowest grade of life to the loftiest that we know on the planet—that is, from a plant to a saint—there is always a tendency to deteriorate and retrograde. Never in history was it known that a barbarous tribe or nation reformed itself from within, so as to recover itself to moral excellence and honor. What arrant nonsense it is to talk of mankind self-evolving from vice to virtue; for not only is such a thing unknown, but, by the flesh pots of Egypt, this is known: that when the loving Father in heaven by a mighty hand begins to bring men out of the bondage of sin, how they hunger to get back again! Withrow. 4. I will rain bread from heaven. God hears the murmurings of Israel and is grieved with this generation, and yet continues his care of them, as the tender parent of the froward child. He promises them a speedy, sufficient, and constant supply. H.—To educate their faith they were suffered to endure this distress. It had been as easy for God to anticipate and prevent their wants as to satisfy them when they were expressed. But so he deals not with the children to whom he is teaching the great lessons of his school, and God dealt with them as with his children. Kit.—God does not take the rod to his whimpering children, but rather tries to win them by patience, and to shame their unbelief by his swift and overabundant answers to their complaints. When he must, he punishes; but when he can, he complies. Faith is the condition of our receiving his highest gifts; but even unbelief touches his heart with pity, and what he can give to it, he does, if it may be melted into trust. The farther men stray from him, the more tender and penetrating his recalling voice. We multiply transgressions, he multiplies mercies. A. M. Gather a day's portion every day. He would not bestow a large supply at once, which they might store up for future use; but he would supply their daily wants day by day, thus keeping them mindful of their constant dependence—a dependence which is just as real in those who have laid by the largest stores, though it may not be so obvious nor so keenly felt. God had another design in granting them their supplies only as they were needed. This is stated in the next clause—That I may prove them, whether they will walk in my Law, or no. The regulations given respecting the manna afforded tests of their obedience. W. H. G.—To prove them, whether they would follow him implicitly, depending upon, and taking such provision as he sent, and under the conditions that he dispensed it, God would now miraculously supply their wants. Bread and meat would be given them, both directly sent from God, yet both so given that while unbelief was inexcusable, it should still be possible. Alike in the "rain of bread from heaven," in the ordinance of its ingathering, and in the Sabbath law of its sanctified use, did God prove Israel—even as he now proves us: whether we will "walk in his Law, or no." A. E. 5. They shall gather twice as much as on ordinary days, as it is explained in verse 22. It was to obviate the necessity of their going out to seek their food on the seventh day, or the Sabbath, and is evidence that the Sabbath was observed, and the law of the Sabbath was known, before the Ten Commandments were proclaimed from the summit of Sinai. These declarations of the Lord to Moses are only summarily stated; further particulars are left to be gathered from Moses' repetition of them to the people in the verses that follow. 6. Then shall ye know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall have an evidence of his presence and power, proving that it is not we, Moses and Aaron, who have brought you forth into this wilderness (verse 3), but Jehovah himself. W. H. G.—After all the miracles they had seen, they appear still to suppose that their being brought out of Egypt was the work of Moses and Aaron; for though the miracles they had already seen were convincing for the time, yet as soon as they had passed by they relapsed into their former infidelity. God therefore saw it necessary to give them a daily miracle, in the fall of the manna, that they might have the proof of his Divine interposition constantly before their eyes. Thus they knew that Jehovah had brought them out, and that it was not the act of Moses and Aaron. A. C. 9. To show the more clearly that these dealings were from the Lord, they were bidden "come near before Jehovah," and "behold the glory of Jehovah," as it "appeared in the cloud." That Presence ought to have prevented their murmuring, or rather changed it into prayer and praise. And so it always is that before God supplies our wants he shows us that his presence had been near, and he reveals his glory. That Presence is in itself sufficient; for no good thing shall be wanting to them that trust in him. A. E. 10. While Aaron was speaking the attention of the people was attracted toward the desert, where the glory of Jehovah flashed out from the cloud with majestic brilliancy, to attest the truth of the words of reproof and promise which were spoken by his servants. K.—It enhances our wonder that the glory of the Lord should be seen by the children of Israel at or about the time of their murmurings, and that such repeated manifestations should have thus been thrown away upon them—as if the constancy of miracles made them cease to be miraculous, or at least cease to have the effect of miracles. Another and stupendous miracle of forty years' standing was now to commence; and this to make them know—what by this time they might have well known—that he, under whose guidance they were, was the Lord their God. T. C. 11,12. Here is the Lord's definite promise of flesh at even and of bread in the morning, to which Moses had referred in verses 6-8. 13-15. Following the promise is the record of fulfilment, by the quails that covered the camp at even, and the manna that lay upon the face of the wilderness when the dew was gone up in the morning. B. 13. As evening gathered around the camp, the air became darkened. An extraordinary flight of quails, such as at that season of the year passes northward from the warmer regions of the interior, was over the camp. The miraculousness chiefly consisted in the extraordinary number, the seasonable arrival, and the peculiar circumstances under which these quails came. A. E.—God gave quails to his people twice: once, on this occasion, a short time after they had passed the Red Sea; and a second time at the encampment called Kibroth-kathavah, or the graves of lust. Both of these happened in the spring, when the quails pass from Asia into Europe. Then they are found in great quantities on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. God, by a wind, drove them within and about the camp of Israel; and in this the miracle consists that they were brought so seasonably to the place, and in so great numbers, as to suffice two or three millions of persons longer than a month. Calmet. It was not of any natural instinct, but from the overruling power of their Creator, that these quails came to the desert. Needs must they come whom God brings. His hand is in all the motions of his meanest creatures. Not only we, but they move in him. As not many quails, so not one sparrow falls without him: how much more are the actions of his best creature, man, directed by his providence! Who can distrust the provision of the great Housekeeper of the world, when he sees how he can furnish his tables at pleasure? God delights to have us live in a continual dependence upon his providence, and each day renew the acts of our faith and thankfulness. Bp. H. 14. The dew is the gift of heaven, which fertilizes the ground and causes it to bring forth bread. But in the desert the dew can produce no effect, because there is nothing sown. If, then, notwithstanding this, the dew still brought them bread, it was truly the bread of heaven. Bwn.—God gives them meat of kings and bread of angels. Never prince was so served in his greatest pomp as these rebellious Israelites in the wilderness. God loves to over-deserve of men, and to exceed not only their sins, but their very desires, in mercy. How good shall we find him to those that please him, since he is so gracious to offenders! Bp. H. 15. A small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground. The people did not comprehend it, and asked one another, "What is this?" The Hebrew of which being MAN-HU, caused the name of MANNA to be given to it. Moses was able to answer the question. He told them that this was the substance which, in the place of bread, God destined for their substantial food—their staff of life. It was to fall every morning, except on the Sabbath day; but on the day preceding that a double quantity would fall, as a supply for the two days. Kit.—The whole of the gift was a continual training, and therefore a continual test, for faith. God willed to let his gifts come in this hand-to-mouth fashion, though he could have provided at once what would have obviously lasted them all their wilderness life, in order that they might be habituated to cling to him, and that their daily bread might be doubly for their nourishment, feeding their bodies and strengthening that faith which, to them as to us, is the condition of all blessedness. God lets our blessings, too, trickle to us drop by drop, instead of pouring them in a flood all at once upon us, for the same reason. A. M. 18. Keep ever before you a firm intention of serving God always and with your whole heart, and then “take no thought for the morrow;” only strive to do your very best “to-day.” When to-morrow arrives, it will have become “to-day,” and then it will be time enough to take thought for it. In all such matters we must have absolute trust and confidence in God: we must gather our provision of manna for the day that is passing, no more; never doubting but that God will send it again to-morrow, and the next day, and as long as we need it. Francis de Sales.—Happiness, like manna, is to be gathered in the grains and enjoyed every day; it will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor need we go out of ourselves, nor into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from heaven, at our very doors, or rather within them. An. Why did each receive but three quarts a day? Might not a nutritious and delicious kind of food like this be stored, and become an article of merchandise and a source of wealth? No, the Edenic law was not merely a penalty, but a method of mercy, of life, and health. It required labor. But there is a profounder reason for the prayer “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are to get out of to-day all we can, and trust God for to-morrow. We possess only what we can assimilate, so the miracle does no more than to provide for one day. You say that you possess property. No, another may more truly possess it. I who tarry by your garden, or the beggar who feasts upon its beauty with appreciating and admiring eyes gets more out of it than you. You hurry away to business early in the morning, and are gone till dark, too burdened, it may be, to give it a glance. So with your library or pictures. He possesses who assimilates. If your wealth makes you anxious, or leads you to dissipation, then you possess not wealth, but anxiety and disease. Braislin. 16-26. With regard to the origin, the appearance, and the nature of the manna, the Bible contains the following particulars: Jehovah rained it from heaven (verse 4); when the dew fell by night upon the camp, the manna fell upon it (Nu. 11:9); when the dew had ascended, it lay upon the surface of the desert, fine, and like scales, as fine as the hoar frost upon the earth (verse 14); it was like white coriander seed, and tasted like cake and honey (verse 31). When the heat of the sun became great, it melted (verse 21), and therefore had to be gathered early in the morning. It is repeatedly stated most emphatically that it supplied the place of bread. In Nu. 11:7 it is compared to coriander seed, and its appearance to that of the (bright, transparent) bdellium; the people ground it in mills or crushed it in mortars, and then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it, the flavor of which resembled the (mild) flavor of oil-cakes. If it was kept till the morning, it bred worms (verse 20). We may form some idea of the quantity of manna collected, if we consider that, according to verse 16 sqq., a nomer full (not less than a pound) was gathered daily (at least in the early part of the sojourn in the desert) for every member of the congregation, and that it is stated in verse 35 that the children of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they arrived at the border of Canaan, the land in which they were to dwell. K. The manna did not appear in the wilderness before the hour assigned by Moses in obedience to God’s command. No change of weather prevented the manna from dropping in a regular measure; neither frost, nor rain, nor heat, nor winter, nor summer, interrupted the course of its distillation. A quantity sufficient for the immense multitude was found every day, when they took up an omer for every individual. Again, on the sixth day, the quantity was doubled, that they might lay by a second omer for their Sabbath food. If they preserved any beyond their due allowance, it was subject to putrefaction, whereas on the Sabbath day the second portion remained good. Wherever they were, this blessing of God always accompanied them, while the neighboring nations lived on corn, and the manna was only known in their camp. As soon as they entered a fruitful and corn-growing country, the manna ceased. That portion, which Moses was commanded to lay up in a vessel, did not grow corrupt. Let these points be well weighed, and the miracle will be more than sufficiently conspicuous. Calv. In certain parts of Arabia, and especially in that part which lies around Mount Sinai, a substance has been always found very much resembling this manna, and also bearing its name—the juice or gum of a kind of tamarisk-tree, which grows in that region, called tarfa, oozing out chiefly by night in the month of June, and collected before sunrise by the natives. Such a fact was deemed perfectly sufficient to entitle modern rationalists to conclude that there was no miracle in the matter, and that the Israelites merely collected and used a natural production of the region where they sojourned for a period. But even supposing the substance called manna to have been in both cases precisely the same, there was still ample room for the exertion of miraculous power in regard to the quantity; for the entire produce of the manna found in the Arabian peninsula, even in the most fruitful years, does not exceed seven hundred pounds, which, on the most moderate calculation, could not have furnished even the thousandth part necessary for one day's supply to the host of Israel! Besides the enormous disproportion, however, in regard to quantity, there were other things belonging to the manna of Scripture which clearly distinguished it from that found by naturalists—especially its falling with the dew, and on the ground as well as on plants; its consistence, rendering it capable of being used for bread, while the natural is rather a substitute for honey; its corrupting, if kept beyond a day; and its coming in double quantities on the sixth day, and not falling at all on the seventh. If these properties, along with the immense abundance in which it was given, be not sufficient to constitute the manna of Scripture a miracle, and that of the first magnitude, it will be difficult to say where anything really miraculous is to be found. P. F. An exudation like honey, produced by insects; falling on the ground only from accident or neglect, and at present produced in sufficient quantities only to support one man for six months, has obviously but few points of similarity with the "small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground; like coriander seed, white; its taste like wafers made with honey; gathered and ground in mills, and beat in a mortar, baked in pans, and made into cakes, and its taste as the taste of fresh oil." A. P. S. —The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions which bear the name of manna have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. They are all condiments or medicines, rather than food; stimulating or purgative, rather than nutritious; they are produced only three or four months in the year, from May to August, and not all the year round; they come only in small quantities, never affording anything like fifteen million pounds a week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Israelitish camp, since each man had an omer, or three English quarts, a day, and that for forty years; they can be kept for a long time, and do not become useless in a day or two; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbath as on any other day; nor does a double quantity fall on the day preceding the Sabbath; nor would natural products cease at once and forever, as the manna is represented as ceasing in the Book of Joshua. P. S.—Knobel, a sharp scholarly rationalist, sums up the points of disagreement thus: The manna (1) comes with the cloud and dew from heaven (verses 4, 14; Nu. 11: 9); (2) falls in such enormous quantities as to supply every person of the great host with an omer a day [the modern product, says Stanley, would support but one man six months]; (3) yields every man exactly what he needs, neither more nor less; (4) falls only on six days out of seven, with a double portion on the sixth; (5) corrupts when kept from one work-day to another, but keeps perfectly over the seventh day; (6) is ground in mills and pounded in mortars, which cannot be done with the modern manna; (7) is boiled, and baked into cakes, for which the modern manna is wholly unsuitable. To which may be added, it was independent of particular localities and seasons, and continued steadily till the fortieth year; also that the modern manna, as Schubert well remarks, "contains none of the substances necessary for the daily nourishment of the animal frame," being now used only for medicinal purposes. S. C. B. It was miraculous in its origin (rained from heaven), in its quantity, in its observance of times and seasons, in its putrefaction and preservation—as rotting when kept for greed and remaining sweet when preserved for the Sabbath. It came straight from the creative will of God, and whether its name means "What is it?" or "It is a gift," it is equally true and appropriate, pointing, in the one case, to the mystery of its nature; in the other, to the love of the Giver, and in both referring it directly to the hand of God. A. M.—Clearly this was a direct supply from the hand of God: "He gave them bread from heaven to eat;" and, as Moses said afterward, it was designed to teach the people their dependence upon God for daily bread, and also "that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." J. P. T. Their meat was strange, but nothing so much as their bread. To find quails in a wilderness was unusual; but for bread to come down from heaven was yet more. They had seen quails before, though not in such number: manna was never seen till now. From this day till their settling in Canaan God wrought a perpetual miracle in this food: a miracle in the place; other bread rises up from below, this fell down from above; neither did it ever rain bread till now; yet so did this heavenly shower fall that it is confined to the camp of Israel: a miracle in the quantity; that every morning should fall enough to fill so many hundred thousand mouths: a miracle in the composition; that it was sweet like honey-cakes, round like corianders, transparent as dew: a miracle in the quality; that it melted by one heat, by another hardened: a miracle in the difference of the fall; that, as if it knew times and would teach them as well as feed them, it fell double in the even of the Sabbath; and on the Sabbath fell not: a miracle in the putrefaction and preservation; that it was full of worms when it was kept beyond the due hour for distrust; full of sweetness when it was kept a day longer for religion, yea many ages in the ark for a monument of the power and mercy of the Giver: a miracle in the continuance and ceasing; that this shower of bread followed their camp in all their removals, till they came to taste of the bread of Canaan, and then withdrew itself, as if it should have said, "Ye need no miracles now ye have means." They had the types; we have the substance. In this wilderness of the world the true manna is rained upon the tents of our hearts. He that sent the manna was the manna which he sent. He hath said, "I am the manna that came down from heaven." Behold, their whole meals were sacramental: every morsel they did eat was spiritual. Bp. H.—Like Him whom it typified, it was the only thing of the kind, the only bread from heaven which God ever gave to preserve the life of man. A. C The manna is called spiritual meat (1 Cor. 10:3), because it was typical of spiritual blessings in heavenly things; Christ himself is the true Manna, the Bread of life, of which this was a figure (John 6:49-51). The Word of God is the manna by which our souls are nourished (Matt. 4:4). The comforts of the Spirit are hidden manna (Rev. 2:17). These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and comfort of the Divine life in the soul while we are in the wilderness of this world. It is food for Israelis, for those only that follow the pillar of cloud and fire; it is to be gathered, Christ in the Word is to be applied to the soul, and the means of grace are to be used; we must every one of us gather for ourselves, and gather in the morning of our days, the morning of our opportunities, which if we let slip, it may be too late to gather. The manna they gathered must not be hoarded up, but eaten; they that have received Christ must by faith live upon him, and not receive his grace in vain; there was manna enough for all, enough for each, and none had too much; so in Christ there is a complete sufficiency, and no superfluity. But they that did eat manna hung-red again, died at last, and with many of them God was not well pleased; whereas they that feed on Christ by faith shall never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God will be forever well pleased; the Lord evermore give us this bread! H. 16-19. They were to gather it every morning (verse 16), the portion of a day in his day (verse 4). Thus they must live upon daily providence, as the fowls of the air, of whom it is said, That thou givest them they gather (Ps. 104:28); not today for to-morrow, let the morrow take thought for the things of itself. To this daily raining and gathering of manna our Saviour seems to allude when he teaches us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread. We are hereby taught: (1) Prudence and diligence in providing food convenient for ourselves and our households; what God graciously gives, we must industriously gather, with quietness working, and eating our own bread, not the bread either of idleness or deceit. God's bounty leaves room for man's duty; it did so even when manna was rained, they must not eat till they have gathered. (2) Contentment and satisfaction with a sufficiency; they must gather, every man according to his eating; enough is as good as a feast, and more than enough is as bad as a surfeit. They that have most have for themselves but food and raiment and mirth; and they that have least generally have these; so that he who gathers much has nothing over, and he who gathers little has no lack. There is not so great a disproportion between one and another, in the comforts and enjoyments of the things of this life, as there is in the property and possession of the things themselves. (3) Dependence upon Providence—"Let no man leave till morning (verse 19), but let them learn to go to bed and sleep quietly, though they have not a bit of bread in their tent, nor in all their camp, trusting that God, with the following day, will bring them their daily bread." It was surer and safer in God's storehouse than in their own, and would thence come to them sweeter and fresher. Read with this (Matt. 6:25), Take no thought for your life, etc. See here the folly of hoarding. The manna that was laid up by some (who thought themselves wiser and better managers than their neighbors, and who would provide, in case it should fail next day), putrefied and bred worms, and became good for nothing. That proves to be most wasted which is covetously and distrustfully spared. Those riches are corrupted (Jas. 5:2, 3). Think of that great power of God which fed Israel in the wilderness, and made miracles their daily bread. What cannot this God do, who prepared a table in the wilderness, and furnished it richly even for those who questioned whether he could or no? (Ps. 78:19, 20). Never was there such a market of provisions as this, where so many hundred thousand men were daily furnished, without money and without price. Never was there such an open house kept as God kept in the wilderness for forty years together. H. 20. The supply of manna came daily, and faith had to be exercised on the providence of God, that each day would bring its appointed provision; if they attempted to hoard for the morrow, their store became a mass of corruption. In like manner must the child of God pray for his soul every morning as it dawns, "Give me this day my daily bread." He can lay up no stock of grace which is to save him from the necessity of constantly repairing to the treasury of Christ; and if he begins to live upon former experiences, or to feel as if he already stood so high in the life of God that, like Peter, he can of himself confidently reckon on his superiority to temptation, his very mercies become fraught with trouble, and he is the worse rather than the better for the fulness imparted to him. His soul can be in health and prosperity only while he is every day "living by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him." P. F.—Past experience will justify a man in trusting Christ now and for the time to come, but not in trusting in his own strength, not even his strength of grace. Experience, as Henry Martyn used to say, rots on one's hands, if a man trusts to that instead of Christ; just as the manna of the Israelites bred worms if they hoarded it up for the morrow, instead of trusting in God for a new supply. This was a striking lesson of faith in the wilderness, and we too must come to Christ daily for grace trusting not in yesterday's strength of grace or in what remains over. Christ, who has supplied, must still supply it, or it will fail. So a man must say, I have nothing, can do nothing, am nothing, but in Christ. Cheever. God's principles of dealing with his Church are the same for all ages. When transacting with his people now directly for the support of the spiritual life, he must substantially re-enact what he did of old, when transacting with them directly for the support of their bodily life. And as even then there was an undercurrent of spiritual meaning and instruction running through all that was done, so the faith of the Christian now has a most legitimate and profitable exercise, when it learns from that memorable transaction in the desert the fulness of its privilege and the extent of its obligations in regard to the higher provision presented to it in the Gospel. P. F. 23-30. The manner in which the Sabbath first presents itself on the field of Israelitish history as an existing ordinance which God himself respected, in the giving of the manna, before the Law had been promulgated, is a clear proof of its prior institution. P. F.—From this passage and from verse 5 it is inferred that the seventh day was previously known to the people as a day separate from all others, and if so, it must have been observed as an ancient and primeval institution. No other account of the command (given without any special explanation), or of the conduct of the people who collected the manna, is satisfactory; thus Rosenmüller and others. It is at the same time evident that Moses took this opportunity of enforcing a strict and more solemn observance of the day. Cook. No doubt, in the oppression and darkness of Egypt, the seventh-day (Sabbath) observance had fallen into partial disuse; though even in Egypt in that era, as among the more eastern peoples, the traditional seventh-day rest seems to have lingered, and therefore the usages of Egypt may not have militated against the rest on the seventh day. However that may be, still there was need of this training to the Sabbath observance; and this ordinance of the manna was just the preparation needful for their receiving heartily the statute, "Remember the Sabbath day," when it came to them through Moses from the mount. S. R.—In all the Jewish history there never again occurred as favorable a time for imposing the Sabbath observance upon the people as at the giving of the manna. For forty years, comprising more than two thousand weeks, they were to subsist upon manna as their daily food. God was to furnish it every day; they were to gather it every day. Thus was presented the opportunity both for God to mark the day and for man to keep it. During all these two thousand weeks God gave them a double supply on the sixth day, and preserved that given on that day fresh for two days, instead of one. Two thousand Sabbaths came, but on them no manna. It was vain for them to look for it. Soon they ceased to do so altogether. What a lesson for beginners! The most stupid and the most obdurate alike learned it. Time and the world may be searched for another series of events by which it would be possible to impress the idea of a Sabbath upon the minds of the people as effectually as by this. Weston. 26. God would have the Israelites continually dependent on himself for all their supplies; but he would make them, in a certain way, workers with him. He provided the manna; they gathered and ate it. The first was God's work; the latter their own. They could not produce the manna, and God would not gather it for them. Thus the providence of God appears in such a way as to secure the co-operation of man. None fell on the Sabbath! Hence we find that the Sabbath was considered a Divine institution previously to the giving of the Mosaic Law; and that God continued to honor that day by permitting no manna to fall during its course. Whatever is earned on the Sabbath is a curse in a man's property. A. C.—When the Lord sent that double portion on the last day of the week, and none on the next, it was as much as to say, that in his providential arrangements for this world he had given only six days out of the seven for worldly labor, and that if men readily concurred in this plan they should find it to their advantage; they should find that in the long run they got as much by their six days' labor as they either needed or could profitably use, and should have, besides, their weekly day of rest, of spiritual refreshment, and bodily repose. Nor can we regard this lesson of small moment in the eye of Heaven, when we see no fewer than three miracles wrought every week for forty years to enforce it—viz., a double portion of manna on the sixth day, none on the seventh, and the preservation of the portion for the seventh from corrupting when kept beyond the usual time. P. F. 27. The outward manna fell not at all on the Sabbath; the spiritual manna, though it balks no day, yet falls double on God's day; and if we gather it not then we famish. In that true Sabbath of our glorious rest we shall forever feed of that manna which we have gathered in this even of our life. Bp. H. 28,29. See, saith he, the Lord hath given you on the sixth day the bread of two days: How long REFUSE ye to keep my commandments, and my laws? It was not blindness or ignorance, but downright perverseness; for refusing is an act of the will. They could not but see and know what the Lord had done for them; but they would not see; they had eyes, and saw not; they had ears, and heard not; because they would not. This was the character and temper of their posterity in our Saviour's time, which he so often upbraids them with. And, alas! is it not still the very spirit and temper of us all? Who is there that enjoys his double portion of the good things of this life, and yet hankers not after more? We are neither contented with the portion of time nor the provision of bread which God has been pleased to allot us for our necessary wants. And though God reserve to himself but a seventh of our time, how few are there who do not seem to think that seventh part too much? How often are we entrenching on the Lord's own day by our pursuits of the profits or pleasures of the world? Wogan. "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath" (verse 23) Not shall be, nor yet that every seventh shall be, but simply, "To-morrow is." This is clearly the language of the historian, not the legislator. It is but the familiar method of speaking of something already in existence. Besides, it does not say, thou shalt rest every seventh day from all work, but simply from manna gathering. The direction seems to have been given with exclusive reference to the regulation of manna gathering, and this very fact seems to recognize the pre-existence of the appointment, and here only made applicable to the manna. And this view agrees precisely with the after declaration, "See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath; therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days" (verse 29). Thus placing the Sabbath before the manna, and showing why the manna was doubled on the sixth, and why there would be none on the seventh, because the seventh had been previously given as a day of rest. Then let it also be observed that the expressed object of giving the manna, and especially in the manner of it, was to prove Israel, and not to institute a Sabbath. "I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my Law, or no" (verse 4). What law? and how prove them? The law was clearly the Sabbatic law, and the proof consisted in this, whether they would observe his rest, even when appearances were against them. "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord," one of those rest days appointed from the beginning; therefore, a double quantity is given. Now bake, and seethe, and prepare for to-morrow. And on the morrow he said, Eat to-day what is left from yesterday, and which is miraculously preserved, for none will be given to-day. And yet some of the people disbelieved, and went out, but found none. Hence the Lord asks, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" (Verse 28.) The whole history indicates that the manna was doubled on the sixth day because the next was the Sabbath, thus showing its previous existence; for, so far as the record goes, the manna was actually doubled before one word was said to the people about the Sabbath. If the appointment did not previously exist, would it not be a strange procedure to double the manna before the proclamation of the Law? Was the passover lamb actually slain before the people were told what was to be done? And furthermore, that the object of the whole transaction was to test Israel's obedience to a law already in existence, and not formally to enact a new one. As confirmatory of all this is the fact that Moses, in De. 5:15, clearly connects the institution with the deliverance from Egypt. The reason there assigned is the fact that they were delivered. Because they had been "delivered through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm." "Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." If the deliverance from Egypt be the secondary ground of the giving of the Sabbath, then surely the giving of the manna could not be that ground, nor yet the initiation of the ordinance. And as further confirmation of this view, we mention the fact that the Sabbath is everywhere spoken of as the property of the Lord, as appears from the expressions: "The Sabbath of the Lord thy God;" "ye shall keep my Sabbaths;" "I gave them my Sabbaths"—all showing that the Sabbath was the property of the Lord; something he had previously in his possession, and now formally given to his people. Sacy. 32. The preservation of this manna from waste and corruption was a standing miracle, and therefore the more proper memorial of this miraculous food. "Posterity shall see the bread," says God, "wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness;" see what sort of food it was, and how much each man's daily portion of it was, that it may appear they were neither kept to hard fare, nor to short allowance, and then judge between God and Israel, whether they had any cause given them to murmur, and find fault with their provisions, and whether they, and their seed after them, had not a great deal of reason gratefully to own God's goodness to them. Eaten bread must not be forgotten; God's miracles and mercies are to be had in everlasting remembrance, for our encouragement to trust in him at all times. H. 33. "An omer full of manna" was to be "laid up before Jehovah" in a "golden pot." Together with "Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant," it was afterward placed in the holiest of all, within the ark of the covenant, overshadowed by "the cherubim of glory." A. E.—How long the pot of manna was preserved in the ark of the covenant cannot be known definitely. We have the fact that the Lord directed its preservation there; and the further fact that when the ark was placed in the new temple of Solomon there was nothing in it save the two tables of stone (1 Kings 8:9). It was doubtless kept long enough to subserve all the valuable purposes of a memorial to the generations of Israel. It has been embalmed in the Christian consciousness of the Christian age by its symbolical use in the teachings of our Lord in which it represents his flesh which he gave for the life of the world—the far more real bread of life from heaven (John 6:31-35; 47-58). H. C. 35. This verse was no doubt added when Moses was revising and completing his materials for Exodus, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho (Nu. 36:13), or in the valley over against Beth-peor (De. 3:29). The sentence is evidently such as might be written by a prophet who was aware that the forty years of wilderness life were drawing to a close, and perceived the supply of manna waning to its end, according as the natural products of the land were approaching to a full satisfaction of the people's wants. M. Did eat manna forty years. The manna began to fall just thirty days after they left Egypt, and ceased the day after the pass-over which they kept in the fortieth year (Josh. 5:11, 12). Bp. Patrick.—Here the supply of manna is spoken of as continuing till the people "came to a land inhabited," or to their reaching "the borders of Canaan." In Josh. 5:12 its actual cessation is said to have taken place only when they had entered Canaan, and ate the corn of the land. But why might not the first passage, written in anticipation of the future, indicate generally the period during which the manna was given—viz., the exclusion of the people from a land in such a sense inhabited, that they were still dependent on miraculous supplies of food? Then the passage in Joshua records the fact that this dependence actually ceased only when they had crossed the Jordan, and lay before Jericho; so that we may conclude their conquests to the east of Jordan, though in lands inhabited, had not sufficed till the period in question to furnish an adequate supply to their wants. P. F. It is not meant that during the whole of this period they had no other sustenance: the herds which they had brought out of Egypt had not failed them at Sinai, nor even when they were about to pass through Edom (Nu. 20:19), nor even when the Reubenites and Gadites petitioned to be settled on the east of Jordan (Nu. 32:1). It is plain that they had bread (Lev. 8:2, 26, 31), and meal (Lev. 9:4; 10:12; 24:5, etc.), and that they bought food and water from the Edomites (De. 2:6). And from Josh. 1:11 we see that the staple of their victuals must have been other than manna, for there they are commanded to lay in three days' provision, and the manna would not keep from day to day. But it was granted to them during all this time to help out other provision, and probably it was the only food of those who could not afford the rarer and costlier kinds. It is only mentioned specially after this in Nu. 11:7, at their first breaking up from Sinai, and in Nu. 21:5, during the circuit of Edom, and after the death of Aaron. Aff.—We may assume, as in most cases of miracle, that the supernatural supply was commensurate with their actual necessity. Moses gives a complete history of manna till the end of his own life. The manna was not withheld in fact until the Israelites had passed the Jordan. Moses writes as a historian, not as a prophet. Cook. Many comment on this subject as if, during the whole forty years in the wilderness, the Israelites subsisted entirely, or at least chiefly, on manna and quails miraculously given them from heaven—as if, in this particular case, God undertook to train a race to habits of hardihood by relieving them of all necessity of doing anything to provide for their own needs. But from many passages in Ex., Lev., Nu., and De. we learn that Israel in the wilderness had flocks and herds, which were several times in danger of perishing for lack of water, and for which it was proposed to buy water, when they asked leave to pass through Edom; that they left Egypt with money and other commercial resources, and reached Palestine able to purchase such things as they needed; that they are assumed to have resources of hunting and fishing; that the ceremonial law throughout implies their possession, not only of animals for sacrifice, but of agricultural products; that the civil laws contemplate their being engaged in agriculture, as well as in the care of flocks; that what we are accustomed to designate their wandering in the wilderness is actually described as their being shepherds in the wilderness. In fine, these writings represent God's treatment of Israel in the wilderness to have been just what we should expect, in view of the principles on which he ordinarily deals with men. As a rule, he threw them upon their own resources, and thereby trained them; when exceptional needs arose during the forty years, especially when the need arose from their obeying some especial command which diminished their ability to provide for themselves by ordinary means, then God cared for them by miracle. W. J. Beecher. The manna is the greatest of the Old Testament miracles. It was not one miracle, but an astonishing combination of many. It was a regular supply of food during nearly forty years. It fell around the camp of the Israelites regularly, in all places and at all seasons, during all their removals. The supply, regularly intermitted once in every week, was compensated by a double supply the preceding day. It became unfit for use if kept to the next day, and yet, once a week, it might be kept for two days. And when the miracle was about to be discontinued, as no longer necessary, a pot full of it was directed to be laid aside, and preserved as a memorial to future generations. All these marvellous circumstances are not mere abstract qualities of the manna, but historical facts—facts inseparably interwoven with the history of the chosen people. It is surely then an attempt of no common hardihood, though it has been made, to endeavor to bring this sublime set of miracles within the limit of a natural probability. Bush. The manna was a revelation in miraculous and transient form of an eternal truth. The God who sent it sends daily bread. The words which Christ quoted in his wilderness hunger are the explanation of its meaning as a witness to this truth. "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." To a Christian, the Divine power is present and operative in all natural processes as really as in what we call miraculous. God is separable from the universe, but the universe is not separable from God. If it were separated, it would cease. So far as the reality of the Divine operation is concerned, it matters not whether he works in the established fashion, through material things, or whether his will acts directly. The chain which binds a phenomenon to the Divine will may be long or short; the intervening links may be many, or they may be abolished. And the Divine cause and the visible effect may touch without anything between. But in either case the power is of God. Bread made out of flour grown on the other side of the world, and fashioned by the baker, and bought by the fruits of my industry, is as truly the gift of God as was the manna. For once, he showed these men his hand at work, that we might know it was at work, when hidden. The lesson of the "angel's food" eaten in the wilderness is that men are fed by the power of God's expressed and active will—for that is the meaning of "the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"—in whatever fashion they get their food. The gift of it is from him; its power to nourish is from him. It is as true to-day as ever it was: "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." The manna ceased when the people came near cornfields and settled homes. Miracles end when means are possible. But the God of the miracle is the God of the means. The manna was typical of Christ. Our Lord himself has laid his hand upon it, and claimed it as a faint foreshadowing of what he is. The Jews, not satisfied with the miracle of the loaves, demand from him a greater sign, as the condition of what they are pleased to call "belief"—which is nothing but accepting the testimony of sense. They quote Moses as giving the manna, and imply that Messiah is expected to repeat the miracle. Christ accepts the challenge, and goes on to claim that he not only gives, but himself is, for all men's souls, all and more than all which the manna had been to the bodies of that dead generation. Like it, he came—but in how much more profound a sense—from heaven. Like it, he was food. But unlike it, he could still forever the craving of the else famishing soul; unlike it, he not only nourished a bodily life already possessed, but communicated a spiritual life which never dies; and, unlike it, he was meant to be the food of the whole world. His teaching passed beyond the symbolism of the manna, when he not only declared himself to be the true bread from heaven which gives life to the world, but opened a glimpse into the solemn mystery of his atoning death, by the startling and apparently repulsive paradox that his flesh was food and his blood drink indeed. The manna does not typically teach Christ's atonement, but it does set him forth as the true sustenance and life-giver, sweet as honey to the soul, sent from heaven for us each, but needing to be made ours by the act of our faith. An Israelite might have starved, though the manna lay all round the camp, if he did not go forth and secure his portion; and he might no less have starved, if he did not eat what heaven had sent. Crede et manducasti—"Believe, and thou hast eaten"—as St. Augustine says. The personal appropriating act of faith is essential to our having Christ for the food of our souls. The bread that nourishes our bodies is assimilated to their substance, and so become sustenance. This bread of God, entering into our souls by faith, transforms them into its substance, and so gives and feeds an immortal life. The manna was for a generation; this bread is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." That was for a handful of men; this is for the world. Nor is the prophetic value of the manna exhausted when we recognize its witness to Christ. The food of the wilderness is the food of the city. The bread that is laid on the table, "spread in the presence of the enemy," is the bread that makes the feast in the king's palace. The Christ who feeds the pilgrim soldiers is the Christ on whom the conquerors banquet. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna." A. M. The apostle in 1 Cor. 10 gives a spiritual significance to the whole of this narrative of the exodus, the murmuring, and the supply of bread and water in the desert. In an earnest admonition against murmuring and want of self-control, he cites this story of the desert as a signal example of failure to hold fast the profession after even the very highest exaltation to privileges, reminding the Corinthians "how our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." The meaning of which is: Beware, how, after coming into covenant with Christ, ye give away to temptation. Remember how, though all of our fathers were delivered from Egypt, yet Caleb and Joshua only entered the land of promise. Say not: Will God allow those to perish whom he hath thus exalted in conferring upon us the gifts of the spirit, the power of miracles, tongues, prophecy, interpretation? For remember the lofty privileges of the fathers. They were baptized into the discipleship of Moses under that cloud which sheltered and guided them, and in the passage through the sea which gave them final deliverance from Egypt. For such deliverance and guidance placed them under the same obligation to recognize Moses as leader by Divine commission, as your baptism and its vows bind you to recognize Christ. And as they had their baptism so also their Eucharist. They all fed not upon natural food but upon manna—the food directly provided by God; and they drank not water naturally furnished by springs in the desert, but by the stream from the smitten rock, whose stream followed them in the desert, which rock symbolized the smitten Christ; and yet after all these exalted privileges they murmured, rebelled, and failed to reach the earthly Canaan. And remember this record is made not merely as a curious history—“they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.” The apostle is not making any allusion to baptism with water, but only to the display of God’s power in the cloud and in the sea, and of God’s goodness in giving them the manna for food and the water from the rock for drink, which bound them to serve God and follow his servant. And as, notwithstanding all this, they failed, so those in the New Testament Church who enter into covenant with Christ in their baptism and receive spiritual gifts may fail through a similar rebellious and murmuring spirit. It is both interesting and important to notice how thus, in the practical application of the lessons of the Old Testament, both Jesus and his apostles constantly assert not only the pre-existence of Christ, but also that he is really the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The rock was Christ. The Israelites “tempted Christ in the wilderness.” It was the “spirit of Christ in the prophets that testified.” In like manner it is represented in the New Testament that this body of people under Moses was the Church of Christ; as, for instance, the martyr Stephen speaks of it as “the Church in the wilderness.” S. R. The events recorded to have happened under the old dispensation are often strikingly prefigurative of those which occur under the new: and the temporal circumstances of the Israelites seem designedly to shadow out the spiritual condition of the Christian Church. The connection is ever obvious; and points out the consistency of the Divine purpose, and the harmony deliberately contrived to subsist between both dispensations. Thus in the servitude of Israel are described the sufferings of the Church. In the deliverance from Egypt is foreshown its redemption, and the journey through the wilderness is a lively representation of a Christian’s pilgrimage through life, to his inheritance in everlasting bliss. So also the manna, of which the Israelites did eat (John 6:33-38; Rev. 2:17), and the rock of which they drank (1 Cor. 10:1-4), as well as the brazen serpent by which they were healed (John 3:14), were severally typical of correspondent particulars, that were to obtain under the Christian establishment; as under the sacrifices and ceremonial service of the Law, of which the institution is recorded in this book, was described the more spiritual worship of the Gospel. Grey. At last, the obscurity which has so long hung over the Peninsula of Sinai, with regard to the possible determination of the route of the Israelites through the desert, has been removed. Almost the whole of the country has now been explored; and that portion of it which possesses the greatest interest for us has been most carefully mapped, by an expedition sent out under the auspices of the Director-General of our Ordnance Survey. Holland. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Nu. 33 12 And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and pitched in Dophkah. And 13 they journeyed from Dophkah, and pitched in Alush. And they journeyed from 14 Alush, and pitched in Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. Ex. 17 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched 2 in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said 3 unto them, Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our 4 cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto 5 this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, 6 wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the 7 sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? 8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto 9 Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand 10 on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek : and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to 11 the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel 12 prevailed : and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy ; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the 13 other side ; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua 14 discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua : that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi : and he said, The LORD 16 hath sworn : the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. God was pleased wonderfully to represent the progress of his redeemed Church through the world to their eternal inheritance by the journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness, from Egypt to Canaan. Here all the various steps of the redemption of the Church by Christ were represented, from the beginning to its consummation in glory. The state they are redeemed from is represented by Egypt and their bondage there. The purchase of their redemption was represented by the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, which was offered up that night that God slew all the firstborn of Egypt. The beginning of the application of the redemption of Christ's Church in their conversion was represented by Israel's going out of Egypt, and passing through the Red Sea in so extraordinary and miraculous a manner. The travel of the Church through this world, and the various changes through which it passes in different stages, was represented by the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. The manner of the Church's being conducted by Christ was represented by the Israelites being led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. The manner of the Church's being supported in their progress, supplied with spiritual food and continual daily communications from God, was represented by God's supplying the children of Israel with manna from heaven, and water out of the rock. And innumerable other things they met with were lively images of things which the Church and saints meet with in all ages of the world. That these things are typical of things that pertain to the Christian Church is manifest from 1 Cor. 10 : 11. The apostle, speaking of those very things which we have now mentioned, says expressly, that they happened unto them for types, or ensamples, for our admonition. Edwards. No. 33 : 11, 12. The next two encampments [not noted in Exodus], Dophkah and Alush, are mere names in the itinerary without any special description ; they were intermediate stations between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim. Wilson.—It is impossible to identify these stations. There are no existing names in the peninsula which correspond with them. They may be placed somewhere in Wady Feiran or Wady es Sheikh, up which Israel must have marched to Mount Sinai. Holland. Ex. 17 : 1. Rephidim. As this is the only important locality between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai concerning which there is a difference of opinion between equally qualified explorers, it is deemed proper to present, on the one side, the view of Professor Palmer, Captain Wilson, and other members of the Ordnance Survey, accepted by President Bartlett ; and, on the other, that of Rev. F. W. Holland, in accord with Dr. Robinson before him. B. 1. The Oasis in Wady Feiran, as the Site of Rephidim. At the base of Mount Serbal, in Wady Feiran, is a large and comparatively fertile tract, with a palm-grove which extends for miles along the valley. It is the most fertile part of the peninsula, and one which the Amalekites would be naturally anxious to defend against an invading force ; in this respect it answers to the position of Rephidim. [Mr. Palmer "discovered a rock which Arab tradition regards as the site of the miracle."] The great objection to the identification of Feiran with Rephidim is that the Bible describes the next stage of the journey thus : "For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the Desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped before the mount" (Ex. 19 : 2). Now, if Jebel Musa be Sinai, it could hardly be reached [from Feiran] in a single day's journey by any large host with heavy baggage. The difficulty may be explained away on several hypotheses. The journey from Feiran to the Nagb Hawa may be considered as the last stage of the march, and when they had come to that pass which forms the gate of the Sinai district, they may be fairly said to have reached "the Desert of Sinai." The words, "and there Israel camped before the mount," seem to imply a separate operation. They had reached the wilderness of Sinai—that is, the Sinai district at the mouth of the Nagb Hawa; and here they began to look out for a suitable place for a permanent camp. The operation of pitching the camp for so protracted a stay would occupy a longer period than usual. If it be objected that the distance from Feiran to the Pass of Nagb Hawa is too long for a single day's journey, I would answer that a day's journey is not necessarily restricted to eight or nine hours. Prof. Palmer. Captain Wilson states his reason for placing the site of Rephidim in Wady Feiran to be as follows: (1) He does not consider it necessary to place Rephidim within one day's march of Mount Sinai, since he thinks that, in Ex. 19:2, there is an indication of a break in the march of the Israelites, the operations of "pitching in the wilderness" and "encamping before the mount" being separate and distinct. (2) Believing that the Amalekites would probably come out to oppose the march of the invaders of their country, he holds that the position in Wady Feiran would for military reasons be more naturally selected as the point of attack. Captain Wilson and the other members of the expedition consider Jebel Tahunah, which is situated opposite the mouth of Wady Aleyat, to be the hill on which Moses sat while Aaron and Hur supported his arms as he overlooked the battle. I have little doubt that this was believed to be the site of Rephidim when Serbal was held to be the traditional Mount Sinai; but its distance from Jebel Musa, about twenty-five miles even by the most direct road, seems to me to prove that the site of the battle must be looked for at a nearer point to that mountain. Holland. # 2. El Watiyeh, in the Wady Es Sheikh. The Wady Sheikh is the great valley of the western Sinai, which collects the torrents of a great number of smaller wadies. The Wady Feiran is a continuation [on the west] of Wady Sheikh. Burckhardt.—The Wady es-Sheikh, a broad open valley extending up to the base of Jebel Musa itself, cuts right through the granite wall, forming a narrow defile with a tolerably level floor and lofty precipitous rocks on either side. In this gorge, which is called El Watiyeh, the Arabs show a large detached rock, not unlike an arm-chair in shape, as the seat of the prophet Moses. Mr. Holland suggests that this may be the site of Rephidim. In many ways the situation answers well to the description given in the Bible. El Watiyeh is the only practicable pass into the fertile district around Jebel Musa, and one which the Amalekites would consequently be desirous of holding against an invading force. There is also ample room for the encampment of either host, and, the pass once crossed, abundance of water within easy reach. Prof. Palmer.—Captain Wilson and Captain Palmer (Ordnance Survey) both acknowledge the value of the pass of El Watiyeh as a strong military position that could be held with ease against a large force, and would certainly place the site of Rephidim there, if not at Wady Feiran. Holland.—The gorge of El Watiyeh was one of the grandest I had ever seen; the walls of red porphyry rising from eight hundred to one thousand feet above the remarkably level floor of the pass itself. On emerging we found ourselves in an open space, and in front of a succession of granitic heights and intervening valleys by which the ascent to Jebel Musa is made. Hull. My reasons for arriving at the conclusion that the pass of El Watiyeh marks the site of the battle of Rephidim are, first, its nearness to Jebel Musa, from which it is distant only about twelve miles, and the Bible apparently speaks of Rephidim as within a day's journey of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:2; Nu. 33:15); secondly, my belief that all the requirements of the battle are to be found there. The pass consists of a narrow defile about three hundred yards in length, and from forty to sixty yards in breadth, with a level bed, but enclosed on either side by lofty perpendicular rocks. A very remarkable line of precipitous granite mountains stretches across the centre of the peninsula from the head of Wady Hibran, and presents an imposing barrier to an invading force. In this line of mountains are found only three passes, the most eastern being that of El Watiyeh, which affords an easy road, while the two western passes of Nagb Hawa and Wady T'lah are too narrow and rugged to allow even a laden camel to pass without great difficulty. This natural barrier defends on the north the high and well-watered central group of mountains which includes Jebel Musa, and the holding of the passes by the Amalekites would then secure to them the most fertile portion of the whole peninsula. Holland. Rev. F. W. Holland [who made three tours through the peninsula] places Rephidim at the pass of El Watiyeh, at the eastern end of Wady es-Sheikh, to the north of the point where it joins the Wady Ed Deir. He believes that the Israelites passed through the Wady Feiran without encountering opposition, and that they then traversed the Wady ex-Shiikh to this point, which is shut in by perpendicular rocks on either side. The Amalekites holding this defile would be in a position of great strength; and their choice of this point for the attack is well accounted for, supposing the Israelites to have reached it without previous molestation. It commands the entrance to the wadies surrounding the central group of Sinai, on and about which the Bedouins pasture their flocks during the summer. All the requirements of the narrative appear to be satisfied by this assumption. On the north is a large plain destitute of water for the encampment of the Israelites; there is a conspicuous hill to the north of the defile commanding the battle-field, presenting a bare cliff, such as we may suppose the rock to have been which Moses struck with his rod. On the south of the pass is another plain sufficient for the encampment of the Amalekites, within easy reach of an abundant supply of water. At the foot of the hill on which Moses most probably sat, if this be Rephidim, the Arabs point out a rock, which they call "the seat of the prophet Moses." The arguments appear to preponderate in favor of this view, which accepts all the facts ascertained by the Expedition of Survey, and presents a series of coincidences of great weight in the settlement of the question. Canon Cook. The summary statement of Mr. Holland is as follows: "The features of the ground at El Watiyeh agree well with the short account which is given us of the battle of Rephidim. There is a large plain destitute of water for the encampment of the Israelites; a conspicuous hill on the north side of the defile commanding the battle ground and presenting a bare cliff, such as we may suppose the rock to have been which Moses struck; and another large open tract of country on the south of the pass for the encampment of the Amalekites, with abundance of water within easy reach." We add, that in two other respects this location of Rephidim seems to be in closer accord with the narrative: (1) In its considerably greater distance from the Wilderness of Sin, ample space is allowed for the two intermediate stations mentioned in Nu. 33:11, 12, Dophkah and Alush. (2) By its nearer proximity to Horeb, it better accounts for the smiting of the rock in Horeb while the people were "pitched in Rephidim." Obviously the nearer position to Horeb, whatever the extent of the region bearing that name, more fully meets this necessity of the narrative. B. 1. No water to drink. Before, Israel thirsted and was satisfied; after that, they hungered and were filled; now, they thirst again. God led them on purpose to this dry Rephidim: he could as well have conducted them to another Elim, to convenient waterings; or he, that gives the waters of all their channels, could as well have derived them to meet Israel; but God doth purposely carry them to thirst. This should have been a contentment able to quench any thirst: "God hath led us hither;" if Moses out of ignorance had misguided us, or we by chance fallen upon these dry deserts, though this were no remedy of our grief, yet it might be some ground of our complaint. But now the counsel of so wise and merciful a God hath drawn us into this want; and shall not he as easily find the way out? "It is the Lord, let him do what he will." There can be no more forcible motive to patience, than the acknowledgment of a Divine hand that strikes us. It is fearful to be in the hand of an adversary; but who would not be confident of a Father? Bp. H. 2. They know that fountains and rivers cannot be created by mortal man; wherefore then do they quarrel with him, and not call directly upon God, in whose hand are the waters as well as all other elements? If there had been a spark of faith in them, they would have had recourse to prayer. Rightly does Moses expostulate, that in chiding with him they tempt God himself. Calv. — "Why contend you with me? Why tempt ye the Lord?" In the first expostulation he condemns them of injustice, since not he but the Lord had afflicted them: in the second, of presumption; that since it was God who tempted them by want, they should tempt Him by murmuring. In the one he would have them see their wrong; in the other their danger. As the act came not from him but from God, so he transfers it to God from himself: "Why tempt ye the Lord?" The opposition which is made to the instruments of God redounds ever to his person. He holds himself smitten through the sides of his ministers. Bp. H. 3,4. Their behavior is most flagrant; and the harshest judgment cannot estimate their offence too severely. They had lately seen their wants relieved in a similar emergency; and at this very time they were receiving, day by day, from heaven their daily bread. Yet so strangely unreasonable was their spirit, that they reproached Moses for having brought them out of Egypt, to kill them and their children and their cattle with thirst; and their violence of manner was such as led Moses to cry unto the Lord, saying, "What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me." Thus already—in one little month—were the ransomed people prepared to deal with their deliverer, all whose toil and thought was spent for their advantage. It seems to have been in order that Moses might not be plunged in deeper discouragement, that the Lord forbore to declare his own displeasure. He simply indicated the mode in which he meant to provide for their wants. Kit. 4. And Moses cried unto the Lord.** Moses has recourse to Him, who was able at once to quench their thirst and to curb their fury. It is the best way to trust God with his own causes. If we be sure we have begun our enterprises from Him, we may securely cast all events on His providence, which knows how to dispose, and how to end them. Bp. H.—Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. It secures for the believer the resources of Divinity. What battles has it not fought! what victories has it not won! what burdens has it not carried! what wounds has it not healed! what griefs has it not assuaged! It is the wealth of poverty; the refuge of affliction; the strength of weakness; the light of darkness. It has arrested the wing of time, turned aside the very scythe of death, and discharged heaven's frowning and darkest cloud in a shower of blessings. Guthrie. The familiarity of Moses's pleadings with God, almost in the tone of one who had received injury at his hand, is worthy of observation. This repeated indulgence on the part of God, and the as oft-repeated ingratitude on the part of the Israelites, give a significance to that verse in one of our historical Psalms (106): "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." T. C. Western Asia and its history are full of the name of Moses. Jews, Christians, and Mahometans style him the First Prophet, the Great Lawgiver, the Great Theologian; everywhere, in the scene of the events themselves, the places retain a memory of him. What did Moses do to obtain a renown so great and so enduring? He gained no battles; he conquered no territory; he founded no cities; he governed no state; he was not even a man in whom eloquence replaced other sources of influence and power. There is not in this whole history a single grand human action, a single grand event proceeding from human agency; all is the work of God; and Moses is nothing on any occasion but the interpreter and instrument of God. To this mission he has consecrated soul and life; it is only by virtue of this title that he is powerful, and that he shares, as far as his capacity as a man permits, a work infinitely grander and more enduring than that accomplished by all the heroes and all the masters that the world ever acknowledged. I know no more striking spectacle than that of the unshakable faith and inexhaustible energy of Moses in the pursuit of a work not his own, in which he executes what he has not conceived, in which he obeys rather than commands. Guizot. SMITING OF THE ROCK IN HOREB (verses 5-8). 5. Moses was to take some of the elders as witnesses: the miracle was not to be seen by the people generally. The miracle was to be wrought not by any power of Moses, but by the special presence of God on the spot. Alf.—Moses must take his rod: God could have done it by his will, without a word; or by his word, without the rod; but he will do by means that which he can as easily do without. There was no virtue in the rod, none in the stroke; but all in the command of God. Means must be used, and yet their efficacy must be expected out of themselves. It doth not suffice God to name the rod, without a description: "Whereby thou smotest the river:" wherefore but to strengthen the faith of Moses, that he might well expect this wonder from that which he had tried to be miraculous. Bp. H. God bears and forbears with them, gives them miracle upon miracle, and ever as they murmured, another miracle still. Truly judgment is his strange work. He might have retaliated; retribution was richly deserved; it was most deeply provoked; but instead of doing so, he whose ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts, said unto Moses, "Thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand and go. Behold, I will" do what? Not smite the people with the rod that smote all Egypt, and that in my hand is still capable of terrible effect; but I will make the rod that was the executor of judgment upon Egypt to be only the opener of springs and fountains in the rock, for what was death to others shall be life to Israel. "Thou shalt smite the rock," the most unlikely thing, "and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." How gracious is the Lord! and, still the same, he delights in mercy. Oh, that we could only realize that God has infinitely more than a father's love with omnipotence to wield it, and omniscience to see where, when, and by whom it is most needed; and ever ready, ever waiting, ever willing to bless! J. C. They distrust Him after they had received such proofs of his power and goodness, for the confirmation of his promise : they do, in effect, suppose that Moses was an impostor—Aaron a deceiver—the pillar of cloud and fire a mere sham and illusion, which imposed upon their senses—that long series of miracles which had rescued them, served them, and fed them, a chain of cheats—and the promise of Canaan a banter upon them ; it was all so, if the Lord was not among them. Oh, the wonderful patience and forbearance of God toward provoking sinners ! He maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him. Thus he teaches us, if our enemy hunger to feed him, and if he thirst, as Israel did now, to give him drink. Will he fail those that trust him, when he was so liberal even to those that tempted him ? If God had only showed Moses a fountain of water in the wilderness, as he did Hagar, that had been a great favor ; but that he might show his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. That Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10 : 4). The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to rivers of living water (John 7 : 38, 39). These flow from Christ, who is the Rock smitten by the Law of Moses, for he was made under the Law. Nothing will supply the needs and satisfy the desires of a soul but water out of the rock, this fountain opened. H.—As Christ associated himself with the manna, the apostle associates him with the water at Rephidim : “ that Rock was Christ.” He does not say the water was Christ. So Christ himself, though he said, “ I am the Bread of life,” never said, “ I am the Water of life.” Again and again he spoke of giving, but never of being, the water of life. What is the reason of this ? Is it not that the water is the familiar symbol of the Holy Spirit ? (See as an illustration of this Isa. 44 : 3). The Rock was Christ, from whom, after he had been smitten on Calvary, there flowed the full and blessed pentecostal stream, that river of salvation which has ever since followed the Church in her journey through the wilderness. J. M. G. The Personage who has always occupied the throne of heaven, against whom Satan conspired ; the voice that spoke to Moses ; the mysterious visitor whom Abraham entertained, and to whom he prayed ; the angel with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed ; the form of the fourth that stood in the blazing furnace with the three trusty followers of God, and whose face the king declared was bright like that of the Son of God ; the Angel of the Covenant ; the man that spake as never man spake, and died upon a cross, is the same existence, the same Christ of God ! He was the manifestation of Deity throughout the Old Testament dispensation, and throughout all dispensations ; throughout the Christian era, and throughout all eras ; from everlasting to everlasting. Through all the journeyings of the children of men, as of the children of Israel, this personality is ever present in one form or another—the cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, or the rock from which gushes, at every turn of our journey, the waters of life. Townsend. 7. Wonderful things had Israel already experienced. The enemies of Jehovah had been overthrown in the Red Sea ; the bitter waters of Marah been healed ; and the wants of God’s people supplied in the wilderness. But a greater miracle than any of these—at least one more palpable—was now witnessed, for the purpose of showing Israel that no situation could be so desperate but Jehovah would prove “ a very present help in trouble.” That this was intended to be for all time its meaning to Israel, appears from the name Massah and Meribah, temptation and chiding, given to the place, and from the after references to the event in De. 6 : 16 ; Ps. 78 : 15 ; 114 : 8. A. E. As the rock at Horeb comes into view not as something by itself, but simply as connected with the water which Divine power constrained it to yield, it might justly be spoken of as following them, if the waters flowing from it pursued for a time the same course. That this, to some extent, was actually the case may be inferred from the great profusion with which they are declared to have been given—“ gushing out,” it is said, “ like overflowing streams,” “ and running like a river in the dry places.” P. F.—The spring thus opened seems to have formed a brook, which the Israelites used during their whole sojourn near Sinai. P. S. This occurrence must not be confounded with another considerably similar, of which an account is given in Nu. 20. This latter occurrence took place at Kadesh, and not till the beginning of the fortieth year of the sojourn in the wilderness, when the period of their abode there was drawing to a close. On account of the rebellious conduct of the people, Moses called the rock smitten, in both cases, by the name of Meribah, or Strife. The last was also unhappily distinguished from the first, in that Moses and Aaron so far transgressed as to forfeit their right to enter the promised land. The points of instruction are chiefly the following : (1) Christ ministers to his people abundance of spiritual refreshment, while they are on their way to the heavenly inheritance. They need this to carry them onward through the trials and difficulties that lie in their way; and he is ever ready to impart it. "It any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." What he then did in the sphere of the bodily life, he cannot but be disposed to do over again in the higher sphere of the spiritual life; for there the necessity is equally great, and the interests involved are unspeakably greater. Let the believer, when parched in spirit, and feeling in heaviness through manifold temptations, throw himself back upon this portion of Israel's history, and he will see written, as with a sunbeam, the assurance that the Saviour of Israel, who fainteth not, nor is weary, will satisfy the longing soul, and pour living water upon him that is thirsty. (2) In providing and ministering this refreshment, he will break through the greatest hindrances and impediments. If his people but thirst, nothing can prevent them from being partakers of the blessing. "He makes for them rivers in the desert;" the very rock turns into a flowing stream; and the valley of Baca (weeping) is found to contain its pools of refreshment, at which the travellers to Zion revive their flagging spirits, and go from strength to strength. How often have the darkest providences—events that seemed beforehand pregnant only with evil—become, through the gracious presence of the Mediator, the source of deepest joy and consolation! (3) "The rock by its water accompanied the Israelites—so Christ by his Spirit goes with his disciples even to the end of the world." The refreshments of his grace are confined to no region, and last through all ages. Wherever the genuine believer is, there they also are. Within him he has "a well of water springing up to life everlasting." P. F. The smiting of a flinty rock, for the purpose of obtaining water, was a scheme of the Divine mind, whose ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. It was certainly the last place to which Moses would have gone for water; and he might have expected the stroke to elicit sparks of fire rather than cool refreshing streams. What eye had not seen and ear had not heard, either of men or of angels—what had not entered into the heart of any created being to conceive, terrestrial or celestial—was, that the smiting of the Shepherd should save the sheep; that the condemnation of the just should bring the unjust to God; that the making of Messiah a curse should secure infinite blessings to mankind; that the poverty of Jesus should enrich us, and his death raise us to life eternal. Consuming flames of Divine indignation might have been expected to flash upon the guilty world from every wound of the thorns, the nails, and the spear, in the sacred person of Emmanuel; but, to the astonishment of men and angels, a tide of love and mercy ran freely from every bleeding vein to wash away the guilt and pollution of human crimes, according to the determinate counsel and immutable promise of our God. Christmas Evans. # BATTLE WITH AMALEK (verses 8-13). 8. It was in Rephidim that the new-formed nation fought their first great battle. As yet they have seemed alone in the desert; but now an enemy comes against them, their kinsman AMALEK, a nomad tribe descended from Eliphaz, the son of Esau. The range of the Amalekites seems to have been at this time over the south of Palestine and all Arabia Petraea. P. S. From Ex. 3 we learn that Horeb was in the territory of the Midianites. These two tribes, Amalekites and Midianites, appear to have been both well organized, and to have lived side by side in the peninsula. Now there were two large mountain ranges in the peninsula, the Serbal on the west, and the Sinai on the east. In both of these water was to be found; and either of them answered admirably as the headquarters of a pastoral tribe. Dieterici. A victory over so formidable a foe must have been of great importance, in kindling a spirit of manhood and nationality among the Hebrews, for Amalek was one of the greatest peoples of these remote ages. Even in Abraham's time they are mentioned as inhabiting the regions southwest of the Dead Sea; and Balaam, a few years after this battle, speaks of them as "the first of the nations"—that is, as having been a mighty race from what was then a distant antiquity. Geikie. 9,10. We learn (Nu. 13:17) that JOSHUA's original name was Hosea. The change in his name was no doubt connected with this victory over the Amalekites. Moses called Hosea Joshua (Jehovah is a help), because he had proved himself a help to Israel. The alteration in his name had also a prophetic signification. It was his ordination to a new course, which was to become more glorious in its future stages. Hur is mentioned as an assistant of Moses, and a man of great distinction. Josephus follows the Jewish tradition which describes him as the husband of Miriam, Moses's sister. K.—Hur was the fourth in descent from Judah, and the grandfather of Bezaleel (31:2; 1 Ch. 2:9- 20). As he was the grandfather of a full grown man, and a member of the distinguished tribe of Judah, he was the meet companion of Aaron in attendance upon Moses. M. Moses does nothing of himself, but occupies the station appointed him by God on the top of the hill, but he sends down the others to fight hand-to-hand before him, since it had pleased God thus to order the battle. That single rod was of more avail than as if they had gone into the field preceded by a thousand banners. It is sometimes called the rod of God, sometimes of Moses, sometimes of Aaron, according to circumstances; because God used it as an instrument to exercise his power through his ministers. So God does not detract from his own honor, when he works effectually by his ministers. Culv. —At other times, upon occasion of the plagues, the quails, and the rock, he was commanded to take the rod in his hand; now he doth it unbidden; he doth it not now for miraculous operation, but for encouragement; for when the Israelites should cast up their eyes to the hill and see Moses and his rod (the man and the means that had wrought so powerfully for them), they could not but take heart to themselves, and think, “There is the man that delivered us from the Egyptian, why not now from the Amalekite? There is the rod which turned waters to blood and brought varieties of plagues upon Egypt, why not now on Amalek?” Nothing can more hearten our faith than the view of the monuments of God’s favor; if ever we have found any word or act of God cordial to us, it is good to fetch it forth oft to the eye. The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes every gift of God perpetually beneficial. 11. Amalek rose, and Israel fell, with his hand falling; Amalek fell, and Israel rises, with his hand raised. Oh, the wondrous power of the prayers of faith! All heavenly favors are derived to us from this channel of grace; to this are we beholden for our peace, preservations, and all the rich mercies of God which we enjoy. We could not want, if we could ask. Bp. H. —It seems the scale wavered for some time before it turned on Israel’s side; even the best cause must expect disappointments as an allay to its success; though the battle be the Lord’s, Amalek may prevail for a time; the reason was, Moses let down his hands. The Church’s cause is, commonly, more or less successful, according as the Church’s friends are more or less strong in faith and fervent in prayer. H. —It is indisputably true, that while the hands are stretched out—that is, while the soul exerts itself in prayer and supplication to God, we are sure to conquer our spiritual adversaries; but if our hands become heavy, if we restrain prayer before God, Amalek will prevail: every spiritual foe, every internal corruption, will gain ground. Apostasy begins in the closet: no man ever backslid from the life and power of Christianity who continued constant and fervent, especially in private prayer. He who prays without ceasing is likely to rejoice evermore. A. C. Then only can we pray with hope, when we have done our best. And though the means cannot effect that which we desire, yet God will have us use the likeliest means on our part to effect it. Where it comes immediately from the charge of God, any means are effectual: one stick of wood shall fetch water out of the rock, another shall fetch bitterness out of the water; but in those projects which we make for our own purposes we must choose those helps which promise most efficacy. In vain shall Moses be upon the hill, if Joshua be not in the valley. Prayer without means is a mockery of God. Here are two shadows of one substance; the same Christ, in Joshua fights against our spiritual Amalek, and in Moses spreads out his arms upon the hill; and in both conquests. Bp. H. —Christ is both our Joshua, the Captain of our salvation, who fights our battles, and our Moses, who, in the upper world, ever lives, making intercession that our faith fail not. H. In the Targums we read that “when Moses held up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands from prayer, the house of Amalek prevailed.” Here is that hallowed combination of agencies which ought never to be separated—the dependence upon heaven, with the use of appointed means. The rod in the hand of Moses, and the sword in that of Joshua; the embattled host in the valley below, and the praying band in the mount above—all were necessary in the Divine economy to the victory of Israel over his foes. So must it be in our own conflict with the Amalek which lies ambushed within, to hinder our progress to the mount of God. We may expect no manifestation of the Lord’s power, no interference of his goodness, but as the result of a blessing upon our own zealous conflict with temptation. “He who entreats deliverance from the onset and power of evil, yet never makes an effort in his own behalf, nor strives against the sin that wars within him, draws nigh to God with his lips, but is wholly estranged from the fervor of that supplication that issues from the depths of the heart.” It was most effectually taught by this example that the uplifted hand of Moses contributed more to their safety than their own hands—his rod more than their weapons of war; and accordingly, their success fluctuates as he raises up or lets down his hands. In like manner will the Christian warfare be attended with little success, unless it be waged in the practice of unceasing earnest prayer. It will never be known on this side the Lord's second coming how much his cause and the work of individual salvation have been advanced by the effectual fervent prayer of righteous men. Let us take to ourselves all the encouragement derivable from the assured knowledge, that he who marshals the sacramental hosts, who leads them to battle and fights in their behalf, sustains another office equally important. He has ascended to the summit of the everlasting hills, and is there employed in prevalent intercession for their success; and we may well be consoled with the assurance that a greater than Moses is mediating for us in the mount above; and his hand is never weary, his love never faint, his voice never silent. Kit. 13. The battle was evidently protracted and obstinate. Beginning in the morning, it lasted to "the going down of the sun." Amalek, "that first of the nations," was no enemy to be vanquished in a skirmish. But in the end victory was gained; "Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." E. V. God's Judgment against Amalek (verses 14-16). The memory of so signal an event was not to be allowed to die out. An altar was built by Moses, probably on the spot on the summit of the hill where he had stood, inscribed with the words, "Jehovah-nissi," "the Lord is my banner." He was also expressly commanded by God to write an account of this battle in the book he was instructed to draw up, as a record of God's dealings with his people, and "rehearse it in the ears of Joshua," together with the command, to be transmitted through him to after ages, for the complete extermination of the Amalekites. Thus early was the intimation given that Joshua was to be the successor of Moses, and carry on the work that he had begun. E. V. 14. I will utterly put out the remembrance.** Hebrew, wiping I will wipe out. The denunciation is awfully emphatic. It declares that in process of time Amalek should be totally ruined and rooted out, that he should be remembered only in history. This was but meting out to them the measure of destruction which they themselves had meditated against Israel. Their language was that reported by the Psalmist (Ps. 83:4), "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." God therefore determines not only to disappoint them in that, but to cut off their name. It was to be known for the encouragement of Israel, whenever the Amalekites should be an annoyance to them, that sentence had irrevocably gone forth against them; they were a doomed people; and the chosen race should not fail at last to triumph over them. This sentence was executed in part by Saul (1 Sam. 15); and completely by David (1 Sam. 30; 2 Sam. 1:1-8, 12), after which we never read so much as the name of Amalek. Bush. These Amalekites were of the descendants of Esau, who allied himself with the Ishmaelites, and took possession of the great mountain range running from the south of Palestine toward the eastern horn of the Red Sea, in which region are still found the wonderful ruins of Petra excavated in the rocky cliffs, and also the ruins of other large cities. They were, no doubt, inspired in this attack by the hereditary hatred of Esau, their ancestor, toward Jacob. And this hatred is now aroused afresh as they perceive from current reports that the covenant promises to the children of Jacob are about to be fulfilled. This hereditary hate was fired by a desire to seize upon the rich spoils which Israel was bearing away from Egypt. It is important, also, as showing the ground of the dreadful curse denounced upon Amalek upon this occasion—of war to all generations against the Amalekites till their utter extinction—to note their special guilt in this attack upon Israel. In the first place, they had no plea of self-defence against Israel as invaders of their country, for Israel was passing far to the south of them, and the expression "then came Amalek" shows that the war was not only entirely offensive, but also that they were obliged to march some distance to reach the camp of Israel. In the second place, as we learn from De. 25:18, it was a wanton and cruel and unmanly attack; made by falling in a most cowardly manner upon their rear and smiting the weary and broken-down, who could neither resist nor escape. Forty years afterward, Moses, rehearsing to the people the story of all the way in which Jehovah had led them, reminds them, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; he feared not God." And this last declaration suggests that this attack was in high-handed recklessness and contempt for Jehovah. "He feared not God." These impious people, in face of all that had just occurred at the Red Sea—in face of the fact of the immediate presence of Jehovah before their eyes in the pillar of cloud and of fire for the protection of Israel, rushed on as it were to make attack upon Jehovah himself. Therefore the dreadful curse pronounced now and the exposition of the curse forty years afterward. "Therefore it will be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven, thou shalt not forget it." And accordingly the judgment was executed in part by Saul, and fully by David, after which the name of Amalek never reappears in the history. S. R. Israel had in no way provoked the onset, and the Amalekites were, as descendants of Esau, closely related to them. But there is yet deeper meaning attaching both to this contest and to its issue. For, first, we mark the record of God's solemn determination "utterly to put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven," and his proclamation of "war of Jehovah with Amalek from generation to generation." Secondly, we have in connection with this the prophetic utterance of Balaam to this effect: "Amalek the firstfruits of the heathen" (the beginning of the Gentile power and hostility), "but his latter end even to destruction;" while, lastly, we notice the brief but deeply significant terms in which Scripture accounts for the cowardly attack of Amalek: "he feared not God." The contest of Amalek therefore must have been intended, not so much against Israel simply as a nation, as against Israel in their character as the people of God. It was the first attack of the kingdoms of this world upon the kingdom of God, and as such it is typical of all that have followed. A. E. 15. Called the name of it Jehovah-nissi.** Hebrew, Yehovah-nissi, the Lord my banner. This was a grateful acknowledgment to him to whom the glory of the recent victory was due. It was, in fact, virtually adopting the language of Israel in the Psalms, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy name, give the glory." "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God will we set up our banners." Bush.—That which is most carefully recorded is the inscription upon the altar, Jehovah-nissi—The Lord is my banner; which probably refers to the lifting up of the rod of God as a banner in this action. The presence and power of Jehovah were the banner under which they enlisted, by which they were animated and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners (Ps. 10:5). H. As God is careful to maintain the glory of his miraculous victory, so is Moses desirous to second him; God by a book, and Moses by an altar and a name. God commands to enrol it in parchment; Moses registers it in the stones of his altar; which he raises not only for future memory, but for present use. That hand, which was weary of lifting up, straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God: how well it becomes the just to be thankful! O God, we cannot but confess our deliverances: where are our altars? Where are our sacrifices? Where is our Jehovah-nissi? I do not more wonder at thy power in preserving us, than at thy mercy, which is not weary of casting away favors upon the ungrateful. Bp. H. The more I see of the desert, the more the miracle of the exodus grows upon me, and the more profound the reverence I feel for that stern old Hebrew Cromwell who was the leader of the Israelites in that great crisis of their history. In all our marches the past week, that presence has never been absent. The figure of Moses is the one great figure which gives supreme interest to this land of desolation. When we pass through deep mountain gorges, the cliffs on either hand take on a new interest as I think that they have looked upon Moses as he passed by, perhaps with a countenance grave and downcast, bearing the burden of a nation on his mighty heart. Often doubtless did he lie down in these dark mountain recesses, with only a stone for a pillow, and look up to the stars shining in this clear Arabian sky, and wonder if the God whom he worshipped would carry him through. In the battle which was fought more than three thousand years ago, it was not only the Israelites fighting with the Amalekites: it was the battle of civilization with barbarism. The exodus was the beginning of a series of events, unfolding through centuries, which marked a steady movement of the nations. When Moses fought with Amalek, he carried in his right hand the destiny of millions yet unborn. If he had perished on that fatal day, there would have been no Commonwealth of England, and no Commonwealths in New England; the dial of human progress would have been set back a thousand years. Field. NOTE.—Exodus 18 will be found in its chronological place at Section 155, with statement of reasons for the transfer. B. Ex. 18 1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2. And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, 3 and her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been a 4 sojourner in a strange land: and the name of the other was Eliezer; for he said, The God of 5 my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: and Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness where he was 6 encamped, at the mount of God: and he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come 7 unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare; and 8 they came into the tent. And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the travail that had come upon them by 9 the way, and how the LORD delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the 11 Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: yea, in the thing wherein 12 they dealt proudly against them. And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' 13 father in law before God. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the 14 people: and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from 15 morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto 16 me to inquire of God: when they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between a 17 man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. And Moses' 18 father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou 19 art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people to God-ward, and bring thou the causes unto 20 God: and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt shew them the way 21 wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, 22 and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves: so shall it be easier 23 for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their 24 place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had 25 said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, 26 rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter 27 they judged themselves. And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land. De. 19 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10 the LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for 11 multitude. The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times so many more as 12 ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you! How can I myself alone bear your cum- 13 brance, and your burden, and your strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and 14 known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And ye answered 15 me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. The visit of Jethro to Moses is recounted in Ex. 18. According to the order of the text, it would seem to have taken place immediately after the battle with Amalek at Rephidim (Ex. 17), and before the encampment at Sinai (Ex. 19:2). For the reasons assigned below it is transferred from its orderly place in the record, and inserted here, at the commencement of the third main division of the laws of Moses, the class of Civil Ordinances. The leading fact connected with this historical visit, for which mainly it is recorded, was the appointment by Moses of ruling judges, at the suggestion of Jethro. It falls here, therefore, into its fitting place, as a natural introduction as well as a substantial portion of the civil laws. B. There are indications which show that this occurrence must have taken place after Israel had reached Sinai and heard the Law, and not before they had arrived at that mount and received the statutes and ordinances of God. There is reference clearly to a state of things which indicates national organization, and not the nomadic state in which the Israelites were at the outset. And we see plainly that the nineteenth (Exodus) is the proper continuation of the seventeenth chapter. J. C.—The mountain of God, and not Rephidim, is described as the place of encampment at that time (verse 5). Moreover, the circumstances in which we find the people are adapted not to their flying halt at Rephidim (only half a month intervened between their arrival at the desert of Sin and their encampment in the desert of Sinai), but to their longer stay at Sinai. Hence this chapter departs from the chronological order, and anticipates the occurrence. The author is now standing at the commencement of an important section in his history, which extends from Ex. 19 to Nu. 10, and contains the account of the giving of the Law at Sinai. All the directions embraced in this section are given through Moses by Jehovah, and bear throughout the character of Divine commands. It is different with the appointment of the judges, the origin of which is recorded in this chapter. This was not ordered by Jehovah, but recommended by Jethro. And hence we are led to conjecture that the author purposely separated the human institution from such as were Divine, and pointed out the distinction by the position assigned to it. Ranke. The reason of the order in the text, Lightfoot says, is to be sought for in the prophetic curse denounced against the Amalekites in the close of the preceding chapter; for as Jethro and his family were residing in the country of this devoted people, it was proper to afford the reader an intimation that he was not to be involved in their doom, and accordingly the incident of his visit to the camp of Israel, and his joining in the worship of the true God, is introduced in immediate connection with the mention of the curse; not that it actually occurred at that precise time, but to show that he once came, and evinced by his conduct that he was exempted from the denunciation. This view of the subsubject we consider on the whole the correct one. Bush. The Israelites had moved into the district of Horeb and had encamped in the plain, in which they remained for a whole year, and from which they witnessed the giving of the Law: and it was some time during their residence there that Jethro came with Zipporah and her sons to Moses. “The mount of God” (verse 5) is preeminently and emphatically Sinai; and therefore we are shut up to the inference that the encampment here referred to was not Rephidim, but Sinai. This view of the matter is confirmed by the words of Moses in the first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, where, describing what must be held to be the same change in the mode of his administration which he here initiated, he places it clearly in Horeb, and not long before the removal of the people from the base of Sinai. Moreover, in this chapter itself there are certain expressions which seem to refer to the promulgation of the Law and the establishment of the Divine oracle as things already past; for Moses speaks to Jethro of “the people coming to inquire of God,” and of his making them “to know the statutes of God and his laws;” while Jethro uses language which appears to imply that Moses had already begun “to bring their causes unto God.” Besides, the time which elapsed between the arrival of the people at Rephidim and their journeying to Sinai would hardly admit of the occurrence of all the events here enumerated, especially when we take into consideration the conflict with Amalek, of which that valley was the scene, and which occupied at least one whole day. And further, no one can read the words of Jethro without perceiving that his advice to Moses was founded not upon the proceedings of a single day, and that one of exceptional hardship, but rather on his observation, for some considerable time, of the wearing character of the constant routine of duties which Moses had undertaken, and which he was endeavoring daily to perform. W. M. T. Ex. 18. This chapter, which abounds in personal reminiscences (and gives a vivid impression of the affectionate and confiding character of Moses), stands rather apart from the general narrative. It may have been and probably was written on a separate roll. The repetition of particulars well known to the reader is a general characteristic of such distinct portions. Cook. 1. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law.** According to the note, vol. i., p. 579, “it appears probable that Reuel was the grandfather, Jethro the father, and Hobab the brother, of Zipporah. Hence, after forty years Reuel is no more spoken of." The treatment of Jethro in this place, and afterward of Hobab, by Moses, accords with this view. B. 3,4. Two sons, Gershom, Eliezer.** Moses had no interest but that of God and his people; to promote this he employed his whole time and his uncommon talents. The zeal of God's house consumed him; for in that house, in all its concerns, we have the testimony of God himself that he was faithful (Heb. 3:2), and a higher character was never given nor can be given, of any governor sacred or civil. He made no provision for his own sons, Gershom and Eliezer; they and their families were incorporated with the Levites (1 Ch. 23:14), and had no higher employment than that of taking care of the tabernacle and the tent. No history, sacred or profane, has been able to produce a parallel to the disinterestedness of Moses. A. C.—The two sons sink into obscurity. Their names, though of Levitical origin, relate to their foreign birthplace. Gershom, the "stranger," and Eliezer, "God is my help," commemorated their father's exile and escape. Their posterity lingered in obscurity down to the time of David. A. P. S. 5-7. On our entrance into the Desert of Sinai, we had a piece of the Bible translated for us into every-day life as it was in the time of the exodus. We had reached the neighborhood of the tents of our Sheikh Eid, and his wife and two children, accompanied by an aged male relative, came out to meet him. Eid saluted the old man, embraced him, and kissed him on either cheek, and the pair then, with right hands clasped, repeated over and over again the words, "Are you well?" with the answer, "Thank God, well!" As I watched the scene, I could not help calling to mind the words of Ex. 18:5-7. Palmer. 8-11. Jethro is before us here as both a good and a wise man—good in that his heart is shown to be with God and with God's people, "rejoicing for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians" (verse 9); and wise in that he saw at a glance that the burdens then borne by Moses in the administration of justice among the people would soon break him down; and in his admirable suggestions of a better method which from that day became established among the Hebrew people. For both reasons such a visit deserved a permanent record. H. C. 12. A burnt-offering and sacrifices.** This clearly shows that Jethro was recognized as a priest of the true God. The identity of religious faith could not be more conclusively proved than by the participation in the sacrificial feast. This passage is of great importance in its bearings upon the relation between the Israelites and their congeners, and upon the state of religion among the descendants of Abraham. Cook.—The term "burnt-offering" is usually applied to a sacrifice which is burned entire upon the altar. The phrase "sacrifice for God," refers here to a peace-offering upon portions of which the worshippers partook in the manner of a religious feast; an act at once religious toward God and social toward man. H. C. 13-18. Read carefully this simple recital, and note how natural the inquiry of Jethro, the answer of Moses, and the earnest caution expressed in the rejoinder of the interested and wise hearted old man. When we consider the immense toil of Moses involved in his "sitting from morning unto evening" to decide the multitude of questions arising "between a man and his neighbor," and to instruct the people in the detail of God's laws, we can well appreciate the urgency and plainness of Jethro's words of protest. B. 17,18. The thing thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away.** It was a lawful, a laudable work, pushed to a perilous extreme; and it was the undue extreme to which it was pushed that was not good. Labor is good; but if we labor unwisely, so as to overtask and enervate our faculties, the labor which in itself is good becomes an evil. Whatever merciful alleviations and remissions of toil the good providence of God may have brought, there is plenty of work for every man to do—work which he cannot neglect save to his own hurt, and to the loss of the community at large. No man is so unhappy or so likely to become a burden to himself and a pest to his neighbors as he who neither has a daily task set him, nor sets himself a task. Labor braces the energies of mind and body, and makes the after-rest sweet. It conditions all good things; for all good things are hard to get; and in the labor of getting them lies our best safeguard against temptations to evil. Yet man is not a machine that he should do nothing but work, though he often uses himself as if he were. If he give himself to incessant labor or, if, like Moses, he simply carry labor to an excess, he will surely wear himself away and yet not achieve that at which he aims; while if he will listen to some wise Jethro, and lighten his labor, he may long retain his strength, and in the long run do a larger stroke of work than if he went at it with the feverish excitement which preys upon the strength it evokes. To wear out is better than to rust out; but it is best of all neither to rust out in sloth nor prematurely to wear out in undue toils. To follow any vocation with so absorbing an interest as to undermine health and to neglect the higher ends for which life is given, is both unwise and wicked. It is to sin against the law which God has written on our bodies—a law which is very prompt to avenge itself, and against the law which he has revealed in our reason and experience. And therefore God has ordained the intermission of labor. Not only has he given us an inward monitor which warns us when mental or vital powers are overtasked; he has also fixed bounds to our labor beyond which we cannot or ought not to pass. Seven times a week the day draws to an end, and the night comes on in which most of us at least are compelled to rest. Once every week, too, there returns the day of rest, on which we cease from our toils, and withdraw our minds from the noisy labors and corroding anxieties of traffic. Ah! if men would abstract their minds as well as their hands from labor night by night and Sunday by Sunday, instead of wearing themselves away, they would carry an intenser vigor to their toils, and do more though in lesser time. It is because they will not rest when God says, “Rest,” nor worship when God says, “Worship,” that so many are urged into mania or borne to a premature grave. Cox. 19,20. He introduces his counsel with the fervent words, “God be with thee!” “Continue thou,” he advises, “in thine appointed work of mediation in behalf of the people, and interpret to them all the way and the will of God, as it has been and shall be disclosed to thee.” B.—Herein Jethro declares the twofold office which Moses was to sustain—viz., that of advocate in behalf of the people, and interpreter on the part of God. Bush.—What a comprehensive form of a preacher’s duty does this verse exhibit! He must instruct the people in the nature, use, and importance of the ordinances of religion. He must lay before them the whole moral law, and their obligations to fulfil all its precepts. He must point out their principal duties; and he must set before them all their work. A. C. Requisites of character. Able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain. Able men. Heb. men of might or force—i.e., men of vigorous, active, energetic character. This was the first requisite. The second was that they should be men fearing God—that is, conscientious men; men who dare not do a base, mean, or unjust thing, whatever the temptation or however secretly it might be done, because they are controlled by a holy awe of heaven. The next qualification is that they should be men of truth; men who would on no account utter a falsehood or betray a trust. Bush.—Hating unjust gain. Not only not seeking bribes or aiming to enrich themselves, but abhorring the thought of it; he is fit to be a magistrate, and he alone, who despiseth the gain of oppression, and shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes (Is. 33 : 15). H. Such was Jethro’s conception of the man fitted to be placed in authority over his fellows. To this list of qualifications Moses adds others at the time of their election, as we learn from De. 1 : 15. First, they were to be “wise men” of their tribes—that is, of first intelligence. Secondly, “known men” in their tribes—that is, men who have been tried, and thus become known. Thirdly, “men of understanding”—that is, of good, practical judgment, as well as intelligence. And in inducting them to office, he charges them: First, “hear and judge right-eously” not only between two fellow-citizens, but between a fellow-citizen and a stranger. Second, “without respect of persons, but hear the small as well as the great.” Third, without “fear of the face of man,” remembering, fourthly, that “the judgment is God’s” not man’s; and, therefore, should rest upon no fear or favor of man, but on the principles of eternal rectitude. Whatever opinions may be entertained of the theology and ritual of the Mosaic age, it is very clear that there is no evidence of narrowness, ignorance, and the childishness of that era to be gathered from this analysis of the qualification of candidates for office under a free popular government. S. R. A magistracy elected by the people, the public officer chosen by the public voice, was another of those great principles on which Moses founded his civil polity. The magistrates are not properly the ministers of the people unless the people elect them. No fact can be plainer or more certain than that the judges, instituted at the suggestion of Jethro, were chosen by the suffrages of all Israel. The direction of Moses to the people upon that occasion is very explicit. His words are, "Take you wise men, and understanding, and known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you." The meaning is, "Do you elect the proposed officers, and I will commission and induct them into office." It is very observable that these magistrates were to be taken "out of all the people," and not from any privileged class. The only qualifications for office required were that they should be "able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain," "wise men, and understanding, and known among their tribes." The possession of these high attributes was enough; no other patent of nobility was required. To the test of official competency expressed in the three interrogatories, "Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful?" if there be added a fourth, "Does he fear God?"—this would include the Mosaic test to a tittle. Moses demanded four qualifications in a civil ruler—viz., ability, integrity, fidelity, and piety. When Jephthah was made judge, it is expressly said, "The people made him head and captain over them." These instances, and others which might be cited, prove that the great principle, that rulers should be elected by the ruled, that authority should emanate from those over whom it is to be exercised, was fully embodied in the Hebrew constitution. E. C. W. Herein was a wide distinction between the civil and the ecclesiastical officers in the Mosaic system, which is another evidence of the clear discrimination between the secular and spiritual officers under the Theocracy. Here Moses calls upon the people to select officers to rule and judge them. But the appointment of the sanhedrim of seventy elders for the service of religion, on one occasion, was altogether different, as we find in Nu. 11:16. When Moses complained despondingly of his too great labor, "the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom thou knowed to be elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them up unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee; and I will come down and talk with thee there, and I will take of the spirit that is upon thee and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee." This was after the departure from Mount Sinai, and after the appointment of the civil magistrates. This council of seventy were ecclesiastical and spiritual officers, who after their appointment prophesied, as religious teachers and guides of the people. They were, therefore, altogether distinct from the civil rulers. Thus it is evident that even in the Mosaic system, though a Theocracy, the civil authority even from the first was recognized as resting on reason and natural law, while the whole matter of religious order and worship was directly revealed from God to Moses for the Church and delivered through the elders. The Scottish fathers were right, therefore, in asserting that even in the Hebrew system the civil and ecclesiastical powers were not confounded. And that, according to the Word of God, they differed in their origin, nature, and end, though both powers are from God and ordained for his glory. S. R. (See Sec. 167.) In one of these passages (Ex.) they are called rulers, and their function is to "judge the people at all seasons, upon every small matter." In the other passage (De.) they are characterized as "heads" and "captains." B. In the patriarchal form of government which was maintained by the Hebrews during their sojourn in Egypt, every father exercised a father's authority over his own household, and every tribe obeyed its own prince, who was originally the first-born of the founder of the tribe, but subsequently appears to have been elected. The princes, whose duty it had been originally to keep genealogical tables, subsequently employed scribes (translated "officers") for that purpose, who in progress of time acquired so much authority as to be permitted to exercise a share in the government. Under the Mosaic economy the authority of these heads and princes continued the same as before, with the addition of the judges of tens, of fifties, of hundreds, and of thousands. Difficult cases went up from the inferior to the superior judges; and the very difficult causes were submitted to Moses himself or to the supreme ruler of the commonwealth, and in the time of the monarchy to the king himself; and sometimes a further appeal was made to the high-priest. Wheeler. These judges seem to have been a sort of justice of the peace in several divisions, probably taken from the military division of a host. This was a model proper for them as an army marching, and not unsuitable to their settlement as tribes and families, in a sort of counties, hundreds, and tithings. Perhaps our [English] old Saxon constitution of sheriffs in counties, hundredors or centgraves in hundreds, and deciners in decennaries, may give some light to this constitution of Moses. Some of our legal antiquaries [among them Lord Bacon] have thought that those constitutions of the Saxons were taken from these laws of Moses, introduced by Alfred or by his direction. After the establishment of the Hebrews in the land of Canaan, Moses ordained that judges should be appointed in every city (De. 16:18), and it would seem that they were chosen by the people. In succeeding ages these judicial offices were filled by the Levites, as the persons best skilled in the Law of the Hebrews. Horne.—The guiding principle in the classification was at first both tribal and numerical—following their division into tribes and their numbers. After their location in Canaan the numerical element gave place to the geographical. Judges had their province and their responsibility limited, not by thousands and hundreds directly but by cities and localities. With this modification the system passed into established usage among the Hebrews. H. C. In the system suggested by Jethro, as we find it afterward developed in Israel, the basis of the commonwealth is the family, the divinely constituted government. For the division into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens was, as we gather from the subsequent history, not tens, fifties, etc., of individuals, but of families. The ten families over whom one magistrate was chosen might embrace from two to five hundred individuals; and the fifty families comprehended within the limits of the appellate jurisdiction of the next highest magistrate might embrace from one thousand to two thousand five hundred individuals, and so on upward. In Josh. 7:14-18 the command to search for "the accursed thing," in the case of Achan's sin, was: "In the morning ye shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall come to pass the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man." Out of the household of Zabdi, when examined "man by man," Achan was taken as the culprit; yet we find that Achan had his own tent, and sons and daughters, who perished with him in the judgment. All of which illustrates to us the arrangement of society into families when this system of magistrates over tens and hundreds was adopted. Now, the earlier Anglo-Saxon civil structure was singularly coincident with this. Its fundamental idea was just the oppoopposite of that of the old Roman civilization which moulded the modern social structures of the continent. Under the Roman civilization the feeling proper to family relationship had been almost superseded by maxims of State. Hence, when the State became utterly corrupt, nothing remained but that society should fail to pieces. But with the Saxon race the bonds of family and kindred were sacred and were made the basis of all other relations. The reverence for woman, the sanctity of the marriage vow, the vigor with which men of the same blood were bound to guard the interests of each other, were all parts of a system in which the family was regarded as the first form of society, and in which also everything beyond was viewed as an expansion of what had been found there. The Saxon institutions familiar to us under the names of the "tithings," or "tens" and the "hundreds," were the natural outgrowth of this family feature in Teutonic life. The tithings and hundreds were not divisions of territory, but associations of tens and hundreds of families. Out of this grew the county court, and the whole system of police and justice. And out of this came also the mysterious influence which turned warriors and marauders into men of peace so soon as they touched the soil and breathed the air of Britain, and which led the man of plunder to put his hand to honest industry; and soon the culture of the soil was followed by the construction of the village, the town, the city. The "tithings," the "hundreds," then the shire courts wove them all into the great social network. Every man entered into security for the good conduct of men about him. Such as were not responsible to the court of the hundred were responsible to the hall court of their lord. Each locality had its refuge against injustice in the right of appeal, and on the other hand each individual had his protection against imperial misrule in the courts of his own locality. For neither tithe court, hundred court, king's court, nor the king himself was absolute. Thus what began in the system of tithings of the families ascended onward and upward to the great council or parliament representing all the families of the nation. From the same principle sprang the origin of trial by jury. The finding of a verdict in the Hundred Court and in all other courts was the province alone of twelve thanes or free-tenants, or twice that number. After investigation or compurgation, if the court was still perplexed, the twelve thanes, chosen equally by the litigants, retired from the court to deliberate on a verdict. Thus that great institution, the bulwork of individual liberty, had its origin in the very roots of the civilization, grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength. Here is the secret of the aversion of the Anglo-Saxon civilization to the imperialism to which the continent has ever tended. By reason of this fundamental law of the family as the unit of the State, when the uniting influence of Christianity gradually drew together the several petty States into a consolidated kingdom, this left still unimpaired the constitutional protection of the local courts and lords and barons, who jealously watched against the encroachments of consolidating imperialism till the constitutional rights which they represented found a permanent asylum in the great charter of constitutional liberty. In the history of Israel we find that these fundamental guarantees of liberty were finally swept away by the imperial tendencies of Solomon, the wisest man indeed, but really the worst king, in the sense of working ruin to the liberties of his country, that ever sat upon the throne. In the history of the Anglo-Saxon constitutions, as developed under both monarchical and republican forms, the most dangerous tendency seems to be not from any direct tendency to imperialism so much as from a departure from the fundamental idea of the family. Ex. 18:24. Moses did all that he had said. This settlement was made not by any special revelation from Jehovah, nor by the inspired Moses, but at the wise, common-sense suggestion of Jethro, which Moses, simply as the leader of Israel, accepted and put into execution. S. R.—Moses might with some reason have claimed a monopoly of Divine counsel. But when Jethro, though an outsider and one who had only good common-sense on his side, makes his suggestion, Moses does not scorn to listen to his advice and take it, too. And the event showed that the Lord fully approved his servant's course. J. M. G. De. 1:9-15. In this parallel passage Moses recites the same transaction, omitting all allusion to his father-in-law, and giving prominence to the qualities requisite in judges, and to the principles of justice and righteousness by which they were to be governed. H. C.—He recalls his own words to the people, spoken after he had adopted the suggestion of Jethro. "Ye are so many," he had said; "how can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?" Yet in the midst of his recital respecting the event of forty years before, there bursts from his heart the fervent prayer, "The LORD make you a thousand times more, and bless you, as he hath promised!" B.—How abruptly is this prayer interposed in his own after account of the appointment of the judges! How true to nature, if it be a real utterance of the dying Lawgiver! And how clear the proof that it is the record of a real address by Moses himself to the people! Birks. Ex. 18:27. And Moses let his father-in-law depart. The sacred writer, as usual, brings one line of events to a close before passing to another. So far as the form of the narrative goes, we are at liberty to suppose that the interview with Jethro took place any time during the encampment at Sinai. M. Jethro returned to his home and people. His son Hobab, brother-in-law of Moses, appears in the history somewhat later (Nu. 10:29-32), and seems to have consented to act as guide to Moses and Israel in their march from Sinai to Kadesh, and not improbably until they reached the Jordan. H. C.—It would appear that Hobab came with Jethro at this time to the camp, and remained. B. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE: SUPREME COURT. CHARGES TO JUDGES. WITNESSES. PUNISHMENTS; THEIR DESIGN AND KINDS. Ex. 19 1 In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. Nu. 33 15 And they journeyed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. The distance to Mount Sinai, from the point on the Gulf of Suez at which the Hebrews had crossed the Red Sea, is only about one hundred and fifty miles, including the windings of the route; but it was not till the third month after the exodus that the host at last pitched its tents under the shadow of the mountain. They had rested at various points for refreshment or supplies; now they were to camp on the same spot for nearly eleven months, while they were being finally organized as a nation. Geikie. It is but about seven weeks since Israel came out of Egypt: in which space God had cherished their faith by five several wonders: yet now he thinks it time to give them statutes from heaven, as well as bread. The manna and water from the rock (which was Christ in the Gospel) were given before the Law; the sacraments of grace before the legal covenant. Bp. II. 1. In the third month.** Hebrew, in the third new (moon); as the term properly signifies, by which is to be understood, according to Jewish usage, the first day of the month, although for the sake of greater explicitness the phrase, "the same day," is added, meaning the first day of the month. This was just forty-five days after their departure from Egypt; for adding sixteen days of the first month to twenty-nine of the second, the result is forty-five. To these we must add the day on which Moses went up to God (verse 3), the next day after when he returned their answer to God (verses 7, 8), and the three days more mentioned (verses 10, 11), which form altogether just fifty days from the passover to the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Hence the feast which was kept in afterattitudes to celebrate this event was called Pentecost, or the fifieth day. And it was at this very feast that the Holy Ghost was given to the apostles, to enable them to communicate to all mankind the new covenant of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Bush. 2. "And pitched in the wilderness of Sinai." After their long halt, exulting in their first victory, they advanced deeper into the mountain ranges, they knew not whither. They knew only that it was for some great end, for some solemn disclosure, such as they had never before witnessed. Onward they went, through winding valley, and under high cliff, and over rugged pass, and through gigantic forms, on which the marks of creation even now seem fresh and powerful; and at last, through all the different valleys, the whole body of the people were assembled. On their right hand and on their left rose long successions of lofty rocks, forming a vast avenue, like the approaches which they had seen leading to the Egyptian temples between colossal figures of men and of gods. At the end of this broad avenue, rising immediately out of the level plain on which they were encamped, towered the massive cliffs of Sinai, like the huge altar of some natural temple; encircled by peaks of every shape and height, the natural pyramids of the desert. In this sanctuary, secluded from all earthly things, they waited for the revelation of God. A. P. S. The use of the names Sinai and Horeb has always been very variable. Hengstenberg and Robinson decide that, in the Pentateuch and the Bible generally, Horeb is used as the original name of the entire group, while Sinai is restricted to one particular mountain (that of the Law); and  (From the Ordnance Survey.) in this decision Rödiger and Ritter concur. It is certain, at the outset, that if either of the two names is more comprehensive than the other, it must be the name Horeb; for there is not a single passage in the Old Testament in which the name Sinai is employed where the context shows that it necessarily refers to the entire group of mountains. On the other hand, the plain at the foot of the particular mountain (of the Law) is always called "the desert of Sinai." K.—The mention of Horeb in later books (e.g., 1 Kings 8:9; 19:8) seems to show that it had then become the designation of the mountain and region generally. But Sinai is clearly a summit distinctly marked. Dic. B. The mountain mass of Jebel Musa (Horeb), or as it would be better named, Musa-Sufsafeh, is about two miles long, running from southeast to northwest, and one broad. Its general elevation is 6500 feet, but at its southern extremity Jebel Musa rises to 7363 feet, and at its northern end the peak of Ras Sufsafeh (Sinai) to 6937 feet, while the intervening space is cut up by a series of deep clefts into numerous peaks of lower altitude. On the west the mountain is bounded by Wady Leja, and on the east by Wady ed-Deir; both valleys run northward, and the former sweeping round the foot of Sufsafeh, which rises almost precipitously to a height of 2000 feet, joins the latter at Aaron's Mound (Harun). To the north of the Ras Sufsafeh, and sloping uniformly down to its very base, lies the plain of Er Rahah, containing four hundred acres of available standing-ground directly in front of the mountain. The southern boundary is formed by Wady Sebaiyeh, the bed of which is separated by nearly a mile and a quarter of rugged broken ground from the peak of Jebel Musa. It will thus be seen that the block Musa-Sufsafeh is almost isolated, and we must mention another feature, Wady Shreich, which runs nearly parallel to Wady Leja, and cuts off, as it were, a thin slice from the western face of the mountain. Though the peak Jebel Musa has been identified with Sinai from the fourth or fifth century, it cannot be seen from the plain of Er Rahah, and there is not sufficient space near the mountain to accommodate the Israelites in Wady Sebaiyeh. The Ras Sufsafeh, on the other hand, stands directly over the plain of Er Rahah, and as we find in it every topographical feature required by the Bible even to the minutest detail, we would identify it with the mount of the Law in preference to the rival peak Jebel Musa. We have here a moun ain summit overlooking a plain which, with its branches Seil Leja and Wady ed-Deir, contains 4,293,000 square yards in full view of the mount, ample standing-ground for the Israelites without including the mountain slopes on which large numbers of people could have stood. There is also in the valleys within a radius of six miles of Ras Sufsafeh sufficient space for the whole multitude to have encamped, and from this distance they could easily have been assembled before the mount on any special occasion. On Er Rahah the people would be able to stand at "the nether part of the mount," on sloping ground where they would be well placed for hearing the voice of the Lord when he spake "out of the midst of the fire," and they would be able to "remove and stand afar off" on the ground to the north near the mouth of the Nagb Hawa. The peak of the Ras Sufsafeh is the first object which strikes the eye of the traveller as he leaves the Nagb, and from that moment he never loses sight of the "top of the mount" till he reaches the foot of the great mass which rises so abruptly that it may well be described as a mountain that can be "touched." The block of Musa-Sufsafeh is so completely isolated from the surrounding mountains that there would be no difficulty in placing bounds round it, and there is in its vicinity a better supply of water and pasturage than in any other part of the peninsula; besides six perennial streams, there are several large and good springs; the numerous gardens show what can be produced by a little cultivation, and everywhere among the mountains there are small basins in which grass and other desert vegetation grow in great profusion. Without attempting to localize the minor incidents of the narrative, we may point out how well the features of Wady Shreich, with its tiny stream, its easy ascent to the mountain, and the bend near its mouth, lend themselves to the incident of the Golden Calf; and the peculiar features of Jebel Moneijah (the Mount of Conference) well adapt it to have been the original site of the Tabernacle of Witness. Wilson. The peaks of Ras Sufsafeh have been wrongly described by some travellers as an independent mountain. The Ras Sufsafeh does, in fact, form the northern portion of Jebel Musa. Its peaks rise up precipitously from the bottom of the plain of Er Rahah to a height of about two thousand feet, being distinctly visible from every part of that plain, and they are well described by Dean Stanley as "standing out in lonely grandeur against the sky like a huge altar." A central elevated basin, encircled by a ring of higher peaks, is a common feature of the granitic mountains in the Peninsula of Sinai, and such, more or less, is the character of Jebel Musa, which is about two miles long from north to south, and one mile in breadth. The southern peak, on which stand a little chapel and the ruins of a mosque, is its highest point; and although the name of Jebel Musa is used for the whole mountain, it is more especially applied to this one peak. On the east of the mountain runs Wady ed-Deir, "the Valley of the Convent," so called from the convent of St. Catharine, which is situated near its head. On the west of it runs Wady Shreich, a very steep and rocky valley, containing old monastic gardens and a copious spring. This valley, again, is separated by the narrow ridge of Jebel Fara from Wady Leja, a valley lying farther westward. Thus, on the north, east, and west, Jebel Musa [Horeb] is separated from the surrounding mountains; on the south two smaller valleys—one flowing eastward into Wady Sebaiyeh, and the other westward into Wady Leja—separate it also from the range of mountains which lies between the Wady Sebaiyeh and Jebel Catharine. And so, being isolated by valleys from the mountains on every side, it would be by no means difficult to set bounds round about it, while, at the same time, its northern cliffs rise so precipitously from the plain beneath that it might well be described as "a mountain that could be touched," and at the nether part of which the people could stand. It is easily seen on the spot that the Wady Sebaiyeh could not have been the place where the Israelites were assembled to receive the Law. That valley does not lie immediately below the mountain; and its character, position, and extent, all appear to render such a view extremely improbable. On the other hand, no place could be conceived more suitable than the plain of Er Rahah for the assembling together of many thousands of people, both to witness "the thunders and lightning, and the thick cloud upon the mount," and to hear the voice of the Lord, when he spake unto them. The plain itself is upward of two miles long, and half a mile broad, and slopes gradually down from the water-shed on the north to the foot of Ras Sufsafeh. About three hundred yards from the actual base of the mountain there runs across the plain a low, semicircular mound, which forms a kind of natural theatre, while farther distant on either side of the plain the slopes of the enclosing mountains would afford seats to an almost unlimited number of spectra of the water-shed of the plain of Er Rahah, and runs westward into the Wady T'lah; and a fourth is formed by the drainage from the mountains of Umm Alawy, to the east of Wady Sebaiyeh, and finds its way into that valley by a narrow ravine opposite Jebel ed-Deir. In addition to these streams there are numerous wells and springs, affording excellent water. Throughout the whole of the granitic district I have seldom found it necessary to carry water when making a mountain excursion; and the immediate neighborhood of Jebel Musa would, I think, bear comparison with many mountain districts in Scotland with regard to its supply of water. There is also no other district in the peninsula which affords such excellent pasturage. Holland. Jebel Musa is not a single peak, but a huge mountain block, about two miles in length and one mile in breadth, with a narrow valley on  tors. The members of our expedition were unanimous in their conviction that the Law was given from Ras Sufsafeh to the Israelites assembled in the plain of Er Rahah. It appears to be quite unnecessary to suppose that all the tents of the Israelites were pitched before the mount; but I may mention that there is near the mouth of Wady Leja an extensive recess, about a mile and a half long, by three quarters of a mile broad, which would add largely to the available camping-ground so situated. With regard to the water-supply, there is no other spot in the whole peninsula which is nearly so well supplied as the neighborhood of Jebel Musa [Horeb]. Four streams of running water are found there: one in Wady Leja [it runs just at the foot of Sufsafeh. S. C. B.]; a second in Wady T'lah, which waters a succession of gardens extending more than three miles in length, and forms pools in which I have often had a swim; a third stream rises to the north either side (Wady Shreich and Wady ed-Deir), a somewhat larger one at the southeastern extremity (Wady Sebaiyeh), and a spacious plain, ER RAHAH, at the northwestern end. The summit (Jebel Musa, the southeastern end) is invisible from any part of the spacious plain of Er Rahah. Fronting that plain and commanding a view of its entire extent is the magnificent bluff called RAS SUFSAFEH, in which the mountain terminates on the northwestern end of the massive block. Palmer. Sufsafeh, while affording this magnificent amphitheatre at its very foot, and while so facile of ascent, rises sharp, grand, and absolutely separate and solitary; a unique temple, not made with hands, fit resting-place for the glory of the sole Jehovah. S. C. B. The "nether part of the mount"—namely, the bluff of Sufsafeh, rises so abruptly from the plain that you may literally stand under it and touch its base. Palmer.—I was astonished at the literal truth of the Scripture passage which speaks of the mountain that might be touched. I had often wondered what it meant, for it seemed a natural question respecting any mountain, "Where it commenced." Now, however, when I saw Mount Sinai, the literal truth of the whole description flashed upon me. Duff. The whole block of Jebel Musa is so separated from the adjacent mountains by narrow rugged valleys that it would be easy to "set bounds about the mount." The full proportions of the Ras Sufsafeh are best seen from the approach by the great plain of Er Rahah. At the base of the bluff is a long semicircular mound, forming a sort of amphitheatre, from which a select congregation of elders might obtain a nearer view of the mountain. Palmer. # The Plain of Er Rahah. It is clear that at the foot of Sinai there was a plain commanding a view of the mountain from every part, and sufficiently large to admit of the people manoeuvring upon it; at one time to "come near and stand under the mountain," at another "to remove and stand afar off." The words of the Bible (Ex. 19:17) do not imply that all the Israelites were encamped upon the plain itself. They would doubtless spread over a considerable area, and occupy many of the neighboring glens, valleys, and mountain-sides, especially where there was plenty of water and pasturage for their flocks and herds. All that is required is a plain capable of affording standing room for the Israelites as spectators; and the plain of Er Rahah more than satisfies this condition. Palmer.—There is space for the entire host of the Israelites, taking the highest calculation of their numbers. This fact, of cardinal importance in the question, is attested by the military officers who conducted the survey. Indeed Sir Henry James concurs with those officers in the opinion that no spot in the world can be pointed out which combines in a more remarkable manner the conditions of a commanding height, and of a plain in every part of which the sights and sounds described in Exodus would reach an assembled multitude of more than two million souls. Cook. That such a plain should exist in front of such a cliff is so remarkable a coincidence with the sacred narrative as to furnish a strong internal argument, not merely of its identity with the scene, but of the scene itself having been described by an eye-witness. The awful and lengthened approach, as to some natural sanctuary, would have been the fittest preparation for the coming scene. The low line of alluvial mounds at the foot of the cliff exactly answers to the "bounds" which were to keep the people off from "touching the mount." The plain itself is not broken and uneven, and narrowly shut in, like almost all others in the range, but presenting a long retiring sweep, against which the people could "remove and stand afar off." The cliff, rising like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation, and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur from end to end of the whole plain, is the very image of the "mount that might not be touched," and from which "the voice" of God might be heard far and wide over the stillness of the plain below. Stanley. As we advanced [from the north toward Er Rahah] the valley still opened wider and wider, shut in on each side by lofty granite ridges with rugged shattered peaks a thousand feet high, while the face of Horeb rose directly before us. Both my companion and myself involuntarily exclaimed: "Here is room enough for a large encampment!" Reaching the top of the ascent, a fine broad plain lay before us, sloping down gently toward the S. S. E., enclosed by rugged and venerable mountains of dark granite, stern, naked, splintered peaks and ridges, of indescribable grandeur, and terminated at the distance of more than a mile by the bold and awful front of Horeb, rising perpendicularly in frowning majesty from twelve to fifteen hundred feet high. It was a scene of solemn grandeur, and the associations which at the moment rushed upon our minds were almost overwhelming. Robinson. As we picked our way down the rocky pass, there opened before us, not a narrow mountain gorge, nor even a somewhat spacious wady, but a plain over two miles long and half a mile wide, which was enclosed by hills, and thus formed a natural amphitheatre. It was not level, but slightly descending, like the floor of some grand auditorium, so that all who stood upon it might be in full sight and hearing of a vision and a voice that were in the very focus of this vast circumference. Every eye could be fixed upon that awful mount. Such an arena, a hundred times more spacious than the Coliseum at Rome, seems as if prepared for a great assembly and a great occasion. Never was there a spot more fitted for a scene so august. No sooner does one enter it than he feels that it must have been intended for the camp of Israel, and for the hearing of the Law. The impression grows as we advance toward the foot of the mount, for at each step we pass over the very ground where Israel stood. . . . From the top of Sufsafeh we observed what we had noticed in the plain, that the ground is lowest nearest the mountain, and that it rises as it recedes, like the seats of an amphitheatre, so that all converge to one point, which is the centre of the scene. At the farther end of the plain the surface is more broken, rising and falling in gentle undulations, so that if any fled terror-stricken from the base of the mount, they could still behold it afar off, from the distant slopes, while they heard the mighty voice that swept across the plain, and reverberated like thunder in the farthest recesses of the mountains. Field. In the afternoon I went by myself down Wady ed-Deir and up the plain of Er Rahah to the water-shed. The air was so clear that objects a mile distant seemed quite close at hand. This noble plain, over two miles long and half a mile wide, is almost perfectly smooth in its whole extent, with scattered tufts of desert herbage only; and it would be as difficult to find here a place that was unfit for a camp as in Sebaiyeh to find a spot that was fit. There could hardly be a more magnificent area for the purpose recorded in the Scriptures, all in full sight of and close contact with the sharply-defined and isolated peak at its foot, while surrounded by all facilities for pasturage and water-supply. It was an easy thing to surrender the mind and heart to all the historic associations of the ancient scene. S. C. B. View from the Southeastern Summit—Jebel Musa. The summit of the mount was reached, a holy place to the mightier half of the nations of the earth, to Jews, Moslems, and Christians. The view from its height of 7000 feet extends over a circle of more than 360 miles in diameter, and 1600 miles in circumference: a rugged outline of a desert panorama of terrible beauty under the blue vault of the purest and brightest heaven of Arabia. No other place comes near to it in all this. On the east and west the eye catches glimpses of the girdle of sea which encircles the highlands of the peninsula: beyond it are seen the ranges of Arabian and Egyptian heights. In the space between no green meadow, no cultivated field, no wood, no brook, no village, no Alpine hut. Only storm and thunder resound in the wilderness of Sinai, else forever silent. Schubert.—Everywhere the rocks are rent, fissured, and crumbling; breaking off along steep walls, and traversed by dry ravines and treeless valleys. The ideas of solitude, of waste, and desolation contend with those of awe and admiration. Beyond, the eye wanders over a succession of rugged mountains and deep ravines, bounded on either hand by the deep depressions in which lie the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah. Distant glimpses of the tableland of the Tih to the north, and of the mountains of Edom which bound the Arabah on the east, are also obtained. Hull. One who went from the summit of Jebel Musa, along the heights to Sufsafeh, says: "No one who has not seen them can conceive the ruggedness of these vast piles of granite rocks, rent into chasms, rounded into small summits, or splintered into countless peaks, all in the wildest confusion, as they appear to the eye of an observer from any of the heights. But when we did arrive at the summit of Sufsafeh, and cast our eyes over the wide plain, we were more than repaid for all our toil. One glance was enough. We were satisfied that here, and here only, could the wondrous displays of Sinai have been visible to the assembled host of Israel; that here the Lord spoke with Moses; that here was the mount that trembled and smoked in presence of its manifested Creator! We gazed for some time in silence; and when we spoke, it was with a reverence that even the most thoughtless of our company could not shake off. I read on the very spot, with what feelings I need not say, the passage in Exodus which relates the wonders of which this mountain was the theatre. We felt its truth, and could almost see the lightnings and hear the thunders, and the 'trumpet waxing loud.' I had stood upon the Alps in the middle of July, and looked abroad upon their snowy empire; I had stood upon the Apennines, and gazed upon the plains of beautiful Italy; I had stood upon the Albanian Mount, and beheld the scene of the Cneid from the Circean promontory, over the Campagna, to the eternal city and the mountains of Tivoli; I had sat down upon the pyramids of Egypt, and cast my eyes over the sacred city of Heliopolis, the land of Goshen, the fields of Jewish bondage, and the ancient Memphis, where Moses and Aaron, on the part of God and his people, contended with Pharaoh and his servants, the death of whose 'firstborn of man and beast in one night' filled the land with wailing; but I had never set my feet on any spot from whence was visible so much stern, gloomy grandeur, heightened by the silence and solitude that reign around, but infinitely more by the awful and sacred associations of the first great revelation in form from God to man." Durbin. OF law, there can no less be acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage; the very least as feeling her care, the greatest as not exempt from her power. Both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in a different sort and name, yet all, with one uniform consent, admire her as the mother of their peace and joy. Hooker. The Law—the intermediate point between the fall and redemption—had its preparation as well as the Gospel. When the properly legal period came, the materials to a considerable extent were already in existence, and only needed to be woven and consolidated into a compact system of truth and duty. It is enough to instance the case of the Sabbath, not formally imposed though divinely instituted from the first—the rite of piacular sacrifice, very similar as to its original institution—the division of animals into clean and unclean—the consecration of the tenth to God—the sacredness of blood—the Levirate usage—the ordinance of circumcision. The whole of these had their foundations laid, partly in the procedure of God, partly in the consciences of men, before the Law entered; and in regard to some of them the Law's prescriptions might be said to be anticipated, while still the patriarchal age was in progress. P. F. The Mosaic economy was a school of preparatory training, in which certain habits of thought and feeling were to be wrought into the national character by a forcible pressure from without. Under such a system the forms of religion are of paramount importance, for it is by these that the inner spirit is to be called into existence. The object aimed at is to hold human nature in a fixed mould until it has received the desired impression and imbibed the spirit which lies latent in the form; the mould, therefore, must be of inflexible material, incapable of expansion and contraction, and of elaborate finish, and must press from without upon all parts of the religious life. The lawgiver will multiply rules, enjoin specific acts of religion, appoint "days and months and times and years;" instead of general principles, issue literal prescriptions; in short, construct such a religious polity as, by the Divine wisdom, was imposed on the Israelitish people. Litton.—The Mosaic system as a whole in all its great departments was preparative. It was not intended to endure. It bore within itself the evidence of its own transitoriness. Israel was allowed scarcely any initiative. He was confined to routine. The utmost precision in following that routine was his merit. That routine was his sacred trust. Yet it was more than dead routine. It was a Divine education. It provided the germs of all those moral or mental states and operations which are involved in man's first becoming reconciled to God, and then living as a loyal citizen of God's kingdom. It provided, also, for the gradual, and at length the complete development of those germs. Grey. The time was now come for the revelation of a Divine law, extending to every department of their religious and civil life, perfect in its adaptation to its end. That end was to educate a nation so degraded by oppression, so little capable of moral principle, that some rules were enacted (as we know on the highest authority), because of "the hardness of their hearts." And yet throughout these rules, merely ceremonial and coercive as they may seem at first sight, there was a profounder purpose which they no less perfectly fulfilled, and that was to develop in this nation a sense of sin, and a conviction that God is the only redeemer from sin, which prepared the seed of Abraham for the fulfilment of the promise, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. J. P. N.—This chosen family has now become a nation, ready to be planted on the hills of Palestine along the Mediterranean as the spiritual lighthouse of the nations. And Moses is selected as the agent of God to convey to them from God himself a system of religious and civil government adapted to the designs which Providence intended to accomplish by this chosen people—namely, to hold up the standard which he designed to erect of the one true God in opposition to the world's idolatry; to exhibit them as an example of God's divine providence over men, by rewarding their piety and punishing their sins; and to prepare the way, by them, for the promised Saviour Christ Jesus. Here was indeed a lofty purpose to be accomplished by a system of law—something more than the ordinary purpose of "protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." If a scheme of law was contrived to answer such an end effectually, it is thereby demonstrated to be of God. S. R. Israel was not to be merely a nation, like the other nations, resting on no other basis than that of natural life. According to its vocation and its destiny it was to be the nation of God, the holy nation, the chosen race, the possessor and messenger of salvation for all the nations of the earth. Moses, the deliverer of the people by the power of God, led them to the majestic altar of the Lord, that altar which he, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, had erected for himself among the rocks of Sinai, with their heads lifted toward heaven; and there they were set apart as a holy nation. But as God never demands without giving, so he never gives without demanding. And therefore, when Israel entered upon the privileges of the covenant-nation, and obtained possession of the gifts and goods, the promises and hopes of the covenant, it necessarily undertook the duties of a covenant-nation, and submitted to the commandments, the restrictions, and the sacrifices which such a relation involved. The conclusion of the covenant was therefore accompanied by the giving of a law, which defined the privileges and prescribed the duties of the covenant nation. This Law also conferred upon Israel a constitution, suited to its vocation and its future destiny, by which its internal organization was completed, its external distinctions defined, and its safety insured. The events attendant upon the legislation and the conclusion of the covenant ushered in the second step in the onward progress of the nation—namely, the determination of the peculiar constitution, which was henceforth to regulate the course and development of the history of Israel—in other words, the establishment of the Theocracy. The mediator of the covenant and the agent in the foundation of the Theocracy was Moses, the man of God. K. A large portion of the second and fourth books of the Pentateuch (Exodus and Numbers), and nearly the whole of its third and fifth books (Leviticus and Deuteronomy), are occupied with the Laws, which Moses was the instrument of giving to the Jewish people. He keeps ever before our eyes the fact that the Law was the Law of Jehovah. This is the only authentic case, in the history of the world, of a newly-formed nation receiving at once and from one legislator a complete code of laws for the direction of their whole future course of life. P. S. The most ancient legislators, to enforce their codes by irrefragable authority, have pretended to deliver them as of Divine origin; but these, like all other human institutions, have decayed and perished. The fabulous deities of Polytheism never manifested themselves by a prodigality of miracles; but the sublime Hebrew appeals to "the many great and terrible things their eyes had seen from the God of Israel." The laws of other legislators have passed away, for their views were transient as the glory of the people to whom they were administered—there was no holy principle in them of enduring potency to carry them beyond the state they governed. But the laws of Moses—unaltered as they were first delivered to his race, breathing the inspiration in which they originated, and binding together the spirit of religion with the spirit of polity—after countless ages are now operating on their unchangeable people, still ancient and still our contemporaries! The sublime legislator led his people like children; and the immortal historian of the Hebrews was struck by this great singularity. Thus speaks Josephus: "We live under our laws as under the care of the father of a family; and that we may not fail in them on the plea of ignorance, our legislator, not satisfied that we should hear them once or twice, has obliged us to abstain from all labors one day in the week, that we may apply ourselves to hear and to learn them; a circumstance which all other legislators seem to have neglected." D'Israeli. Historically, ethnologically, politically, the Greek and Roman founders are nearer to us, much nearer to us, than the Oriental Lawgiver; but spiritually, humanly, in all that concerns our truest, our most central manhood, how much more akin to us is Moses than Lycurgus or Numa? How much better we understand—not his writings merely, but his humanity as one with our humanity. How much more does he enter, not only into the religion, but into the literature, the legislation, in a word, the whole thinking of our modern society, than any influence that has descended from Greek or Roman books. T. L.—The uniqueness of the leadership of Moses consists less in the number and character of the functions he assumed, than in the manner of discharging them. In him the grandeur of the prophetic office received its highest expression; beside him, the greatest prophets of other religions seem pygmies. Mahomet, in so far as his message was new, was intelligible only to certain martial and passionate, half-civilized peoples of Asia and Africa. To Moses progressive mankind has listened, and must forever continue reverently to listen; for the truths he taught are the only basis of durable and healthful progress. Morse. Moses tells us that these laws are not his; he is only the interpreter of that God who delivered his people; in the name of that great God and by commission from Him, they were given to the Jews. The obligation to observe them flows from His sovereign will, which is always wise and just, and the only solid foundation of virtue; and the sanctions of these laws are that prosperity which He promises to them as the reward of their obedience, and those dreadful scourges which He denounces against them in case of disobedience. These sanctions no other legislator ever presumed to give to his laws, but here they were verified by a wonderful series of events. Every part of the Jewish legislation displays the high and Divine wisdom of the legislator. Its doctrines are rational and sublime; its religious and moral precepts, holy and pure; its political, military, and civil laws are wise, equitable, and mild; even its ritual laws are founded in reason; all of them, in short, are admirably suited to the designs and views of the legislator, to the circumstances of time, place, climate, to the inclinations of the Hebrews, and to the manners of the neighboring nations. There is nothing in this legislation that contradicts the laws of nature or of virtue. Everything here breathes justice, piety, honesty, benevolence. Its object, its antiquity, its origin, its duration, the talents and virtues of the legislator, the respect of so many nations, all these things conspire to prove the excellence of it. Jews Letters. When we speak of the Law, we reach a plane purely Divine. But we feel how fitting beyond all other men was the man selected and trained by God to communicate that legislation to the Jewish nation, and, in its basis and a multitude of its principles and details, to the world. For it has been well said: "Throughout Europe, with its American dependencies, the larger part of Asia, and the north of Africa, the opinions, the usages, the civil as well as the religious ordinances, retain deep and indelible traces of their descent from the Hebrew polity;" and these traces are growing wider and deeper as Christian civilization is moving round the world. It was a law eternal in its principles, though national in its adaptation, and tinged with traces of the desert in which it was first given to man. An. The leading principle is its theocratic character—i.e., its reference of all actions and thoughts of men directly and immediately to the will of God. But this theocratic character of the Law depends necessarily on the belief in God, as not only the Creator and sustainer of the world, but as, by special covenant, the head of the Jewish nation. This immediate reference to God as their king is clearly seen as the groundwork of their whole polity. From this theocratic nature of the Law follow important deductions with regard to (a) the view which it takes of political society; (b) the extent of the scope of the Law; (c) the penalties by which it is enforced; and (d) the character which it seeks to impress on the people. (a) The Mosaic Law seeks the basis of its polity, first, in the absolute sovereignty of God, next in the relationship of each individual to God, and through God to his countrymen. It is clear that such a doctrine, while it contradicts none of the common theories (of the delegation of individual rights to political authorities, mutual needs of men, "social compact," etc.), yet lies beneath them all. (b) The Law, as proceeding directly from God, and referring directly to him, is necessarily absolute in its supremacy and unlimited in its scope. It is supreme over the governors, as being only the delegates of the Lord, and therefore it is incompatible with any despotic authority in them. On the other hand, it is supreme over the governed, recognizing no inherent rights in the individual, as prevailing against or limiting the Law. It regulated the whole life of an Israelite. His actions were rewarded and punished with great minuteness and strictness; and that according to the standard, not of their consequences, but of their intrinsic morality. His religious worship was defined and enforced in an elaborate and unceasing ceremonial. (c) The penalties and rewards by which the Law is enforced are such as depend on the direct Theocracy. With regard to individual actions, as some penalties are generally inflicted by the subordinate, and some only by the supreme authority, so among the Israelites some penalties came from the hand of man, some directly from the providence of God. The bearing of this principle on the inquiry as to the revelation of a future life in the Pentateuch, is easily seen. The sphere of moral and religious action and thought to which the Law extends is beyond the cognizance of human laws and the scope of their ordinary penalties, and is therefore left by them to the retribution of God's inscrutable justice, which, being but imperfectly seen here, is contemplated especially as exercised in a future state. Hence arises the expectation of a direct revelation of this future state in the Mosaic Law. Such a revelation is certainly not given. The truth seems to be that in a law which appeals directly to God himself for its authority and its sanction, there cannot be that broad line of demarcation between this life and the next which is drawn for those whose power is limited by the grave. (d) But perhaps the most important consequence of the theocratic nature of the Law was the peculiar character of goodness which it sought to impress on the people. The Mosaic Law, beginning with piety, as its first object, enforces most emphatically the purity essential to those who, by their union with God, have recovered the hope of intrinsic goodness, while it views righteousness and love rather as deductions from these than as independent objects. The appeal is not to any dignity of human nature, but to the obligations of communion with a Holy God. The subordination, therefore, of this idea also to the religious idea is enforced; and so long as the due supremacy of the latter was preserved, all other duties would find their places in proper harmony. But the usurpation of that supremacy in practice by the idea of personal and national sanctity was that which gave its peculiar color to the Jewish character. It is evident that this characteristic of the Israelites would tend to preserve the seclusion which, under God's providence, was intended for them, and would in its turn be fostered by it. Dic. B. Of the theology of this system, the first principle is "Hear, O Israel! The Lord thy God is one Lord." And of the attributes of this one God, the one most prominently brought forth is his self-existence—the very attribute out of which as their source modern scientific theology seeks to develop logically all the attributes of God. He is the Jehovah—"I am that I am." This self-existent God is supreme. "Know therefore this day the Lord, he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else." This self-existent and Supreme God possesses, also, every perfection: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." And this God is governing the universe not merely by general laws, but by a particular providence over the affairs of men. He is a God nigh at hand. For the very foundation of this whole civil Government was reliance upon this special providence of Jehovah over it. Contrast these pure and lofty, yea most philosophical conceptions of God, with the ideas current in that era of the world, as testified by the history of all the monuments of that era of civilization; and let any one account, if he can, for these ideas of Moses in such marked antagonism to all the theological theories of the world, and separated by a gulf as wide and bridgeless as that between heaven above and earth beneath from all the theologies of the world, on any other theory than that Moses was guided directly by God himself. S. R. The primary truth of the theology of the Jewish system, the truth which underlies the whole system, the truth which it is the leading object of the system to unfold and enforce, is that great doctrine, which forms the basis of all true religion—the self-existence, eternity, unity, perfections, and providence of Jehovah, the creator of heaven and earth. Setting itself in opposition to the universal religious belief and practice of mankind, at the time of its promulgation, it rejected and denounced all false gods; all image-worship, whether the object of adoration was intended as a representation of the true God or of idols; and all the absurdities, pollutions, impieties, and abominations of idolatry, of every name and sort. Nor was this all. The Law of Moses revealed, in type and shadow, the whole mystery of redemption, through the sacrificial death and the intercession of Jesus Christ. It prepared the way for the introduction and universal diffusion of that more spiritual religion, which was promulgated in the Gospel. This is largely proved by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Still further: Not only did the Mosaic Law maintain the radical principles of true theology, not only did it prepare by its typical representations for the introduction of the Gospel and the establishment of Messiah's kingdom, but by the spirituality, breadth, and strictness of its moral precepts, it probed the human heart to the core, and laid bare the depths of its depravity. Thus did it expose to man his moral weakness, his inability to obtain eternal happiness on the ground of his own merit, and his need of a justifying righteousness out of himself. Thus did it shut him up to the faith of the Gospel, and serve as "a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ." A civil constitution, inseparably interwoven with the worship of the one living God, was, as far as we can judge, an indispensable agency in enabling, rather in compelling the Hebrews to answer their high destination. By this means the worship of the true God would be made imperishable so long as the nation continued a nation. By this means it would happen that religion and the political existence of the people must be annihilated together. Whatever reason, therefore, there was for desiring the overthrow of idolatry, there was the same reason for incorporating the idea of the Divine unity into the political structure of the Hebrew commonwealth. Heathen legislators employed religion in establishing their political institutions, while Moses made use of a civil constitution as a means of perpetuating religion. With the heathen legislators religion was the means, and government the end, while with him government was the means, and religion the end. Thus Moses made the worship of the one only God the fundamental law of his civil institutions. This law was to remain forever unalterable, through all the changes which lapse of time might introduce into his constitution. There is one God, says the Jewish Lawgiver, and there is none besides him. He is the sole object of religious trust and worship. Himself the supreme being and the necessary source of all other beings, there is no other that can be compared with him. A spirit, pure, immense, infinite—no material form can be a fit symbol of his nature. He framed the universe by his power; he governs it by his wisdom; he regulates it by his providence. Nothing escapes his omniscient glance; nothing can resist his almighty power. The good and evil of life are alike dispensed by his righteous hand. A public worship of this God is instituted. Ministers to preside over it are appointed. Sacrifices and offerings and a splendid ceremonial are established. But all this pomp is nothing in his eyes, unless prompted and animated by the sentiments of the heart. The worship which he demands, before all and above all, is the acknowledgment of our absolute dependence and of his supreme dominion; gratitude for his benefits; trust in his mercy; reverence for his authority; love toward his excellence; and submission to his Law. What purity and beauty in the moral doctrines of this code! Equity, probity, fidelity, industry, compassion, charity, beneficence—in a word, everything that makes men respectable in their own eyes, everything that can endear them to their fellows, everything that can assure the repose and happiness of society—are placed among the number of human duties. Where else, in all antiquity, are to be found ideas of God and his worship so just and sublime; religious institutions so pure and spiritual; ethical doctrines so conformable to the sentiments of nature and the light of reason? Recall the picture of the religious and moral condition of the ancient world. What false and grotesque notions of the Divine nature! What extravagant, impure, and cruel rites! What objects of adoration! From the heavenly orbs to the meanest plant, from the man distinguished for his talents or his crimes to the vilest reptile—everything has its worshippers. Here, chastity is sacrificed in the temples. There, human blood flows upon the altars, and the dearest victims expire amid flames, kindled by superstition. Again, nature is outraged by beastly amours, and humanity brutalized by vices that cannot be named without offence. Everywhere the people are plunged into a frightful ignorance, and the philosophers themselves grope in doubt and uncertainty. Wherefore this difference? But one cause, adequate to the result, can be assigned. All the pagan nations had for their guide only the feeble and tremulous light of human reason. Among the Hebrews, a higher, even the pure and eternal reason, had pierced the darkness, scattered its shades, and poured a Divine illumination into the mind of prophet, priest, lawgiver, judge, and king. Thus was the intellect of the nation enlightened and its heart purified. Thus were its manners humanized, its morals elevated, its institutions liberalized. Thus was the nation educated for its great mission of guidance and of blessing to all the nations of the earth, in all the periods of their history. The Hebrew government was a government of tutelage. No form of polity has ever approached it in grandeur, purity, simplicity, and beneficence. Had men been more perfect, it would have stood forever. But human inconstancy wearied even of a perfect government; mortal passions corrupted even a Divine institution; and the commonwealth of Israel, like the empire of Rome, at length fell beneath the weight of its own vices, and disappeared from the brotherhood of nations. It lives only in history, a monument at once of the Divine goodness and equity. E. C. W. Old Testament Ethics is practical. It sets before man a vivid thought of God and of his will as the reason for duty. Old Testament ethics is not a philosophy; the Hebrews had none. It is not speculative; it has no abstract reasonings about the nature or grounds of duty. It enforces duty by considerations drawn from the direct, personal relation which men sustain to the holy God. Men are to be merciful because God has been merciful to them. The motives of gratitude are all drawn from this personal relation. When they are threatened for disobedience, the same conception of God as directly rewarding and punishing is vividly presented. The commandments and prohibitions of the Old Testament all bear this personal character. Duty is obedience to God, and whatever the motives by which it is enforced, they are drawn from a vivid realization of the character of God as personal, and of every man's relation as direct to him. How any one could volatilize the Old Testament conceptions, as Matthew Arnold has done, so as to find in the God of the Jews only a non-personal "not-ourselves," in their monotheism only "seriousness," and in Old Testament morals and religion only an "aspect of the not-ourselves," "which makes for righteousness," and then, to crown all, could conceive the "righteousness" of the Old Testament as only equivalent to "conduct" ("Literature and Dogma," p. 31), is a psychological problem for which the known laws of normal human thought furnish no solution. The facts are, that the Old Testament conception of God is most intensely personal, amounting even to ascriptions of events to his personal agency which we are wont to attribute to nature, or to the working of providential laws. Old Testament ethics deals with man as he is. It does not speculate; it does not argue with him. It assumes that the will of the personal God is law, and it bases its commands and precepts upon that will as revealed to chosen leaders and teachers. It adapts itself to man in his actual needs and conditions. It gives no vague principles; it tells him what to do; it proclaims the consequences if he disobeys. It doesn't look upon sin as an abstraction, but as a reality—concrete and guilty. It is personal and practical throughout. Old Testament ethics is not merely individual, but social. It has the building up of society always in view. "I will be your God, and ye shall be my people." It teaches not merely what a man shall be and do, considered apart by himself, but what he shall be as a member of a community which is to have a collective unity as God's people. The rights of men in their mutual relations and their corresponding duties have a large place in this morality. This is not the case among primitive heathen peoples. There all is atomism. Here life is organic. There the principle is: Every man for himself. Here the idea prevails that every man is his "brother's keeper." Every man is keeper of his brother's rights and privileges as far as he has any relations to him. Hence the Mosaic Law contains ameliorations for the unfortunate, the poor, and the enslaved unknown to any other primitive people. Every seventh year the land lay fallow "that the poor of thy people may eat." The grain in the corners of the field and the fallen fruit of the vineyard were left for the poor. In the year of jubilee all slaves went free; all cruelty and inhumanity in their treatment during servitude were severely forbidden. In like manner the family was protected and fostered as in no other primitive community. Crimes against purity were rigorously punished, and the ideal Hebrew woman was she "in whom the heart of her husband doth safely trust" (Prov. 31: 11). The evils of polygamy, so universal in early ages, were mitigated, and principles were set in operation which at length secured its termination. Thus the Old Testament morality aimed at founding a social fabric in which the notion of Theocracy—the reign of God—shall be realized. The watchword of this society is "Holiness;" and both the idea and the ground of this holiness are derived from the holiness of the personal God: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." And just as the life of the individual was not for itself alone, but for the community, so the life of the community was not for itself alone, but for the world. As early as the covenant with Abraham it was clearly stated that the blessing guaranteed to him was for the world (Gen. 18: 18). The undercurrent of thought running through the Old Testament is that Israel is charged with a world-redeeming mission. The Messianic hope everywhere presupposes this. The whole process of moral training, therefore, has this greater result for its goal. It has in view the universal good. Stevens. If we compare the Mosaical and the Christian dispensations, we may observe that both proceeded from the same author, teach the same religion, inculcate the same moral duties, breathe the same spirit of devotion, love, and purity, and are mutually connected with each other. The former was preparatory to the latter, and typical of it. The former, as to its ritual, was the shadow; the latter is the substance. The former was partial in its discoveries, material in its ordinances, limited in its application, and temporary in its duration; but completeness, spirituality, universality, and perpetuity are the attributes of the latter. An. Consider the Hebrew Law as designed and formed to answer many useful ends, all of them of great service to the state of the Church and world at that time; observe carefully how it answered the great ends of religion, the true knowledge of the one true God, in a worship honorable and acceptable to Him; and how well it improved the mind in virtue and real goodness, the true perfection and happiness of the soul. Consider it further as a wise and most effectual means to prevent the great and most dangerous progress of idolatry, which threatened the extirpation of all true religion, and with it the true principles of virtue, out of the world. Observe, once more, of what great use this Law was, to prepare the minds of all men, Gentiles as well as Jews, for the more perfect state of a Catholic Church, when in the fulness of time the promised Messiah should come, and you will find great reason to justify and admire this constitution as an instance of great wisdom and goodness in God, of great favor to the family of Abraham, and of universal advantage to all the nations of the earth when the mystery of Christ was revealed, that "the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the Gospel" (Eph. 3:6). Loveman. The Sinai covenant [Mosaic system] is to be considered in its twofold character of a law to convict of sin, and a gospel to teach pardon and justification by faith, and that a faith which purifies the heart. In this view it is, on the one hand, a law of commandments "exceeding broad, reaching to the thoughts and intents of the heart," with Divine annotations showing the application of its precepts to every relation of man as a creature of God, and as a social being with relations to his fellow-men. On the other hand, it sets forth in fullest detail the Gospel salvation by symbols and types. The perpetual daily offering of the lamb upon the altar is its central symbol; and around that ancient figure of the old covenants is arranged, in eloquent symbols, the whole subjective process of salvation—faith, purification—consecration to Jehovah. It is law, but not antithetical to the Gospel, or as contrasted with the doctrines of Jesus and his apostles. It is law and gospel both. Nay the very Law itself is grounded upon an evangelical motive, "I am Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt"—who have redeemed thee, and entitled myself to grateful service and obedience—therefore worship me only; nor in deed, nor word, nor desire, do any injury to thy fellows. Hence, that which is most distinctively ethical in the Sinai revelations is yet distinctly evangelical in the ground and motive of obedience. Having in literal terms furnished a law of life to convict of sin, far more clear and in detail than any previous revelation, the Sinai covenant proceeds also, far more clearly and in detail than ever before, not only to hold up as heretofore the Gospel provision for sin in atoning blood, but the Gospel instructions for the application of that provision to the conscience of the sinner by faith—the cleansing of the heart to which such faith leads, and the consecration of the life to the Redeemer. Thus the Gospel according to Moses differs neither in creed nor practical religion from the Gospel according to Jesus and Paul, but only in the language in which, from the necessity of the case, it had to find utterance. S. R. #### Form of the Mosaic Legislation. The legislation, properly so called, comprises a series of minute yet laconic regulations directly opposite in form to the endless iterations and synonyms of modern statute books. These laws, instead of being wrought into a system, or standing insulated by themselves, are interrupted yet connected by a running narrative, with dates and geographical specifications, at unequal intervals. . . . The legislation is one in purpose and harmonious in detail, but recorded in the order of its promulgation. It differs from a formal system, such as some would find in it, just as a modern statute book or digest differs from the journal of a legislative body in which the enactments are recorded at length. It is a code of laws inserted in a frame of history. To this fact due regard must be had in the interpretation of the laws themselves. J. A. A. The laws of the Pentateuch are anything but a carefully arranged code. You have laws intermixed with the history, laws repeated, laws inserted, apparently as they were given by God, or as the need arose. In its lack of arrangement, it is just the book which Moses might have been supposed to write during the desert wanderings, when he had to bear the burden of the people alone. Watson. #### Divisions of the Law. As the people of Israel may be viewed under a threefold aspect, so we have a foundation laid in this fact for a threefold acceptance of the word Law. They may be viewed: (1) As rational and responsible creatures, depending upon God and subject to his will as the supreme Ruler and Judge of the universe. In this capacity the law of the ten commandments, or the moral law, was given to them, which is substantially one and the same with the law of nature, and binding all men as such. (2) As the Church of the Old Testament, expecting the Messiah, and furnished with a system of worship embracing a great variety of rites and ceremonies which pointed more or less distinctly to Him. Viewed in this ecclesiastical character, God bestowed upon them the ceremonial law, which was a body of rules and precepts regulating their religious worship. (3) As a peculiar people, having a civil polity and constitution especially appointed for them and distinguishing them from all other nations, their government being in fact a theocracy, in which God himself was their supreme magistrate. Viewed in this light a code of civil laws was prescribed them. The term "the Law" is sometimes applied to one of these systems, and sometimes to another, and again to the whole taken collectively; so that we must often be governed in great measure by the context in determining the precise sense in which the term is used. It is, however, most legitimately and emphatically employed in reference to the first of these, the moral law, which was distinguished from the others by being audibly delivered by God himself and afterward written by him upon two tables of stone. Bush. Where in the whole compass of human literature can a summary of moral duty be found comparable to that contained in the Decalogue? Here are the seminal principles of all virtue, piety, filial duty, justice, truth, benevolence, and internal purity. The Law of Moses enjoined supreme love to God, love to our neighbor equal to that which we bear ourselves, reverence for old age, forgiveness of injuries, the rendering of good for evil, mutual kindness, compassion toward the unfortunate, and a generous hospitality. It earnestly enforced the conviction that God requires of his rational creatures not a mere external service, but an internal worship; desires duly regulated; and a benevolence expansive, ardent, and active. It represented the love of God as a practical principle, stimulating to the cultivation of purity, justice, humanity, mercy, and truth. In a word, the Gospel itself has scarcely a single moral precept which had not been already promulgated in the Mosaic institution. In its moral teachings, Christianity does little more than give a greater breadth to principles which Judaism had formed into a body of practical ethics more than a thousand years before Socrates and Plato flourished. E. C. W. The ceremonial law relates to the priests, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, and other religious rites and services. God commanded that those who should be employed about the tabernacle or in the offices of public worship should be of the posterity of Levi; and hence this law is sometimes called the Levitical Law; but the priesthood itself was to be confined to Aaron and his descendants. The principal objects of the ceremonial law were to preserve the Jews from idolatry, to which all the neighboring nations were addicted, and to keep up in their minds the necessity of an atonement for sin. A. C. The purpose of the ritual law was to teach by signs and actual observances at a time when teaching by language was not understood; and by means of these emblems and usages, all of which referred to Jehovah as King, to instil into the minds of the whole people the feeling that every relation of life, every movement of nature, every detail of human intercourse, placed them in constant dependence on God. Gert. The highest laws are not to be regarded as useless because they are certain to be generally neglected. The Hebrew Law in regard to sacrifices, attendances at the Temple, and the Holy Convocations was perhaps, even in ordinary times, as much neglected as the rules of the Christian Church are in our day. But the Law was not foiled of its purpose. It was intended to represent human duty in its relation to Divine holiness, to show forth and reprove human weakness, not to stoop to it. Its requirements were not lowered to the probabilities of man's conduct. It was not, like the legislation of ordinary States, intended primarily to meet the exigencies of existing facts and to keep offenders in order. Its purpose was to help and instruct the best of the people, not merely to chastise the worst. Other legislators have taken their starting points from human facts. Moses took his from the character and purpose of God. Clark. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 20 1 And God spake all these words, saying, De. 4 11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. De. 5 22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me. Definitely conceive this natural scenery of a plain sloping gradually down for a mile in width, extending two miles, with crescent shape in length, as a huge amphitheatre, with the dark, perpendicular cliff of granite rising from the foot of the gentle slope some fifteen hundred feet in height, seeming to one standing near—for such is ever the impression from gazing directly upward from the foot of a lofty crag—to tower "up to the midst of heaven," while the loose, black, ragged masses of granite appear ready to let go their hold on the side of the crag and drop into the plain beneath. As Israel is waiting in solemn expectation this morning, behold, the immense pillar of cloud, that hitherto has guided their march, is observed to rise slowly and majestically. It ascends upward and upward to the midst of heaven. Then it moves toward the lofty summit and covers Sinai as a cloud. Thereupon the lightnings begin to flash from the cloud and the thunders roll terrifically, causing the earth to tremble under their feet. Then the clang of the mighty signal trumpet calls forth all the hosts of Israel from their camp. Under the direction of Moses and their leaders, they approach near the foot of the dark cliff, and the myriads are arranged, row upon row, in serried ranks of two miles in length. They stand in breathless silence, for every spirit is awe-struck. As the thunders at length cease, and the voice of the trumpet is hushed, suddenly there bursts forth from the darkness on the summit an articulate voice, loud as the voice of the thunders and the trumpet. Distinctly and audibly the voice of Jehovah himself spake to the assembled nation—issuing from the Glory on the summit of Sinai. The inspired lawgiver forty years afterward declares, "The Lord talked with you face to face out of the midst of the fire. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness with a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tables of stone and delivered them unto me." Thus the very mode of the revelation of this Law, in view of Moses, the lawgiver, set it apart to itself as above all the revelations made through Moses. S. R.—Moses adds elsewhere, "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is; or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" Bush. In Acts 7:38 Stephen affirms that Christ was the Jehovah who spake to Moses in Mount Sinai (see also Ps. 68:7, 8; Eph. 4:8). B.—God has many ways of speaking to the children of men: by his Spirit, by conscience, by providences, by his voice; all which we ought carefully to attend to; but he never spake, at any time or upon any occasion, so as he spake the Ten Commandments, which therefore we ought to hear with the more earnest heed. It was not only spoken audibly, but with a great deal of dreadful pomp. H. The scenes of Sinai were a long and magnificent step of progress in the revelations of God to men. We may think here not so much of the external surroundings—the bringing into service of all the grandest agencies of nature to impress men with reverence and fear and awe, and so to plant the more deeply in their souls the idea of law as emanating unmistakably from the Infinite One; but we may consider the great fact itself of a revealed Law. It is surely a point in the progress of God's revelations of himself second to nothing that has gone before—second to nothing in all the ages save the greater mission of his Son for the purposes of redemption. God revealing to man a rule of duty; expressing it in terms at once so simple and so comprehensive; including the duties we owe to God on the one hand and to fellow-beings on the other; putting it on permanent record; accompanying it with demonstrations of majesty and glory, endorsing it so surely and so sublimely; adjusting it so nicely in harmony with the intelligent convictions of rational minds, and so commending it to every man's conscience as intrinsically and eternally right:—truly the promulgation of such a law through such agencies is surpassingly grand and glorious; and is one of the great epochs in the march of God's revelations of himself to mortals. H. C. The Ten Commandments formed a distinct part of God's revelation. They were spoken by God's own voice from the midst of the fire. They only were thus promulgated; "he added no more." They were written on tables of stone. They were deposited in the ark of the covenant. These facts show that they held a distinct place in the Law-giving at Sinai, and that they are not to be confounded with the ceremonial and judicial statutes, subsequently given. The grounds of this distinction: The Decalogue was: (1) An epitome of universal moral truth. (2) Internally complete as such—the first table laying down our duties to God, as respects his being, his worship, his Name, his day, his human representatives; the second forbidding all injury to our fellow-men (injuries to life, property, chastity, character), while requiring by implication the fulfilment of all positive duties, and the regulation even of our secret thoughts. (3) The basis of the covenant with Israel. The foundation on which all subsequent legislation was reared. Orr. The Promulgation of the Decalogue from the heights of Sinai, in the manner set forth in the Book of Exodus, stands before us as an instance that is better fitted than any other which might be named, as determinative of the question now moved within the Church, concerning the Reality of a Revelation, authenticated by supernatural attestations. There needs no argument to show that, if the Promulgation of the Law from the heights of Sinai took place in the manner affirmed in the Mosaic books—if, indeed, then and there God spake these words “from out of the thick darkness,” and amid the blasts of the trumpet; if it be so, then this descent of the ALMIGHTY—speaking to man, carries with it, as well the immediate antecedents of the event, as its more proximate conditions, and its next following consequences. If this history be true as to its central fact, it must be true, also, as to its indispensable conditions. The Sinaitic narrative must be true altogether, or it must be false altogether. I ask a moment’s attention to the central fact. The most unmarked spot on earth’s alluvial levels might have been chosen as the scene of the event of which we read in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Book of Exodus. But it was otherwise ordered, and a group of mountains, remarkable beyond any other elsewhere found, was singled out as the fittest for so great an occasion. Thus, therefore, it is that the enduring continuity of local traditions which gives a sort of indestructible vitality to the names of places, whether they be important or unimportant, has clustered upon this mountain mass with a peculiar strength, as if it should never come to be doubted where it was that the Eternal, the King, Immortal, Invisible, came down to hold converse—not, as often heretofore, with favored men apart and singly, but now with a people congregated to meet him at his call. The stern sublimity of this group of precipices, its unchanging conditions, which neither man nor nature has affected in the lapse of ages, have preserved, in its primeval majesty, a scene which the modern traveller, devout or undevout, acknowledges as signally proper for the purpose when a nation was summoned to appear before God. Sinai, in its aspect as the Hebrew people saw it when it was crowned with the unquenchable fires, and such as the traveller now sees it in its unchanging aspect of sterile majesty, is a scene proper for the purpose to which then it was made subservient. The Arabian spearman, as if heaven had placed him there, has held watch around the heights of Sinai these thirty centuries and more; and this guard has been conservative of the Sinaitic tradition. Throughout the ages of the Saracenic history, this functionary—whether intended or involuntary—has held the memory of the one event, as if in the freshness of a recent recollection. Yet more has the Law, spoken from Sinai, lived in the constant heart and in the obduracy, too, in the better nature, in the noble martyr strength, and also in the senile traditions, and in the daily habitudes, and in the ponderous literature, and in the speech of the people, whose ancestors then filled the wide plain at the foot of Sinai. It is the same people, immovable in mind, and now, as for ages past, a witness for God in all lands. Each Jewish heart is an enduring tablet whereupon the Sinaitic words are anew and anew written—as with the finger of God. I. T. # Name, and its Meaning. The Hebrew name which is rendered in our Version the Ten Commandments occurs in Ex. 34:28; De. 4:13, 10:4. It literally means the Ten Words. In Ex. 24:12, the Ten Commandments are called the Law, even the Commandment. They are elsewhere called the Words of the Covenant (Ex. 34:28, where the strict rendering would be, the Words of the Covenant, even the Ten Words), the Tables of the Covenant (De. 9:9, 11, 15), and simply the Covenant (De. 4:13); also the Two Tables (De. 9:10, 17). But the most frequent name for them in the Old Testament is, the Testimony, or the Two Tables of the Testimony. In the New Testament they are called simply the Commandments. The name Decalogue is found first in Clement of Alexandria, and was commonly used by the Fathers who followed him. Clark. What we call the “Ten Commandments,” are currently called in the Hebrew text “the ten words” (see Ex. 34:28; De. 10:4; 4:13, the article being used in all three places). The words of the Hebrew stem כָּבוֹר, commonly translated by the English verb “command” and its derivatives, are not currently used to denote what we call “the Ten Commandments,” and are, perhaps, not even once used distinctively in this meaning. This special meaning of the word “commandment” is purely a matter of translation usage, and not of Hebrew usage. What is thus true of the term commandment, as applied to “the ten words,” is perhaps even more emphatically true of the term "law" in the same application. We are accustomed, and correctly, so far as the ethical aspects of the matter are concerned, to regard "the ten words" as being pre-eminently the Law of Jehovah, as recorded in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, neither the Old Testament nor the New are accustomed to apply the term Law distinctively to "the ten words;" it is doubtful whether they so apply it in even a single instance. "The ten words" are a portion of the commandments of Jehovah; they are found in the Law of Jehovah; they are an especially important part of the Law and the commandments; but it is not according to biblical usage to call them either by the name law or by the name commandments. This is the more noteworthy because the Bible, instead of signaling their importance by applying these two names to them, has other names which it uses for this purpose. It speaks of "the two tables of the testimony" (Ex. 31:18; 32:15, etc.), and of "the tables of the covenant" (De. 9:9, 11, 15; Heb. 9:4, etc.). The Bible regards "the ten words," indeed, as precepts to be obeyed; but it far more prominently regards them as the foundation and evidence of special privileges accorded to Jehovah's people—as a charter of rights, rather than a code of prohibitions. The Law was kept beside the ark, the pot of manna and other national memorials, before the ark, but only the two tables within the ark (1 Kings 8:9). The two tables were kept, not for purposes of study or appeal (it was death to look into the ark), but as a testimony, as sacred Divine credentials; the Law, on the other hand, was in the custody of the priests and elders for purposes of administration. The two tables, in the ark, with the mercy-seat over them, forming the central object of the sanctuary and its worship, represent the moral principle of the religion of Israel. God's covenant with Israel, as with any man in all time, is on the basis of the keeping of the "Ten Commandments;" yet there is propitiation for the repentant man, who is conscious of sin because he has failed to keep them. This twofold symbol is to the religion of the Pentateuch what the life and death of Christ are to Christianity—a fixed standard of obligation, coupled with a proclamation of forgiving grace. Beecher. #### Division into Tables. We know that the Tables were two, and that the Commandments were ten, in number. But the Scriptures do not, by any direct statements, enable us to determine with precision how the Ten Commandments are severally to be made out, nor how they are to be allotted to the Two Tables. On each of these points various opinions have been held. Cook. The Ten Commandments were engraved on two tables of stone (Ex. 31:18), and on both sides of the tables (32:15, 16), and when these were broken by Moses, as significant of the fact that the covenant of God with the people had been broken by the sin of the golden calf (32:19), two other tables of stone were by Divine direction prepared like unto the first, and the Lord wrote the commandments upon them afresh (34:1). We are nowhere expressly informed how many commandments were written on each of the tables. The most equitable division of the matter would be to put the preface, together with the first three commandments, in the first table, and the last seven in the second. The original tables of stone upon which they were written, and which Moses deposited in the ark of the covenant, were still in existence in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 8:9). Probably they perished together with the ark when the temple was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. But if monumental evidence is worth anything, the text of these commandments is beyond dispute. W. H. G. In the numerical arrangement and distinction of the several precepts of the Decalogue, the Romanists differ essentially from Protestants. The Roman Church makes but one commandment of the first two, while they divide the tenth into two, making the first sentence of that commandment the ninth. The motive for thus abstracting the second commandment from the Decalogue is very easily imagined on the part of a church which gives so much countenance to image-worship; and it is equally obvious that the partition of the tenth into two, is wholly with a view to compensate the mutilation by leaving the nominal integrity of the code unimpaired. That such a disjunction of the parts of the tenth commandment is wholly unauthorized and violent, will be evident upon a comparison of the text as it stands in Exodus with that of Deuteronomy. In the one the coveting of a "house" occurs before the coveting of a "wife;" whereas in the other the order is reversed, and "house" occurs after "wife." If, then, the Papal division were well founded, the ninth commandment according to the one reading would be, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," and according to the other, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." Such a diversity, it appears from Hallett's "Notes on Scripture Texts," actually exists in some of the Catechisms and Manuals of the Roman Church. Bush. # Two Copies of the Decalogue. In addition to the copy of the Decalogue in Ex. 20, which is evidently the original and authentic one, we have a second, and in some respects a different copy, in De. 5. The differences are merely formal and for the most part immaterial. K. In De. 5: 7-21, we find a repetition of the Ten Commandments. On these, as the basis of the covenant, the whole legislation rests, and therefore a rehearsal of them is a fitting introduction to a repetition and enforcement of the Laws of the Theocracy. Some differences appear between the statement of the "ten words," as given here and as given in Ex. 20. It is chiefly in the fourth commandment that these are to be found. It begins here with "remember" for "keep;" reference is made to the command of God as sanctioning the Sabbath, which is omitted in Exodus; a fuller description of the animals to be exempted from work on that day is given; the words, "that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou," are added; and in place of a reference to the resting of God after the Creation as the ground of the Sabbath institute, as in Exodus, there is a reference to the deliverance of the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt as a reason why the Lord commanded them to keep the Sabbath day. In the fifth commandment there are two additions here—the one of the words, "as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee," and the other of the words, "that it may go well with thee." In the tenth commandment the first two clauses are transposed, "desire" appears in place of "covet" in relation to "wife," and "field" is added to the specification of objects. These differences are of little moment. The only one demanding notice is that in the fourth commandment, where different reasons are assigned for the ordinance of the Sabbath. The two reasons assigned, however, are perfectly compatible; the one is fundamental and universally applicable, the other is subsidiary and special in its application; the one is a reason why the Sabbath was originally instituted and is for all men, the other is a reason why it was specially and formally instituted in Israel and was especially memorable to that people. In a popular address to them it seems fitting that the latter rather than the former should be the one adduced. As a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, the Sabbath was all important to them, for by it they were constantly reminded that "they were thereby freed from the dominion of the world to be a peculiar possession of Jehovah, and so amid the toil and trouble of the world had part in the holy rest of their God." Baum.—It was also fitting in a recapitulatory address that special emphasis should be laid on the fact that what the Law enunciated was what "the Lord had commanded." The addition of "field" in the tenth commandment is probably due to the fact that now, the occupation and division of the land having begun, the people were about to have what they had not before—each his own property in land. In the tenth commandment, also, there is a difference in the two accounts worthy of notice. In Deuteronomy "field" is added to the enumeration of objects not to be coveted, and the "wife" is put first and apart, while in Exodus the "house" precedes the "wife," and the latter ranks with the rest. In Deuteronomy also this separation of the wife is emphasized by a change of the verb: "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house." W. L. A. A mere annalist would naturally repeat these laws verbatim, as first pronounced on Sinai. But Moses was God's own lawgiver, filled with the Spirit of God to complete a code already begun. And hence, in his case alone, there might be weighty reasons for some partial change in the way of expansion or comment when the Decalogue was republished. In the preface and the first three commands where the first person is used, the repetition is exact. But in the fourth and fifth commandments Moses speaks as the Lawgiver, and renews them both with Divine authority, adding that significant clause, "as the Lord thy God commanded thee." A fresh reason is now given for the observance of the Sabbath, from the great deliverance and redemption which God had wrought for his people Israel. Such a change is quite natural, and adds to the force of this repetition of the Decalogue, transferring the command from past time to time present, when the speaker is God's own inspired messenger, the dying Lawgiver of his people. Instead of a mere record of what had occurred forty years before, it now becomes a present voice of authority from the living God to his own people. And nothing else than the high dignity of Moses as the mediator of the Old Covenant can fully explain this transition from the simple annalist to the voice of authority and the tones of the Legislator, so that the change increases and renews the impressiveness without impairing the authority of the original message. Birks. # Negative or Prohibitory Form of the Precepts. The predominantly negative character is rather a testimony to their deep spiritual import, as confronting at every point the depravity and sinfulness of the human heart. The Israelites then, as professing believers now, admitted by Divine grace into a covenant relation to God, and made heirs of his blessed inheritance, should have been disposed of themselves to love and serve God; they should not even have needed the stringent precepts and binding obligations of law to do so. But as a solemn proof and testimony how much the reverse was the case, the Law was thrown chiefly into the prohibitory form: "Thou shalt not do this or that;" as much as to say, Thou art of thyself ready to do it—this is the native bent of thy inclination—but it must be restrained, and things of a contrary nature sought after and performed. In itself the Law was simply the revelation of God's holiness, with its circle of demands upon the faith, love, and obedience of his people: it testified of what was in his heart as the invisible Head of the kingdom, in respect to the character and conduct of those who should be its members. But the testimony it thus delivered for him necessarily involved a testimony against them, because of the innate tendency to corruption which existed in their bosoms. And this incidental testimony against the sinfulness of the people—which is, at the same time, an evidence of the Law's inherent spirituality and goodness—has its reflection in the very form of the precepts in which it is contained. . . . It is also to be noted that the negative commands include in them the injunction of the contrary duties, and the positive commands the prohibition of the contrary sins, so that in each there is something required as well as forbidden. Further, the precept which forbids the external acts of sin, forbids likewise the inward desires and motions of sin in the heart; so also the precept which commands the external acts of duty, requires at the same time the inward feelings and principles of holiness, of which the external acts could only be the fitting expression. P. F. # Character and Perpetuity of the Moral Law. The Jews had three sorts of law. They had the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the civil law. The civil law existed for a time; its principles, as far as they are moral, relate to all time. The ceremonial law lasted till Christ, its end and its object, came. But the moral law, like the God that announced it, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. This law was not invented on Mount Sinai, but only enunciated there. It was ever true; it is now true; and it ever will be true. God's enunciation of it on Mount Sinai was an act of mercy in letting his creatures know what was the precise exaction of his will, and what would be the highest conformity to that will, if the commands in stone could be transferred to the heart, and be made actual and real in the life and the experience of mankind. J. C.—The moral law, expressed briefly in the Ten Commandments, is that part of the Law of Moses which is binding upon all men, and at all times. It contains a brief view of what is ever and unchangeably right—right in the eyes of God, and right for man to do; it is the Law that should be engraven upon every heart; it should ever be the standard of duty; and every man's prayer should be that his heart "may be inclined to keep it alway, even to the end." W. G. B.—Though the Mosaic dispensation be now at an end, yet concerning these moral precepts of it, our Saviour declares, that "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). Accordingly we find both him and his apostles quoting these Ten Commandments as matter of perpetual obligation to Christians; who are now, as the Jews were formerly, "the Israel of God." Abp. Secker. In every mode of incidental allusion, and of the most solemn and formal authentication, CHRIST, in the exercise of his public ministry, recognized the Decalogue, and also the summary of it, in two great commandments, as the Law of God. CHRIST, the Light of the world, and the Author of a spiritual religion for all nations, to the end of time, CHRIST, whose word is our warrant, and it is our only warrant for the hope of immortality, establishes his mission, and he expressly founds his religion upon the Mosaic revelation at large; and he does so in an emphatic manner upon the Sinaitic Decalogue. He takes this Law as the very ground of that higher and more spiritual interpretation which an intimate moral code demands. The several occasions on which he does this at once authenticate the Mosaic Canon, and expand its letter so as to send it in to govern the thoughts and intents of the heart. I. T.—Only one Law and Testimony was ever referred to by our Lord; one Law of Love (Lev. 19:18; De. 6:5). Christ's words illuminated the unity and Mosaic authorship of the whole when he said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." He never quoted any other code nor referred to any other lawgiver than Moses. Neither did his disciples nor the apostles. "Master, Moses said" (Matt. 22:24); "Master, Moses wrote to us" (Luke 20:28); "This is that Moses in the wilderness, who received the living oracles to give unto us" (Acts 7:37). Cheever.—Even if there were no Pentateuch in existence, the fact of the giving of the Law at Sinai through the mediation of Moses would be more firmly established than any other fact of ancient history. An event which has struck such deep roots in the consciousness of a nation as the giving of the Law at Sinai rests upon as sure a foundation as the existence of the nation itself. To establish this conclusion, we do not even need the line of testimony which we actually possess, and which reaches back to the very earliest antiquity of the nation of Israel. K. The Laws of the Ten Commandments stood out from all the other precepts enjoined under the ministration of Moses, and were intended to form a full and comprehensive exhibition of the righteousness of the Law, in its strict and proper sense. No doubt many of the other precepts teach substantially what these commandments did, or contain statements and regulations bearing some way upon their violation or observance. But this was not done with the view of supplying any new or additional matter of obligation; it was merely intended to explain their real import, or to give instructions how to adapt to them what might be called the jurisprudence of the State. P. F. Its two tables are a standing declaration of the true relation between morality and religion for all nations and ages. The fourth commandment is, in its principle, no exception to this. The Decalogue belonged to the Israelites, not because the truths expressed in it were exclusively theirs, but because it was revealed to them in a special manner. Clark.—The very order of the precepts is suggestive. First come our duties to God, and then those to our fellow-men. As in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to think first of God's name and kingdom, before we ask anything for ourselves, so in the Decalogue our obligations toward God are first set before us, and then those under which we lie to our fellow-men. The earliest thing to be sought by any one is to be right with God, and that will bring him into harmony with men. Religion is the foundation of morality. The first table of the Law is the root and trunk of the tree; the second is the outbranching, efflorescence, and fruitage thereof. W. M. T.—No theory of morals is built upon the deepest foundation which does not recognize the final ground of the obligation of duty in the voice of God. Duty is debitum—debt. Who is the creditor? Myself? An impersonal law? Society? No, God. The practice of morality depends, like its theory, on religion. In the long run, and on the wide scale, nations and periods which have lost the latter will not long keep the former in any vigor or purity. He who begins by erasing the first commandment will sooner or later make a clean sweep of all the ten. And, on the other hand, wherever there is true worship of the one God, there all fair charities between man and man will flourish and fruit. The two tables are one law. Duties to God come first, and those to man, who is made in the image of God, flow from these. A. M. By every precaution against their destruction and by every honor which could be paid to them, God seemed to intimate what a peculiar value was to be attached to this central code of duty; as though he would imprint on Israel and on us this great truth, that no rites of worship and no statutes of civil jurisprudence are of worth in his eyes unless, at the heart of them all, there lie enshrined and observed the great maxims of spiritual religion and of everlasting rectitude. It is morality which must lie at the basis of national order and prosperity. It is religion which must form a foundation for national morals. Both religion and morality must live as the informing soul at the centre of a nation's institutes, if the nation is to possess true vitality. Are not these the lessons taught by the very history of the Decalogue, and by its position in the statute books of Israel? Dykes. It was the boast of Josephus, that whereas other legislators had made religion to be a part of virtue, Moses had made virtue to be a part of religion. Of this, among all other indications, the Ten Commandments are the most remarkable and enduring example. Delivered with every solemnity of which place and time could admit, treasured up with every sanctity which religion could confer, within the holiest shrine of the holiest of the holy places—more sacred than altar of sacrifice or altar of incense—they yet contain almost nothing of local or ceremonial injunction. The words were "written by the finger of God," but the tables were not less surely fragments hewn out of the rock of Horeb. Hard, stiff, abrupt as the cliffs from which they were taken, they remain as the firm, unyielding basis on which all true spiritual religion has been built up and sustained. The Ten Commandments, in letter and in spirit, represent to us, both in fact and in idea, the granite foundation, the immovable mountain on which the world is built up; without which all theories of religion are but as shifting and fleeting clouds; they give us the two homely fundamental laws, which all subsequent revelation has but confirmed and sanctified—the law of our duty toward God, and the law of our duty toward our neighbor. A. P. S. It is a law exclusively religious and moral, which only busies itself about the duties of man to God and to his fellow-creatures, and admits, by its very silence, all the varying forms of government that the external or internal State of society may seem to require. Characteristic, grand, and original, not to be met with in the primitive laws of any other nascent state, and an admirable and remarkable manifestation of the Divine origin of this one! It is to man's natural and his moral destiny that the Decalogue addresses itself; it is to guide man's soul and his inmost will that it lays down rules; whereas it surrenders his external, his civil condition to all the varying chances of place and of time. Another characteristic of this law is not less original or less urgent. It places God, and man's duties toward God, at the head and front of man's life and man's duties; it unites intimately religion and morality, and regards them as inseparable. If philosophers, in studying, discriminate between them; if they seek in human nature the special principle or principles of morality; if they consider the latter by itself and apart from religion, it is the right of science to do so. But still the result is but a scientific work, only a partial dissection of man's soul, addressed to only one part of its faculties, and holding no account of the entirety and the reality of the soul's life. The human body, taken as one whole, is by nature at once moral and religious; the moral law that he finds in himself needs an author and a judge; and God is to him the source and guarantee, the Alpha and Omega of morality. Guizot. The Law of God is not a string of precepts; it is a principle, a spirit, a unity. It encircles one like a ring of gold. If he steps over it at any point, he goes outside of it, and is a transgressor as really as though he should break it in pieces at every point. J. P. T. The Law is to be regarded as a unity. It is not made up of isolated precepts. Our Saviour declares that it is summed up in two commandments. And the aposile reminds us that "Love is the fulfilling of the Law" love to God the root, and love to man the fruit. Taking them in order, the first four require of us a love that shall worship God alone, honoring his nature, revering his name, and guarding his rest day for his special service. The six later ones enjoin love to man, requiring loyalty in the home, restraint in the temper, purity of the body, fidelity of the hand, government of the tongue, unselfishness in the heart. What part or power of our being is there that is not held in the Law's comprehensive grasp? And how deeply it strikes! It is a "critic" of the thoughts and intents of the heart. No superficial obedience can meet its claims. It is not difficult to see the purpose which it was designed to serve. It was the basis of Israel's national life and legislation. It was for the instruction of the nations round about. And though it was set on a basis of redeeming mercy, it was designed to awaken the conscience to a sense of sin, to take the people to school, and thus to become their child-guide unto Christ. It was a form, written, of that high, that holy, that eternal law of righteousness which is the same for all times, all places, and all peoples—yea, of that Law of perfect love which the Divine Being fulfils in absolute perfection, and after which he would have his creatures conformed. C. C. If men loved God supremely, there would be no idolatry upon the earth, nor any of its attendant abominations; no profaning of the name of God, nor making a gain of godliness; no perjuries nor hypocrisies, no pride nor self-complacency under the smiles of Providence; no murmuring, sullenness, no suicide under its frowns. Love would render it men's meat and drink to obey God, and they would take everything well at his hands. And if they loved their fellow-creatures as themselves, there would be no wars between nations; no strifes between neighbors; no intolerance nor persecuting bitterness in religion; no deceit nor overreaching in trade; there would be no murders, thefts nor robberies; no cruelty in parents or masters; no ingratitude nor disobedience in children or servants; no unkindness nor treachery between friends; no jealousies nor bitter contentions in families—in short, none of those streams of death, one or more of which flow through every vein of society, and poison its enjoyments. Andrew Fuller. Its contents are just what they ought to be. They enjoin only what is right; they forbid only what is wrong. They err neither in excess nor in defect. No error or incongruity can be detected from beginning to end. The ground that is covered takes in all the relations and interests of man, the recognition, the worship, the reverence, and the proportion of time he owes to God, all relative duties arising from the family, the household and the state, the regard due to the life, the domestic circle, the property, and the good name of one's neighbor; and then the whole winds up with a precept that shows that thought as well as speech and act is included in the obligation. No modern theory of practical ethics discloses any duty which is not contained in the Sinaitic summary. That summary is suited to all lands, all races, all times, all states of society. It contains nothing that is sectional, or national, or fortuitous, or temporary. It is addressed to man as man everywhere and always. It lays hold of Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, male and female, bond and free, high and low, all nations, all classes without exception; for whatever other differences obtain, all stand upon the same footing as rational, responsible beings, and alike need some authoritative directory of conduct. . . . The perfection of the Decalogue may be argued from its manifest reasonableness. If there be no God, then religion does not exist, and it is folly to talk of sacred precepts; but if there be a God, the maker of heaven and earth, and sole ruler of the children of men, the one in whom we live and move and have our being, then the duties prescribed in the first table are due unto him. Nothing less can meet his exalted claims. Every feeling of propriety and gratitude summons us to render to him love, honor, reverence, worship, and obedience. And so with the other part of the Ten Words. If men be a race, if they have sprung from a common ancestor, if they are of one blood, if they are linked together, not casually or temporarily, but by a bond of nature, then beyond question they owe to each other all that the second table enjoins. They are members one of another, and as such must be governed invariably by the law of love. There is nothing arbitrary or capricious in any precept. All spring from a common source, and are self-commended by their bearing upon human welfare. And as far as the Decalogue is obeyed in its spirit, just so far is earth made to resemble heaven. . . . The Decalogue stands alone in the literature of the world. Whether we go to the west or to the farthest east, nowhere is there found anything approaching it in correctness and completeness as a standard of human duty. All rivals fall short either in excess or in defect. They are vague or inaccurate or confused. They mingle the trivial with the important, or they confuse ethics with politics or economics. They overlook the state of the heart, and they omit to ground their precepts either in right reason or the will of the supreme lawgiver. In distinction from all these, the Ten Words stand out as a clean-cut manual, resolving all duty into its essential principles, stating these with the utmost precision and clearness, and basing them upon the nature and perfections of the ever-living God. As has well been said, "There is contained in this short summary the outline of all treatises on morality and all codes of justice. Not the least blemish of any vicious or barbarous legislation is mingled with it. The form is Hebrew, national; but the truth is as broad as human life, and fitted to the wants of the race. If we compare this code with the remains of other ancient peoples, with the code of Menu, the sacred books of China, the fragments of the Persian religion, there is nothing like it." Chambers. If these Ten Commandments are examined closely reasons will appear on the face of them for their perpetual obligation. Their binding force comes not from the fact that they are enactments, but from the fact that they represent duties that cannot be separated from man's well-being, or even from the normal conception of right and righteousness. They were before the Mosaic code, and they will survive it, like the life that precedes organization and outlives it. Had God not said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," it would have been sin to worship any other God. And so of every other command. The Sabbath can be traced back to Eden, and was sanctified before any sin marred the creation, and even before one prohibition was laid upon man. These laws need no apology or vindication, because the moral instinct of mankind approves them as holy, just, and good. We might almost say that if God had not framed the Decalogue, the conscience and reason of man would have demanded it. Pierson. It was not given to give life. "By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh living be justified." It was designed as a Divine revelation of man's religious and moral duties, as a perfect standard and rule of obedience, and one of perpetual and universal obligation. For as every precept of it flows directly from the unchangeable perfections of God, it must forever make the same uncompromising demand upon the obedience of its subjects. The ceremonial statutes might serve a temporary end and be abolished. But the moral law must necessarily enter into the Christian dispensation, and pervade it through every period of its existence. It will even pass into heaven itself, and there be the delight and govern the service of every glorified spirit and ministering angel. Bush. The brevity of the Sinaitic Law, its comprehensiveness and its spirituality, its firm theistic cautions and its ethical effectiveness—these, its own qualities, these, its intrinsic attestations, this, its proper force for grasping and holding the human conscience—these qualities, which are, indeed, the strength of the Law, given in ten precepts, have, from that remote age to this, commanded the conscience of men, wherever the knowledge of it has come. These Ten Words, true as to their substance in all worlds, and of perpetual force, as in heaven so toward the human family throughout all time—this Sinaitic proclamation—who is it now that shall dare spend upon it his nugatory criticism? I. T.—How marvellous is the logical arrangement! How completely exhaustive its requirements! How all-searching its reach—leaving not an act of the life or thought of the soul untouched. Who can carefully study it and not see that “a greater than Moses is here?” Simple in its structure, sublime in its aim, all-embracing in its infinite sweep, and glorious in its holiness, it stands before us as a blazing mirror, reflecting the attributes of God. S. R. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it, so as to make it better. It is perfect. The first commandment directs us to make the Creator the object of our supreme love and reverence. This is right. If he be our creator, preserver, and supreme benefactor, we ought to treat him, and none other, as such. The second forbids idolatry. The third forbids profaneness. The fourth finds a time for religious worship. If there be a God, he ought surely to be worshipped. It is suitable that there should be an outward homage, significant of our inward regard. If God is to be worshipped, it is proper that some time should be set apart for that purpose, when all may worship him harmoniously and without interruption. One day in seven is certainly not too much. The fifth defines the peculiar duties arising from the family relations. Injuries to our neighbor are then classified by the moral law. They are divided into offences against life, chastity, property, and character. And, applying a legal idea, I notice that the greatest offence in each class is expressly forbidden. Thus, the greatest injury to life is murder; to chastity, adultery; to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now, the greater offence must include the less of the same kind. Murder must include every injury to life; adultery, every injury to purity, and so of the rest. And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command forbidding every improper desire in regard to our neighbor. Where did Moses get that law? I have read history. The Egyptian and adjacent nations were idolaters; so were the Greeks and Romans; and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this Law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened age? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous, but he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared so high above his age as to have devised it himself. It must have come from heaven. An. Worshipping the Deity under the image of even the lower creature-forms, the religion of Egypt must have been of an essentially grovelling tendency, and could scarcely fail to have carried along with it many foul excesses and pollutions. Some of the most profound inquirers into the religion of the ancients have recently shown, on evidence the most complete, that the worship of ancient Egypt was essentially of a bacchanalian character, full of lust and revelry; that its most frequented rites were accompanied with scenes of wantonness and impure indulgence; and that it sometimes gave rise to enormities not fit to be mentioned. Such was the atmosphere in which the Israelites had lived during their abode in Egypt; and it was when fresh from such a region that the Law of the Ten Commandments was proclaimed in their hearing, and given to be enshrined in the innermost recess of their sacred structure—a law which unfolds the clearest views of God’s character and service—which denounces every form and species of idolatry as inconsistent with the spirituality of the Divine nature—which enjoins the purest worship and the highest morality, and in its very form is a model of perfection and completeness. Wisdom of this kind Moses could least of all have learned from the Egyptians; nor could it have been his, unless it had descended to him from above. P. F.—Step by step in the space of one thousand years the whole world had become utterly degraded. As men became gods, their gods more and more became men, with all the follies, vices, and passions of men. Thus the idolatry of Assyria, Phœnicia, Egypt, had become foul and odious. And these were the centres of the world’s civilization and power. Now, just at the lowest stage of this degradation, in every nation of earth, as all history testifies, arises this man Moses among a band of Egyptian slaves, and sets forth to the world a law every way worthy of the character of God, as reason will certify. Whence, then, came this Law? From what human source could he have gathered it in such an age? There is but one of two solutions of the wonder possible—either the eternal God spake it and gave it to Moses, or Moses and his Law of Ten Commandments stands yet as the greatest miracle of all history. S. R. When we know how early in the world's history this Law was promulgated, it is very marvellous to find that an infant nation should, at starting, have a code of moral law so complete, yea, so elevated, that no other nation at that time presented anything like it, and that even now, thirty-three hundred years afterward, not the wisest man in the world can suggest anything loftier! The kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, have furnished us with naught like this, to say nothing of the Roman, Grecian, and Persian empires, the earliest of which was not founded for centuries after. And if, leaving the merely civil and political side of legislation, we ask for an embodiment of a moral and religious code on which legislation could safely be based, we do not find aught to be compared with this. Nor, if we look at the record of the national life of the very people to whom this Law was first given, do we find that even they approximated to conformity to it. In fact, nothing is more marked in their subsequent literature than their grievous departure from their own standards. When man makes any code of laws, those laws reflect himself and his own standard of attainment. But here is a code far beyond the attainment of any yet recorded nation. It is not necessary, however, to go to ancient nations to show that this Law betokens a higher than human origin. Look at legislation now. Look at the moral sentiment of peoples now. What is the cry? Love thy neighbor as thyself? Emphatically no! But "take care of your own interests, and let your neighbors look after themselves!" "Remove your neighbor's landmark as you think well!" Why, if no nation in the world is good enough to adopt the standard of the Decalogue, could it have created it, without ever having had any of its educating influence? And if no nation now could do it, how could they who were just liberated from centuries of slavery? But more than this. This Law is high above the attainment of well-trained Christian congregations. Let a minister proclaim the mercy of God in forgiving sin, and his preaching may charm. Let him insist on the demands of God's righteousness, and while some earnest holy souls will lay it to heart, and humble themselves before God, many will be offended at the enforcement of righteousness. This Law from man? No! it is too good for that. When man is brought face to face with its holy heart-searchingness he hates it! But again. Take the most advanced and holiest Christian you can find. Let him stand in full front of this holy Law— and soon he will be crying out, in agony, "God be merciful to me the sinner!" "But," it may be said, "are not Christians always preaching up to a higher level than that of their attainments?" But why? Because they feel and know that here is a Law which is infinitely above them, and which proclaims its intrinsic authority, and proves itself Divine. This Law shines by its own light, and is "a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path." C. C. # The Law and the Ceremonial Institutions of the Old Testament. The Law, perfect in its character and perpetual in its obligation, formed the groundwork of all the symbolical services afterward imposed; as was distinctly implied in the place chosen for its permanent position. For, as the centre of all Judaism was the Tabernacle, so the centre of this again was the Law—the Ark, which stood enshrined in the Most Holy Place, being made for the sole purpose of keeping the two tables of the covenant. So that the reflection could hardly fail to force itself on all considerate and intelligent worshippers, that the observance of this Law was the great end of the religion then established. And imperfect as those symbolical rites and services were, the members of the Old Covenant were still chiefly dependent upon them for having the character of the Divine Law exhibited to their minds, and its demands kept fresh upon the conscience. It was therefore fit that they should pervade all the more important relations of life, that the Israelite might thus find something in what he ordinarily saw and did—in the very food he ate and the garments he wore—to remind him of the Law of his God, and stimulate him to the cultivation of that righteousness which it was his paramount duty to cherish and exemplify. Were these things duly considered, another and worthier reason would easily be discovered for the occasional intermingling of the moral and the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic legislation, than what is very commonly assigned. This did not arise from a confounding of the positive and moral, the shadowy and the abiding, as if they stood upon the same level, and no distinction were recognized betwixt them. The position of the Law of the Ten Commandments in the ark of the covenant, to say nothing of the other marks of distinction belonging to it, stood as a perpetual sign before the eyes of the people, that the things there enjoined held immeasurably the highest rank. It is, in truth, the most sublime exaltation of the moral above all material symbols of revelation, or ceremonial forms of worship, to be found in the religious annals of antiquity. In heathendom there is nothing to be compared with it, nor in the after history of the covenant people is there anything that can justly be placed above it. The elevated moral teaching of the prophets is but the reflection, or specific and varied application, of what stood embodied before them in the lofty pattern exhibited in the handwriting of Moses, wherein the ceremonial was appointed only for the sake of the moral, and in a relation of subservience to it. P. F. # Relation of the Law to the Promise. The Old Testament Church had two covenants connected with her constitution—a covenant of grace as well as of law; and that the covenant of law, as it came last, so it took for granted the provisions of the elder covenant of grace. It was grafted upon this, and grew out of it. Hence, in revealing the terms of the legal covenant, the Lord spake to the Israelites as already their God, from whom they had received life and freedom—proclaimed himself as the God of mercy as well as of holiness—recognized their title to the inheritance as his own sovereign gift to them—thus making it clear to all, that the covenant of law raised itself on the ground of the previous covenant of grace, and sought to carry out this to its legitimate consequences and proper fruits. It was to impart greater solemnity to this revelation of righteousness—to give to its calls of duty a deeper impression and firmer hold upon the conscience—to render it clear and palpable that the things required in it were of most sure and indispensable obligation—it was for such reasons alone that the Law, after being proclaimed from Sinai, was solemnly ratified as a covenant (Ex. 24:3-8). But its having been turned into a covenant did not confer on it a different character from that which belonged to it as a rule of life and conduct, or materially affect the results that sprang either from obedience or disobedience to its demands; nor was any effect contemplated beyond that of adding to its moral weight and deepening its hold upon the conscience. And the very circumstance of its being ratified as a covenant, having God in the relation of a Redeemer for one of the contracting parties, was fraught with comfort and encouragement; since an assurance was thus virtually given, that what God in the one covenant of law required his people to do, he stood pledged in the other covenant of promise with his Divine help to aid them in performing. The blood of the covenant as much involved a Divine obligation to confer the grace to obey, as it bound them to render the obedience. That this also is the order of God's procedure with men under the Gospel, nothing but the most prejudiced mind can fail to perceive. Everywhere does God there present himself to his people as in the first instance a giver of life and blessing, and only afterward as an exactor of obedience to his commands. Their obedience, so far from entitling to salvation, can never be acceptably rendered till they have become partakers of the blessings of salvation. These blessings are altogether of grace, and are therefore received through faith. For what is faith but the acceptance of heaven's grant of salvation, or a trusting in the record in which the grant is conveyed? So that, in the order of each man's experience, there must be, as is fully brought out in the Epistle to the Romans, first a participation in the mercies of God, and then growing out of this a felt and constraining obligation to run the way of God's commandments. Men must first become partakers of grace through the channel of God's own providing. Only when they have done this are they in a condition to please and honor him. Not more certainly is faith without works dead, than all works are dead which do not spring from the living root of faith already implanted in the heart. P. F. # The Law a Schoolmaster, Leading to Christ. The apostle states (Gal. 3:19) that "the Law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." It was added to the provisions secured in the earlier covenant of promise because of the disposition in the hearts of the people to transgress the obligations under which they stood. It had an immediate and direct purpose of restraining the innate tendency to transgression, while it might be said to have the further end in view of preparing the minds of men for that coming seed. It brought the people into contact with the moral character of God, and bound them by covenant sanctions and engagements to make that the standard after which they should endeavor to regulate their conduct. But conscience, enlightened and aroused by the lofty ideal of truth and duty thus presented to it, became but the more sensible of transgressions committed against the righteousness required. Instead of being a witness to which men could appeal in proof of their having fulfilled the high ends for which they have been chosen and redeemed by God, the Law rather did the part of an accuser, testifying against them of broken vows and violated obligations. And thus keeping perpetually alive upon the conscience a sense of guilt, it served to awaken in the hearts of those who really understood its spiritual meaning, a feeling of the need, and a longing expectation of the coming, of him who was to bring in the more perfect state of things, and take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It was this feature of the Law which the same apostle had more particularly in his eye, when he described it as a "schoolmaster to lead men to Christ," shutting them up, by its stern requirements and wholesome discipline, to the faith which was afterward to be revealed. And the contrast which he draws in 2 Cor. 3 between the Law and the Gospel, proceeds entirely upon the same ground in reference to the Law; that is, it is viewed simply as a revelation of the perfect righteousness of God, and apart from the covenant of promise with which it was connected, fitted only to inspire fear, or to bring condemnation. He therefore calls it the ministration of condemnation, a letter that killeth, as in Rom. 7:10 he testifies of having found it in his own experience to be unto death: The apostle does not mean to say that this was properly the object for which the Law was given; but that it was an inseparable effect attending it, arising from the perfection of its character as a rule of righteousness, compared with the manifold imperfections and sins of men. And hence it only required spiritual minds, first to make them deeply sensible of their own guilt, and then to awaken in them the desire of something higher and better than was then provided for the true consolation of Israel. An important connection thus arises between the Law and the Gospel, and both are seen to hold respectively their proper places in the order of the Divine dispensations. "It is true," as Tholuck has remarked with sound discrimination, "that the New Testament speaks more of grace than of sin; but did it not on this very account presuppose the existence of the Old Covenant with the Law, and a God who is an holy and jealous God, that will not pass by transgression and sin? The Old Covenant was framed for the conviction of sin, the New for the forgiveness of sin. The moral law, which God has written in indelible lines upon the heart of every man, was once also proclaimed with much solemnity from Sinai, that it might be clear that God, who appeared in fire and flame as the revealer of his holy Law, is the same who has imprinted the image of holiness deep in the secret chambers of the bosom. Is not Israel, incessantly resisting with his stiff neck the God of love, until he has always again been reduced to subjection by the God of fiery indignation, an image of proud humanity in its constant warfare against God, who seeks to conquer them by anger and love?" Hence the order of God's dispensations is substantially also the order of each man's experience. The sinner must be humbled and bruised by the Law—that is, through the manifestation of God's righteousness, he must have his conscience aroused to a sense of sin—before he can be brought heartily to acquiesce in the Gospel method of salvation. P. F. #### Relation of the Christian to the Law. When the believer receives Christ as the Lord his righteousness, he is not only justified by grace, but he comes into a state of grace, or gets grace into his heart as a living, reigning, governing principle of life. What, however, is this grace but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? And this Spirit is emphatically the Holy Spirit; holiness is the very element of his being, and the essential Law of his working; every desire he breathes, every feeling he awakens, every action he disposes and enables us to perform, is according to godliness. And if only we are sufficiently possessed of this Spirit, and yield ourselves to his direction and control, we no longer need the restraint and discipline of the Law; we are free from it, because we are superior to it. Quickened and led by the Spirit, we of ourselves love and do the things which the Law requires. Does not nature itself teach substantially the same lesson in its line of things? The child, so long as he is a child, must be subject to the law of his parents; his safety and well-being depend on his being so; he must on every side be hemmed in, checked, and stimulated by that law of his parents, otherwise mischief and destruction will infallibly overtake him. But as he ripens toward manhood he becomes freed from this law, because he no longer needs such external discipline and restraint. He is a law to himself, putting away childish things, and of his own accord acting as the parental authority, had he still been subject to it, would have required and enforced him to do. In a word, the mind has become his from which the parental law proceeded, and he has consequently become independent of its outward prescriptions. And what is it to be under the grace of God's Spirit, but to have the mind of God?—the mind of him who gave the Law simply as a revelation of what was in his heart respecting the holiness of his people. So that the more they have of the one, the less obviously they need of the other; and if only they were complete in the grace of the Spirit, they should be wholly independent of the bonds and restrictions of the Law. . . . The Law would be of no use to those really under the Spirit if the work of spiritual renovation, which his grace is given to effect, were perfected in us. But since this is far from being the case—since imperfection still cleaves to the child of God, and the flesh, in a greater or less degree, still wars against the Spirit, the outward discipline of the Law can never be safely dispensed with. Even Paul was obliged to confess that he found the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and that though he was ever following after, he was conscious of not having yet attained to the full measure of grace and excellence in Christ. Therefore, for his own quickening and direction, as well as for that of others, he felt it needful to press the demands of law, and to look to the exceeding breadth of its requirements. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ If slavery has been truly called "the open sore" of this modern world, it was the universal leprosy of the ancient. It was a contingency which might possibly befall any and every man. Debt easily led to it. Landless poverty drove men to it. War fattened on it. One may read ancient history and easily overlook it amid the circumstances of the rise and fall of cities and empires, and the varied interest of political and social struggles. But in fact slavery was a universal bog, sickening and unstable, on which the whole of ancient society was built. Any man and any family and any neighborhood might sink in it. A battle, a bad harvest, or sickness, an error, a fault, inability to pay taxes, or even sheer force and fraud, might seize any one. The whole of ancient thought was pervaded with a sort of tragic melancholy. Black fate, whom their heathen imagination had put in the place of God, had suspended over every man not only death but ruin worse than death ; and that not only for himself but also for his wife and children with him ; a descent to the domination of cruelty, lust, and exile, to the condition of a beast and the estimation of a thing. In every community that achieved any degree of civilization the great majority were slaves. Ten, to one freeman, as at Athens, seems to have been no unusual proportion. Incredible numbers of human chattels accumulated in Egypt, Assyria, and Rome, and other great monarchies. The mind loathes the contemplation of the festering horrors of their condition. The Israelite alone was debarred by his constitution from admitting perpetual slavery. Grey. Slavery, universal in the ancient world, was recognized by the Mosaic institutions ; but of all the ancient lawgivers Moses alone endeavored to mitigate its evils. His regulations always remind the Israelites that they themselves were formerly bondslaves in Egypt. The free-born Hebrew might be reduced to slavery, either by his own consent, or in condemnation as an insolvent debtor, or as a thief unable to make restitution. In either case he became free at the end of seven years' service. If he refused to accept his manumission he might remain in servitude. But to prevent any fraudulent or compulsory renunciation of this right, the ceremony of reconsigning himself to bondage was public ; he appeared before the magistrate, his ear was bored, and he was thus judicially delivered back to his master ; but even this servitude expired at the Jubilee, when the free-born Hebrew returned into the possession of his patrimonial estate. The Law expressly abhorred the condemnation of an Israelite to perpetual servitude. As a punishment for debt slavery, at least under its mitigated form, may be considered as merciful to the sufferer, and certainly more advantageous to the creditor and to the public than imprisonment. The Israelite sold to a stranger might at any time be redeemed by his kindred on payment of the value of the service that remained due. He who became a slave, being already married, recovered the freedom of his wife and family as well as his own; he who married a fellow-slave, left her and her children as the property of his master. The discharged slave was not to be cast forth upon society naked and destitute; he was to be decently clothed, and liberally furnished out of the flock, and out of the floor, and out of the wine-press. Milman. The laws given of God through Moses cannot be held responsible for the existence of slavery. They found it existing and proceeded to modify it; to ordain that the slave had rights which the master and the nation were bound to respect—in short, to tone down the severities of the system from unendurable slavery to very tolerable servitude. H. C.—Whatever the obligation under which a Hebrew slave came among the Jews, never was his person regarded as chattel, goods, or property. His services were bought for six years, or till the Year of Jubilee; but his person never was regarded as property to be sold in the market. J. C. A religion which so sharply emphasized the high dignity of man, as a being made in the image of God; a legislation based on that very idea of man's worth, and which in all its enactments insisted not only upon the highest justice but also upon the tenderest pity and forbearance, especially toward the necessitous and the unfortunate; a people, in fine, which had itself smarted under the yoke of slavery and had become a nation only by emancipation—would necessarily be solicitous to do away wherever it was practicable with the unnatural state of slavery, by which human nature is degraded. Still at the period of the Mosaic legislation, slavery was so closely intertwined with the whole economy of all nations that its entire abolition could not at once be taken in hand, even by the Israelites, without serious peril to the domestic constitution. Besides, slavery under certain restrictions offered many important advantages, to which regard must be paid under existing circumstances. The system of labor for daily wages was not yet established; so that when any one, through his own fault or through misfortune, was reduced so that he could not support himself and his family, servitude was the only means of providing for his necessities, the only way of escape from the temptation to open robbery or secret theft. And, further, as the most ancient Hebrew legislation did not recognize the punishment of imprisonment, when any one was found guilty of robbery or theft slavery was also a fitting means of chastisement, so that the thief who could not pay the pecuniary penalty might still be punished by the loss of his freedom. Under these circumstances the Mosaic legislation allowed slavery to exist provisionally; aiming at first to do away with all the inhumanity and harshness that characterized it in the other nations, and preparing for its complete abolition, in the first instance in the case of Hebrew slaves, by so limiting its duration and conditions that it hardly deserved to be called by the name of slavery. Mielziner. The Hebrew slave might be held for six years only; in the seventh he was to be permitted his freedom. Rigorous exaction and harshness were distinctly and sternly forbidden. If a master by revengeful treatment inflicted serious bodily injury on the slave, such slave was to have his freedom (Ex. 21:26). Undue punishment was avenged by the judges (Ex. 21:20, 21). The slave might acquire property of his own, and might even amass enough to buy his own freedom. Slaves were to be free from all manner of work on the Sabbath day. They had a right to fruit which grew spontaneously during the Sabbatical year. They were to have their share of the feasts at the great national festivals. If they accepted freedom at the end of the sixth year, they were not to be sent away empty, but were to be furnished by their master, liberally and gladly, with a sufficiency wherewith to "start on their own account." The idea of freedom was ever kept before them. They might not sell themselves for life to any one. They were the Lord's freemen, and they were not to pervert the Divine thought by becoming life-long bondmen. When a foreign slave escaped from his master, the moment he touched the Hebrews' soil he was a free man. C. C. In matter of personal right the children of covenant were equal before God. While the ancient Roman laws say, "The master has power of life and death over his slave, and all which the slave earns belongs to the master," both these marks of slavery were unknown in Israel. "They are my servants, which I brought out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen" (Lev. 25:42). "If thy brother be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant" (verse 39). Gerl. —As regards rest from labor and religious and social festivities, the Law was very specific in stipulating that the man-servant and the maidservant must share in all these equally with the son and the daughter. We see this in the law of the Sabbath; in the feast upon the second tithes (De. 12:17, 18); and in the great festivals of Pentecost and of Tabernacles (De. 16:11, 14). Thus they were put religiously and socially upon the same footing as children in the family. No ban of exclusion, no stigma of caste, could attach to their condition so long as these statutes were duly observed. H. C. Lev. 25:48, 49. Any nigh of kin may redeem. The term Goel, though signifying Redeemer, has yet a more specific purport than anything conveyed by that English word or its equivalents in Greek and Latin or in any other language; for the idea was peculiar to the Hebrew. The kinsman-redeemer would be the nearest rendering of the original designation, but even this fails adequately to convey the deep significance of the Hebrew. A more exact definition would be, "a person related by blood, who by right of consanguinity lays claim to and redeems a person or thing, vindicates the rights involved or avenges the wrong sustained" (Glass). It is easy to perceive how the institution of the Goel must have been productive of important benefits to the Israelitish community; how it acted as a conservating power in the State, by binding together various interests, and particularly by offering to the weaker and poorer members protection against wrong, and against the necessities of parting with their personal liberties or their patrimonial possessions. But it is in its spiritual aspect that the matter chiefly deserves consideration. In this respect it was made the subject of so much solicitude in the Law; and the very name was assumed so frequently as a designation of the Divine Redeemer and of the relation which, as such, he sustained toward his people. D. M. The Jubilee seems to have had typical reference: First. To the great time of release, the Gospel dispensation, when all who believe in Christ Jesus are redeemed from the bondage of sin—repossess the favor and image of God, the only inheritance of the human soul, having all debts cancelled and the right of inheritance restored. To this the prophet seems to allude (Is. 26:13), and particularly ch. 61:1-3. Secondly. To the general resurrection. "It is," says Parkhurst, "a lively prefiguration of the grand consummation of time, which will be introduced in like manner, by the trump of God (1 Cor. 15:52), when the children and heirs of God shall be delivered from all their forfeitures, and restored to the eternal inheritance allotted to them by their father; and thenceforth rest from their labors, and be supported in life and happiness by what the field of God shall supply." That the Jubilee was proclaimed on the very day when the great annual atonement was made for the sins of the people proves that the great liberty, or redemption published under the Gospel could not take place till the great atonement, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, had been offered up! Through this sacrifice, the Jubilee declares, that the believer in Jesus who was in debt to God's justice had his debt discharged and his sin forgiven; that he who had sold himself for nought, who was a bond-slave of sin and Satan, regains his liberty and becomes a son of God, through faith in His blood; and that he who by transgression had forfeited all right and title to the kingdom of God becomes an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Heaven, his forfeited inheritance, is restored, for the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers; and thus redeemed from his debt, restored to his liberty, united to the heavenly family, and re-entitled to his inheritance, he goes on his way rejoicing till he enters the Paradise of his Maker, and is forever with the Lord. A. C. Like the Sabbatical year, the Jubilee shadows out a state of permanent prosperity, happiness, joy, and glory, in the latter periods of this world's history. Like many other features of the Levitical economy, its substance has never yet been realized. That is reserved for that blissful era announced by the seventh, or jubilee trumpet of the Apocalypse, when the grand consummation of all prophetic blessedness shall take place. Bush. Lev. 25 39 And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant: as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee: then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God. And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land: and they shall be your possession. And ye shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigour. And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxen rich, and thy brother be waxen poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him: or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him 50 of his family may redeem him ; or if he be waxen rich, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee : and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years ; according to the time of an hired servant shall he be with him. If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him ; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption. As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him : he shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight. And if he be not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel are servants ; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt : I am the LORD your God. De. 15 12 If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years ; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty : thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress : as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee : therefore I command thee this thing to-day. And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee ; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee ; then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee ; for to the double of the hire of an hireling hath he served thee six years : and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. De. 23 15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a servant which is escaped from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it liketh him best ; thou shalt not oppress him. [The special laws of Ezodus (text omitted) are referred to in the comment.] Treatment of Slaves. Emancipation and its Consequent Arrangements. Ex. 21 12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall surely be put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand ; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile ; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. Nu. 35 16 But if he smote him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a man-slayer : the manslayer shall surely be put to death. And if he smote him with a stone in the hand, whereby a man may die, and he died, he is a manslayer : the manslayer shall surely be put to death. Or if he smote him with a weapon of wood in the hand, whereby a man may die, and he died, he is a manslayer : the manslayer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the manslayer to death : when he meeteth him, he shall put him to death. And if he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died ; or in enmity smote him with his hand, that he died : he that smote him shall surely be put to death ; he is a manslayer : the avenger of blood shall put the manslayer to death, when he meeteth him. 30. Whoso killeth any person, the manslayer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses : but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die. Moreover ye shall take no ransom for the life of a manslayer, which is guilty of death : but he shall surely be put to death. And ye shall take no ransom for him that is fled to his city of refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are : for blood, it polluteth the land : and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. And thou shalt not defile the land which ye inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell : for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the children of Israel. De. 19 11 But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die ; and he flee into one of these cities : then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. No. 35 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 10 say unto them, When ye pass over Jordan into the land of Canaan, then ye shall appoint you 11 cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the manslayer which killeth any person unwittingly 12 may flee thither. And the cities shall be unto you for refuge from the avenger; that the man- 13 slayer die not, until he stand before the congregation for judgement. And the cities which 14 ye shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge. Ye shall give three cities beyond Jordan, 15 and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, shall these six cities 22 be for refuge: that every one that killeth any person unwittingly may flee thither. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled upon him any thing without lying in wait, 23 or with any stone, whereby a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, so that he 24 died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: then the congregation shall judge 25 between the smiter and the avenger of blood according to these judgements: and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall dwell therein 26 until the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the man- 27 slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, whither he fleeth; and the avenger of blood find him without the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood 28 slay the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the 29 manslayer shall return into the land of his possession. And these things shall be for a statute of judgement unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. De. 19 1 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God 2 giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth 3 thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the borders of thy land, which the LORD thy God causeth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may 4 flee thither. And this is the case of the manslayer, which shall flee thither and live: whoso 5 killeth his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past; as when a man goeth into the forest with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die, 6 he shall flee unto one of these cities and live: lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally, 7 whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore 8 I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy border, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he 9 promised to give unto thy fathers; if thou shalt keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt 10 thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three: that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. [Omitted text indicated in the comment.] NOTE.—The two special topics—the sanctuary for accidental or justifiable homicide, and the purgation of a community from the guilt of an undisclosed murder—although belonging in form to the class of ceremonial laws, are placed in this connection, because they relate directly to man-slaying, and because in a comparison with previous details touching the death-penalty, they find clearer apprehension and more effec- tive impression. B. The Jewish Law taught the great principles of moral duty in the Decalogue: it enjoined love to God and man; impressed the deepest con- victi n that God required not merely external observances, but heartfelt piety, well-regulated desires, and active benevolence: it taught that sacrifice would not pardon without repentance, nor repentance without reformation and resti- tution: it described circumcision, and there- fore every other legal rite, as designed to typify and inculcate internal holiness: it represented the love of God as the practical principle, stim- ulating to the cultivation of purity, mercy, and truth: and it enforced all by sanctions most likely to act on the minds of such people as the Israelites were. If we examine its penal code, it punished capitally idolatry, with all its train of profanation and crimes; adultery and im- purity in all its pollutions; murder; obstinate disobedience to parents; presumptuous defiance of the Divine law; and resistance to the supreme authority of the State. It provided with great wisdom for the trial of those who were guilty of manslaughter: it punished inferior offences with mildness and lenity: it protected the slave as well as the freeman. In short, the whole scheme and universal spirit of the penal code and judicial system were strictly conformable to the religion that was taught and to the moral principles that were inculcated. Graves. It is here enacted and provided, consonant to natural equity, that wilful murder should be punished with death, and in that case no sanctuary should be allowed, no ransom taken, nor any commutation of the punishment accepted; the murderer shall surely be put to death. It was an ancient law, consonant to the law of nature, that whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9: 6). Since the murderer cannot restore the life he has wrongfully taken away, his own must be exacted in lieu of it, to satisfy the law and the justice of a nation, and to be a warning to all others not to do likewise. It is here said, and it is well worthy the consideration of all magistrates and States, that blood defiles not only the conscience of the murderer, but also the land in which it is shed. And it is added that the land cannot be cleansed from the blood of the murdered but by the blood of the murderer (verse 33). H. The law discriminated with the utmost care and wisdom between real murder and homicide, more or less justifiable. A special law provided cities of refuge. Another special law met the case of murder by unknown hands. In-excusable carelessness causing injury or death was punished. Personal injuries not fatal were specially punished by statute. But real murder was punished capitally. The law is briefly stated in Ex. 21: 12, 14, and Lev. 24: 17, 21. More fully it is given in Nu. 35: 16-21 and De. 19: 11-13, in connection with the ordinance respecting the cities of refuge. These passages reaffirm and amplify the doctrine of the law as given to Noah and to the repeopled world; "And surely your blood of your lives [life-blood] will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of every man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." Human life is sacred, and God protects it under the sternest possible penalties—nothing less than the life of the murderer. That God intended this law for the whole race, for the entire repeopled world from and after Noah, is too plain to be denied or even doubted. It is not easy to see how another word could be said to make this more plain. The Law of Sinai and the code given through Moses are intensely emphatic, indeed perfectly decisive. According to this code, real murder must be proven: by previous hatred and enmity (De. 19: 11); by evidence of "lying in wait" (Nu. 35: 20); by the sort of instrument used (Nu. 35: 16-18), a weapon large enough to fill the hand and deal a death-blow. H. C. The crime of deliberate and wilful murder is a crime at which human nature starts, and which is punished almost universally throughout the world with death. The words of the Mosaical Law (over and above the general precept of Noah, that "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed") are very emphatical in prohibiting the pardon of murderers: "moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer." Blackstone. De. 19: 13. Thine eye shall not pity. There are some situations in which her presence would be out of place, her action injurious. But righteousness must never be absent. The very atmosphere in God's kingdom is penetrated with her vital breath. Her sceptre is the sceptre of God, and exerts a potent influence over every department of human life. All true prosperity is the fruit of righteousness. It cannot go well with any nation, nor with any man, until guilt is put away. Even compassion for others must be a righteous compassion. D. D. Have we as citizens pondered as we ought that solemn warning implied in the words, "Thine eye shall not pity him but thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee?" "So shall ye not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood it defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it." Remember that this law of God levels its prohibitions against not only wilful murder, suicide, duelling, and unlawful wars; nay, not only against all those callings, customs, practices that militate against the safety of human life; and not only declares judgment against those who violate the law themselves, but against the society which fails to execute judgment against the reckless shedding of blood. Nor does it matter from what causes this unfaithfulness of society may spring. It may be from the breaking away of society from its moorings by the upheaving of its social institutions and the outbursting of a reckless mob-violence which fears not God nor regards man. Or it may be a pseudo-philanthropism affecting a horror of anything but a perverted law of love that knows no eternal truth and righteousness to be vindicated by either God or man; and therefore denies the right of society itself to inflict death. Or it may be a breaking down of family authority under the great law "Honor thy father and thy mother," which turns the family government itself—God's own appointed seed-plant for the rearing of citizens for the State, and members of the kingdom of Christ—into a hotbed for the rearing of profligates, assassins, and murderers of every phase. No matter what the cause of the failure; still that great law stands written as in letters of flame—"The land cannot be cleansed of the blood shed therein but BY THE BLOOD OF HIM THAT SHED IT." S. R. Ex. 21: 13. This expression, respecting a man being killed by accident without any ill intention on the part of the slayer, is remarkable. It signifies that even those things which to us seem the most casual and merely accidental, in respect of God are really providential, and could not happen but by His (for wise reasons) permitting them to be done. S. Clarke. Nu. 35: 12, 19. The avenger of blood. The Hebrew, goel, signifies a redeemer; and because the right of redemption of estates belonged to the nearest kinsman, the word imports such a kinsman here. Bp. Kidder. The original import of the term goel is uncertain. The very obscurity of its etymology testifies to the antiquity of the office which it denotes. That office rested on the principle of Gen. 9: 6, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." In an unsettled state of society the execution of justice was necessarily left in private hands. The lowest stage of national development is where every one assumes the right of avenging alleged misdeeds at his discretion; and it was therefore already an upward step when prevailing custom restricted this right to certain persons, who, although wielding no public authority, were yet invested, ipso facto, for the time being, with a public character. It was in such a spirit that the unwritten code of the east conceded to the nearest kinsman of a murdered man the right of avenging the blood that had been shed. He was permitted to kill the murderer, without notice, openly or secretly, wheresoever he might find him. Such rude justice necessarily involved grave evils. It gave no opportunity to the person charged with crime of establishing his innocence; it recognized no distinction between murder, manslaughter, and accidental homicide; it perpetuated family blood-feuds, the avenger of blood being liable to be treated in his turn as a murderer by the kinsman of the man whom he had slain. These grievances could not be removed as long as there was no central government strong enough to vindicate the law; but they might be mitigated; and to do this was the object of the institution in the text. Among the Arab tribes, who are under the control of no central authority, the practice of blood-revenge subsists in full force to the present day. The law of the Koran limits the right of demanding satisfaction to cases in which a man has been unjustly smitten, and forbids the kinsman of the deceased to avenge his blood on any other than the actual murderer. But these restrictions are generally disregarded in practice by the Arabs. Espin. The law demanded blood for blood. But it transferred the exaction of the penalty from private revenge and committed it to the judicial authority. To effect this, it had to struggle with an inveterate though barbarous usage, which still prevails among the Arabian tribes. By a point of honor, the nearest of kin is bound to revenge the death of his relation: he is his Goel, or blood-avenger. He makes no inquiry, allows no pause. Whether the deceased had been slain on provocation, by accident, or of deliberate malice, death can only be atoned by the blood of the homicide. To mitigate the evils of an usage too firmly established to be rooted out, Moses appointed certain cities of refuge, conveniently situated. If a homicide could escape to one of these, he was safe till a judicial investigation took place. If the homicide was justifiable or accidental he was bound to reside within the sanctuary for a certain period. Milman. Nu. 35: 22. If the killing was not voluntary, nor done designedly, if without enmity, or lying in wait (verse 22), not seeing him, or seeking his harm (verse 23), which our law calls chance-medley, or homicide through misfortune, in this case there were cities of refuge appointed for the man-slayer to flee to. H.—9-15, 24-29. Six cities in Palestine—three on each side of the Jordan—were selected in such convenient geographical position that from any point of the whole country the man-slayer might make the nearest one within less than one day's run. All these were cities of the Levites; hence the leading men of the city would be competent to hold a preliminary investigation. The man-slayer fled for his life to the nearest of these cities. The legal authorities there protected him against the Goel—the blood-avenger. The elders of his own city, if the case seemed to demand it, might send and fetch him; try him, and deliver him up to the blood-avenger; or remand him back to his city of refuge. Thus this city shielded him against sudden and indiscriminate vengeance, and secured for him a trial before the congregation or elders of his own city. If his case was proved to be homicide, he must remain within the city of refuge till the death of the high-priest, after which the avenger's right to take his life (outside the refuge-city) ceased and he could go at large in safety. This provision affixed a limit to his quasi-imprisonment. Perhaps it was also significant of the pardon for sin provided for in the death of our Great High-Priest. If the man-slayer allowed himself to be caught by the blood-avenger outside his city when he should be within it, the avenger might take his life with impunity. H. C. These laws of Moses were perfectly wise: the man who involuntarily killed another was innocent, but he was obliged to be taken away from before the eyes of the relatives of the deceased; Moses, therefore, appointed an asylum for such unfortunate persons; great criminals deserved not a place of safety, and they had none: if persons who had committed manslaughter had been driven out of the country, as was customary among the Greeks, there was reason to fear they would worship strange gods. All these considerations made them establish cities of refuge, where they might remain until the death of the high-priest. Montesquieu. De. 19:3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way. The design of the injunction here was that every facility should be afforded to the fugitive to escape to the place of refuge. In later times, it was enacted that the roads leading to these cities should be repaired every year in the month Adar, and every obstruction removed. W. L. A. Here is a great deal of good gospel couched under the type and figure of the cities of refuge; and to them the apostle seems to allude, when he speaks of our flying for refuge to the hope set before us (Heb. 6:18). There were several cities of refuge, and they were so appointed in several parts of the country that the man-slayer, wherever he dwelt in the land of Israel, might in a day reach one or other of them; so, though there is but one Christ appointed for our Refuge, yet wherever we are He is a Refuge at hand, a very present help, for the word is nigh us and Christ in the word. The man-slayer was safe in any of these cities; so in Christ believers that fly to him and rest in him are protected from the wrath of God and the curse of the Law. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). H. NOTE.—The text discriminated, indicated, and explained in the comment. The spirit which breathes in the Civil Code of the Jews is the spirit of the moral law; and those enactments impress our minds with a deep sense of their equity and humanity. The Jewish Code forbade idolatry, witchcraft, and the profanation of the name of God. It forbade disrespectful conduct to parents, rulers, and the aged. It forbade all polluting and perverse conduct. Surely we see here how sound policy unites and incorporates in one friendly system all that is sacred in religion, just in social regulations, and pure in morals. There is a Divine voice addressing us in these laws: "Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." Jos Jones. These different regulations are as remarkable for their justice and prudence as for their humanity. Their great tendency is to show the valuableness of human life and the necessity of having peace and good understanding in every neighborhood; and they possess that quality which should be the object of all good and wholesome laws, the prevention of crimes. A. C. Is it possible to suppose that a man who was forty years in the desert and forty years a subordinate in Pharaoh's court should have been able to invent laws so just, reasonable, and fair, in comparison of which those of Solon are extremely imperfect and poor? Is it possible to account for all this in any other way than that God inspired Moses so to teach? J. C. Theft and Burglary—Penalties. It is here to be noted that the distinction of intentional or unintentional runs through the whole of these enactments, and modifies the degree of guilt and the amount of the penalty. M.—In the laws which follow respecting injuries inflicted, the great principle enforced is that of retaliation, which lies at the foundation of all judicial punishment. The criminal has violated the order of God in the life and property of his people, and that order must be restored again in him by recompense made. Such recompense extends, according to this original law of right, to the smallest particular—"An eye for an eye," etc.—in which, however, according to the analogy of all other legislations, it is supposed that the injured party may remit the retributory punishment, or receive restitution in some other way; and thus it holds good of these, as of all similar Divine and human laws, that the general principle is laid down in certain definite plain examples, which principle, legal usage, and custom extended to all similar cases, and more clearly explained. Gerl. Ex. 21 : 18, 19. Injury from personal contention. If the smitten man die not but "rise again and walk abroad upon his staff," the smiter "shall pay for the loss of his time and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed." Ex. 21 : 20, 21, 26, 27. Injuries to servants. For smiting to death, the master "shall be surely punished." For smiting out a servant's eye or tooth, "he shall let the slave go free." B.—The superiority, which he has improperly abused, is taken from the master; and in compensation for the injury, liberty, which is almost half of life, is given to the male or female slave. In consideration that it was his slave, the master is treated more leniently, when the severity of the punishment is thus mitigated; while in compensation for his loss the slave receives what is more advantageous to him—viz., that being set free he should not be exposed to another's cruelty. Calv. Ex. 21 : 22. Special injury to a woman with child. If she lose the child, and yet no other mischief follow, the injurer "shall be surely fined, as the judges determine." But otherwise the law of retaliation is to be rigidly enforced, of life for life. In this connection this law is first announced. Its full treatment will be found further on in this section. B. Ex. 21 : 28-32. Injuries by beasts and penalties of the owner. If an ox gore a man. Even an ox which had gored a man to death, and by parity of reason any other animal that had killed a person by pushing, biting, or kicking, was to be stoned; not to punish the beast but the owner, and so oblige him to be careful in preventing his oxen from injuring his neighbors. The flesh of the goring ox could not be eaten, a prohibition which served to keep up a wholesome horror of murder, at the same time that it punished the man by the total loss of his beast. E. C. W. 29. God proceeds further, condemning the master of the ox himself to death if he had been previously admonished to beware; for such a warning takes away the pretext of ignorance; and to give free outlet to dangerous beasts is equivalent to compassing men's death. He who knowingly and wilfully exposes the life of his brother to peril is justly accounted his murderer. 30. The exception which is here added permits the judges to distinguish the nature of the offence. Calv. Injuries to Cattle. The lex talionis, or law of like for like, afterward prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. Among the latter it constituted a part of the twelve tables, so famous in antiquity; but the punishment was afterward changed to a pecuniary fine, to be levied at the discretion of the Prætor. It prevails less or more in most civilized countries, and is fully acted upon in the Canon Law in reference to all calumniators: "Calumniator, si in accusatione defecerit, talionem recipiat." Nothing, however, of this kind was left to private revenge; the magistrate awarded the punishment when the fact was proved. Otherwise the lex talionis would have utterly destroyed the peace of society, and have sowed the seeds of hatred, revenge, and all uncharitableness. A. C. The principle of the lex talionis, "Eye for eye and tooth for tooth," is here laid down as the rule for magistrates administering justice between man and man, not as the law for private, social life, as implying the lawfulness of private revenge. It is in fact but the same principle which in another form we have embodied in our own civil constitutions, that "excessive punishments shall not be inflicted." The lex talionis is in fact the only true and reasonable rule of retributive justice as administered under law. S. R.—Retaliation is the converse of the "golden rule." It is giving back to a person his breach of that rule to see how he likes it. It is a rough method of teaching rude, selfish souls that there is retribution in all selfish practices. It is morally right that those who do to others as they do not wish others to do to them should have precisely their own paid back to them. It is simple justice. Edgar. The law of retaliation has been objected to as productive of hatred and revenge. It might be so if left to the exercise of private individuals, instead of being, as it really was, a rule of official judgment, by which to apportion the punishment due to personal injuries. Its vindication is found in the fact that it is based on natural equity, and is "an eternal law in the government of the world." It accords with the usages of all ancient nations not only the rude and barbarous, but also the civilized, as the Athenians, and in the Roman laws of the twelve tables. The Law as it stands in the Mosaic Code is not to be regarded merely as the declaration of the general principle that a wrong-doer is bound to make suitable reparation for the wrong done—a principle without which society could not exist—but as announcing the fundamental nature of punishment. D. M.—A juster reverence for personal security and a more comprehensive economy of human life have led to a return toward the Mosaic jurisprudence. It is utterly vain to trump up a philosophy of punishment in which the principle of retribution shall have no place. Whatever may be said for the rival theories, it is the idea of retaliation which most readily presents itself to the mind of the criminal, and which justifies his sentence in the eyes of the public. London Times. The law does not peremptorily command an injured person to avail himself of the right of retaliation, without any alternative. It only fixes the punishment to which the author of an injury must submit, if he cannot compound matters with the injured party. The law, as it stands in the Mosaic Code, is to be regarded as a mere declaration of the general principle, that whoever has done an injury to another is bound to make suitable reparation for the wrong which he has committed—a principle essential to the safety and good order of society—a principle, indeed, without which society could not exist. But even if interpreted and administered literally, how favorably does it compare, on the score of liberality, with what was at no distant period the law of our British ancestors! It is not so very long since both the theory and practice of British jurisprudence might have been expressed not in the Hebrew formulary of "an eye for an eye," but in such maxims as "a man for a sheep," "a man for a guinea," nay, "a man for a twelve-pence-farthing!" It has often been alleged that Christ made war upon the lex talionis as of more than doubtful morality, and thus assumed an attitude of direct hostility to the Law of Moses. But the persons addressed by Moses and by Christ belonged to distinct classes. Moses speaks to the perpetrator of the injury, and tells him that he was bound to give "eye for eye and tooth for tooth—" that is, to make satisfaction for wrongs and injuries committed by him. Christ addresses the injured party, and forbids him to give vent to his vindictive feeling. E. C. W.—The murderer is to be punished, or he who has maimed a member of his brother; but it is not therefore lawful, if you have unjustly suffered violence, to indulge in wrath or hatred, so as to render evil for evil. Galv. If men reject the Divine mercy, there is no other alternative but strict justice. And strict justice means retaliation. It is giving back to man what he dares to give to God. If man refuses God's love, and instead of accepting and returning it gives to God hate, then it is only right, eternally right, that he should receive what he gives. God cannot but hate as utterly abominable the soul that hates him who is essential love. Wrath is the "love pain of God," as Schöberlein has called it. It is forced on him by the action of his creatures. They have had the opportunity of love, but since they refuse it, they must be visited by wrath. Edgar.—What do these words mean: "He that transgressed Moses's Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God?" The only difference between the judgments of the Old Testament and those of the New is, that the latter are more terribly severe in proportion as the privileges are greater. And whether in the Old or in the New, the denunciation of judgment is an expression of love; for it is the warning voice of affection, telling of the coming danger, and beseeching those exposed to it to "flee from the wrath to come." J. M. G. Enumeration of these crimes. Ex. 21:15, 17; Lev. 20:9; De. 21:18-21, refer to smiting or cursing father or mother, and to a rebellious and drunken son. Ex. 21:16; De. 24:7, to stealing and selling a man of Israel. Ex. 21:29, to the owner of a goring ox known to have killed before. De. 17:12, to the man who disobeys the decisions of the appointed priest or judge. Nu. 15:32-36. The Sabbath-breaker in the Wilderness. Lev. 24:10-16, 23. The blaspheming son of Shelomith. In addition to these are the crimes (included in Sections 152, 153) connected with Idolatry and Fornication. B. Complaint has been made against Moses on account of the number of crimes made capital in his code. But great injustice has been done him in this particular. The crimes punishable with death by his laws were either of a deep moral malignity or such as were aimed against the very being of the State. It will be found, too, on examination, that there were but four classes of capital offences known to his laws—treason, murder, deliberate and gross abuse of parents, and the more unnatural and horrid crimes arising out of the sexual relation. And all the specifications under these classes amounted to only seventeen; whereas, it is not two hundred years since the criminal code of Great Britain numbered one hundred and forty-eight crimes punishable with death—many of them of a trivial nature, as petty thefts and trespasses upon property. But “no injury simply affecting property could draw down upon an Israelite an ignominious death. The Mosaic Law respected moral depravity more than gold. Moral turpitude, and the most atrocious expressions of moral turpitude—these were the objects of its unsleeping severity.” E. C. W. Of crimes against parents, the statutes of Moses specify smiting and cursing (Ex. 21:15, 17); the penalty in both cases, death. The precept forbidding to curse a parent is repeated impressively (Lev. 20:9). This crime stands in the list of those that are anathematized in De. 27:16. H. C.—If a Jew smote his neighbor, the Law merely smote him in return; but if the blow was given to a parent, it struck the writer dead. The parental relation was the focal point of the social system, and required powerful safeguards. “Honor thy father and thy mother,” stands at the head of those commands which prescribe the duties of man to man; and throughout the Bible the parental state is God’s favorite illustration of his own relations to the human family. In this case, death was to be inflicted not for smiting a man, but a parent—a distinction made sacred by God. He hath cursed his father or his mother. This is repeated as by a kind of note of exclamation, to aggravate the enormity of the crime. He shall be put to death, for he hath cursed his father or his mother! Such a monster must surely die. Bush. De. 21:18-21. Afterward, obstinate incorrigible disobedience to parents also came under the list of crimes worthy of death. The reason is to be found in that divinely hallowed reverence toward parents which is implanted in us by God’s will, whereby any injury by deed, or a cursing of parents, is a violation in their persons of God’s majesty. Gerl.—The case is supposed of a son incurably stubborn, rebellious, gluttonous, and drunken, upon whom parental chastisement is unavailing. The Law very considerably provides that his father and his mother shall lay hold of him and bring him before the elders of his city unto its gates (i.e., into open court), and there, as a public example and warning, the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die:—“So shalt thou put evil away from you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.” Parental love and partiality would guarantee this law against abuse. It is pleasant to note that no case of its execution is on record. Perhaps the severity of the Law forestalled its violation. The spirit of this precept is so fully in harmony with the Book of Proverbs that we naturally expect to find it there. (See Prov. 20:20 and 30:11, 17.) H. C. The penalty of such crimes was death; but the power of inflicting this was not among the Hebrews—as among the Greeks and Romans—left with the father; the punishment could be inflicted only by the community, with the sanction of the magistrate. A Hebrew parent might chastise his child with severity, but not so as to affect his life (Prov. 19:18, “Chasten thy son while there is hope, but raise not thy soul [let not thy passion rise so high as] to slay him”). While parental authority was sacredly preserved, a check was by the Law imposed on hasty passion. W. L. A.—The supreme and impartial law took under its charge the morals, the health, as well as the persons and the property of the whole people. It entered into the domestic circle, and regulated all the reciprocal duties of parent and child, husband and wife, as well as of master and servant. Among the nomad tribes, from which the Hebrews descended, the father was an arbitrary sovereign in his family as under the Roman law, with the power of life and death. Moses, while he maintained the dignity and salutary control, limited the abuse of the parental authority. From the earliest period the child was under the protection of the Law. The father had no power of disinheriting his sons; the first-born received by law two portions, the rest shared equally. On the other hand, the Decalogue enforced obedience and respect to parents under the strongest sanctions. To strike or to curse a parent was a capital offence. On parricide the law, as if, like that of the Romans, it refused to contemplate its possibility, preserved a sacred silence. Milman The mention of a trial implies that the son was heard in his defence, so as to clear himself of the crime if he was not guilty of it. Especially when he was to be stoned by the whole people it was necessary that he should be first convicted; and on this ground he was brought forth publicly that he might be allowed to plead his cause. Cole.—Undoubtedly in thus enforcing filial obedience, the Jewish Law laid the foundation of every virtue. He who despises parental instruction, tramples on parental authority, and feels no gratitude for parental affection in his earlier years, will probably as his passions strengthen and his depraved habits grow inveterate trample on the authority of laws both human and Divine, and requite with ingratitude all the benefits which man can confer, and all the blessings which the Divinity bestows Graves. Man-stealing was punished with death. "He that stealth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death" (Ex. 21:16). The Law as recited in De. 21:7 applies to a man stealing one of his brethren of the children of Israel. As stated in Ex. 21:16 it is universal, with no limitation. Stealing a man is the crime. This statute struck at the very root of real slavery. Both stealing and selling contemplate property—assume the fact of a property value. The spirit of the Law is—Men shall never be degraded into merchandise. H. C. 33. If a man shall open a pit.** The statutes of this Divine Code were so framed as to guard against mischief and injury occasioned by a culpable negligence. The pits or wells from which water was procured in those countries, though usually covered when not in use, yet were very liable to be left open, thus exposing to the utmost peril the lives or limbs of the animals that chanced to fall into them. 35. If one man's ox hurt another's.** Where cattle fought and one killed another, the owners were to adjust the matter by selling the live ox and dividing the price equally between them, and also by making an equal division of the dead ox. But if the animal was known to be vicious and his owner had not kept him in, it was just that he should suffer for his negligence, and was consequently required to give up his live ox and take the dead one. Bush. The right and the advantage of private property are everywhere assumed by Moses. To facilitate its increase, to regulate its use, and to provide for its distribution are leading objects of his Law. A political community could not be organized except upon a basis of individual property and right. This is the only bond strong enough to hold such an association together. The ownership by each member of the body politic of his tools, arms, clothing, and habitation, is essential to the rudest form of civil society. None would be willing to till the ground, if others had an equal right with him to gather the harvest. If the idle and the industrious, those who waste and those who save, have the same rights, and are to share alike in the fruits of the earth and the products of labor, then prudence, frugality, thrift, and provision for the future become simple impossibilities. All this is recognized in the legislation of Moses. That legislation has no sympathy with a social theory which places activity, industry, ability, and virtue upon the same level with indolence, idleness, incapacity, and vice. E. C. W. The protection of person and property from the force of the violent and from the frauds of the dishonest is one of the chief objects of all criminal law; and this object is compassed, or at least aimed at, by means of punishments or penalties annexed to crime. The most obvious, appropriate, and efficacious punishment for stealing is, that the thief should be compelled to restore many times the value of that which he had stolen; and in this we find the principle of the ensuing statutes concerning theft. Bush. Ex. 22: 1. The staple penalty for theft was restitution, yet varying widely in amount to meet the peculiarities of the case. In pastoral life cattle were specially exposed; therefore the Law ordained that if the thief had killed the animal or sold it, he must restore—of oxen five for one; of sheep, four. But if the animal was found alive in his hand, the restitution was only double—two for one. The indolent or unprincipled man who thought to live upon his neighbor's toil would find stealing very unprofitable. The Law had the more grip in those times because if a man tried to put his property out of his hands to evade the demand for restitution, or were in fact too poor to restore four or five fold, there was always the last resort—the Law could take him for a slave ("servant") and make him work it out. This was one of the incidental benefits of a hard system: it could be applied so as to make the penalties for theft effectually stringent. The Law punished trespass upon another's property and want of care for its due protection—on which points subsequent statutes reaffirm and expand what we first find in Ex. 22. H. C. The different proportions in which reparation is to be made for an ox or a sheep (or goat, the Hebrew word being one for smaller cattle generally) are due apparently to the fact that the ox, as the companion of man's labor at the plough, has a value in the eyes of its master far exceeding that of a sheep, and the loss of one might stop his tillage altogether. The law of fourfold restoration for a sheep is cited by David in reply to Nathan's famous parable (2 Sam. 12 : 6), and alluded to as a general rule by Zacchaeus. Alf. What we call money was not then in existence; an ox was given for an ox, or a sheep for a sheep; or if a man wished to buy a robe or a wardrobe, he gave so many sheep or oxen for it. And this usage of cattle as money is the origin of our word "pecuniary." The Latin word pecunia, "money," is derived from the Latin word pecus, "cattle." The first coins had struck upon them oxen or sheep, indicating that cattle was the substantial property; and that gold, silver, or copper coins were but the conventional representations of that property. J. C. 2,3. It is remarkable that the laws of most nations have punished more severely an attack by night than by day. The Jewish law made it justifiable to kill a house-breaker only in the case of a nocturnal attempt; the Athenian and Roman laws enacted the same; and by the English law, if a person attempts to break open a house in the night-time and is killed in the attempt, the slayer is acquitted; not so in the day-time, unless the act carries with it an attempt at robbery also. Blackstone.—It was no crime before the Law to kill a thief breaking into a house by night. After sunrise it became a crime of blood to take his life—it being assumed that he might be caught and compelled to make restitution, and that the peril to your own life and that of your family is materially lessened. The Law carefully guarded the defenceless hours of sleep by night. If a thief in defiance of this law played the burglar by night, he must run his own risk of death. H. C. Damage or Loss—Penalties. Ex. 22 : 5. From loose beasts. This was a case of trespass upon another man's grounds, where the intruder sent in his cattle to feed upon and eat down the grass, vines, or fruit-trees of his neighbor. The penalty was that he should make restitution of the best of his own. 6. From kindled fires. It is a plain principle running through these enactments, that men should suffer for their carelessness, as well as for their wickedness; that they are to consider themselves accountable not only for the injury they do, but also for that which they occasion through inadvertency. Here it is not necessary to suppose that he who kindled the fire designed the mischief that ensued. 7-13. From loss of intrusted goods or cattle. When valuable articles were left for safe keeping in the hands of any one, and while thus intrusted were in some way missing, if the thief were found he was to restore double. But if not, there was at least a suspicion that he who had the articles in keeping had secreted or abstracted them, and a judicial inquiry was thereupon to be instituted. The depositary was to be summoned before the magistrates, and his oath that he knew nothing of them was to be accounted a full acquittance. Bush. 11. "An oath of the Lord" is an oath wherein God is appealed to as the only witness, there being no need of this oath where there was any other witness. He that had stolen was forced to forswear himself if he would avoid discovery. Hence it is that theft and perjury are so often mentioned together in Scripture, one very often inferring the other. (See Lev. 19 : 11, 12 ; Prov. 30 : 8, 9.) Bp. Kidder. 14, 15. From loss of things borrowed. In the case of a borrowed beast of burden, as an ox, an ass, or a horse, receiving any hurt, or coming by his death, the borrower was to make it good, provided the owner were not present. Bush. Lev. 18 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 2 say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye 3 dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall 4 ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their statutes. My judgements shall ye do, and my statutes 5 shall ye keep, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgements: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. 6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which 25 I cast out from before you: and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof 26 upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and my judgements, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the homeborn, nor the 27 stranger that sojourneth among you: (for all these abominations have the men of the land 28 done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) that the land vomit not you out also, 29 when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whosoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their 30 people. Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that ye do not any of these abominable customs, which were done before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God. [Omitted text sufficiently indicated and explained.] These ordinances cover the principal topics included under the head of Moral Uncleanness, and naturally follow the subjects previously considered under the head of Cremonial Uncleanness. Moreover, while they partake largely of a moral and civil character, there are in them some elements which affiliate them with the ceremonial institutes. Still further, the principle underlying these ordinances is identical with that of a large portion of the ceremonial laws—viz., the inculcation of purity in the individual, the family, and the community. For these three reasons they are placed in this connection, as an appendage to the ritual ordinances. Beside certain special laws (touching divorce, the marriage of a deceased brother's widow, the trial of a wife's alleged criminality, and the punishment of a slandering husband) this section covers the main prohibitions and penalties respecting "the abominations of the Egyptians and Canaanites, incestuous connections and similar sins contrary to temperance and modesty, both in and out of marriage." B.—The aim of the Lawgiver was the preservation of personal purity, especially by the strict laws against all unnatural marriages and lusts, and against fornication and prostitution. The Law of Moses, like that of Christ, takes cognizance of sins against a man's own self, and that not so much in the light of self-interest or even of self-respect, but from that principle of holiness to God which is so emphatically laid down by the Apostle Paul. P. S. Lev. 26 1 Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it : for I am the LORD your God. De. 16 21 Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar ; which the LORD thy God hateth. De. 12 1 These are the statutes and the judgements, which ye shall observe to do in the land which the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath given thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree : and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire ; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods ; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. De. 17 2 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die. De. 13 1 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to draw thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee. Lev. 19 31 Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor unto the wizards; seek them not out, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. Neither shall ye use enchantments, nor practise augury. Lev. 20 27 A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. De. 18 9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearken unto them that practise augury, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. Lev. 18 21 And thou shalt not give any of thy seed to make them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Lev. 20 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I also will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from that man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and put him not to death: then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. Idolatry had overspread the earth, and was the universal religion of mankind, when the Law was proclaimed from Sinai. There was scarcely an object, element, or living creature in nature which did not receive a heart-debasing and life-corrupting worship. Dead men, celestial luminaries, light, air, wind, fire, hills, streams, groves, beasts, birds, reptiles, plants, darkness, storm, pestilence, the fates, the furies, and other like objects, were deified, and adored by trembling votaries. By a system of worship so blind and degrading, reason, truth, and virtue were well-nigh obliterated from the human heart; and in their place folly, falsehood, and vice reigned with almost undisputed sway. Not only in the ruder and more uncivilized, but even in the most enlightened and polished nations of Gentile antiquity, immoralities the most revolting and crimes the most unnatural were sanctioned by the example and consecrated in the worship of the gods. Lewdness was practised in the temples, and human victims bled upon the altars of these impure and sanguinary deities. E. C. W. The religion of the natives, in whose territory the Israelites were about to settle, appears to have been a depravation of the purer Tsabaism, or worship of the host of heaven. On this primitive form of idolatry had gradually been engrafted a system of rites absurd, bloody, or licentious. Among the Canaanites human sacrifices were common—babes were burned alive to Moloch. The inland tribes, the Moabites and Midianites, worshipped that obscene symbol which originally represented the generative influence of the sun, but had now become a distinct divinity. The chastity of their women was the offering most acceptable to Baal Peor. It was this inhuman and loathsome religion which was to be swept away from the polluted territory of Palestine by the exterminating conquest of the Jews; against the contagion of these abominations they were to be secured by the most rigid penal statutes, and by capital punishments summary and without appeal. All approximation to these horrible usages was interdicted with equal severity. The Canaanites had no enclosed temples, their rites were performed in consecrated or open spaces on the summits of their hills, or under the shade of groves devoted to their deities. The worship of God on mountain-tops, otherwise a sublime and innocent practice, was proscribed. The strictest personal purity was enjoined upon the priests; the prohibition against prostituting their daughters, as well as that which forbids the woman to appear in the dress of the man, the man in that of the woman, are no doubt pointed against the same impure ceremonies. Milman. There was nothing more common among all the peoples of antiquity, including the inhabitants of Canaan and adjacent lands, than the practice of magic in some of its numerous forms. Ancient Egypt abounded in it, and the monuments of Assyria and Babylon show that these nations in their religious, social, and even political, life were no less under its influence. And as one of the most subtle and fascinating forms of idolatry, it was natural that the Mosaic Law should take cognizance of it, and denounce the severest penalties against it. In this particular all the codes agree; there is not one of them that does not adjudge so gross a violation of its fundamental principles as worthy of death. E. C. B. Dc. 18:9-14. Different names are here assigned to persons dealing in the arts of magic. "One that useth divination," professing to gain power and knowledge more than human. "One that practiseth augury," or covert arts. "An enchanter;" the original suggesting the serpent, and implying the practice of charming serpents, yet always connected with the arts of divination. "A sorcerer;" the Hebrew word signifying one who mutters incantations, but only in the bad sense of seeking help from others than God. "A charmer;" a word which suggests binding as with the spell of enchantment. "A consulter with a familiar spirit." The English phrase signifies spirits who stand in such a relation to the performer that they come at his call. Of course it is pretended that these spirits are other and greater than human. The original Hebrew [Ob] comes down to us in the African "Obe-man" who still follows the same profession, by means of similar arts. "A wizard" is one who claims superhuman wisdom, the old English accurately translating the Hebrew: the distinctively wise one. The word is restricted in usage to superior wisdom gained by the arts of magic. "A necromancer;" precisely the spiritist of modern times, or rather, of all time, who claims to have communion with the spirits of dead men. [The word necromancer comes from the Greek; necros—a dead one; and "mantis" divination—gaining superhuman knowledge from the dead.] This analysis of the original words may aid toward some just conception of the associated ideas which cluster round the magic arts of the Hebrew age. Their name and their arts are legion. Think of so many classes—professions—of men and women naturally shrewd, sharp, cunning; practising upon the superstitions and fears of the millions; working upon their imagination, haunting them with the dread of unknown powers, bringing up to them ghosts from the invisible world, claiming to give auguries of the future, playing in every way upon their fears and hopes, to extort their money or to make sport of their fears or to gratify their own or others' malice. A system so near akin in spirit and influence to idolatry, which so thoroughly displaces God from the hopes and fears of men, and which seeks so successfully to install these horrible superstitions in his place;—a system which perverts the powers of the world to come to subserve ungodliness and which practically rules out the blessed God from the sphere of men's homage, fears, and hopes;—this system has always been worked by wicked and never by good men, has always subserved all iniquity, but piety and morality never;—this has been a master stroke of Satan's policy and one of the most palpable fields of his triumph through all the ages. Let it not surprise us that God's Law given through Moses denounced it unqualifiedly and made it punishable with death. The nations whom God drove out of Canaan were steeped in its abominations and ripened under its influence for their righteous doom. Not even one pagan, idolatrous nation, known to history since the world began, has been free from this abomination—the arts of magic. Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, India, Africa, historic Greece, and Rome; the old nations of Northern Europe, the savages of America—all testify that they have been cursed by its presence and power. H. C. Witchcraft not only gives that honor to the devil which is due to God alone, but bids defiance to the Divine Providence, wages war with God's government, and puts His work into the devil's hand, expecting him to do good and evil, and so making him, indeed, the God of this world; justly therefore was it punished with death, especially among a people that were blessed with a Divine revelation and cared for by Divine Providence above any people under the sun. H. The methods of modern so-called "spiritualism" are so nearly analogous to those of ancient times, that it is as needful now to warn the people against them as it was for Moses to warn the Hebrews. Even among them the roothold of this superstition was so strong that Isaiah had to caution the men of his time against it, and to remind them of the more excellent way (Is. 8:19, 20). What we really need is light for the future, not light on it; and light concerning the invisible world, not light into it. And these are given to us in the revelation of the Divine Word. It opens up immortality and life. By its light we know that our departed ones in Christ, though absent from the body, are present with the Lord. Cheered by its words of hope we can sing, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory!" Be it ours to study the Book of God: to take it not only as a guide, but the guide; not simply as the only guide, but as the all-sufficient one, "until the day break, and the shadows flee away." C. C. Child-Sacrifice to Molech. Ex. 22 22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. De. 24 17 Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take the widow's raiment to pledge: but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. De. 10 18 He doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ex. 23 9 And a stranger shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Lev. 19 33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. Lev. 19 9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God. De. 24 19 When thou reapest thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. De. 23 24 When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into thy neighbour's standing corn, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn. Ex. 22 25 If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him usury. Lev. 25 35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no usury of him or increase; but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor give him thy victuals for increase. I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God. De. 23 19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it. De. 24 10 When thou dost lend thy neighbour any manner of loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring forth the pledge without unto thee. And if he be a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God. Ex. 22 26 If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down: for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. De. 24 6 No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge. 14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy breth- 15 ren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates : in his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it ; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it : lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. Lev. 19 13 Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, nor rob him : the wages of a hired ser- vant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. [Only two or three equivalent texts omitted.] No portion of our study of this Divine legis- lation has more profoundly affected us than the precepts grouped in this and the following sec- tions. The text itself, if thoroughly pondered, seems scarcely to require exposition or com- ment. We earnestly bespeak the reader's delib- erate and thoughtful reading before proceeding to the explanatory and suggestive paragraphs that follow. B. How imperfectly do those understand the He- brew legislation, who accuse it of inhumanity! Its distinctive character is gentleness and benefi- cence. No ancient legislation will bear a mo- ment's comparison with it in this respect. It forbids to cherish sentiments of hatred and re- venge. It enjoins the forgetfulness of injuries, the cultivation of mutual love, and the practice of kindness even to enemies. It commands re- spect and compassion toward the aged, the deaf, and the blind. It enjoins that the travel- ler uncertain of his route be directed in the right way. It requires benevolence and gener- osity toward the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. For them the corners of the field were to remain unreaped, and the forgotten sheaf was to be left where it had fallen. For them the husbandman was forbidden to go over his corn patch a second time, or to twice glean the grapes of his vineyard and shake the boughs of his olive trees. E. C. W. The Mosaic Law was infinitely superior in point of humanity to all the institutions of the most celebrated lawgivers of antiquity. It abounds with injunctions of mercy and pity, not only to Jews but to strangers, to enemies, and even to those who had most cruelly op- pressed and injured them. The Divine legisla- tion thought no creature below its notice ; and extended itself to the minutest articles of social and domestic life, which, though unnoticed by less benevolent lawgivers, do in fact constitute a very great and essential part of human happi- ness and misery. Porteous. The spirit of the Hebrew law was broader than race, or country, or kindred. Among the ancients generally a foreigner had no rights in any country but his own. In some languages the very word "stranger" was synonymous with enemy. Against these race hatreds Moses set up this command, "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger"—which he enforced upon the Israel- ites by the touching remembrance of their own bitter experience—for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing "ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." But not only were foreigners to be tolerated; they were to receive the fullest protection: "Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger as for one of your own country." If they chose to be naturalized, they became entitled to all the privileges of Hebrews. Field. Ex. 22:21. A stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither oppress him. This was not only a humane law, but it was a sound policy. Do not wrong a stranger; remember ye were strangers. Do not oppress a stranger; remember ye were oppressed. Therefore do unto all men as ye would they should do to you. Let strangers be well treated among you and many will come among you, and the strength of your country will be increased. If refugees of this kind be treated well they will become proselytes to your religion, and thus their souls may be saved. In every point of view, therefore, justice, humanity, sound policy, and religion, say—Neither wrong nor oppress a stranger. A. C. Lev. 19:34. Thou shalt love him as thyself. The apostle makes use of a strong argument to induce men to hospitality toward strangers. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Moses also uses a powerful motive: ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. A. C.—The purpose of this humane law was, as these words show, to keep Israel in mind that it was only of God's grace that he had been chosen above all other people; and that they who were now defenceless strangers, might also some day become God's people. All other ancient nations, especially the Egyptians, were notoriously unkind to strangers. Geri. De. 10:18. As the God of the whole earth, he loveth the stranger, helpless or oppressed, and giveth him food and raiment. Following him, Israel, as his people, were to be benevolent to the stranger, inasmuch as they themselves knew by experience what it was to be a stranger. They were to love the stranger as God loves him, by relieving his necessities. W. L. A. Lev. 24:22. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country. Equal laws, where each individual receives the same protection and the same privileges, are the boast only of a sound political constitution. He who respects and obeys the laws has a right to protection and support; and his person and property are sacred in the sight of justice. Therefore each individual in a well-regulated State must have equal rights and privileges in everything that relates to the safety of his person and the security of his property. Such was the Mosaic code. A. C. No part of the code of Moses seems to be more deeply imbued with the tenderness and pity of the Lord than the provisions made for the poor, and the restrictions and limitations upon personal servitude. In all his utterances on these points the Lord assumes that no interests of man more need his protection than these, and he comes promptly to the front to give it. He would have us know that over these interests his watchful eye never sleeps; his quick ear is never shut to any cry for help. The rich and the mighty may get on without his special aid; the poor are his own wards and shall never lack his sympathy nor his present hand. Human laws are in great part worthless—at least they miss their most important function—unless they make it their chief endeavor to protect the interests and rights of those who, powerless in themselves, rest upon the strong arm of law for their defence. H. C. The Open Hand and Heart Enjoined (De. 15:7-11). He commands that the poor brother shall be relieved. "Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand," he says, "from thy poor brother." But beyond this point, where mere human law must stop short, he goes on to say: "And thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him" (verse 10). He enjoins upon masters that they load their departing slaves with gifts and rewards: "Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor and out of thy wine-press." But it is no injunction, it is a moving entreaty, when he adds: "It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee." E. C. B. The declaration, "There shall always be poor in the land; therefore I command thee to open thine hand to thy brother, and to the poor and needy in thy land" (verse 11), does not encourage begging, but exhorts to anticipate and to supply the wants of the needy. The idea of anticipating and preventing forms the basis of the whole system of the poor laws enacted in the Pentateuch. Ginsburg. Ex. 22 : 22-24. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Je- hovah here avows himself the husband of the widow and the father of the orphan. He virtually says of himself, what is emphatically affirmed by the Psalmist (Ps. 68 : 5), "A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widow, is God in his holy habitation." In thus forbid- ding his people to afflict widows and orphans he does in fact enjoin upon them to comfort and assist them, and to be ready on all occa- sions to show them kindness. Bush.—The Law took under its care all whom death had deprived of their natural protectors. They were sacred by misfortune. God would punish cruelty to them : "If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry unto me, I will surely hear their cry ; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." Thus under the He- brew law, sorrow, widowhood, orphanage, all threw a shield of protection over the desolate and the unhappy. Field. It is remarkable that offences against this law are not left to the discretion of the judges to be punished ; God reserves the punishment to himself. It is no common crime, and shall not be punished in a common way ; the wrath of God shall wax hot against him who in any wise afflicts or wrongs a widow, or a fatherless child ; and we may rest assured, that he who helps either, does a service highly acceptable in the sight of God. A. C.—Those whom God makes his especial charge can never be injured or as- sailed with impunity. Let the parallel mo- nition therefore of the wise man be reverently re- garded (Prov. 23 : 11), "Enter not into the fields of the fatherless ; for their Redeemer is mighty ; he shall plead their cause with thee." Bush. shall restore the pledge when the sun goeth down. If the debtor was needy, and being such could give in pledge only some necessary article, such as his upper garment in which he slept at night, the pledge was to be returned ere nightfall, that the man might sleep in his own raiment, and have a grateful feeling toward his creditor. In many parts of the East, with the Arabs notably, it is customary for the poor to sleep in their outer garment. W. L. A. De. 24 : 6. The mills of the ancient Hebrews probably differed but little from those at present in use in the East. These consist of two circular stones, about eighteen inches or two feet in diameter, the lower of which is fixed, and has its upper surface slightly convex, fitting into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. So essential were millstones for daily domestic use, that they were forbidden to be taken in pledge, in order that a man's family might not be deprived of the means of preparing their food. Dic. B.—He prohibits the taking of anything in pledge which is necessary to the poor for the support of existence; for in the words upper and nether millstone, he includes all other instruments which workmen require in earning their daily bread. This is sufficiently clear from the context, where it is said, "He taketh a man's life to pledge," together with his millstones. He, then, who takes in pledge what supports a poor man's life, it is as if he should take away bread from a starving man, and thus his life itself, which is sustained by labor. Calc. De. 24 : 13. It shall be righteousness unto thee. It is only when we bear in mind the laws enacted in favor of the poor that we can understand the expression tzedakah which the Old Testament uses to express the idea of charity (Prov. 10 : 2 ; 11 : 4, etc.). This expression, which literally denotes right, acts of right or justice, came to mean "charity," because, as we have seen, according to the Mosaic Law the poor had an inalienable right to certain produce of the soil. Hence it does not exactly correspond to our term "alms," but occupies the midway position between deeds of right and of love. Ginsburg.—If the concession be an act of sterling love, pure from the alloy of selfishness, it is an act of righteousness—the fruit of the Divine Spirit's grace. This is not self-righteousness, for genuine love to men is a gracious affection. It does not begin with self; it does not terminate in self. God is its object; hence it shall be counted for righteousness. As Abraham's faith counted for righteousness, so does also genuine love. D. D. De. 24 : 14, 15. This needs no comment. B. De. 16 18 JUDGES and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes. De. 17 8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days: and thou shalt inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgement: and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall shew thee from that place which the LORD shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee: according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgement which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Ex. 22 28. Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people. Ex. 23 6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no gift: for a gift blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous. De. 1 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgement; ye shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgement is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. Lev. 19 15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. De. 16 18 They shall judge the people with righteous judgement. Thou shalt not wrest judgement; thou shalt not respect persons: neither shalt thou take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. De. 17 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee. De. 19 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. Ex. 23 1 Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak [or, bear witness] in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest judgement: neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause. De. 19 16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong doing; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee. De. 25 1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgement, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked; and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. De. 24 16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. The Civil Code of the Hebrews did much to develop kindness and humanity among the people. The mere rehearsal of its main provisions is its noblest panegyric. If we compare its details with the enactments of other nations, we see how much the world has owed in the matter of jurisprudence to the Hebrew Lawgiver; for in the very points in which the best modern legislation has outgrown his system, it has done so only by the ampler development of its principles. W. M. T.—From the enactments of Moses almost all legislation has been drawn, both as to principle and as to form; and where any departure from this grand outline is attempted, the change has been perceptibly for the worse. Enc. Met. The Hebrew Code and its system of jurisprudence were benefited by the Egyptian in the example and silent influence of a full civil, written code of law. That Egypt had such a code admits of no question. The Hebrew patriarchs, prior to the sojourn in Egypt, had nothing of the sort. Their life in Egypt therefore gave them their first lessons, their first ideas of a complete code of written law. We shall be in small danger of over-estimating the value of these lessons and ideas in their bearings upon a higher civilization. So, also, Egypt gave to the Hebrew mind the example of a well-digested system of judicial procedure, established courts and forms of trial; laws put in force by the aid of judges, witnesses, and the systematic execution of penalties. Remarkably the last quarter of a century has brought to light documentary evidence of a judicial trial in Egypt as far back as the age of Moses. H. C. Laws and not men are the rulers in every justly constituted State. The difference is broad and impassable between a government of will and a government of law. Under the Hebrew constitution, the poor and the weak were not to be the victims of the rich and the strong. The small as well as the great were to be heard, and equal justice awarded to all without fear or favor. That terrible and ruinous evil, "the law's delay," was unknown to the Hebrew jurisprudence. Courts of various grades were established, from high courts of appeal down to those ordained for every town. "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates," was the constitutional provision on this subject. To what a minute subdivision the judiciary system had been carried in the wilderness appears from the ordinance which required "rulers over thousands, rulers over hundreds, rulers over fifties, and rulers over tens [of families], who should judge the people at all seasons. (See previous section) Care was thus taken that in suits and proceedings at law every man should have what was just and equal, without going far to seek it, without waiting long to obtain it, and without paying an exorbitant price for it. With a judiciary constituted in this manner justice could be administered promptly, while provision was made against the evils of hasty decisions in the right of appeal to higher courts; in important cases even to the venerable council of seventy, composed of the wisest, the gravest, the ablest, the most upright, and trustworthy men in the nation. E. C. W. De. 16:18. Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates. In anticipation of their settlement in Canaan and dispersion in towns and villages over the whole land, Moses here enacts that judges and officers were to be appointed by the people in all their gates, in all their places of residence which the Lord should give them. The "officers" (shoterim, writers) associated with the judges both in the earlier arrangements and in that which was to succeed were secretaries and clerks of court, and acted also as assessors and advisers of the judges. No instruction is given as to the number of judges and officers, or as to the mode of appointing them; nor was this necessary. The former would be determined by the size and population of the place where they were appointed, and the latter would follow the method instituted by Moses in the earlier arrangement. Thy gates. Judicial proceedings were conducted at the gates of the city, and in some place outside the walls the sentence was executed on the condemned criminal (Neh. 8:1, 3), just as during the journey through the wilderness it had been outside the camp that transgressors were punished. W. L. A.—The seat of justice—the place for holding court—was "in the gates of the city." Hence this being with all Orientals the place of public resort, the courts were public—open to all. H. C.—The chamber over one of the principal gates of each city was in ancient times the council chamber, where the judges sat, and causes were tried; as in 2 Sam. 18:33; 19:8; Ps. 69:12). And "to speak with the enemy in the gate" is to plead against an adversary in court (Ps. 127:5). So, "to be crushed in the gate," and "to be afflicted in the gate," is to lose the cause and to be condemned in court. Pyle. # The Supreme Court (De. 17:8-13). So long as Moses was with the people, they had in him one to whom, in the last resort, cases might be brought for decision which were found too difficult for the ordinary judges. But as he was not to be always with them, it was needful to provide a Supreme Court, to which such cases might be carried when they could no longer be decided by him; and such a court is here appointed to be held at the sanctuary. W. L. A.—The provision for a Supreme Judicature, which we find to have been established by the constitution, is in the following words (verses 8, 9): “If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates (i.e., in the inferior, local courts), then thou shalt arise, and get thee unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment.” “The priests the Levites and the judge” here evidently mean a national council or court. The phrase must be interpreted of such priests and Levites only as had some commission to give judgment in the place which Jehovah should choose. On account of their learning and knowledge of the laws they would naturally be esteemed best qualified to be chosen to interpret them. This Supreme Judicature, composed of persons of the greatest ability, experience, and learning in the laws, was not only highly important and useful as a court of appeal in adjudicating difficult cases, and those in which great interests were at stake between individuals, but it was indispensable for the decision of controversies which might arise between different tribes. As no one tribe had any authority or jurisdiction over any other, such controversies could be decided only by some common judge. The tribes, as sovereign States, were subject to no lower court than the supreme judicial council of the whole nation. What concerned one tribe was by no means to be determined by the judges of another. It is hardly necessary to add that the judgment of this court was final. Hence it was enacted (verses 10, 11): “Thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose (the supreme court) shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do all according to all that they inform thee; according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand nor to the left.” The judicial office among the Hebrews was elective. (See previous section.) Even the supreme judge was chosen by the free suffrages of the people. The historian distinctly informs us that “the people made Jephthah head and captain over them.” Four stages may be noted in the proceedings relating to Jephthah—the preliminary discussion, the nomination, the presentation to the people, and the installation. E. C. W. 8. Between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke—i.e., in cases where blood had been shed and death had ensued, either accidentally or from murderous intent; in cases of disputed rights and claims; and in cases where corporeal injury had been suffered, whether in strife or from assault; and, in general, wherever matters of controversy—disputes as to what was lawful and right, might arise in their towns and villages. In all such cases recourse was to be had to the court at the sanctuary. W. L. A. Ex. 22:28. He commands that they should think and speak reverently of judges and others who exercise the office of magistrate; in the ordinary idiom of the Hebrew language he repeats the same thing twice over—the same persons are called “gods” and “rulers of the people.” The name of God is, figuratively indeed but most reasonably, applied to magistrates, upon whom as the ministers of his authority he has inscribed a mark of his glory. For as honor is due to fathers because God has associated them with himself in the possession of the name, so also here his own dignity is claimed for judges in order that the people may reverence them, because they are God’s representatives. And so Christ, the surest expositor, explains it (John 10:34) when he quotes the passage from Ps. 82:6. Calv. Ex. 23:19. The first of the first-fruits thou shalt bring. It was a precept of the ceremonial law that the firstlings of the flock and the first and best fruits of the earth should be offered to God : not as if the first was more valuable in his account than the last, or the most early fruits in the spring more pleasing to him than the later in the autumn ; but it was instructive that our love, the "first-born of the soul and the beginning of its strength," should be consecrated to God. Bates.—The Israelites are commanded to offer their first-fruits for the same reason that they were to pay the tribute for every soul ; that they might confess that they themselves and all that they had belonged to God. Calv. In the Law, God called for the first of all things ; he required not only the first-fruits, but the very first of the first ; and in Lev. 2 : 14, he is so set upon having the first of the first that he will not stay till the ears of corn are ripe, but will have the green ears dried in the fire. And what would God teach us by all this but to serve him with the first-fruits of our age, the morning of our youth ? Brooks. Special Law. Newly planted Trees. Lev. 19 : 23-25. The people of Israel was to have in nature everywhere a mirror of God's moral governance, and a guide to him. As every child from his birth was unclean, until by the covenant of circumcision he was given to God and sanctified, so are all the fruits of the earth to be regarded as unclean until they have been sanctified. Moreover, as nothing small, unripe, imperfect, might be sacrificed to the Lord, the full perfection of the fruit in the fourth year was to be waited for before the consecration followed. Geri. Lev. 11 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the living things which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that part the hoof: the camel, because he cheweth the cud but part- 5 eth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud but 6 parteth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. And the hare, because she cheweth the cud 7 but parteth not the hoof, she is unclean unto you. And the swine, because he parteth the 8 hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you. Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcases ye shall not touch; they are unclean unto you. 9. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the 12 waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination unto you. 13. And these ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are 14 an abomination: the eagle and the gier eagle, and the ospray; and the kite, and the falcon 15 after its kind; every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night hawk, and the sea- 16, 17 mew, and the hawk after its kind; and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl; 18 and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture; and the stork, the heron after its 19 kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 20. All winged creeping things that go upon all four are an abomination unto you. Yet these 21 may ye eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all four, which have legs above their 22 feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. 39. And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be 40 unclean until the even. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. De. 14 21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Ex. 22 31 And ye shall be holy men unto me: therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs. Lev. 7 22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 23 ing, Ye shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. And the fat of that which dieth of itself, 24 and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service: but ye shall in 25 no wise eat of it. For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people. 26 And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwell- 27 ings. Whosoever it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Lev 20 24 I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from the peoples. Ye shall 25 therefore separate between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any 26 thing wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that ye should be mine. Lev. 11 43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, 44 neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am the LORD your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon the earth. 45 For I am the LORD that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 46. This is the law of the beast, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in 47 the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten. [Omissions of text for economy of space. Substance indicated in the comment.] This and the three following sections, 148- 150, treat of ceremonial uncleanness, which may be removed by ceremonial observances. B.—There now follows a long list of regula- tions with respect to pollution. One kind of this pollution was the eating of unclean food. The other kinds were natural and bodily condi- tions. These concern the disease of leprosy, the relations of the sexes, child-bearing, and death. The object of the Law in all these cases is continually to remind the people of God of sin, and of their own call to holiness. Although generation, birth, nourishment, sickness, and death are all God's ordinances, and therefore good, still there clings to them partly sinful lust, partly they stand in distinct relation to it as its punishment (thou shalt bring forth with sorrow (Gen. 3 : 16) ; with sorrow shalt thou eat until thou return again to the earth, verses 18, 19). For this reason, during the time of nonage laws must be of the greatest consequence which taught men to see in bodily uncleanness emblems of spiritual defilement, in bodily purification the image of cleanness of heart. Gerl. Observe how under the ancient economy the idea of the holiness of God was revealed. The heathen nations have no word which properly represents this attribute, and to the Jews it needed to be suggested by a special institution. In preparation for this arrangement, all animals were divided from the first into clean and unclean. From the clean one was afterward chosen without spot or blemish ; a peculiar tribe selected from the other tribes was appointed to present it, the offering being first washed with pure water, and the priest himself undergoing a similar ablution. Neither priest nor victim, however, much less the offerer, was deemed sufficiently holy to come into the Divine presence ; but the offering was made without the holy place. The idea of the infinite purity of God was thus suggested to the minds of observers ; and holiness in things created came to mean, under the Law, purification for sacred uses. Angus. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ In the previous section (Ex. 18:21) the qualifications of those who should be appointed as judges are expressly stated. In these passages definite charges are given to secure righteous and impartial judgments. B. Ex. 23:6. Judges were required to do justice to the poor. It was the part of the judge to defend the poor against the oppression of the rich. Clark.—7. The righteous God will not leave such wickedness to go unpunished. “I will not justify the wicked”—that is, “I will condemn him that unjustly condemns others.” Judges themselves are accountable to the great Judge. 8. They must not take bribes. They must not only not be swayed by a gift to give an unjust judgment, either to condemn the innocent, or acquit the guilty, or adjudge a man’s right from him; but they must not so much as take a gift, lest it should have a bad influence upon them, and overrule them, contrary to their intentions, for it has a strange tendency to blind those that otherwise would do well. H. De. 1:17. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. Lev. 19: 15. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In matters of right, right was always to be done, without regard to rank, character, or condition. There was more danger that the cause of justice would be biassed in favor of the rich than of the poor, yet there might be such a thing as, under the pretence of charity or compassion, making a man's poverty a shelter for his wrong-doing. This was not to be allowed. But on the other hand, the just rights of the poor against influences of an opposite character are guarded by a special precept. Bush. De. 16: 20. "That which is altogether just shalt thou follow." Adhere to the principles of justice, act by the rules of justice, countenance the demands of justice, imitate the patterns of justice, and pursue with resolution that which appears to be just. "Justice, justice shalt thou follow." This is that which the magistrate is to have in his eye, on this he must be intent, and to this all personal regards must be sacrificed, to do right to all, and wrong to none. H. "Take heed," says Jehoshaphat, "what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you: take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God." "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty," says the psalmist; "he judgeth among the gods [magistrates]. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" The motives here urged upon magistrates to the exercise of prudence, moderation, justice, clemency, and diligence in their public relations are, that their seat is the throne of God; that their decisions are the utterances of the divinity; that their decrees are the edicts of heaven; that, in short, they are ministers of the Divine equity and goodness, and, "if they fail in their duty, they not only injure men by criminally distressing them, but they offend God by polluting his sacred judgments." E. C. W. Justice honestly administered secures national prosperity. It is the lesson of universal history that official injustice loosens all the bonds of society, and brings a nation into ruin. Men will patiently tolerate many abuses of power, but the public abuse of justice quickly brings deadly retribution. On the other hand, an honest and prompt administration of righteous law is the seed of order, content, and mutual confidence. It gives a sense of security; it fosters patriotism; it develops courage; it brings the smile and benediction of God. D. D. To secure against injury to life or property through inadequate or false attestation, it is enacted that more than one witness must appear before anything can be established; and that should a witness be found on trial to have testified falsely against his neighbor, he was to be punished by having done to him what he thought to have done to his neighbor (cf. Nu. 35: 30). W. L. A.—The right of the criminal to a fair and full trial is strenuously asserted in the Law of Moses. He must be formally impeached, tried before judges, and legally convicted under stringent conditions of proof. The evidence of one witness, however apparently conclusive, was not to be accepted as sufficient. A second must confirm it. The principle is a plain dictate of justice. Orr.—Human life is precious, but the interests of righteousness are more precious still. On both these grounds the scrutiny must be thorough. To prevent any injury to the sacred cause of justice, through error, incompetence, or malice, one witness must be incompetent to obtain a verdict. Security against injustice comes from corroborated testimony and from independent witnesses. D. D. Witnesses testified under oath—the manner of administration being this: The witness listened to the rehearsal of the words, and gave his oral assent, "Amen," or, "As thou sayest." The passage (Lev. 5: 1) describes the case of one who sins in this way, hearing the voice—i.e., the words of the sacred oath, adjuring him to testify whether he has seen or known anything in this case. Then if he will not make known, "he shall bear his iniquity." There are stringent statutes against false accusation and false witness. Under this general head fall two distinct cases: Testimony given to favor the guilty (Ex. 23: 1-3), and allegations designed to condemn the innocent (De. 19: 16-21). (1) The former class (as given Ex. 23: 1-3) forbids not merely originating, but taking up a false report and seconding it by endorsement. It warns men not to be drawn in to help the wicked in their malicious plots to screen each other, though they be many. The cause of the poor man which you may not favor is certainly supposed to be a bad one. Your sympathy for him as poor must not override justice and truth. (2) False witness, purposed to condemn the innocent, is met by the statute (De. 19 : 16-21). The accuser and the accused are to be brought face to face before the Lord and before the priests and the judges who are to "make diligent inquisition," obviously hearing both parties, and if the accuser is proved to be a false witness, "Ye shall do to him as he thought to do to his brother; thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life; eye for eye," etc. H. C. The Law of Moses condemns the crime of "false witness," inflicts upon it a suitable punishment—namely, retaliation. He who would thus deprive another of his liberty, his property, or his life was to suffer the same evil which he would unjustly bring upon his neighbor. This was a law of the Egyptians and of other nations; it is so reasonable that it may be accounted a law of nature, and the voice of humanity and of common-sense. Jortm.—Such is the rule of the Mosaical Law; because by means of false witness the good name, the property, the livelihood, the life of an innocent person, may be taken away: the advantages of society defeated, nay, perverted into mischiefs; and the very bonds of it dissolved. Secker.—Bearing false witness against a man in a matter that touches his life has in it all the guilt of lying, perjury, malice, theft, murder, with the additional stains of coloring all with a pretence of justice, and involving many others in the same guilt. There is scarcely any one act of wickedness that a man can possibly be guilty of which has in it a greater complication of villainies than this. H.—The rules here apply primarily to false witness given in courts of justice, but the principles involved may be extended to all forms of the sin. Orr.—Were there no publishers of slander and calumny, there would be no receivers; and were there none to receive them there would be none to raise them; and were there no raisers, receivers, nor propagators of calumnies, society would be in peace. A. C. De. 22 8 When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. De. 24 5 When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business: he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife which he hath taken. De. 20 5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit thereof. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. De. 21 10 When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God delivereth them into thine hands, and thou carriest them away captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife; then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will ; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not deal with her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her. 15. If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated ; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated ; 16 then it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, which is the 17 firstborn : but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath : for he is the beginning of his strength ; the right of the firstborn is his. Ex. 23 4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it 5 back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. De. 22 1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from 2 them : thou shalt surely bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thine house, and it shall 3 be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. And so shalt thou do with his ass ; and so shalt thou do with his garment ; and so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found : thou mayest not 4 hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them : thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. De. 25 4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. Ex. 23 19 ; 34 26. De. 14 21. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. De. 22 6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt 7 not take the dam with the young : thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself ; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. The Hebrew Law code is sometimes compared with the laws of the twelve tables at Rome, which were the gathered wisdom of Greece and the Italian States, a thousand years later than the Exodus. Several laws in the two codes are almost the same ; but in breadth of view and in humaneness of feeling, the Hebrew far surpasses the Roman. Sime. God has written nothing to be thrown aside. The oldest records still give us lessons of God shining with unfading freshness and undimmed glory. The statutes binding on Israel in the wilderness and in Canaan may not be in the same sense binding on our age, but they have not for this reason become valueless. They made revelations of God then, truthful and rich ; they make revelations of God still which it were but small indication of wisdom or good sense to ignore. H. C. Battlement (or Parapet) upon the Roof (De. 22 : 8). In building a house, care must be taken that none might receive mischief by falling from it. The roofs of their houses were flat for people to walk on, as appears by many Scriptures ; lest any through carelessness should fall off them, they must compass them with battlements ; if this were not done and mischief followed, the owner brought the guilt of blood upon his house. The Jews say, that by the equity of this law they were obliged (and so are we too) to fence or remove everything by which life may be endangered, as to cover draw-wells, keep bridges in repair, and the like ; lest if any perish through our omission, their blood be required at our hand. H. Exemptions from Military and Public Service. Each estate was held on the tenure of military service ; all Israel was one standing army. Some curious exemptions were made, which show the attention of the lawgiver to the agricultural habits and domestic comfort of his people. Milman. De. 24 : 5. A man newly married was to be exempt from going to war, and was not to have any public burdens imposed on him for a year after his marriage. W. L. A.—By this law God showed how he approved of holy wedlock, when, to encourage the newly married against the cumbrances which that estate bringeth with it, and to settle their love each to other, he exempted those men from all wars, cares, and expenses. Ainsworth. De. 20 : 5-7. Three classes were exempted from service in war : (1) He who had built a house, but had not dedicated it (2) He who had planted a vineyard, but had not eaten of its fruit. (3) He who had betrothed a wife, but had not married her. There would obviously be a disinclination, when war was imminent, to acquire property, to institute improvements, or to enter into any new engagements. This provision of the Law would so far counteract the tendency of war-like rumors to paralyze industry and the arrangements of domestic life. Orr. De. 21 : 10-14. If an Israelite saw among captives taken in war a woman fair of aspect, and loved her and took her to be his wife, he was to allow her a full month to mourn her lost kindred and become accustomed to her new condition, before he consummated his union with her. This refers to captives from other nations than those of Canaan, with whom the Israelites were to form no alliance and not to take captive, but either wholly destroy or render tributary. W. L. A.—The captor could reduce her to slavery. But if he chose to make her his wife, he conveyed to her rights which could not be alienated. It became henceforth his duty to protect her and all her interests God threw around her the shield of his sacred Law. D. D. De. 21 : 15-17. If a man have two wives, one of whom is a favorite and the other disliked, and if his firstborn son be the child of the latter, he is not to allow his love for the other to prejudice the right of the son, but must allow him, both in his own lifetime and in the disposition of his property after death, the full privilege and right of a firstborn son. W. L. A. Straying and Overburdened Animals to be Restored or Helped. The scope of these precepts is not only to inculcate mercy toward the brute creation, but also to engender kindly feelings among brethren. For what would tend more directly to win the heart of an alienated neighbor than such an act of well-timed benevolence? Bush, —It was Moses who, long before the era of Jesus incarnate, announced the principle, “Love your enemies and do good to them that hate you.” For it was one of the express provisions of Moses’ law (Ex. 33 : 4, 5) : “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. And if thou see the ass of him that hateh thee lying under his burden, and wouldst forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.” The spirit of this law is precisely the same with that of the ethical code taught by Jesus in the Gospel; and it is simply ignorance, or the necessities of some theory that have led to the too current notion of the narrow and less benevolent spirit of the Old Testament religion. S. R. Not only the ox or the ass that had strayed was to be taken and restored to its owner, but articles of raiment, and, in short, anything that had been lost was, when found by another, to be carefully kept until it could be restored to the person to whom it belonged. W. L. A.—We have here such express directions given as should have made of the Israelites a most neighborly people. The finding of lost oxen, or sheep, or asses, or raiment, is here made to carry with it the obligation of brotherly kindness; it is the law of love in practice. Edgar. De. 25 : 4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. This prohibition was dictated by a regard to the rights and claims of animals employed in labor; but there is involved in it the general principle that all labor is to be duly requited, and hence it seems to have passed into a proverb, and was applied to men as well as the lower animals. The use of oxen to tread out the corn and the rule of leaving the animals so employed unmuzzled still prevail among the Arabs and other Eastern peoples. W. L. A.—This instance of the beast that trod out the corn (to which there is an allusion in that of the prophet, Hos. 10 : 11), is put for all similar instances. That which makes this law very remarkable above its fellows (and which countenances the like application of other such laws), is, that it is twice quoted in the New Testament, to show that it is the duty of the people to give their ministers a comfortable maintenance. H.—Whoever or whatever does us useful service brings us under obligation. To the extent of our power we are bound to recompense such. This sense of indebtedness is a channel of blessing to the soul. A muzzle is a shackle forged by wanton selfishness. D. D. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk (Ex. 23 : 19; 34 : 26. De. 14 : 21). No doubt this prohibition relates to the sacrifices, for in the first and second passages it is added in connection with the offering of the first-fruits; and so also in the third passage: “Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, etc., for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; nor shalt thou seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.” God would not admit a monstrous thing in his sacrifices, that the flesh of the young should be cooked in its mother’s milk. Calv.—The prohibition suggests the duty of cherishing the finer instincts of our nature. The act here forbidden could hardly be called cruelty, the kid being dead, but it was unnatural. It is beautiful to see the ancient Law inculcating this rare and delicate fineness of feeling. The lesson is that everything is to be avoided which would tend to blunt our moral sensibilities. Orr. Protection of Birds' Nests—a "Commandment with Promise" (De. 22 : 6, 7). There is no question but that it was God's intention to accustom his people to study humanity. For if there be one drop of compassion in us, it will never enter into our minds to kill a little bird, which so burns with love toward its little ones as to be heedless of its life, and to prefer endangering itself to the desertion of its eggs or its brood. Calv.—He who can wantonly destroy birds' nests can wantonly do a hundred other things of the same kind. To be cruel at all is to be cruel through and through the substance and quality of the character. J. P. Doubtless the purpose of the Law was partly economic; but the special motive urged, that it may be well with thee, shows that higher considerations also ruled. It seems to be but another specification, or illustration, under the Law given in Leviticus (22 : 28) which prohibits the killing of an animal and its young, "whether it be a cow or ewe," both in one day. There is no evidence whatever that the Deuteronomic law antedates the Levitical. The one looks simply toward the open fields and ordinary life; the other toward the sanctuary and its sacrifice. E. C. B. It is plain that in this small example are portrayed more important relations—that in pity toward animals is inculcated mercy toward men. The promise, that thou mayest prolong thy days, is added, according to the observation of the Rabbins, to this least of all commandments as to the greatest, "Honor thy father and thy mother," in order to show that the keeping of all the commandments flows from one source. Gert.—This is a vivid illustration of the minuteness of Divine government, and as such it affords the beginning of an argument which must forever accumulate in volume and force, on the ground that if God is so careful of a bird's nest he must be proportionately careful of all things of higher quality. So we may add, If God is so careful of birds' nests, what must he be of human hearts, and human homes, and the destinies of the human family? J. P. ADDITIONAL PRECEPTS: RESPECT TO PARENTS, TO THE SABBATH AND SANCTUARY, TO THE AGED, THE DEAF AND THE BLIND, ENJOINED. TALE BEARING, NEIGHBOR HATE, STEALING, LYING, DEFRAUDING IN SEVERAL PARTICULARS, AND VARIOUS IDOLATROUS AND INDECENT CUSTOMS FORBIDDEN. Lev. 25 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof ; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the LORD : thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which growth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather : it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you ; for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourn with thee ; and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food. Ex. 23 10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof : but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow ; that the poor of thy people may eat : and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Lev. 25 18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgements and do them ; and ye shall dwell in the land of safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year ? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase : then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store ; until the ninth year, until her fruits come in, ye shall eat the old store. And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity ; for the land is mine : for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. De. 15 1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release : every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbour ; he shall not exact it of his neighbour and his brother ; because the LORD's release hath been proclaimed. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it : but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thine hand shall release. Howbeit there shall be no poor with thee ; (for the LORD will surely bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it ) if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. For the LORD thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee : and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow : and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. 7. If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt surely open thine hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a base thought in thine heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land. Lev. 25 8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. Then shalt thou send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession. And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buy of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not wrong one another: according to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee. According to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for the number of the crops doth he sell unto thee. And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. 25. If thy brother be waxen poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold. And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxen rich and find sufficient to redeem it; then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return unto his possession. But if he be not able to get it back for himself, then that which he hath sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession. 29. And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee. But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. And if one of the Levites redeem, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession. The Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee belong to that great Sabbatical system which runs through the religious observances of the Law. They were solemnly connected with the sacred covenant. Clark.—The sacred times of Israel are arranged in cycles of seven, the sacred number. There is first a cycle of seven days, ending with the Sabbath; then a cycle of seven weeks, closing with "the feast of Weeks;" a cycle of seven months, culminating in the Month of Feasts; and now a cycle of seven years, closing with the Sabbatical Year; and a cycle of seven sevens of years, or seven weeks of years, followed by the Jubilee. J. M. G.—The seventh day in every week was "set apart" as a day in which no work was to be done; the seventh year was "set apart" as a year in which no seed was to be sown; and at the end of seven times seven years, there was a great festival during which the whole land was to rest, and when debts were to be cancelled, alienated estates to return to their owners, and slaves to be set free. Consecrated men, consecrated property, consecrated space, consecrated time, declared that God still claimed the world as his own, and that in all the provinces of human life he insisted on being recognized as Lord of all. Dale. Every seven led up to something solemn, instructive, and beneficent, and every seven times seven to something yet more solemn, instructive, and beneficent. Through the skilfully-prepared perspective of enlarging intervals and more and more absorbing conditions, the great coming period towered in the distance, and every weekly Sabbath was the gateway. Grey. The appointment of a Sabbatical year does not strictly belong to the stated festivals, nor is it included among these in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus; but it was very closely related to them, and in some respects had the same purposes to serve. It is hence called by the name moed, festival, in De. 31 : 10. The principal law on the subject is given in Lev. 25 : 1-7. There it is enjoined, that after the children of Israel came into possession of the land of Canaan, they were to allow it every seventh year an entire season of rest. The land was to be untilled—a promise being also given of such plenty on the sixth year as would render the people independent of a harvest on the seventh. P. F. The Sabbatical year is called in Deuteronomy "the year of release" (31 : 10). In this passage and in Exodus it is represented merely as a period of rest for the land, during which the ownership of the soil was practically in abeyance and the chance produce (which in the climate of the holy land must have been very considerable) was at the service of all comers. There was to be neither sowing nor reaping, neither planting, pruning, nor gathering. What day and night are to man and beast, that summer and winter are to the soil; and hence as man had his Sabbath every seventh day, so the land was to have its Sabbath every seventh year. Clark.—The Sabbath day was a rest from the labors laid upon man for sin. The Sabbath year was a rest for the ground, which for man's sin God had cursed. Biblioth. Bibl.—The Sabbatical rest of the soil declared that every dweller in the land, the hired servant, the foreigner, the cattle, even the wild animals, had an acknowledged claim of their own on its produce. The different Sabbatical observances of the Law thus concur in pointing to that state of things which would have followed the first Sabbath of creation, had not sin and its consequences brought disorder among the creatures of God. Clark. Lev. 25 : 1-7. The prominent circumstances which distinguished the Sabbatical year from common years may be thus enumerated. (1) All agricultural operations were to be suspended, and the land was to lie fallow. The whole country must, in fact, have been thrown into one vast common, free to the poor and the stranger, to the domestic cattle and the game; for the proprietor of the land not only ceased to cultivate it, but had no exclusive right to its spontaneous produce, although he might share in it. (2) The produce of every sixth year was promised to be such as would support them till the harvest of the ninth year; a circumstance which would clearly demonstrate a particular providence in respect to the institution. (3) It was a season of release from debts due from one Israelite to another; but not those due from foreigners to Israelites. (4) Every Hebrew slave had the option of being released this year from his servitude. At least this is often inferred from Ex. 21 : 2; but it is quite doubtful whether the seventh year there mentioned was not the seventh year of his actual service, rather than the Sabbatical year. (5) In the Sabbatical year, at the feast of Tabernacles, they were enjoined to read the Law in the hearing of all the people. This was called by the Rabbinical writers "the reading of the king," because tradition made the king himself the reader on this occasion. Bush. They were to be gathered together, men and women and children and strangers, that they might hear and learn, and fear the Lord their God, and observe to do all the words of his Law (De. 31 : 12). It is of this reading of the Law by Ezra that so interesting an account is given in the Book of Nehemiah (8 : 1-12). Milligan. Lev. 25 : 21, 22. Fruit for three years. There shall be, not three crops in one year, but one crop equal in its abundance to three, because it must supply the wants of three years. (1) For the sixth year, supplying fruit for its own consumption. (2) For the seventh year, in which they were neither to sow nor reap. And (3) For the eighth year, for though they ploughed and sowed that year, yet a whole course of its seasons was requisite to bring all these fruits to perfection, so that they could not have the fruits of the eighth year till the ninth, till which time God promised that they should eat of the old store. What an astonishing proof did this give of the being, power, Providence, mercy, and goodness of God! A. C.—God would “command his blessing” in an especial manner so that the land should be twice or thrice more fertile. Hence is suggested to us no ordinary ground of confidence in asking for our daily bread. Of this special promise that food should not fail the Jews on account of the Sabbatical year, God had already given a token in the desert, when he supplied a double portion of manna to those who gathered it on the day before the Sabbath. Calv. Perhaps nothing brought home to all the sense of living under a different and unusual administration more powerfully than the permission for any and every one to consume freely the fruits of any and all lands alike, without ownership and without labor, coupled with an interdict against storing one grain away. It was not communism. It was brotherhood in the enjoyment of a Father’s bounty. Grey.—They were brought to live in a constant dependence upon the Divine Providence, finding that as man lives not by bread alone, so he has bread not by his own industry alone, but, if God pleases, by the word of blessing from the mouth of God, without any care or pains of man. H.—The most careless and the most stupid could not fail to learn that he did not depend wholly on the land he tilled for bread. There were two parts to the lesson. On the one hand, he had forced upon his attention the fact that he was only a tenant, and not the owner of the land. On the other hand, he was compelled to notice the bounty of the owner and landlord, which was always larger according to his straits. Grey. 22. The land shall not be sold in perpetuity.** The great principle of the law of property is that Jehovah is the supreme possessor of the whole land. Hence they could never sell the land, but only the produce, for a limited time. Herein is declared the principle of eternal Divine right that in God’s kingdom every man is only God’s steward. Gert.—The land in Israel is the representative not merely of property of a similar kind that may be possessed by a Christian man, but of property of every kind which he may own. As therefore the lesson of the Sabbatic year to Israel was that the possession it most highly valued—viz., property in land—was not its own, but God’s, the lesson of the fulfilment to us is that all our property of every kind belongs to him who by the right of redemption claims to himself both us and what we have. It is not of the soil only, when we may own it, that we are stewards; we are only stewards of all that we possess. The Christian, in giving himself to God, gives also his goods, whatever they may be. He does not say of anything he possesses that it is his own. He acknowledges the Divine claim upon himself and everything that he has; and in so far as he retains it he does so in the Spirit of God’s holy rest, regarding it as consecrated to him, and to be used in whatever manner he may direct, for his glory, and the good of his truth and kingdom upon earth. Milligan. The land is mine. This was of course true in a special sense of the territory which God gave by promise and miracle, which was kept by obedience and lost by rebellion. But it is as really true about our possessions, and that not only because of our transient stay here. Length of time makes no difference in this tenure. Undisturbed possession for ever so long does not constitute ownership here. God is possessor of all, by virtue of his very nature, by his creation and preservation of us and of all things. When we talk of “mine” and “thine” we are only speaking a half truth. There is a great sovereign “his” behind both. Here is ground for constant thankfulness and submission, as well as a constant sense of responsibility in the use of all which we have. All is his, and he has given all for a purpose.—Ye are strangers and sojourners with me. While we are strangers indeed, passing through a country that is not ours, yet are we sojourners with the King of the land. With him we have companionship, even when most solitary. Whoever goes, he abides. So will it be while we live, and when we are called to die—well; the King of this land, where we are strangers, is the King of the other land beyond the sea, where we are at home. Death, the separator, shall but invite us to the King whose presence indeed fills this subject-province of his empire with all its good, but who dwells in more resplendent “beauty,” and is felt in greater nearness in the other “land that is very far off.” Whether here or there, we may have God with us if we will. With him for our Host and Companion, let us go peacefully on our road, while the life of strangers and sojourners shall last. It will bring us to the fatherland, where we shall be at home with the King, and find in him our “sure dwelling, and quiet resting-place, and peaceful habitation forever.” A. M. The Sabbatic Year, a Year of Release and of Helpful Bounty to Impoverished Debtors. Ex. 29 38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meal offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before the LORD: where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and the Tent shall be sanctified by my glory. Nu. 28 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My oblation, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season. And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; he lambs of the first year without blemish, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even; and the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink offering of strong drink unto the LORD. And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meal offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. Ex. 35 1 And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day. Lev. 23 3 Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of work: it is a sabbath unto the LORD in all your dwellings. Ex. 23 12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. Ex. 31 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily ye shall keep my sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD which sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that profaneth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. Nu. 28 9 And on the sabbath day two he-lambs of the first year without blemish, and two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: this is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering thereof. 11. And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish; and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, for each bullock; and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, for the one ram; and a several tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering unto every lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine for a bullock, and the third part of an hin for the ram, and the fourth part of an hin for a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. And one he-goat for a sin offering unto the LORD; it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering thereof. As the Hebrew calendar ran its course, it was as if one long bleat, one incessant lowing, filled the air; it was as if one continuous stream of sacrificial blood choked the runnels of the court. The year opened with the evening sacrifice and the new-moon celebration, the expiring flames of which were fed next day by the ordinary morning sacrifice and by a round of individual presentations, which must sometimes have known no interruption until the smoke of the evening sacrifice again rose into the air and another day began. Day after day the customary ceremonial was repeated, till the Sabbath twilight fell and double sacrifices were slaughtered. On the tenth day of the first month came the solemn celebration of the Passover, when in every home, with devout recollections and enthusiastic hopes, a paschal lamb was spread upon the board. Then followed the seven days of Unleavened Bread, with their customary and holy-day ritual, bringing at length, after the repeated diurnal, Sabbatic and lunar formalities, the fuller slaughter of Pentecost. Day after day, Sabbath after Sabbath, new moon after new moon, the authorized worship was again continued, until there came a break to the monotony on the first day of the seventh month in the feast of Trumpets. On the tenth day of the same month came the awful and grave procedure of the Day of Atonement, followed after five days' interval by the singular and more grateful worship of the feast of Tabernacles. Afterward the year was brought to a close by the common series of daily, weekly, and monthly effusions of blood. Cave. The three feasts were: The feast of the Passover; the feast of PENTECOST; the feast of TABERNACLES. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover, and hence called by the Greeks Pentecost. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated about the fifteenth of the month Tisri, to commemorate the Israelites dwelling in tents for forty years in the wilderness. A. C. Upon these three great festivals all the males of Israel were required to appear before the Lord at the one place of his choice—the tabernacle or the temple—ultimately in Jerusalem "whither the tribes go up." The women of Israel manifestly went when they chose and could. According to Oriental usage, they travelled in groups—little caravans—several adjacent families, or as the case might be by households, the patriarch with his children and children's children together, moving on with many a song of social cheer and grateful praise till at length they lifted up their eyes to the hills of the goodly city. The so-called "songs of degrees" (Ps. 120-134)—more strictly songs of the stages or upgoings—are specimens of this free and outflowing worship of the travelling companies, bound upward to Jerusalem. H. C. These festivals not only commemorated great events in the history of Israel, but they had each its significance in reference to God's gifts at the seasons of the year. The Passover marked the beginning of the harvest, the Pentecost its completion, and the feast of Tabernacles the vintage and the ingathering of all the fruits of the year. We have here a striking example of the foresight of the Mosaic Law in providing for a pastoral people festivals suited to their settled condition as agriculturists; and they were wisely arranged, so as not to interfere with the labors of the field. They are connected with one another, so as to form one great cycle. The Passover is in the first month of the sacred year, followed by Pentecost at an interval of seven complete weeks; and the feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month. The days of holy convocation, including the feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, were seven: two at the Passover, one at the Pentecost, and two at the feast of Tabernacles. P. S. God appointed several festivals among the Jews, for many reasons: (1) To perpetuate the memory of those great events, and the wonders he had wrought for the people; for example, the Sabbath brought to remembrance the creation of the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the giving of the Law; the feast of Tabernacles, the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness. (2) To keep them faithful to their religion, by appropriate ceremonies and the splendor of the Divine service. (3) To procure them lawful pleasures and necessary rest. (4) To give them instruction, for in their religious assemblies the Law of God was read and explained. (5) To consolidate their social union by renewing the acquaintance of their tribes and families; for on these occasions they came together from different parts of the land. Calmet.—By being thus brought frequently into contact they were reminded of their common origin and objects; that they were sons of the same father, worshippers of the same God, and heirs of the same promises. Persons of distant towns and different tribes met together on terms of brotherhood and fellowship; old relations were renewed and new ones formed. Thus the twelve petty States would become more and more closely connected, and united into one great people. E. C. W. It might seem at first view that there was signal impolicy in leaving the land defenceless, while all the adult male population were congregated at a distance from their families and homes. Unless the Scriptures had given a solution, the matter would have been deemed inexplicable; but thus runs the promise in Ex. 34 : 23, 24. "Thrice in the year shall all your men-children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel; neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God, thrice in the year." During the whole period between Moses and Christ, we never read of an enemy invading the land at the time of the three festivals; the first that occurs was thirty-three years after they had withdrawn from themselves the Divine protection by embracing their hands in the Saviour's blood, when Cestius the Roman general slew fifty of the people of Lydda, while all the rest were gone up to the feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 66. Bush. # Two Features Emphasized. De. 16:16, 17. In the place which he shall choose; and they shall not appear before me empty: every man shall give as he is able. The Law is repeated here with the additional clause, "at the place which the Lord shall choose;" and the words, "not empty," are explained to mean with gifts according to the blessing of Jehovah their God, which he had given them. W. L. A. In the place which he shall choose A principal reason for which these festivals were appointed, was to keep up peace, and friendship, and unity, both in Church and State. As the nation was divided into tribes, each of which was in some respects a little commonwealth, there was cause to fear that they should fall out and separate in themselves into independent governments, and have a religion and ruler of their own. And in fact this befell them in after times: they became two kingdoms, and idolatry and frequent wars ensued. For the prevention of these evils the Israelites were enjoined to assemble together to serve the Lord in one place, which he should appoint. They shall not appear before the Lord empty. The Jews were commanded to bring a present; not a burnt-offering or a sacrifice by fire; for these, though also required, were of another nature and for another end; but a heave-offering a freewill-offering, which was a tribute of thankfulness to God and likewise an acknowledgment of his supreme lordship and dominion over all. Therefore this particular is added, "They shall not appear before the Lord empty: every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee." Jortia.—As the great principle of love to Christ will not allow the more opulent to give scantily, so neither will it permit the poorest to come before him empty. It was one of the Divine enactments even of the legal dispensation—None shall come before me empty. But that which was matter of law with the Israelite, the Christian will seize as a golden opportunity for evincing his love to Christ; and will bring, though it be only a grain of incense for an offering, or a leaf for that wrestle of praise and honor which the Church delights to lay at the feet of Christ. Harris. 17. As he is able.** This is the law of giving in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is a just and equitable law. It makes the giver an accountant in the sight of God. He has to add up his resources and diligently to consider their sum, and then to give as he may be able. This law does not relate to money only, but to time, influence, and sympathy. Nothing would be so easy for many men as to buy themselves off, by the gifts of money, from all further service. Simply because of the abundance of their wealth, money is as nothing to them, and the giving of it is not felt. It is only when the giving is touched with the pain of sacrifice that it becomes of any value in the sanctuary. There is no niggardliness in the promises of God in relation to the true giver, of whatever nature his gifts may be. "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." J. P. In an historical respect, the Passover recalled the deliverance from the land of Egypt, which gave birth to their national existence; the feast of first-fruits pointed to the miraculous preservation of the first-born, and the consecration practically grounding itself therein of all their increase to the Lord; while the feast of Tabernacles reminded them of their long sojourn in the wilderness, and of the lessons this was intended to render perpetual in their experience as to faith and holiness. In beautiful accordance with these historical grounds for the different ordinances, were the seasons appropriate to each: the Passover being assigned to Abib (the ear-month), when the fresh hopes of spring began to take distinct shape; the first-fruits to summer, when the harvest field had already yielded its produce; and Tabernacles to the period of late autumn, when, all the year's fruits being gathered, the experience of another season's heritage of good brought anew the call to rejoice before the Lord, heightened by the comparison of what they now possessed with what they had wanted in the earlier period of their existence. Thus nature and grace, the ordinary providences of the present, and the more special providences of the past, were marvellously combined together in the general arrangements which were made respecting the feasts. P. F. They all shadowed forth certain great truths respecting the covenant life with God. Unleavened Bread was a call to repentance and a demand for holiness. Leaven, the symbol of sin, was to be put away. The "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" was alone to be found in the heart, in the family, in the nation. Pentecost told of the gift and appropriation of the Spirit; of that Spirit in whose strength we walk with God. Lastly, Tabernacles spoke of the diffusion of the Spirit; that they who truly walk with God live not for themselves but for others, that having freely received they freely give. Translated into New Testament language, the three feasts thus gave utterance to the three great truths of all religious life: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you;" "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Another characteristic of the feasts of Israel is to be traced in the joyful emotions by which they were all pervaded. "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God," "Thou shalt rejoice in thy feast," "Therefore thou shalt surely rejoice," are the commandments expressly given in connection with them. All the arrangements connected with them were calculated to promote joy. They all took place in the summer half of the year. They were all associated with the abundance and the joy of harvest. In so far as they commemorated historical events they brought to view truths of the most elevated and inspiring character. At the great Passover in Hezekiah's time "the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord." It was the same at the feast of Tabernacles in Nehemiah's time. A deep interest attaches to this characteristic of these festivals. For their highest solemnities spoke of the light and freedom of redemption. The "joy of the Lord" was their strength. And their joy was not a worldly but a sacred and sanctified joy. As the annual feasts of Israel were seasons of the liveliest joy, so is that Christian life in which they are fulfilled to be marked by a joy that is abiding. In that life, too, all things are sanctified. To the Christian, joy and sorrow, earth and sky, solitary hours and the social table, all are sacred, because in the deep recesses of his heart he is keeping his festival and singing its songs. Finally, in the fulfilled Christian life all the followers of Christ are one. Redeemed by one sacrifice, called to the same holiness, enjoying the same Divine protection, partakers of the same Spirit wherewith to renew themselves and to convert the world, they ought to be in constant unity with one another. In Christ they are one. Their unity is a "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Never until these characteristics of the old feasts of Israel are thus fulfilled in Christian men are they taking into their lives the influences of the blessed dispensation under which they live, as the devout Israelite took into his the influences of the Passover, followed by the feasts of Unleavened Bread, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles. But when they are fulfilled, then we shall see the fulfilment of all that brought up the people of God under the earlier dispensation three times in the year to Jerusalem. Then shall the followers of Jesus be always in the sacred city and at the joyful feast. They shall not only be "the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the peculiar people," but they shall be that people in the moment of their highest and most heart-stirring solemnities. They shall sing a constant hallelujah. Their palms and myrtles shall be ever green. They shall reap and dedicate a constant harvest, where they shall have not only all that is needed to sustain life but all that can elevate and cheer and brighten it, world without end. Milligan. THE EIGHTH-DAY SERIES. While seven is the ever-recurring number, there come in some very significant eighths. The eighth day is treated as an extra day beyond the seven. The first was on the Wave-sheaf morn (Lev. 23 : 11). Compare this with Matthew's account of the Resurrection, which took place on Wave-sheaf morn; thus beginning a new year, not embraced within the compass of the old Jewish sacred times, but opening out indefinitely to the great spiritual harvest, of which the eighth day celebrations were the recognized types (see John 4 : 35). The next significant eighth was Pentecost. The Sabbath of weeks had been completed, seven times seven days, after which came Pentecost, not on the forty-ninth day, not on the seventh of the last cycle of seven, but on the eighth, the morrow following the Sabbath. As the Wave-sheaf day was the morrow after the Sabbath at the beginning, Pentecost was the morrow after the Sabbath at the end of the seven weeks. In the same way, the spiritual Pentecost was the fiftieth day from the Resurrection, and accordingly fell also on the first day of the week. On that day the first-fruits of results, corresponding to the first loaves from the harvest, were presented to the Lord. The third significant eighth was the Jubilee Year. It too fell, not on the forty-ninth, but on the fiftieth. Like the Wave-sheaf morn and like Pentecost, the Jubilee was evidently an eighth. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 24 1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and 2 Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; and worship ye afar off : and Moses alone shall come near unto the LORD ; but they shall not come near ; neither shall the people go up with 9 him. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; 10 and they saw the God of Israel ; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sap 11 phire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand : and they beheld God, and did eat and drink. 12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there : and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou 13 mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister : and Moses went up into 14 the mount of God. And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you : and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you : whosoever hath a cause, let him come 15 near unto them. And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount. And 16 the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and the 17 seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children 18 of Israel. And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount : and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. De. 9 9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. Ex. 32 1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods [or, a god], which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods [or, This is thy god], O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow shall be a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 24:1, 2, 9-11. As a nation Israel was now reconciled and set apart unto God—both having been accomplished by the “blood of sprinkling.” Thereby they became prepared for that fellowship with him which was symbolized in the sacrificial meal that followed. There God, in pledge of his favor, fed his people upon the sacrifices which he had accepted. The sacrificial meal meant the fellowship of acceptance; its joy was that of the consciousness of this blessed fact. And now Moses and Aaron, and his two sons (the future priests), along with seventy of the elders of Israel, went up into the mount, “and did eat and drink” at that sacrificial meal, in the seen presence of the God of Israel—not indeed under any outward form, but with heaven’s own brightness underneath the Shekinah. Thus “to see God, and to eat and drink,” was a foretaste and a pledge of the perfect blessedness in beholding him hereafter. It was also a symbol and a type of what shall be realized when, as the Alleluia of the “great multitude” proclaims the reign of the “Lord God omnipotent,” the gladsome, joyous bride of the Lamb now made ready for the marriage, and adorned with bridal garments, hears the welcome sound summoning her to “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” A. E. 9. Moses and Aaron ascend as the prophet and priest of God; Nadab and Abihu, as the elder sons of Aaron, henceforth to be associated with him in the priesthood; the seventy elders as the representative heads of the people. M.—In all this narrative is manifest the wide distinction betwixt the Old and New Covenant. In the New Testament, all believers are called on to enter with their Forerunner into the holiest through the veil (Heb. 10:19); while in the Old, merely the chosen representatives of the people, and they only to a very limited extent, may come into the presence of God. Still, the general priestly dignity of the whole people is declared in the fact that not consecrated priests, but elders out of every tribe, enjoy this high privilege. Gerl.—To what point they ascended would be a very unprofitable inquiry. It is incomparably more important to mark the fact that now, when the covenant has received its solemn and final sanction, the people by their representatives have access to God. M. 10. And they saw the God of Israel; under his feet a paved work of sapphire stone, as the very heaven for clearness. All these remained at a respectful distance; yet it is said they saw the God of Israel; it should seem, the symbolic fire which indicated his presence, beneath which was what appeared like a pavement of lapislazuli or sapphire, or the deep blue of the clearest and most cloudless heaven. Milman.—The sapphire is a precious stone of a sky-colored hue, next in value and beauty to the diamond, and there seems to be an allusion to this vision in the prophet’s words (Is. 54:11), “I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.” In order to make the impression of its appearance still more distinct, it is compared to “the very heaven for clearness.” It had the aspect of the azure vault of heaven as seen in its pure native splendor, when the atmosphere is serene and unclouded. Bush.—A paved work of sapphire is descriptive of a scene of matchless splendor, having the qualities of adamantine solidity, transparence, and brilliancy. The substance of heaven for purity. The substance of heaven is a phrase for the very heaven itself. Nothing less than the spotless purity and lustre of the skies above is fit to be compared with the inexpressible beauty and grandeur of that which was beneath the feet of the God of Israel. M.—This vision has all the indistinctness of whatever is superhuman, when the mortal becomes a spectator of an object of which he is unacquainted with a prototype. The Deity appeared, as if his feet were resting on a paved way, inlaid with stars, amid the azure of the sapphire, the aerial substance of the heavens, lucid and serene. Aboab. There is something sublime and significant in the restrained and reverent way in which the glory of the Lord is referred to. No attempt to describe the vision itself, nothing which could supply even to the imagination the materials for the construction of any likeness of the Almighty. Simply a suggestion, chaste and yet glowing, of the glory "under his feet." Ah! that is all the eye of sinful man can see, even under the most favored conditions, here on earth. But then may we not well argue that if what is under his feet suggests pavement of sapphire and heaven's clearest ethereal blue—if all that is most rapturously beautiful in nature be only the tinting of his footstool—what shall be the glory of his face when we "shall see him as he is," and "be like him" too; for the time is coming when, by the side of the "pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," they who now only serve and wait upon the footstool, "shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads; and there shall be no night there!" J. M. G.—It is to this future and consummated glory of the Redeemer, made again visible and taking up its abode among men, that the symbol of the Shekinah always points. Its manifestation to Israel of old was preintimative of its renewed appearance and establishment in more sublime and glorious state to the subjects of the Gospel economy in its ulterior periods, as set forth in the splendid predictions of Isaiah and the Apocalypse. It is only in the realization of all that was shadowed by the Shekinah that we are to look for the fulfilment of the assurance ratified by "a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people." We suppose that it was with a view to impart a prophetic intimation of this great futurity, that the present vision was vouchsafed and recorded; and that a similar end was contemplated in the similar disclosures made to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, to Daniel, and to John. They all point forward to the blissful period referred to in the annunciation, "the tabernacle of God shall be with men"—that is, his Shekinah, his manifested presence, shall be with men. Bush. 11. They beheld God, and did eat and drink.** No emblems of judgment were seen by them now. He who had before covered himself with clouds, and indicated his presence in tempests, is now arrayed in light. The calm serenity of the sky now hides him in its peaceful majesty, and nothing comes to create in them either terror or dismay, for "upon the nobles of Israel he laid not his hands." Therefore, with calm composure and with grateful hearts, they sit down before him to keep sacramental feast: "They saw God, and did eat and drink." Now that they approach him as his covenanted ones, the heads of the people "find his presence no more a source of disturbance and dread, but radiant in all the bright loveliness of supernal glory;" and their feast upon the mount may be regarded as a foretoken not merely of the happiness of those who are one with God in Christ, but also of the blessedness of that celestial abode, where, in the highest sense of which the words are capable, it will still be true of its inhabitants that they "see God, and do eat and drink." W. M. T.—They feasted upon the sacrifice, before God, in token of their cheerful consent to the covenant now made, their grateful acceptance of the benefits of it, and their communion with God in pursuance of that covenant. Thus believers eat and drink with Christ at his table (Luke 22:30). Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the kingdom of our Father, and drink of the new wine there. H. Ex. 24 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgements : and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath spoken will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people : and they said, All that the LORD hath spoken will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. 3. And Moses came [down from the mount] and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. The first thing Moses did was to make the people acquainted with the contents of the book so that they might know certainly what obligations they were about to assume. Whatever they did, they must do intelligently. J. M. G. —This seems to have been a preliminary recital, immediately upon his descent from the interview with Jehovah, of “the words and the judgments” referred to in the previous section. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath spoken will we do. This is the first responsive expression of acceptance and assent to the terms of the covenant, as proffered by Jehovah. But this was only preliminary to the formal ceremony of ratification, which took place on the following day. 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. This was done, it would seem, on the same day of the first recital, and immediately subsequent to the people’s response of acceptance and assent. He wrote in what is called (verse 7) “the book of the covenant.” B. —The art of writing was certainly known in the time of Moses. Monuments of Egypt which antedate the exodus exhibit abundant specimens of writing on stone, and some papyrus rolls still extant probably date from a higher antiquity than this Book of Genesis. Lepsius found in Thebes the tombs of two librarians—“chiefs over the books”—of the fourteenth century before Christ ; and he traced the ruins of a library in a temple of the same era, upon whose walls Champollion had previously found “the representations of Thoth, the God of Wisdom, and of Saf, the Goddess of History ; then, behind the former, the God of Hearing, and behind the latter, the God of Seeing.” J. P. T. —The monuments prove conclusively that in no country of the ancient world was facility in writing so great, in none were the materials for writing so perfect, and in none was the passion for writing so incorporated into the habits and business of the people, as in Egypt ; and that, too, at a period anterior to the time of Moses, and even of Joseph. In this opinion scholars best qualified to judge upon the subject concur —as Wilkinson, Rosellini, Salvolini, Gesenius, Ewald, and others. “We must shut our eyes against the clearest light,” says Rosellini, “if we would deny that the art of reading and writing was generally studied and practised in ancient Egypt, to as great a degree at least as it now is among us.” So that it turns out that the many passages in the Pentateuch, implying a great extension of the art of writing among the Hebrews in the time of Moses, are founded in truth. Instead of invalidating, they confirm the narrative ; witnessing not against, but for its Mosaic origin and its entire trustworthiness. E. C. W. Early in the morning builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars. The altar represented the presence of God. The pillars represented the tribes of Israel. It is probable that the altar would be in the centre and the pillars ranged round it ; and accordingly we have here the first outward representation of the Church. Here we have the idea of the tabernacle, afterward more fully developed in the temple, and realized spiritually in the Church of Christ, the tabernacle or temple of the New Testament. The altar of sacrifice was in the centre then. It is in the centre still; for what else is the cross around which we all as Christians gather, than the altar of the New Testament, on which "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us." J. M. G. After the people had promised obedience, and so entered into the bonds of the covenant, it was necessary to preserve the memory of these transactions and to confirm the covenant by authentic and solemn ceremonies. And this Moses does: (1) As legislator, he reduces to writing all the articles and conditions of the agreement, with the people's act of consent. (2) As their mediator and the deputy of the Lord, he accepts on his part the resolution of the people; and Jehovah on his part engages himself to Israel to be their God, their King, and Protector, and to fulfil to them all the promises he had made to their fathers. (3) To make this the more solemn and affecting, and to ratify the covenant, which could not be done without shedding and sprinkling of blood, Moses builds an altar, probably of turf, as was commanded, ch. 20:24, and erects twelve pillars, no doubt of unhewn stone, and probably set round about the altar. The altar itself represented the throne of God; the twelve stones, the twelve tribes of Israel. These were the two parties who were to contract or enter into covenant. No covenant was considered to be ratified and binding till a sacrifice had been offered; hence the necessity of the sacrifices mentioned here. A. C. 5. There was as yet no formally appointed priest in Israel. Moses himself, the [divinely appointed] mediator of the covenant, until special appointments were made, united in his own person all the different offices. So he employed young men to offer the sacrifices. J. M. G. —The order of the Levitical priesthood was not yet instituted, and hence the first-born of each family, being regarded as the most excellent in that family, was selected to be the officiating priest, and to offer sacrifices to God; and, therefore, he sent young men—the first-born—of the children of Israel, to offer up these burnt-offerings. J. C.—They are merely the ministers of Moses, and not the representatives of the people, who are the seventy elders, and occupy a different position in this great transaction. M. 6. And Moses took half of the blood. The blood is that which makes atonement, and thereby lays the foundation for a covenant of peace. Hence it ratifies the covenant. For this purpose it is divided into two equal parts. The one is reserved in basins—the other is sprinkled on the altar. There it makes propitiation, and in the present instance signifies concurrence in the covenant. 7. And he read the book of the covenant in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be obedient. The book of the covenant, which he had written, contained the "words" and "judgments" of the previous four chapters. These again he solemnly recites. The former assent of the people authorized the step of solemnizing the covenant. This unanimous consent, after a second deliberate hearing, is the formal acceptance of the covenant. M.—This is the tenor of the covenant, "That, if they would observe the foregoing precepts, God would perform the foregoing promises. 'Obey, and be happy.'" Here is the bargain made. H. 8. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. With the other half of the blood, after having again read the terms of the covenant, and obtained anew from the people a promise of obedience—he sprinkled the people themselves, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." P. F.—Its application to the people makes them parties to the covenant. It is the one blood that accomplishes the pacification. Hence Moses sprinkles the reserved portion of the atoning blood on the people. M.—Half of the blood being sprinkled on the altar, and half of it sprinkled on the people, showed that both God and they were mutually bound by this covenant. God was bound to the people to support, defend, and save them: the people were bound to God to fear, love, and serve him. A. C. This sacrifice was peculiar; for God desired the Jews to be reminded of the one great confirmation of the covenant which he made with them; as if he had openly shown that it would then only be ratified and effectual, when it should be sealed with blood. The sum is, that the blood was the medium whereby the covenant was confirmed and established, since the altar as the sacred seat of God was bathed with half of it, and then the residue was sprinkled over the people. Hence we gather that the covenant of gratuitous adoption was made with the ancient people unto eternal salvation, since it was sealed with the blood of Christ in type and shadow. Now, if this doctrine hold good under the Law, much more must it occupy a place with us now; and hence, in order that God's promises may always maintain their power and certainty, let this sealing be constantly kept before us; and let us remember that the blood of Christ has therefore once been shed, that it might engrave upon our hearts the covenant whereby we are called to the hope of the kingdom of heaven. For this reason Christ in the Holy Supper commends his blood as the seal of the New Covenant. Calv. The blood was sprinkled upon the altar as a sign that God accepted the sacrifice as a vicarious atonement. As soon as the blood was sprinkled upon the altar, the people were regarded as reconciled, and therefore fit to enter into covenant alliance with God. When the people had thus received a negative consecration through the removal of their sin, the whole Law of the covenant was laid before them; and when they had pledged themselves to obedience, they received a positive consecration as the covenant people, by being sprinkled with the other half of the blood. The expiatory virtue of the blood was derived from the fact, that the life of the animal sacrificed was in the blood. And it was from this also that it derived its virtue as a positive consecration. The life was taken from the animal that the people might have the advantage of it. In the place of the sinful life of the sinful nation, the innocent life of the animal was given up to death; and Jehovah accepted it as a valid atonement. But when the life that had been sacrificed was proved by God's acceptance of it to have power to expiate guilt which merited death, it was also proved as a gift of God to have power to effect the restoration of life. The former was exhibited in the use that was made of the first half of the blood, the latter, in the purpose to which the second was applied. For the people stood in need not only of the extermination of sin, that they might be negatively prepared for entering into covenant-fellowship with Jehovah, but also of the restoration of life, that they might be positively fitted for that fellowship. By being sprinkled with the blood, they received the necessary consecration. The covenant, thus concluded, had a fundamental character; it was concluded once for all, and every member of the covenant nation had eo ipso a part in the covenant itself. No doubt the covenant relation might be disturbed by fresh sins, which rendered a fresh expiation necessary; but the covenant consecration retained its validity as long as the covenant lasted. It was this which constituted the difference between the sacrifices which were offered within an existing covenant, and the sacrifice which accompanied the first establishment of the covenant. This will also explain the fact that, while the subsequent law of sacrifice made provision for the continued offering of an expiatory sacrifice by the sprinkling of the sacrificial altar, nothing more is said about consecration by sprinkling the blood upon the people, or the individual, who offered the sacrifice. K. This transaction was the most important in the whole history of Israel. By this one sacrifice, never renewed, Israel was formally set apart as the people of God; and it lay at the foundation of all the sacrificial worship which followed. Only after it did God institute the tabernacle, the priesthood, and all its services. Thus this one sacrifice prefigured the one sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for his Church, which is the ground of our access to God and the foundation of all our worship and service. A. E.—The account given of this solemn transaction is referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews, with an especial respect to the use then made of the sacrificial blood, and for the purpose of proving, that as the inferior and temporary covenant then ratified required the shedding of animal blood, blood of a far higher and more precious kind must have been required to seal the everlasting covenant brought in by Christ. P. F. As soon as their solemn assent to the covenant is given, as soon as the people's will is surrendered to the Lord, the blood of the sacrifice is sprinkled, reconciliation is made, and the covenant embraces them in its blessed bond. And now we can see very clearly what was in the Apostle Peter's mind when he speaks of believers as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (this carries us back to the early promises before the work of redemption from bondage began) through sanctification of the Spirit (this leads us to think of the Pentecostal day at Sinai, with its revelation of the holy Lord, and his holy Law), unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (here we think of the ratification of the covenant, when the sprinkling of the blood followed the declaration of obedience). It will be observed, of course, that the obedience is not the obedience of fact, which follows the blood sprinkling, but the obedience of heart and will, which must precede it. That obedience of the heart and will is the necessary antecedent even of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. When the great sacrifice was offered up on Calvary, the altar was sprinkled once for all; but it is necessary that we should be sprinkled with the same blood that we may become the people of God ; and all that is required in order to this is just the assent of the heart, the surrender of the will to him, the word "O Lamb of God, I come," which carries with it the old declaration of which that altar and these pillars were the witness : "All that the Lord hath said will we do." J. M. G. Referring to this great covenant transaction between Jehovah and his newly redeemed Church, the martyr Stephen says : "This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness." It was a covenant with this Church as a representative body, standing for the Church of all succeeding ages. Moses, forty years after, when this generation that stood before Sinai had all perished, expressly says to the next generation, "The Lord made this covenant not with our fathers but with us, even as who are all here alive this day." And under the New Testament dispensation Stephen expressly says, "Our fathers received the lively oracles to give unto us." That is, they stood there as representing us. It was a covenant wholly spiritual in its significance. Moses, just as Jesus afterward, sums up its provisions in the generalization, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, soul, and strength." S. R. It was a great event, the transaction of that day, which on the separate and self-contained nationality of Israel placed a crown of glory, by superadding Jehovah's sovereignty. Every devout and believing soul through that populous camp, looking at the fiery-cloudy column, as it moved ahead, at once a royal standard and an aerial fortress, could say to himself with thrilling assurance, "The Lord is our defence ; the Holy One of Israel is our King." And although in later centuries between the people and their King, immortal and invisible, a monarch was interposed, both visible and mortal, faith and affection always ascended to Jehovah as the true King in Jeshurun, and under pious princes like Hezekiah and Josiah, when the covenant was renewed, overlooking or at least overlapping the earthly ruler, the people swore again the oath of allegiance to the Sovereign Supreme, the Divine and undying Head of the Hebrew commonwealth. Hamilton. In the Mosaic legislation God reigns and governs by himself. It is he who has given his laws to the Hebrews. Moses has been, it is true, the medium between the Eternal and the people, but the people have taken part in the grand spectacle of the revelation of the Law ; of this the people, in the exercise of its freedom, have evinced their acceptance. Nicolas.— The Mosaic Theocracy is a fact unique in the history of the world. There is here no paramount priesthood ; no secular power playing the part of the oppressor. God is constantly present, and sole master. All passes between God and the people ; all so passes through the agency of a single man whom God inspires and in whom the people have faith, asking no other authority than that of the revelation which he receives. No sign here of a fact of human origin : just as the God of the Bible is the true God, the religion that descended, by Moses, from Sinai upon the elect people of God is the true religion destined to become, when Jesus Christ ascends Calvary, the religion of the human race. Guizot. The central point of the Pentateuch is the covenant, made by the mediation of Moses, between Jehovah and his people. Everything in the Pentateuch, before the time of Moses, was preparatory to that covenant ; and everything during this time was a development of it. By this it is not meant that its development came to a close at the death of Moses ; but that the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy give a history of it up to that time. The national covenant, made at Sinai, was preceded by and founded on the Abrahamic covenant recorded in Genesis. This covenant finds its explanation in the previous history, which is accordingly given by the sacred historians. In order to understand this covenant, and the Mosaic economy also, the history, contained in the Book of Genesis, is necessary ; for the history of Israel begins with that of the world. "The work of Creation, in its fundamental plan," Havernick remarks, "at once proclaims itself as intimately connected with the Theocracy. Viewed from its internal side, the fundamental idea of the Theocracy, to be holy like to the holy God, and the consecration of the people, the priestly family, etc., arising thence, can be apprehended only in their relation to the beginning of the human race, and its relation to God ; so that the Theocracy is connected with Gen. 1 : 27, as the restoration of that which formerly subsisted." The history of Abraham is written in a theocratic spirit ; and from his time until the death of Moses, the Pentateuch is confined to the history of the theocratic people. At Sinai they received the Law, by which they were constituted a theocratic nation. God proceeded with them on a plan strictly pedagogic. The Decalogue, as the fundamental Law, stands first ; and the other laws, both civil and ceremonial, are framed to carry out its principles. The whole national life was to be imbued with the spirit of the Law; and all the institutions growing out of it were intended to remind the people that they should be holy, because Jehovah, their God, is holy. C. Elliott. Between the two Testaments there is a difference, not of kind, but merely of degree. They are both the records of the unfolding, in time and history, of the plans of God for the restoration of man to the lost estate. Both give a picture and description of the kingdom of God on earth in its gradual development externally and internally. The two Testaments differ in this, that the Old describes this kingdom externally, in its national Jewish form, in the shape of a closely circumscribed politico-religious Theocracy, and internally as being in a preparatory stage, before the appearance of the Saviour and King, and the full establishment, as objective realities, of the great principles of grace, faith, and free pardon of sins, that distinguish his kingdom in all of its stages; while the New, externally, represents this kingdom as no longer being bound or bounded by national and geographical limits, but as a communion of saints from all the nations of the world, and internally as in the stage of completion when the King has appeared in Jesus Christ, whose life and death formed the objective basis for the blessings of this kingdom, which, though real in the Old Covenant, were nevertheless hidden in the form of promises, types, and symbols of the work to be done by the Messiah. Both Testaments are Christo-centric: the one viewing and trusting in him with the eye of hope and promise, the other glorying in him as one who has actually accomplished the great work of salvation. The Old Testament covenant, then, represents the preparatory stage of the kingdom of God on earth. Sin had made a chasm between the Creator and the creature, and God's original purpose of man's happiness to the end of Divine glory would have thus been thwarted, unless a reconciliation and restoration had taken place. At the head of the whole biblical development stands the dire fact of sin; and without a strong conception of this fact there can be no thorough understanding of the biblical records, or of the great truths and history of which they bear testimony. But in the same moment in which God's justice condemns the transgressor on account of his sin, his mercy plans and promises deliverance from the consequences of his sin. The first gospel message is the promise of the proto-evangelism of Genesis 3. While sin was the woful fact that must be taken into account, salvation through the seed of the woman should and would be equally a fact in God's own appointed manner and hour. God did not choose in his wisdom to show forth fully in revelation or fact these plans at the very beginning, because it was necessary that salvation should be prepared for man, and man should be prepared for salvation. God would not force man, who had of his own free will deserted God and entered the service of sin, to re-enter upon the condition originally designed for him, and into which he was created. It was necessary that through special training man should be educated up to a recognition of his true condition and needs, as also to the willingness to accept from God's grace the blessings lost through sin. God is a God of system and order, not only in the kingdom and in the laws of nature, but also in the kingdom of grace. Christ did not appear in the flesh immediately at the beginning of the rule of sin, although there was a need of a Saviour then as much as there was in the days of Herod, and is now; but he appeared thus when, according to the providential wisdom of God, "the fulness of time" had arrived, when Israel's remarkable history had taught the positive lesson of man's guilt and God's grace, and the Gentiles, who had, in this same providence of God, been permitted to go their own way, had taught eloquently the negative lesson of man's inability to help himself, of the vanity of human philosophy and civilization when not based upon the solid foundation of revelation and Divine guidance. When the course of the history of the world had reached such a stage that the world was ready for his advent, Christ entered the flesh, and the Gospel he lived and taught could go forth on its mission conquering and to conquer. This example of method and order in this central scene of the grand drama of the development of God's kingdom on earth is typical and representative. It characterizes the whole revelation of God, and is especially apparent in the educational process of Israel, which took place chiefly through the Law and prophecy as the chief means and instruments in God's hands for the establishment of the covenant with his people, and of the great principles which distinguish this covenant. This covenant was and is one of grace, one of righteousness through faith (Gen. 15:6; Gal. 3:6; Rom. 4:3). Faith and the acceptance of grace implies in man a recognition of sin, and implies in God a willingness to pardon this sin. To demonstrate the truth of these two cardinal principles of the covenant must of necessity be the object of the whole Old Testament development. In order to demonstrate the one, God chose, in the covenant relation, the Law; to demonstrate the other, he selected prophecy. The two are mutually complementary and supplementary in God's guidance of the Church of the Old Covenant, and both conspired to bring about that "fulness of time" which marks the advent of the Saviour into history. The covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai is the same as that between God and the Patriarchs; only that it has now assumed a national form, because the family had developed into a nation. While it was yet a special arrangement between God and the chosen few, it was possible for him, through special revelation, to teach and inculcate the great truths of this covenant to those who had entered upon this relationship. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through such intercourse with the Lord of the covenant, were kept within the limits of this covenant; and their lives, as we know from biblical accounts, are examples of the trust and confidence in God's mercy and grace which are the leading features of this covenant. When the family expanded into a nation, it was, in the nature of the case, no longer possible, by direct revelation and special guidance of each individual member of this kingdom, to awaken into life the great truths implied in the entrance upon this relationship by Israel. In order to effect in Israel and in history what had been effected in the Patriarchs through a viva voce revelation, God chose the Law on the one hand, and added to it prophecy, to step in when the Law had performed its mission. The Mosaic legal code represented over against Israel, as the people of the covenant, the duties which they owed to Jehovah as the Lord of the covenant, both the duties based on the moral nature of man, and which represent man's duty toward God in all stages and at all times, and which hold good in our case also, as also those duties which are based upon the special relationship as the Theocratic nation, the ceremonial and political duties, which, with the political and Theocratic Israel, have passed into history. The recognition of these duties in the covenant life brought with it also the recognition of the inability to comply with these duties; in other words, the recognition of sin. Such was the aim and purpose of the Law in the Old Testament dispensation. It was by no means intended to supplant righteousness through faith as the central principle of revelation, both of the Old as also of the New Testament, but merely to be a propedeutic means to make this principle a truth and a fact in the history of Israel, and the leading lesson of that history. The Law was to drive man away from himself, and to show that for salvation he must flee to another; in other words, it was to be a "schoolmaster unto Christ" (Gal. 3:24). The Law itself recognizes the important fact of man's inability to comply with its commands (that is, his sinful condition), by the very fact that it, through the Levitical priesthood, through sacrifices, atonements, types, and symbols, directs the citizen under this covenant to another and better way of final reconciliation and restoration to the blessings promised by God to the covenant adherents. To announce what is this other and better (or, rather, only) ground of hope before God is the special mission of prophecy: and herein law and prophecy find their inner connecting link in the great scheme of Old Testament revelation. Prophecy is the Gospel of the Old Testament; it is the Christianity before Christ. Life under the Law could lead, on the one hand, to a formal and outward obedience, hence to superficiality and self-righteousness, as really proved to be the fact in the case of New Testament Pharisaism; or, on the other hand, it would burden conscientious souls with the weight of sin, and lead to despair. Constantly to direct the life under the Law, and especially to add to the word of command also the word of promise, the proclamation of pardon and free grace, and hence also to supply Israel with more light on the plans and ways of God as this kingdom grew, was the work of prophecy and of the prophets. The legal code given through Moses was a rounded whole; prophecy was given by God just as the needs of the hour required it. It was the life-producing power in Israel's religion. While it constantly preached the duty of obedience to God's will, as laid down in the Law, the prophets were by no means Old Testament rabbis. They preached this obedience simply as a means to an end, simply to lead the sinning people to repentance and to a trust and faith in the promises of grace which it was their special mission to proclaim. Naturally, one of the leading features of their revelation would be, and was, the Messianic promises, and the person and work of the Messiah, because in and on him were based the realization of the dearest hopes of all the children of God. But it is certainly a grave mistake, and a strange misconception of Old Testament prophecy, to imagine the prophets to be mere foretellers of the future. They were pre-eminently, and in the first instance, preachers of their own day and date, and their messages of repentance and grace were intended first of all for their own contemporaries. The future and the promises of the future enter into their proclamations so largely simply because the golden age of Israel's hope was yet in the future, and Christ, the objective summum bonum of Israel's faith, had not yet appeared in the flesh. Their importance for us lies, not in the fact that they foretold the future, but rather in this, that in the proclamation of their messages they pronounced the same great truths of salvation which the Gospel also announced, only in the manner and ways of their day, and in conformity with the stage which the development of God's kingdom on earth had then reached. Their importance for us is considerably higher than the merely historical. It is equally a mistake to make the period of prophecy post-legal. And as internally the Law and the prophets do not represent two successive stages of God's plan, but rather two sides of one stage, thus historically they are not, and cannot be, separated. While it is true that the period of literary prophets is much later than the period of the giving of the Law, we have abundant evidence to show that prophecy externally also went hand in hand with the Law to work out the destinies of Israel, and, with Israel, of all mankind. Moses himself was a prophet, and through him God made ample provision for the establishment of prophecy, and plainly described the sphere of its work (compare De. 18 : 9-22). And throughout the early history of Israel we everywhere find the signs of their activity. Prophecy had, then, an all-important mission to perform in the development of Israel's religious life. Far from being a spasmodic or sporadic phenomenon, called into activity merely to predict this or that special feature of the future, it was rather, in the hands of God, a medium through which he directed and guided the people of his choice in their life under the special covenant with him. Looked at in this light, and in its bearing on the Old Covenant in general, and also on the Law as a means of making the principles of this covenant effectual, it is seen in its full importance and in its grand mission. Schodde. CHOSEN NOBLES OF ISRAEL CALLED TO A VISION OF GOD AND FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. MOSES ON THE MOUNT WITH GOD FORTY DAYS. APOSTASY OF THE GOLDEN CALF. A greater privilege than that of seeing God upon the mountain is yet in store. To go up and see God on the mountain is good; but to have him come down and dwell with us in the plain is better. To feast in the Divine presence, on a great and special occasion, was a privilege indeed; but it is better still to have the Divine presence on all occasions, from day to day, from hour to hour continually. And it is to prepare the way for this inestimable blessing that Moses is now called up alone into the immediate presence of the Lord, there to abide for many days, during which he will receive the tabernacle revelation, the substance of which was this: "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (25:8). The great importance and inestimable value of the new revelation is betokened by the glory prelude of six days which preceded it (24:16), and the length of time that was occupied in conveying it, the whole amounting to forty days and forty nights. J. M. G. 14. Before leaving them, Moses commanded the elders to await his return where they were, and pointed out Aaron and Hur as his representatives to the people. M.—15-18. Moses and Joshua were now together, and both enshrouded within the borders of the cloudy crown which covered the brow of the mountain. On the seventh day the Divine summons called Moses up to the utmost heights of the mountain, and then we suppose the dark thick cloud was rent and opened in the sight of all Israel, and the inner glory broke forth like devouring fire. The six days mentioned (verse 16) were probably not a part of the forty; for during those six days Moses and Joshua were together, and both probably ate of manna as usual, and drank of the brook mentioned (De. 9 : 21) : but when Moses was called into the midst of the cloud, his forty days' fasting commenced, while Joshua, in the mean time, no doubt continued to eat and drink daily while waiting for Moses' return. Bush. Moses, who was the mediator of the Old Covenant, is alone permitted to draw nigh to God; none of the people are suffered to come up to the Divine glory, not even Aaron, nor his sons, nor the nobles of Israel. Moses was a type of Christ, who is the mediator of the New Covenant; and he alone has access to God in behalf of the human race, as Moses had in behalf of Israel. A. C. De. 9 : 9. During this period of forty days, and the second period when the tables were renewed, Moses neither ate bread nor drank water. Elijah in like manner fasted for forty days, when he visited the same spot (1 Kings 19 : 8). The two who met our Saviour on the Mount of Transfiguration, the one as representing the Law, the other as representing the Prophets, thus shadowed forth in their own experience the fast of forty days in the wilderness of Judæa. Clark.—The story of those forty days is written in heaven's register; and if Moses were himself still here to give his witness as to what occurred, perhaps he would repeat the words of Paul regarding the most blessed hour of his experience, "Whether it took place in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell—God knoweth." It is enough for us that there is now made known to him, not merely the grand principles of law to regulate the Jewish commonwealth, but God's express appointments as to everything relating to the life, both civil and religious, of the chosen nation, even to minute details; that he is now allowed the greatest privilege of all, to pray in such a way that he most truly lives in close communion with the Infinite. Van O. Ez. 32 : 1-6. Forty days Moses remained on the mountain, neither appearing nor holding any communication with the people. Day after day they exexpected his return : the gloom and silence of the mountain remained unbroken. Had he perished? Had he abandoned the people? Aaron himself is in the same total ignorance as to the designs and the fate of his brother. Whither shall they wander in the trackless desert? Who shall guide them? Their leader and their God seem equally to have deserted them. Still utterly at a loss to comprehend the sublime notions of the Deity, which their leader would inculcate, they sink back to the superstitions of the country which they had left. Milman. It is yet less than six weeks since the amazing scenes of the giving of the Law of the commandments, when the voice of Jehovah and his words seemed to overwhelm the whole assembly of Israel with religious awe. So thoroughly, to all appearance, are they pervaded with the spirit of piety and reverence, that, no sooner has Moses rehearsed to them the words of Jehovah than, as with one heart, they shout, "All that Jehovah hath said will we do and be obedient." But after Moses is gone up into the mount, and the mighty pillar of cloud and fire that before was near to them has risen to the summit of Sinai and now become stationary there—after the excitement has lulled somewhat and everything in the plain Rahab and about Mount Sinai has resumed its wonted appearance, the leaven of idolatry and lust that had been subdued by the terrors of the Law begins again to work. First, secretly; then more openly as the return of Moses is delayed day after day, and as the bolder spirits begin to give utterance to their speculations concerning what has become of him; till at length the whole camp becomes pervaded with the idea that Moses has perished—probably from rashly venturing too near to the mysterious brightness within the cloud. And the return of Moses, once given up, the next inquiry is what is to be done now? And Satan, ever busy in the souls of his agents, suggests the idea of a great religious festival. As is ever the case when men begin to devise ordinances of religious observance which God has not commanded, then a suitable form of worship for the festival must be devised; and what more suitable form than the forms they have been accustomed to see so universally in Egypt? They will, therefore, have an image to aid their devotions. Of course they do not mean to adore the image, or worship any other God than Jehovah. They will merely present Jehovah in visible form to the eye, so that, as they have now something tangible to start from, the imagination can soar upward and lend to the soul wings of devotion. While this is the view of the less sensual class of religionists among them, the ignorant multitude are pleased with the suggestion, because such form of worship carries with it the idea of revel and plays, and indecent wantonness. Soon, therefore, everybody is in favor of the new movement, and Aaron, who has been left in charge of affairs in Moses' absence, is surprised at the petition backed by an overwhelming popular opinion: "Up, make us gods which shall go before us, for, as for this Moses, that brought us here, we know not what is become of him." S. R. 1. Make us a god. So the Hebrew word is often translated. The meaning is, Make us a sacred symbol or sign, which may represent God to us in a visible manner. They hankered after the idolatrous worship which they had learned in Egypt. Stephen calls this a turning back of their hearts unto Egypt (Acts 7:39). Bp. Patrick.—Daily fed by manna from heaven; daily refreshed by water from the smitten rock; surrounded by miracles of might and benignity against which it would seem impossible that their eyes should be closed, who could have anticipated that, in utter defiance of the commandment to which they had so lately and so solemnly avowed obedience, they should have ordered the fabrication of other gods, and "changed their glory into the likeness of an ox, that eateth grass"? Bush. O royal Law, and mighty Lawgiver! How could they think of making any resemblance of him whom they saw could not be seen, and whom they saw in not being seen, infinite? How could they think of daring to profane his name, whom they heard to name himself, with that voice, Jehovah? Have they so soon forgotten that fire and thunder, which they heard and saw? Is that smoke vanished out of their mind, as soon as out of their sight? Could their hearts cease to tremble with the earth? Can they, in the very sight of Sinai, call for other gods? Did they so lately hear and see him to be an infinite God? Did they quake to hear him say out of the midst of the flames, "I am Jehovah thy God: thou shalt have no Gods but me"? With his pillar uplifted before their eyes and his manna descending day by day, yet they say, "Make us a god." Bp. H.—Had they not but the other day, in this very place, heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image? Had they not heard the thunder, seen the lightnings, and felt the earthquake, with the dreadful pomp of which this Law was given? Had they not been particularly cautioned not to make gods of gold (ch. 20:23)? Nay, had they not themselves solemnly entered into covenant with God, and promised that all that which he had said unto them they would do, and would be obedient (ch. 24:7)? And yet, before they stirred from the place where this covenant had been solemnly ratified, and before the cloud was removed from the top of Mount Sinai, thus to break an express command, in defiance of an express threatening that this inquiry should be visited upon them and their children—what shall we think of it? It is a plain indication that the Law was no more able to sanctify than it was to justify; by it is the knowledge of sin, but not the cure of it. This is intimated in the emphasis laid upon the place where this sin was committed (Ps. 106:19)—They made a calf in Horeb, the very place where the Law was given. H. Even on that very plain, beneath that very mount, they could not bear to think that they were to serve a God who was invisible; they returned to Egypt in their hearts. And not then only, but again and again, both in the history of the Jewish and of the Christian Church, has the same temptation returned. The priest has set up what the prophet has destroyed. Graven images have been set up in deed or in word, to make the Unseen visible, and the Eternal temporal. But the Revelation of Sinai has prevailed. Slowly and with many reverses did the great truth then first imparted gain possession of the hearts of Israel, and, through them, of the whole world—that we are neither to imagine that we see God when we do not, nor that because we do not see him, are we to doubt that he has been, and is, and yet shall be. This was the marvel which the Jewish worship presented, even to the best and wisest heathens who were perplexed by what seemed to them a religion without a God. It is to us the declaration that there must be a void created by the destruction of errors, by the removal of false images of God, before we can receive the true image of the Truth itself. A. P. S. Aaron's Part in the Apostasy. Ex. 25 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my 3 offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass ; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins dyed red, 5 and sealskins, and acacia wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the 6 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 7 And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I 9 shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. 35 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is 5 the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the 6 LORD : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the LORD's offering ; gold, and silver, 7 and brass ; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins 8 dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood ; and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing 9 oil, and for the sweet incense ; and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 10 the breastplate. And let every wise hearted man among you come, and make all that the 11 LORD hath commanded ; the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, 12 its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the 13 veil of the screen ; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the shewbread ; the 14 candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light ; and the 15 altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen 16 for the door, at the door of the tabernacle ; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of 17 brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base ; the hangings of the court, the 18 pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court ; the pins of the 19 tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; the finely wrought garments, for min- istering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 20. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the 22 service thereof, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all 23 jewels of gold ; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 24 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering : and every man, with whom was found acacia 25 wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the 26 scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun 27 the goats' hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the 28 ephod, and for the breastplate ; and the spice, and the oil ; for the light, and for the anoint- 29 ing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the LORD ; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son 2 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in 3 wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 4 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones 5 for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, 6 I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have com- 7 manded thee : the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is 8 thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent ; and the table and its vessels, and the pure 9 candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense ; and the altar of burnt offering with 10 all its vessels, and the laver and its base ; and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office ; 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place : according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 35 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name 31. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of cunning workmanship. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Then hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise cunning works. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD hath commanded. 2. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. 4. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. 38 21 This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. 24. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and made fillets for them. And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. Sections 120-153 comprise the body of CEREMONIAL LAWS, and include all the ordinances pertaining to Worship and Ritual. For the outline of these ordinances and the order of arrangement, study carefully the Index following the title-page. In this and each of several following sections relating to the Tabernacle, its Court, and their furniture, and to the sacred things pertaining to the Ritual service, the double text of the record is included: covering, first, the command to Moses in the mount; second, the execution of the command. The history is thus unified and made more simple and intelligible, while the exact correspondence between the direction and its fulfilment continually repeats its impressive lesson. B. Preliminary Facts and Considerations. Two distinct elements are observable in the remaining portion of the Pentateuch: one, a set of laws forming a complete ecclesiastical and civil code; the other, an historical detail of the principal events, connected with the promulgation of the laws. The two elements are com bined in a manner quite extraordinary. The laws do not stand insulated by themselves, neither are they embodied in a systematic form. But, paradoxical as the assertion may seem, they are both separated and connected by the historical narrative. "It is a code of laws in a frame of history." There are continual transitions from history to law, and from law to history. They are everywhere grafted, the one into the other; and there is such a mutual connection and dependence, that the two parts seem to grow together, like the several branches of a tree. E. C. W. Its Design and Use. The best apology of the ceremonial law lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it: First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of redemption. The Law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. Hengstenberg. The purpose of the Levitical law as a scheme of Divine tuition for the Jews, is perhaps largely explained by its tendency to cultivate in the Hebrew mind theistic and monotheistic ideas. That law was of course a device of elaborate prefigurement to forerun the Coming of Christ. But, co-ordinate with this meaning as type and prophecy, the ritual of the Mosaic economy subserved another purpose. It educated the Jews into the faith of a living and personal God. The Law was a school-master until Christ. The problem for the providential administration of Jewish history was, to prepare one race of men for the earthly advent of Christ incarnate among them. For this end, it was necessary to take a people abjectly ignorant, and from amid an environment of heathenism raise them to the height of a pure monotheistic faith. The method was, to announce a law under sanctions the most awful and sublime. This Law was accompanied with a system of precepts that invaded Jewish life at every conceivable point. Not a day in the year, not an hour in the day, but some imperative of the Divine will met the Israelite, demanding obedience. Every such imperative brought into the consciousness of the Jew a fresh recollection of the being of God, and of his living personality. It is hardly too much to say that this perpetual encounter of commands to be obeyed was chiefly what wrought at last into the Jewish nation that connection of the unity and personality of God which has created so remarkable, so unique a characteristic of the Hebrew Scriptures. With almost infinite pains on the part of the teacher, and at what terrible cost to the learner, the lesson was effectively taught and definitely learned. The Jews became believers in one God and that a personal God. Of this God, nature to them was full. If it thundered, Jehovah uttered his voice. If the winds blew, Jehovah made them his chariot. It was his lightning that enlightened the world. If a volcanic eruption occurred, it was the hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord. Jewish theism became so intense that it might look like pantheism. God was nature to them. But God was nature in a sense vividly antithetic to nature's being God. What God thus, with an awful magnificence of revelation, had, after many ages of history, succeeded at length in teaching to the Jews, to such effect that they wrote it inseparably into all their literature, many modern interpreters, forsooth, of that literature, are at fatuous, but futile pains to eliminate thence. They tell us that expressions such as those just recalled from Hebrew Scripture were idiosyncratic ways which that peculiar nation had, of representing in language the processes of nature! Nay, verily. But it was of tuition, and not of intuition, that those forms of speech were born. The inveterate bent of the Jews to relapse and become polytheists and idolaters again, that bent so frequently and so tragically illustrated in their history, this is proof sufficient that the idea of God, as one and personal, was not an idea peculiarly natural to the Jewish stock. The Jews had the same natural tendency in religion as did the neighboring nations around them. That tendency was all to idolatry. The Jews were disciplined to be monotheists, and disciplined to believe in their God as a personal being. And a large part of the discipline by which they were trained to these convictions consisted in the vast and elaborate scheme of requirements that brought them incessantly into contact, through obedience rendered, with a living, invisible, authoritative, absolute, personal will. Wilkinson. The mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, who alone exists necessarily and of himself; who sustains the life of all besides himself; before whom all that is not himself is but a shadow and vanity; from whose sanctity there streams forth on the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human life; and in whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the suffering, the poor, may, if they will, find a gracious and long-suffering Patron—this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The Jew knew that sin was the secret of human sorrow. He could not forget sin if he would; for before his eyes the importunate existence and destructive force of sin were inexorably pictured in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifice of sacrifices which was offered on the Day of Atonement. Then the moral law sounded in his ears; he knew that he had not obeyed it. The ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not relieve. H. P. L. The religious worship divinely instituted in the desert fulfilled several minor purposes. It tended to divert the attention from the sensuous attractions of the idolatry with which the people had been associated in Egypt; it had a considerable influence in preserving the sense of national unity; it constituted an invaluable code of sanitary regulations; it even fostered the preservation of genealogies. But none of these were its primary aim; they were secondary effects of causes, the primary purpose of which was the culture of the religious life. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things" (civil and social) "shall be added unto you," might have been taken as the motto of Judaism. Church and State were so united that the very purposes of government were best furthered by attention to the duties of religion. Cave. The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion. The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was also a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice—a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This was the real import of the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. When, however, from being an exponent of feeling and an educator of faith, the Jews perverted their worship to an end in itself, and a meritorious act, both the prophets of the Lord and his Providence taught them that the ritual could neither save them nor preserve itself. Yet the mercy of God prevailed, even over the abuse of mercy. There always was a spiritual Israel; and it was promised, that, by the coming of Christ, the covenant of an inner spiritual life—of knowledge, obedience, grace, righteousness, salvation—should be renewed, enlarged, and made perpetual. Christ was not only a greater and more perfect priest than any other; he superseded all others as priest in his own right, and priest forever: and therefore, to put a priesthood or ritual in his place is to usurp his sole prerogative, and to forfeit his atoning and saving grace. J. P. T. The Ceremonial Rites not Prophetic Types, but Doctrinal Symbols. All confusion and uncertainty arises from assuming that the significant rites of the ceremonial law must of necessity be types—that is to say, prophetic symbols, and that they must necessarily be types of Christ. All these rites were symbols, as distinguished from prophetic types, and as such suited to prepare the way for the Christian system, without confounding the two dispensations by an anticipation of the Gospel light amid the shadows of the Law. As soon as we admit that it is equally consistent with the honor of the Saviour, and still more consistent with the general purpose of the old economy as a preparatory dispensation, to explain a large portion of its forms as doctrinal symbols, teaching general truths of great importance, suited to the actual condition of the people, and tending to prepare them for a clearer revelation, several obvious interpretations spontaneously suggest themselves. J. A. A. This elaborate religious constitution was a ritual of the symbolic class. Whatever truth it had to convey was conveyed under material forms; adjuncts of gold and color were employed to speak of God; gorgeous vestments and precious stones proclaimed the sanctity of a priesthood; washing with water betokened the cleansing of the heart; the fire that consumed the sacrifice told its tale of Divine acceptance. This symbolism, so mysteriously selected and permitted for spiritual ends, fulfilled a double purpose. It taught religious truths which constituted a Divine revelation; at the same time it prepared the way for a further revelation in which the same truths could be conveyed in a clearer, more direct and convincing manner. Cave. The main peculiarity of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with his immediate disciples during the period of his earthly ministry! The direct instruction he imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty—treeing the Law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which his kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of his work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world—little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. . . . The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." P. F. The great mass of evangelical interpreters, especially in former times, have made it a main object in their expositions of the ceremonial law to shun the error of excluding Christ and gospel times from the signification of the legal shadows. In attempting this, it is not, perhaps, surprising, that their zeal has sometimes led them toward the opposite extreme. The exaggeration both of this and of the contrary hypothesis has led to the same general result, but in ways directly opposite. Both have deprived the ceremonial law of its preparatory character, the one by reducing its significance too low, and the other by exalting it too high. If the ceremonies of the Law meant nothing, they could not be preparatory to the Gospel. If they meant everything, and made known everything which needed to be known, they were not so much a preparation as an anticipation of the Gospel itself. J. A. A. #### Classification of Ceremonial Institutes. A fourfold distribution of the Sacred Institutions of the Hebrews has been adopted by the older and later writers: Sacred Places, Sacred Persons, Sacred Rites, and Sacred Times; or to use a more laconic terminology, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, the Ritual, and the Calendar. J. A. A.—The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings was the basis of the sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we discover the links that connect the ceremonial laws given by Moses with the primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we have the genesis of the tabernacle and temple. At the beginning the minister of sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of blood by Abel and the offering by fire of Noah we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The Sabbath ordained in paradise became the central institute in the sacred times appointed by Moses. Humphrey. Perhaps a fuller and more accurate classification is the following, in the main adopted in our arrangement: I. Positive Institutes, relating directly to Worship. 1. Its Place and external media. 2. Its Ministers—Priests and Levites. 3. Its Rites—Sacrificial and other offerings. 4. Its Times—Sabbatic Periods and Festivals. II. Minor Ceremonial Adjuncts of a preceptive character; Remedial, Corrective, and Prohibitory. B. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the Law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the TABERNACLE, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses's first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. P. S. Pure and abstract notions of the Divinity were beyond the age and the people of Moses. No religious impressions would be lasting which were not addressed to the senses. With this view is commenced the sacred tabernacle or pavilion-temple. The whole nation is called upon to contribute to its construction and ornament. The riches which they brought from Egypt, and the arts which some of them had learned, now come into request. From all quarters offerings pour in; brass, silver, gold, jewels, fine linen, embroidered stuffs of all colors, valuable skins, spices, oils, and incense, in such profusion that they cannot all be brought into use. The high district immediately around Sinai, extending about thirty miles in diameter, is by no means barren, the vegetation is richer than in other parts of the desert, streams of water flow in the valleys, date and other trees abound, and groves, chiefly of the black acacia (the shittim). These latter were speedily felled, all the artificers set to work, the women were employed in weaving and spinning, and the whole camp assumed a busy appearance. The construction of the tabernacle was intrusted to the superintendence of two skilful workmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. Milman. 25:1-8. The tabernacle revelation was in substance a revelation of God's willingness to dwell with his people, and of the conditions on which this great blessing could be realized by them. The first condition is their willingness to welcome him when he comes. And accordingly the first step is to give the people an opportunity of showing this willingness. "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering . . . and let them make me a sanctuary." The giving of the revelation shows the willingness on God's part; the offerings of the people the willingness on theirs. J. M. G. 9. According to the pattern . . . shall ye make it. An ideal of the finished tabernacle, with its hangings and its furniture, with its sacred enclosures of the Holy Place, and of the Holy of Holies, with its cherubim-guarded ark of the covenant, and its Shekinah-revealing of the Divine presence, was seen by Moses when he was on the mountain-top with God. That ideal Moses could not transfer to another's mental vision; but, under its influence, he could give the directions, step by step, for the making of hangings and of furniture and of adornings that should correspond with its details. S. S. T.—Moses saw on the mountain a pattern of all the things which he afterward caused to be made. In his intercourse with God, he attained to a deep view into the spiritual, eternal relations which existed between God and his people; but these relations were revealed to him under the veil of type and emblem, which veil neither he nor any Israelite could altogether take away. Many thousands were kept by such outward service, with its minute details, in a certain external discipline and reverence toward sacred things, without entering into their meaning (the Jews, Philo and Josephus, in the time of the apostles, had altogether lost the key to it); while the really spiritually-minded found a continually elevating employment for heart and spirit in the beautiful and appropriate symbols, which so harmonized with the doctrinal teaching of the Word. Gerl. From the twofold relation of Jehovah (as their God and their King) to the chosen people, it follows that there must be found in their laws and institutions both permanent and transient elements. Their duties toward him as their God, which found chief expression in their rites of worship, were permanent. The whole ritual, the kinds and orders of sacrifice, the priesthood in its several ranks, duties, and offices, the sevenfold division of times, the feasts—all this was unchangeable. As typical of higher things to come, they must remain till the antitypes came. And thus it was that Moses was directed to make all these things after the pattern showed him in the mount, a Divine order which man might not change. Andrews. The LORD'S Offering; Materials Indicated (25 : 3-7 ; 35 : 6-10). The materials were : Metals : gold, silver, and brass. Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric of goats' hair, the produce of their own flocks. Skins : of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. Wood : the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." Oil, spices, and incense, for anointing the priests, and burning in the tabernacle. Gems : onyx stones, and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high-priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver, and brass ; wood, skins, hair, and linen ; the women wove ; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense. P. S. Blue, purple, and scarlet. There does not seem much ground to doubt that these names of the colors of the woven and embroidered work of the sanctuary express the most probable conclusions. The three colors, blue, scarlet, and purple, have been recognized all but universally as royal colors, such as were best suited for the decoration of a palace. This fact appears to furnish sufficient ground for their having been appointed as the colors for the embroidery which was to adorn the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Clark. Some of the materials of the tabernacle were exquisitely adapted for symbolical representation. The acacia is the lignum imputrabile of the Orientals, incorruptibility itself, the facile defier of putrefaction. Gold, from its pre-eminence among even the noble metals, must ever be the emblem of all that is glorious and beautiful, the fitting ornament of kingly palaces, the appropriate adornment of a Divine residence. Silver will always the wide world over be eloquent of purity (Is. 1 : 22). And when we come to the richly woven tapestry hangings, did not its white speak of holiness, its blue of the vault of heaven, the footstool of the Almighty, its purple of regal splendor, and its scarlet of a full, free, joyous life, such as is the attribute of God? Cave. So far as the materials required for the building are concerned, it can be proved that the Israelites were either in possession of all that was wanted, or, if not, could easily have procured them. The most important article of all, the shittim (acacia) wood, could be felled in the desert. Gold, silver, and precious stones they had brought with them in great abundance from Egypt. The tachash skins were to be found in the Arabian Gulf. The raw materials for the cloths, the necessary spices, etc., could be purchased from the caravans. There is no reason for astonishment at the quantity of gold and silver that was used. In comparison with the almost incredible wealth in the precious metals which presents itself on every hand in ancient times, the quantity used in connection with the tabernacle furnishes no occasion for surprise. K. In erecting the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Israelites were called upon to work in precious stones ; in refining and working metals ; in carving wood and preparing leather ; in spinning, weaving, embroidery, and the preparation of oils. These arts they must have learned in Egypt ; and all these arts are represented upon contemporaneous history. Not more certainly do the physical features of Palestine testify that the Bible was mainly written in that country, than do the tombs of Egypt witness that the author of the Pentateuch was skilled in all the arts and manners of the Egyptians. J. P. T. We read of the Temple, the more perfect form of the Divine habitation, that it was to be made "so exceeding magnifical as to be of fame and glory throughout all countries ;" and that among other things employed by Solomon for this purpose, "the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty." Such materials, therefore, were used in the construction of the tabernacle as were best fitted for conveying suitable impressions of the greatness and glory of the Being for whose peculiar habitation it was erected. And as in this we are furnished with a sufficient reason for their employment, to search for others were only to wander into the regions of uncertainty and conjecture. P. F. 25 : 1; 35 : 4. Take for me an offering. The tabernacle was to be dedicated to the honor of God, and used in his service; and therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of that was an offering to the Lord. Our goodness extends not to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and interest among men, he is pleased to accept as an offering to himself; and he requires such acknowledgments of our receiving our all from him, and such instances of our dedicating our all to him. H.—What the Lord commanded was that such and such work should be done, not that such and such contributions should be rendered to it. These he left free; and accordingly they were brought in the form of free offerings. The commandment was upon Moses, however, to proclaim and receive these offerings and then turn them to the use which had been appointed. T. C. Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers (35 : 5, 20-29). 35 : 5. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring the Lord's offering. 21. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering. The very mode of providing his materials implied that the structure for which they were given was altogether of a sacred character, being made of things consecrated to the Lord. The special call for only that which was given "with the heart" implied that in all that concerns the worship and work of God there must be the concurrence of the sanctified will with the grace and condescension of God. S. R.—They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service; a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances; a gratitude for the great things he had done for them; faith in his promise of what he would further do; or, at least, from the present consideration of these things, that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit. H. Better have the little that comes from the willing heart than the large sums which are given by constraint or from any earthly or worldly motive. In this chapter this is strongly insisted upon; they that gave, gave with willing hearts—"the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord, every man and woman" (verse 29). Some had gold, and they gave that; some had silver and some had brass, and they gave that; some had linen, and they gave that; some skins of rams, some badgers' skins, some goats', and some could carve wood, and cut stones, and do all manner of cunning work, and they gave that. There was no representative currency. As they had no money, they gave that which money represents; each gave the substance that he had and could give. J. C. Should not the establishment of God's kingdom in the world call forth our zeal as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of the Israelites? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. To the erection of this spiritual house every true Christian Israelite is called to contribute according as God hath given him ability. And let it be ever remembered that the blessing will go with contributions according to the free, cordial, generous spirit with which they are made. It is not the amount given, but the motive of the giver, which is of account in God's sight. Even the poor widow who casts in her two mites will receive an equal plaudit with Araunah, of whom it is said, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." They who do what they can show evidently that they would do more if they could. Bush. The Workmen Qualified and Chosen by the LORD. 31 : 1. "The Lord spake unto Moses." The frequent repetition of these words seems to intimate that the successive disclosures of Jehovah to Moses were made at intervals, so as to allow the careful consideration and writing down of each. B. 31 : 1, 2, 6; 35 : 30, 31, 34, 36. I have called by name Bezalel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God. And I have appointed with him Oholiab. That he may teach, both he and Oholiab. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all the work for the service of the sanctuary. A thoughtful reading of these words shows that not only the two superintendents, Bezalel and Oholiab, but as well the entire body of workmen, were specially qualified and chosen for the various branches of work connected with the tabernacle and its service. B.—Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from Him are both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is He that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts (Job 38:36). He teaches the husbandman discretion (Is. 28:26), and the tradesman, too; and He must have the praise of it. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the Church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezalel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. Those whom God calls to any service, he will either find or make fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work that was to be done here, was to make the tabernacle, and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the Gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God: not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it (Heb. 9:11). H. God gave the plan clearly, graphically, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan and give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces: it needs the guidance of God's good Spirit to enable a man "to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship;" just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. A great intellect is as much the gift of God as a holy and sanctified heart is from the grace of God; only we must always remember that the two are not necessarily combined; that the latter—the sanctified heart—is saving; but that the former—the gifted intelintellect—may be an element of ruin, not of everlasting blessedness in the sight of God. Many men have transcendent gifts that shed new light upon the world by their splendor, who at the same time have hearts sunk in depravity and sin. They have been raised to heaven by the greatness of their gifts; they sink themselves to ruin by the degeneracy of their lives. Far better have a holy heart and a very ungifted intellect than have the most gigantic mind but a depraved heart to wield and to make use of it. J. C. God has a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is and the uses he will make of him; for the tradesmen Bezalel as truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling by being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us to do which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of his presence with us in it. It is not for us to say beforehand what gifts or what kind of inspiration God will bestow. Enough that he will take us into his own care, and work his own counsel in us. Only let us set no limits to the Holy One of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and wait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or suffering. Bushnell. Bezalel, the son of Uri, was called of God to do what to many seems a very inferior sort of work. See, says the Divine Spirit, I have called him—not to do the services of the priestly office—I have called him to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. In order to do this labor I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge. In a word, Bezalel was divinely called to be a smith. He was set apart just as certainly and just as divinely to work at that trade, as were Aaron and his sons to attend to the services at the altar. Bezalel's handicraft was essential to the carrying out of God's purposes in the building of the tabernacle, and his life was just as much of a heavenly ordination as though he had been clad in priestly robes, and had it appointed him to stand at the side of the altar of sacrifice, or walk with bare feet into the awful, cherubic, overshadowed Holy of Holies. And so Bezalel could feel, as he wrought out into beautiful forms the candlesticks, the altars, the tables, which were to be used in the worship of Jehovah, that he was a chosen servant of God no less than the priestly orders, who were to use the products of his toil; that God had ordained him to do the very work upon which his life was being spent, and that, therefore, he must be in the line of his highest duty. But the case of Bezalel was not a peculiar and distinct one. God has an infinite diversity of callings in which he wishes men, according to their natural fitness, to feel themselves placed. There are not only called preachers, but called merchants, called teachers, called farmers, called physicians, called smiths and carpenters, called housekeepers, called statesmen, called lawyers, it may be, called soldiers and politicians. Every life then which occupies itself with any part of God's work is of Divine ordination, and every soul that honestly and faithfully devotes itself to that pursuit, toward which natural fitness points it or into which circumstances force it, may feel that it is in the line of a Divine appointment. No man need murmur then that so much of his time must necessarily be squandered, and so much of his ability be wasted upon things which have no heavenly bearing or result. Nay, we may oftentimes feel that God has thrust some form of life upon us that we may teach the world some grand lesson of endurance, or patience, or fortitude, which could not have been disclosed had we been allowed to take any other place. Roseland. When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is organization there must be much work concerned with purely material things; and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There must be men for "the outward business of the house of God," as well as the white-robed priests at the altar and the rapt gazer in the secret place of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely outward and mechanical nature which must be seen to by somebody. The alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner, and so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and earnest manner, and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. The difference between two lives is not in the material on which but in the motive from which, and in the end for which they are respectively lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in essence, for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian morals, and ought forevermore to be expelled from Christian life. A. M. One place may be as holy as another; and all action done under the leading of the Spirit is equally accepted of God. There is no necessary part of life which may not be inspired by the Divine Spirit, whether it be work or play, social converse or public worship. As God has planned out our lives in the circumstances in which we act, with the existing demands for labor, social intercourse, and recreation, as well as for worship and religious instruction, his Spirit, if duly sought, will be with us equally in the whole round of life's activities. As we need him in all, he will fail us in none. To be true to God always, and to find him everywhere; to live ever by faith in Christ Jesus; to be simple, innocent, natural, and loving in all relationships; to be filled with the Holy Ghost; to rise easily and spontaneously from fact to truth, from nature to God, from the human to the Divine; to accept with the same spirit of consecration and obedience whatever seems to lie in the order of Providence for us to do, whether it be private or public, little or great, secular or ecclesiastical, work or play—is what we mean by spirituality. W. W. Patton. God put it into the hearts of Bezalel and Oholiab to teach others, who received their skill, therefore, proximately from them, but primarily and efficiently from God. This is an example by which what takes place in spiritual matters might also be illustrated. God endows and qualifies men to be the teachers of Christianity; and he is also to every Christian the author of all the spiritual wisdom which he possesses. Yet though taught by him this does not supersede the work of human instructors, for it is generally through them that he teaches the knowledge of himself, and of Jesus Christ whom to know is life everlasting. While depending then on the Spirit of God for a right understanding of the things of God, let us avail ourselves of all the human helps which he has so often sanctioned both by the examples and the exhortations of his Word. T. C. #### Liberality Excessive and Restrained. "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing." There is something striking in this account in the way of evidence of the high state of revival of religious feeling among the people after their scandalous fall. It is analogous to the evidence recorded of the holy zeal of the Christians in the revival at Pentecost in the New Testament. The artificers or artisans who took charge of the work—though their work was not yet done and they could only determine that according to their best judgment a sufficiency of materials had been furnished—seem to have been so very honest and of so strict integrity as not to have desired any overplus, which they might appropriate as perquisites. S. R. Where do we now find men acting so fully on the voluntary principle? How small a proportion of the benevolent offerings of Christians are brought to the Lord's treasury? Instead of this they must be sent or called for. How different from the full-souled and spontaneous promptings of the Israelitish donors on this occasion! They needed simply to have a want stated, and then without waiting for duty to be inculcated, appeals urged, a precise amount prescribed, or a messenger sent, they become the carriers of their own gifts and pour them in without stint till checked by a public proclamation! # Sum of Gold, Silver, and Copper Contributed. The gold weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels, if we allow 3000 shekels to the talent of 125 pounds; and this at £4 the ounce would be equal to £175,000 sterling, or nearly $877,000. The silver was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, being a half shekel from all the males above twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt, whose number was 603,550; the whole value of this would, at 5s. the ounce, be £39,721, or nearly $188,605. The brass, or rather copper, was 70 talents and 24,000 shekels, which if valued at 1s. 3d. the pound avoirdupois would be worth £138, or $690. The amount of these several sums would not be less than £213,320, or $1,066,600. But this amount does not include the curtains of the enclosure, the coverings of the tabernacle, the dress of the high-priest and its jewels, the dresses of the common priests, or the value of the skill and labor employed in the work, the whole of which may be fairly taken to have raised its value to the immense sum of £250,000, or $1,250,000! The grand reason for employing so great an amount of riches in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture was undoubtedly twofold: (1) To impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service; and (2) To convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual an intimation of the essential and transcendent beauty, excellence, and glory of the spiritual things that were shadowed out by it. It was only by means of such a sensuous apparatus of worship that they could receive the inner essential truths which it involved. Bush. The Israelites had left Egypt the year in which they made this contribution for the construction of the tabernacle. Though many of them were employed in servile labors, yet the people as a whole must have been possessed of considerable wealth. To this the Egyptians made a considerable accession at their departure. The sum here contributed is moderate in comparison with the enormous treasures amassed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Arabians, and the Egyptians themselves. M. Thus, on the part of the people, there were abundant tokens of thorough repentance. One of these was their alacrity to set about the work of erecting the tabernacle. All was enthusiasm in the camp. Men and women vied with each other in thoughtful and diligent endeavor. Another was the abounding liberality. So profuse was it that the receivers of the people's contributions had more than they knew what to do with, so that the people had actually to be restrained from giving. If the Church of Christ only realized the exceeding grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, as these people realized the grace of Jehovah and his servant Moses on this occasion, all our mission treasuries would overflow, and instead of ever-renewed appeals for more, the difficulty would be to restrain the people from giving. Finally, there was the minutest and most careful obedience to all the instructions which had been given for the building of the tabernacle and its furniture, so that when all the work was completed, we are told that "Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had, commanded, even so had they done it." J. M. G. THE TABERNACLE: NAMES; STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE; INNER VEIL AND OUTER SCREEN; MEANING AND DESIGN; SYMBOLISM AND TYPES. Ex. 25 10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark withal. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make 17 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 18 half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold ; of beaten work shalt 19 thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end : of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cher- 20 ubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, cov- ering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another ; toward the mercy-seat 21 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 22 and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cher- ubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in com- mandment unto the children of Israel. 23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood ; two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a 24 cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay 25 it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border 26 thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the 27 four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for 28 places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and 29 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, to 30 pour out withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew- bread before me alway. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft ; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece 32 with it : and there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other 33 side thereof : three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower ; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower : so for the 34 six branches going out of the candlestick : and in the candlestick four cups made like almond- 35 blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof : and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two 36 branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it : the whole of it one beaten work of pure 37 gold. And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven : and they shall light the lamps thereof, 38 to give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of 39 pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. And see that 40 thou make them after their pattern, which hath been shewed thee in the mount. No. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 2 When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so ; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, 4 as the LORD commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold ; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Ex. 26 34 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most 35 holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south ; and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 30 1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of acacia wood shalt thou make 2 it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 4 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and they shall be for places for staves to bear it 5 withal. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And 6 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that 7 is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of 8 sweet spices : every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout 9 your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt offering, nor meal 10 offering; and ye shall pour no drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year: with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. No. 10 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 2 beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congrega- 3 tion, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the 4 congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather 5 themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall 6 take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the 7 south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when 8 the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a 9 statute for ever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Ex. 37 1-28. Omitted because identical in its corresponding statements.  This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 26 1 MOREOVER thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the cunning workman shalt thou make them. The length of each curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure. Five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and the other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is outmost in the second coupling. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling; the loops shall be opposite one to another. And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps: and the tabernacle shall be one. And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make them. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains shall have one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain which is outmost in the second coupling. And thou shalt make fifty clasps of brass, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the overhanging part that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above. And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. Two tenons shall there be in each board, joined one to another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward. And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons: and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards: and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. And they shall be double beneath, and in like manner they shall be entire unto the top thereof unto one ring: thus shalt it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And there shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And thou shalt make bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the hinder part westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall pass through from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which hath been shewed thee in the mount. And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim the work of the cunning workman shall it be made: and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks shall be of gold, upon four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the veil under the clasps, and shalt bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer. And thou shalt make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold; their hooks shall be of gold; and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them. NOTE.—The text of the 36th chapter does not contain verses 12, 13, and 30 of the above, and there is a slight and unimportant difference in the first and the last verses of the two chapters. Otherwise the substance of the two is identical, one containing the command and the other its execution. The latter text is therefore omitted. The several parts of the structure are as follows: Ten curtains with cherubim for the interior (26:1-6; 36:8-13). Eleven curtains for covering and exterior (26:7-14; 36:14-19). Boards for framework (26:15-25; 36:20-30). Bars for holding the boards together (26:26-29). The veil dividing "the Holy place and the Most Holy" (26:31-33; 36:35, 36). The "screen for the door of the Tent" and its pillars (26:36, 37). B. So accurate is the counterpart between the order and the execution, that the one may in most instances be translated into the other by a mere change of tense. What is told to Moses in the earlier chapter as the thing he shall make, is in the later chapter told by him as that which was made. T. C.—In the command of God, the ark, the table, the candlestick, are first described, because they are of the most importance; and the tabernacle is built for their sake; but naturally, in the account of the preparation and construction, the building must precede the furniture thereof. Gerl.—The narrative begins with the tabernacle itself, which is the largest piece of the work. But we may suppose that other sets of workmen were engaged on the furniture, the court, and the priestly dresses. It was necessary also that the tabernacle should be ready for the sacred utensils as soon as they were prepared. M. Nothing would be less in accordance with the natural order of a history written at a later period than this double account. It has been represented as an argument for a double authorship, as though two sets of documents had been carelessly or surreptitiously adopted by a compiler. It is, however, fully accounted for by the obvious hypothesis that each part of the narrative was written at the time and on the occasion to which it immediately refers. When Moses received these instructions, he wrote a full account of them for the information of the people. When, again, Moses had executed his task, it was equally appropriate, and doubtless also in accordance with the habits of a people keen and jealous in the management of their affairs, and at no time free from tendencies to suspicion, that he should give a formal account of every detail in its execution; a proof to such as might call for proof that all their precious offerings had been devoted to the purpose, and what was of far more importance, that the Divine instructions had been completely and literally obeyed. In form, structure, and materials, the tabernacle belongs altogether to the wilderness. The wood used in the structure is found there in abundance. The skins and other native materials belong equally to the locality. One material which entered largely into the construction, the skin of the tachasch, was in all probability derived from the Red Sea. The metals, bronze, silver, and gold, were those which the Israelites knew and doubtless brought with them from Egypt. It is also certain that the arts required for the construction of the tabernacle, and for all its accessories, were precisely those for which the Egyptians had been remarkable for ages, and such as artisans who had lived under the influence of Egyptian civilization would naturally have learned. Cook. The tabernacle was a portable temple, as no other kind of structure would have suited a nomad people; and among a tent-dwelling people, that temple would naturally be a tent, or a movable fabric of wood. Until the Israelites were settled in the land of promise, their sacred edifice must necessarily be such as they could easily take to pieces and transfer from place to place. It was intended as a habitation of the visible symbol of Jehovah, who is emphatically designated "the God of Israel." . . . In order that the Hebrews might have their relation to God kept constantly before their eyes, the Most High, as their King, caused a royal tent to be erected in the centre of the encampment, where the pavilions of all kings and chiefs were usually erected, and to be fitted up with all the splendor of royalty, as a movable palace. The tabernacle possessed the twofold character of a sanctuary, or place of worship, and of a royal palace where Jehovah would keep the state of a court, as supreme civil magistrate and King of Israel; from whence he would issue his laws and commandments as from an oracle, and where he was to receive the homage and tribute of his subjects. This idea of the tabernacle, as in part that of a palace for a king, will seem perfectly clear to every one who notes carefully the terms in which this building, and also the temple, are spoken of and referred to throughout the Scriptures; and we doubt not it is a view essential to the right understanding of these structures and the things which belong to them. It is a view also which is held by the Jews themselves, who carry out the analogy, and regard the utensils of the tabernacle as palace furniture, and the priests as its ministers of state and officers. Bush. # Names of the Tabernacle. The names of this Tabernacle are full of significance; it is called the "House" or "Dwelling-place of God," the "Tent of meeting or assembly," as the place where God himself dwells among his people, and through which he enters into communion with them—"the Tent of testimony" (Nu. 9 : 15), as the place where the Law was kept—"the Sanctuary," as the place which belonged exclusively to God, the Holy One, being severed from all that is earthly, human, sinful. The place where the Holy One of Israel revealed himself, and entered into communication with his people, consisted of two parts : (1) The Holiest of all, God's especial dwelling-place, which, both in this tabernacle and in the temple afterward, was completely dark. Into this the high-priest only, on the day of expiation, might enter, veiled in a cloud of incense. (2) The Holy place, where the people, through their consecrated mediators and intercessors, the priests, might draw near to their King. Therefore the whole people is represented, if righteous, as dwelling on the holy hill in the tabernacle of the Lord (Ps. 15 : 1 ; 23 : 6 ; 27 : 4). Gerl. Most commonly, when a single name is used, it is that which answers to our word dwelling or habitation. Sometimes we find the more definite term house, the house of God, or the Lord's house, or tent. The dwelling in its original form was a tent, because the people among whom God came to reside and hold converse were then dwelling in tents, and had not yet come to their settled habitation. But afterward this tent was supplanted by the temple in Jerusalem, which bore the same relation to the ceiled houses in the land of Israel that the original tabernacle held to the tents in the wilderness. And coming, as the Temple thus did, in the room of the Tabernacle, and holding the same relative position, it was sometimes spoken of as the Tent of God, though more commonly it received the appellation of the house of God, or his habitation. Besides these names, certain descriptive epithets were applied to the tabernacle. It was called the Tent of meeting, for which our version has unhappily substituted the tent of the congregation. The expression is intended to designate this tent or dwelling as the place in which God was to meet and converse with his people ; not, as is too commonly supposed, the place where the children of Israel were to assemble, and in which they had a common interest. It was this certainly ; but merely because it was another and higher thing—because it formed for all of them the one point of contact and channel of intercourse between heaven and earth. The tabernacle is again described as the Tabernacle of the Testimony, or Tent of witness. It received this designation from the law of the two tables, which were placed in the ark or chest that stood in the innermost sanctuary. These tables were called "the Testimony," and the ark which contained them "the Ark of the Testimony," whence, also, the whole tabernacle was called the tabernacle or tent of the testimony. For God dwells in his Law, which makes known what he himself is, and on what terms he will hold fellowship with men. P. F. The essential significance of the tabernacle may be inferred from the names customarily given to it. 1st. Those which, like house, tent, abode, abode of the testimony, convey the general idea of a place of Divine residence ; 2d. Those which, like tent of assembly, or tent-house of assembly, express the idea of a meeting-place for God and man ; and 3d. Those which, like sanctuary, draw attention to holiness as an attribute of the place itself. As examples of the first class, Ex. 23 : 19 : 25 : 9 ; 26 : 36 ; 38 : 21 ; of the second class, Ex. 27 : 21 ; 39 : 32 ; of the third class, Ex. 25 : 8. Now, a house where God was or was supposed to be must be a place for worship, and a place for Divine worship must of necessity be holy ground ; thus one fundamental idea lay at the root of all these appellations—viz., that the tabernacle was a meeting-place between Jehovah and his covenant people. There Jehovah was to be thought peculiarly present, and therefore peculiarly approachable. There I will meet, is the Lord's declaration to Moses (Ex. 29 : 42, 43), with the children of Israel, and the habitation shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will dwell among them, and will be their God. Cave. The tabernacle had an outer and an inner compartment, a Holy and a Most Holy Place, or, as they are sometimes called, the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The innermost compartment was the smaller in compass, but the more perfect in its proportions, being an exact cube of ten cubits, the length, height, and breadth being equal. From the modes of thought prevalent in ancient times respecting number, this would quite readily convey the idea of completeness. The cube form alone, with whatever number associated, might have suggested this—as in the case of the New Jerusalem seen in the apocalyptic vision, where attention is specially called to the circumstance that "the length, and the breadth, and the height were equal ;" but the cube being formed of ten, itself a symbol of perfection, would naturally serve to strengthen the impression. This region of innermost sacredness and perfection was separated from the other part of the tabernacle by a curtain or veil, which was formed of the same kind of material, and inwrought with the same figures as the curtain which formed the interior of the roof, and probably also of the walls of the structure. The curtain was suspended from four pillars, overlaid with gold. Then from this to the door of the tabernacle was a space of twenty cubits in length by ten in breadth and height—the proportions, though larger, being manifestly less perfect; while also the curtain which hung over the doorway or entrance was without the cherubic figures inwoven, and was suspended by golden hooks upon five pillars. But there was a sacred region without, as well as these two hallowed compartments within, the tabernacle; an outer court, surrounding the tabernacle on every side, one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits broad, enclosed by a screen of linen. Looking now to the structure and appearance of the Tabernacle, we might certainly expect the following characteristics: that, being a tent or movable habitation, it would be constructed in such a manner as to present somewhat of the general aspect of such tenements, and be adapted for removals from place to place; and that, being the Tent of God, it would be fashioned within and without so as to manifest the peculiar sacredness and grandeur of its destination. This is precisely what we find to have been the case. Like tents generally, it was longer than broad—thirty cubits long by ten broad; and while on three of the sides possessing wooden walls, which assimilated it in a measure to a house, yet these were composed of separate gilded boards or planks, rising perpendicularly from silver sockets, kept together by means of golden rings, through which transverse bars were passed, and hence easily taken asunder when a removal was made. But neither within nor without must the wooden walls be seen, otherwise the appearance of a tent would not be preserved. Hence a series of curtains was provided, the innermost of which was formed of fine linen—ten breadths, five of which were joined together to make each one curtain, and the two curtains were again united together by means of fifty loops. This innermost curtain or covering was not only made of the finest material, but was also variegated with diverse colors and cherubic figures inwrought. Hence it is probably to be regarded as the tent in its interior aspect, consequently not merely forming the roof (where there were no wooden boards), but also attached by some means to the pillars so as to hang down inside to near the floor of the dwelling. In this way, at least, one can more easily understand why it should be called simply the tabernacle or dwelling (mishkan) both at Ex. 26:1, where the direction is given for making the curtains, and again at verse 8, where, when joined together, they are represented as forming one dwelling (mishkan). Then over this another set of curtains, made of goats' hair, was thrown, certainly forming an external covering, and, being two cubits longer than the other, reaching to well-nigh the bottom of the boards. To this day, the usual texture of Arabian tents is of goats' hair; and this being the tent proper as to its external aspect, it was designated the tent, as the other, which appeared from within, was called the habitation or dwelling. And above both these sets of curtains a double coating of skins was thrown, but merely for the purpose of protection from the elements. These parts and properties, or things somewhat similar, were essential to this sacred erection as a tent; it could not have possessed its tent-like appearance without them, or been adapted for moving from place to place. Therefore, to seek for some deeper and spiritual reasons for such things as the boards and bars, the rings and staves, the different sorts of coverings, the loops and taches, etc., is to go entirely into the region of conjecture, and give unbounded scope to the exercise of fancy. A plain and palpable reason existed for them in the very nature and design of the erection; and why should this not suffice? But other things, again, were necessary, on account of the tabernacle being not simply a tent, but the tent of the Most High God, for purposes of fellowship between him and his people—such as the ornamental work on the tapestry, the division of the tabernacle into more than one apartment, and the encompassing it with a fore-court by means of an enclosure of fine linen, which in a manner proclaimed to the approaching worshippers, Procul profani! That the apartments should have consisted of no more than an outer and inner sanctuary, or that the figures wrought into the tapestry should have been precisely those of the cherubim—in these we may well feel ourselves justified in searching for some more special instruction; for they might obviously have been ordered otherwise, and were doubtless ordered thus for important purposes. On which account, both characteristics reappear in the temple as being of essential and abiding significance. P. F. The tabernacle was to comprise three main  parts, the TABERNACLE, more strictly so-called, its TENT, and its COVERING. These parts are very clearly distinguished in the Hebrew, but they are confounded in many places of the English version. The TABERNACLE itself was to consist of curtains of fine linen woven with colored figures of cherubim, and a structure of boards which was to contain the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place; the TENT was to be a true tent of goats' hair cloth to contain and shelter the tabernacle: the COVERING was to be of red rams' skins and tachash skins, and was spread over the goats' hair tent as an additional protection against the weather. 1. THE TABERNACLE. The Hebrew is mishkan—i.e., dwelling-place. When it denotes the dwelling-place of Jehovah, it is accompanied by the definite article. The materials for THE MISHKAN were a great cloth of woven work figured with cherubim measuring forty cubits by twenty-eight cubits, and a quadrangular enclosure of wood, open at one end, ten cubits in height, ten cubits in width, and thirty cubits in length. The size of the tabernacle cloth is indicated beyond the reach of doubt by the number and dimensions of the ten breadths (or "curtains") of which it consisted. Clark.—It was a splendid fabric of linen, embroidered with figures of cherubim, in blue, purple, and scarlet, and looped together by golden fastenings. It seems probable that the ends of this set of curtains hung down within the tabernacle, forming a sumptuous tapestry. P. S. The boards were set upright, each of them being furnished at its lower extremity with two tenons which fitted into mortises in two heavy bases of silver. The whole of these bases placed side by side probably formed a continuous wall- plinth. The boards were furnished with rings or loops of gold so fixed as to form rows, when the boards were set up, and through these rings bars were thrust. The veil which separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place was suspended from golden hooks attached to four pillars overlaid with gold, standing upon silver bases. Clark. The front of the sanctuary was closed by a hanging of fine linen, embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet, and supported by golden hooks, on five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, and standing in brass sockets; and the covering of goats' hair was so made as to fall down over this when required. P. S. 2. The TENT is described as consisting of a great tent cloth of goats' hair, which, according to the number and dimensions of its breadths, was forty-four cubits by thirty, and five pillars overlaid with gold standing on bases of bronze, and furnished with golden hooks from which was suspended the curtain that served to close the entrance of the Tent. 3. Of the COVERING of rams' skins and tachash skins, nothing whatever is said except as regards the materials of which it was composed. Mr. Fergusson suggests what may be regarded as a satisfactory reconstruction of the sanctuary in all its main particulars. He holds that what sheltered the Mishkan was actually a tent of ordinary form, such as common-sense and practical experience would suggest as best suited for the purpose. According to this view, the five pillars at the entrance of the tent were graduated as they would naturally be at the entrance of any large tent of the best form, the tallest one being in the middle to support one end of a ridge-pole. Clark. The Holy of Holies was divided from the Holy Place by a screen of four pillars supporting curtains which no one was allowed to pass. But in the entrance there were five pillars in a similar space. Now, no one would put a pillar in the centre of an entrance without a motive; but the moment a ridge is assumed it becomes indispensable. By the hypothesis here adopted the pillars in front would, like everything else, be spaced exactly five cubits apart. Dic. B The descriptions in Exodus appear to pass over all particulars of the construction except those which formed visible features in the fabric. On this ground we may be allowed to suppose that there was not only a ridge-pole, but a series of pillars at the back of the tent corresponding in height with those at the front. Such a ridge-pole, which must have been sixty feet in length, would have required support, and this might have been afforded, in accordance with the usage of tent architecture, by a plain pole in the middle of the structure. Over this framing of wood-work the tent-cloth of goats' hair was strained with its cords and tent-pins in the usual way. There must also have been a back-cloth suspended from the pillars at the back. The heads of the pillars appear to have been united by connecting rods (in our version "fillets") overlaid with gold. It is evident that the relation in which the measurement of the tabernacle-cloth stood to that of the tent-cloth had an important bearing on the place of each of them in the structure. The tent-cloth is said to have extended a cubit on each side beyond the tabernacle-cloth, and it appears to have extended two cubits at the back and front. It would appear then that the tent-cloth was laid over the tabernacle-cloth so as to allow the excess of the dimensions of the former to be equally divided between the two sides and between the back and front. We may from these particulars infer that the tabernacle-cloth served as a lining to the other, and that they were both extended over the ridge-pole. In this way, the effect would have been produced of an ornamented open roof extending the length of the tent. Mr. Fergusson has pointed out the very remarkable consistency of the measurements of the different parts, if we accept this mode of putting them together. He assumes the angle formed by the roof to have been a right angle, as a reasonable and usual angle for such a roof, and this brings the only measurements which appear at first sight to be abnormal into harmony. Every measurement given in the text is a multiple of five cubits, except the width of the tabernacle-cloth, which is  twenty-eight cubits, and the length of the tent-cloth, which is forty-four cubits. With a right angle at the ridge, each side of the slope as shown in this section would be within a fraction of fourteen cubits (14.08), half the width of the tabernacle cloth. The slope is here carried just five cubits beyond the wooden walls and to within just five cubits of the ground. The tent-cloth would hang down in a valance on each side, one cubit in depth. If we allow the tabernacle cloth, according to this arrangement, to determine the length of the tent as well as its width, we obtain an area for the structure of forty cubits by twenty. The tent-cloth would of course overhang this at the back and front by two cubits—that is, half a breadth. The wooden structure being placed within the tent, there would be a space all round it of five cubits in width. Clark. The tabernacle seems to have had no floor but the naked ground—a singular contrast to its embroidered curtains and golden vessels. It pleased the Lord to take the dust of the earth for the pavement of an "earthly sanctuary." D. F. # The Inner VEIL and the Outer Screen. The inner shrine or recess was covered by a veil; the sanctuary was divided from the court by a screen. By both the people were admonished how reverently God's majesty must be regarded, and with what seriousness holy things are to be engaged in. The veil intimated to the Israelites that the spiritual worship of God was as yet enshrouded in a veil; and thus might extend their faith to their promised Messiah, at whose coming the truth would be discovered and laid bare. Wherefore, when Christ rose again from the dead, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matt. 27:51), and an end was put to the ceremonies of the Law, because God then presented Himself, in His living and express image, and the perfect reality of all the ceremonies was manifested. Now, therefore, in the light of the Gospel we behold "face to face" what was then shown afar off to the ancient people under coverings. Calv. There was the outer court for the laity; there was the Holy place for the priests; and there was the Most Holy place into which the high-priest went, not without blood, once a year. Before the Holy of Holies there hung a magnificent curtain or veil; and when Jesus said, "It is finished!" this veil, which was in the tabernacle and afterward in the temple, was rent in twain, signifying that from that time all Levitical sacredness was gone; that all distinction between the outer and the inner court, the holy of holies and the holy place—all was gone. The sacredness now is made by the work in which we are engaged. "Wherever two or three are met in my name," says the Saviour, "there am I in the midst of them"—that is, there is a true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But while the ancient economy existed this distinction was kept up, and ever taught and impressed a great and precious truth—that Christ must come and die and enter into the true holy place, before there could be access from grace to glory, from the outer to the inner court. J. C. The writer to the Hebrews says (10:19, 20), "Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil—that is to say, his flesh, let us draw near." Here it is clear that the veil is represented as in some way shadowing forth the flesh or body of Christ. A right view of the constitution of Christ's person as God-Man Mediator, and of the prominent place which he holds as the soul and centre and substance of nearly every part of the typical economy, will afford a clew to the solution of the problem. As the folds of the guiding cloud in the wilderness enshrouded the glory of Jehovah, so the human nature or body of Christ, while he tabernacled on earth, served as a kind of temporary envelope or veil of the Divine nature which dwelt within. It was only at his death, when his "body was broken" for the sins of the world, that this intervening cloud or veil was entirely rent and done away, and a way thus opened for the free manifestation of his glory and majesty to all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. As the veil of the tabernacle was to the inner abiding glory what the Saviour's flesh was to his indwelling Divinity, it was ordered that at the same time that the veil of his flesh was rent upon the cross, the corresponding veil of the temple was "rent in twain from the top to the bottom," implying that a blessed way of access was now provided into the interior of the heavenly sanctuary, of which the grand characteristic is, that it is to have "the glory of God," and from thence to receive its denomination, "Jehovah-Shammah," the Lord is there. Who can doubt that in the priestly service the High Priest himself, the sacrifice, and the altar, all found their substance in Christ? In like manner may the veil and the inner presence both point also to him? Bush. #### Meaning and Design of the Tabernacle. Its immediate object and design was the bringing of God near to the Israelites in his true character, and keeping up an intercourse between him and them. It was intended to provide, by means of a local habitation, with its appropriate services, for the attainment of a livelier apprehension of God's character, and the maintenance of a closer and more assured fellowship with him. So also, a visible pattern of Divine things was required to help out in men's minds the imperfection of the spiritual idea; a habitation was needed for the more peculiar manifestations of God's presence, such as could be scanned and measured by the bodily eye, and by serving itself of which the eye of the mind might rise to a clearer apprehension both of his abiding nearness to his people, and of the more essential attributes of his character and glory. P. F. It was an act of special grace that Jehovah—in accord with the natural tendency of the human mind to seek the assistance of a visible holy place for communing with God—should condescend to provide a local habitation for himself among his covenant people. As this tabernacle—and, after it, the temple—was the great central idea in the forms of worship in Israel, it was fit that it be constructed out of such costly materials and set apart by special consecration. It was the grand symbol of the kingdom of God on earth. It was to be the one symbol; for Jehovah being the one living God, and condescending to exhibit in an outward and material form the things concerning his character and glory, it was needful to guard against the idea of a divided personality, to which the world was so prone. For this reason there was but one tabernacle and temple as a direct testimony against the idolatries of all countries, under which every neighborhood had its god, and every hill and grove its separate solemnities of worship. The true worshippers must come to the one place where he who "fillet heaven and earth with his presence," and "whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain," condescended to meet with them. And it was a remarkable peculiarity of this worship, that as any one who presented the sacrifices elsewhere which were appointed for his house was guilty of violating the order of his kingdom, so on the other hand, to have free access to this chosen residence of Deity was esteemed so high a privilege that to be debarred from it, "cut off from the congregation of his people," was to be regarded as the extremest penalty for sin. The ideas embodied in the symbols of the Old Testament worship are in the New Testament seen embodied in great and abiding realities. This tabernacle and temple—earthly houses made glorious by the indwelling of God—are now seen to be types of the great fact: "God manifest in the flesh," when "the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And this was but the first stage in the development of "the great mystery of Godliness." For this flesh of Christ's humanity stood as the representative of all flesh as redeemed, and in him, as its living head, stands the whole elect humanity, and in him finds its bond of connection with God and a channel of real and blessed fellowship with heaven. The idea symbolized in the tabernacle has its realization not merely in the incarnation of Christ personally, but in the incarnate Christ as the head of a redeemed offspring. These great ideas are interwoven with all the teachings of the New Testament. We see now the force of Jesus' saying, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up," by which he evidently means that his body had now become what the temple and the tabernacle had hitherto been, and that the great idea symbolized in the tabernacle and temple was actually embodied in His Person, in which Godhead had taken up its dwelling in humanity that men might draw near and have fellowship with it. So his body was raised up again to be the perpetual seat and centre of the worship of the eternal kingdom. God in Christ is now the conception of every true worshipper. In the great ideas of the apostles of the New Testament of the inhabitation of God in the man Christ Jesus as the medium of intercourse and communion between God and his Church—so that the Church has become "the house of God," his habitation through the spirit, so that each believer is "a temple of the living God," "a temple of the Holy Ghost"—we find the true typical sense of the tabernacle and its true relation to Christ and his kingdom. S. R. # The Symbolism and Types of the Tabernacle. The symbolism of the tabernacle was significant of truth which belonged to the time then present; its types were significant of truth which belonged to time then future, to the times of fulfilment. By its symbols the tabernacle and its services were a sermon, or rather a collection of sermons; in its types, a prophecy or bundle of prophecies. Inasmuch as we live in the times of fulfilment, the typical significance of the tabernacle has the most practical value for us. And we who live in the later days of the great year of the Lord are better able than the Jewish fathers themselves to recognize the prophetic aspect of the old and ever valuable symbols of the tabernacle. They could understand the symbolic meaning more easily than we, but we can understand the prophetic meaning better than they. J. M. G. The Hebrews belonged to an age in which symbolism was everywhere employed. The nations then, as the recently-discovered monuments attest, were in the habit of putting all religious truths into external emblems. That form, therefore, as being the existing and recognized medium for the communication of such things at the time, was employed by Jehovah. He chose it just as, in giving us a revelation of his will, he chose language, because he found it already in use. But he did with it as in his revelation he has done with human language—he elevated it and refined it, and put such new significance into it, that men, looking at it, can see as marked a difference between the tabernacle of the Hebrews and the temples of the heathen as there is between the Bible and the so-called sacred books of India and China. The Hebrews of Moses's day craved something external. That eager desire for an embodiment of Deity which among the heathen tried to satisfy itself in idolatry, and which has now been met for all men in the Incarnation of God in Christ, was as strong in them as in others. Their lapse into image-worship at the very base of Sinai proves this; and, therefore, it became necessary to give them an outward symbolism—which should meet the craving of their hearts, and yet not minister to materialism because it had no visible representation of God. Such a symbolism was set before them in the tabernacle. It was, from first to last, an external emblem of spiritual truth. W. M. T. Nothing here was intended as a mere ornament or ceremony; all was symbol and type. As symbol, it indicated a present truth; as type, it pointed forward (a prophecy by deed) to future spiritual realities, while, at the same time, it already conveyed to the worshipper the first-fruits, and the earnest of their final accomplishment in "the fulness of time." All proclaimed the same spiritual truth, and pointed forward to the same spiritual reality—viz., God in Christ in the midst of his Church. The tabernacle was "the Tent of meeting" where God held intercourse with his people, and whence he dispensed blessing unto them. The priesthood, culminating in the high-priest, was the God-appointed mediatorial agency through which God was approached and by which he bestowed his gifts; the sacrifices were the means of such approach to God, and either intended to restore fellowship with God when it had been dimmed or interrupted, or else to express and manifest that fellowship. But alike the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the altar pointed to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So far as the tabernacle itself was concerned, the court with the altar of burnt-offering was the place by which Israel approached God; the Holy Place that in which they held communion with God; and the Most Holy Place that in which the Lord himself visibly dwelt among them in the Shechinah, as the covenant-God, his presence resting on the mercy-seat which covered the ark. A. E. It is abundantly evident that the tabernacle, and after it the temple, was intended to stand as conveying by symbols great ideas in the scheme of redemption to the minds of the people. For we find it interwoven with all the ideas and language of the Church in after times. Yet it is plainly a mistake to attempt to find some typical or allegorical meaning in every separate part of it—many of the things being ordered for convenience as in every other structure. S. R.—No one acquainted with the history of interpretation can doubt that vast injury has been done by a fanciful mode of explaining the Old Testament, by making every pin and pillar a type, and every fact in its history an allegory. Nothing is better fitted to bring the science of interpretation into contempt, nothing more dishonors the Bible than to make it a book of enigmas. The Bible is a book of sense. Barnes.—A system of types, extending to minute particulars, and to bad men as well as to good, has been forced into the interpretation of the Old Testament, to the detriment of all sound philology, and often of common-sense. Men of eminent learning, in our own days, have found in the Mosaic ritual all varieties of allegory and hidden sense, so that, almost literally, every cord has cried out of the tabernacle, and every pin from its timber has answered. In fact, every text distorted, every interpretation far-fetched or unnatural, does something toward subverting the authority of the entire Scriptures, as it becomes a source of doubt and incredulity which extends far beyond itself. B. B. E. The close connection between the symbolic language of the tabernacle and the symbolism of Egypt under the Pharaohs shows that the tabernacle revelation must have been given immediately after the exodus, and could not have come through more likely hands than his, "who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." It is, in fact, an evidence of date of the same kind as the use of Hellenistic Greek in the New Testament. So that herein we have another evidence of the genuineness and antiquity of the Pentateuch. J. M. G. FURNITURE OF THE TABERNACLE: ARK AND MERCY-SEAT; TABLE; CANDLE-STICK; ALTAR OF INCENSE; (SILVER TRUMPETS.) Ex. 27 1 And thou shalt make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make its pots to take away its ashes, and its shovels, and its basons, and its fleshhooks, and its firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grating of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the ledge round the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves thereof shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, in bearing it. Hollow with planks shalt thou make it: as it hath been shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. 30 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: when they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire unto the LORD: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. 38 8 And he made the laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the serving women which served [or, the women which assembled to minister] at the door of the tent of meeting. 27 9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen an hundred cubits long for one side: and the pillars thereof shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars 11 and their fillets shall be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings an hundred cubits long, and the pillars thereof twenty, and their sockets twenty, of 12 brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court on 13 the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. And 14 the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings for the 15 one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets 16 three. And for the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer: their pillars four, and their 17 sockets four. All the pillars of the court round about shall be filleted with silver; their 18 hooks of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and 19 their sockets of brass. All the instruments of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass. Ex. 38 1-20. Omitted, except verse 8, because identical with above text. The religious system of the Hebrews contemplates as its ultimate end the obedience, homage, and worship due from men to God. As a prime means toward this end, it prescribes modes and forms of worship. It proposes to bring God near to men and men near to God; and for this purpose would cultivate in men the spirit of penitence and of faith—impressing them with a sense of their sins and suggesting to them how sin may be forgiven; and how, on the basis of God's own provision for pardon, he can accept the humble, reverent worship of his people. These fundamental ideas respecting the sinner's acceptance with God, the system now before us sought especially to develop by means of visible symbols—these symbols constituting the very elaborate and minutely described religious system of the Hebrews. This system, having long since "waxed old and vanished away," is yet useful for the light it throws on the great and fundamental questions—How shall man—a sinner—become just before God? Is an atonement necessary? What are the fundamental ideas of "atonement"? How were they developed in the Mosaic system, and what light does this development bring to the atonement presented to view in the New Testament? With superlative wisdom God began to give lessons on this great subject very early in the history of our race. It was wise to give such lessons long and carefully before the great atoning sacrifice came in human flesh. It was also wise to give them largely by visible illustrations—by the aid of a system having so much of the external and the visible that minds not disciplined to abstract thought might see the truth and feel its power by means of sensible manifestations. H. C. Many of the most precious Gospel declarations of Christ and the apostles would be unintelligible hieroglyphics without the key of Moses. It is the manner of these great teachers to express spiritual, gracious, and eternal things in terms of the temple and the altar; and this in conformity with a system, planned from the beginning, in which all the type and symbol of the Mosaic economy is a preparation for the clear light of the latter day. Those, therefore, are the most deeply taught and richly experienced believers who, after having learned the simple principles of evangelical truth in the New Testament, go back with them to the Old Testament, and behold a hundredfold more beauty and majesty in the same truths as arrayed in the forms and laws of the Jewish service. And in our endeavor to find the cross in the Holy of Holies, and the Gospel in those smoking altars, we have our best aid in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which might be named a Key to the Tabernacle, or the Old Testament explained by the New. J. W. A.  The great altar which stood in the court in front of the tabernacle was commonly called the ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING, because on it were burned the whole burnt-offerings, and all those parts of the other animal sacrifices which were offered to the Lord. It was also called the BRAZEN ALTAR, because it was covered with bronze, in distinction from the golden altar, or altar of incense. As sacrificial worship was no new thing, there is nothing said or intimated as to the purpose of the altar, either in the instructions for the sanctuary or in the record of its completion. It was a hollow casing, formed of stout acacia planks covered with plates of bronze, seven feet six in length and width and four feet six in height. The shelf round the sides was required as a stage for the priests to enable them to carry on their work conveniently on the top of the altar. Clark. The altar of burnt-offering formed the central point of the outer services, in which the people had a part. On it all sacrifices and oblations were presented, except the sin-offerings, which were burned without the camp. It was overlaid with plates of brass, and had a grating of brass in the middle to place the wood upon, and rings to lift the grating. Like the ark, the altar of incense, and the table of shew-bread, it was furnished with rings, through which were passed bars to carry it when the people were on the march. P. S. This altar was emphatically the meeting-place between God and men—the one as infinitely holy and good, the other as sinful—that they might transact together respecting sin and salvation, that the fallen might be again restored, or if already restored, might be enabled to grow in the fellowship and blessing of heaven. The distinctive name for it was misbeach, the slaughtering-place, or the place where slaughtered victims were to be brought and laid as it were on the table of God. This denoted how preeminently the communion between God and sinful men must be through an avenue of blood, and the sentence of death must ever be found lying across the threshold of life. It was furnished with projecting horns at each corner, which were to have the appearance of coming out of it. These horns were undoubtedly to be regarded as shaped like those of oxen, and, according to the emblematic sense ever ascribed in Scripture, were intended to symbolize that Divine strength which necessarily distinguishes the place of God's manifested grace and love, and which forms, in a manner, its crowning elevation. Hence to lay hold of the horns of the altar, if only it were warrantably done, was to grasp the almighty and protecting arm of Jehovah. P. F.—The horns of the brazen altar were an expression in the first place of the Divine majesty and strength, and then of the communication of these to the true worshipper. It is in harmony with this interpretation that the blood of the sin-offering had to be sprinkled upon them, and that, as in the cases of Adonijah and Joab, those who fled from the vengeance of their enemies to the sanctuary "caught hold on the horns of the altar." Milligan.—It is probably in real, though latent allusion to the horned altar and its pacifying character that God says through the prophet (Is. 27:5), "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." Bush. This altar was the foundation of all the tabernacle worship. The priests could not enter into the Holy place except on the ground of sacrifice presented on the brazen altar. Nor could the high-priest on the great atonement day enter the holy of holies without having first offered not only the ordinary sacrifice, but an additional sin-offering on the altar in the court. Not only was the Shechinah glory within the veil impossible of access; but the bread of the presence, the light of the lamps, the privileges of the altar of incense, were all closed until a sacrifice had been offered upon the altar. Thus were the children of Israel taught and thus too are we taught, that the first thing for the sinner to do, before he can taste the heavenly bread, before he can see the heavenly light, before he can even pray with acceptance, is to avail himself of the atonement which God has provided. The altar was the people's place of meeting with God. Only the priests could enter the Holy place. Only the High-priest could enter the Holy of Holies. But the altar was free to all. The call was addressed to every child of Israel: "Come into his courts and bring an offering with you." The atonement which God provides is free to all without exception and without distinction. J. M. G. No function of the officiating priest could be discharged, no act of worship on the part of the waiting people could be accepted, till there had first been the intervention of the blood from this altar. And it is precisely so with that which this significant shadow typified. "Accepted in the beloved," is the great underlying doctrine of the Gospel. Our prayers, our praises, our tears, our repentance, our faith, our words, our actions, our labors, our sufferings, our vows, our alms-givings, our sermons, our sacraments—all things that may be crowded into the entire circle of our services—have worth or merit not in themselves, but only as they stand connected with the sacrifice which Jesus offered on the cross, and are sprinkled with his atoning blood in all its prevailing efficacy. This lesson is taught us by the relation which the brazen altar bore to every other part of the tabernacle. R. Newton. Such was the altar of burnt-offering, the peculiarly chosen and consecrated place where Jehovah condescended to reveal his grace to sinners, and accept the offerings they brought in token of their self-dedication to him. These offerings were to be consumed there, in part by his appointed representatives, and in part by fire. Thus consumed the sacrifices were owned to be in accordance with God's holiness (which the fire symbolized) and stamped with his approval. Hence the expression so commonly used of those offerings by fire, that they were a sweet-smelling savor, ascending up to the region of his presence like a grateful and refreshing odor. P. F. The court, or open enclosure, in which the tabernacle stood, was of an oblong figure of a hundred cubits (about one hundred and fifty feet) long, by fifty cubits (about seventy-five feet) broad; and the height of the enclosing curtain was five cubits, or seven feet and a half, being half the height of the tabernacle. The enclosure was formed by a plain hanging of fine twined linen yarn, which seems to have been worked in an open texture so that the people without might freely see the interior. The door curtain was of "fine twined linen," embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet. It was furnished with cords, by which it might be drawn up or aside when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this whole enclosure were hung upon sixty pillars of brass, standing on bases of the same metal, but with capitals and fillets of silver. The hooks, also, to which the curtains were attached, were of silver. The entrance of the court was at the east end, opposite that to the tabernacle; and between them stood the altar of burnt-offering and the brazen laver. J. C. The place of the tabernacle we hold to be not exactly in the middle of the court, as Josephus may be construed to mean, but as Philo explains, twenty cubits from the west, north, and south sides of the court. In this way a perfect square of fifty cubits is left in front to be occupied by the great altar and the laver with the company of officials and worshippers. M.—The tabernacle, with its surrounding court, was appointed to stand with the entrance fronting the east; so that the two sides looked, the one toward the north, the other toward the south,  THE COURT, INCLUDING THE TABERNACLE AND ITS FURNITURE, THE LAVER AND THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE. (GROUND PLAN.) and the end, containing the most holy place, toward the west. That in the general position a respect was had to the four quarters of the earth, as emblems of universality, may readily be conceived: the sacred structure, however limited in dimensions, was still the habitation of him to whom the earth and all its fulness belongs, and whose kingdom, spiritually as well as naturally, must rule over all. P. F. The walls of the court were like the rest, curtains or hangings, made according to the appointment. This represented the state of the Old Testament Church; it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers were then confined to a little compass. But the enclosure being of curtains only, intimated that the confinement of the Church in one particular nation was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a tabernacle dispensation, movable and mutable, and in due time to be taken down and folded up when the place of the tent should be enlarged and its cords lengthened to make room for the Gentile world, as is foretold (Is. 54:2, 3). The Church here on earth is but the court of God's house, and happy they who tread these courts and flourish in them; but through these courts we are passing to the holy place above; Blessed are they that dwell in that house of God, they will be still praising him. H. The tabernacle is the type of heaven (Heb. 9:24), the court is the figurative semblance of the earth. And the manifold connections between them, as well as the presence of the altar in the court, indicate the design that the earth should eventually become a constituent part of the kingdom of heaven. M. Ex. 27 20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure 21 olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the tent of meeting, without the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD : it shall be a statute for ever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. Lev. 24 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. Ez. 30 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, according to those that are numbered of them, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them ; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary : (the shekel is twenty gerahs :) half a shekel for an offering to the LORD. Every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting ; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls. 22. Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee the chief spices, of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil an hin : and thou shalt make it an holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer : it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint therewith the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all the vessels thereof, and the candlestick and the vessels thereof, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all the vessels thereof, and the laver and the base thereof. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy : whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. Upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the composition thereof : it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people. 34. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum ; sweet spices with pure frankincense : of each shall there be a like weight ; and thou shalt make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy : and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee : it shall be unto you most holy. And the incense which thou shalt make, according to the composition thereof ye shall not make for yourselves : it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, he shall be cut off from his people. Ez. 37 29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer. Lev. 24 5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof : two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, it is on the behalf of the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons ; and they shall eat it in a holy place : for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute. The offerings for the service of the holy place consisted of the holy oil for the daily replenishing of the lamps of the golden candlestick ; of the ransom or atonement money for the expenses of the sanctuary service ; of the incense daily burned upon the golden altar ; of the holy anointing oil ; and of the twelve loaves, arranged in rows, with frankincense and libations of wine, for the table of shew-bread. B. Ex. 28 1 And bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, 2 Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments 3 for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to 4 sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of chequer work, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, 5 that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, 7 the work of the cunning workman. It shall have two shoulderpieces joined to the two ends 8 thereof; that it may be joined together. And the cunningly woven band, which is upon it, to gird it on withal, shall be like the work thereof and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, 9 and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and 10 grave on them the names of the children of Israel: six of their names on the one stone, and 11 the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be inclosed in 12 ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulderpieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the 13 LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shalt make ouches of gold: and two 14 chains of pure gold; like cords shalt thou make them, of wreathen work: and thou shalt put the wreathen chains on the ouches.15 And thou shalt make a breastplate of judgement, the word of the cunning workman; like the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine 16 twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be and double; a span shall be the 17 length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, 18 four rows of stones: a row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the 19 second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and 20 an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be inclosed 21 in gold in their settings. And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according 22 to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate 23 chains like cords, of wreathen work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate 24 two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. 25 And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt put on the two ouches, and put 26 them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, in the forepart thereof. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, upon the edge. 27 thereof, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and shalt put them on the two shoulderpieces of the ephod underneath in the forepart 28 thereof, close by the coupling thereof, above the cunningly woven band of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be upon the cunningly woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate 29 be not loosed from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgement upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a 30 memorial before the LORD continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgement the Urim and the Thummim; [that is, the Lights and the Perfections:] and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgement of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And it shall have a hole for the 32 head in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, 33 as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it be not rent. And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; 34 and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell 35 and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and the sound thereof shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, 37 HOLY TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be upon the mitre; 38 upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the 39 LORD. And thou shalt weave the coat in chequer work of fine linen, and thou shalt make a 40 mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make a girdle, the work of the embroiderer. And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and headtires shalt 41 thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and upon his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanc- 42 tify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they 43 shall reach: and they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they go in unto the tent of meeting, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and unto his seed after him. Ex. §§ 1-31 The holy garments made, "as the LORD commanded Moses." The Jews were in the midst of the vast masses of heathendom; they were set apart to be a people to reflect the character and holiness and to maintain the worship of the living and the true God. Their tendency, as their whole history shows, was to borrow from surrounding nations, and so they came by and by to fall into the practices of the heathen. God, therefore, in order to leave no opening by which there could be the admission of anything extrinsic, foreign, or heathen, laid down these excessively minute specifications, that the people might in all things have a law, a rule, and a guide to act by. No one can read the whole of these arrangements about the high-priest, and these regulations about the tabernacle economy, and then compare with them the Epistle to the Hebrews, without seeing that no chance could have made Christ in all things so minutely to correspond to them; and that nothing but a preconcerted arrangement on God's part, to set forth the Saviour, under types and figures and shadows, to the Jews, could have made the harmony between Christ, the end of the Law, and the shadows that prefigured him. J. C. The Jewish religion was, in its several particular institutions, intended to typify and prefigure the more perfect dispensation of the Gospel. That the Jewish high-priest was a manifest type of our Lord and Saviour, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has frequently declared. So the tabernacle itself was a type of our Redeemer dwelling in our nature (John 1:14), as was the ark in the holy of holies, with its mercy-seat, an emblem of Him from whose mouth we have received the Law, and whose satisfaction to Divine justice is our true propitiatory or mercy-seat. In like manner the several altars appointed in the tabernacle and the sacrifices appointed to be performed upon them equally lead us to Christ and his dispensation. Since the chief end of the several institutions relating to the ceremonial part of the Jewish worship was to prefigure the person and transactions of our blessed Saviour, so the ceremonies appointed under it could never be of any esteem in the sight of God except as they tended to promote this end, and to prepare men's minds for the reception of a more perfect institution of religion. Stackhouse. Previous to this time there was probably no separate order of priesthood in the Church of God; but every father was the priest of his family, as in killing the lamb of the passover and sprinkling the blood, or each worshipper had been at liberty to transact the business of sacrifice as he pleased. So far, in the history of Israel as redeemed from Egypt, Moses seems to have officiated occasionally as priest, as in the case of offering the sacrifice and sprinkling the blood of the covenant; or he selected young men as temporary priests. But the erection of a special place of worship most notably carried with it the setting up of an order of priesthood, with ritual of worship. The very name "cohen," which we translate "priest," is supposed by the critics to denote the idea of a familiar friend of God. The distinctive function of the office was to receive and present to God, as his nearest friend and associate, that which belonged to him. The three great elements entering into the idea of their position and office were: That they are chosen by Jehovah himself to be his. That they are officially holy in a pre-eminent sense. That they have, by reason of their election and holiness, the privilege of drawing near to God, as holding a position intermediate between man and God, and therefore of mediators. The apostle defines their position as thus "ordained for men in things pertaining to God." They were, therefore, in a certain sense charged with the interests of both parties, having to transact unto God in behalf of those whose sins have separated them from him. S. R. As chosen and set apart for God, Israel was his heritage among the nations; and as similarly chosen and set apart for the special work of the priesthood, the family of Aaron was his heritage in Israel. The privilege was to be theirs of drawing peculiarly near to God, and their first qualification for using it was that they were the objects of his choice. Their designation and appointment must be from above—not derived from the choice of their fellow-men— "for no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." The grounds of the Divine choice in the case of Aaron are nowhere given. P. F. 1. Bring thou near Aaron and his sons.** Moses is directed to consecrate Aaron, although he was never himself dedicated by anointing and investiture to the service of God; whence we perceive that the sacraments have their power and effect not from the virtue of the minister, but only from the commandment of God. Calv. Eleazar and Ithamar are here mentioned for the first time, except in the genealogy (6 : 23). Eleazar succeeded his father in the high-priesthood, and was himself succeeded by his son Phinehas. But Eli, the next high-priest named in the history, was of the line of Ithamar. The representatives of both families held office at once in the time of David. Clark. 2. Holy garments.** Like the priestly class of contemporaneous peoples, the priesthood of Israel, also, was to be distinguished by a peculiar official dress. An entire chapter is devoted to its details. With a strong Egyptian caste throughout, it shows, perhaps, an equal acquaintance with the customs of a Shemitic ancestry. Linen was the fabric uniformly employed for clothing by the priests of Egypt; while, if we may trust the frescos of Egyptian dwellings, delight in colors was a marked Shemitic trait. Hence it may be seen that the directions for clothing the Jewish priests are everywhere stamped with marks of the Mosaic age. What is characteristic in them characterizes as well Oriental antiquities in general. E. C. B. For glory and for beauty. These external ornaments denoted the want of those which are true and spiritual; for if the priest had been absolutely and entirely perfect, these typical accessories would have been superfluous. In order that Aaron might be a fit peacemaker between God and man, he put off his ordinary garments, and stood forth as a new man. Hence the holy garments were supposed to conceal his faults; and also to represent the incomparable adornment of all virtues. Calv.—So also the fine quality of the stuffs and the gold and diversified colors and rich embroidery appearing in the garments of the priesthood were designed to express the elevated rank and dignity of those who are recognized by God as sons in his house, permitted to draw near with confidence to his presence, and to go in and out before him. P. F.—These glorious garments were appointed: (1) That the priests themselves might be reminded of the dignity of their office, and behave themselves with due decorum. (2) That the people might be possessed with a holy reverence of that God whose ministers appeared in such grandeur. (3) That the priests might be types of Christ, who should offer himself without spot to God, and of all Christians who have the beauty of holiness put upon them, in which they are consecrated to God. Our adorning under the Gospel, both that of ministers and Christians, is not to be of gold and pearl and costly array, but the garments of salvation, and the robe of righteousness (Is. 61 : 10; Ps. 132 : 9, 16). H. The garments appointed to be worn by the priesthood in their sacred ministrations were strikingly expressive of the holiness required in their personal state, while in certain parts of the high-priest's dress other ideas besides were symbolized. The stuff of all of them was linen, and, with the exception of the more ornamental parts of the high-priest's dress, must be understood to have been white. They are not expressly so called in the Pentateuch, but are incidentally described as white in 2 Ch. 5 : 12. The coolness and comparative freedom from perspiration attending the use of linen garments had led men to associate with them, especially in the burning clime of Egypt, the idea of cleanliness. Their symbolical use in an ethical religion like the Mosaic must have been expressive of inward purity; and hence in the symbolical language of Revelation we read so often of the white and clean garments of the heavenly inhabitants, which are expressly declared to mean "the righteousness of saints." P. F. 3. Wise hearted.** As with the gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament, so we find in the Old Testament all natural gifts employed in the service of the kingdom of God ascribed to the Spirit of God. Geri.—Whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. So we find that ingenuity in arts and sciences comes from God. It is not intimated here that these persons were filled with the spirit of wisdom for this purpose only; for the direction to Moses is to select those whom he found to be expert artists; and those who were such, God shows by these words, had derived their knowledge from Himself. No man by course of reading or study ever acquired a genius of this kind; we call it natural and say it was born with the man: Moses teaches us to consider it as Divine. When I see COPERNICUS and KEPLER contributing to pull down the false systems of the universe, and NEWTON demonstrating the true one; and when I see the long list of useful inventors, by whose genius, industry, and skill long and tedious processes in the necessary arts of life have been shortened, labor greatly lessened, and much time and expense saved, I then see with Moses men who are wise-hearted, whom God has filled with the spirit of wisdom for these very purposes; that he might help man by man, and that as time rolls on he might give to his intelligent creatures such proofs of his Being, infinitely varied wisdom, and gracious Providence, as should cause them to depend on Him and give Him that glory which is due to his name. How pointedly does the Prophet Isaiah refer to this sort of teaching as coming from God, even in the most common and less difficult arts of life. The whole passage is worthy of serious attention (28:24-29). A. C.  Of the garments appointed to be made "for glory and for beauty," out of the richest materials, four were common to the high-priests and to the ordinary priests—viz., the linen drawers, the linen coat, the linen girdle, and the bonnet—the bonnet or turban of the high-priest being termed a mitre. The other four were peculiar to the high-priest—viz., the ephod, with its remarkable girdle, the breast-plate, the long robe, with its bells and pomegranates, and the golden plate on his forehead. The ephod seems to have been a short, double apron, suspended by shoulder-straps before and behind the person, the two being connected together by clasps under two precious onyx stones on the top of the shoulders, engraved with the names of the tribes, and the whole bound close around the person by a "curious girdle," which formed a part of the ephod itself. All parts of the ephod were "of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen work." Next was the breast-plate. It was ordered to be "set in settings of stones, even four rows of stones;" and each of the stones was to be of different sort. "And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve." In addition to this breast-plate upon the ephod, it was ordered: "Thou shalt put into the breast plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim ('the lights and the perfections'), and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart continually." The third article peculiar to the dress of the high-priest was the "robe of the ephod, all of blue." "And beneath, upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out that he die not." The fourth article peculiar to the high-priest's dress was the golden plate and mitre. "And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And upon the forefront of the mitre shall it be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord." Such were the portions of dress peculiar to the high-priest. The other form common to the high-priests and other priests—the coat or tunic of fine linen "embroidered," the girdles and bonnets "for glory and for beauty," and the drawers of linen—need no other description than their names. S. R. Carefully note the distinction between the ephod itself ("a double apron suspended by shoulder-straps before and behind the person"), and the two onyx stones attached to the ephod upon the shoulders. The names of the tribes were engraved upon the onyx stones (six on each stone) as well as upon the breast-plate, which also was fastened by chains and rings to the ephod. So that Aaron bore the names of the children of Israel "upon his shoulders," and also "upon his heart," "for a memorial before the LORD continually." "Upon his shoulders, the seat of strength, and upon his heart, the seat of love" (Gibson). B. The ephod, with its "curious girdle" and the onyx stones upon its shoulder-pieces, was the distinctive priestly garment. It hung upon the shoulders down to the waist, and was formed of the most costly and beautiful materials, corresponding exactly to those employed in the interior decoration of the holy place. The girdle was made of the same materials, with the same combination of colors. As garments were associated in the Hebrew mind with character, and the girdle with energy in work, we find in the correspondence of both with the interior of the holy place, a memorial of the necessity that those who enter the house of the Lord must be themselves holy and beautiful in character, and be engaged in high and holy service. But the most important part of the ephod were the shoulder-pieces, on which were set two onyx stones, with the names of the tribes engraved on them, six on the one and six on the other; and (verse 12) "Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial." Here we have the idea of representation clearly and beautifully symbolized. The shoulders, to a Hebrew mind, were the symbol of strength; and the idea was, that when the high-priest entered the holy place he did not go alone, but carried with him on his strong shoulders the children of Israel, whom he represented; and the estimation in which the people were held was expressed in the value of the precious stones on which the names were engraved, and the setting of pure gold with which they were surrounded. J. M. G. 9. Two onyx stones. That the connection between the priest and the people might be made more plain, God not only placed on his breast the memorials of the twelve tribes, but also engraved their names on his shoulders. Thus the people would understand that this one man was not separated from the others for the sake of private advantage, but that in his one person they were all a kingdom of priests, which Peter teaches to have been at length really fulfilled in Christ (1 Pet. 2:5); as Isaiah had foretold that there should be priests of God and Levites brought from the Gentiles (66:21); to which John makes allusion in the apocalypse, where he says that we are all priests in Christ (Rev. 1:6). Hence arises our confidence of ascending to heaven because Christ raises us up with him; as Paul says, we "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;" however weak we may be in ourselves, herein is all our strength that we are his burden. Calv.—These two precious stones, on which the names of the children of Israel were engraved, were put upon the high-priest's shoulders, and he was to bear them before the Lord upon his shoulders. How plainly does this point out the care that the great Redeemer takes of all that are his own! They are precious in his sight—they are his jewels; and "they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." M'Cheyne.  Ez. 28:15-29; 39:8-21. Make it of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. Set in it four rows of stones, twelve, according to the names of the children of Israel. The ephod and the hoshen, or breast-plate, which signified the kingly dignity, do not stand in subordinate relation the one to the other. They are both treated in the original as independent articles, yet at the same time making together one whole. The dignity also which they represent must in some way exhibit itself under a double aspect; and thus in fact was the kingly dignity, both among the Hebrews and all Oriental antiquity conceived of—viz., as uniting in itself the two grand prerogatives of lordship and judgment. Thus 1 Sam. 8:5, 6; 2 Sam. 15:4; 1 Kings 3:9. So Artemidorus remarks, "the ancients said that reigning was judging." Now the "reigning dignity" is plainly indicated by the ephod, inasmuch as its distinguishing feature was the "shoulder-piece," and the "shoulder" both in sacred and profane antiquity is considered as the "seat of sovereignty." Thus Isaiah says of the Messiah (ch. 9:5), "And the government shall be upon his shoulder." The same idea was familiar among the Romans in India and in Egypt. As to what relates to the "judicial prerogative," we need not go beyond the designation given in the original to the breast-plate—viz., breast-plate of judgment to show its symbolical bearing. Bahr. That the Jewish High-Priest did indeed personify the whole body of the Israelites not only appears from this, that he bore the names of all the tribes on his breast and his shoulders—which unquestionably imported that he drew near to God in the name and stead of all—but also from the circumstance that when he committed any heinous sin, his guilt was imputed to the people. Thus in Lev. 4:3, "if the priest that is anointed sin to the trespass or guilt of the people." When he sinned the people sinned, because he represented the whole people. And on this account it was that the sacrifice for a sin committed by him had to be offered as the public sacrifices were, which were presented for sin committed by the people at large; the blood must be brought into the holy place and the body burned without the camp. Vitringa. We see the representative character of Christ's priesthood and all its functions imaged in that of the High-Priest, possessing as he did the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast when he entered the tabernacle and having their cause and interest ever before him. Christ, in like manner, does nothing for himself, but only as the Shepherd and Saviour of his people. "For their sakes, he sanctified himself," by laying down his life to purchase their redemption. All the real Israel whom the Father has given to him are borne upon his bosom within the veil, and shall assuredly reap the fruits of his successful mediation. P. F.—The priesthood of Aaron shadowed forth the infinitely greater and more glorious priesthood of Christ. In the execution of his office as the great high-priest of the Church, he was ordained to enter into the holy place, there to appear in the presence of God for us. This he has done. He ascended to heaven after his resurrection, that he might there complete the work he had begun on earth. On his heart are engraved the names of all his people, and not one of them is overlooked or forgotten. He presents them all before his Father, as the objects of his own kind and solicitous sympathy and care, and they are dear to the Father, because they are dear to the Son. Bush. There still remains the wonderful truth of his continuous intercession for us. In its widest meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ undertakes and maintains our cause. But the narrower signification of prayer on our behalf is applicable, and is in Scripture applied, to our Lord. As on earth, the climax of all his intercourse with his disciples was that deep yet simple prayer which forms the holy of holies of John's gospel, so in heaven his loftiest office for us is set forth under the figure of his intercession. Before the throne stands the slain Lamb, and therefore do the elders in the outer circle bring acceptable praises. Within the veil stands the priest, with the names of the tribes blazing on the breast-plate and on the shoulders of his robes, near the seat of love, near the arm of power. And whatever difficulty may surround that idea of Christ's priestly intercession, this at all events is implied in it, that the mighty work which he accomplished on earth is ever present to the Divine mind as the ground of our acceptance and the channel of our blessings; and this further, that the utterance of Christ's will is ever in harmony with the Divine purpose. A. M.—In the high-priestly prayer of our Lord, we find him commencing this office of intercession. "I pray for them," says he of his disciples. The intercession then commenced; but it has been continuing ever since; it is prolonged through all time; it embraces not the apostles only, but every soul of the redeemed. The names upon the high-priest's breast-plate betoken the individuality of Christ's intercession for his people. Not a single want or woe of a single soul is forgotten by the God-Man, when he intercedes. E. M. G. The probable opinion relative to the Urim and Thummim is, that they were in fact identical with the stones of the breast-plate, but called by this name from the instrumental uses which they were made to subserve in the symbolical economy of the priesthood. This opinion, which is held by Josephus, Philo, and most of the ancient Jewish doctors, and has been generally adopted by the moderns, is supported by the following considerations: (1) If the words Urim and Thummim be regarded as epithets, rather than names, applied to the stones, nothing could be more appropriate. From their intrinsic properties of splendor, brilliancy, and luminousness, they might very properly be termed Lights and Perfections, an expression supposed by many to be grammatically equivalent to most perfect lights. This is the view of Braunius, who says that not only were precious stones to be employed, but they were to be the most shining and perfect of the kind. (2) If the Urim and Thummim were not the same with the gems of the breast-plate, it is wholly inexplicable that the sacred narrative gives us no account of them. While every other part of the ritual is described with scrupulous minuteness, how comes it that nothing is said of an article which, in obtaining responses from God, was absolutely indispensable and which was in every respect among the most important items of the whole apparatus? The silence of the historian, therefore, on this point must be regarded as strong evidence that the Urim and Thummim were identical with the stones. (3) It will be observed upon comparing Ex. 39 : 8-21 with Lev. 8 : 8, that in the description of the breast-plate, given in the former, while the rows of stones are mentioned, nothing is said of the Urim and Thummim; while in the latter, which speaks of the investiture of Aaron with the pontifical habit, the Urim and Thummim are mentioned, but the stones are passed over in silence. What inference more obvious than that these objects were in fact one and the same? Bush. There was a congregation of all Israel, or assembly of the people, that all things might be done with general consent. There was a senate of wise and able persons to prepare things by previous deliberation and consultation that they might not be concluded rashly in a popular assembly, before they were maturely considered and examined by men of wisdom and experience. There was a judge to assemble the states-general on proper occasions, to preside in their assemblies, to command the armies of the united provinces, and to see the national resolutions duly executed. And finally, here was an oracle which was to be consulted by the high-priest on great occasions, that no rash resolutions of the people, senate, or judge might be brought into execution in cases of moment and difficulty; but they were to ask counsel of God, or to obtain the royal assent of Jehovah as king of Israel, by his oracle. This was a wise provision to preserve a continual sense in the Hebrew nation of the principal design of their constitution, to keep them from idolatry and to the worship of the one true God as their immediate protector; and that their security and prosperity depended upon adhering to his counsels and commands. Locman. Between the time of Moses and the period when the prophetic office became recognized as the authoritative and inspired exponent of the Divine will, "the Urim and the Thummim" in the breast-plate of the high-priest was the medium through which God communicated his guidance in matters of great national importance and perplexity. This title first appears, without the least explanation, as if it was perfectly familiar in the times when the Book of Exodus was written. If familiar then they have not been so in modern days. As to the mere meaning of the words there is little conflict of opinion. But there is nothing in the mere meaning of the terms to determine their usage and significance, and almost as little in the historic narrative concerning the thing itself. Various theories have been held as to the nature of the Urim and the Thummim, and as to the method by which God made known his will thereby. Deane.—Whatever was the precise method through which the response was conveyed, the mode in which the priest acted is sufficiently plain. When any national emergency arose for which the Law had made no provision, the high-priest arrayed himself in his breast-plate and pontifical vestments, and went into the holy place, and standing close before the veil, but not entering within it, stated the question or difficulty, and received an answer. Several instances will occur of this manner of consulting the Lord. Pic. B.—During the transition period between the great Lawgiver and the full establishment of the prophetic office occurred the transfer of the true Theocracy of Jehovah to the mediate Theocracy of the Jewish king and the Jewish prophet. When the people in their haste and political ambition demanded a king, the power of the Urim and the Thummim began to decline. When Saul, the chosen king of the people, refused the prophetic teaching of Samuel and violated his allegiance to God, he lost this Divine decision; while David, through Abiathar (1 Sam. 23 : 6, 9-12), retained it in a modified form. And when at length the God-chosen king ascended the throne, and Jehovah established his house forever, the previous Theocracy became embodied in the kingly office, and the Urim and the Thummim gave place to the grand succession of Jewish prophets. The Urim and Thummim derive their significance, therefore, from the direct government of the Israelites by Jehovah. By means of these mysterious symbols he guided the destinies of the nation in matters of great public importance and perplexity. And when at length a visible king reigned by Divine appointment, the counsel of the Urim and the Thummim passed into the public ministry of the prophets, which modified and controlled the political organizations of the kings. But if the office of the Urim and the Thummim departed with the establishment of the Jewish monarchy and prophets, their influence and symbolic teaching still survive. That which in the olden Jewish times was the prerogative of the few, becomes in Christian days the privilege of the many. Christ makes all his faithful followers "kings and priests unto God." And much of the sacred symbolism that gathered around the ancient priesthood now gathers in another form around the believer in Christ. Mere symbols have given place to true spiritual power. The whole history of religious feeling, from the first dawn of light upon Abraham's mind till the consummation of the promises in Christ, has been one long struggle of the spiritual reality against its material surroundings. Symbols had their effect in leading the mind up to the underlying essence; but when at length, in the full light of Gospel truth, we have the Spirit of God made manifest in the hearts and consciences of Christians, the symbols have done their duty and pass away as obsolete memorials of an imperfect past. The Spirit of God which once underlay the symbols and spake through them to the devout mind now communicates directly with the heart, and needs no material intervention. G. Deane. It is called the "robe of the ephod" simply because it was worn immediately under it. Its Hebrew name is meil, rendered in the Greek an under-garment reaching down to the feet. The meil was a distinguishing priestly vestment, and therefore Christ appears (Rev. 1 : 13) "clothed with a garment down to the feet," to show himself the great high priest of the Church. It was a long linen gown, all of one piece, and so formed as to be put on over the head, and with openings or arm-holes in the sides in place of sleeves. Round its lower border were tassels made of blue, purple, and scarlet, in the form of pomegranates, interspersed with small gold bells, in order to make a noise when the high priest went into or came out from the holy place. Bush. The robe of the ephod was a long robe, worn under the ephod and appearing below it. It was all of blue, the heavenly color, as was the cloth which covered the ark when it was carried on the priests' shoulders in sight of the people (Nu. 4 : 5, 6). Chief attention is directed to its hem, which consisted of a fringe adorned with bells and pomegranates alternately, the bells bebeing of gold, and the pomegranates of the other characteristic colors of the interior of the holy place. The pomegranate was the queen fruit of Palestine. It was large and full of innumerable seeds, and was therefore the best emblem of that fruitfulness which is expected of those who are privileged to live in communion with God. The bells are significant of joy, and of that communication of blessing to others which is characteristic of the priestly office. It is probably to the ringing of the golden bells on the hem of the high priest's robe that reference is made in such a passage as Ps. 89 : 15 : "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound." J. M. G. By the sound of the bells the people could be admonished of the high-priest's entrance into the holy place, and so unite their prayers with his incense offering. "An everlasting covenant he made with him (Aaron), and gave him the priesthood among the people; he beautified him with comely ornaments, and clothed him with a robe of glory. He put upon him perfect glory; and strengthened him with rich garments, and the ephod. And he compassed him with pomegranates, and with many golden bells round about, that as he went there might be a sound, and a noise made that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of his people" (Ecclus) Bush.—The golden bells on the ephod, by their precious matter and pleasant sound, do well represent the good profession that the saints make; and the pomegranates the fruit they bring forth. And as in the hem of the robe of the ephod bells and pomegranates were constantly connected, so it is in the true saints. Their good profession and their good fruit do constantly accompany one another. The fruit they bring in life answers the pleasant sound of their profession. Edwards.—Christians are priests. Wherever you go carry a savor of Christ. His name is like ointment poured forth; it is like the vine flourishing and the pomegranate budding. Carry a sound of Christ wherever you go. Not a step without the sound of the Gospel bell! Even in smallest things be spreading the glad sound. Edwards says wherever a godly person enters, he is a greater blessing than if the greatest monarch were entering. So be it with you. M' Cheyne. The plate was the principal part of the mitre, and the badges of the priestly are closely interwoven with those of the kingly dignity in the appointed vesture of the Jewish pontiff. For this fact a twofold reason may be assigned. In the first place, this favored people was chosen as a "royal priesthood," a "kingdom of priests," and the unity of the nation in this exalted character was made visible in the person of him who was ordained as their supreme representative. Nothing therefore would be more appropriate than that corresponding symbols of this twofold distinction should appear on the head-dress of the high-priest, as we here learn to have been the fact. Indeed the Jewish tradition amplifies this idea somewhat, and affirms a threefold dignity of their race, which they say was indicated by a triplet of crowns—viz., the crown of the priesthood, the crown of the kingdom, and the crown of the Law. Secondly, this conjunction of sacerdotal and royal symbols in the mitre was intended to serve as a typical intimation of the union of these two offices in the person of Christ, who was to sit as "a priest upon his throne," being made a priest after the order of Melchizedek, king of righteousness. Bush. Upon its plate of pure gold was inscribed, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD." In the high-priest's garments, as in the tabernacle itself, the culmination of all is in "Holiness to the Lord." "Holiness to the Lord" was the sum of the Ten Commandments graven on stone and deposited in the ark of the covenant; and now it must also be graven in gold, set in a setting of heaven's purest azure, and displayed upon the forehead of the High-priest; and here again the representative character of Aaron is distinctly brought out: "it shall be always on his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord." J. M. G.—Aaron must hereby be reminded that God is holy, and that his priests must be holy; holiness becomes his house and household. The high-priest must be consecrated to God, and so must all his ministrations be. All that attend in God's house must have Holiness to the Lord engraven upon their foreheads—that is, they must be holy, devoted to the Lord, and designing his glory in all they do. This must appear in their forehead, in an open profession of their relation to God as those that are not ashamed to own it, and in a conversation in the world answerable to it. H. The Holiness, or sanctification, of the Lord. This inscription became as a bright memorial, incessantly though silently proclaiming to the eye, to the heart, to the conscience, "a holy God, a holy service, a holy minister, a holy people, and a holy covenant." The children of Israel could not look upon it without being reminded of the great principle which Jehovah would have to pervade all his worship, and which is elsewhere so solemnly announced, "I will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto me." And to the saints in all ages it should serve as a remembrancer of the equivalent intimation, that as "he which hath called us is holy, so are we to be holy in all manner of conversation." Bush. Holiness to the Lord! where is that inscription to be stamped now? The Jewish tabernacle has expanded into that world-wide brotherhood, where whosoever doeth righteousness is accepted. Morning has risen into day. The ministry of Aaron is ended. All the outward glory and beauty of that Hebrew worship which the Lord commanded Moses has vanished into the eternal splendors of the Gospel, and been fulfilled in Christ. What teaching has it left? What other than this?—that we are to engrave our "Holiness to the Lord" first on the heart, and then on all that the heart goes out into, through the brain and the hand; on the plates of gold our age of enterprise is drawing up from mines and beating into currency; on bales of merchandise and books of account; on the tools and bench of every handicraft; on your weights and measures; on pen and plough and pulpit; on the door-posts of your houses, and the utensils of your table, and the walls of your chambers; on cradle and playthings and schoolbooks; on the locomotives of enterprise, and the bells of the horses, and the ships of navigation; on music-halls and libraries; on galleries of art, and the lyceum desk; on all of man's inventing and building, all of his using and enjoying; for all these are trusts in a stewardship, for which the Lord of the servants reckoneth. F. D. H. The dress of white linen was the strictly sacerdotal dress common to the whole body of priests. These were "for glory and for beauty" not less than the golden garments (as they were called by the Jews) which formed the high-priest's dress of state. Clark.—Only in the glory of grace and the beauty of holiness which they shadowed forth, do we behold the true glory and beauty of these sacred robes. In concluding this account of the priestly robes, it may be useful to repeat that the robes common to all were the drawers, the embroidered coat, the girdle, and the turban; but besides this the high-priest wore the ephod, the robe of the ephod with its bells and pomegranates, the breast-plate over the ephod, the shoulder-pieces of onyx stone, and the engraved ornament of pure gold in front of his turban. Bush. 39:1-31. In this chapter all the six paragraphs which give a distinct account of the making of these holy garments conclude with those words, as the Lord commanded Moses (verses 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31). It is an intimation to all the Lord's ministers to make the Word of God their rule in all their ministrations, and to act in observance of and obedience to the command of God. H. And now let us enumerate the main ideas which are symbolized in the vestments of the High-priest. The ephod with its girdle signified the beautiful character and the exalted service which are becoming to the holy place; and the shoulder-pieces and the breast-plate, with the precious stones and the engraving on them, signified that the children of Israel as a whole and each child individually was borne on the strong shoulders and carried in the warm heart of their representative in the presence of the Lord, giving the conceptions of strength to sustain and love to cherish; the Urim and Thummim added the thought of heavenly guidance along a path that "shineth more and more unto the perfect day;" the pomegranates and bells on the blue robe of the ephod symbolized heavenly fruitfulness and joy; while the climax of all was reached in the golden graving of holiness unto the Lord. You see how rich was the symbolism of the high-priestly vestments. And how expressive as types of the glory and the grace of our great high-priest. The Lord Jesus needed no priestly vestments; for he had the great realities, of which these were only the symbols. His strength to save and his love for lost sinners were so conspicuous all through his strong and loving life that onyx stones upon his shoulders or precious stones upon his breast would have been superfluous. And no symbol of Urim and Thummim was needful for one who could say, "I am the light of the world." The priestly garments of the Old Testament were prophetic. They set forth in symbol important truths concerning the person and work of the great High-Priest who was to come. But now that he has come and fulfilled all the types and symbols, it is manifest that to revive them is only to obscure the glory of him in whom they are fulfilled. It was all very well for those who had not the reality to prize the shadows; but for those who have the substance to grasp the shadows is childish and foolish in the extreme. And it is all the less excusable that the apostles were so careful to warn us against this very childishness. It was for this purpose that the Epistle to the Galatians was written. J. M. G. As to the supposed significance of minor points, such as the minutiae of the high-priest's dress, much must be left to individual taste and judgment. One man may derive edification from a mode of viewing these things which to another seems absurd. The grand error of the earlier typologists consisted in forcing every possible analogy of this sort on the text, not as an allowable subjective use or application, but as a part of its essential meaning. Let us see to it, however, that in shunning this extreme, we do not rush into the opposite, and let go the principle of typical significance altogether, though so natural and reasonable in itself, and so expressly recognized in the New Testament. J. A. A. THE WORK APPROVED AND THE WORKMEN BLESSED. THE TABERNACLE REARED AND FURNISHED. THE COURT ENCLOSED. THE GLORY FILLS THE SANCTUARY. OFFERINGS OF THE PRINCES. [NOTE.—Ex. 40 : 12-15 ; 29 : 1-34 omitted because repetitions of other text ; and Lev. 6 : 19-23, because containing only special instructions as to the meal offering.] Ex. 29 35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee : seven days shalt thou consecrate them. And every day shalt thou offer the bullock of sin offering for atonement : and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou makest atonement for it ; and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it : and the altar shall be most holy ; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy. Lev. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullock of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread ; and assemble thou all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. And Moses did as the LORD commanded him ; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the tent of meeting. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the cunningly woven band of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he placed the breastplate upon him : and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim. And he set the mitre upon his head ; and upon the mitre, in front, did he set the golden plate, the holy crown ; as the LORD commanded Moses. And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and clothed them with coats, and girded them with girdles, and bound headtires upon them ; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he brought the bullock of the sin offering : and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock of the sin offering. And he slew it ; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and 17 their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. But the bullock, and its skin, and its flesh, 18 and its dung, he burnt with fire without the camp : as the LORD commanded Moses. And he presented the ram of the burnt offering : and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the 19 head of the ram. And he killed it : and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round 20 about. And he cut the ram into its pieces ; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and 21 the fat. And he washed the inwards and the legs with water ; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar : it was a burnt offering for a sweet savour : it was an offering made by 22 fire unto the LORD ; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he presented the other ram, the 23 ram of consecration : and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it ; and Moses took of the blood thereof, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, 24 and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot : and Moses sprinkled 25 the blood upon the altar round about. And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and 26 the right thigh : and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat, 27 and upon the right thigh : and he put the whole upon the hands of Aaron, and upon the 28 hands of his sons, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD. And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering : they were a 29 consecration for a sweet savour : it was an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD : it was Moses' portion of 30 the ram of consecration ; as the LORD commanded Moses. And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, upon his gar- ments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him ; and sanctified Aaron, his 31 garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tent of meeting : and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it. 32 And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire. And ye shall 33 not go out from the door of the tent of meeting seven days, until the days of your consecra- 34 tion be fulfilled : for he shall consecrate you seven days. As hath been done this day so the 35 LORD hath commanded to do, to make atonement for you. And at the door of the tent of meeting shall ye abide day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die 36 not : for so I am commanded. And Aaron and his sons did all the things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses Ex. 29 43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel ; and the Tent shall be sanctified 44 by my glory. And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar : Aaron also and his sons 45 will I sanctify, to minister to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children 46 of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them : I am the LORD their God. NOTE.—Various schemes have been suggested for harmonizing statements of the record re- specting the setting up and anointing the taber- nacle, occupying seven days, and fully completed on the first day of the second year ; the offer- ings of the princes, beginning on the same day and continuing twelve days besides ; the conse- cration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, requiring seven days ; the dedication of the Le- vites ; and the inauguration of the sanctuary service by Aaron. As best agreeing with the many references in Exodus, Leviticus, and Num- bers, and as itself the most natural, we cite the view of Dr. Murphy : “The order of events may have been the following : In the process of setting up the tabernacle, which is carried on for seven days, and consummated on the first day of the second year, the consecration of the priests takes place as an essential and concur- rent part of the whole ceremony. On the day of its consummation the princes appear prepared with their offerings. The wagons and oxen may have been accepted then and there, and the arrangement made for the successive pres- entation of their sacrifices on the twelve fol- lowing days. Hence their offerings will have been completed on the fourteenth day of the month, when the first passover took place. The dedication of the Levites, narrated after the offerings of the princes, and before the account of the passover, may have taken place on the third of the first month, so that they would as soon as possible be regularly qualified to assist the priests in the extraordinary duties they were now called on to perform. Thus everything would be duly arranged for the orderly celebration of the passover on the proper day." A single difficulty remains without solution, but as it is of no practical moment, we forbear to state it. B. We now arrive at the second part of the legal worship—i.e., the priesthood. All the splendor of the tabernacle would have been an empty parade without the priest, who so mediated as an intercessor that he reconciled men to God, and in a manner united heaven to earth. In this it is unquestionable that the Levitical priests were the representatives of Christ. Calv. In order that the reader may keep in mind a clear and intelligent impression of the connection subsisting between the several divisions of the ceremonial laws, we repeat here the substance of the note presented in Section 120. A full and accurate classification of these laws is as follows: First. Positive institutes relating to worship. These are (1) Its appointed place, and accompanying external media—viz., the tabernacle and court, with their furniture; (2) Its appointed ministry—viz., priests and Levites; (3) Its appointed rites—viz., sacrificial and other offerings; and (4) Its appointed times—viz., Sabbatic periods and festivals. Second. The minor ceremonial adjuncts of a preceptive character, remedial, corrective, and prohibitory. In this section we enter upon the consideration of the second of the positive institutes relating to worship—namely, its appointed ministry. B. #### The Separation of Aaron and his Sons. We are already familiar with the use that has been made of separation to inculcate the absolute necessity of holiness in order to intercourse with God. Abraham was separated from an idolatrous and wicked world, to be the head of a family and a nation that should be holy to the Lord; and accordingly, in comparison with the heathen world Israel as a whole was a priesthood, as is set forth in Ex. 19:6: "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Now the same principle is farther carried out. From the entire nation one tribe, the tribe of Levi, is set apart to be, above all the others, holy unto the Lord. From the tribe of Levi, one family, that of Aaron, is set apart to be, above all the other families of the tribe, holy unto the Lord. And finally, from the family of Aaron a single individual, the high-priest, is set apart to be, above all the other members of the family, holy unto the Lord. J. M. G.—The special distinction belonging to the priesthood was their right to draw near to God—a right which grew out of their election of God, and their eminent holiness, as the end and consummation to which these pointed. The question in the rebellion of Korah was, Who were in such a sense chosen by God, and holy, as to be privileged to draw near to him? And the decision of God was given in the words: "And him whom he chooses will he make to draw near to himself." P. F. Lev. 8:4. The spot designated was the portion of the court in front of the tabernacle. Toward this space the people were commanded to assemble to witness the great national ceremony of the consecration of the priesthood, the solemn setting apart of one of their families, the members of which were henceforth to stand as mediators between them and Jehovah in carrying out the precepts of the ceremonial law. Those who could do so may have come into the court, and a great number of others may have occupied the heights which overlooked the enclosure of the court. As the series of ceremonies was repeated every day during a week (verse 33), it is natural to suppose that some of the people attended on one day and some on another. Clark. The consecration of Aaron and his sons to their high functions in the service of the tabernacle was not to be a matter of the conclave—it was not to be an affair that should be enacted with closed doors. On the contrary, "the congregation was assembled at the door of the tent of meeting." In what mode and order this was done we are not informed. The chiefs of the people and their subalterns knew well what they were about; and the people under their guidance knew in what way they should answer to the call, and how they should follow the banner of their tribe. The substantial purpose was effected—the consecration of the Aaronic family was participated in by the Great Ecclesia. All was therefore valid and authentic; and a record of this transaction—an entry, accordingly, is made in the very heart of the ordinance thereto relating I. T. The commission read (verse 5). Moses, who was God's representative in this solemnity, produced his orders before the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. Though God had crowned him king in Jeshurum, when he made his face to shine in the sight of all Israel; yet he did not institute or appoint anything in God's worship but what God himself had commanded. The priesthood he delivered to them was that which he had received from the Lord. All that minister about holy things must be able to say, in all acts of religious worship, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. H.—Moses on this occasion, by an extraordinary commission from God, executed himself the office of high-priest on this and the six following days. The various ceremonies by which the procedure was to be marked were calculated to affect the incumbents with the greatness and sacredness of the work to which they were called, and also to lead the people to magnify and reverence an office in which their interests were so deeply involved. The whole transaction was to be so conducted that there should be ample evidence that Aaron and his sons did not "glorify themselves to be made priests," but that they were "called of God" to exercise the sacerdotal functions. Bush.—It is intimated that Gospel ministers are to be solemnly set apart to the work of the ministry, with great deliberation and seriousness both in the ordainers and in the ordained, as those that are to be employed in a great work, and intrusted with a great charge. H.—Aaron and his sons were originally sanctified, externally, by a series of most solemn offerings and ceremonies. Hence no absurdity can be more obvious or more gross than an unholy character in a man whose professional business it is to minister to God. The very heathen were so sensible of this that their priests claimed generally and labored to preserve that character which they esteemed sanctity. Dwight.—Every sin which is committed by a minister of religion is more than one: and it is as soon espied too; for men look more upon the sun in an eclipse than when he is in his beauty; but every spot in a minister is greater, every mote is a beam; it is not only made so, but it is so; it hath not the excuses of the people, and is not pitiable by the measures of their infirmity. Bp. Taylor. Lev. 8:7-9. If we picture to ourselves the view of the Aaronic high-priest standing now arrayed complete in his spotless robes, "bearing upon his breast" the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and bearing upon his forehead the gleaming golden band inscribed "Holiness to the Lord," then may we get some conception of the office which Christ, our High Priest, is still discharging for us. And in that mysterious "Urim and Thummim," which he bore also with the breast-plate, may we catch a faint glimpse of the functions of our prophet priest. S. R. The essential significance of the priesthood lay not in the native holiness or super-eminent fitness of its members for their exalted position, but in four attributes—its Divine election, its attributed holiness, its nearer access, and its official service. A most minute and varied symbolism had been invented by which to convey to the dullest mind the high regard in which the entire order of the priesthood was divinely held, and by which to impress upon the coarsest nature within the hierarchy itself the purity of character and act divinely demanded of the priest. Exactly the same attributes were visible in the high-priest in an intensified form. His Divine call was consequent upon his birth. "Holiness to the Lord" was conspicuous upon his mitre. His dedication to the Lord was apparent in every official act. His privilege of Divine access, ordinarily seen in his daily ministrations at the altar of incense, was most plainly witnessed in the solemn ritual of the Day of Atonement. And what could more conclusively bespeak his exceptional mediation than his daily passage, with the breast-plate and its twelve representative stones glittering in the light, within the curtain of the holy place? Cave. 10-12. Moses first anointed with the holy oil the tabernacle and all that was therein—that is, the ark of the covenant, the table of shewbread, the candlestick, and the golden altar, with all the articles that belonged to them; he then sprinkled the altar of burnt-offering with the oil seven times and anointed it, with all its utensils, and the laver with its foot; last of all, he poured some of the oil on the head of Aaron, and conferred on him "the crown of the anointing oil of his God" (Lev. 21:12). As investing the priest with official garments was a recognition before men of the official position of the person, the anointing him with oil was an acknowledgment that all fitness for his office, all the powers with which he would rightly fulfil its duties, must come from the Lord. In the anointing of the sanctuary with its contents and of the altar with its utensils the same idea evidently held its place. As Aaron was sanctified by the act, so were they sanctified (verses 10, 11, 12). The pouring the oil on the head of Aaron stands in the narrative as the culmination of the ceremony of anointing. All the holy things had been made after the heavenly patterns shown to Moses in the mount, and each of them was intended by Divine wisdom to convey a spiritual meaning to the mind of man. They were means of grace to the devout worshipper. The oil poured upon them was a recognition of this fact, and at the same time it made them holy and set them apart from all ordinary uses. Clark.—This sacred anointing seems to have been considered as investing with a peculiar sanctity the person on whom it had been conferred. We see this in the reverence with which “the Lord’s anointed” is on all occasions mentioned in Scripture. Bush. The rites of consecration proclaimed the necessity of holiness—a holiness not their own, but bestowed on them by the grace of God; and following upon this and flowing from the same source, a plentiful endowment of gifts for their sacred office, with the manifest seal of Heaven’s fellowship and approval. They were first brought to the door of the tabernacle and washed. The body being thus purified, the garments were put on; and on the high-priest first, afterward on the other priests, was poured the holy anointing oil. In the case of the sons the anointing is declared to have constituted them “an everlasting priesthood through all their generations”—meaning, as has been commonly understood, that the act did not need to be renewed in respect to the ordinary members of the priesthood. This was the peculiar act of consecration, and symbolized the bestowal upon those who received it of the Spirit’s grace, so as to make them fit and active instruments in discharging the duties of God’s service. As such anointing had already stamped the tabernacle as God’s hallowed abode, so now did it hallow them to be his proper agents and servitors within its courts. P. F. It appears from Isa. 61:1 that anointing with oil, in consecrating a person to any important office, was considered as an emblem of the communication of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. This ceremony was used on the installation of prophets, priests, and kings into their respective offices; to signify their being divinely appointed and qualified for the due performance of their several functions. As no man was ever dignified by holding the three offices, so no person ever had the title mashiah, the anointed one, but Jesus the Christ. He alone is the King who governs the universe and rules in the hearts of his followers; the Prophet, to instruct men in the way wherein they should go; and the great High-Priest, to make atonement for their sins. Hence he is called the Messiah, THE anointed ONE, in Hebrew; which gave birth to ho Christos, which has the same signification in Greek: of Him Melchisedech, Abraham, Aaron, David, and others were illustrious types. But none of these had the title of THE MESSIAH, or THE ANOINTED of GOD. This does and ever will belong exclusively to JESUS the CHRIST. A. C.—In the anointing of the high-priest, we plainly read the connection between the work of Christ and the agency of the Holy Spirit. As the oil there sanctified all, so the Spirit here seals and works in all. By the power of the Spirit was the flesh of Christ conceived; with the fulness of the Spirit he was endowed at his baptism; all his works were wrought in the Spirit, and by the Spirit he at last offered himself without spot to God. P. F. The writer to the Hebrews shows us at great length the immeasurable superiority of the dispensation of Christ to the typical dispensation of Aaron and his descendants. He shows us that the covenant of Christ is better, for it is a covenant of grace; the consecration of Christ better, for it was attested with the solemnity of a Divine oath; the sacrifice of Christ better, for it alone can truly take away sins; the priesthood of Christ better, for it is everlasting. He establishes the pre-eminence of the sacrifice and the priesthood, by insisting on the singleness of the sacrifice, and the perpetuity of the priesthood. On the one hand he declares, that “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,” that “by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,” that “there is no more offering for sin.” On the other hand he affirms that the Divine priest of this sacrifice is constituted priest “after the power of an endless life,” that he is a “priest forever,” that he is, in this priestly office, “able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” This priesthood of Christ, then, being perpetual, yet employing but a single sacrificial act, it must consist in a constant reference to that sacrifice, of which his own blessed person stands in heaven as the undying memorial W. A. B. Thus far Moses, in the presence of the people, has invested Aaron with the high priestly robes and insignia, and anointed him in connection with the anointing of the sanctuary and its holy things. Next (verse 13) he proceeds to the investiture of Aaron’s sons with a simpler attire, consisting of coat and girdle and head-tire. B.—Then followed (verses 14-29) sacrifices for Aaron and his sons; a sin-offering, a burnt-offering, and a peace-offering. The sin-offering, which here consisted of a bullock, was a kind of expiation by which they were first of all to be purified. By the ceremony of putting their hands upon the head of the victim was signified that the offerer had need of a sacrifice to atone for his sins; that he symbolically transferred his sins to the victim; that he trusted that although he deserved himself to die, yet the death of the animal which he thus devoted to God would be accepted as an expiation for his sins, so as to avert from him punishment. The same ceremony of imposition of hands was enjoined upon every one who brought a sacrifice for his sins (Lev. 4:24, 29). And what could more strikingly represent the fact that, in the economy of redemption, the sins of men are imputed to Christ, "upon whom the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all." Bush. # The Bullock for a Sin-offering (verses 14-17). Moses as the mediator of the covenant of the Law (Gal. 3:19; Heb. 8:6) was called to perform the priestly functions, in consecrating those on whom henceforth those functions were to devolve, and in inaugurating the legal order of sacrifices. In the same capacity he had performed the daily service of the sanctuary from the day of the setting up of the tabernacle and the altar. The sin-offering was now offered for the first time. The succession in which the sacrifices followed each other on this occasion, first the sin-offering, then the burnt-offering, and lastly the peace-offering, has its ground in the meaning of each sacrifice, and became the established custom in later ages. Clark. We begin to see the verification of the apostle's saying, that almost all things are by the Law purged "with blood." The allusions in the Book of Hebrews to the observances of the Mosaic ritual are most valuable, and prove that they are both buttresses and illustrations of evangelical truth. T. C. 15. The altar of burnt-offering had been sanctified by the anointing oil (verse 11) like the priests who were to officiate at it; it was now, like them, sanctified by blood. The anointing with oil consecrated it for its special purpose in the service of Jehovah, but it was now anointed with blood as an acknowledgment of the alienation of all nature, in itself, from God, and the need of a reconciliation to him of all things by blood. The purpose of the formal consecration of the sanctuary and of the priests who served in it was that the whole nation which Jehovah had set free from its bondage in Egypt might be consecrated in its daily life, and dwell continually in his presence as "a kingdom of priests and an holy nation." Clark. And sanctified it to atone for it. We are to notice the distinction between this sentence and "anointed to sanctify" (verse 12). The latter points to sanctification as the end, the former to propitiation. Sanctification and propitiation, though perfectly distinct, go hand in hand. The application of the blood implies sanctification, because in this application the sinner lays his hand on the victim, which act involves a change of mind. The blood itself effects the atonement. M. # The Ram for a Burnt-offering (verses 18-21). Atonement having been made, Aaron and his sons were now permitted, by the laying on of their hands, to make themselves one with the victim, which was to be sent up to Jehovah as "a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." There was no peculiarity in the mode of offering this sacrifice. All was done strictly according to the ritual, except that Moses performed the duties of the priest. Clark.—A Jewish writer says: "It is proper to notice the order in which these sacrifices were offered. First an atonement for sins was made by the sin-offering, of which nothing but the fat was offered to God; because the offerers were not yet worthy of God's acceptance of a gift from them. But after they had been purified, to indicate their being devoted to the sacred office, they immolated to God a holocaust, which was entirely consumed upon the altar. And after the holocaust, or burnt-offering, they offered a peace-offering, of which part used to be given to God, part to the priests, and part to the offerers, and which was to indicate their being now received into favor with God, so as to use one common table with him." To this we may add, that the ram was wholly burned to the honor of God, in token of the dedication of themselves wholly to God and to his service as living sacrifices, kindled with the fire and ascending in the flame of holy love. Bush. # The Ram of Consecration for a Peace-offering (verses 22-29). That the ram now offered and called "the ram of consecration" was truly a peace-offering will be obvious from what is said in verses 28, 32. It is called the ram of consecration, because there was more in this sacrifice that was peculiar to the present occasion than in either of the others. The blood instead of being merely sprinkled on the horns of the altar or effused round about it, was shared, as it were, between God and them; part of it being sprinkled and part put upon their bodies and their garments. It was intended to imply that they ought to devote diligently their ears, their hands, and their feet, all their faculties of mind and body to the discharge of their ministerial office. Bush.— By the hands and feet the whole life and actions of men are designated. In which view the cleanness of the heart and the purity of the hands comprehend all that is internal and external in man, as the root and the fruit. As to the feet the metaphor of walking is notorious; and the feet are said to run to evil and to be swift to shed blood, when the wicked betake themselves to evil deeds. Since this consecration was not to the office of teaching but to that of intercession, the ear rather than the tongue is stained with blood; because the chief virtue which obtains grace in the sacrifices is obedience. Calc. The renderings of the Targums, the Syriac, and Saadia all mean "the ram of completion." This offering was in the highest sense the sacrifice of completion or fulfilling, as being the central point of the consecrating rite. The final perfection of the creature is consecration to the LORD. Clark. 27,28. Moses was now to Aaron and his sons what they were afterward to the children of Israel; and as the minister of God, he now consecrates them to the sacred office, and presents their offerings to Jehovah. Although Moses himself had no consecration to the sacerdotal office, yet he acts here as high-priest, consecrates a high-priest, and receives the breast and the shoulder, which were the priests' portion! But Moses was an extraordinary messenger, and derived his authority immediately from God himself. It does not appear that Christ either baptized the twelve apostles or ordained them by imposition of hands; yet from his own infinite sufficiency he gave them authority both to baptize and to lay on hands in appointing others to the work of the sacred ministry. A. C. 30. Moses had put this holy life-giving blood upon Aaron (verse 23); upon his right ear, to sanctify it to a ready and attentive listening to the Law of God; upon his right hand and his right foot, that the one might be hallowed for the presentation of sacred gifts to God, and the other for treading his courts and running the way of his commandments. And now, to complete the ceremony, Aaron receives on his person and his garments a second anointing with the oil and this blood of consecration mingled together—symbolizing the new life of God, in which he is henceforth to live in conjunction with the Spirit. So that the Levitical priesthood appeared emphatically as one coming "by water and by blood." It spoke aloud, in all its rites of consecration, of sin on man's part, and holiness on God's. P. F.—The union of the two symbols of the atoning blood and the inspiring unction appears to be a fit conclusion of the entire rite. Clark. 33. Seven days shall be consecrate you. That is, Moses shall consecrate you. The number seven among the Hebrews was the number of perfection, and the seven days of consecration implied a full and perfect consecration to the sacerdotal office, and intimated that their whole lives were to be devoted to this solemn service. Bush.—The whole was repeated seven times, on as many successive days—because seven was the symbol of the oath or covenant, and indicated here that the consecration to the priestly office was a strictly covenant transaction. P. F. Ex. 29:36, 37. Here it appears that the seven days of consecration were at the same time seven days of hallowment or dedication of the altar. They apply not only to the priests, but to the tabernacle and its sacred furniture. M. Ex. 29:45. I will dwell among the children of Israel. This is the great charter of the people of God, both under the Old and New Testaments. God dwells among them—He is ever to be found in his Church, to enlighten, quicken, comfort, and support it—to dispense the light of life by the preaching of his Word and the influences of his Spirit. And He dwells in those who believe; and this is the very tenor of the New Covenant which God promised to make with the house of Israel (see Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 37:24-28; Heb. 8:7-12; 2 Cor. 6:16). And because God had promised to dwell in all his genuine followers, hence the frequent reference to this covenant and its privileges in the New Testament. And hence it is so frequently and strongly asserted that every believer is a habitation of God through the Spirit; that the Spirit of God witnesses with their spirits that they are the children of God, and that the Spirit of Christ in their hearts enables them to call God their Father. A. C. In the Hebrew ritual there was a real priesthood—real offerings and sacrifices—real purifications—real cleansings and expiations—real blessings obtained and bestowed on those who worshipped before the Presence according to the ritual. To answer the true meaning of this ritual, the Christ was to be a real High-Priest—to offer a real sacrifice—to obtain real blessings, and to bestow them on those who shall receive him, the Messiah, by believing in his name; for the Messiah was to be in truth what the ritual represented in figure. Lowman. The particular manner in which Christ interposed in the redemption of the world, or his office as Mediator in the largest sense between God and man, is thus represented to us in the Scripture: "He is the light of the world;" the revealer of the will of God in the most eminent sense: he is a propitiatory sacrifice; "the Lamb of God;" and as he voluntarily offered himself up, he is styled our High-Priest. And, which seems of peculiar weight, he is described beforehand in the Old Testament under the same characters of a priest and expiatory victim. The doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews plainly is, that the legal sacrifices were allusions to the great and final atonement to be made by the blood of Christ; and not that this was an allusion to those. Nor can anything be more express and determinate than the following passage: "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering"—i.e., of bulls and of goats, "thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me—Lo, I come to do thy will. O God. By which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Bp. Butler.—"While the old priesthood, by reason of death, could not continue, our priest having, once for all, offered up himself our sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God;" "by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." "Wherefore we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil—that is to say, his flesh, and we may draw near in full assurance of faith." Such being the case, there is no longer any place for a priest and altar in the earthly Church. For, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and consecrated by the sprinkling of his blood on their consciences and anointed with the unction of the Holy Ghost, Christ's people are "a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." The humblest of them all is privileged to draw near through Christ even into the holiest of all. They have freedom of access for themselves and their offerings to God. S. R. The priesthood was originally appointed to remain in Aaron's family through all succeeding generations, and no one who was not of that lineage might intrude into the sacred office. Aaron was succeeded by Eleazar, his eldest surviving son, and it continued in his family through seven generations, till the time of Eli. On his death it was removed from that branch for the wickedness of Eli's sons, and given to the descendants of Ithamar, Aaron's other son. In the time of Solomon it returned again into the line of Eleazar, in which it continued till the Babylonish captivity. Jeshua, the first high-priest after the return of the Jews, was of the same family; but after his time the appointment became very uncertain and irregular; and after Judea became a Roman province, no regard whatever was paid to this part of the original Divine institution. The office was in fact in process of time so far desecrated in the general corruption that it was often sold to the highest bidder, whether of the family or not; and so things continued till finally the nation had filled up the measure of its iniquities, and priest, altar, and temple were all swept away in the abolition of the Jewish economy and the dispersion of the race. Bush. The Jewish high-priest was a type of him who is called the high-priest over the house of God (Heb. 10:21), and when He came, the functions of the other necessarily ceased. The Jewish sacrifices were never resumed after the destruction of their city and temple; for they hold it unlawful to sacrifice anywhere out of Jerusalem; and the unction of their high-priests ceased from that period also; because the true Priest and the true Sacrifice were come. A. C. Ex. 29:38. Day by day continually. Nu. 28:3. A continual burnt-offering. Two lambs of the first year were to be offered daily, the one in the morning, the other in the afternoon, for a burnt-offering. These were generally termed the morning and evening daily sacrifice, and were never on any account to be intermitted. Other additional sacrifices were appointed for Sabbaths and festivals on various occasions, but they were never to be allowed to displace, supersede, or interfere with this stated and constant offering, which was binding in its observance inasmuch as it typified the never-ceasing necessity and efficacy of the atonement made by the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." It conveyed also to the people of God of that age and of every age a significant intimation of the duty of daily morning and evening worship. Bush.—Whether there were any other sacrifices to be offered or not, these were sure to be offered, to make atonement for their daily sins, and to be an acknowledgment to God of their daily mercies. This was that which the duty of every day required. This teaches us to offer up to God the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise every day, morning and evening, in humble acknowledgment of our dependence upon him, and our obligations to him. H. This was the most familiar feature of the whole service. As the altar stood in the court, all the people could see it; and it was always to be seen. The morning lamb had scarcely disappeared when the evening lamb was brought, and again the evening lamb remained on the altar till the morning lamb was offered in its place, so that practically the sacrificial lamb was always there, night and day continually. As the devout Israelite looked at this sacrifice upon the altar, he had these words of the Law to help him: "This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will meet you to speak there unto thee" (Ex. 29:42). He had also those very numerous passages which connected the slaying of the animal with his sin, and the offering of the blood upon the altar with an atonement for it. How, then, could he fail to see in that smoking sacrifice a most impressive sermon on the exceeding sinfulness and fatal consequences of sin, on the need of an atonement to take away that sin before there could be a meeting between him and God; and above all, an assurance of the fact that there was forgiveness for him, and a way opened by which notwithstanding his sinfulness he might draw near to God. You have only to read the Psalms to have evidence of the impressiveness with which these great lessons were wrought into the hearts and lives of those who were Israelites indeed. J. M. G. They called it the "continual" sacrifice, because God commanded it to be offered through all generations; but it appears from Daniel that it ceased at the coming of Christ; for so speaks the angel: Christ "shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the continual sacrifice, and the oblation to cease" (Dan. 9:27). Hence we assuredly gather that by this sacrifice the minds of the people were directed to Christ. Cde.—Every day, therefore, a kind of gospel was proclaimed of Divine mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation, with its invariable postulates of human sin and decadence, death and guilt. Cace. Within the tabernacle, in the holy place, and immediately before the veil which concealed the most holy, was placed the Altar of Incense. It was one cubit both in length and breadth and two cubits in height, and like all other altars had horns. It was made of shittim wood, and wholly overlaid with gold, and there was a golden wreath around the top, and golden rings at the sides "for the staves to bear it withal." On this altar Aaron was to burn incense in the morning and in the evening, when he dressed the lamps. The incense was of a peculiar mixture and preparation, consisting chiefly of fragrant spices. At ch. 39:38 it is called the "golden" altar, because it was overlaid with gold; and the "inner" altar, because it was within the sanctuary. C G. B. The altar of incense stood in a much closer relation to the holy of holies than either the golden candlestick or the table with the shew-bread. It was placed "before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony," language not used in regard to any other part of the furniture of the holy place; and both in the visions of Isaiah and of John an altar which can hardly be any other than the altar of incense—which in John indeed certainly is so—has its place assigned to it in heaven, "before the throne," and "before God." Although, therefore, the altar of incense stood outside the second veil, it is in thought at least fully as much within it as without it. Milligan. The incense was offered every morning and evening, at first by Aaron and his sons, and afterward by the priests officiating in weekly course, and by the high-priest on great occasions. The priest took some of the sacred fire off the altar of burnt-offering in his censer, and threw the incense upon it: then, entering the holy place, he emptied the censer upon the altar, prayed, and performed the other duties of his office. Meanwhile the people prayed outside; and thus was typified the intercession of Christ in heaven, making his people's prayers on earth acceptable. P. S. Incense is an emblem of prayer; because as incense when kindled sends its smoke upward, so true prayer always mounts to God's ear; and because as incense is fragrant, so true prayer is always acceptable to God; and again because as incense needs fire to kindle it, so true prayer cannot be kindled upon the heart's altar except by the power of God's Spirit, who at Pentecost came down in the shape of tongues of fire. So the Psalmist cries, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." The incense altar, then, was a figure of those prayers which are ever ascending to God from his true Church. E. M. G.—All reconciliation with God by means of sacrifice, all light of knowledge, all surrender of the earthly active life to the Lord, would still leave a sensible void in the life and service of the people of God, without the incense of prayer rising out of the sanctuary—out of the hearts of the congregation of God. While the priest offered the sacrifice of incense in the sanctuary, the smoke ascended toward heaven through the curtain (as there was no opening) before the eyes of the people, who were praying in the fore-court. Its ascent was both an exhortation to them to pray, and an assurance their prayers would be heard. Gert The lamps were dressed or lighted at the same time that the incense was burned, to teach us that the reading of the Scriptures (which are our light and lamp) is a part of our daily work, and should ordinarily accompany our prayers and praises. When we speak to God we must hear what God says to us, and thus the communion is complete. The devotions of sanctified souls are well-pleasing to God, of a sweet-smelling savor; the prayers of saints are compared to sweet odors (Rev. 5: 8), but it is the incense which Christ adds to them that makes them acceptable (Rev. 8: 3), and his blood that atones for the guilt which cleaves to our best services. And if the heart and life be not holy, even incense is an abomination (Is. 1: 13), and he that offers it is as if he blessed an idol (Is. 66: 3). H. It is the diffusion of sweet odors that is characteristic of incense; and when it was burned upon the golden altar the object was to fill the whole apartment with its fragrance. Bähr has shown that the words used to signify a savor all connect themselves with the idea of breath or spirit, and that among Oriental nations the leading conception of a sweet smell is the breathing forth of the inmost soul or life of that by which it is produced. Proceeding on this hint, we are guided to a larger view of the symbolism of incense than that which limits it to prayer. It is the breathing forth of the life of the true Israelite, taken as a whole—that breathing forth of it which diffuses fragrance on every side, which passes even toward the veil and the immediate presence of God, and which is grateful to him of whose enlightening and quickening Spirit it is the fruit. When, therefore, the sanctuary of God was kept continually filled with fragrance, Israel beheld in this the sweet savor not of prayer and praise alone, but of that godly life to which as a priestly nation they were called. Milligan. The brazen Altar in the court was a type of Christ dying on earth; the golden Altar in the Sanctuary was a type of Christ interceding in heaven, in virtue of his satisfaction. This altar was before the mercy-seat; for Christ always appears in the presence of God for us; he is our Advocate with the Father, and his intercession is unto God of a sweet-smelling savor. This altar had a crown fixed to it; for Christ intercedes as a King, Father, I will (John 17: 24). H.—The coals on which the incense was burned on the golden altar were to be taken from the brazen altar. This taught the Israelite from whence the efficacy and acceptableness of their prayers and praises was derived. Bush. That the altar of incense from its position stood in a close relation to the mercy-seat or propitiatory on the one hand, and by the live coals that ever burned in its golden vials stood in an equally close relation to the altar of burnt-offering on the other, tells us that all acceptable prayer must have its foundation in the manifested grace of a redeeming God, must draw its breath of life from that work of propitiation which he has in his own person accomplished for the sinful. And since injunctions so strict were given for having the earthly sanctuary made peculiarly to bear the character of a house of prayer, most culpably deaf must we be to the voice of instruction that issues from it, if we do not hear it speaking to us with such a voice as this: Pray without ceasing; the spirit of devotion is the element of your spiritual being, the indispensable condition of health and fruitfulness; all from first to last must be sanctified by prayer; and if this be neglected, nothing in the work and service of God can be expected to go well with you. P. F. 30:10. Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in a year. This was to be upon what was called the great Day of Atonement, of which a full account is given (Lev. 16:1-28). The ordinance was peculiarly striking, as it intimated that all the services performed at it were imperfect, that the altar itself had contracted a degree of impurity from the sinfulness of those who ministered there, and that even the very odors of the daily incense needed to be sweetened by a fresh infusion of the savor of the blood of sprinkling. Bush.—Even the prayer of the children of God is not in itself pure and acceptable in his sight; but this their service needed to rest on the atonement of the Mediator of the New Testament. The more any one lives an inner life, the more does he perceive how sin defiles and corrupts the most religious acts. He would, therefore, have no confidence in the acceptableness of his prayers without an ever fresh appropriation to himself of the merits of the atonement. Geri. Ex. 25:40. From this solemn and very particular charge to Moses—Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount, it appears plainly that to receive instructions relative to the tabernacle and all its furniture was one part of his employment while on the mount forty days with God. As God designed that this building and all that belonged to it should be patterns or representations of good things to come, it was necessary that Moses should receive a specification of the whole, according to which he might direct the different artificers in their constructing the work. A. C.—The reason why so minute and elaborate details are given in these chapters seems to be to show to us that Moses carried out exactly, rigidly, and minutely every order that he received. J. C.—Moses would thus show the great care which he and his workmen took to make everything exactly according to the pattern showed him in the mount. Having before given us the original, he here gives us the copy, that we may compare them, and observe how exactly they agree. Thus he teaches us to have respect to all God's commandments, even to every iota and little of them. H. The tabernacle service was throughout a system of instituted worship, which derived all its authority from the express appointment of Jehovah. On this account it was manifestly proper that every item of the apparatus should be fashioned according to the model set before Moses on the mount. It is to be observed, therefore, that this order was given to him repeatedly, and with very peculiar force and emphasis; and his strict adherence to it is in the last chapter in this book noticed no less than eight times, once after the mention of every separate piece of furniture that was made. In the New Testament also his compliance with the command is repeatedly adverted to, and the very order itself expressly quoted (Acts 7:4; Heb. 8:5). What then was the reason of such minute particularity? Undoubtedly because the whole was intended to be of a typical character, shadowing the leading features of the Gospel dispensation. Bush. The true symbol must be divinely framed and constituted. Even Moses was not left to his own taste and discretion, in fashioning a single cord or loop or tassel of the tabernacle and its furniture—the symbolic palace of Jehovah, and typical at once of Christ the Prophet, Priest and King, present and ruling in his spiritual kingdom. The authority of God alone can constitute a Gospel symbol. And the claim to set up a symbol in gospel worship which Jehovah has not set up in his word, is really a claim to speak as the messenger of Jehovah, and to come with authority to actualize a Divine pattern revealed to him who sets it up. S. R. The second article of furniture in the court of the tabernacle was the laver, always spoken of in connection with its foot. It stood beyond the brazen altar, and between it and the tabernacle. No mention is made of the shape or size of the laver, but passages where it is spoken of attach such importance to the "foot" (or base) as to make it probable that the water with which the feet and hands were washed was contained in a hollow at the base. Milligan.—38 : 8. Mirrors of the serving-women who served at the door of the tent of meeting. The expression in the original is used of the stated services of the priests in their sacred vocation, and is here transferred to a class of females who appear from early times to have devoted themselves to regular attendance on the worship of God. Latterly, and probably not till the post-Babylonian times, the service of the women in question appears to have consisted much in exercises of fasting and prayer. Such a woman in the Gospel age was Anna (Luke 2 : 37), and it is interesting to know that she had her prototypes at the very commencement of the tabernacle-worship, in the women who gave a becoming example of devotedness in the consecration of their metallic mirrors to the higher ends of God's worship. There can be no reasonable doubt that it was of or from the metal of these glasses that the laver was formed. P. F. 30 : 19-21. Washing is frequently referred to in the Old Testament as expressive of that higher moral purification which, as time went on, was more and more felt to be the true preparation for appearing before God. The washing was to enable the priests to obtain that symbolical purity, without which it was impossible for any one to make a near approach to a holy God, and which, therefore, could not but be especially demanded of those priests who were to enter his sanctuary or to minister at his altar. Milligan.—This was an emblematised washing; and as the hands and the feet are particularly mentioned, it must refer to the purity of their whole conduct. Their hands, all their works; their feet, all their goings, must be washed, must be holiness unto the Lord. A. C.—And this washing was designed to teach them purity in all their ministrations, and to possess them with a reverence of God's holiness and a dread of the pollutions of sin. They must not only wash and be made clean when they were first consecrated, but they must wash and be kept clean whenever they went in to minister. He only shall stand in God's holy place that has clean hands and a pure heart (Ps. 24 : 3, 4). And it was to teach us who are daily to attend upon God, daily to renew our repentance for sin and our believing application of the blood of Christ to our souls for remission; for in many things we daily offend and contract pollution. H. That merely the hands and the feet were to be washed at the laver, arose simply from these being the organs immediately employed in the service; the hands being engaged in presenting the sacred oblations, and the feet in treading ground that was hallowed. The action, in accordance with the whole spirit of the Mosaic institutions, was symbolical of inward purity; it bespoke the freedom from pollution which should characterize those who would present an acceptable service to Jehovah. The Psalmist clearly indicates the meaning of the rite, and shows also how, according to the spirit of the ordinance, he held it to be not less applicable to himself than to the priests, when he says, "I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord." In like manner, when describing the true worshipper in Ps. 24, he says, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." Such an one is the true priest in God's house, whether he have the outward calling of a priest or not; he alone serves Him in spirit and in truth. P. F. Thus, too, there is no entering into the upper sanctuary without a previous washing in the laver of regeneration. The renewing and purifying influences of the Holy Spirit not only at the outset but through the whole course of the Christian life, are most significantly shadowed forth by this feature of the ancient economy. As the altar on which the victims were offered was a symbol of justification, so the laver, with its cleansing fountain, was a symbol of sanctification; and among the moral truths so impressively taught by the sensible emblems of the Mosaic ritual, none was perhaps more pertinently or palpably set forth than the strict connection between the atoning blood of Christ and the sanctifying efficacy of the Holy Spirit in this mutual relation of these articles standing in the outer court. The same truth is taught in the New Testament, where we are told that Christ came both by water and by blood, the one to atone and the other to purify. Bush. The position of the laver shows that regeneration follows pardon. First we come to the altar of sacrifice, the blood of Christ for forgiveness, then to the washing of regeneration by the Holy Ghost. This is the Divine order. The natural desire is to reverse this order, to be made "good" or clean before we come to Christ. B.—The altar stands nearer to the sinner than the laver. The Spirit leads him with heart unrenewed to the cross of Christ. There he receives forgiveness. There he is clothed in the spotless righteousness of Christ. And then, but not till then, the Spirit sprinkles him with the water of regeneration. So writes Paul, "Ye are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus." And so John declares, "As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Christ is made of God unto the believer first righteousness and then sanctification. "Say not," observes Leighton, "Unless I find some measure of sanctification what right have I to apply him as my righteousness? This inverts the order and disappoints thee of both. Thou must first, without finding yea or seeking anything in thyself but misery and guiltiness, lay hold on him as thy righteousness; or else thou shalt never find him thy sanctification. Simply as a guilty sinner thou must flee to him for shelter; and then, being come in, thou shalt be furnished out of his fulness with grace for grace." Those who washed in the water of the laver were priests. But this laver with its cleansing water symbolized the Spirit and the truth of God in all their sanctifying influences as connected with the Christian Church. In this Church God's Spirit is given, and God's truth revealed to every true member. They all have access to this spiritual laver for the cleansing of their souls, for in the Christian Church all the Lord's people are priests. And to them the way of access into the holy place—the place of God's immediate presence—lies open at all times. To them Divine illumination is vouchsafed. They eat of the bread which cometh down from heaven, and never hunger. "They are abundantly satisfied with the plenteousness of God's house." R. Newton. In concluding our consideration of the laver, it may be added that the symbol is of so natural a kind and so fitly adapted for purposes of spiritual instruction, that it has been in a sense retained and raised to still higher significance in the Christian Church. For in the rite of baptism, whatever may be the precise mode of administration adopted, there can be no doubt that the cleansing nature of the element is the natural basis of the ordinance, and that from which it derives its appropriate character as the formal initiation into a Christian state. P. F. Directions are here given for the composition of the holy anointing oil and the incense that were to be used in the service of the tabernacle; with these God was to be honored, and therefore he would appoint the making of them: for nothing comes to God but what comes from him. H. The holy anointing oil was pure olive oil, mixed with fragrant herbs, myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. With this the ark, the tabernacle, the table and candlestick, the two altars and their furniture, were to be anointed to make them holy. With this Aaron and his sons were anointed. It was not to be imitated, nor was it to be used in anointing any one else, on pain of excommunication. C. G. B.—In its composition it is exquisite both in expensiveness and odor; by its very excellence and costliness the Israelites may learn that no ordinary thing is represented by it. There was set before this rude people a splendor in sacred symbols which might affect their senses, so as to uplift them by steps to the knowledge of spiritual things. Without controversy this oil mixed with precious perfumes was a type of the Holy Spirit; for the metaphor of anointing is everywhere met with when the prophets would commend the power, the effects, and the gifts of the Spirit. God, by anointing kings, testified that he would endow them with the spirit of prudence, fortitude, clemency, and justice. The tabernacle was sprinkled with oil, that the Israelites might learn that all the exercises of piety profited nothing without the secret operation of the Spirit. Nay, something more was shown forth—viz., that the efficacy and grace of the Spirit existed and reigned in the truth of the shadows itself; and that whatever good was derived from them was applied by the gift of the same Spirit for the use of believers. Calv.—And what is to be compared with the preciousness of these Divine influences? Upon whomsoever they are poured forth they impart light to the understanding, pliancy to the will, purity to the affections, tenderness to the conscience, and holiness to the entire man. They are the true riches of the soul, and the sealing title to an eternal inheritance. Wherever enjoyed they constitute the subject of them, “a new creature,” and so far sanctify every offering which he presents, that “God smells a sweet savor from it,” and is well pleased. And not only so. As every vessel that was anointed with the holy ointment imparted a sanctity to everything with which it came in contact, so every true Christian communicates to others, as far as his influence extends, the same Divine principles which he has imbibed. Bush.—The holy anointing oil, compounded of its rare, costly, and fragrant ingredients, evidently represents the positive graces of the Christian character, which will exhale from the renewed life of those who have come to God by the way of the altar and the laver without, and the golden altar within. Its composition was such as to indicate most expressively the variety and excellence of the Holy Spirit’s working. While separation and cleansing signified putting off the old investiture and putting on the new, anointing meant the consecration of the new man by the effusion of the Holy Spirit’s grace. J. M. G. The Incense, like the anointing oil, was compounded of four aromatic ingredients. Both were kept in the Sanctuary. B.—37 : 39. The preparing of the incense, and with it the holy anointing oil, God taught Bezalel also; so that though he was not before acquainted with it, yet he made up these things according to the work of the apothecary, as dexterously and exactly as if he had been bred up to the trade. Where God gives wisdom and grace, it will make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work. H. The incense for the altar was formed of four kinds of sweet spices—stacte, onychia, galbanum, and pure frankincense—of which the latter alone is known with certainty. The composition was made with the view of yielding the most fragrant and refreshing odor. The people were expressly forbidden to use it on any occasion, and the priests were restricted to it alone for burning on the altar, that there might be associated with it a feeling of the deepest sacredness. It possessed the threefold characteristic of “salted, pure, holy;” that is, having in it a mixture of salt, the symbol of uncorruptness, but otherwise unmixed or unadulterated, and set apart to a sacred use. And the ordinance connected with it was, that when the officiating priest went in to light the lamps in the evening and again when he dressed the lamps in the morning, he was to place on this golden altar a pot of the prescribed incense with live coals taken from the altar without, that there might be "a perpetual incense" ascending before the Lord in this apartment of his house. P. F. Ex., Lev. 24 : 5-9. This bread consisted of twelve loaves according to the number of the tribes, which were laid on the table in the holy place on a Sabbath and renewed the following Sabbath, those which were removed being assigned to the priests who were required to eat them in a holy place. Case.—The loaves had their peculiar table opposite the candlestick on the north side in the holy place. This was no ordinary symbol of God's favor, when he descended familiarly to the people, as if he were their messmate. The loaves were called "the bread of faces," or "bread of the presence," because they were placed before the eyes of God; and thus he made known his special favor, as if coming to banquet with them. He commanded them to be twelve in number with reference to the twelve tribes, as if he would admit to his table the food offered by each of them. Colv. 7. To the bread for a memorial.** When the bread was removed, and given to the priests, this frankincense was burned upon the golden altar; and this was for a memorial instead of the bread, an offering made by fire. As the handful of the meal-offering which was burned upon the altar is called the memorial thereof, thus a little was accepted as an humble acknowledgment, and all the loaves were consigned to the priests. All God's spiritual Israel, typified by the twelve loaves, are made through Christ a sweet savor to him, and their prayers are said to come up before God for a memorial (Acts 10 : 4). The word is borrowed from the ceremonial law. H. Ex. 31 18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. Ex. 32 7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people. 15. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the 20 tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, 21 and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people 22 unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger 23 of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us 24 up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off; so they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, 25 and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose; for 26 Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies: then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoso is on the LORD's side, let him come unto me. And all the sons of 27 Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, 28 and every man his neighbour. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and 29 there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to the LORD, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. # Repetition in Deuteronomy. De. 9 10 And the LORD delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in 11 the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the 12 tables of the covenant. And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a 13 molten image. Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, 14 behold, it is a stiffnecked people: let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two 16 tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God; ye had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly 17 out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. And I took hold of the two tables, and 21 cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. Ex. 31:18. Communing with him on Mount Sinai. There Jehovah showed him (in a vision) a representation of the dwelling which he required, and of all the articles of furniture which were to be placed in it, and gave him the necessary instructions for its erec- tion. When he had completed his directions, he gave him two tables of stone, on which the ten words of the fundamental Law had been in- scribed by the finger of God. K. Written with the finger of God. As the ten words were proclaimed by the voice, so they are here said to be written by the finger of God. But as they heard on that dread occasion "the voice of words, but saw no similitude," so the engraving on stone implies no visible finger of God, but only the putting forth of his power for the production of an au- thentic and permanent copy of the moral Law. M.—We must understand this to mean that the characters were formed by the secret virtue of God; nor is it a matter of wonder that a writing should have suddenly been brought into existence at the same will of God, whereby the waste and shapeless materials of the world, which they call chaos, were changed so as to be resplendent with elegance and beauty. Calv. Informed by Jehovah of Israel's Apostasy, Moses Intercedes for their Forgiveness. Aaron, he that alone was allowed to climb up the flaming hill of Sinai with Moses, who had heard God say, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, for I am a jealous God," within one month calls for their ear-rings, makes the graven image of a calf, erects an altar, consecrates a day to it, calls it their god, and weeps not to see them dance before it. Aaron might have learned better counsel of his brother's example. When they came to him with stones in their hands, and said, "Give us water," he ran as roundly to God with prayers in his mouth; so should Aaron have done when they said, "Give us gods;" but he weakly runs to their ear-rings, that which should be made their god; not to the true God, which they had and forsook. Who can promise to himself freedom from gross infirmities, when he that went up into the mount comes down and doth that in the valley which he heard forbidden in the hill? I see and wonder at the mercy of that God, which had justly called himself jealous. This very Aaron, whose infirmity had yielded to so foul an idolatry, is afterward chosen by God to be a priest to himself; he that had set up an altar to the calf must serve at the altar of God; he that had melted and carved out the calf for a god must sacrifice calves and rams and bullocks unto the true God; he that consecrated a day to the idol is himself consecrated to Him who was dishonored by the idol. The grossest of all sins cannot prejudice the calling of God; yea, as the light is best seen in darkness, the mercy of God is most magnified in our unworthiness. Bp. II. God left him to himself to teach us what the best of men are when they are so left, that we may cease from man, and that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall. Aaron was, at this time, destined by the Divine appointment to the great office of the priesthood; though he knew it not, Moses in the mount did; now, lest he should be lifted up above measure with the honors that were to be put upon him, a messenger of Satan was suffered to prevail over him, that the remembrance thereof might keep him humble all his days. He who even shamed himself so far as to build an altar to a golden calf must own himself altogether unworthy of the honor of attending at the altar of God, and purely indebted to free grace for it. Thus pride and boasting were forever silenced, and a good effect brought out of a bad cause. By this likewise it was showed that the Lae made them priests which had infirmity; and needed first to offer for their own sins. II. 2,3. Golden rings.** The abundant supply of such jewelry is fully conformed to the condition of things among which the Hebrews had so long lived, where not only are ear-rings of gold, and in some instances set with pearls, abundantly found, as well as represented, but where one of the pictures at Thebes exhibits the ladies comparing the ornaments in their ears. The implied skill in metallurgy and the manufacture of jewelry, formerly questioned, is now perfectly established. The whole process of working gold is delineated in their tombs, while various modern museums exhibit great numbers of old Egyptian ear-rings, finger-rings (some of them very massive), bracelets, anklets, and other kinds of ornaments elaborately and delicately wrought. S. C. B. 4. Fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf.** After he had made a rough cast of it, he formed it with a graving-tool, so that it became a complete and elaborated statue of a bull, which plainly recalled the worship of the bull in Egypt, where an ox called Onuphis (the ox Apis), at Memphis, and another ox, Mnevis, at On, received Divine honors (as emblems of the creative and generative powers of nature). No sin is, in after times, more frequently blamed on the part of God's people than this. C. G. B. 5. To-morrow is a feast to the Lord.** Not to the golden calf, but to the Creator of the world, whom they worshipped in this image. Notwithstanding which, this was no better than an idol, and they were gross idolaters (Ps. 106:19, 20; 1 Cor. 10:7). Bp. Patrick.—By Aaron's building an altar and proclaiming this feast to the true God, it would seem that he still proposed within himself to lead the thoughts of the people through the outward medium and fix them upon Jehovah himself, the only proper object of adoration. But such a mixture of Divine and idolatrous worship never fails to mislead the mass of men, and though the priests of a corrupt religion, in imitation of Aaron, may plead that the use of paintings, images, and sacrifices, is intended merely as a help, by sensible media, to spiritual worship, yet there can be no doubt that its practical effects are always the same with those here recorded, and that it comes under the same condemnation. Whatever were Aaron's private views or wishes, the transaction is thus again characterized by the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:41), "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices unto the idol, and rejoiced in the work of their hands." So Jehu, led away by the same delusion, could boast of his zeal for the Lord of hosts, while yet he was a worshipper of the golden calves of Jeroboam (2 Kings 10:16, 29). Bush.—In after times, when the kings of Israel set up the same representation of the true God at Dan and Bethel, the Scripture constantly speaks of it as the leading sin, from which all the rest of their idolatries, and at last their utter destruction, proceeded. For from worshipping the true God by an image, they soon came to worship the images of false gods too: and from thence fell into all sorts of superstition, and all sorts of wickedness. Abp. Secker. 6. Sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.** When this idolatry of theirs is spoken of in the New Testament, the account of their feasts upon the sacrifice is quoted and referred to (1 Cor. 10:7), They sat down to eat and drink of the remainder or what was sacrificed, and then rose up to play; to play the fool, to play the wanton. Like god, like worship H.—God was forgotten; all true sense of his presence and indeed of his nature was ruled out by the very fact that they had exalted a golden calf into his place. By a law of human nature men become like the object they worship. Calf worshippers go down to the level of the calf they worship. Alas! would that they did not sink far lower in passion and in crime! H. C. Superstition besots the minds of men and blinds the eye of reason; and first makes them not men, ere it makes them idolaters. How else could he, that is, the image of God, fall down to the images of creatures? As the Syrians were first blinded, and then led into the midst of Samaria, so are idolaters first bereaved of their wits and common-sense, and afterward are carried brutishly into all palpable impiety. Bp. H. Idolatry is always accompanied with the grossest sensuality. The reason is clear. Each idol that men have worshipped or now worship is some portion of nature deified; some power in nature or some attribute of man, which the man worships as his god. Now it is the very nature of all such properties or attributes that they are monstrous and mischievous. For instance, love without purity is appetite; wisdom without truthfulness is cunning; courage without mercy is ferocity; justice without compassion is horrible cruelty. And so ever does the false faith lead to the foul life, and the foul life is cleansed by the terrible judgments of God. W. C. Magee. MOSES RECEIVES THE TWO TABLES. INFORMED OF ISRAEL'S APOSTASY, AND INTERCEDES FOR THEIR FORGIVENESS. HE DESCENDS FROM THE MOUNT, BREAKS THE TABLES, DESTROYS THE CALF, AND INFLICTS DEATH UPON THE GUILTIEST TRANSGRESSORS. At first view, this gross apostasy, so soon after the wonders in Egypt and the terrors of Sinai, and in the very face of the mountain from which the law forbidding idolatry had been proclaimed, seems utterly confounding. But though there is no excuse for it, this much may be said by way of accounting for it: In Egypt, the Israelites had lost much of the life of their faith, and had become familiar with the worship of idols. A law of spiritual ideas had now been promulgated; but, as yet, no forms of worship were set up. The wonders which had so powerfully impressed their senses had ceased. Moses, the visible organ of Jehovah, had disappeared; and, in his prolonged absence, time hung heavy in the camp. A chief object of worship in Egypt was Apis, the sacred bull, which was kept in royal state at Memphis, and honored as a source of national life and power. Hence, when they craved some visible representative of the Divinity, the golden calf would naturally suggest itself, and their feast would take the form of such orgies as they had witnessed in Egypt. With a self-sacrifice that marks the sublimest heroism, Moses assumed the task of mediation. The power and glory of Jehovah as committed to the salvation of Israel, the effect of any failure upon his enemies, and, above all, his own covenant of grace with Abraham—these are the arguments by which Moses pleads with the Lord; and his earnest, unselfish faith prevails. J. P. T. Nowhere is a sharper contrast brought before us than that which this history presents. In the valley the multitude, as if infected by some epidemic insanity, are preparing for their idolatrous orgies; on the mountain, within the cloud-veil that shrouds its summit, Moses is communing with Jehovah. Below, all is noise and tumult and passion; above, all is peace and contemplation and fellowship of spirit with spirit: below are sin and shame; above are intercession and forgiveness. W. M. T. How dreadful the shock to Moses, as the conference between himself and Jehovah concerning all the scheme for erecting a palace, and preparing a service of worship at his immediate dwelling-place—is suddenly interrupted with the announcement, “Go, get thee down, for thy people (they have broken the covenant and are no longer mine), which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” “I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiffnecked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” This scene is among the most remarkable in the Bible history, as illustrating to finite human minds the nature of intercessory prayer. Representing Jehovah after the manner of a covenanted ruler, justly incensed at the faithlessness and treason of his subjects, threatening to cast off and destroy them, and to make Moses the centre of a New Covenant, it shows how, by Divine intercession, first a respite was gained and subsequently how by further intercession the culprits were fully restored and the covenant renewed. To us who cannot comprehend the Divine side of this great question of the relation of human intercession to the purposes of God, this account is all-sufficient. Instead of speculating about the unknowable and framing theories of what our minds must necessarily be incompetent to grasp, we have only to accept God’s assurance that somehow in the manner here illustrated he may be led to hear the intercessions of his creatures, after the manner of human rulers who may be prevailed upon by arguments. The threefold argument of Moses—wherefore shall He seem to cast a reflection on his own wisdom by so soon destroying what he had expended so much power to preserve—wherefore expose his own great name to the scorn and derision of Egypt and thereby confirm them and the whole world in their unbelief—wherefore seem to fail to keep the covenant with Abraham and thereby seem to disregard his obligation—is all inspired you will perceive by his holy loyalty to Jehovah and his intense concern for his honor among men. The ultimate end we seek in all genuine petition or intercession is the honor of our Father—as illustrated by this intercession of Moses. Seeing that the eyes and tongues of not only all the vast empire of Egypt, but all surrounding nations, are intent on finding matter of malicious triumph, both over the people so signally delivered and the God who so signally delivered them, he would, at all hazards, preclude all disparagements of the Divine glory by its being blemished by his enemies. His intercession prevailed, as all such intercessions must. “The Lord repented of (or, in the Hebrew, was propitiated concerning) the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” S. R. Ex. 32: 10. Let me alone. Moses had not yet opened his mouth, but God foresaw the holy violence with which his importunity would besiege his throne, and apparently desires him not to intercede for them. What greater or more significant proof could be given of the Divine condescension to the petitions of a mortal? Bush.—God is fain to bespeak his own freedom; as if Moses’s devotion were stronger than God’s indignation. Great is the power of prayer; able, after a sort, to transfuse a dead palsy into the hand of Omnipotence. Tropp.—Moses should not need to solicit God for revenge; God solicits him, in a sort, for leave to revenge. Who would look for such a word from God to man, “Let me alone?” As yet, Moses had said nothing; before he opens his mouth God prevents his importunity, as foreseeing that holy violence which the requests of Moses would offer to him. Moses stood trembling before the majesty of his Maker; and yet hears him say, "Let me alone." The mercy of our God hath, as it were, obliged his power to the faith of men: the fervent prayers of the faithful hold the hands of the Almighty. As I find it said afterward of Christ, That "he could do no miracles there, because of their unbelief;" so now, I hear God, as if he could not do execution upon Israel because of Moses's faith, say, "Let me alone, that I may consume them." Bp. H. I will make of thee a great nation. If Moses had accepted the proposal, God's promises to the patriarchs had still been fulfilled; for Moses was a son of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and in him and his the promises might have been fulfilled. Kit.—What a temptation lay for Moses here! But in his prayer he speaks as if Jehovah had not used these words at all; he scarcely pays regard to them; he makes no use of them in his own interest; he is far more concerned about the honor of Jehovah than for a numerous posterity. By all means, then, destroy his trunk, stripped as it is already of its leaves, provided that the forest trees of Israel be not cut down; for he already sees the axe laid to their roots. In the full strength of interceding love he can be quite oblivious of everything except the sinful Israel; nor does he leave the mountain-top till he brings down with him the promise that the sentence, merited even though it is, shall be delayed at least, if not repealed. Yet this our prayer is but the first of hundreds more; or rather, it is the key-note of a life of faith and prayer and love on Moses's part through forty years—a life that dies not, even when he gives up the ghost. "Now, therefore, forgive their sins;" how frequently, and in how many ways, the man of God presented this same prayer! It is this very perseverance in entreaty for the good of Israel—when, almost at every moment, they have turned anew to corrupt practices—that gives to Moses's intercession a great measure of the unselfish, the pathetic, the sublime; and thus, just like the man himself, we find it standing in the books of the Old Testament almost alone, unparalleled. But it is also just this feature in the prayer of Moses that shows us professing Christians how we should conduct ourselves in secret intercourse with God. Come hither, ye who seek to understand what true prayer is—what kind of prayer it is that pleases God; behold that man who wrestles like another Jacob, not for his own life but for Israel's, and who like Israel earned for himself the meed of praise that as a prince he had power with God? It is not enough that you should cry to God for help whenever your own want and misery oppress your soul; Moses calls loudly, "Pray for others too," and the more earnestly for them as they are more unfortunate, more sinful than yourselves, and more unthankful and unkind to you! Neither is it enough that you present to him your own and others' miseries; for Moses says again, "God's honor must be made the one great object in your prayer;" woe to the man whose prayer is but self-seeking, who does not endeavor to extol God's majesty! Nor yet, again, is it enough that you should raise your heart at special times in prayer, but soon abate your zeal; Moses cries out to every one who strives on earth, "Continue, persevere in prayer; the faithful friends of God are the best friends of men!" Happy, thrice happy, is the nation, church, or family that counts among its members those who strive like Moses in their prayers. Eternity shall one day show how much earth owes to those who have thus learned to live in constant intercourse with heaven! Van O. If ever a man inherited the earth by meekness, that man was Moses. His was a grand, unselfish life made to wait upon the lives of others. Endurance was, indeed, the very key-note of his destiny. His life was to be one long waiting in the hope of humanity. It never became to him a fruition; he never reached the promised land. He received not the treasures of Canaan any more than the treasures of Egypt; he bore the toil and Joshua entered in. He had for long years to bear on his heart the interests of that motley multitude with no other encouragement than faith. G. Matheson. 11. The Lord said to Moses when this took place, "Go, get thee down; for thy people." The language is most suggestive; God says, "They are not my people now; they have forsaken me." Observe how Moses, with exquisite skill, changes the pronoun, and does not say my people, but he says, they are thy people; bad as they are, they are yet that, and therefore I beseech thee to have mercy upon them. And then Moses pleads God's glory. J. C.—He did not let God alone; on the contrary, he held up before him his own purpose and promises of salvation, as well as his own glory. With Jacob he said, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me;" and, like Jacob, he also gained the victory. K. 11-14. Moses, in his intercession, pleaded the argument with which God had furnished him. Most earnestly did he insist that Israel was God's people, since their deliverance from Egypt had been wholly God-wrought. Three special arguments did he use with God, and these three may to all time serve as models in our pleading for forgiveness and restoration after weaknesses and falls. These arguments were: First, that Israel was God's property, and that his past dealings had proved this (verse 11); secondly, that God's own glory was involved in the deliverance of Israel in the face of the enemy (verse 12); and, thirdly, that God's gracious promises were pledged for their salvation (verse 13). And such pleas God never refuses to accept (verse 14). A. E.—Moses reminds God of the triumph of his enemies, who would believe their gods had taken revenge on the people of Israel; and he appeals to the covenant of grace with their fathers, which had promised a free gift on the part of God without any conditions. First, His glory, next, His promise! Geri. So tender is he over the name of God, that he would rather have Israel escape with a sin, than God's glory should be blemished in the opinions of men by a just judgment. He saw that the eyes and tongues of all the world were intent upon Israel; a people so miraculously fetched from Egypt, whom the sea gave way to, whom heaven fed, whom the rock watered, whom the fire and cloud guarded, which heard the audible voice of God. He knew withal how ready the world would be to misconstrue, and how the heathens would be ready to cast imputations of levity or impotence upon God; and therefore says, "What will the Egyptians say?" Bp. H.—God had already redeemed them from Egyptian bondage. He had taken great pains with them hitherto, and had expended great power on their behalf. And He had not done this in ignorance. The latent evil in their hearts He had perceived. The future of their lives He had foreseen. Hence it would be consistent with his past favors to dispense fresh mercy. He had engaged to bring this people to the land of promise, not for their sakes, however obedient they might be, but for their fathers' sakes. Hence their rebelliousness did not vitiate the original engagement; and although individuals might justly be destroyed—yea, that whole generation—still the posterity of Abraham must eventually enter the land. Davies. The intercession of Moses proceeds entirely on a regard for the honor of Jehovah, and the noble man does not permit himself even to refer to the proposal that he should be made the head of a covenant nation in room of the rejected tribes. Thus triumphantly does he stand the test to which Jehovah subjected him, and we do not wonder that his pleading was successful, for "the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." W. M. T. —Words fail in attempting to describe his true nobility of soul, which comes out in his prayers and pleadings here. Read in this and other passages the words by which he seeks to influence Jehovah to withdraw the dread death-sentence; and then tell me if there has at any time been offered a prayer more beautiful and touching than this. Does it not seem as if love were exhausting all its energies in trying to find out, not some slight palliations of the shameful conduct which must be pronounced quite inexcusable, but some good grounds for not requiring full satisfaction for the vast amount of guilt incurred? Van. O. How absolutely disinterested Moses's intercession! He sets aside, without even taking notice of it, the most glorious offer ever made to mortal man. How intensely earnest! Moses had a most overwhelming sense of the reality of the wrath he sought to avert. But his heart was agonizing to save his nation, and he seemed to clasp the feet of God in the spirit of one who would not, could not leave, till he obtained what he sought. How perseveringly prolonged! He prayed by his silence as well as by his speech. The whole scene is a striking illustration of the intercession of the Saviour. Orr.—In every time of emergency his immediate resort was to Jehovah. His cry was the appeal of one who knew that he was speaking to a real, living, loving person, omnipotently able to help, and pledged also to render assistance. And true prayer is ever that which, as in the case of Moses, springs out of faith in God—not that which is offered by one who would make the receiving or not receiving of an answer a test whether there be any God or not; and those supplications which are offered by men who, like Abraham or Moses, are the friends of God, and appeal to him as their friend, never come back unacknowledged. W. M. T. 14. Was ever mortal more bold and more persistent, despite of all the Lord had said which seemed to shut the door and bar off all entreaty? Yet Moses prevailed, and it does not appear that the Lord rebuked him for his persistence or for his boldness. It is simply said—"The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." H. C.—In the sense of changing his ultimate purpose, God does not repent; but in the sense of altering his procedure, in consequence of reasons that he foresaw and took into his estimate, God is said to have repented. J. C. Thus did the mediator address Jehovah, when he interceded for the salvation of the people. But a mediator is not a mediator of one. He had also to defend the holiness of Jehovah in the presence of the people; and this he now prepared to do. K.—The Lord does not consume the people according to his threat, but forgave them, “though he took vengeance of their inventions” (Ps. 99:8), as a warning and example. Mercy and justice were here revealed, as the issue shows. An atonement for this guilt, however, was absolutely necessary. C. G. B. Moses Descends, Breaks the Tables, Destroys the Idol, and Executes Judgment upon 3000 Chief Transgressors. The intercession of Moses in the mount had already secured a momentary respite for Israel, but not a pardon. To bring them to reflection upon their dreadful crime, he dashed to pieces the holy stones containing the words of the covenant, by way of showing by symbol that having forsaken Jehovah, Jehovah had forsaken them. A covenant broken on the one side is broken on the other also; and he would show them that now they occupy the position of uncovenanted outcasts. He next proceeds to the work of judgment, first destroying the idol, then at his bidding, the sons of Levi becoming his executioners, three thousand of the most pronounced apostates are slain. The executioners passed from gate to gate, cutting down, as that would seem to imply, only those still standing out in the public places, instead of hiding themselves in shame in their tents. Only a small number of the grovelling souls—perhaps chiefly of the mixed multitude that came with Israel out of Egypt—were made an example of and smitten down. S. R. 17. Joshua. While Moses was in the cloud, as in the presence-chamber, Joshua continued as near as he might in the antechamber (as it were), waiting till Moses came, that he might be ready to attend him; and though he was all alone for forty days (fed, it is likely, with manna), yet he was not weary of waiting, as the people were, but when Moses came down he came with him, and not till then. H.—His calm and quiet waiting during all the time of Moses’s absence stands in very strong contrast with the impatient and unbelieving temper of the people during the same period. Bush. A noise of war. To the soldier’s ear, quick to receive the sound of the battle-field, the clamor is full of alarm. “He said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp,” “Had the Amalekites taken advantage of the absence of the leader of the host and the captain of the army, to make another attempt on Israel?” The keener and more chastened ear of Moses discerns the true nature of the wild uproar. As he had been already apprised on the mount, “the people he had brought out of Egypt had corrupted themselves,” had “made a molten calf,” had “worshipped it and sacrificed thereunto.” The din was not that of combatants, but of revellers. E. V.—Often in descending this mountain close by the spot whence the Law was given, while the precipitous sides of the ravine hid the tents from my gaze, have I heard the sound of voices from below, and thought how Joshua had said unto Moses as he came down from the mount, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” Palmer. 19. Moses is described as descending the mountain without seeing the people, the shout strikes the ear of his companion before they ascertain the cause; the view breaks on him suddenly as he draws nigh to the camp, and he throws down the tables and dashes them in pieces “beneath the mount:” now any one descending the mountain path by which Ras Sufsafeh is accessible (according to Captain Wilson in three quarters of an hour to a practised mountaineer) through the oblique gullies which flank it, would hear the sounds borne through the silence of the plain, but would not see the plain itself until he emerged from the lateral wady; and when he did so he would be immediately under the precipitous cliff of Sufsafeh. Clark. As the disgraceful scene burst upon him, in righteous anger he dashed the tables out of his hands, and broke them in pieces at the foot of the mount; giving at once a terrible significance for all future time to the phrase, a broken law, and a sign of man’s inability to keep the Law given on Sinai. For both Moses and the people, though in different ways, were showing, by their acts, that the first use to which man puts God’s Law is to break it. Both tables were broken, for idolatry had been followed by licentiousness. P. S.—It was not the ebullition of ordinary passion giving vent to its rage by breaking the glorious stones. It was the act of holy judgment at a moment when judgment must not slumber. Suddenly there bursts upon his view the covenant people of God in bacchanalian revelry, dancing, and shouting around the idol. What sight could be more awful to the reverent and loving spirit of Moses, so intensely concerned for the name and honor of Jehovah? Here are the people whom he himself had sworn into holy covenant with Jehovah just before he had parted with them—Jehovah to be their king and they to be his loving and obedient subjects. And now, just as he brings them the holy covenant, gloriously engrossed for them on the beautiful stones which God's own hand has fashioned, and on which God's own finger has written in enduring characters the terms of the covenant, alas! they are already fallen into apostasy, and that, too, so low, grovelling, degrading an apostasy. S. R. There was never so precious a monument as the tables written with God's own hand. Prophecies and evangelical discourses He hath written by others; never did He write anything himself but these tables of the Law: neither did He ever speak anything audibly to the whole of mankind but it; the hand, the stone, the Law were all his. Yet that God, which so sharply revenged the breach of one law upon the Israelites, checks not Moses for breaking both the tables of the Law. Bp. H.—They had broken the covenant itself, and Moses as a sensible sign of the awful fact breaks the monumental tables in which it was inscribed. Nothing could more solemnly indicate that their covenant standing was wrecked, and that they now lay exposed to the severest vengeance of an angry God. It is doubtless in this view of the transaction that we find no censure passed upon Moses, nor does he afterward (De. 9:17) speak of it with any regret. Bush.—Those are angry, and sin not, that are angry at sin only, not as against themselves, but as against God. It becomes us to be cool in our own cause, but warm in God's. Moses showed himself very angry, both by breaking the tables and burning the calf, that he might by these expressions of strong indignation awaken the people to a sense of the greatness of the sin they had been guilty of, which they would have been ready to make light of if he had not thus shown his resentments, as one in earnest for their convictions. H. 20. Consider well the moral courage of Moses. He was but one man. Yet he ventured to confront that inebriate host, armed only with the terrors of holy wrath—and the conscience-stricken crowd shrunk before him; and not a hand was lifted up in resistance, when he cast their idol to the ground. Kit.—He burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and made the children of Israel drink of the dust. The manner in which this was done is a proof of the extraordinary skill in the metallurgic arts possessed by the Egyptians; and, through their instruction, by the Hebrews. Modern chemistry employs tartaric acid, and reduces gold to powder. Stahl, one of the ablest chemists, informs us that natron, which is very common in the East, will produce the same effect; and, if the metal be previously heated, the effect is sooner produced. Hence Moses, in the first instance, cast the image into the fire, and then made it potable. Now one of two consequences must follow: either he performed a miracle, or he possessed very extensive scientific attainments. There is no account of any miraculous intervention of Providence in the story; it then was the result of natural means, but such as none but a well-informed chemist could have known or used. No alternative, then, is left us but a positive denial of the facts or an admission of the knowledge of Moses. Hawks. 21-24. Aaron deserved to have been cut off for this sin, and had been so if Moses had not interceded particularly for him, as appears (De. 9:20). And having prevailed with God for him to save him from ruin, he here expostulates with him to bring him to repentance. Aaron lays all the fault upon the people: They are set on mischief, and they said, Make us gods. It is natural to us to endeavor thus to transfer our guilt; we have it in our kind, Adam and Eve did so: sin is a brat that nobody is willing to own. Aaron was now the chief magistrate, and had power over the people, and yet pleads that the people overpowered him: he that had authority to restrain them yet had so little resolution as to yield to them. He extenuates and conceals his own share in the sin, as if he had only bid them break off their gold that they had about them, intending to make a hasty assay for the present and to try what he could make of the gold that was next at hand; and childishly insinuates that when he cast the gold into the fire it came out, either by accident or by the magic art of some of the mixed multitude (as the Jewish writers dream), in this shape; but not a word of his graving and fashioning it. But Moses relates to all ages what he did (verse 4), though he himself here would not own it. He that covers his sins shall not prosper, for sooner or later it will be discovered. This was all Aaron had to say for himself; and he had better have said nothing, for his defence did but aggravate his offence; and yet he is not only spared but preferred; as sin did abound, grace did much more abound. H. 26. Whoever (is) for the Lord—to me! The words “let him come” are omitted through the impassioned earnestness of the speaker. The offence was one of the most aggravated character; one by which the honor of God’s great name had been sadly tarnished; and in order to a more effectual vindication of it, judgment was to be executed with terrible severity. Go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp.** This is no doubt to be understood as a commission to slay every one whom they should meet in the open places of the camp, let him be relation, friend, or neighbor, while they were not required to enter into any of the tents. Bush —A number of men, fresh from their orgies, whom even his appearance and words had not yet sobered into shame and repentance, still thronged the open roadway of the camp. These were met by the avenging Levites, as, sword in hand, they passed from gate to gate; and these were the three thousand which fell on that day, while the vast multitude had retired to their tents in tardy repentance and fear, in view of him whose presence among them be-tokened the nearness of that holy and jealous God, whose terrible judgments they had so much cause to dread. A. E. By his untimely and ungodly zeal for the honor of his own house, the forefather of the tribe of Levi had brought a curse upon himself, which still rested upon his tribe (Gen. 34 : 25); by their well-timed and holy zeal for the honor of the house of God, his descendants now extinguished the curse and changed it into a blessing. If their ancestor had violated truth, fidelity, and justice, by the vengeance which he took upon the Shechemites from a mistaken regard to blood-relationship, his descendants had now rescued truth, justice, and the covenant, by executing the vengeance of Jehovah upon their own blood-relations. Hence Moses referred to this tribe in the following words (De. 33 : 9): “Who says of his father and mother, I saw them not; who is ignorant of his brother, and knows nothing of his own sons.” The disposition manifested by the sons of Levi on this occasion, and their readiness to esteem friend and brother but lightly in comparison with Jehovah, was that which qualified the tribe of Levi above every other to serve in the house of Jehovah, and rendered it worthy to be chosen as the lot and inheritance of Jehovah. Penitent Israel was called upon to inflict punishment upon impenitent Israel, that their own guilt, which had been forgiven, and the mercy which had been shown them on account of their penitence, might be impressed upon their minds in its fullest extent as a warning for future times. Before such considerations and designs all considerations of a sentimental character must give way, as, in fact, sentimentality of every kind is out of place in matters concerning the judgment of God on the impenitent sinner. . . . The punishment inflicted by the command of Moses has often been described as an act of inhuman cruelty. If there is any ground for such a charge, it not only applies to this particular case, but to the spirit and essence of the whole code of laws, and to the entire course of history of which they formed the guiding principle. The Law represents every act of apostasy from Jehovah, every kind of idolatry, and every species of heathen superstition, as a capital crime. If, then, the Law itself is not to be condemned for such stringency as this, the command of Moses, which merely carried out the spirit of the Law, is perfectly justifiable. Such stringency was perfectly justifiable on the part of the Law; it was demanded as well as dictated by the peculiar position and character of the Old Testament Theocracy. It was first of all demanded by the fact that the God of Israel was also the King of Israel. Every sinful disregard or violation of the dignity of Jehovah, the one God in Israel, was also a crime against the sole monarchy of the King Jehovah; every religious crime was a State crime as well. K. The spirit of the narrative forbids us to conceive that the act of the Levites was anything like an indiscriminate massacre. An amnesty had first been offered to all in the words, “Who is on the LORD’s side?” Those who were forward to draw the sword were directed not to spare their closest relations or friends. Clark. —None were executed but those who openly and boldly stood forth. Bush. We are not nearly enough in the habit of treating religion as a cause, and ourselves as soldiers, whose honor is bound up in it, our all at stake in it. Who is on the Lord’s side? is a question that rings up and down our streets eternally. It is of the utmost consequence to every young man’s singleness of heart, saying nothing of his future welfare, to have this choice settled. To be uncommitted is to be on the side that is not God’s. F. D. H. Let no one say that Moses is most powerful in prayer, but weak when courage, energy, and promptitude in punishment should be displayed. Not merely is the order given to single out the guiltiest, he does not spare the strongest nor the dearest when he has to wield the chastising rod. He shows that he esteems sin not more lightly than the Holy One of Israel himself, even though he has made such earnest intercession in behalf of those who sinned. Van O.—Moses, who is described as “very meek,” and who shrank back in evident agony from that leadership of Israel to which he was called by Providence, yet sternly vindicated his mission against the rebellious Korah, as he now inflicts a sharp vengeance upon these guilty idolaters. H. P. L. All the main features in the historical episode of the worship of the golden calf reappear in Deuteronomy. But in the lips of the aged Law-giver just before his death they assume a wholly different form, and are the ground of an earnest call to humility, in the prospect of new and greater mercies from God. The facts recalled to their memory are the idolatry of the whole congregation, the share of Aaron in their sin, its disclosure to Moses by God himself, the proposal to make of him a greater nation, his descent with the tables in his hands, their destruction in his anger, the destruction of the golden calf, and the mingling of its powder with the brook, the consecration of the whole tribe of Levi, the intercession of Moses, his fear of the total rejection of the people, the preparation of the second pair of tables, the second forty days on the mount, the writing of God on the second tables, the renewal of the covenant. All these are set before them in tones of earnest and holy love, to stir them up to gratitude to the God of Israel. Birks. UNBIDDEN, MOSES ASCENDS THE MOUNT TO PLEAD AGAIN FOR ISRAEL'S FORGIVENESS. PENITENCE OF THE PEOPLE. THE CLOUD-PILLAR DESCENDS TO THE TENT OF MEETING, AND THERE GOD SPEAKS WITH MOSES FACE TO FACE. THIRD PLEADING OF MOSES IN BEHALF OF ISRAEL. Ex. 32 30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin : and now I will go up unto the LORD ; peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin— ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee : behold, mine angel shall go before thee : nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the LORD smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. 33 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it : and I will send an angel before thee ; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite : unto a land flowing with milk and honey : for I will not go up in the midst of thee ; for thou art a stiffnecked people : lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned : and no man did put on him his ornaments. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people : if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee : therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward. 7. Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp ; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent. And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent : and the Lord spake with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent : and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent door. And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp : but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent. 12. And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people : and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by 13 name and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find 14 grace in thy sight : and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence 15 shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not 16 with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein now shall it be known that I have found grace in thy sight, I and thy people ? Is it not in that thou goest with us, so that we be separated, 17 I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth ? And the LORD said 18 unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken : for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 30. On the morrow after the destruction of the calf, without any call from Jehovah, simply under the impulse of devoted affection for his people, Moses went up into the mount to plead a second time for guilty Israel. Before leaving he announced his purpose to the people in terms that might lead them to a deeper thoughtfulness and conviction respecting their great apostasy, to awaken and to temper their fear by indicating his own hope that the Lord might yet be merciful and receive them again into covenant with him. B. — “Ye have sinned a great sin,” he declares, so great that there is a mere possibility that it may be consistent with the honor of God to pardon it, yet he will venture upon that possibility to intercede for them. He knew that the only hope for them was deep penitence for their sin, and, therefore, aimed first to bring deep conviction to their souls. He therefore returns to the mount. Understand, this was not the return for another forty days which is afterward referred to, but on this special errand or intercession. He was in haste. For though instant perdition was stayed, yet he knew not what moment the wrath of Jehovah might burst forth upon them. S. R. 31. This people have sinned a great sin.** God had first told him of it, and now he tells God of it, by way of lamentation. He does not call them God’s people, he knew they were unworthy to be called so ; but this people, this treacherous, ungrateful people, they have made them gods of gold. He does not go about to excuse or extenuate the sin ; but what he had said to them, by way of conviction, he says to God, by way of confession ; They have sinned a great sin. H. — He is evidently agitated, his soul stretched to its utmost power of tension, as the excited manner of his prayer shows : “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin ; if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book.” It is a beautiful illustration of impassioned pleading. “If thou wilt forgive” is all he can utter—leaving the consequences unuttered in the urgency and the inexpressible earnestness of desire—as if afraid to hope for an answer. We may probably supply the unspoken issue in the break with “then would I count life a blessing.” But, as in deep despair, he adds, “If not, then blot me out of thy book. Let me die, for life will be unsupportable.” S. R. 32. If thou wilt forgive their sin.** What a glorious abruption is this ! How grand ! Overpowered with emotion at the mere idea of the sin of Israel remaining unforgiven, he cannot finish the sentence ; and after a pause of overwhelming feeling, he declares that in that case it were better for him to die than to live, and prays that it may be so. Kit. — The expression of “blotting out of the book of life” is of the same import with those phrases so frequently used in the Old Testament, of “blotting out from the face of the earth,” and “blotting out one’s name from under heaven ;” and the desire of Moses signifies that he was willing to submit to a temporal death that his nation might be saved from a temporal ruin. Abp. Til-lotson. — So in Nu. 11 : 15, it is “Kill me, I pray thee, out of hand.” The expression is an allusion to the custom of registering the people, as in Numbers, ch. 1, and as more at large in Ezra and Nehemiah afterward ; and blotting out every one’s name when he died. Pyle. — Such a book is attributed to God in Ps. 139 : 16, and the blotting out of Moses from God’s book is a figurative expression for depriving him of life. Richard Warner. Moses could not survive the destruction of his people by the neighboring nations, nor their exclusion from the promised land ; and Paul, seeing the Jews about to be cut off by the Roman sword for their rejection of the Gospel, was willing to be deprived of every earthly blessing, and even to become a sacrifice for them, if this might contribute to the preservation and salvation of the Jewish state. Both those men, engaged in the same work and influenced by the same spirit, were willing to forfeit every blessing of a secular kind, and even die for the welfare of the people. A. C. 33. Most truly has it been said that there is nothing in all the Scriptures more calmly majestic than the Divine reply: "Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." E. C. W.—God would not, in his compliance with Moses's prayer, violate the equity of making each man responsible for himself, and not for another. He does not thus transfer his severity from the guilty to the innocent; yet in the exercise of mercy, his darling attribute, he remits of the severity and punishes in measure. Still he punishes; and even though the angel of his presence has been set forth evidently before us, we must still expect that in the administration of his holy discipline he will correct the errors and iniquities even of his own children. T. C. 34. A further point is gained by the persevering intercessor—"Go lead the people (observe not yet called my people, but neither, on the other hand, thy people which thou broughtest up—lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken to thee. Behold, mine angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless in the day that I visit I will visit their sin upon them." The response shows that the intercessor is gaining ground step by step. At the commencement of the idolatry, the threat was—"Let me alone"—to utterly destroy, which Moses had met with the argument, "What will become of this great name?" Then, after the first cry of interceding anguish on his return to the mount, the threat is, "Whosoever sinneth shall be blotted out." I will not destroy all, thereby confounding the innocent with the guilty. Here the sentence is, Go lead them up, and I will remember their sin when I shall have occasion to punish in future. It is a great advance toward pardon and reconciliation. But the intercessor is not yet satisfied; his soul longs for the complete restoration of his people to the Divine favor. S. R. 35. The Lord smote the people.** Every time they transgressed afterward Divine justice seems to have remembered this transgression against them. The Jews have a metaphorical saying, apparently founded on this text: "No affliction has ever happened to Israel in which there was not some particle of the dust of the golden calf." A. C.—It is the grand peculiarity of the Gospel scheme, that while by it God hath come forth in love and tenderness to our world, he hath at the same time made full reservation of his dignity; and, along with the freest overtures of peace to the rebellious, there is the fullest reparation for every outrage which they have inflicted upon his government. On this footing he welcomes you, but on no other. He will not pass over your transgressions of his Law but in such a way as shall compel your recognition of the Law's inviolable right to all your obedience. He will not lavish upon you of his attribute of mercy but in such a way as shall constrain your homage to all the other lofty and unchangeable attributes of his nature. He will not let you off for your violation of his commandments but in such a way as shall stamp indelibly the lesson of the commandments' inviolable sanctity. This is that way of exquisite skilfulness by which the economy of grace is characterized, and whereby at once the deepest stigma is affixed upon sin and the guilt of the sinner is wiped away. Chalmers. Ex. 33 : 1-3. Deliberate reflection upon the Scripture text itself, always of the first importance, is essential to the full apprehension of this entire portion of the history. The transitions of the narrative are frequent, and need to be carefully noted at every step. This paragraph presents an example. Jehovah had already bidden Moses to lead the people to the place previously indicated. Now he repeats the charge more fully. "Go, thou and the people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, to the land which I swore to give unto Abraham." No longer my people, "for I will not go up with them." I will send not an angel in whom is my name, but an angel, who will execute my purposes against the Canaanite. And this will I do to fulfil my promises. But with this "stiffnecked people" I will deal according to their behavior. B. 3. The covenant on which the promise was based had been broken by the people. Jehovah now therefore declared that though an angel should go before Moses and should drive out the heathen from the land, he would withhold his own favoring presence, lest be should consume them in the way. Thus were the people forcibly warned that his presence could prove a blessing to them only on condition of their keeping their part of the covenant. If they failed in this, his presence would be to them "a consuming fire." Clark. Penitence of the People. 4,5. When the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned.** The effect produced showed that they were deeply sensible of the value of the blessing which they were likely to lose. They were at once filled with grief, which expressed itself by the usual external badges of "mourning"—viz., divesting themselves of their ornaments, although it appears from verse 5 that this was at the same time in obedience to an express command of Jehovah. This was not only in order that they might evince the appropriate tokens of sorrow and humiliation, but also that they could make sacrifices to God. While thus disrobed of their festive garments and precious jewels, and clad in the habit of penitents, God represents himself as deliberating how to act toward them. When God speaks of himself in this language, while it is intimated that so long as impenitence continues he knows not how to exercise mercy to the sinner, it is at the same time implied that when once humbled for their iniquities he is at no loss how to act toward them; he can then give free scope to the merciful and compassionate disposition of his own heart. So it is clear that the language in the present case implied a design of mercy, provided they showed signs of repentance. Bush. God says, "Put thyself into the posture of a penitent, that the dispute may be determined in thy favor, and mercy may rejoice against judgment." Calls to repentance are plain indications of mercy designed. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, justice knows what to do with a stiffnecked people; but God has no pleasure in the death of them that die; let them return and repent, and then mercy, which otherwise is at a loss, knows what to do. H. 7-11. 7. The original word signifies the Tent. The only word in the Old Testament which ought to be rendered tabernacle (mishkan) does not occur once in this narrative. What is here called the Tent was a tent appointed for this temporary purpose by Moses. This tent was to be a place for meeting with Jehovah. That the people might feel that they had forfeited the Divine presence, it was now pitched "afar off from the camp." Clark. A provisional tent was used, not improperly called by the name subsequently given to the tabernacle, "tent of meeting;" since it, too, actually served as the meeting-place of the congregation. It is pitched at a short remove from the encampment, in order, as the historian is careful to inform us, to manifest the Divine displeasure at Israel's recent sin. It is sometimes called the tabernacle, indeed, but only by a well-known usage of the definite article in Hebrew whereby a certain definite conception of an object by the writer and his readers is indicated. This very tent had probably been known before as the tent of Moses. Here God made special communications with his servant. Joshua, as temporary leader in Moses's absence, occupies it (verse 11) There is no impropriety in his doing so previous to the establishment of the Levitical system. For the same reason God without the mediation of sacrifice makes revelations of himself here (verses 7, 9, 11; cf. 13:21). It is before their legal institution and the introduction of the ritual. Now, when so much has been admitted, all the principal difficulties involved in the narrative have disappeared. Bissell. 9. The pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent. It descended from the summit to the less elevated part of the mountain where the Tent stood. As the sublime object had probably remained stationary for at least forty days, we can easily imagine that it must have produced a deep sensation among the people to see it now again majestically moving from its place, and transferring itself down the mountain to the spot where the Tent was fixed, and where Moses had now repaired. This would indeed verify the claim of the sacred structure to the title of "tent of meeting," when Jehovah by his symbol was thus pleased to meet with his servant in this open and honorary manner, in the sight of the awe-struck host. The effect would naturally be to inspire additional reverence for the person and authority of Moses, as one whom God saw fit to distinguish by the indubitable seal of his own selection, and to endow with the highest prerogatives of a human mediator. The descent of the cloudy pillar at the door of the Tent would also tend to assure them that the rupture between God and his people was not utterly past healing. Though withdrawn, in the withdrawing of the Tent, from the midst of them, He was still accessible. Bush. 10,11. The Tent is pitched afar off as a sign of the Divine alienation of the Jehovah who had promised to dwell, in the midst of them. This, while it spoke of Jehovah withdrawn from them, indicated that he is not totally and finally withdrawn. The Most High is willing to be sought unto. Thus intimations of mercy were mingled with the signs of his displeasure lest the spirit should faint before him and the souls which he had made. As Moses was seen leaving his residence in the camp, and with solemn air taking his way far across the plain toward that mysterious tent, and thereupon the cloud pillar began to descend from Sinai to meet him, you may well suppose the people, troubled and anxious about their great offence against God, would gaze with solemn awe and dread, eager to know their doom. "All the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door; and all the people rose up and worshipped every man at his tent door." As they stood gazing upon the visible symbol of Jehovah—far off, indeed, but not wholly removed, condescending to hear their intercession—the goodness, the undeserved goodness of God, causes their repentings to be kindled together and their hearts to be broken into contrition. S. R. And now as the people stood and worshipped, repentant in spirit and hushed in reverent awe as in the presence of the God against whom they had sinned, Moses pleads, and the Lord speaks to him face to face as a man with his friend. Notice here, in passing, the wisdom of Moses and the mercy of the Lord in shifting the scene of the conference from the mount, where all was wrapped in clouds, to the Tent, where the people could follow Moses with their eyes to the Tent door, and see him from time to time as he went out and in. J. M. G. That the communications made by God to Moses were not by visions, dreams, inward inspirations, or the mediation of angels, is sufficiently evident: we may therefore consider the passage as implying that familiarity and confidence with which the Divine Being treated his servant; and that he spake with him by articulate sounds in his own language, though no shape or similitude was then to be seen. A. C.—God talked with Moses (verse 9), spake to him face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (verse 11), which intimates that God revealed himself to Moses not only with greater clearness and evidence of Divine light than to any other of the prophets, but also with greater expressions of particular kindness and grace. He spake not as a prince to a subject, but as a man to his friend, whom he loves and with whom he takes sweet counsel. H.—"The Lord spake unto Moses face to face"—not in vision, dream, or dark oracle, as is declared in Nu. 12:6-8: "If there be a prophet among you I will make myself known unto him in a dream, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all his house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." This is all consistent enough with the other Scripture, "No man can see my face and live;" "No man hath seen God at any time." What Moses saw and held communion with was not the Divine Essence, but Jehovah in his sensible symbol, the Shekinah, which is called the "Face" and the "Presence" of Jehovah. S. R. **His minister Joshua, the son of Nun.** This, like previous and subsequent references to Joshua, reveals distinctly the closeness and constancy of the relation existing between the great leader and his successor from the very outset of Israel's wandering. B. Verses 12-18. This was perhaps the period of greatest heart-softening during Israel's wanderings in the wilderness. And God graciously had respect to it. He had already assured Moses that he stood in special relationship to him ("I know thee by name"), and that his prayer for Israel had been heard ("thou hast also found grace in my sight"). But as yet the former sentence stood to the effect that an angel, not Jehovah himself, was to be Israel's future guide. Under these circumstances Moses now entreated Jehovah to show him His way—that is, His present purpose in regard to Israel, adding, that if God would bring them into the land of promise, he would "consider that this is thy people," and hence he their God and King. This plea also prevailed, and the Lord once more promised that his own presence would go with them, and that he himself would give them the rest of Canaan. A. E. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 33 19 And he said, Shew me, I pray thee, thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back: but my face shall not be seen. Ex. 34 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. De. 10 1 At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. Ex. 34 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth; 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin : and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the 8 children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, 9 and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us ; for it is a stiffnecked people ; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. De. 9 18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water ; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which 19 was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and 20 hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me that time also. And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him : and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. 25. So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and forty nights that I fell down ; because the 26 LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, 27 which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wicked- 28 ness, nor to their sin : lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he hated them, 29 he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thy stretched out arm. De. 10 10 And I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights : and the LORD hearkened unto me that time also ; the LORD would not destroy thee. The Crowning Petition of Moses and the Promise of God in the Tent of Meeting. 19. Moses makes a very grand prayer, "I BE-SEECH THEE, SHOW ME THY GLORY." What, had he not seen it in the burning mount, when the earth shook, and Israel trembled, and the mount was crowned with a coronal of the intensest glory ? Had he not seen God's glory when they marched through the channels of the deep dry-shod ? Had he not seen it in the rock in the wilderness ? Had he not seen it in the pillar of fire by night ? J. C.—He had seen much more of God's glory than all other men. The bush that burned, and yet was not consumed ; the Red Sea moved out from its bed ; the manna rained down from above ; the arid rock changed to a source of living streams ! Alone, upon the top of Sinai, and amidst most dreadful signs, he had received the Law of God ; moreover, with the elders of the Israelites, he had beheld the pavement which the King of Israel laid for the palace where he sits enthroned—what seemed transparent sapphire-stone. Yet more this insatiable, this high-minded servant of the Lord desires. Van O. The "God of glory" had appeared to Moses at the Bush, and had spoken to him the incommunicable Name. He had seen the glory of God on that night, so much to be remembered, when Jehovah's royal ensign fired the firmament, and under Heaven's immediate guidance the glorious march began. And but a few days were past since this Sinai smoked, and while the glory of the Lord, like devouring fire, encircled the mountain-top, the voice of the Eternal filled the surrounding solitudes with words which echo still and shall never pass away. But all this did not suffice, and in the mind of Moses there was only enkindled a longing for some manifestation more intimate and soul-contenting. Jehovah's answer shows in what direction the heart of Moses pointed. "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," says Moses. "I will," answers Jehovah, "I will show thee my goodness, my kindness, and my grace." Of majesty and grandeur he had already seen as much as heart could wish, as much as the frail body could endure. The personality, the might, the holiness of the Most High, were never likely to be effaced from his awe-struck spirit as long as he had any being ; but still amid all its condescension, what wonder if the terrible majesty still left an impression of something far off and formidable ? But just at this very instant in the devouring fire had opened an inlet mild and merciful, and Israel's intercessor glimpsed a glory still interior—the heart of Jehovah, rich in forgiveness, and radiating forth its ceaseless loving kindness. Not only had he pardoned a most scandalous insult to his supremacy, and in answer to Moses's bold entreaty consented still to abide by the ungrateful people—"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest"—but with overflowing tenderness he had spoken most friendly words to the intercessor himself—"I will do as thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." Grasping at that gracious word, pressing up into the exalted intimacy of which he had obtained an earnest so encouraging, Moses replied, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." "Let me come still nearer. Prolong this blessed moment, and admit me still further into thy presence." Hamilton. The high spiritual state to which the man Moses had been brought, and which irrepressibly prompted this lofty yet heart-yearning cry, was not reached at once. It was wrought within him as an ultimate effect, after successive exercises of faith working mightily through prayer. With a faith that had gathered boldness and courage by success, turning from Israel to himself, partly perhaps from a deep consciousness of his own need as Israel's leader, and partly from an intense spiritual craving after a larger, more satisfying knowledge of God and closer approach to him, now it is, as the ultimate highest effect of living, pleading, expanding faith, that he throws all his soul into the fervent entreaty, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory!" For something other; something more than a visible glory; something that neither miracle nor portent could disclose. For something spiritual assuredly: something that could reach and penetrate his soul with soothing and support, with restfulness and peace. Here spake out the consciously disquieted, unsatisfied man. In this fervid entreaty is the expressed conviction of a felt ignorance of God, more than all, the outbreak of a feeling of deep spiritual want; a want of closer, more endearing fellowship with God. "Show me thyself! Reveal thine inmost heart to me, thy holy, loving, gracious nature, which maketh thee most truly glorious!" The instant answer shows that this was what he craved. Meeting exactly, fully, the want of the suppliant's soul, Jehovah Jesus unveiled to him with far greater distinctness than had been unveiled to man before the very heart of the Godhead. To the fervid entreaty of his servant he answered, "I will make ALL MY GOODNESS pass before thee, and I will PROCLAIM THE NAME OF THE LORD before thee!" B. The nearer he came to God, the swifter was the course of his soul, and the more burning its ardor toward him. Thus it is and ever must be that the idea of God, just in proportion as it opens on the soul, absorbs the whole being, entrances all the faculties, and fills and satisfies the holy mind and heart with bliss ineffable, inconceivable. And thus are the desires of holy souls described in God's own word, as drawn out after him, and only after him, everything else passing into forgetfulness and nothingness in the comparison: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee." Cheever.—A humble heart cannot be satisfied with so much grace as will bring it to glory, with so much of heaven as will keep it from dropping into hell; it is still crying out, "Give, Lord, give; give me more of thyself, more of thy Son, more of thy Spirit; give me more light, more life, more love." Brooks.—All that are effectually called to the knowledge of God and fellowship with him, though they desire nothing more than God, yet they are still coveting more and more of him, till they come to see as they are seen. H. God will cause "His goodness to pass before him;" and will "proclaim His Name," or His glorious attributes before him; hereby intimating that to know God in His glorious attributes or moral perfections was of much greater importance than to be admitted to the immediate sight of that outward Divine Glory, even though he had been able to behold it in all its unutterable splendor. Leland.—How precious is the thought that when God is seen to be most good to his creatures, he is then seen to be most glorious in the universe; that the glory and the goodness of God are so connected together that where the one is most revealed, the other shines in its richest splendor. Not power in creating, not justice in punishing, but goodness in saving sets forth most the glory of God. Creation is the mirror of his power; Sinai is the pedestal of his justice; but Calvary is the scene of his goodness and therefore of his great glory. Not the manifestation of power, not the manifestation of justice, but the manifestation of goodness, is the most impressive on the heart. God adds also, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord." Thus we see that God's goodness, God's glory, and God's name are one and the same thing. J. C. 21-23. Into a rocky recess in some part of the mount near where the cloud was abiding Moses should enter, and after being still further overshadowed by the Divine hand (Arab. "I will overshadow thee with my cloud"), should be permitted to behold a transient glimpse of the overpowering brightness of Jehovah. But even this was not to be a view of his face. The interposing medium was to screen the vision from his sight till it had passed by, and then he was to look upon it and behold his back parts, as one might behold the back of a royal personage as he moved along in majestic state in front of his train. Bush.—I will take away mine hand. When the full splendor of my majesty is passed I will remove that cloud which covered thee; and thou shalt have a shaded and imperfect view of the symbol of my presence; but thou shalt not see my glory in its fullest lustre. Bp. Patrick.—The bright side of the glorious light, where it shone with its full unveiled lustre, is called the fore part, or “face;” and the dark side, where there was a lower degree of brightness, is called its “back part.” There is no danger that any one who reads the Scriptures should think that the Divine Essence consists of any bodily form or parts; since he is described as “filling the heaven of heavens” (1 Kings 8:27), as “a spirit” (John 4:24), “whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Leland. The revelation asked for was reserved until Moses should prepare two other tables of stone all ready for the final restoration and renewal of the covenant. S. R.—The promise here given was to be fulfilled on the morrow, when the mediator was to receive the twofold reward of his spiritual wrestling; the covenant was to be renewed with the nation according to its original terms, and he himself was to be permitted to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of the Divine nature than had ever before been granted to mortal man. Clark. At Jehovah's Bidding, Moses Hews Two Stone Tables, Makes an Ark, Ascends Sinai, and Presents Himself before God. [Note explanatory of De. 10:1-3.] When Moses interceded, God commanded him to prepare two new tables of stone, and to construct an ark in which to keep them (cf. Ex. 34:1). Directions had been given for the construction of the ark before the apostasy of the people, and it was not made till after the tabernacle had been erected, nor were the tables placed in it till the tabernacle had been consecrated. But as the things themselves were closely connected, Moses mentions them here together, without regard to chronological order. W. L. A. Ex. 34:1-3. Moses must attend again on the top of Mount Sinai, and present himself to God there. Though the absence of Moses, and his continuing so long on the mount, had lately occasioned their making the golden calf, yet God did not therefore alter his measures, but he shall come up and tarry as long as he had done, to try whether they had learned to wait. To strike an awe upon the people, they are bid to keep their distance, none must come up with him. They had said (ch. 32:1), We know not what is become of him, and God will not let them know. 4. Moses did, accordingly, hew out the tables of stone, or slate, for they were so slight and thin that Moses carried them both in his hand; and their dimensions must have been somewhat less than the ark in which they were deposited, which was a yard and a quarter long, and three quarters broad. It should seem there was nothing particularly curious in the framing of them, for there was no great time taken: Moses had them ready presently to take up with him next morning. They were to receive their beauty not from the art of man, but from the finger of God. H. There may be no literal mountain which man ascends; there may be no outward manifestations which strike the senses of beholders; but there is a communion between God and the soul, a conscious sense of the Divine Presence, as real and as effective now as that which belonged to Moses, when, at the bidding of God, he went up into the mountain. To deny it, is to rob the religion of the Gospel of all its spirituality; to be ignorant of it, is to be destitute of the very first elements of Christian experience. Mason. Moses, in obedience to the command of God, went up to Mount Sinai, and presented himself before God. He only could do so; he was a typical mediator, a representative, a figurative symbol of Jesus Christ, the only mediator, who has passed into the true holy place, and appears in the presence of God for us. But it is very beautiful to see that on that very mount which burned with fire, and was shrouded with blackness, that very mount whose antecedents had been so dark and terrific, God revealed the most beautiful and comforting description of himself recorded in the whole Bible; to show that Israel was not to be under mere law; but while they saw and learned what the Law was, they were also to have a foretaste of what the Gospel was also. We associate with Sinai everything that is terrific; the contact and the presence of a sovereign, a legislator, a judge. But we should not forget that on Sinai also was revealed this beautiful portrait of Deity. J. C. 5. Now that God is about to publish a second edition of the Law, he prefaces it with this proclamation; for it is God's grace and goodness that gives the Law, especially the remedial law. The pardon of Israel's sin, in worshipping the calf, was now to pass the seals; and God, by this declaration, would let them know that he pardoned merely out of his own good pleasure, not for their merit's sake, but from his own inclination to forgive. The proclaiming of it denotes the universal extent of God's mercy; he is not only good to Israel, but good to all; let all take notice of it. H. Moses had asked to look with his bodily eyes upon the unveiled face of God; but it is only in the mirror of the Word, with the inward spiritual eye of faith, that a man can look upon the Divine Being, whose features, as manifested outwardly, are called his face. In the word, therefore, Jehovah permitted him to behold his essence; but it was in a word of such comprehensiveness, such depth and fulness, as had never fallen upon human ears before. As he passed by Moses, he proclaimed to him who and what he was. What was here declared to Moses was a far deeper, fuller, and more comprehensive explanation of the name Jehovah, a commentary on the words "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14), by which he had previously given to his servant, and through him to his people, a deeper insight into the meaning of his name. It was quite in its right place here; for what it expressed in words was immediately afterward confirmed in a gracious deed—viz., in the renewal of the covenant. K. What he saw is nowhere told us; only what he heard, when Jehovah "proclaimed" before him what Luther aptly designates as "the sermon about the name of God." It unfolded his inmost being, as that of love unspeakable—the cumulation of terms being intended to present that love in all its aspects. And, in the words of a recent German writer: "Such as Jehovah here proclaimed, he also manifested it among Israel at all times, from Mount Sinai till he brought them into the land of Canaan; and thence till he cast them out among the heathen. Nay, even now in their banishment, he is 'keeping mercy for thousands, who turn to the Redeemer that has come out of Zion.'" A. E. 6,7. And the Lord passed by, and proclaimed. It is a wonderful proclamation. You can apprehend its beauty and significance, as an exposition of what Moses wanted to know, by observing how each successive title and description rises in beautiful gradation to the climax—each strengthening and making more wonderful what has preceded. First are declared the natural attributes as the ground and guarantee to man for his infinite moral attributes. "Jehovah, Jehovah God." S. R.—The proper reading is the following, "And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed Jehovah, Jehovah: God, merciful and gracious," etc. The august title "Jehovah" is reduplicated by way of emphasis, as that pre-eminent designation which was designed to come home to the soul with the utmost fulness of import. To this the name "God" (ēl) is subjoined, of which the leading idea is that of strength, might, potency, and which in this connection would convey the idea of all-sufficient protection to all his people and of formidableness to all their enemies. This proclamation of his name as almighty would serve as a suitable preface to the announcement of his moral attributes just about to follow; for his mercies are the mercies of a God of infinite resources; and they are on this account unspeakably endeared to the subjects of them. Bush.—His greatness and goodness illustrate and set off each other. That the terror of his greatness may not make us afraid, we are told how good he is; and that we may not presume upon his goodness, we are told how great he is. H. The Divine attributes here proclaimed constitute the Divine nature, and so the preaching of mercy and forgiveness already resounds on Sinai, the place from which emanates the Law, and thence runs through the whole Bible, until it reaches its fulfilment and perfect realization in Christ. C. G. B.—The properties here mentioned, as his mercy, his grace, his long-suffering, his abundance in goodness or bounty, and truth, his keeping mercy for thousands, his forgiving iniquities, transgression, and sin, have all respect to mankind in a particular manner. And by the last—namely, his "forgiving," or, as the word signifies, his taking away "iniquity, transgression, and sin," he intimates his special love to them, in sending his Son, "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Bp. Beveridge.—In the most solemn moment of the highest revelation, the mediator of the Old Testament beholds God as Love, who, without having first received anything, is full of the desire to communicate his holy and blessed nature to sinners, in order to make them partakers of his perfections: he is not only ready to forgive, but he also waits for their repentance and remits the punishment. At this moment he wishes especially to show how and why he will again turn his grace to the stiffnecked people. Gert. Full of compassion. This is that perfection of Jehovah's nature with which we as sinners have the most immediate and intimate concern, and therefore it stands first in this enumeration. It is this that constitutes the moving spring in the great scheme of redemption. Gracious. From the root hanan, signifying to be kindly or graciously affectioned toward a person. In Scripture usage this term as applied to God and as denoting his dispositions and dealings toward men, carries with it the leading import of unmerited favor or kindness. Slow to anger. The first-fruit of His grace. He bears long with sinners; he delays the execution of justice; he waits to be gracious in despite of their iniquities. Nothing is more wonderful than the patience of God when we consider the provocations which he continually receives at the hands of the ungodly. Plenteous in mercy and truth. Much in goodness, or benignity, and truth. The idea is that of exuberant benevolence. And not only does his goodness abound above our deserts and above our powers of acknowledgment, but being a God of truth, who will not and cannot deceive, we are assured that every promise of further and future good will be strictly fulfilled, and that nothing will prevent the realization of those eternal blessings which he has reserved for them that put their trust in him. Keeping mercy for thousands. The original term mercy is precisely the same with that in the preceding clause. In the former passage reference is had to the plenitude of the Divine mercy, in the present to its perpetuity. Chal. "Keeping goodness to a thousand generations." God keeps or preserves mercy by continually showing it in all its various exercises to thousands of sinners in all ages and to the end of time. He keeps it notwithstanding the crying provocations which might move him to cast it away. He reserves it for his chosen people through all the days of their unregeneracy. Bush. And now, as the moral nature in man asks in amazement, how can all this be true and Jehovah still be holy and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity? This revelation proceeds a step further to explain and justify all the foregoing: "Forgiving" (Heb.)—"Taking away INIQUITY and TRANSGRESSION and SIN! All this boundless exercise of mercy shall be without violence to the sense of truth and right in the soul I do all—not by passing over sin, or being blind to sin, or by pardon without a reason. I take away the iniquity. I arrange for the mercy to flow as though no sin had been done by the sinner. And now more wonderful than all, and the fitting capstone to this glorious manifestation, all shall be done without the least shadow of stain upon my eternal and infinite justice. For I WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY. This overflow of the infinite mercy and grace shall never sweep away the throne of justice, or efface or mar or blur for a moment, in the mind of any intelligent creature in the universe, the eternal distinction between truth and falsehood, right and wrong. For the grace and mercy shall flow out to man for a reason that shall satisfy the highest justice and render Jehovah just in the very act of justifying the sinner. Such is this wonderful evangel to Moses of the mercy of God. It needs nothing more than this simple analysis to make it plain to the apprehension, and then it carries with it its own argument and demonstration to the conscience. Here the teachings of Nature in all her works of his goodness, and of Providence in all its mysterious signs, and of human consciousness, and of "God manifest in the flesh," and of God manifest in human consciousness, all have their clear and distinct utterance. S. R. Here, in these hopeful, inspiring, soul satisfying words, words whose scope and substance anticipate as they most fully express the very pith and marrow of the Gospel—words uttered, too, be it remembered, by the very Being whose after life and suffering in the flesh make up that Gospel—in these words which unveil that which neither the heavens nor the earth could declare—the inner nature of the Godhead, the loftier moral elements of the Divine character, his holiness and love, his justice and his grace—here, in these sublimely attractive and comforting words, have we God's own declaration of that in which consists his chiefest glory. Here himself distinctly avers that he is supremely adorable, he is supremely to be magnified and loved, not for his stupendous visible creations of sphered systems and firmaments, nor for his equally wondrous demonstrations of limitless energy in the continuous upholding and onward harmonious march of these unnumbered worlds, nor yet for his ample beneficent providences, everywhere and at every instant calling for the gratitude of man, but for his vaster, more wonderful, infinitely more beneficent grace in man's forgiveness and redemption. In this disclosure of the very heart of God, his ineffable compassion, tenderness, love blending with high regard to that Law of Holiness exactly responded to by himself and demanded of his intelligent creatures—in this disclosure made by Jehovah Jesus, foreshadowing the great transaction which should prove its truth by his own after deed of inconceivable sacrifice, in this disclosure which met and satisfied the spiritual longing of Moses, may we too behold the most excellent glory of the living God. And this vision of his highest glory, as a just God and yet a Saviour, this simple, full, explicit proclamation of his name, that by which he delights to be chiefly known—"Merciful and Gracious"—this revelation to Moses, amplified, illustrated, convincingly impressed by the whole incarnate life and death of Jesus, this it is which every darkened, sinning, disquieted human soul supremely needs. This inshining of God into our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the person and sacrifice of Christ, as Paul expansively enunciates the desire of Moses, this vision of God in Christ, as merciful and gracious, long-suffering, forgiving iniquity and transgression, is that which every human soul imperatively needs, which each must desire, must seek and receive for himself, if he would find peace and rest of spirit. B. Even though every other voice were hushed, surely each follower of Christ must sing aloud, repeating from his heart the words, "Merciful, gracious, long-suffering!" How well has God dealt with each one of us—ineffably beyond what we can ask or think! There is no heart without its sore, but neither is there any sore without its heavenly cure. There is no life without its doubts and its unanswered questionings, but neither is there any doubt that does not sometime yield to grateful astonishment. The God of everlasting mercy ever finds out ways of showing his compassion for us men. The God of boundless patience bears with imperfection in his servants. How clear becomes the dark life-path, when with a Moses's eye we everywhere behold the rays fall from the revelation of God's glory, and with a Moses's ear hear from each dark, impenetrable cloud above our path the voice from heaven repeated constantly, "Merciful, gracious, abundant in goodness!" And this revelation of God's holy love is destined to be ever going on, ever becoming clearer, and never adequately praised. What matters it although you do not in the body stand next Moses on Mount Sinai? Is not the voice out of the cloud sealed by the voice from your heart? Van O. The character of God was known, in all its important features, by the Old Testament saints. They knew and adored his infinite holiness, his unalterable truth, his unbending justice, his immeasurable compassions. So God revealed himself here to Moses. This is clearly God's glory (a just God and a Saviour), as it is revealed in Christ, who on this occasion made himself known to Moses. If we would see these glorious attributes of God in all their heights and depths, and length and breadth, we must contemplate them as they are revealed at Calvary. They who never witnessed that amazing spectacle—God-Man crucified for sinners—know comparatively nothing of God. Upon the cross of Jesus is inscribed, "They shall know me." Goode.—In the person of his Son Jesus Christ God has so revealed himself, that, without at all lowering his dignity or lessening his glory, he may yet be steadily gazed upon. "We beheld his glory," said his disciples, "the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Who could have supposed that "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords," would ever have been seen by mortal eye? Who could ever have hoped that the source and centre of all excellence and perfection would ever stoop to exhibit himself to his creatures? But that which we could not have supposed, and which it would have been presumption to have desired, has actually taken place! "The Word was made flesh, and did dwell among men." R. Hall. The scheme of redemption, in its conception and evolution, is a sublime commentary upon the sacredness and supremacy of right, which, while it reveals the ineffable enormity of sin, presents the character of God in such an aspect of venerable grandeur that Holiness becomes awful and majestic, and we insensibly adore under the moral impression which it makes. He that stands beneath the cross and understands the scene dares not sin; not because there is a hell beneath him or an angry God above him, but because Holiness is felt to reign there—the ground on which he treads is sacred, the glory of the Lord encircles him. God never appears to be so truly great, so intensely holy, as when, from the pure energy of principle, he gives himself, in the person of his Son, to die, rather than that his character should be impugned. Who, at the foot of Cavalry, can pronounce sin to be a slight matter? Here, then, lies the most impressive sanction of revelation. Not content to promulgate the Law with absolute certainty, to put under tribute the whole resources of the invisible world, to lay its hand upon eternity and make heaven and hell its ministers, it rises yet higher and seeks to impress us with a subduing sense of the sacredness of right—to make us feel how awful goodness is; it reveals its inherent greatness, unveils its ineffable glory. It does not describe it, but shows it; and we return from the cross with emotions similar to those of Moses when the name of the Lord was proclaimed, and the goodness of the Lord passed before him in the cleft of the rock. It is the scheme of redemption which crowns the ethical teachings of the Bible. The lesson is sealed at the cross; there, and there only, do we shudder at sin for its own sake, and reverence right for itself. Thornwell. Moses Pleads for Israel's Pardon and Restoration to Favor (Ex. 34:9; De. 9:18-20, 25-29). And Jehovah Hearkens unto him (De. 10:10). When Moses thus fully understood the character of Jehovah, he could once more plead for Israel, now converting into a plea for forgiveness even the reason which had seemed to make the presence of Jehovah among Israel dangerous—that they were a stiffnecked people. In the same manner had the Lord, in speaking to Noah, made the sin of man, which had erst provoked judgment, the ground for future forbearance. A. E.—It is a strange plea he urges; for it is a stiffnecked people. God had given this as a reason why he would not go along with them (ch. 33:3); “Yea,” says Moses, “the rather go along with us; for the worse they are, the more need they have of thy presence and grace to make them better.” Moses sees them so stiffnecked, that, for his part, he has neither patience nor power enough to deal with them; “Therefore, Lord, do thou go among us, else they will never be kept in awe. Thou wilt spare, and bear with them, for thou art God, and not man” (Hos. 11:9). H. Now Moses is relieved of his perplexities, at least so far as to see that mercy will be secured to some in all generations though others may reject it and perish. He may rest in tranquil confidence upon the purpose of him who keeps mercy for thousands. He does not tell us, for he could not, what he saw when the Lord passed by. Filled with wonder and solemn awe, he made haste to bow his head and prostrate himself in profound reverence. But still true to his work as intercessor, his first cry after this amazing exhibition, is the same long-urged petition: “Let my Lord I pray thee go among us and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.” And Moses is victorious. For Jehovah said, “Behold, I make a covenant.” The sinners are saved and restored to God as his people. S. R. De. 9:25-29. On a comparison of this passage with Nu. 14:5, the subject and language of this prayer show that only the second act of intercession (verse 18) is now described in fuller detail. Jamieson. De. 10:10. Moses here sums up the general result of his intercession. As at the first, he was on the mount the second time forty days and forty nights; and in response to his pleading the Lord willed not to destroy Israel, and commanded him to resume his place as leader of the people, and conduct them to the promised land. “This commandment and promise was a testimony that God now was reconciled unto them by the intercession of Moses.” W. L. A. On Sinai, at the Bush, Moses was taught to view Jehovah as the Infinite; at the giving of the Law, as the God of spotless holiness; but here, as the God of everlasting mercy. What he now hears is the grandest revelation ever made by God under the Old Economy; the only scene we can compare with that before us now—viz., the revelation granted to Elijah on this very Horeb, only showed that man of God, in sacred symbols, the same truths here audibly proclaimed to Moses by the voice of God. Van O. Among the greatest lessons of this history are those that relate to prayer. The whole character of Moses as seen in this transaction is wonderfully pure and true. How unselfishly he casts away, as not to be thought of, the Divine suggestion—“I will make of thee a great nation!” With what solid grasp and singular tenacity did he hold fast to the great ideas of God’s covenant with Abraham—to make this nation his own peculiar people; to abide among them; to manifest himself in works of power and grace, and get himself a great name in all the earth! Shall God forget this covenant; abandon this people: drop them midway from Egypt to Canaan, and leave all the nations to exult in their ruin and to put it to the caprice or the impotence of Israel’s God? Never! It is wonderful how Moses holds on upon these strong points in his case and the case of Israel; how thoroughly he proves himself to have been raised up of God for the great mission of Israel’s leader and advocate with God. With what boldness does he debate the case before the Lord and set forth his strong reasons—reasons, not of selfish sort, not looking so much to the human side as to the Divine; reasons that entered deeply into the greatest of all considerations—the honor of God before all the nations, and the success of his plans in making Israel his chosen people. As we search the annals of human history in vain to find a stronger case of power with God in prayer, so we must look far to find a case more instructive in regard to the proper attitude for praying souls before God, and the proper arguments to use in prayer. Moses seemed not so much pleading for himself or for his people, as for God. Therefore it was that his pleas, based on the revealed counsels of the Almighty and fully in sympathy with his designs and with his glory, took hold of the heart of Jehovah and could not be denied. H. C. Ye who are much concerned about your sins, pray, "Show me thy glory!" until the Lord make you understand that everything is finished that concerns your good. Ye who are feeble in the fight of faith, repeat each day the prayer, "Show me thy glory!" that ye may be "strengthened with might in the inner man." Ye who are bent beneath the weight of life's burdens and crosses, ask that God may show his glory unto you, whether by the removal of the burden you bear, or by its continuance, or, if it must be so, by even increasing it. Van O. JEHOVAH RENEWS THE COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. BRIEF SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES PREVIOUSLY GIVEN. SECOND WRITING UPON THE TABLES OF STONE OF THE TEN WORDS. TRANSFIGURATION OF MOSES'S FACE. Ex. 34 10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant : before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation : and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD, for it is a terrible thing that I do with thee. 11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day : behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, 12 and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, 13 lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee : but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in 14 pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim : for thou shalt worship no other god : 15 for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God : lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, 16 and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice ; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after 17 their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou 18 keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed 19 in the month Abib : for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that openeth the 20 womb is mine ; and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of ox and sheep. And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb : and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before 21 me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest : in plowing time 22 and in harvest thou shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the firstfruits 23 of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Three times in the year shall 24 all thy males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders : neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou goest up to 25 appear before the LORD thy God three times in the year. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread ; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left 26 unto the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house 27 of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words : for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant 28 with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights ; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. De. 10 4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the 5 assembly : and the LORD gave them unto me. And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made ; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me. Ex. 34 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not 30 that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone ; and they were afraid to 31 come nigh him. And Moses called unto them ; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation 32 returned unto him : and Moses spake to them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh : and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount 33 Sinai. And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when 34 Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out ; 35 and he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded ; and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone : and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. This section contains : First, the announcement by Jehovah of the re-establishment of his covenant with Israel, with a general declaration of his purposed intervention in their behalf (verse 10). Second, an abridged repetition and still briefer compendium of "the words and judgments" recited (Ex 20 : 22-23 : 19) in connection with the previously ratified covenant. This is comprised in verses 11-26. Third, the instruction to Moses to "write these words" also as a permanent record of the conditions "after the tenor of which," God says, "I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel" (verse 27). Then follow the second forty days with Jehovah, the second Divine writing of "the Ten Commandments," and Israel's fear because of the transfiguration of Moses's face. B. The Lord now graciously confirmed once more his covenant with Israel. In so doing he reminded them of its two conditions, the one negative, the other positive, but both strictly connected, and both applying to the time when Moses should be no more, and Israel had entered on possession of the promised land. These two conditions were always to be observed, if the covenant was to be maintained. The one was avoidance of all contact with the Canaanites and their idolatry (verses 11-16) ; the other, observance of the service of Jehovah in the manner prescribed by him (verses 17-26). A. E. 10. Behold, I make a covenant. When the covenant was broken, it was Israel that brake it ; now that it comes to be renewed, it is God that makes it. If there be quarrels, we must bear all the blame ; if there be peace, God must have all the glory. H. — I will do wonders.** Before reciting the conditions of the covenant on the part of the people, God briefly repeats the substance of his own engagement (verse 10) as a motive to stimulate them to the performance of theirs, to wit, that he would drive out before them the devoted nations and put them in triumphant possession of the promised land. As if he should say, "You see what I have pledged myself to do ; now let me see that you will not be wanting in what I require of you." Bush. ##### Verses 11-26. As Jehovah now renews the covenant, he again rehearses in still briefer compass the summary of ordinances previously given (Ex. 20 : 22-23 : 19). He thus, a second time, outlines the essential conditions upon whose fulfilment by them depends his fulfilment of the promises contained in the covenant now renewed. B. The book which Moses was commanded (in verse 27) to write as the basis of the covenant, is called the little book of the covenant, to distinguish it from the book which Moses wrote as the basis of the original covenant at Sinai (Ex. 24 : 4), which is called the greater book of the covenant, on account of its much greater extent. This little book of the covenant is included in verses 11-26, and is scarcely larger than the tables of the covenant (Ex. 20 : 1-17). It is now the common opinion of critics that we have here another Decalogue. In the arrangement of the commands (verses 14-26) we present the following scheme as the one most satisfactory. First command, verses 14-16. Second, verse 17. Third, verses 18-20. Fourth, verse 21. Fifth, verse 22. Sixth, verses 22-24. Seventh and Eighth, verse 25. Ninth and Tenth, verse 26. These commands may be divided into three groups : (1) The two laws of worship in general (verses 14-17). (2) The laws of holy days (verses 18-24). (3) The laws of offerings. It is therefore a Decalogue of worship as compared with the Decalogue of the tables, which is a Decalogue of holy conduct. They may well have been each in its way at the root of the covenant of Jehovah with Israel. The one was written by Jehovah himself upon two tables as the tables of the covenant, the other was written by Moses in a writing as a book of the covenant. ##### The Introduction (verses 11-13). "Keep thou that which I am commanding thee to-day. Behold, I am about to drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself lest thou conclude a covenant with the inhabitants of the land upon which thou art about to come, lest it become a snare in thy midst. Nay their altars ye shall tear down and their Mazzeboth ye shall break down and their Asherim ye shall cut in pieces." This introduction mentions the six chief nations of Canaan, the same as those given in the larger book of the covenant (23 : 23), and also in the Deuteronomic code (De. 20 : 17), but in each case they are in a different order. The altars were the places of sacrifice to other gods. They were unfit for the sacrifices to Jehovah. The Mazebooth (verse 13) were stone pillars used in the worship of Bual, the Sun god. The Asherim were evergreens, or pillars of evergreen wood, used in the worship of Ashera, the goddess of life and fertility. These were to be destroyed by tearing down, breaking down, cutting in pieces. Briggs. 11. Behold, I drive out the Canaanite, etc.** When God drove out those nations, he acted as a judge. They were criminals, proved criminals. Their sins had risen to heaven; they indulged in the most abominable, the most depraved and revolting practices; and when God drove them out, it was not simply to make room for the Israelites, but it was punishing justly and righteously a guilty race, and giving their empty land to a people not innocent, for they were a stiffnecked people, but a people that he had chosen to make by his grace what they should be—kings and priests unto God and unto his Christ. There was nothing unjust in this expulsion of these nations, in order to make room for the children of Israel. The expression "God is a jealous God," and the warning to Moses not to make any covenant with the Canaanites, but to destroy their altars, must suggest itself the reason for it. J. C. 12. The ashera was a symbol of the goddess, probably in some one of her characters, wrought in wood in some conventional form. If we suppose it to have symbolized her as a goddess of nature, its form may have resembled that of the sacred tree of the Assyrians, with which we have become familiar from the monuments of Nineveh. It has been conjectured from the sculptured figures that this was an upright stock which was adorned at festive seasons with boughs, flowers, and ribbons. Such might have been the ashera. Clark. 14. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. That is, whose nature is jealous; who can bear no rival. The covenant made with Israel was virtually a marriage-covenant, and consequently idolatry was adultery. Every approach to this sin, therefore, would be sure to provoke him to jealousy. Bush.—15, 16.** The Scriptures frequently speak of idolatrous worship as uncleanness—partly in compliance with the Jewish idiom, which calls anything that is detestable filthy and unclean: the persons of that people being rendered unholy by bodily pollutions—partly by reason of the very unchaste actions and rites by which many of the heathen idols were served; but especially, because it was an alienation of the hearts and bodies of his chosen people from him. Patrick. 17. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.** This corresponds with the second command of the tables, but without the reasons which are here associated with the previous command. There we have the specification of the graven or carved image of wood, here we have the molten image of metal. Neither mention the image of stone. But in neither case are we to conclude that other images were allowed than those specified. It is in accordance with the concrete character of these early laws, that they mention a specimen of a class and do not generalize. Briggs. 19. All that openeth the womb is mine. They should redeem their children as well as the unclean animals at a price; but they should bring into the tabernacle whatsoever could be offered in sacrifice. 20.** God would not have their own sons consecrated to him, because he had chosen the tribe of Levi; they were therefore to remain free after a pecuniary compensation. In the same way, unclean animals might be applied to domestic purposes after God's price had been paid, since to him they belonged, and he claimed them for himself. But if any should not put so high a value on an ass or other unclean animal, the Law commanded that its neck should be broken; for it would have been sacrilege to reap profit from God's property or to transfer to their private use what God had adjudged to himself. Calv. 21. This command gives an additional feature in the last sentence "In ploughing and reaping"—that is, in the busiest seasons of the year when the temptation to work would be strongest, they were yet to observe the Sabbath. Briggs.—No necessity must interrupt this sacred observance. Else it might have seemed a just pretext, if, on account of continued rains or other ungenial weather, ploughing should be difficult, husbandmen were to be released from the obligation of the Law. God allows of no dispensation; the Sabbath is to be observed though at the risk of loss. Calv. 23,24. God wonderfully preserved that people when all the males went up three times in the year to the place where God's ark was. The people of Israel were generally surrounded with enemies that sought all opportunities to destroy them and dispossess them of their land; and till David's time there were great numbers in the land of the Canaanites and other former inhabitants that were bitter enemies to the people of Israel: and these had from year to year, three times in the year, a fair opportunity of overrunning their country and getting possession of their cities when all the males were gone, and only the women and those who were not able to go up were left behind. And yet they were remarkably preserved throughout all generations at such seasons, agreeable to the promise that God here made. Ellcards.—Thrice every year did God work an especial miracle for the protection of his people; controlling even the very desires of their enemies, that they might not so much as meditate evil against them. They who have God for their protector have a sure refuge; and how true is the proverb, The path of duty is the way of safety. While these people went up to Jerusalem to keep the Lord's ordinances, he kept their families in peace and their land in safety. A. C.—We read in the after history of no instance where the enemies of the Israelites made use of these feasts as a time for assailing them. It was only when the people was destined by the Lord to destruction, when the Romans had got possession of a large portion of their country, that the occurrence of the feast of the Passover served to heighten the famine of the besieged in Jerusalem. Gerl. 26. "Thou shalt not seethe a kid (which is still) with its mother's milk." This last command is most difficult of all. The older Protestant interpreters, Luther, Calvin, Piscator, et al., thought of a limitation of the age of an animal for purpose of sacrifice. This is most suited to the context, for we have had three laws of offerings prior to it. We follow this interpretation and class this law with the three preceding as laws of offerings. Briggs. 27. Write thou these words.** Moses was commanded to write the summary of judicial and ceremonial precepts comprised in the preceding fourteen verses, which were an appendage to the moral Law and the conditions of the national covenant on the part of the nation. Moses had before written in a book the precepts contained in ch. 21-23. As by their recent transgressions they had broken both the Law on the tables of stone and the Law in the book, Jehovah may have commanded this rewriting of the substance of the previous covenant, together with his own writing on the stones, to betoken to the people that the former covenant was now fully restored. S. R. After the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. This is a covenant transaction, and this law, so-called, constitutes simply the stipulations of that covenant. So it is expressly declared of it, "The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb." It was ratified formally as a covenant, when first received, the people being called upon solemnly to swear to it, after it had been written down in a book. To give it still more solemn and venerable form the fundamental truths of it were engrossed upon stone by the hand of Jehovah himself. When, after this, the people violated all its solemn stipulations, by the idolatry of the golden calf, Moses understood the covenant to be annulled, and therefore destroyed the Divine autograph of it. When they were pardoned and their relations to Jehovah were restored, it was again divinely written and deposited in the chest or ark, upon the cover of which the throne of Jehovah's visible presence was placed, hence called the ark of the covenant; and thus it was preserved to after generations as the perpetual reminder that they were in covenant with Jehovah. It was a covenant with this body of people as a church, the body organized by the covenant with Abraham, and its redemption guaranteed in the passover covenant. In speaking of the body as the Church we are but repeating the words of the martyr Stephen in Acts 7:38, "This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness, with the angel that spake to him in Mount Sinai with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us." And that this is no mere figure of speech is plain enough from the reference of this covenant back to the covenants with Abraham and the passover covenant, as fulfilled and further carried out by this covenant. It was a covenant with this church as a representative body, standing for the Church of all succeeding ages. Moses, forty years after, when this generation that stood before Sinai had all perished, expressly says to the next generation, "The Lord made this covenant not with our fathers but with us, even us who are all here alive this day." By parity of reasoning the Church that stood at Sinai, thus representing one, represented all succeeding generations. And accordingly thenceforth in the succeeding ages, including that of the apostles, the inspired teachers regarded the Church as still under this covenant. And you will observe how, under the New Testament dispensation, Stephen expressly says, "Our fathers received the lively oracles to give unto us." That is, they stood there as representing us. It was a covenant wholly spiritual in its significance. Moses, just as Jesus afterward, sums up its provisions in the generalization, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, soul, and strength." And the apostle expressly argues that, so far from disannulling the previous covenant of spiritual blessings with Abraham, as the representative father of all who believe and who thus constitute the true circumcision, it is intended to include that covenant, and both confirm and develop more fully its provisions of spiritual blessing. As to the end and purpose of this Sinai Law covenant, the Apostle Paul not only leaves no room for uncertainty or further need of exposition after his clear and elaborate exposition in the epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, and the Hebrews, but expressly answers the question, "Wherefore then serveth the Law?" in these explicit terms—"It was added because of transgression until the seed (promised in the Eden and Abrahamic covenants) should come. Wherefore the Law was our school-master to bring us to Christ—that we might be justified by faith." The substance of the whole matter, therefore, is this: that as the covenant with Adam, for the blessing of a Divine-human Redeemer to restore a part of the race through vicarious atonement, was more distinctly developed in the covenant with Noah, establishing the blessing in the line of Shem; and both these, again, more fully developed in the covenant with Abraham establishing the blessing in the line of Isaac, and organizing the redeemed body as a church settled in a promised inheritance; and all three of these, again, more fully developed in the passover covenant, bringing out more distinctly the engagement to redeem this Church by faith in atoning blood; so now this Sinai covenant is a still further development, in detail, of all the preceding covenants, intended to teach and produce a conscious conviction of the need of a vicarious atonement; the method of applying its benefits by faith for the pardon of sin and purification of the nature; and the relation of the believers to their Redeemer, as king and head of an organized commonwealth. S. R. 28. And he was there with the Lord forty days.** The number of forty days is repeated that the second tables might have no less credit than the first. If he had only been kept a few days in the mount, his authority would not have been ratified by so conspicuous a miracle; but the forty days obtained full credit for his mission, so that the people might know that he was sent by God. And that the majesty of the Law might be indubitable, its minister was invested with angelic glory; and hence he expressly records that "he did neither eat bread, nor drink water," since it was requisite that he should be distinguished from other mortals. This instance of abstinence was never alleged as an example by the prophets, nor did any one attempt to imitate it except Elijah, who being sent to revive the Law when it was almost lost, like a second Moses, abstained also from eating and drinking for forty days. Calv.—In De. 9: 18 this second sojourn is thus alluded to: "And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger." If we inquire into the design of this second forty days' withdrawn and seclusion, the passage now cited seems to disclose one at least of the grand ends which were to be answered by it—viz., to convey to the people a deeper impression of their recent iniquity. Bush.—I see Moses the receiver of the Law, Elias the restorer of the Law, Christ the fulfiller of the old Law and author of the new, all fasting forty days; and these three great fasters I find together glorious in the holy mount. Bp. H. Ex. 34: 28. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. That the pronoun HE refers to the LORD, and not to Moses, is sufficiently proved by De. 10: 1-3. At that time the Lord said unto me, How thee two tables of stone like unto the first—and I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables—and I hewed two tables of stone, as at the first—And HE wrote on the tables according to the first writing. This proves that God wrote the second as well as the first tables. A. C. The Ten Commandments were twice written by the finger of the Lord himself, and upon enduring tables of stone, to show how deeply and permanently they were to be engraved upon the heart of man. Twice written, once upon a broken and once upon an unbroken tablet, symbolically setting forth the truth that they were once written upon the nature before the fall, and are to be inscribed a second time upon that nature, which inscription is made at his regeneration. Also, as they were once written upon stone, they were to be engraved a second time upon the heart, as the Prophet Jeremiah predicted would be, and as the apostle asserted had been done (Heb. 8: 10). Then by special command they were afterward deposited for safe keep- ing in the ark of the covenant, upon which rested the Shekinah of the Lord, the most inviolably sacred place outside the courts of heaven, and by special designation were ever afterward known as the "Tables of the Testimony." Sacy. De. 10:5. These two tables, thus engraven, were faithfully laid up in the ark. And there they be, said Moses, pointing, it is probable, toward the sanctuary (verse 5). That good thing which was committed to him he transmitted to them, and left it pure and entire in their hands; now let them look to it at their peril. Thus we may say to the living generation, "God has intrusted us with Bibles, Sabbaths, sacraments, as tokens of his presence and favor, and there they be." H.—There they be, as the Lord commanded me. Here is another minute but important circumstance, the public mention of which at the time attests the veracity of the sacred historian. Jamieson. The Law, if written on stone, was written by a hand of love, if set forth in letters that seem to burn in the intensity of their purity, yet do those very letters light us into inner meanings, into the very hidden sanctuary of God. The Christian position is that the whole scheme of righteousness is revealed: whatever is right, true, pure, good, lovely, honest, and of heavenly savor has been given by God. One who knows the universe because he made it, and all eternity because he inhabits it, has condescended to tell us what is good, what is true, what is pure, what is right. Let us ask that we may have eyes to see the innermost meaning of the Law, and hearts trained, disciplined, and sanctified to accept and obey it, and express it in noble behavior. J. P. The Shining Face of Moses (Ex. 34:29-35). 29. His face shone. This was an honor never vouchsafed to mortal before; nor afterward till Christ, the Prophet like Moses, in his transfiguration also: when Moses again beheld the glory of the Lord, ministering thereto in a glorified form himself. Hales.—A double signification was conveyed by this: In the first place, it was signified that the Law proceeded from a higher world of light (of knowledge and of holiness), since its very gleams were to be seen outwardly on the minister of the Law; in the next place, since the people could not bear the shining of light, it represented how fearful, condemnatory, and fatal the Law was for a sinful people. For this cause Moses was obliged to put a veil over the lustre of light (a type of the veil which in the Old Testament lies over the full revelation of the Divine truths of salvation), until the light again gradually vanished (2 Cor. 3). Gerl. From this circumstance, almost all the nations of the world who have heard of this transaction have agreed in representing those men to whom they attributed extraordinary sanctity, and whom they supposed to have had familiar intercourse with the Deity, with a lucid nimbus or glory round their heads. This has prevailed both in the East and in the West. A. C. Wist not. They who have grown most in grace, have gained most richly of the glory and the goodness of God by contact and communion with him, will themselves least be exalted by the knowledge of what they have. And therefore it is beautifully said that Moses wist not. J. C.—Nor is it ever found that those who bear much of the Divine image are conscious of the moral glory which has passed upon them. Their minds are so fixed upon their own defects; they are so deeply convinced of the corruption of their nature; they are so profoundly penetrated with the sense of their ill-desert, that instead of realizing the possession of distinguished graces, they still count themselves as "less than the least of all saints." Bush. The face of Moses shone when he came down from the mount; the reflected rays of the Divine Majesty lingered on it; the people saw that he had been with God. It is ever thus. No man leaves the presence of Christ without carrying with him that which will distinguish him from other men; a mind less preyed on by worldly cares; affections elevated above worldly vanities; a holy abhorrence of all that is polluting and base; a soaring of the thoughts and desires to heaven; an humble professing and sustaining of this character—a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth, a native of heaven in a foreign land. The world around him will "take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus;" for "the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon him." Bradley.—Moses was full of the Holy Ghost. The lustre without was but the index of the light within. He had gone in unto God to plead for others, and he was rewarded openly, by bringing down from the mount a radiance that told with whom he had been! If our faces were oftener directed toward God in intercessory prayer, they would certainly beam with new light, and men would take knowledge of us that we had been with Jesus. The Apostle Paul understood the blessedness of intercessory prayer. He himself rose to a glorious height in this sublime act, and yet he declares his own dependence on and appreciation of the prayers of the saints. Nor do we at all understand the priesthood of believers, till we regard this as one of its special privileges, functions, and duties. Let those who "profess and call themselves Christians" rise to this high and holy service. C. C. The Christian favored with near approaches to God in prayer, as he comes down from the mount will show the brightness that his soul has borrowed from the light of God's countenance shining upon him. His very countenance will show the effects of his communion in the serenity of his look, the benignity of his eye, in the gentleness of his speech, and the grace of his deportment. S. R.—Consciously and unconsciously, by direct efforts and by insensible influences on our lives, the true secret of our being ought to come, and will come forth to light. The convictions which we hold, the emotions that are dominant in our hearts, will mould and shape our being. If we have any deep living perception of Christ, bystanders, looking into our faces, will be able to tell what it is that up yonder is making them like the faces of the angels—even the vision of the opened heavens and of the exalted Lord. And we may be quite sure that if little light comes from a Christian character, little light comes into it; and if it be swathed in thick veils from men, there will be no less thick veils between it and God. A. M. 30. Aaron and all the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him.** The awe struck multitude had here a conspicuous sign before their eyes that Moses was the veritable servant of the Most High God, the prime-minister of the Old Covenant. M.—They that did but stand still to see anger in his face, ran away to see glory in it: before, they had desired that God would not speak to them any more but by Moses; and now that God doth but look upon them in Moses, they are afraid. Yea, Aaron himself, that before went up into the mount to see and speak with God, now is afraid to see him that had seen God: such a fear there is in guiltiness, such confidence in innocency. Bp. H. 32. When Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.** Verses 34 and 35 describe syntactically a general practice in harmony with the special case described in verse 33, thus: "On Moses's entering in before Jehovah to speak with him, he removes the veil (and keeps it off) until his going forth; and he goes forth and speaks to the children of Israel whatsoever is commanded; and the children of Israel see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses's face is shining; and Moses returns the veil over his face until his entering in to speak with God." Thus the order of occurrences is each time as follows: (1) Moses enters the presence of God; (2) Moses removes the veil; (3) Moses goes forth and reports; (4) At the conclusion of the report, he returns the veil to his face; (5) He removes it again only when he enters Jehovah's presence again. At first the people were afraid. But Moses succeeded in reassuring them, so that thereafter they locked fearlessly upon his shining face (verse 35). The veil was drawn over his face after his report of the messages of the Lord, in order that the people might not see the vanishing away of that glory (see 2 Cor. 3: 13). Paul uses that circumstance to show how Israel missed the transition from the Old Covenant into the New. The fact that the Old had vanished was concealed from them by that veil. S. S. T. 35. Paul, in the New Testament, makes large use of this narrative of the glory that shone on Moses's face as he came down with the renewed covenant. Thus he employs it as in a typical sense an emblem of the relative glories of the old legal and the new evangelical dispensation (2 Cor. 3: 16, 18). Even as a rhetorical figure, how beautiful is this application of the narrative of Moses to the purpose of setting before Jewish Christians the relation of the new to the old dispensation. Moses, with his veil, stands as a symbol of his own dispensation, which was, in fact, the Gospel under a veil. And the symbol is represented as having a threefold significance, when contemplated in its different parts. First, the symbol points out the intrinsic excellence and glory of the old dispensation, even though far less glorious than the new. But as the glory of Moses's face was absorbed and lost when he entered "the tent of meeting" to commune with God, so the brightness of the old dispensation of Moses is eclipsed in the transcendent brightness of the Gospel. Again, the narration of the veiled Moses, in the apostle's view, symbolizes the comparative obscurity of the old exhibition of the way of salvation. The veil represents the indistinct view which the Israelites had through the ritual teachings of the Law; the brightness of the Gospel light was covered up by rites that their minds did not penetrate. Nor will many of them now lift the veil, as the new dispensation invites them to do. Hence, again, this veil typified the blindness and ignorance under which the Jewish mind labored, even in the time of the apostle. They had so long looked at Moses veiled that they now seemed to think the very veil an essential part of the system of salvation. S. R. Age after age the inveterate prejudice of the Jewish heart has prevented them from discerning the true sense of their own law, of its figures, types, and institutions, just as effectually as the veil on the face of Moses prevented them from beholding the beauty of his countenance. They read the books of their lawgiver, but in the sacrifices and services there prescribed they see no intimation of that Lamb of richer blood and that Priest of higher name, whom we are taught to recognize as foreshadowed by them. They read the predictions of the prophets, but they do not see them pointing to the Saviour Christ, the true Messiah, in whom all their oracles are fulfilled. The thick veil of error and unbelief is upon their minds, and until that is taken away, as we learn it eventually shall be, the light of the glory of God in the Gospel of his Son will not shine into them. Bush. The apostle says in his just and beautiful commentary upon the whole of this incident, that the Jews still see Christ through a veil—that is, the whole Old Testament dispensation of the Gospel is seen by the Jews dimly, darkly, and obscurely, as through a veil. Every doctrine is seen through a type; every sacrifice is revealed under a symbol, as a mirror of the sanctuary; every hope is embosomed in a promise; every restoration nestles in the midst of a prophecy. The Jew—the spiritual Jew, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly—sees the veil, catches some stray beams of the inner glory that are stricken through, but he cannot behold in all his naked splendor Him who is the end and the substance of all—Jesus Christ, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. The Jew, in the synagogue, sees the high priest still stand in the holy of holies and gaze upon the glory between the cherubim, and bear upon his breastplate, engraved on sparkling gems, the names of the tribes of Jacob; but he cannot see the True High-Priest who has entered into the true holy place, and amid the glory of the inner sanctuary is making intercession for his people. The Jew can see the passover lamb; he can read its history; he can regret that he is not restored to the only place where he can offer it—Jerusalem and its temple; but he cannot see through the veil the true and the only Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. They have not the light of the Sun of Righteousness shining on them. And when one evening I went into their synagogue, and worshipped with them—for they sang some precious Psalms, and there was something beautiful in joining with a child of Israel in those Divine hymns which, alas! to his ear are only prophecies—it was melancholy to see inscribed over the porch of that synagogue a prayer, that God would send the Messiah to Israel. J. C. While the apostle's words throw light on the rejection of Jesus by the Jews, they also remind us that the time is coming when Israel shall turn unto the Lord, and the veil shall be taken away. One cannot study this old Hebrew literature and discover how much the world has learned from it, without having his heart drawn toward the Jewish race. That religion which is at the root of our prosperity as a people, which is the source of our individual happiness in time, and the inspiration of our hope for eternity, is the outcome and development of theirs. The Lord we love and trust and worship was "made of the seed of Abraham;" and it is unutterably sad to think that as a race the Jews have turned against him to whom all their prophets gave witness, and in whom all the shadows of their Law had their true substance. Truly, to this day, when Moses is read among them, the veil is upon their heart. But it shall not always be thus; for when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, then the Jews shall return to their allegiance; and their conversion will be as a new Pentecost to the Christian Church. W. M. T. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 25 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my 3 offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass ; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins dyed red, 5 and sealskins, and acacia wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the 6 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 7 And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I 9 shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. 35 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is 5 the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the 6 LORD : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the LORD's offering ; gold, and silver, 7 and brass ; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins 8 dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood ; and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing 9 oil, and for the sweet incense ; and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 10 the breastplate. And let every wise hearted man among you come, and make all that the 11 LORD hath commanded ; the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, 12 its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the 13 veil of the screen ; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the shewbread ; the 14 candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light ; and the 15 altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen 16 for the door, at the door of the tabernacle ; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of 17 brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base ; the hangings of the court, the 18 pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court ; the pins of the 19 tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; the finely wrought garments, for min- istering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 20. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the 22 service thereof, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all 23 jewels of gold ; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 24 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering : and every man, with whom was found acacia 25 wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the 26 scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun 27 the goats' hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the 28 ephod, and for the breastplate ; and the spice, and the oil ; for the light, and for the anoint- 29 ing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the LORD ; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son 2 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in 3 wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 4 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones 5 for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, 6 I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have com- 7 manded thee : the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is 8 thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent ; and the table and its vessels, and the pure 9 candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense ; and the altar of burnt offering with 10 all its vessels, and the laver and its base ; and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office ; 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place : according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 35 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name 31. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of cunning workmanship. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Then hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise cunning works. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD hath commanded. 2. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. 4. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. 38 21 This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. 24. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and made fillets for them. And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. Sections 120-153 comprise the body of CEREMONIAL LAWS, and include all the ordinances pertaining to Worship and Ritual. For the outline of these ordinances and the order of arrangement, study carefully the Index following the title-page. In this and each of several following sections relating to the Tabernacle, its Court, and their furniture, and to the sacred things pertaining to the Ritual service, the double text of the record is included: covering, first, the command to Moses in the mount; second, the execution of the command. The history is thus unified and made more simple and intelligible, while the exact correspondence between the direction and its fulfilment continually repeats its impressive lesson. B. Preliminary Facts and Considerations. Two distinct elements are observable in the remaining portion of the Pentateuch: one, a set of laws forming a complete ecclesiastical and civil code; the other, an historical detail of the principal events, connected with the promulgation of the laws. The two elements are com bined in a manner quite extraordinary. The laws do not stand insulated by themselves, neither are they embodied in a systematic form. But, paradoxical as the assertion may seem, they are both separated and connected by the historical narrative. "It is a code of laws in a frame of history." There are continual transitions from history to law, and from law to history. They are everywhere grafted, the one into the other; and there is such a mutual connection and dependence, that the two parts seem to grow together, like the several branches of a tree. E. C. W. Its Design and Use. The best apology of the ceremonial law lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it: First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of redemption. The Law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. Hengstenberg. The purpose of the Levitical law as a scheme of Divine tuition for the Jews, is perhaps largely explained by its tendency to cultivate in the Hebrew mind theistic and monotheistic ideas. That law was of course a device of elaborate prefigurement to forerun the Coming of Christ. But, co-ordinate with this meaning as type and prophecy, the ritual of the Mosaic economy subserved another purpose. It educated the Jews into the faith of a living and personal God. The Law was a school-master until Christ. The problem for the providential administration of Jewish history was, to prepare one race of men for the earthly advent of Christ incarnate among them. For this end, it was necessary to take a people abjectly ignorant, and from amid an environment of heathenism raise them to the height of a pure monotheistic faith. The method was, to announce a law under sanctions the most awful and sublime. This Law was accompanied with a system of precepts that invaded Jewish life at every conceivable point. Not a day in the year, not an hour in the day, but some imperative of the Divine will met the Israelite, demanding obedience. Every such imperative brought into the consciousness of the Jew a fresh recollection of the being of God, and of his living personality. It is hardly too much to say that this perpetual encounter of commands to be obeyed was chiefly what wrought at last into the Jewish nation that connection of the unity and personality of God which has created so remarkable, so unique a characteristic of the Hebrew Scriptures. With almost infinite pains on the part of the teacher, and at what terrible cost to the learner, the lesson was effectively taught and definitely learned. The Jews became believers in one God and that a personal God. Of this God, nature to them was full. If it thundered, Jehovah uttered his voice. If the winds blew, Jehovah made them his chariot. It was his lightning that enlightened the world. If a volcanic eruption occurred, it was the hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord. Jewish theism became so intense that it might look like pantheism. God was nature to them. But God was nature in a sense vividly antithetic to nature's being God. What God thus, with an awful magnificence of revelation, had, after many ages of history, succeeded at length in teaching to the Jews, to such effect that they wrote it inseparably into all their literature, many modern interpreters, forsooth, of that literature, are at fatuous, but futile pains to eliminate thence. They tell us that expressions such as those just recalled from Hebrew Scripture were idiosyncratic ways which that peculiar nation had, of representing in language the processes of nature! Nay, verily. But it was of tuition, and not of intuition, that those forms of speech were born. The inveterate bent of the Jews to relapse and become polytheists and idolaters again, that bent so frequently and so tragically illustrated in their history, this is proof sufficient that the idea of God, as one and personal, was not an idea peculiarly natural to the Jewish stock. The Jews had the same natural tendency in religion as did the neighboring nations around them. That tendency was all to idolatry. The Jews were disciplined to be monotheists, and disciplined to believe in their God as a personal being. And a large part of the discipline by which they were trained to these convictions consisted in the vast and elaborate scheme of requirements that brought them incessantly into contact, through obedience rendered, with a living, invisible, authoritative, absolute, personal will. Wilkinson. The mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, who alone exists necessarily and of himself; who sustains the life of all besides himself; before whom all that is not himself is but a shadow and vanity; from whose sanctity there streams forth on the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human life; and in whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the suffering, the poor, may, if they will, find a gracious and long-suffering Patron—this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The Jew knew that sin was the secret of human sorrow. He could not forget sin if he would; for before his eyes the importunate existence and destructive force of sin were inexorably pictured in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifice of sacrifices which was offered on the Day of Atonement. Then the moral law sounded in his ears; he knew that he had not obeyed it. The ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not relieve. H. P. L. The religious worship divinely instituted in the desert fulfilled several minor purposes. It tended to divert the attention from the sensuous attractions of the idolatry with which the people had been associated in Egypt; it had a considerable influence in preserving the sense of national unity; it constituted an invaluable code of sanitary regulations; it even fostered the preservation of genealogies. But none of these were its primary aim; they were secondary effects of causes, the primary purpose of which was the culture of the religious life. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things" (civil and social) "shall be added unto you," might have been taken as the motto of Judaism. Church and State were so united that the very purposes of government were best furthered by attention to the duties of religion. Cave. The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion. The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was also a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice—a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This was the real import of the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. When, however, from being an exponent of feeling and an educator of faith, the Jews perverted their worship to an end in itself, and a meritorious act, both the prophets of the Lord and his Providence taught them that the ritual could neither save them nor preserve itself. Yet the mercy of God prevailed, even over the abuse of mercy. There always was a spiritual Israel; and it was promised, that, by the coming of Christ, the covenant of an inner spiritual life—of knowledge, obedience, grace, righteousness, salvation—should be renewed, enlarged, and made perpetual. Christ was not only a greater and more perfect priest than any other; he superseded all others as priest in his own right, and priest forever: and therefore, to put a priesthood or ritual in his place is to usurp his sole prerogative, and to forfeit his atoning and saving grace. J. P. T. The Ceremonial Rites not Prophetic Types, but Doctrinal Symbols. All confusion and uncertainty arises from assuming that the significant rites of the ceremonial law must of necessity be types—that is to say, prophetic symbols, and that they must necessarily be types of Christ. All these rites were symbols, as distinguished from prophetic types, and as such suited to prepare the way for the Christian system, without confounding the two dispensations by an anticipation of the Gospel light amid the shadows of the Law. As soon as we admit that it is equally consistent with the honor of the Saviour, and still more consistent with the general purpose of the old economy as a preparatory dispensation, to explain a large portion of its forms as doctrinal symbols, teaching general truths of great importance, suited to the actual condition of the people, and tending to prepare them for a clearer revelation, several obvious interpretations spontaneously suggest themselves. J. A. A. This elaborate religious constitution was a ritual of the symbolic class. Whatever truth it had to convey was conveyed under material forms; adjuncts of gold and color were employed to speak of God; gorgeous vestments and precious stones proclaimed the sanctity of a priesthood; washing with water betokened the cleansing of the heart; the fire that consumed the sacrifice told its tale of Divine acceptance. This symbolism, so mysteriously selected and permitted for spiritual ends, fulfilled a double purpose. It taught religious truths which constituted a Divine revelation; at the same time it prepared the way for a further revelation in which the same truths could be conveyed in a clearer, more direct and convincing manner. Cave. The main peculiarity of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with his immediate disciples during the period of his earthly ministry! The direct instruction he imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty—treeing the Law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which his kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of his work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world—little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. . . . The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." P. F. The great mass of evangelical interpreters, especially in former times, have made it a main object in their expositions of the ceremonial law to shun the error of excluding Christ and gospel times from the signification of the legal shadows. In attempting this, it is not, perhaps, surprising, that their zeal has sometimes led them toward the opposite extreme. The exaggeration both of this and of the contrary hypothesis has led to the same general result, but in ways directly opposite. Both have deprived the ceremonial law of its preparatory character, the one by reducing its significance too low, and the other by exalting it too high. If the ceremonies of the Law meant nothing, they could not be preparatory to the Gospel. If they meant everything, and made known everything which needed to be known, they were not so much a preparation as an anticipation of the Gospel itself. J. A. A. #### Classification of Ceremonial Institutes. A fourfold distribution of the Sacred Institutions of the Hebrews has been adopted by the older and later writers: Sacred Places, Sacred Persons, Sacred Rites, and Sacred Times; or to use a more laconic terminology, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, the Ritual, and the Calendar. J. A. A.—The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings was the basis of the sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we discover the links that connect the ceremonial laws given by Moses with the primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we have the genesis of the tabernacle and temple. At the beginning the minister of sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of blood by Abel and the offering by fire of Noah we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The Sabbath ordained in paradise became the central institute in the sacred times appointed by Moses. Humphrey. Perhaps a fuller and more accurate classification is the following, in the main adopted in our arrangement: I. Positive Institutes, relating directly to Worship. 1. Its Place and external media. 2. Its Ministers—Priests and Levites. 3. Its Rites—Sacrificial and other offerings. 4. Its Times—Sabbatic Periods and Festivals. II. Minor Ceremonial Adjuncts of a preceptive character; Remedial, Corrective, and Prohibitory. B. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the Law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the TABERNACLE, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses's first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. P. S. Pure and abstract notions of the Divinity were beyond the age and the people of Moses. No religious impressions would be lasting which were not addressed to the senses. With this view is commenced the sacred tabernacle or pavilion-temple. The whole nation is called upon to contribute to its construction and ornament. The riches which they brought from Egypt, and the arts which some of them had learned, now come into request. From all quarters offerings pour in; brass, silver, gold, jewels, fine linen, embroidered stuffs of all colors, valuable skins, spices, oils, and incense, in such profusion that they cannot all be brought into use. The high district immediately around Sinai, extending about thirty miles in diameter, is by no means barren, the vegetation is richer than in other parts of the desert, streams of water flow in the valleys, date and other trees abound, and groves, chiefly of the black acacia (the shittim). These latter were speedily felled, all the artificers set to work, the women were employed in weaving and spinning, and the whole camp assumed a busy appearance. The construction of the tabernacle was intrusted to the superintendence of two skilful workmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. Milman. 25:1-8. The tabernacle revelation was in substance a revelation of God's willingness to dwell with his people, and of the conditions on which this great blessing could be realized by them. The first condition is their willingness to welcome him when he comes. And accordingly the first step is to give the people an opportunity of showing this willingness. "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering . . . and let them make me a sanctuary." The giving of the revelation shows the willingness on God's part; the offerings of the people the willingness on theirs. J. M. G. 9. According to the pattern . . . shall ye make it. An ideal of the finished tabernacle, with its hangings and its furniture, with its sacred enclosures of the Holy Place, and of the Holy of Holies, with its cherubim-guarded ark of the covenant, and its Shekinah-revealing of the Divine presence, was seen by Moses when he was on the mountain-top with God. That ideal Moses could not transfer to another's mental vision; but, under its influence, he could give the directions, step by step, for the making of hangings and of furniture and of adornings that should correspond with its details. S. S. T.—Moses saw on the mountain a pattern of all the things which he afterward caused to be made. In his intercourse with God, he attained to a deep view into the spiritual, eternal relations which existed between God and his people; but these relations were revealed to him under the veil of type and emblem, which veil neither he nor any Israelite could altogether take away. Many thousands were kept by such outward service, with its minute details, in a certain external discipline and reverence toward sacred things, without entering into their meaning (the Jews, Philo and Josephus, in the time of the apostles, had altogether lost the key to it); while the really spiritually-minded found a continually elevating employment for heart and spirit in the beautiful and appropriate symbols, which so harmonized with the doctrinal teaching of the Word. Gerl. From the twofold relation of Jehovah (as their God and their King) to the chosen people, it follows that there must be found in their laws and institutions both permanent and transient elements. Their duties toward him as their God, which found chief expression in their rites of worship, were permanent. The whole ritual, the kinds and orders of sacrifice, the priesthood in its several ranks, duties, and offices, the sevenfold division of times, the feasts—all this was unchangeable. As typical of higher things to come, they must remain till the antitypes came. And thus it was that Moses was directed to make all these things after the pattern showed him in the mount, a Divine order which man might not change. Andrews. The LORD'S Offering; Materials Indicated (25 : 3-7 ; 35 : 6-10). The materials were : Metals : gold, silver, and brass. Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric of goats' hair, the produce of their own flocks. Skins : of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. Wood : the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." Oil, spices, and incense, for anointing the priests, and burning in the tabernacle. Gems : onyx stones, and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high-priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver, and brass ; wood, skins, hair, and linen ; the women wove ; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense. P. S. Blue, purple, and scarlet. There does not seem much ground to doubt that these names of the colors of the woven and embroidered work of the sanctuary express the most probable conclusions. The three colors, blue, scarlet, and purple, have been recognized all but universally as royal colors, such as were best suited for the decoration of a palace. This fact appears to furnish sufficient ground for their having been appointed as the colors for the embroidery which was to adorn the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Clark. Some of the materials of the tabernacle were exquisitely adapted for symbolical representation. The acacia is the lignum imputrabile of the Orientals, incorruptibility itself, the facile defier of putrefaction. Gold, from its pre-eminence among even the noble metals, must ever be the emblem of all that is glorious and beautiful, the fitting ornament of kingly palaces, the appropriate adornment of a Divine residence. Silver will always the wide world over be eloquent of purity (Is. 1 : 22). And when we come to the richly woven tapestry hangings, did not its white speak of holiness, its blue of the vault of heaven, the footstool of the Almighty, its purple of regal splendor, and its scarlet of a full, free, joyous life, such as is the attribute of God? Cave. So far as the materials required for the building are concerned, it can be proved that the Israelites were either in possession of all that was wanted, or, if not, could easily have procured them. The most important article of all, the shittim (acacia) wood, could be felled in the desert. Gold, silver, and precious stones they had brought with them in great abundance from Egypt. The tachash skins were to be found in the Arabian Gulf. The raw materials for the cloths, the necessary spices, etc., could be purchased from the caravans. There is no reason for astonishment at the quantity of gold and silver that was used. In comparison with the almost incredible wealth in the precious metals which presents itself on every hand in ancient times, the quantity used in connection with the tabernacle furnishes no occasion for surprise. K. In erecting the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Israelites were called upon to work in precious stones ; in refining and working metals ; in carving wood and preparing leather ; in spinning, weaving, embroidery, and the preparation of oils. These arts they must have learned in Egypt ; and all these arts are represented upon contemporaneous history. Not more certainly do the physical features of Palestine testify that the Bible was mainly written in that country, than do the tombs of Egypt witness that the author of the Pentateuch was skilled in all the arts and manners of the Egyptians. J. P. T. We read of the Temple, the more perfect form of the Divine habitation, that it was to be made "so exceeding magnifical as to be of fame and glory throughout all countries ;" and that among other things employed by Solomon for this purpose, "the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty." Such materials, therefore, were used in the construction of the tabernacle as were best fitted for conveying suitable impressions of the greatness and glory of the Being for whose peculiar habitation it was erected. And as in this we are furnished with a sufficient reason for their employment, to search for others were only to wander into the regions of uncertainty and conjecture. P. F. 25 : 1; 35 : 4. Take for me an offering. The tabernacle was to be dedicated to the honor of God, and used in his service; and therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of that was an offering to the Lord. Our goodness extends not to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and interest among men, he is pleased to accept as an offering to himself; and he requires such acknowledgments of our receiving our all from him, and such instances of our dedicating our all to him. H.—What the Lord commanded was that such and such work should be done, not that such and such contributions should be rendered to it. These he left free; and accordingly they were brought in the form of free offerings. The commandment was upon Moses, however, to proclaim and receive these offerings and then turn them to the use which had been appointed. T. C. Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers (35 : 5, 20-29). 35 : 5. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring the Lord's offering. 21. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering. The very mode of providing his materials implied that the structure for which they were given was altogether of a sacred character, being made of things consecrated to the Lord. The special call for only that which was given "with the heart" implied that in all that concerns the worship and work of God there must be the concurrence of the sanctified will with the grace and condescension of God. S. R.—They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service; a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances; a gratitude for the great things he had done for them; faith in his promise of what he would further do; or, at least, from the present consideration of these things, that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit. H. Better have the little that comes from the willing heart than the large sums which are given by constraint or from any earthly or worldly motive. In this chapter this is strongly insisted upon; they that gave, gave with willing hearts—"the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord, every man and woman" (verse 29). Some had gold, and they gave that; some had silver and some had brass, and they gave that; some had linen, and they gave that; some skins of rams, some badgers' skins, some goats', and some could carve wood, and cut stones, and do all manner of cunning work, and they gave that. There was no representative currency. As they had no money, they gave that which money represents; each gave the substance that he had and could give. J. C. Should not the establishment of God's kingdom in the world call forth our zeal as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of the Israelites? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. To the erection of this spiritual house every true Christian Israelite is called to contribute according as God hath given him ability. And let it be ever remembered that the blessing will go with contributions according to the free, cordial, generous spirit with which they are made. It is not the amount given, but the motive of the giver, which is of account in God's sight. Even the poor widow who casts in her two mites will receive an equal plaudit with Araunah, of whom it is said, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." They who do what they can show evidently that they would do more if they could. Bush. The Workmen Qualified and Chosen by the LORD. 31 : 1. "The Lord spake unto Moses." The frequent repetition of these words seems to intimate that the successive disclosures of Jehovah to Moses were made at intervals, so as to allow the careful consideration and writing down of each. B. 31 : 1, 2, 6; 35 : 30, 31, 34, 36. I have called by name Bezalel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God. And I have appointed with him Oholiab. That he may teach, both he and Oholiab. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all the work for the service of the sanctuary. A thoughtful reading of these words shows that not only the two superintendents, Bezalel and Oholiab, but as well the entire body of workmen, were specially qualified and chosen for the various branches of work connected with the tabernacle and its service. B.—Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from Him are both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is He that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts (Job 38:36). He teaches the husbandman discretion (Is. 28:26), and the tradesman, too; and He must have the praise of it. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the Church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezalel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. Those whom God calls to any service, he will either find or make fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work that was to be done here, was to make the tabernacle, and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the Gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God: not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it (Heb. 9:11). H. God gave the plan clearly, graphically, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan and give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces: it needs the guidance of God's good Spirit to enable a man "to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship;" just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. A great intellect is as much the gift of God as a holy and sanctified heart is from the grace of God; only we must always remember that the two are not necessarily combined; that the latter—the sanctified heart—is saving; but that the former—the gifted intelintellect—may be an element of ruin, not of everlasting blessedness in the sight of God. Many men have transcendent gifts that shed new light upon the world by their splendor, who at the same time have hearts sunk in depravity and sin. They have been raised to heaven by the greatness of their gifts; they sink themselves to ruin by the degeneracy of their lives. Far better have a holy heart and a very ungifted intellect than have the most gigantic mind but a depraved heart to wield and to make use of it. J. C. God has a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is and the uses he will make of him; for the tradesmen Bezalel as truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling by being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us to do which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of his presence with us in it. It is not for us to say beforehand what gifts or what kind of inspiration God will bestow. Enough that he will take us into his own care, and work his own counsel in us. Only let us set no limits to the Holy One of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and wait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or suffering. Bushnell. Bezalel, the son of Uri, was called of God to do what to many seems a very inferior sort of work. See, says the Divine Spirit, I have called him—not to do the services of the priestly office—I have called him to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. In order to do this labor I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge. In a word, Bezalel was divinely called to be a smith. He was set apart just as certainly and just as divinely to work at that trade, as were Aaron and his sons to attend to the services at the altar. Bezalel's handicraft was essential to the carrying out of God's purposes in the building of the tabernacle, and his life was just as much of a heavenly ordination as though he had been clad in priestly robes, and had it appointed him to stand at the side of the altar of sacrifice, or walk with bare feet into the awful, cherubic, overshadowed Holy of Holies. And so Bezalel could feel, as he wrought out into beautiful forms the candlesticks, the altars, the tables, which were to be used in the worship of Jehovah, that he was a chosen servant of God no less than the priestly orders, who were to use the products of his toil; that God had ordained him to do the very work upon which his life was being spent, and that, therefore, he must be in the line of his highest duty. But the case of Bezalel was not a peculiar and distinct one. God has an infinite diversity of callings in which he wishes men, according to their natural fitness, to feel themselves placed. There are not only called preachers, but called merchants, called teachers, called farmers, called physicians, called smiths and carpenters, called housekeepers, called statesmen, called lawyers, it may be, called soldiers and politicians. Every life then which occupies itself with any part of God's work is of Divine ordination, and every soul that honestly and faithfully devotes itself to that pursuit, toward which natural fitness points it or into which circumstances force it, may feel that it is in the line of a Divine appointment. No man need murmur then that so much of his time must necessarily be squandered, and so much of his ability be wasted upon things which have no heavenly bearing or result. Nay, we may oftentimes feel that God has thrust some form of life upon us that we may teach the world some grand lesson of endurance, or patience, or fortitude, which could not have been disclosed had we been allowed to take any other place. Roseland. When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is organization there must be much work concerned with purely material things; and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There must be men for "the outward business of the house of God," as well as the white-robed priests at the altar and the rapt gazer in the secret place of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely outward and mechanical nature which must be seen to by somebody. The alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner, and so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and earnest manner, and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. The difference between two lives is not in the material on which but in the motive from which, and in the end for which they are respectively lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in essence, for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian morals, and ought forevermore to be expelled from Christian life. A. M. One place may be as holy as another; and all action done under the leading of the Spirit is equally accepted of God. There is no necessary part of life which may not be inspired by the Divine Spirit, whether it be work or play, social converse or public worship. As God has planned out our lives in the circumstances in which we act, with the existing demands for labor, social intercourse, and recreation, as well as for worship and religious instruction, his Spirit, if duly sought, will be with us equally in the whole round of life's activities. As we need him in all, he will fail us in none. To be true to God always, and to find him everywhere; to live ever by faith in Christ Jesus; to be simple, innocent, natural, and loving in all relationships; to be filled with the Holy Ghost; to rise easily and spontaneously from fact to truth, from nature to God, from the human to the Divine; to accept with the same spirit of consecration and obedience whatever seems to lie in the order of Providence for us to do, whether it be private or public, little or great, secular or ecclesiastical, work or play—is what we mean by spirituality. W. W. Patton. God put it into the hearts of Bezalel and Oholiab to teach others, who received their skill, therefore, proximately from them, but primarily and efficiently from God. This is an example by which what takes place in spiritual matters might also be illustrated. God endows and qualifies men to be the teachers of Christianity; and he is also to every Christian the author of all the spiritual wisdom which he possesses. Yet though taught by him this does not supersede the work of human instructors, for it is generally through them that he teaches the knowledge of himself, and of Jesus Christ whom to know is life everlasting. While depending then on the Spirit of God for a right understanding of the things of God, let us avail ourselves of all the human helps which he has so often sanctioned both by the examples and the exhortations of his Word. T. C. #### Liberality Excessive and Restrained. "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing." There is something striking in this account in the way of evidence of the high state of revival of religious feeling among the people after their scandalous fall. It is analogous to the evidence recorded of the holy zeal of the Christians in the revival at Pentecost in the New Testament. The artificers or artisans who took charge of the work—though their work was not yet done and they could only determine that according to their best judgment a sufficiency of materials had been furnished—seem to have been so very honest and of so strict integrity as not to have desired any overplus, which they might appropriate as perquisites. S. R. Where do we now find men acting so fully on the voluntary principle? How small a proportion of the benevolent offerings of Christians are brought to the Lord's treasury? Instead of this they must be sent or called for. How different from the full-souled and spontaneous promptings of the Israelitish donors on this occasion! They needed simply to have a want stated, and then without waiting for duty to be inculcated, appeals urged, a precise amount prescribed, or a messenger sent, they become the carriers of their own gifts and pour them in without stint till checked by a public proclamation! # Sum of Gold, Silver, and Copper Contributed. The gold weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels, if we allow 3000 shekels to the talent of 125 pounds; and this at £4 the ounce would be equal to £175,000 sterling, or nearly $877,000. The silver was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, being a half shekel from all the males above twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt, whose number was 603,550; the whole value of this would, at 5s. the ounce, be £39,721, or nearly $188,605. The brass, or rather copper, was 70 talents and 24,000 shekels, which if valued at 1s. 3d. the pound avoirdupois would be worth £138, or $690. The amount of these several sums would not be less than £213,320, or $1,066,600. But this amount does not include the curtains of the enclosure, the coverings of the tabernacle, the dress of the high-priest and its jewels, the dresses of the common priests, or the value of the skill and labor employed in the work, the whole of which may be fairly taken to have raised its value to the immense sum of £250,000, or $1,250,000! The grand reason for employing so great an amount of riches in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture was undoubtedly twofold: (1) To impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service; and (2) To convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual an intimation of the essential and transcendent beauty, excellence, and glory of the spiritual things that were shadowed out by it. It was only by means of such a sensuous apparatus of worship that they could receive the inner essential truths which it involved. Bush. The Israelites had left Egypt the year in which they made this contribution for the construction of the tabernacle. Though many of them were employed in servile labors, yet the people as a whole must have been possessed of considerable wealth. To this the Egyptians made a considerable accession at their departure. The sum here contributed is moderate in comparison with the enormous treasures amassed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Arabians, and the Egyptians themselves. M. Thus, on the part of the people, there were abundant tokens of thorough repentance. One of these was their alacrity to set about the work of erecting the tabernacle. All was enthusiasm in the camp. Men and women vied with each other in thoughtful and diligent endeavor. Another was the abounding liberality. So profuse was it that the receivers of the people's contributions had more than they knew what to do with, so that the people had actually to be restrained from giving. If the Church of Christ only realized the exceeding grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, as these people realized the grace of Jehovah and his servant Moses on this occasion, all our mission treasuries would overflow, and instead of ever-renewed appeals for more, the difficulty would be to restrain the people from giving. Finally, there was the minutest and most careful obedience to all the instructions which had been given for the building of the tabernacle and its furniture, so that when all the work was completed, we are told that "Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had, commanded, even so had they done it." J. M. G. THE TABERNACLE: NAMES; STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE; INNER VEIL AND OUTER SCREEN; MEANING AND DESIGN; SYMBOLISM AND TYPES. Ex. 25 10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark withal. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make 17 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 18 half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold ; of beaten work shalt 19 thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end : of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cher- 20 ubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, cov- ering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another ; toward the mercy-seat 21 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 22 and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cher- ubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in com- mandment unto the children of Israel. 23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood ; two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a 24 cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay 25 it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border 26 thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the 27 four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for 28 places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and 29 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, to 30 pour out withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew- bread before me alway. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft ; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece 32 with it : and there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other 33 side thereof : three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower ; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower : so for the 34 six branches going out of the candlestick : and in the candlestick four cups made like almond- 35 blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof : and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two 36 branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it : the whole of it one beaten work of pure 37 gold. And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven : and they shall light the lamps thereof, 38 to give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of 39 pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. And see that 40 thou make them after their pattern, which hath been shewed thee in the mount. No. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 2 When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so ; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, 4 as the LORD commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold ; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Ex. 26 34 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most 35 holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south ; and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 30 1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of acacia wood shalt thou make 2 it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 4 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and they shall be for places for staves to bear it 5 withal. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And 6 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that 7 is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of 8 sweet spices : every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout 9 your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt offering, nor meal 10 offering; and ye shall pour no drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year: with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. No. 10 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 2 beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congrega- 3 tion, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the 4 congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather 5 themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall 6 take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the 7 south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when 8 the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a 9 statute for ever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Ex. 37 1-28. Omitted because identical in its corresponding statements.  This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 25 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my 3 offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass ; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins dyed red, 5 and sealskins, and acacia wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the 6 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 7 And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I 9 shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. 35 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is 5 the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the 6 LORD : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the LORD's offering ; gold, and silver, 7 and brass ; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins 8 dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood ; and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing 9 oil, and for the sweet incense ; and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 10 the breastplate. And let every wise hearted man among you come, and make all that the 11 LORD hath commanded ; the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, 12 its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the 13 veil of the screen ; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the shewbread ; the 14 candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light ; and the 15 altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen 16 for the door, at the door of the tabernacle ; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of 17 brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base ; the hangings of the court, the 18 pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court ; the pins of the 19 tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; the finely wrought garments, for min- istering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 20. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the 22 service thereof, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all 23 jewels of gold ; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 24 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering : and every man, with whom was found acacia 25 wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the 26 scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun 27 the goats' hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the 28 ephod, and for the breastplate ; and the spice, and the oil ; for the light, and for the anoint- 29 ing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the LORD ; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son 2 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in 3 wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 4 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones 5 for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, 6 I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have com- 7 manded thee : the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is 8 thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent ; and the table and its vessels, and the pure 9 candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense ; and the altar of burnt offering with 10 all its vessels, and the laver and its base ; and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office ; 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place : according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 35 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name 31. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of cunning workmanship. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Then hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise cunning works. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD hath commanded. 2. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. 4. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. 38 21 This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. 24. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and made fillets for them. And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. Sections 120-153 comprise the body of CEREMONIAL LAWS, and include all the ordinances pertaining to Worship and Ritual. For the outline of these ordinances and the order of arrangement, study carefully the Index following the title-page. In this and each of several following sections relating to the Tabernacle, its Court, and their furniture, and to the sacred things pertaining to the Ritual service, the double text of the record is included: covering, first, the command to Moses in the mount; second, the execution of the command. The history is thus unified and made more simple and intelligible, while the exact correspondence between the direction and its fulfilment continually repeats its impressive lesson. B. Preliminary Facts and Considerations. Two distinct elements are observable in the remaining portion of the Pentateuch: one, a set of laws forming a complete ecclesiastical and civil code; the other, an historical detail of the principal events, connected with the promulgation of the laws. The two elements are com bined in a manner quite extraordinary. The laws do not stand insulated by themselves, neither are they embodied in a systematic form. But, paradoxical as the assertion may seem, they are both separated and connected by the historical narrative. "It is a code of laws in a frame of history." There are continual transitions from history to law, and from law to history. They are everywhere grafted, the one into the other; and there is such a mutual connection and dependence, that the two parts seem to grow together, like the several branches of a tree. E. C. W. Its Design and Use. The best apology of the ceremonial law lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it: First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of redemption. The Law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. Hengstenberg. The purpose of the Levitical law as a scheme of Divine tuition for the Jews, is perhaps largely explained by its tendency to cultivate in the Hebrew mind theistic and monotheistic ideas. That law was of course a device of elaborate prefigurement to forerun the Coming of Christ. But, co-ordinate with this meaning as type and prophecy, the ritual of the Mosaic economy subserved another purpose. It educated the Jews into the faith of a living and personal God. The Law was a school-master until Christ. The problem for the providential administration of Jewish history was, to prepare one race of men for the earthly advent of Christ incarnate among them. For this end, it was necessary to take a people abjectly ignorant, and from amid an environment of heathenism raise them to the height of a pure monotheistic faith. The method was, to announce a law under sanctions the most awful and sublime. This Law was accompanied with a system of precepts that invaded Jewish life at every conceivable point. Not a day in the year, not an hour in the day, but some imperative of the Divine will met the Israelite, demanding obedience. Every such imperative brought into the consciousness of the Jew a fresh recollection of the being of God, and of his living personality. It is hardly too much to say that this perpetual encounter of commands to be obeyed was chiefly what wrought at last into the Jewish nation that connection of the unity and personality of God which has created so remarkable, so unique a characteristic of the Hebrew Scriptures. With almost infinite pains on the part of the teacher, and at what terrible cost to the learner, the lesson was effectively taught and definitely learned. The Jews became believers in one God and that a personal God. Of this God, nature to them was full. If it thundered, Jehovah uttered his voice. If the winds blew, Jehovah made them his chariot. It was his lightning that enlightened the world. If a volcanic eruption occurred, it was the hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord. Jewish theism became so intense that it might look like pantheism. God was nature to them. But God was nature in a sense vividly antithetic to nature's being God. What God thus, with an awful magnificence of revelation, had, after many ages of history, succeeded at length in teaching to the Jews, to such effect that they wrote it inseparably into all their literature, many modern interpreters, forsooth, of that literature, are at fatuous, but futile pains to eliminate thence. They tell us that expressions such as those just recalled from Hebrew Scripture were idiosyncratic ways which that peculiar nation had, of representing in language the processes of nature! Nay, verily. But it was of tuition, and not of intuition, that those forms of speech were born. The inveterate bent of the Jews to relapse and become polytheists and idolaters again, that bent so frequently and so tragically illustrated in their history, this is proof sufficient that the idea of God, as one and personal, was not an idea peculiarly natural to the Jewish stock. The Jews had the same natural tendency in religion as did the neighboring nations around them. That tendency was all to idolatry. The Jews were disciplined to be monotheists, and disciplined to believe in their God as a personal being. And a large part of the discipline by which they were trained to these convictions consisted in the vast and elaborate scheme of requirements that brought them incessantly into contact, through obedience rendered, with a living, invisible, authoritative, absolute, personal will. Wilkinson. The mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, who alone exists necessarily and of himself; who sustains the life of all besides himself; before whom all that is not himself is but a shadow and vanity; from whose sanctity there streams forth on the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human life; and in whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the suffering, the poor, may, if they will, find a gracious and long-suffering Patron—this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The Jew knew that sin was the secret of human sorrow. He could not forget sin if he would; for before his eyes the importunate existence and destructive force of sin were inexorably pictured in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifice of sacrifices which was offered on the Day of Atonement. Then the moral law sounded in his ears; he knew that he had not obeyed it. The ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not relieve. H. P. L. The religious worship divinely instituted in the desert fulfilled several minor purposes. It tended to divert the attention from the sensuous attractions of the idolatry with which the people had been associated in Egypt; it had a considerable influence in preserving the sense of national unity; it constituted an invaluable code of sanitary regulations; it even fostered the preservation of genealogies. But none of these were its primary aim; they were secondary effects of causes, the primary purpose of which was the culture of the religious life. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things" (civil and social) "shall be added unto you," might have been taken as the motto of Judaism. Church and State were so united that the very purposes of government were best furthered by attention to the duties of religion. Cave. The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion. The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was also a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice—a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This was the real import of the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. When, however, from being an exponent of feeling and an educator of faith, the Jews perverted their worship to an end in itself, and a meritorious act, both the prophets of the Lord and his Providence taught them that the ritual could neither save them nor preserve itself. Yet the mercy of God prevailed, even over the abuse of mercy. There always was a spiritual Israel; and it was promised, that, by the coming of Christ, the covenant of an inner spiritual life—of knowledge, obedience, grace, righteousness, salvation—should be renewed, enlarged, and made perpetual. Christ was not only a greater and more perfect priest than any other; he superseded all others as priest in his own right, and priest forever: and therefore, to put a priesthood or ritual in his place is to usurp his sole prerogative, and to forfeit his atoning and saving grace. J. P. T. The Ceremonial Rites not Prophetic Types, but Doctrinal Symbols. All confusion and uncertainty arises from assuming that the significant rites of the ceremonial law must of necessity be types—that is to say, prophetic symbols, and that they must necessarily be types of Christ. All these rites were symbols, as distinguished from prophetic types, and as such suited to prepare the way for the Christian system, without confounding the two dispensations by an anticipation of the Gospel light amid the shadows of the Law. As soon as we admit that it is equally consistent with the honor of the Saviour, and still more consistent with the general purpose of the old economy as a preparatory dispensation, to explain a large portion of its forms as doctrinal symbols, teaching general truths of great importance, suited to the actual condition of the people, and tending to prepare them for a clearer revelation, several obvious interpretations spontaneously suggest themselves. J. A. A. This elaborate religious constitution was a ritual of the symbolic class. Whatever truth it had to convey was conveyed under material forms; adjuncts of gold and color were employed to speak of God; gorgeous vestments and precious stones proclaimed the sanctity of a priesthood; washing with water betokened the cleansing of the heart; the fire that consumed the sacrifice told its tale of Divine acceptance. This symbolism, so mysteriously selected and permitted for spiritual ends, fulfilled a double purpose. It taught religious truths which constituted a Divine revelation; at the same time it prepared the way for a further revelation in which the same truths could be conveyed in a clearer, more direct and convincing manner. Cave. The main peculiarity of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with his immediate disciples during the period of his earthly ministry! The direct instruction he imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty—treeing the Law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which his kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of his work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world—little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. . . . The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." P. F. The great mass of evangelical interpreters, especially in former times, have made it a main object in their expositions of the ceremonial law to shun the error of excluding Christ and gospel times from the signification of the legal shadows. In attempting this, it is not, perhaps, surprising, that their zeal has sometimes led them toward the opposite extreme. The exaggeration both of this and of the contrary hypothesis has led to the same general result, but in ways directly opposite. Both have deprived the ceremonial law of its preparatory character, the one by reducing its significance too low, and the other by exalting it too high. If the ceremonies of the Law meant nothing, they could not be preparatory to the Gospel. If they meant everything, and made known everything which needed to be known, they were not so much a preparation as an anticipation of the Gospel itself. J. A. A. #### Classification of Ceremonial Institutes. A fourfold distribution of the Sacred Institutions of the Hebrews has been adopted by the older and later writers: Sacred Places, Sacred Persons, Sacred Rites, and Sacred Times; or to use a more laconic terminology, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, the Ritual, and the Calendar. J. A. A.—The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings was the basis of the sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we discover the links that connect the ceremonial laws given by Moses with the primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we have the genesis of the tabernacle and temple. At the beginning the minister of sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of blood by Abel and the offering by fire of Noah we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The Sabbath ordained in paradise became the central institute in the sacred times appointed by Moses. Humphrey. Perhaps a fuller and more accurate classification is the following, in the main adopted in our arrangement: I. Positive Institutes, relating directly to Worship. 1. Its Place and external media. 2. Its Ministers—Priests and Levites. 3. Its Rites—Sacrificial and other offerings. 4. Its Times—Sabbatic Periods and Festivals. II. Minor Ceremonial Adjuncts of a preceptive character; Remedial, Corrective, and Prohibitory. B. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the Law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the TABERNACLE, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses's first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. P. S. Pure and abstract notions of the Divinity were beyond the age and the people of Moses. No religious impressions would be lasting which were not addressed to the senses. With this view is commenced the sacred tabernacle or pavilion-temple. The whole nation is called upon to contribute to its construction and ornament. The riches which they brought from Egypt, and the arts which some of them had learned, now come into request. From all quarters offerings pour in; brass, silver, gold, jewels, fine linen, embroidered stuffs of all colors, valuable skins, spices, oils, and incense, in such profusion that they cannot all be brought into use. The high district immediately around Sinai, extending about thirty miles in diameter, is by no means barren, the vegetation is richer than in other parts of the desert, streams of water flow in the valleys, date and other trees abound, and groves, chiefly of the black acacia (the shittim). These latter were speedily felled, all the artificers set to work, the women were employed in weaving and spinning, and the whole camp assumed a busy appearance. The construction of the tabernacle was intrusted to the superintendence of two skilful workmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. Milman. 25:1-8. The tabernacle revelation was in substance a revelation of God's willingness to dwell with his people, and of the conditions on which this great blessing could be realized by them. The first condition is their willingness to welcome him when he comes. And accordingly the first step is to give the people an opportunity of showing this willingness. "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering . . . and let them make me a sanctuary." The giving of the revelation shows the willingness on God's part; the offerings of the people the willingness on theirs. J. M. G. 9. According to the pattern . . . shall ye make it. An ideal of the finished tabernacle, with its hangings and its furniture, with its sacred enclosures of the Holy Place, and of the Holy of Holies, with its cherubim-guarded ark of the covenant, and its Shekinah-revealing of the Divine presence, was seen by Moses when he was on the mountain-top with God. That ideal Moses could not transfer to another's mental vision; but, under its influence, he could give the directions, step by step, for the making of hangings and of furniture and of adornings that should correspond with its details. S. S. T.—Moses saw on the mountain a pattern of all the things which he afterward caused to be made. In his intercourse with God, he attained to a deep view into the spiritual, eternal relations which existed between God and his people; but these relations were revealed to him under the veil of type and emblem, which veil neither he nor any Israelite could altogether take away. Many thousands were kept by such outward service, with its minute details, in a certain external discipline and reverence toward sacred things, without entering into their meaning (the Jews, Philo and Josephus, in the time of the apostles, had altogether lost the key to it); while the really spiritually-minded found a continually elevating employment for heart and spirit in the beautiful and appropriate symbols, which so harmonized with the doctrinal teaching of the Word. Gerl. From the twofold relation of Jehovah (as their God and their King) to the chosen people, it follows that there must be found in their laws and institutions both permanent and transient elements. Their duties toward him as their God, which found chief expression in their rites of worship, were permanent. The whole ritual, the kinds and orders of sacrifice, the priesthood in its several ranks, duties, and offices, the sevenfold division of times, the feasts—all this was unchangeable. As typical of higher things to come, they must remain till the antitypes came. And thus it was that Moses was directed to make all these things after the pattern showed him in the mount, a Divine order which man might not change. Andrews. The LORD'S Offering; Materials Indicated (25 : 3-7 ; 35 : 6-10). The materials were : Metals : gold, silver, and brass. Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric of goats' hair, the produce of their own flocks. Skins : of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. Wood : the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." Oil, spices, and incense, for anointing the priests, and burning in the tabernacle. Gems : onyx stones, and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high-priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver, and brass ; wood, skins, hair, and linen ; the women wove ; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense. P. S. Blue, purple, and scarlet. There does not seem much ground to doubt that these names of the colors of the woven and embroidered work of the sanctuary express the most probable conclusions. The three colors, blue, scarlet, and purple, have been recognized all but universally as royal colors, such as were best suited for the decoration of a palace. This fact appears to furnish sufficient ground for their having been appointed as the colors for the embroidery which was to adorn the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Clark. Some of the materials of the tabernacle were exquisitely adapted for symbolical representation. The acacia is the lignum imputrabile of the Orientals, incorruptibility itself, the facile defier of putrefaction. Gold, from its pre-eminence among even the noble metals, must ever be the emblem of all that is glorious and beautiful, the fitting ornament of kingly palaces, the appropriate adornment of a Divine residence. Silver will always the wide world over be eloquent of purity (Is. 1 : 22). And when we come to the richly woven tapestry hangings, did not its white speak of holiness, its blue of the vault of heaven, the footstool of the Almighty, its purple of regal splendor, and its scarlet of a full, free, joyous life, such as is the attribute of God? Cave. So far as the materials required for the building are concerned, it can be proved that the Israelites were either in possession of all that was wanted, or, if not, could easily have procured them. The most important article of all, the shittim (acacia) wood, could be felled in the desert. Gold, silver, and precious stones they had brought with them in great abundance from Egypt. The tachash skins were to be found in the Arabian Gulf. The raw materials for the cloths, the necessary spices, etc., could be purchased from the caravans. There is no reason for astonishment at the quantity of gold and silver that was used. In comparison with the almost incredible wealth in the precious metals which presents itself on every hand in ancient times, the quantity used in connection with the tabernacle furnishes no occasion for surprise. K. In erecting the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Israelites were called upon to work in precious stones ; in refining and working metals ; in carving wood and preparing leather ; in spinning, weaving, embroidery, and the preparation of oils. These arts they must have learned in Egypt ; and all these arts are represented upon contemporaneous history. Not more certainly do the physical features of Palestine testify that the Bible was mainly written in that country, than do the tombs of Egypt witness that the author of the Pentateuch was skilled in all the arts and manners of the Egyptians. J. P. T. We read of the Temple, the more perfect form of the Divine habitation, that it was to be made "so exceeding magnifical as to be of fame and glory throughout all countries ;" and that among other things employed by Solomon for this purpose, "the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty." Such materials, therefore, were used in the construction of the tabernacle as were best fitted for conveying suitable impressions of the greatness and glory of the Being for whose peculiar habitation it was erected. And as in this we are furnished with a sufficient reason for their employment, to search for others were only to wander into the regions of uncertainty and conjecture. P. F. 25 : 1; 35 : 4. Take for me an offering. The tabernacle was to be dedicated to the honor of God, and used in his service; and therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of that was an offering to the Lord. Our goodness extends not to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and interest among men, he is pleased to accept as an offering to himself; and he requires such acknowledgments of our receiving our all from him, and such instances of our dedicating our all to him. H.—What the Lord commanded was that such and such work should be done, not that such and such contributions should be rendered to it. These he left free; and accordingly they were brought in the form of free offerings. The commandment was upon Moses, however, to proclaim and receive these offerings and then turn them to the use which had been appointed. T. C. Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers (35 : 5, 20-29). 35 : 5. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring the Lord's offering. 21. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering. The very mode of providing his materials implied that the structure for which they were given was altogether of a sacred character, being made of things consecrated to the Lord. The special call for only that which was given "with the heart" implied that in all that concerns the worship and work of God there must be the concurrence of the sanctified will with the grace and condescension of God. S. R.—They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service; a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances; a gratitude for the great things he had done for them; faith in his promise of what he would further do; or, at least, from the present consideration of these things, that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit. H. Better have the little that comes from the willing heart than the large sums which are given by constraint or from any earthly or worldly motive. In this chapter this is strongly insisted upon; they that gave, gave with willing hearts—"the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord, every man and woman" (verse 29). Some had gold, and they gave that; some had silver and some had brass, and they gave that; some had linen, and they gave that; some skins of rams, some badgers' skins, some goats', and some could carve wood, and cut stones, and do all manner of cunning work, and they gave that. There was no representative currency. As they had no money, they gave that which money represents; each gave the substance that he had and could give. J. C. Should not the establishment of God's kingdom in the world call forth our zeal as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of the Israelites? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. To the erection of this spiritual house every true Christian Israelite is called to contribute according as God hath given him ability. And let it be ever remembered that the blessing will go with contributions according to the free, cordial, generous spirit with which they are made. It is not the amount given, but the motive of the giver, which is of account in God's sight. Even the poor widow who casts in her two mites will receive an equal plaudit with Araunah, of whom it is said, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." They who do what they can show evidently that they would do more if they could. Bush. The Workmen Qualified and Chosen by the LORD. 31 : 1. "The Lord spake unto Moses." The frequent repetition of these words seems to intimate that the successive disclosures of Jehovah to Moses were made at intervals, so as to allow the careful consideration and writing down of each. B. 31 : 1, 2, 6; 35 : 30, 31, 34, 36. I have called by name Bezalel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God. And I have appointed with him Oholiab. That he may teach, both he and Oholiab. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all the work for the service of the sanctuary. A thoughtful reading of these words shows that not only the two superintendents, Bezalel and Oholiab, but as well the entire body of workmen, were specially qualified and chosen for the various branches of work connected with the tabernacle and its service. B.—Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from Him are both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is He that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts (Job 38:36). He teaches the husbandman discretion (Is. 28:26), and the tradesman, too; and He must have the praise of it. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the Church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezalel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. Those whom God calls to any service, he will either find or make fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work that was to be done here, was to make the tabernacle, and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the Gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God: not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it (Heb. 9:11). H. God gave the plan clearly, graphically, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan and give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces: it needs the guidance of God's good Spirit to enable a man "to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship;" just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. A great intellect is as much the gift of God as a holy and sanctified heart is from the grace of God; only we must always remember that the two are not necessarily combined; that the latter—the sanctified heart—is saving; but that the former—the gifted intelintellect—may be an element of ruin, not of everlasting blessedness in the sight of God. Many men have transcendent gifts that shed new light upon the world by their splendor, who at the same time have hearts sunk in depravity and sin. They have been raised to heaven by the greatness of their gifts; they sink themselves to ruin by the degeneracy of their lives. Far better have a holy heart and a very ungifted intellect than have the most gigantic mind but a depraved heart to wield and to make use of it. J. C. God has a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is and the uses he will make of him; for the tradesmen Bezalel as truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling by being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us to do which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of his presence with us in it. It is not for us to say beforehand what gifts or what kind of inspiration God will bestow. Enough that he will take us into his own care, and work his own counsel in us. Only let us set no limits to the Holy One of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and wait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or suffering. Bushnell. Bezalel, the son of Uri, was called of God to do what to many seems a very inferior sort of work. See, says the Divine Spirit, I have called him—not to do the services of the priestly office—I have called him to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. In order to do this labor I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge. In a word, Bezalel was divinely called to be a smith. He was set apart just as certainly and just as divinely to work at that trade, as were Aaron and his sons to attend to the services at the altar. Bezalel's handicraft was essential to the carrying out of God's purposes in the building of the tabernacle, and his life was just as much of a heavenly ordination as though he had been clad in priestly robes, and had it appointed him to stand at the side of the altar of sacrifice, or walk with bare feet into the awful, cherubic, overshadowed Holy of Holies. And so Bezalel could feel, as he wrought out into beautiful forms the candlesticks, the altars, the tables, which were to be used in the worship of Jehovah, that he was a chosen servant of God no less than the priestly orders, who were to use the products of his toil; that God had ordained him to do the very work upon which his life was being spent, and that, therefore, he must be in the line of his highest duty. But the case of Bezalel was not a peculiar and distinct one. God has an infinite diversity of callings in which he wishes men, according to their natural fitness, to feel themselves placed. There are not only called preachers, but called merchants, called teachers, called farmers, called physicians, called smiths and carpenters, called housekeepers, called statesmen, called lawyers, it may be, called soldiers and politicians. Every life then which occupies itself with any part of God's work is of Divine ordination, and every soul that honestly and faithfully devotes itself to that pursuit, toward which natural fitness points it or into which circumstances force it, may feel that it is in the line of a Divine appointment. No man need murmur then that so much of his time must necessarily be squandered, and so much of his ability be wasted upon things which have no heavenly bearing or result. Nay, we may oftentimes feel that God has thrust some form of life upon us that we may teach the world some grand lesson of endurance, or patience, or fortitude, which could not have been disclosed had we been allowed to take any other place. Roseland. When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is organization there must be much work concerned with purely material things; and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There must be men for "the outward business of the house of God," as well as the white-robed priests at the altar and the rapt gazer in the secret place of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely outward and mechanical nature which must be seen to by somebody. The alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner, and so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and earnest manner, and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. The difference between two lives is not in the material on which but in the motive from which, and in the end for which they are respectively lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in essence, for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian morals, and ought forevermore to be expelled from Christian life. A. M. One place may be as holy as another; and all action done under the leading of the Spirit is equally accepted of God. There is no necessary part of life which may not be inspired by the Divine Spirit, whether it be work or play, social converse or public worship. As God has planned out our lives in the circumstances in which we act, with the existing demands for labor, social intercourse, and recreation, as well as for worship and religious instruction, his Spirit, if duly sought, will be with us equally in the whole round of life's activities. As we need him in all, he will fail us in none. To be true to God always, and to find him everywhere; to live ever by faith in Christ Jesus; to be simple, innocent, natural, and loving in all relationships; to be filled with the Holy Ghost; to rise easily and spontaneously from fact to truth, from nature to God, from the human to the Divine; to accept with the same spirit of consecration and obedience whatever seems to lie in the order of Providence for us to do, whether it be private or public, little or great, secular or ecclesiastical, work or play—is what we mean by spirituality. W. W. Patton. God put it into the hearts of Bezalel and Oholiab to teach others, who received their skill, therefore, proximately from them, but primarily and efficiently from God. This is an example by which what takes place in spiritual matters might also be illustrated. God endows and qualifies men to be the teachers of Christianity; and he is also to every Christian the author of all the spiritual wisdom which he possesses. Yet though taught by him this does not supersede the work of human instructors, for it is generally through them that he teaches the knowledge of himself, and of Jesus Christ whom to know is life everlasting. While depending then on the Spirit of God for a right understanding of the things of God, let us avail ourselves of all the human helps which he has so often sanctioned both by the examples and the exhortations of his Word. T. C. #### Liberality Excessive and Restrained. "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing." There is something striking in this account in the way of evidence of the high state of revival of religious feeling among the people after their scandalous fall. It is analogous to the evidence recorded of the holy zeal of the Christians in the revival at Pentecost in the New Testament. The artificers or artisans who took charge of the work—though their work was not yet done and they could only determine that according to their best judgment a sufficiency of materials had been furnished—seem to have been so very honest and of so strict integrity as not to have desired any overplus, which they might appropriate as perquisites. S. R. Where do we now find men acting so fully on the voluntary principle? How small a proportion of the benevolent offerings of Christians are brought to the Lord's treasury? Instead of this they must be sent or called for. How different from the full-souled and spontaneous promptings of the Israelitish donors on this occasion! They needed simply to have a want stated, and then without waiting for duty to be inculcated, appeals urged, a precise amount prescribed, or a messenger sent, they become the carriers of their own gifts and pour them in without stint till checked by a public proclamation! # Sum of Gold, Silver, and Copper Contributed. The gold weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels, if we allow 3000 shekels to the talent of 125 pounds; and this at £4 the ounce would be equal to £175,000 sterling, or nearly $877,000. The silver was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, being a half shekel from all the males above twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt, whose number was 603,550; the whole value of this would, at 5s. the ounce, be £39,721, or nearly $188,605. The brass, or rather copper, was 70 talents and 24,000 shekels, which if valued at 1s. 3d. the pound avoirdupois would be worth £138, or $690. The amount of these several sums would not be less than £213,320, or $1,066,600. But this amount does not include the curtains of the enclosure, the coverings of the tabernacle, the dress of the high-priest and its jewels, the dresses of the common priests, or the value of the skill and labor employed in the work, the whole of which may be fairly taken to have raised its value to the immense sum of £250,000, or $1,250,000! The grand reason for employing so great an amount of riches in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture was undoubtedly twofold: (1) To impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service; and (2) To convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual an intimation of the essential and transcendent beauty, excellence, and glory of the spiritual things that were shadowed out by it. It was only by means of such a sensuous apparatus of worship that they could receive the inner essential truths which it involved. Bush. The Israelites had left Egypt the year in which they made this contribution for the construction of the tabernacle. Though many of them were employed in servile labors, yet the people as a whole must have been possessed of considerable wealth. To this the Egyptians made a considerable accession at their departure. The sum here contributed is moderate in comparison with the enormous treasures amassed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Arabians, and the Egyptians themselves. M. Thus, on the part of the people, there were abundant tokens of thorough repentance. One of these was their alacrity to set about the work of erecting the tabernacle. All was enthusiasm in the camp. Men and women vied with each other in thoughtful and diligent endeavor. Another was the abounding liberality. So profuse was it that the receivers of the people's contributions had more than they knew what to do with, so that the people had actually to be restrained from giving. If the Church of Christ only realized the exceeding grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, as these people realized the grace of Jehovah and his servant Moses on this occasion, all our mission treasuries would overflow, and instead of ever-renewed appeals for more, the difficulty would be to restrain the people from giving. Finally, there was the minutest and most careful obedience to all the instructions which had been given for the building of the tabernacle and its furniture, so that when all the work was completed, we are told that "Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had, commanded, even so had they done it." J. M. G. THE TABERNACLE: NAMES; STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE; INNER VEIL AND OUTER SCREEN; MEANING AND DESIGN; SYMBOLISM AND TYPES. Ex. 25 10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark withal. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make 17 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 18 half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold ; of beaten work shalt 19 thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end : of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cher- 20 ubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, cov- ering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another ; toward the mercy-seat 21 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 22 and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cher- ubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in com- mandment unto the children of Israel. 23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood ; two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a 24 cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay 25 it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border 26 thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the 27 four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for 28 places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and 29 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, to 30 pour out withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew- bread before me alway. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft ; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece 32 with it : and there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other 33 side thereof : three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower ; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower : so for the 34 six branches going out of the candlestick : and in the candlestick four cups made like almond- 35 blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof : and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two 36 branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it : the whole of it one beaten work of pure 37 gold. And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven : and they shall light the lamps thereof, 38 to give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of 39 pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. And see that 40 thou make them after their pattern, which hath been shewed thee in the mount. No. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 2 When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so ; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, 4 as the LORD commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold ; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Ex. 26 34 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most 35 holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south ; and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 30 1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of acacia wood shalt thou make 2 it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 4 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and they shall be for places for staves to bear it 5 withal. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And 6 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that 7 is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of 8 sweet spices : every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout 9 your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt offering, nor meal 10 offering; and ye shall pour no drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year: with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. No. 10 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 2 beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congrega- 3 tion, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the 4 congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather 5 themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall 6 take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the 7 south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when 8 the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a 9 statute for ever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Ex. 37 1-28. Omitted because identical in its corresponding statements.  This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 25 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my 3 offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass ; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins dyed red, 5 and sealskins, and acacia wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the 6 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 7 And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I 9 shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. 35 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is 5 the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the 6 LORD : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the LORD's offering ; gold, and silver, 7 and brass ; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins 8 dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood ; and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing 9 oil, and for the sweet incense ; and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 10 the breastplate. And let every wise hearted man among you come, and make all that the 11 LORD hath commanded ; the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, 12 its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the 13 veil of the screen ; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the shewbread ; the 14 candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light ; and the 15 altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen 16 for the door, at the door of the tabernacle ; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of 17 brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base ; the hangings of the court, the 18 pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court ; the pins of the 19 tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; the finely wrought garments, for min- istering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 20. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the 22 service thereof, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all 23 jewels of gold ; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 24 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering : and every man, with whom was found acacia 25 wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the 26 scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun 27 the goats' hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the 28 ephod, and for the breastplate ; and the spice, and the oil ; for the light, and for the anoint- 29 ing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the LORD ; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son 2 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in 3 wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 4 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones 5 for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, 6 I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have com- 7 manded thee : the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is 8 thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent ; and the table and its vessels, and the pure 9 candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense ; and the altar of burnt offering with 10 all its vessels, and the laver and its base ; and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office ; 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place : according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 35 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name 31. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of cunning workmanship. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Then hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise cunning works. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD hath commanded. 2. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. 4. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. 38 21 This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. 24. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and made fillets for them. And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. Sections 120-153 comprise the body of CEREMONIAL LAWS, and include all the ordinances pertaining to Worship and Ritual. For the outline of these ordinances and the order of arrangement, study carefully the Index following the title-page. In this and each of several following sections relating to the Tabernacle, its Court, and their furniture, and to the sacred things pertaining to the Ritual service, the double text of the record is included: covering, first, the command to Moses in the mount; second, the execution of the command. The history is thus unified and made more simple and intelligible, while the exact correspondence between the direction and its fulfilment continually repeats its impressive lesson. B. Preliminary Facts and Considerations. Two distinct elements are observable in the remaining portion of the Pentateuch: one, a set of laws forming a complete ecclesiastical and civil code; the other, an historical detail of the principal events, connected with the promulgation of the laws. The two elements are com bined in a manner quite extraordinary. The laws do not stand insulated by themselves, neither are they embodied in a systematic form. But, paradoxical as the assertion may seem, they are both separated and connected by the historical narrative. "It is a code of laws in a frame of history." There are continual transitions from history to law, and from law to history. They are everywhere grafted, the one into the other; and there is such a mutual connection and dependence, that the two parts seem to grow together, like the several branches of a tree. E. C. W. Its Design and Use. The best apology of the ceremonial law lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it: First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of redemption. The Law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. Hengstenberg. The purpose of the Levitical law as a scheme of Divine tuition for the Jews, is perhaps largely explained by its tendency to cultivate in the Hebrew mind theistic and monotheistic ideas. That law was of course a device of elaborate prefigurement to forerun the Coming of Christ. But, co-ordinate with this meaning as type and prophecy, the ritual of the Mosaic economy subserved another purpose. It educated the Jews into the faith of a living and personal God. The Law was a school-master until Christ. The problem for the providential administration of Jewish history was, to prepare one race of men for the earthly advent of Christ incarnate among them. For this end, it was necessary to take a people abjectly ignorant, and from amid an environment of heathenism raise them to the height of a pure monotheistic faith. The method was, to announce a law under sanctions the most awful and sublime. This Law was accompanied with a system of precepts that invaded Jewish life at every conceivable point. Not a day in the year, not an hour in the day, but some imperative of the Divine will met the Israelite, demanding obedience. Every such imperative brought into the consciousness of the Jew a fresh recollection of the being of God, and of his living personality. It is hardly too much to say that this perpetual encounter of commands to be obeyed was chiefly what wrought at last into the Jewish nation that connection of the unity and personality of God which has created so remarkable, so unique a characteristic of the Hebrew Scriptures. With almost infinite pains on the part of the teacher, and at what terrible cost to the learner, the lesson was effectively taught and definitely learned. The Jews became believers in one God and that a personal God. Of this God, nature to them was full. If it thundered, Jehovah uttered his voice. If the winds blew, Jehovah made them his chariot. It was his lightning that enlightened the world. If a volcanic eruption occurred, it was the hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord. Jewish theism became so intense that it might look like pantheism. God was nature to them. But God was nature in a sense vividly antithetic to nature's being God. What God thus, with an awful magnificence of revelation, had, after many ages of history, succeeded at length in teaching to the Jews, to such effect that they wrote it inseparably into all their literature, many modern interpreters, forsooth, of that literature, are at fatuous, but futile pains to eliminate thence. They tell us that expressions such as those just recalled from Hebrew Scripture were idiosyncratic ways which that peculiar nation had, of representing in language the processes of nature! Nay, verily. But it was of tuition, and not of intuition, that those forms of speech were born. The inveterate bent of the Jews to relapse and become polytheists and idolaters again, that bent so frequently and so tragically illustrated in their history, this is proof sufficient that the idea of God, as one and personal, was not an idea peculiarly natural to the Jewish stock. The Jews had the same natural tendency in religion as did the neighboring nations around them. That tendency was all to idolatry. The Jews were disciplined to be monotheists, and disciplined to believe in their God as a personal being. And a large part of the discipline by which they were trained to these convictions consisted in the vast and elaborate scheme of requirements that brought them incessantly into contact, through obedience rendered, with a living, invisible, authoritative, absolute, personal will. Wilkinson. The mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, who alone exists necessarily and of himself; who sustains the life of all besides himself; before whom all that is not himself is but a shadow and vanity; from whose sanctity there streams forth on the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human life; and in whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the suffering, the poor, may, if they will, find a gracious and long-suffering Patron—this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The Jew knew that sin was the secret of human sorrow. He could not forget sin if he would; for before his eyes the importunate existence and destructive force of sin were inexorably pictured in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifice of sacrifices which was offered on the Day of Atonement. Then the moral law sounded in his ears; he knew that he had not obeyed it. The ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not relieve. H. P. L. The religious worship divinely instituted in the desert fulfilled several minor purposes. It tended to divert the attention from the sensuous attractions of the idolatry with which the people had been associated in Egypt; it had a considerable influence in preserving the sense of national unity; it constituted an invaluable code of sanitary regulations; it even fostered the preservation of genealogies. But none of these were its primary aim; they were secondary effects of causes, the primary purpose of which was the culture of the religious life. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things" (civil and social) "shall be added unto you," might have been taken as the motto of Judaism. Church and State were so united that the very purposes of government were best furthered by attention to the duties of religion. Cave. The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion. The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was also a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice—a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This was the real import of the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. When, however, from being an exponent of feeling and an educator of faith, the Jews perverted their worship to an end in itself, and a meritorious act, both the prophets of the Lord and his Providence taught them that the ritual could neither save them nor preserve itself. Yet the mercy of God prevailed, even over the abuse of mercy. There always was a spiritual Israel; and it was promised, that, by the coming of Christ, the covenant of an inner spiritual life—of knowledge, obedience, grace, righteousness, salvation—should be renewed, enlarged, and made perpetual. Christ was not only a greater and more perfect priest than any other; he superseded all others as priest in his own right, and priest forever: and therefore, to put a priesthood or ritual in his place is to usurp his sole prerogative, and to forfeit his atoning and saving grace. J. P. T. The Ceremonial Rites not Prophetic Types, but Doctrinal Symbols. All confusion and uncertainty arises from assuming that the significant rites of the ceremonial law must of necessity be types—that is to say, prophetic symbols, and that they must necessarily be types of Christ. All these rites were symbols, as distinguished from prophetic types, and as such suited to prepare the way for the Christian system, without confounding the two dispensations by an anticipation of the Gospel light amid the shadows of the Law. As soon as we admit that it is equally consistent with the honor of the Saviour, and still more consistent with the general purpose of the old economy as a preparatory dispensation, to explain a large portion of its forms as doctrinal symbols, teaching general truths of great importance, suited to the actual condition of the people, and tending to prepare them for a clearer revelation, several obvious interpretations spontaneously suggest themselves. J. A. A. This elaborate religious constitution was a ritual of the symbolic class. Whatever truth it had to convey was conveyed under material forms; adjuncts of gold and color were employed to speak of God; gorgeous vestments and precious stones proclaimed the sanctity of a priesthood; washing with water betokened the cleansing of the heart; the fire that consumed the sacrifice told its tale of Divine acceptance. This symbolism, so mysteriously selected and permitted for spiritual ends, fulfilled a double purpose. It taught religious truths which constituted a Divine revelation; at the same time it prepared the way for a further revelation in which the same truths could be conveyed in a clearer, more direct and convincing manner. Cave. The main peculiarity of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with his immediate disciples during the period of his earthly ministry! The direct instruction he imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty—treeing the Law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which his kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of his work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world—little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. . . . The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." P. F. The great mass of evangelical interpreters, especially in former times, have made it a main object in their expositions of the ceremonial law to shun the error of excluding Christ and gospel times from the signification of the legal shadows. In attempting this, it is not, perhaps, surprising, that their zeal has sometimes led them toward the opposite extreme. The exaggeration both of this and of the contrary hypothesis has led to the same general result, but in ways directly opposite. Both have deprived the ceremonial law of its preparatory character, the one by reducing its significance too low, and the other by exalting it too high. If the ceremonies of the Law meant nothing, they could not be preparatory to the Gospel. If they meant everything, and made known everything which needed to be known, they were not so much a preparation as an anticipation of the Gospel itself. J. A. A. #### Classification of Ceremonial Institutes. A fourfold distribution of the Sacred Institutions of the Hebrews has been adopted by the older and later writers: Sacred Places, Sacred Persons, Sacred Rites, and Sacred Times; or to use a more laconic terminology, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, the Ritual, and the Calendar. J. A. A.—The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings was the basis of the sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we discover the links that connect the ceremonial laws given by Moses with the primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we have the genesis of the tabernacle and temple. At the beginning the minister of sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of blood by Abel and the offering by fire of Noah we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The Sabbath ordained in paradise became the central institute in the sacred times appointed by Moses. Humphrey. Perhaps a fuller and more accurate classification is the following, in the main adopted in our arrangement: I. Positive Institutes, relating directly to Worship. 1. Its Place and external media. 2. Its Ministers—Priests and Levites. 3. Its Rites—Sacrificial and other offerings. 4. Its Times—Sabbatic Periods and Festivals. II. Minor Ceremonial Adjuncts of a preceptive character; Remedial, Corrective, and Prohibitory. B. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the Law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the TABERNACLE, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses's first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. P. S. Pure and abstract notions of the Divinity were beyond the age and the people of Moses. No religious impressions would be lasting which were not addressed to the senses. With this view is commenced the sacred tabernacle or pavilion-temple. The whole nation is called upon to contribute to its construction and ornament. The riches which they brought from Egypt, and the arts which some of them had learned, now come into request. From all quarters offerings pour in; brass, silver, gold, jewels, fine linen, embroidered stuffs of all colors, valuable skins, spices, oils, and incense, in such profusion that they cannot all be brought into use. The high district immediately around Sinai, extending about thirty miles in diameter, is by no means barren, the vegetation is richer than in other parts of the desert, streams of water flow in the valleys, date and other trees abound, and groves, chiefly of the black acacia (the shittim). These latter were speedily felled, all the artificers set to work, the women were employed in weaving and spinning, and the whole camp assumed a busy appearance. The construction of the tabernacle was intrusted to the superintendence of two skilful workmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. Milman. 25:1-8. The tabernacle revelation was in substance a revelation of God's willingness to dwell with his people, and of the conditions on which this great blessing could be realized by them. The first condition is their willingness to welcome him when he comes. And accordingly the first step is to give the people an opportunity of showing this willingness. "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering . . . and let them make me a sanctuary." The giving of the revelation shows the willingness on God's part; the offerings of the people the willingness on theirs. J. M. G. 9. According to the pattern . . . shall ye make it. An ideal of the finished tabernacle, with its hangings and its furniture, with its sacred enclosures of the Holy Place, and of the Holy of Holies, with its cherubim-guarded ark of the covenant, and its Shekinah-revealing of the Divine presence, was seen by Moses when he was on the mountain-top with God. That ideal Moses could not transfer to another's mental vision; but, under its influence, he could give the directions, step by step, for the making of hangings and of furniture and of adornings that should correspond with its details. S. S. T.—Moses saw on the mountain a pattern of all the things which he afterward caused to be made. In his intercourse with God, he attained to a deep view into the spiritual, eternal relations which existed between God and his people; but these relations were revealed to him under the veil of type and emblem, which veil neither he nor any Israelite could altogether take away. Many thousands were kept by such outward service, with its minute details, in a certain external discipline and reverence toward sacred things, without entering into their meaning (the Jews, Philo and Josephus, in the time of the apostles, had altogether lost the key to it); while the really spiritually-minded found a continually elevating employment for heart and spirit in the beautiful and appropriate symbols, which so harmonized with the doctrinal teaching of the Word. Gerl. From the twofold relation of Jehovah (as their God and their King) to the chosen people, it follows that there must be found in their laws and institutions both permanent and transient elements. Their duties toward him as their God, which found chief expression in their rites of worship, were permanent. The whole ritual, the kinds and orders of sacrifice, the priesthood in its several ranks, duties, and offices, the sevenfold division of times, the feasts—all this was unchangeable. As typical of higher things to come, they must remain till the antitypes came. And thus it was that Moses was directed to make all these things after the pattern showed him in the mount, a Divine order which man might not change. Andrews. The LORD'S Offering; Materials Indicated (25 : 3-7 ; 35 : 6-10). The materials were : Metals : gold, silver, and brass. Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric of goats' hair, the produce of their own flocks. Skins : of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. Wood : the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." Oil, spices, and incense, for anointing the priests, and burning in the tabernacle. Gems : onyx stones, and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high-priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver, and brass ; wood, skins, hair, and linen ; the women wove ; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense. P. S. Blue, purple, and scarlet. There does not seem much ground to doubt that these names of the colors of the woven and embroidered work of the sanctuary express the most probable conclusions. The three colors, blue, scarlet, and purple, have been recognized all but universally as royal colors, such as were best suited for the decoration of a palace. This fact appears to furnish sufficient ground for their having been appointed as the colors for the embroidery which was to adorn the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Clark. Some of the materials of the tabernacle were exquisitely adapted for symbolical representation. The acacia is the lignum imputrabile of the Orientals, incorruptibility itself, the facile defier of putrefaction. Gold, from its pre-eminence among even the noble metals, must ever be the emblem of all that is glorious and beautiful, the fitting ornament of kingly palaces, the appropriate adornment of a Divine residence. Silver will always the wide world over be eloquent of purity (Is. 1 : 22). And when we come to the richly woven tapestry hangings, did not its white speak of holiness, its blue of the vault of heaven, the footstool of the Almighty, its purple of regal splendor, and its scarlet of a full, free, joyous life, such as is the attribute of God? Cave. So far as the materials required for the building are concerned, it can be proved that the Israelites were either in possession of all that was wanted, or, if not, could easily have procured them. The most important article of all, the shittim (acacia) wood, could be felled in the desert. Gold, silver, and precious stones they had brought with them in great abundance from Egypt. The tachash skins were to be found in the Arabian Gulf. The raw materials for the cloths, the necessary spices, etc., could be purchased from the caravans. There is no reason for astonishment at the quantity of gold and silver that was used. In comparison with the almost incredible wealth in the precious metals which presents itself on every hand in ancient times, the quantity used in connection with the tabernacle furnishes no occasion for surprise. K. In erecting the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Israelites were called upon to work in precious stones ; in refining and working metals ; in carving wood and preparing leather ; in spinning, weaving, embroidery, and the preparation of oils. These arts they must have learned in Egypt ; and all these arts are represented upon contemporaneous history. Not more certainly do the physical features of Palestine testify that the Bible was mainly written in that country, than do the tombs of Egypt witness that the author of the Pentateuch was skilled in all the arts and manners of the Egyptians. J. P. T. We read of the Temple, the more perfect form of the Divine habitation, that it was to be made "so exceeding magnifical as to be of fame and glory throughout all countries ;" and that among other things employed by Solomon for this purpose, "the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty." Such materials, therefore, were used in the construction of the tabernacle as were best fitted for conveying suitable impressions of the greatness and glory of the Being for whose peculiar habitation it was erected. And as in this we are furnished with a sufficient reason for their employment, to search for others were only to wander into the regions of uncertainty and conjecture. P. F. 25 : 1; 35 : 4. Take for me an offering. The tabernacle was to be dedicated to the honor of God, and used in his service; and therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of that was an offering to the Lord. Our goodness extends not to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and interest among men, he is pleased to accept as an offering to himself; and he requires such acknowledgments of our receiving our all from him, and such instances of our dedicating our all to him. H.—What the Lord commanded was that such and such work should be done, not that such and such contributions should be rendered to it. These he left free; and accordingly they were brought in the form of free offerings. The commandment was upon Moses, however, to proclaim and receive these offerings and then turn them to the use which had been appointed. T. C. Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers (35 : 5, 20-29). 35 : 5. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring the Lord's offering. 21. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering. The very mode of providing his materials implied that the structure for which they were given was altogether of a sacred character, being made of things consecrated to the Lord. The special call for only that which was given "with the heart" implied that in all that concerns the worship and work of God there must be the concurrence of the sanctified will with the grace and condescension of God. S. R.—They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service; a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances; a gratitude for the great things he had done for them; faith in his promise of what he would further do; or, at least, from the present consideration of these things, that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit. H. Better have the little that comes from the willing heart than the large sums which are given by constraint or from any earthly or worldly motive. In this chapter this is strongly insisted upon; they that gave, gave with willing hearts—"the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord, every man and woman" (verse 29). Some had gold, and they gave that; some had silver and some had brass, and they gave that; some had linen, and they gave that; some skins of rams, some badgers' skins, some goats', and some could carve wood, and cut stones, and do all manner of cunning work, and they gave that. There was no representative currency. As they had no money, they gave that which money represents; each gave the substance that he had and could give. J. C. Should not the establishment of God's kingdom in the world call forth our zeal as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of the Israelites? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. To the erection of this spiritual house every true Christian Israelite is called to contribute according as God hath given him ability. And let it be ever remembered that the blessing will go with contributions according to the free, cordial, generous spirit with which they are made. It is not the amount given, but the motive of the giver, which is of account in God's sight. Even the poor widow who casts in her two mites will receive an equal plaudit with Araunah, of whom it is said, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." They who do what they can show evidently that they would do more if they could. Bush. The Workmen Qualified and Chosen by the LORD. 31 : 1. "The Lord spake unto Moses." The frequent repetition of these words seems to intimate that the successive disclosures of Jehovah to Moses were made at intervals, so as to allow the careful consideration and writing down of each. B. 31 : 1, 2, 6; 35 : 30, 31, 34, 36. I have called by name Bezalel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God. And I have appointed with him Oholiab. That he may teach, both he and Oholiab. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all the work for the service of the sanctuary. A thoughtful reading of these words shows that not only the two superintendents, Bezalel and Oholiab, but as well the entire body of workmen, were specially qualified and chosen for the various branches of work connected with the tabernacle and its service. B.—Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from Him are both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is He that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts (Job 38:36). He teaches the husbandman discretion (Is. 28:26), and the tradesman, too; and He must have the praise of it. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the Church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezalel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. Those whom God calls to any service, he will either find or make fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work that was to be done here, was to make the tabernacle, and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the Gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God: not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it (Heb. 9:11). H. God gave the plan clearly, graphically, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan and give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces: it needs the guidance of God's good Spirit to enable a man "to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship;" just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. A great intellect is as much the gift of God as a holy and sanctified heart is from the grace of God; only we must always remember that the two are not necessarily combined; that the latter—the sanctified heart—is saving; but that the former—the gifted intelintellect—may be an element of ruin, not of everlasting blessedness in the sight of God. Many men have transcendent gifts that shed new light upon the world by their splendor, who at the same time have hearts sunk in depravity and sin. They have been raised to heaven by the greatness of their gifts; they sink themselves to ruin by the degeneracy of their lives. Far better have a holy heart and a very ungifted intellect than have the most gigantic mind but a depraved heart to wield and to make use of it. J. C. God has a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is and the uses he will make of him; for the tradesmen Bezalel as truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling by being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us to do which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of his presence with us in it. It is not for us to say beforehand what gifts or what kind of inspiration God will bestow. Enough that he will take us into his own care, and work his own counsel in us. Only let us set no limits to the Holy One of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and wait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or suffering. Bushnell. Bezalel, the son of Uri, was called of God to do what to many seems a very inferior sort of work. See, says the Divine Spirit, I have called him—not to do the services of the priestly office—I have called him to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. In order to do this labor I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge. In a word, Bezalel was divinely called to be a smith. He was set apart just as certainly and just as divinely to work at that trade, as were Aaron and his sons to attend to the services at the altar. Bezalel's handicraft was essential to the carrying out of God's purposes in the building of the tabernacle, and his life was just as much of a heavenly ordination as though he had been clad in priestly robes, and had it appointed him to stand at the side of the altar of sacrifice, or walk with bare feet into the awful, cherubic, overshadowed Holy of Holies. And so Bezalel could feel, as he wrought out into beautiful forms the candlesticks, the altars, the tables, which were to be used in the worship of Jehovah, that he was a chosen servant of God no less than the priestly orders, who were to use the products of his toil; that God had ordained him to do the very work upon which his life was being spent, and that, therefore, he must be in the line of his highest duty. But the case of Bezalel was not a peculiar and distinct one. God has an infinite diversity of callings in which he wishes men, according to their natural fitness, to feel themselves placed. There are not only called preachers, but called merchants, called teachers, called farmers, called physicians, called smiths and carpenters, called housekeepers, called statesmen, called lawyers, it may be, called soldiers and politicians. Every life then which occupies itself with any part of God's work is of Divine ordination, and every soul that honestly and faithfully devotes itself to that pursuit, toward which natural fitness points it or into which circumstances force it, may feel that it is in the line of a Divine appointment. No man need murmur then that so much of his time must necessarily be squandered, and so much of his ability be wasted upon things which have no heavenly bearing or result. Nay, we may oftentimes feel that God has thrust some form of life upon us that we may teach the world some grand lesson of endurance, or patience, or fortitude, which could not have been disclosed had we been allowed to take any other place. Roseland. When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is organization there must be much work concerned with purely material things; and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There must be men for "the outward business of the house of God," as well as the white-robed priests at the altar and the rapt gazer in the secret place of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely outward and mechanical nature which must be seen to by somebody. The alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner, and so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and earnest manner, and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. The difference between two lives is not in the material on which but in the motive from which, and in the end for which they are respectively lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in essence, for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian morals, and ought forevermore to be expelled from Christian life. A. M. One place may be as holy as another; and all action done under the leading of the Spirit is equally accepted of God. There is no necessary part of life which may not be inspired by the Divine Spirit, whether it be work or play, social converse or public worship. As God has planned out our lives in the circumstances in which we act, with the existing demands for labor, social intercourse, and recreation, as well as for worship and religious instruction, his Spirit, if duly sought, will be with us equally in the whole round of life's activities. As we need him in all, he will fail us in none. To be true to God always, and to find him everywhere; to live ever by faith in Christ Jesus; to be simple, innocent, natural, and loving in all relationships; to be filled with the Holy Ghost; to rise easily and spontaneously from fact to truth, from nature to God, from the human to the Divine; to accept with the same spirit of consecration and obedience whatever seems to lie in the order of Providence for us to do, whether it be private or public, little or great, secular or ecclesiastical, work or play—is what we mean by spirituality. W. W. Patton. God put it into the hearts of Bezalel and Oholiab to teach others, who received their skill, therefore, proximately from them, but primarily and efficiently from God. This is an example by which what takes place in spiritual matters might also be illustrated. God endows and qualifies men to be the teachers of Christianity; and he is also to every Christian the author of all the spiritual wisdom which he possesses. Yet though taught by him this does not supersede the work of human instructors, for it is generally through them that he teaches the knowledge of himself, and of Jesus Christ whom to know is life everlasting. While depending then on the Spirit of God for a right understanding of the things of God, let us avail ourselves of all the human helps which he has so often sanctioned both by the examples and the exhortations of his Word. T. C. #### Liberality Excessive and Restrained. "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing." There is something striking in this account in the way of evidence of the high state of revival of religious feeling among the people after their scandalous fall. It is analogous to the evidence recorded of the holy zeal of the Christians in the revival at Pentecost in the New Testament. The artificers or artisans who took charge of the work—though their work was not yet done and they could only determine that according to their best judgment a sufficiency of materials had been furnished—seem to have been so very honest and of so strict integrity as not to have desired any overplus, which they might appropriate as perquisites. S. R. Where do we now find men acting so fully on the voluntary principle? How small a proportion of the benevolent offerings of Christians are brought to the Lord's treasury? Instead of this they must be sent or called for. How different from the full-souled and spontaneous promptings of the Israelitish donors on this occasion! They needed simply to have a want stated, and then without waiting for duty to be inculcated, appeals urged, a precise amount prescribed, or a messenger sent, they become the carriers of their own gifts and pour them in without stint till checked by a public proclamation! # Sum of Gold, Silver, and Copper Contributed. The gold weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels, if we allow 3000 shekels to the talent of 125 pounds; and this at £4 the ounce would be equal to £175,000 sterling, or nearly $877,000. The silver was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, being a half shekel from all the males above twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt, whose number was 603,550; the whole value of this would, at 5s. the ounce, be £39,721, or nearly $188,605. The brass, or rather copper, was 70 talents and 24,000 shekels, which if valued at 1s. 3d. the pound avoirdupois would be worth £138, or $690. The amount of these several sums would not be less than £213,320, or $1,066,600. But this amount does not include the curtains of the enclosure, the coverings of the tabernacle, the dress of the high-priest and its jewels, the dresses of the common priests, or the value of the skill and labor employed in the work, the whole of which may be fairly taken to have raised its value to the immense sum of £250,000, or $1,250,000! The grand reason for employing so great an amount of riches in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture was undoubtedly twofold: (1) To impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service; and (2) To convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual an intimation of the essential and transcendent beauty, excellence, and glory of the spiritual things that were shadowed out by it. It was only by means of such a sensuous apparatus of worship that they could receive the inner essential truths which it involved. Bush. The Israelites had left Egypt the year in which they made this contribution for the construction of the tabernacle. Though many of them were employed in servile labors, yet the people as a whole must have been possessed of considerable wealth. To this the Egyptians made a considerable accession at their departure. The sum here contributed is moderate in comparison with the enormous treasures amassed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Arabians, and the Egyptians themselves. M. Thus, on the part of the people, there were abundant tokens of thorough repentance. One of these was their alacrity to set about the work of erecting the tabernacle. All was enthusiasm in the camp. Men and women vied with each other in thoughtful and diligent endeavor. Another was the abounding liberality. So profuse was it that the receivers of the people's contributions had more than they knew what to do with, so that the people had actually to be restrained from giving. If the Church of Christ only realized the exceeding grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, as these people realized the grace of Jehovah and his servant Moses on this occasion, all our mission treasuries would overflow, and instead of ever-renewed appeals for more, the difficulty would be to restrain the people from giving. Finally, there was the minutest and most careful obedience to all the instructions which had been given for the building of the tabernacle and its furniture, so that when all the work was completed, we are told that "Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had, commanded, even so had they done it." J. M. G. THE TABERNACLE: NAMES; STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE; INNER VEIL AND OUTER SCREEN; MEANING AND DESIGN; SYMBOLISM AND TYPES. Ex. 25 10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark withal. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make 17 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 18 half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold ; of beaten work shalt 19 thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end : of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cher- 20 ubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, cov- ering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another ; toward the mercy-seat 21 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 22 and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cher- ubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in com- mandment unto the children of Israel. 23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood ; two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a 24 cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay 25 it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border 26 thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the 27 four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for 28 places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and 29 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, to 30 pour out withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew- bread before me alway. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft ; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece 32 with it : and there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other 33 side thereof : three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower ; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower : so for the 34 six branches going out of the candlestick : and in the candlestick four cups made like almond- 35 blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof : and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two 36 branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it : the whole of it one beaten work of pure 37 gold. And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven : and they shall light the lamps thereof, 38 to give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of 39 pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. And see that 40 thou make them after their pattern, which hath been shewed thee in the mount. No. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 2 When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so ; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, 4 as the LORD commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold ; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Ex. 26 34 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most 35 holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south ; and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 30 1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of acacia wood shalt thou make 2 it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 4 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and they shall be for places for staves to bear it 5 withal. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And 6 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that 7 is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of 8 sweet spices : every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout 9 your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt offering, nor meal 10 offering; and ye shall pour no drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year: with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. No. 10 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 2 beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congrega- 3 tion, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the 4 congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather 5 themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall 6 take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the 7 south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when 8 the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a 9 statute for ever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Ex. 37 1-28. Omitted because identical in its corresponding statements.  This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 25 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my 3 offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass ; 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins dyed red, 5 and sealskins, and acacia wood ; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the 6 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 7 And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I 9 shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. 35 4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is 5 the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the 6 LORD : whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the LORD's offering ; gold, and silver, 7 and brass ; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair ; and rams' skins 8 dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood ; and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing 9 oil, and for the sweet incense ; and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 10 the breastplate. And let every wise hearted man among you come, and make all that the 11 LORD hath commanded ; the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, 12 its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the 13 veil of the screen ; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the shewbread ; the 14 candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light ; and the 15 altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen 16 for the door, at the door of the tabernacle ; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of 17 brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base ; the hangings of the court, the 18 pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court ; the pins of the 19 tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords ; the finely wrought garments, for min- istering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 20. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the 22 service thereof, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all 23 jewels of gold ; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 24 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering : and every man, with whom was found acacia 25 wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the 26 scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun 27 the goats' hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the 28 ephod, and for the breastplate ; and the spice, and the oil ; for the light, and for the anoint- 29 ing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the LORD ; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son 2 of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in 3 wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to 4 devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones 5 for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, 6 I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have com- 7 manded thee : the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is 8 thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent ; and the table and its vessels, and the pure 9 candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense ; and the altar of burnt offering with 10 all its vessels, and the laver and its base ; and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office ; 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place : according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 35 30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name 31. Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of cunning workmanship. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Then hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise cunning works. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD hath commanded. 2. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. 4. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. 38 21 This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. 24. All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and made fillets for them. And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about. Sections 120-153 comprise the body of CEREMONIAL LAWS, and include all the ordinances pertaining to Worship and Ritual. For the outline of these ordinances and the order of arrangement, study carefully the Index following the title-page. In this and each of several following sections relating to the Tabernacle, its Court, and their furniture, and to the sacred things pertaining to the Ritual service, the double text of the record is included: covering, first, the command to Moses in the mount; second, the execution of the command. The history is thus unified and made more simple and intelligible, while the exact correspondence between the direction and its fulfilment continually repeats its impressive lesson. B. Preliminary Facts and Considerations. Two distinct elements are observable in the remaining portion of the Pentateuch: one, a set of laws forming a complete ecclesiastical and civil code; the other, an historical detail of the principal events, connected with the promulgation of the laws. The two elements are com bined in a manner quite extraordinary. The laws do not stand insulated by themselves, neither are they embodied in a systematic form. But, paradoxical as the assertion may seem, they are both separated and connected by the historical narrative. "It is a code of laws in a frame of history." There are continual transitions from history to law, and from law to history. They are everywhere grafted, the one into the other; and there is such a mutual connection and dependence, that the two parts seem to grow together, like the several branches of a tree. E. C. W. Its Design and Use. The best apology of the ceremonial law lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it: First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, a sense of the need of redemption. The Law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen; it erected between the two a wall of separation, by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage of the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running-hand. Hengstenberg. The purpose of the Levitical law as a scheme of Divine tuition for the Jews, is perhaps largely explained by its tendency to cultivate in the Hebrew mind theistic and monotheistic ideas. That law was of course a device of elaborate prefigurement to forerun the Coming of Christ. But, co-ordinate with this meaning as type and prophecy, the ritual of the Mosaic economy subserved another purpose. It educated the Jews into the faith of a living and personal God. The Law was a school-master until Christ. The problem for the providential administration of Jewish history was, to prepare one race of men for the earthly advent of Christ incarnate among them. For this end, it was necessary to take a people abjectly ignorant, and from amid an environment of heathenism raise them to the height of a pure monotheistic faith. The method was, to announce a law under sanctions the most awful and sublime. This Law was accompanied with a system of precepts that invaded Jewish life at every conceivable point. Not a day in the year, not an hour in the day, but some imperative of the Divine will met the Israelite, demanding obedience. Every such imperative brought into the consciousness of the Jew a fresh recollection of the being of God, and of his living personality. It is hardly too much to say that this perpetual encounter of commands to be obeyed was chiefly what wrought at last into the Jewish nation that connection of the unity and personality of God which has created so remarkable, so unique a characteristic of the Hebrew Scriptures. With almost infinite pains on the part of the teacher, and at what terrible cost to the learner, the lesson was effectively taught and definitely learned. The Jews became believers in one God and that a personal God. Of this God, nature to them was full. If it thundered, Jehovah uttered his voice. If the winds blew, Jehovah made them his chariot. It was his lightning that enlightened the world. If a volcanic eruption occurred, it was the hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord. Jewish theism became so intense that it might look like pantheism. God was nature to them. But God was nature in a sense vividly antithetic to nature's being God. What God thus, with an awful magnificence of revelation, had, after many ages of history, succeeded at length in teaching to the Jews, to such effect that they wrote it inseparably into all their literature, many modern interpreters, forsooth, of that literature, are at fatuous, but futile pains to eliminate thence. They tell us that expressions such as those just recalled from Hebrew Scripture were idiosyncratic ways which that peculiar nation had, of representing in language the processes of nature! Nay, verily. But it was of tuition, and not of intuition, that those forms of speech were born. The inveterate bent of the Jews to relapse and become polytheists and idolaters again, that bent so frequently and so tragically illustrated in their history, this is proof sufficient that the idea of God, as one and personal, was not an idea peculiarly natural to the Jewish stock. The Jews had the same natural tendency in religion as did the neighboring nations around them. That tendency was all to idolatry. The Jews were disciplined to be monotheists, and disciplined to believe in their God as a personal being. And a large part of the discipline by which they were trained to these convictions consisted in the vast and elaborate scheme of requirements that brought them incessantly into contact, through obedience rendered, with a living, invisible, authoritative, absolute, personal will. Wilkinson. The mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, who alone exists necessarily and of himself; who sustains the life of all besides himself; before whom all that is not himself is but a shadow and vanity; from whose sanctity there streams forth on the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human life; and in whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the suffering, the poor, may, if they will, find a gracious and long-suffering Patron—this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The Jew knew that sin was the secret of human sorrow. He could not forget sin if he would; for before his eyes the importunate existence and destructive force of sin were inexorably pictured in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifice of sacrifices which was offered on the Day of Atonement. Then the moral law sounded in his ears; he knew that he had not obeyed it. The ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not relieve. H. P. L. The religious worship divinely instituted in the desert fulfilled several minor purposes. It tended to divert the attention from the sensuous attractions of the idolatry with which the people had been associated in Egypt; it had a considerable influence in preserving the sense of national unity; it constituted an invaluable code of sanitary regulations; it even fostered the preservation of genealogies. But none of these were its primary aim; they were secondary effects of causes, the primary purpose of which was the culture of the religious life. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things" (civil and social) "shall be added unto you," might have been taken as the motto of Judaism. Church and State were so united that the very purposes of government were best furthered by attention to the duties of religion. Cave. The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion. The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was also a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice—a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This was the real import of the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. When, however, from being an exponent of feeling and an educator of faith, the Jews perverted their worship to an end in itself, and a meritorious act, both the prophets of the Lord and his Providence taught them that the ritual could neither save them nor preserve itself. Yet the mercy of God prevailed, even over the abuse of mercy. There always was a spiritual Israel; and it was promised, that, by the coming of Christ, the covenant of an inner spiritual life—of knowledge, obedience, grace, righteousness, salvation—should be renewed, enlarged, and made perpetual. Christ was not only a greater and more perfect priest than any other; he superseded all others as priest in his own right, and priest forever: and therefore, to put a priesthood or ritual in his place is to usurp his sole prerogative, and to forfeit his atoning and saving grace. J. P. T. The Ceremonial Rites not Prophetic Types, but Doctrinal Symbols. All confusion and uncertainty arises from assuming that the significant rites of the ceremonial law must of necessity be types—that is to say, prophetic symbols, and that they must necessarily be types of Christ. All these rites were symbols, as distinguished from prophetic types, and as such suited to prepare the way for the Christian system, without confounding the two dispensations by an anticipation of the Gospel light amid the shadows of the Law. As soon as we admit that it is equally consistent with the honor of the Saviour, and still more consistent with the general purpose of the old economy as a preparatory dispensation, to explain a large portion of its forms as doctrinal symbols, teaching general truths of great importance, suited to the actual condition of the people, and tending to prepare them for a clearer revelation, several obvious interpretations spontaneously suggest themselves. J. A. A. This elaborate religious constitution was a ritual of the symbolic class. Whatever truth it had to convey was conveyed under material forms; adjuncts of gold and color were employed to speak of God; gorgeous vestments and precious stones proclaimed the sanctity of a priesthood; washing with water betokened the cleansing of the heart; the fire that consumed the sacrifice told its tale of Divine acceptance. This symbolism, so mysteriously selected and permitted for spiritual ends, fulfilled a double purpose. It taught religious truths which constituted a Divine revelation; at the same time it prepared the way for a further revelation in which the same truths could be conveyed in a clearer, more direct and convincing manner. Cave. The main peculiarity of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with his immediate disciples during the period of his earthly ministry! The direct instruction he imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty—treeing the Law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which his kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of his work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world—little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. . . . The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." P. F. The great mass of evangelical interpreters, especially in former times, have made it a main object in their expositions of the ceremonial law to shun the error of excluding Christ and gospel times from the signification of the legal shadows. In attempting this, it is not, perhaps, surprising, that their zeal has sometimes led them toward the opposite extreme. The exaggeration both of this and of the contrary hypothesis has led to the same general result, but in ways directly opposite. Both have deprived the ceremonial law of its preparatory character, the one by reducing its significance too low, and the other by exalting it too high. If the ceremonies of the Law meant nothing, they could not be preparatory to the Gospel. If they meant everything, and made known everything which needed to be known, they were not so much a preparation as an anticipation of the Gospel itself. J. A. A. #### Classification of Ceremonial Institutes. A fourfold distribution of the Sacred Institutions of the Hebrews has been adopted by the older and later writers: Sacred Places, Sacred Persons, Sacred Rites, and Sacred Times; or to use a more laconic terminology, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, the Ritual, and the Calendar. J. A. A.—The altar was the basis of the sacred places, the priesthood was the basis of the sacred persons, the burnt-offerings was the basis of the sacred rites, and the Sabbath was the basis of the sacred times. Here we discover the links that connect the ceremonial laws given by Moses with the primeval ordinances of religion. In the altar set up in the family of Adam we have the genesis of the tabernacle and temple. At the beginning the minister of sacrifice was the patriarch of the existing family, and his sacred office passed over to the Mosaic priesthood. In the offering of blood by Abel and the offering by fire of Noah we discover the germs of the Jewish ritual. The Sabbath ordained in paradise became the central institute in the sacred times appointed by Moses. Humphrey. Perhaps a fuller and more accurate classification is the following, in the main adopted in our arrangement: I. Positive Institutes, relating directly to Worship. 1. Its Place and external media. 2. Its Ministers—Priests and Levites. 3. Its Rites—Sacrificial and other offerings. 4. Its Times—Sabbatic Periods and Festivals. II. Minor Ceremonial Adjuncts of a preceptive character; Remedial, Corrective, and Prohibitory. B. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the Law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the TABERNACLE, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses's first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. P. S. Pure and abstract notions of the Divinity were beyond the age and the people of Moses. No religious impressions would be lasting which were not addressed to the senses. With this view is commenced the sacred tabernacle or pavilion-temple. The whole nation is called upon to contribute to its construction and ornament. The riches which they brought from Egypt, and the arts which some of them had learned, now come into request. From all quarters offerings pour in; brass, silver, gold, jewels, fine linen, embroidered stuffs of all colors, valuable skins, spices, oils, and incense, in such profusion that they cannot all be brought into use. The high district immediately around Sinai, extending about thirty miles in diameter, is by no means barren, the vegetation is richer than in other parts of the desert, streams of water flow in the valleys, date and other trees abound, and groves, chiefly of the black acacia (the shittim). These latter were speedily felled, all the artificers set to work, the women were employed in weaving and spinning, and the whole camp assumed a busy appearance. The construction of the tabernacle was intrusted to the superintendence of two skilful workmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. Milman. 25:1-8. The tabernacle revelation was in substance a revelation of God's willingness to dwell with his people, and of the conditions on which this great blessing could be realized by them. The first condition is their willingness to welcome him when he comes. And accordingly the first step is to give the people an opportunity of showing this willingness. "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering . . . and let them make me a sanctuary." The giving of the revelation shows the willingness on God's part; the offerings of the people the willingness on theirs. J. M. G. 9. According to the pattern . . . shall ye make it. An ideal of the finished tabernacle, with its hangings and its furniture, with its sacred enclosures of the Holy Place, and of the Holy of Holies, with its cherubim-guarded ark of the covenant, and its Shekinah-revealing of the Divine presence, was seen by Moses when he was on the mountain-top with God. That ideal Moses could not transfer to another's mental vision; but, under its influence, he could give the directions, step by step, for the making of hangings and of furniture and of adornings that should correspond with its details. S. S. T.—Moses saw on the mountain a pattern of all the things which he afterward caused to be made. In his intercourse with God, he attained to a deep view into the spiritual, eternal relations which existed between God and his people; but these relations were revealed to him under the veil of type and emblem, which veil neither he nor any Israelite could altogether take away. Many thousands were kept by such outward service, with its minute details, in a certain external discipline and reverence toward sacred things, without entering into their meaning (the Jews, Philo and Josephus, in the time of the apostles, had altogether lost the key to it); while the really spiritually-minded found a continually elevating employment for heart and spirit in the beautiful and appropriate symbols, which so harmonized with the doctrinal teaching of the Word. Gerl. From the twofold relation of Jehovah (as their God and their King) to the chosen people, it follows that there must be found in their laws and institutions both permanent and transient elements. Their duties toward him as their God, which found chief expression in their rites of worship, were permanent. The whole ritual, the kinds and orders of sacrifice, the priesthood in its several ranks, duties, and offices, the sevenfold division of times, the feasts—all this was unchangeable. As typical of higher things to come, they must remain till the antitypes came. And thus it was that Moses was directed to make all these things after the pattern showed him in the mount, a Divine order which man might not change. Andrews. The LORD'S Offering; Materials Indicated (25 : 3-7 ; 35 : 6-10). The materials were : Metals : gold, silver, and brass. Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric of goats' hair, the produce of their own flocks. Skins : of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. Wood : the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." Oil, spices, and incense, for anointing the priests, and burning in the tabernacle. Gems : onyx stones, and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high-priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver, and brass ; wood, skins, hair, and linen ; the women wove ; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense. P. S. Blue, purple, and scarlet. There does not seem much ground to doubt that these names of the colors of the woven and embroidered work of the sanctuary express the most probable conclusions. The three colors, blue, scarlet, and purple, have been recognized all but universally as royal colors, such as were best suited for the decoration of a palace. This fact appears to furnish sufficient ground for their having been appointed as the colors for the embroidery which was to adorn the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Clark. Some of the materials of the tabernacle were exquisitely adapted for symbolical representation. The acacia is the lignum imputrabile of the Orientals, incorruptibility itself, the facile defier of putrefaction. Gold, from its pre-eminence among even the noble metals, must ever be the emblem of all that is glorious and beautiful, the fitting ornament of kingly palaces, the appropriate adornment of a Divine residence. Silver will always the wide world over be eloquent of purity (Is. 1 : 22). And when we come to the richly woven tapestry hangings, did not its white speak of holiness, its blue of the vault of heaven, the footstool of the Almighty, its purple of regal splendor, and its scarlet of a full, free, joyous life, such as is the attribute of God? Cave. So far as the materials required for the building are concerned, it can be proved that the Israelites were either in possession of all that was wanted, or, if not, could easily have procured them. The most important article of all, the shittim (acacia) wood, could be felled in the desert. Gold, silver, and precious stones they had brought with them in great abundance from Egypt. The tachash skins were to be found in the Arabian Gulf. The raw materials for the cloths, the necessary spices, etc., could be purchased from the caravans. There is no reason for astonishment at the quantity of gold and silver that was used. In comparison with the almost incredible wealth in the precious metals which presents itself on every hand in ancient times, the quantity used in connection with the tabernacle furnishes no occasion for surprise. K. In erecting the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Israelites were called upon to work in precious stones ; in refining and working metals ; in carving wood and preparing leather ; in spinning, weaving, embroidery, and the preparation of oils. These arts they must have learned in Egypt ; and all these arts are represented upon contemporaneous history. Not more certainly do the physical features of Palestine testify that the Bible was mainly written in that country, than do the tombs of Egypt witness that the author of the Pentateuch was skilled in all the arts and manners of the Egyptians. J. P. T. We read of the Temple, the more perfect form of the Divine habitation, that it was to be made "so exceeding magnifical as to be of fame and glory throughout all countries ;" and that among other things employed by Solomon for this purpose, "the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty." Such materials, therefore, were used in the construction of the tabernacle as were best fitted for conveying suitable impressions of the greatness and glory of the Being for whose peculiar habitation it was erected. And as in this we are furnished with a sufficient reason for their employment, to search for others were only to wander into the regions of uncertainty and conjecture. P. F. 25 : 1; 35 : 4. Take for me an offering. The tabernacle was to be dedicated to the honor of God, and used in his service; and therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of that was an offering to the Lord. Our goodness extends not to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and interest among men, he is pleased to accept as an offering to himself; and he requires such acknowledgments of our receiving our all from him, and such instances of our dedicating our all to him. H.—What the Lord commanded was that such and such work should be done, not that such and such contributions should be rendered to it. These he left free; and accordingly they were brought in the form of free offerings. The commandment was upon Moses, however, to proclaim and receive these offerings and then turn them to the use which had been appointed. T. C. Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers (35 : 5, 20-29). 35 : 5. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring the Lord's offering. 21. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering. The very mode of providing his materials implied that the structure for which they were given was altogether of a sacred character, being made of things consecrated to the Lord. The special call for only that which was given "with the heart" implied that in all that concerns the worship and work of God there must be the concurrence of the sanctified will with the grace and condescension of God. S. R.—They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service; a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances; a gratitude for the great things he had done for them; faith in his promise of what he would further do; or, at least, from the present consideration of these things, that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit. H. Better have the little that comes from the willing heart than the large sums which are given by constraint or from any earthly or worldly motive. In this chapter this is strongly insisted upon; they that gave, gave with willing hearts—"the children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord, every man and woman" (verse 29). Some had gold, and they gave that; some had silver and some had brass, and they gave that; some had linen, and they gave that; some skins of rams, some badgers' skins, some goats', and some could carve wood, and cut stones, and do all manner of cunning work, and they gave that. There was no representative currency. As they had no money, they gave that which money represents; each gave the substance that he had and could give. J. C. Should not the establishment of God's kingdom in the world call forth our zeal as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of the Israelites? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. To the erection of this spiritual house every true Christian Israelite is called to contribute according as God hath given him ability. And let it be ever remembered that the blessing will go with contributions according to the free, cordial, generous spirit with which they are made. It is not the amount given, but the motive of the giver, which is of account in God's sight. Even the poor widow who casts in her two mites will receive an equal plaudit with Araunah, of whom it is said, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." They who do what they can show evidently that they would do more if they could. Bush. The Workmen Qualified and Chosen by the LORD. 31 : 1. "The Lord spake unto Moses." The frequent repetition of these words seems to intimate that the successive disclosures of Jehovah to Moses were made at intervals, so as to allow the careful consideration and writing down of each. B. 31 : 1, 2, 6; 35 : 30, 31, 34, 36. I have called by name Bezalel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God. And I have appointed with him Oholiab. That he may teach, both he and Oholiab. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all the work for the service of the sanctuary. A thoughtful reading of these words shows that not only the two superintendents, Bezalel and Oholiab, but as well the entire body of workmen, were specially qualified and chosen for the various branches of work connected with the tabernacle and its service. B.—Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from Him are both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is He that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts (Job 38:36). He teaches the husbandman discretion (Is. 28:26), and the tradesman, too; and He must have the praise of it. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the Church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezalel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. Those whom God calls to any service, he will either find or make fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work that was to be done here, was to make the tabernacle, and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the Gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God: not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it (Heb. 9:11). H. God gave the plan clearly, graphically, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan and give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces: it needs the guidance of God's good Spirit to enable a man "to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship;" just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. A great intellect is as much the gift of God as a holy and sanctified heart is from the grace of God; only we must always remember that the two are not necessarily combined; that the latter—the sanctified heart—is saving; but that the former—the gifted intelintellect—may be an element of ruin, not of everlasting blessedness in the sight of God. Many men have transcendent gifts that shed new light upon the world by their splendor, who at the same time have hearts sunk in depravity and sin. They have been raised to heaven by the greatness of their gifts; they sink themselves to ruin by the degeneracy of their lives. Far better have a holy heart and a very ungifted intellect than have the most gigantic mind but a depraved heart to wield and to make use of it. J. C. God has a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is and the uses he will make of him; for the tradesmen Bezalel as truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling by being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us to do which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of his presence with us in it. It is not for us to say beforehand what gifts or what kind of inspiration God will bestow. Enough that he will take us into his own care, and work his own counsel in us. Only let us set no limits to the Holy One of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and wait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or suffering. Bushnell. Bezalel, the son of Uri, was called of God to do what to many seems a very inferior sort of work. See, says the Divine Spirit, I have called him—not to do the services of the priestly office—I have called him to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. In order to do this labor I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge. In a word, Bezalel was divinely called to be a smith. He was set apart just as certainly and just as divinely to work at that trade, as were Aaron and his sons to attend to the services at the altar. Bezalel's handicraft was essential to the carrying out of God's purposes in the building of the tabernacle, and his life was just as much of a heavenly ordination as though he had been clad in priestly robes, and had it appointed him to stand at the side of the altar of sacrifice, or walk with bare feet into the awful, cherubic, overshadowed Holy of Holies. And so Bezalel could feel, as he wrought out into beautiful forms the candlesticks, the altars, the tables, which were to be used in the worship of Jehovah, that he was a chosen servant of God no less than the priestly orders, who were to use the products of his toil; that God had ordained him to do the very work upon which his life was being spent, and that, therefore, he must be in the line of his highest duty. But the case of Bezalel was not a peculiar and distinct one. God has an infinite diversity of callings in which he wishes men, according to their natural fitness, to feel themselves placed. There are not only called preachers, but called merchants, called teachers, called farmers, called physicians, called smiths and carpenters, called housekeepers, called statesmen, called lawyers, it may be, called soldiers and politicians. Every life then which occupies itself with any part of God's work is of Divine ordination, and every soul that honestly and faithfully devotes itself to that pursuit, toward which natural fitness points it or into which circumstances force it, may feel that it is in the line of a Divine appointment. No man need murmur then that so much of his time must necessarily be squandered, and so much of his ability be wasted upon things which have no heavenly bearing or result. Nay, we may oftentimes feel that God has thrust some form of life upon us that we may teach the world some grand lesson of endurance, or patience, or fortitude, which could not have been disclosed had we been allowed to take any other place. Roseland. When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is organization there must be much work concerned with purely material things; and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There must be men for "the outward business of the house of God," as well as the white-robed priests at the altar and the rapt gazer in the secret place of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely outward and mechanical nature which must be seen to by somebody. The alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner, and so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and earnest manner, and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. The difference between two lives is not in the material on which but in the motive from which, and in the end for which they are respectively lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in essence, for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian morals, and ought forevermore to be expelled from Christian life. A. M. One place may be as holy as another; and all action done under the leading of the Spirit is equally accepted of God. There is no necessary part of life which may not be inspired by the Divine Spirit, whether it be work or play, social converse or public worship. As God has planned out our lives in the circumstances in which we act, with the existing demands for labor, social intercourse, and recreation, as well as for worship and religious instruction, his Spirit, if duly sought, will be with us equally in the whole round of life's activities. As we need him in all, he will fail us in none. To be true to God always, and to find him everywhere; to live ever by faith in Christ Jesus; to be simple, innocent, natural, and loving in all relationships; to be filled with the Holy Ghost; to rise easily and spontaneously from fact to truth, from nature to God, from the human to the Divine; to accept with the same spirit of consecration and obedience whatever seems to lie in the order of Providence for us to do, whether it be private or public, little or great, secular or ecclesiastical, work or play—is what we mean by spirituality. W. W. Patton. God put it into the hearts of Bezalel and Oholiab to teach others, who received their skill, therefore, proximately from them, but primarily and efficiently from God. This is an example by which what takes place in spiritual matters might also be illustrated. God endows and qualifies men to be the teachers of Christianity; and he is also to every Christian the author of all the spiritual wisdom which he possesses. Yet though taught by him this does not supersede the work of human instructors, for it is generally through them that he teaches the knowledge of himself, and of Jesus Christ whom to know is life everlasting. While depending then on the Spirit of God for a right understanding of the things of God, let us avail ourselves of all the human helps which he has so often sanctioned both by the examples and the exhortations of his Word. T. C. #### Liberality Excessive and Restrained. "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing." There is something striking in this account in the way of evidence of the high state of revival of religious feeling among the people after their scandalous fall. It is analogous to the evidence recorded of the holy zeal of the Christians in the revival at Pentecost in the New Testament. The artificers or artisans who took charge of the work—though their work was not yet done and they could only determine that according to their best judgment a sufficiency of materials had been furnished—seem to have been so very honest and of so strict integrity as not to have desired any overplus, which they might appropriate as perquisites. S. R. Where do we now find men acting so fully on the voluntary principle? How small a proportion of the benevolent offerings of Christians are brought to the Lord's treasury? Instead of this they must be sent or called for. How different from the full-souled and spontaneous promptings of the Israelitish donors on this occasion! They needed simply to have a want stated, and then without waiting for duty to be inculcated, appeals urged, a precise amount prescribed, or a messenger sent, they become the carriers of their own gifts and pour them in without stint till checked by a public proclamation! # Sum of Gold, Silver, and Copper Contributed. The gold weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels, if we allow 3000 shekels to the talent of 125 pounds; and this at £4 the ounce would be equal to £175,000 sterling, or nearly $877,000. The silver was 100 talents and 1775 shekels, being a half shekel from all the males above twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt, whose number was 603,550; the whole value of this would, at 5s. the ounce, be £39,721, or nearly $188,605. The brass, or rather copper, was 70 talents and 24,000 shekels, which if valued at 1s. 3d. the pound avoirdupois would be worth £138, or $690. The amount of these several sums would not be less than £213,320, or $1,066,600. But this amount does not include the curtains of the enclosure, the coverings of the tabernacle, the dress of the high-priest and its jewels, the dresses of the common priests, or the value of the skill and labor employed in the work, the whole of which may be fairly taken to have raised its value to the immense sum of £250,000, or $1,250,000! The grand reason for employing so great an amount of riches in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture was undoubtedly twofold: (1) To impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service; and (2) To convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual an intimation of the essential and transcendent beauty, excellence, and glory of the spiritual things that were shadowed out by it. It was only by means of such a sensuous apparatus of worship that they could receive the inner essential truths which it involved. Bush. The Israelites had left Egypt the year in which they made this contribution for the construction of the tabernacle. Though many of them were employed in servile labors, yet the people as a whole must have been possessed of considerable wealth. To this the Egyptians made a considerable accession at their departure. The sum here contributed is moderate in comparison with the enormous treasures amassed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Arabians, and the Egyptians themselves. M. Thus, on the part of the people, there were abundant tokens of thorough repentance. One of these was their alacrity to set about the work of erecting the tabernacle. All was enthusiasm in the camp. Men and women vied with each other in thoughtful and diligent endeavor. Another was the abounding liberality. So profuse was it that the receivers of the people's contributions had more than they knew what to do with, so that the people had actually to be restrained from giving. If the Church of Christ only realized the exceeding grace of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, as these people realized the grace of Jehovah and his servant Moses on this occasion, all our mission treasuries would overflow, and instead of ever-renewed appeals for more, the difficulty would be to restrain the people from giving. Finally, there was the minutest and most careful obedience to all the instructions which had been given for the building of the tabernacle and its furniture, so that when all the work was completed, we are told that "Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had, commanded, even so had they done it." J. M. G. THE TABERNACLE: NAMES; STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE; INNER VEIL AND OUTER SCREEN; MEANING AND DESIGN; SYMBOLISM AND TYPES. Ex. 25 10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark withal. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make 17 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 18 half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold ; of beaten work shalt 19 thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end : of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cher- 20 ubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, cov- ering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another ; toward the mercy-seat 21 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 22 and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cher- ubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in com- mandment unto the children of Israel. 23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood ; two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a 24 cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay 25 it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border 26 thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the 27 four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for 28 places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and 29 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, to 30 pour out withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew- bread before me alway. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft ; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece 32 with it : and there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof ; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other 33 side thereof : three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower ; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower : so for the 34 six branches going out of the candlestick : and in the candlestick four cups made like almond- 35 blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof : and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two 36 branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it : the whole of it one beaten work of pure 37 gold. And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven : and they shall light the lamps thereof, 38 to give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of 39 pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. And see that 40 thou make them after their pattern, which hath been shewed thee in the mount. No. 8 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 2 When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick. 3 And Aaron did so ; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, 4 as the LORD commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold ; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Ex. 26 34 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most 35 holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south ; and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 30 1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of acacia wood shalt thou make 2 it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 4 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and they shall be for places for staves to bear it 5 withal. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And 6 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that 7 is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of 8 sweet spices : every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout 9 your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt offering, nor meal 10 offering; and ye shall pour no drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year: with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. No. 10 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 2 beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congrega- 3 tion, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the 4 congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather 5 themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall 6 take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the 7 south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when 8 the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a 9 statute for ever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Ex. 37 1-28. Omitted because identical in its corresponding statements.  This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Ex. 39 32 Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting: and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they. 33. And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its 34 boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets; and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, 35 and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen; the ark of the testimony, and the 36 staves thereof, and the mercy-seat; the table, all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread; the 37 pure candlestick, the lamps thereof, even the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels 38 thereof, and the oil for the light; and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet 39 incense, and the screen for the door of the Tent; the brasen altar, and its grating of brass 40 its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, the cords thereof, and the pins thereof, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; the finely wrought garments for ministering in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them. 40 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and thou shalt screen the ark with the veil. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the furniture thereof: and it shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar shall be most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it. 16. Thus did Moses; according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he. 17. And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up its pillars. And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy-seat above upon the ark: and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of meeting, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil: and he burnt thereon incense of sweet spices; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. And he set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meal offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat; when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed: as the LORD commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. 34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No. 9 15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony: and at even it was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. No. 7 1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, and all the furniture thereof, and the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, offered; these were the princes of the tribes, these are they that were over them that were numbered: and they brought their oblation before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tabernacle. And the LORD spake unto Moses, 5 saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tent of meeting; and thou 6 shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took the 7 wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave 8 unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service: and four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son 9 of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the 10 sanctuary belonged unto them; they bare it upon their shoulders. And the princes offered for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their 11 oblation before the altar. And the LORD said unto Moses, They shall offer their oblation, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar. 12 And he that offered his oblation the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the 13 tribe of Judah: and his oblation was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both 14 of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; one golden spoon of ten shekels, 15 full of incense; one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burnt offer- 16 ing; one male of the goats for a sin offering: and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two 17 oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the oblation of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer. [As the offerings of the other eleven princes are identical with the first, the text is omitted.] 84 This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of 85 Israel: twelve silver chargers, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons: each silver charger weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy: all the silver of the vessels 86 two thousand and four hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; the twelve golden spoons, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary: all the 87 gold of the spoons an hundred and twenty shekels: all the oxen for the burnt offering twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the he-lambs of the first year twelve, and their meal offering: and 88 the males of the goats for a sin offering twelve: and all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs of the first 89 year sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed. And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim: and he spake unto him. One-third part of the entire Book of Exodus is taken up with the tabernacle; and it occupies more than two thirds of the portion devoted to Mount Sinai. All of Levities is occupied with it, and a considerable portion of Numbers. Minute instructions and full details are given, the most important of which are repeated again and again. All this goes to show the impor- tance attached to the tabernacle and its signifi- cance. J. M. G. The Entire Work Completed. Brought to Moses, and Approved (Ex. 39:32-43). 39:33. They brought the taber- nacle to Moses. They submitted it to his inspection. He knew what he had ordered them to make; and now the particulars were called over and all produced, that Moses might see both that they had made all, omitting noth- ing, that they had made all according to the instructions given them, and that, if they had made a mistake in anything, it might be forth- with rectified. H. 43. As the Lord had commanded. This is the tenth time that Moses, in this one chapter, says all this was done, "as the Lord had commanded," to show how scrupulously exact they were in their obedience. Patrick. —And Moses blessed them. This blessing seems to have been given not only to the workmen but to all the people. The people contributed liberally, and the workmen wrought faithfully, and the blessing of God was pro- nounced upon ALL. A. C. Command to Set up the Tabernacle and its Court and their Furniture, and to Anoint them (Ex. 40:1-11). In the erection of the tabernacle the order was from the holy of holies within outward to the court. In the directions for worship the order is reversed. Each order is appropriate in its place. In the setting up of the tabernacle, the prominent thought was the coming down of God to dwell with his people. Hence the throne, the mercy-seat, comes first, and after, in succession, the veils and barriers which guarded the shrine from unhallowed intrusion. In the directions for worship the prominent thought is the access of the people to God, and accordingly the beginning is made from the court, through which alone there can be access to the inner shrine. J. M. G. 9,10. Thou shalt anoint and hallow it, and it shall be holy.** Enlightened worshippers understood that the enjoyment of God's presence and blessing was by no means confined to that outward habitation, and that the relations there unfolded were proper to the whole Church of God. Hence the Psalmist represents it as the common privilege of an Israelite to dwell in the house of God, and abide in his tabernacle, though in the literal sense not even the priests could be said to do so. Of himself he speaks as desiring to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, by which he could only mean, that he earnestly wished continually to realize and abide in that connection and fellowship with God which he saw so clearly symbolized in the form and services of the tabernacle. And this symbolical import of the tabernacle was plainly indicated by the Lord himself to Moses, in the words, "And I will set my tabernacle among you, and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." The least in spiritual discernment could scarcely fail to learn here that what was outwardly exhibited in the tabernacle of God's nearness and familiarity with his people was designed to be the image of what should always and everywhere be realizing itself among the members of his covenant; that the tabernacle was the visible symbol of the Church or kingdom of God. Before it could be used as the Lord's tabernacle, it had to be consecrated by the application to all its parts and furniture of the holy anointing oil, for the preparation of which special instructions were given. "And thou shalt sanctify them," was the word to Moses regarding this anointing oil, "that they may be most holy; whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy." The tabernacle and its furniture being a symbol of the true Church as the peculiarly consecrated, God-inhabited region, the anointing with the sacred oil was a sensible representation of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, whose part it is to sanctify the unclean, and draw them within the sphere of God's habitation, as well as to fit them for occupying it. And as the anointing not only rendered the tabernacle and its vessels holy, but made them also the imparters of holiness to others—"whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy"—the important lesson was thereby taught, that they who really come into a living connection with the Church or kingdom of God are brought into communion with his spiritual nature, and made partakers of his holiness. It is only within the sphere of that kingdom that true purification and righteousness proceed. And as everything in the original tabernacle required to be sprinkled with the holy anointing oil to fit it for its sacred destination and use, so in the higher and ultimate realities of the Divine kingdom all is pervaded and consecrated by the living Spirit of God. The ordinances of the Church are made fruitful of good because they are the ordained channels of the Spirit's communications. He who has become really united to the one spiritual body has done so by being baptized into it by the one Spirit. He who, through the word of the Gospel, has been convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment, is a monument in what he has experienced of the powerful and blessed agency of that Spirit. And of every grace he exhibits, and every work of acceptable service he performs, it may be said that the will and the power to perform it have been wrought by the self-same Spirit. P. F. NOTE.—The actual anointing of the Tabernacle and its Furniture, and of the Altar of Burnt-offering and the Laver, took place in connection with the Consecration of Aaron and his sons to the Priesthood. The record is found in the next following section (Lev. 8 : 10, 11). B. The Tabernacle Reared and the Holy Things Put in Place. 17. From an attentive survey of all the incidents recorded to have happened after the exodus from Egypt, it appears that about six months intervened between that event and the commencement of the work of the tabernacle. Consequently they were about six months employed in the work itself; for the tabernacle was set up at the beginning of the second year after they had left Egypt. Considering the vast amount of curious and costly workmanship that was requisite, the undertaking was carried through with great expedition. Bush. 20. The testimony.** The tables of stone with the Ten Commandments engraved on them. Nothing else is said to have been put into the ark. These were found there by themselves in the time of Solomon. The pot of manna was "laid up before the testimony" (Ex. 16 : 34); Aaron's rod was also placed "before the testimony" (Nu. 17 : 10); and the book of the Law was put at "the side of the ark" (De. 31 : 26). The expression "before the testimony" appears to mean the space immediately in front of the ark. 20-30. The tabernacle owed its character and significance to the ark with its sacred contents and the mercy-seat that covered it. Above the mercy-seat, in a concentrated sense, was the spot where Jehovah communed with his people. The furniture of the holy place held a subordinate position, and all its symbolism pointed to the truth which had its deepest and fullest expression in the ark. In the form and materials of the tabernacle itself there appears to have been nothing, either in its word-work or its curtains, but what was most convenient for the arrangement and protection of the holy things and most becoming for beauty. It was in fact a regal tent, in which the ark symbolized the constant presence of Jehovah, who now condescended to dwell among the people whom he had redeemed. Clark. Every square inch of the sacred enclosure was a place of meeting between Jehovah and his people, according to the terms of the Divine revelation; but it was at the altar of burnt-offering in the court that the non-priestly worshippers approached most nearly to their God; it was at the golden altar in the holy place that the priests were admitted to closest access; and it was as the high priest approached most nearly the space beneath the outstretched wings of the cherubim that he drew nearest to the throne of intercession. Cave. In the holy of holies was the throne of God. That throne was a "mercy seat." Under the mercy-seat was "the testimony," the holy Law in its ark of gold. The throne, then, was a throne of grace, founded on holiness. Here we have the two leading thoughts of God which the tabernacle symbolizes: his HOLINESS and his MERCY. As in every revelation of himself which God has given us, "mercy and truth meet to gether, righteousness and peace embrace each other." That which is prominent, that which is uppermost, that which appears, is the mercy; but the mercy is ever founded on justice. His throne is a throne of mercy; but in order to obtain the mercy we must approach it in the way of holiness. In the outer apartment was the shew-bread, literally "bread of the presence," the seven-branched candlestick, all lighted up, and the golden altar with sweet incense rising from it. Though the presence of the Lord cannot be seen on this side of the veil, there is bread of the presence for those who come into his sanctuary. There is also light, not like the glory within the veil, but light as of a lamp, fed perpetually with oil, the well-known symbol of Divine grace. And then right in front of the curtain is the golden altar, with the incense rising from it and wafted within, teaching that, though there is a veil between man and God, yet by prayer we can penetrate within it and reach the mercy-seat, the throne of God. And in the court without was the altar of burnt-offering, with the laver between. The only way by which sinful men can enter into the apartment, where are to be found the bread of the presence, the light of the lamps, and the incense altar of devotion, is by the altar of burnt-offering and the laver—i.e., by atonement and by washing. J. M. G. 31,32. Moses and Aaron and his sons.** The things had been made expressly for the service of Jehovah, by his command, and in this fact lay their essential sanctity, of which the anointing was only the seal and symbol. Aaron and his sons, on similar ground, having had the Divine call, took part in the service of the sanctuary as soon as the work was completed. But Moses took the lead until they were consecrated and invested and publicly set apart for the office. Clark. The Cloud Covers the Tent, and the Glory Fills the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34, 35. Nu. 9:15, 16). The covering cloud revealed the constant, visible, and guiding presence of Jehovah among his professing people, resting above the outer tent that covered the tabernacle. But within that tabernacle itself there was yet another and unapproachable presence. For "the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle." A. E.—The tabernacle was God's dwelling-place among his people: "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them;" "And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God;" "I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people" (Ex. 25:8:29:45; Lev. 26:11, 12). No words could more clearly express the object of the structure; and it was in conformity with this that, while "a cloud covered the Tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Milligan.—By the visible tokens of God's coming among them to take possession of the tabernacle, he owned them, showed himself well pleased with what they had done, and abundantly rewarded them. God will dwell with those that prepare him a habitation. Where God has a throne and an altar in the soul, there is a living temple. And God will be sure to own and crown the operations of his own grace, and the observance of his own appointments. H. The tabernacle could not now be entered even by Moses, without a special summons to that effect from Jehovah himself. The same thing happened at the dedication of the temple of Solomon, when, we are told (1 Kings 8 : 10, 11) "The cloud filled the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. . ." It was the Great Jehovah who appeared in the Shekinah, and who through that medium manifested his presence and communicated his will to the chosen people. Besides "Shekinah," the title which the Chaldee paraphrases very frequently give to the appearances of the Divine Being spoken of in the Hebrew records, is mēmra da-Yehovah, which as the Greek language prevailed and acquired a fixed predominance was translated "the Logos, or Word of the Lord." Words, either written or spoken, are the established vehicle for conveying the thoughts and feelings of one human being to another. The Shekinah, in like manner, by addressing the senses communicated the designs and will of God to men. How natural, therefore, and how proper to call the Shekinah "the Word of the Lord"? Accordingly the evidence is superabundant that this appellation in reference to the Shekinah was perfectly familiar to the Jews at and before the time of our Saviour; and as used by their writers, it is impossible to question that the term "Logos" or "Word" is repeatedly employed as equivalent to the Shekinah. But Jesus Christ is called by John the "Logos" or "Word." And have we not now obtained an adequate solution to this title as applied to him, without going out of the bounds of the established Jewish usus loquendi? He was "the Word" in the most emphatic and preeminent sense. He was the great organ of communication between heaven and earth. He was the Divine Declarer of his Father's purposes of grace and redemption to lost men. There can be no doubt that all previous Divine communications and appearances were prospective, preparative, and preintimative in their scope, pointing to him who was subsequently to come forth from the bosom of the Godhead and tabernacle or shekinas in our nature as the incarnate "Word." Accordingly we are told by the apostle (Heb. 1 : 1) that "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, in those last days, spoken unto us by his Son." So truly then as the Shekinah of the earlier economy is identified with the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the Shekinah is the same as "the Word" that was made flesh, so truly is Jesus Christ also the Jehovah of the inspired Scriptures, "God over all and blessed forever." Bush. The tabernacle, as a whole, is a finger-post directing me to that mystic person in whom "God in very deed dwelt with man upon the earth." Its white-robed priest is the shadow of him who was "holy, harmless, undefiled," and whom I recognize as my true high-priest. Its bleeding lamb laid upon the altar is the likeness of that Lamb of God by whose precious blood I have been redeemed from all iniquity; its innermost sanctuary is the type of that heaven into which he has entered to make atonement for my sin, and its outer apartment is the analogue of the present world, in which we are to serve him with the incense of our devotions, the light of our characters, and the fruit of our lives. The incarnation in the person of Christ, the mediation and expiation of his priestly work, and the consequent obligation under which his redeemed people lie to honor him with unceasing service and shining holiness—or, putting it all into four words, INCARNATION, MEDIATION, EXPIATION, CONSECRATION—these are the things of which the tabernacle, with its furniture, services, and attendants, were the special types; and as thus we condense its teachings into their essence, we come to a larger and more comprehensive view of the doctrines of the Gospel itself, and discover that we have been studying the same truths, only under a different form. W. M. T. It was a tabernacle, beautiful and complete when Moses finished it; it became a choice palace and a holy sanctuary the instant that the glory entered into it. It is so still. A church is not a building, neither cathedral, chapel, nor meeting-house; but it is the company of God's people. What makes a church is a people met in Christ's name with Christ the Shekinah dwelling in the midst of them. And if Christ in the midst of his people be to us what the glory was in the tabernacle, then in the house of God Christ's name should be above every name; Christ's glory should supersede all glory; Christ's presence should fill the hearts of his people. J. C. "Christ all and in all" is the grand central truth in which the many trains of thought springing from the tabernacle-architecture converge and terminate. The sanctuary and the vessels of the sanctuary all speak this one voice. The altar tells of Christ as the sacrifice for sin; the laver of Christ as the giver of the Spirit; the candlestick shines on the shew-bread and reveals Christ: the censer is full of Christ in his intercession, and the mercy-seat is Christ the great Mediator. All speak of Christ, for Christ is all. Christ is the hope of the world. In him, in him alone, there is mercy for the rebellious. He is the hope of salvation for each individual sinner, and for a sinful world. No Christ, no hope. Christ is the joy of the Church. Every blessing which believers enjoy flows from Christ. He is the support and strength of his people. He enlightens and warms them with his Spirit. He kindles in their breast the fire of devotion, and presents their prayers and praises before the throne. Christ is the believer's joy, his delight, his song. Christ is the glory of heaven. His presence makes it what it is. Without him, as the mercy-seat and the high-priest, heaven would be no heaven to us. He prepares it for us, and prepares us for it. Yes, the words from the New Testament which might have been inscribed all over the tabernacle are "Christ is all, and in all." An. The tabernacle served its purpose. At the time it was set up the worship of the one living and true God had become almost extinct; but the tabernacle, with its successor, the temple, was a perpetual protest against idolatry—a centre and rallying-point to monotheistic worship. And the doctrine of the Divine unity and spirituality has triumphed. Monotheists, or believers in one God, supreme, self-existent, and distinct from the universe he has created, are not only counted by hundreds of millions, but they include all that is worth naming of the world's intelligence and civilization. All the inhabitants of Europe are monotheists. Every Christian is a monotheist, so is every Jew, so is every Mussulman. But the tabernacle had a purpose still more practical and home-coming. So to speak, it brought God again into the midst of men. He who in the bowers of Eden had been so friendly and familiar, but who at man's sin withdrew, and who from that time had rarely broken the silence, this God it again brought into our midst, and recording his name in his appointed place, he declared it to be his fixed abode and chosen dwelling. Hamilton. # After History of the Tabernacle. The tabernacle, after it had accompanied the Israelites in their wanderings in the wilderness, was most probably first set up in the holy land at Gilgal. But before the death of Joshua, it was erected at Shiloh. Here it remained as the national sanctuary throughout the time of the Judges. But its external construction was at this time somewhat changed, and doors, strictly so-called, had taken the place of the entrance curtain; hence it seems to have been sometimes called the temple (1 Sol. 1: 9; 3: 3), the name by which the structure of Solomon was afterward commonly known. Clark.—It was far, however, from being what it was intended to be, the one national sanctuary, the witness against a localized and divided worship. The old religion of the high places kept its ground. Altars were erected, at first with reserve, as being not for sacrifice (Josh. 22: 26), afterward freely, and without scruple (Judges 6: 24; 13: 19). When the ark of God was taken, the Sanctuary lost its glory; and the tabernacle, though it did not perish, never again recovered it. Samuel treated it as an abandoned shrine, and sacrificed elsewhere, at Mizpeh, at Ramah, at Gilgal. It probably became once again a movable sanctuary. P. S.—For a time it seems, under Saul, to have been settled at Non in Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. From thence, in the time of David, it was removed to Gibeon. It was brought from Gibeon to Jerusalem by Solomon. After this it disappears in the narrative of Scripture. When the temple of Solomon was built, "the tabernacle of the tent" had entirely performed its work; it had protected the ark of the covenant during the migrations of the people until they were settled in the land, and the promise was fulfilled, that the Lord would choose out a place for himself in which his name should be preserved and his service should be maintained (De. 12: 14, 21; 14: 24). In accordance with its dignity as the most sacred object in the sanctuary, the original ark of the covenant constructed by Moses was preserved and transferred from the tabernacle to the temple. The golden altar, the candlestick, and the shew-bread table were renewed by Solomon. They were subsequently renewed by Zerubbabel, and lastly by the Maccabees. But the ark was preserved in the temple until Jerusalem was taken by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Ch. 35: 3; Jer. 3: 16). It was never replaced in the second temple. According to a rabbinical tradition, its place was occupied by a block of stone. Clark. # Offerings of the Twelve Tribes by their Princes. Nu. 9 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Moreover let the children of Israel keep the passover in its appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in its appointed season: according to all the statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof, shall ye keep it. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover. And they kept the passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. And there were certain men, who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: and those men said unto him, We are unclean by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer the oblation of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel? And Moses said unto them, Stay ye; that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar 11 off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD : in the second month on the fourteenth day 12 at even they shall keep it ; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs : they shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break a bone thereof : according to all the statute 13 of the passover they shall keep it. But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people : because he offered 14 not the oblation of the LORD in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD ; according to the statute of the passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so shall he do : ye shall have one statute, both for the stranger, and for him that is born in the land. Ex. 40 36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel 37 went onward, throughout all their journeys : but if the cloud were not taken up, then they 38 journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. No. 9 17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel journeyed : and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of 18 Israel encamped. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they encamped : as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they remained encamped. And when the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many days, 19 then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And sometimes the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle ; then according to the commandment of the LORD they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. 21 And sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning ; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed : or if it continued by day and by night, when the cloud 22 was taken up, they journeyed. Whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, abiding thereon, the children of Israel remained encamped, 23 and journeyed not : but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they encamped, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed : they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses. No. 10 29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you : come thou 30 with us, and we will do thee good : for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel. And 31 he said unto him, I will not go ; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee ; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the 32 wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what good soever the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. No. 9 : 1-5. The Passover was kept at Sinai in the first month of the second year. This was before the census and all the other events previously recorded in this book, except the offerings of the princes (ch. 7). There was, however, an obvious reason for mentioning together the two passovers, the second of which (the supplementary) immediately preceded the departure from Sinai. Espin. 6-14. When certain men, "defiled by a dead body," complained that they had thereby been excluded from the feast, Moses would not decide the matter himself, but brought their case before God. The direction given was, that under such or similar circumstances the Passover should be observed exactly a month later, it being at the same time added, to guard against any wilful neglect, that whoever omitted the ordinance without such reason should "but cut off from among his people." A. E. —For those who, on account of ceremonial disqualification, had not been able to join with the rest in the celebration on the regular day, a special Passover service on the fourteenth day of the second month was appointed. And a general rule was adopted in future for the benefit of those who, for no fault of their own, had been deprived of the privilege at the appointed season. All this goes to show the great importance which was attached to this observance. J. M. G. The later Jews speak of this as the Little Passover. Coming, as it did, a month after the proper Passover, it afforded ample time for a man to purify himself from legal defilement, as also to return from any but a very distant journey. It was in conformity with the spirit of this ordinance that Hezekiah, at the opening of his reign, celebrated the Great Passover in the second month, being unable to complete the sanctification of the temple and priesthood against the regular season of the feast (2 Ch. 29). Espin. In this pillar from the first the Lord accompanied and led the people. The appearance of this symbol of the Divine Presence was various, but it is uniformly spoken of as itself one—a lofty column rising toward heaven. By day it would seem to have expanded as it rose and formed itself into a shade between the Israelites and the sun, as the Lord is said by means of it to have “spread a cloud for a covering,” while by night it exchanged the cloudy for the illuminated form, and diffused throughout the camp a pleasant light. At first it went before the army, pointing the way; but after the tabernacle was made it became more immediately connected with this, though sometimes appearing to rest more closely on it and sometimes to rise higher aloft. Sometimes, however, as when a manifestation of Divine glory needed to be given to overawe the people, or when some special revelation was to be given to Moses, the fire discovered itself through the cloud. So that it may be described as a column of fire surrounded by a cloud, the one or the other appearance becoming predominant according as the Divine purpose required, but that of fire being more peculiarly identified with the glory of God. P. F. The ordinary form which it assumed was that of a pillar, which moved forward at the head of the Israelites, and showed the way to the hindmost ranks of the whole procession (Ex. 13 : 21 ; De. 1 : 33). When the people were to encamp for the purpose of resting, the cloud descended; and when they were to set out again, it was taken up. The fire in the pillar was a symbol of the holiness of God, which moved before the sanctified people, both as a covering and a defence. It was the same fire which Moses had seen in the bramble, and the same which came down upon Sinai enveloped in a thick cloud. As the fire was a symbol of the holiness of God, the cloud in which it was enveloped was a symbol of his mercy. In and with the symbol was Jehovah himself, with his holiness and mercy, or the angel who represented him in the Old Testament, and foreshadowed his future incarnation. Thus in the pillar of cloud and fire there dwelt the holiness of the Lord (cf. Ex. 16 : 10 ; 40 : 34 ; Nu. 16 : 42). This relation between the symbol and that which it represented was afterward designated in Jewish theology the Shekinah. From it proceeded all the commands of Jehovah; from it he terrified the enemies of Israel; from it he threatened the murmuring people; and from it went forth the devouring flame, which slew the disobedient and rebellious. K. The lifting of the cloud was the signal of departure. The cloud by day and the fire by night were conspicuous before the eyes of “all the house of Israel in all their journeys.” Young and old, male and female, the numbered and marshalled host and the wandering clans tending their flocks and herds, were alike spectators of this wondrous sign of the Divine presence, of the central encampment of their race, and of their perfect security under the Divine protection. M.—It was a threefold token of the Divine presence, protection, and guidance. In this sublime symbol the journeying host could but feel that God was always nigh them, resting with them when they rested, and moving with them when they moved. Never could they cast their eyes upon that towering pillar, ever dark by day and bright by night, always maintaining its position, and not, like other clouds, changing, breaking, and dissipating into the surrounding air; never could they look upon this august object without being reminded that “a God at hand, and not afar off, was the Lord in his holy habitation.” It conducted them in all their movements, and indicated to them all their rests. They rose up and journeyed whenever it began to move; they stopped when it became stationary. When it rose they knew not whither it would go, but it led them constantly in the right way; they had nothing to do but to yield themselves implicitly to its guidance. Bush. And as he chooses, so he guides their way. That they might not err in that sandy and untracked wilderness, himself goes before them: who could but follow cheerfully, when he sees God lead him? He that led the wise men by a star leads Israel by a cloud: that was a higher object, therefore he gives them a higher and more heavenly conduct; this was more earthly, therefore he contents himself with a lower representation of his presence; a pillar of cloud and fire: a pillar, for firmness; of cloud and fire, for visibility and use. The greater light extinguishes the less; therefore in the day he shows them not fire, but a cloud: in the night nothing is seen without light; therefore he shows them not the cloud but fire: the cloud shelters them from heat by day; the fire digests the rawness of the night. The same God is both a cloud and a fire to his children; ever putting himself into those forms of gracious respects that may best fit their necessities. Bp. II.—There it glows whenever night begins to fall: no clouds conceal it, no tempest drives it hence: and when once more the sun arises in the east, its brightness fades, but changes then into a pillar of cloud, hovering above and sheltering the camp or the march. Well might, centuries thereafter, the Psalmist in ecstasy claim: "He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night" (Ps. 105:39). Van O.—And the conduct of this cloud is spoken of as signifying the guidance of the blessed Spirit (Is. 63:14); The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest, and so didst thou lead thy people. We are not now to expect such sensible tokens of the Divine presence and guidance as this was, but the promise is sure to all God's spiritual Israel. That he will guide them by his counsel (Ps. 73:24), even unto death (Ps. 48:14). That all the children of God shall be led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14). That he will direct their paths, who in all their ways acknowledge him (Prov. 3:6). Those that by faith commit their works to the Lord, though they are bound to the prudent use of means, yet may be easy in the expectation of the event; "Father, thy will be done; dispose of me and mine as thou pleasest; here I am, desirous to be found waiting on my God continually, to journey and rest at the commandment of the Lord. What thou wilt, and where thou wilt, only let me be thine, and always in the way of my duty." H. All these circumstances are recited thus particularly by Moses, to show that the Israelites did not wander so long in the wilderness from being bewildered and unable to find their way out; but that all their motions were directed by the special appointment of God. Patrick.—These tokens continued with them throughout all their journeys: for, notwithstanding their frequently repeated disobedience and rebellion, God never withdrew these tokens of his presence from them till they were brought into the promised land. When, therefore, the tabernacle became fixed, because the Israelites had obtained their inheritance, this mark of the Divine presence was no longer visible in the sight of all Israel, but appears to have been confined to the holy of holies, where it had its fixed residence upon the mercy-seat, between the cherubim; and in this place continued till the first temple was destroyed; after which it was no more seen in Israel till God was manifested in the flesh. A. C.