1 he-- txp' o\ c THE BOOK O.F EXODUS. \>. <\/ BY THE VERY REV. G. A. VCHADWICK, D.D., Dean of Armagh, AUTHOR OF "CHRIST BEARING WITNESS TO HIMSELF," "AS HE THAT SERVETH," "THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK," ETC. NEW YORK: A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON, 714, BROADWAY. PREFACE. MUCH is now denied or doubted, within the Church itself, concerning the Book of Exodus, which was formerly accepted with confidence by all Christians. But one thing can neither be doubted nor denied. Jesus Christ did certainly treat this book, taking it as He found it, as possessed of spiritual authority, a sacred scripture. He taught His disciples to regard it thus, and they did so. Therefore, however widely His followers may differ about its date and origin, they must admit the right of a Christian teacher to treat this book, taking it as he finds it, as a sacred scripture and invested with spiritual authority. It is the legitimate subject of exposition in the Church. Such work this volume strives, however imper- fectly, to perform. Its object is to edify in the first place, and also, but in the second place, to inform. Nor has the author consciously shrunk from saying what seemed to him proper to be said because the utterance would be unwelcome, either to the latest critical theory, or to the last sensational gospel of an hour. But since controversv has not been sought, b PREFACE. although exposition has not been suppressed when it carried weapons, by far the greater part of the volume appeals to all who accept their Bible as in any true sense, a gift from God. No task is more difficult than to exhibit the Old Testament in the light of the New, discovering the permanent in the evanescent, and the spiritual in the form and type which it inhabited and illuminated. This book is at least the result of a firm belief that such a connection between the two Testaments does exist, and of a patient endeavour to receive the edification offered by each Scripture, rather than to force into it, and then extort from it, what the expositor desires to find. Nor has it been supposed that by allowing" the imagination to assume, in I"! thl"g\that rank as a ^'de which reason holds in all other practical affairs, any honour would be done to Him Who is called the Spirit of know- ledge and wisdom, but not of fancy and quaint conceits. M If such an attempt does, in any degree, prove successful and bear fruit, this fact will be of the nature of a scientific demonstration If this ancient Book of Exodus yields solid results to a sober devotional exposition in the nineteenth Christian century, if it is not an idle fancy that its teaching harmonises with the principles and theology of the New Testament, and even demands the New lestament as the true commentary upon the Old, what fo lows ? How comes it that the oak is potential y m the acorn, and the living creature in tne egg ? No germ is a manufactured article • it is a part of the system of the universe. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I The Prologue, i. I — 6. Books linked by conjunction "And :" Scripture history a con- nected whole, I. — So is secular history organic : " Philosophy of history." Tlie Pentateuch being a still closer unity, Exodus rehearses the descent into Egypt, 2. — Heredity: the family of Jacob, 3. — Death of Joseph. Influence of Egypt on the shep- herd race, 4. — A healthy stock : good breeding. Goethe's aphorism, 5. — Ourselves and our descendants, 6. God in History, i. 7. In Exodus, national history replaces biography, 6. — Contrasted narratives of Jacob and Moses. Spiritual progress from Genesis to Exodus, 7. — St. Paul's view: Law prepares for Gospel, especially by our failures, 8. — This explains other phenomena : failures in various circumstances, of innocence in Eden; of an elect family; now of a race, a nation, 9. — Israel, failing with all advantages, needs a Messiah. Faith justifies, in Old Testa- ment as in New, 10. — Scripture history reveals God in this life, in all things, 11. — True spirituality owns God in the secular : this is a gospel for our days, 12-13. I he Oppression, i. 7 — 22. Early prosperity : its dangers : political supports vain, 13. — Joseph forgotten. National responsibilities : despotism, 14.— Nations and their chiefs. Our subject races, 15.— The Church and her King : imputation. Pharaoh precipitates what he fears, 16. — Egypt and her aliens : modern parallels, 17. — Tyranny is tyrannous even when cultured, 18. — Our undue estrangement from the fallen : Jesus a brother. Toil crushes the spirit, 19. — Israel idolatrous. Religious dependence, 20. — Direct interposition required. Bitter oppression, 21.— ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. Pharaoh drops the mask. Defeated b}' the human heart. The midwives, 22. — Tneir falsehood. Morality is progressive, 23. — Culture and humanity, 24. — Religion and the child, 25. CHAPTER II. The Rescue of Moses, ii. 1 — ia. ^ Importanct of the individual, 26/-VA man versus "the Time- spirit," 27. — The parents of Moses, 28. — Their family : theii goodly child, 29. — Emotion helps faith, 30. — The ark in tho bulrushes, 31. — Pharaoh's daughter and Miriam, 32. — Guidance for good emotions : the Church for humanity, 33. The Choice of Moses, ii. 11 — 15. God employs means, 34. — Value of endowment. Moses and his family. " The reproach of Christ," 35. — An impulsive act, 36. — Impulses not accidents; The hopes of Moses, 37. — Moses and his brethren. His flight, 38. Moses in Midian, ii. 16 — 22. Energy in disaster, 39. — Disinterested bravery. Parallels with a variation, 40. — The Unseen a refuge. Duty of resisting small wrongs. His wife, 41. — A lonely heart, 42. CHAPTER III. The Burning Bush, ii. 23 — iii. Death of Raamses. Misery continues, 43. — The cry of the oppressed, 44. — Discipline of Moses, 45. — How a crisis comes, 46. — God hitherto unmentioned. The Angel of the Lord, 47. — An unconsuming fire, 48. — Inquiry : reverence. God finds, not man, 49. — "Take off thy shoe." "The God of thy father," 50. — Immortality. "My people," not saints only, 51. — The good land. The commission, 52.— God with him. A strange token, 53. A New Name, iii. 14 ; vi. 2, 3. Why Moses asked the name of God : idolatry : pantheism, 54. — A progressive revelation, 55.— Jehovah. The sound corrupted. Similar superstitions yet, 56.— What it told the Jews. Reality of being, 57. — Jews not saved by ideas. Streams of tendency. The Self-contained. We live in our past, 58.— And in our future, 59. — Yet Jehovah not the impassive God of Lucretius, ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. 60. — The Immutable is Love. This is our help, 61. — Human will is not paralysed, 62. — The teaching of St. Paul. All this is practical, 63. — This gives stability to all other revelations. Our own needs, 64. The Commission, iii. 10, 16 — 22. God comes where He sends, 65. — The Providential man. Pru- dence, 66. — Sincerity of demand for a brief respite, 67. — God has already visited them. By trouble He transplants, 68. — ■ The " borrowing " o jewels, 69. CHAPTER IV. Moses Hesitates, iv. I — 17. Scripture is impartial : Josephus, 70. — Hindrance from his owr people. The rod, Jl. — The serpent : the leprosy, 72. — "I am not eloquent," 73. — God with us. Aaron the Levite, 74. — Re- sponsibility of not working. The errors of Moses, 75. — Power of fellowship. Vague fears, 76. — With his brother, Moses will go. The Church, 77. — This craving met by Christ, 78. — Family affection. Examples, 79. Moses Obeys, iv. 18 — 31. Fidelity to his employer. Reticence, 80. — Resemblance to story of Jesus. He is the Antitype of all experiences, 81. — Counter- point in history. "Israel is My son," 82. — A neglected duty Zipporah. Was she a helpmeet ? 83. — Domestic unhappiness. History v. myth, 84. — The failures of the good, 85. — Men of destiny are not irresponsible, 86. — His first followers : a joyful reception, 87. — Spiritual joy and reaction, 88. CHAPTER V. Pharaoh Refuses, v. i — 23. Moses at court again. Formidable, 89. — Power of convictions but also of tyranny and pride. Menephtah : his story, 90. — Was the Pharaoh drowned ? The demand of Jehovah, 91. — The refusal, 92. — Is religion idleness? Hebrews were task- masters, 93. — Demoralised by slavery. They are beaten, 94. — Murmurs against Moses. He returns to God. His remon- strance, 95. — His disappointment. Not really irreverent, 96. — Use of this abortive attempt, 97-8. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. The Encouragement of Moses, vi. I — 30. The word Jehovah known before : its consolations now, 99. — The new truth is often implicit in the old, 100. — Discernment more needed than revelation. " Judgments," 101. — My people : your God, 102. — The tie is of God's binding, 103. — Fatherhood and sonship, 104. — -Faith becomes knowledge. The body hinders the soul, 105. — We are responsible for bodies. Israel weighs Moses down, 106. — We may hold back the saints, 107. — The pedigree, 107-8. — Indications of genuine history, 108-9. —"As a god to Pharaoh," 1 10. — We also, ill. CHAPTER VII. The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart, vii. 3 — 13. The assertion offends many, 112. — Was he a free agent? When hardened. A.V. incorrect, 1 13. — He resists five plagues spon- taneously. The last five are penal, 114. — Not "hardened "in wickedness, but in nerve. A.V. confuses three words : His heart is (a) "hardened," 115. — (A) it is made "strong" (c) "heavy," 116. — Other examples of these words, 1 17. — The warning implied, 1 17-19. — Moses returns with the signs, 119. — The functions of miracle, 120. The Plagues, vii. 14. Their vast range, 121. — Their relation to Pantheism, Idolatry, Philosophy, 122. — And to the gods of Egypt. Their retributive fitness, 123. — Their arrangement, 124. — Like our Lord's, not creative, 125.— God in common things, 126. — Some we inflict upon ourselves. Yet rationalistic analogies fail, 127. — Duration of the conflict, 128. The First Plague, vii. 14 — 25. The probable scene, 129. — Extent of the plngue. The magicians. Its duration, 131. — Was Israel exempt? Contrast with first miracle of Jesus, 132. CHAPTER VIII. The Second Plague, viii. 1 — 15. Submission demanded. Severity of plague, 133. — Pharaoh humbles himself, 134. — "Glory over me." Pharaoh breaks faith, 135. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. fci The Third Plague, viii. 16 — 19. Various theories. A surprise. Magicians baffled, 136 — What they confess, 1 37. The Fourth Plague, viii. 20—32. "Rising up early," 137. — Bodily pain. Beetles or flies? "A mixture," 138 — Goshen exempt. Pharaoh suffers. He sur- renders, 139. — -Respite and treachery. Would Moses have returned? 140. CHAPTER IX. The Fifth Plague, ix. I — 7. First attack on life. Animals share our fortunes, 141. The new summons. Murrain, 142. — Pharaoh's curiosity, 143. The Sixth Plague, ix. 8 — 12. No warning, yet Author manifest. Ashes of the furnace, 144. — Suffering in the flesh. The magicians again. Pharaoh s heart "made strong," 145. — Dares not retaliate, 146. The Seventh Plague, ix. 13 — 35. Expostulation not mockery, 146-7. — God is wronged by slavery, 147. — Civil liberty is indebted to religion. "Plagues upon thine heart," 148. — A mis-rendering : why he was not crushed, 149. — An opportunity of escape. The storm, 150. — Ruskin upon terrors of thunderstorm, 151. — Pharaoh confesses sin, 152. — Moses intercedes. The weather in history. Job's assertion, »53- CHAPTER X. The Eighth Plague, x. I — 20. Moses encouraged, 1 54. — Deliverances should be remembered. A stsrner rebuke. Locusts in Egypt, 155. — Their effect. The court interferes. Yet "their hearts hardened" also, 156 — Infatuation of Pharaoh. Parallel of Napoleon, 157. — Women and little ones did share in festivals, 158. — A gentle wind. Locusts. Another surrender, 159. — Relief. Our broken vows, 160. The Ninth Plague, x. 21 — 29. Menephtah'ssun-worship, 161. — Suddenness of the plague. Con- centrated narrative, 162. —Darkness represents death, 163.— ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. The Book of Wisdon. upon this plague, 164-5. — Isaiah's allu- sions. The Pharaoh's character, 165. — Altercation with Moses, 166. CHAPTER XI. The Last Plague announced, xi. 1 — 10. This chapter supplements the last. The blow is known to be impending. Uses of its delay, 167. — Israel shall claim wages. The menace, 168. — Parallel with St. John, 169-70. CHAPTER XII. The Passover, xii. 1 — 28. Birthday of a nation. The calendar, 171.— "The congregation." The feast is social, 172. — The nation is based upon the family. No Egyptian house escapes, 173. — National interdependence. The Passover a sacrifice, 174. — What does the blood mean ? Rationalistic theories. Harvest festivals, 175. — The .unbeliev- ing point of view : what theories of sacrifice were then current? "A sacrifice was a meal," 176. — Human sacrifices. The Passover " unhistorical." Kuenen rejects this view, 177*= — Phenomena irreconcilable with it,- 1 78-9. What is really expressed ? Danger even to Jews, 179. — Salvation by grace. Not unbought, 180. — The lamb a ransom. All firstborn are forfeited. Tribe of Levi, 181. — Cash payment. Effect on Hebrew literature, 182. — Its prophetic import, 183. — The Jew must co-operate with God : must also become His guest, 184. — Sacred festivals. Lamb or kid. Four days reserved, 185. — Men are sheep. Heads of houses originally sacrifice. Trans- ition to Levites in progress under Hezekiah, complete under Josiah, 186. — Unleavened bread. Thelamb. Roast, not sodden, 187. — Complete consumption. Judgment upon gods of Egypt, 188. — The blood a token unto themselves. On their lintels, 189. — The word "pass-over," 190. — Domestic teaching, 191.— Many who ate the feast perished. Aliens might share, 192. The Tenth Plague, xii. 29 — 36. The blow falls. Pharaoh was not " firstborn" : his son " sat upon his throne," 193. — The scene, 194. — The demands of Israel. St. Augustine's inference, 195. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. The Exodus, xii. 37 — 42. The route, 195. — Their cattle, a suggested explanation, 196. — "Four hundred and thirty years," 197-8. CHAPTER XIII. The Law of the Firstborn, xiii. 1. The consecration of the firstborn, 199. — The Levite. "They are Mine," 200. — Joy is hopeful. Tradition ? 201. — Phylacteries. The ass, 202. — The Philistines. No spiritual miracle, 203. — Education, 204. The Bones of Joseph, xiii. 19. Joseph influenced Moses, 204.— His faith, 205. — Circumstances overcome by soul. God in th 2 cloud, 206. — Hebrew poetry and modern, 207. CHAPTER XIV. The Red Sea, xiv. I — 31. Stopped on the march, 208. — Pharaoh presumes, 209. — The panic, 210. — Moses. Prayer and action. "Self-assertion"? 211. — The midnight march, 212. — The lost army, 213. On the Shore, xiv. 30, 31. impressions deepened. "They believed in Jehovah." So the faith of the apostles grew, 214. CHAPTER XV. The Song of Moses, xv. i — 22. A song remembered in heaven. Its structure, 216-17. — The women join. Instruments. Dances, 218. God the Deliverer, not Moses. "My salvation," 219. — Gratitude. Anthropomor- phism. "Ye are gods." "Jehovah is a Man — of war," 220-2. — The overthrow, 222. — First mention of Divine holiness, 223. — An inverted holiness, 224. — "Thou shalt bring them in," 225. Shur, xv. 22 — 27. Disillusion. Marah, 226. — A universal danger, 227. — Prayer, and the use of means, 228. — "A statute and an ordinance." Such compacts often repeated. The offered privilege, 229. — It is still enjoyed, 230. — "The Lord for the body." Elim, 231. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. Murmuring for Food, xvi. I — 14. We too fear, although Divinely guarded, 232. — They would fain die satiated, 233. — Relief tries them as want does, 234. — The Sabbath. A rebuke, 235. — Moses is zealous. His " meekness," 236. —The glory appears, 237. — Quails and manna, 238. Manna, xvi. 15 — 36. Their course of life is changed, 238. — A drug resembles manna, 239. — The supernatural follows nature, 240. — They must gather, prepare, be moderate, 241. — Nothing over and no lack. Social- istic perversion, 242. — Socialism. Christ in politics, 243-4. Spiritual Meat, xvi. 15 — 36. Manna is a type. When given, 244. — An unearthly sustenance, 245.-- What is spirituality? Christ the true Manna, 246. — Universal, daily, abundant, 247. — The Sabbath. The pot of manna, 248. CHAPTER XVII. Meribah, xvii. I — 7- A greater strain. What if Israel had stood it? 249. — They mur- mured against Moses. The position of Aaron. An exaggerated outcry, 250. — Witnesses to the miracle. The rock in Horeb, 251. — The rod. Privilege is not acceptance, 252. Amalek, xvii. 8 — 16. A water-raid, 252. — God's sheep must become His warriors. War, 253-4. — Joshua. The rod of God, 255. — A silent prayer. Aaron and Hur must join in it, 256. — So now. But the army must fight, 257. — "The Lord my banner." Unlike a myth, 258. CHAPTER XVIII. Jethro, xviii. I — 27. Gentiles in new aspect. Church may learn from secular wisdom, 259. — Little is said of Zipporah : Jethro's pleasure, 260. — A Gentile priest recognised. Religious festivity, 261. — Jethro's advice : its importance, 262.— Divine help does not supersede human gift, 263. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. THE TYPICAL BEARINGS OF THE HISTORY. Narrative is also allegory. Danger of arbitrary fancies. Example from Bunyan. Scriptural teaching, 264. — Some resemblances are planned : others are reappearances of same principle, 265. — So that these are evidential analogies, like Butler's, 266. — Others appear forced. " I called My Son out of Egypt " refers to Israel, 267.- — But the condescending phrase promised more, and the subsequent coincidence is significant, 268. — Truths cannot all be proved like Euclid's, 269. CHAPTER XIX. At Sinai, xix. I — 25. Sinai and Pentecost. The place. Ras Sufsafeh. God speaks in nature, 270. — Moses is stopped ; the people must pledge them- selves. Dedication services, 271. — An appeal to gratitude, and a promise, 272. — "A peculiar treasure." "A kingdom and priests," 273. — The individual, and Church order. " On eagles' wings," 274. — Israel consents. The Lord in the cloud. Mani- festations are transient, 275. — Precautions. The trumpet, 276. " The priests." A plebiscite. Contrast between Law and Gospel : Methodius, 277. — Theophanies, 278. — None like this, 279. CHAPTER XX. The Law, xx. I — 17. What the law did. It could not justify. It reveals obligation, 280. — It convicts, not enables. It is an organic whole. And a challenge, 281. — The Spirit enables : love is fulfilment of law. Luther's paradox, 283. — Law and Gospel contrasted. Its spiritual beauty : two noble failures, 283. — The Jewish arrangement of the Commandments. St. A'jgustine'a. The Anglican. An equal division, 284-6, The Prologue, xx. 2. Their experience of God, 286. — God and the first table. The true object of adoration : men must adore. Agnosticism, 287. — God and the second table, 288. — Law appeals to noble motives, 289. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. The First Commandment, xx. 3. Monotheism and a real God, 289. — False creeds attractive. Spiritualism. Science indebted to Monotheism, 290. — Unity of nature a religious truth. Strength of our experimental argument, 291. Informal apostacy. Luther's position. Scrip- ture. The Chaldeans, 292. — Animal pleasure, 293.— The remedy: "Thou shalt have . . . Me," 294. The Second Commandment, xx. 4 — 6. Imagery not all idolatry. The subtler paganisms, 295. Spiritual worship, like a Gothic building, aspires : images lack expan- siveness, 296. — Gcd is jealous, 297. — The shadow of love, 298. Visiting sins on children, 299, 300. — Part of vast beneficent law, 300-2. — Gospel in law, 302. The Third Commandment, xx. 7- Meaning of "in vain," 302. — Jewish superstition. Where swear- ing is wholly forbidden, 303. — Fruitful and free use of God's name, 304-5. The Fourth Commandment, xx. 8 — II. Law of Sabbath unique. Confession of Augsburg. Of West- minster, 305. — Anglican position. St. Paul, 306. — The first positive precept. Love not the abolition of the law, 307. — Property of our friends. The word " remember." The story of creation, 308. — The manna. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 309. — Christ's freedom was that of a Jew. " Sabbath for man," 310. — Our help, not our fetter. " My Father worketh," 311. The Fifth Commandment, xx. 12. Bridge between duty to God and to neighbour, 312. — Father and child, 313. — " Whosoever hateth not." Christ and His mother. Its sanction, 314. '. he Sixth Commandment, xx. 13. Who is neighbour? Ethics and religion, 315-16. — Science and morals, 317. — A Divine creature. Capital punishment, 318. The Seventh Commandment, xx. 14. Justice forbids act : Christ forbids desire. Sacredness of body, 319. — Human body connects material and spiritual worlds. Modifies, while serves, 320. — Marriage a type, 321. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. The Eighth Commandment, xx. 15. Assailed by communism, by Rome. Various specious pleas, 322. — Laws of community binding, 323. — None may judge his own case. St. Paul enlarges the precept, 324. The Ninth Commandment, xx. 16. Importance of words. Various transgressions, 325. — Slandei against nations, against the race. Love, 326-7. The Tenth Commandment, xx. 17. The list of properties, 328. — The heart. The law searches, 329. THE LESSER LAW, xx. 18— xxiii. 33. A remarkable code. The circumstances, 331. — Moses fears : yet bids them fear not, 332-3. — Presumption v. awe. He receives an expanded decalogue, an abridged code, 334. — Laws should educate a people ; should not outrun their capabilities, 335-6. — Five subdivisions, 337. I. The Law of Worship, xx. 22 — 26. Images again forbidden, 337. — Splendour and simplicity. An objection, 338. — Modesty, 339. CHAPTER XXI. THE LESSER LAW {continued). II. Rights of the Person, xxi. 1 — 32. The Hebrew slave. The seventh year. Year of jubilee. His family, 340. — The ear pierced. St. Paul's " marks of the Lord." Assaults, 341. — The Gentile slave, 342. — The female slave, 342-3. — Murder and blood-fiends, 343. — Parents. Kidnappers, 344. — Eye for eye. Mitigations of lex talionis, 344-5. — Vicious cattle, 346. III. Rights of Property, xxi. 33 — xxii. 15. Negligence : indirect responsibility : various examples, 346-8. — Theft, 348. CHAPTER XXII. THE LESSER LAW {continued). IV. Various Enactments, xxii. 16 — xxiii. 19. Disconnected precepts. No trace of systematic revision. Certain capital crimes, 348-9. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. Sorcery, xxii. 18. Abuses have recoiled against religion, 349. — Sorcerers are im- postors, but they existed, and do still, 350. — Moses could not leave them to enlightened opinion. Propagated apostacy, 351. • — Traitors in a theocracy, 352. — When shall witchcraft die ? 353- The Stranger, xxii. 21 ; xxiii. 9. " Ye were strangers," 354. — A fruitful principle. Morality not expediency, 355. — Cruelty often ignorance: Moses educates, 356. — The widow. The borrower, 357. — Other precepts, 358. CHAPTER XXIII. THE LESSER LAW (continued). An enemy's cattle. A false report, 359. — Influence of multitude : the world and the Church, 360-1. Favour not the poor, 361-2. Other precepts. "A kid in his mother's milk," 362. Lesser Law, V. Its Sanctions, xxiii. 20—33. A bold transition : the Angel in Whom is " My Name," 363. — Not a mere messenger, 364. — Nor the substitute of chap, xxxiii. 2, 3, 365-6.— Parallel verses, 366-7. CHAPTER XXIV. The Covenant Ratified. The Vision of God, xxiv. The code is accepted, written, ratified with blood, 368. — Exclusion and admittance. The elders see God : Moses goes farther. Theophanies of other creeds, 369. — How could they see God ? 370. — Moses feels not satisfaction, but desire, 371. — His progress is from vision to shadow and a Voice, 372. — We see not each other, 373. — St. Augustine, 373-4. — The vision suits the period : not post-Exilian, 374-5. — Contrast with revelation in Christ, 375- CHAPTER XXV. The Shrine and its Furniture, xxv. i — 40. The God of Sinai will inhabit a tent. His other tabernacles, 376-7. — The furniture is typical. Altar of incense postponed, 377. — The ark enshrines His law and its sanctions, 377-8. — The mercy-seat covers it, 378-81. — Man's homage. The tabic of shewbread, 382-3. — The golden candlestick (lamp-stand) 383-6 ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. The Pattern in the Mount, xxv. 9, 40. Use in Hebrews. Plato, 386. — Not a model, but an idea. Art, 387.— Provisional institutions, 387-8. — The ideal in creation, 388.— In life, 389. CHAPTER XXVI. The Tabernacle. "Temple" an ambiguous word, 390. — "Curtains of the Taber- nacle," 391. — Other coverings, 392. — The boards and sockets, 392-3. — The bars. The tent, 393. — Position of veil, 394, and of the front, 395. CHAPTER XXVII. The Outer Court. The altar, 396. — The quadrangle, 397. — General effect, 398-400. CHAPTER XXVIII The Holy Garments. Their import, 401. — The drawers. "Coat." Head-tires. Robe oftheephod. Ephod. Jewels, 402. — Breastplate. Urim an 1 Thummim. Mitre. Symbolism, 403. The Priesthood. Universal desire and dread of God, 404.— Delegates, 405. — Scrip- ture. First Moses, 406. — His family passed over. The double consciousness expressed, 407-9. — Messianic priesthood, 409. CHAPTER XXIX. Consecration Services. Why consecrate at all ? 410. — Moses officiates. The offerings, 411. — Ablution, robing, anointing, 412-13. — The sin-offering, 413-14. "Without the camp," 414. The burnt-offering, 415. — The peace-offering ("ram of consecration '*), 415. — The wave- offerings, 415-16. — The result, 416-17. CHAPTER XXX. Incense, xxx. 1 — 10. The impalpable in nature, 418. — "The golden altar," 419. — Repre- sents prayer. Needs cleansing, 420. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. A Census, xxx. ii — 16. A census not sinful. David's transgression. The half-shekel. Equality of man, 421. — Christ paid it, 422. — Its employment, 423. The Laver, xxx. 17 — 21. Behind the altar. Purity of priests, 423. — Made of the mirrors, 424- Anointing Oil and Incense, xxx. 22 — 38. Their ingredients. All the vessels anointed, 424. — Forbidden to secular uses, 425. — Modern analogies, 426-7. CHAPTER XXXI. Bezaleel and Aholiab, xxxi. 1 — 18. Secular gifts are sacred, 428-30. — The Sabbath. The tables and "the finger of God," 431. CHAPTER XXXII. The Golden Calf. Sin of the people ; of Aaron. God rejects them, 432. — Intercession. The Christian antitype, 433-4. CHAPTER XXXIII. Prevailing Intercession. The first concession. The angel, 435. — " The Tent of the Meet- ing," 436. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Vision of God. To know is to desire to know. A fit season. The greater Name, 438. — The covenant renewed. The tables. The skin of his face shone, 439. — Lessons, 440. CHAPTERS XXXV.— XL. CONCLUSION. The people obey, 441. — The forming of the nation : review 441-3* CHAPTER I. THE PROLOGUE. Exodus i. 1-6. "And these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt." MANY books of the Old Testament begin with the conjunction And. This fact, it has been often pointed out, is a silent indication of truth, that each author was not recording certain isolated inci- dents, but parts of one great drama, events which oined hands with the past and future, looking before and after. Thus the Book of the Kings took up the tale from Samuel, Samuel from Judges, and Judges from Joshua, and all carried the sacred movement forward towards a goal as yet unreached. Indeed, it was impossible, remembering the first promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent, and the later assurance that in the seed of Abraham should be the universal blessing, for a faithful Jew to forget that all the history of his race was the evolution of some grand hope, a pilgrimage towards some goal unseen. Bearing in mind that there is now revealed to us a world-wide tendency toward the supreme consum- mation, the bringing all things under the headship of Christ, it is not to be denied that this hope of the I THE BOOK OF EXODUS. ancient Jew is given to all mankind. Each new stage in universal history may be said to open with this same conjunction. It links the history of England with that of Julius Caesar and of the Red Indian ; nor is the chain composed of accidents : it is forged by the hand of the God of providence. Thus, in the conjunction which binds these Old Testament narra- tives together, is found the germ of that instinctive and elevating phrase, the Philosophy of History. But there is nowhere in Scripture the notion which too often degrades and stiffens that Philosophy — the notion that history is urged forward by blind forces, amid which the individual man is too puny to assert himself. Without a Moses the Exodus is inconceivable, and God always achieves His purpose through the providential man. The Books of the Pentateuch are held together in a yet stronger unity than the rest, being sections of one and the same narrative, and having been accredited with a common authorship from the earliest mention of them. Accordingly, the Book of Exodus not only begins with this conjunction (which assumes the pre- vious narrative), but also rehearses the descent into Egypt. " And these are the names of the sons of Israel which came into Egypt," — names blotted with many a crime, rarely suggesting any lovable or great association, yet the names of men with a marvellous heritage, as being " the sons of Israel," the Prince who prevailed with God. Moreover they are conse- crated : their father's dying words had conveyed to every one of them some expectation, some mysterious import which the future should disclose. In the issue would be revealed the awful influence of the past upon i. i-6.] THE PROLOGUE. the future, of the fathers upon the children even beyond the third and fourth generation — an influence which is nearer to destiny, in its stern, subtle and far-reaching strength, than any other recognised by religion. Destiny, however, it is not, or how should the name of Dan have faded out from the final list of "every tribe of the children of Israel" in the Apocalypse (Rev. vii. 5-8), where Manasseh is reckoned separately from Joseph to complete the twelve ? We read that with the twelve came their posterity, seventy souls in direct descent from Jacob ; but in this number he is himself included, according to that well- known Orientalism which Milton strove to force upon our language in the phrase — "The fairest of her daughters Eve." Joseph is also reckoned, although he " was in Egypt already." Now, it must be observed that of these seventy, sixty-eight were males, and therefore the people of the Exodus must not be reckoned to have sprung in the interval from seventy, but (remembering polygamy) from more than twice that number, even if we refuse to make any account of the household which is mentioned as coming with every man. These house- holds were probably smaller in each case than that of Abraham, and the famine in its early stages may have reduced the number of retainers ; yet they account for much of what is pronounced incredible in the rapid expansion of the clan into a nation.* But when all * Professor Curtiss quotes a volume of family memoirs which shows that 5,564 persons are known to be descended from Lieutenant John Hollister, who emigrated to America in the year 1642 {Ex- positor, Nov. 1887, p. 329). This is probably equal in ratio to the increase of Israel in Egypt. THE BOOK OF EXODUS. allowance has been made, the increase continues to be, such as the narrator clearly regards it, abnormal, well-nigh preternatural, a fitting type of the expansion, amid fiercer persecutions, of the later Church of God, the true circumcision, who also sprang from the spiritual parentage of another Seventy and another Twelve. "And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation." Thus the connection with Canaan be- came a mere tradition, and the powerful courtier who had nursed their interests disappeared. When they remembered him, in the bitter time which lay before them, it was only to reflect that all mortal help must perish. It is thus in the spiritual world also. Paul reminds the Philippians that they can obey in his absence and not in his presence only, working out their own salvation, as no apostle can work it out on their behalf. And the reason is that the one real sup- port is ever present. Work out your own salvation, for it is God (not any teacher) Who worketh in you. The Hebrew race was to learn its need of Him, and in Him to recover its freedom. Moreover, the influ- ences which mould all men's characters, their surround- ings and mental atmosphere, were completely changed. These wanderers for pasture were now in the presence of a compact and impressive social system, vast cities, gorgeous temples, an imposing ritual. They were infected as well as educated there, and we find the men of the Exodus not only murmuring for Egyptian comforts, but demanding visible gods to go before them. Yet, with all its drawbacks, the change was a neces- sary part of their development. They should return from Egypt relying upon no courtly patron, no mortal might or wisdom, aware of a name of God more pro- i-6.] THE PROLOGUE. found than was spoken in the covenant of their fathers, with their narrow family interests and rivalries and their family traditions expanded into national hopes, national aspirations, a national religion. Perhaps there is another reason why Scripture has reminded us of the vigorous and healthy stock whence came the race that multiplied exceedingly. For no book attaches more weight to the truth, so miserably perverted that it is discredited by multitudes, but amply vindicated by modern science, that good breed- ing, in the strictest sense of the word, is a powerful factor in the lives of men and nations. To be well born does not of necessity require aristocratic parent- age, nor does such parentage involve it : but it implies a virtuous, temperate and pious stock. In extreme cases the doctrine of race is palpable ; for who can doubt that the sins of dissolute parents are visited upon their puny and short-lived children, and that the posterity of the just inherit not only honour and a welcome in the world, "an open door," but also immu- nity from many a physical blemish and many a perilous craving ? If the Hebrew race, after eighteen centuries v of calamity, retains an unrivalled vigour and tenacity, be it remembered how its iron sinew has been twisted, from what a sire it sprang, through what ages of more than " natural selection " the dross was throughly purged out, and (as Isaiah loves to reiterate) a chosen remnant left. Already, in Egypt, in the vigorous multiplication of the race, was visible the germ of that amazing vitality which makes it, even in its over- throw, so powerful an element in the best modern thought and action. It is a well-known saying of Goethe that the quality for which God chose Israel was probably toughness. THE BOOK OF EXODUS. Perhaps the saying would better be inverted : it was among the most remarkable endowments, unto which Israel was called, and called by virtue of qualities in which Goethe himself was remarkably deficient. Now, this principle is in full operation still, and ought to be solemnly pondered by the young. Self- indulgence, the sowing of wild oats, the seeing of life while one is young, the taking one's fling before one settles down, the having one's day (like " every dog," for it is to be observed that no person says, " every Christian "), these things seem natural enough. ■ And their unsuspected issues in the next generation, dire and subtle and far-reaching, these also are more natural still, being the operation of the laws of God. On the other hand, there is no youth living in obedience alike to the higher and humbler laws of our complex nature, in purity and gentleness and healthful occupation, who may not contribute to the stock of happiness in other lives beyond his own, to the future well-being of his native land, and to the day when the sadly polluted stream of human existence shall again flow clear and glad, a pure river of water of life. GOD IN HISTORY. i. 7. With the seventh verse, the new narrative, the course of events treated in the main body of this book, begins. And we are at once conscious of this vital difference between Exodus and Genesis, — that we have passed from the story of men and families to the history of a nation. In the first book the Canaanites and Egyptians concern us only as they affect Abraham or Joseph. In i-7-] GOD IN HISTORY. 7 the second book, even Moses himself concerns us only for the sake of Israel. He is in some respects a more imposing and august character than any who preceded him ; but what we are told is no longer the story of a soul, nor are we pointed so much to the development of his spiritual life as to the work he did, the tyrant overthrown, the nation moulded, the law and the ritual imposed on it. For Jacob it was a discovery that God was in Bethel; as well as in his father's house. But now the Hebrew nation was to learn that He could plague the gods of Egypt in their stronghold, that His way was in the sea, that Horeb in Arabia was the Mount of God, that He could lead them like a horse through the wilderness. When Jacob in Peniel wrestles with God and pre- vails, he wins for himself a new name, expressive of the higher moral elevation which he has attained. But when Moses meets God in the bush, it is to receive a commission for the public benefit ; and there is no new name for Moses, but a fresh revelation of God for the nation to learn. And in all their later history we feel that the national life which it unfolds was nourished and sustained by these glorious early experiences, the most unique as well as the most inspiriting on record. Here, then, a question of great moment is suggested. Beyond the fact that Abraham was the father of the Jewish race, can we discover any closer connection between the lives of the patriarchs and the history of Israel ? Is there a truly spiritual coherence between them, or merely a genealogical sequence ? For if the Bible can make good its claim to be vitalised throughout by the eternal Spirit of God, and leading forward steadily to His final revelation in Christ, then its parts will be symmetrical, proportionate and well designed. 8 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. If it be a universal book, there must be a better reason for the space devoted to preliminary and half secular stories, which is a greater bulk than the whole of the New- Testament, than that these histories chance to belong to the nation whence Christ came. If no such reason can be found, the failure may not perhaps outweigh the great evidences of the faith, but it will score for some- thing on the side of infidelity. But if upon examina- tion it becomes plain that all has its part in one great movement, and that none can be omitted without marring the design, and if moreover this design has become visible only since the fulness of the time is come, the discovery will go far to establish the claim of Scripture to reveal throughout a purpose truly divine, dealing with man for ages, and consummated in the gift of Christ. Now, it is to St. Paul that we turn for light upon the connection between the Old Testament and the New. And he distinctly lays down two great principles. The first is that the Old Testament is meant to educate men for the New ; and especially that the sense of failure, impressed upon men's consciences by the stern de- mands of the Law, was necessary to make them accept the Gospel. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ : it entered that sin might abound. And it is worth notice that this effect was actually wrought, not only upon the gross transgressor by the menace of its broken precepts, but even more perhaps upon the high- minded and pure, by the creation in their breasts of an ideal, inaccessible in its loftiness. He who says, All these things have I kept from my youth up, is the same who feels the torturing misgiving, What good thing must I do to attain life ? . . . What lack I yet ? j.7.] GOD IN HISTORY. 9 He who was blameless as touching the righteousness of the law, feels that such superficial innocence is worthless, that the law is spiritual and he is carnal, sold under sin. Now, this principle need by no means be restricted to the Mosaic institutions. If this were the object of the law, it would probably explain much more. And when we return to the Old Testament with this clue, we find every condition in life examined, every social and political experiment exhausted, a series of demon- strations made with scientific precision, to refute the arch-heresy which underlies all others — that in favour- able circumstances man might save himself, that for the evil of our lives our evil surroundings are more to be blamed than we. Innocence in prosperous circumstances, unwarped by evil habit, untainted by corruption in the blood, uncompelled by harsh surroundings, simple innocence had its day in Paradise, a brief day with a shameful close. God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions, until the flood swept away the descendants of him who was made after the image of God. Next we have a chosen family, called out from all the perilous associations of its home beyond the river, to begin a new career in a new land, in special covenant with the Most High, and with every endowment for the present and every hope for the future which could help to retain its loyalty. Yet the third generation reveals the thirst of Esau for his brother's blood, the treachery of Jacob, and the distraction and guilt of his fierce and sensual family. It is when individual and family life have thus proved ineffectual amid the happiest circumstances, that the tribe and the nation essay the task. Led up from the furnace of affliction, THE BOOK OF EXODUS. hardened and tempered in the stern free life of the desert, impressed by every variety of fortune, by slavery and escape, by the pursuit of an irresistible foe and by a rescue visibly divine, awed finally by the sublime revelations of Sinai, the nation is ready for the cove- nant (which is also a challenge) — The man that doeth these things shall live by them : if thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God . . . He shall set thee on high above all nations. Such is the connection between this narrative and what went before. And the continuation of the same experiment, and the same failure, can be traced through all the subsequent history. Whether in so loose an organisation that every man does what is right in his own eyes, or under the sceptre of a hero or a sage, — whether so hard pressed that self-preservation ought to have driven them to their God, or so marvellously delivered that gratitude should have brought them to their knees, — whether engulfed a second time in a more hopeless captivity, or restored and ruled by a hierarchy whose authority is entirely spiritual, — in every variety of circumstances the same melancholy process repeats itself; and lawlessness, luxury, idolatry and self-right- eousness combine to stop every mouth, to make every man guilty before God, to prove that a greater salvation is still needed, and thus to pave the way for the Messiah. The second great principle of St. Paul is that faith in a divine help, in pardon, blessing and support, was the true spirit of the Old Testament as well as of the New. The challenge of the law was meant to produce self-despair, only that men might trust in God. Appeal was made especially to the cases of Abraham and David, the founder of the race and of the dynasty, clearly i. 7.] GOD IN HISTORY. U because the justification without works of the patriarch and of the king were precedents to decide the general question (Rom. iv. 1-8). Now, this is pre-eminentlv the distinction between Jewish history and all others, that in it God is everything and man is nothing. Every sceptical treatment of the story makes Moses to be the deliverer from Egypt, and shows us the Jewish nation gradually finding out God. But the nation itself be- lieved nothing of the kind. It confessed itself to have been from the beginning vagrant and rebellious and unthankful : God had always found out Israel, never Israel God. The history is an expansion of the parable of the good shepherd. And this perfect harmony of a long record with itself and with abstract principles is both instructive and reassuring. As the history of Israel opens before us, a third principle claims attention — one which the apostle quietly assumes, but which is forced on our consideration by the unhappy state of religious thought in these degenerate days. " They are not to be heard," says the Seventh Article rightly, " which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises." But certainly they also would be unworthy of a hearing who would feign that the early Scriptures do not give a vast, a preponderating weight, to the concerns of our life on earth. Only very slowly, and as the result of long training, does the future begin to reveal its supremacy over the present. It would startle many a devout reader out of his pro- priety to discover the small proportion of Old Testa- ment scriptures in which eternity and its prospects are discussed, to reckon the passages, habitually applied to spiritual thraldom and emancipation, which were spoken at first of earthly tyranny and earthly deliverance, IZ THE BOOK OF EXODUS. and to observe, even in the pious aspirations of the Psalms, how much of the gratitude and joy of the righteous comes from the sense that he is made wiser than the ancient, and need not fear though a host rose up against him, and can break a bow of steel, and has a table prepared for him, and an overflowing cup. Especially is this true of the historical bojks. God is here seen ruling states, judging in the earth, remember- ing Israel in bondage, and setting him free, providing supernatural food and water, guiding him by the fiery cloud. There is not a word about regeneration, con- version, hell, or heaven. And yet there is a profound sense of God. He is real, active, the most potent factor in the daily lives of men. Now, this may teach us a lesson, highly important to us all, and especially to those who 'must teach others. The difference between spirituality and secularity is not the difference between the future life and the present, but between a life that is aware of God and a godless one. Perhaps, when we find our gospel a matter of indifference and weari- ness to men who are absorbed in the bitter monotonous and dreary struggle for existence, we ourselves are most to blame. Perhaps, if Moses had approached the Hebrew drudges as we approach men equally weary and oppressed, they would not have bowed their heads and worshipped. And perhaps wre should have better success, if we took care to speak of God in this world, making life a noble struggle, charging with new signifi- cance the dull and seemingly degraded lot of all who remember Him, such a God as Jesus revealed when He cleansed the leper, and gave sight to the blind, using one and the same word for the "healing" of diseases and the " saving " of souls, and connecting faith equally with both. Exodus will have little to teach us, unless i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. \% we believe in that God who knoweth that we have need of food and clothing. And the higher spiritual truths which it expresses will only be found there in dubious and questionable allegory, unless we firmly grasp the great truth, that God is not the Saviour of souls, or of bodies, but of living men in their entirety, and treats their higher and lower wants upon much the same principle, because He is the same God, dealing with the same men, through both. Moreover, He treats us as the men of other ages. Instead of dealing with Moses upon exceptional and strange lines, He made known His ways unto Moses, His characteristic and habitual ways. And it is on this account that whatsoever things were written aforetime are true admonition for us also, being not violent interruptions but impressive revelations of the steady silent methods of the judgment and the grace of God. THE OPPRESSION. i. 7-22. At the beginning of the history of Israel we find a prosperous race. It was indeed their growing import- ance, and chiefly their vast numerical increase, which excited the jealousy of their rulers, at the very time when a change of dynasty removed the sense of obligation. It is a sound lesson in political as well as personal godliness that prosperity itself is dangerous, and needs special protection from on high. Is it merely by chance again that we find in this first of histories examples of the folly of relying upon political connections ? As the chief butler remembered not Joseph, nor did he succeed in escaping from prison by securing influence at court, so is the influence of 14 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. Joseph himself now become vain, although he was the father of Pharaoh and lord of all his house. His romantic history, his fidelity in temptation, and the services by which he had at once cemented the royal power and saved the people, could not keep his memory alive. The hollow wraith of dying fame died wholly. There arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph. Such is the value of the highest and purest earthly fame, and such the gratitude of the world to its benefactors. The nation which Joseph rescued from starvation is passive in Pharaoh's hands, and persecutes Israel at his bidding. And when the actual deliverer arose, his rank and influence were only entanglements through which he had to break. Meanwhile, except among a few women, obedient to the woman's heart, we find no trace of independent action, no revolt of conscience against the absolute behest of the sovereign, until selfishness replaces virtue, and despair wrings the cry from his servants, Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed ? Now, in Genesis we saw the fate of families, blessed in their father Abraham, or cursed for the offence of Ham. For a family is a real entity, and its members, like those of one body, rejoice and suffer together. But the same is true of nations, and here we have reached the national stage in the education of the world. Here is exhibited to us, therefore, a nation suffering with its monarch to the uttermost, until the cry of the maid- servant behind the mill is as wild and bitter as the cry of Pharaoh upon his throne. It is indeed the eternal curse of despotism that unlimited calamity may be drawn down upon millions by the caprice of one i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. 15 most unhappy man, himself blinded and half maddened by adulation, by the absence of restraint, by unlimited sensual indulgence if his tendencies be low and animal, and by the pride of power if he be high-spirited and aspiring. If we assume, what seems pretty well established, that the Pharaoh from whom Moses fled was Rameses the Great, his spirit was of the nobler kind, and he exhibits a terrible example of the unfitness even of conquering genius for unbridled and irresponsible power. That lesson has had to be repeated, even down to the days of the Great Napoleon. Now, if the justice of plaguing a nation for the offence of its head be questioned, let us ask first whether the nation accepts his despotism, honours him, and is content to regard him as its chief and captain. Accord- ing to the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, whoever thinks a tyrant enviable, has already himself tyrannised with him in his heart. Do we ourselves, then, never sympathise with political audacity, bold and unscrupulous " resource," success that is bought at the price of strange compliances, and compromises, and wrongs to other men ? The great national lesson is now to be taught to Israel that the most splendid imperial force will be brought to an account for its treatment of the humblest — that there is a God Who judges in the earth. And they were bidden to apply in their own land this ex- perience of their own, dealing kindly with the stranger in the midst of them, " for thou wast a stranger in the land of Egypt." That lesson we have partly learned, who have broken the chain of our slaves. But how much have we left undone ! The subject races were never given into our hands to supplant them, as we have 1 6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. supplanted the Red Indian and the New Zealander, nor to debauch, as men say we are corrupting the African and the Hindoo, but to raise, instruct and Christianise. And if the subjects of a despotism are accountable for the actions of rulers whom they tolerate, how much more are we ? What ought we to infer, from this old-world history, of the profound responsi- bilities of all free citizens ? We attain a principle which reaches far into the spiritual world, when we reflect that if evil deeds of a ruler can justly draw down vengeance upon his people, the converse also must hold good. Reverse the case before us. Let the kingdom be that of the noblest and purest virtue. Let no subject ever be coerced to enter it, nor to remain one hour longer than while his adoring loyalty consents. And shall not these subjects be the better for the virtues of the Monarch whom they love ? Is it mere caprice to say that in choosing such a King they do, in a very real sense, appropriate the goodness they crown ? If it be natural that Egypt be scourged for the sins of Pharaoh, is it palpably incredible that Christ is made of God unto His people wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and re- demption ? The doctrine of imputation can easily be so stated as to become absurd. But the imputation of which St. Paul speaks much can only be denied when we are prepared to assail the principle on which all bodies of men are treated, families and nations as well as the Church of God. It was the jealous cruelty of Pharaoh which drew down upon his country the very perils he laboured to turn away. There was no ground for his fear of any league with foreigners against him. Pro- sperous and unambitious, the people would have i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. 17 remained well content beside the flesh-pots of Egypt, for which they sighed even when emancipated from heavy bondage and eating the bread of heaven. Or else, if they had gone forth in peace, from a land whose hospitality had not failed, to their inheritance in Canaan, they would have become an allied nation upon the side where the heaviest blows were afterwards struck by the Asiatic powers. Cruelty and cunning could not retain them, but it could decimate a popula- tion and lose an army in the attempt. And this law- prevails in the modern world. England paid twenty millions to set her bondmen free. Because America would not follow her example, she ultimately paid the more terrible ransom of civil war. For the same God was in Jamaica and in Florida as in the field of Zoan. Nor was there ever yet a crooked policy which did not recoil either upon its author, or upon his successors when he had passed away. In this case it fulfilled the plans and the prophecies of God, and the wrath of man was made to praise Him. There is independent reason for believing that at this period one-third at least of the population of Egypt was of alien blood (Brugsch, History, ii. 100). A politician might fairly be alarmed, especially if this were the time when the Hittites were threatening the eastern frontier, and had reduced Egypt to stand on the defensive, and erect barrier fortresses. And the circumstances of the country made it very easy to enslave the Hebrews. If any stain of Oriental indif- ference to the rights of the masses had mingled with the God-given insight of Joseph, when he made his benefactor the owner of all the soil, the Egyptian people were fully avenged upon him now. For this arrangement laid his pastoral race helpless at their 2 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. oppressor's feet. Forced labour quickly degenerates into slavery, and men who find the story of their misery hard to credit should consider the state of France before the Revolution, and of the Russian serfs before their emancipation. Their wretchedness was probably as bitter as that of the Hebrews at any period but the last climax of their oppression. And they owed it to the same cause — the absolute ownership of the land by others, too remote from them to be sympathetic, to take due account of their feelings, to remember that they were their fellow-men. This was enough to slay compassion, even without the aggravation of dealing with an alien and suspected race. Now, it is instructive to observe these reappearances of wholesale crime. They warn us that the utmost achievements of human wickedness are human still ; not wild and grotesque importations by a fiend, origi- nated in the abyss, foreign to the world we live in. Satan finds the material for his master-strokes in the estrangement of class from class, in the drying up of the fountains of reciprocal human feeling, in the failure of real, fresh, natural affection in our bosom for those who differ widely from us in rank or circumstances. All cruelties are possible when a man does not seem to us really a man, nor his woes really woeful. For when the man has sunk into an animal it is only a step to his vivisection. Nor does anything tend to deepen such perilous estrangement, more than the very education, culture and refinement, in which men seek a substitute for religion and the sense of brotherhood in Christ. It is quite conceivable that the tyrant who drowned the Hebrew infants was an affectionate father, and pitied his nobles when their children died. But his sym- i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. 19 pathies could not reach beyond the barriers of a caste. Do our sympathies really overleap such barriers ? Would God that even His Church believed aright in the reality of a human nature like our own, soiled, sorrowful, shamed, despairing, drugged into that apathetical insensibility which lies even below despair, yet aching still, in ten thousand bosoms, in every great city" of Christendom, every day and every night ! Would to God that she understood what Jesus meant, when He called one lost creature by the tender name which she had not yet forfeited, saying, " Woman, where are thine accusers ? " and when He asked Simon, who scorned such another, "Seest thou this woman!" Would God that when she prays for the Holy Spirit of Jesus she would really seek a mind like His, not only in piety and prayerfulness, but also in tender and heart- felt brotherhood with all, even the vilest of the weary and heavy-laden ! Many great works of ancient architecture, the pyramids among the rest, were due to the desire of crushing, by abject toil, the spirit of a subject people. We cannot ascribe to Hebrew labour any of the more splendid piles of Egyptian masonry, but the store cities or arsenals which they built can be identified. They are composed of such crude brick as the narrative describes ; and the absence of straw in the later portion of them can still be verified. Rameses was evidently named after their oppressor, and this strengthens the conviction that we are reading of events in the nineteenth dynasty, when the shepherd kings had recently been driven out, leaving the eastern frontier so weak as to demand additional fortresses, and so far depopulated as to give colour to the exaggerated assertion of Pharaoh, " the people are more and mightier than we." It is by 20 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. such exaggerations and alarms that all the worst crimes of statesmen have been justified to consenting peoples. And we, when we carry what seems to us a rightful object, by inflaming the prejudice and misleading the judgment of other men, are moving on the same treacherous and slippery inclines. Probably no evil is committed without some amount of justification, which the passions exaggerate, while they ignore the prohibitions of the law. How came it to pass that the fierce Hebrew blood, which was yet to boil in the veins of the Maccabees, and to give battle, not unworthily, to the Roman conquerors of the world, failed to resent the cruelties of Pharaoh ? Partly, of course, because the Jewish people was only now becoming aware of its national existence; but also because it had forsaken God. Its religion, if not supplanted, was at least adulterated by the influence of the mystic pantheism and the stately ritual which surrounded them. Joshua bade his victorious followers to " put away the gods whom your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord " (Josh. xxiv. 14). And in Ezekiel the Lord Himself complains, "They rebelled against Me and would not hearken unto Me ; they did not cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt" (Ezek. xx. 8). Now, there is nothing which enfeebles the spirit and breaks the courage like religious dependence. A strong priesthood always means a feeble people, most of all when they are of different blood. And Israel was now dependent on Egypt alike for the highest and lowest needs — grass for the cattle and religion for the soul. And when they had sunk so low, it is evident i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. 21 that their emancipation had to be wrought for them entirely without their help. From first to last they were passive, not only for want of spirit to help them- selves, but because the glory of any exploit of theirs might have illuminated some false deity whom they adored. Standing still, they saw the salvation of God, and 't was not possible to give His glory to another. For this cause also, judgment had, first of all, to be wrought upon the gods of Egypt. In the meantime, without spirit enough to resist, they saw complete destruction drawing nearer to them by successive strides. At first Pharaoh " dealt wisely with them," and they found themselves entrapped into a hard bondage almost unawares. But a strange power upheld them, and the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied and spread abroad. In this they ought to have discerned a divine support, and remembered the promise to Abraham that God would multiply his seed as the stars of heaven. It may have helped them pre- sently to " cry unto the Lord." And the Egyptians were not merely " grieved " because of them : they felt as the Israelites afterwards felt towards that monotonous diet of which they used the same word, and said, " our soul loatheth this light bread." Here it expresses that fierce and contemptuous attitude which the Californian and Australian are now assuming toward the swarms of Chinamen whose labour is so indispensable, yet the infusion of whose blood into the population is so hateful. Then the Egyptians make their service rigorous, and their lives bitter. And at last that happens which is a part of every downward course : the veil is dropped ; what men have done by stealth, and as if they would deceive them- THE BOOK OF EXODUS. selves, they soon do consciously, avowing to their conscience what at first they could not face. Thus Pharaoh began by striving to check a dangerous popu- lation ; and ended by committing wholesale murder. Thus men become drunkards through conviviality, thieves through borrowing what they mean to restore, and hypocrites through slightly overstating what they really feel. And, since there are nice gradations in evil, down to the very last, Pharaoh will not yet avow publicly the atrocity which he commands a few humble women to perpetrate ; decency is with him, as it is often, the last substitute for a conscience. Among the agents of God for the shipwreck of all full-grown wrongs, the chief is the revolt of human nature, since, fallen though we know ourselves to be, the image of God is not yet effaced in us. The better instincts of humanity are irrepressible — most so. perhaps among the poor. It is by refusing to trust its intuitions that men grow vile ; and to the very last that refusal is never absolute, so that no villainy can reckon upon its agents, and its agents cannot always reckon upon themselves. Above all, the heart of every woman is in a plot against the wrong ; and as Pharaoh was after- wards defeated by the ingenuity of a mother and the sympathy of his own daughter, so his first scheme was spoiled by the disobedience of the midwives, themselves Hebrews, upon whom he reckoned. Let us not fear to avow that these women, whom God rewarded, lied to the king when he reproached them, since their answer, even if it were not unfounded, was palpably a misrepresentation of the facts. The reward was not for their falsehood, but for their humanity. They lived when the notion of martyrdom for an avowal so easy to evade was utterly unknown. i.7-22.] THE OPPRESSION. 23 Abraham lied to Abimelech. Both Samuel and David equivocated with Saul. We have learned better things from the King of truth, Who was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth. We know that the martyr's bold protest against unrighteousness is the highest vocation of the Church, and is rewarded in the better country. But they knew nothing of this, and their service was acceptable according as they had, not according as they had not. As well might we blame the patriarchs for having been slave-owners, and David for having invoked mischief upon his enemies, as these women for having fallen short of the Christian ideal of veracity. Let us beware lest we come short of it ourselves. And let us remember that the way of the Church through time is the path of the just, beset with mist and vapour at the dawn, but shining more and more unto the perfect day. In the meantime, God acknowledges, and Holy Scripture celebrates, the service of these obscure and lowly heroines. Nothing done for Him goes unrewarded. To slaves it was written that " From the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance : ye serve the Lord Christ" (Col. -in. 24). And what these women saved for others was what was recompensed to them- selves, domestic happiness, family life and its joys. God made them houses. The king is now driven to avow himself in a public command to drown all the male infants of the Hebrews , and the people become his accomplices by obeying him. For this they were yet to experience a terrible retri- bution, when there was not a house in Egypt that had not one dead. The features of the king to whom these atrocities are pretty certainly brought home are still to be seen 24 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. in the museum at Boulak. Seti I. is the most beautiful of all the Egyptian monarchs whose faces lie bare to the eyes of modern sightseers ; and his refined features, intelligent, high-bred and cheerful, resemble wonderfully, yet surpass, those of Rameses II., his successor, from whom Moses fled. This is the builder of the vast and exquisite temple of Amon at Thebes, the grandeur of which is amazing even in its ruins ; and his culture and artistic gifts are visible, after all these centuries, upon his face. It is a strange comment upon the modern doctrine that culture is to become a sufficient substi- tute for religion. And his own record of his exploits is enough to show that the sense of beauty is not that of pity : he is the jackal leaping through the land of his enemies, the grim lion, the powerful bull with sharpened horns, who has annihilated the peoples. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that artistic refinement can either inspire morality or replace it. Have we quite forgotten Nero, and Lucretia Borgia, and Catherine de Medici ? Many civilisations have thought little of infant life. Ancient Rome would have regarded this atrocity as lightly as modern China, as we may see by the absolute silence of its literature concerning the murder of the innocents — an event strangely parallel with this in its nature and political motives, and in the escape of one mighty Infant. Is it conceivable that the same indifference should return, if the sanctions of religion lose their power? Every one remembers the callousness of Rousseau. Strange things are being written by pessimistic un- belief about the bringing of more sufferers into the world. And a living writer in France has advocated the legalising of infanticide, and denounced St. Vincent 1 7-22. j THE OPPRESSION. 25 de Paul because, " thanks to his odious precautions, this man deferred for years the death of creatures without intelligence," etc.* It is to the faith of Jesus, not only revealing by the light of eternity the value of every soul, but also replenishing the fountains of human tenderness that had well-nigh become exhausted, that we owe our modern love of children. In the very helplessness which the ancient masters of the world exposed to destruction without a pang, we see the type of what we must ourselves become, if we would enter heaven. But we cannot afford to forget either the source or the sanctions of the lesson. * J. K. Huysmans — quoted in Nineteenth Century, May l{ P- 673- CHAPTER II. THE RESCUE OF MOSES. ii. i-io. WE have said that the Old Testament history teems with political wisdom, lessons of perma- nent instruction for mankind, on the level of this life, yet godly, as all true lessons must be, in a world ol which Christ is King. These our religion must learn to recognise and proclaim, if it is ever to win the respect of men of affairs, and "leaven the whole lump" of human life with sacred influence. Such a lesson is the importance of the individual in the history of nations. History, as read in Scripture, is indeed a long relation of heroic resistance or of base compliance in the presence of influences which are at work to debase modern peoples as well as those of old. The holiness of Samuel, the gallant faith of David, the splendour and wisdom of Solomon, the fervid zeal of Elijah, the self-respecting righteousness of Nehemiah, —ignore these, and the whole course of affairs becomes vague and unintelligible. Most of all this is true of Moses, whose appearance is now related. In profane history it is the same. Alexander, Mahomet, Luther, William the Silent, Napoleon,— will any one pretend that Europe uninfluenced by these per- sonalities would have become the Europe that we know ? ii. i-io.] THE RESCUE OF MOSES. 27 And this truth is not at all a speculative, unpractical theory : it is vital. For now there is a fashion 01 speaking about the tendency of the age, the time-spirit, as an irresistible force which moulds men like potters' clay, crowning those who discern and help it, but grinding to powder all who resist its course. In reality there are always a hundred time-spirits and tendencies competing for the mastery — some of them violent, selfish, atheistic, or luxurious (as we see with our own eyes to-day) — and the shrewdest judges are continually at fault as to which of them is to be victorious, and recognised hereafter as the spirit of the age. This modern pretence that men are nothing, and streams of tendency are all, is plainly a gospel of capitulations, of falsehood to one's private convictions, and of servile obedience to the majority and the popular cry. For, if individual men are nothing, what am I ? If we are all bubbles floating down a stream, it is folly to strive to breast the current. Much practical baseness and servility is due to this base and servile creed. And the cure for it is belief in another spirit than that of the present age, trust in an inspiring God, who rescued a herd of slaves and their fading convic- tions from the greatest nation upon earth by matching one man, shrinking and reluctant yet obedient to his mission, against Pharaoh and all the tendencies of the age. And it is always so. God turns the scale of events by the vast weight of a man, faithful and true, and sufficiently aware of Him to refuse, to universal clamour, the surrender of his liberty or his religion. In small matters, as in great, there is no man, faithful to a lonely duty or conviction, understanding that to have discerned it is a gift and a vocation, but makes the world 28 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. better and stronger, and works out part of the answer to that great prayer " Thy will be done." We have seen already that the religion of the Hebrews in Egypt was corrupted and in danger of being lost. To this process, however, there must have been bright exceptions ; and the mother of Moses bore witness, by her very name, to her fathers' God. The first syllable of Jochebed is proof that the name of God, which became the keynote of the new revelation, was not entirely new. As yet the parents of Moses are not named ; nor is there any allusion to the close relationship which would have forbidden their union at a later period (chap, vi. 20). And throughout all the story of his youth and early manhood there is no mention whatever of God or of religion. Elsewhere it is not so. The Epistle to the Hebrews declares that through faith the babe was hidden, and through faith the man refused Egyptian rank. Stephen tells us that he expected his brethren to know that God by his hand was giving them deliver- ance. But the narrative in Exodus is wholly untheo- logical. If Moses were the author, we can see why he avoided reflections which directly tended to glorify himself. But if the story were a subsequent invention, why is the tone so cold, the light so colourless ? Now, it is well that we are invited to look at all these things from their human side, observing the play of human affection, innocent subtlety, and pity. God commonly works through the heart and brain which He has given us, and we do not glorify Him at all by ignoring these. If in this case there were visible a desire to suppress the human agents, in favour of the Divine Preserver, we might suppose that a different historian would have given a less wonderful account ii. i-io.] THE RESCUE OP MOSES. i$ of the plagues, the crossing of the Sea, and the revela- tion from Sinai. But since full weight is allowed to second causes in the early life of Moses, the story is entitled to the greater credit when it tells of the burning bush and the flaming mountain. Let us, however, put together the various narratives and their lessons. At the outset we read of a marriage celebrated between kinsfolk, when the storm of perse- cution was rising. And hence we infer that courage or strong affection made the parents worthy of him through whom God should show mercy unto thousands. The first child was a girl, and therefore safe ; but we may suppose, although silence in Scripture proves little, that Aaron, three years before the birth of Moses, had not come into equal peril with him. Moses was therefore born just when the last atrocity was devised, when trouble was at its height. " At this time Moses was born," said Stephen. Edi- fying inferences have been drawn from the statement in Exodus that "the woman . . . hid him." Perhaps the stronger man quailed, but the maternal instinct was not at fault, and it was rewarded abundantly. From which we only learn, in reality, not to overstrain the words of Scripture ; since the Epistle to the Hebrews distinctly says that he " was hid three months by his parents " — both of them, while naturally the mother is the active agent. All the accounts agree that he was thus hidden, " because they saw that he was a goodly child " (Heb. xi. 23). It is a pathetic phrase. We see them, before the crisis, vaguely submitting in theory to an unrealised atrocity, ignorant how imperiously their nature would forbid the crime, not planning disobedience in advance, nor led to it by any reasoning process. All is changed 30 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. when the little one gazes at them with that marvellous appeal in its unconscious eyes, which is known to every parent, and helps him to be a better man. There is a great difference between one's thought about an infant, and one's feeling towards the actual baby. He was their chjld, their beautiful child ; and this it was that turned the scale. For him they would now dare anything, "because they saw he was a goodly child, and they were not afraid of the king's command- ment." Now, impulse is often a great power for evil, as when appetite or fear, suddenly taking visible shape, overwhelms the judgment and plunges men into guilt. But good impulses may be the very voice of God, stirring whatever is noble and generous within us. Nor are they accidental : loving and brave emotions belong to warm and courageous hearts ; they come of themselves, like song birds, but they come surely where sunshine and still groves invite them, not into clamour and foul air. Thus arose in their bosoms the sublime thought of God as an active power to be reckoned upon. For as certainly as every bad passion that we harbour preaches atheism, so does all goodness tend to sustain itself by the consciousness of a supreme Goodness in reserve. God had sent them their beauti- ful child, and who was Pharaoh to forbid the gift ? And so religion and natural pity joined hands, their supreme convictions and their yearning for their infant. " By faith Moses was hid . . . because they saw he was a goodly child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Such, if we desire a real and actual salvation, is always the faith which saves. Postpone salvation to an indefinite future; make it no more than the escape from vaguely realised penalties for sins which do not i wo.] THE RESCUE OF MOSES. 3* seem very hateful ; and you may suppose that faith in theories can obtain this indulgence ; an opinion may weigh against a misgiving. But feel that sin is not only likely to entail damnation, but is really and in itself damnable meanwhile, and then there will be no deliverance possible, but from the hand of a divine Friend, strong to sustain and willing to guide the life. We read that Amram lived a hundred and thirty and seven years, and of all that period we only know that he helped to save the deliverer of his race, by practical faith which made him not afraid, and did not paralyse but stimulate his energies. When the mother could no longer hide the child, she devised the plan which has made her for ever famous. She placed him in a covered ark, or casket,* plaited (after what we know to have been the Egyptian fashion) of the papyrus reed, and rendered watertight with bitumen, and this she laid among the rushes — a lower vegetation, which would not, like the tall papyrus, hide her treasure — in the well-known and secluded place where the daughter of Pharaoh used to bathe. Something in the known character of the princess may have inspired this ingenious device to move her pity ; but it is more likely that the woman's heart, in her extremity, prompted a simple appeal to the woman who could help her if she would. For an Egyptian princess was an important personage, with an establish- ment of her own, and often possessed of much political influence. The most sanguinary agent of a tyrant would be likely to respect the client of such a patron. * The same word is used for Noah's ark, but not elsewhere; not, for example, of the ark in the Temple, the name of which occurs else- where in Scripture only of the " coffin " of Joseph, and the "chest" for the Temple revenues (Gen. 1. 26; 2 Chron.