Iff** 6 ttw U(ok S iatt # . PRINCETON, N. J. '"">, (Jamjl^j^^C ij^Kjur: ~>\ : JW. J^ ^^ /^fi„ Shelf. Division , .D.m) , . J. . .1 . U.. ' Section /.,l"..O.Tj[ Number ■D " SYNOPTICAL LECTURES ON THE BOOKS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE, FIRST SERIES, GENESIS SONG OF SONGS. BY THE/ EEV. DONALD FEASEE, M.A. NEW YOEK: ROBERT CAETEE & BROTHERS. 1873. ;.RTY or* .htC. Mil 1682 1ICS CONTENTS. Introduction A few Words on the Canon Genesis . Exodus Leviticus . Numbers . Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Euth 1 Samuel . 2 Samuel . 1 Kings . 2 Kings . 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles 1 3 13 25 36 43 GO 71 83 96 110 122 135 148 160 171 IV CONTENTS. PAGE Ezra 186 Nehemiah 197 Esther 212 Job 226 Psalms — Part I. . 242 Psalms — Part II. . 253 Proverbs 267 ECCLESIASTES 281 Song of Solomon 293 INTRODUCTION. Though I have never been very successful in reproducing fully and vividly what I have spoken, I venture to offer to the public the substance of a course of Lectures delivered from the pulpit. It is my persuasion, that alike for the edification of the Church, and for the defeat of scepticism, the Bible must have full scope and fair play, and be taught to the people, not so much in detached verses, called " texts," as in the large sweep of its revelation, its vast dimensions of thought, and wonderful grasp of Divine ideas and human interests and hopes. The books that are the noblest and most influential are remarkable for the breadth of soul they reveal — their width of sympathy, range of survey, and power of various suggestion. But the Book of God is above all. It gives CO o our thought the widest horizon — brings to our affections the richest food and sweetest sympathy — takes mind, con- science, and reason off the shallows, and permits us to " launch out into the deep." As we study the Holy Bible, a sense of its exceeding breadth and manifoldness grows upon us. We find in it much more than statements to A 2 INTRODUCTION. settle our doubts, or promises to stay our fears. The Book is divinely large. Nothing escapes it. There is no problem in the moral and spiritual sphere — no sin or duty — no sorrow or joy, on which it does not cast some light. No real want of man is overlooked in it ; nor is there any truth essential to be known which is not enclosed, or sug- gested, in its far-reaching words. The proof-text system of dealing with Scripture has been pernicious, in so far as it has induced fragmentary knowledge, capricious interpretation, and the severance of sentences and clauses from their proper connection in order to sustain a dogmatic position or controversial point. Now there is certainly great reward in searching the Scriptures minutely ; but they must be searched impartially and sur- veyed comprehensively, if we would escape from mere theological ruts and hard narrow lines of thought, and would reach clear sweet healthy views of God's truth with largeness of soul and freshness of devout affection. With these convictions, I feel it my duty, as a " Pastor and Teacher " of the Church, to discourse of the Bible at large. My plan is to indicate the scope of each Book of Scripture, and to furnish in brief a compend or digest of its contents. To dilate were an easy task, but it would weary my hearers, deter my readers, and defeat my object. Therefore I have subjected my matter to rigorous compres- sion ; and, though I am far better pleased with my plan than with my execution of it, I hope, with God's blessing, to persevere until I have completed a synopsis of the whole Bible. May 1871. 'fttU. AUG 1882 THHOLUGI A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. All our English Bibles contain a list entitled, " The Names and Order of all the Books of the Old and New Testaments, with the number of their chapters." According to this list, there are thirty-nine Books in the Old Testament, twenty- seven in the New. Every one knows that this list is not itself a part of Scripture ; and it is a legitimate question, To what degree of respect or confidence is it entitled, and why do the Books therein enumerated — these, and none but these — constitute Holy Writ ? This is just the question known as that of "the Canon of Scripture." The Greek word, xuvciv, standard, or rule, came in ecclesiastical usage to denote an authorised list, whether of books, decrees of councils, or clergy. Whatever was accredited and approved in the Church was termed canonical. Books of Scripture were so called, as proper to be read in the Christian assem- blies. Non- canonical books were those disallowed and excluded, as being either spurious productions, or, if genuine and good for private reading, yet apocryphal or hidden books, the authority of which was not evident, and 4: A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. which, therefore, had no just claim to be placed in tho sacred Canon, the standard of faith and practice. The Canon, as we have received it, shows a most varied collection of Hebrew and Greek works — histories, poems, tracts, prophecies, and letters, written at intervals during sixteen centuries, by many writers known and unknown ; and among those who are known, men of every rank and condition — prophets, kings, priests, a scribe, a sheep-master, a tax-gatherer, a physician, a tent-maker, and two or three fishermen. The volume which we call the Bible grew slowly under their hands, and was separated from other religious writings by degrees. So God ordered it; so it seemed good in His sight. Our doctrine of the Canon is, that the collection of Books, which we bind up together, constitutes the authentic and complete Bible, the authoritative fountain of our reli- gious knowledge. But this does not involve, and should not be allowed to imply, or understood to cover, the opinion, that all the Books in the collection are of equal value, or equally full of the mind of God, or equally applicable in their teachings to the time in which we live. They are all sacred, as separated to holy use from the mass of even religious literature ; all profitable, but not all equally pro- fitable ; and all to be read with reverence, but at the same time with intelligent recognition of the progress which is in the Bible itself, and in the order and brightness of Divine dispensations of truth. I. The Old Testament we receive in its integrity from the Jews. It affects Israel and the nations, and prepares the way of Christ and the Church. Its foundation is in the Law, or the Five Books at the outset, ascribed to A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. 5 Moses. Subsequent history, poetry, and prophecy evi- dently presuppose and proceed upon the Pentateuch. Therefore, from earliest times down to this day, the Hebrews have paid peculiar veneration to the Law. The Historical Books, from Joshua to Esther, with the single exception of ISTehemiah, are of anonymous author- ship to us, though it is quite probable that the writers were well known at the time of their admission to the Canon. The works of David, Solomon, and the prophets, w T ere easily identified. And all were gathered together under the divisions of the Law r , the Prophets, earlier and later, and the Hagiographa. At what time this was done, w T e have no certain knowledge ; but the Jewish tradition is not improbable, which ascribes the editing and arranging of the Old Testament to Ezra, the learned Scribe. The Hebrew Canon w T as well and even jealously guarded by the Jews of Palestine ; but was not held in the same definite form by the Hellenist Jews. Those of Alexandria used the Greek translation made by the Seventy ; and in that version were certain additions to the Books of Job, Esther, and Daniel, which were unknown to the Hebrew text, and certain other books, as of Wisdom, and the Mac- cabees, wdiich never existed in Hebrew, and are known among us as the Apocrypha. A very important testimony to the Hebrew Canon is given by the Jewish writer on history and antiquities — Josephus. It runs thus : " We have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contra- dicting one another, but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times, and are justly held to be divine." — " No one has been so bold as to add 6 A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. anything to these writings, or take anything from them, or make any change in them ; but it is become natural to all Jews, immediately, and from their birth, to esteem those books to contain divine doctrines, to persist in them, and, if occasion be, willingly to die for them." * The twenty- two books, as Josephus computed them, are just our thirty- nine, for the two Books of Samuel were one, two of Kings one, two of Chronicles one, the minor prophets one, Ezra was joined to Xehemiah, Ruth to Judges, and Lamentations to the greater work of Jeremiah. The Books in the Canon are said to have been thus numbered twenty-two, in order to correspond, like the parts of the 119th Psalm, with the Hebrew alphabet. At a later period, the number was given as twenty-four, the Books of Faith and Lamentations being allowed separate places in the list. Our Old Testament is thus received from that people to whom "were committed the oracles of God." The Lord so ordered it in His providence, that the Jews should honour this collection of Books above and apart from all others, and should scrupulously protect them from addition or excision by man. They have preserved them, even to their own condemnation. AVe have yet greater witness. It was of this Old Testa- ment that Jesus Christ said, " Search the Scriptures." In its three great divisions He recognised it, when, after His resurrection, He taught from " the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms." And of this part of the Canon it was that the Apostle Paul declared, " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." It is a singular fact that the Jews never injured or cor- * Answer to Apion, Book i. A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. 7 rupted the Old Testament Scriptures which reprove them ; and the Latin Church never injured or corrupted the New Testament Canon by which its superstitions are rebuked. But the Latin Church has interfered with that Canon which the Jews so diligently guarded. The Latin version, called the Vulgate, had contained the Apocrypha. The Council of Trent, in 1546, pronounced all the contents of the Vulgate equally canonical and authoritative ; and thus were eleven books or parts of books, which the Jews of Palestine excluded from their Canon, put by arbitrary de- cree of a modern council on a level with Moses and the Prophets. We do not assert that this was done for dog- matic and controversial reasons; but it is obviously con- venient for the Church of Rome that, as there is no authority for purgatory, the merit of works, or prayers of the living for the dead in Holy Writ properly so called, books from which quotations in favour of these things can be made — e.g., Baruch, Tobit, Ecclesiasticus, and the Mac- cabees — should be elevated to canonical dignity. The Eastern Church long maintained the distinction between Canonical Scripture as the rule of faith, and other books useful for edification. A Council at Jerusalem, in 1672, canonised the Apocrypha ; but there is no decision on the subject binding the Eastern Church to this day. The Pie- formed Churches with one accord repudiated the canon icity of the Apocrypha, although it was long the custom in England, and still is in Germany, to bind up those books in the same volume with Holy Scripture. II. The history of the Canon of the New Testament is quite analogous to that of the Old. Like the earlier col- lection, it grew silently, and was formed and settled, as we S A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. now have it, by general consent of the Christians in the first three centuries of the Church. The decision was not made by an apostle, or arrived at by any special Divine afflatus for the purpose, but was reached more gradually, and, on that account, all the more convincingly and im- pressively, by the mature examination and deliberate judgment of the Christian Church, under the directing Providence and living Spirit of God. The four Books, with which the New Testament opens, called Gospels, bear the same relation to those which follow, that the five Books at the beginning of the Old Testament, called the Law, bear to the subsequent Hebrew Scriptures. They are the pillars that support all that is afterwards re- corded. They were produced in the first century, and there is very good evidence that during the second century they were widely known and circulated as genuine Gospels. There were others in circulation too, but they never had the same reception or repute, and have long ago fallen into oblivion, or been recognised as of little worth. Some of the books which we receive were in question for a considerable time, viz., the Epistle to the Hebrews, James, 2d Peter, 2d and 3d John, Jude, and the Eevelation. At last all these were acknowledged ; and the hesitation shown in regard to them only increases our confidence in their authority, as satisfying us that whatever could be alleged against them was considered in the time of the first publication and found to be of no weight, and also as proving the extreme deliberation and caution with which the Greek Canon, equally with the Hebrew, was made up and de- fined. It was ascertained that all the Books admitted to the Canon proceeded from Apostles, or were written in the A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. 9 first age, in harmony with the spirit and oral teachings of the Apostles of the Lamb. A Council at Laodicea, a.d. 3G5, forbade the reading of uncanonical books in Churches ; and a catalogue is found appended to the decrees, which corresponds exactly with our list — except as regards the Book of Eevelation, which is omitted. The so-called Council of Carthage, a.d. 397, enumerates the Books exactly as we have them. We do not cite the acts of any council as conferring authority on any part of Scripture, but we value them as historical evi- dence, that, in the fourth century, the Books acknowledged by the Christians of the East and the West were the same that we honour — all the same, and none besides. The manner in which the Canon has been formed con- fessedly leaves scope for difficult questions. God has ordered that so it should be, in order to exercise the moral faculty, spiritual discernment, and loving submission of His children. (1.) Is the Bible or the Church the greater? It is a useless question. The Holy Ghost is the Great One of this dispensation. It is the Holy Ghost who, by the Word spoken and written, formed the Church, and by the Church formed the Bible. The Bible exists for the Church, not the Church for the Bible; but then the Church exists only by virtue of that word of truth which the Bible enshrines and preserves. (2.) Does the formation of the canon by the Church involve the necessity of a traditional Church interpreta- tion ? Surely not. Least of all, does it imply what is arro- gated by the Latin Church, that she alone is authorised to interpret the Scriptures. We acknowledge ourselves in 10 A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. debted to the Primitive Church, especially in the East, for the historical authentication of the Books of the New Testament ; but we do not on that account feel bound to accept traditional interpretations of the Church of the dark ages, any more than we receive traditional interpretations of the Old Testament from the Jewish Talmudists. (3.) If the catalogue of Books was drawn up by men like ourselves on their best, but fallible, judgment, may it not be revised or altered by us ? AVe should not fear to subject the Bible to such an ordeal, assured as we are, that, whatever individuals might propose, no Christian Church would part with any one Book or part of a Book in our present Bible. But the question cannot claim an affirmative answer. AVe are not, and no future generation can possibly be, in such favourable circumstances as the early Christians were, for testing the authenticity and genuine- ness of writings ascribed to Evangelists and Apostles. The Canon has passed the very best court of examination that could possibly be constituted ; and with this it becomes us to be content. The use of the term " Bible " to denote the whole collec- tion of Sacred Writings, cannot, we believe, be traced to an earlier date than the fourth century. But, now that the collection is made, each generation sees for itself how thoroughly the Books form one Book, structurally and spiritually one, marvellously woven together — its most distant parts connected by quotations, allusions, and the correspondence of type and antitype — and the whole moulded together by a profound unity of thought and plan. It is not mechanically combined or sewed to- A FEW WORDS ON THE CANON. 11 gether. It is organically united as a living tree, or as a living body of which one part cannot be touched without affecting all. God has tempered all together, so that if one member of the Bible suffer, all its members suffer with it. It may be persecuted, neglected, maligned, or contro- verted, but the Scripture may not be broken. Destructive criticism may go to work on it with its penknife, as did the infatuated king of Judah on the roll of Jeremiah's pro- phecy ; but when penknife and fire have done their worst, the writing is calmly restored as it was before. Our Bible cannot be taken to pieces, or dissolved into its elements. Here are many Books — and yet the Book is one — "With the eternal heraldry And signature of God Almighty stamped From first to last. Happy they who recognise the stamp, and, while giving due weight to the historical evidences of the Canon, know the Bible true by an inward moral conviction and spiritual witness — who appreciate the character of its contents, " the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God ;" the tone it has, which it has received from no other book, but with which it has influenced minds and books in- numerable; and its singularly penetrating living power over the human heart 1 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. GENESIS. The Jews have no title for this book but its first word — Bercshith (in the beginning). The Greeks called it Genesis (origination). It was a saying of Luther, " Nihil pulchrius Genesi, nihil utilius;" and all thoughtful men have recognised the value and dignity of this book as " the stately portal to the magnificent edifice of Scripture." It is the oldest trustworthy book in the world, and con- veys all the reliable information we possess of the history of man, for more than two thousand years. The Vcdas are ancient hymns and legends : the Zendavcsta is a specu- lation on the origin of things : but Genesis is a narrative, written with a grave archaic simplicity. It is character- istically a book of origins and beginnings, — it contains the deeply-fastened and widely-spread roots of all futurity. There is nothing afterwards unfolded in the relationships of God with man, that is not at least in rudiment, or germ, to be traced in Genesis. By the Jews the authorship of this book has always 14 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. been ascribed to Moses; but it is a point which recent critics have strongly disputed and denied. The truth probably lies between the extreme view of those, on the one hand, who hold that Moses alone wrote the entire book exactly as it now exists in the Hebrew Bible, and the extreme, on the other hand, of those who break up this book into a collection of two, three, or more ancient writ- ings put together, in or after the time of King David. To our thinking, the whole style and tenor of this work show it to be of a far earlier date than the times of the Hebrew monarchy, and we see no good reason to question its Mosaic authorship, although it may have passed through the editorial hands of another prophet. As to the alleged traces of various authors in the use of different names of the Deity, Elolvim and Jehovah, and the occasionally abrupt insertion of passages, there is no difficulty in accounting for these things on the very natural supposition that Moses availed himself of traditions and documents of earlier times than his own, and writing with a holy simplicity, pieced them together without any concealment. Need we say that the place of this book in the canon is not invali- dated by any such view of its authorship ? It is no point of faith that every passage in Genesis came first into existence when written by the pen of Moses, any more than it is a point of faith that Samuel wrote without any use of other records the whole Book of Judges. We must not commit ourselves, in the supposed defence of the Bible, to positions which cannot be satisfactorily proved, and which it is not in the least necessary to prove. Enough for us, that Genesis has always been in the canon of Holy Scripture, and that the writer, whether in communicating GENESIS. 15 fresh truth, or in compiling from pre-existing fragments of history, was so divinely guided as to form, for all time coming, a religions narrative of " the first things " on which our faith may implicitly rely. That it is a religious history accounts for various features of this book which may disappoint the mere archaeologist, such as the slight and incidental manner in which the general annals of the world are referred to, and the pro- minence given to the lives of the Hebrew patriarchs. Genesis does cast more light than any other book whatever on early history, geography, and ethnology, but this only by the way, — its proper object being to unfold the religious history of mankind, and to record the origin of that nation in which the true knowledge of God was preserved during long ages of ignorance and idolatry. That it is an ancient history, written, though under divine direction, by a man who lived more than three thousand years ago, in accordance with the general infor- mation he possessed, accounts for the simple, popular way in which great natural facts are stated, and for the sketch- ing out of the order of Creation in large and graphic out- lines. It is no reproach to the book that it is unscientific in language, i.e., a stranger to the technical terms and details of modern sciences. This is just as it ought to be, if we keep in mind the times in which, and the purposes for which, it was composed. It would be most incongruous if anything but popular language were employed in so ancient a book to express rjhysical phenomena. Indeed, the artlessness of the narrative forms alike one of its best evidences and one of its principal charms. AVe are not to peer into it, as into a highly-elaborated cabinet picture. It 16 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. is a simple but' magnificent sketch, where the outlines are of the boldest, and the grouping and colouring declare a master's hand. In the beginning was God. He only has had no origin, — never began to be, — but from everlasting to everlasting was, and is, and is to be. It may be right enough to con- struct arguments for the divine existence, in order to con- vince gainsayers and sceptics, but it would not be in harmony with the character of the Bible to open with any doubt or discussion on such a point. God, who is in a high sense the Author of Scripture, does not argue His own existence any more than a human author begins his book by proving that he himself actually lives. God is. What is the conclusion of long arguments elsewhere is the starting-point of the Bible. The name of God is stamped on the forehead of His book. The first sentence of Genesis excludes many errors. (1.) Atheism, — for God created ; (2.) Polytheism, — for it is one God who created all; (3.) The notion of the eternity of matter, — for the things which are seen had a beginning. We know not how remote the beginning may have been, but we are assured that the very materials, as well as the present forms of things, exist, because God made them. (4.) Pantheism, — for God has made all things, and is in all, yet is never to be confounded with even the whole of things and of life — the Universe. An author must not be confounded with his work, or a builder with his building, or an artist with his masterpiece; — so God, while the Author, Builder, and Maker of all, and sus- taining and conserving what He has produced, is not GENESIS. 17 absorbed in nature, but, as He was before all, so now is He above all, blessed for ever. God being revealed, Genesis informs us of eight great beginnings of things, — beginnings of which, without this book, we have no satisfactory knowledge whatever. I. Origin of Heaven and Earth. — This subject was a dark enigma to all the men of thought in the heathen world, but the Hebrew Scriptures open with the decisive statement, that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. To this day nothing more has been dis- covered. However explorers and speculators spread out the ages that are past into periods of prodigious length, the consent of opinion, the overwhelming inference from all the provinces of natural science, is in favour of an ultimate starting point, a " beginning," and of the operation at that "beginning" of an intelligent will, — an individual and omnipotent Creator. At the same time, we must observe that it was not the purpose of Moses, and perhaps it was not in his power, to describe Creation with scientific accuracy* Genesis, like * A recent ingenious writer considers the First Chapter of Genesis to be an Apocalypse of Creation seen by Adam, as the Apocalypse of the new heavens and earth was seen by John. I am not prepared to allow this, in the entire absence of the formula, " I looked, I saw," so often found in the Book of Revelation ; nor, if we admit tbe First Chapter to be a vision, doe3 there seem to be good reason for limiting the Apocalypse to the Creation, raid not extending the same theory to the account of the Fall, and to later accounts also, since there is observed throughout the same style of simple narrative. I quite concur, however, in the following observations of the writer to whom I allude : — " They who require or expect in Genesis a treatise on Geology, will be equally disappointed with those who look for a book of History in the Revelation of St. John. . . . Future discovery must not be anticipated any more than future history. . . . The seven days of Creation arc neithet B 18 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. the rest of the Bible, has a moral and spiritual aim only, and therefore, what it communicates regarding Creation, equally with other subjects, is addressed, less to the specu- lative understanding than to the conscience and spiritual part of man. Accordingly, after the first sentence, the description at once narrows. We are told of a chaotic condition of the earth, which some have imagined to have ensued on the fall of angels, previously living on its sur- face. We are not, however, informed of any creation of angels or other races of intelligent creatures before, above, or besides ourselves. The object is to show the prepara- tion made for man, and the place assigned to man on this earth and under heaven. So, the ordering of the earth, and sea, and sky, in six periods, each marked by an evening and a morning, or fading and growing light, is drawn out in a brief sketch, and this lies on the first page of the Bible, — a sore puzzle to those who fancy that they are bound to read it as a complete Divine account of the whole creation. It was never intended to be so taken. It is simply a sketch of God's arrangement of a dwelling- place for man — in illustration of which we may notice the importance assigned to the moon above the stars. It is named one of the " two great lights," solely because of its superior usefulness to man. In fact, the main interest of seven literal days of twenty-four hours each, nor yet seven definite historical periods, the events of which are literally recorded, but as the seven seals, trumpets, and vials of St. John's Revelation represented the history of the future by a typical representation of each of its grand divisions, withoutany of than being chronologically defined, so do the seven days of the Mosaic cosmogony represent, in a dramatic and typical form, the successive changes which took place at creation, each grand feature being boldly sketched out in one scenic representation characteristic of that particular epoch." — Primeval Man Unveiled, pp. 40-44. GENESIS. 10 the first chapter, after the first verse, is intended to rest on its conclusion, the II. Origin of the Human Eace at present inhabiting the Earth. — The world teemed with life at God's word ; then He formed man out of the dust, and "breathed into him. Scripture is pledged to the doctrine, that man is no adaptation, improvement, or development of a previously existing creature, but wholly a new creature, while con- taining in his structure the best points of prior and infe- rior organizations. "VVe are not concerned here with the question of a pre-Adamite race of men. If it can be proved that such beings lived, and strove with wild beasts before Adam and Eve existed, let it be proved. The inte- rest of the Bible, and of all religious history, revolves round the Adamic race, formed for the subjugation of the earth, gifted with intellect, conscience, and dignity, and begin- ning their career in happy communion with Jehovah- God. III. Beginning of Marriage. — In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, we read of the duality of the race from its origin : " male and female created He them." The sexual distinction already established throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms was continued in the lordly human race. In the second chapter the formation of woman is more fully described, with her marriage to "the man" by the Lord Himself. Henceforth, marriage is honourable in all. It may not be broken capriciously, for whatever may have occurred in Israel or any other nation in regard to divorce at the pleasure of the husband, " from 20 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. the beginning it was not so." Originally, marriage is the union of one man and one woman, whom God has joined together, so that they are no more twain, but one. This is the Divine law of marriage for ever — the nuptial one- ness being dissolved by death only, or in exceptional cases by such divorce as the word of Jesus Christ expressly allows. IV. Entrance of Sin, and Death by Sin. — There is no question that sin is in the world, and has been in it as long as human memory extends. Because of this there is much misery ; there is moral and spiritual death by sin. Had this a beginning? and if so, how did it originate? Genesis gives the answer, and the New Testament repeats it, — " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Whether we regard the account of the Garden, the trees, the beautiful fruit, and the speaking serpent, as plain history, or as Eastern allegory, this at all events is the account of the entrance of sin, to which the Bible is pledged. It came into the world by the will of man con- travening the known will of God — not by the gradual decline of a race of men from primitive simplicity and purity, but " by one man's disobedience," the fall from his integrity of the head and parent of our race. Thereafter, sin, having obtained an entrance into the world, continued and spread by a law of descent, and a power of contagion. And judgment followed ; death by sin ; — and " death has passed on all, for all have sinned." The Book of Genesis, having thus explained the exist- ence of sin on the earth, proceeds to tell of its ravages — murder in the first family — violence overspreading the GENESIS. 21 Old "World — a generation of the ungodly swept away by the deluge — sin in Noah's family immediately after the flood — sin in Sodom and Gomorrah — sin in the families of the patriarchs — sin in Canaan, and sin in Egypt — sin in the dwellers in cities, and sin in the dwellers in tents. To multiply gods, to make idols, to dishonour parents, to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to lie, to covet — the beginnings of all "these sins are found written in Genesis. % V. Origin of Sacrifice. — It is not affirmed in this book that God ordained the offering of sacrifice to Himself, but it is made evident that acceptable worshippers, such as Abel, Noah, and Abraham, followed some intimation of the Divine will, and made their oblations — not according to mere human impulses or instincts, but in faith and in the obedience of faith. There is every probability, that the animals with whose skins Adam and Eve were first clothed, had been slain in sacrifice. They could not have been killed for food, as flesh was not eaten till after the flood. Abel's sacrifice is affirmed in the New Testament to have been offered "in faith." With sacrifice Noah took pos- session of a New World; with sacrifice at Shechem, Abraham entered on the Land of Promise. The heathen soon debased the ordinance of sacrifice to cruel and super- stitious rites, but from the beginning its idea was the solemn devotement of life to God, pouring out the soul unto death, in type of the Slain "Lamb of God Which taketh away the sin of the world." YI. Beginning of Covenant Promises. — We refer, not to the ordinance delivered to Adam, which divines have 22 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. called a Covenant of Life, or Covenant of Works, but to the Covenants, expressly so termed, which were made with Noah and with Abraham. Each of these was a covenant in the sense of an engage- ment, which God, of His mere grace, made, and permitted to be pleaded and urged as a claim upon himself. Each was a covenant by sacrifice, and each had a sign in the sky — the one the rainbow, the other the countless stars. Each had a promise ; the one, of the preservation of the world from a recurrence of the deluge, the other of a blessing on all nations of the world, in Abraham's seed, which is Christ. VII. Beginning of Nations and Tongues. — The tenth chapter of this book details the early divisions and genealogies, proceeding from the three branches of Noah's family ; and although some may pass it by as a dry cata- logue of names, it is really a record of immense value to the ethnologist and to every student of antiquity. A great living authority has called it "a chapter of wonderful grasp, and still more wonderful accuracy — a sketch of the nations of the earth, their ethnic affinities, and to some extent their geographical position and boundaries. The Toldoth Bcni Noah has extorted the admiration of modern ethnologists, who continually find in it anticipations of their greatest discoveries."* VIII. Origin of the Hebrew Eace. — Idolatry had begun in the East ; tribes and nations fell under the power of vain superstitions. It pleased God to institute a new dispensation of religion, in direct opposition to Polytheistic * Eawlinson's Bampton Lectures, lect. ii. GENESIS. 23 heathenism. It began in the call of Abram. Heathenism had been allowed to take possession of the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, of the realm of Egypt, and the regions and islands over which the human race rapidly spread. But God set His eye and His heart on the land of Canaan, — designed it for a Holy Land, and called Abraham to occupy it as His friend, and the ancestor of a people through whom salvation should come to the world, and of whom should be born the Saviour of mankind. The latter and larger part of Genesis is occupied with biographical sketches of the Hebrew patriarchs. Abraham was the man of faith, and friend of God. His son, by Hagar the bondwoman, was Ishmael, a wild man, for faith can have by the spirit of bondage nothing but restlessness and confusion. His son, by Sarah the free- woman, was Isaac, the heir of promise. The issue of faith and liberty is peace. Isaac fills up calmly and unobtrusively the interval be- tween Abraham's grand career and the complicated agitated history of Jacob. Yet he too had his trials of faith, like Abraham his father, in regard to an heir of promise. Eirst he had to wait long for the birth of a child to continue his line, and then he was baffled in his preference for his elder son by the Divine election of the younger to be the cove- nant heir. Jacob is at first a very faulty character, full of craft and selfishness ; but by chastisements and visions of heavenly things he was corrected, and at last proved to be an Israel, a Prince with God. His early sins, however, brought late sorrows upon him. As he had lied to his father Isaac, so 24 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. his children lied to him in his old age, and bowed his hoary head under a causeless grief. Joseph had trial of envy, betrayal, false accusation, un- just imprisonment, sudden exaltation, and almost imperial power. With the romantic history of this hero, saint, and signal type of Christ, the grand Book of Genesis ends. Search this Scripture, for it testifies of Christ. 1. By and for Christ were all things created and made. 2. The last Adam is Christ. 3. Adam and Eve in marriage present Christ and the Church. 4. Sin is put away, and righteousness brought in by one man — Christ. 5. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. 0. Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, 7. Men shall be blessed in Christ, and all nations shall call him blessed. 8. Christ is the Consolation and the King of Israel. Our Lord is also variously set forth in typical men, — in Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedec, Isaac, and Josaph. He is the best fulfilment of the oracle concerning the victorious seed of the woman, and to Him belongs, in the highest sense, the heirship according to promise. As we read Genesis, let us learn Christ, and thank God that the Scrip- ture which opens our wound of sin, points us also to our remedy in Jesus. EXODUS. The name of the second book, like that of the first, is taken from the Greek version, — the principal event related being the exodus, or out-going of Israel from Egypt. This book is evidently connected by its opening word " Now," with the book which goes before, and is from the same pen. Yet it is unlike Genesis. It covers a far shorter period of time ; and, whereas Genesis is at first a book of universal history, and thereafter of minute bio- graphical sketches, Exodus is throughout the book of a chosen nation. The only biographical sketch it contains is that of the national Leader, and the events of his life are dwelt upon only in so far as they affected the fortunes of Israel. As Genesis is the book of roots and becrinnincrs, so Exodus is that of redemption, and the law given to the redeemed. Or, it may be arranged and read thus : Israel in Egypt, 12 chapters ; Israel going from Egypt to Sinai, 6 chapters ; Israel at Sinai, 22 chapters — 40 chapters in all. I. Israel in Egypt. — At the end of Genesis, the house of Jacob was a large and prosperous family, in high favour with the Egyptian government, and occupying the fertile 26 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. district of Goshen. At the beginning of Exodus, the family had become a numerous people, and their increase excited the fears of the court, and the jealousy of the native Egyp- tians. The stern Pharaoh, who filled the throne, reduced them to bondage, and compelled them to construct vast public works, an occupation most uncongenial to a pastoral race. Task-masters were set over them, who spared not the bastinado. So the affliction of Israel became very grievous. Egypt was made bitter to them, as a house of bondage, and their male children were doomed to death by the Egyptians, in order to diminish and ultimately exter- minate the Hebrew race. The nation seems to have produced no man of mark after Joseph for a period of seventy years. There are such blank periods, barren of greatness, in the history of every people ; and more than one nation has had to be brought into terrible emergency before it could produce a real hero. Thus, while Israel prospered in Goshen, no great man arose, but when the iron entered into their souls, Moses was born, — a fair child, a wise and gallant youth, a man of lofty strain, gifted with the faculty of command, and an aptitude for the conduct of arduous enterprises; — but more, and better still, a chosen vessel of Jehovah, a man of faith and works, of patience and energy, fit to be re- ceived into near intimacy and sublime converse with God. It was so ordered by Providence, that this destined De- liverer should have a most complete training for his work. In early life he enjoyed the highest education the age could afford; military discipline, too, and all princely advantages. Thereafter he passed many years in the very deserts through which he had subsequently to lead the EXODUS. 27 twelve tribes, thus strengthening his soul in meditation and solitude, while forming a personal acquaintance with the hills, valleys, practicable routes, and nomad tribes of the Arabian wilderness. When Moses was ripe for the great task of his life, the people of Israel were in yet more intolerable bondage than at the time of his birth. The Pharaoh, at whose court he was educated, had died, but his successor was still more harsh and arbitrary. " 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 looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them." The prayer of the oppressed in Egypt began to be an- swered in Midian. The Lord called, and commissioned Moses to overcome the haughty Pharaoh. He gave not only " redemption to his folk," but a Eedeemer, who was not ashamed to call them brethren, who identified him- self with them, descended into their affliction, and delivered them out of it, by judgment and mercy. Moses brought judgment to the gods and Pharaoh of Egypt, mercy to the poor and oppressed, "whose cry had come up unto God." Successive chapters narrate the wonderful controversy between the unarmed Moses and his brother Aaron on the one side, and on the other the Pharaoh who was feared as the mightiest monarch in the world, and even worshipped as a god. Stroke upon stroke displayed the might of Jehovah, the God of Moses and of Israel, over the Pharaoh 23 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. and the gods of Egypt, with all their magicians and priests. Every blow of judgment had a direction against the super- stitions of the land. It was the sacred Nile that was turned to blood. It was a nation that worshipped animal forms, — even frogs and beetles, as well as cattle, — that was plagued with frogs, and swarms of vermin, and saw their fields desolated by locusts, and their cattle perishing by murrain and hail-storms. It was the people who wor- shipped the sun-god, and called their monarch Pharaoh (the child of the sun), that sat in darkness for three days. The decisive blow was that of death, not sparing the first-born of Pharaoh himself — the man who had wielded the absolute power of death — or of his people, who had concurred in his treatment of Israel, or even of the beasts, in order that shame might be poured on the beast-worship of Egypt, At last the deliverance was accomplished, and Israel went free, redeemed from the plague of death, by the blood of the lamb of passover, and redeemed from the dominion of Pharaoh and his task-masters, by the power of God, whose rod Moses carried as a weapon mightier far than sword or spear. All this is surely full of spiritual suggestion for our profit. They whose consciences are alive to the true nature of the service of sin, know the house of bondage, and the brick-kilns, and the cruel task-masters. They who are acquainted with the love and power of Christ, know that He has borne reproach, and not merely risked, but suffered death to deliver us. By His precious blood are our lives redeemed, and by His rod of strength are our EXODUS. 29 enemies subdued. If the Son make us free, then are we free indeed. II. Israel goixg from Egypt to Sinai.— From the land of bondage the tribes went out in orderly array. Never was seen such an emancipation of slaves in a night, or a simultaneous emigration on so large a scale. Another judgment marked the exodus. Pharaoh pur- sued with an army which trusted in chariots and horses ; Moses trusted in Jehovah alone. So the pursuit issued in the utter destruction of Pharaoh and his host, while Israel, "baptized unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea," emerged on the shore of safety, and sung and prayed before the Lord, who triumphed gloriously. All the better they sang that they had sighed before, and the Lord had turned their mourning into dancing, and girded them with gladness. Thenceforward Israel was reckoned a people separated from the world, God's chosen witnesses, His first-born of nations, favoured with special guidance and provision. Bread was given to them, and water was sure. For their need the very heavens rained down manna by their tents, and a fountain burst from the flinty rock. "When the hardy sons of Amalek assailed them, the prayer of Moses brought victory to the sword and spear of Joshua, and of Israel. The way prescribed to them was such as became a redeemed people, — a way of faith and new obedience, marked, alas ! very early by outbreaks of a murmuring spirit on the part of the tribes, but full of the grace of God, Who, having delivered, then sustains and guides, the people of His choice. 30 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. All this, too, 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. This analogy has become so familiar to every devout mind, that, almost unconscious of any figure of speech, Christians are ready to sing, — " From Egypt lately come, Where death and darkness reign, We seek our new, our better home, Where we our rest shall gain." III. Israel at Sinai. — Three months were consumed on the march to the Wilderness of Sinai. There the people lay encamped for nearly a year, receiving the law, and being organised as a sacred host around the tabernacle of their God. Jehovah, the Divine Eedeemer of Israel, came down among them as their King. He chose the Mount Sinai in Arabia as His throne, or seat of authority, and thence, amidst clouds and darkness and lightning flashes that lit up the rugged rocks, He uttered His Holy Law. It was in ten words, or commandments, and these the Lord was afterwards pleased to engrave on slabs of stone, and to deliver to Moses in the mount. Thus was redeemed EXODUS. 31 Israel brought under a distinct code of duty and a theo- cratic government. Let us observe, however, that theo- cracy never meant a government by priests. God established His government over Israel in the hands of Moses and the elders, while, as yet, there were no priests in existence. When they were appointed, they were not entrusted as such with any functions of government — functions, indeed, for which priests have in all times and all countries shown themselves peculiarly unfit. While the Israelites were slaves, they were compelled to serve the will of Pharaoh. When they were free, they were bound to do the will of Jehovah. They could not serve two masters. The yoke of the heathen they cast off, and took upon them the yoke of Jehovah, holy, just, and good. Too true it is that they broke God's law, and even at the foot of the sacred mount, in the absence of Moses, relapsed into the Egyptian worship of the ox. But the law of the Lord changed not, and the obligation to obedi- ence was not modified. Through their history it was taught for all time to come that a redeemed people are bound to be a holy people, and that the God of their sal- vation requires it of them, that they obey His voice indeed, and keep His covenant. At the same time, the standing of a redeemed people was shown even at Mount Sinai to be not of legal merit, but of grace. When the tribes of Israel fell back in fear at the foot of the Mount, Moses drew near in their behalf as a mediator. When they sinned and provoked the Lord to wrath, Moses pleaded for them — significant type of the Mediator of the new covenant, who ever lives to make intercession for us. 32 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. The legislation from Sinai included civil as well as reli- gious ordinances, but all connected, commingled, and inter- laced together, because the God of Israel was also their King, and the King of Israel was their God. To the laws and ordinances were added minute prescriptions for the erection of the House of God, or rather Sacred Tent, with His ark and mercy-seat, and altars and priesthood. Directions delivered to Moses in regard to these, and an account of the faithful execution of the Divine commands, occupy the latter part of Exodus. Among the heathen, every hill and grove had its shrine to one or other of many gods, and its own solemnities of worship. The God of Israel was One, and so long as the times of Israel continued would have for His worship but one earthly centre. In obedience to His com- mand, a sacred tent or tabernacle was made of materials abundantly provided by a willing people, carefully fashioned according to Divine direction, and consecrated to be the special dwelling-place of Jehovah, and His meet- ing-place with man. In front of it stood the altar of burnt-offering, and the laver for ablution — showing that he who comes to God must come by water and by blood. In its first chamber were the lamp-stand, the table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense, to express illumi- nation, obedience, and prayer on the part of those who would dwell with God. In its second chamber, behind the veil, were the ark of testimony containing the law, and the mercy-seat thereon — i.e., God's throne of grace resting on His righteousness, and mercy rejoicing over judgment. Figures of cherubim were carved as visible attendants of the invisible God — those living creatures, symbols of all EXODUS. 33 the forces of created life, being always placed near the throne of the Living God. 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." Then the priesthood was appointed, with careful direc- tions for the clothing and consecration of those who should fill that office. The sons of Aaron were dressed in fine linen, clean and white — the colour of purity and joy. The high priest himself wore an ephocl of blue, the colour of obedience, with shoulder ornaments of onyx stone, on which were engraved the names of the tribes, and a breast- plate containing the oracle of Urim and Thummim, and bearing twelve precious stones with the names of the twelve tribes upon them, so that the redeemed people were " as a seal upon his heart, and as a seal upon his arm." The mitre or turban on his head bore a motto on a golden plate which covered the forehead — " Holiness to Je- hovah." The priests were bathed in water before they put on the holy and beautiful garments, and then anointed with the same " holy oil " with which the tabernacle and its vessels were consecrated — an aromatic ointment made up after a Divine prescription, and strictly reserved for sacred use — a sign of the holy anointing of Christ and the Church by the Holy Ghost. The tablets of the Decalogue had been broken by Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai, in his cjrief and horror at the sight of Israel worshipping the golden Ox. The Lord con- descended to renew them, and wrote His law a second time on "tables of stone." His anger had been turned 34 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. away ; the glory of His goodness had been shown ; and the intercession of Moses for Israel had been accepted. So He gave the law without flashes of fire or cloudy tempests into the mediator's hand. And when the mediator Moses brought the law to Israel, his face was radiant with the glory of the Lord. At the end of the Book of Exodus, we see the whole fabric of the Mosaic polity complete, the symbol of God's presence resting by day and night on the tabernacle in the midst of the pilgrim host. Truly an inestimable Book, setting forth for all time coming the essential truths of redemption, separation to God, the way of the redeemed, the holy law delivered to them, their education and discip- line, and the provision made for their approach to God, and God's dwelling among them. Emphatically, too, may we affirm, that this scripture is to be searched, because it testifies of Christ. Take the first period, and it is surely Christ that we see in the child born and plotted against in his infancy, but rescued from the death in which other Hebrew children were involved ; Christ in the man who endured affliction for His brethren, and delivered them with an outstretched arm; and Christ in the Lamb slain to redeem a people from death — " Christ our passover sacrificed for us." Take the second period, and the leader who guides his people through a baptism into death, into the power of resurrection, is, under a figure, Christ. The bread from heaven is Christ ; the rock from which the water gushed is Christ ; and the captain who drove back the Amalekites is Christ, the captain of our salvation. Take the third period, and learn that we are under law EXODUS. 35 to Christ; we have a Mediator in Christ, we have our High Priest iu Christ, and our way into the Holiest open through the rent vail, i.e., His flesh. If we are Christ's, we too are pilgrims through a land of drought ; and the history of Israel in Exodus, while it stirs within us great searchings of heart, gives us at the same time sweet conso- lation in Christ. "0 give thanks unto the Lord who brought out Israel from Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, to Him who led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy endureth for ever." LEVITICUS. In Hebrew, this book has no other title than its first word, Vayihra (and he called). In Rabbinical writings, it is termed " the law of the priests," and " the law-book of the offerings." The Seventy named it Leviticus, because it treats of the service conducted by the priests and others of the tribe of Levi. It is found to consist almost entirely of the direct words of Jehovah, and on this account is entitled to peculiar attention and respect. Its object is to teach the way of acceptable worship, and the hallowing of ac- cepted worshippers for fellowship with the Holy One of Israel. Although it is full of details respecting a cere- monial which is no more of force or obligation, yet it is by no means a superseded or antiquated book. On the con- trary, there is hardly a book of the Bible more deeply fraught with instruction and comfort to the Christian mind. When it is read in the light of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Leviticus unfolds to us the most vital truths re- garding the way of access to God, forgiveness of sins, re- conciliation, fellowship, and consecration. When the Lord gave the law, as recorded in Exodus, He was in the Mount Sinai ; but when He issued the ordi- nances of service written in this book, He did so " out of LEVITICUS. 37 the tabernacle of the con cremation," beneath the dreadful mount. We hear, in Leviticus, not the Lawgiver speaking in awful tones, or writing on tablets of stone, but the Portion of Israel, dwelling in the midst of His people, and teaching them how they might draw near to His presence and abide in communion with Him. The book easily arranges itself in two parts, — the first comprising 16 chapters, treating of access to God; the second, of 11 chapters, of the hallowing of Israel, in order to live and walk as His people. We wish, however, to go a little more into detail, and point ont five chief matters. I. Sacrifices and Offerings. — God must be worshipped according to His own mind, — not ours. He has taught us that worship rendered to Him by sinful men cannot be acceptable unless it is based on atoning sacrifice, and no- where have we such rich and ample teaching of the doctrine of sacrifice as in the seven chapters with which Leviticus opens, and the lGth chapter of the same book. The sacrifices are of five kinds, described in the following order: — The Burnt-Offering, The Bread-Offering, The Peace-Offeriug, The Sin-Offering, and The Trespass-Offer- ing. Such is the divine order of thought, but the human is exactly the reverse. An Israelite, with a guilty con- science, and a remembrance of sins, had practically to begin at the end of the series ; and we ourselves, in look- ing to the one sacrifice of Christ, have also to begin at that view of it which is at the end of this series — the end next us. We must begin at the trespass -offering and end with the whole burnt-offering, — begin with the remission of trespasses and sins, and advance to the offering of an entire SFNOPTICAI LECTURES. ■ ■— the wl ixng on the :" - bo ns - - - in a few 5 1. I ; was the type DnnselJ I - I I [ Ea litewl agh.1 this g did s - Etwas - _ n - I m! cordial devotion to G I Dm seal ". ■ s 3d to be a male then ti ..'.-".: kSh '. it before the L:r: n nrnre his own life, for ti " tifi nd the life is in the blood Some of the U s by the priest s] art a] m the whole cai - . was sol in] - < as . .". ; v.::. [Unastis t] FBBs il — 01 for no ] - . ".: His 1::. :. :.. Him " m He laid it <3 sent Chi _ I — I " Cl hlffmigfi wit 5j : An IC . -- whi jffici tes in pies auV _ _ 11. ... rail 3 I Eoi i swi .:- ling savour. H pic I Uhrist are to : Him 1 a ] gs, bat they do lay - .. . 3 on tfa ttar whenever they yield them- selves i _ nd in the une of l the zeal that is ] tar by the £1 I z in their ~_\ rds Fa:i: - 11. In: as Tl: _ I_. . " . - _ ■ s not fa :":!::: I: ' - : ::: ; 1 by itseli bat followed trnt-d _.-. . . _ _-.: .- I: ie::e- Lrr:i: 'he layir.:- humane soul cour 3. The] - _ . ship, harmony, and communion the burnt- th imposition of hand head of a Tictim, ar. Be t: differed Be. The fire; the I . . . - There was a fie I upon, the sacrifice — a feast of friendship . ; here : f His cross— -Him- landman, 4. 1 - . ] :_e;e 7: :t :: it. : — did no a Self 1 I a body on the 1 : : the blood '. 11 ■ ' " -- • be camp, was the type : khel ^ring : . t the gate 5. The! - 2 ! 1st] i ::'-:.;-.. wrong or evil, which may be estimated- In tie c tzespass against then . . "' are als L 40 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. tion was required first, then sacrifice. Evidently we are to see in the trespass-offering, redemption and ransom by the precious blood of Christ. Thus He is all. The Burnt- Offering is His entire dedi- cation, the Meat- Offering His living service, the Peace- offering His becoming our Peace and the Feast of our affec- tions with God, the Sin-Offering His propitiation for our sins, and the Trespass-Offering His discharging our debt, repairing our wrong, and redeeming our lives to God. The sixteenth chapter is one of great weight and solem- nity. It describes the Day of Atonement, and, by means of a double sacrifice, expresses the two blessings of propi- tiation for sin, and removal of sin. On that day only in all the year, the high priest entered the most holy place. These were shadows of heavenly things. We have under the Gospel the heavenly things themselves, — not a con- tinual remembrance of sins, but a putting-away of sins for ever, the way into the holiest made manifest to the Church, and our great High Priest over the house of God, the continual encouragement to draw near. All Israel stood without, while Aaron was in the holiest. Xow that our great High Priest is in the holiest of all, Israel, alas ! stands without, unbelieving until this day. There is a vail upon their hearts ; but when the High Priest comes out, they will see Him and rejoice. II. Consecration and Investiture of Priests. — Aaron and his sons were bathed in water, anointed with oil, attired in significant garments of office, and installed in their places, as the priests of the priestly nation. We have one High Priest who is passed into the heavens, sanctified Leviticus. 4i for onr sakes, High Priest of the priestly people, which is the Church. Consider Moses and Aaron. Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession — Christ Jesus, who is faithful to Him who appointed Him. Scarcely had the priests been consecrated in Israel, before there was an exposure of the perversity of man, which mars and stains the brightest prospects. Presump- tion appeared in the family of Aaron, and judgment began at the tabernacle of God. Two sons of the high priest entered the sanctuary in self-confidence, and offered in- cense, with " strange " or unhallowed fire, as though inde- pendent of the altar whereon the fire of God burned. Thus they approached God after the device of their own hearts, neglecting or despising the ordinances of sacrifice. There- fore sudden death fell on them, as afterwards on Uzzah the Levite, and later still, Ananias and Sapphira, to check at once, by solemn warnings, the sin of presumption and self- will. III. Discernment between things Holy and Pec- fane, and the Judgment of Defilements. — Holiness follows on acceptance by sacrifice, and priesthood is not only for prayer and service, but in order to the discrimina- tion of the pure from the impure. In accordance with the character of a dispensation which put moral and spiritual ideas into visible and mate- rial forms, the distinction between the clean and the unclean was marked in the creatures used for food as well as for sacrifice. All the living creatures around were made to suggest moral conceptions to an Israelite, and it was arranged that the very question, " What to eat, and 42 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. what to drink?" should act as a bit and bridle on his will Then, after directions for purifying, which we find referred to in the Gospel, and obeyed by the blessed Virgin Mary, we have minute details regarding health and clean- liness. Leprosy had doubtless been engendered in Egypt during the degradation of the bondage, and adhered to the Israelites still. It is referred to as affecting (1) a human body, (2) human raiment, (3) human dwellings. Most explicit directions are given for its detection and Divine cure. So does the vileness of sin work in the inner man, then affect the garments, or usages of the outer man also ; nay, further, it taints the house and defiles the domestic and social relations of life. For this there is no cure but that which the Son of God applies — " Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make us clean." IV. Laws of Bighteousness and Holiness of Life. — God would always have it understood that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken better than the fat of rams. He required His redeemed and worshipping people to be holy ; for He, their God, was holy. He could not walk with them, nor they with Him, but in the light of truth and purity. In the part of the book which we have now reached, there are exhortations and requirements which Christians need as much as Israelites to read and observe. They relate to probity, veracity, justice between man and man, avoidance of tale-bearing, impartiality in judgment, honesty in dealings, respect of aged persons, neighbourly and brotherly kindness, courtesy to all. Some call this " mere " LEVITICUS. 43 morality, or " cold " morality, but there is no need that it should be "mere" or "cold;" let it accompany faith, and let it be warmed by love, and you have a Christian morality that pervades all life, and ennobles character, and com- mends the Gospel we profess to the consciences of all men in the sisrlit of God. V. Feasts, or Holy Convocations. — Under the Mosaic economy, men were required to observe clays, and months, and years, for God Himself marked the times and seasons with a view to religious commemoration, instruction, and edification. There were six feasts of days and months, two feasts of years, — eight in all. 1. The Sabbath. — This weekly rest held a chief place as a sign between Jehovah and Israel. It entered also into the great annual festivals, each of them being made to contain a Sabbath of special solemnity. So also there must enter into all Christian feasts or joys Sabbatism, — resting in the Lord, and waiting patiently for Him. 2. The Passover, or Feast of Unleavened Bread. — Being the commemorative feast of redemption, this was placed first of the annual convocations, because all the joy in the Lord possessed by the Hebrews sprung from their redemp- tion, and belonged to them as a people redeemed. 3. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. — This was the harvest-home, on which two loaves of fine flour, ground from the new corn, and baked as common bread, were waved before the Lord. To Him was thus ascribed the whole staff of bread in the families of the nation ; and burnt-offerings, peace-offerings, and sin-offerings, were at the same time presented, in acknowledgment of the un- li SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. worthiness of the people to reap any good at the hand of the Lord, and in propitiation of His favour and forgive- ness. 4. The Feast of Trumpets. — The months in Israel were lunar, and the new moons were days of special mark ; but it was reserved for the new moon, or first day of the seventh month, as the chief sacred month of the year, to be elevated to the rank of a feast to the Lord. On every new moon, trumpets were blown. On the seventh, they appear to have been sounded with unusual force and emphasis, calling to mind the blast of a trumpet and the voice of words on Mount Sinai, arresting the ear of all Israel as by a Divine summons, and stirring up every soul to attend to the two solemnities which made the seventh month the most momentous period of the Jewish year. 5. The Bay of Atonement. — This was always the tenth day of the seventh month. It was not, however, a festal occasion, but a day in which the children of Israel " should afflict their souls." All their sins came up in remembrance, and it became them to put aside all levity of spirit, and with fasting, and sorrow, and searchings of heart, to spend those hours in which the high priest performed in their behalf the highest rites of typical atonement. 6. Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths. — Five days after the great Sabbath of atonement this festival began, and it lasted for eight days. It is sometimes called the feast of in-gathering, because it took place after the vintage, when the round of the year's husbandry was complete. Israel tented out for a week in booths made of leafy branches, or in structure's of some light, perishable material, in memory of their sojourn in the wilderness. This feast was thus a LEVITICUS. 45 yearly renewal of their youth, a lively recollection of the time of their espousals to Jehovah. Such were the six feasts of days and months. Remem- ber the order of the three which were chief, — Passover, Pentecost, Palm-branches and Booths. These concern us also. Christ at the Passover ; the Spirit at Pentecost ; the Feast before the throne, kept by the redeemed of all nations with palm branches, making booths, not with Peter, and James, and John only, or even with Moses and Elias, but with the Lamb on the heavenly mount. 7. The Sabbatic Year. — When Israel should get posses- sion of Canaan, they were to leave the land untilled every seventh year. It was a Sabbath of the land, its rest unto Jehovah. This was for the sake of the land itself, to pre- serve its fertility, the Israelites being only tenants of the soil under God, the Supreme Proprietor. This was also for the good of Israel, to check covetousness, to limit domestic bondage, and to remind the people that they were only God's tenants-at-will, dependent on His good plea- sure. This law was not well kept, and its non-observance is given as one of the reasons for Israel's subsequent cap- tivity in Babylon : " To fulfil the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths ; for as long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath to fulfil three-score and ten years." * 8. The Jubilee (Jobcl). — This was the fiftieth year, as Pentecost was the fiftieth day. At the close of the day of atonement, on which all Israel afflicted their souls, the trumpet was to sound through all the land, the oil of joy was given for mourning, and the garment of praise for the * 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. 46 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. spirit of heaviness. Sweeter tLan ever sounded a cathedral bell, or cry of the muezzin from a minaret, fell on the ears of the Israelites the notes of jubilee trumpets. Most wel- come of all to the poor of the land, for redemption was drawing nigh. The law of jubilee maintained the original distribution of the land of Canaan, restored forfeited inheritances, and emancipated captives and slaves. The whole tendency of the admirable legislation in regard to the land of Israel was to secure a diffusion of property and personal liberty among the masses of the people, and so to promote contentment and self-respect, under the all-pro- tecting shadow of Jehovah's wings. This festival, too, is full of Christ. The Gospel is now the joyful sound. Christ Himself blew the first notes of the jubilee trumpet, when He proclaimed the kingdom of heaven to be at hand. Apostles and evangelists prolonged the sound through many lands and wondering cities of the East ; and now to us is this salvation come. In the name of Christ is preached, as through jubilee trumpets, forgiveness of sins, rest for the weary, liberty to the captives, the acceptable year of the Lord. With some details regarding vows and tithes, the Book of Leviticus ends, — surely a book to be deeply pondered, as exhibiting much Christian doctrine in an antique drapery, and full of spiritual meat for those who can discern and enjoy the great truths of Gospel salvation and Gospel worship, that underlie the Hebrew ceremonial. We are not come to Mount Sinai, but if we study the ordinances given to those who came to that mount, we may learn what are the better things given to us who are come to Mount Zion. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places LEVITICUS. 47 made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; . . . but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."* * Heb. ix. 24-26. NUMBEES. The fourtli book takes its name from the numbering of the people of Israel, twice recorded in its pages. It is, how- ever, far more than a national register. As Leviticus is the book of worship, and separation to God, Numbers is the book of service and pilgrimage. It shows us the way in the wilderness, and the discipline through which pil- grims pass. The time covered by this book is a little more than thirty-eight years; but the narrative is occupied almost entirely with the beginning and close of the period. Mat- thew Henry says pithily, " An abstract of much of this book we have in a few words (Ps. xcv. 10), ' Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,' and an applica- tion of it to ourselves (Heb. iv. 1), ' Let us fear lest we seem to come short.' Many considerable nations there were now in being that dwelt in cities and fortified towns, of which no notice is taken, no account kept by the sacred history ; but very exact records are kept of the affairs of a people that dwelt in tents, and wandered strangely in a wilderness, because they were the children of the covenant. ' For the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.' " NUMBERS. 49 The Book of lumbers may be divided into three parts — Chap. i.-x. 10. — Preparation for leaving the encamp ment at Sinai. Chap. x. 11-xxi. — History of the jonrney from Sinai to the land of Moab, including the murmuring and the long detention in the deserts of Arabia. Chap, xxii.-xxxiv. — Occurrences in Moab, and prepara- tions for entering and occupying the promised land. I. First Part. — The tribes of Israel were mustered, instructed, and set in order. The males of twenty years and upwards, were found to be 603,550. If to these, we add the 22,000 Levites of the same age, we can- not compute the Hebrew nation at less than 2,000,000. To such a host had multiplied the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, and their servants and fol- lowers, with the addition of Egyptians and others who adhered to Israel in the exodus. If any find it hard to be believed, that two millions of people could be pro- jected into Arabia and live there with flocks and herds for forty years, let them bear in mind that the great peninsula was not at all so waste or barren in ancient times, as it is now. It had dreary places, or lands of drought, where water failed ; but there is reason to think, that it also had many towns and far-reaching grassy plains, and supported a large population both of fixed and wandering tribes* The census was followed by organisation of the Lord's host. Four divisions were formed, each consisting of three tribes. Every man was to dwell in his own tribe, and every tribe to know and keep its proper place in the * The reader is referred to the recent explorations of Mr. Tristram and Mr. Holland. D 50 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. division, whether in rest, or on the march. When the host moved, each tribe struck its tents, raised its banner, and fell in at its appointed station. Places were assigned to the sacred ark, and the parts and furniture of the tabernacle, borne by the Levites. The descendants of Joseph, constituting the three tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, formed the division that followed the ark. Hence the prayer in Ps. lxxx. 1,2," Give ear, Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us." When the tents were pitched, the Lord's Tent was in the midst, and the tribes formed a square — three to the north, three to the south, three to the east, three to the west. The division headed by Judah had for its standard the figure of a lion ; that which was headed by Ephraim, the figure of an ox. If the tradition be correct, that Beuben had that of a man, and Dan that of an eagle, we have in this arrangement a remarkable an- ticipation of the vision of the cherubim in Ezekiel, and yet more clearly of that in the Apocalypse, where the four living creatures in attendance on the throne of God appear as a lion, an ox, a man, and a flying eagle. Moreover, the camp of Israel, arranged and organised as a perfect square, not only shows us, that the Lord numbers and writes up His people, and that He is the Author of order and not confusion in Churches of the saints, but also foreshadows the realisation of the completed Church at the last day — the great city, holy Jerusalem, " which lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth." The gates of the city shall be three to the east, three to the north, three NUMBERS. 51 to the south, and three to the west, and on those gates are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Levites were set apart for service, and were given over to Aaron the high priest as their commander. Let us learn, that the service of all saints is accepted only in union with the high-priestly action of Jesus Christ, and that they are not their own masters, but set apart and given over to Christ, as " the Minister of the Sanctuary and True Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." The organisation being complete, the tribes in their positions, and the Levites at their post, laws were given to keep all within the precincts of the camp clean and holy ground. Strict sanitary regulations were laid down and enforced for the compulsory removal of defilements — an admirable precedent for modern municipal governments, as well as military commanders, to follow. These regulations were fitted to impress upon Israel that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity — that He is not as the vile gods of the heathen, whose rites of service were often shameful orgies, but is a lover of health, and brightness, and purity. On us too is the lesson enforced, that the precious must be separated from the vile — that the wil- fully unholy and unclean ought to be excluded from church-fellowship on earth, and will certainly be shut out of the continuing city which is to come, the city of God Almighty and the Lamb. The sixth chapter contains the law of the Xazarites, recognising devotees, or persons of more than ordinary allegiance and consecration to God. In its ethical and spiritual meaning, this law suggests the need of abstinence yl SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. from fleshly lusts and dangerous delights, and the mainte- nance of full moral energy, and separation from the body of death. The sanction given to the Xazarite vow en- courages no vows of celibacy, which were unknown to priest, Levite, or Nazarite, nor arbitrary rules sequestering men or women from the proper duties of family and social life, but a lofty aim in sanctification, and a vow or pledge, under the power of the Holy Ghost, to be in heart and conduct wholly separated to Christ. So soon as the camp was ordered and cleansed, and the servants of God were in their several places, His seal was put on the whole congregation by the high priest and his sons pronouncing this blessing of Jehovah — "The Lord bless thee and keep thee : the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."* Immediately after this, the organisation which had been established brought tribute to the tabernacle. On twelve successive days the princes of the tribes, in their appointed order, presented gifts. The previous offering mentioned in Exodus was from the people indiscriminately as children of Israel; — this is the tribute from the organisation of Israel, brought in regular proportions, from east, and west, and south, and north ; — as hereafter shall be brought the riches of the Gentiles, the glory and honour of nations, to the gates of the Holy Jerusalem. Then the lamp-stand was lit up in the holy place. God said, Let there be light — light on the table of shew-bread, and on the altar of incense. In the day time, the entrance- curtain being drawn up, the sunlight filled the tabernacle. * Num. vi. 24-26. NUMBERS. 53 At even the lamps were lit, that there might never he darkness at all, . not even a " dim religions light," hut a clear and perpetual shining in the holy place, the sphere of privilege and sacred service. So, if we serve, it must be not in darkness, not even in the vagueness of doubt and gloom, but in the light of scriptural knowledge and spiritual discernment. If we pray, no doubt it is better to pray in the dark than not pray at all. It is something to wail and cry ever so blindly and confusedly after Him, to fall with Weight of cares Upon the world's great altar stairs, That slope through darkness up to Gad. But not such is the proper worship of Israel or of the Church. It is prayer in the light of Divine knowledge and favour, prayer in the illuminating Spirit to the Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and perfect gift. There were no lamps in the Holy of Holies. They could not be needed there, for God dwelt there, and He is a Light unto Himself. Where the God of glory shines, there is no need of candle, nor of the light of the sun. All things now being ready for an advance, the direction of the march was to be given by the cloud of God's pre- sence, and the blast of silver trumpets by the sons of Aaron; the first the signal to the eye, the second the signal to the ear.- " And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Pdse up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." * * Num. ::. 35, 36. 54 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. II. Second Paet. — "The children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai." One can imagine a flush of joy on the meek countenance of Moses, as he saw the tribes whom he had brought out of Egypt a confused multitude of slaves, now strike their tents and advance as an organised host, a nation in martial array, almost in triumphal procession, toward their inheritance. The leader persuaded his brother-in-law to accompany the march, for he was a Midianite, and well fitted, by his judg- ment and personal knowledge of the country, to be to Israel " instead of eyes." Moses had the divine signal of the moving pillar and cloud of fire, but he would not, on that account, neglect any subordinate aids that were avail- able. An important lesson is here for our guidance, both in private and public life, to ask divine direction, and watch for it, but not to suppose that supernatural inti- mations will be so given as to supersede the use of the best natural advantages of observation and experience that we possess in ourselves, or can obtain from others. Alas ! the people had scarcely begun their march, before a dark shade fell on their history. After three days' journey they complained, and, like all people of a low development, they were anxious about nothing but what they should eat and drink. Forgetting the task-masters in Egypt, they sighed for " the fish, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." Moses heard this, and went to the Lord, not to the people, for he was incensed and weary at heart with the terrible disappointment which must fall on a great spirit, when he sees how unworthy and ignoble they are for whom he has prayed and toiled. NUMBERS. 65 Other troubles came upon him. Envy began to rankle in the hearts of his own sister and elder brother. A very cruel wound it was, that they should speak against him ; but Moses bore it quietly, and the Lord vindicated the authority of His servant, because he held his peace. When the people reached Kaclesh Barnea, they proposed to Moses that scouts should be sent forward to explore the land of Canaan. He consented, and twelve spies were chosen and sent — one from each tribe. On their return, after forty days, ten of the scouting party reported in a craven spirit, and exaggerated the difficulties of the inva- sion. Two only — Caleb and Joshua — lifted a brave pro- test, and encouraged Israel to advance. The whole con- gregation were seized with fear, and murmured acrainst God, who, in consequence, sentenced them to wander in the deserts of Arabia for forty years, — a year for each day occupied in spying out the land. Against this sentence they rebelled ; and, having been afraid when they should have been bold, they were now bold when they should have been afraid. Disregarding the command of Moses, they attacked the Amalekites, and suffered a severe defeat, learning to their cost, and showing to us, that the bravery of presumption is just as fatal as the cowardice of unbelief. So the tribes were obliged to turn back from the borders of the land of promise. They could not enter in, because of unbelief. Then followed a melancholy time. A strong conspiracy was formed against Moses and Aaron. The ruling spirit was Korah, a Levite, and apparently a rela- tive of the leader and the high priest. He obtained the support of certain malcontents of the tribe of Reuben. The conspiracy was allowed to attain formidable proportions, 56 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. but was then suppressed and punished by a signal judg- ment of God. The Eeubenites, who seemed to aim at earthly power, were swallowed up by an earthquake. Korah, the Levite, and the two hundred and fifty men who stood with him, bearing censers, aimed at spiritual power, and usurped the priests' office ; on them fell a fire from the Lord " and consumed them." Let it be a lesson to us to beware of joining ourselves to murmurers and com- plainers, who, assuming to vindicate Christian liberty, and to assert the holy calling of all Christian men, are impatient of order and office, and stir discontent in the Church of God. Aaron made intercession for the people who had favoured the conspiracy, returning good for evil. So the plague, which had broken out, was stayed. Immediately after, it pleased God, by the sign of a budding rod, to vindicate the sacred distinction of Levi among the tribes, and to confirm the Levitical priesthood in the house of His servant Aaron. Few events of the protracted sojourn in Arabia are re- lated. At the 20th chapter we find the tribes re-assembled at Kadesh Barnea. Alas ! Moses and Aaron displeased God at the very end of the pilgrimage. It was just after Miriam's death, when we should have expected the illus- trious brothers to have been most subdued and quiet in spirit, that they " erred in spirit," and brought on them- selves reproof and loss. The people chode with Moses because there was no water. At once he and Aaron be- came apprehensive lest the new generation, murmuring about water, like their fathers, should incur a second turning-back from this Kadesh Barnea. Agitated by this NUMBERS. 57 fear, Moses did not implicitly rely as before on God's word, but threw into the scene at the rock something like a display of his own power, in order to make a deeper im- pression on the bystanders. But it was unwise and un- worthy of Moses — this loud talking and double striking with the rod. It came of secret misgiving and unbelief, and though the brothers obtained water for Israel, they themselves suffered loss, — they entered not the land of promise. Aaron died on Mount Hor, being first stripped of his priestly robes, for his high priesthood could not pass into heaven. His son and successor, Eleazar, descended the mount in the official robes, to show that this priesthood continued on earth. The wanderings of Israel were now nearly ended. There was a tedious journey round the frontier of Idumea, through a sterile region, infested with serpents. When those creatures gathered in unusual numbers, and made an onslaught on the tired and discouraged Israelites, the Lord directed Moses to form a serpent of brass or copper, the hue of which resembled that of the poisonous snakes, and to expose it upon a banner-staff, or pole, so as to be visible to all. Whosoever of the wounded people looked to the brazen serpent was made whole. The incident is Ml of gospel meaning and consolation, — " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believe th in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."* The Israelites, as they advanced, demanded permission to pass through the territory of the Amorites and the * John iii. 14, 15. d& SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. land of Bashan. It was refused, and Israel, under the command of Moses, conquered the kings, Sihon and Og, and took possession of their cities and lands, in order to march thence, across the Jordan, into Palestine. III. Third Part. — " And the children of Israel set for- ward, and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan, by Jericho."* The chief danger now before the people was from Balak and Balaam, and reveals a new depth of Satan. Balaam, indeed, was more to be dreaded than any number of mere giants, like Og, king of Bashan. He was gifted with the temperament of a seer, and had knowledge of the Holy One, but used it for unholy ends, and debased his spirit to the lucrative arts of heathen sorcery. He is the Anti- Moses. Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of King Pharaoh, that he might be true to Israel ; Balaam, a man of the same time, and the same lofty genius, but of a base selfishness of heart, went to Moab to seek King Balak's favour and rewards, by cursing those whom God had blessed. By enchantments he prevailed nothing against Israel, and was compelled to bless them in glowing strains. But by vile and crafty counsel, he did succeed in partially ensnaring them. At his suggestion, the daughters of Midian and Moab attracted the men of Israel to the idolatrous and licentious festivals of Baal-Peor. So the chosen nation was defiled, and was smitten of God for the sin. But Israel was soon restored, and, under Phine- has the priest, attacked and almost exterminated the wicked Midianites. " Balaam also, the son of Beor, they * Xurn. xxii. 1. NUMBERS. 59 slew with the sword." No death of the righteous could he for a man that loved the wages of unrighteousness. He had prophesied as one who enjoyed the "vision of the Al- mighty." Yet he died as a fool dieth, and has left a shameful memory. Once more, before the invasion of Canaan began, the Lord mustered His people as the heirs of the inheritance, then gave command in regard to the order in which they were to occupy and possess the country, and directions in detail respecting offerings and vows, the division of spoil in war, and the cities of refuge for accidental man-slayers to be appointed in the land. The order given to Israel was to drive out and dispossess, — not to massacre the Canaanites, but to expel them, and destroy all the signs and materials of their idolatrous worship. The lesson for us is obvious. Called to pilgrim- age, we are also appointed to a holy war — sin- vanquishing, flesh -mortifying, idol-excluding, — a protracted war, in which are sieges and marches and many battle-fields, and the enemy is only put out " by little and little." May the Lord enrol us all in the number of His people, whom no man can number! "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."* * 2 Tim. ii. DEUTERONOMY. This book, like those that have gone before, bears the name assigned to it by the Greek translators, meaning the second, i.e. } the repeated Law. It proceeds on the contents of the three books immediately preceding, and, rehearsing many of them, urges the generation of Israel, now about to enter on the deferred conquest and occupation of Canaan, to careful, loving, and consistent obedience. It gives prominence to the spiritual principle of the Divine Law, and develops in detail the ecclesiastical, judicial, and political system on which should depend the well- being of Israel, when settled in their own land. As might be expected, this book contains very little stirring incident, differing therein from Exodus and Num- bers ; but it is of great value for its ethical and spiritual tone, and is largely quoted by the prophets. The discourses and exhortations of Jeremiah and Ezekiel are formed very much on the model of the addresses and appeals contained in Deuteronomy. On this book also, as we shall see, our Lord Jesus Christ placed peculiar honour. By far the greater part of the work before us consists of four addresses to Israel, while yet encamped in the plains on the east of the Jordan, with blessings and curses added. DEUTERONOMY. 61 The men whom Moses saw around him were not those whom he had led out of Egypt, but their children ; and, before he transferred his authority to his successor, who should lead them into the promised land, the aged Prophet poured out a solemn charge to them, " according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment." I. Tour chapters are occupied with recapitulation of the history of the tribes, from the time when they left their encampment at Horeb, till they reached Kadesh Barnea, their subsequent wanderings in the desert, and their ulti- mate arrival at the confines of the promised land, signalised by victory over the king of the Amorites, and the king of Bashan. On this history was founded exhortation, to hearken to the commandments of Jehovah and to do them. It was surely a significant warning against disobedience, that their fathers' wilfulness at Kadesh Barnea had length- ened out what might have been an eleven days' journey into one of forty years * II. Then follow eight chapters in which the Law is rehearsed, with earnest appeals for obedience. This address begins with repetition of the Ten Commandments, and proceeds to impress the principle of acceptable obedience, viz., the love of the Lord God of Israel, with all their " heart and soul and might." The only material difference between the Decalogue, as here given, and as formerly delivered at Sinai, and recorded in Exodus, is that here the reason assigned for the Sabbath is not the rest after crea- tion, but the redemption out of Egypt. This is easily accounted for. It is in keeping with the fact that here the Law is given, not so much as a code for all peoples, as in * Sec Deut. i. 2, 3. 62 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. the form of a covenant between Jehovah and the tribes of Israel. With urgent and repeated exhortations to the observance of all Jehovah's commandments, statutes, and judgments, this important section concludes. It is a high honour put on this part of the book, that out of it the Man Christ Jesus chose the three sayings with which He foiled the three temptations in the wilder- ness. The first is taken from chap. viii. 3, the second from chap. vi. 16, and the third from chap. vi. 13, and x. 20. Our Lord held His position against the Tempter, not as a divine Being, but as a Man — God's faithful Servant, His Son whom He had called out of Egypt. Israel, the servant of God, His son called out of Egypt, after a separation and sojourn in the wilderness for forty years, received the Book of Deuteronomy. Jesus, having been separated from all men in the wilderness for forty days, took into His mouth, as an Israelite indeed, the words of this very book, and withstood the Tempter in perfect, loving obedience to God. III. After an earnest warning against a renewal of the provocation and rebellion that had marred their pilgrim- age, Moses prescribes to Israel in detail the laws and ordi- nances they should observe when settled in Canaan. This occupies a long discourse — chaps. viii.-xxvi. All proceeded on the principle, that the people belonged to Jehovah, and were bound to abjure everything at variance with His will and glory. Worship was to have a local centre. All heathenish shrines and images were to be utterly destroyed. Any act of idolatrous worship on the part of an Israelite was to be punished with death ; and many other laws are given, expressive of the purity and justice of God, and DEUTERONOMY. C3 fitted to teach His people righteousness of conduct, bene- volent consideration for others, kindness to strangers and the poor, and to correct all tendencies to coarseness and brutality of life. This section ends with a solemn de- claration of Israel's relationship and duty to Jehovah. They had avouched the Lord to be their God, and He had avouched them to be His peculiar people. IV. In chapters xxvii.-xxx. we read the blessings and curses severally attached to obedience and disobedience. This discourse was addressed to all Israel, in the most public and impressive manner. Direction was also given, that after they had crossed the river Jordan they should raise pillars on Mount Ebal, and, after sacrifice, inscribe on the stones the words of the Law. Then, while the people stood, six tribes on Mount Gerizim, and six on the opposite Mount Ebal, the blessings of obedience were to be declared from the former, and the curses, or penalties of disobe- dience, from the latter. Thus was the dread alternative to be in the most impressive manner placed before the whole nation, and the people were to say Amen, acknowledging the Lord's word, and accepting His covenant. It is significant that the Law was to be inscribed on Mount Ebal only. It indicates that as many as are of the works of the Law are "under the curse," and that the whole legal economy in Israel would, because of the car- nality of their minds, work wrath, and involve the absolute need of salvation by a Redeemer. Indeed, when we expect the blessings, at all events, to precede the curses in chapter xxvii., we are appalled to find that the curses go first, twelve in number, the last of them, the sweeping impre- cation which is quoted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the U SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. Galations, — "Cursed be lie that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." * When the blessings are mentioned, everlasting life is not among them, but pro- sperity, peace, national welfare, and power. After these, again, are recited the opposite evils or curses, disease, famine, war, desolation, and captivity. The 30th chapter goes further, and foresees the tribes of Israel under punishment and expelled from their home, or taken captive by other nations. Then follows the preach- ing of repentance, so powerfully carried out by Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, and other prophets of a later time. Turning to God with the heart, and hearkening again to His voice, the people were to be restored to their land and to His favour. Of this, Moses was permitted to give them early assurance; and thus with a breath of mercy and hope ended his weighty discourse to the people. Think of the aged prophet thus foreseeing the mischief that would come on a rebellious people, and hear him crying aloud, " I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live : that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and. that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him, for He is thy life, and the length of thy days."f Before we leave these discourses, let us look at three passages which bear on Christ and the Gospel. Christ quoted three sayings from Deuteronomy ; three other sayings are quoted in reference to Christ. 1. Deut. xviii. 15-19. — "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of * Gal. iii. 10. t Deut. xxx. 19. 20. • DEUTERONOMY. 65 thy brethren, like unto me, unto Him ye shall hearken," &c. The application of this oracle to Christ has been dis- puted. We firmly hold it, for the following reasons : — (a.) The promise of this great Frophet was first given by the Lord to Moses at Horeb, or Sinai, in the day when the people were afraid of direct communications from God. Moses then acted as mediator, and stood between Jehovah and the people. There is no prophet like to him as media- tor till we come to Jesus Christ. (&.) It was the glory of Moses that he had charge, as a steward, over the house of God; organiser of the holy nation, and founder under Divine direction of the entire Hebrew form and dispensation of religion. Many pro- phets and prophetesses arose after him, but were not like him in position, only built on his foundation, developed and applied under Divine impulse, the laws and principles which Moses laid down. At last came Jesus Christ, like unto Moses in having the care and administration of God's house, but greater, and worthy of more honour, because not the steward, but the Son. Apostles and prophets fol- lowed Him, but only continued what He did and taught, developed and applied under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, principles and precepts, which the Master had laid down, and which are most fully and affectionately delivered in the New Testament Deuteronomy — the Gospel according to St. John. (c.) It appears from the language of the woman at Sychar (John iv. 25), that the Samaritans expected the Messiah to be a great prophet and teacher. Now the Samaritans received only the Pentateuch, and while there are other passages in the Pentateuch that refer to a Mes- E 66 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. siah, there is none but this on which they could have founded the expectation, that, when Messiah came, He would " tell them all things." (d.) The Jews and Galileans found a testimony to Christ in the writings of Moses, as well as the prophets ; and our Lord Himself warned the Jews that Moses, in whom they trusted, would accuse them of disobedience to His words. Now there is no other passage than this, in the writings of Moses, that warns against disobedience to the words of the great future Prophet of God. (e.) This passage is expressly interpreted of Jesus Christ by the Apostle Peter, and seems to be quoted in the same sense by the first martyr, Stephen. See Acts iii. 22, 23 ; vii. 37. The sum of the matter is that Jesus the Christ is the Greater than Moses — the Prophet of Prophets, on Whom rested, without measure, the Spirit of the Lord. 2. Deut. xxi. 23. — " He that is hanged is accursed of God." This is the passage quoted in Gal. iii. 13, and brings before us the cross of Christ, and the Crucified One hanging dead upon it, " made a curse for us." For Jews or Gentiles to seek justification by the Law is a course of infatuation, and ends in condemnation and death. Christ is our redemption as a Crucified One from the curse of the Law, that the blessing — not of Moses or the Law, but of Abraham — might come on us Gentiles, and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 3. Deut. xxx. 11-14. — "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? Xeither is it beyond the DEUTERONOMY. 67 sea, that thou shoulJest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Compare with this Pom. x. 6-10. St. Taul not merely adopts the language of Moses, but pursues the line of his deepest thought. The prophet anticipated a time when Israel would incur Divine wrath by disobedience, and in- structed them to turn with all their hearts to God Himself, whose word was very nigh. The apostle in his time saw Israel going astray from God and His righteousness by misuse of the very law of Moses, and about to incur that penalty of dispersion which lies on them unto this day. Accordingly he laboured to teach them the contrast be- tween righteousness which is of the Law and righteousness which is of God by faith, and in order to this, used the language originally employed by Moses for recalling Israel to God; the distinction, however, being made, that, whereas Moses spoke of the revelation of God as their beneficent Euler made to Israel, Paul spoke of the fuller revelation of the same God in His Son, and the grace and truth that have come by Jesus Christ. This gospel-teaching, too, the apostle so gave as to enlighten the Gentiles as well as the Jews, because he was a preacher of the gospel of the grace of God to every creature. The remainder of Deuteronomy contains the farewell and death of Moses, and was written, of course, by a later pen than his own. It forms a touching and dignified con- clusion to the whole Pentateuch. Moses introduced Joshua as his successor, finished the OS SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. writing of the Law, and committed the roll to the priests, with injunction that it should be read aloud at the Feast of Tabernacles in every seventh year. The stone tables of the Law were deposited in the ark, and the book of the Law was to rest beside the ark of the covenant. Thereafter, the aged leader spoke the words of a grand prophetic song in the ears of all the congregation, yet demanded a greater audience, — "Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, earth, the words of my mouth."* It is a song of mercy and of judgment, extolling God's perfections, reproving Israel's perversities, and, in language which shows Moses to have been as great a poet to the very last as he w T as forty years before, when he com- posed the sublime song at the Eed Sea, — the oldest lyric in the world. Having thus rounded his career in the wilderness with holy song, the leader of Israel gave to the tribes his pro- phetic blessing, with especial regard therein to their future destiny, as dividers and occupiers of the soil of Palestine. The only tribe omitted is Simeon, which had recently sinned very grievously with the Midianites, under the counsel of Balaam. Accordingly, when the land was divided among the Israelites, Simeon got, not an inde- pendent district, but a tract of land " within the inherit- ance of the children of Judah."*f* Finally, Moses died. There was no dimness in his eye, though his years were an hundred and twenty. Xo look of a dying man had he, nor did his step falter, as he climbed the mountain of Kebo, to the top of Pisgah. It was a deliberate march to death and burial. Having * Dexit. xxxii. 1. t Josh. xix. 1. DEUTERONOMY. GO readied the summit, he saw the whole land of Canaan at his feet, drew the mighty view into his soul, then closed his eyes, and passed to God. His sepulchre no man knows to this day. Those of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Eachel, and David are all well known, but the sepulchre of Moses, the greatest man of his nation, can no one trace. We gather from the New Testament that Michael, an high prince with God, angel-protector of the house of Israel, guarded the prophet's body, and rebuked Satan, who resisted its resurrection. That it was raised is inferred, from the appearance of Moses in a glorified body with Elias, on the mount of our Lord's transfigura- tion. It was essential to the typical meaning and purpose of this history that Moses should not cross the river, for he was the representative man of the Law, and the Law brings no one into rest. For himself, too, it was better to depart. He got something nobler far than an entrance into Canaan, — a home with God and the departed worthies. Yet there is something very touching in his death, on the very edge of the promised land. An end like his has been not in- frequent among great leaders of intellectual or religious life. They labour and see not, or, if they foresee, enjoy not the fruit of their labours. A hero falls in the very arms of victory, a scientific genius surrenders to others the advantage of his discoveries, reformers and missionaries of truth and progress often die on the threshold of success, leaving it to others to accomplish what they could not continue, "by reason of death." A striking precedent there is in the death of Moses, the man of God. A lesson, too, of submission and contentment. 70 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. " And had he not high honour — The hill-side for his pall ; To lie in state while angels wait, "With stars for tapers all ; And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes, And God's own hand, in the lonely land, To lay him in the grave ! lonely tomb in Moab's land ! O dark Beth-Peor's hill ! Speak to these curious hearts of ours, And teach them to be still ! God hath His mysteries of grace, Ways that Ave cannot tell, And hides them deep, like the secret sleep, Of him he loved so well." Over his bier to wave, JOSHUA. Heke begins the second division of the Hebrew Bible, — the earlier Prophets, comprising the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The book which we have now reached has fine character- istics as a history, and is, moreover, very rich in Christian suggestion. Like the Books of Moses, it is free from any hero-worship, or glorying in man ; but Joshua, whether the author of the book or no, is throughout the chief figure — the narrative opening with his installation to office, and closing with his death. This Joshua was a prince of the tribe of Ephraim, born in Egypt, and, after the exodus, selected by Moses as his attendant or adjutant-general in the host of Israel. It was he who led the fighting-men in their successful combat with the Amalekites at Iiephidim, soon after the passage of the Pied Sea. It was he who attended Moses in the Mount, and was thus absent from the camp at the time of the idolatrous worship of the golden calf. It was he who stood alone by the side of faithful Caleb, in giving a report of the exploration of Canaan. Forty years thereafter, the chief command fell by Divine appointment to him as the successor of Moses. Like the great leader, he had been most carefully trained 72 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. and proved for his lofty enterprise, and entered on his command apparently about the same age as his predecessor, — at or about eighty years. He filled his post for nearly thirty years, and died at the ripe age of one hundred and ten. This book easily breaks into two parts, each consisting of twelve chapters, — the former treating of the conquest, and the latter of the distribution, of the promised land. With an introduction and an epilogue, these are the con- tents of the work. Our plan, however, is to take the history as a whole, and thereafter point out the Christian meanings that underlie the narrative, or are suggested thereby. OCT I. The History. 1. Of the Invasion. — Happily, the authority of Joshua was undisputed. Moses, before his death, had publicly transferred to him his own leadership, and after the great prophet's decease, the Lord confirmed the succession, and promised to be with the new leader, as He had been with the old. So Moses seemed to live again in Joshua, and to him the people hearkened as they had hearkened to Moses. He did all that his predecessor could possibly have done, if he had personally led the invasion, and he exhibited throughout the very mind of Moses, — the same loyalty to God, love to Israel, and personal disinterestedness, taking- nothing for himself, his private enrichment, or family pro- motion, but seeking the good of all Israel, and finding his own joy in their obedience and prosperity. In the first steps that Joshua took, one sees the prompti- tude and wariness which together mark the good com- JOSHUA. 73 mander. Having given orders that the host should he ready to cross the river Jordan in three days, he quietly despatched two scouts, -who made their way into the forti- fied town of Jericho. Having been sheltered there by a woman named Rabat), whose life and household were afterwards spared for this good service, the scouts returned with the welcome news that the approach of Israel had stricken the Canaanites with terror. " All the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us." Joshua was glad to learn that the passage of the river was not to be disputed by a hostile army, and gave Israel the order to advance. The river, however, itself presented a great difficulty, for it was swollen in consequence of the melting of the snows on Lebanon. Yet the transit must be made, and made at that very spot, for the Lord had told His people to pass over " right against Jericho." As at the Red Sea, so at the river, the simple duty of Israel was to "go forward;" and the Lord, who had taken their fathers through the sea, took the children through the stream of Jordan. Joshua, indeed, had no rod to stretch out, for he was a man of war; and when he lifted his hand, he stretched out the spear. Wonders were now done by the sacred ark; and, as the feet of the priests, bearing that symbol of God's throne, touched the river at its brink, the waters of Jordan were held back on the upper side, and those below running down to the Dead Sea, a broad passage was opened to the mighty host. All passed over dry-shod, while the priests, with the ark, stood still to the last moment in the bed of the river. Twelve stones lor a memorial — one for each tribe — were taken from the channel of the stream. Then Joshua 74 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. " commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. And it came to pass . . . that the waters of Jordan re- turned to their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before."* The first encampment of Israel in the land was at Gil- gal, near Jericho. There, by divine command, the males of all the tribes born in the wilderness were circumcised, for that rite had fallen into abeyance during the pilgrimage. Then the passover was kept, in memory of the night in which Israel was saved by the blood of the Lamb. Manna ceased, and the invaders ate of the produce of the land of Canaan. They had entered on the land in a marvellous manner, without a sword drawn, or a life forfeited. 2. Of the Conquest. — A vision of God was given to Joshua alone, with directions for the first exploit of the war, the capture of the frontier city Jericho. It was a walled town, and the invaders had no battering-rams or other instruments known to ancient warriors for the re- duction of strongholds. But Joshua obeyed the divine command, ordered the ark to be carried round the city for seven days — a sevenfold or perfect demonstration of faith in God — and the place v T as taken. " By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days."t Yet, close on victory came defeat, for presumptuous sin was found in Israel. Orders had been issued to bring the precious metals found in Jericho to the sacred treasury, and to destroy all other spoil by fire. But Achan saw, coveted, took, and hid in the ground a Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold. For this the whole nation suffered. * Josh. iv. 17, 13. + Heb. xi. 30. JOSHUA. 75 The expedition against the town of Ai failed, and Joshua was deeply grieved. Then followed inquiry, detection of the sinner, and public infliction of death, as a solemn warning to all against covetousness, deceit, and the viola- tion of the strict discipline which is essential to military success. This done, the valley of Achor became " a door of hope."* The host went forth with better success, the defeat was turned into victory, and the city of Ai was taken. Thereafter ensued a brief pause in the war, while the directions of Moses were carried out in regard to the rehearsal of the Law, with blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience. An altar was reared on Mount Ebul, and half of the tribes stood (no doubt by their repre- sentatives) on that mount, and half on Gerizim, while Joshua read aloud all that Moses commanded. Thus were the people opportunely admonished, that their continuance in the land which they had begun to conquer depended entirely on their compliance with Jehovah's will. The 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters describe continued conquest. The Gibeonites submitted themselves in sub- tilty, but the tribes of Canaan generally made a stout resistance. Joshua first encountered the southern confe- deracy, then turned against the northern, and in both cases with complete success, for he " took the whole land." The greatest battle of the war was that of Beth-Horon, in which the pursuit of the flying foe was facilitated by a wondrous prolongation of daylight, poetically described as a standing still of the sun upon Gibeon, and of the moon in the valley of Ajalon. * Hosea ii. 15. 76 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. The 11th chapter ends with the words, "for the land rested from war." The 12th has a list of the conquered chiefs or kings. So the Lord God drove out the heathen who had defiled His land. And the conquerors " got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but His right hand and His arm and the light of His countenance, because He had a favour unto them."* 3. Of the distribution of the land. — Part of the country was still held by the Canaanites, but its conquest was assumed, and for purposes of allocation the whole land was reckoned as in the possession of IsraeL The tribal districts were then apportioned by lot. Many interesting details enliven the topographical por- tion of the book. "We find the venerable Caleb putting in a special claim to Hebron, on the ground of a grant made to him by Moses after he had explored the land ; and we can imagine the joy with which Joshua allowed the claim of his old comrade. We are disappointed to learn that the two strongest tribes, Judah and Ephraim, could not dri\;e out all the heathen from their lands, for the Jebusites still held Jerusalem, and Canaanites dwelt in Gezer. The tabernacle was set up in Shiloh within the tribe of Eph- raim, and thither were the people gathered, as to the centre of worship. Joshua took no inheritance for himself, but the whole nation gratefully assigned one to him — Tim- nath-Serah, in Mount Ephraim. Thereafter the cities of refuge were appointed at proper distances, and the cities of the Levites designated by lot. * Ps. xliv. 3. JOSHUA. 77 Then all was finished. "There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel. All came to pass."* The men of the two tribes and a half, who had got their lands from Moses, on the east side of the Jordan, had honourably helped their brethren in the war. These were uow sent back to Bash an and Gilead, with a solemn charge, not to break the re- ligious unity of Israel. So this part of the history is closed. There remains an account : — 4 Of the dying counsels and death of Joshua. — Ap- parently, there are two addresses of the aged hero, to the elders, judges, and officers of all Israel ; the second being given with great solemnity at Shechem, which may be reckoned the capital of Palestine for the time. At that memorable spot, Abraham first built an altar in the land. There Jacob buried the household images under the oak. There the ark had been placed during the rehearsal of the Law, with blessings and curses, for Shechem is between Ebal and Gerizim ; and there the children of Israel laid the embalmed body of the illustrious prince Joseph, which they had carried with them from Egypt, according to his dying injunction. Joshua was not a poet like Moses, and composed no song. The prophetic spirit, however, rested on him, and in his last exhortation, in which he charged the people, and took them bound to serve Jehovah, he appears to have had a foreboding of evil to come. One of his last acts was to set up in Shechem a pillar of stone, according to the custom of the age, as a permanent witness to the people, lest they should deny their God. Then the good * Josh. xxi. 45. 78 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. soldier passed away. To him is given at his death the same title as was given to Moses, "the servant of the Lord." "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel."* II. The Application of this Narrative. 1. To Church history. — The Book of Joshua suggests that of the Acts of the Apostles. Moses lived again in Joshua. Jesus lives — not in another, but Himself, risen from the dead, both "Leader and Commander of the people" — Moses and Joshua in one. Thus the book called Acts of the Apostles is properly the book of the Acts of the living Christ, in and by His Apostles, evangelists, deacons, martyrs, and people. It is He who all through that book exercises authority, shows vitality and power. Jesus Christ, living in, and leading on, the Church by the Spirit, is the Joshua of our profession. He led the Church through baptism into death, as through the bed of deep waters ; and by the power of His resurrection brought up the dis- ciples into a new position, one of promise and grace, but therefore too of risk and conflict. As, at the outset, Israel was hindered by walled Jericho, so at the beginning of Church history, the apostles and brethren had to face the ignorance and prejudice of the men of Jerusalem. The war must begin there, and they had no might or power with which to prevail. So they compassed the city about for seven days — i.e., they continued for that space with one accord in prayer and supplication. When * Josh. xxiv. 81. JOSHUA. TO the clay of Pentecost was fully come, the trumpet was blown by Simon Peter, the walls of resistance fell, and the campaign of the Church was well commenced. That first victory was the earnest of all victories. If the Israelites were discouraged at any later stage of their war, they had but to remember Jericho. If Christian preachers or workers are discouraged, they ought to remember Jerusa- lem on the day of Pentecost. Is anything too hard for the Lord ? But Achan sinned and was punished. So Ananias and Sapphira thought to hide what they had done, but their covetousness and deceit were exposed before all, and they suffered the penalty of death. Israel was victorious so soon as the hidden evil was put away; — so the Church, after judgment on the deceivers, had new successes, and the word of the Lord prevailed. "By the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and believers were the more added unto the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." * Joshua led the tribes to many battle-fields. Christ led the Church, under such officers as Peter, John, Paul, and others of smaller fame but like precious faith, into many and severe bottles ; at Samaria, Antioch, Damascus, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, and Pome. Some good soldiers of Christ lost their lives for His sake in the struggle. It was to them no loss, but great gain, and the good cause went forward. The Gospel was spread abroad in the face of all that wicked men or heathen demons could do to j>revent it, and the plantation of organised Churches, with elders in every city, was as * Acts v. 12-14. 60 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. the settlement of the tribes in their inheritances, to possess the land for God. Worship centred at Shiloh=in peace. — The Church has not one central place on earth, but it has one sanctuary, and one element of worship — holy peace. We have to fight in many places, and with many foes, but we worship spiritually only in one holy place, through one Name, and in the Shiloh of Gospel peace. Alas ! Canaanites left in the land corrupted Israel. Some of the tribes put the natives to tribute, insensibly adopted their idolatries, and, in the end, became weaker than they, and actually had to serve the Canaanites. So in the Church, Jewish traditions, heathen errors and cus- toms, and vain speculations were allowed to remain, and mix themselves with the Gospel. It was thought that they would be useful in service, or in paying tribute, but the result was corruption of faith, worship, and life. Many Churches lost their liberty, and were beguiled of their reward. Indeed, these evils continue to this very day. It is a plague in all the Churches, that the Canaanite is yet in the house of the Lord of Hosts. No wonder that there follows the troubled Book of Judges, and a parallel to it also in the confusions and vicissitudes that have marked the history of the Church. 2. To individual Christian experience. — The book before us sets forth the wrestlings of the " heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ," their contendings with deadly foes. An Israelite under Joshua had to fight with flesh and blood, in order to obtain temporal blessings in earthly places. A Christian, under the Spirit of Christ, has to JOSHUA. 81 fight with spiritual wickedness, in order to enjoy eternal dlessings in heavenly places. You begin this, Christian, by death, burial, and re- surrection with Christ — separated by those waters of Jordan from the Moses or Law under which you were bound. Crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live. And, as an Israelite who had come up out of the swellings of Jordan was led to Gil gal, and had, as his first painful duty, to submit to circumcision of the flesh, so, when you emerge and rise up together with Christ, you must, as counting yourself to have died and risen, " mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."* At this Gilgal, too, this first station, consider well and enjoy Christ, your pass over, sacrificed for you. Before you can fight the fight of faith, you must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Corn of the land is also ready to your need, for the place of con- flict is also sure to prove a place of spiritual nourishment. Now, in the name of the Lord, set up your banners, take the aggressive, fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life. Some walled Jericho bars your way —only have faith in God, and the walls shall fall flat to the ground. If you should have defeat after such a vic- tory, diligently inquire, have great searchings of heart, till the Achan in your bosom is detected and slain. Very likely, it will prove to be some temptation of gold, or pride of life, that has compromised your integrity. When the evil is utterly abhorred and renounced, you shall have new victories, and your valley of trouble will unfold a door of hope. And so, on and on, till you get your bright inheritance. If indeed you make leagues when you should * Col. iii. 1-7. F 32 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. make conquests, the inheritance will be meagre. But if you fight faithfully, not even the Anakim of spiritual wickedness can withstand you. You shall have a large possession, and " stand in your lot at the end of the days." Joshua himself was an heir, and his inheritance was in the midst of the land. Jesus Christ is " Heir of all things," and He is in the midst, and all the heirs of God are grouped around Him. Joshua died, but the Captain of our salvation dies no more, and our inheritance no one can take from us, because we hold it of Him, and with Him, who lives for ever and ever. " Stand then in His great might, With all His strength endued, But take, to arm you for the fight, The panoply of God. " From strength to strength go on, Wrestle, and fight, and pray, Tread all the powers of darkness down, And win the well-fought day." JUDGES. This is a disappointing book as regards the moral and religions condition of Israel, but rich in varied interest, telling us the most romantic incidents, — depicting ancient manners, and illustrating the union of the Hebrew faith with the rough heroism of troublous times. The history "overs nearly four centuries. The writer is unknown. The Jews ascribe the work to Samuel, and there are good reasons for assigning it either to him or to some other prophet living in the early part of the reign of King Saul. That it was composed or compiled after the institution of the kingdom is implied by the repeated expression, " In those days, when there was no king in Israel." And that it was composed before the kingdom fell to David appears from the statement in the first chapter, that "the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day." Now, we know that one of the first acts of King David was to expel the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and therefore fix the date of the authorship of this book in the time of Saul. The Judges are the Deliverers raised up by the God of Israel to rescue His people from the power of their enemies. The rank was not hereditary in any family, nor was the dignity confined to any one tribe. The title Shophetim 61 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. seems to have "been taken from the Canaanites or Phoeni- cians. The Carthaginians carried the name from Phoenicia, and their rulers in the time of the Punic Wars are termed the Suffetes by the Eoman historian, Livy. The Hebrew Shqphetim, however, had no regularly constituted magis- tracy, but an extraordinary and exceptional authority. The people they governed were semi-barbarous ; their manners were rough, and the period almost anarchic. I. The introduction to the history occupies two chapters, and a few verses of the third. We are informed that some of the tribes, after the death of Joshua, continued their war with the Canaanites who remained in the country, but they stopped short, and allowed their enemies to retain nearly all the sea-coast, and several strongholds in the interior. The result was, in the next generation, a decay of faith and corruption of life among the Israelites. The defeated system had its revenge in adulterating and en- feebling that which had conquered it. The Canaanite idolatry did more damage than the Canaanite sword, for the children of Israel were beguiled, and actually forsook Jehovah, the God of Abraham, and Moses, and Joshua, to serve the Phoenician deities, Baal and Ashtoreth. So this book begins with the failure of Israel, their lack of persevering energy, and their adoption of the very heathenism which God had sent them to drive from His land. He called them to repentance at Bochim ; but they relapsed and intermarried with the Canaanites. "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves." * The results were, first, corruption from within, * Judges iii. 7. JUDGES. 85 then oppression and hostility from without; and Israel, forgetting the Lord who had set them free, had to pass again under yokes of bondage. II. The main history — the body of the work — describes a succession of foreign invasions and conquests, cries of distress from Israel to Jehovah, and His deliverances of the oppressed through the prowess of the Judges. There are six conquests and redemptions, — Oppressors. Deliverers. 1. Mesopotamians. Othniel. 2. Moabites. Ehud. 3. North Canaanites. Deborah and Barak. 4, Midianites. Gideon. 5. Ammonites. Jephthah. 6. Philistines. Samson. 1. A Mesopotamian king first invaded the land, and held Israel under his yoke for eight years. Of him we know nothing further, and he is the only invader from the far east, during all the period covered by this book. When the children of Israel cried to God, He gave them a cham- pion in Othniel, the valiant nephew and son-in-law of Caleb, a powerful prince or lion of the tribe of Judah. " The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and w r ent out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-Itishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand." Forty years of peace succeeded, but then, after Othniel's death, the people fell back into their old sins. The penally was, — 2. A second yoke of bondage. The king of Moab, aided by the Ammonites and Amalekites, smote Israel, and pos- sessed himself of Jericho. His mastery continued for eighteen years. But again Israel cried unto the Lord, and 86 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. got deliverance, though in a manner less glorious than the open war which Othniel had led. A wily Benjamite obtained admission to the presence of the portly king Eglon, assassinated him, and escaped. Then, calling his countrymen to the rescue, he intercepted the flying Moabites at the fords of the Jordan, and slew them to a man. " Then the land had rest fourscore years." The Philistines were the next to make an inroad on Israel. We shall hear more of them hereafter. Like the Israelites, they had not been long in the land, and are supposed to have crossed over to the shores of Asia from Crete and other islands. They were bitter enemies of God's peculiar people, and yet, curiously enough, their name is stamped upon the promised land in one of its favourite designations, for Palestine is just the land of Philistia. Their first attack seems to have been easily repulsed by a warrior named Shamgar, who made great slaughter with an ox-goad — a long staff, shod with iron — a primitive weapon, but formidable in the hands of a mighty man. The children of Israel, however, were their own greatest enemies. Too carnally minded to preserve the faith and worship established by Moses, they relapsed again and again into the habits of the tribes around them. So they sutler ed more and more. 3. A formidable northern king of Canaanites, named Jabin, subdued the degenerate nation, and held them under his yoke for twenty long years. They felt them- selves helpless under the military power of Jabin, whose general, Sisera, could bring nine hundred war chariots into the field, while Israel had not one. Again the people JUDGES. 87 cried unto the Lord, and again deliverance came. Deborah, a prophetess, "was the divine instrument for rousing the fallen nation. It was her custom to sit with primitive sim- plicity under a palm tree, hard by the place where an earlier Deborah — the nurse of Eebecca — was buried under an oak Thither she summoned Barak, a northern warrior, one of that tribe of Naphthali which was nearest to the fortress of King Jabin, and therefore suffered at his hand most heavily. She delivered to Barak the command of the Lord God of Israel, that he should lead a patriot army against the host of Sisera. She even accompanied him on his way to rouse the tribes. Zebulon and JSTaphthali re- sponded well to the summons ; Dan and Asher on the sea- shore did not. After much debate, Beuben and others, settled on the east of the Jordan, came not up. The dwellers in the town of Meroz were stigmatised as shame- fully inactive. But Barak took the field with ten thousand infantry. In the great battle which ensued, a heavy storm, beating in the faces of the Canaanites, threw them into confusion, and they were routed with terrible slaughter, — their chariots and horses only hindering them in the marshy ground, and the swellings oi the river Kishon. Sisera himself fled for his liie, but was murdered in sleep by a Bedouin woman, in whose tent he sought shelter. The success of that memorable day is celebrated in an ode of wonderful poetic fire, composed by Deborah, — the only outpouring of the prophetic soul on record, from the death of Moses till we reach the times of Hannah and Samuel. Again the land had rest; but, returning to sin, the people fell again under the yoke of bondage. It was the 4 Fourth oppression. The Midianites from Arabia were 88 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. now the invaders. They swept away the produce of the fertile land, and left Israel to the peril of famine. This tribulation lasted for seven years, and was relieved just as those which went before. Israel cried in distress to Jehovah. He heard, and raised up from amongst themselves a de- liverer. It was Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, the finest character and truest hero of all that troubled time, — one who seems at once to recall the courage and conduct of Joshua, and to anticipate the grace and royal manner of David. He had lowliness of mind, — not assuming the first position till God called him to it, — but he had great capa- cities for command, uniting caution with firmness, and wariness in counsel with impetuous vigour of action. Gideon began well by making war on the idolatry ot his own neighbourhood, overthrowing the altar of Baal, and establishing an important influence over the minds and consciences of his own people. Then, rallying to his standard the men of Manasseh, and of those northern tribes in which the spirit of independence seems to have been strongest, Gideon threw himself into the battle of freedom with confidence in God. At the head of a select band of three hundred men, he surprised the Midianite camp by night, and the Arabs fled with loud cries of terror. This success was followed up with the utmost energy, and the yoke of Midian was completely broken. Thereupon the Israelites invited their captain to become a king over them and to accept the regal dignity for his family. He refused, but retained for himself a sort of priestly position, which did not belong to him under the Law, and, though doubtless well meant, proved a snare to him and his house. It was his mistake, and Gideon was JUDGES. 89 not a perfect man, but, on the whole, he proved an admir- able leader of Israel, and under him " the country was in quietness forty years." There followed, however, a time of confusion. Abime- lech, a son of Gideon, snatched at the sovereignty which the hero had declined, and cruelly put his father's sons to death, that he might reign without a rival. His success, however, was short-lived, and he died before the strong tower of Thebez, which he attempted to burn. Little is known of the two judges who followed — Tola of Issachar, and Jair of Gilead ; but they seem to have ruled well during fifty-five years. Thereafter, the sad story repeats itself. Israel sinned more and more, and adopted the idolatry of all the surrounding nations. The same penalty followed as before. 5. There was a fifth conquest by the Ammonites and their allies, who held the country of Israel, east of the Jordan, in subjection for eighteen years. Appeal, at last, being made to Jehovah, help came through Jephthah, a man of Gilead. This rugged chieftain, perhaps we should say freebooter, was well adapted to the emergency, and the Lord made use of him. He rose to the height of the occa- sion, and defeated the Ammonites with great slaughter. But the memory of Jephthah is not one that we love. There is, to say the least, a horrid uncertainty about his treatment of his innocent daughter, in fulfilment of a rash vow that he had made before going into battle. It was an age of rash vows, as one may see in the vow of the whole nation against the tribe of Benjamin, at the end of this book, or that of king Saul, which nearly cost Jonathan his life. The last named vow, indeed has an ominous bearing on 00 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. this of Jephthah. Jonathan would have been slain if the army had not interposed, but there is no mention of any interposition on behalf of Jephthah's daughter. It has, indeed, been strongly argued by some that she was not put to death, but devoted as a virgin to the Divine service. We observe that such recent and able writers as Dean Stanley and Dr. Lindsay Alexander, take opposite sides of this question .* Eeluctantly, we fear that the darker view of this tragedy is the correct one. True it is that human sacrifices were not permitted in Israel, and that such an immolation as we now speak of could not have been offered on the altar of burnt-offering at the tabernacle; but Jephthah lived in Gilead, and Gilead adjoined the countries of Moab and Ammon, where human sacrifices were not at all unknown. If the semi-barbarous Jephthah thought himself bound to put his daughter to death, it is at least some relief to know that the maiden was not draped un- willing to her doom, but, with a touching heroism, yielded her young life, as she supposed, for her father's duty and her native land. Another painful recollection of Jephthah's time is the first outbreak of civil war in Israel. The haughty tribe of Ephraim upbraided the new judge for going to war without their co-operation. Jephthah had no soft answer to turn away their wrath. Hot words led to blows, and there ensued a battle between the men oi the west and the men of the east — the men of Ephraim and the men of Gilead. The former were put to flight, and being intercepted at the fords Oi the river Jordan, were detected * Vide Stanley's Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, Part I. pp. 357-361, second edition ; and Sunday Magazine, Jan. 1871. JUDGES. 91 by a peculiarity of pronunciation in the now proverbial word, Sh ibbolcth, and were ruthlessly slain. Jephthah's rule was short — only six years. The three judges who followed cover no more than twenty-five years of the history. 6. Again a declension in Israel, and again a subdual. It was the sixth. The Philistines attacked in force, and succeeded in holding Israel under subjection for forty years. But God prepared a champion of Israel, in the tribe of Dan — Samson, in many respects the most remark- able man in all this history — the pure JSTazarite, and yet the careless lover ; the man of weakness and the man of might, whose life was full of playful humour, but ended in tragical suffering and death. He is a beacon to us, to warn against fleshly indulgence. The voice of Delilah may be sweet, but the hands of the Philistine lords are cruel. The pleasures of sin are for a season, but they lead to the dungeon of blindness and captivity. Nevertheless, Samson is a mighty man in this history ; he delivered Israel by the faith which had previously sustained Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah. All through his life and yet more triumphantly in his death, he weakened the Philistines and poured con- tempt on Dagon their god. " Samson hath quit himself Like Samson ; and heroically hath finish'd A life heroical." AVith the vivid and romantic history of Manoah's son, the main body of the Book of Judges may be said to end There remains, — III. An Appendix, — to illustrate the lawlessness and 92 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. confusion which ensued in a time when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. No part of the Bible forms such painful reading as this. Idolatry, im- purity, and cruelty mark the period, — a sort of wild justice and equally wild mercy.* Finally, the days of the com- monwealth evidently drew to a close, the people being unfit fur such a government, or unworthy of it. The days of the kingdom drew nigh. 1. A few words must be said on the morality of the Book of Judges. No Divine sanction is given to any act of treachery or cruelty recorded in this history ; but, on the other hand, no disapproval is expressed. This is ac- cording to the usual tenor of sacred story, which narrates * " It was a period of great lawlessness and of the most rude and imper- fect morality There is a strange mixture of religion and barbarity — two ingredients which now appear utterly incongruous, however often conjoined in these rude and rudimental stages of the Church." — Dr. Chal- mers Daily Scripture Readings. Dean Stanley draws an ingenious parallel between the times of the Judges and what are called the Middle Ages. " The house of Micah and his Levite set forth the exact likeness of the feudal castle and feudal chieftain of our early civilisation. The Danites, eager to secure to their enterprise the sanction of a sacred personage and of sacred images, are the forerunners of that strange mixture of faith and super- stition, which prompted in the Middle Ages so many pious thefts of relics, so many extortions of unwilling benedictions Priests and Levites wander to and fro over Palestine ; mendicant friars and sellers of indul- gences over Europe All things were as yet in chaos and confusion : yet the germs of a better life were everywhere at work. In the one, the judge was gradually blending into the hereditary king. In the other, the feudal chief was gradually passing into the constitutional sovereign. The youth of Samuel, the childhood of David, were nursed under this wild system. The schools of the prophets, the universities of Christendom, owe their first impulse to this first period of Jewish and of Christian history." — Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, Part I., pp. 311-313, 2d Ed. JUDGES. 93 facts without comment, and leaves them to be dealt with by the moral sense of future generations. Confessedly the moral tone of those times in Israel was low. The light was dim, and men never live beyond their light, — seldom up to it. The heroes of the book are not proposed as models for a later time, least of all for the Christian ages. They were stern chieftains, ruthless swordsmen, but they were fit for the work to be done, and were raised up by God to do it. The very imperfection of their characters brings out in stronger relief the grand ele- ment of their success — their faith in God. "Through faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, ob- tained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." * 2. Of the application of all this narrative to Christian times. (1.) To Church History. — As Israel did well during the time of the elders who overlived Joshua, so the Church did well during the Apostolic age. But then ensued a time of evil compromise. The Church failed to make a clean end of her intellectual and spiritual enemies. Con- sequently, Christian faith soon began to be corrupted by " philosophy falsely so called," and Christian worship by the adaptation of heathen rites and ceremonies. Many things of Pagan origin were first tolerated, then held to be "sanctified by adoption into the Church." Because Pagan Pome had a Pontifex Maximus, Christian Pome took a Pontifex Maximus also. The doctrines of merit, holy • Heb. xi. 33, 34. 04 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. water, penances, purgatory, prayers for the dead, the offer- ing and worship of a bread wafer, processions of images, adoration of relics, and various festivals, were all character- istic of heathenism, and were insidiously introduced into the rapidly degenerating Church. In the end, the visible Church became quite heathenised. It is just what hap- pened to Israel through conformity to the customs of the Canaanites. The Lord helped Israel when they cried ; and the Lord raised up deliverers for His Church at intervals, according to His own good pleasure. These were not perfect men, or enlightened on every point of duty any more than Barak or Gideon were ; but they checked the degeneracy for a time, and revived in some measure the primitive faith. Let any one read an honest book of Church history, and he will find the narrative disappointing and painful, yet very interesting, because so chequered and eventful, — just like the Book of Judges. It is full of oppressions and deliverances, relapses and reformations, revivals and de- clines. So will it continue to be, till Christ shall sit on the throne of His father David. (2.) To the experience of many. — We get peace of soul, rest under Joshua — ie., Jesus ; but, alas ! there are Ca- naanites left in the heart, and we yield to them, or make leagues privately with them — not able, as we say, to put them out. So we are compromised, defiled, sometimes taken captive by the law of sin in our members. We cry to God, and He helps us. Again we decay, and He re- stores us. 'Tis a strange struggle, this Christian life, — now defeated, and now victorious, — now groaning that we JUDGES. 95 are wretched men, and now thanking God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet let none think that it is better, if the Christian experience he such, to have none of it. Even in the worst times, it was better to he of Israel than to be of Moab, Midian, or Ammon, and better surely to be a blind Sam- son, the Israelite, who had fallen and repented, than to sit in Dagon's temple with the Philistine lords. " Happy art thou, Israel : who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord ? " Foolish and perverse hast thou been, but Jeho- vah hears thy cries, and will not let thee seek His face in vain, Happy are ye, people of Christ! grace will bring you through all your trials, and out of all oppres- sions of the enemy. Eejoice that your Deliverer is not like those dying men who judged Israel for a few short years. " The Lord is your Judge, the Lord is your Law- giver, the Lord i3 your King ; He will save you." * * Isa. xxxiii. 22. RUTH. The end of the Book of Judges grates upon the soul, — all the more welcome the history of Ruth. We turn from shocking stories of wickedness and cruelty, and fall with joy on this sweet pastoral tale, showing us the bright side of the old Hebrew manner of life, and the blessed power of the Hebrew faith to lighten the burden of poverty and grief. Nor is this book to be read merely as an interesting and touching story. It is full of spiritual instruction, and good Gospel doctrine concerning the Lord Jesus as the Kinsman-Redeemer, the salvation of the Gentiles, and the union of the Church, which is the Bride, to the Divine Bridegroom. The tale begins at Bethlehem -Judah, also called Bethlehem -Ephratah (the fruitful), a small town, distant about two hours' journey from Jerusalem. There Rachel died and was buried; — there, afterwards, David fed his father's flocks ; — there Christ was born, who was " made of the seed of David, according to the flesh." A famine occurred in the land, and was felt even in the rich and fertile country round Bethlehem. Probably it was caused, at least in part, by one of those desolating invasions mentioned in the Book of Judges, and famine RUTH 07 was one of the penalties of disobedience to God, foretold by Moses.* A man of Bethlehem- Judah, who bore the noble name of Elimelech (God is King), left his impoverished home, and with his wife and two sons went to sojourn in the land of Moab, that hilly region south-east of the Dead Sea where Lot's descendants dwelt. It is hard for us to judge the conduct of a man in straits ; but, to say the least, that of Elimelech was questionable in leaving the people and altars of Jehovah, to dwell in a land of vileness and idolatry. No doubt he intended only to sojourn there for a season, but he died there. Forsaking Bethlehem to save his life, he lost it. So do many for some temporal advan- tage abandon situations favourable to their spiritual wel- fare, and mix with those who are careless and worldly, if not worse, and, alas ! never find their way back again to the position which they left, but die at a distance from God. This was the first stroke to Naomi, the wife of Elimelech, but not the last. " And she was left, and her two sons." Why did they not then return to the land of Judah ? Be- cause they felt at home in Moab. The young men had grown up there, — there their characters had taken shape, and to all intents and purposes those sons of Israel were turned Moabites. Surely their mother told them that it was contrary to God's law that they should marry daughters of the heathen, but they pleased themselves ; " and they took them wives of the women of Moab ; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth." But the young men — Mahlon and Chilion — died also, * See Deut. xxviii. 38-48. G 98 SYNOPTICAL LECTURES. and of the family that left Bethlehem ten years before, Naomi only was left. Attention is drawn to her isolation, "And the woman was left of her two sons and her hus- band." You see that Naomi is to play an important part in what follows. From all we read of her, we conjecture that she never " took " to Moab as her husband and sons had done. Whether it was so or not, God was pleased to form in her a pious character, and because He loved her, afflicted her with repeated strokes, brought her very low, and made her very lonely, that He might reclaim her to Himself. Weary of Moab, smitten of God and afflicted, Naomi was disposed to leave the heathen soil, when she heard good tidings that at once decided her course — there was bread enough in the Holy Land. She believed the report, arose, and addressed herself to her jcurney. But she was not allowed to go alone. Her character and example had exercised an influence on her daughters-in-law, and they, early bereft of their husbands, clave to the Hebrew mother. She suffered them to attend her for a part of the way, and was soothed and cheered by their company. After awhile, she proved them, and with hearty acknowledgment of their dutiful conduct to her sons and herself, put it to them that they should return to their own kindred, and being yet very young women, marry a second time ; all the rather that she had no remaining sons to marry them, according to the provisions of the Mosaic law. Her object was to test their real motive, not willling that they should go with her impulsively, and afterwards upbraid her with having marred their worldly comfort or prospect in a land of strangers. But they both declared that they would surely return with her to her people. So they went on, but as they went, the words of Naomi RUTH. 99 wrought in the mind of one of her daughters-in-law ; and a second appeal showed a different result. Perhaps at the border of Moab, she paused again, and renewed her sugges- tion. Then Orpah showed at last what was in her heart. She had sincere affection for her mother-in-law, but no separation from Moab and its idols, no spiritual attraction to Judah's land or Judah's God. So the three women shed tears, and Orpah kissed the Hebrew matron, and went back. The hour of decision had come, and they took opposite paths ; Naomi and Euth to Judah, Orpah to Moab, they to Jehovah's altars, she to the vile groves of Chemosh. Euth had a sharp trial, to leave her country, and, at the last moment, part with her sister-in-law and go alone with a poor Hebrew widow to a strange land, where the law ex- cluded a Moabite from the conore