THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY Z20.7 tiQT'b V. "2; The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN OCT 131986 OCT 1319 ( L161—0-1096 LiBRAi^Y OF THE UHiYERSITY OF ilUMOIS 1 '"^He'bron Keralc 33 30 34 30 35 30 Deoir .Becrsneba Khalasab JEBEL MADURAH MT.HOR •Zephatb El tAujeh El ’Abdeh. WA®'* ■^■E-RNESS UEBEt MUWAILEH Azmon Wady ^ad/8 ZIN oebel ^ JEREFEH . PETRA JEBEL SHERAiF AZ JEBEL ARAIF £N NAKAH JEBEL IKHRJM Ezion-Gaber Elalh THE DESERT, KADESH, THE NEGEB, THE ARa4BAH AJ^D EDOM. See Page 555. SCALE OF MILES 33 30 34 Longitude East 34*30^ from Greenwloli 35 35 30 Strttl/tsr$ ^ a>., £h^4 XT. THE B I B L E-W O R K: THE OLD TESTAMENT. TOL. 11. XII.), ycbiticus, ^umbers mrb THE EXODUS AXD WANDERINGS. THE LEGISLATION CODIFIED, THE REVISED TEXT, ARRANGED IN SECTIONS ; WITH COMMENTS SELECTED FROM THE CHOICEST, MOST ILLUMINATING AND HELPFUL THOUGHT OP THE CHRISTIAN CENTURIES, TAKEN FROM THREE HUNDRED SCHOLARLY WRITERS. PREPARED BY J. GLENTWORTH BUTLEll, D.D. “ He made known his ways unto Moses, His acts unto the Children of Israel—Ps. 103 : 7. FUNK ife WAGNALLS, Publisiieks. NEW YORK: 18 & 20 ASTOR pLaCE. 1889. LONDON: 44 FLEET STREET \_AU rights resbrved.'\ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES. Copyright, 1888, by FUNK & WAGNALLS- SPECIAL INDEX. PAGE. Map : Tlie Desert, the Negeb, the Arabah, and Edom..Opposite Title. Map : Route from Goshen to the Red Sea. 34 Map : Encampment near Crossing Place... 40 Diagram : Elevations, etc., on Line of Suez Canal,.. . 43 Map : Route from Red Sea. (By the courtesy of Dr. H. M. Field.). 66 Map : Route from Red Sea and Sinai Region. {Ordnance Surrey.) .'. 81 Map : Approaches to Sinai. {Ordnance Survey.) . 98 Diagram : Section of Jebel Musa. . 100 Illustration : Mountain of Sinai and Plain of Er Rahah. 101 Illustration : Tabernacle—Structure and Exterior. 292, Illustration : Interior of Tabernacle. 298 Illustrations : Furniture of Tabernacle. 302-304 Illustration ; Altar of Burnt Offering. 312 Diagram : Court and Tabernacle. 316 Illustration : High-Priestly Garments. 320 Map : Edom, Moab, and Gilead. . 582 Table to Find any Verse in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. 749-752 Authors Cited. 753-756 b I SYNOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. Xlo 1 V. SECTION 91 93 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 Note.—T he value of this Index, prepared with great fulness and detail, will be appreciated by its careful study as a whole ; and such study will help the reader in its use for reference to particular topics. HISTOEY: FEOM THE EXODUS TO THE LAW-GIVIXG. Preliminary Thoughts, Helpful and Suggestive : Identifica¬ tion of Old and New Covenants. The Kingdom of God, the Content and End of Both. Divine and Human Personality Disclosed. Progress of Doctrine Throughout. The Source, Periods, Definition, and Evidential Value of Miracles. Points hearing upon Mosaic Authorship. Un¬ designed Coincidences. The Exodus. Movement from the Land of Eameses, or Goshen, to the Eendezvous at Succoth. From Succoth to Etham. From Etham to the Eed Sea. Map of Eoute. Map of Encampment near the Crossing Place. Diagram of Elevations and Depressions on the Line of the Suez Canal. The Sea Divided for IsraeTs Safe Passage. The Egyptian Army Destroyed. Song of Moses after the Passage of the Eed Sea. . Three Stages Onward from the Eed Sea : Marah ; Bitter Waters Sweetened. Elim, with its Twelve Springs and Seventy Palm Trees. Encampment by the Sea. The Wilderness of Sin (El Markha). Bread Eained from Heaven ; Quails Covering the Camp. Points and Teach¬ ings Eespecting the Manna. Eoute from the Eed Sea to Sinai. Full and Accurate Map (Ordnance Survey). Three Encampments : Dophkah and Alush ; Eephidim, in Feiran or Es Sheikh ? Smiting the Eock in Horeb. Battle with Amalek. - Sinai, the Mountain of the Law. Map of its Approaches. Diagram : Section of Jebel Musa. Illustration : The Mountain and Plain. The Legislation of Moses : Moral, Ceremonial, and Civil. Fundamental Principles. PAGE 11 25 33 46 54 59 67 79 87 97 104 672377 4 SYWOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. SECTION 102 103 104 10 ^ lOO 107 108 lOO 1 lO 111 112 113 114 115 ■ * PAGE The Three Pentateuchal Codes. Critical Hypothesis. Tables 113 , of Laws Peculiar to the Second and Third Codes. The First Sinai Covenant: Comprehensive and Sublime^ 121 Promise of JEHOVAH ; Conditioned upon Obedience ; Answering Pledge of the People. The Kingdom of God Inaugurated, as a Theocracy, at Sinai. AVhat the Theoc¬ racy Was, and What It Might Have Achieved. Its Ulterior Development and Final Issue in Christianity. Reasons for Its Study. Unity of the Old and New Cove¬ nants. Preparation for and Descent of JEHOVAH upon Sinai. . 139 THE MORAL LAW. ^^God Spake.Meaning of ‘^^The Ten Words.Division 143 into Tables. Two Copies of the Decalogue. Its Character and Perpetuity. Relation of the Moral Law : To the Cere¬ monial Law ; To the Promise ; To Christ, Relation of the Christian to the Moral Law. The Opening Words. The First and the Second Command- 157 ments. The Third and the Fourth Commandments. . . . 169 The Fifth, the Sixth, and the Seventh Commandments. . 183 The Eighth, the Ninth, and the Tenth Commandments. . 194 Two Essential Principles of the Law's Requirements : First, 202 With Reference to Character, Holiness, or Likeness to JEHOVAH. Second, With Reference to the Actuating Force of the Life, Supreme Love to God and Unselfish Love to Man. Rational and Moral Love and its Fruits. The Moral Law to be Laid Up in their Hearts, and to be 217 Taught Diligently to their Children. Phylacteries, Door- Post Inscriptions, and Fringes as Reminders of God’s Commandments. INTERMEDIATE INCIDENTS. Effect of the Divine Voice upon the People. Upon their 224 Appeal Moses Appointed as Mediator with JEHOVAH. The Book of the Covenant Written by Moses : Its Introduc- 227 tion ; Its Body, The Judgments Its Conclusion, Prom¬ ises and Warnings. Solemn Ratification of the Covenant, by Sprinkling of Sacri- 234 ficial Blood upon Altar and People. This Covenant the Central Point of the Pentateuch, and Basis of its Internal Unity. Law and Prophecy in their Relation to the Cove¬ nants. Chosen Nobles of Israel Called to a Vision of God and Fellow- 240 JSTWOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. rtKCTION PAGE ship with Him. Moses on the Mount with God Forty Days. i\postasy of the Golden Calf. 116 Moses Receives the Two Tables. Informed by God of Israehs J246 Apostasy, Moses Intercedes for their Forgiveness. He Descends from the Mount, Breaks the Tables, Destroys the Calf, and Inflicts Death upon the Guiltiest Transgressors. 117 Unbidden, Moses Ascends the Mount to Plead for Israel’s 254 Forgiveness. Penitence of the People. The Cloud-Pillar Descends to the Temporary Tent of Meeting, and there God Speaks Face to Face with Moses. Third Pleading of Moses in Behalf of Israel. 118 The Great Petition of Moses (in the Tent), and Promise of 2G0 an Answer the Next Day upon the Mount. Two Stone Tables Prepared by Moses. He Ascends the Mount with the Tables. The Answer of JEHOVAH in the Procla¬ mation of HIS NAME. Second Forty Days upon Sinai, where his Fervent Pleading for Israel Finally Prevails. 110 JEHOVAH Renews the Covenant with Israel. Second Book 268 of the Covenant, or Brief Summary of the Ordinances Previ¬ ously Given. Second Writing of the ^^Ten Words ’’upon Tables of Stone. Transfiguration of Moses’s Face. THE CEREMONIAL LAWS, PERTAINING TO WORSHIP AND RITUAL. 130 Design and Use of the Ceremonial Law. Classification of its 76 Institutes. Offerings for the Sanctuary : Materials ; Spirit Desired and Realized in the Offerers ; the Workmen Quali fied and Chosen ; Liberality Restrained ; Sum Contributed. 131 The Tabernacle ; Its Names ; Structure and Appearance ; 287 Inner Veil and Outer Screen ; Meaning and Design ; Sym¬ bolism and Types. Illustrations. 133 Furniture of the Tabernacle : Ark and Mercy-Seat ; Table; 296 Candlestick ; Altar-of Incense (Silver Trumpets). Illus- tr at ions. 133 Offerings for the Service of the Sanctuary : Beaten Oil for 307 the Lamps; Ransom or Atonement Money; Incense; Anointing Oil ; Shew or Face Bread. 134 : The Altar of Burnt-Offering, the Laver, and the Court. 311 Illustrations. 135 High -Priestly Garments : The Ephod and its Onyx Stones ; 316 Breastplate ; Urim and Thummim ; Robe of the Ephod ; 3Iitre and its Golden Plate. Vestments of the Priesthood. Illustration. 136 The Work Approved and the Workmen Blessed. The Taber- 326 nacle Reared and its Furniture Set in Place. The Court Enclosed. The Glory Fills the Sanctuary. Offerings of the Tribes by their Princes. 137 Consecration of Aaron and his Sons : Washing and Robing, 334 G SECTION 1^8 V29 130 131 13 *^ 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 14*4 143 STJ^iOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. Anointiug with Oil, and Sprinkling with Sacrificial Blood. The Tabernacle and Furniture, Altar and Laver, Anointed with Oil. The Altar of Burnt-Offering Sprinkled with Blood. JEHOVAH’S Promise to Sanctify Priest, Altar, and Tabernacle. Inauguration of the Sanctuary Service, the First Ministry of Aaron. First Priestly Benediction. Appearance of the Glory, and Kindling of the Sacrificial Fire. The Priesthood—Duties and Maintenance : Charged with the Service of the Altar and Sanctuary ; Appointed Teachers of the People ; Their Personal Qualities and Eelations ; Various Provisions for their Maintenance. The Tribe of Levi Set Apart for Subordinate Ministry : Puri¬ fication (or Ordination) of the Levites : Their Support from Tithes ; Their Position, Office, and Work. The Sacerdotal (or Levitical) Order; Its Place and Infiuence in the Hebrew Polity. The Sacrificial System : Its Necessity and Spiritual Import ; Definition of Sacrifice ;” Classes of Sacrifices; Order and Significance of Acts in the Blood Sacrifices. The Altar an Oracle of Grace and Hence the Place of Worship. Kelation of the Levitical to the Christian Sacrifices ; and to the Lord’s Supper. Details Eespecting Annual Sacrifices : Animals Offered ; Un¬ blemished ; Age ; To be Voluntary ; Place of Offering. The Life Blood the Essential Feature in the Sacrifice. The Book of Leviticus. Names and Order of the Chief Offerings. The Burnt-Offering. The Meal-Offering and Accompanying Drink-Offering. The Peace-Offering. .... . . . . The Sin-Offering : Sin, as Presented in the Hebrew Scriptures ; Meaning and Place of the Sin-Offering ; Diversity of Vic¬ tims ; Treatment of the Blood and of the Victim ; Other Details. Concluding Thoughts. The Trespass or Guilt-Offering. ...... Appointed Times for Worship, a Complete and Symmetrical Scheme. Feasts and Holy Convocations. The Three His¬ torical Festivals : Their Design, Effects, Characteristics, and Spiritual Teachings. The Eighth-Day Series. Four Marks of Authenticity. The Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Sacrificial Worship. . The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Its Essential Significance : A Sacrifice and Expiation ; A Feast; A Memorial ; Perpetuated in the Lord’s Supper. The Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks. Feast of Trumpets. The Great Day of Atonement. Significance of the Different Treatment of the Two Goats. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths. PAG3 341 345 352 358 366 371 376 380 383 389 393 399 403 409 413 419 srmpsis OF subjects. 7 8KCTIOH PAGE 144 The Seventh-Year Sabbath, and Year of Jubilee. . . 422 145 Hebrew Slavery. . 429 146 Eespecting Vows as Offerings. The Nazarite Vow. . . 432 147 Offerings of First-Born of Man and Beast. Of First Fruits, 436 etc. Of Tithes. 148 Ordinances Respecting Food : Clean and Unclean Animals ; 440 The End and Purpose of these Ordinances. 149 Ceremonial Uncleanness and Purification : Leprosy in the 446 Person, the Garments, and the Dwelling. 150 Ceremonial Uncleanness and Purification : Water of Purifi- 451 cation for Contact with the Dead. ,Childbirth. Bodily Issues. 151 Thoughts Respecting the Hebrew Ritual. .... 456 15^ Unlawful Marriages. Divorce. Marrying a Brothers Widow. 458 Jealousy Offering. Punishment of Defaming Husband. Sins against Chastity. 153 Idols and Altars to be Destroyed. Idolaters, Enticers to 463 Idolatry, False Prophets, and Wonder-Workers to be Put to Death ; and Idolatrous Cities to be Burned. Magical Arts and Divination Penally Condemned ; Also Child- Sacrifice to Molech. CIVIL LEGISLATION: GOVERNMENTAL AND POLITICAL, JUDICIAL AND SOCIAL. 154 The Civil Government Instituted by Moses : Its Distinguish- 468 ing Elements, and Its Influence upon Subsequent Civiliza¬ tions. 155 The Appointment of Judges, by Jethro^s Counsel. Requi- 476 sites of Character. Classification. 156 The Administration of Justice : Supreme Court ; Charges to 483 Judges : Witnesses ; Punishments, Design and Kinds. 157 Crimes, Injuries, and Penalties : Theft and Burglary; Dam- 490 age or Loss ; Injuries to Persons and to Cattle. The Law of Retaliation. Death-Penalty for Special Crimes (Other than Murder). Stoning of the Sabbath-Breaker ; And of the Blaspheming Son of Shelomith. Modes of Inflicting Death. 158 Death Penalty for Murder. Cities of Refuge for Accidental 496 or Justifiable Homicide. Purgation of a Community for a Hidden Murder. 159 . The Widow and the Fatherless ; The Stranger and the Poor. 501 Gleanings of Harvest and Vintage. Usury. Pledges for Loans. 160 Humane and Merciful Precepts : Parapet on Roof ; Exemp- 507 tion from Public Service; Straying or Overburdened Animals Restored or Helped ; Muzzling of the Ox, etc.. Forbidden. 8 STJS^OPSIS OF SUBJECTS. SECTION 161 16 ^ 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 PAGE Additional Precepts : Eespect Enjoined to the Sabbath and 510 Sanctuary, to Parents, to the Aged, the Deaf and the Blind. Tale-Bearing, Neighbor-Hate, Stealing, Lying, and Defrauding (in Several Particulars) Forbidden. Vari¬ ous Idolatrous and Indecent Customs Prohibited. Conclusion of the Mosaic Legislation : IsraePs Threefold Ee- 517 lation to the Threefold Law. Central Place of the Legis¬ lation in the Old Testament History ; Coeval with IsraeTs Existence as a Nation. Principles of the Civil Code of Universal Application. The Written Law the Chief Cause of National Unity and Separation. The Divine Code Superseded Afterward by Two Human Codes. THE HISTOEY EESUMED. Deain of Nadab and Abihu by Eire. ..... 521 The Passover (of the Second Year) at Sinai. Law of a 524 Supplementary Passover. The-Cloud, a Divine Guide to Israel. Hobab, the Human Guide. The Book of Numbers. Preparations for Leaving Sinai: 529 Numbering of the Fighting Men ; Arrangement of the Camp, and Order of the March; Numbering of .the Levites, and Assignment of Service to the Three Families. Advance March of Three Days from Sinai to Kibroth-Hat- 534 taavah. The Hebrew Element a Main Constituent of Modern Civilization; Its Distinctive Characteristic, the Instinct of Statical Order. Murmuring Punished by Fire at Taberah, and Moses Inter- 538 cedes. A Second Murmuring, and Moses Complains to God. Seventy Elders Appointed to Assist Moses, and Endued with the Prophetic Gift. Quails (sent a Second Time) Followed by Plague at Kibroth-Hattaavah. Journey to Hazeroth. Miriam and Aaron Speak against 544 Moses. JEHOVAH Vindicates Moses and Punishes Miriam with Leprosy. At the Intercession of Moses She is Healed. From Hazeroth to Kadesh in Wilderness of Paran. Twelve 548 Spies Traverse the Land of Canaan. Eeport of Ten, and of Caleb and Joshua. Eebellion of the People. Upon thq Pleading of Moses JEHOVAH Eemits Judgment of Destruction, but Announces their Doom of Forty Years^ Wandering and Death in the Desert. The Ten Spies De¬ stroyed by Plague. Presumptuous Attack upon their Nearest Enemies Punished by IsraeTs Defeat. Wilderness of Paran. Eoute of Israel from Sinai to Kadesh. 553 Locality of Kadesh-Barnea. The Thirty-Seven Years^ BECTION 171 ira 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 18 ^ STJV0PSI8 OF SUBJECTS. Ban : Stations of the Wandering; Life and Maintenance of the People. Rebellion and Destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. - Murmuring of the People Punished. The Plague Stayed through Aaron's Intercession. The High-Priestly Office of Aaron Proved by the Rod that Budded, Bloomed, and Bare Fruit. The Host Gathered at Kadesh-Barnea for Final Departure. Rebellious Murmuring of the Hew Generation. The Sin of Moses at the Rock in Kadesh ; Its Punishment An¬ nounced. Messengers to Edom. Kadesh to Mount Hor ; Its Locality. Death and Burial of Aaron. Return through Kadesh Region. Arad's Attack and IsraePs Vow. Southward and Eastward Journey through the Way of the Red Sea. Murmuring Punished by Fiery Serpents; Method of Healing. Further Journeying. From the Desert (Et Tih) into the Arabah ; To Elath and Ezion-Geber on the Red Sea (Gulf of Akahah). Horth- ward Journey on the Eastern Boundary of Edom, or Mount Seir, to the Valley of the Arnon. The Desert AYanderings Ended by Two Songs of Gladness. Map. Sihon Smitten ; His Land and Cities Taken. Og and his People Destroyed ; Bashan and its Cities Possessed. Encamp¬ ments North of the Arnon. Final and Protracted Gather¬ ing of Israel on the Arboth Moab, or Plains of Jordan. Balaam and Balak. First and Second Solicitation. The Going and the Divine Hinderer. Balaam's First Con¬ strained Prophetic Blessing. Balaam's Second and Third Prophetic Blessings upon Israel. His Sublime Prophecy of the Star and Sceptre : Destiny of Existing Nations ; Vista of the Long Future. Israel's Sin with the Moabites and Midianites. Its Punish¬ ment. Judgment Executed by Phinehas. Destruction of Midianites ; Division of Allowed Spoil. Balaam Slain with the Sword. Third Numbering of Israel. Land East of Jordan Divided between Two and a Half Tribes. Boundaries of Canaan ; Its Division by Lot among the Nine and a Half Remaining Tribes. A Generation Dead. The Levitical Cities. Law of Daugh¬ ters' Inheritance ; The Law Amended. Announcement of Moses's Death ; His Twofold Prayer. The Ordination of Joshua as his Successor. The Book of Deuteronomy,.. . First Parting Address of Moses ; Exordium ; Districts of 9 PAGE 560 566 570 577 584 590 598 606 613 621 626 634 PAGE 10 SmOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. 8ECTION Canaan. Exhortations to Obedience, based upon JEHO¬ VAH’S Gracious Disclosures and Dealings. 1 83 Second Parting Address : Introduction. Keminders ; Warn- 640 ings; Entreaties. 184 Same, Continued : Past Wilderness Dealings and the Pro- 647 spective Canaan Inheritance as Motives to Fidelity. 185 Same, Continued: Warnings, Keminders, and Pleadings: A 65:2 Blessing and a Curse Set before them. 1 86 Same, Continued : One Central Sanctuary. Law Respecting 658 the King. 18T Same, Continued : The Prophet like unto Moses. Intimation 666 of a Succession of Prophets. Directions Concerning War¬ fare. 188 Same, Concluded: Forbidden and Allowed Fellowship. 673 Thanksgiving and Prayer at Presentation of First-Fruits and of Second Tithe. Summary of Engagements between JEHOVAH and Israel. 189 Third Address : Stone Monuments Inscribed with the Law 678 to be Erected on Mount Ebal. Blessings and Cursings to be Proclaimed on Gerizim and Ebal. The Twelve Curses Pronounced on Ebal. 190 Blessings Promised to Obedience : At Sinai ; Afterward on 683 the Plains of Moab. 191 Prophetic Curses : At Sinai ; x\mplified on the Plains of 686 Moab. Promises of Restored Favor upon Repentance. 19S Closing Address, in Connection with Solemn Renewal of 697 Covenant. Renewed Appeals to Past Mercies, Calls to Fidelity, and Warnings of Punishment for Apostasy. 193 Great Truths Respecting the Divine Revelation. . . . 701 194 Conclusion of Final Address.. 708 195 Special Messages : of Moses, to the People, to Joshua, to the 715 Priests and Levites ; of Jehovah to Moses, and to Joshua. 196 The Dying Song of Moses. ....... 731 197 Blessing of the Tribes by Moses. 731 198 Vision of Canaan from Pisgah. Death, Burial, and En- 737 comium of Moses. 199 Supplementary: Genealogical Outline of 1 Chron. . . 748 Explanatoet Note. —Dislocations of text, in this volume, are made in the interest of chronological order, as respects the History ; and of natural sequence in the subjects, as respects the Legislation, While the matter of the Books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is largely re-distributed in the codifying process, yet careful note is made throughout of the dis¬ tinctive character, the special relation, and the true unity of each of these Books, Further, as to subjects of critical inquiry, it is believed that the main points both of positive exposition and definite refutation are sufficiently presented in these pages. ISRAEL’S EXODUS AND WANDERINGS; THE HEBREW LEGISLATION. Section 91. PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS, HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. Cheistianity stands in organic connection with the Old Testament religion, both being parts of a gradually developing system. Of the Hebrew people, Ewald writes : “ The history of this ancient people is, at the foundation, the history of the true religion passing through all the stages of progress by which it attained to its consummation ; the religion which, on this nar¬ row territory, advances through all struggles to complete victory, and at length reveals itself in its full glory and might, to the end that, spread¬ ing abroad by its own irresistible energy, it maj^ never vanish away, but may become the eternal heritage and blessing of all nations.” G. P. F. -While the economies are two, while the Old and the New Testaments differ widely in their lit¬ erary features, there still remains the one series of truths revealed by God to man for his salva¬ tion. The Old and the New Testaments are still one book in virtue of the absolute unity of the truths which they reveal. Thej’’ are the great fundamental truths of Christianity : the truths of the one living and holy God ; of man made in the image of God but fallen ; of sin ; of man’s inability to save himself ; of God’s desire to save him ; of the salvation provided by the merciful God ; of atonement ; of the friendship of God ; of his communion with man ; of prayer ; of providence ; of holiness ; of a com¬ plete redemption. The two religions, in virtue of this community of truth, are one religion ; the two theologies are one theology ; and the two Testaments—the Old Testament and the New—to quote the words of Chalmers, are not “ cross-lights that dazzle and perplex the be¬ holder, but are the two golden candlesticks lighted up for the Church of Christ upon earth, and which, while that Church has being, will never be taken away.” Be Wiit. The Bible occupies a place in the literature of the world distinct from that held by any other volume. It contains the bulk of the literary productions of one race—the Hebrew ; it lies at the foundation, permeates all the materials, forms the very capstone itself of the splendid literary structure reared by another race—the Anglo-Saxon ; while other peoples the globe over acknowledge its surpassing merit. The Bible, holds a like position in religion. Among religious writings, this book stands pre-eminent ; its morals are purer, its teachings nobler, its influ¬ ence more notable than all other so-called sacred books. Where its precepts are honored, there progress in all that concerns man’s betterment is found. Its followers are earnest and aggres¬ sive ; and as the Book is known, men acknowl¬ edge its truth and become its devoted adherents. The Bible claims supreme auihm'Uy over men. It enters into the State, comes into the social cir¬ cle, opens the door of the family, and penetrates the soul of each individual ; everywhere declar¬ ing the true principles whereby all the relations of this life should be governed. This authority is demanded as a right, for the Book claims Divine origin. It is a revelation, disclosing the one God, man’s distance from him, and the bridge that spans the distance. In its spiritual aim the Bible differs from other books. “ Instruction in righteousness” is its aim. All that pertains to the spiritual welfare of man is its object. It reveals God as one re¬ garding justice and loving mercy, it pictures man as guilty and condemned, it displays God’s great purpose of redemption in Christ Jesus. This purpose seen in dimmest outline in Eden as the triumph of the good over the evil, re¬ flected in shadowy form through patriarch, priest, and prophet ever develops —its shadows n PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS, ever lessening, its outline ever filling until it bursts in the grand, full splendor of the Cross and the Resurrection. We, looking backward, see God’s purpose thus accomplished, and in this light much of the mystery is dissolved. What to Hebrew sage and people appeared as a flickering rushlight, to us blazes as the full- orbed sun at noonday. Here then is seen the aim of the Book in the Divine Man, the Lord Christ. This aim must guide our interpreta¬ tion ; forgetting it, we are wanderers on the des¬ ert and all around is strange and dreary. The Bible is one, yet many ; giving each book its value as a unit; they combine in one grand integer. “It is,” to use the words of Dr. Briggs, “ the unity of the ocean, where every wave has its individuality of life and movement. It is the unity of the continent in which moun¬ tains and rivers, valleys and uplands, flowers and trees, birds and insects, animal and human life, combine to distinguish it as a magnificent whole from other continents. It is the unity of the heaven, where star differs from star in form, color, order, movement, size, and importance, but all declare the glory of God.” E. R. Pope. The Old and New Covenants are identified mor¬ ally and spiritually. The same moral principles of benevolence, truth, and justice prevail through¬ out the Scriptures. The moral code of both covenants is the same. The Decalogue i^ the moral law for all men and for all ages. It con¬ sists of two grand principles, supreme love to God and sincere love to man, on which hang not only the law and the prophets but also the apostles, like all the branches of a tree on the trunk. The ground of all obedience is the re¬ vealed character of God, and especially his love as the Lord our God and Redeemer, and the motive or mainspring in the human soul is felt love. The righteousness of this law the Son of God, as the Son of Man, has not only fulfilled, but magnified and made honorable. Conse¬ quently, obedience under the Gospel is enjoined on the same grounds and from the same motives —love to God for his revelation of his love in the person and work of Christ. The new moral commandment of the Gospel is certainly not that we love God supremely or one another with a pure heart fervently, but that we love each other as Christ hath loved us. It is a new yet an old commandment, old as Adam in its prin¬ ciple, and as Moses in its formal basis, and neNv merely in its formal motive, the gracious w'ork of Christ ; which is a new thing in the earth, a new form of the Divine love. And all the spir¬ itual or gracious feelings required and exercised under the Law and the Gospel are the same. The form of worship is different, but the spirit is the same. The former accordingly is changed, but the latter remains unchanged and unchange¬ able. The same faith and the same fear, the same hope and the same joy, the same humility and the same holiness, run like a perennial and pearly stream throughout both economies. The principles of subjective religion are the same throughout. A complete moral and spiritual identity prevails. The two covenants are doctrinally identified. Their doctrinal oneness is as conspicuous as the harmony of the solar system, as the unjty of the earth itself, or the unbroken unity ot the arch of heaven. Not only is the grand method of salvation doctrinally the same, there is also a complete and constant agreement in the minor details of the development of doctrine, expressed in different languages and in different forms of phraseology. The great Teacher and the authors of the New Testament constantly quote and ex¬ pound the facts and truths of the Old Testa¬ ment, as teaching the doctrines which they merely developed and declared. It is, indeed, their text-book and book of reference on all oc¬ casions. They regard the doctrine of the proph¬ ets as the same as their own, both in its source and in its substance. A grand succession of writers of different ages and countries, some of whom were even ignorant of each others’ writ¬ ings at the time they wrote themselves, have concurred in revealing the very same truths to us, on whom the ends of the age are come. And the two Testaments are mutually interpret¬ ing. The New Testament expounds the Old, which in turn illustrates the New. Both are to be expounded on substantially the same prin¬ ciples. Mutually necessary and singly unintel¬ ligible, the one unlocks the other. We read the Old in the clearer light of the New, and the New in the light of the language and literature of the Old. As the human race was furnished by the sacrifices and sensible signs of the law with the high ideas of sin, satisfaction, and sal¬ vation, realized in the Gospel, we must now read the dispensations in the light of one another. The Epistle to the Hebrews in particular is a key to the symbolism of the law, but the rich life of Jesus Christ, the end of all the law, is the clear light in which we read those mystical sacrifices which threw their shadows forward, and now shed down their light upon the Cross. The Law and the Gospel are not merely the lesser ( and greater lights that rule respectively day and night, but binary stars that commingle and com¬ bine their beams to dispel the darkness of the moral world. James Scott. HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 13 In the wider and deeper sense of the word, the whole Old Testament is Messianic. This is the position taken by Christ, the best exegete of the Old Testament, and by the entire New Testament, the best commentary on the Old. Christ’s advent and work are everywhere de¬ clared to be historically and materially based upon the Old Testament dispensation and rev¬ elation, of which, in turn, they are the fulfil¬ ment and consummation. With one voice, the New Testament teaches that the Old represents the preparatory stage, which, when in the full¬ ness of time the Word became flesh, was trans¬ formed into the actual establishment of God’s kingdom upon earth. In this manner the cen¬ tral thought of the books of pre-Christian reve¬ lation and their connecting link is their record, in word and deed, of the gradual unfolding of God’s plans for man’s redemption, w'hich plans became a reality and fact through the person and work of the Messiah. The Old Testament books are accordingly not an accidental collec¬ tion of the literary remains of the Hebrew peo¬ ple, but are the providentiall}^ given and pre¬ served records of the development, in time and history, of the kingdom of God on earth, from the germs in the prot-evangelium in Genesis 3 :15 to the completion of the work in the Mes¬ siah. Schodde. The grand idea of the kingdom of God is the connecting thread that runs through the entire course of divine revelation. We behold a kingdom, planted in the remote past, and car¬ ried forward to its ripe development, by a series of transactions in which the agency of God mingles in an altogether peculiar way in the current of human affairs. There is a manifes¬ tation of God in act and deed. Verbal teaching is the commentary attached to the historic fact, ensuring to the latter its true meaning. For example, the emancipation of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt was the standing illustration of the character of God, who revealed himself in that act, and the symbol of the great redemp¬ tion from sin, itself not less an act and achieve¬ ment than the event which prefigured it- G. P. F. The “Kingdom of God, ’ internal and exter¬ nal, is the Content and End of all prophecy, the realization of God’s will on earth, as in heaven. It is established first of all subjectively in the heart, and next, politically, in a national dominion of the holy people, which becomes, historically, the seed of a development ordained, under new forms, to embrace the whole earth. Israel is the result of prophecy. The Torah it¬ self goes back to the prophetic word. Again, every prophet stands upon the Torah, which all prophecy presupposes, and denounces judg¬ ment for covenant transgression, and blessing for covenant obedience. The covenants of In¬ heritance made with Abraham, and of Royalty with David, rest upon prophecy. All the prom¬ ises included in these, all the political, ethical, judicial, and ritual parts of the Torah—in short, the whole Old Testament administration, finds its i3rinciple of unity in the prophecy and prom¬ ise of the Kingdom of God,” set up to regu¬ late the individual and national life, and fore¬ shadow the subjection of the world’s dominion to the sovereignty of the heavens. Messianic prophecy has no other justification than this. On this rested the Theocrac 5 \ On this rests the Church. '[Vest. God’s revelation at no period was given in the form of abstract delineations of truth and duty, but has ever developed itself in immedi¬ ate connection with-the circumstances of indi¬ viduals and the leadings of Providence. From first to last it comes forth entwined with the characters and events of history. Not a little of it is written in the transactions themselves of past time, which are expressly declared to have been “ written for our learning.” And it is equally true of the Law and the Gospel, that the his\,orical lines with which they are interwoven, while serving to increase their interest and en¬ hance their didactic value, by no means detract from their general bearing, or interfere with their-binding obligation. P. F.-The whole history of the children of Israel is the expres¬ sion of the plans of God for the unfolding of his kingdom on earth. This is much more true than that the history of the Church is the ex¬ pression of the New Testament ideal ; for the people of the Old were to a greater extent under the direct and theocratic guidance of God, than are those of the New ; and so the history of the Church of the Old Covenant— i.e., Old Testa¬ ment history, is for this purpose especially in¬ structive. It is God’s revelation in deeds rather than in words ; and in many instances the truths underlying the former are more trans¬ parent than those expressed by the latter. Harper. It is the hand of God himself that ever ap¬ pears to be directing the transactions of Old Testament history. The things that happened to his chosen people could not otherwise have accomplished the great ends of their appoint¬ ment ; for through these God was continually making revelation of himself, and bringing those who stood nearest to him to a fuller ac¬ quaintance with his character as the God of life 14 PRELIMmABY THOUGHTS, and blessing. It was therefore of essential moment to the object in view that his people should be able without hesitation to regard them as indications of his mind ; that they should not merely consider them as his, in the general sense in which it may be said that “ God is in history,” but his also in the more definite and l^eculiar sense of conveying specific and pro¬ gressive discoveries of the divine administra¬ tion. How could they have been recognized as such, unless the finger of God had, in some form, laid its distinctive impress upon them ? Taking into account, therefore, all the peculi¬ arities belonging to the typical facts of Old Tes¬ tament history—the close relation in which they commonly stood to the rites and institutions of a religion of hope, the evident manner in which many of them bore upon them the interposition of God, and the place occupied by others in the announcements of prophecy—they had quite enough to distinguish them from the more gen¬ eral events of providence, and were perfectly capable of ministering to the faith and the just expectations of the people of God. P. F. Nowhere is personality more strongly em¬ phasized than in the religion of the Old Tes¬ tament—the personalitj'^ of God, and, as a consequence of this, the personality of man ; yet always in such a way as not to obliterate the line of demarcation between the Divine and hu¬ man. The Divine is never humanized, the human is never deified. The Old Testament knows of no demigods. Its first man is as sim¬ ply and purely human as any of his descend¬ ants. This feeling of personality gives to the religion of revelation a peculiar hue. It substi¬ tutes reverence and love for slavish fear. It throws a sacredness around human life. It in¬ fuses a kindly spirit into legislation. And the question now arises. How shall we account tor its presence here, when it is so sadly wanting elsewhere ? For the origin of Old Testament religion Naturalism can furnish no satisfactory' answer ; we must have recourse to a supernat¬ ural revelation. Man, in his present state, is unable of himself to rise to the true idea of God. He has, indeed, a vague feeling of an ! ultimate power lying behind the visible cosmos ; but what that power is he cannot say. It is to him the “ Unknown God.” How poor are even the highest conceptions which a mind so pro¬ found as Plato’s was able to form of him ! Yet from the first there existed among the Hebrew people a true idea of God and of his relation to the world. Whence did it spring ? Evidently not from philosophical reflection ; for we can¬ not ascribe to the untutored Semitic mind an achievement in thought that lay altogether be¬ yond the most cultivated Aryan mind. The only explanation lies in a Divine revelation. If man is to know God, God must come to man. And this he did when he appeared to Abraham. It was at a time when the knowledge of the true God, possessed by former ages, had become lost, at least, in Abraham’s native home and among his kindred. The Bible speaks of earlier reve¬ lations than that made to the ‘ ‘ father of the faithful but whatever their character, in his day they had ceased to be remembered, or, at least, obeyed ; and his friends beyond the Eu¬ phrates served other gods than the Lord of heaven and earth. Then it was God came to Abraham, and whether by outward theophany or by inward manifestation to his spirit, it was a real historical coming. He came not to con¬ vey to his mind abstract theological truths, but to enter into a communion of love with him ; .and in this communion, Abraham, by living ex¬ perience, came to know God as he could not know him simply by an exercise of the reason— came to know him in his unity, his spirituality, his personality, his holiness. He recognized him as the only source of true salvation, and such was his assurance, that he chose to aban¬ don fatherland and friends rather than sur¬ render his faith in this supermundane, heav¬ enly, and only true God. This confidence was the root of his life and influence. “ He,” says Ewald, “ not only steadfastly maintained the knowledge of the true God in his own practice and life, but knew how to make it lasting in his house and race. And in nothing is the memory of the reality and grandeur of his God-fearing and God-blessed life more evidently preserved than in this, that powerful and devout men, even among foreign nations, were compelled to confess that God was with him ; and eagerly sought his friendship and blessing.” GasL The central conception which gives unity to the religious teaching of the whole body of the Hebrew Scriptures is this : ihe moral character of God, in personal relation with mankind and with I each human being. This great central doctrine ! (which includes the truths of man’s personality, moral character, and accountableness) is devel¬ oped by means of human history and experi¬ ence, especially the experience of sin. Four main lines of illustration combine to unfold this greatest of lessons : 1. Public history, especially ' as concerned with those calamities which the i Scriptures represent as Divine judgments on sin ; as the Deluge, the destruction of Sodom, the overthrow of Pharaoh, the punishment of HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 15 the rebellious Israelites, the extermination of the depraved idolaters of Canaan, the Babylon¬ ish captivity, the overthrow of Babylon. 2. Symbolic worship and priestly mediation. 3. Prophetic ministry, interpreting God’s law, will, truth, and promises. 4. Personal experience, vividly illustrating, on the one hand, the care and guidance of God’s providence and leading and teaching of his Spirit, bestowed on those who fear him ; on the other hand, the life of faith, penitence, prayer, and loving obedience to God. In this test method the teaching of the three other methods is brought to a practi¬ cal focus. It may be summed up in the words in which the most sorrowful of the prophets, in the most mournful book of Scripture, utters his peaceful faith : “ The Loed is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him” (Lam. 3 ; 25). E. R. Conder. The period covered bj'^ the central books of the Pentateuch is, in many respects, the most im¬ portant in Old Testament history, not only so far as regards Israel, but the Church at all times. Opening with centuries of silence and seeming Divine forgetfulness during the bondage of Egypt, the pride and power of Pharaoh are sud¬ denly broken by a series of miracles, culminat¬ ing in the deliverance of Israel and the destruc¬ tion of Egypt’s host. In that Paschal night and under the blood-sprinkling, Israel as a nation is born of God, and the redeemed people are then led forth to be consecrated at the Mount by or¬ dinances, laws, and judgments. Then we are shown the manner in which Jehovah deals with his people, both in judgment and in mercy, till at the last he safely brings them to the promised inheritance. In all this we see not only the history of the ancient people of God, but also a grand type of the redemption and the sanctifi¬ cation of the Church. Further, this narrative exhibits the foundation of the Church in the Covenant of God, and also the principles of Je¬ hovah’s government for all time. For however great the difference in the development, the essence and character of the covenant of grace are ever the same. The Old and New Tes¬ taments are essentially one—not two covenants, but one, gradually unfolding into full perfect¬ ness, “ Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone” of the foundation which is alike that of the apostles and prophets. A. E. The Pentateuch is full of God. The Deity overflows the wondrous writing. God is so near his creatures he speaks to them face to face ; he is familiar with them, though always re¬ taining the augustness of his Deity, and never relaxing the majesty proper to his being and duration ; he comes down to earth, walks upon it, talks to men, tells them what his will is, elects them to service, enriches them with promises, points out their respective destinies. In the Pentateuch God is a God nigh at hand, and not afar off. . . . Without the Pentateuch Christ as revealed in the Gospels would have been impossible, and without Christ the Penta¬ teuch would have been impossible. I find no great event in the Pentateuch that is not for some purpose of argument or illustration used by Christ himself or by his disciples and apos¬ tles in the interests of what is known as evan¬ gelical truth. It lies within easy proof that Christ is the text of the Old Testament, and that the Old Testament is the text of Christ. What use is made in the New Testament of the creation of the universe, the faith of Abraham, the rain of manna, the lifting up of the serpent, and the tabernacle of witness ! The sublime apology of Stephen epitomizes the Old Testament, and the Epistle to the Hebrews could not have been written but for the ritual of Exodus and Leviti¬ cus. In its purely moral tone the Old Testa¬ ment is of kindred quality with the New. J. P. Progress of Doctrine Throughout. There is a growth in doctrine visible through¬ out the Word of God. Moses did not have so full an idea of God’s purpose as did James. As Bernard well says, “ In the Old Testament the progress is protracted, interrupted, often lan¬ guid, sometimes so dubious as to seem like ret¬ rogression. Yet through it all the doctrine grows, and the revelation draws nearer the great disclosure. Then there is entire suspension. We turn the vacant page which represents the silence of four hundred years—and we are in the New Testament. Now again there is prog¬ ress, but rapid and unbroken. Our steps before were centuries, now they are but years.” E. R. Pope. -All intelligent students of the Bible are aware that this book represents a long pro¬ cess of revelation. The revelation begins with a few primal germs of truth embodied in forms which were adapted to the earlier stages of re¬ ligious training. In one aspect of it, this reve¬ lation is a Divine process of education in which men are taught more and more concerning God and their relations to him. It is, therefore, a revelation of God as well as from God. There is in this process a continual advance from the less to the more complete. Larger truth comes as man’s capacity to receive it is trained and developed. The motives which are at first urged for right-doing are such as are associated with fear of penalty and with temporal rewards. 16 PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS, Duty is enforced with higher motives as rapidly as the process of training permits, but the lofti¬ est plane is fully reached onl}'^ in Christianity. While, therefore, we cannot claim for Old Tes¬ tament ethics the same perfect ideals and lofti¬ est motives with which duty is enforced under Christianity, we are to remember that the Old Testament system enfolded the same principles, and that it was constantlj' looking and working toward their highest statement and applica¬ tions. Many of the moral difficulties which the Old Testament presents would be much lessened if we viewed them in the light of their time. Such as are integral parts of the system find ex¬ planation on the principle of progressive reve¬ lation, which involves a process extending from the less to the more complete. The perfect ideals and precepts of Christianity would have been useless in that rude, early time. The people could not have understood them, and hence could not have been greatly helped by them. God adapts his training to the condi¬ tions of his pupils, and gives them such moral lessons as they can receive, but always heightens the character of the instruction as those under training become able to receive it. But many of the moral difficulties are not parts of the sys¬ tem at all. The sins of Jacob or of David, the imprecations of David on his enemies, are no more a part of Old Testament ethics than the sins of Judas and Peter are a part of Christian- it 3 ^ The most that can be said of such defects of character is, that thej^ reflect the low moral- itj'- of the age, and are, so far, contrary to the central principles of the sj^stem. He who comes to the study of the Old Testament with candid historic sense will find it a book of new mean¬ ings and value. Stevens. Limits of Legitimate Criticism. An investigation of the Scriptures is legiti¬ mate and right only when it takes place within the limits prescribed by Scriptures themselves. For instance, the Old Testament claims to be a revelation from God, and the history of a revela¬ tion On every page is unmistakably imprinted the fact ihat these books are to be considered as a truthful record of the manner in which God was preparing salvation for man, and man for salvation. The golden thread running through the whole collection of books is the develop¬ ment of the kingdom of God on earth, among his chosen people, and under the special guid¬ ance of Jehovah, through miracles and wonders, down to the time when the Word should become flesh. Any biblical research that runs counter to these principles, by this very fact excludes itself from the domain of legitimate biblical sci¬ ence. It does not investigate these books from the standpoint and within the lines which they themselves prescribe as the all essential in an honest reproduction of their contents. When Kuenen, then, starts out with the proposition as his “ standpoint,” that the religion of Israel is one in kind with the other religions of the East, “ nothing less, but also nothing more,” he steps out of the boundaries of legitimate bibli¬ cal science. He draws the controlling data in his research not from the Bible itself, but from a philosophical and naturalistic hypothesis de¬ duced from non-biblical sources. His philos¬ ophy contradicts the very fundamentals of legit¬ imate Bible study, and as a system his investi¬ gations can give no practical help to a correct biblical science. When Baur, the father of the Tubingen school of New Testament reconstruc¬ tionists, says that miracles must be excluded in the very outstart in investigating the New Tes¬ tament, since miracles interfere with the true philosophical conception of history, he thereby deserts the domain of biblical science, denying a priori the very distinguishing feature which, according to these records, must result from an honest study of the Word, A further limitation is the teaching of Christ. If Christ has spoken clearly on any point what¬ ever, then the matter is settled for a Christian student. We have no patience with New Tes¬ tament rationalism that seeks to come to the as¬ sistance of Old Testament rationalism by an¬ alyzing either the New Testament records or the Saviour of the New Testament into unreliable sources of information. Literary criticism has never undertaken a more sorry work than to at¬ tempt to undermine the historical character of the gospels or of the account there given of the Saviour’s work and words. When then, Christ, and with him the whole New Testament, de¬ clares that the Old Testament is the revealed Word of God ; that the early records there are fact, and not fiction, and, least of all, the fabri¬ cation of wily priests ; that the theological ideas and ethical i^rinciples of the Old Testament are substantially those accepted by the evangelical church in general — thereby limitations are drawn within which legitimate biblical science must move and have its being. If it produces results that transgress these limits, then it has worked with principles and methods drawn from sources foreign to the Bible itself. But within these limits there can be in many points a difference between Christian scholars equally reverent and equally anxious to learn the truth. HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 17 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Schodde. Theophany the Source of Miracle and Prophecy. The Christian evidences from the Bible may be summed up under the three heads—The¬ ophany, Miracle, and Prophecy. The Old Tes¬ tament is full of theophanies, and in the New Testament there are many Christophanies and pneumatophanies. These manifestations of God in the forms of space and time and in the sphere of physical nature are of vast importance in the unfolding of Divine revelation. These are the centres from which miracles and proph¬ ecies flow. If there were such theophanies or Divine manifestations in the successive stages of Divine revelation, then we should expect mir¬ acles in the physical world and prophecy in the world of man. If Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, then prophecy and miracles are ex¬ actly what we should expect so long as He abode in this world in the flesh. If the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles on the day of Pente¬ cost, and He was present with the churches of the apostles in the peculiar manner of external manifestations of pneumatophany such as are described in the New Testament, we are not surprised at the occurrence of miracle working and prophecy during that period ; and it seems to be the most natural thing in the world that when these Divine manifestations ceased mir¬ acle working and prophecy ceased with them. If, then, on the one side, recent criticisms have weakened the independent value of the evi¬ dences from miracles and prediction, they have, on the other side, given something vastly better in their place. They have called the attention to the presence of God with his people in ex¬ ternal manifestations of theophany to guide the advancing stages of the history of redemption. Here is the citadel of our religion, to which all its lines of evidence converge, the centre of the entire revelation and religion from which prophecy and miracle working issue in all their variet}’^ of form. The evidences from miracles and prophecy gain in strength when they are ]daced in their true relations to the theophany in which the unity of the evidence is found. Briggs. The Seven Great Periods of Miracle Miracles disclose a rational order. They ap¬ pear only in great cycles, with long periods.of time between them. The Bible is mainly occu¬ pied with other things. It is the ordinary life of man and of nations upon which it casts the light of eternity. It is overwhelmingly histori¬ cal and descriptive in its temper. And the miracles which it reports cluster around great critical periods of universal historical import, when great men appeared and mighty changes were impending—just the times when extraor¬ dinary events would be probable. Miracles are the strokes of God’s hammer within the clock of the world’s history. They do not occur as regularly, but they do occur as rationally. That they are here, and not there, nor everywhere has a rational expla¬ nation ; and faith in miracles becomes easier when we discover that they follow a Divine law. The recorded miracles of the Bible fall into six great periods, while prophecy points to a sev¬ enth and last as completing the list. 1. The first period of miracles is associated with the creation. The miracles of this period may be reduced to four—the creation of mat¬ ter, the appearance of vegetation, the beginning of animal life, and the appearance of man. Ne science has been able to explain the origin of these things. They are all here, and there was a time when they were not here ; how, then, came they to be here ? Call to your aid, if you will, the nebular hypothesis ; assume that an at¬ tenuated fire-mist was the original form in which the universe existed ; and you have not shaken off the grip of the logic which insists upon a beginning, and grounds that beginning in a miracle of power and wisdom. Whence came that seething fire-mist, and how out of it came the abundant vegetation, the multitudi¬ nous forms of animal life, and the reason of man ? “There is no spontaneous generation” is the uniform and emphatic testimony of science ; “ there is no development of plant into ani¬ mal, nor of the brute into man.’’ is the univer¬ sal verdict of scientific induction. The man who is not carried away by his prejudices must confess that in accounting for the origin of the world, a miracle of Divine power is the only rational explanation. 2. The second period of miracles brings us to I the time of Noah. For more than sixteen hun¬ dred years the life of the world runs in its ordi¬ nary channels. Men marry, and found commu¬ nities, and engage in agriculture and arts—while only their wickedness is colossal and defiant. A hundred and twenty years of preaching by Noah does not result in a single conversion. Slowly but steadily good men were crowded to the wall, until atheism was entrenched and immorality was universal and shameless, Onl,v one miracle breaks the awful monotony, and that was Enoch’s translation, a reasonable trib¬ ute to singiuar righteousness, but one which 18 PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS, fell unheeded upon the ears of men. At last, when the cup of iniquity was full, the stroke of judgment fell in the Deluge ; and then, lest the former impiety should be repeated, the Confu¬ sion of Tongues scattered the race over the face of the earth. It was an extraordinary crisis, and called for extraordinary measures. The times were such as to make the miracle reason¬ able. 3. The third period of miracles brings us to the time of Moses. And here again we have an intervening period of nearly nine hundred years, during which the world’s life is represented as moving in its ordinary channels. Cities are built, empires are founded, the sciences and the arts are cultivated. But the moral life of man shows no improvement. The foulest idolatries are practised. The time has come for a new departure, one of the highest significance to man—the election and isolation of a nation, whose mission it should be to recall the world from idolatry and immorality. These are the two invaluable legacies of Israel to the world— the doctrine of one living God and the Deca¬ logue as the rule of man’s life. Nearly thirty miracles are recorded in connection with that great movement in history which resulted in the deliverance of the twelve tribes from the tyranny of Egypt and their establishment in Palestine. It is not too much to say that the fate of the world was trembling in the balances, and this gives .to the recorded miracles their rational justification. 4. And now, again, the miraculous wave re¬ cedes, and the world’s life, that of the Jews in¬ cluded, moves in the ordinary channels for nearly six hundred .years. We read of wars and inva¬ sions, of the growing moral corruption that per¬ vaded the people, until only a few remained true to God. and these so quiet and scattered that they were unknown to Elijah. Nearly twenty miracles are associated with his life and that of his successor, Elisha. Israel had touched the lowest point of its immorality, and had be¬ come the scorn of the heathen. Here, again, it is clear that the moral needs of the time justi¬ fied the emergence of God’s power and protest in miracles of judgment and mercy. 5. Again the tide recedes, and nothing re¬ markable confronts us in the world’s history for nearly three hundred and fifty years, until Je¬ rusalem is destroyed by the proud King of Baby¬ lon. We come to the time of Daniel, with its two great miracles of the preservation of his three friends from the furnace of fire and his own deliverance from the lion’s den, and with its bold and hopeful prophecies of the kingdom of God. If ever idolatry was defiant, it w^as when the children of Abraham were captives in Baby¬ lonia. Nebuchadnezzar deemed himself God, and ordered men to worship his image ; and the miracles appear as the Divine judgment cn the audacious blasphemy. Was there not pro¬ priety in these signal deliverances ? 6. And now, once more, the miracles disap¬ pear, to emerge only after nearly six hundred years, when Jesus Christ appears at the greatest critical period of the world’s history, and to in¬ augurate the final dispensation in the kingdom of God. Nearly sixty miracles belong to this period, more than all the preceding periods to¬ gether, including the four great miracles of the creation. Does not that fact clearly show that miracles are the signs of an extraordinary crisis in hirman affairs ? They appear only in company with such men as Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and Christ, and at periods in human history that must be recognized as turning-points. 7. And so, once more, when the end shall come, its advent is to be ushered in by the great miracles of judgment and resurrection. Mean¬ time, the world returns to what we call its ordi¬ nary life, but which is no less providential and Divine in its guidance than the jjeriods of mir¬ aculous action, and into which has gone, as iron into the blood, the precipitate of all mir¬ aculous action from the very beginning. And, now, what does this review teach us about the place that miracles' have in human history? Two things. (1) First it is clear that miracles are connected with great moral crises in the affairs of the world. The extraordinary event is associated with the extraordinary time of its occurrence > and the more critical the period, the more numerous, varied, and impressive are the miracles. A rough estimate shows twenty-seven miracles in the time of Moses, eighteen miracles in the time of Elijah, and fifty-three miracles in the time of Christ ; and excepting the two great miracles of the Flood, and the tw'o that belong to the time of Daniel, I cannot recall more than half a dozen that are not connected with these de¬ cisive periods in God’s discipline of man. The record plainly shows that there is a law of mir¬ acles, a reason for their occasional and brief ap¬ pearance, with long periods of time interven¬ ing. They meet us only when the moral needs of the hour justifies their appearance. (2) In the second place, the miracles of the Bible enter as permanent factors into the sub¬ sequent life of the world. They are associated with the birth of permanent institutions. They are the signal-guns of great events, of ever- UELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 19 widening reach and power. They are most numerous and impressive in the two great periods of Moses and of Christ, the giving of the Law and of tlie Gospel, the creation of the Jewish commonwealth, and the founding of the Christian Church. However the Law was given, and in whatever way the twelve tribes came to possess the Holy Land, the Jew with the Decalogue in his hand has given law to the world. The miracles of the Exodus and the Con¬ quest are associated with a moral movement, whose course is still widening and deepening. New Testament Definition of a Mkade. Miracles are never referred to in the gospels as merely wonders ; but always by the double phrases, “ xconders and signs," or “ signs and wonders" —that is, the astonishment is traced to a rational ground. The miracle is not a trick of mere power, but an indication of what he is who works it, or in whose name it is wrought. It is seen to be in perfect harmony with his character and ministry. It is a sign, rather than a credential. It neither proves that Jesus Christ was a holy man, nor does it prove his doctrine to have been Divine ; it is simply such an act as may reasonablj’’ be expected from what he is and what he came to do. Deeds of Divine power must attend one who is himself God or who acts in God’s name ; deeds of Divine mercy must characterize the ministry of one who came to save men from sin and death. If he has au¬ thority to forgive sin, he must have power to heal the paralytic ; if he can raise all the dead at the last day, he must have power over the grave now. The miracle is a sign. So, again, the miracles of our Lord are called '^powers," as growing out of jjersonal energies that are in¬ separable from his own nature. They are the expressions of a Divine action. They are not, therefore, to be studied as isolated and strange occurrences defying explanation. They are parts of a living system. They have their place in a Divine order. They can be explained— that is, they have a rational ground and a moraj intention. They are worthy of God and of his prophet. Ignoring now all arbitrary or a priori defini¬ tions, and confining ourselves to the New Tes¬ tament description, three things plainly appear : First, in its outward form, as appealing to the senses, a miracle is a deed that produces and perpetuates astonishment. It is a present and perpetual wonder. The remarkable element does not wear away upon closer inspection or upon repetition. A miracle, then, is a present and perpetual wonder. But every effect must have a cause. This leads to the second fact, that in a miracle we liftve the forth-putting and the expression of the personal power of God. The existence of God is the primary and perpetual wonder. Yon can comprehend neither his eternity nor his infinitude. The senses do not disclose him. And yet what you see compels you to recognize his presence and power. The visible things proclaim his invisible Godhead. There are the stars, here is the globe, and here are 5"ou, all alike bearing the stamp of limited existence ; whence came they all ? It is not the Bible alone that affirms a beginning ; science affirms that matter has all the properties of a manufactured article ; and that the constitution and course of the universe point to a beginning, as they sug¬ gest a future dissolution ; wdiile reason finds it impossible to rest in any other conclusion than that mind preceded matter, and that only the Living God can be self-existent, uncreated, and eternal. An eternal nothing is inconceivable ; an eternal evolution or revolution is an absur¬ dity and a contradiction ; daring as the opening sentence of the Apostles’ Cteed is, it is the au¬ dacity of reason as well as the loftiest expres¬ sion of faith—“ I believe in God the Father Al¬ mighty, maker of heaven and earth. ’ ’ Here the whole controversy hinges ; it is the question be¬ tween God and no God, between atheism and theism. The debate on miracles pushed to its inner court concerns the existence of God, of his eternal and independent Being. If there is a God, he can show himself by deed and by word ; he cannot be supposed to have deliber¬ ately and eternally fettered himself. The mir¬ acle, as a deed of Divine power, is not onlj^ pos¬ sible, but probable and rational, so long as God is not regarded as practically non-existent. And he who rejects on a priori grounds the mir¬ acle of power, must also denj"inspiration, which is the miracle of God’s wisdom, and deny prayer, which is the miracle of fellowship, and deny providence, which is the miracle of government, and deny the Incarnation and Besurrection of Jesus Christ, which are the living miracles of redemption. Posit the supernatural anywhere, and you must affirm it everywhere ; deny it in any sphere, and you must deny it in all spheres. Assuming, then, the Divine existence, miracles have their rational exj)lanation. They are pos¬ sible, probable, and necessary. Their occur¬ rence becomes a question of evidence and of impartial criticism. And this brings me to the third element in the New Testament definition of a miracle, that it is such a forth-putting of the power of 20 PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS, God as to be a sign of him. It is not only a wonder indicating his power, but a mirror re¬ flecting his character. It must be worthy of him, and answer some Divine purpose. The Bible, so far from encouraging credulity, insists that no wonderful account shall be believed, that no miracle shall be recognized, unless it appear as worthy of God and as answering a Divinely wise and beneficent purpose. The possibility of miracles follows from the exist¬ ence of God ; the reality of the miracle .must be determined not by evidence alone, but by its agreement with the character and purpose of God. Here is the legitimate province of crit¬ icism ; here is the decisive test between a true and a false miracle. Faith in God compels to faith in miracle ; but faith in God also compels me to scrutinize any and everj^ alleged miracle, and its recognition is obligatory only to the de¬ gree of its agreement with the revealed character and purposes of God. The New Testament thus defines a miracle as a deed of present and perpetual wonder, ac¬ counted for by the forth-putting of God’s per¬ sonal power, and as worthy of the Divine char¬ acter and in agreement with his revealed jDur- poses. Nor do I see how we can imj)rove upon this definition. The difficulties of the problem emerge when we come to state how this forth- putting of God’s personal power is related to what we call the order of nature—which is strictly the order of nature as we know it. Of this order, a miracle has sometimes been said to be a violation or suspension ; and then the idea of order has been pitted against the miracle. But the difficulties here are purely speculative and imaginar}^ It is not self-evident that mir¬ acles involve the violation or suspension of law, any more than the force of gravity is sus¬ pended when I lift my hand. It is begging the question to say that miracles violate order ; for if they are signs, they bring to view that higher and inclusive order of which observation only discloses a very small part. The miracle, then, has its rational ground in the existence of God, who need not be supposed to violate or sus¬ pend any natural law or order in working it ; while the grip of a miracle is in its moral qual¬ ity, in its inherent propriety, and in the dis¬ closure which it makes of God’s essential glory. Evidential Value of the Miracle. Miracles have an evidential value, but they are neither the only nor even the highest proofs of a Divine revelation. The traditional esti¬ mate has made too much of them. The Divine authority of the Bible has been made to rest upon them. The miracle has been held to prove the doctrine, completely reversing the biblical order in which the doctrine is made to test the miracle. Christ emphatically declares that they are not the ground on which our faith in him should rest. Philip was kindly but sharply rebuked for having been so long with him, yet asking for a sign. It was the rebuke of a grieved and patient heart which craved faith in itself, faith inspired by its essential goodness and greatness. Christ deprecates a return to any lower ground. We are not to believe in him because he wrought miracles ; we are to believe in the miracles because we believe in him, radi¬ ant in his person and work with a Divine glory. Then followed that startling declaration, thai wonderful as his own works had been, greater deeds should be wrought by those that believed on him. From this it follows, in the second place, that a higher evidential value must be assigned to the historical triumphs of the Gospel than to the recorded miracles. What Christianity has clone for man is proof of a higher order than any single miracle, than all miracles together. Next to what Jesus Christ is in himself is the power with which his message has stirred the hearts of men and has leavened the life of the world. And yet, in the third place, the mir¬ acles had their place. They were necessary, for had they not accompanied his personal pres¬ ence, his rejection and crucifixion by the re¬ ligious leaders of his day would not have been inexcusable. He made unusual claims. But unusual claims demand unusual evidences, and had these not been forthcoming, the repudia¬ tion of the claimant would have been reason¬ able. But every possible cavil was promptly and full}'’ met, and the whole ministry of cur Lord made it clear that the men who rejected him were wickedly blind, hating both him and his Father. The miracles of a bad man are to be unhesi¬ tatingly rejected as false and misleading, whether we can explain them or not ; just as we reject the seeming miracles of the magician who im¬ itated Moses. And the miracles accompanying immoral teaching are to be rejected as false, be¬ cause the doctrine proves the real miracle, and not the miracle the doctrine. That cuts the ground from nnderneath all the pretensions of modern spiritualism. The miracles are false because the doctrine is false. Goodness and truth are the great things to be kept steadily in view, and these shine in their own light ; and where these are absent we should emphatically decline lending our ears. First look at the HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 21 prophets of the system, ask what kind of lives they live, and what are their teachings, and upon that evidence decide their claim of mir- acnlous power. This is the common-sense and Christian course, and it makes short work of medimval and modern miracles. The Deceiver’s mark is on them all. Our Lord and his apostles solemnly warn us against lying signs and won¬ ders. The true miracle culminated in the min¬ istry of Jesus Christ, and is to be looked for only in connection with his final advent to judgment. The intervening period is repre¬ sented as one in which the Christian Church is to depend upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit, until by the preaching of the Gospel the world shall have become prepared for the heavenly bridal. Behrends. Points bearing upon Mosaic Authorship. That the wisdom of the Egyptians, in which Moses was instructed, included a high concep¬ tion of God and a high standard of ethics, seems to be indicated by the monuments of Egypt, as interpreted by some of the most em¬ inent scholars in Egyptology. M. Eouge af¬ firmed, as the conclusion of his thorough study of this subject, that a pure monotheistic re¬ ligion was the primitive religion of Egypt, and that even through the forms of polytheism and idolatry which supervened on this early faith, there was always to be recognized a conscious¬ ness of the primal truth. " The belief in the unity of the Supreme God, and in his attri¬ butes of Creator and Lawgiver of man, whom he has endowed with an immortal soul—these,” he says, “ are the primitive notions, enchased, like indestructible diamonds, in the midst of the mythological superfetations accumulated in the centuries which have passed over that an¬ cient civilization.” And Eenouf, who does not altogether agree with Eouge, declares that from neither Greek nor Roman literature can there be quoted such passages as are found in the Egyptian literature, in recognition of the high¬ est Christian conception of the Supreme Self- Existent God. Of the ethical teaching of the religious litera¬ ture of ancient Egypt, M. Chabas says ; ” None of the Christian virtues is forgotten in it ; piety, charity, gentleness, self-command in word and action, chastity, the protection of the weak, benevolence toward the humble, deference to superiors, respect for property in its minutest details, ... all is expressed there, and in ex¬ tremely good language.” Renouf, in citing this testimony of Chabas, says : “ In confirmation of this, I will add that the translators of the Bible and of the early Christian literature, who were so often compelled to retain Greek words, for which they could discover no Eg^^ptian equivalent, found the native vocabulary amply sufficient for the expression of the most delicate notions of Christian ethics.” It is evident that in Egypt there were better external advantages for training Moses in that knowledge which would fit him to be the recipient of God’s revelation, in his new sphere as Israel’s lawgiver, than were to be found elsewhere on the face of the whole earth, in the days of Moses. S. S. T. It is admitted, even by the extremest scep¬ tics, that the genuineness of the work carries with it the authenticity of the narrative, at least, in all its main particulars. “ It would most unquestionably,” says Strauss, “be an argument of decisive weight in favor of the cred¬ ibility of the biblical history, could it indeed be shown that it was written by eye-witnesses.” “ Moses, being the leader of the Israelites on their departure from Egypt, would undoubtedly give a faithful history of the occurrences, un¬ less” (which is not pretended) he designed to deceive.” And further, “ Moses, if his intimate connection with Deity described in these books” (i.e., the last four) “be historically true, was likewise eminently qualified, by vir¬ tue of such, connection, to produce a credible history of the earlier periods.” If Moses in¬ deed wrote the account which we possess of the Exodus and of the wanderings in the wilder¬ ness, and if, having written it, he delivered it to those who knew the events as w'ell as he, the conditions wffiich secure the highest degree of historical credibility, so far, at least, as regards the events of the last four books, are obtained. We have for them the direct witness of a con¬ temporary writer—not an actor only, but the leader in the transactions which he relates— honest evidently, for he records his own sins and defects and the transgressions and suffer¬ ings of his people ; and honest necessarily, for he w^rites of events which were public and known to all—we have a work which, by the laws of historical criticism, is thus for historical purposes just as reliable as Ciesar’s Commen¬ taries or Xenophon’s “ Retreat of the Ten Thou¬ sand”—w^e have that rare literar3' treasure, the autobiography of a great man, engaged in great events, the head of his nation at a most critical period in their annals, who commits to writing as they occur the various events and transac¬ tions in which he is engaged, wherever they have a national or public character. Setting aside, therefore, the idea of inspiration, we pos¬ sess in the last four books of the Pentateuch as 22 PRELIMINART THOUGHTS, reliable an account of the Exodus of the Jews and their subsequent wanderings as we do, in the works of Caesar and Xenophon, of the con¬ quest of Britain or of the events which pre¬ ceded and followed the battle of Cunaxa. G. R. The faith of the Israelite rested on the facts of Abraham’s call, the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan. What is supernatural in these facts is so bound up with what is historical, that the two cannot be separated. What confirms our faith in the one confirms our faith in the other. It happens, therefore, very providentially that while certain modern habits of thought are making belief in the supernatural difficult to some minds, criticism and research are tending every year to strengthen the certainty of those historical facts with which the supernatural rev¬ elation is inseparably interwoven. Most strik¬ ingly has this been the case with the most im¬ portant of all the Old Testament records, the record of the Exodus. Just when the destruc¬ tive criticism of unbelievers was trying to prove it all legendary, trying, by a studied exagger¬ ation of every apjoarent difficulty, to shake our faith in it, it pleased God to open up to us the buried monuments of that kindred nation with which Israel at this period was so closely con¬ nected. Slowly out of these monuments we are reconstructing Egypt’s history. We may safely assert that the Egypt portrayed on these stones and papyruS-scrolls is precisely the Egypt im¬ plied and required by the Mosaic narrative. J. P. N. The linguistic, geographic, and ethnologic notices contained in the books of Moses are of the most veracious character, stamping the whole narration with an unmistakable air of authenticity. And the fact that each accession to our knowledge of the ancient times helps to remove difficulties and multiplies fresh illus¬ trations of the Mosaic narrative, affords to can¬ did minds an argument for the historic truth of the narrative, the force of which can scarcely be overestimated. All tends to show that we pos¬ sess in the Pentateuch not only the most au¬ thentic account of ancient times that has come down to us, bat a history absolutely and in every respect true. All tends to assure us that in this marvellous volume we have no “ cun¬ ningly devised fable,” but a “ treasure of wis¬ dom and knowledge”—as important to the his¬ torical inquirer as to the theologian. There may be obscurities ; there may be occasionally, in names and numbers, accidental corruptions of the text ; there may be a few interpolations — glosses which have crept in from the margin ; but upon the whole it must be pronounced that we have in the Pentateuch a genuine and authentic work, and one which—even were it not inspired —would be, for the times and countries whereof it treats, the leading and paramount authority. It is “ Moses” who is still ” read in the syn¬ agogues every Sabbath day,” and they who “ re¬ sist ” him, by impugning his veracity, like Jannes and Jambres of old, resist the truth.’' G. R. (1859). The New Testament proves the historical character of the narratives of the Pentateuch, the fact that Moses was the great Lawgiver and Prophet, the fundamental position of the Mosaic legislation to the Old Testament, and, above all, the Divine authority of the Pentateuch ; and those who antagonize these things come in collision with Jesus and the apostles ; but the Mosaic authorship of the whole Pentateuch, so far as the New Testament is concerned, is not decided for us. Any theory of its composition that recog¬ nizes Mosaic authorship of the chief parts of it, and the essential features of its legislation as Mosaic, is in accord with the New Testament. Briggs. A brief compendious statement of the considera¬ tions which oppose a late date for the Pentateuch and the arguments in support of such a date. (1) The total lack of external evidence in its favor. All that we know from sacred or secular sources is on the side of the traditionary view. (2) The acknowledged inconsistencies that remain. If the matter of the Hexateuch has been so often revised as the prevailing theory declares, how comes it to pass that so many seeming con¬ tradictions continue to be found, so many di¬ vergencies in tone, in spirit, in conception ? On the ordinary view these are to be expected, but by no means on the other. (3) It is vain to say that Moses was not cultivated enough to write the books attributed to him, for he was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who, in his day, had, as we know, an abundant and varied literature. (4) There is no reason to dis¬ pute the existence of a priesthood in his day, since it is clear that there was a large priestly caste in Egypt, and it is in the last degree im¬ probable that a Hebrew priesthood should wait a thousand years, or even the half of that period, for a ritual. (5) The theory that denies everything but a few fragments to the Mosaic period, and relegates all psalms and proverbs to a post exilian date, leaves a long j)eriod of his¬ tory without any literature, and offers no basis for the splendid outburst of prophecy which illumined the eighth century before Christ. (6) The principle that the non-observance of a HELPFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. 23 law proves its non-existence is wholly fallacious. (7) The language of the Hexateuch is inconsis¬ tent with a late origin. Its parts differ among themselves, but in nothing like the degree in which they differ from the Hebrew of the Per¬ sian era. (8) The local allusions throughout are to Egypt ; how could this possibly be if these writings received their last reduction from per¬ sons all whose surroundings were Palestinian or Babylonian ? (9) There are continual references to a life in the wilderness, a journeying through the desert ; what could suggest these to men whose whole lives were passed in fertile and cultivated regions ? (10) The doctrinal con¬ tents of the Hexateuch, being simple and ele¬ mentary, are in harmony with the traditionary date and not the imaginary one. (11) The modern theory abounds in license. Because King Josiah found “ the book of the Law” in the temple, it is insisted, without the shadow of reason, that this book was Deuteronomy, which had just been written, and had been secreted in order that it might be found ! Eze¬ kiel’s splendid idealization of the Church of the future is, in defiance of all taste and judgment, converted from a magnificent symbolic prophecy into the prosaic outline of a new ritual then for the first time introduced! (12) The Jewish Babbis enumerate five things wanting in the second temple which were found in the first (the Shekinah, the ark and mercy-seat, the spirit of prophecy, the Urim and Thummim, and the fire on the altar) ; but if these were inventions of Ezra and his associates, what possible motive did they have for constructing a style of worshijp which would only make more evident the bald¬ ness of their own services ? (13) In some cases the theory rests upon the philosophical postu¬ late that religion in any case is only a natural development, the supernatural being impossible and incredible ; this is certainly the view of Kuenen and Wellhausen ; yet no man who holds it can possibly be a fair interpreter of Scrip¬ ture. (14) These latter writers not only exclude the Divine factors from the history of Israel, but assert the existence of fictions in that history, not merely in single, separate instances, but passim, wherever a patch was needed to give the story an air of authority. (15) The analysis of the documents is based often upon very subtle criteria, is frequently mechanical, and again makes assumptions that are purely conjectural ; hence there is serious difficulty in accepting its conclusions when they are at war with the statements of the history itself. (16) The ex¬ istence of different documents is no argument against the Mosaic authorship, for the man of God may have compiled his first book from an¬ tecedent data, and in those that follow'ed may have reduced into form what had previously been put in writing by others under his direc¬ tion. Conjecture is justas allowable in favor of Moses as it is against him. (17) So in regard to the Book of Joshua, the natural complement of the Pentateuch, there is nothing strained or un¬ natural in the opinion that some of the men trained under the guidance of the great Law¬ giver made this record. (18) The testimony of the New Testament is clear and strong as to the Mosaic authorship. Our Lord said (John 5 :46) of Moses, ” He wrote of me,” and in the next verse speaks of ” his writings.” No principle of accommodation will explain this language. In Mark 12 : 26 he asked, “ Have ye not read in the Book of Moses ?” So the Apostle Peter said (Acts 3 :22), “ Moses indeed said : A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you,” And the Apostle Paul cites • the Pentateuch in the terms, ” It is written in the law of Moses,” and again, “ Moses saith,’^ and again, “ Moses de- scribeth the righteousness that- is of the Law” (1 Cor. 9 ; 9 ; Rom. 10 :19 ; 10 :5). It does not seem possible to understand these refer¬ ences as meaning anything else than the ac¬ cepted view of that age that Moses was the au¬ thor of the books that bear his name. Chambers. In closing mj^ remarks on the books of Moses, I make brief mention of a few other points in favor of their veracity, several of which also bespeak undesignedness in the narrative more or less. (1) There is a minuteness in the details of the Mosaic writings which argues their truth ; for it often argues the eye-witness, as in the adventures of the wilderness, and often seems intended to supply directions to the artificer, as in the con¬ struction of the Tabernacle. (2) There are touches of nature in the narrative which argue its truth, for it is not easy to regard them otherwise than as strokes from the life—as where “ the mixed multitude,” -whether half-casts or Egyptians, are the first to sigh for the cucumbers and mel¬ ons of Egypt, and to spread discontent through the camp ; as the miserable exculpation of him¬ self which Aaron attempts, with all the cow¬ ardice of conscious guilt—” I cast into the fire, and there came out this calf,” the fire, to be sure, being in the fault. (3) There are certain little inconveniences represented as turning up unexpectedly that argue truth in the story ; for they are just such accidents as are characteristic of the working of a new system and untried machinery. What is to be done with the man who is found gathering sticks on the Sabbath 24 FUEL mm A R Y THO UGETS. day ? (Could an impostor have devised such a trifle ?) How the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad is to be disposed of, there being no heir-male. Either of them inconsiderable matters in themselves, but both giving occasion to very important laws —the one touahing life, and the other j^roperty. (4) There is a simpUcily in the manner of Moses when telling his tale which argues its truth—-no parade of language, no pomp of circumstance even in his miracles —a modesty and dignity throughout all. Let us but compare him in any trying scene with Josephus—his description, for instance, of the passage through the Ked Sea, of the murmuring of the Israelites, and the suj)ply of quails and manna, with the same as given bj’’ the Jewish historian, -or rhetorician, we might rather say— and the force of the observation will be felt. (5) There is a candor in the treatment of his sub¬ ject by Moses which argues his truth ; as when he tells of his own want of eloquence, which unfitted him for a leader ; his own want of faith, which prevented him from entering the prom¬ ised land ; the idolatry of Aaron his brother the profaneness of Nadab and Abihu, his nephews ; the disaffection and punishment of Miriam, his sister. (6) There is a disinterested¬ ness in his conduct which argues him to be a man of truth ; for though he had sons, he ap¬ parently takes no measures during his life to give them offices of trust or profit ; and at his death he appoints as his successor one who had no claims upon him, either of alliance, of clan¬ ship, or of blood. (7) There are certain prophet¬ ical passages in the writings of Moses which argue their truth, as several respecting the future Messiah, and the very sublime and lit¬ eral one respecting the final fall of Jerusalem. (8) Above all, there is a comparative purity in the theology and morality of the Pentateuch, which argues not only its truth, but its high original ; for how else are we to account for a system like that of Moses, in such an age and among such a people ; that the doctrine of the unity, the self¬ existence, the providence, the perfections of the great God of heaven and earth, should thus have blazed forth (how far more brightly than even in the vaunted schools of Athens at its most refined era 1) from the midst of a nation, of themselves ever plunging into gross and grovelling idolatry ; and that principles of social duty, of benevolence, and of self-restraint, ex¬ tending even to the thoughts of the heart, should have been the produce of an age which the very provisions of the Levitical Law itself show to have been full of savage and licentious abominations ? Such are some of the internal evidences for the veracity of the books of Moses. (9) Then the situation in which the Jews act¬ ually found themselves placed, as a matter of fact, is no slight argument for the truth of the Mosaic accounts ; reminded, as they were, by certain memorials observed from year to year, of the great events of their early history, just as they are recorded in the writings of Moses— memorials universally recognized both in their object and in their authority. The Passover, for instance, celebrated by all- no man doubt¬ ing its meaning, no man in all Israel assigning to it any other origin than one —viz., that of being a contemporary monument of a miracle displayed in favor of the people of Israel—by right of which credentials, and no other, it sum¬ moned from all quarters of the world, at great cost and inconvenience and danger, the dis¬ persed Jews—none disputing the obligation to obey the summons. (10) Then the heroic devotion with which the Israelites continued to regard the Law, even long after they had ceased to cultivate the better part of it, even when that very Law only served to condemn its worshippers, so that they would offer themselves up by thousands with their children and wives as martvrs to the honor of their temple, in which no image, even of an em¬ peror who could scourge them with scorpions for their disobedience, should bo suffered to stand and they live —so that rather than violate the sanctity of the Sabbath day the bravest men in arms would lay down their lives as tamely as sheep, and allow themselves to be burned in the holes where they had taken refuge from their cruel and cowardly pursuers. All this points to their Law as having been at first pro¬ mulgated under circumstances too awful to be forgotten even after the lapse of ages. (11) Then, again, the extraordinary degree of national pride with which the Jews boasted them¬ selves to be God’s peculiar people, as if no nation ever was or ever could be so nigh to him ; a feeling which the early teachers of Christianity found an insuperable obstacle to the progress of the Gospel among them, and which actually did effect its ultimate rejection—this may well seem to be founded upon a strong traditional sense of uncommon tokens of the Almighty’s regard for them above all other nations of the earth, which they had heard with their ears, or their fathers had declared unto them, even the noble works that he had done in the old time be¬ fore them. (12) Then, again, the constant crav¬ ing after “ a sign,” which beset them in the lat¬ ter days of their history, as a lively certificate SECTION 92. THE EXODUS. 25 of the prophet ; and not after a sign only, but after such an one as they would themselves prescribe—“ What sign shewest thou that we may see and believe ? . . . our fathers did eat manna in the desert; ' this desire, so frequently expressed, and with which they are so fre¬ quently reproached, looks like the relic of an appetite engendered in other times, when they had enjoyed the privilege of more intimate com¬ munion with God—it seems the wake of mir¬ acles departed, (13) Lastl}^ the very onerous nature of the Law—so studiously meddling with all the oc¬ cupations of life, great and small—this yoke would scarcely have been endured, without the strongest assurance on the part of those who were galled by it of the authority by which it was imposed. For it met them with some re¬ straint or other at every turn. Would they jolough ? Then it must not be wdth an ox and an ass. Would they sow ? Then must not the seed be mixed. Would they reap ? Then must they not reap clean. Would they make bread ? Then must they set apart dough enough for the consecrated loaf. Did they find a bird’s nest? Then must they let the old bird fly away. Did they hunt ? Then they must shed the blood of their game, and cover it with dust. Did they plant a fruit tree ? For three years was the fruit to be uncircumcised. Did they shave their beards ? They were not to cut the corners. Did they weave a garment ? Then must it be only with threads prescribed. Did they build a house ? They must put rails and battlements on the roof. Did they buy an estate ? At the year of Jubilee back it must go to its owner. This last in itself and alone a provision which must have made itself felt in the whole struc¬ ture of the Jewish commonwealth, and have sensibly affected the character of the people ; every transfer of land throughout the country having to be regulated in its price according to the remoteness or proximity of the year of re¬ lease ; and the desire of accumulating a species of property usually considered the most invit¬ ing of any, counteracted and thwarted at every turn. All these (and how many more of the same kind might be named !) are enactments which it must have required extraordinary in¬ fluence in the Lawgiver to enjoin, and extraor¬ dinary reverence for his powers to perpetuate. Blunt. Section 92. THE EXODUS. MOVEMENT FROM THE LAND OF RAMESES, OR GOSHEN, TO THE RENDEZVOUS AT SUCCOTH. Exodus 12 : 37-42, 50, 51 ; 13 ; 3, 4. Nu. 33 : 3-5. Ex,. E2 40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they sojourned in Egypt, was 41 four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lokd 42 went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Loed for bringing them out from the land of Egypt : this is that night of the Lokd, to be much observed of all the children of Israel throughout their generations, 50 Thus did all the children of Israel, as the Lokd commanded Moses and Aaron, so 51 did they. And it came to pass the selfsame da 5 % that the Lokd did bring the chil¬ dren of Israel put of the land of Egypt by their hosts. 13 3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage ; for by strength of hand the Lokd brought you 4 out from this place : there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day ye go forth in the month Abib. 12 37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred 38 thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up 39 also with them ; and flocks, and herds, even veiy much cattle. And they baked un¬ leavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened ; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. 2G SECTION 92. THE EXODUS. Nu. 33 3 And they journeyed from Eameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month ; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with 4 an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, which the Loan had smitten among them : upon their gods also the 5 Lord executed judgments. And the children of Israel journeyed from Eameses, and pitched in Succoth. 40, 41. The leng’li of ihelr stay in Egypt is here clearly and unequivocally stated to have been 430 years : “ Now the sojourning of the chil¬ dren of Israel, icho dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. ” K.-The statement of Moses in verse 41 is made in the most formal and pre¬ cise terms, with the express purpose of fixing the length of the sojourn permanently upon the national mind. Cook. -The evidence is con¬ clusive that the abode in Egypt lasted 430 years. This is the natural sense of Ex. 12 : 40, and no one would ever think of extracting a different meaning from it but for.reasons outside of the verse itself. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not “ children of Israel,” that their sojourning should be included ; and the verse makes no allusion to Canaan, but only to Egypt. In Gen. 15 : 13 the seed of Abraham were to be strangers in a land not their own, where they would be reduced to bondage and suffer affliction. W. H. G. The LXX. add to the passage “ and in the land of Canaan." The Samaritan recension adds yet another clause : “ And the sojourn of the chil¬ dren of Israel, and of their fathers, in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt.” These vari¬ ations from the original are now almost univer¬ sally regarded as interpolations, intended to ob¬ viate a chronological difficulty. D. M.-Had the clause inserted by the LXX. existed in the Hebrew original, there is no assignable ground on which we can imagine it left out. There is a readily conceivable ground for the insertion of the clause by the LXX. in their anxiety to harmonize their chronology with the Egyptian system prevalent in their day. Further, the clause has the appearance of an insertion, being irrelevant to the narrative, which is naturally concerned at this point with Egypt and with Eg 3 "pt only. The Samaritan version may appear at first sight to lend the Septuagint confirma¬ tion ; but a little examination shows the con¬ trary. The Samaritan translator has the Septu- agint before him, but is dissatisfied with the* way in which his Greek predecessor has amended the Hebrew text. His version is an amendment of the Greek text in two points. First, he sees that the name “ children of Israel ” could not properly be given to anj’^ but the descendants of Jacob, and therefore he inserts the clause “ and of their fathers.” Secondly, he observes that the LXX. have inverted the historical order of the sojourns in Egypt and in Canaan, placing that in Egypt first. This he corrects by a trans¬ position. No one can suppose that he derived his emendations from the Hebrew. He gave his readers, not what Moses had said, but what, in his opinion, he ought to have said. With re¬ spect to Paul’s statement to the Galatians (3 :17), it is to be borne in mind that he wrote to Greek-speaking Jews, whose oply Bible was the Septuagint Version, and that he could not but follow it unless he was prepared to intrude on them a chronological discussion, which would in no way have advanced his argument. His argument is that the Law, having been given long after the covenant made with Abraham, could not disannul it ; how long after was of no consequence. G. E.-In the New Testament Stephen’s speech (Acts 7: 6) recognizes 400 years as the period when the seed of Abraham should be in bondage and evil entreated, terms which could only apply to Egypt. Cook. In the prophecy of Gen. 15 ; 13, 14 [vol. 1., p. 325, where this subject is also treated] but one land is spoken of and but one people ; this people is to afflict Israel for four hundred years ; it is then to be judged ; and after the judgment, Israel is to “ come out,” to come out, moreover, with great substance Nothing is said that can by any possibility allude to the Canaanites, or the land of Canaan. One continuoiis affliction in one country and by one people, lasting—in round numbers —four hundred years, is an¬ nounced with the utmost plainness. G. E.- Two [other] considerations support the author¬ ity of the Hebrew text. The arrival in Egypt was on a definite date. But none such can be attached to the arrival of Abraham in Palestine, as no locality is mentioned. And it is a remark¬ able coincidence, that the 15th of Abib, on each of the years we have determined, fell on the same day of the week, in accordance with the expression, “ the selfsame day.” The second proof is the fact that the Bible (1 Chron. 7 : 8) contains the genealogies of Kohath, of Gershom, of Pharez, of Ephraim, and of Bela the son of Benjamin, in each of which fourteen genera¬ tions occur from Abraham to the time of Moses. This allows forty years for a generation, a period that is fully coincident with genealogical re- THE EXODUS. 27 quirements. Conder. -There is a growing agreement on the part of expositors of the Old Testament to adhere to the reiterated statement of the Hebrew text, making the sojourn in Egypt four hundred or (exactly) four hundred and thirty years, and to reject the Septuagint emendation, ‘‘ in Egypt and the land of Ca¬ naan.” This accords with the ten (or eleven) generations which are given (1 Chron. 7 : 22-27) as the number from Ephraim to Joshua. It corresponds much more easily to the alleged in¬ crease in Egypt. The difficulties admit of ex- jjlanation. This interval is also thought to be confirmed bj^ an inscription found at San by Mariette Bey, making the interval from Bameses II. back to a certain Shepherd King, Set, four hundred yeat-s. S. C. B. 42. The immediate effect of the death of the firstborn was exactly such as had been calcu¬ lated. It was a strange act of faith, when an entire nation stood in the dead of the night awake, ready for a journey, in the conviction that a certain judgment was to be inflicted by the hand of Heaven, and that this infliction would infallibly insure their departure from the house of bondage. In that conviction much labor had been undergone, and large prepara¬ tions completed—for we may conceive that it was no light matter for so vast a body of people, ■with all their flocks and herds, and with numer ¬ ous women and children, to have completed its arrangements for a sudden departure without confusion or disorder. That all this had been done, and that every direction of Moses and Aaron was implicitly followed, shows that the judgments of the Lord upon the Egj^ptians, and their own exemption from the plagues which had been showered upon the land, had not failed of their effect in bringing up the people to a suffi¬ cient pitch of faith, confidence, and resolution. Kil. -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 full of spiritual sug¬ gestion 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 ac¬ quainted with the love and power of Christ, know that ho 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 enemies sub¬ dued. D. E. 42. It is a iii^lit to be observed. The 'providences of that first night were very ob¬ servable ; memorable was the destruction of the Egyptians, and the deliverance of the Israelites by it : God herein made himself taken notice of. The ordinances of that night, in the annual return of it, were to be carefully observed ; This is that night of the Lord, that remarkable night to be celebrated in all generations. The great things God does for his people are to be perpetuated throughout all ages ; especially the work of our redemption by Christ : this first passover night was a night of the Lord, much to he observed ; but the last jDassover night, in which Christ was betrayed (in which the first passover, with the rest of the ceremonial institutions, was superseded and abolished), was a night of the Lord, much more to be observed, when a yoke, heavier than that of Egypt, was broken from off our necks, and a land, better than that of Canaan, set before us. That was a temporal deliverance to be celebrated in their generations ; this an eternal redemption to be celebrated in the praises of glorious saints world without end. H. 12 : 50, 51 ; 13 : 3, 4. Moses and his peo¬ ple simply left Egypt, as they had a glorious right to do ; nor did they burst through any re¬ straint of righteous obligation in that mighty uprising and marching forth of their hosts. Faith in the God of their fathers—the Almighty One, their Defender, liefuge, and Portion—sus¬ tained Moses in this otherwise perilous move¬ ment, and made the wrath of Egypt’s king seem to him but a puny and weak thing. The set¬ ting forth of this fearlessness of Moses, begot¬ ten of his faith, is wonderfully rich and expres¬ sive ; profoundly logical, and yet appealing most vividly to the imagination : “ For he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” H. C. The redemption out of Egypt was the most remarkable of all the Old Testament redemp¬ tions of the Church of God. It was the greatest type of Christ’s redemption of any providential event. This redemption was by Jesus Christ, since it was wrought by Him that appeared to Moses in the bush, and sent Moses to redeem that people. This glorious Bedeemer was he that redeemed the Church out of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh ; as Christ by his death and sufferings redeemed his people from Satan, the spiritual Pharaoh. He redeemed them from hard service and cruel drudgery ; as Christ redeems his people from the cruel slavery of sin and Satan. He redeemed them with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and great and terrible judgments on their enemies ; as 28 SECTION 92. THE EXODUS. Christ with mighty power triumphs over prin- c'palities and powers, and executes terrible judg¬ ments on his Church’s enemies, bruising the serpent’s head. He saved them, when others were destroyed, by the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb ; as God’s Church is saved from death by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, when the rest of the world is destroyed. Edwards. The oppression was a type. Part of God’s design in it was to prepare, for all the world, a symbolic prophecy of the bondage of sin, from which the greater Moses would set us free. The whole is a parable, as the Christian conscious¬ ness of all ages has felt. The entire meaning of the Old Testament history is not grasped un¬ less its prophetic and symbolical character is recognized ; and there is some danger lest, in the abundance of new light now thrown upon that history and in the eagerness of critical in¬ vestigation into the origin of its records, this side of the truth should be lost, and the typical aspect should be relegated, with a learned smile, to the limbo of exploded unscientific fancies. If science consists in a reasoned ordering of facts, it will be difficult to vindicate the appli¬ cation of the name to any view of Old Testa¬ ment history which omits the fact that God has ordered its course so as to be a shadow of the Gospel redemption. . . . Israel had grown under oppression. The pressure which was in¬ tended to crush only condensed. “The more they affiicted them, the more they . . . grew.” It is the history of the nation in a nutshell. The same marvellous tenacity of life, the same power of baffling oppression and thriving under it, have been their dower ever since, and con¬ tinue so yet. Babylonian captivities, Homan conquests, mediaaval barbarities, modern Euro¬ pean mobs—this strange race has survived them all, and fronts the world to-day an unbroken whole. Nothing disintegrates them, nothing destroys them. The powers that oppress them fill the world with their noise for a while, and pass away like a dream ; they abide. For every tree felled, a hundred saplings spring up. What does it mean ? and how comes it ? The only an¬ swer is that God preserves them for a better de¬ liverance from a worse bondage, and as his wit¬ nesses in their humiliation, as they were his in their prosperity. The fable of the one of their race who bade Christ march on to Calvary is true concerning them. They are doomed to live and to wander till they shall recognize him for their Messiah. That growth is a truth for God’s Church, too. The world has never crushed by persecuting. There is a wholesome obstinacy and chivalry in human nature which rallies adherents to a per¬ secuted cause. Truth is most powerful when her back is at the wall. “ The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Times of oppression are times of growth, as a hundred examples from the apostles’ days down to the story of the Gospel in Madagascar prove. The world’s favor does more harm than, its enmity. Its kisses are poisonous ; its blows do no hurt. If we may fancy the whole Catholic Church gathered into one personality, and endowed with a voice, she would attest that the promise of Israel's increase in the land of her bondage was but a foreshadowing of her own fruitfulness in the midst of hostilitv, and would take for her own the triumphant utterance of one who proved the worst that earth can do : “ The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel.” A. M. Departure from Rameses. Gathering and Resting at Succoth. At the time when the Israelites occupied the land, the term ” Goshen” belonged to a region which as yet had no definite boundaries, and which extended with the increase of the people over the territory they inhabited. The term “ Land of Eameses” applies to a larger area, and covers that part of the delta which lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch ; a country which Rameses II. enriched with innumerabl* works of architecture. Naville. -The stations given in the narrative are none of them towns or cities. Rameses and Succoth are districts. The distance between the several stations is not necessarily a single day’s journey. It is prob¬ able that more than one week, possibly nearly three w'eeks, elapsed between the Passover night in Goshen-Rameses and the night at the Red Sea. A comparison of the dates given in Ex. 12 :1-20, 29-39 ; Nu. 33 :3 ; and Ex. 16 :1, will show how leisurely were the movements of the Hebrews after their hurried start. H. C. T. Ex. 12 : 37 ; Nm. 33 : 5. The departure of Israel was from the Land of Rameses, not the town. It is unwarranted by the text and incon¬ ceivable in itself, that the men, women, and chil¬ dren, with their cattle and movables, should have assembled at the town in order immedi¬ ately to depart from it. It is notto])e supposed that even the full-grown men started in a formed body from any one town, place it where we will. Each family or party, on receiving gifts which its Egyptian neighbors pressed upon its acceptance, turned its steps, with its flocks and herds and beasts of burden, toward the bor- DEPARTURE FROM RAMESE8. 29 der. They slowly and steadily moved to the east and south along the north end of the bitter lakes, without any fear of the Egyptians, who were engaged in burying their firstborn, or at least in paying them the last sad riles. The males over twenty years of age, by previous concert, formed themselves into marching com • panics at their respective-positions, and faced toward Succoth. M. In the considerable interval occupied by pro¬ tracted discussions with Pharaoh and the series of miracles, opportunity was afforded for the thorough organization which is disclosed upon the march, and which appears, indeed, in the early statement that they went up out of Egypt “ harnessed ” (13 ; 18)—that is, taking the He¬ brew word at its lowest, in orderly array. It is stated or implied six times in fifteen verses that they marched not alone from Kameses but from “Egypt,” and the expression “hosts,” twice used, permits, if not suggests, the supposition that they moved in many companies. We may imagine them as gathering at various convenient points to join the general movement. Incident¬ al allusions also imj)!}’- that in the subsequent march through the wilderness they may be con¬ ceived of, not as massed in one solid body, but spread widely out, as convenience might re¬ quire. The whole company may have sjiread, as an Arab encampment or a modern army often does, over an area of many miles. S. C. B. Moving out from their various homes in the land of Kameses-Goshen, the Israelites must first find their way to a common rendezvous, in order to their united movement as one people from Egypt into the wilderness beyond. That place of their rendezvous was Succoth. The numbers of the Israelites and the requirements of the Bible narrative forbid the suggestion that any city or town was a starting-point or a stopping-place in the route of the exodus ; hence the hope of determining that route by any discovery of the ruins of one town or an¬ other in Lower Egypt, is based on a misconcep- lion of both the letter and the general tenor of the Bible narrative. The Israelites started out from their scattered homes in the district of Rameses-Goshen, and made their general ren¬ dezvous at Succoth, in an extensive camping field along the line of lakes of which Lake Timsah is the centre. (See map in next sec¬ tion.) It is not necessary to suppose that all the Israelites reached Succoth on the day of their hurried start from their homes in Rameses- Goshen. There is nothing in the Bible text that requires such a supposition ; and there is much in the nature of the case to forbid it. The start was made on the fifteenth day of the first month (Abib) of the new year of the Israel¬ ites. ” On the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt” (16 :1), they came to “ the Wilderness of Sin,” which was their eighth station be¬ yond Rameses-Goshen. At the briefest, the in¬ tervening period was a full month ; which had been spent at or between the stations named. This gives an average of four days to each stage. From the intimations of the time occupied be¬ tween the Red Sea and Elim, it might even be supposed that ten days would be an ample period for the movement and rest on that side of the Egyptian border ; leaving twenty days be¬ tween the hurried start of the Israelites from their homes, and their midnight crossing of the Red Sea. This would easily allow several days for the gaihering at the Succoth rendezvous. Un¬ called-for barriers to an understanding of the Bible narrative have been raised, by a popular belief that all the preparations of the Israelites for their departure out of Egypt had to be made during the passover night, and that the first stage of their journey was passed before the morning of the coming day. Nothing of that sort can be fairly inferred from the Bible text. Moreover, there is nothing in the text that jus¬ tifies the belief that there was but a day’s jour¬ ney between any two of the stations named as the great landmark camping-places. H. C. T. The ” Sweet Water Canal,” from a point about sixty miles N. N. E. of Cairo, eastward to Lake Timsah, carries beside it a belt of fertility, stretching like a green ribband directly through the yellow desert for forty miles to Lake Timsah, which now is one of the links of the Suez Canal, by which the waters of the Mediterranean and of the Red Sea are united. Looking at the coun¬ try, it seemed almost certain that the Israelites would concentrate from their various villages on the line of this Sweet Water Canal. Water they must have, They did not steal away fur- tivelj^ but went out “with a high hand.” “ With a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.” There was no reason for their forsaking this route to the Eastern wilder¬ ness, and in this belt of inhabited land we may fairly locate the Succoth where they made their first camp. Dulles. -The Sweet Water Canal carries the waters of the Nile to Suez, Ismailia, and Port Said. This canal was constructed by the Ship Canal Company, and it occupies very much the line of the ancient channel intended to connect the waters of the Nile with those of the Red Sea. Hull. 30 SECTION 92. THE EXODUS. Succotll. Thukut, or Thuku. The name of a district in which at the time of the exodus there existed not only Pithom, bat fortifications to keep off the invading Asiatics. The camp¬ ing-ground of such a multitude must have had a great extent. Naville. -In February, 1883, M. Naville began the work of excavation at Tell el Maskhutah, a low mound about twelve miles west of Ismailia. It was known that this mound marked the site of an ancient Egyptian city, but scholarly opinion left it undecided whether we were to look there for Kameses or for Pithom. M. Naville’s excavations quickly resulted in the finding of monument after mon¬ ument bearing the various names of Pithom, which had already been made familiar to us by the recovered geographical lists of ancient Egypt. H. C. T. All the facts yet discovered go to show that it was the very city in question. The name is found in the tablet of Ptolemy written fully and “determinated” with the city sign, and also not thus determinated in other texts. These same texts draw a distinction between the city of Turn and the temple of Turn. The one was Pi-Tam, Pithom, and the other was h'ia{i)-liim, temple or sanctuary of Turn. This distinction points conclusively to the existence of a town called after the main deity of the region, and shows by monumental evidence that the city is 'there. The results of the excavations corre¬ spond in a marked way with the facts as re¬ corded ill Exodus. The bricks that have been found (and the city is almost entirely composed of these) are of three sorts, with straw, with stubble, and without either, and they are laid in' mortar, an unusual thing. Gilleit. -When M, Naville had digged down into store-chambers built, perhaps by the Israelites, in this store- city of the Pharaohs, he had done a great deal more than discover the site of Pithom. He fixed, also, the centre of tha biblical district of Succoth. From the monuments we had already known that Pithom was the capital of the Eg 3 ’p- tian nome called Abot, or East-land, to which was often given the alternative name of Thuku or Succoth, the place of tents, or camping- ground, for the Semitic nomads who entered Egypt from the east. This district or nome of Succoth was also the first camping-place, or ren¬ dezvous, of the children of Israel in their march out of Egypt. H. C. T. The district of Thukut west and northwest of Lake Timsah would be a very convenient place for a general muster, affording a wide space and abundant pasture in the spring-time, and easily reached both from southwest and northwest—in the one case by the Wady Tumi- lat, in the other by way of Tel-Dafneh and the western shore of Lake Ballah. This position for Thukut seems indeed to be definitely fixed by the discovery of the ruins of Pithom, the capital of Thukut, at Tel el-Maskutah, combined with the statement in an Eg^^ptian text, that Thukut was a region just within the Egyptian frontier, suited for grazing, and in the vicinitj^ of some lakes. G. E, The recent discovery by M, Naville of the true site of Pithom at Tel-el-Maskhutah in the Wady Tumilat, when conjoined with the fact that Pi¬ thom was the chief cit}' of the district of Succoth mentioned in the exodus, and that it was one of the tw'o “ store-cities,” or garrison towns, * that the Israelites are said to have been com¬ pelled to build for Pharaoh in the land of Goshen, has thrown a flood of light on the sub¬ ject. It marks one stage in the exodus, and also carries with it the consequence that as Raineses [the store-city] must have been one day’s march or thereabout to the west of Suc¬ coth, it also was in Wady Tumilat, but at the western end of it. Certain ruins at the en¬ trance of the Wady Tumilat, hitherto regarded by many as marking the site of Pithom, are therefore, in all probability, those of Rameses. Further, as the monuments at both places indi¬ cate that Rameses the Great (or Rameses II.) was their builder, the view held by the majority of Egyptologists that this king was the Pharaoh of the oppression is confirmed. The site of Pithom is distinctly visible from the railway, about twelve miles west of Ismailia, and presents the remains of fortifications and extensive gran¬ aries built with crude brick, some portions of which probably date from before the exodus, though the site was occupied down to the Ro¬ man times as the chief town of Succoth and an important frontier post. Daring the construc¬ tion of the Sweet Water Canal it was also se¬ lected as a principal station, and at present it is occupied by Arabs, who cultivate the ground in its vicinit 3 ^ Taking it for granted that the time of the exodus was in the reign of Meneptah, the son and successor of Rameses, that the Wady Tumilat was a principal part of the land of Goshen, and that Rameses and Succoth were in this valle}”, let us study the geographical con¬ ditions of the question as thev present them¬ selves on an examination of the district, now very accessible by means of the railway from Cairo to Ismailia and Suez. On the east side of the delta of the Nile, about fifty miles north¬ east of Cairo, a narrow valley of cultivated soil extends eastward, with desert on both sides, for NUMBER OF THE HOSTS. 31 aoout eighty miles or nearly as far as Ismailia, on the line of the Suez Canal, M'here this crosses Lake Timsah. This valley, Wady Tumilat, is only a few miles wide at its western end, and gradually narrows toward the east. As the des¬ ert sand is, however, encroaching on it from the south, and has, indeed, in places over- vrhelmed an ancient canal which at one time probably ran near the middle of the valley, it must formerly have been more extensive than at present. Kecent surveys also render it certain that this valley once carried a branch of the Nile, which discharged its waters into the Ked Sea. This branch, or a canal representing it, must have existed in the time of Moses. At present the valley is watered by the Sweet Water Canal, running frorn the Nile to Suez ; and though probably inferior to the land of Gosh¬ en in its best days, it is still one of the most beautiful districts in Egypt, at least in its western part, presenting wide stretches of fer¬ tile land covered with luxuriant crops, numer¬ ous cattle and sheep, large groves of date-palms, whose fruit is said to be the best in Egypt, and numerous populous villages ; while it must al¬ ways have been, what it now eminently is, a leading line of communication between Egypt and the countries to the east. The position of this valley accords admirably with the scrip¬ tural notices of it. It would be the only way of convenient entrance into Egypt for Jacob with his flocks and herds. It was separated to a great degree from the rest of Egypt, and was eminently suited to be the residence of a j^as- toral and agricultural people differing in their habits from the Eg 3 ’ptians, and accustomed to the modes of life in use in Palestine. Dawson. Number of the Departing Hosts. Ex. : 37 , 38. 600,000 men, beside eliildren. ... A mixed multitude also, and verj’ much calllc. From the census taken at Sinai (Nu. 1) it appeared that the whole number of men, “ from twenty years old and upward, all that w^ere able to go forth to war in Israel,” was G03,550. If to these we fidd 400,000 male chil¬ dren under twenty j’ears of age, and suppose the females to have been about as numerous as the males, we find that the entire mass of the people of Israel amounted to more than iw:> million souls. But it is a mistake to suppose that the two millions were all the direct descen¬ dants of Jacob. When Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, they must certainly have taken with them all their men-servants and maid-ser¬ vants, as well as all their cattle, for these formed a portion of their wealth. We know that Abra¬ ham had 318 servants fit for war and trained to arms ; his nomadic household, therefore, must have contained more than a thousand souls. Jacob, again, who inherited all these, brought with him from Syria many men-servants and maid-servants, and much cattle. With such data as these, we are justified in assuming that the number of those who went down with Jacob to Egypt was not limited to his sixty-six chil- dren and grandchildren, but consisted of several thousand men-servants and maid-servants. But according to Gen. 17 :12, 13, these had been all received bj’’ circumcision into the religious com¬ munity of the children of Israel, and thus the distinction between master and servant, which is never very marked among nomads, must have been still further softened down. In Egypt, where the striking contrast between Israelites and Egyptians was necessarily a great impedi¬ ment in the wmy of intermarriages, the descend¬ ants of Jacob will no doubt have married the descendants of his servants. And under such circumstances the distinction must gradually have worn away. Hence we regard the two million souls who left Egypt after the lapse of 430 3 ^ears as the posterity of the whole of the people who went down into Egypt with Jacob. K. Such a company moving at once the world never before nor since witnessed ; upward of two millions of souls, besides their flocks and herds, even very much cattle j and what but the mere providende of God could support such a multitude, and in the wilderness, too, where to this day the necessaries of life are not to be found ? Had not Moses the fullest proof of his Divine mission, he never could have put himself at the head of such an immense concourse of people, who, without the most especial and effective Providence, must all have perished for lack of food. This single circumstance is an ample demonstration of the Divine mission of Moses, and of the authenticity and Divine in¬ spiration of the Pentateuch. To suppose that an impostor, or one pretending only to a Divine call, could have ventured to place himself at the head of such an immense body of peojple, to lead them through a trackless wilderness, utterly unprovided for such a journey, to a land as jmt in the possession of several powerful nations, whom they must expel before they could possess the country, would have implied such an ex¬ treme of madness and folly as has never been witnessed in an individual, and such a blind credulity in the multitude as is unparalleled in the annals of mankind 1 The succeeding stu- 32 SECTION 92. TUE EXOD ITS. pendous events proved that Moses had the au¬ thority of God to do what he did. A. C. Aside from any miraculous aspects of the case, the exodus must be recognized as one of the most extraordinary achievements in history ; and the man who could guide it to a prosper¬ ous issue must have been second to no man in the catalogue of great names. It is indeed diffi¬ cult to name a successful enterprise which can bear a moment’s comparison in magnitude and difficulty with the taking up of a whole people, men, women, and children, and all their por¬ table effects, removing the great heterogeneous company in the face of a mighty, warlike na¬ tion, carrying them through a vast desert scant¬ ily supplied with water and destitute of the accumulated products of the soil, occupied only by hostile tribes, and then planting them so effectually in their new home as to make of them a nation of wealth and power, and of unity unparalleled. The immigration of four hundred thousand Tartars in a single night from the confines of Eussia into their own native deserts, sometimes cited in illustration, bears but the remotest resemblance to it. The tourist who travels over *the region, attended by a dozen Arabs and as many camels, to carry and care for him on the way, will ordinarily be not the last ready to believe that no natural force or genius was adequate, except as re-enforced by some such agencies as are recorded in the Hebrew history. The narrative, however, records the most complete preparation that the case admit¬ ted : a leader who had himself twice passed over the region, and was now intrusted with ab¬ solute authority ; long expectation, and season¬ able notice at last ; a definite time and place of rendezvous; an organized arrangement — for they went up “ harnessed,” or rather, in orderly array ; a method of march and encampment as thorough as that of the best modern arm}^ with many sanitary provisions ; and negotiations, however unsuccessful, with the tribes on the way. The substantial fact of the expedition is no more to be questioned than the Norman Con¬ quest. Never was an event so vitally incorpo¬ rated with a nation’s history, observances, and literature, in every form, as was the Egyptian residence and rescue with those of Israel. Bartlett. 38. A mixed multitude weut. Partly Egyptians and partly natives of other countries, who had been prevailed upon by the miracles wrought in behalf of the Israelites, and from other motives, to go with them. Some were probably Egyptians of the poorer class, who were in hopes to better their condition in some way, or had other good reasons for leaving Egypt. Others were perhaps foreign slaves be¬ longing both to the Hebrews and Egyptians, who were glad to take the opportunity of escap¬ ing with the Israelites. Others again were such adventurers and debtors as could no longer stay safely in Egypt. Whoever or whatever they were, the Israelites were no better for their presence. Bush. 39. The provision made for the camp was very poor and slender. They brought some dough with them out of Egypt in their knap¬ sacks (verse 34). They had prepared to bake the next day, in order to their removal, understand¬ ing it was very near ; but being hastened away, they took the dough as it was, unleavened, and when they came to Succoth, they baked unleav¬ ened cakes, and though they were insipid, yet the liberty they were brought into made it the most joyful meal they had ever eaten in their lives. H. “ History,” says Bunsen, “ was born in that night when Moses, with the Law of God—moral and spiritual—in his heart, led the people of Israel out of Egypt.” SECTION 93. 33 Section 93. FEOM SUCCOTH TO ETHAM, FROM ETHAM TO THE RED SEA. Exodus 13 : 17-22 ; 14 ; 1-9, Nu. 33 ; G, 7. Ec. 13 17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said. Lest 18 peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt : but God led the people about, by the waj" of the wilderness by the Red Sea : and the chil- 19 dren of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him : for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will 20 surely visit you ; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilder- 21 ness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; that they might go by day 22 and by night : the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from before the peoj)le. 14 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that 2 they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before 3 Baal-zephon ; over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them 4 in. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them ; and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host ; and the Egyptians shall know that I 5 am the Lord. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled : and the heart of Pharaoh apd of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from 6 serving us ? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him : and he 7 took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all 8 of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pur¬ sued after the children of Israel : for the children of Israel went out with an high 9 hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. Xa. 33 6 And they journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of 7 the wilderness. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon : and they pitched before Migdol. Notwithstanding the difficulty of exactly iden¬ tifying localities after an interval measured by thousands of years, it is, on the whole, surpris¬ ing to see how near an approach can be made to a determination of the route by which Israel went up out of Egypt. The exceptional config¬ uration and condition of the country are, and always have been, such as to guide and restrict the movements of large companies ; and the ascertainment of a few places goes far toward settling the whole line of march. The Wady Tumilat is a narrow fertile strip lying some thirty-five miles north of the latitude of Cairo, and extending from the Nile delta to the eastern edge of Egypt. A little north of Cairo the two limestone ridges that shut in the Nile break down and swing off to the northeast 3 and the northwest respectively, making room for the delta. The northeastern line, greatly reduced in height, opens at a place nearly east of Zagazig, and lets a narrow tapering valley or depression of surface shoot directly east, almost to Birket Timsah, the Crocodile Lake. It is the Wady Tumilat, Goshen unquestionably in¬ cluded Wady Tumilat, the valley of the modern canal and railway. Along this valley ran the ancient canal of the time of the exodus, though not then, as afterward, extended to the Red Sea. From Zagazig the railway runs almost due east, soon entering and followdng Wady Tumi¬ lat. For a long distance the valley seemed the most productive part of Egypt that I had seen. In its wider parts it may be two miles or more I in breadth, growing steadily narrower, till be- 34 SECTION 93. FROM SUGCOTH TO ETHAM. ROUTE FROM GOSHEN (RAMESES) TO THE RED SEA. fore reaching Ismailia, on the Crocodile Lake (Timsah) (which is by rail forty-seven miles east of Zagazig), it entirely fades out. The rail¬ way and the Sweet Water Canal run through its entire length. Bartlett. 13 : 17 , Ixoct led tl^ein not by tlie “way of the Philistines. The reason is here given in advance for the change in their route indicated in the emphatic command to Moses (14 :1, 2). B. 18, The Way of the Wilderness by the Red Sea, or “ The Way of the -Bed Sea,” was the road which swept out of Egypt, across the wilderness between the two arms of the Red Sea, from the head of the Gulf of Suez to the head of the Gulf of Akabah, It is to¬ day the great Hajj route from Egypt toward Mecca. It is frequently referred to in the nar- jative of the exodus and wanderings. H. C. T. To say nothing of the Divine purposes rela¬ tive to the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and the humbling and proving of the Israelites by a protracted sojourn in the wilder¬ ness, they could not enter Canaan by the direct route without encountering the Philistines, who then occupied all its southern borders. These Philistines were a powerful and warlike nation, between whom and the Israelites there seems to have been an ancient grudge existing from a circumstance mentioned 1 Chron. 7 :21, 22, To avoid, therefore, the perils of battle, Moses is directed to take another far more circuitous and difficult route ” by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.” Moses was directed in this, for the circumstances clearly evince that he could have been no self-appointed lawgiver, leading forth the Israelites from Egypt of his own motion, but that he all along acted under Divine dicta¬ tion and control. Bush. Their spirits were broken with slavery ; the Philistines were formidable enemies, too fierce to be encountered by raw recruits ; it was more suitable that they should be prepared for the wars of Canaan, by experiencing the difficulties of the wilderness. God proportions his peo¬ ple’s trials to their strength, and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able. He tried their faith and patience and dependence FROM SUCCOTII TO ETIIAM. 35 ■upon God, and inured them to the hardships of the wilderness, and so instructed them. Every stage had something in it that was instructive ; even when he chastened them, he thereby iavght ihern out of his Law. It is said (Ps. 107 : 7) that he led them forth hy the right way ; and yet here, that he led them about ^ for God always leads his people the right way, however to us it may seem about ; so that the farthest way about proves, if not the nearest waj^ yet the best way home to Canaan. How God instructed them is ex¬ plained long after (Neh. 9 ; 13), Thou gaveat them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments ; and especially (verse 20), Thou gavest them also thy good Spirit to instruct them ; and he instructs effectually. We may well im¬ agine how unfit that people had been for Ca¬ naan, had they not first gone through the dis¬ cipline of the wilderness. H. In this wilderness route there were great pur¬ poses to be accomplished in the moral training and culture of the nation and in the manifesta¬ tions of the God of their fathers before their ej^es. That way lay the passage of the Eed Sea which God i^rovided as the burial-place for the proud hosts of Pharaoh ; that way lay Sinai— those grand mountain cliffs which God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and the flame of his glorious i^resence, that the Law might be written in letters of fire upon the souls of the w'hole people ; that w'ay lay the long, breadless, waterless route of almost forty 3 ^ears wandering and sojourning in which the Lord fed the people wdth angels’ food — bread from the lower heavens—the manna of the desert, and with w^ater once and again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river— that they might learn the power and the love of their God ; that way lay also their long tuition and training into their religious system—a wonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordi¬ nances for wdiich the lifetime of a genera¬ tion was scarce!}' too long. All these great results and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this choice of the wilder¬ ness route as their way to the land of Canaan. H. C According to the course of the country, Moses might have marched the people a much shorter w'ay, and, supported by the power of God, have taken possession of the land of Canaan at once ; but such rapid proceedings would not have served the purpose for w'hich the children of Israel wmre separated from all other nations. It is evident, from Moses’s supposing that they would ask the name of the God of their fathers, that they had become polytheists during their residence in Egypt. Their making and wor¬ shipping of the golden calf is a proof of the strength of their attachment to the idolatry of [ their late masters ; and the readiness with which they suffered themselves to be seduced by the daughters of Moab, indicated their prone¬ ness to idolatry of every kind. God drew them, as he says himself (Hos. 11 :4), “With the cords of a man, and bands of love,’’ that, by appeals made to their understandings and their affections, they might see reason to become at¬ tached to him and habituated to his wmrship ; but this could be done only by detaining them in the wilderness till their religious principles should be fixed and their trust in him and at¬ tachment to his service be strengthened into habit by numerous displays of goodness and power, such as were never vouchsafed to any other people. Had they been carried to Canaan by the shortest way and settled there at once by the extermination of the seven nations, nothing would ever have been heard, either by them or by us, of the Angel of God’s Presence visibly jDreceding them ; nothing of his dividing the sea to facilitate their passage ; nothing of his overwhelming their enemies in those very floods, which to them were a kind of w'all on each side ; nothing of his drawing out rivers of water from the stony rock ; nothing of his (Ps. 78 :24), “ sending down manna upon them, and giving them food from heaven nothing of his “ rain¬ ing flesh, as thick as dust, and feathered fowls, like as the sand of the sea nothing of his amazing descent upon Mount Sinai, when, in the lofty w'ords of the Psalmist (Ps. 18 : 9, etc.), “he bowed the heavens, and came down, and it was dark under his feet ; he rode upon the cherubims, and did fly ; he came flying upon the wings of the wind ; he made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him with dark water, and thick clouds to cover him : There went a smoke out of his presence, hail¬ stones, and coals of fire, so that the earth trem¬ bled and quaked ; the very foundations also or the hills shook, and were removed.’’ The wil¬ derness, in short, was the scene which God had made choice of for the display of his almighty power and goodness : there it was that he laid bare his arm, as he calls it, to the Israelites ; that every day he took care of their meat and drink and clothing ; and had he not detained them there so long, he had not been so kind. It may be considered further, that, before this people were to be admitted into the possession of the inheritance which God had promised them, all matters were to be adjnsted between him and them ; and to this purpose laws were 3G SECTION 93. FROM 8UCC0TH TO ETIIAM. to be given, ordinances instituted, and covenants sealed. Stackhouse. In the sacred story there are three great typi¬ cal lands : Egypt, Arabia, Canaan. Egypt is the Land of Bondage ; Arabia is the Land of Training ; Canaan is the Land of Best. He who would pass from Egypt to Canaan must needs go through Arabia. It was into Arabia that Moses was led, in his training for his work as leader and lawgiver, after his dwelling in Egj^it. Elijah the projihet had his training lessons there (1 Kings 19 :1-18). And thither was Paul sent in preparation for his work as the ajiostle to the Gentiles (GaL 1 :17). H. C. T. 1{>, took Ike koiics of Joscpk U’itll liiiii. Nothing in all Joseph’s life showed his heart so plainly as the directions he left at his death. After a long life spent in their service, he so loved his kindred and had such faith in his God that he thought only of how he could best make even his dead body serve his jieople and glorify God. It was not merely a desire to be buried with his fathers ; for all Egypt would have united with his kindred in carrying him thither. They had thus carried Jacob ; still more willingly would they have heeded the wish of their great statesman who for eighty years had governed Egypt so wisely and so well. But he would serve his people and honor his God with his dead body. A long life of service did not satisfy him so long as there was aught he could do. He believed God would visit the 23eople and lead them out of EgyjDt. But the time might be long and their faith fail as they waited. Nothing he could say or do would so keep the coming exodus in their minds as to leave his bones among them unburied, waiting to be carried up from hence. Nothing would serve so effectually to keejo in their minds and hearts the wonderful story of God's dealings with Jose23h himself : his rescue from the pit and from the dungeon, and his deliverance of his father’s family from the famine. Year after year, as they march back and forth through the desert, wdiile slowly the condemned generation died out among them, that coffin is borne on by his descendants. Those who bore it on that night-march from Eg 3 "j)t had died, and their sons, who stood looking ujjon it then with won¬ dering eyes, had taken their place. And still they wandered in the desert, and still no burial- place was found for Joseph. But, as it had done in EgyjDt, that coffin strengthens their faith in their desert march. Does despondency^ seize ujDon some son of Manasseh, and does he say gloomily to his comrade, “ We shall all perish in this wilderness ; it would have been better to have remained in Egypt, for none of us will ever reach the land of Abraham ?”—one look toward that body waiting there, and which had waited so long, would silence him. If Joseph had such faith so long ago, why should his chil¬ dren doubt? That coffin stood a silent pledge that the wanderings should cease and they rest in the land promised to their fathers. It preached to them not only faith but patience. Why should they be weary of these few years, when Joseph had waited for burial through cen¬ turies? Horn. Rev. 211. Tke Lord wcKt before them. That-by the Lokd here is meant the Lord Jesus, we have the authority of Paul to believe (1 Cor. 10 : 9). It was He whose spirit they tempted in the wilderness, for it was He who led them through the desert to the jjromised rest. In a pifiBar of cloud—of fire. This pillar or Ci'lumn which appeared as a cloud by day, and a fire by night, was the symbol of the Divine pres¬ ence, the Shekinuh or Divine dwelling-ijlace, and was the continual j)roof of the 2 )resence and protection of GOD. A. C.-It was manifestly the visible presence of Jehovah with his people. It was to be both a guide to them in all their wanderings, a shelter in the day from the blaz¬ ing sun of the desert, and at night a light to illuminate the encamjmrent ; as a jrrotector to flame forth against their enemies, or on some si^ecial occasions, as ui)on the doomed violators of his covenant, in the way of executing the wrath of Jehovah against otfenders. As to the form and structure and outward aj) 2 )earance of this remarkable symbol, we are led to conceive of it as a majestic column, with base perhaps broad enough to shade the whole camj) of Israel from the sun, which must have been six or eight miles square. By day it was an opaque body, by night the ineffable brightness from within shone through the encircling opaque cloud. This remarkable pillar of cloud and of fire is spoken of as the Angel of Jehovah (Ex. 23 : 20- 23) ; as the glory of the Lord whose sight v/as like devouring fire (Ex. 24 : 17). So in De. 1 : 32, 33 : “ The Lord, your God, went in your way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fiie by night to show you by which way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.” According to the teaching of these pas¬ sages, this cloud-fire pillar was to Israel the Angel Jehovah of the nation, and they looked upon that sublime and awful column as the vis¬ ible embodiment of their ever-present God look¬ ing out from it upon them, and from whom the most secret action could not be hid. It was also their oracle for the time—their Shekinah, or THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE. 37 visible glory. On occasion it rose from their camp and ascended to the summit with attend¬ ant lightnings and thunders ; or again de¬ scended from Sinai and stood over the newly- erected tabernacle, where God talked with Moses and delivered all the precepts of the Le- vitical Law. In short, this was the symbol of the Divine presence with his people, and as a theophecy typified the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus “ the brightness of the Father’s glory.” S. K. This inwrapped inner splendor is more appro¬ priately termed “ the Glory of the Lord and this “ Glory” is said to have appeared in the day¬ time, when God would express his displeasure on account of the people’s transgressions, or when he would strike them with a trembling awe of his majesty, as at the giving of the Law from Sinai. In like manner, when the two sons of Aaron, Nabab and Abihu, offended by strange fire in their offerings, a fatal flash from the cloudy pillar instantaneously extinguished their lives. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this majestic pillar of cloud was intended to serve as the Shekinah, or visible representative of Je¬ hovah, dwelling in the midst of the chosen peo¬ ple. The Divine nature—that is, the Divine power, efficacy, authority, majesty, and omnis¬ cience, would be associated with the external visible symbol. To all practical purposes, therefore, this cloudy pillar was to them the “ Angel Jehovah,” Christ, the God of their na¬ tion, and they were to look up to that sublime and awful column as a visible embodiment of their covenant God, as an ever-present witness, from whom not even their slightest word or deed could be hidden. This view of the cloudy pillar as a kind of w^atch-tower of the Almighty, an aerial Mizpeh, or “ place of espial,” is ex¬ pressly recognized in the remarkable passage (Ex. 14 :24, 25). Bush. In each of the aspects which this pillar as¬ sumed, we find the corresponding feature most fully verified in Christ. He is the light of men. The glory of the Father shines forth in him as full of grace and truth. He alone has revealed the Father, and can give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Therefore he is the Word or Revealer of God, the etfal- gence of his glory. And while merciful and com¬ passionate in the last degree to sinners—the very jjersonification of love—he yet has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet as of burning brass ; and he w^alks amid the golden candlesticks, as he did in the camp of Israel, to bring to light the hidden works of darkness, and cause his indig¬ nation to smoke against the hypocrites. P. F. Christ was with the Church in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10 : 9). Now their king passed before them, even the Lord on the head of them (Mic. 2 : 13). Those w’hom God brings into a wilderness, he will not leave nor lose there, but will take care to lead them through it. Tltey needed not to fear missing their way who were thus led, or being lost who were thus directed ; they needed not to fear being benighted wdio w'ere thus il¬ luminated, nor being robbed who were thus protected. They who make the glory of God their end and the Word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the guide of their affections and the providence of God the guide of their affairs, may be confident that the Lord goes before them, as truly as he went before Israel in the wilder¬ ness, though not so sensibly ; we must live by faith. H. Nothing less than an identification of Christ with the ” Jehovah” or the oracular Presence, the Shekinah, of the Old Testament was manifest in that overwhelming display of which John, Peter, and James were eye-witnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration, when there was a tem¬ porary laying aside of the veil of his flesh, the cloud of his human nature, and a transient dis¬ closure of the indwelling Shekinah, the glory of his Godhead. This was a preintimation to the senses of that ineffable light and splendor in which he will apjiear when he comes with the retinue of his saints to be the luminary of the New Jerusalem, W’hich is to come down from God out of heaven. The whole scene seems to have been intended to afford a demonstration to the senses of the substantial identity of the person of the incarnate Pedeemer with the manifested Jehovah of the Jewish dispensation. Conse¬ quently, whatever of essential divinity is indi¬ cated by the title “ Jehovah,” it is unquestion¬ ably to be considered as belonging to Christ. Bush. To lead tliein t5«e way. The custom of guiding caravans by means of smoke and light is referred to by many authors. Curtius tells of Alexander the Great employing this method in his campaigns. A beacon or cresset on a lofty pole before his headquarters pavilion could be seen by all from near and far ; and it was a guide to all. ” Fire w'as to be the signal by night; smoke by day.” “ We cannot but acknowledge,” says Kurtz, ‘‘ that in the pillar of cloud and of fire, in which Jehovah himself accompanied and conducted his jieople, there was some reference to the ordinary cai*avan-fire, which served as a guide as w'ell as a signal of encampment and departure to the caravans and armies of the East. For in the design and 38 SECTION 93. FROM 8UCC0TH TO ETIIAM. form of the two phenomena we can trace ex¬ actly the same features ; the difference being that the one was a merely natural arrangement, which answered its purpose but very imper¬ fectly and was exceedingly insignificant in its character, while the other was a supernatuial phenomenon, beyond all comparison more splendid and magnihcent in its form, which not only served as a signal of encampment and departure, and led the way in an incomparably superior manner, but was also made to answer far greater and more glorious ends.” Trumbull. The i)illar of fire and cloud had also certain offices to perform to the Israelites. These were for guidance and protection. It was by this that the Lord directed their course through the- dreary and trackless waste which lay between Eg 3 "pt and Canaan, showing them when to set forth, in what direction to proceed, where to abide, and also affording light to their steps when the journey was by night. In addition to these benefits, the pillar also served as a shade from the heat of a scorching sun ; and on one occasion at least, when the Israelites were closely pursued by the Egj’ptians, it stood as a wall of defence between them and their enemies. P. F.-Some such guidance as was afforded the jjeople in the pillar of cloud and of fire was necessary. The host of Israel being so numer¬ ous, having with them their flocks and herds, and being only to a small extent orgauized, it is difficult to see how they could possibly have kept together so as to march in any one direc¬ tion or to come into camp without some pro¬ vision like this of the cloudy pillar, rising high over the desert. N. C. B.-As far as the pur¬ poses of the Israelites were concerned, that cloudy-fiery pillar was the Shekinah or dwelling¬ -place of Israel’s God ; it was the manifestation of his friendly j^rotecting presence in their midst. There was sure guidance in its goings —a pledge of safety in its presence ; by day a welcome awning in its shadow, and by night an illumination no less welcome in its forth- flowing effulgence. IlamiUon. 22. TBie pillar of cloud departed not. It did not vanish from their view, bnt was a constant and unerring signal before or in the sight of the joeople. We have not now the pillar of fire and cloud, but we have the Word of God, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. This also is a supernatural revela¬ tion of the present Lord and his Messiah by the eternal Spirit, conve.yed through the minds and words of holy men. This spiritual flame, kindled from heaven and enshrined in the cloud of hu¬ man speech, has not been lost or extinguished, but continued from generation to generation, and is in the way of being diffused throughout the whole world, to be the guide of the nations to the land of promise till the days of darkness disappear. It remains a speaking token of the continual presence of the God of all grace, of the Father, .the Son, and Holy Ghost in his church. M.-The Israelites were not to look at the road they traversed, whether it was rough or smooth ; their business was to look only upon the cloud, and follow wherever it led them. And is not this our course? We are not re¬ sponsible for the roughness or length of the road ; we are only lesponsible for obeying the command of him who has placed us in it. In walking through life, as we traverse the desert and march toward Emmanuel’s land, we are to look only for guidance, for strength, for pardon, for peace, for success, to the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night-the bright¬ ness of the Father’s glory, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. J. C, FBOM SUCCOTH TO ETHAM. Ex. 13 : 20. Nu. 33 : 6. 20. Ethain, In tlic edg^e of tlie wil¬ derness. We are to look not for a cityf but for a region of that name. The papyrus of Saneha says that leaving the lake Kemuer (Timsah) he arrived at a place called Alima, which could not be very far distant. And the papyrus Anatasi, VI., a document of the time of the exodus, has this passage : “ We have allowed the tribes of the Shasu of the land of Atuma to pass the stronghold of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth, toward the lakes of Pithom of King Meneptah of the land of Succoth.” That I consider the region of Eiham, the land which the papyri call Atima or Atuma. It was inhabited by Shasu nomads, and as it was insufficient to nourish their cattle, they asked to share the good pastures assigned to the Israelites. Both the nature of the land and its name agree well with what is said of Etham, that it was ” in the edge of the wilderness. ” I believe Etham to be the region of Atuma, the desert which began at Lake Timsah, and extended south of it near the Arabia Gulf. Naville. We best meet the requirements of the narra¬ tive if we suppose Etham to have been beyond the eastern end of Wady Tumilat, toward Pales¬ tine, and not far from the northern end of Lake Timsah. It would thus lie on ” the edge of the wilderness—” that is, on the line where Egypt ends and the Arabian desert begins. It would be where the way was open before Israel, FROM ETIIAM TO THE RED SEA, 39 either to pass over the heights of Guisr, or to strike northward into the main road to the Phil¬ istine territory and to Palestine. The command at that place, to move in the direction of Suez, would indeed be an order to “ turn back,” Bartlett. -All the desert east of the present Suez Canal was called the desert of Etham ; and the ‘‘ edge" of this desert on the route followed by the Israelites must have been near the present town of Ismailia, at the head of Lake Timsah. At this point the desert portion of the journey direct to Palestine begins ; and here, between Lake Timsah and Lake Ballat, is the highest 23art of the isthmus and the best road out of Egypt to the east. Dawson. Had the Israelites passed out of Egypt at this point, the march W'ould naturally have been across the desert some way s.^uth of Lake Ser- bonis to the Wady El Arish, and thence along the coast of the Mediterranean to Gaza and the low tract of the Shefeleh. But the nation was not yet in a fit condition to meet and contend with the war-like people of that rich and valu¬ able region—the Philistines. God accordingly^ w'ho guided the march by the pillar of the cloud and of fire (verses 21, 22), “ led them not the way of the land of the Philistines, although that w’as near ; for God said, Lest the people repent when they see war.” G. B. FROM ETHAM TO THE RED SEA. Ex. 14 ; 1, 2, Nu. 33 : 7. The general line of march is clearly indicated through Succoth to Etham “ on the edge of the wilderness” that lies east of Egypt, then by a “ turn” to the Red Sea by a route probably not far from the line of the present railway from Ismailia to Suez. S. C. B.-This route would save the crossing of two high, rocky ridges, which run from w^est to east parallel with the canal, and would afford a broad plain of desert over which to march southward, in accordance with the Divine purpose, when God “ led the people about ” to the Red Sea. Dalles. Ex. 14 : 2. Turn back. They are to turn to the south, at right angles to their former course, along the west side of Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes. This would have the tempo¬ rary advantage of keeping them for a little longer wdthin reach of water and pasturage, but the great disadvantage of obliging them at some point to the southward to cross the Red Sea, an operation which they might hope to perform if unmolested and with abundance of time, but not otherwise. Dawson. -As you go south- , ward from Ismailia, the lakes on your left, now i filled by water from the Mediterranean, glitter wdth tints of blue that are exquisite, contrasting delicately with the amber-colored sand, while the gravelly desert on your right, with a stunted herbage, glows in the hot sunlight up to the foot of the hills which are bare and desolate masses of rock. The way to Suez, at the head of the western arm of the Red Sea, is broadly open for a moving caravan. But a little south of Suez, on the western side, a mountain ridge, the Gebel Attaka, runs boldly from the north¬ west across the southward path, abuts upon the sea, and renders a forward movement imprac¬ ticable. Dulles. Encampment neab the Ceossing-Place. 14:2. Encamp before Pi-hahirotli, between lUiiirdol and the sea, before Baal-Zeplion, by the sea. They were near the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea ; near the modern way of the Hajj out of Lower Egypt, a highway which has swept across the desert, from gulf to gulf, from time immemorial. They were not far from the shore of the Red Sea ; in a locality where three well-known land¬ marks were back of them, or about them : Mig- dol, Pi-hahiroth, and Baal-Zephon. Migdol was the outlook tower which overlooked that south¬ ernmost road desert ward. H. C. T.- Migdol means fort or tower, and might designate simply a fortified place. Niebuhr first suggested for it Bir-Suweis, two miles from Suez, where there are two wells of very brackish water and a massive stone building of the seventeenth century. Kalisch favors it ; and Canon Cook, in view of an investigation by Chabas, showing that ” Maktal, ” or Magdal, which Seti I. visited on his return from Syria, was built over a well, thinks there is “ scarcely any room for doubt.” We may accept it as a very suitable conjecture. Pi-hahiroth is written in Numbers “ Hahiroth, ” giving some support to the opinion that the syl¬ lable “pi” isonlythe Egyptian article, and that Ihe essential word is Hahiroth. There seems, on the whole, to be good reason for finding^ Hahiroth at Ajrood. It is the view of Jablonsky, Laborde, Winer, Kurtz, Keil, Knobel, Ebers, Sharpe, and apparently of Lange and Ewald. The name Hahiroth, as they have shown, corre¬ sponds in its consonant elements very closely to Ajrood. This name is certainly as old as the twelfth century. Other reasons concur. The situation and circumstances well correspond. The distance from the sea, four hours north¬ west of Suez, is suitable. A large plain, adapted to an encampment, ten miles long and nearly as broad, stretches to the sea. This camping- 40 SECTION 93. THE CROSSING-PLACE. i .\Aj/bon Moosa'0.t^ Pa-haTiirotlr ^AJrood Migdolo Muktuta ENCAMPMENT NEAR THE CROSSING-PLACE. ground lies in front, or, as the Hebrew mighi < be translated, east of the place. A deep well (two hundred and lifty feet), though containing bitter water, must have made the spot a place of mark in former as in recent times. A fortress stands there now. These several circumstances will satisfy the conditions. Barileii. Baal-Zephon is the name of a divinity. It rep¬ resents a combination of Semitic and Egyptian objects of worshij). The name itself of the dualistic deity in its Semitic-Egyptian form of Ba’ali-Zapoona, or Ba’ali-Tsapuna, is found on the monuments ; and that this is the same name as the Ba’al-Zephon (or the Ba’al-Tsephon) of the Hebrew Scriptures does not admit of serious question. In fixing the location of the shrine of Ba’al-Zephon there are helps in its mention in the text. The place of the encampment of the Israelites by the Bed Sea is described by four cardinal points. It is in some way bounded, or indicated, by : Migdol, the sea, Pi-hahiroth, and Ba’al-Zephon. The sea must, in the nature of things, have lain at the eastward. As the commandment was to encamp “ between Migdol and the sea,” Migdol is naturally to be looked for at the westward of the Sea. And as Pi- hahiroth is said to be “ before,” or “ over against,” Ba’al-Zephon, while the camp is at ; one time said to be ” before,or over against Pi hahiroth, and again to be ” before” or “ over against ” Ba’al-Zephon, at the same time that it was “ before” Migdol, it follows that Pi-hahirotb and Bti’al-Zephon must have been in the rela¬ tion of northerly and southerly to each other ; since Migdol was westerly, as over against the Sea which lay easterly. This corresponds with the supposed identifications of Migdol, at or near Muktala ; and of Pi-haliiroth, or Hahiroth, at Ajrood. The landmarks at the northerly and westerly bounds of the place of encamp¬ ment are at points which conform with all the indications of the text. This goes to fix the shrine of Ba’al-Zephon as at some point south¬ erly from Ajrood, and southward of a line run¬ ning from Muktala to the sea. In that direc¬ tion the mountains of Ataliah stand cut too prominently to be overlooked as a probable site of such a shrine as that of Ba al-Zephon must have been. Their summit commands a view of the isthmus, of the sea, and of the desert east¬ ward. Ebers has advocated Gebel Atakah as a site of Ba’al-Zephon, and other scholars have accepted his judgment on this point as probably correct. It is not easy to find any sound reason for questioning its correctness. Trumbull. At the western edge of the plain northwest of PLACE OF THE PASSAGE. 41 Suez the station Muktala (Migdol) is found. The Israelites “ encamped between Migdol and the Sea,” for which there would be abundant room, as the distance is above ten miles. They Avere “ beside Pi-hahiioth and before Baal- Zephon.” These conditions would be sufd- cienllj’’ answered if Pi-hahiroth were at Ajrood, and Baal-Zephon were on the northeastern flank of Jebel Atakah. We can only say that here, on the western coast of the Gulf of Suez, would be ainple room for the encampment of the entire Israelitish host ; that in this position it might well seem that “ the wilderness had shut them in” (verse 3) ; and that the host would be ” before a Migdol ” (Nu. 33 : 7), and perhaps “ beside a Pi-hahiroth,” The sea in front was but two or three miles across, and might easily have been passed in a night ; the bottom was such as would naturally clog the Egyptian chariot wheels, and the further shore was desti¬ tute of springs, a true “ wilderness,” where the Israelites may well have gone ” three days without water.” G. R. That the place of the passage called “ Pi- hahiroth before Baal-Zephon” Avas in the neigh¬ borhood of the present town of Suez, at the head of the gulf, there can be little doubt, Hull. -They remained within the territory of Egypt, going southward to a point Avhere they Avere completely shut in, by the sea and moun¬ tains in front and on the two sides and by Pha¬ raoh’s chariots in the rear. If Ave look for a spot on the Avestern shore of the gulf Avhich an¬ swers to this description, Ave find it in the plain of Su^z. This plain is large enough to hold two millions of men ; it is bounded on the Avest and southwest b}’' the mountains of Atakah, and these mountains approach so nearly to the sea, which is here considerably Avidened in conse¬ quence of a rapid curve to the Avest, that very few men could jjass side by side along the shore, K. Here are found all the requisites of the Scrip¬ ture narrative—“entangling land” and a wil¬ derness to “ shut them in,” a place of encamp¬ ment “ by the sea,” wind, high and low water, a possible passage, a practicable distance, and a natural connection with the subsequent jour¬ ney, The landmarks are here, and apparently one of filenames, “Hahiroth,” in Ajrood, and the traditional name of “ Moses’s Wells” on the opposite shore. That the names should not be universally or generally traceable through the journey, except in some frequented watering- place like these, is perfectly natural in a region Avhere there has never been a settled popula¬ tion. Names perish, though landmarks remain. At the northwestern side of the Gulf of Suez lies a plain ten miles long and nearly as broad. Accepting Ajrood at its northern extremity for Hahiroth (Pi-hahiroth, with the Egyptian article prefixed), Avhere the name is handed down in connection with the deep Avell Avhich made it a place of resort ; “ Migdol ” may have been at Bir Suweis, two miles north of Suez, where are two wells of brackish water and a stone building of the seventeenth century, in a region where Seti I. is shown by Chabas to have visited “ Maktal ” built over a well; and “Baal- Zephon” may w’ell have been the high and pre- cijpitous mountain Jebel Atakah, the chief ob¬ ject in full view of Ajrood, shutting down sharply to the western shore some distance soutiiwest of Suez, and sweeping off indefi¬ nitely westward. Here they were absolutely shut in by Jebel Atakah in front, and the sea on the east, extending two miles or more north of Suez, and terminating in a marshy region, and Avith the enemy in the rear, S. C. B. 3-5. We find here the same miraculous guid¬ ance of the Lord which at all times attends God’s kingdom on earth. He might have per¬ mitted his people to gain the wilderness by the accustomed route, and there by simple means have defended them from the power of Pha¬ raoh ; but he Avilled to make known his glory on this self-willed heathen, and at the same time, by a mighty miracle of deliverance, to sever his people, and forever, from felloAA^ship with the heathen. When the need has reached its high¬ est point, the Lord shows himself a deliverer in the mightiest way. Ctrl. The last movement of Heaven in this marvel¬ lous chain of providences—the leading of the children of Israel as into a net, between the Red Sea and the mountains of the Avilderness—was ' fitted to suggest the thought to Pharaoh, when he had recovered a little from his consternation and felt the humiliation of his defeat, that now an opportunity jiresented itself of retrieving his lost honor and with one stroke avenging himself on his enemies. He was thus tempted in the confident hope of victory to renew the conflict, and when apparently sure of his prey Avas led, by the opening of the sea for the escape of the Israelites, and the removal of the Divine cloud* to the rear so as to cov^r their flight, into the fatal snare which involved him in destruction. In the whole we see the directing and control¬ ling agency of God, not in the least interfering with the liberty of Pharaoh or obliging him to sin, but still, in judgment for his sinful oppres¬ sion of the Church of God and unjust resistance to the claims of Heaven, placing him in situa- 42 SECTION 93. PURSUIT OF PHARAOH. tions wliicli, tbougli fitted to influence aright a well-constituted mind, were also fitted when working on such a temperament as his to draw him into the extraordinary course he took. r. F. The best proof of its Divine character is that it is a movement wdiich no human leader would have directed. It was to lead to a yet more signal display of the Lord’s power in the dis¬ comfiture of the Egyptians, and was designed for the deliverance of Israel, not only from pres¬ ent danger, but from the future fears from the side of Egypt. To the Egyptians, who took care to watch the movements of the Hebrew host, this must have seemed the height of suicidal infatu¬ ation. The king, concluding that they were forsaken by the God whose power he had full cause to know, resolved to take advantage of such egregious foil}'’, and pursue them with all the forces at his disposal. This shows that not¬ withstanding the humbled language he had used in allowing the Israelites to take their depart¬ ure, his heart was still essentially unsoftened ; and now that the opportunity seemed to offer of avenging the disgrace and loss he had sus¬ tained, he prepared for action against the fugi¬ tive host. Kii. The fact that Pharaoh had not the remotest idea that the Israelites would return, but on the contrary regarded it as certain that they would not, is clearly proved by his astonishment when he heard that they had not gone straight into Asia, but were still within the borders of Egypt on this side of the Red Sea. “ They have missed their way,” he said, ” the wilderness hath shut them in. ” K.-The Bible meaning of the word wilderness is that of ‘‘ a wide open space, with or without actual pasture ; the country of ‘ the nomads, as distinguished from that of the agricultural and settled people. ” In our coun- trj^ the word wilderness suggests a. forest, and it is difficult for the ordinary Bible reader not to attach this preposterous feature to the wilder¬ ness of Sinai or Judea. The kindred word, “ desert,” in the Bible, does not commonly in¬ dicate a barren region, but rather an uninhabited region, which may be either barren or fertile. N. C. B.-As a matter of fact, in the supposed track of the Israelites, sand deserts without vegetation are the exception. S. C. B. 5. They inquire among themselves. Why they have let the children of Israel depart? as if they had not endeavored in every way to prevent their free exit ; as if their pertinacity had not been ten times divinely overcome ; as if God had not at length torn the people from them, in spite of their reluctance. They were worn out by fierce and dreadful punishments ; but now as if nothing had happened they discuss why they had not resisted God even to the end, when he had compelled them to submit with extreme reluctance, after they had ten times found out that they struggled against him in vain. Such is the pride by which the reprobates are driven onward to their own destruction, when they fight against God. Calv. Pursuit of Pharaoh and his Army. 6-9. It was in that part of Lower Egyjit which lay toward the Bed Sea, the most exposed of all the borders of Egypt, that according to the accounts of profane authors almost the en¬ tire military power of Egypt was concentrated, E. C. W.-The great caste of the warriors, the second in dignity, were regularly quartered in certain cities on the different frontiers of the kingdom, so that a considerable force could bo mustered on any emergency. With great rapid¬ ity he drew together 600 war chariots and a multitude of others, with their full equipment of officers. Milman. The military organization of the Egyptians at the time of the exodus is represented as very complete. Now, it appears by the Egyptian monuments that the military system was brought to its highest perfection by Seti I. and Eameses II. It is certain that, in their time, the army was most carefully organized, divided into brigades, and maintained in a state of constant preparation. The chariot force was regarded as of very much the highest im23ortance, and amounted, according to the lowest comjiutation, to several thousands. G. R.-The strength of Pharaoh’s army consisted chiefly in his war chariots. TIengstenherg has shown how strougly this account is supported by information derived from the monuments respecting the customs of ancient Egypt. The chariots on the Egyptian monuments are drawn by two horses, and gen¬ erally hold one driver and one warrior. Pharaoh hastily gathered together all the available chari¬ ots that could be procured, and did not wait till the entire force could be brought from the most distant military stations. In addition to the charioteers, he was also attended by a propor¬ tionate number of horsemen. K. Elevations and Depressions on the Line of THE Suez Canal. ^ The Isthmus of Suez at its narrowest part is seventy-two miles wide. The canal, indeed, measures one hundred miles from Port Said to Suez, but it does not cross the narrowest jilace PLACE OF CROSSING. 43 ELEVATIONS AND DEPRESSIONS ON THE LINE OF THE SUEZ CANAL. nor follow a straight line. Following the line of the canal southward, we pass for many miles through the broad Lake Menzaleh, and reach first a series of sandy downs, the highest i)oint of which is Kantara, “ the bridge” between the eastern and the western deserts. Here ran one of the greatest thoroughfares of the world, the highway between Egypt and the East. Passing next the shallow Lake Ballah, we reach El Gisr, the greatest elevation on the isthmus, about ten miles in width, and at its highest point sixty- five feet in height. Then comes Lake Timsah, the “ crocodile” lake, midway between the two seas. South of it is the second elevation, the heights of Serapeum, about eight miles broad, and at its highest point sixty-one feet high. South of this lie the Bitter Lakes, a great de- l^ression, extending southeasterly some twenty- two miles in length, and from two and a half to five miles in breadth. Their greatest dej)th is about thirty-five feet below the sea-level. Be¬ fore the water was admitted in 1867 by the mod¬ ern canal, this depression was and had for ages been dry. The bottom was covered with a layer or layers of salt of great extent (seven miles by five) and of variable thickness, but reaching the depth of thirty-three feet. Be¬ tween the Bitter Lakes and the Bed Sea lies the third and last barrier, the heights of Chaloof, about five miles broad from north to .south, and rising for a short distance twenty feet or more above the sea-level. Then follows the sandy plain of Suez for a distance of about ten miles, rising but a few feet (about four on the average) above the level of the sea. Since the geological times the heights of Gisr must have formed an effectual barrier to the Bed Sea ; and it will hardly be claimed that within historic times these waters have extended over the ridge of Serapeum. But some reasons have been urged for supposing that in the times of the exodus the Bitter Lakes were but part of a continuous arm of the Bed Sea. Three circumstances have been adduced for this opinion ; First, the de¬ posits of salt found in the Bitter Lakes ; sec¬ ondly, the identity of shells found at the sides and bottom of the lakes with those of the Bed Sea; and, thirdly, the name “Bitter Lakes,” implying the knowledge of a time when they were filled with salt water. But neither the deposits of salt nor of shells, unless the shells were of modern species (which is not affirmed), would determine the que.stion whether such a connection existed during the present geological condition of the earth. It is not doubted that during and before the tertiary period this con¬ nection existed, and, indeed, many hold that at some time anterior the Bed Sea and Mediter¬ ranean were connected. The name “Bitter Lakes” is accounted for either by the salt marshes which existed there before the modern canal introduced the sea water, or it may point back to an earlier time involved in the Arab tradition (mentioned by Bobinson), that these marshes “ were made by a canal cut thus far from the Bed Sea, and then neglected.” But the decisive objection to the theory of a connection between the Bed Sea and these lakes in modern geological times is found in the fact that the impassable bar of Chaloof is a tertiary formation. Such is the positive testimony of Fraas, and of M. Mauriac, the engineer of the Suez Canal Company, and the admission of M. Bitt. Secondly, there is apparently clear testi¬ mony that in early times the breadth of the isthmus was substantially the same as now. Thirdly, the remains of the ancient canal lead¬ ing northward from the gulf toward the Bitter Lakes complete the evidence. They show that in ancient times, as in modern, the connection was an artificial one. Burckhardt recognized the line of the canal long ago, and Biippell trav¬ elled for an hour and a half along its bed, where it was, as he judged, one hundred feet broad. Herodotus distinctly describes the course of this canal in his day as leading eastward from Bubastis, near Patumos, and skirting the base of the hills, till it “ turns southward and enters the Arabian Gulf.” He affirms that this south¬ ern connection was completed by Darius, and a stone bearing the name of that monarch, in Persian characters, near the terminus of the 44 SECTION 93. PLACE OF CROSSING. canal, sustains liis statement, and carries us back nearly five hundred years before the Chris¬ tian era. Of course, the construction of the canal disproves the natural extension of the gulf to the Bitter Lakes at that time. We may as¬ sume, till positive evidence is adduced to the contrary, that as in the time of Darius so in that of Moses, the Bed Sea did not connect with the Bitter Lakes, but that the ridge of Chaloof, ris¬ ing far above the highest known seas, and send¬ ing off a brancli ri irtlintly and northwesterly to form the western Innik of the Bitter Lakes, and to join the eastern slope of Jebel Geneffe, was then, as now, an impassable barrier. At the same time, the appearances about Suez, the con¬ stant drifting of the sands, and the present low level of the plain, would justify the belief that the gulf may have extended somewhat further north than at present. Schleiden may be right in supposing that the whole distance, if we ac¬ cept the heights of Chaloof, was more marshy than now, and probably untravelL.d, if not im¬ passable. Barileii. At a time when existing species of shells were living, the waters of the Bed Sea extended over the lands of Egypt aud along the shore of the Gulf of Suez to a height of iJOO feet above the present level of these waters. The process of elevation of this sea-bed over so large a tract was probably exceedingly gradual, and at the date of the exodus the elevation may not have taken place up to the present extent. A strip of Bed Sea water—not very deep—may at this time have stretched northward from the Gulf of Suez, forming to the host of Israel an effective barrier to their progress into the desert. Hall. In his correspondence with President Bartlett, M. Mauriac held that “ the ridge of Chaloof is now far above the highest known seas that “it is of the same age with the mountain Ge- neffeh, of which it is a kind of buttress or pro¬ longation that the overflow of the Bed Sea into the basin of the Bitter Lakes, which left there the existing strata of salt, “ could not have taken jflace during the present geological condition of the globe ’ that the level of the Bed Sea has not materially changed within this geological epoch ; and that there has been “ no communication of the lakes with the Bed Sea except in pre-historic times.” Again, Dr. Klunzinger, a naturalist of no mean degree, who went to Egypt directly in the interests of sci¬ ence, and “ with the special object of making zoological investigations and collections on the Bed Sea,” has recently furnished important testimony on this point, as a result of observa¬ tions in his particular sphere. He says : “ The arm of sea which springs from the great Indian Ocean, and bears the name of Bed Sea or Arabian Gulf, is a genuine tropical sea, although it stretches northward far beyond the tropic. Though it is separated from the Mediterranean Sea only by the Isthmus of Suez, in the charac¬ ter of its animal life it is sharply distinguished from the former sea, and only a few cosmopoli¬ tan forms are common to both, a proof that in recent epochs at least there has been no com¬ munication between the two.” Trumbull. Place of Crossing. The exact spot of the passage through the Bed Sea will never probably be identified. It is dif¬ ficult even to determine how great a change the lapse of 3500 years may have made in the condi¬ tion of the gulf. Its head has evidently been silted up to some extent, but the ruins of an ancient town at Suez seem to point to the fact that the level of its shores has not materially altered. The passage of the Israelites is gener¬ ally supposed to have taken place in the imme¬ diate neighborhood of Suez, aud a careful ex¬ amination of the isthmus and head of the gulf has led me fully to concur in this opinion. Holland. Wellsted judiciously remarks thus, on the* whole aspect of the case : “ When I look away from all hypotheses, and confine mj^self to the Holy Scrijptures, I must decide that the passage took place in the neighborhood of Suez. The objection that the water was not sufficient to drown the whole host of Pharaoh has no weight. It is now certainly enough, and must formerly have been more than enough, whereof there ex¬ ist most striking evidences. It is expressly re¬ lated in the Bible that a strong wind co-oper¬ ated with the miracle. At Suez the water re¬ cedes when the northeast wind has blown for some time ; and if a southeast wind follows it, then the water suddenly rises more than six feet, and causes the ford itself, one and a half English miles north of the town, to become im¬ passable. Fatal accidents not seldom take place. We have only to think of Bonaparte, who on the passage had nearly perished. In other parts of the Bed Sea, the rise and fall of the water is dependent on the winds, but no¬ where so greatly as here at the end of it. If we suppose the passage of the Israelites at Suez, the determination of the next stations has no difficulty ; since, on the modern journey from Suez to Sinai, they easily come round of them¬ selves. The Desert of Shur, wherein they spent three days, is the desert stretching between Suez and Hawarah, upon which to-day no drinking- PLACE OF CROSSING. 45 water is found. The whole distance between these two points amounts to fifteen hours (33 to 35 miles) ; and if they marched five hours on each of the three days, travelling with their baggage and effects, that would be as much ao we could expect. Hawwarah, with its bitter waters, must be Marah, since, so far as I could find, there are no other bitter fountains in the region. Gharandel, where there are water and palms, becomes the biblical Elim.” And fixing the Encampment by the Sea near Ras Selima, he adds, “ From Eas Selima to Mount Sinai are expressly made five more stations. I used twenty-five hours ; which gives for the Israel¬ ites, again, five days’ marches of five hours each.” B irtlelt. The topography of the head of the Bed Sea we found to be as follows ; The sea coming up from the south is several miles wide, and is deep enough for the largest ships, until within two or three miles of Suez. Then the water shoals rapidly, so that, at low tide, wide sand- flats are exposed, and the water is reduced to a small river-like and shallow stream. At the same time the sea is narrowed to the width of perhaps two miles, by the coming in from the .west of the sandy peninsula on which stands the town of Suez. The sea running northward, from below Suez, makes a sudden bend to the west around this peninsula, so as to pass along the northern side of the town from east to west. Before fairly clearing the town it turns again northward, but after a short distance loses itself in a tangle of shallows and sand-banks. N. C. B. In a line running southeast from the town, directly toward ” the weds of Moses,” is a com¬ paratively shallow region where at low tide the Arabs have always, prior to the dredging of a channel for the ship-canal, been in the habit of fording the gulf, and where they now pass, after crossing the dredged channel wuth a boat. This passage is now a little less than three miles in length, w'ith much deeper wuater on each side. When a northeasterly wind concurs with Iom" tide on the one hand, or a strong southerly wind W’ith high tide on the other, the differences in depth, as shown by the Maritime Canal Com¬ pany’s chart, amount to ten feet and seven inches. The Scripture narrative distinctly in¬ troduces the wind, W’hich blew “ all that night and made the sea dry” (Ex. 14 :21), and again says in the sequel (15 :10), “ Thou didst blow W’ith thy w’ind, the sea covered them.” (It has sometimes been objected as an inconsistency to recognize the introduction of a natural cause here. But the inconsistency w’ould be in not recognizing a fact explicitly asserted in the nar¬ rative itself. The prevalent winds are north or northwest winds, but “the most terrible,” says M. Mauriac, the engineer of the Canal Company, are “ those from the southwest,” W’hich would accompany the returning tide.) The distance across and the time assigned, as show’n by Dr. Eobinson in detail, would corre¬ spond W’ith what was practicable for such a host. “ The w’aters w’ere a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left—” that is, com¬ pletely protected their flanks from attack. With the morning light came the returning tide and changing w’ind, and the fate which Napoleon narrowly escaped at another ford two miles north befell the Egyptian army. Bartlett. From the Bible account of this miracle, it ap¬ pears, first, that the miracle was of a mediate character, or that, as has well been said, it was wrought by natural causes supernaturally ap¬ plied. The W’aters retired from before the Israelites through the agency of a wind which the Lord caused to blow just at the right time and in the right direction for the purpose. The language is : “ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east w’ind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” So, after the crossing, it was the W’ind blow’ing from the opf)osite quarter which brought the sea back overwhelmingly upon the Egyptians. Thus sang Miriam : “ Thou didst blow W’ith thy W’ind, the sea covered them.” Secondly, the passage occurred in the night¬ time, and, it would seem, in a single night. The continuance of the wind was “ all that night,” and it was “ in the morning watch” that “the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians,” and troubled them, prior to their destruction in the waters. Now, both these items argue for the view that the place of the crossing was near the head of the sea, where the W’aters were shallow and narrow, rather than farther down, where they were deep and broad. N. C. B. 4(3 SECTION 94. TEE SEA DIVIDED. Section 94. THE SEA DIVIDED FOR ISRAEL’S SAFE PASSAGE. THE EGYPTIAN ARMY DESTROYED. Exodus 14 : 10-31. Nu. 33 : 8. Sr. 14 10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them ; and they were sore afraid : and the 11 children of Israel cried out unto the Lokd. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness ? 12 wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt ? Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egj^ptians, than that we 13 should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you to-day : for the 14 Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for j^ou, and ye shall hold your peace. 15 And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me ? speak unto the 16 children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it : and the children of Israel shall go into the 17 midst of the sea on dry ground. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them : and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, 18 and upon all his host, upon his chaiiots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyp¬ tians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, 19 upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ; and the pillar of cloud 20 removed from before them, and stood behind them ; and it came betsveen the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel ; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet 21 gave it light by night : and the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the Lord caused the sea to go hack by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were 22 divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground : and the waters were a wall, unto them on their right hand, and on their 23 left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, 24 all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass in the morning watch, that the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptiaus through 25 the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians And he took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily : so that the Egyptians said. Let us flee from the face of Israel ; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 26 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again’upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egj'^ptians fled against it ; and the Lord over- 28 threw the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them 29 into the sea ; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea ; and the waters were a wall unto 30 them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians ; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea 31 shore. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses. JSUA EL'S SA FE PAS.SA G E. 47 Xa. 8 And they journeyed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness. The Captain takes command in person. Cen¬ turies have gone by ; plans have been matured, man developed. Now is the crisis. The nation is a compact host, well ordered by families, ready to march. The Captain of their salvation and ours takes command in person ; for this “ Angel of Jehovah,” that appeared to Abram, that rained destruction on Sodom, w'ho wrestled with Jacob, and appeared unto Moses, is no other than the Lord Jesus. The cloudy pavilion is his chariot ; from it ho looks with loving light on his beloved ; from it he looks wrath and hurls thunder and panic on his enemies. This is the beginning of his forty years’ leading of Israel like a flock in the wilderness. Warren. 10 - 14 . As Luther puts it, they were like a mouse in a trap or a partridge in a snare. The desert, the sea, the enem}^ were their alterna¬ tives. And as they camped, they saw in the distance the rapid advance of the dreaded force of chariots. No wonder that they lost heart, Moses alone keeps his head and his faith. A, M. -In a human point of view their case was bad enough. The mountains were on the west and south, the sea on the east, and the war chariots of the well-appointed foe advancing on the north. There was not the slightest prospect of ultimate escape for a fugitive people scantily furnished with the means of defence. M. Shut in between mountains, the sea, and Pha¬ raoh’s host ; neither prepared nor able to fight, and without the least human prospect of vic¬ tory, deliverance, or flight ; the people now be¬ gan to despair. ” Vere there no graves in Egypt,” they cried out to Moses, “ that thou shouldest lea I us away (o die in the wilder¬ ness?” Nor did Moses see any human way of escape. But his faith expected deliverance from Jehovah, and from Jehovah it came. “ Fear not,” said he to the desponding people, ” stand firm, and see the salvation wdiicli Jehovah will effect for you to-day. Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall be sti'.l. ” It was now to be clearly shown that the wa 3 's of God, though they may appear to be foolish by the side of the wisdom of men, insure the result in the safest, quickest, and most glorious way. K. Stand still. What would this be in any mere human leader but the ravings of frenzy ? Yet, wonderful to relate, the event ac¬ cords with it. The Israelites escape “ by the waj" of the sea;” the Egyptians perish in the same sea. Graves. -The Lord did not pro¬ pose to bring the people into battle with the trained hosts of Egypt at this early stage of their new life of freedom. They were in no manner prepared for the conflict of arms. This time the Lord alone would go into battle against Egypt. Israel might stand still and look on ! H. C.-If God himself bring his people into straits, he will himself discover a wa}' to bring them out again. In times of great difficulty and great exjjectation, it is our wisdom to keep our spirits calm, quiet, and sedate ; for then we are in the best frame both to do our own work, and to consider ihe work of God. Your s'rengih is io sit still (Is, 30 ; 7). H. “ Fear net, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord ; the Lord will tight for you.” Thus speaks the true hero, and the type of all true heroic men of p.ll ages, amid all the darkness of overshadowing danger, whether divinely in¬ spired by direct inspiration or not. Fear not ; jmu have obeyed plain orders. You can do nothing more. But what of that, if it is really and truly the fact that ye have done all and have nothing more to do. Leave the rest to God. Make no vain efforts in jmur frantic fear. S'aral siiil and see the salvation of God. Would to God the Church in this age could thoroughly grasp the great idea of this exhortation, and learn that this want of earthly resources, and numbers, and wealth, and worldly influence need cause no solicitude or discouragement to his faithful people. Would that the Church could learn that her success is “ not by might nor by power, but by my Sx^irit, saith the Lord,” and thus learn to cast awaj’ all de|jen- dence on external power and influence, and simplj" standing still, look ux3 to the unseen shrine of her risen Saviour, and look for Pente¬ costal effusions of the Holy Spirit as the power which alone can give the Gospel success against all opposition and deliverance out of all difficul¬ ties however insuperable. S. E.-As long as human means can avail, it is a man’s duty, trust¬ ing to Divine help, to employ them. To sit and wait, where effort can avail, is to insult God’s providence. The “salvation of the Lord” is when all conceivable means have been em¬ ployed, and have failed. The hand can do, the heart can devise, nothing more. Such positions are frequently arrived at in life. We feel that we are at the end of all endeavor, and the ob¬ ject has not been gained. Our strength and re¬ sources-all possible expedients —have been brought into exercise. The last reserve has been thrown into the battle, and yet it goes 48 SECTION 94. THE SEA DIVIDED. against ns. We may struggle on with a blind despair, and as long as strength remains we must struggle on ; but this power, too, seems to be failing. It is then that the case rises dis¬ tinctly into “ ihesnlvation of the. Lord.” Nothing can save us but his marked interposition, and the heart must put itself in the attitude of “ hope and quiet waiting” for it. Ker. Ye slinSI §ee tlieiii ag^ain no more. Here was strong faith, accompanied by the spirit of prophecy. God showed Moses what He would do ; ” he believed, and therefore he spoke.” A. C. It is the littleness of oiir faith which makes us dwarfs in spiritual stature, cowards in con¬ flict and in enterprise, narrow-minded in our views and plans of duty, and niggards in sacri¬ fice and in contribution to the cause of Christ. It is the sin and the misery even of the sincere disciples of Christ that the promises of God have so little daily influence on their practical habits. Be afraid of unbelief ; be ashamed of unbelief ; only believe, and act as if you be¬ lieved, and you shall see the salvation of God. S. Miller. 15. We hear not one word of Moses’s pray¬ ing ; and yet the Lord asks why he cries unto Him ? From which we may learn that the heart of Moses was deeply engaged with God, though he did not articulate one word. A. C.-His heart’s language God well understood, and took notice of. Moses’s silent prayers of faith pre¬ vailed more with God than Israel’s loud outcries of fear (verse 10). Moses had bidden them stand still, and expect orders from God ; and now orders are given. They thought they must have been directed either to the right hand or to the left. “No,” says God, “ speak to them to go forward, directly to the sea-side as if there had lain a fleet of transport-ships ready for them to embark in. When we are in the way of our dut}^ though AVG meet with difficulties, we must go forward, and not stand in mute aston¬ ishment ; we must mind present work, and then leave the event to God ; use means, and trust him with the issue. H. There was no occasion to cry to the Lord ; for he had already manifested so decidedly that he was determined to deliver his people, that neither they nor Moses ought to have had a doubt about it. And this was no time for prayer. There was something else to be instantly done. It was the time for him and them to act. “ Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” In the most difficult and appalling circumstances, the command is often to be heard by us, “ Go forward.” Though there may be mountains of opposition or seas of danger in the path of duty, yet the word is “Go for¬ ward.” Faith has its most perfect work in the hour of darkness. Follow its guidance, and “ a way shall be made in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.’’ Bush. When God leads us into danger, he will take us safely through it. Had the Israelites gone of their own accord to encamp at Pi-hahiroth, they would have had no claim on the Divine protection ; but because God had taken them thither, he stood near to help them. It makes all the difference in the world, Avhen I am in danger, whether I am there for my own pleas¬ ure and of my own motive, or on the business and at the bidding of the Lord. In the former case, I have no warrant for his protection ; in the latter, I may be sure that he will put him¬ self between me and the peril, and make him¬ self indeed my shield. This principle is far- » reaching, and may be applied by us to business, to amusements, and, indeed, to every depart¬ ment of life. To go into danger thoughtlessly, is rashness ; to go into it wantonly, is foolhardi¬ ness ; but to go into it because only thereby can I follow my Master, and do what he commands, is true courage ; and at such times I shall always find Him at my side. Pharaoh tried to cross the sea without warrant, and he was drowned ; but the Hebrews, following their God, went over on dry land. Faith is one thing ; presump¬ tion is another. To expect that God will keep me, no matter though I go recklessly into dan¬ ger, is presumption ; to go through that danger on his service, is courage. W. M. T. It is no tame application, no degradation of the Divine watchword, if we say to one an¬ other, Go forward ! Go forward in faith and holiness, in activity and zeal ; go forward in brotherly kindness and charity, in devotion and self-denial ; go forward in the self-knowledge which destroys confidence in the flesh ; go for¬ ward in the courage which waxes strong in Christ Jesus ; go forward in the humility which, conscious of unworthiness, still high-hearted and hopeful, seeks the things above ; and for¬ ward in that seriousness which, taking truer views of life and its outgoings, bas also joys and consolations unguessed by carnal levity. Go forward ! for in the van are the bravest and best ; go forward, for the guiding pillar is far before—so far before that the Bible is some¬ times like to get out of our sight altogether ; go forward, for the Forerunner bas passed ahead, and they are the happiest pilgrims who so far can overtake as to pursue their course ” look¬ ing unto Jesus.” Go forward ! for the best ac- ISRAEL'S SAFE PASSAGE. 40 coTTitnodations and refreshments await those who are farthest in advance ; and “ from strength still onward unto strength,” their bur¬ dens are the lightest and their difficulties the fewest who, “ forgetting the things that are be¬ hind,” evermore “ press forward—” forward cn the way where the guiding pillar precedes, “ to the prize of our high calling,” even the place which Christ has prepared. Hamilton. 19. That the Israelites might not be dis¬ mayed at the appearance of their enemies, and that these might not be able to discern the ob¬ ject of their pursuit, the pillar of cloud moved from the front to the rear of the Israelitish camp, so as perfectly to separate between them and the Egyptians. A. C.-The pillar of fire and cloud, the symbol of the Divine Presence, jiasses from the van to the rear. Its guidance was not needed wdien but one path through the sea \vas possible. Its defence was needed when the foe was pressing eagerly on the heels of the host. His people’s needs determined then, as they ever do, the form of the Divine Presence and help. Long after the prophet seized the great lesson of this event, when he broke into the triumphant anticipation of a yet future de¬ liverance, which should repeat in fresh experi¬ ence the ancient victory, “ The Lord will go be¬ fore you ; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.” In the place where the need is sor¬ est and in the form most required, there and that will God ever be to those who trust him. A. M. 20, And it came Oulween the camp ol pt and llie camp of Israel. As an obstruction and a barrier to the former. The next clause is strictly translated in the Ee- vision. And there loas the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light hy night. This sets forth the double aspect and function of this supernatural pillar. It is evident from the connection that the reference is not here, as in Ex. 13 :21, to its different ap()earance by day and by night. These two aspects are not successive, but simul¬ taneous, and set forth what it was upon its two sides. On one side it was all cloud and dark¬ ness ; on the other it was luminous. The dark side was turned to the Egyptians and the bright side to the Israelites ; and this is confirmed by Josh. 24 : 7. The obscurity prevented the Egyptians from seeing the retreating host be¬ fore them and from seeing their own way, and thus perplexed them and retarded their prog¬ ress. St) that the one came not near the other all the night : Pharaoh and his army, thus checked, were not able to advance upon the Israelites, alihough they were already in such close prox- iiuifv to Ihem. W. H. G. %/ 4 Darkiiei^§ . . . yet light. In its typical sense, especially on the occasion of passing through the sea, on this occasion the pillar strikingly represents the twofold providence of God which are light to his people while death to his enemies ; looking down upon the one with kindness and love, while he frowns in wrath upon the other. S. E.-It was a guide and a light to the believing, but a darkness and terror to the unbelieving. In the approach of difficult}', it was a protection to one and a de¬ struction to the other. “ By faith his people passed through the Eed Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” So it is with the principles and promises of God’s Word. Without faith work¬ ing by and through love, receiving the truth in the love of it, we are mere children of sense and of darkness, mere Egyptians ; and the Word, instead of being a pillar of fire by night, a flame of holy animating light, is a cloud of thick judgment and terrible darkness. There are nothing but elements of condemnation in it. And so, too, it must be wdth God’s providences. There is a bright side to them and a dark one ; not indeed in themselves, for with reference to God they are all bright, as revelations of his at¬ tributes and parts of his administration. But to the view and experience of different souls, as submissive and believing or unsubmissive and unbelieving, as selfish and dark or loving and bright, God's providences are all just like that ]3illar of cloud and flame. It was only the side tow'ard God’s own people that w'as bright ; the side tow'ard the Egyptians w'as darkness. So it ever must be with all God’s dispensations. They have a bright and a dark side ; but the bright side is bright only to faith, and the dark side is dark only to unbelief. Cheever. It is fire as life, and not as death, that is the symbol of God. It speaks the might of his transforming power, the melting, cleansing, vitalizing influence of his communicated grace, the warmth of his conquering love. It hath, indeed, an under side of possible judgment, punishment, and destruction, but it hath a face of blessing, of life-giving, of sanctifying pow'er. And therefore the Baptist spake glad tidings when he said, “ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” A. M. 21 . The process is definitely stated in the Scripture narrative, by wdiich the sea was di¬ vided and reunited : “ The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the w'aters were divided.” This clearly asserts that the effect v/as wrought by a natural agency, though pro- 50 SECTION 94. THE SEA DIVIDED. ternaturally applied, S. C, B.-It would be a great mistake to imagine that the passage of such a great caravan (as the Israelites) could have been effected by purely natural means. No caravans go this way nowadays, at least from Cairo to Sinai, though it would be a great sav¬ ing of distance if they could. But it was even less possible for the children of Israel to cross thus, thousands of years ago, fur the water was then apparently broader and deeper. The water seems not only to have retreated since, but the bottom of this shallow point appears to have been raised by the sand blown in for ages from the desert. Nebuhi'. Wonder did now justly strive with fear in the Israelites, when they saw the cloud remove be¬ hind them, aud the sea remove before them. They were not used to such bulwarks. God stood behind them in the cloud ; the sea reared them up wails on both sides them. That which they feared would be their destruction pro¬ tected them. Bp. IL Every one must see a miracle of the most wonderful kind in producing the effect here narrated—viz., the passage on dry ground of two millions of men, with their herds, during a .space of twelve hours. Whoever receives the account as true will feel even now, on reading it, an awe in thought of the Divine Majesty W'hich then revealed itself. Oerl. -In the Sc. ip- tures the supernatuntl element is continually presented, with simplicity, dignity, and a tone of authority ; is treated as familiarly, wdth as little attempt at startling expression, as if it lay level with the commonest experience, yet with astonishing harmony and majesty in the out¬ lines and vast adumbrations of its glory. No greater mistake can possibly be made than to sujipose this amazing supernatural element — whose recognized presence in the Scriptures leads some to rejiel them --depressing or harass¬ ing to the stimulated mind. Above all things else, it is the one power which exalts, inspires, and re-enforces. R. S. S. 22 , And tSic waters were a wall unto tliein on tlicw rig^lit liand, and on tlieir Icfi. It ’would be consistent 'with these w'ords to assume that the channel which was laid dry for the passage of the children of Israel was bordered by deep water on either hand, which thus was a wall of defence to them on both sides (compare Nah. 3 :8). It is not, however, consistent with Ex. 15 :8, according to which the waters stood in a perpendicular mass, as though they were congealed. It is ex¬ pressly declared that this was the fact at the crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 3 : 16), and there is no reason why it may not likewise have been the case in this instance. , . . These various miracles were wrought by the immediate exer¬ cise of God’s power. Yet Moses’s instrumen¬ tality was used in announcing and effecting them, in order to j^ut honor upon Moses a.s God’s agent and duly accredited messenger. Moses’s rod and his hand had no efficiency in dividing the sea. And yet stretching them forth was the divinely ordained means for ac¬ complishing this result ; and the sea would not have been divided had not Moses stretched them forth. It is thus with the appointed means of grace—the Word as read or preached, the sacraments, and prayer. They are made efficient only by the accompanying power of the Spirit of God. W. H. G. The graphic description of the passage needs little comment. The author describes all so concisely and in a tone so unimpassioned, that it is difficult to realize that he is de¬ scribing one of the most stupendous miracles in the history of the race since the flood. S. E.-He uses no ornaments of language in celebrating this miracle. He simply saj's that the sea was divided by the rod of Moses ; that space enough for the passage of the people was dry ; that the mighty mass of waters stood like solid rocks on either side. Designedly has he set the whole matter before our eyes bare of all verbal splendor ; although it will be celebrated soon after, in accordance with its dignity, in the Canticle, and it is everywhere more splen¬ didly magnified by the prophets and in the Psalms, Oalu. The scene, conceived of even according to the ascertained facts of the case, was more sublime than we commonly imagine. Remember that the passage was made in the night ; made amid the howlings of that eastern blast which bore down on the waters of the sea with resist¬ less force. And then take into the account what we learn from descriptions given in the Psalms ; that this was a tempestuous wind, of clouds, and poured-out rains, and lightnings shooting athwart the sky, and thunders pealing round the horizon and shaking the earth, while the mysterious fiery cloud of God sent forth its ruddy glare on the scene. Says the Psalmist (77 :16-20) : “ The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid : the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water : the skies sent out a sound : thine ar¬ rows also went abroad. The voice of thy thun¬ der was in the heaven : the lightnings lightened the world : the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great PHARAOH'S HOST DESTROYED. waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” N. C. B. The Epistle to the Hebrews takes this as an instance of “ faith” on the part of the Israelites ; and truly we can feel that it must have taken some trust in God’s protecting hand to venture on such a road, where, at any moment, the walls might collapse and drown them all. They were driven to venttire by their fear of Pha¬ raoh ; but faith, as well as fear, wrought in them. Our faith, too, is often called upon to venture upon perilous paths. We may trust him to hold back the watery walls from falling. The picture of the crossing carries eternal truth for us all. The way of safety does not open till we are hemmed in, and Pharaoh’s chariots are almost come up. It often leads into the very thick of what we deem perils. It often has to be ventured on in the dark, and with the wind in our faces. But if we tread it in faith, the fluid shall be made solid, and the jDathless pass¬ able, or any other apparent impossibility be realized, before our confidence shall be put to shame, or one real evil reach us. A. M.- The passage through the sea turns out to be much safer than the path along the quiet shore, as soon as it appears that Ood is with us ; for — and let it be inscribed on all our hearts —safety does not depend upon the road, but on the guide we choose. Far better to pursue what seems a hopeless track with God upon our side, than without God or against his will to tread a path, however smooth, that flesh and blood has opened up to us. Why should we, then, retreat a single inch-breadth, even on a road beset with every kind of difficulty, when the God who calls is also faithful, and does far above what we can ask or think ? Van 0. 24, 25, Now when God sees the Egyptians too far to return, he finds time to strike them with their last terror : thej'- know not why, but they would return too late. Those chariots in which they trusted now fail them, as having done service enough to carry them into perdi¬ tion. God pursues them, and they cannot fly from Him, Bp. H. 24. Ill tlie inorniiig watch. The He¬ brews, as well as the Homans, divided the night into four parts, or watches, of about three hours each ; so called, because at the beginning of each part the guard of soldiers who kept watch was changed. The morning watch was the last of them, immediately before sunrise. Bp. Patrick. -The LOED looked forth. We know of no sentence more memorably impres¬ sive in the Bible than that which tells us that o I God looked out of the pillar of cloud and of the fire, and troubled the Egyptians. Such is the difference between the light of his countenance and the rebuke of his countenance. T. C. 25. Let tis flee. The Egyptians now re¬ pented of their precipitate madness, and deter¬ mined, as conquered by God’s power, to leave the children of Israel and to return home ; but God shut up the way of escape at this ver}’- crisis. That we may know how evident a miracle was here, Moses adds (verse 27) that the morning then appeared, so that the broad daylight might show the whole transaction to the eyes of the spectators. Calv. -Israel is now, all of a sud¬ den, become as much a terror to them as they had been to Israel. They might have let Israel alone and would not ; now they would flee from the face of Israel and cannot. Men will not be convinced till it is too late that those who meddle with God’s people meddle to their own hurt ; when the Lord shall come with ten thou¬ sands of his saints to execute judgment, the mighty men will in vain seek to shelter them¬ selves under rocks and mountains from the face of Israel and Israel’s King (Eev. 6 : 15). God reckoned with Pharaoh for all his proud and in¬ solent conduct toward Moses his ambassador j mocking the messengers of the Lord and play ing the fool with them, bring ruin without remedy : now God got him honor upon Pharaoh H. 27. And Moses streleiacd fortli Iiis liand. The rod of Moses is again stretched over the sea, and it returns to its strength. Those very waters which had guarded the pas¬ sage of Israel again obey the sus]3ended law of gravitation, and rushing down upon the heads of the Egyptians with overwhelming force, en¬ gulf them all beyond the power or possibility of escape. “ The sea covered them ; they sank as lead in thg mighty waters.” The same ele¬ ment is the defence of the one and the de. stroyer of the other. Not an Israelite peri.shed, not an Egyptian survived. Bash. 30. Tlans JeiiOTali saved Israel tlaat day oait of the Eiand of the- Egyptians. Thus Israel went beyond the Land of Bondage into the Land of Training, as a nation of freemen. H. C. T. Often mentioned both in the Old and New Testament, the dividing of the Bed Sea before the children of Israel was the terror of the Ca- naanites (Josh. 2 ;9, 10), the praise and triumph of the Israelites (Ps. 114 : 3 ; 106 ; 9 ; 136 :13, 14). It was a type of baptism (1 Cor. 10 :1, 2). Israel’s passage through it was typical of the conversion of souls (Is. 11 : 15), and the Egyp- 52 SECTION 94. THE SEA DIVIDED. tians’ perdition in it was typical of the final ruin of all impenitent sinners (Rev. 20 : 14),- The Old Testament people confess that the ex¬ odus from Egypt was their redemption. The bringing back from Babylon is a fact in holy history ; but the bringing out of Egypt stands high above it. It is an article of the Israelitic creed, holding the first place in the Decalogue, included among the reasons for observing the Sabbath commandment (De. 5 ; 15), solemnized by two feasts at the beginning of the eccle¬ siastical year (the pascha) and of the civil year (the feast of tabernacles), urgently impressed by the proi)hets and sx)lendidly celebrated in many IDsalms. Delitzsch. 33. The feared tlie ILord. They were convinced by the interference of Jehovah that his power was unlimited, and that he could do whatsoever he pleased, both in the way of judgment and in the way of mercy. Aad S>eaieved in the Lord. They clearly discerned that God had fidfilled all his prom¬ ises, and that not one thing had failed of all the good which he had spoken concerning Israel. And they believed his servant Moses. They had now the fullest proof that he was divinely ajD- pointed to work all these miracles, and to bring them out of Egypt into the promised land. Thus God got himself honor upon the Egyq)- tians, and credit in the sight of Israel. After this overthrow of their host, the Egyptians in¬ terrupted them no more in their journeyings. How strange that after such displays of the jus¬ tice and mercy of Jehovah the Israelites should ever have been deficient in faith or have given place to murmuring ! A. C. So complete, so marvellous was the deliver¬ ance : thus the Israelites were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. When they left Baal-Zephon they were separated finally from the idolatry of Egypt ; when they passed the Red Sea their independence of its power was sealed ; their life as a nation then began, a life inseparable henceforth from belief in Je¬ hovah and his servant Moses, only to be merged in the higher life revealed by his Son. Cook. ——This great work which God wrought for them by the ministry of Moses bound them effectually to follow his directions, under God. This confirmed their faith in the promises that were yet to be fulfilled ; and being brought thus triumphantly out of Egypt, they did not doubt that they should be in Canaan shortly, having such a God to trust to and such a mediator be¬ tween them and Him. Oh, that there had been such a heart in them as now there seemed to be ! Sensible mercies when they are fresh make sensible impressions ; but with many these im¬ pressions soon wear off : while thej^ see God’s works and feel the benefit of them, they fear him and trust in him ; but they soon forget his works, and then they slight him. H. The beginnings and foundations of true re¬ ligion do not rest upon human but upon Divine productivity and human receptivity. The Di¬ vine productivity is seen in the supernatural revelation ; the human receptivity in faith, which receives the revelation. At the begin¬ nings, in the case of Abraham (Gen. 15 : 6) and here in the Mosaic age, faith, elsewhere rarely occurring in the Old Testament, is expressly mentioned. Aaberlen. In 1 Cor. 10 :1-4 the apostle is representing the position of the Israelites in the desert as substantially one with that of the Corinthians. And, to make it more manifest, he even applies the terms fitted to express the condition of the Corinthians to the case of the Israelites. These, says he, were baptized like you. had Christ among them like you, and like you were priv¬ ileged to eat and drink as guests in the Lord’s house. Of course, language transferred thus from one part of God’s dispensations to an¬ other could never be meant to be taken very strictly ; no more could it be so when the new things of the Christian dispensation were ap¬ plied to the Israelites than when the o/d things of the Jewish are applied to the members of the Christian Church. In this latter mode of appli¬ cation the Christian Church is spoken of as having a temple as Israel had an altar, a pass- over-lamb and feast, a sprinkling Vvdth blood, a circumcision. Yet ever}^ one knows ttiat what is meant bj' such language is, not that the ver}' things themselves, the things in their outward form and appearance, but that the inward reali¬ ties signified by them belong to the Church of Christ. The old name is retained, though actu¬ ally denoting something higher and better. And we must interpret in the same way when the transference is made in the reverse order— when the new things of the Christian Church are ascribed to the ancient Israelites. By the cloud passing over and resting between them and the Egyptians, and afterward by their pass¬ ing under its protection through the Red Sea in safety, they were baptized into Moses ; for thus the, line of demarcation was drawn between their old vassalage and the new state and pros¬ pects on which, under Moses, they had entered ; and Christ himself, whose servant Moses was, was present with them, feeding them as from AFTER rilE DELIVERANCE. 53 his own hands with direct supplies of meat and drink, till they reached the promised inheri¬ tance. In short, these were to them relatively what Christian baptism and the Lord’s Supper are to believers now, but not in themselves formally the same. Christ was there only in a mystery ; Gospel ordinances were possessed only under the shadow of means and provisions, adapted immediately to their bodily wants and temporal condition. Yet still Christ and the Gospel were there ; for all that was then given and done linked itself by a S23iritual bond with the better things to come, and as in a glass darkly reflected the benefits of redemption. So that as the Israelites in the desert stood rela¬ tively in the same i^osition with the professing church under the Gosjjel, the language here used by the apostle merely shows how clearly he perceived the points of resemblance, and how profoundly he looked into the connection between them. P. F. Three results would naturally follow on the occurrence of such circumstances as thoso re¬ corded in Exodus. Egypt would be for a time weakened in a military point of view, and her gloiy, as a conquering power, would suifer tem¬ porary eclipse. The royal authority would be shaken and encouragement afforded to the pre¬ tensions of any rival claimants of the throne. The loss of six hundred thousand laborers would bring to an end the jjeriod of the construction of great works, or, at the least, greatly check their rapid multii)lication. Now this is exactly what all historians of Egypt agree to have been the general condition of things in Egypt in the later years of Meneptah and the period immedi¬ ately following. Military expeditions cease until the time of Rameses III., a space of nearly forty years. The later years of Meneptah are disturbed by the rise of a pretender, Ammon- mes, who disputes the throne with his son, and, according to Manetho, occupies it for five years. Seti II., or Seti-Meneptah, has then a short reign ; but another claimant is brought forward by a high official, and established in his place, Soon afterward complete anarchy sets in, and continues for several years, till a certain Set- nekht is made king by the jjriests, and tran¬ quillity once more restored. The construction of monuments during this period almost en tirely ceases ; and when Rameses III. shows the desire to emulate the architectural glories of former kings, he is compelled to work on a much smaller scale, and to content himself with the erection of a comparatively few edifices. G. R. Meneptah’s irortraits which have been jDre- served indicate, in full harmonj’’ with the bibli¬ cal account, a ruler with weak womanish fea¬ tures, lacking every trace of masculine decision of character. Of his end we know nothing ex¬ cept what is contained in the Bible. His grave is preserved in the valley of the royal vaults in western Thebes ; but this, as well as the sarcojah- agus, was usually constructed in the lifetime of the king himself. Meneptab’s mummy was not found in the cachette of Ber-el-Bahri, where, six years ago, the bodies of his father and of so man}^ other important Pharaohs were found. This may, of course, be an accident. Ebevs. Either the plagues of Egypt hai^iDened, or they did not. Either the Red Sea was divided, or it was not. Either the jjillar of fire and of the cloud guided the movements of the hosts for forty years, or there was no such thing. Either there was manna each morning round about the camp, or there was none. The facts were too plain, too simple, too obvious to sense for there to be any doubt about them. The record is either a true account or a tissue of lies. We cannot imagine the writer an eye-wit¬ ness, and reject the main features of his story, without looking on him as an imj3ostor. No “enthusiasm,” no “poetic temperament,’’ could account for such a record if the exodus was accomplished without miracles. The writer either relates the truth, or was guilty of con¬ scious dishonesty. G. R. 54 SECTION 95. SONG OF MOSES. Section 95. SOXG OF MOSES AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. Exodus 15 ; 1-21. Ex. 15 1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously : The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2; The Lord is my strength and song. And he is become my salvation : This is my God, and I will praise him ; My father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war : The Lord is his name. 4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea : And his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The deeps cover them : They went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power, Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of thine excel¬ lency thou overthrowest them that rise up against thee : Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble. 8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up, The floods stood uj>right as an heap ; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil : My lust shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them : They sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand. The earth swallowed them. 13 Thou in thy mercy hast led the peo¬ ple which thou hast redeemed : Thou hast guided them in thj’ strength to thy holy habitation. 14 The peoples have heard, they tremble : Pangs have taken hold on the in¬ habitants of Philistia. 15 Then were the dukes of Edom amazed ; The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them : All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. 16 Terror and dread falleth upon them ; By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone ; Till thy people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over which thou hast purchased. 17 Thou shalt bring them in, and j)lant them in the mountain of thine in¬ heritance, The place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in. The sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. 18 The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. 19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them ; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the 20 midst of the sea. And Miriam the- prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out after her with tim¬ brels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, 21 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath tri¬ umphed gloriously ; The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. SONG OF DELIVERANCE. 55 1. Then i^aiig; IHo§es, On this memo¬ rable deliverance Moses composed a thanksgiv¬ ing, which he and the Israelites sang unto tbe Lord. It is also a sublime prophec}', foretelling the powerful effect of this tremendous judgment on the neighboring nations of Edom, Moab, Palestine, and Canaan ; the future settlement of the Israelites in the promised land ; the erec¬ tion of the temple and sanctuary on Mount Sion ; and the perpetuity of the dominion and worship of God. Hales -The most ancient of all poems now extant is this thanksgiving ode of Moses after the j^assage of the Ked Sea : it is at the same time most perfect in its kind. It shows the early connection which subsisted be¬ tween poetr 3 ? and religion, and is an example of that species of poetical composition which the Helrew.s cultivated more than all others, and in which they particular! 3 ^ excelled — namely, the rendering of public thanks in songs of tri¬ umph to God for prosperity in their enterprises and far success in war. Bp. Lovoth. As the Jewish nation produced men of great genius, without considering them as inspired writers, t hey have transmitted to us many hymns and Divine odes, which excel those that are de¬ livered down to us by the ancient Greeks and Homans in the poetr^^ as much as in the subject to which it was consecrated. Addison. -The poetry of the Hebrew was the handmaid of his religion ; there is therefore in the jauetry of the Bible something which elevates it above all other literature of the same kind. It is the supreme excellence of Hebrew jaoetry that it raises the strain not of courage and virtue onlj^ mighty as these are, but of truth and holiness, of faith and hope, of progress and perfection, of fidelity to God and unbroken trust in his goodness and love. Ever since it was poured forth from the full hearts of the singers of Israel, the world has been drinking deep draughts of life and strength from its stream. Whatever dreams of future glory humanity shapes for itself, the poetry of the Bible is not excluded, but is welcomed as the music of the kingdom of heaven. Aglen. If this jjoem contains parts which, it might seem, could not well have been sung in that period, it must be remembered that the temple, the holy places, and the land which the Israel¬ ites were destined to occupy existed already" clearly in God’s and Moses’s minds ; and the latter prepared the people successfully for the exertions and sacrifices necessary for the real¬ ization of their hopes. Herder. -This song is honored among the Jews by being com¬ monly call Skirah, the song, par excellence. It is not only publicly recited in the synagogues on the seventh day of the Passover, when the tran¬ sit of the Israelites is believed to have taken place, but it has been embodied in the daily prayers. Kalisch. The song of Moses is a proof of the miracu¬ lous passage of the Israelites through the Ked Sea. There has been no period since the He¬ brew nation left Egypt in which this song was not found among them, as composed on that oc¬ casion and to commemorate that event. It may be therefore considered as completely authentic as an}’- living witness could be who had himself jiassed through the Ked Sea, and whose life had been protracted through all the intervening ages to the present day. It is a song of triumph for the deliverance of the peojDle of God ; and it was intended to point out the final salvation and triumph of the whole Church of Christ. A. C.-This song of thanksgiving and tri¬ umph, repeated every Sabbath in the temple when the drink-offering of the festive sacrifice was poured out, reminded Israel that to all time the kingdom was surrounded by the hostile powers of this world ; that there must always be a contest between them ; and that Jehovah would always himself interpose to destroy his enemies and to deliver his people. Thus that great event for all times has been a prophecy, a comfort, and a song of anticipated sure vic¬ tory to the Church. A. E. Of this song, composed on the instant of deliverance, and chanted to the music of the timbrel,” Milman justly says ; “ What is the Koman arch of triumph or the pillar crowded with sculpture compared, as a memorial, to the Hebrew song of victory, which, having survived so many ages, is still fresh and vivid as ever, and excites the same emotions of awe and j)iety in every human breast susceptible of such feel¬ ings which it did so many ages past in those of the triumphant children of Israel ?” How the act of victorious judgment this ode celebrates was intended to foreshadow the final putting down of all power that exalts itself against the kingdom of Christ, is manifest from Kev. 15 :3, where the glorious company above are repre¬ sented as singing at once the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in the immediate prospect of the last judgments of God, and of all nations being thereby led to come and worship before him ! P. F. This very incident has for its last echo in Scripture that wonderful scene in the Apoc¬ alypse where, in the pause before the seven angels bearing the seven plagues go forth, the seer beholds a company of choristers, like those 66 SECTION 95. SONG OF MOSES. who on that morning stood on the Red Sea shore, standing on the bank of the “ sea of glass mingled with lire’*—which s 3 nnbolizes the clear and crystalline depth of the stable Divine judg¬ ments, shot with liery retribution—and lifting np by anticipation a song .of tbanksgiviiig for the judgments about to be wrought. That song is expressly called “ the song of Moses” and “ of the Lamb,” in token of the essential unity of the two dispensations, and especially of the harmony of both in their view of the Divine judgments. Its ringing praises are modelled on the ancient lyric. It, too, triumphs in God’s judgments, regards them as means of making kaown his name, as done not for destruction, but that his character may be known and hon¬ ored by men, to whom it is life and jDeace to know and love him for what he is. That final victory over “ the beast,” whether he be a per¬ son or a tendency, is to reproduce in higher fashion that old conquest by the Red Sea. There is hope for the world that its oppressors shall not always tyrannize ; there is hope for each soul that, if we take Christ for our deliv¬ erer and our guide, he will break the chains from off our wrists, and bring us at last to the eternal shore, where we may stand, like the ransomed people, and as the unsetting morn¬ ing dawns see its beams touching with golden light the calm ocean, beneath which our op¬ pressors lie buried forever, and lift up glad thanksgivings to him who has ” led us through fire and through water, and brought us out into a wealthy place.” A. M. All this is rich in spiritual suggestion for us. They who are now. the people of God are not only rescued from bondage, but are baptized into Christ, and, being made partakers of his resurrection, sing to the Lord a new song, and then set out on a new career. That career must be in separation from the Amrld, and lowly de¬ pendence on Christ for bread and water of life, and for victory over those that war against their souls. It is a M^alk 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-sutfering grace. D. F.-And when it is considered that the w^hole of this transac¬ tion shadowed out the redemption 'f the human race from the thraldom and power of sin by the Lokd Jesus, and the final triumph of the Church of God over all its enemies, we also may join in the song and celebrate Him who has triumphed so gloriously", having conquered death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. A. C. 1-11, The night of doom to Pharaoh was the night of redemption to Israel. With the morn¬ ing light they “ saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shorc.” Men in their armor of battle, horses in the proud trappings of Egypt, broken chariots, all powerless now', are dashed up by the waves of the turbid sea and lie strewn upon the eastern shore—memorials at once of the danger that was and of the victory and triumph that are to be the joy of God’s redeemed people. Most fiftly the deep emotions of the people seek expression in song. The oldest song known to history and one of the grandest is here before us. “ I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.” It w'as the Lord who wrought the victory, who went down alone into that eventful battle, and who came back the mighty conqueror I “ The horse and his rider hath he throwm into the sea.” Over and over this central idea appears ; “ Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea ; his chosen chariots also are drow’ned in thu Red Sea.” ” Thou didst blow wdth thy wind ; the sea covered them ; they sank as lead in the mighty waters ” Let the Great God of Israel be praised for all this ! Appropriately this is the burden of the song : The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my sal¬ vation.” “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? Who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing w'onders ?” H. C. The burden of this magnificent ode sank into the hearts of the Hebrew race and fired the genius of inspired poets century after century, reappearing again and again in psalm and proph¬ ecy. As here, the strain of all these allusions to the great deliverance is, that “ not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake.” Geikie. -1. This song is sung to Jehovah." The people are filled with the thought of him and his great act. It has been rightly called the marriage hymn of Israel ; as the bride re¬ joices in the bridegroom, so the people here re¬ joice in God. Auhei-len. -Its most charac¬ teristic and outstanding feature is the entire absence of self-glorification or mere national exultation. From the beginning to the end it celebrates the praises of Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel. J. M. G. The entire hymn consists of two parts. The first looks back on the past, on the mighty deed of Jehovah just experienced ; the other looks forward with confidence to the future—the rest and peace in Canaan—and so becomes at the same time a prayer. Thankfulness for the SOJ^G OF MOSES. 57 mercy received is the ground of hope that the Lord will not leave the work he has begun. We find in this hymn the first traces of that ar¬ rangement of Hebrew poetry which divides each verse into two, and often more, lines. Ap¬ parently these hymns were sung from the first responsively or antiphonally. As soon as the chorus of men had finished, the chorus of women repeats the whole. The song, by the peculiar force and beauty with which it sets the whole history before us, had also the purpose of being a living, continual witness to the great event. It was intended to declare to posterity through all ages that so many hundred thou¬ sands beheld the great works of the Lord which gave existence to his people, and left behind them such a monument for their children. Therefore we find in many poetical parts of the prophets echoes of this song of Moses. Ge7'l. 3. The I^ord— i.e., Jehovah, is his name, lie has now, as the name implies, given com- i^lete exis'euce to all his promises. A. C.-In the story of the exodus deliverance breathes out from every line, and '* Jehovah” is the great Deliverer. Jehovah destroys the Egyptians, “ i^asses over” the dwellings of his people, and institutes the great feast of the ” Passover,” to be perpetuated as a ” memorial ” together with his “ memorial name” to all generations. That great feast, to be called by the Israelites “ Je¬ hovah’s Passover,” is still observed throughout all Christendom, with a change, and yet a cor- re.spondence of emblems, in commemoration of the deliverance of “ Christ our Passover,” and is called “the Lord’s Sapper”—thus perpetu¬ ating the great “ memorial ” of Israel’s deliver¬ ance from bondage}, and the yet greater deliver- o.nce foreshadowed in the prophetic name of Jehovah, So also the great and final act of Jehovah in delivering his people from the power of the Egyptians is commemorated in a song of Moses and the hosts of Israel, wLich song also is in the Eevelation represented as sung by the redeemed hosts of Christ the De¬ liverer. “ And they sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. ” The union of the song of Moses with that of the Kedeemed through Christ is a union of the two great his¬ toric divisions of the Church in a common song of deliverance. And deliverance is the grand rep¬ resentative idea of the Jewish system. He w^ho was to become the Theocratic Head of the na¬ tion, their Lawgiver and King, takes upon him¬ self the name of Deliverer, and in illustration of that name, introduces his government by a glorious act of deliverance. Thus in the history of Israel as a nation, before the idea of the Law¬ giver and the subject, comes that of Redeemer and Redeemed. McWhorter. 11, Lit. ; “ Who is as thou among the gods, Jehovah ? who is as thou, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doer of wonders ?” His matchless greatness forces itself on the observ¬ ance of those who consider his deeds. Aiiioiig^ llie He comjAares the Lord with all heathen deities. The expression is a bold poetic figure of speech, by which the nothing¬ ness of the gods is designated. God is glorious in holiness : all the glorious attributes of his Di¬ vine nature are pervaded and animated by his holiness. Gerl. -It is this which makes all his attributes beautiful, for which he claims the supreme reverence and delight of angels and men, and for which he is the highest object of complacent delight to his own infinite mind. H. B. Smith. The Divine holiness is so familiar a thought with us, enters so necessarily into all our con- * ceptions of God, that it is difficult for us to realize its coming into the minds of men as something entirely new. But so it was. The heathen nations were destitute of the idea ; and the people of God had to be taught it foy the first time at the period of the exodus. The word “holy” does not occur in Genesis. The first introduction of it is at the burning bush : “ Put off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” 13, The biblical idea of holiness is, through¬ out, associated with that of love and mercy ; and herein we see the appropriateness of this reference in the Red Sea Song of salvation : “ Thou in ihy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed.” Just as it is through “ the apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ ” that a sinner is led to true re¬ pentance, so the revelation of the Divine love is the path through which alone we can reach the knowledge of the Divine holiness. J. M, G. 14, Tlie peoples. An expression now justified by usage, and necessary in this passage to give the true meaning. Tlie iiiliabi- taiits of Pliilislia— i.e., the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would ex¬ pect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheart¬ edness of the Israelites. It is obvious that the order of thoughts would have been very differ¬ ent had the song been composed at a later period, since in fact Philistia was the last district occupied by the Israelites. Cook. - 15, 16, In this magnificent hymn of thankfulness there breathes for the first time a consciousness of the high destiny that was in store for them. 58 SECTION 95. SONG OF HOSES. Already they seem to see the Philistines, the Edomites, the Moabites, and all the inhabitants of Canaan “ amazed ” and “ melting away” be¬ fore their triumphant march, and themselves, the redeemed of Jehovah, entering upon their long promised inheritance, the Holy Land or “ sanctuary,” where Jehovah should reign over them “ for ever and ever.” J. P. N. The signal display of Divine power for their protection must have deeply impressed them with a conviction of the Lord’s goodness and power. Their tendency to distrust and unbelief must have been greatly checked by it ; and al¬ though that tendency broke out in repeated acts of discontent and rebellion, nothing can more clearly show the strong, salutary impression produced than the prominent manner in which this event is set forth and the pointed way in which it is referred to in all the subsequent lit¬ erature of the people, especially in the Psalms of David. Kit. -Two ways this great deliver¬ ance was encouraging. First, it was such an instance of G-od’s power as would terrify their en¬ emies and quite dishearten them (verses 14-16). The verj'' tidings of the overthrow of the Egyp¬ tians would be more than half the overthrow of all their other enemies ; it would sink their spirits, and that would go far toward the sink¬ ing of their powers and interests. The Philis¬ tines, Moabites, Edomites, and Canaanites (with each of which nations Israel was to graj^ple) would be alarmed by it, and would conclude it was in vain to fight against Israel when a God of such power fought for them. It had this effect : the Edomites were afraid of them (De. 2 :4), so were the Moabites (Nu. 22 : 3), and the Canaanites (Josh. 2 ; 9, 10). Thus God sent his fear before them (ch. 23 :27), and cut off the spirit of princes. Next, it was such a be¬ ginning of God’s favor to them as gave them an earnest of the perfection of his kindness. This was but in order to something further (verse 17), Thou shalt hrivg them in. If he thus bring them out of Egypt, notwithstanding their un- worthiuess and the difficulties that lay in the way of their escape, doubtless he will bring them into Canaan ; for has he begun {so begun), and will he not make an end ? Our experiences of God’s power and favor should be improved for the support of our expectations : “ Thou hast —therefore not only thou canst, but we trust thou wilt,” is good arguing. H. 20. “ Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron,” whose name now first appears in the history of the Church, afterward to become so renowned through its Grecian and European form of Maria and Mary, came forth, as was the wont of Hebrew women after some great vic¬ tory, to meet the triumphant host, with her Egyptian timbrels and with dances of her coun try-women. A. P. S.-Miriam is called a ‘‘ prophetess,” but this often means in Scrip¬ ture only one who says or makes known the doings of God or his praises, whether with or without musical instruments. Thus the singers appointed by David are called “ prophets,” and are said “ to prophesy with harps,” etc., and “ to give thanks and to praise the Lord ” (1 Ch. 25 ; 1-3). Geikie. -Miriam is described as the sister of Aaron. At the very outset the position is indicated which she afterward occupied in the community of Israel. She is called the sis¬ ter of Aaron, and not the sister of Moses, be¬ cause her position was co-ordinate with that of Aaron, but subordinate to that of Moses. Al. though Aaron was the brother of Moses, j'et in his official position he was only the mouth, the prophet of Moses. In the same way Miriam was placed in a position of subordination to the brother she had saved ; for Jehovah had chosen him to be the mediator of his covenant, and placed him at the head of Israel. Hence she entirely mistook, her position when at a later period she took upon herself to rebuke him. K. The monuments reproduce this scene in all its parts. Separate choirs of men and women are represented on them, singing in alternate responses ; the timbrel, or tambourine, is rep¬ resented as the instrument of the women, as the flute is that of the men ; and the playing of the tambourine, unaccompanied, as here, by other instruments, is represented in connection with singing and the dance. Further, it ap¬ pears from the monuments that music had eminently a religious destination in Eg 3 "pt, that the timbrel was specially devoted to sacred uses, and that religious dances were performed in the worship of Osiris. E. C. W.-In the tombs at Thebes timbrels, like Miriam’s, round and square, are seen in the hands of women ; while pipes, trumpets, sistrums, drums, and guitars are there in great abundance and variety, and harps not much unlike the modern instru¬ ment, with varying numbers of strings up to twenty-two. The colored pictures of the harp and the player in one of the tombs are as fresh as those of a Eoman gallery. S. C. B. The history of the Jewish exodus, or deliver¬ ance from Egypt under the direction of Moses, was undoubtedly preserved in the Egyptian records, and from thence was derived the strange and disfigured story which we read in Diodorus, Strabo, Justin, and Tacitus. Unfortunately, the SECTION 96. TO MAllAII AND ELIM. 59 ancient enmity between the Egyptian and He¬ brew people was kept alive by the civil, relig¬ ious, and literary dissensions and jealousies un¬ der the reign of the Ptolemies in Alexandria, Josephus, in his treatise against Apiou, has ex¬ tracted the contradictory accounts of his ances¬ tors from three Egyptian historians, Manetho, Chaeremon, and Lysimachus. In each of these there is the same attempt to identify or connect the Jews with the earlier shepherd-kings, the objects of peculiar detestation to the Egyptian people. So much is their history interwoven, that some learned writers, probably Josephus himself, considered the whole account of the fierce and conquering shepherds a fable, built on the history of the Israelites. He states, though in somewhat ambiguous terms, that in another copy of Manetho the word Hyksos, usu¬ ally translated shepherd-kings, was also rendered shepherd-captives. Yet the Egyptian monu¬ ments conclusively prove the existence of this distinct race of conquerors. Milman. One of the most enlightened, discriminating, nnd cautious of scholars—Sir Gardner Wilkin¬ son—bears this distinct and important testi¬ mony ; “ Wherever any fact is mentioned in the Bible history, we do not discover anything on the monuments which tends to contradict it.” In all the references to Egypt contained in the Pentateuch, though so many and so various. though scattered through every part of the writ' ing and mixed up with almost every topic which it embraces, there cannot be detected a single element which is not clearly and decisively Egyptian. Could a fictitious narrative, fabri¬ cated in a remote country and a distant age, ac¬ complish such a result ? Equally with the ex¬ tent and accuracy of the writer’s knowledge of Egypt, does the manner in which he brings it out seal the trustworthiness of the narrative. This is always so incidental, so unpremeditated, so undesigned, so perfectly inartificial, and so des¬ titute of all explanatory remarks as not neces¬ sary for his immediate readers, as to constitute an indubitable signature of truth. Such a man¬ ner would be quite natural in Moses, but most unnatural, and indeed impossible, in a mythic historian. It is a manner which cannot be as¬ sumed by an impostor. We have here, then, both in the Egyptian knowledge of the author and in the manner of its exhibition, a strong internal proof of the credibility of the Penta¬ teuch, of its composition in the age of Moses, and consequently of its Mosaic origin. He who is not convinced by it of the genuineness and authenticity of the work, is certainly very far removed from credulity ; but then he stands at an equal distance from that intelligent can¬ dor which feels and owns the force of truth. E. C. W. Section 96. THEEE STAGES ONWAED FROM THE RED SEA : I. MARAH ; BITTER WATERS SWEETENED. H. ELIM, WITH ITS SPRINGS AND PALM TREES. III. ENCAMP¬ MENT BY THE SEA. Exodus 15 : 22-27. Nu. 33 : 8-10. Ex,, 15 22 Akd Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilder- 23 ness of Shur ; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they 24 were bitter ; therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured 25 against Moses, saying. What shall we drink ? And he cried unto the Lobd ; and the Lord shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved 26 them ; and he said. If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have 27 put upon the Egyptians : for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees ; and they encamped there by the waters. * 60 SECTION 96. THREE STAGES ONWARD FROM THE RED SEA. Nu. 33 8 And they went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in 9 Marah. And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim : and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees ; and they pitched there. 10 And they journeyed from Elim, and pitched by the E,ed Sea, In studying the geography of the peninsula, j the first lesson to be learned is to know what is , meant by a wady. Destitute as these broad j stretches of barrenness are of springs or run- | ning brooks, yet at times they are swept by ter¬ rific storms, when torrents dash down the moun¬ tain-side, and plough deep furrows in the sandy w^aste. The dry beds which they leave behind are wadies. These wadies, depressed below the level of the surrounding plain, are the favorite places for pitching tents, as the banks on either side furnish a shelter from the winds that sweep j over the desert. Several of these w'e crossed to- j day, in which thje half-dried mud showed that there had been recent rains. Wherever the moisture had touched, there were signs of vege¬ tation. Field. Ayun Musa [or Wells of Moses, opposite Suez] is an oasis reclaimed from the hopeless sand by a supply of unpalatable water, which is arrested and brought to the surface by the labor of infinitesimal insects. The only springs which are still left in their natural state are at the ex¬ treme south of the locality, outside of all the enclosures. But the principal flow of water is now found (or diverted) elsewhere ; for at a short distance to the north is a series of live large gardens or plantations, enclosed by high reed fences, and partly filled with palms, tama¬ risks, apricots, pomegranates, and other trees, and occupied chiefly by beds of vegetables and herbs, irrigated by the water from these wells. Some of these enclosures contain small summer¬ houses, and are places of resort from Suez. In the southernmost of these plantations was a large pool a hundred and sixty-five feet in cir¬ cumference, as I paced it, kept full by a spring which bubbles up vigorously near the centre and flows off at the side. The traditional name, “ Moses’s Wells,” carries with it intrinsic probability A situation so important, with fountains at a suitable distance to suppl}’^ the van aud the rear of the immense host, could hardly have failed to be a place of encampment, even though the place of crossing had not been in the immediate neighborhood, and much more if it was. S. C. B. Israel now entered on the long march in the wilderness, through which he was to reach the Promised Land. The Bed Sea is divided on the north side into two long bays, that of Heroopolis and .®lan—or, as they are now called, of Suez and Akaba. Between these two is situated the peninsula which, together with the breadth of desert to the north, on the Medi¬ terranean and south border of Palestine, is called Arabia Petraea. Gerl. -Their route lay southward down the east side of the Gulf of Suez, and at first along the shore. The station of Ayun Musa (the We’ls of Moses), with its tam¬ arisks and seventeen wells, served for their gathering after the passage. They marched for three days through the wilderness of Shur or I Etham, on the southwest margin of the great j desert of Paran {et- Tih), where they found no water. The tract is a part of the belt of graved which surrounds the mountains of the penin¬ sula, and is crossed by several vmdies, whose sides are fringed with tamarisks, acacias, and a few palm-trees. P. S.-As the Israelites, leaving Ayun Musa, turned their faces south¬ ward away from the land of their bondage and the scene of their great deliverance, they must have gazed on the same features that now strike the eye of the traveller on his way from Suez to Jebel Musa, for the general aspect of the desert can have altered little. On their left would be the long level range of Er-Rahah ; in front, the terraced plain several miles broad, sloping gently down to the bright blue sea, and beyond the sea westward the picturesque line of cliffs, on one point of which the name of Bas Ata- kah (Mount of Deliverance) still lingers. Wil¬ son. 22. Tlic wilderness of Sliur. This name has before occurred in Gen. 16 : 7 ; 20 :1 ; 25 ; 18. The wilderness includes the district lying east of Egypt between the Mediterranean and the Bed Sea. It is called in Nu. 33 :8, “ the wilderness of Elham," and Josephus ren¬ ders it by “ ihe desert of Pelusium.'' Mr. Hol¬ land says of the desert east of Suez : “ Some twelve or fifteen miles from the coast, and par¬ allel to it, runs Jebel er-Bahah, appearing in the distance as a long flat-headed range of white cliffs, which form as it were a wall enclosing the desert on the north.” Alf. -When Hagar fled from Palestine to Egypt, the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain in the desert on the way to Shur. Abram lived for some time at Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. According to the other passages, Shur stood “ in front of Egypt.” The whole of these passages lead to the conclusion that the desert of Shur was the MURMUnmO at mar ail 61 entire tract of desert by which Egypt was bounded on the east. K. A favorite identification of Shur [Holland, Pcilmer, Wilson, etc.] has been in a range of mountains a little to the eastward from the Gulf of Suez, having the appearance of a wall, and bearing the name Jebel er-llahah, being in fact the northwestern end, or extension, of Jebel et-Tih. But Jebel er-Rahah does not stand “ before Egypt as thou goest to Assyria” (Gen. 25:18). It is too far south for that. “Shur” means ^ ‘ a wall and from its meaning, as well as from the various references to it in the text (Gen. 16 : 7, 14 ; 20 :1 ; 25 :18 ; 1 Sam. 15 : 7 ; 27 :8), it would seem clear that Shur was a border wall, or extended line of fortifica¬ tions, across the entire northeastern front of Lower Egypt, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez. This wall was the closure of the only entrance by land to Egypt from the East ; and it was from the East alone that there was, in those da 3 ’-s, any special danger of invasion. References to this wall are found in the Egyp¬ tian records, both before and after the supposed date of the exodus. Its earliest mention, as yet ascertained, is in what is known as the St. Petersburg Papyrus, which treats of Egyptian history prior to the tenth dynasty. There, ac¬ cording to Golenischeff as cited by Meyer, it is known as “ the Royal Wall for defence against the ‘ Amu,’ ” or Amorites. Again it finds men¬ tion in a papyrus of the twelfth dynasty, prior to the Hykshos invasion. It is there spoken of as a barrier “ which the king had made to keep off the Sakti,” or Eastern enemies of Egypt, Yet again it is brought into notice in a papyrus of the nineteenth dynasty, in a manner which seems to indicate its extended stretch. The historic data thus cited cover a period from be¬ fore the days of Abraham to Moses. If, in¬ deed, there were no corroboratory facts or tra¬ ditions, these Egyptian references to the border wall of Egypt would, in themselves, be sufficient to justify a conviction of its existence ; for the term which is employed in its mention is rec¬ ognized by Egyptologists generally as indica¬ tive of a continuous wall, or of an extended line of fortifications, which in reality amounts to a defensive wall. But, on the other hand, there is no lack of corroboratory facts and tradi¬ tions. H. C. T.-[For a full discussion of this interesting question, see “ Kadesh-Barne'iT pp. 44-58, and Sunday-school Times, Ma3’-14th, 1887.] Journey to Marah; Marmuririq of Israel; Sweet ening of the Waters (verses 22-26). 22. Three day§. The distance between Ayun Musa and Hawara, the first spot where any water is found oh the route, is thirty-three geographical miles. Cook. -With such a host, encumbered as they were with women and chil¬ dren, and flocks and herds, the distance of a day’s march cannot have averaged more than twelve miles. How striking to find that even now a journey of about thirty-five miles has to be made before w^ater is reached, and then that the water is bitter and unwholesome, as were the waters of Marah ! Holland. 23 . The place of encampment at Maeah has been almost universally recognized, since the time of Burckhardt, as identical with the well (Ain) Hawara^ w^hich had never been mentioned before. It is situated at a distance of fifteen or sixteen hours’ journey from the wells of Moses —a distance which answers admirably to the three days’ journey of the Israelites. The countr}" between is a sandy desert, entirely des¬ titute of water. The water of the Hawara well is impregnated with alum and salt, and more bitter than any other water that is met with in the ordinary routes of the peninsula. The basin, whose white rocky substance has evidently been formed in the course of time by a precipitate from the water, is said by Robinson to be six or eight feet across, w'hile the water is about two feet deep. K.-The soil throughout this part of the country, being strongly impregnated with natron, produces none but bitter or brackish water ; and the first of these springs with which we meet, Ain Hawara, is reached on the third day of our desert journey to Sinai. Palmer. The heat continued opj)ressive till we reached Hawara. We did not wonder that the Israel¬ ites, who passed along here perhaps a month later in the season, after their long, hot, and dreary march, and their fresh recollections of the water of the Nile, were dreadfully discour¬ aged when they reached Marah and found no good water. This fountain varies somewhat from time to time in the surroundings and in the quality of the water. At times, probably when the flow is very copious after rains, the water is drinkable^ but statedly it is disagree¬ able, and sometimes even nauseous. The palm- bushes near it are the first that the traveller en¬ counters after leaving Ayun Musa. In favor of this place as the Marah of the Scriptures, there are the distances from Ayun Musa (a fair “ three days’ journey” for such a company), the fact that it is the first water lying directly on their track, and the expectation naturally awakened by the palm-bush indications, the quality of the water itself, still presented and still recognized, the correspondence of the next station, Elim, 62 SECTION 96. THREE STAGES ONWARD FROM THE RED SEA. and perhaps we may add the not unsuitable camping-ground a little beyond the place. S. C. B. 24-26. The people, tormented with thirst, murmured against Moses, who, at the command of God, cast a certain tree into the waters which made them sweet. This was the first great trial of their patience ; and God who had healed the waters, promised to deliver them from all the diseases of Egypt, if they would obey him, and confirmed the promise by the name of “ Jehovah the Healer.” P. S.-Hei’e is the first handsel that God gives them in their voyage to the Land of Promise—thirst and bitterness. Satan gives us pleasant entrances into his ways, and re¬ serves the bitterness for the end : God inures us to our worst at first, and sweetens our con¬ clusion with pleasure. The same God that would not lead Israel through the Philistines’ land lest they should shrink at the sight of war, now leads them through the wilderness, and fears not to try their patience with bitter potions. If he had not loved them, the Egyptian furnace or sword had prevented their thirst, or that sea w'hereof their enemies drunk dead ; and yet see how he diets them.. Never any have had so bitter draughts upon earth as those he loves best ; the palate is an ill iudge of the favors of God. Bp. H. To realize their suffering, to have an adequate idea of it, we should need to be put in their sit¬ uation, beneath a burning sun, a cloudless skj’-, surrounded by the bare, dry, gray, shining des¬ ert. This seemed indeed a deplorable com¬ mencement of their journey. They thought when God had brought them safely through the Bed Sea, that that was the way in which he would cause them to triumph continually. They knew very little of themselves, still less of God. They knew very little of God’s methods of discipline, very little of their own need of that discipline. They could sing God’s praises on occasion of a great deliverance, provided Moses would prepare an ode for them. But their obligations to God and their dependence upon him they had scarcely begun to realize. All the discipline of faith they were yet to ex¬ perience. And therefore, after the first tri¬ umph, after God had brought them safely out of Egypt, and across the Red Sea, their first ex¬ perience was trial and disappointment. Cheever. 24, These Israelites, instead of praying, mur¬ mur ; instead of praying to God, murmur against Moses Whal hath the righteous done f He made not either the wilderness dry or the waters bit¬ ter ; yea, if his conduct were the matter, what | one foot went he before them without God ? , The pillar led them, and not he ; yet Moses is murmured at. Never any prince so merited of a people. He thrusts himself upon the pikes of Pharaoh’s tyranny. He brought them from a bondage worse than death. His rod divided the sea, and shared life to them, death to their pur¬ suers. Who would not have thought these men so obliged to Moses, that no death could have opened their mouths or raised their hands against him ? Moses took not on him their provision but their deliverance. He was in the same want of water with them, in the same dis¬ taste of bitterness, and yet they say to him, “ AVhat shall we drink ?” Bp. H. Never once during his twelve months of con¬ flict with the power of Pharaoh had the faith or courage of Moses quailed. Contemned, cajoled, threatened, spurned from the royal presence, he had never faltered. And now his triumph over Egypt was complete. But the far greater difficulties of his task had yet to begin. As he had learned forty years before, to crush the op¬ pressor is easier than to discipline and educate the oppressed. The very people who but now were singing the praises of Jehovah, and feeling as though the Promised Land was already in their grasp, were three days later ” murmuring against Moses” because the waters of the wil¬ derness were bitter. J. P. N. 25. What course doth Moses now take ? That which they should have done and did not : they cried not more fervently to him than he to God : if he were their leader, God was his ; that which they unjustly required of him, he justly requires of God, that could do it ; he knew whence to look for redress of all complaints ; this was not his charge, but his Maker’s, who was able to maintain his own act. It is to thee, O God, that we must pour out our hearts, who only canst make our bitter waters sweet. jjp 22 -Ye who are bravely battling for the right, the pure, the benevolent, whether it be in the sweeping out of corruption from political offices, or in the closing of those pestilential houses which are feeding the intemperance of our streets, or in the maintenance in the churches of the faith once delivered to the saints—take heart of grace from Moses here. Go with your causes to the Lord, and he sure that they who are on his side are always in the end victorious. W. M. T. He cried unto the LriIE CONVENT Je'bel Mousa ^ : M(^unt Katherine f UnritShomer/ ■m- Camp oy the Jted Sea PENINSULA OF S _from the WelU of Moses to the Convent lo3 Miles Camel’s Journey a day 20 to 25 Miles, Route Camps Ras Mohammed HEn SE^L SECTION 97. 67 Section 97. THE WILDERNESS OF SIN (EL MARKKA). BREAD RAINED FROM HEAVEN; QUAILS COVERING THE CAMP. Exodus 1G : 1-36. Nu. 33 : 11. Eu. 33 11 And they journeyed from the Red Sea, and pitched in the wilderness of Sin. Ex,. 16 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, w'hich is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after 2 their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the chil- 3 dren of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness : and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lokd in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat bread to the full ; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly 4 with hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you ; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, 5 that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law. or no. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it 6 shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out 7 from the land of Egypt ; and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord ; for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord ; and what are we, that 8 ye murmur against us ? And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full ; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him : and what are we ? your 9 murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord : 10 for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, 11 and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spake 12 unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel ; speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled 13 with bread ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp : and in the morning the 14 dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the 15 ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, 'VVhat is it ? for they wist not w^hat it was. And Moses said unto them. It is the bread which 16 the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather ye of it every man according to his eating ; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them which are in his tent, 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when 18 they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack ; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said unto them. Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstand- 20 ing they hearkened not unto Moses ; but some of them left of it until the morning, 21 and it bred worms, and stank : and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating : and when the sun waxed 22 hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one : and all the rulers of the congregation came 23 and told Moses. And he said unto them. This is that which the Lord hath spoken, To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto the Lord : bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that which ye will seethe ; and all that remaineth over lay up for 24 you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses I 68 SECTION 97. THE WILDERNESS OF SIN. 25 bade : and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day ; for to-day is a sabbath nnto the Lord : to-day ye shall not find it 26 in the field. Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in 27 it there shall be none. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out 28 some of the people for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto 29 Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days ; abicle ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place 30 on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. And the house of 31 Israel called the name thereof Manna : and it was like coriander seed, white ; and 32 the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept for your genera¬ tions ; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I 33 brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for 34 your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the 35 Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited ; they did eat the manna, until they came unto 36 the borders of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. 1. The next station is the Wilderness of Sin, which we would identify with El Markha, an extensive plain on the coast, open, level, covered in parts with slight vegetation, and well suited for a large encampment. Wilson. -South of the Enc.unpment by the Sea (at the mouth of Wady Tayibeh) the mountains approach nearer to the sea, but sufficient space is left for a road along the shore for several miles until the moun tains again recede and the plain of EL Markha is reached. There can be little doubt that this plain marks the site of the Wilderness of Sin, where the children of Israel made a long halt, and where God gave them bread from heaven, and they were fed with manna and quails. This plain extends as far south as Wady Feiran, a distance of about twenty-five miles. Like most of the coast plains, it is somewdiat barren now ; still, it is not without some vegetation, and probably in former days, when the rainfall was larger, and the drainage from the mountains descended gradually, instead of sweeping every thing before it by a flood as at the present time, it would have afforded excellent pasturage. Holland, (See map, Sec. 98.) Fifteenth ense host which he had led from amid the fatness of Egypt would, by the power of God’s bountiful right hand, be sustained in the wilderness. KiK We sat C>y the flesh pots, and we did eat bread to the tiill. What vivid likenesses we still have of those old flesh pots ! For what the flesh pots were to the complain¬ ing Hebrews on their way to Canaan, the s>jceets of sin are to men yet, wdien the Good Spirit is striving to get us out of our low estate into “ the liberty of the children of God ” It is the sheer¬ est assumption and shallowest sing-song that we hear from those who speak of man’s natural as¬ piration for moral excellence. Man has no such natural aspiration. From the lowest grade of life to the loftiest that we know on the planet —that is, from a plant to a saint—there is al¬ ways a tendency to deteriorate and retrograde. Never in history was it known that a barbarous tribe or nation reformed itself from within, so as to recover itself to moral excellence and honor. What arrant nonsense it is to talk of mankind self-evolving from vice to virtue ; for not only is such a thing unknown, but, by the flesh pots of Egypt, this is known ; that when the loving Father in heaven by a mighty hand begins to bring men out of the bondage of sin, how they hunger to get back again ! Withrow. 4. 1 wiQl rain bread from heaven. God hears the murmurings of Israel and is grieved with this generation, and yet continues his care of them, as the tender parent of the frowar'd child. He promises them a speedy, sufficient, and constant supply. H.-To edu¬ cate their faith they were suffered to endure this distress. It had been as easy for God to anticipate and prevent their wants as to satisfy them when they were expressed. But so he deals not with the children to whom he is teach¬ ing the great lessons of his school, and God dealt with them as with his children. Kit. - God does not take the rod to his whimpering children, but rather tries to win them by i^a- tience, and to shame their unbelief by his swift and overabundant answers to their comi^laints. When he must, he punishes ; but when he can, he complies. Faith is the condition of our re¬ ceiving his highest gifts ; but even unbelief touches his heart with pity, and what he can give, to it, he does, if it may be melted into trust. The farther men stray from him, the more tender and penetrating his recalling voice. We multiply transgressions, he multiplies mercies. A. M. Gather a day’s portion every day. He would not bestow a large supply at once, which they might store up for future use ; but he would supply their daily wants day by day, thus keeping them mindful of their constant dependence—a dependence which is just as real in those who have laid by the largest stores, though it may not be so obvious nor so keenly felt. God had another design in granting them their supplies only as they were needed. This is stated in the next clause — / may prove them, whether they will walk in rny Law, or no. The regulations given respecting the manna afforded tests of their obedience. W. H. G.-To prove them, whether they would follow him implicitly, depending upon, and taking such provision as he sent, and under the conditions that he dis pensed it, God would now miraculouslj" supply their wants. Bread and meat would be given them, both directly sent from God, yet both so given that while unbelief was inexcusable, it should still be possible. Alike in the “ rain of bread from heaven,” in the ordinance of its in- gathering, and in the Sabbath law of its sancti¬ fied use, did God prove Israel—even as he now proves us : whether we will “ walk in his Law, or no.” A. E. 5, They shall gather twice as much as on ordinary days, as it is explained in verse 22. It was to obviate the necessity of their going out to seek their food on the seventh day, or the Sabbath, and is evidence that the Sabbath was observed, and the law of the Sabbath was known, before the Ten Commandments were proclaimed from the summit of Sinai. These declarations of the Lord to Moses are only sum¬ marily stated ; further particulars are left to be gathered from Moses’ repetition of them to the people in the verses that follow. 6. Then shall ye know that the I.s day our daily bread.” We are to get out of to-day all we can, and trust God for to-morrow. We possess only what we can assimilate, so the miracle does no more than to provide for one da 3 \ You say that you possess property. No, another may more truly possess it. I who tarry by your gar¬ den, or the beggar who feasts upon its beauty with appreciating and admiring eyes gets more out of it than you. Y'ou harry away to business early in the morning, and are gone till dark, too burdened, it may be, to give it a glance. So with your library or pictures. He posse.sse 3 who assimilates. If your wealth makes you anx¬ ious, or leads you to dissipation, tlien you pos¬ sess not wealth, but anxiety and disease. BraisUn. 10-26. With regard to the origin, the appear¬ ance, and the nature of the manna, the Bible con¬ tains the following particulars : Jehovah rained it from heaven (verse 4) ; when the dew fell by night upon the camp, the manna fell upon it (Nu, 11 :9) ; when the dew had ascended, it lay upon the surface of the desert, fine, and like scales, as fine as the hoar frost upon the earth (verse 14) ; it was like white coriander seed, and tasted like cake and honey (verse 31). When the heat of the sun became great, it melted (verse 21), and therefore had to be gathered early in the morning. It is repeatedly stated most emphati¬ cally that it supplied the place of bread. In Nu. 11 : 7 it is compared to coriander seed, and its appearance to that of the (bright, transpar¬ ent) bdellium ; the people ground it in mills or crushed it in mortars, and then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it, the flavor of which re¬ sembled the (mild) flavor of oil-cakes. If it was kept till the morning, it bred worms (verse 20). We may form some idea of the quantity of manna collected, if we consider that, according to verse 16 sqq., a nomer full (not less than a pound) was gathered daily (at least in the early part of the sojourn in the desert) for every member of the congregation, and that it is stated in verse 35 that the children of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they arrived at the border of Canaan, the land in which they were to dwell. K. The manna did not appear in the wilderness before the hour assigned by Moses in obedience to God’s command. No change of weather pre¬ vented the manna from dropping in a regular measure ; neither frost, nor rain, nor heat, nor winter, nor summer, interrupted the course of its distillation. A quantity sufficient for the immense multitude was found every day, when they took up an oiner for every individual. Again, on the sixth day, the quantity was doubled, that they might lay by a second omer for their Sabbath food. If they preserved any beyond their due allowance, it was subject to putrefaction, whereas on the Sabbath day the second portion remained good. Wherever they were, this blessiug of God always accompanied them, while the neighboring nations lived on corn, and the manna was only known in their camp. As soon as they entered a fruitful and corn-growing country, the manna ceased. That portion, which Moses was commanded to lay up SECTION 97. THE WILDERNESS OE SIN. T2 in a vessel, did not grow corrupt. Let these points be well weighed, and the miracle will be more than sufficiently conspicuous. Galv. In certain parts of Arabia, and especially in that part which lies around Mount Sinai, a sub¬ stance has been always found very much re¬ sembling this manna, and also bearing its name —the juice or gum of a kind of tamarisk-tree, which grows in that region, called tarfa, oozing out chiefly b}' night in the month of June, and collected before sunrise by the natives. Such a fact was deemed perfectly sufficient to entitle modern rationalists to conclude that there was no miracle in the matter, and that the Israelites merely collected and used a natural production of the region where they sojourned for a period. But even supjrosing the substance called nianria to have been in both cases precisely the same, there was still ample room for the exertion oc miraculous power in regard to the quantity ; for the entire produce of the manna found in the Arabian peninsula, even in the most fruitful years, does not exceed seven hundred pounds, which, on the most moderate calculation, could not have furnished even the ihous-andih ixirl necessary for one day's supply to the host of Israel ! Besides the enormous disproportion, however, in regard to quantity, there were other things belonging to the manna of Scripture which clearly distinguished it from that found by naturalists—especially its falling with the dew, and on the ground as well as on plants ; its consistence, rendering it capable of being used for bread, while the natural is rather a sub¬ stitute for honey ; its corrupting, if kept be¬ yond a day ; and its coming in double quanti¬ ties on the sixth day, and not falling at all on the seventh. If these properties, along with the immense abundance in which it was given, be not sufficient to constitute the manna of Scripture a miracle, and that of the first magni¬ tude, it will be difficult to say where anything really miraculous is to be found. .P. F. An exudation like honey, produced by in¬ sects ; falling on the ground only from accident or neglect, and at present produced in sufficient quantities only to support one man for six months, has obviously but few points of simi¬ larity with the‘* small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground ; like coriander seed, white ; its taste like wafers made with honey ; gathered and ground in mills, and beat in a mortar, baked in pans, and made into cakes, and its taste as the taste of fresh oil.” A. P. S. -The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions which bear the name of manna have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scrij>ture. They are all condi¬ ments or medicines, rather than food ; stimulat¬ ing or purgative, rather than nutritious ; the}' are produced only three or four months in the 5 ’em% from May to August, and not all the year round ; they come only in small quantities, never affording anything like fifteen million pounds a week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Israelitish camp, since each man had an omer, or three Ei'glish quarts, a day, and that for forty years ; they can be kept for along time, and de not become use¬ less in a day or two ; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbiiih as on any other day ; nor does a double quantity fall on the day pre¬ ceding the Sabbath ; norwould natural products cease at once and forever, a.s the manna is rep¬ resented as ceasing in the Book of Joshua. P. S.-Knobel, a sharp scholarly rationalise, sums up the points of disagreement thus : The manna (1) comes with the cloud and dew from heaven (verses 4, 14 ; Nu. 11:9); (2) fallsin such enormous quantities as to supply every person of the great host with an omer a day [the mod¬ ern product, says Stanley, would support but one man six months] ; (3) yields every man ex¬ actly what he needs, neither more nor less ; (4) falls only on six days out of seven, with a double portion on the sixth ; (5) corrupts when kept from one work-day to another, but keeps per¬ fectly over the seventh day ; (6) is ground in mills and pounded in mortars, which cannot be done with the modern manna ; (7) is boiled, and baked into .cakes, for which the modern manna is wholly unsuitable. To which may be added, it was independent of particular localities and seasons, and continued steadily till the fortieth year ; also that the modern manna, as Schubert well remarks, “ contains none of the substances necessary for the daily nourishment of the ani¬ mal frame,” being now used only for medicinal purposes. S. C. B. It was miraculous in its origin (rained from heaven), in its quantity, in its observance of times and seasons, in its putrefaction and pres¬ ervation—as rotting when kept for greed and remaining sweet when preserved for the Sab¬ bath. It came straight from the creative will of God, and whether its name means ” What is it or “ It is a gift,” it is equally true and ap¬ propriate, pointing, in the one case, to the mys¬ tery of its nature ; in the other, to the love of the Giver, and in both referring it directly to the hand of God. A. M.-Clearly this was a direct supply from the hand of God : “ He gave them bread from heaven to eat and, as Moses said afterward, it was designed to teach the THE MANNA. 73 people their dependence npon God for daily bread, and also “ that man doth not live by bread onl 3 % but by every word that proceedelh out of the mouth of the Lord.” J. P. T. Their meat was strange, but nothing so much as their bread. To fiml quails in a wilderness was unusual ; but for bread to come down from hea^’en was yet more. They had seen quails before, though not in such number : manna M’as never seen till now. From this day till their settling in Canaan God vvrought a perpet¬ ual miracle in this food : a miracle in the place ; other bread rises up from below', this fell down Iroin above ; neither did it ever rain bread till iiow ; yet so did this heavenl}^ shower fall that it is contined to the camp of Israel : a miracle m the quantity ; that every morning should fall enough to till so many hundred thousand mouths : a miracle in the composition ; that it was sw'eet like honey-cakes, round like corian- ders, transparent as dew : a miracle in the qual¬ ity ; that it melted by one heat, by another hardened : a miracle in the difference of the fall ; that, as if it knew times and would teach them as well as feed them, it fell double in the even of the Sabbath, and on the Sabbath fell not : a miracle in the putrefaction and preserv¬ ation ; that it "was full of woims when it was kept beyond the due hour for distrust ; full of sweetness when it w'as kept a day longer for re¬ ligion, yea many ages in the ark for a monu¬ ment of the power and mercy of the Giver : a miracle in the continuance and ceasing ; that this shower of bread followed their camp in all (heir removals, till they came to taste of the bread of Canaan, and then withdrew itself, as if it should have said, “ Ye need no miracles now ye have means.” They had the types ; we have the substance. In this wilderness of the world the true manna is rained upon the tents of our hearts. lie that sent the manna was the manna which he sent. He hath said, “ I am the manna that came down from heaven.” Behold, their whole meals w^ere sacramental : every morsel they did eat was spiritual. Bp. II. -Like Him w'hom it typified, it was the only thing of the kind, the onl}^ bread from heaven which God ever gave to preserve the life of man. A. C The manna is called spiritual meat (1 Cor. 10 : 3), becau''e it was typical of spiritual bless¬ ings in heavenly things ; Christ himself is the true Hanna, the Bread of life, of which this w'as a figure (John G ; 49-51). The Word of God is the manna by which our souls are nourished (Matt. 4 :4). The comforts of the Spirit are hidden manna (Rev. 2 :17). These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and comfort of the Divine life in the soul while we are in the wilderness of this world. It is food for Israeli es, for those only that follow the pillar of cloud and fire ; it is to be gathered, Christ in the Word is to be applied to the soul, and the means of grace are to be used ; we must every one of us gather for ourselves, and gather in the morning of our days, the morning of our opportunities, Avliich if we let slip, it may be too late to gather. The manna they gathered must not be hoarded up, but eaten ; they that have received Christ must by faith live upon him, and not receive his grace in vain ; there was manna enough for all, enough for each, and none had too much ; so in Christ there is a complete sufficiency, and no super¬ fluity. But they that did eat manna hungered again, died at last, and w’ith many of them God was not well pleased ; whereas they that feed on Christ by faith shall never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God'will be for¬ ever well pleased ; the Lord evermore give us this bread ! H. 16-19, They were to gather it every morn¬ ing (verse 16), the portion of a day in his day (verse 4). Thus they must live upon daily providence, as the fowls of the air, of whom it is said. That thou givest them they gather (Ps. 104 ; 28) ; not to¬ day for to-morrow, let the morrow take thoxight for the things (f itself. To this daily raining and gathering of manna our Saviour seems to allude when he teaches us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. We are hereby taught : (1) Prudence and diligence in providing food convenient for ourselves and our households ; what God gra¬ ciously gives, we must industriously gather, with quietness working, and eating oar own bread, not the bread either of idleness or deceit. God's bounty leaves room for man’s dut}^ ; it did so even when manna was rained, they must not eat till they have gathered. (2) Content¬ ment and satisfaction with a sufficiency ; they must gather, every man according to his eating / enough is as good as a feast, and more than enough is as bad as a surfeit. They that have most have for themselves but food and rai¬ ment and mirth ; and they that have least generally have these ; so that he who gathers much has nothing over, and he who gathers little has no lack. There is not so great a disproportion between one and another, in the comforts and enjoyments of the things of this life, as there is in the property and possession of the things themselves. (3) Dependence upon Providence — ‘'Let no man leave till morning (verse 19), but let them learn to go to bed and sleep quietly, though they have not a bit of bread in their 74 SECTION 97. THE WILDEMNESS OF SIN. tent, nor in all their camp, trusting that God, with the following day, will bring them their daily bread.” It was surer and safer in God’s storehouse than in their own, and would thence come to them sweeter and fresher. Head with this (Matt. 6 :25), Take no thought for your life, etc. See here the folly of hoarding. The manna that was laid up by some (who thought them¬ selves wiser and better managers than their neighbors, and who would provide, in case it should fail next day), putrefied and bred worms, and became good for nothing. That proves to be most wasted which is covetously and dis¬ trustfully spared. Those riches are corrupted (Jas. 5 :2, 3). Think of that great power of God which fed Israel in the wilderness, and made miracles their daily bread. What cannot this God do, who prepared a table in the wilder¬ ness, and furnished it richly even for those who questioned whether he could or no ? (Ps. 78 :19, 20). Never was there such a market of pro¬ visions as this, where so many hundred thou¬ sand men were daily furnished, without money and without price. Never was there such an open house kept as God kept in the wilderness for forty years together. H. 20. The supply of manna came daily, and faith had to be exercised ^on the providence of God, that each day would bring its appointed provision ; if they attempted to hoard for the morrow, their store became a mass of corrup¬ tion, In like manner must the child of God pray for his soul every morning as it dawns, “ Give me this day my daily bread.” He can lay up no stock of grace which, is to save him from the necessity of constantly repairing to the treasury of Christ ; and if he begins to live upon former experiences, or to feel as if he al¬ ready stood so high in the life of God that, like Peter, he can of himself confidently reckon on his superiority to temptation, his ver^^ mercies become fraught with trouble, and he is the worse rather than the better for the fulness imparted to him. His soul can be in health and prosper¬ ity only while he is every day “ living by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him.” P. P.-Past experi¬ ence will justify a man in trusting Christ now and for the time to come, but not in trusting in his own strength, not even his strength of grace. Experience, as Henry Martyn used to say, rots on one’s hands, if a man trusts to that instead of Christ ; just as the manna of the Israelites bred worms if they hoarded it up for the mor¬ row, instead of trusting in God for a new sup ply. This was a striking lesson of faith in the wilderness, and we too must come to Christ daily for grace trusting not in yesterday’s strength of grace or in what remains over, Christ, who has supplied, must still supply it, or it will fail. So a man must saj^ I have noth ing, can da nothing, am nothing, but in Christ, Cheever. God’s principles of dealing with his Church are the same for all ages. When transacting with his people now directly for the support of the spiritual life, he must substantially re-enact what he did of old, when transacting with them directl}^ for the support of their bodily life. And as even then there was an undercurrent of spir¬ itual meaning and instruction running through all that was done, so the faith of the Christian now has a most legitimate and profitable exer¬ cise, when it learns from that memorable trans¬ action in the desert the fulness of its privilege and the extent of its obligations in regard to the higher provision presented to it in the Gos¬ pel, P, P. The manner in which the Sabbath first presents itself on the field of Israelitish history as an existing ordinance which God himself respected, in the giving of the manna, before the Law had been promulgated, is a clear proof of its prior institution. P, F.-From this passage and from verse 5 it is inferred that the seventh day was previously known to the people as a day separate from ail others, and if so, it must have been observed as an ancient and primeval institution. No other account of the command (given without any special expla¬ nation), or of the conduct of the j)eople who col¬ lected the manna, is satisfactory ; thus Hosen- miiller and others. It is at the same time evi¬ dent that Moses took this opportunity of en¬ forcing a strict and more solemn observance of the day. Cook. No doubt, in the oppression and darkness of Egypt, the seventh-day (Sabbath) observance had fallen into partial disuse ; though even in EgyjJt in that era, as among the more eastern peoples, the traditional seventh-day rest seems to have lingered, and therefore the usages of Egypt may not have militated against the rest on the sev¬ enth day. However that may be, still there was need of this training to the Sabbath observance ; and this ordinance of the manna was just the preparation needful for their receiving heartil}'’ the statute, “ Hemember the Sabbath day,” when it came to them through Mose? from the mount. S. R-In all the Jewish history there never again occurred as favorable a time for imposing the Sabbath observance upon the people as at the giving of the manna. For forty years, comprising more than two thousand NO MANNA ON THE SABBATH 75 weeks, they were to subsist upon manna as their daily food. God was to furnish it eveiy day ; they were to gather it every day. Thus was presented the opportunity both for God to mark the day and for man to keep it. Dur¬ ing all these two thousand weeks God gave them a double supply on the sixth day, and pre¬ served that given on that day fresh for two days, instead of one. Two thousand Sabbaths came, but on them no manna. It was vain for them to look for it. Soon they ceased to do so altogether. What a lesson for beginners ! The most stupid and the most obdurate alike learned it. Time and the world may be searched for another series of events by which it would be possible to impress the idea of a Sabbath upon the minds of the people as effectually as by this. Weston. *2G, God would have the Israelites continu¬ ally dependent on himself for all their sup¬ plies ; but he would make them, in a certain way, workers with him. He provided the manna ; they gathered and ate it. The first was God’s work ; the latter their own. They could not produce the manna, and God would not gather it for them. Thus the providence of God appears in such a way as to secure the co-oper¬ ation of man. None fell on the Sabbath ! Hence we find that the Sabbath was considered a Divine institution previously to the giving of the Mosaic Law ; and that God continued to honor that day by permitting no manna to fall during its course. Whatever is earned on the Sabbath is a curse in a man’s property. A. C.-When the Lord sent that double portion on the last day of the week, and none on the next, it was as much as to say, that in his providential ar¬ rangements for this world he had given only six days out of the seven for worldly labor, and that if men readily concurred in this plan they should find it to their advantage ; they should find that in tfie long run they got as much by their six days’ labor as they either needed or could profitably use, and should have, besides, their weekly day of rest, of spiritual refreshment, and bodily repose. Nor can we regard this lesson of small moment in the eye of Heaven, when we see no fewer than three miracles wrought every week for forty years to enforce it —viz., a double portion of manna on the sixth day, none on the seventh, and the preservation of the portion for the seventh from corrupting when kept beyond the usual time. P. F. 27, The outward manna fell not at all on the Sabbath ; the spiritual manna, though it balks no day, yet falls double on God’s day ; and if we gather it not then we famish. In that true Sabbath of our glorious rest we shall forever feed of that manna which we have gathered in this even of our life. Bp. H. 28, 29. See, saith he, the Lord hath given you on the sixth day the bread of two days : How long REFUSE ye to keep my commandments, and my laws ? It was not blindness or ignorance, but down¬ right perverseness ; for refusing is an act of the will. They could not but see and know what the Lord had done for them ; but they would not see ; they had eyes, and saw not ; they had ears, and heard not ; because thej" would not. This was the character and temper of their pos¬ terity in our Saviour’s time, which he so olten upbraids them with. And, alas i is it not still the very spirit and temper of us all ? Who is there that enjoys his double portion of the good things of this life, and yet hankers not after more ? We are neither contented with the por¬ tion of time nor the provision of bread which God has been jjleased to allot us for our neces¬ sary wants. And though God reserve to himself but a seventh of our time, how few are there who do not seem to think that seventh part too much ? How often are we entrenching on the Lord’s own day by our pursuits of the profits or pleasures of the world ? Wogan. “ To morrow is the rest of the holj^ Sabbath” (verse 23) Not shall he, nor yet that every sev¬ enth shall be, but simply, “ To-morrow is.” This is clearlj^ the language of the historian, not the legislator. It is but the familiar method of speaking of something already in existence. Besides, it does not say, thou shalt rest every seventh day from all work, but simjily from manna gathering. The direction seems to have been given with exclusive reference to the reg¬ ulation of manna gathering, and this very fact seems to recognize the pre-existence of the ap¬ pointment, and here only made applicable to the manna. And this view agrees precisely with the after declaration, “ See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath ; therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days” (verse 29), Thus placing the Sabbath before the manna, and showing why the manna was doubled on the sixth, and why there would be none on the seventh, because the seventh had been previously given as a day of rest. Then let it also be observed that the expressed ob¬ ject of giving the manna, and especially in the manner of it, was to prove Israel, and not to institute a Sabbath. “ I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go and gather a certain rate every day, that I maj’’ prove them, whether they will walk in my Law, or no ’ (verse 4). What law ? and how prove them ? SECTIOJV 97. THE WILDERNESS OF SIN. :6 The law was cleaily the Sabbatic law, and the ])roof consisted in this, whether they would ob¬ serve his rest, even when appearances were against them, “ To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbaih unto the Lord,” one of those rest days appointed from the beginning ; therefore, a double quantity is given. Now bake, and seethe, and prepare for to-morrow. And on the morrow he said. Eat to-day what is left from yesterday, and which is miraculously i:)reserved, for none will be given to-day. And yet some of the people disbelieved, and went out, but found none. Hence the Lord asks, ‘‘ How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Verse 28.) The whole history indicates that the manna was doubled on the sixth day because the next was the Sabbath, thus showing its pre¬ vious existence ; for, so far as the record goes, the manna was actually doubled before one word was said to the jieople about the Sabbath. If the apioointment did not previously exist, would it not be a strange procedure to double the manna before the proclamation of the Law ? Was the passover lamb actually slain before the jreople were told what was to be done? And furthermore, that the object of the whole trans¬ action was to test Israel’s obedience to a law already in existence, and not formally to enact a new one. As confirmatory of all this is the fact that Moses, in De. 5 :15, clearly connects the insti¬ tution with the deliverance from Egypt. The reason there assigned is the fact that they were delivered. Because they had been “ delivered through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm.” “ Therefore the Lord thy God com¬ manded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” If the deliverance from Egypt be the secondary ground of the giving of the Sabbath, then surely the giving of the manna could not be that ground, nor yet the initiation of the ordinance. And as further confirmation of this view, we men¬ tion the fact that the Sabbath is everywhere s]ooken of as the proj^erty of the Lord, as ap¬ pears from the expressions : “The Sabbath of the Lord thy God “ ye shall keep my Sab¬ baths “I gave them my Sabbaths”—all show¬ ing that the Sabbath was the property of the Lord ; something he had previously in his pos¬ session, and now formally given to his people. Stacy. 32, The preservation of this manna from waste and corruption was a standing miracle, and therefore the more proper memorial of this miraculous food. “ Posterity shall see the bread,” says God, “ lohereuiilh I have fed you in the wilder¬ ness see what sort of food it was, and how much each man’s daily portion of it was, that it may appear they were neither kept to hard fare, nor to short allowance, and then judge between God and Israel, whether they had any cause given them to murmur, and find fault with their provisions, and whether they, and their seed after them, had not a great deal of reason grate- fully to own God’s goodness to them. Eaten bread must not be forgotten ; God's miiacles and mercies are to be had in everlasting re¬ membrance, for our encouragement to trust in him at all times. H. 33. ” An omer full of manna” was to be “ laid up before Jehovah” in a “ golden pot,” Together with “ Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant,” it was afterward placed in the holiest of all, within the ark of the cove¬ nant, overshadowed by the cherubim of glory.” A. E,-How long the i^ot of manna was j^re- served in the ark of the covenant cannot be known definitely. We have the fact that the Lord directed its preservation there ; and the further fact that when the ark was placed in the new temple of Solomon there was nothing in it save the two tables of stone (1 Kings 8 : 9). It was doubtless kept long enough to subserve all the valuable purposes of a memorial to the gen¬ erations of Israel. It has been embalmed in the Christian consciousness of the Christian age by its symbolical use in the teachings of our Lord in which it represents his flesh which he gave for the life of the world—the far more real bread of life from heaven (John 6 :31-35 ; 47-58). H. C. 35, This verse was no doubt added when Moses was revising and completing his materi¬ als for Exodus, in the plains of Moab, by Jor¬ dan, near Jericho (Nu, 36 :13), or in the valley over against Beth-peor (De. 3 :29). The sen¬ tence is evidently such as might be written by a prophet who was aware that the forty years of wilderness life were drawing to a close, and perceived the supply of manna waning to its end, according as the natural products of the land were approaching to a full satisfaction of the people’s wants. M. Biel eat manna forty ycarg. The manna began to fall just thirty days after they left Egypt, and ceased the day after the pass- over which they kept in the fortieth year (Josh. 5 :11, 12). Bp. Patrick. -Here the supply of manna is spoken of as continuing till the peo¬ ple “ came to a land inhabited,” or to their reaching “ the borders of Canaan.” In Josh. 5 :12 its actual cessation is said to have taken place only when they had entered Canaan, and ate the corn of the land. But why might not 77 MANNA FOR FORTY YEARS. the first passage, written in anticipation of the future, indicate generally the period during which the manna was given—viz., the exclusion of the people from a land in such a sense in¬ habited, that they were still dej^endent on mir¬ aculous supplies of food ? Then the passage in Joshua records the fact that this dependence actually ceased only when they had crossed the Jordan, and lay before Jericho ; so that we may conclude their conquests to the east of Jordan, though in lands inhabited, had not sufficed till the period in question to furnish an adequate supply to their wants. P. F. It is not meant that during the whole of this period they had no other sustenance : the herds which they had brought out of Egypt had not failed them at Sinai, nor even when they were about to pass through Edom (Nu, 20 :19), nor even when the Peubenites and Gadites peti¬ tioned to be settled on the east of Jordan (Nu. 32 :1). It is plain that they had bread (Lev. 8 :2, 26, 31), and meal (Lev. 9:4; 10 :12 ; 24 :5, etc.), and that they bought food and water from the Edomites (De. 2 : 6). And from Josh. 1 :11 we see that the staple of their victuals must have been other than manna, for there they are commanded to lay in three days’ provision, and the manna would not keep from day to day. But it was granted to them during all this time to help out other provision, and probably it was the only food of those who could not afford the rarer and costlier kinds. It is only mentioned specially after this in Nu. 11 : 7, at their first breaking up from Sinai, and in Nu, 21 :5, dur¬ ing the circuit of Edom, and after the death of Aaron. Alf.. -We may assume, as in most cases of miracle, that the supernatural supply was commensurate with their actual necessity. Moses gives a complete history of manna till the end of his own life. The manna was not with¬ held in fact until the Israelites had passed the Jordan. Moses writes as a historian, not as a prophet. Cook. Many comment on this subject as if, during the whole forty years in the wilderness, the Israelites subsisted entirely, or at least chiefly, on manna and quails miraculously given them from heaven—as if, in this particular case, God undertook to train a race to habits of hardihood by relieving them of all necessity of doing any¬ thing to provide for their own need^. But from many passages in Ex., Lev., Nu,, and De. we learn that Israel in the wilderness had flocks and herds, which were several times in danger of perishing for lack of water, and for which it was proposed to buy water, when they asked leave to pass through Edom ; that they left Egypt with money and other commercial re¬ sources, and reached Palestine able to purchase such things as they needed ; that they are as¬ sumed to have resources of hunting and fishing ; that the ceremonial law throughout implies their possession, not only of animals for sacri¬ fice, but of agricultural products ; that the civil laws contemplate their being engaged in agri¬ culture, as well as in the care of flocks ; that what we are accustomed to designate their wandering in the wilderness is actually de¬ scribed as their being shepherds in the wilder¬ ness. In fine, these writings represent God’s treatment of Israel in the wilderness to have been just what we should expect, in view of the principles on which he ordinarily deals with men. As a rule, he threw them upon their own resources, and thereby trained them ; when ex¬ ceptional needs arose during the forty jmars, especially when the need arose from their obey¬ ing some especial command which diminished their abilit}^ to provide for themselves by or¬ dinary means, then God cared for them by mir¬ acle. IF. J. Beecher. The manna is the greatest of the Old Testa¬ ment miracles. It was not one miracle, but an astonishing combination of many. It was a regular supply of food during nearly forty years. It fell around the camp of the Israelites regu¬ larly, in all places and at all seasons, during all their removals. The supply, regularly inter¬ mitted once in every week, was compensated by a double supply the preceding day. It became unfit for use if kei^t to the next day, and yet, once a week, it might be kept for two days. And when the miracle was about to be discon¬ tinued, as no longer necessary, a pot full of it was directed to be laid aside, and preserved as a memorial to future generations. All these marvellous circumstances are not mere abstract qualities of the manna, but historical facts — facts inseparably interwoven with the history of the chosen people. It is surely then an attemjjt of no common hardihood, though it has been made, to endeavor to bring this sublime set of miracles within the limit of a natural probabil¬ ity. Bush. The manna was a revelation in miraculous and transient form of an eternal truth. The God who sent it sends daily bread. The words which Christ quoted in his wilderness hunger are the explanation of its meaning as a witness to this truth. “ Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” To a Christian, the Divine 78 SECTION 97. THE WILDERNESS OF SIN power is present and operative in all natural processes as really as in what we call miracu¬ lous. God is separable from the universe, but the universe is not separable from God, If it were separated, it would cease. So far as the reality of the Divine operation is concerned, it matters not whether he works in the established fashion, through material things, or whether his will acts directly. The chain which binds a phenomenon to the Divine will may be long or short ; the intervening links may be many, or they may be abolished. And the Divine cause and the visible effect may touch without any¬ thing between. But in either case the power is of God. Bread made out of flour grown on the other side of the world, and fashioned by the baker, and bought by the fruits of my industry’’, is as truly the gift of God as was the manna. For once, he showed these men his hand at work, that we might know it was at work, when hidden. The lesson of the “angel’s food” eaten in the wilderness is that men are fed by the power of God’s expressed and active will— for that is the meaning of “ the word that pro- ceedeth out of the mouth of God”—in what¬ ever fashion they get their food. The gift of it is from him ; its power to nourish is from him. It is as true to-day as ever it was : ” Thou open- cst thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every I’ving thing.” The manna ceased when the people came near cornfields and settled homes. Miracles end when means are possible. But the God of the miracle is the God'of the means. The manna was typical of Christ, Our Lord himself has laid his hand upon it, and claimed it as a faint foreshadowing of what he is. The Jews, not satisfied with the miracle of the loaves, demand from him a greater sign, as the condition of what they are pleased to call ” be¬ lief ”—which is nothing but accepting the tes¬ timony of sense. They quote Moses as giving tbe manna, and imply that Messiah is expected to repeat the miracle. Christ accepts the chal¬ lenge, and goes on to claim that he not only gives, but himself is, for all men’s souls, all and more than all which the manna had been to the bodies of that dead generation. Like it, he came —but in how much more profound a sense —from heaven. Like it, he was food. But un¬ like it, he could still forever the craving of the else famishing soul ; unlike it, he not only nourished a bodily life already possessed, but communicated a spiritual life which never dies ; and, unlike it, he was meant to be the food of the whole world. His teaching passed beyond the symbolism of the manna, when he not only declared himself to be the true bread from heaven which gives life to the world, but opened a glimpse into the solemn mystery of his aton^ ing death, by the startling and apparently re¬ pulsive paradox that his flesh was food and his blood drink indeed. The manna does not typi¬ cally teach Christ’s atonement, but it does set him forth as the true sustenance and life-giver, sweet as honey to the soul, sent from heaven for us each, but needing to be made ours by the act of our faith. An Israelite might have starved, though the manna lay all round the camp, if he did not go forth and secure his por¬ tion ; and he might no less have starved, if he did not eat what heaven had sent. Crede et manducasti —“Believe, and thou hast eaten” — as St. Augustine says. The personal appropri¬ ating act of faith is essential to our having Christ for the food of our souls. The bread that nourishes our bodies is assimilated to their substance, and so become sustenance. This bread of God, entering into our souls by faith, transforms them into its substance, and so gives and feeds an immortal life. The manna was for a generation ; this bread is “ the same yes¬ terday, and to-day, and forever.” That was for a handful of men ; this is for the world. Nor is the prophetic value of the manna ex¬ hausted when we recognize its witness to Christ. The food of the wilderness is the food of the city. The bread that is laid on the table, “ spread in the presence of the enemy,” is the bread that makes the feast in the king’s palace. The Christ who feeds the pilgrim soldiers is the Christ on whom the conquerors banquet. “ To him that overcometh will I give to eat cf the hidden manna.” A. M. The apostle in 1 Cor. 10 gives a spiritual sig- nificancy to the whole of this narrative of the exodus, the murmuring, and the supply of bread and w’ater in the desert. In an earnest admo¬ nition against murmuring and want of self-con¬ trol, he cites this story of the desert as a signal example of failure to hold fast the profession after even the very highest exaltation to priv¬ ileges, reminding the Corinthians “ how our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea ; and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink ; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that Bock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our ex¬ amples that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” The meaning of which is : Beware, how, after coming into covenant SECTION 98. RED SEA TO SINAI. 79 with Christ, ye give away to temptation. Ke- inember how, though all of our fathers were de¬ livered from Egypt, yet Caleb and Joshua only entered the land of promise. Say not : Will God allow those to perish whom he hath thus exalted in conferring upon us the gifts of the spirit, the power of miracles, tongues, proph¬ ecy, interpretation? For remember the lofty privileges of the fathers. They were baptized into the discipleship of Moses under that cloud w’hich sheltered and guided them, and in the passage through the sea which gave them final deliverance from Egypt. For such deliverance and guidance placed them under the same obli¬ gation to recognize Moses as leader by Divine commission, as your baptism and its vows bind you to recognize Christ. And as they had their baptism so also their Eucharist. They all fed not upon natural food but upon manna—the food directly provided by God ; and they drank not water naturally furnished by springs in'the desert, but by^ the stream from the smitten rock, whose stream followed them in the des¬ ert, which rock sy^mbolized the smitten Christ ; and yet after all these exalted privileges they murmured, rebelled, and failed to reach the earthly Canaan. And remember this record is made not merely as a curious history—‘ ‘ they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." The apostle is not making any allusion to baptism wdth water, but only to the display of God’s power in the cloud and in the sea, and of God’s goodness in giving them the manna for food and the water from the rock for drink, which bound them to serve God and follow his servant. And as, notwithstanding all this, they failed, so those in the New Testa¬ ment Church who enter into covenant with Christ in their baptism and receive spiritual gifts may fail through a similar rebellious and murmuring spirit. It is both interesting and important to notice how thus, in the practical application of the lessons of the Old Testament, both Jesus and his apostles constantly assert not only the pre-existence of Christ, but also that he is really the Jehovah of the Old Testa¬ ment. The rock was Christ. The Israelites “ tempted Christ in the wilderness.” It was the “ spirit of Christ in the prophets that testified.” In like manner it is represented in the New Testament that thisbodj^of people under Moses was the Church of Christ ; as, for instance, the martyr Stephen speaks of it as “ the Church in the wilderness.” S. E. The events recorded to have happened under the old dispensation are often strikingly pre- figurative of those which occur under the new : and the temporal circumstances of the Israelites seem designedly to shadow' cut the spiritual condition of the Christian Church. The con¬ nection is ever obvious ; and points out the consistency of the Divine purpose, and the harmony deliberately contrived to subsist be¬ tween both dispensations. Thus in the servi¬ tude of Israel are described the sufferings of the Church. In the deliverance from Egypt ]s fore- showm its redemption, and the journey through the wilderness is a'lively representation of a Christian's pilgrimage through life, to his in¬ heritance in everlasting bliss. So also the manna, of which the Israelites did eat (John G : 33-38 ; Kev. 2 :17), and the rock of which they drank (1 Cor. 10 :1-4). as w'ell as the brazen serpent by which they were healed (John 3 ; 14), were severally typical of correspondent particu¬ lars, that were to obtain under the Christian es¬ tablishment ; as under the sacrifices and cere¬ monial service of the Law, of which the institu¬ tion is recorded in this book, was described the more spiritual worship of the Gospel. Orey. Section 98. ROUTE FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. At last, the obscurity which has so long hung over the Peninsula of Sinai, with regard to the possible determination of the route of the Israel¬ ites through the desert, has been removed. Al¬ most the whole of the country has now been explored ; and that portion of it which possess¬ es the greatest interest for us has been most carefully mapped, by an expedition sent out under the auspices of the Director-General of our Ordnance Survey. Holland. Note. —The finely executed map (on page 81) is, in its general outlines, an accurate re¬ drawing from that of the Ordnance Survey. But wo have sought to make especially clear all 80 SECTION 98. ROUTE FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. the names and valley lines, together with the imme¬ diate connec'ions and surroundings of Sinai, the }noutitain of the Law. In studying this sec¬ tion, see also map fronting title-page and that on p. Gl. B. The admirable work of the Ordnance Survey in the Peninsula of Sinai has forever settled all questions lespecting the mount of the Law and the way thither. It has done more than this, for the accurate labors of the scientific surveyor have vindicated in the most remarkable manner the accuracy of the narratives in Exodus and Numbers. Every scientific man who reads the reports of the Survey and studies its maps, must agree with the late Professor Palmer that they afford “ satisfactory evidence of the contempo¬ rary character of the narrative.” They prove, in short, that the narrator must have personally traversed the country, and must have been a witness of the events he narrates. More than this, they show that the narrative must have been a sort of daily journal, written from time to time as events proceeded, and not corrected even to reconcde apparent contradictions, the expla¬ nation of which only becomes evident on study of the ground. Dawson. Eoute from Elim to Sinai. • From Wady Useit [south of Elim], two roads lead to Jebel Musa : one, the north route, runs up Wady Hamr, and thence past Sarabit el- Khadim to Wady es-Sheikh ; the other, the coast route, turns down Wady Tayibeh to the sea, and thence follows the course of Wady Feiran. The coast route is far the most easy, and we have an indication that this was followed bv the Israel- V ites in Nu. 33 :10, which places the encamp¬ ment on the sea-coast probably on the broad level plain at the mouth qf Wady Tayibeh. From El Murkha three roads, which afterward join each other, branch off ; one passes over the Nagb Buderahto Wady Mukatteb, another turns up Seih Sidreh to the same place, and thence both pass to Wady Feiran, while the third fol¬ lows the course of Wady Feiran throughout. The first is impracticable for the passage of a large host, but the other two routes are perfectly easy, and the Israelites may have followed either or both. Wilson. The circumstances of the case, and the char¬ acter of the ground, both lead to the opinion that the course of the Israelites lay down the wdiole length of the plain of Murkha, and then U[) Wady Feiran. This wady presents a level bed np which wnignns might be driven without the slightest difficulty. It is somewhat confined in parts bv the surrounding mountains, but opens out here and there so as to jiresent ad¬ mirable positions for encampments. Holland. Travellers in the present day do not follow Wady Feiran, but turn off by Wady Shellal [northeast end of El Murkha], and make for Wady Mukatteb by the Niigb Buderail, but the road over that pass was unquestionably con¬ structed at a date posterior to the exodus, and had it even existed then would have been less practicable than Wady Feiran, and have pre¬ sented a further difficulty in the pass of Jebel Mukatteb. Beyond Wady Feiran there is no practicable valley. Prof. Palmer. Their journey w'ould lie over the plain of El Murkha along the coast, a plain which would correspond to the Desert of Sin, and by reason of the oppressiveness of a spot where my ther¬ mometer on the 11th of February, 1874, rose to 9G° at noon (though but 44° by the sea in the morning), would explain the first “ murmur¬ ing” of Israel. The more encumbered portion and their wagons” would have gone along the sea-coast (a weary journey) to the mouth of Wady Feiran, a valley ranging in width from half a mile to two miles or more, and enclosed by high, precipitous walls. By the route thus indicated, a carriage can be driven all the way from tbe Wells of Moses by way of wadys Feiran and es-Sheikh to Mount Sinai. S. C. B.- There are two practicable routes from Feiran to Jebel Musa-Safsafeh : one following the course of the Wady es-Sheikh throughout ; the other passing up Wady Solaf and across the low hills to El Watiyeh, or turning through the Nagb Hawa to the plain of Er Eahah. Either or both of these routes may have been followed by the Israelites ; the main body, with the flocks and herds, may have gone round by the Wady es- Sheikh, while Moses and the elders travelled by the shorter route of Wady Solaf. Wilson. The Feiran Valley is “ the largest and most fertile of all the valleys in that region, and the only one through which a clear rivulet is still flowing for several miles. The exact source of this stream, and its disappearance beneath the rocky soil, have not been by any means suffi¬ ciently investigated. Again, in all that rocky wilderness there is no other oasis so beautifully studded with palm-groves, fruit-gardens, and cornfields, as'the Wady Feiran.” The Wady es-.^heikh is described hy Ritter as “ the large, crooked, principal vallejq the cleft which con¬ nects the Sinai and the Serbal groups in the central range, and the only convenient road by which the two are connected.” Immediately behind the spot at which the rocky hill el-BuGb contracts the Feiran Valley to so great an ex- MAP: MARAH TO SINAL 81 82 SECTION 98. ROUTE FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. tent, you enter the longer and broader Sheikh Valley. It winds first toward the northeast, then toward the east and southeast, and lastly toward the south, and thus describes almost a perfect semicircle of ten hours’ journey in length. This great wady continues to ascend gently, but constantly ; so that at the point at M'hich it issues into the plain of er-Iiahah, at the foot of the Sinaitic group, it is more than twenty-three hundred feet higher than at its jnnction with the Wady Feiran. The waters of the innumerable side wadies flow into this one ; and hence it is well watered for a considerable portion of the year, and contains many tracts of meadow land, with a large number of tarfah- trees. It is especially noted as yielding the largest supjDly of manna at the present day. Moreover, there is no spot in the whole penin¬ sula so densely populated as this wady and its numerous side valleys. K. Peninsula of Sinai : Geographical Relations, Ge¬ ology, Climate, and Hob it ableness. The Desert Tableland, of which the valley of the Nile and the two gulfs of the Eed Sea are depressions, may bo divided into three belts : on the north, the sandy desert, which stretches along the Mediterranean from the Isthmus of Suez to the confines of Palestine ; south of this is a mass of limestone called the Desert of et-Tih {i.e., the Wandering) ; next, separated by a belt of sandstone from the Desert of et-Tih, is the terrific group of granite rocks which fill up the southern triangle of the Peninsula of Sinai. The width of the peninsula, in its exacter limits, from Saez along the 30th parallel of north lati¬ tude to the hills of Edom, is about 130 miles : its length from its southern point (Ras Moham¬ med) to the same parallel is about 140 miles, and to the Mediterranean upwards of 20 more. The width of the southern triangle of primitive rocks along the 29th parallel of north latitude is about 80 miles, and its length a little less : in fact, it is nearly an equilateral triangle. The Desert of et-Tih has all the characters of lime¬ stone scenery. It is a tableland rising to more than 2500 feet high, broken by ravines, and bounded by long horizontal ranges of moun¬ tains, w'hich culminate in the southern range of Jebel et-Tih, whose chief summit {Jebel Edime) rises to 4654 feet. The belt of sandstone (Debbel er-Ramleh), which divides this range from the granite group, and which is continued along the shore of the Gulf of Suez, is almost the only sand in the peninsula, which is therefore a rocky, but not a sandy desert. Finally, the great granite mass, called by the general name of the Tar {i.e., the Rock), is broken into in numerable peaks (like those called horns and needles in the Aljis), and shivered into ravines, which in a few cases oxien out into wdder plains. In a northern climate, these plains would ba filled with lakes, and mountain torrents would rush down the ravines ; but here the want of water causes a silence which adds immeasurably to the awful grandeur of the rocks themselves, and which becomes still more impressive from the clearness and reverberation of every sound that reaches the traveller’s ears. This death¬ like stillness is broken by mysterious noises amoDg the mountain-tops, and by the winds which roar down the ravines, realizing, in one sense, at least, its description as a “ waste howl¬ ing wilderness.” P. S. One of the most remarkable historical testi¬ monies to the truth of the scriptural narrative exists in the name of the wilderness Tih-Beni- Israil, which signifies “ Wandering of the Chil¬ dren of Israel.” This name is usually shortened to et-Tih, which signifies “ The Wandering.” G. E. Post. That tract of land which bears the name of the Peninsula of Sinai extends between the Gulf of Suez on the west, and that of Akaba (or the Persian Gulf) on the east. Its configura¬ tion is heart-shaped, the broader part lying tow¬ ard Palestine, the narrower, or apex, stretching southward into the sea. It really consists of three distinct portions. The northern, called the Wilderness of Tih, or, “ of the Wandering,” is pebbly, high tableland, the prevailing color being that of the gray limestone. Next, border¬ ing the Tih, comes a broad belt of sandstone and yellow sand, the only one in the desert of the exodus. To the south of this belt, in the apex of the peninsula, lies the true Sinaitic range. This portion consists in the north chiefly of red sandstone, and in the centre of red gran¬ ite and green porphyry. The prevailing char¬ acter of the scenery is that of an irregular mass of mountains, thrown together in wild confu¬ sion. The highest peak rises to about nine thousand feet. Between these wind torrent- beds, filled, perhaps, for a very short time in winter, but generally quite dry. These are called wadies, and they form the highways through the wilderness. Here and there, where either a living spring rises, or the torrent has left its marks, or where the hand of man is at work, cultivated patches, fair and fruitful, are found ; palm-trees spring up, even gardens and fields, and rich pasture ground. But, gener¬ ally, the rocky mountain-sides are bare of all vegetation, and their bright coloring gives the PENINSULA OF SINAI. 83 scenery its peculiar character. The prevailing tints are red and green ; but this is varied by what seems a purple, rose, or crimson-colored stream poured down the mountain-side, while, occasionally, the green of the porphyry deepens into black. Over all this unbroken silence pre¬ vails, so that the voice is heard in the pure air at extraordinarv distances. A. E, The Peninsula of Sinai is one of the most mountainous and intricate countries in the world ; tracts of sand are rarely met with, plains are rather the exception than the rule, and the roads for the most part run through a labyrinth of narrow, rock-bound valleys. It is a desert, certainly, as Major Palmer, K.E., well describes it, in the fullest sense of the word, but a des¬ ert of rock, gravel, and bowlder, of gaunt peaks, dreary ridges, and arid vallej^s, and plateaus, the whole forming a scene of stern desolation which fully merits its description as ‘ the great and terrible wilderness.’ ” In the centre of the peninsula rises a vast crystalline mass, split up into innumerable peaks that attain a consider¬ able altitude, as Jebel Zebir, 8551 feet ; Jebel Katerin, 853G feet ; Jebel Umm Shoiner, 8449 feet ; Jebel Musa, 7375 feet ; Jebel Serbal, 6734 feet. Wilson. The granite mountains lie in such a rugged, tumbled chaos as scarcely to admit of classifica¬ tion. It has been usual to divide them into three clusters—that in the west having Mount Serbal for its highest point, the central or Sinai group, and the group to the south culminating in the magnificent peak of Umm Shomer. But there are several other groups and peaks which are scarcely less grand and imposing. Prof. Palmer. On the east the mountains descend somewhat abruptly to the sea, while on the west they are flanked by an arid plain which extends almost without interruption to the Mediterranean, and which, fur some distance north of Tar, is sep¬ arated from the Gulf of Suez by a low range of hills of tertiary sandstone. Northward, a broken sandstone district separates the Sinaitic mountains from the limestone plateau of the Till. The mountains forming the crystalline “ core” of the peninsula are composed of gran¬ ites, sienites, and varieties of gneiss and schists, traversed by dikes of diorite and dolerite. They exhibit every variety of profile : great rounded bluffs, isolated peaks and pinnacles, and ser¬ rated ridges rise up to .stupendous heights, and blending in wild confusion, present views of the most grand and impressive character. The sandstone district, rich in antiquities and min¬ eral wealth, is broken up into quaint forms which, combined with the rich coloring, give a peculiar charm to the scenery ; while on its jilains are found the only tracts of deep, heavy sand met with in the peninsula. In the cre¬ taceous and tertiary districts, on the other hand, the features are devoid of interest, and the scenery is monotonous, except ivlien lighted up by the rich glow of the rising or setting sun ; this district stretches as far south as Tur, and includes the dreary desert of El Gaah, which for a distance of eighty miles stretches along the western foot of the mountains. Wilson. Fraas mentions a fact which strongly strikes the notice of the traveller—how, in coming from the sea to Sinai by Feiran or Hebran, “every intermediate formation between the newest sea- deposit on the shore and the oldest crystalline mountains is absolutely wanting, and has always been wanting. Of later upheavals in palmozoic times, or in the second or third age of the world, there is not one indication. Rugged and steep, in undisturbed and restful majesty, from Serbal to Umm Shomer, and from Umm Shomer to Ras Mohammed, rises in vertical cliffs the primeval gneiss and granite, or, in mineralogi- cal terms, the masses of colorless qtrartz, flesh- red felspar, greenish hornblende, and black mica. Never, from the time of their formation, have these crystalline masses mingled with any other geological period w'hatever ; from the be¬ ginning of things have they thrust their heads out of the ocean untouched by Silurian or De¬ vonian, by Dyas and Trias, by Jura and chalk. Only at the foot of the mountain fastness has the Red Sea, on the one side, drawn a wreath of corals about Mount Sinai, and with its help formed in modern times a coast ; and on the other side has the sea in the cretaceous era spread out on the north the chalk plateau of et- Tih (four thousand feet above the sea), which extends over all Syria to Lebanon.” S. C. B. The valleys or “ wadies” of the peninsula are deeply cut, and descend rajjidly to the sea ; they frequently rise in open plains or “ fershes,” covered with desert vegetation, that lie at the foot of the higher peaks and form one of the most interesting topographical features of the interior. In the granite district the valleys wind in broad reaches between lofty hills amid the grandest of mountain scenery, or break through the mountain barriers by narrow de- files, sometimes not more than twelve feet wide, in which vertical walls of rock, several hundred feet high, rise up so as almost to shut out the light of the sun. In the sandstone district the cliffs are lower, but the richness of their color¬ ing produces bright pictures of which the eye 84 SECTION 9S. ROUTE FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. never grows weary ; while in the limestone dis¬ trict the tiaveJler is glad to hurry through the dreary valleys and escape from the scorching rays of the sun, which are reflected with intense power from the white rocks on either hand. The two great valleys of the j)eninsula are the Wady Feiran with its innumerable feeders, one descending from the base of Jebel Musa, on the west ; and the Wady liahabeh draining an al¬ most equal extent of country on the east. The former, from its open character and gradual as¬ cent, is marked out by Nature as the great high road into the interior ; and it was the route by which the Israelites probably approached binai. The climate of the peninsula is perhaps one of the most liealthy in the world, espec ally of that i^ortion of it which is elevated from three to flve thousand feet above the sea. There is generally a great difference between the night and day temperatures, from 40° to 50°, and even on the plains the thermometer falls in winter to within a few degrees of the freezing-point. No one who has travelled in the desert can forget the exhilarating efl^ect of the fresh morning air, or the joyous feeling of life and strength that it brings with it ; the mere act of breathing is a pleasure, and we can hardly be surprised at the stories wdiich have been handed down of the great age attained by many of the hermits and anchorites, or that they believed that man needs in the desert “ hardly to eat, drink, or sleep, for the act of breathing will give life enough.” In summer the heat is intense, especially in the limestone districts ; while in winter the cold in the mountains is severe, and the frost brings down huge masses of rock which, rolling down the steep mountain-sides, cause the mysterious noises often heard in the higher districts. The most remarkable features of the climate are its intense dryness and the clearness of the atmos¬ phere, enabling places to be seen at extraordinary' distances. No less remarkable, too, is the still¬ ness ; there is often no sound that the sharpest ear can detect, and for days together the silence is unbroken even by the wind. The coloring too is so varied, so gorgeous, and at times so fantastic, that any attempt to convey an idea of it either by words or on canvas must fail. In winter the peninsula is frequently visited by heavy gales of wind unaccompanied by^^ rain, and the etfect of these in the mountains is won¬ derfully grand. Whirlwinds often start up like magic from the beds of the valleys, and hurrv along with great force until they are broken by some ob.^tacle ; and on the plains the khamasin blows, parching and drying up the air, and striking the face like a blast from a furnace ; the whole air is filled with fine sanl, which penetrates everywhere and presentis th« appear¬ ance of a dense haze, while sometimes the heavier jjarticles are caught up and driven across the level ground in a wild sand storm. The average annual rainfall is small, but it varies in different y^ears ; snow falls every year on the higher mountains, though never lying long, and rarely reaching below fifty-five hundred feet above the sea. The peninsula is subject to vio¬ lent rain-storms, which fill the dry beds of the valleys with roaring torrents, and are sometimes attended with loss of life. Wilson. Productiveness ; Rainfall; Plant and Animal Life. It is a mistake to suppose that the wilderness offered no means of support to those who in¬ habited it. Even now it sustains a not incon¬ siderable population, and there is abundant evi¬ dence that, before neglect and ravages had brought it to its present state, it could, and did, support a very much larger number of people. There were always Egyptian colonies engaged in w'orking its large copper, iron, and turquoise mines, and these settlers would have looked well to its springs and cultivated spots. Nor could the Israelites, any more than the modem Bedouin, have had difficulty in supporting, in the desert, their numerous herds and flocks. These would again supply them with milk and cheese, and occasionally' with meat. A. E. Long before the children of Israel marched through the wilderness, the mines w'ere worked by the Egyptians, and the destruction of trees was i^robably going on. It is a well-known fact that the rainfall of a country depends in a great measure upon the abundance of its trees. The destruction of the trees in Sinai has, no doubt, diminished the rainfall, which has also gradu¬ ally been lessened by the advance of the desert, and decrease of cultivation on the north and northwest ; whereby a large rain-making area has been gradually removed. Holland. Ample proof exists that the Sinaitic peninsula was, in old time, a well-wooded region. To this day trunks of palm-trees are often w'ashed up on the shores of the Bed Sea, as silent witnesses of rushing floods sweeping down valley's, whence w^ater and palm-trees have for centuries disap¬ peared. Travellers constantly find remains of dwellings of stone, gardens, and enclosures, tes¬ tifying to the existence, in past ages, of a settled population ; and even as late as the sixth and seventh centuries of our era numerous inhabi¬ tants existed in regions now utterly^ desolate. Even now the rainfall absolutely is not incon¬ siderable, but nothing is done to husband it. PltODUCTlVENESS OF THE PEN IE SUL A. 85 Before the country was denudeil of woods it must have been very large, lying, as the Penin¬ sula of Sinai does, just north of the great Indian Oceao, whence every southern wind would come laden with clouds. But the whole country has been so ravaged by the Arabs, both before and since the time of Mahomet, that all its fertility has disai^peared, and yearly it sinks still lower [ in the scale. For the Bedouins ruthlessly de¬ stroy the remaining acacia-trees to make them inio charcoal, which now forms the chief—per¬ haps it might be said the only - traffic of the peninsula. II. P. S. There is no doubt that the vegetation of the wadies has considerablj'^ decreased from the vio¬ lence of the winter torrents, the reckless waste of I he Bedouin tribes (who have of late years ruthlessly destroyed the acacia-trees for char¬ coal), The Wady er-Jiahak (at Sinai), which was ‘‘ a vast green plain” in the sixteenth cen¬ tury, is now entirely bare. Seetzen gives a list of sixty-three places as a proof that the region from the Hijaz to the neighborhood of Damas¬ cus, now arid and desolate, was once extremely populous. The gardens at the Wells of Moses (Ayuit 3fusa) and at Mount Sinai are conspicu¬ ous examples of successful attempts to produce vegetation in this desert. There seems to be no deficiency of rain. Human fostering hands might extend the prospect of possible resources from the present “ transparent coating of vege¬ tation” in the wilderness of Sinai to a point as far in excess of jireseiit facts as were the num¬ bers of the Israelitish host above the six thou¬ sand Bedouins computed now to form the pop¬ ulation of the desert. E. S. Poole. That rain actually fell during the passage of the Israelites through the country we learn from Ps. 68 ; 7-9. V The earth shook, ihe heavens also dropped at the presence of God.” “ Thou, 0 God, didst send a plerdifid rain," etc. And such passages as “ the clouds poured out water’ ’ (Ps. 77 :17), where the allusion is evidently to Sinai, also tend to confirm the supposition that the peninsula was better supplied with water at the time of the exodus. Prof. Palme?'. Wherever there is running water, abundant vegetation is found ; the gardens in the valleys round Jebel Musa are well stocked with fruit- trees, and in the lower valleys there are fertile and beautiful oases, such as the great palm-grove in Wady Feiran, and the lesser-known oases of Dhahab, En Nuweibeh, Ain Hudherah, Hebran, Tor, etc. The general vegetation is sparse, but there are not wanting indications that it was formerly more plentiful, and even now there is, at certain seasons of the year, a considerable amount of vegetation on the upland plains. The rimlh, on. In every wady which descends from the dark range of the Tih Mountains to the Fed Sea is a long line of vegetation ; and almost everywhere in these wadies water, more or less potable, could be obtained by digging. In many places, as in Wady Gharandel and Wady Hamr, .springs exist from which camels and Arabs can drink. In the wadies and on the plateaus there are hundreds of species of plants, man}^ of them annuals, with no great depth of root, and others very succulent, .and suggesting, by their fat, juicy leaves, a copious source of moisture be. neath or above the soil. In many places there are thickets of acacias, tamarisks, palms, retem (juniper), jujube, and other trees and bushes, furnishing fuel, pasturage, and a certain amount of fruit. In addition to these sptingless re¬ gions, with moisture enough beneath the sur¬ face to support the growth of trees, shrubs, and herbs, there are a number of oases, in which are gardens, wells, and even streams of limpid, drinkable water. In the Tih, where, in place of the rugged mountain-chains and narrow wa¬ dies of Sinai, there is a broad plateau traversed by low ranges of barren hills, there are some tracts of soil, from which, in seasons when rain falls, abundant harvests can be gathered. Throughout Sinai and the Tih there are at times copious rains, as the complete denudation of the mountains of soil and the great granite and sandstone bowlders carried down by the tor¬ rents testify. There are, in several of the wadies, remnants of lacustrine deposits, which show that dikes must once have crossed and dammed up the valleys, and that chains of lakes existed. 8G SECTION 98. BOUTE FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. There is also considerable animal life in the desert. The ibex and gazelle, and many small mammals, and lizards and snakes, exist among the mountains of Sinai, Biiais of many kinds abound in the variousregiuns of the wildernt-s.-'. The Arabs raise large droves of camels and asses, and, in some places, sheep and goats. For all these animals there are watering jilaces, hnown to themselves and their masters, and they all tind pasturage. Pos'. 3Iount Serhal, and ihe View from its Illyhesi Peak. Serbal, next to Sinai, is the most interesting mountain in the peninsula. It is even more grand and striking in outline than its honored rival. It rises high above the neighboring sum¬ mits—“all in lilac hues and purple shadows,” as the morning sun sheds upon it his bright beams. It is a vast mass of peaks. The high¬ est ]ieak is a huge block of granite. On this you stand and overlook the whole Peninsula of Sinai. The Eed Sea with the Egyptian hills opposite, on tlie east the vast cluster of what is commonly called Sinai, and lowering high above all, the less famous but most magnificent of all, the Mont Blanc of these parts, the unknown and unvisited Umin Shomer. Porter. The entire Sinaitii; groui^ presents the most impressive indications of the terrible convul¬ sions by which its labyrinth of mountain heights has been rent and torn since its first upheaval. From the summit of Mount Serbal, as from a watch-tower in high heaven, xine looks down upon a perfect sea of mountain ridges, often jrrecipitous, always intenseh^ steep, and culmi¬ nating in a sharp edge at the height of two, three, or four thousand feet from their base. The en¬ tire line of these mountains is seen to have been rent transversely by clefts from the base to the summit, filled with injections of basaltic rocks, strijiing the niDimtain on every side with black bands. The whole assemblage is a perfect gan¬ glion of ridges thrown up in wild confusion with its strata dislocated, disjointed, dipping in all directions and at every angle from horizontal to perpendicular. The mountains of Sinai form no system, no regular ranges, like the Alps, the AjDennines, the Pyrenees, or the mountains of America. Coleman. The view from Mount Serbal was wide, and in its kind superb —a vast mass of seamed, rag¬ ged, bare, parti-colored mountains, intersected b}^ a twisted maze of deep narrow valleys, that were sharply marked by their sand-colored beds. Its wildness seemed like a caprice of Nature — a peef) into some other world, almost as strange as the surface of the uioon seen through a pow'- erful telescope. It was such a scene as can oe witnessed probably nowhere else but on this peninsula ; and it well lepaid the toil. Our starting-point at Suez was indicated by the clear peak (if Jebel Atukah, south of which could be seen the long line of African mountains, and on this side the blue waters of the Bed Sea. We could see wdiere we had crossed the plain of El Murkha, the mouth of Wady Feiran, and south of that the long, unbroken plain of El Gaah, the palm-grove of Tor, ihe depression that forms the end of Wady Hebran. From Jebel Atakah eastward the e\ e ran along the range of et Tih, the heights of Sarabit el Khadim, the sand-plain of Debbet er Bamleh, and apparently the moun¬ tains of Edom in the northeast, till it rested upon St. Catherine and Emm Shomer, of the Sinai group, in the southeast. In the circle be¬ tween lay Wadies Feiran, es-Sheikh, Solaf, and a whole netwoik of valleys twined round among this mass of dark-red mountains, rendered as distinct to tbe eye by their lighter beds as though they had been purposely colored on a map. The geography of ihe peninsula indeed lay here almost completely mapped out to the sight. Thus we could trace the whole coast¬ line as far as Tor, and see the entire practicable¬ ness of a journey to the mouth of Wady Hebran. S. C. B. Serbal rises so perpendicularly that its five separate masses appear like gigantic columns, lifting their heads against the sky. We stood on the brow' of a precipice, w'hich might well make one shudder as he advanced to the point of the cliff, and looked over to a depth of four thousand feet. We saw beneath us a panorama as extensive as that seen from the Bighi ; but instead of the smiling cantons of Switzerland, wdth green fields and waving forests and crystal lakes, W'e saw only the barrenness of utter deso¬ lation, yet in such awful forms as produced an impression of indescribable grandeur. All round us the horizon was piled with mountains. Indeed the whole jreninsula is a sea of moun¬ tains, in which jreaks on jreaks are tossed up like weaves. It seems as if they had been thrown up out of a lake of fire ; as if in a re¬ mote geological period, when the body of our planet was a molten mass, and material forces were acting with an intensity and violence of which w'e have no conception, in some tremen¬ dous convulsion the flaming crests were tossed against the sky, and then suddenly arrested by the Creator’s hand, which held them fixed in their utrnost wildness, so to remain forever. Betw'een these awful mountains, and winding round among them in countless turnings, are SECTION DO, * JOURNEY TO REP HID IM. 87 llio allies or livir beds, through which in the time of rains and storms there pour furious tor¬ rents, which as quickly pass away to the sea, leaving behind them only the traces of the ruin they have made. Of these wadies, one here obtains the most complete view. See how they wind ami wind, mining hither and thither in endles.s confusion ! Here then we have the com¬ plete anatomy of the Sinaitic peninsula. One takes it in at a glance in its whole extent, from end to end, and from side to side. It is en¬ closed on the east and the west by the two arms of the Bed Sea—the Gulfs of Suez and of Akaba, The former seemed to lie at our feet, and fol¬ lowing it with the eye, we could almost see the city of Suez itself. The Gulf cf Akaba w'as farther away, and wasliidden from us by inter¬ vening mountains. It lies in a depression, but over it and beyond it we saw distinctly the long range of the mountains of Arabia, as across the Gulf of Suez we saw the mountains of Africa ; while southward rose the great heights of Mount Catherine and Umm Shomer. What a glorious vision of mountains to be embraced in one view ! One such sight were enough to repay a hundred times the fatigue of our climb to the summit of Serbal, And what memories did those names recall ! That Gulf of Suez was the sea across which Moses led the Israelites ; on the Gulf of- Akaba sailed the fleets of Solomon ; while turning northward the eye rested on a long line of white clifl's—the escarpment of a tableland which was the Great and Terrible Wilderness in which the Israelites wandered forty years. Thus a wonderful nature M'as cliosen for a w^onderful history. It is this min¬ gling of the moral sublime with the sublime in nature which makes the great interest of the Peninsula of Sinai. Beyond all the stupendous altitudes of the mountains, beyond the Alpine heights and fathomless abysses, in power to stir the soul with awe, is the human historj' that has been enacted amid these great forms of nature. Feld. Section 99, \ THREE ENCAMPMENTS. DOPHKAH AND ALUSH. BEPHIDIM: IN FEIBAN OB ES SHEIKH? SMITING THE BOCK. BATTLE WITH AMALEK. Exodus 17 ; 1-16. Nu. 33 : 12-14. Nu. 33 12 And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and pitched in Dophkah. And 13 they journeyed from Dophkah, and pitched in Alush. And they journeyed from 14 Alush, and pitched in Bephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. Ex. 17 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of the Loud, and pitched 2 in Bephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said 3 unto them. Why strive ye with me ? wherefore do ye tempt the Loud ? And the people thirsted there for water ; and the people murmured against Moses, and said. Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our 4 cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying. What shall I do unto 5 this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel ; and Ihy rod, 6 wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb ; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the 7 sight of the elders of Israel, And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of tbe striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not ? 8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Bephidim. And Moses said unto 9 Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek : to-morrow I will stand 88 SECTION 99. THREE ENCAMPMENTS. 10 on the top of the hill with the rod' of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek : and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to 11 the top of the hill. And it came to jDass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel 12 prevailed : and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy ; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he .sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur sta^^ed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the' 13 other side ; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua 14 discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Loun said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua : that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi: and he said. The Lord 16 hath sworn : the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. God was pleased wonderfully to represent the progress of his redeemed Church through the world to their eternal inheritance by the journey of the children of Israel tnrough the wilderness, from Egypt to Canaan. Here all the various steps of the redemption of the Church by Christ were represented, from the beginning to its con¬ summation in glory. The state they are re¬ deemed from is represented by Egypt and their bondage there. The purchase of their redemp¬ tion was represented by the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, which was offered up that night that God slew all the firstborn of Egypt. The beginning of the application of the redemption of Christ’s Church in their conversion was rep¬ resented by Israel’s going out of Egypt, and passing through the Red Sea in so extraordi¬ nary and miraculous a manner. The travel of the Church through this world, and the various changes through which it passes iri different stages, was represented by the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. The manner of the Church’s being conducted by Christ was represented by the Israelites being led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. The manner of the Church’s being sup¬ ported in their progress, supplied with spiritual food and continual daily communications from God, was represented by God’s supplying the children of Israel with manna from heaven, and water out of the rock. And innumerable other things they met with wmre lively images of things which the Church and saints meet with in all ages of the world. That these things are typical of things that pertain to the Christian Church is manifest from 1 Cor. 10 : 11. The apostle, speaking of those very things which we have now mentioned, says expressly, that they happened unto them for types, or ensamples, for our admonition. Edwards. iVll. : fll, 112. The next two encamp¬ ments [not noted in Exodus], Dophkah and Alush, are mere names in the itinerary without any special description ; they were intermediate stations between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim. Wilson. -It is impo.ssible to iden¬ tify these stations. There are no existing names in the peninsula which correspond with them. They may be placed somewhere in Wady Feiran or Wady es Sheikh, up which Israel must have marched to Mount Sinai. Holland. Ex. 17 : I. Rephidim. As this is the only important locality between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai concerning wdiich there is a difference of opinion between equally qualified explorers, it is deemed proper to present, on the one side, the view of Professor Palmer, Cap¬ tain Wilson, and other members of the Ordnance Surs^ey, accepted by President Bartlett ; and, on the other, that of Rev. F. W. Holland, in ac¬ cord with Dr. Robinson before him. B. 1. The Oasis in W'ady Feiran, as the Site of Rephidim. At the base of Mount Serbal, in Wady Feiran, is a large and comparatively fertile tract, with a palm-grove which extends for miles along the valley. It is the most fertile part of the penin¬ sula, and one which the Amalekites would be naturally anxious to defend against an invading force ; in this respect it answers to the position of Rephidim. [Mr. Palmer “ discovered a rock which Arab tradition regards as the site of the miracle.’*] The great objection to the identifi¬ cation of Feiran with Rephidim is that the Bible describes the next stage of the journey thus : “ For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the Desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped before the mount ” (Ex. 19 : 2). Now, if Jebel Musa be Sinai, it could hardly be reached [from Feiran] in a single day’s journey by any large host with heavy baggage. The dif¬ ficulty may be explained away on several hy¬ potheses. The journey from Feiran to the Nagb Hawa may be considered as the last stage of the march, and when thej'’ had come to that pass which forms the gate of the Sinai district, they LOCATION OF REPIIIDIM. 89 may be fairly said to have reached “ the Desert of Sinai.” The words, “and there Israel camped before the mount,” seem to imply a separate operation. They had reached the wil¬ derness of Sinai—that is, the Sinai district at the mouth of the Nagb Hawa ; and here they began to look out for a suitable place for a per¬ manent camp. The operation of pitching the camp for so protracted a stay would occupy a longer period than usual. If it be objected that the distance from Feiran to the Pass of Nagb Hawa is too long for a single day’s journey, I would answer that a day’s journey is not neces¬ sarily restricted to eight or nine hours. Prof. Pahmr. Captain Wilson states his reason for placing the site of Kephidizi in Wady Feiran to be as follows : (1) He does not consider it necessary to place Rephidim within one day’s march of Mount Sinai, since he thinks that, in Ex. 19 :2, there is an indication of a break in the march of the Israelites, the operations of ” pitching in the wilderness” and “ encamping before the mount ’ ’ being separate and distinct. (2) Be¬ lieving that the Amalekites would probably come out to oppose the march of the invaders of their country, he holds that the position in Wady Feiran would for military reasons be more nat¬ urally selected as the point of attack. Captain Wilson and the other members of the expedition consider Jebel Tahunah, which is situated op¬ posite the mouth of Wady Aleyat, to be the hill on which Moses sat while Aaron and Hur sup¬ ported his arms as he overlooked the battle. I have little doubt that this was believed to be the site of Rephidim w'hen Serbal was held to be the traditional Mount Sinai ; but its distance from Jebel Musa, about twenty-five miles even by the most direct road, seems to me to prove that the site of the battle must be looked for at a nearer point to that mountain. Holland. 2. El Watiyeh, in the Wady Es Sheikh. The Wady Sheikh is the great valley of the western Sinai, which collects the torrents of a great number of smaller wadies. The Wady Feiran is a continuation [on the west] of Wady Sheikh. Barckhardl. -The Wady es-Sheikh, a broad open valley extending uj) to the base of Jebel J.Iusa itself, cuts right through the granite wall, forming a narrow defile with a tolerably level floor and lofty precipitous rocks on either side. In this gorge, which is called El Waiiyeh, the Arabs show a large detached rock, not un¬ like an arm-chair in shape, as the seat of the prophet Moses. Mr. Holland suggests that this may be the site of Rephidim. In many waj'S the situation answers well to the description given in the Bible. El Waiiyeh is the only practicable pass into the fertile district around Jebel Musa, and one which the Amalekites would conse¬ quently be desirous of holding against an invad¬ ing force. There is also ample room for the encampment of either host, and, the pass once crossed, abundance of water within easy reach. Prof. Palmer. -Captain Wilson and Captain Palmer (Ordnance Survey) both acknowledge the value of the pass of El Watiyeh as a strong military position that could be held with ease against a large force, and would certainly place the site of Rephidim there, if not at Wady Feiran. Holland. -The gorge of El Watiyeh was one of the grandest I had ever seen ; the walls of red porphyry rising from eight hundred to one thousand feet above the remarkably level floor of the pass itself. On emerging we found ourselves in an open space, and in front of a succession of granitic heights and intervening valleys by which the ascent to Jebel Musa is made. Hull. My reasons for arriving at the conclusion that the pass of El Watiyeh marks the site of the battle of Rephidim are, first, its nearness to Jebel Musa, from which it is distant only about twelve miles, and the Bible apparently speaks of Rephidim as within a day’s journey of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19 :2 ; Nu. 33 :15) ; secondl}", my belief that all the requirements of the battle are to be found there. The pass consists of a nar¬ row defile about three hundred yards in length, and from forty to sixty yards in breadth, with a level bed, but enclosed on either side by lofty perpendicular rocks. A very remarkable line of precipitous granite mountains stretches across the centre of the peninsula from the head of Wady Hibran, and presents an imposing barrier to an invading force. In this line of mountains are found only three passes, the most eastern being that of El Watiyeh, which affords an easy road, while the two western passes of Nagb Hawa and Wady T'lah are too narrow and rugged to allow even a laden camel to pass without great difficulty. This natural barrier defends on the north the high and well-watered cen¬ tral group of mountains which includes Jebel Musa, and the holding of the passes by the Amalekites would then secure to them the most fertile portion of the whole peninsula. Holland. Rev. F. W. Holland [who made three tours through the peninsula] places Rephidim at the pass of El Waiiyeh, at the eastern end of Wady es-Sheikh, to the north of the point where it joins the Wady Ed Deir. He believes that the Israelites passed through the Wady Feiran with* 90 SECTION 99. REPHIDIM. out encounterinj^ oppositicn, aod that they then traversed the Wady e.s-Slit ikh to this poiut, which is shut in l)y perpendicular rucks on either side. The Amalekites holding this detile would be in a position of great strength ; and their choice of this point for the attack is well accounted for, supposing the Israelites to have reached it without previous molestation. It commands the entrance to the wadies surround¬ ing the central group of Sinai, on and about which the Bedouins pasture their flocks during the sammer. All the requirements of the nar¬ rative appear to be satisfied by this assumption. On the north is a large plain destitute of water for the encampment of the Israelites ; there is a conspicuous hill to the north of the defile commanding the battle-field, presenting a bare cliff, such as we may suppose the rock to have been which Moses struck with his rod. On the south of the pass is another plain sufficient for the encampment of the Amalekites, within easy reach of an abundant supply of water. At the foot of the hill on which Moses most probably sat, if this be Rephidim, the Arabs point out a rock, which they call “ the seat of the prophet Moses.” The arguments appear to preponder¬ ate in favor of this view, which accepts all the facts ascertained by the Expedition of Surve}^ and presents a series of coincidences of great weight in the settlement of the question. Canon Cook. The summary statement of Mr. Holland is as follows : “ The features of the ground at El Watiyeh agree well with the short account which is given us of the battle of Rephidim. There is a large plain destitute of water for the encamp¬ ment of the Israelites ; a conspicuous hill on the north side of the defile commanding the battle ground and presenting a bare cliff, such as we may suppose the rock to have been which Moses struck ; and another large open tract of country on the south of the pass for the en¬ campment of the Amalekites, with abundance of water within easy reach.” We add, that in two other respects this location of Rephidim seems to be in closer accord with the narrative : (1) In its considerably greater distance from the Wilderness of Sin, ample space is allowed for the two intermediate stations mentioned in Nu. 33:11, 12, Dnphkah and Alush. (2) By its nf^arer proximity to Horeb, it better accounts for the smiting of the rock in Horeb while the l)eople were “ pitched in Rephidim.” Obvi¬ ously the nearer position to Horeb, whatever the extent of the region bearing that name, more fully meets this necessity of the narrative. B. 1. ]¥« water to drink. Before, Israel thirsted and was satisfied ; af er that, they hungered and were filled ; now, they thirst again. God led them on purpose to this dry Rephidim : he could as well have conducted them to another Elim, to convenient waterings ; or he, that gives the waters of all their channels, could as well have derived them to meet Israel ; but God doth purposely carry them to thirst. This should have been a contentment able to quench any thirst : ” God hath led us Litlnir ,” if Moses out of ignorance had misguided us, or we by chance fallen upon these dry deserts, though this were no remedy of our grief, yet it might be some ground of our complaint. But now the counsel of so wise and merciful a God hath drawn us into this want ; and shall not he as easily find the way out ? “ It is the Lord, let him do what he will.” There can be no moie forcible motive to patience, than the acknowl¬ edgment of a Divine hand that strikes us. It is fearful to be in the hand of an adversary ; but who would not be confident of a Father ? Bp. 11. 2. They know that fountains and rivers can¬ not be created b^" mortal man ; wherefore then do they quarrel with him, and not call directly upon God, in whose hand are the waters as well as all other elements ? If there had been a spark of faith in them, they would ha\e had re¬ course to prayer. Rightly does Moses expostu¬ late, that in chiding with him they tempt God himself. Calv. -” Why contend ;you withme? Why tempt ye the Lord ?” In the first expostu¬ lation he condemns them of injustice, since not he but the Lord had afflicted them : in the sec¬ ond, of presumption ; that since it was God who tempted them by want, they should tempt Him by murmuring. In tne one he would have them see their wrong ; in the other their danger. As the act came not from him but from God, so he transfers it to God from himself : “ Why tempt the Lord?” The opposition which is made to the inslrumerds of God redounds ever to his person. He holds himself smitten through the sides of his ministers. Bp. H. 3, 4, Their behavior is most flagrant ; and the harshest judgment cannot estimate their offence too severely. They had lately seen their Wyants relieved in a similar emergency ; and at this very time they were receiving, day by day, from heaven their daily bread. Yet so strangely unreasonable was their spirit, that they re¬ proached Moses for having brought ihem out of Egypt, to kill them and their children and their cattle with thirst ; and their violence of manner was such as led Moses to cry unto the Lord, saying, “ What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.” Thus al- SMITING OF THE ROCK. 91 ready—in one little month—were the ransomed people prepared to deal with their deliverer, all whose toil and thought was spent for th^ir ad¬ vantage. It seems to have been in order that Moses might not be plunged in deeper discour¬ agement, that the Lord forbore to declare his own displeasure. He simply indicated the mode in which he meant to provide for their wants. Kit. 4. And moses cried unto the Lord. Moses has recourse to Him, who was able at once to quench their thirst and to curb their fury. It is the best way to trust God with his own causes. If we be sure we have begun our enterprises from Him, we may securely cast all events on His providence, which knows how to dispose, and how to end them. Bp. II. - Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. It secures for the believer the resources of Di¬ vinity. What battles has it not fought ! what victories has it not won ! what burdens has it not carried ! what wounds has it not healed ! what griefs has it not assuaged ! It is the wealth of poverty; the refuge of affliction ; the strength of weakness ; the light of darkness. It has ar rested the wing of time, turned aside the very scjdhe of death, and discharged heaven’s frown¬ ing and darkest cloud in a shower of blessings, (jrathrie. The familiarity of Moses’s pleadings with God, almost in the tone of one who had received injury at his hand, is worthy of observation. This repeated indulgence on the part of God, * and the as oft-repeated ingratitude on the part of the Israelites, give asignificancy to that verse in one of our historical Psalms (106) : “ He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” T. C. Western Asia and its history are full of the name of Moses. Jews, Christians, and Mahome¬ tans style him the First Prophet, the Great Lawgiver, the Great Theologian ; everywhere, in the scene of the events themselves, the places retain a memory of him. What did Moses do to obtain a renown so great and so enduring ? He gained no battles ; he conquered no terri¬ tory ; he founded no cities ; he governed no state ; he was not even a man in whom elo¬ quence replaced other sources of influence and power. There is not in this whole history a single grand human action, a single grand event proceeding from human agency ; all is the work of God ; and Moses is nothing on any occasion but the interpreter and instrument of God. To this mission he has consecrated sonl and life ; it is only by virtue of this title that be is pow¬ erful, and that he shares, as far as his capacity I as a man permits, a work infinitely grander and more enduring than that accomplished by all the heroes and adl the masters that the world ever acknowledged. I know no more striking spectacle than that of the unshakable faiili and inexhau.^tible energy of Moses in the pursuit of a work not his own, in which he executes what he has not conceived, in which he obeys rather than commands. Guizot. Smiting of the Rock in Hoeeb (verses 5-8). 5. Moses was to take some of the elders as witnesses ; the miracle was not to be seen by the people generally. The miracle was to be wrought not by any power of Moses, but by the special presence of God on the spot. Alf. - Moses must lake his rod : God could have dime it by his will, without a word ; or by his m ord, without the rod ; but he will do by means that which he can as easily do without. There was no virtue in the rod, none in the stroke ; but all in the command of God. Means must be used, and yet their efficacy must be expected out of themselves. It doth not suffice God to name the rod, without a description : “ Whereby thou smotest the river wherefore but to strengthen the faith of Moses, that he might well expect this wonder from that which he had tried to be miraculous. Bp. II. God bears and forbears with them, gives them miracle upon miracle, and ever as they mur- mured, another miracle still. Truly judgment is his strange work. He might have retaliated ; retribution was richly deserved ; it was most deeply provoked ; but instead of doing so, he whose ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts, said unto Moses, “ Thy rod, where¬ with thou smotest the river, take in thy hand and go. Behold, I will” do what? Not smite the people with the rod that smote all Egypt, and that in my hand is still capable of terrible effect ; but I will make the rod that was the ex¬ ecutor of judgment upon Egypt to be only the opener of springs and fountains in the rock, for what was death to others shall be life to Israel. “ Thoushalt smite the rock,” the most unlikely thing, ‘ ‘ and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.” How gracious is the Lord ! and, still the same, he delights in mercy. Oh, that we could only realize that God has infinitely more than a father’sieve with omnipotence to wield it, and omniscience to see where, when, and by whom it is most needed ; and ever readj^ ever waiting, ever willing to bless ! J. C. They distrust Him after they had received such proofs of his power and goodness, for the 92 SECTION 99. THE ROCK IN IIOREB. confirmiition of his promise : they do, in effect, sui^pose that Moses was an impostor—Aaron a deceiver—the pillar of cloud and tire a mere sham and illusion, which imposed upon their senses—that long series of miracles which had rescued them, served them, and fed them, a chain of cheats—and the promise of Canaan a banter upon them ; it was all so, if ilia Lord was not' among ihem. Oh, the wonderful patience and forbearance of God toward provoking sin¬ ners ! He maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him. Thus he teaches us, if our enemy hunger to feed him, and if he thirst, as Israel did now, to give It ini drink. Will he fail those that trust him, when he was so liberal even to those that tempted him ? If God had only showed Moses a foun¬ tain of water in the wilderness, as he did Hagar, that had been a great favor ; but that he might show his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. Thai Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10 :4). The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to rivers of living water (John 7 : 38, 39). These flow from Christ, who is the Eock smitten by the Law of Moses, for he was made under the Law. Nothing will supply the needs and satisfy the desires of a soul but water out of the rock, this fountain opened. H.-As Christ associ¬ ated himself with the manna, the apostle associ¬ ates him with the water at Eephidim : “ that Eock was Christ.” He does not say the water was Christ. So Christ himself, though he said, “ I am the Bread of life,” never said, “ I am the Water of life.” Again and again he spoke of giving, but never of being, the water of life. What is the reason of this ? Is it not that the water is the familiar symbol of the Holy Spirit ? (See as an illustration of this Isa. 44 :3). The Eock was Christ, from whom, after he had been smitten on Calvary, there flowed the full and blessed pentecostal stream, that river of salvation which has ever since followed the Church in her journey through the wilder¬ ness. J. M. G. The Personage who has always occupied the throne of heaven, against whom Satan con¬ spired ; the voice that spoke to Moses ; the mys¬ terious visitor whom Abraham entertained, and to whom he prayed ; the angel with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed ; the form of the fourth that stood in the blazing furnace with the three trusty followers of God, and whose face the king declared was bright like that of the Son of God ; the Angel of the Covenant ; the man that spake as never man spake, and died upon a cross, is the same existence, the same Christ of God! He was the manifestation of Deity throughout the Old Testament dispensation, and through¬ out all dispensations ; throughout the Christian era, and throughout all eras ; from everlasting to everlasting. Through all the journeyings of the children of men, as of the children of Israel, this personality is ever present in one form or another—the cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, or the rock from which gushes, at every turn of our journey, the waters of life. Town¬ send. 7, Wonderful things had Israel already ex¬ perienced. The enemies of Jehovah had been overthrown in the Eed Sea ; the bitter waters of Marah been healed ; and the wants of God’s peo^Dle su[)plied in the wilderness. But a greater miracle than any of these—at least one more palpable—was now witnessed, for the pur¬ pose of showing Israel that no situation could be so desperate but Jehovah would prove “ a very present help in trouble.” That this was intended to be for all time its meaning to Israel, appears from the name Massah and Merihah, temptation and chiding, given to the place, and from the after references to the event in De. 6 :16 ; Ps. 78 :15 ; 114 :8. A. E. As the rock at Horeb comes into view not as something by itself, but simply as connected with the water which Divine power constrained it to yield, it might justly be spoken of as fol¬ lowing them, if the waters flowing from it pur¬ sued for a time the same course. That this, to some extent, was actually the case may be in¬ ferred from the great profusion with which they are declared to have been given—“ gushing out,” it is said, “like overflowing streams,” “ and running like a river in the dry places.” P. F.-The spring thus opened seems to have formed a brook, which the Israelites used dur¬ ing their whole sojourn near Sinai. P. S. This occurrence must not be confounded wifh another considerabl}’ similar, of which an ac¬ count is given in Nti. 20. This latter occnnence took place at Kadesh, and not till the beginning of the fortieth jear of the sojourn in the wilder¬ ness, when the period of their abode there was drawing to a close. On account of the rebellious conduct of the people, Moses called the rock smitten, in both cases, by the name of Meribah, or Strife. The last was also unhappily distin¬ guished from the first, in that Moses and Aaron so far transgressed as to forfeit their right to enter the promised land. The points of instruction are chiefly the fol¬ lowing : (1) Christ ministers to his people abundance of spiritual refreshment, while they BATTLE WITH AMALEK. 93 are on their way to the heavenly inheritance. They need this to carry them onward through the trials and difficulties that lie in their way ; and he is ever ready to impart it. “ It any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.’■ What he then did in the sphere of the bodily life, ho cannot but be disposed to do over again in the higher sphere of the spiritual life ; for there the necessity is equally great, and the interests in¬ volved are unspeakably greater. Let the be¬ liever, when parched in sj)irit, and feeling in heaviness through manifold temptations, throw' himself back upon this portion of Israel’s his¬ tory, and he will see written, as with a sun¬ beam, the assurance that the Saviour of Israel, who fainteth not, nor is weary, will satisfy the longing soul, and pour living water upon him that is thirsty. (2) In providing and minister¬ ing this refreshment, he will break through the greatest hindrances and impediments. If his people but thirst, nothing can prevent them from being partakers of the blessing. “He makes for them rivers in the desert the ver}’’ rock turns into a flowing stream ; and the val¬ ley of Baca (weeping) is found to contain its pools of refreshment, at which the travellers to Zion revive their flagging spirits, and go from strength to strength. How' often have the dark¬ est providences—events that seemed beforehand pregnant only with evil—become, through the gracious presence of the Mediator, the source of deepest joy and consolation ! (3) “ The rock by its water accompanied the Israelites—so Christ by his Spirit goes with his disciples even to the end of the world.” The refreshments of his grace are confined to no region, and last through all ages. Wherever the genuine be¬ liever is, there they also are. Within him he has “ a well of water springing up to life ever¬ lasting.” P. F. The smiting of a flinty rock, for the purpose of obtaining water, was a scheme of the Divine mind, whose ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. It w'as certainly the last place to w'hich Moses would have gone for water ; and he might have ex¬ pected the stroke to elicit sparks of fire rather than cool refreshing streams. What ejm had not seen and ear had not heard, either of men or of angels—what had not entered into the heart of any created being to conceive, terres¬ trial or celestial—was, that the smiting of the Shepherd should save the sheep ; that the con¬ demnation of the Just should bring the unjust to God ; that the making of Messiah a curse should secure infinite blessings to mankind ; that the poverty of Jesus should enrich us, and his death raise us to life eternal. Consuming flames of Divine indignation might have been expected to flash upon the guilty world from every wound of the thorns, the nails, and the spear, in the sacred person of Emmanuel ; but, to the astonishment of men and angels, a tide of love and mercy ran freely from every bleed¬ ing vein to wash away the guilt and pollution of human crimes, according to the determinate counsel and immutable promise of our God. Christinas Evans. Battle with Amalek (verses 8-13). 8, It was in Kephidim that the new-formed nation fought their first great battle. As yet they have seemed alone in the desert ; but now an enemy comes against them, their kinsman Amalek, a nomad tribe descended from Eliphaz, the son of Esau. The range of the Amalekites seems to have been at this time over the south of Palestine and all Arabia Petrsea. P. S. From Ex. 3 we learn that Horeb was in the territory of the Midianites. These two tribes, Amalekites and Midianites, appear to have been both well organized, and to have lived side by side in the peninsula. Now there were two large mountain ranges in the peninsula, the Serbal on the west, and the Sinai on the east. In both of these water was to be found ; and either of them answered admirably as the head¬ quarters of a pastoral tribe. DietericL A victory over so formidable a foe must have been of great importance, in kindling a spirit of manhood and nationality among the Hebrews, for Amalek was one of the greatest peoples of these remote ages. Even in Abraham’s time they' are mentioned as inhabiting the regions southwest of the Dead Sea ; and Balaam, a few y'ears after this battle, speaks of them as “ the first of the nations”—that is, as having been a mighty^ race from what was then a distant an¬ tiquity. Geikie. 9 , 10 , We learn (Nu. 13 ; 17) that Joshua’s original name was Hosea. The change in his name was no doubt connected with this victory over the Amalekites, Moses called Hosea Joshua {Jehovah is a help), because he had proved him¬ self a help to Israel. The alteration in his name had also a prophetic signification. It was his ordination to a new course, which was to be¬ come more glorious in its future stages. Hur is mentioned as an assistant of Moses, and a man of great distinction. Josephus follows the Jewish tradition which describes him as the husband of Miriam, Moses’s sister. K.- Hur was the fourth in descent from Judah, and the grandfather of Bezaleel (31 :2 ; 1 Ch. 2 :9- 94 SEGTIOJSr 99. BATTLE WITH AM ALEE. 20). As he was the grandfather of a full grown man, and a member of the distinguished tribe of Judah, he was the meet companion of Aaron in attendance upon Moses. M. Moses does nothing of himself, but occupies the station appointed him by God on the top of the hill, but he sends down the others to fight hand-to-hand before him, since it had pleased God thus to order the battle. That single rod was of more avail than as if they had gone into the field preceded by a thousand banners. It is sometimes called the rod of God, sometimes of Moses, sometimes of Aaron, according to cir¬ cumstances ; because God used it as an instru¬ ment to exercise his power through his minis¬ ters. So God does not detract from his own honor, when he works effectually by his minis¬ ters. 6G/a -At other times, upon occasion of the plagues, the quails, and the rock, he was commanded to take the rod in Ins hand ; now he doth it unbidden ; he doth it not now for miraculous operation, but for encouragement ; for when the Israelites should cast up their eyes to the hill and see Moses and his rod (the man and the means that had wrought so powerfully for them), they could not but take heart lo themselves, and think, “ There is the man that delivered us from the Egyptian, why not now from the Amalekite ? There is the rod wdiicli turned waters to blood and brought varieties of plagues upon Egypt, why not now on Amalek?” Nothing can more hearten our faith than the view of the monuments of God’s favor ; if evtr we have found any word or act of God cordial to us, it is good to fetch it forlh oft to the eye. The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes every gilt of God perpetually beneficial. 10, Amalek rose, and Israel fell, with his hand falling ; Amalek fell, and Israel rises, with his hand raised. Oh, the wondrous powder of the [»rayers of faith ! All heavenly favors are derived to us from this channel of grace ; to this are we beholden for our peace, preserva¬ tions, and all the rich mercies of God which we enjoy. We could not want, if we could ask. Bp. II. -It seems the scale vvavered for some time before it turned on Israel’s side ; even the best cause must expect disappointments as an allay to its success ; though the battle be the Lord’s, Amalek may prevail fir a time ; the reason was, Moses let down his hands. The Church’s cause is, commonly, more or leas suc¬ cessful, according as the Church’s friends are more or less strong in faith and fervent in praver. H-It is indis]-)U^ably true, that while the hands are stretched out- that is, while the soul exerts itself in prayer and supplication to God, we are sure to conquer our spiritual ad¬ versaries ; but if our hands become heavy, if we restrain prayer before God, Amalek will pre¬ vail : every spiritual foe, every internal corrup¬ tion, will gain ground. Aposfasy begins in the clo.'iet : no man ever backslid from the life and power Ojf Christianity, who continued constant and fervent, especially in private pra 3 mr. He who prays vnlhout ceasing is likely to rejoice evermore. A. C. Then onl}^ can wo jaraj' with hope, wdien we have done our best. And though the means cannot effect that which we desire, j'et God will have us use the likeliest means on our part to effect it. Where it comes immediately from the charge of God, any means are effectual : one stick of wood shall fetch water out of the rock, another shall fetch bitterness out of the water ; but in those projects which we make for our own purposes we must choose those hellos which promise most efficac.y. In vain shall Moses bo upon the hill, if Joshua be not in the valley. Prayer without means is a mockerj' of God. Here are two shadows of one substance ; the same Christ, in Joshua fights against cur spirit¬ ual Amalek, and in Moses spreads out his arms r.pon the hill ; and in both conquers. Bp. H. -Christ is both our Joshua, the Captain of our salvation, who fights our battles, and our Moses, who, in the upper world, ever lives, making intercession that our f,iith fail not. H. In the Targums we read that “ when Moses held up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed ; and when he let down his hands frorn prayer, the house of Amalek prevailed.” Here is that hallowed combination of agencies which ought never to be separated—the depen¬ dence upon heaven, with the use of appointed means. The rod in the hand of Moses, and the sword in that of Joshua ; the embattled host in the valley below, and the praying band in the mount above - all were necessary in the Divine economy to the victory of Israel over his foes. So must it be in our own conflict with the Amalek which lies ambushed within, to hinder our progress to the mount of God. We ma}^ ex¬ pect no manifestation of the Lord’s power, no interference of his goodness, but as the result of a blessing upon our own zealous conflict with temptation. “ He who entreats deliverance from the onset and power of evil, yet never makes an effort in his own behalf, nor strives agam^^t the sin that wars within him. draws nigh to God with his lips, but is wholly estranged from the fervor of that supplication that issues from the depths of the heart.” It was most effectually taught by this example that the up- AGAINST AMALER. 95 JUDGMENT lifted hand of Moses contributed more to their safety than their own hands—his rod more than their weapons of war ; and accordingly, their success fluctuates as he raises up or lets down his hands. In like manner will the Christian warfare be attended with little success, unless it be waged in the practice of unceasing earnest prayer. It will never be known on this side the Lord’s second coming how much his cause and the work of individual salvation have been advanced by the effectual fervent prayer of righteous men. Let us take to ourselves all the encouragement derivable from the assured knowledge, that he who marshals the sacra¬ mental hosts, who leads them to battle and fights in their behalf, sustains another office equally important. He has ascended to the summit of the everlasting hills, and is there employed in prevalent intercession for their success ; and wo may well be consoled with the assurance that a greater than Moses is mediat¬ ing for us in the mount above ; and his hand is never weary, his love never faint, his voice never silent. Kit. 13. The battle was evidently protracted and obstinate. Beginning in the morning, it lasted to “ the going down of the sun.” Amalek, “ that first of the nations,” was no enemv to be vanquished in a skirmish. But in the end vic¬ tory was gained ; “ Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” E. V. God's Judgment against Amalek (verses 14-16). The memory of so signal an event was not to be allowed to die out. An altar was built by Moses, probably on the spot on the summit of the hill where he had stood, inscribed with the words, ” Jehovah-nissi,’’ “ the Lord is my ban¬ ner.” He was also expressly commanded by (rod to write an account of this battle in the book he was instructed to draw up, as a record of God’s dealings with his people, and “ re¬ hearse it in the ears of Joshua,” together with the command, to be transmitted through him to after ages, for tlie complete extermination of ihe Amalekites. Thus early was the intimation i'iven that Joshua was to be the successor of Moses, and carry on the work that ho had be¬ gan. E. V. 14. I will utterly put out the re- liiemhranee. Hebrew, wiping I will wipe out. The denunciation is awfully emphatic. It ('declares that in process of time Amalek should bj t.it lily ruined and rooted out, thac he should bu remembered cnly in history. This was but meting out to them the measure of destruction which they themselves had meditated against Israel, Their language was that reported by the Psalmist (Ps. 83:4), “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation ; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” God therefore determines not only to disappoint them in that, but to cut off their name. It was to be known for the encouragement of Israel, whenever the Amalekites should be an annoy¬ ance to them, that sentence had irrevocably gone forth against them ; they were a doomed people ; and the chosen race should not fail at last to triumph over them. This sentence was executed in part by Saul (1 Sam. 15) ; and com¬ pletely bj^ David (1 Sam. 30 ; 2 Sam. 1 :1-8, 12), after which we never read so much as the name of Amalek. Bush. These Amalekites were of the descendants of Esau, who allied himself with the Ishmaelites, and took possession of the great mountain range running from the south of Palestine toward the eastern horn of the Bed Sea, in which region are still found the wonderful ruins of Petra ex¬ cavated in the rocky cliffs, and also the ruins of other large cities. They were, no doubt, in¬ spired in this attack by the hereditar^^ hatred of Esau, their ancestor, toward Jacob. And this hatred is now aroused afresh as they perceive from current reports that the covenant prom¬ ises to the children of Jacob are about to be ful¬ filled, This hereditary hate was fired by a de¬ sire to seize upon the rich spoils which Israel was bearing away from Egypt, It is important, also, as showing the ground of the dreadful curse denounced upon Amalek upon this occa¬ sion—of war to all generations against the Amalekites till their utter extinction—to note their special guilt in this attack upon Israel. In the first place, they had no plea of self-defence against Israel as invaders of their countr)% for Israel was passing far to the south of them, and the expression “ then came Amalek” shows that the war was not only entirely offensive, but also that they were obliged to march some distance to reach the camp of Israel. In the second place, as we learn from De. 25 : 18, it was a wanton and cruel and unmanly attack ; made by falling in a most cowardly manner upon their rear and smiting the weary and broken-down, who could neither resist nor escape. Forty j^ears afterward, Moses, rehearsing to the people the story of all the way in which Jehovah had led them, reminds them, “ Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt ; how he met thee by Iho way and smote t'-e hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou 96 SECTION 99. “ JEIIO VAII-NIS SI. ’ ’ wast faint and weary ; lie feared not God.” And this last declaration suggests that this attack was in high-handed recklessness and contempt for Jehovah. “ He feared Kot God." These im¬ pious jieople, in face of all that had just occurred at the Eed Sea—in face of the fact of the im¬ mediate presence of Jehovah before their eyes in the pillar of cloud and of fire for the protec¬ tion of Israel, rushed on as it were to make at¬ tack upon Jehpvah himself. Therefore the dreadful curse pronounced now and the exposi¬ tion of the curse forty years afterward. “ There¬ fore it will be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giv- eth thee, that thou shalt blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven, thou shalt not for¬ get it ” And accordingly the judgment was ex¬ ecuted in part by Saul, and fully by David, after which the name of Amalek never reappears in the history. S. li. Israel had in no way provoked the onset, and the Amalekites were, as descendants of Esau, closely related to them. But there is yet deeper meaning attaching both to this contest and to its issue. For, first, we mark the record of God’s solemn determination “ utterly to put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven,” and his proclamation of “ war of Je¬ hovah with Amalek from generation to genera¬ tion.” Secondly, we have in connection with this the prophetic utterance of Balaam to this effect : “ Amalek the firstfruits of the heathen” (the beginning of the Gentile power and hostil¬ ity), “ but his latter end even to destruction while, lastly, we notice the brief but deeply sig¬ nificant terms in which Scripture accounts for the cowardly attack of Amalek : “ he feared not God.” The contest of Amalek therefore must have been intended, not so much against Israel simply as a nation, as against Israel in their character as the people of God. It was the first attack of the kingdoms of this world upon the kingdom of God, and as such it is typical of all that have followed. A. E. 15. Called tlie name of it Jeliovali- ni§§S. Hebrew, Yehovah-nis.si, the Lord rny ban¬ ner, This was a grateful acknowledgment to him to whom the glory of the recent victory was due. It was, in fact, virtually adopting the lan¬ guage of Israel in the Psalms, “ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ; but unto thy name, give the glory.” “ Wc will rejoice in thy salvation, and ill the name of our God wdl we set vp onr Jn.'.mrs," Bash. -That which is most carefiillv recorded is the inscription upon the altar, Jehocah-niaai—The Lord is my banner : which probably refers to the lifting up of the rod of God as a banner in this action. The presence and power of Jehovah were the banner under which they enlisted, by which they were animated and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners (Ps. 10 : 5). H. As God is careful to maintain the glory of his miraculous victory, so is Moses desirous to sec¬ ond him ; God by a book, and Moses by an altar and a name. God commands to enrol it in parchment ; Moses registers it in the stones of his altar ; which he raises not only foi* future memory, but for present use. That hand, which was weary of lifting up, straight offers a sacri¬ fice of praise to God : how well it becomes the just to be thankful ! 0 God, we cannot but confess our deliverances : where are our altars ? Where are our sacrifices? Where is our Je- hovah-nissi? I do not more wonder at thy power in preserving us, than at thy mercy, which is not weary of casting away favors upon the ungrateful. Bp. II. The more I see of the desert, the more the miracle of the exodus grows upon me, and the more profound the reverence I feel for that stern old Hebrew Cromwell who was the leader of the Israelites in that great crisis of their his¬ tory. In all our marches the past week, that presence has never been absent. The figure of Moses is the one great figure which gives su¬ preme interest to this land of desolation. When we pass through deep mountain gorges, the cliffs on either hand take on a new interest as I think that they have looked upon Moses as he passed by, perhaps with a countenance grave and downcast, bearing the burden of a nation on his mighty heart. Often doubtless did he lie down in these dark mountain recesses, with only a stone for a pillow, and look up to tho stars shining in this clear Arabian sky, and wonder if the God whom he worshipped would carry him through. In the battle which was fought more than three thousand years ago,, it was not onlj’’ the Israelites fighting with tho Amalekites : it was the battle of civilization with barbarism. The exodus was the begin¬ ning of a series of events, unfolding through centuries, which marked a steady movement < f the nations. When Moses fought with Amalek, he carried in his right hand the destiny of mill¬ ions yet unborn. If he had perished on that fatal day, there would have been no Common¬ wealth of England, and no Commonwealths in SECTION 100, 97 New England ; the dial of human progress would have been set back a thousand years. Field. Note.— Exodus 18 will be found in its chro¬ nological jjlace at Section 155, with statement of reasons for the transfer. B. Section 100. SINAI, THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LAW. Exodus 19 : 1, 2. Nu. 33 : 15. Ex. Id 1 In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of 2 Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they were departed from Ilephidirn, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped before the mount. Nu. 33 15 And they journeyed from Eephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. The distance to Mount Sinai, from the point on the Gulf of Suez at which the Hebrews had crossed the Bed Sea, is only about one hundred and fifty miles, including the windings of the route ; but it was not till the third month after the exodus that the host at last pitched its tents under the shadow of the mountain. They had rested at various points for refreshment or sup¬ plies ; now they were to camp on the same spot for nearly eleven months, while they were being finally organized as a nation. Geikie. It is but about seven weeks since Israel came out of Egypt ; in which space God had cher¬ ished their faith by five several wonders : yet now he thinks it lime to give them statutes from heaven, as well as bread. The manna and water from the rock (which was Christ in the Gospel) were given before the Law ; the sacra¬ ments of grace before the legal covenant. Bp. II 1. Isi tlie third montln. Hebrew, in ike third new {moon) ; as the term properly signifies, by which is to be understood, according to Jewish usage, the first day ol the month, although for the sake of greater explicitness the phrase, “the same day,” is added, meaning the first day of the month. This was just forty-five days after their departure from Egypt ; for adding sixteen days of the first month to twenty-nine of the second, the result is forty-five. To these we must add the day on which Moses went up to God (verse 3), the next day after when he re¬ turned their answer to God (verses 7, 8),’ and the three days more mentioned (verses 10, 11), which form altogether just fifty days from the passover to the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Hence the feast which was kept in after- 7 times to celebrate this event was called Pente¬ cost, or the fiftieth day. And it was at this very feast that the Holy Ghost was given to the apostles, to enable them to communicate to all mankind the new covenant of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Bush. 2. “And pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. After their long halt, exulting in their first victory, they advanced deeper into the mountain ranges, they knew not whither. They knew only that it was for some great end, for some solemn disclosure, such as they had never before witnessed. Onward they went, through winding valley, and under high cliff, and over rugged pass, and through gigantic forms, on which the marks of creation even now seem fresh and powerful ; and at last, through all the different valleys, the whole body of the people were assembled. On their right hand and on their left rose long successions of lofty rocks, forming a vast avenue, like the approaches which they had seen leading to the Egyptian temples between colossal figures of men and of gods. At the end of this broad avenue, rising immediately out of the level plain on which they were encamped, towered the massive cliffs of Sinai, like the huge altar of some natural temple ; encircled by peaks of every shape and height, the natural j)yramids of the desert. In this sanctuary, secluded from all earthly things, they waited for the revelation of God. A. P. S. The use of the names Sinai and lloreb has always been very variable. Hengstenherg and Robinson decide that, in the Pentateuch and the Bible generally, Horeb is used as the original name of the entire group, while Sinai is restricted to one particular mountain (that of the Law) ; and 08 SECTION WO. SINAI THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LAW, miiiiiiimm JI§e^DEIfO g;f#5^'/,cMU33HEiiH‘i.;: =#• #*. eaks and ridges, of inde¬ scribable grandeur, and terminated at the dis¬ tance of more than a mile by the bold and awful front of Horeb, rising perpendicularly in frown¬ ing majesty from twelve to fifteen hundred feet high. It was a scene of solemn grandeur, and the associations which at the moment rushed uxDon our minds were almost overwhelming. Pohinfion. As we picked our waj* down the rocky pass, there ojjened before us, not a narrow mountain gorge, nor even a somewhat spacious wady, but a plain over two miles long and half a mile wide, which was enclosed by hills, and thus formed a natural amphitheatre. It was not level, but slightly descending, like the floor of some grand auditorium, so that all who stood upon it might be in full sight and hearing of a vision and a voice that were in the very focus of this vast circumference. Every eye could be fixed upon that awful mount. Such an arena, a hundred times more salacious than the Coliseum at Borne, seems as if prepared for a great assembly and a great occasion. 'Never was there a s^rct more fitted for a scene so august. No sooner does 1 one enter it than he feels that it must have been intended for the cam^) of Israel, and for the hearing of the Law. The impression grows as we advance toward the foot of the mount, for at each step we jiass over the very ground where Israel stood. . . . From the top of Sufsafeh VIEW FROM JEBEL MUSA. 1C3 observed what we had noticed in the plain, that the groiind is lowest nearest the mountain, and that it rises as it recedes, like the seats of an amphitheatre, so that all converge to one point, which is the centre of the scene. At the farther end of the plain the surface is more broken, rising and falling in gentle undulations, so that if any fled terror-stricken from the base of the mount, they could still behold it afar off, from the distant slopes, while they heard the mighty voice that swept across the plain, and reverberated like thunder in the farthest re¬ cesses of the mountains. F,eld. In the afternoon I went by myself down Wady ed-Deir and up the plain of Er Eahah to the water-shed. The air was so clear that objects a mile distant seemed quite close at hand. This noble plain, over two miles long and half a mile wide, is almost perfectly smooth in its whole extent, with scattered tufts of desert herbage onl}^ ; and it would be as difficult to find here a place that was unfit for a camp as in Sebaiyeh to find a spot that was fit. There could hardly be a more magnificent area for the 'purpose re¬ corded in the Scriptures, all in full sight of and close contact with the sharply-defined and iso- lated peak at its foot, while surrounded by all facilities for pastumge and water-supply. It was an easy thing to surrender the mind and heart to all the historic associations of the an¬ cient scene. S. C. B. View from the Southeastern Summit—Jtbel Musa. The summit of the mount was reached, a holy place to the mightier half of the nations of the earth, to Jews, Moslems, and Christians. The view from its height of 7000 feet extends over a circle of more than 360 miles in diameter, and 1600 miles in circumference ; a rugged outline of a desert panorama of terrible beauty under the blue vault of the purest and brightest heaven of Arabia. No other place comes near to it in all this. On the east and west the eye catches glimpses of tne girdle of sea which encircles the highlands of the peninsula : beyond it are seen the ranges of Arabian and Egyptian heights. In the space between no green meadow, no cul¬ tivated field, no wood, no brook, no village, no Alpine hut. Only storm and thunder resound in the wilderness of Sinai, else forever silent. Schubert. -Everywhere the rocks are rent, fis¬ sured, and crumbling ; breaking off along steep walls, and traversed by dry ravines and treeless valleys. The ideas of solitude, of waste, and desolation contend with those-of awe and ad¬ miration. Beyond, the eye wanders over a suc¬ cession of rugged mountains and deep ravines, bounded on either hand by the deep dejiressions in which lie the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah. Distant glimpses of the tableland of the Tih to the north, and of the mountains of Edom which bound the Arabah on the east, are also ob¬ tained. Ilv.U. One who went from the summit of Jebel Musa, along the heights to Sufsafeh, says : “ No one w’ho has not seen them can conceive the rug¬ gedness of these vast piles of granite rocks, rent into chasms, rounded into small summits, or splintered into countless peaks, all in the wild¬ est confusion, as they appear to the eye of an observer from any of the heights. But when we did arrive at the summit of Suksafeh, and cast our eyes over the wide plain, -we were more than repaid for all our toil. One glance was enough. We were satisfied that here, and here only, could the wondrous displays of Sinai have been visible to the assembled host of Israel ; that here the Lord spoke with Moses ; that here was the mount that trembled and smoked in presence of its manifested Creator ! We gazed for some time in silence ; and when we spoke, it was with a reverence that even the most thoughtless of our company could not shake off. I read on the very spot, with what feelings I need not say, the passage in Exodus which re¬ lates the wonders of which this mountain was the theatre. We felt its truth, and could almost see the lightnings and hear the thunders, and the ‘ trumpet waxing loud.’ I had stood upon the Alps in the middle of July, and looked abroad upon their snowy emj)ire ; I had stood upon the Apennines, and gazed upon the plains of beautiful Italy ; I had stood upon the Alba¬ nian Mount, and beheld the scene of the (Eneid from the Circean j^romontory, over the Cam- pagna, to the eternal city and the mountains of Tivoli ; I had sat down upon the pyramids of Egyjot, and cast my e 3 ^es over the sacred citj^ of Heliopolis, the land of Goshen, the fields of Jewish bondage, and the ancient Memphis, where Moses and Aaron, on the part of God and his people, contended with Pharaoh and his servants, the death of whose ‘ firstborn of man and beast in one night’ filled the land with wailing ; but I had never set my feet on any spot from whence was visible so much stern, gloom}’- grandeur, heightened by the silence and solitude that reign around, but infinitely more by the awful and sacred associations of the first great revelation in form from God to man.” Durbin. 104 SEGTION 10U THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. Section 101. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. Thkeefold : Moeal> Ceeemonial, ani> Civu.. Of law, there can no less be acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage ; the very least as feeling her care, the greatest as nut exempt from her power. Both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in a diti'erent soft and name, yet all, with one uniform consent,* admire her as the mother of their peace and joy. Hooker. The Law—the intermediate point between the fall and redemption—had its preparation as well as the Gospel. When the properly legal period came, the materials to a considerable ex¬ tent were already in existence, and only needed to be woven and consolidated into a compact system of truth and duty. It is enough to in¬ stance the case of the Sabbath, not formally im¬ posed though divinely instituted from the first —the rite of piacular sacrifice, very similar as to its original institution—the division of animals into clean and unclean—the consecration of the tenth to God—the sacredness of blood—the Levirate usage—the ordinance of circumcision. The whole of these had their foundations laid, partly in the procedure of God, partly in the consciences of men, before the Law entered ; and in regard to some of them the Law’s pre¬ scriptions might be said to be anticipated, while still the patriarchal age was in progress. P. F. The Mosaic economy was a school of prepara¬ tory training, in which certain habits of thought and feeling were to be wrought into the national character by a forcible pressure from without. Under such a system the forms of religion are of paramount importance, for it is by these that the inner spirit is to be called into existence. The object aimed at is to hold human nature in a fixed mould until it has received the desired impression and imbibed the spirit which lies latent in the form ; the mould, therefore, must be of inflexible material, incapable of exjoansion and contraction, and of elaborate finish, and must i^ress from without upon all parts of the religious life. The lawgiver will multiply rules, enjoin specific acts of religion, appoint “ days and months and times and years instead of general principles, issue literal prescriptions ; in short, construct such a religious polity as, by the Divine wisdom, was imposed on the Israel- itish people. Litton. -The Mosaic system as a whole in all its great departments was pre¬ parative. It was not intended to endure. It bore within itself the evidence of its own tran¬ sitoriness. Israel w'as allowed scarcely any in¬ itiative. He was confined to routine. The ut¬ most precision in following that routine was his merit. That routine was his sacred trust. Yet it W’as more than dead routine. It was a Divine education. It provided the germs of all those moral or mental states and operations which are involved in man’s first becoming reconciled to God, and then living as a loyal citizen of God’s kingdom. It provided, also, for the grad¬ ual, and at length the complete development of those germs. Grey. The time was now come for the revelation of a Divine law, extending to every department of their religious and civil life, perfect in its adap¬ tation to its end. That end was to educate a nation so degraded by oppression, so little ca¬ pable of moral principle, that some rules were enacted (as we know on the highest authority), because of “ the hardness of their hearts,” And yet throughout these rules, merely ceremonial and coercive as they may seem at first sight, there was a profounder purpose which they no less perfectly fulfilled, and that was to develop in this nation a sense of sin, and a conviction that God is the only redeemer from sin, which prepared the seed of Abraham for the fulfilment of the promise, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. J. P. N.- This chosen family has now become a nation, ready to be planted on the hills of Palestine along the Mediterranean as the spiritual light¬ house of the nations. And Moses is selected as the agent of God to convey to them from God himself a system of religious and civil govern¬ ment adapted to the designs wLich Providence intended to accomplish by this chosen people —namely, to hold up the standard which he designed to erect of the one true God in oppo¬ sition to the world’s idolatry ; to exhibit them as an example of God’s divine providence over men, by rewarding their piety and punishing their sins ; and to prepare the way, by them, for the promised Saviour Christ Jesus. Here was indeed a lofty purpose to be accom¬ plished by a system of law—something more THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 105 than the ordinary purpose of “ protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” If a scheme of law was contrived to answer such an end effectually, it is thereby demonstrated to be of God. S. R. Israel was not to be merely a nation, like the other nations, resting on no other basis than that of natural life. According to its vocation and its destiny it was to be the naiion of God, the holy nation, the chosen race, the possessor and messenger of salvation for all the nations of the earth. Moses, the deliverer cf the people by the power of God, led them to the majestic altar of the Lord, that altar which he, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, had erected for him¬ self among the rocks of Sinai, with their heads lifted toward heaven ; and there they were set apart as a holy nation. But as God never de¬ mands without giving, so he never gives with¬ out demanding. And therefore, when Israel entered upon the privileges of the covenant- nation, and obtained possession of the gifts and goods, the promises and hopes of the covenant, it necessarily undertook the duties of a covenant- nation, and submitted to the commandments, the restrictions, and the sacrifices which such a relation involved. The conclusion of the covenant was therefore accompanied by the giv¬ ing of a law, which defined the privileges and prescribed the duties of the covenant nation. This Law also conferred upon Israel a constitu- t'on, suited to its vocation and its future des¬ tiny, by which its internal organization was completed, its external distinctions defined, and its safety insured. The events attendant upon the legislation and the conclusion of the cove¬ nant ushered in the second step in the enward progress of the nation—namely, the determina¬ tion of the peculiar constitution, which was henceforth to regulate the course and develop¬ ment of the history of Israel—in other words, the establishment of the Theocracy. The mediator of the covenant and the agent in the foundation of the Theocracy was Moses, the man of God. K. A large portion of the second and fourth books of the Pentateuch (Exodus and Numbers), and nearly the whole of its third and fifth books [Lecilicus and Deuteronomy), are occupied with the Laws, which Moses was the instrument of 'giving to the Jewish people. He keeps ever be¬ fore our eyes the fact that the Law was the Law OF Jehovah This is the only authentic case, in the history of the world, of a newly-formed nation receiving at once and from one legislator a complete code of laws for the direction of their whole future course of life. P. S. The most ancient legislators, to enforce their codes by irrefragable authority, have pretended to deliver them as of Divine origin ; but these, like all other human institutions, have decayed and perished. The tabulous deities of Poly¬ theism never manifested themselves by a prodi¬ gality of miracles ; but the sublime Hebrew ap¬ peals to “ the many great and terrible things their eyes had seen from the God of Israel.” The laws of other legislators have passed away, for their views were tiansient as the glory of the people to whom they were administered—there was no holy principle in them of enduring po¬ tency to carry them beyond the state they gov¬ erned. But the laws of Moses—unaltered as they were first delivered to his race, breathing the inspiration in which they originated, and binding together the spirit of religion with the spirit of polity—after countless ages are now operating on their unchangeable people, still ancient and still our contemporaries ! The sub¬ lime legislator led his people like children ; and the immortal historian of the Hebrews was struck by this great singularity. Thus speaks Josephus : ‘‘ We live under our laws as under the care of the father of a family ; and that we may not fail in them on the plea of ignorance, our legislator, not satisfied that we should hear them once or twice, has obliged us to abstain from all labors one day in the week, that we may apply ourselves to hear and to learn them ; a circumstance which all other legislators seem to have neglected.” Disraeli. Historically, ethnologically, politically, th® Greek and Roman founders are nearer to us, much nearer to us, than the Oriental Lawgiver ; but spiritually, humanly, in all that concerns our truest, our most central manhood, how much more akin to us is Moses than Lycurgus or Numa ? How much better we understand— not his writings merely, but his humanity as one with our humanity. How much more does he enter, not only into the religion, but into the literature, the legislation, in a word, the whole thinking of our modern society, than anj" influ¬ ence that has descended from Greek or Roman books. T. L.-The uniqueness of the leader¬ ship of Moses consists less in the number and character of the functions he assumed, than in the manner of discharging them. In him the grandeur of the prophetical office received its highest expression ; beside him, the greatest prophets of other religions seem pygmies. Ma¬ homet, in so far as his message was new, was intelligible only to certain martial and passion¬ ate, half-civilized peoples of Asia and Africa. To Moses progressive mankind has listened, and must forever continue reverently to listen ; 106 SECTION 101. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. for the Irutlis Lo faugbt are the only basis of durabie uud lieaiibiiil progress. Mjrae. Moses tells us that these laws are not liis ; be ered his people ; m the name of that great God and by commission from Him, they were given to the Jews. The obligation to observe them liovvs from Ilis sovereign will, which is always wise and just, and the only solid foundation of virtue ; and the sanctions of these laws are that prosperity which He promises to them as the leward of their obedience, and those dreadful scourges which He denounces against them in case of disobedience. These sanctions no other legislator ever presumed to give to his laws, but here they were verified by a wonderful series of evenls. Every part of the Jewish leg¬ islation displays the high and Divine wisdom of the legislator. Its doctrines are rational and sublime ; its religious and moral precepts, holy and jiure ; its political, military, and civil laws are wise, equitable, and mild ; even its ritual laws are founded in reason ; all of them, in short, are admirably suited to the designs and ^ iew's of the legislator, to the circumstances of time, place, climate, to the inclinations of the Hebrews, and to the manners of the neighbor¬ ing nations. There is nothing in this legisla¬ tion that contradicts the laws of nature or of virtue. Everything here breathes justice, piety, honesty, benevolence. Its object, its antiquity, its origin, its duration, the talents and virtues of the legislator, the respect of so many nations, all these things conspire to j^rove the excellence of it. Jews Leilers. When we speak of the Law, we reach a plane purely Divine. But we feel how fitting beyond nil other men was the man selected and trained by God to communicate that legislation to the Jewish nation, and, in its basis and a multi- tuie of its principles and details, to the world. For it has been well said : “ Throughout Europe, with its American dependencies, the larger part of Asia, and^the north of Africa, the opinions, the usages, the civil as well as the re¬ ligious ordinances, retain deep and indelible traces of their descent from the Hebrew polity and these traces are growing wider and deeper as Christian civilization is moving round the world. It was a law eternal in its principles, though national in its adaptation, and tinged with traces of the desert in which it was first given to man. An. FUND.4.MENTAL PRINCIPLES OP THE MoSAIC LaW. The leading principle is its theocratic charac¬ ter — i.e., its reference of all actions and thoughts of men lirec ly and immediately to the will of God. But this theocratic character of the Law depends necessarily on the belief iu Gon, as not only the Creator and sustaiuer of the world, but as, by special covenant, the head of the Jtwish 7iation. This immediate reference to God as their king is clearly seen as the groundwork of their whole polity. From this theocratic nature of the Law follow important deductions with regard to (a) the view which it takes of political society ; (/>) the extent of the scope of the Law ; (c) the penalties by which it is enforced ; and (d) the character which it seeks to impress on the people. («) The Mosaic Law seeks the basis of its polity, first, in the absolute sovereignty of God, next in the relationship of each individual to God, and through God to his countrymen. It is clear that such a doctrine, while it contra¬ dicts none of the common theories (of the dele¬ gation of individual rights to political authori¬ ties, mutual needs of men, “ social compact,” etc.), yet lies beneath them all. (6) The Law, as proceeding directly from God, and referring directly to him, is necessarily'’ absolute in Us su premary and unlimited in its scopt. It is supreme over the governors, as being only the delegates of the Lord, and therefore it is incompatible with any despotic authority in them. On the other hand, it is supreme over the governed, rec¬ ognizing no inherent rights in the individual, as prevailing against or limiting the Law. It regulated the whole life of an Israelite. His ac¬ tions were rewarded and punished with great minuteness and strictness ; and that according to the standard, not of their consequences, but of their intrinsic morality’. His religious wor¬ ship was defined and enforced in an elaborate and unceasing ceremonial. (c) The pemdbes and rewards by which tht^ Law is enforced aie such as depend on the direct Theocracy. With regard to individual actions, as some penalties I are generally inflicted by the subordinate, and some only by the supreme authority^ so among the Israelites some penalties came from the hand of man, some directly from the provi¬ dence of God. The bearing of this principle on the inquiry as to the revelation of a future life in the Perdateuch, is easily seen. The sphere of moral and religious action and thought to which the Law extends is beymnd the cognizance of human laws and the scope of their ordinary' penalties, and is therefore left by them to the retribution of God’s inscrutable justice, which, being but imperfectly seen here, is cimtemplated especially as exercised in a future state. Hence arises-the expectation of a direct revelation of this future state in the Mosaic Law. Such n. LEGISLATION^ OF MOSES. 107 revelation is certainly not given. The truth seems to be that in a law which appeals directly to God himself for its authority and its sanc¬ tion, there cannot be that broad line of demar¬ cation between this life and the next which is drawn for those whose j)ower is limited by the grave, (d) But perhaps the most important consequence of the theocratic nature of the Law was the peculiar character (f goodness which it sought to impress on the people. The Mosaic Law, beginning with pietj^ as its first object, enforces most emphatically the purity essential to those who, by tlieir union with God, have recovered the hope of intrinsic goodness, while it views righteousness and love rather as deduc¬ tions from these than as independent objects. The appeal is not to any dignity of human na¬ ture, but to the obligations of communion with a Holy God. The subordination, therefore, of this idea also to the religious idea is enforced ; and so long as the due supremacy of the latter was preserved, all other duties would find their places in proper harmony. But the usurpation of that supremacy in practice by the idea of per¬ sonal and national sanctity was that which gave its peculiar color to the Jewish character. It is evident that this characteristic of the Israelites would tend to preserve the seclusion which, under God’s providence, was intended for them, and w^ould in its turn be fostered by it. Die. B. Of the theology of this system, the first principle is “Hear. O Israel! The Lord thy God is one Lord." And of the attributes of this one God, the one most prominently brought forth is his self-existence—the very attribute out of which as their source modern scientific theology seeks to develop logically all the attributes of God. He is the Jehovah —“I am that I am.’’ This self-existent God is supreme. “Know there¬ fore this day the Lord, he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath ; there is none else.” This self-existent and Supreme God possesses, also, every perfection : “ The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.” And this God is governing the universe not merely by general laws, but by a particular providence over the affairs of men. He is a God nigh at hand. For the very foundation of this whole civil Government w'as reliance upon this special providence of Jehovah over it. Contrast these pure and lofty, yea most philosophical con¬ ceptions of God, with the ideas current in that era of the world, as testified by the history of all the monuments of that era of civilization ; and let any one account, if ho can, for these ideas of Moses in such marked antagonism to all the theological theories of the world, and separated by a gulf as wide and bridgeless as that between heaven above and earth beneath from all the theologies of the world, on any other theory than that Moses was guided di¬ rectly by God himself. S. B. The primary truth of the theology of the Jewish system, the truth which underlies the whole system, the truth which it is the leading object of the system to unfold and enforce, is that great doctrine, which forms the basis of all true religion—the self¬ existence, eternity, unity, perfections, and prov¬ idence of Jehovah, the creator of heaven and earth. Setting itself in opposition to the uni¬ versal religious belief and j)ractice of mankind, at the time of its promulgation, it rejected and denounced all false gods ; all image-worship, whether the object of adoration w'as intended as a representation of the true God or of idols ; and all the absurdities, pollutions, impieties, and abominations of idolatry, of every name and sort. Nor was this all. The Law of Moses revealed, in type and shadow, the whole mys¬ tery of redemption, through the sacrificial death and the intercession of Jesus Christ. It pre¬ pared the way for the introduction and universal diffusion of that more spiritual religion, which was promulgated in the Gospel. This is largely proved by the author of the Epistle to the He¬ brews. Still further : Not only did the Mosaic - Law maintain the radical principles of true the¬ ology, not only did it prepare by its typical rejj- resentations for the introduction of the Gospel and the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, but by the spirituality, breadth, and strictness of its moral precepts, it j^robed the human heart to the core, and laid bare the depths of its de¬ pravity. Thus did it expose to man his moral weakness, his inability to obtain eternal happi¬ ness on the ground of his own merit, and his need cf a justifying righteousness out of him¬ self. Thus did it shut him up to the faith of the Gospel, and serve as “ a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ.” A civil constitution, inseparably interwoven with the worship of the one living God, was, as far as we can judge, an indispensable agency in enabling, rather in compelling the Hebrews to answer their high destination. By this means the worship of the true God would be made im¬ perishable so long as the nation continued a nation. By this means it would happen that religion and the political existence of the peo¬ ple must be annihilated together. Whatever reason, therefore, there was for desiring the 108 SECTION 101. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. overthrow of idolatry, there was the same reason for incorporating the idea of the Divine unity into the political structure of the Hebrew com¬ monwealth. Heathen legislators employed religion in es¬ tablishing their political institutions, while Moses made use of a civil constitution as a means of perpetuating religion. With the heathen legislators religion was the means, and government the end, while with him govern¬ ment was the means, and religion the end. Thus Moses made the worship of the one only God the fundamental law of his civil institutions. This law was to remain forever unalterable, through all the changes which lapse of time might introduce into his constitution. There is one God, says the Jewish Lawgiver, and there is none besides him. He is the sole object of religious trust and worship. Himself the su¬ preme being and the necessary source of all other beings, there is no other that can be com¬ pared with him. A spirit, pure, immense, in¬ finite—no material form can be a fit symbol of his nature. He framed the universe by his power ; he governs it by his wisdom ; he regu¬ lates it by his providence. Nothing escapes his omniscient glance ; nothing can resist his al¬ mighty power. The good and evil of life are alike dispensed by his righteous hand. A public worship of this God is instituted. Ministers to preside over it are appointed. Sac¬ rifices and offerings and a splendid ceremonial are established. But all this pomp is nothing in his eyes, unless prompted and animated by the sentiments of the heart. The worship which he demands, before all and above all, is the acknowledgment of our absolute dependence and of his supreme dominion ; gratitude for his benefits ; trust in his mercy ; reverence for his authority ; love toward his excellence ; and submission to his Law. What purity and beauty in the moral doctrines of this code ! Equity, probity, fidelity, indus¬ try, compassion, charity, beneficence — in a word, everything that makes men respectable in their own eyes, everything that can endear them to their fellows, everything that can assure the repose and happiness of society—are placed among the number of human duties. Where else, in all antiquity, are to be found ideas of God and his worship so just and sub¬ lime ; religious institutions so pure and spirit¬ ual ; ethical doctrines so conformable to the sentiments of nature and the light of reason V Recall the picture of the religious and moral condition of the ancient world. What false and grotesque notions of the Divine nature ! What extravagant, impure, and cruel rites ! What objects of adoration ! From the heavenly orbs to the meanest plant, from the man distin¬ guished for his talents or his crimes to the vilest reptile—everything has its worshippers. Here, chastity is sacrificed in the temples. There, human blood flows upon the altars, and the dearest victims expire amid flames, kindled by superstition. Again, nature is outraged by beastly amours, and humanity brutalized by vices that cannot be named without offence. Everywhere the people are plunged into a frightful ignorance, and the philosophers them¬ selves grope in doubt and uncertainty. Where¬ fore this difference ? But one cause, adequate to the result, can be assigned. All the pagan nations had for their guide only the feeble and tremulous light of human reason. Among the Hebrews, a higher, even the pure and eternal reason, had pierced the darkness, scattered its shades, and poured a Divine illumination into the mind of prophet, priest, lawgiver, judge, and king. Thus was the intellect of the nation enlightened and its heart purified. Thus were its manners humanized, its morals elevated, its institutions liberalized. Thus was the nation educated for its great mission of guidance and of blessing to all the nations of the earth, in all the periods of their history. The Hebrew government was a government of tutelage. No form of polity' has ever approached it in grandeur, purity, simplicity, and benefi¬ cence. Had men been more perfect, it would have stood forever. But human inconstancy wearied even of a perfect government ; mortal passions corrupted even a Divine institution ; and the commonwealth of Israel, like the em¬ pire of Rome, at length fell beneath the weight of its own vices, and disappeared from the brotherhood of nations. It lives only in bis¬ tory, a monument at once of the Divine good¬ ness and equity. E. C. W. Old Testament Ethics is practical. It sets be¬ fore man a vivid thought of God and of his will as the reason for duty. Old Testament ethics is not a philosophy ; the Hebrew's had none. It is not speculative ; it has no abstract reason¬ ings about the nature or grounds of duty. It enforces duty-by considerations drawn from the direct, personal relation which men sustain to the holy God. Men are to be merciful because God has been merciful to them. The motives of gratitude are all drawn from this personal re¬ lation. When they are threatened for disobedi¬ ence, the same conception of God as directly rewarding and punishing is vividly presented. LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 109 The commandments and prohibitions of the Old Testament all bear this personal character. Duty is obedience to God, and whatever the motives by which it is enforced, they are drawn from a vivid realization of the character of God as personal, and of every man’s relation as di¬ rect to him. How any one could volatilize the Old Testament conceptions, as Matthew Arnold has done, so as to find in the God of the Jews only a non-personal “ not-ourselves,” in their monotheism only “ seriousness,” and in Old Testament morals and religion only an “ aspect of the not-ourselves,” ” which makes for right¬ eousness,” and then, to crown all, could con¬ ceive the “righteousness” of the Old Testament as only equivalent to “ conduct ” (“ Literature and Dogma,” p. 31), is a psychological problem for which the known laws of normal human thought furnish no solution. The facts are, that the Old Testament conception of God is most intensely personal, amounting even to ascriptions of events to his personal agency which we are wont to attribute to nature, or to the working of providential laws. Old Testament ethics deals with man as he is. It does not speculate ; it does not argue with him. It assumes that the will of the per¬ sonal God is law, and it bases its commands and precepts upon that will as revealed to chosen leaders and teachers. It adapts itself to man in his actual needs and conditions. It gives no vague principles ; it tells him what to do ; it proclaims the consequences if he disobe^^s. It doesn’t look upon sin as an abstraction, but as a reality—concrete and guilty. It is personal and practical throughout. Old Testament ethics is not merely individ¬ ual, but social. It has the building up of so¬ ciety always in view. “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” It teaches not merely what a man shall be and do, considered apart by himself, but what he shall be as a member of a community which is to have a col¬ lective unity as God’s people. The rights of men in their mutual relations and their corre¬ sponding duties have a large place in this mo¬ rality. This is not the case among primitive heathen peoples. There all is atomism. Here life is organic There the principle is : Every man ,for himself. Here the idea prevails that every man is his “ brother’s keeper.” Every man is keeper of his brother’s rights and priv¬ ileges as far as he has any relations to him. Hence the Mosaic Law contains ameliorations for the unfortunate, the poor, and the enslaved unknown to any other primitive people. Every seventh year the land lay fallow “ that the poor of thy people may eat.” The grain in the cor¬ ners of the field and the fallen fruit of the vine¬ yard. were left for the poor. In the year of jubilee all slaves went free ; all cruelty and-in¬ humanity in their treatment during servitude were severely forbidden. In like manner the family was protected and fostered as in no other primitive community. Crimes against purity were rigorously i)uaished, and the ideal Hebrew woman was she “ in whom the heart of her hus¬ band doth safely trust ” (Prov. 31 :11). The evils of polygamy, so universal in early ages, were mitigated, and principles were set in operation which at length secured its termination. Thus the Old Testament morality aimed at founding a social fabric in which the notion of Theocracy —the reign of God—shall be realized. The watchword of this society is “ Holiness ;” and both the idea and the ground of this holiness are derived from the holiness of the personal God : “ Be ye holy, for I am holy.” And just as the life of the individual was not for itself alone, but for the community, so the life of the community was not for itself alone, but for the world. As early as the covenant with Abraham it was clearly stated that the blessing guaranteed to him was for the world (Gen. 18 : 18). The undercurrent of thought running through the Old Testament is that Israel is charged with a world-redeeming mission. The Messianic hope everywhere presupposes this. The whole pro¬ cess of moral training, therefore, has this greater result for its goal. It has in view the universal good. Stevens. If we compare the Mosaical and the Christian dispensations, we may observe that both pro¬ ceeded from the same author, teach the same religion, inculcate the same moral duties, breathe the same spirit of devotion, love, and purity, and are mutually connected with each other. The former was preparatory to the latter, and typical of it. The former, as to its ritual, was the shadow ; the latter is the substance. The former was partial in its discoveries, material in its ordinances, limited in its application, and temporary in its duration ; but completeness, spirituality, universality, and perpetuity are the attributes of the latter. An. Consider the Hebrew Law as designed and ■formed to answer many useful ends, all of them of great service to the state of the Church and world at that time ; observe carefully how it answered the great ends of religion, the true knowdedge of the one true God, in a worship honorable and acceptable to Him ; and how well it improved the mind in virtue and real goodness, the true perfection and happiness of 110 SECTION 101. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. the soul. Consider it further as a wise and most effectual means to prevent the great and most dangerous progress of idolatry, which threatened the extirpation of all true religion, and with it the true principles of virtue, out of the world. Observe, once more, of what great use this Law was, to jirepare the minds of all men, Gentiles as well as Jews, for the more per¬ fect state of a Catholic Church, when in the ful¬ ness of time the promised Messiah should come, and you will find great reason to justify and admire this constitution as an instance of great wisdom and goodness in God, of great favor to the family of Abraham, and of univer¬ sal advantage to all the nations of the earth when the mystery of Christ was revealed, that “the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and par¬ takers of his promise in Christ, by the Gospel ” (Eph. 3 : 6). Lowman. The Sinai covenant [Mosaic system] is to be considered in its twofold character of a law to convict of sin, and a gospel to teach pardon tond justification by faith, and that a faith which purifies the heart. In this view it is, on the one hand, a law of commandments “ exceeding broad, reaching to the thoughts and intents of the heart,” with Divine annotations showing the application of its precepts to every relation of man as a creature of God, and as a social being with relations to his fellow-men. On the other hand, it sets forth in fullest detail the Gospel salvation by symbols and types. The perpetual dailj' offering of the lamb upon the altar is its central symbol ; and around that ancient figure of the old covenants is arranged, in eloquent symbols, the whole subjective pro¬ cess of salvation—faith, purification—consecra¬ tion to Jehovah. It is law, but not antithetical to the Gospel, or as contrasted with the doc¬ trines of Jesus and his apostles. It is law and gospel both. Nay the very Law itself is grounded upon an evangelical motive, “ I am Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt ’ ’ —who have redeemed thee, and entitled myself to grateful service and obedience—therefore worship me only ; nor in deed, nor word, nor desire, do any injury to thy fellows. Hence, that which is most distinctively ethical in the Sinai revelations is yet distinctly evangelical in the ground and motive of obedience. Having in literal terms furnished a law of life to con¬ vict of sin, far more clear and in detail than any previous revelation, the Sinai covenant pro¬ ceeds also, far more clearly and in detail than ever before, not only to hold up as heretofore the Gospel provision for sin in atoning bloorl, but the Gospel instructions for the application of that provision to the conscience of the sinner by faith —the cleansing of the heart to which such faith leads, and the consecration of the life to the Eedeemer. Thus the Gospel according to Moses differs neither in creed nor practical religion from the Gospel according to Jesus and Paul, but only in the language in which, from the necessity of the case, it had to find utter¬ ance. S. E. Form of the Mosaic Legislation. The legislation, properly so called, comprises a series of minute yet laconic regulations di¬ rectly opposite in form to the endless iterations and synonymns of modern statute books. These laws, instead of being wrought into a system, or standing insulated by themselves, are inter¬ rupted yet connected by a running narrative, with dates and geographical specifications, at unequal intervals. . . . The legislation is one in f)urpose and harmonious in detail, but re¬ corded in the order of its promulgation. It dif¬ fers from a formal system, such as some would find in it, just as a modern statute book or digest differs from the journal of a legislative body in which the enactments are recorded at length. It is a code of laws inserted in a frame of history. To this fact due regard must be had in the interpretation of the laws themselves. J. A. A. The laws of the Pentateuch are anything but a carefully arranged code. You have laws in¬ termixed with the history, laws repeated, laws inserted, apparently as they were given by God, or as the need arose. In its lack of arrange¬ ment, it is just the book which Moses might have been supposed to write during the desert wanderings, when he had to bear the burden of the people alone. Watson. Divisions ff the Law. As the people of Israel may' be viewed under a threefold aspect, so we have a foundation laid in this fact for a threefold acceptation of the word Law. They may' be viewed : (1) As rational and responsible creatures, depending upon God and subject to his will as the supreme Euler and Judge of the universe. In this capacity the law of the ten commandments, or the moral law, was given to them, which is substantially one and the same with the law of nature, and bind¬ ing all men as such. (2) As the Church of the Old Testament, expecting the Messiah, and fur¬ nished with a system of worship embracing a great variety of rites and ceremonies which pointed more or less distinctly' to Him. Viewed in this ecclesiastical character, God bestowed MORAL, CEREMONIAL, CIVIL. A 111 upon them the ceremonial law, which was a body of rules and precepts regulating their religious worship. (3) As a peculiar people, having a civil polity and constitution especially appointed for them and distinguishing them from all other nations, their government being in fact a the¬ ocracy. in which God himself was their supreme magistrate. Viewed in this light a code of civil laws was prescribed them. The term “ the Law” is sometimes applied to one of these systems, and sometimes to another, and again to the whole taken collectively ; so that we must often be governed in great measure by the context in determining the precise sense in which the term is used. It is, however, most legitimately and emphatically employed in reference to the first of these, the moral law, which was distinguished from the others by being audibly delivered by God himself and afterward written by him upon two tables of stone. Bush. 1. MoRAii Law. Where in the whole compass of human liter¬ ature can a summary of moral duty be found comparable to that contained in the Decalogue ? Here are the seminal principles of all virtue, piety, filial duty, justice, truth, benevolence, and internal purity. The Law of Moses enjoined supreme love to God, love to our neighbor equal to that which we bear ourselves, reverence for old age, forgiveness of injuries, the rendering of good for evil, mutual kindness, compassion toward the unfortunate, and a generous hospi¬ tality. It earnestl}" enforced the conviction that God requires of his rational creatures not a mere external service, but an internal worship ; desires duly regulated ; and a benevolence ex¬ pansive, ardent, and active. It represented the love of God as a practical principle, stimulating to the cultivation of puritj^ justice, humanity, mercy, and truth. In a word, the Gospel itself has scarcely a single moral precept which had not been already promulgated in the Mosaic in¬ stitution. In its moral teachings, Christianity does little more than give a greater breadth to principles which Judaism had formed into a body of practical ethics more than a thou¬ sand years before Socrates and Plato flourished. E. C. W. 2. Ceeemoniax Laws. The ceremonial law relates to the priests, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, and other religious rites and services. God commanded that those who should be employed about the tabernacle or in Ihe offices of public worship should be of the posterity of Levi ; and hence this law is sometimes called the Levitioal Law ; but the priesthood itself was to be confined to Aaron and his descendants. The principal objects of the ceremonial law were to preserve the Jews from idolatry, to which all the neighboring na¬ tions were addicted, and to keep up in their minds the necessity of an atonement for sin. A. C. The purpose of the ritual law was to teach by signs and actual observances at a time when teaching by language was not understood ; and by means of these, emblems and usages, all of which referred to Jehovah as King, to instil into the minds of the whole people the feeling that every relation of life, every movement of na¬ ture, every detail of human intercourse, placed them in constant dependence on God. Gerl. The highest laws are not to be regarded as useless because they are certain to be generally neglected. The Hebrew Law in regard to sacri¬ fices, attendances at the Temple, and the Holy Convocations was perhaps, even in ordinary times, as much neglected as the rules of the Christian Church are in our day. But the Law was not foiled of its purpose. It was intended to represent human duty in its relation to Divine holiness, to show forth and reprove human weakness, not to stoop to it. Its require- ments were not lowered to the probabilities of man’s conduct. It was not, like the legislation of ordinary States, intended primarily to meet the exigencies of existing facts and to keep offenders in order. Its purpose was to help and instruct the best of the people, not merely to chastise the worst. Other legislators have taken their starting points from human facts. Moses took his from the character and purpose of God. Clark. 3. CivilLaws. Beside their political and judicial aspects, these relate to the ownership of the soil, its sale, redemption, and inheritance ; to domestic cir¬ cumstances ; to servants or slaves, their treat¬ ment and manumission ; to debts, lending of money, and the recovery of it ; to the rights of the poor, the stranger, the infirm, the old, and even of the lower animals. Almost all of them have a moral import, and rest upon a moral foundation. They aimed at the general good, and at the preservation and training of the peo¬ ple of God with reference to that peculiar posi¬ tion which, in virtue of the moral and cere¬ monial law and of the Divine promises, they already occupied among the nations. Even this description of laws, which we find scattered up and down from Exodus to Deuteronomy, evince 112 ^ SECTION 101. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. great lenity and indulgence, require the same charity as the moral law demands, and equally put to the test the obedience of the people to that sovereign Lord and King from whom they had been received. The entire legislation, com¬ prehending the civil precepts and administra¬ tion of justice, has a distinct reference to Je¬ hovah. Reverence, love, and obedience to him were to manifest themselves among the people in all the relations of life. Every law, even such as related to the commonest affairs, was ordained and sanctioned by Jehovah. C. G. B. If we once admit that all the national con¬ cerns of Israel were under an extraordinarv ft. guidance from above, it becomes unnecessary to assume a twofold constitution, since all public affairs were in a certain sense religious, because all designed for a religious purpose, and di¬ vinely ordered so as to secure it. Under such a dispensation, things which with us require a double machinery could be effected by a single undivided organization. The whole nation was a kingdom of priests. Its rulers, therefoie, were religious rulers. In providing for the spiritual wants of the people, provision was effectually made for many of their most important secular interests, or such as must be secular in our case, from the total difference of our situation. Those regulations of the Law which seem to have least of a religious character are not then to be looked upon as fragments of another sys¬ tem, accidentally and partially’ disclosed, but as the more subordinate and less important parts of that which is described at length. J. A. A. The Hebrew system surpassed all others, es¬ pecially in this -that it gave to human government and law the sanction of God's authority, and en¬ forced them upon the human heart and con¬ science by this most impressive and benign of all influences. H. C.-Political laws are not only enacted with reference to earthly affairs, in order that men should maintain mutual equity with each other and should follow and observe what is right, but that thej’’ should exercise themselves in the veneration of God. For Plato also, when he lays down the legitimate consti¬ tution of a republic, calls the fear of God the preface of all laws ; and every other profane author has confessed this to be the priucipal part of a well-constituted state, that all with one consent should reverence and worship God. The wisdom of men was at fault in that they deemed any religion which they might prefer was to be sanctioned by laws and by punish- ment.s : yet the principle was a just one, that tiie whole system of law is perverted if the cul¬ tivation of piety is ignored by it. Calv. This divinely given codt rested upon justice and equity, and determined everything by this standard. So doing, it ruled out at once a mul¬ titude of interests and ends which human lav^s have often sought to secure. Its example there¬ fore, in so far at least, was simply and supremely beneficent. It recognized the common and equal rights of all men. It appreciated at their just value the rights of the poor. H. C.-The laws governing the details of business inter¬ course were all such as to promote industry and peaceful social relations. For they all have their germinal idea in the great conirnaml : “ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” And all their very remarkable social and civil institutions tend to the same end. Jt is a na¬ tional government by families, in which free¬ dom is seemed, property protected, life held sacred, religion, a real religion of the heart, cul¬ tivated, beneficence, toward the poor and helpless and the stranger inculcated in the most forcible manner. And these also with the most awful sanctions Even the favor or displeasure of their sovereign. Jehovah himself. S. R. While the moral law forms the groundwork of the whole political and social constitution of the people, it is perfectly clear that the object of all the other commandments was to bring these ten commandments to bear on every par¬ ticular of daily life. As the Lawgiver himself is a Spirit, and holy, so are all these command¬ ments holy, and to be understood, not accord¬ ing to the letter only, but after a spiritual, moral, and inward sense. At the same time that the prohibition goes on from deed to word, and from word to desire, it is quite clear that the thing prohibited is not to be understood merely as the outward act, but is regarded in its inmost root—in its inward cause and excit¬ ing spirit as an offence against God. Gerl. Thus the religion of the Hebrews not only included all that regarded the worship of God ; it extended to the regulation of the common¬ wealth, the ratification of the laws, the forms and administration of justice, and almost all the relations of civil and domestic life. With them almost every point of conduct was con¬ nected either directly or indirectly with re¬ ligion. Lowih. -In this high position ac¬ corded to the community by the theocratic piin- ciple of the constitution, what a boon was con¬ ferred on Israel ! It gave to every one who im¬ bibed the spirit of the constitution the lofty sense of a near relationship to God, and not only warranted, but in a manner constrained him to view everything connected with his state in the light of the Divine will and glory. What SECTION 102. 113 he possessed, he held as a sacred charge com¬ mitted to him from above ; what he did, he be¬ hooved to do as a steward of the great Lord of heaven and earth. Then, in the oneness of this covenant standing among the families of Israel, what a sacred bond of brotherhood was established ! what a security for the mainte¬ nance of equal rights and impartial administra¬ tions between man and man ! Members alike of one divinely constituted community—sub¬ jects of one Almighty King—partakers together of one inheritance, and that an inheritance held in simple fee of the same Lord ; surely nowhere could the claims of rectitude and love have been more deeply grounded—nowhere could acts of injustice and oppression have worn a character more hateful and unbecoming. P. F,-Their laws were their religion ; and their religion, descending from heaven, sent forth a mightier impulse than that uncertain patriotism, which is its imperfect substitute among other nations, D'Israeli.' Section 102. THE PENTATEUCHAL CODES. There are three codes which can be clearly discriminated from one another. (1) One is called the Book of Ike Covenant, and is contained in Ex. 20-24, of which chapter 34 is a compen¬ dium. It IS expressed in a brief, sententious way, and is in general of a judicial character. (2) Another is contained in De. 12-26, and was called by Eichhorn a 'people's code, because of its popular character. It was directed to a people already dwelling in the land of Canaan, and in it Moses comes forward as a prophet of Jehovah to exhort the people to obey the laws made known to them. (3) The third is the Priest code, consisting of the scattered legislation found in the middle books of the Pentateuch, in which the whole Levitical system is developed. Chambers. The variation in the three codes is so con¬ stant that it is impossible to explain it away. These variations were noted in part by Calvin, who wrote a Harmony of the Legislation, but be was not followed by later writers. These variations were more closely scrutinized by Eichhorn, and he explained them on the ground that the Deuteronomic code was a people's code, the legislation of the middle books a priests' code. Another important difference to which Rielim calls attention is that the Priest code was designed for a people still wandering in the wilderness, the other for a people dwelling in the land of Canaan. Moreover, the Deutero¬ nomic code is connected with a new covenant besides the original covenant at Horeb (De. 29 : 9-14). The Priest code is given as the words of Jehovah revealed to Moses. In the Deuter- 8 onomic code Moses comes forward as a popular orator to urge the people to the observance of the laws wKich he makes known as the prophet of Jehovah. Thus, according to Eichhorn and Eiehm, we have a difference of point of vieio, which deter¬ mines the structure and the character of these codes, and necessarily produced a variation throughout. To this discrimination of the Deuteronomic and Priests’ codes we may add that the codes Ex. 20-24 and 34 differ no less strikingly from them both. They were written by Moses in an earlier and later Book of the Covenant. They contain brief, terse, pregnant sentences of command. They resemble the Decalogue itself. ... We thus have a third and earlier point of view. These three codes, therefore, present us the judicial, the prophetical, and the priestly points of view, which determine the variation in aim, form, structure, and character of the three codes, . . . Let us look at the differences and inquire how they may be harmonized. The following five specimens of variation will be sufficient for our purpose. {a) In the Priesthood. The Book of the Cov¬ enant knows no priests as such, the Deutero¬ nomic code presents the Levites—the whole tribe of Levi—as priests, the Priest code makes the sons of Aaron the priests and Levites subordi¬ nate ministers. (6) In the Altars. The Book of the Covenant commands the erection of altars “ in all places" where Jehovah records his name (Ex. 20 :24). The Deuteronomic code forbids the offering of sacrifices at any place save “ in the place that 114 SECTION 102. THE PENTATEUCHAL CODES. Jehovah chooselh in one of thy tribes ' (De. 12 :13). The Priest code commands the sacrifices to be presented at the door of the tent of meeting, and that the Aaronic j^riests shall receive the blood and apply it to the altar (Lev. 1, sq ). (c) The Sacrifices. Those in the Covenant code are burnt offerings and peace offerings only. The Deuteronomic code adds tithes, votive and free-will offerings. The Priest code adds the sin and trespass offerings, and specifies various details of the other classes. (d) Purifications. According to the Covenant code, the men of Israel are holy, and are not to eat flesh of beasts in the field. The Deutero¬ nomic code forbids them to cut themselves, dis¬ tinguishes the clean from the unclean animals (14:3-21), prescribes washing with water for uncleanness (23:10, sq.). The Priest code gives an extended series of purifications in the varied use of water, and by the use of ashes of the red heifer (Lev. 12 ; Nu. 19), and various ingredients in the healing of the leper (Lev. 13-14). (e) The Feasts. The Covenant code ordains the Sabbath, feasts of unleavened bread, har¬ vest and ingathering-;, and the seventh year i(Ex, 23 :10-17). The Deuteronomic code men¬ tions the passover, feast of unleavened bread, feast of weeks, feast of tabernacles, and year of release (De. 15, 16). The Priest code gives a complete cycle of feasts (Lev. 23 ; Nu. 28), new moons, Sabbaths, the seven great Sabbaths, passover and unleavened bread, day of first- fruits, feast of trumpets, day of atonement, tabernacles, the seventh j’ear's feast, the year of jubilee—a most artistic system, It will be observed that these variations are in the chief features of the ceremonial system. They present the appearance of develoiament from the more simple to the more complex, and in the order. Covenant code, Deuteronomic code, and Priest code. A code for the elders and judges of tribes or clans in their various localities, a code for the instruction of the na tion as a whole in rhetorical and popular form, and a code for the priests from the holy place as a centre, in the nature of the case will show a progress from the simple to the more and more complex and elaborate in matters of rit¬ ualistic observance. The Covenant code is a series of decalogues for the elders in the adminis¬ tration of justice in various localities. It is based on the Sinaitic cov^’enant, and lies at the root of the Pentateuchal legislation. It is expressly claimed as written by Moses in the two books of the Covenant. The Deuteronomic code is a people’s code in a prophetic form to instruct and stimulate the people of Jehovah as an organic whole. It is based on the experience of the wandering in the wilderness, it looks forward to a prolonged occupation of the promised land, and is based on a new covenant in the plains of Moab. We would expect to find progretis and de¬ velopment here, especially on the practical side. This code is also claimed to have been written by Mo>es, and we can see no sufficient reason for doubting it as to its essential features. The Priest code is from the priestly point of view in connection with the tabernacle and its institu¬ tions. It will necessarily exhibit progress and development on the technical side in the details of the ritual. This code is scattered in groups in the middle books, and broken up by inser¬ tions of historical incidents, but when j)ut to¬ gether exhibits an organic whole, a. unity and symmetry which is wonderful in connection with the attention given to details. This code is represented as given by Jehovah to Moses or Aaron, or both, but it is not represented as writ¬ ten down by Moses, as is the case with the two other codes. It claims to be Mosaic legislation, but if we should suppose that Eleazar or some other priest gathered these detailed laws and groups of laws into a code in the time subse- cj^uent to the conquest, all the conditions of vari¬ ation and development might be explained. There are several insuperable obstacles to the composition of the Priest code in the post-exil¬ ian period : (1) The language of the Elohistand Priest code is classic, and cannot, on that ac¬ count, be placed subsequent to Jehoshaphat. The discussions respecting the language of the Elohist have proved beyond question marked differences from the Jehovist and Deuterono- mist, but they have not proved any such deflec¬ tion in syntax of the vav consecutive, and mul¬ tiplication of nouns formed by affixes as char¬ acterize Jeremiah and Ezekiel, not to speak of post-exilian writers. (2) The Priest code is a unit in its wonderful variety of detail. Given the ark of the cove¬ nant as the throne of Jehovah, the King of Israel, the holy God, and all the institutions, and the ritual seem to be the most appropriate elabo¬ ration of that one idea. They are wrapped up in the idea itself as a germ, and we do not see why it should require centuries for the develop¬ ment of the germ into its legitimate flowers and fruit. An idea like that would be more than seed-corn to Israel in the wilderness. We would expect some such practical development as we do find in the Priest code at the time (3) The Priest code is realistic, and its realism is that of the wilderness, of the wanderings, and PENTATEUCIIAL CODES 115 the nomadic life. This is so inextricably in¬ volved with the ideal in all parts of the legisla¬ tion, so simple, artless, and inartistic, that it seems incredible that it should be pure inven¬ tion or the elaboration of an ideal which could not escape anachronisms in some particulars. (4) The Elohist and the Elohistic Priest code differ in their doctrinal and ethical conceptions in many respects from the Jehovist and the Deuteronomist and their codes, but these differ¬ ences are in iijpe and point of view. The doc¬ trines and morals of the Elohist are still at the basis of the doctrinal and the ethical develop¬ ment of Old Testament theology. In the whole Pentateuch we find the Messianic idea knows nothing of the Messianic king or the suffering servant. In eschatology it knows nothing of the Resurrection, or of the joyful communion with God in Sheol such as we find in Job 19 and Ps. 16. In the appropriation of redemj)- tion it is behind the conceptions of Ps. 40, 50 ; Mic. 6 ; and Is. 1, 57. In ethics it is less developed than Ps. 15 ; Is 33, and especially Job 31. The four constituent parts of the Pen¬ tateuch resemble one another in theology far more than any of them resemble the Prophets, the Psalter, or the Ethical writings. They dif¬ fer from one another and yet resemble one an¬ other, as do the gospels, and lie at the roots of Old Testament theology, as do the gospels at the basis of the New Testament. 1. We have not one narrative, but a fourtold narrative of the origin of the Old Covenant relig¬ ion coming down to us from the Mosaic age, as we have a fourfold gospel giving the narrative of the origin of the New Covenant religion. There is, indeed, a remarkable correspondence in these four types or points of view. The second Elohist may be compared with Mark, the Jehovist with Matthew, the first Elohist with Luke, and the Deuteronomist with John. The difference be¬ tween the Pentateuch and the gospels is that the four narratives of the Pentateuch have been compacted by an inspired redactor ; whereas the gospels have to be harmonized by uninspired teachers in the Church. How this unify in va¬ riety strengthens the credibility of the Pentateuch ! As the four gospels contain the Gospel of Christ, so the narratives of the Pentateuch con¬ tain the Law of Moses. As our Saviour is set forth by the evangelist as the mediator of the New Covenant, Moses is set forth by the narra¬ tives of the Pentateuch as the mediator of the Old Covenant. 2. The Pentateuch does not give us one Mosaic code, but three codes of Mosaic legislation—a judicial code, a people’s code, and a priest code— contained in the Jehovistic, Elohistic, and Deu- teronomic narratives, somewhat as the gospels present us the discourses of Jesus in the varied t 3 ^pes peculiar to Matthew, to Luke, and to John. As we harmonize the latter for a com¬ plete and symmetrical statement of the doctrine of Jesus, so we harmonize the three codes of the Pentateuch for a complete and sj'mmetrical exposition of the legislation of Moses, The Law was given through Moses ; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 3. The Mosaic legislation was delivered through Moses, but it was enforced only in part, and in several stages of advancement, in the historical life and experience of Israel from the conquest to the exile. It was a Divine ideal, a supernat¬ ural revealed instruction, to guide the people of Israel throughout their history, and lead them to the prophet greater than Moses, who was to fulfil and complete his legislation. The Law was the true light of Israel until the First Advent, even as the Gospel is the light and guide of the Church until the Second Advent. Israel appropriated more and more the instruc¬ tion of the Law as the Church has appropriated more and more the doctrine of the Gospel. The history of God’s people under both covenants has been essentially the same—a grand march forward under the supernatural light of a Divine revelation. 4. Law and prophecy are not two distinct and separate modes of revelation, but the same. The Law of Moses was as much prophetic as ' legal. Moses was even more a prophet than a lawgiver. The prophets of God that followed him all give Divine law as well as Divine proph¬ ecy. As the apostles in the New Covenant were not merely expositors of the Gospel, but came forth from the risen and glorified Christ with new revelations, enlarging and completing the Gospel, so the projjhets were not mere exposi¬ tors of the Law, but came forth immediately from the presence of Jehovah as reality as Moses did, with new revelations, enlarging and com¬ pleting the old. The distinction between law and prophecy in the Bible is a fluctuating one, so that the whole Divine revelation may be called law, and also prophecjq according to the usage of the Bible itself. 5. There is in the Law, as in the Gospel, a Di¬ vine transforming power which shaped the his¬ tory of Israel, as the Gospel has shaped the his¬ tory of the Church in successive stages of ap¬ propriation. Not without some reason have many recent Christian scholars after Neander divided the history of the Christian Church 116 SECTION 102. THE PENTATEUCHAL CODES. after the names of the chief apostles, as indicat¬ ing the Yarious types of Christianity. With even more reason might we divide the histoiy of Israel into stages of progress in accordance with the three Mosaic codes. The Christian Chnrch may look forward to a time when the unity and variety of the Gospel of Christ shall be fully manifested in her historic life. The people of Israel also reached a stage when in her historic life the three codes were harmonized, and the whole bent of the nation was in the study of the Law and a conscientious fulfilment of it, and then in the fulness of time Christ Jesus the Messiah came. The deeper study of the unity and variety of the Pentateuchal narratives and laws, as we de¬ fend them against Keuss, Kuenen, and Well- hausen, and advance in the apprehension of their sublime harmony, will fructify and enrich the theology of our day, just as the dee])er study of the unity and variety of the gospels by the school of Neander, in the defence of them against Strauss, Eenan, and Eaur, has been an unsi:>eakable blessing in the past generation. This having been accomplished, we may look forward to a time when our eyes shall be opened as never before to the magnificent unity of the whole Bible in the midst of its wondrous variety. Then the Word of God, as one supernatural Di¬ vine revelation, will rise into such a position of spiritual power and transcendent influence, as shall greatly advance the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and hasten the realiza¬ tion of that most blessed hope of both the Old and New Testaments, the coming of the Mes¬ siah in glory. Briggs (Pres. Bev., 1883). The Codes and the Ckitical Hypothesis. The Critical View. These three groups of laws the critics declare cannot belong to any one iieriod of the world’s history, much less to one so early as that of Moses. It is not denied that this is the uniform representation of the Pentateuch itself ; but it is said that it is one which is inherently im¬ probable and does not harmonize with the form and contents of the work. Kuenen does not for a moment hesitate before the alternative, which he himself puts as follows : “ Either the laws really came from Moses and the desert, or they are merely put into his mouth, and the desert and so forth belong to their literary form of presentment.” The three codes, it is asserted, reflect not only three distinct and widely sepa¬ rated periods, but almost every intervening period. They are a growth in thought, it is said, which began first to take on tangible writ¬ ten form about the time of the earlier kings of Israel and reached its present completeness at the time of the exile, or, as Kuenen maintains, considerably later than that. During all this time priests and prophets, especially the former, were making new laws supposed to be suitable to the exigencies of their own periods, and, in order to give them currency, ascribed them to Moses, or fo Moses and Aaron, or to Moses and Eleazar, after the assumed death of Aaron. As a part of the illusion, Moses is made to say that all the commandments, institutions, and judg¬ ments which he had to teach to Israel he re¬ ceived from Jehovah, on Mount Horeb, and on the “ face of the whole legislation, we read that the theatre is the desert ; Israel is encamped there ; the settlement of Canaan is in the future.” Can we fairly conceive of such a process of law-making as possible ? It is kept up for a millennium, the sons doing as the fathers did in this respect for thirty generations. Every new statute coming into being is carefully and most ingeniously given the Mosaic stamp and the coloring of the desert. Or if this was not done at the time the laws were made, it was done subsequently through the skilful retouch¬ ing of later editorial hands. It might be asked, Why should it have been done at all, if not at first? If the help of Moses’s name was needed, it was needed most when the law’s were first promulgated. To attach it to them after they had once come to be known as the w’ork of con¬ temporaneous legislators would have been, one might suppose, an occasion of w’eakening, more than strengthening their authority. But in the one way or the other this most anomalous method of legislating for a great peo¬ ple, it is affirmed, went on for hundreds of years. Nobodj’ pretends to assert that there has ever appeared any evidence that the people of Israel themselves recognized, as such, the illusion with which they beguiled themselves. Every supposed legislator—there must have been scores of them—keeps himself as carefully out of sight as though he had never existed. The result of the whole is the Pentateuch, a literary composition equally a marvel of moral elevation and^intellectual strength —a work that presents a body of laws making just claim to be essentially a unit in conception and teaching, and one that, placed at the beginning of the Bible, has left its indelible mark on every part of it. It is admitted that there are some seri¬ ous difficulties involved in the common view of the origin and literary structure of the Penta- THE THREE CODES. 117 teuch ; there are surely none that call for such a stretch of credulity as tnis. But it is pro¬ nounced highly improbable that such a body of legislation cuuUl have oiiginated in the limited period allowed—that is, during the first year after the exodus and the closing months of the fortieth year in the wilderness. Admitting the claim, however, that these laws were, to a large extent, supernaturally given, there need be no improbability attaching to the matter. Even without this postulate, their origin in this lim¬ ited time, all things considered, is much more credible than the alternative hypothesis. The Moral Q.uestioii Involved. At the outset of our inquiries concerning the Pentateuch laws, we are confronted with the fundamental question whether the representa¬ tion they make that they come “ from Moses and the desert ” is probably genuine or belongs simiily to their “ literary form of presentment,” as it is alleged. It is certain that there is noth¬ ing in the substance of these laws to encourage a theory of deception. The moral plane on which they move is confessedly the highest. Not only is supreme loyalty to Jehovah de¬ manded, but thoroughly upright dealing be¬ tween man and man. Let there be noted, for example, under what strict rules judges and officers are put in the discharge of their func¬ tions (De. 16 :18-20 ; 17 :8-13) ; the require- ment respecting those testifying in criminal suits (17 :6 ; 19 :15) ; the severe punishment visited upon false witnesses (19 :15-21), and the strenuous insistence on the use of correct weights and measures in business transactions (25 :13-16). It is too much to suppose, as the theory of Kuenen does, that persons introduc¬ ing laws of this character would themselves fla¬ grantly sin against them. Changes in the Legislation of Deuteronomy. Compare the amount of new or revised legis¬ lation called for in one of the United States in a single year with that of the whole Israelitish nation in a peculiar period of its histor}’' and during the space of forty years. Compare further with the same the changes that are often thought necessary in laws, made one year, by a legisla¬ ture meeting the next or the second year after, under circumstances to all appearance quite similar, and one will be surprised not only at the condensed form but the wonderful unity and consistency of the laws of the Pentateuch. It is said, however, thaji, as God-given, the same subject being under consideration, there should have been no change ; no Deuteronomy, for example, following so soon the Book of the Covenant and tbe code of Exodus—Numbers. Such a statement betrays a serious misunder¬ standing not only of what might be expected to be, but of what actually is the uniform method of the Bible. It adapts itself to the circum¬ stances of men. Its declared aim is to be a stimulus, and not a discouragement. It was meant to have an educating intiuence as well as to offer a goal and standard of ultimate appeal. Had it not been so, there would have been no need of any Old Testament at all. The fully developed teachings of Christ and his apostles w'ould have been given at once at the beginning of human history. As it is, we find many pre¬ cepts and injunctions touching matters civil, social, and ecclesiastical which again and again change their form as the needs of the people for whom the.y are designed are changed. It is not surprising that they should change, even within the limits of a few months, when we consider the mighty crisis through which the children of Israel were passing at the time when the laws i^urport to have been given ; much less that the trying forty years of the wil¬ derness sojourn should make more radical alter¬ ations necessary. Meanwhile, it is to be care¬ fully noticed that there is also something un¬ changing in them : the ethical and spiritual ele¬ ment. The demand for supreme loyalty to Jehovah, for example, is made upon the ancient Hebrew in form and degree just as it is upon the modern Christian. An inflexible standard in certain things, combined with development and change in others that concern not the es¬ sence but the form, is in perfect harmony with the theory that the Bible is a supernatural rev¬ elation ; it is an inexplicable problem to him w'ho would explain it solely on the hypothesis of a natural development. Origin of the Three Codes in the Mosaic Period. Looking at the several Pentateuch codes as dis¬ tinct collections, there was good and sufficient reason for the origin of each of them in the Mosaic period. 1. Book of the Covenant.—The Bible nowhere states that every specific law arose de 7iovoiit the period of the exodus. It is exceedingly prob¬ able that not a few of those found in the so- called Book of the Covenant represent, either in a written or unwritten form, previous customs of the people under their elders and judges. Israel went down into Egypt as a family under its patriarchal head. It dwelt in Goshen as a distinct, and for a long time, as it would ap¬ pear, as a 5 md, and the flesh, in a greater or less degree, still wars against the Spirit, the outward discipline of the Law can never be safelj’^ dispensed with. Even Paul was obliged to confess that he found the flesh lust¬ ing against the Spirit, and that though he was ever following after, he was conscious of not having yet attained to the full measure of grace and excellence in Christ. Therefore, for his own quickening and direction, as well as for that of others, he felt it needful to press the demands of law, and to look to the exceeding breadth of its requirements. Thus there are three different respects in which we still need the Law of God : (1) To keep us under grace, as the source of all our security and blessing. This we are ever apt, through the pride and self-confidence of the flesh, to forget, even though we have already in some measure known it. Therefore the Law must be our schoolmaster, not only to bring us to Christ at the beginning of a Christian life, but also afterward to keep us there, and force continu¬ ally back upon us the conviction that we must be in all respects the debtors of grace. For when we see what a spirituality and breadth is in the Law of God, how it extends to the thoughts and affections of the heart as well as to our words and actions, and demands, in re¬ gard to all, the exercise of an unswerving de¬ voted love, then we are made to feel that the Law, if trusted in as a ground of confidence, must still work wrath, and that, convinced by it as transgressors, we must betake for all peace and consolation to the grace of Christ. Here alone, in his atonement, can we find satisfaction to our consciences ; and here alone also, in the strengthening aid of his Spirit, the ability to do the things which the Law requires. (2) The Law, again, is needed to restrain and hold us back from sins which we might be inclined to commit. It is true that in one who is reallv a subject of grace there can be no habitual incli¬ nation to live in sin ; for he is God’s workman¬ ship in Christ Jesus, created in him unto good works. But the temptations of the world, and the devices of the spiritual adversary, may often be too much for any measure of grace he has already received, successfully to resist ; he may want in certain circumstances the willing and faithful mind either to withstand evil or to prosecute as he should the path of righteous¬ ness ; and therefore the Law is still placed be¬ fore him by the Spirit, with its stern prohibi¬ tions and awful threatenings to move with fear, whenever love fails to prompt and influence the heart. Thus even the Apostle Paul, with all his zeal and devotedness to the cairse of Christ, finds it necessary to place before his view the dreadful possibility of his so far failing in duty as to become a castaway. (3) And the Law is yet again needed to present continually before the eye of the mind a clear representation of the righteousness which, through the grace of the Spirit, believers should be ever striving to attain. While that grace is still imperfect, they are necessarily in danger of entertaining low and defective views of duty ; nay, in times of peculiar temptation or undue excitement, they might even mistake the motions of the flesh for the promptings of the Spirit, and under the guise of truth embrace the way of error. But the Law stands before them, with its revelation of righteousness, as a faithful and resplendent mirror, in which they may behold, without any danger of delusion or mistake, the perfect image of that excellence which they should be ever yielding to God. P. F. From the first, the great revelation of Sinai was designed to work in the mind of the Hebrew a deeper conviction of his sinfulness, and a wider appreciation of what the Divine holiness required of him. It was meant to teach him that the Law of God is searching, pure, and spirit¬ ual ; that it demands truth in the inward parts ; and that it is not possible for unrenewed human nature perfectly to fulfil it. It was meant to bring home to his conscience the sense of failure to stimulate his trust in God’s mercy, and to educate him for the advent of a religion in which external rules should be interpreted by a Spirit of moral life, and the Law be written no more on blocks of stone, but on the tablets of a loving heart. Dykes. So there it stood, th’s Law so holy, just, and good, so brief, so plain, so self-commending in its requirements, so majestic in its origin—there it remained ; by Jehovah’s finger written on the SECTION 106. 157 tablets of stone ; by Moses transcribed in the Book of the Covenant ; engraven on the minds of the people by the Koleinnities of so august a promulgation. There that Jjaw remained, a revela¬ tion of its Author’s holiness, a preacher of righteousness, a protest against the sins of men, and furnishing a text of tremendous import to every Elijah or Malachi or John the Baptist who came enforcing the claims of God, and appealing to the conscience of his countrymen. There it stood a challenge to the world for fifteen centuries, w'hen at last Christ came. Entering on his mission, one of the first things he did was to resuscitate this Law and expound it all anew. The Sermon on the Mount was a sequel and a supplement to Sinai ; but, as befitted the dawn of a more spirit¬ ual era, there was no cloud nor voice of trumpet to stun the soul and overwhelm the sense ; but it was the simple force of truth, the tremendous power of heart-searching W'ords—words pene¬ trating as Omniscience, end weighty as unchanging righteousness. Then, as in many others of his sermons, the Lord Jesus expounded the Decalogue. From its negative he printed off tie positive, and showed how beautiful is the resultant holiness, how blessed is the soul thus brought to harmony with God ; and by something more Divine than any rhetoric, by the authority with which he spoke, and by his own sublime separateness from sin, he awakened in his hearers at once a wonder and a wisLfulness : “ Never man spoke as this man. Oh, that I were like him !” Hamilton. Section 106. MOKAL LAW : THE PEEFACE : FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS. Exodus 20 : 2-6 Ex. 20 2 I AM the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have none other Gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in 5 the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil¬ dren, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate 6 me ; and shewing mercy unto thou¬ sands, of them that love me and keep my commandments. The Opening Words Ex. 20 :2. I am the L.or my commandments. OF THE Moral Law. De. 5:6. elation of this fundamental verity, “ I am that I am,” to which the natural intelligence of man¬ kind could not of itself attain. Accordingly God, after having revealed to Moses this sub¬ lime idea, inscribed it on Mount Sinai at the head of the national law : “ I, Jehovah, am thy God.” The fulfilment of the ancient promises 158 SECTION 106. MORAL LAW: THE PREFACE. made to Abraham by El Shaddai, the present work entrusted to the ministry of Moses, the future salvation of mankind to be effected by Christ, all rested definitively upon this doctrine, as the entire building, from the lowest to the highest story, rests upon the foundation laid once for all. Godet. -The two grounds or motives on which God required the obedience of the Jews are : that He was “ the Lord their God and that He had “ brought them out of the house of bondage.” These reasons extend to us Christians, no less if not more than they did to the Jews. For we are the “spiritual Israel, and heirs of the promises.” He is the ” Lord our God,” by a more excellent covenant than he was theirs. He has brought us out of that slavery, of which the Jews’ Egyj)tian bond¬ age was but a type. And he has prepared for us an inheritance in heaven, in comparison of which their land of Canaan is of no account. Abp. Wake. The ground and reason of the Law is not that which underlies all natural law -the obligation of man the creature to God the Creator ; but of man redeemed to God the Redeemer. ” I am Jehovah, thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bond¬ age.” And seeing that ye are mine by this double right, and bound to me by every tie of gratitude, I ask this obedient service at thy hands. S. R.-The motive to obedience in¬ volved in this miraculous interposition is still more emphatically dwelt upon De 6 :20-24, “ And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you ? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bond- men in Egypt ; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand : and the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house¬ hold, before our eyes : and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” Bash. -Even here, in the Ten Words, grace is the foundation of all. The pref¬ ace to the Decalogue is the gospel of the grace of God. One of the Rabbinical questions on this preface used to be : “ Why did not Jehovah rather proclaim himself as Lord of heaven and earth?” It is easy for us now, in the light of the New Testament, to answer the question which perplexed the rabbis. It is not the great¬ ness, but the goodness of God, and specially his redeeming love, that leads men to repentance, that inclines their hearts to obey all the words of this Law. J. M. G. The covenant is based upon a merciful deliver¬ ance. God gives his Law to his people after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. It is intended to be a rule of life for those already redeemed. The Gospel precedes the Law— Moses the deliverer precedes Moses the law¬ giver ; the Lord was first known as the foun¬ tain of freedom, and then as the fountain of that Law within whose bounds freedom is to be realized. Edgar. -God speaks to the nation as a whole, establishing a special relation be¬ tween himself and Ihem, which is founded on his redeeming act, and is reciprocal, requiring that they should be his people, as he is their God. The manifestation in act of his power and of his lov^e precedes the claim for reverence and obedience. This is a universal truth. God gives before he asks us to give. Even in the system, which is eminently ‘‘the Law,” the foundation is a Divine act of deliverance, and only when he has won the people for himself by redeeming them from bondage does he call on them for obedience. His rule is built on benefits. He urges no mere right of the might¬ ier, nor cares for service which is not the glad answer of gratitude. The flashing flames which ran as swift heralds before his descending chariot wheels, the quaking mountain, the long- drawn blasts of the trumpet, awed the gathered crowd. But the first articulate words made a tenderer appeal, and sought to found his right to command on his love, and their duty to obey on their gratitude. The great Gospel principle, that the Redeemer is the Lawgiver, and the re¬ deemed are joyful subjects because their hearts are touched with love, underlies the apparently sterner system of the Old Testament. God opens his heart first, and then asks for theirs. A. M. The Jehovah of the Bible is our Maker un¬ questionably ; our Providence, too ; our Legis¬ lator and Rewarder and Arbiter. All these, with other characters, does he sustain. He sus¬ tains them to all men, and, as common and un¬ derlying and natural, they are everywhere taken for granted in Scripture ; but the character which is pecTiliar to the God of revelation, and which it has pleased him throughout the his¬ tory of revelation to sustain toward selected men, is that of Deliverer or Saviour from evil. Is man in bondage ? Jehovah sets him free. Is man assailed by foes, visible and invisible ? Je¬ hovah is his defence. Is man sick in soul ? Je- GOD'S COVENANTING WORDS. 159 bovali heals him. Is he under sentence of law ? Jehovah redeems him. Is he spiritually dead ? Jehovah regenerates. Whatever evil, in brief, his chosen people underlie, the history of revela¬ tion is the history of gracious interposition for rescue and deliverance out of it. “ I am thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage !” “ Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people !” Dykes. The Law of God, in its holiness, justice, and goodness, is held up to those who have been delivered from the bondage of sin—those who have been released from the spiritual Egypt. It is not so held up to the ungodly—they can¬ not love it, they cannot see its beauty. The Law of God is given as a rule of life, not as a means of salvation. By the Lord’s telling us that he has already brought us out of Egypt and bondage, he does not say when he gives us the Law, “ Do this and live,” but, “ Since ye live, do this “ Since my grace has redeemed you, and you rejoice in the liberty of the children of God, use my Law, the reflection of my per¬ fections, as your beloved guide.” This is the position of the Decalogue to us. In its love and obedience it is only for God’s Israel ; for the rest it is simply a monument of condemnation, a token that they are unholy and cannot keep it. The Law comes before the Gospel histori¬ cally and logically, but the Gospel comes before the Law biographically and practically. The Law is the token and standard of holiness, but the Gospel is the gate to that holiness. Crosby. » The Opming Wvvds God's Covenanting Words. The Bible calls the two stone tables the “ Tables of the Covenard" and the “ Tables of the Testimony." The words written on those tables are the record and testimony of a twofold cov¬ enant between God and his people, rather than the mere record of the commandments of God for the government of his subjects. God's cov¬ enanting w >rds are the open'ng words on the stone tables of the covenant which he delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai : ” lam JGiovahthy God, lohich brought thee out of the l%nd to show. In the first place, there was a formal acceptance of the terms of the covenant by the people of Israel. When Moses came down from the mount, “ and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, ... all the people answered with one voice, and said. All the words which the Lord hath said [as a con¬ dition of the covenant] will we do.” And when the first set of stone tables were broken, other tables like them were prepared, “ and the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words : for after the tenor of these words I have made a cov¬ enant with thee and with Israel. . . . And he wrote upon the tables the words of the cove¬ nant, the Ten Words.” Then these two “ tables of the covenant,” or “ tables of the testimonj^” of agreement, were enclosed in a sacred casket, which was known as the “ ark of the covenant,” or the “ ark of the testimonv which was thenceforward guarded as the testimony and proof of the formal union between God and his people in their covenant relation. To view the words of the Decalogue as arbi¬ trary commandments of God, is to lose sight of their true place in the relation of God and his people. To view them as indicating the obliga¬ tions of that people under the covenant which secures to them the abiding presence and favor and protection of God, is to bring them into that light where it is seen that “ love is the ful¬ filment of the Law.” It is not enough to call the opening words of the record on the tables of the covenant “ the preface to the Ten Com¬ mandments,” nor yet to count those words a portion of the first commandment. They are the covenant promise of Jehovah to his people, and there is in them the promise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—in Jehovah’s covenant assur¬ ance of redemption from spiritual bondage. 8 . 8. T. Engraved by the special exertion of Omnipo- IGO SECTION 106. MORAL LAW. tence on slabs of rock, these “ ten words” were designed to be imperishable. Placed by Divine command in the centre of the most sacred of all symbolic objects, in the most reverent and aw¬ ful situation within the purview of Divine wor¬ ship, beneath the mercy-seat, wdthin the ark, in the Holy of Holies, they were thus certified by God, through his ritual and sj’^mbolism, as the very centre and foundation of all that re¬ lates to that bond between man and his Maker, which we call religion. In the light of all these facts, the titles given to the Decalogue by God in the various passages in which reference is made to it in the general legislation are very important. Taken together, they also are unique. Nothing else in all the circle of symbol or ser¬ vice or prophecy bears two titles. They are “ covenant ” and ” testimony,” Both words are not uncommon. But to only one thing are both applied in common. The Decalogue alone is both covenant and testimony. These two names for the Decalogue must be taken to illustrate and explain each other. The testimony was a declaration from God of some¬ thing on which his covenant must rest. The covenant was an assurance from God to that which answered his testimony. The substance or matter of the Decalogue, as between God and mankind, was God’s testimony—-his most em¬ phatic, solemn, and unique declaration. As between God and those who reciprocate his dec¬ laration and conform to its substance, it was his covenant. What, then, does the testimony testify? What does the covenant pledge? It testifies the Divine ideal of perfect human liv¬ ing. It pledges Divine communion with such an ideal in practice—“ I am the Lord thy God.” The administrative and ritual Law was added because of transgression. There were none among mankind who answered to that ideal. Hence the testimony, by itself, cut off every man from the covenant. Imperfect men —trans¬ gressors—had to be dealt with. Therefore the ritual and statute I.aw was ordained as a school¬ master, to teach a sinful people both to expect the advent of a Perfect One, and to comprehend how he would help them, transgressors as they were, to reach God’s ideal, to obtain his eternal adoption. Israel knew that those two stone tables lay immediately under the mercy-seat. The Church also knows that her justification is through the ” righteousness” and “ obedience” as well as through the sacrificial “blood” of the Perfect One, Jesus Christ But unlike that ritual iind administrative Law, the Decalogue corresponded perfectly with the promise. It was adapted to all nations. Not a tribe of men is known who have not been able to understand the broad terms of its testimony, and to apply it to themselves. As a covenant, it pledges positive and absolute blessedness to those who conform to it. Grey. First Five Commandments. The first commandment enjoins that God shall bo worshipped and honored as the only God in the universe. The second command¬ ment enjoins that God’s worship and honor shall be a spiritual worship and honor. The third commandment enjoins that God shall he worshipped and honored in sincerity and in truth ; for the whole j^oint of that command¬ ment is not that God’s name shall not be taken, but that it shall not be taken insincerely, or as an empty form. The fourth commandment en¬ joins that God shall be worshipped and honored statedly—one day in seven especially. The fifth commandment enjoins that God shall be wor¬ shipped, cr reverenced and honored, in his rep¬ resentatives ; in the person of all those who represent him in places of rightful authority. And so the first five commandments point up¬ ward toward God, defining the scope and limits of his worship ; as the worshipping of him solely, spiritually, sincerely, statedly, substitu- tionally —or in the persons of those who stand for him. S. S. T. The first and second commandments enjoin the adoration of the one true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is ; who must, therefore, be infinite in power and wisdom and goodness ; the object of ex¬ clusive adoration ; of gratitude for every bless¬ ing we enjoy ; of fear, for he is a jealous God ; and of hope, for he is merciful. They prohibit etery species of idolatry, whether by associat¬ ing false gods with the true or worshipping the true by symbols or images. Commanding not to take the name of God in vain, the third pre cept enjoins the observance of all outward re¬ spect for the Divine authority, as well as the cultivation of inward sentiments and feelings, suited to this outward reverence ; and it estab- lishes the obligations of oaths, and, by conse¬ quence, of all compacts and deliberate prom¬ ises ; a principle, without which the adminis¬ tration of laws \vould be impracticable, and the bonds of society must be dissolved. By com¬ manding to keep holy the Sabbath, as the me¬ morial of the creation, the/ou<"//). precept estab¬ lishes the necessity of public worship, and of a stated and outward profession of the truths of religion, as well as of the cultivation of suitable feelings ; and it enforces this by a motive, which THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 161 is equally applicable to all mankind ; and which should have taught the Jew that he ought to consider all nations as equally creatures of that Jehovah whom he himself adored ; equally sub¬ ject to His government, and if sincerely obedi" ent, equally entitled to all the privileges His favor could bestow. Graves. Form of the Commandments, Personal and Negotive. Throughout the Decalogue the address is made in the singular number. This is to render the language in the highest degree emphatic. Every individual to whom this Law comes is as directly and personally addressed as though it had been spoken to him alone. Bash. -In the form in which most of them are conveyed, Thou shalt not,” we may perceive how God through the Law speaks to a sinful people, which could render submission to his will only by an inward struggle against its own. We see how the main object of the Law was to lead to the knowledge of sin. At the same time, the task is imposed on the people of gathering from everything which is forbidden that which is commanded. Gerl. -Where any sin is forbid¬ den, the opposite duty is implicitly enjoined ; and where any duty is enjoined, the opposite sin is implicitly forbidden. Where the highest degree of anything evil is prohibited, whatever is faulty in the same kind, though in a lower degree, is b}'' consequence prohibited. And where one instance of virtuous behavior is com¬ manded, every other that hath the same nature and the same reason for it is understood to be commanded too. What we are expected to ab¬ stain from, we are expected to avoid as far as we can all temptations to it and occasions of it ; and what we are expected to practise, we are expected to use all tit means that may better enable us to practise it. All that we are bound to do ourselves, we are bound on fitting occa¬ sions to exhort and assist others to do, when it belongs to them ; and all that we are bound not to do, we are to tempt nobod}' else to do, but keep them back from it as much as we have opportunity, Abp. Seeker. * The First Commandment. Ex. 20 : 3. De. 5 : 7. Man must have a god ; but he forms his own god, and he makes it a god after his own image. Instead of.forming his own character after the likeness of God, he would fashion a god after his own likeness. At a very early age in the history of the world there was a tendency to 11 carnalize the Divine character b}' representing it in symbol, in brute symbol, as among the ancient Egyptians ; in the more glorious of the inanimate works of God, as among the Per¬ sians ; and in images of man’s own construction, as among the majority of nations. The very' beauty of the works of God stole away men’s minds from the author, and they lifted up an eye, first of reverence and then of worship to the sun and moon and host of heaven, consid¬ ered by the philosophers as emanations of Deity, and by the multitude as the Deities themselves. Others were more impressed with the heroic and the ancient, and deified the heroes of by¬ gone ages, the renowned warriors qf their coun¬ try, the promoters of the arts and sciences. So strong was this desire to bring down celestial things to the level of terrestrial things, that in the Egyptian mythology heaven was merely a celestial Egypt, watered by a celestial Nile, lightened by a celestial sun, and divided into the same number of gnomes as the earthly coun- tr}', and each of these the peculiar residence of the God worshipped in the corresponding dis¬ trict of the terrestrial Egyj)t. . . . “Manilas never failed to make a God of his own image, and his various religions have never surjiassed himself ; for, if by these he imposes on himself acts and privations which he would not other¬ wise impose, those toils which are of his own choice do not raise him above himself. Hence those religions do not change the principles of his inner life ; they subject him to an external sway only to leave him free at heart.” {Vinet.) -Our ideas of God thus originating in our own hearts can never be made to rise higher than the fountain from which they have flowed. Hence the need of a revelation from a higher source to make known a God, not after the image of man, but a God after whose image of heavenly descent man may remodel his charac¬ ter, and thereby exalt it to a heavenly elevation and brightness. M' Cosh. Man’s nature is religious. He instinctively worships some being, whom he regards as God. It is the nature of religious worship to assimi¬ late the character of the worshipper to that of the being worshipped. The objects of worship, everywhere throughout the ancient world, were corrupt and corrupting. In order to man’s moral improvement, he must have a holy object of worship. It is obviously impossible for an imperfect and sinful man to originate the idea of a perfect and sinless god. The gods whom men invented and set up were as imperfect and wicked as themselves ; and from the nature of the case, they could not be otherwise. Moses, 162 SECTION 106. MORAL LAW. on the contrary, revealed a holy and a perfect God, How pure, how amiable, how sublime, how transcendently glorious the character with which this God is invested by the Hebrew law¬ giver ! How striking the contrast which his sublime delineation of Jehovah as the Maker, Proprietor, and Sovereign of the universe, in¬ vested with every conceivable excellence, pre¬ sents to the grovelling mythology of the most enlightened portions of the ancient world, in which the objects of religious worship were pictured with the passions and vices of the fierce and licentious chieftains of the primitive ages ! The publication of such a theology in such an age, when polytheism had covered the earth with the temples and the altars of its monster gods cannot be satisfactorily accounted for without allowing, and is satisfactorily accounted for by allowing, the truth of the Mosaic history, and the establishment of the Mosaic constitu¬ tion by Divine authority, E, C, W, Heathenism was in all its parts a nature- religion, the deification of nature in its entire compass. It saw in the world and nature not merely a manifestation of Godhead, but the very essence and being of nature were regarded in it as identical with the essence and being of Godhead, and as such thrown together : the ultimate foundation of all heathenism is pan¬ theism. Hence the idea of the oneness of the Divine Being, though not absolutely lost, was not that of a personal existence, possessing self- consciousness and self-determination, but an impersonal One, the great It, a neuter abstract, the product of mere speculation, which is at once everything and nothing. Wherever the Deity appeared as a person, it ceased to be one, and resolved itself into an infinite multiplicity. But all these gods were mere personifications of the different powers of nature. From a religion which was so j)hysical in its fundamental char¬ acter, there could only be developed an ethics which should bear the hue and form of the physical. Above all that is moral rose natural necessity—fate, to which gods and men were alike subject ; the highest moral aim for man was to yield an absolute submission to this necessity, and generally to transfuse himself into nature as being identified with Deity, to represent in himself its life, and especially that characteristic of it, perfect harmony, conformity to law and rule. The Mosaic religion, on the other hand, has for its first principle the one¬ ness and absolute spirituality of God. The Godhead is no neuter abstract, no It, but I ; Je¬ hovah is altogether a personal God. The whole world, with everything it contains, is his work, the offspring of his own free act, his creation. Viewed as l)y itself, this world is nothing ; he alone is—absolute being. He is in it, indeed, but not as properly one with it ; he is infinitely above it, and can clothe himself with it as with a garment, or fold it up and lay it aside as he' pleases. Now this God, who reveals and mani¬ fests himself through all creation, in carrying into execution his purpose to save and bless all the families of the earth, revealed and mani¬ fested himself in an especial manner to one race and people. The centre of this revelation is the word which he spoke to Israel ; but this word is his Law, the expression of his perfect holy will. The essential character, therefore, of the special revelation of God is holiness. Its substance is, “ Be ye holy, for I am holy,” So that the Mosaic religion is throughout ethical ; it always addresses itself to the will of man, and deals with him as a moral being. Everything that God did for Israel, in the manifestations he gave of himself, aims at this as its final end, that Israel should sanctify the name of Jehovah, and thereby be himself sanctified. Bcihr. The idea of God, so far from calling forth in the ancient world the idea of worship, ever stood in antagonism with it. The idol was wor¬ shipped because he was not God ; God was not worshipped because he was. One small nation alone of all antiquity worshipped God, believed the universal being to be a personal being. This whimsical fancy of that nation, as it ap¬ peared in the eyes of the rest, was cherished by it as the most sacred deposit. It was the foun¬ dation of its laws and polity ; and from this nar¬ row stock this conception was engrafted upon the human race. Mozley. Tliou slialt have none other g^ods before me. The same reasons which prove that God is prove that there is but one God. And what reason teaches in this matter Scrip¬ ture everywhere confirms : forbidding us to worship or believe in any other Deitj^ than the one Maker and Ruler of heaven and earth, who hath manifested himself to all men by the works of his hands ; to the Patriarchs and Jews in the revelations recorded by Moses and the proph¬ ets ; and to Christians by his Son our Lord, who, in a way and manner to us inconceivable, is one with theT’ather, and the Holy Spirit with both. Ahp. Seeker. The first commandment, which concerns the acknowledgment of God, forbids the sin of atheists, who acknowledge no God ; the sin of such as serve false gods ; the sin of such as serve not the true God only, and aright. It also enjoins that we acknowledge but one God ; that THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 163 we have the only true God for our God ; which must appear by our loving, fearing, trusting in and obeying Him above all others. Oxford Catechism. The commandment forbids them to have any other gods before" Jehovah—that is, not in preference to— such a height of impiety is not alluded to—but in presence of Jehovah, or as it is afterward expressed, with him. For false worship began not with the positive rejection of the true God, but by associating with his worship that of other gods and their images ; nay, even images which professed to represent Jehovah himself. This was the sin of Aaron in the matter of the golden calf ; we meet it again and again in the history of Israel. P. S. The form is negative ; the intent is positive. They are to know none hut God, that they may concentrate all their strength on God. The command is equivalent to this : “ Let all your personal, family, social, national life be regu¬ lated completely by the commandments of your God. And let this be done from love.” “ Is this practicable ? Can a man put forth all his strength for God when his energy is absorbed in trade?” “ Yes ; by regulating his business rightly, as God wills.” “ Can a mother put forth all her strength on loving God, when the care of her family is taxing and even straining all her powers ?” “ Yes ; by training her chil¬ dren for God.” And so in each one of life’s tasks. This is set on grounds of tender ap¬ peal. God does not say. “ When you love me supremely I will redeem you from Egypt but ‘‘ I have redeemed you, therefore yield me your all.” The religions of man go out to an unre¬ vealed being, if perchance he may be propiti¬ ated. Scriptural religion is the response of the heart of man to the revealed love of the Infinite One. Hence the Gospel claim is in substance like the Mosaic, although its form is new and the view we get of Divine love is larger (Eom. 12 :1). In both duty is the same : the whole heart of man is demanded for God. But note the advance in light, tenderness, and strength in “ the mercies of God the “ beseeching” tone ; the “ consecration of a living sacrifice” asked ; the reason given, “ Your reasonable ser¬ vice.” Here is the difference in the method of the Gospel. C. C. This first precept is levelled against the allow¬ ing of anything else to occupy the place in the heart which God should occupy. This com¬ mand may be as really broken mentally as by setting up a physical image, or by setting up as an idol something else, or by the conception of another being as God. Nor is the sin of idol¬ atry any less prevalent in our age than in the ages when men formally worshipped “ gods many and lords many.” The chief difference between the modern and the ancient idolaters is merely in the different phase of thought — the ancients having a greater propensity^ than the moderns forgiving theapjorehensions of the mind and the creations of the imagination a visible outward expression. S. E.-The sin against this commandment which ice are most in danger of, is giving the glory and honor to any creature v^hich are due to God only'. Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, seosuality makes a god of the body ; whatever is esteemed and loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of. This prohibition includes a precejit which is the foundation of the whole Law, that we take the Lord for our God, acknowledge that he is God, accept him for ours, adore him with admi¬ ration and humble reverence, and set our affec¬ tions entirely upon him. H.-Under this prohibition was included every pretence to su¬ pernatural power of commerce with supernat¬ ural beings, except with God himself in his own ordinances. Hence the severe laws against witchcraft and divination [of which we speak hereafter]. P. S. This Precept is here Set in the Forefront of Israel's National Laws. It was the law for each one’s life. It was the rule for all. In their legislation, the su¬ preme feature was to be the national recognition of God. And even now, yea ever, so far as the legislation of any' people is based on righteous¬ ness, so far as that legislation recognizes the rights of the Great Supreme, so far as a people are loyal to God, to that extent will there be the surest guarantee for individual, family, social, and national prosperity. And it is owing to the supreme importance of thus launching into the w'orld a nation with God for its Lord and right- eoushess for its law, that the open transgression of this first commandment was so severely pun¬ ished, as being a crime against the State as well as a sin against God. C. C. The first commandment bears in its negative form marks of the condition of the world when it was spoken, and of the strong temptation to polytheism which the Israelites were to resist. But tile monotheism, which was here laid at the very foundation of Israel’s national life, parted them by a deep gulf from all the world, and determined their history. The prohibition has little force for us ; but the positive command 164 SECTION 106. MORAL LAW. which underlies it is of eternal force. We should rather think of it as a revelation and an invitation than as a mere command. For what is it but the declaration that at the centre of things is throned not a rabble of godlings, nor a stony impersonal somewhat, nor a hypotheti¬ cal unknowable entity, nor a shadowy abstrac¬ tion, but a living Person, who can say “ me,” and whom we can call “ Thou,” and be sure that he hears ? No accumulation of finite ex¬ cellencies, however fair, can satisfy the imagi¬ nation, which feels after one Being, the personal ideal of all perfectness. The understanding needs one ultimate Cause on which it can rest amid the dance of fleeting phenomena ; the heart cannot pour out its love to be shared among many. Only when human nature finds all in one, and that one a living person, the Lover and Friend of all souls, does it fold its wings and rest as a bird after long flight. The first commandment enjoins, or rather blesses, us by showing us that we may cherish supreme affection, worship, trust, self-surrender, aspi¬ ration, toward one God. After all, our God is that which w'e think roost precious, for which we are read^^ to make the greatest sacrifices, which draws our warmest love ; which, lost, vmuld leave us desolate ; which, possessed, makes us blessed. If we search our hearts with this “ caudle of the Lord,” we shall find many an idol set up in their dark corners, and be startled to discover how much we need to bring ourselves to be judged and condemned by this commandment. It is the foundation of all hu¬ man duty. Obedience to it is the condition of peace and blessedness, light and leading for mind, heart, will, affections, desires, hopes, fears, and all the world within, that longs for one living person even when it least knows the meaning of its longings and the reason of its unrest. A. M. Man can only conceive of the Personal Power who rules above by transferring to him the noblest, and none but the noblest, features of man’s own nature. The spirit in man is nobler than his body. God is a Sjririt not represent¬ able under any bodily shape. The noblest facul¬ ties of the human spirit are these : reason, or the power to perceive truth ; conscience, or the power to prefer and choose good over evil ; and free will, or the power to originate action. These, therefore, raised to an ideal height, we ascribe to the Divine Being. We adore him as Infallible Reason, Faultless Goodness, and Ab¬ solute Sovereign Will Better than this we can¬ not do ; higher than this we cannot go. Still the question remains ; Are we in all this follow¬ ing a reliable or a delusive guide ? What is it we are doing? We are virtually finding an im¬ age or reflection of our Maker within ourselves. Are we justified in doing so? The question is one which marks the limit beyond which spec¬ ulation upon Deity cannot go. No answer to it is to be had from nature or reason. From rev¬ elation it has received two answers ; an answer in word, when God said, “ Let Us make man in our likeness !” An answer in fact, when the Son of God was made flesh and we beheld his glory. In him we do possess an image of the Invisible Godhead ; an image human and there¬ fore conceivable ; yet not an image material or visible to the senses. The flesh even of Jesus profiteth nothing as a representation of the Divine Glory. But the Spirit of Jesus, his words that are Spirit, his acts that discover character, his self-revelation as righteous love—this is the likeness of the perfect Godhead. Having thus an image which we maj" lawfully and helpfully picture to our own minds, it ought to be an easy thing for us to keep ourselves from idols. We, when we draw nigh to worship, approach the Invisible and Incomprehensible through the Man Christ Jesus. Such as w^e picture to our¬ selves the gracious, lowly, and pure Son of Mary, such is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us humbly employ, to aid us in our acts of worship, the human character of our Lord. Let us strive toward an ever worthier conception of Jesus himself. Dykes. The Second Commandment. Ex. 20 : 4-6. De. 5 : 8-10. Any graven image. All representations of God being false and absolutely contrary to his true likeness, the worship paid by their help or in^rvention is a lie, consequently an abomination to him ; and all actions, gestures, or postures bespeaking religious worship, honor, or reverence to such images is the sin of idol¬ atry. Wogan. -A good man is more an image of God than any painter or engraver can make ; but if we give Divine honors to a good man it were idolatry ; therefore much more if we give it to an image. Bp. Taylor. To prevent every evasion, it is added, nor the likeness of any form. This com¬ mand had the purpose of preventing the re¬ ligion of Israel from becoming a worship of nature, which first honors God under the form of some creature, and then loses in nature the idea of him, and itself altogether. Gerl. - “ The heaven above” refers to the worship of the stars and the sun ; the earth beneath," to that THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 1G5 of man and the beasts of the field ; “ the waters under the earth,"' to aquatic animals—all of these having reference to what Israel had seen in Egypt. C. G. B. ]¥or serve them. If they were forbidden to make or to acknowledge by the most casual outward gesture any such images, much less were they to serve them, or unite with those that did, either by offering sacrifice, burning in¬ cense, pouring out libations, making vows^ building altars, consecrating temples, or any other act of equivalent import. The spirit of this second commandment, like that of the whole Decalogue, is plainly “ exceeding broad,’' It is undoubt¬ edly implied that in paying our devotion to the true God we are not to employ any imago or likeness for the purpose of directing, exciting, or assisting that devotion. Though it were wor¬ ship designed to terminate in God, yet its being offered through such a medium would divest it of all acceptableness in his sight. God knows the downward and deteriorating tendency of our nature even in its best estate, and he sees that the employment of outward symbols of worshiji would gradually tend to lower the standard of devout feeling and finally to withdraw the mind from the ultimate spiritual object, and fix it upon the gross sensible medium. We have only to look at the history of the Greek and Latin churches for an abundant confirmation. From crosses and relics they proceeded to images and pictures, not only of God and Christ and the Holy Ghost, but of the virgin and of saints and martyrs without number ; until those beings, and the paintings or carvings which represented them, originally designed as mere intercessors and aids to devotion, became to the more igno¬ rant actual objects of worship. Bush. The first two precepts are in substance : Worship God only, and that only spiritually, in the way of his appointment, as befits the wor¬ ship of God, who is a Spirit. That such is the point of the second command is seen in De. 4 :12, in the rehearsal of the Sinai scene forty years after. For there the intention of the command may be gathered from the reason as¬ signed for its propriety, which is in substance : You saw no manner of similitude even when Jehovah condescended to appear and speak with an audible voice. As he did not appear to you in any shape, so h^ ought not to be repre¬ sented by any shape in your mental conceptions of him, and of course then not in any physical similitude of him. The modern discoveries of the Egyptologists, revealing so fully the ancient Egyptian idolatry inder which Israel had lived for centuries, sug¬ gest a reason for the specific details, both of the original command—“ Any graven image or the likeness of any thing” —and of the repetition in De. 4 :16, ” The likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast, winged fowl, or fish, or anything that creepeth. ’ ’ The idolatry of Egypt, it appears, W'as not so much a violation of the first command, enjoining the idea of the unity of God, as of the second command, prohibiting any representations of God. “ The fundament¬ al doctrine” (of the ancient Egyptians), sa 3 ’s Wilkinson, “ wms the unity of Deit 3 ^” But this unity was not represented, and he was known by a sentence or idea, being, as Jamblichus says, worshipped in silence.” But i\ie attri¬ butes of this Deity were represented under posi¬ tive forms, and hence arose a multiplicity of gods, that engendered idolatry". “ In order to specify and convey an impression of these ab¬ stract notions to the eyes of men, it w as thought necessary to distinguish them by some fixed representation, and the figures of Pthah, Osiris, Amun, Maut, Neith, and other gcvds and god¬ desses were invented as various signs of the various attributes of the Deit^".” Such was the phase of idolatry under which Israel had served for centuries—a worship of God b}^ graven im¬ ages, as the tombs and temples of the ancient Egypt of that era show abundantl^^ and like¬ nesses of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth, for there w^as scarce an animal, or fowl, or fish, or reptile that did not furnish to that idolatr}'^ a similitude under w'hich they worshipped God. There was therefore a very special reason for the particular enumeration in detail of this com¬ mandment. A prevalent error on this whole subject arises in part from the usage of our language in applj^- ing the term idolatry —idolo lairia"--indis¬ criminately to the breach of the first command¬ ment in worshipping false gods, and the breach of the second command in the worship of the true God by images and in the use of visible forms. Out of some such error as to the scope and aim of these.two commands severallj' prob¬ ably originated the mistake of the Bomish Church in classifying these tw^o commands together as but two clauses of the first commandment, and thereby destroying the force of both. In this case the meaning of both together w^ould be, “ thou shalt not worship any false god, nor shalt thou worship any image or likeness.” Then by the distinction made between douiia" and ‘‘ lafria" —homage and w^orship—the dogma is derived, “ thou maj^est use the image to aid devotion, but shalt not worship the image itself, 166 SECTION 106. MORAL LAW. but onl}^ God through the image.” From this exposition of the scope and aim of this great jjrecept of the Law of God, you will perceive that its chief end is to direct how God is to be worshipped as a spiritual being without the in tervention of any representations of him by either of the hands or the imagination., S. R. A jealous God. The passions of a moral being have their right as well as their wrong use. Hence anger, jealousy, and hatred are ascribed to God, not as passions, but as the feelings of a holy being in regard to that wLich is evil. M. -Throughout the Scriptures, idolatry is rep¬ resented as spiritual adultery ; hence, conde¬ scending to human modes of speech, the dis¬ pleasure of God is described as jealousy. Jeal¬ ousy is quick-sighted, deep-seated, swift-footed. An. -He is a “jealous” God. We need not be afraid of the word. It means nothing but what is congruous with the loftiest conception of a loving God. It means that he allows of no rival in our hearts’ affection or in our submis¬ sion for love’s sake to him. A half trust in God is no trust. How can worship be shared or love be parted out among a pantheon? Our poor hearts ask of one another and get from one another, wherever a man and a woman truly love, just what God asks—“ All in all, or not at all.” His jealousy is but infinite love seeking to be known as such, and asking for a whole heart. A. M. The force of the phrase is perhaps best seen in the words of Moses to Israel when he gave them his parting advice, “ for the Lord thy God is a consuming tire, even a jealous God” (De. 4 : 24), a passage which is quoted and used by the x\poslle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he is speaking of the future and eternal judgments of the Almighty. We must free the idea from the attachments which we give it from our view of human jealousy. There is no selfishness, no envy, no hatred in God’s jeal¬ ousy. It is the abundant outflow of his holi¬ ness, W'hich, bj^ its own virtue, must either as¬ similate or destroy everything in the universe. It envelops in its grace, or it drives forth from its purity and from all the blessings which ac¬ company its purity. When we say that God is a jenlous God, we say that he is no passive Erahm, like the god of the Hindoos, but that he glows with zeal for all that is pure and good and holy and true, and is ever engaged actively in separating the holy and true from the unholy and false, striving to do it first by mercy, but if man makes that fail, then by the cutting off of his judgments. This character of God is espe¬ cially alluded to in this second commandment, because this form of sin appeared the most seductive and the most obstinate. Crosby. An image degrades God and damages men. By it religion reverses its nature, and becomes another clog to keep the soul among the things seen, and an ally of all fleshly inclinations. We know how idolatry seemed to cast a spell over the Israelites from Eg.vpt to Babylon, and how their first relapse into it took place almost before the voice which “ spake all these words” had ceased. In its grosser form, we have no temptation to it. But there are other ways of breaking the commandment than setting up an image. All sensuous worship in which the treacherous aid of art is called in to elevate the soul, comes perilously near to contradicting its spirit, if not its letter. The attempt to make of the senses a ladder for the soul to climb to God by, is a great deal more likely to end in the soul’s going down the ladder than up it. The history of public worship in the Christian Church teaches that the less it has to do with such slippery help the better. We need to re¬ member that the God who is a spirit is wor- shipj^ed “ in spirit,” and that outward forms may easily choke and outward aids hinder that wor¬ ship. A. M.-To picture Him forth by ma¬ terial images is an impossibility. The plausible plea of human nature has always been that ma¬ terial forms serve as aids to worship the Unseen, But the facts of human experience have uni- formly disproved this hypothesis. It may cost us severe exertion of mind to lift our souls up to the worship of the true God ; yet this very exertion is an unspeakable advantage. Davis. Effect of the Use of the Crucifix. It is impossible to preserve a sense of God’s pure spirituality when he is always adored as locally present to the senses in the form of a piece of matter, It is impossible to treat an image as a virtual representative of Deity with¬ out assuming that God somehow resembles his representation. The progress of idolatry is therefore dowmward. So far as it goes, it can be nothing but degrading. It must obscure the essential glory of the Divine nature. Dykes. -It cannot be denied that the Image of our Lord Jesus Christ in his dying agony may pro¬ duce a very powLerful impression on the imagi¬ nation and the heart. In the strength of that impression some find a suflBcient justification for the devotional use of the crucifix. They say that the visible form does but call up the emotions which should be created by the sor¬ rows and anguish in which the Divine love was revealed, and by which the sin of the world was SECOND COMMANDMENT. 1G7 atoned for ; and lliat it makes the great sacrifice for human salvation more intensely real and vivid. But inevitably, by laws of association we cannot control, whatever is habitually asso¬ ciated with the creation of religious emotion comes to be invested with an artificial sacred¬ ness. The visible symbol is at first a symbol and nothing more ; it assists thought ; it stirs passion. At length it becomes identified with the God whom it represents. If every day I bow before a crucifix in prayer, if I address it as though it were Christ, though I know it is not, I shall come to feel for it a reverence and love which are of the very essence of idolatry. But there is another objection to this prostra¬ tion of the soul before the image of the d^ing Christ. It makes our worship and our prayer unreal. We are adoring a Christ who does not exist. He is not now on the cross, but upon the throne. His agony is j)ast forever. He has risen from the dead, and is at the right hand of God. If we pray to a dying Christ, we are pray¬ ing not to Christ himself but to a mere remem¬ brance of him. The injury which the crucifix has inflicted on the religious life of Christen¬ dom, in encouraging a morbid and unreal devo¬ tion, is absolutely incalculable.' It has given us a dying Christ instead of a living Christ, a Christ separated from us by many centuries in¬ stead of a Christ nigh at hand. Dale. “ They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God is jealous for truth in his worship. He would have us think of him as glorious in power, wisdom, righteous¬ ness, holiness, and love. Our thoughts of God, limited at the best, need not be untrue. But untrue and dishonoring to him they will be if we come at them through the means of any graven image. God is jealous for spirit in his worship. The worship paid to a spiritual Being is nothing if it be not spiritual worship. But in the endless bowings and prostrations, genu¬ flexions, cross-markings, and waving of the body at the word “ Jesus,” there is, at least in appearance, a taking for granted that bodily postures are spiritual attitudes. Worship paid through the body will sink to merely bodily worship. When the lofty platform of spiritual worship is quitted, religious service will inevi¬ tably lose its meaning. Sense first comes as “ an aid to faith,” and then is put in the place of it ! C. C. Still, as at Sinai, is the Most High a jealous God—jealous for the truth of his own nature ; jealously concerned, that is, to be truly appre¬ hended by his worshipper and truly represented by the conceptions which we frame of him. As he would not be misrepresented by the pagans’ degrading handiwork, so neither would he suffer injury in our thoughts. Be you therefore jeal¬ ous for the honor of the Lord God of Hosts. Be careful to sanctify’’ him in your hearts. Be scrupulous to cherish the loftiest idea of his grandeur, holiness, and love. And let all the worship wo presume to offer at his footstool be such as becomes the revelation which he has made of his own glory in the i)erson and in the cross of our Lord and Saviour. Dykes. Visiting: the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. This statement is often represented as not only wanting in equity, but opposed to an express provision of the Israelitish law (De. 24 ; 10 ; 2 Kings 14 : G ; 2 Ch. 25 :4), and especially to the Divine pro¬ cedure as declared in Ezek. 18. The same i^rin- ciple, however, is repeated in a connection which shows it to be a feature of the Divine character in its most gracious aspect (Ex. 34:7); and even when that character was urged by Moses in a plea for pardon, this feature is in¬ troduced in a way that shows that it was not deemed to be contrary to equity, or even hostile to grace (Nu. 14:18). D. M.-The visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon tho children does not mean that he punishes the innocent children of ungodly or the converted children of unbelieving parents for the sins of the lat¬ ter ; we read the very contrary of this (Ezek. 18 :20). The threatening lights only upon those children who walk in their fathers’ foot¬ steps, and “ hate the Lord.” C. G. B. If the children of ungodly men forsake the sins of their fathers, they’’ break the chain of transgression and punishment. God deals with every man 23ersonally and directly, according to his own individual status and relation to him (Ezek. 18 :19, 20). Even the hereditary conse¬ quences, which by natural laws still attach in such cases, as poverty and disgrace inherited from drunken fathers, have an altered asjject in the Divine intention, and in their real effect, where the sufferer is a true child of God (Rom. 8 :18). VV. H. G.-But where a man is op¬ posed to God, rejecting his truth and salvation, he endorses and sujDports, and thus becomes re¬ sponsible for the guilt of his ancestors. The stream of guilt runs down from father to son with accumulating force till it ends in its apj^ro- priate judgment. This judgment, so far as it is spiritual and eternal, falls on each sinner in the line, but so far as it is earthly and temporal, it falls on him who brings the sinfulness to the top of the climax—who adds the last drop to the fulness of the cuj). Crosby. 168 SECTION 106. SECOND COMMANDMENT. It is not meant for a moment that the pious son of an idolatrous father shall be punished for his father’s idolatry. Josiah, the devout son of the idolatrous Amon, was not only exempted from any punishment for his father's sin, but on the ground of his individual piety the pen¬ alty hanging over an idolatrous country was suspended until Josiah should be safe beyond its reach (2 Kings 22 :16-20). It is only if the third and fourth generations continue haters of God themselves that they will be punished at once for their own sin and the sin of their God- hatiug or idolatrous ancestor. Ilimillon. -fhe thrice-holy God can vever be unjust. The idol¬ atrous spirit would be entailed to children by natural law ; hence punishment would culmi¬ nate in final disaster. The meaace was gracious, because, if parents will not abstain from sin for their own sakes, they sometimes will for the sake of their children. The mercy shall be far more ample than the wrath. The anger may be entailed on a few, and that in proportion al¬ ways to the sin ; the merc}’^ shall flow, like a mighty river, to “thousands.”' Davies. We speak of national judgments and of pun¬ ishments of whole i)opulations as existing modes of Divine action and as what take place now. But this is in the sense in which we understand the Law when working as a part of God’s nat¬ ural providence. We do not suppose that the Law is judicial, as punishing the good part of these populations judicially for the sins of the bad, and as guilty of those sins ; but only mean¬ ing that in these signal calamities the order of nature is made subservient to moral purpose. [In this connection] the law of visitation of sins . is regarded as sufficiently fulfilled if God does so connect sin with misery for any icise end, any purpose which is instructive, though not imply¬ ing anything judicial. Mozhy. -The Law of his providence sounds hard, but it is nothing more than stating in plain words the course of the world’s history, which cannot be otherwise if there is to be any bond of human society at all. We hear a great deal in modern language about solidarity and heredity. The teaching of this commandment is simply a statement of the same facts, with the'addition that the Lawgiver is visible behind the Law. The consequences of conduct do not lie vuth the doers. “ The evil that men do lives after them.” The gen¬ erations are so knit together, and the full re¬ sults of deeds are often so slow growing, that one generation sows and another reaps. Who sowed the seed that fruited in misery, and was gathered in a bitter harvest of horrors and crimes in the French Kevolution? Whojolanted the tree under which the citizens of the United States sit ? Did not the seedling come over in the Mayflower ? As long as the generations of men are more closely connected than those of sheep or birds, this solemn word must be true. Let us see that we sow no tares to poison our children when we are in our graves. The say¬ ing had immediate application to the conse¬ quences of idolatry in the history of Israel, and was a forecast of their future. But it is true evermore and everywhere. A. M. Tlieifii tiliat laafe me . . , tiieiii tliat la>ve 1110. The words of the threatening de¬ scribe the third and fourth generation, on whom the visitation of evil was to fall, as of Ikose ihal hale God ^ just as, on the other hand, the mercy wdiich M'as pledged to thousands was promised as the dowry of those that love him Such chil¬ dren alone are here concerned who, in the lan¬ guage of Calvin, “ imitate the impiety of their progenitors.” In short, the Lord contemplates the existence among his professing worshippers of two entirely different kinds of generations : the one, haters of God, and manifesting their hatred by depraving his worship, and pursuing courses of transgression ; the other, lovers of God, and manifesting their love by steadfastly adhering in all dutiful obedience to the way of his holy commandments. To these last, though they should extend to thousands of generations, he would show his mercy, causing it to flow on from age to age in a perennial stream of bless¬ ing. But as he is the righteous God, to whom vengeance as well as mercy belongs, the free outpouring of his beneficence upon these could not prevent or prejudice the execution of his justice upon that other class, who were entirely of a different spirit, and merited quite opposite treatment. If children embraced the sinful¬ ness of their parents, with the manifest seal of Heaven’s displeasure on it, as their iniquity would be more aggravated, so its punishment should become more severe ; the descending and entailed curse w'ould deepen as it flowed on, increasing with every increase of depravity and corruption, till, the measure of iniquity being filled up, the wrath should fall on them to the uttermost. P. F. The sanction of the Decalogue is entirely Di¬ vine. There is no reference in it to human in¬ strumentality for enforcing its observance. On the contrary, it expressly makes the fear and love of God the foundation of obedience. On the creature’s relation to God as Creator and Eedeemer the preamble rests the obligation of all the commandments ; love to God is declared to be the keeping of the Law ; while the ground SECTION 107. 1G9 of transgression is stated to be haired of him. With this fully agrees the testimony of Christ and of the apostles. And whatever may be alleged to the contrary, the morality of the Gospel is not different from or superior to UmI