Commentary on the Holy Bible

The NINTH plague — thick darkness. Verse 21. Darkness \\\nc\x may be felt.] Probably this was occasioned by a superabundance of aqueous vapours floating in the atmosphere, which were so thick as to prevent the rays of the sun from penetrating through them; an extraordinarily thick mist supernaturally, i. e., miraculously, brought on. An awful emblem of the darkened state of the Egyptians and their king.

A, M. 2513. 23 They saw not one another, - ' ' neither rose any from his place for

three days: " but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and ^ said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your ® little ones also go with you.

25 And Moses said. Thou must give ^ us also sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God.

26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there

Verse 23. They saw not one another] So deep was the obscurity, and probably such was its nature, that no artificial light could be procured; as the thick clammy vapours would prevent lamps, &c., from burning, or if they even could be ignitec^ the light through the palpable obscurity, could diffuse itself to no distance from the burning body. The author of the book of Wisdom, chap. xvii. 2-19, gives a fearful description of this plague. He says, " The Egyptians were shut up in their houses, the prisoners of darkness: and iue7-e fettered with the bonds of a long night. They were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly astonished and troubled with strange apparitions; for neither might the corner that held them keep them from fear; but noises as of wafers falling down sounded about them; and sad visions appeared unto them with heavy countenances. No power of the fire could give them light — only there appeared unto them a fire kindled of itself very dreadful; for being much terrified, they thought the things which they saw to be worse than the sight they saw not. For though no terrible thing did scare them, yet being scared with beasts that passed by, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear: for whether he were husbandman, or shepherd, or a labourer in the field, he was overtaken; for they were all bound with one chain of darkness. Whether it ■were a whistling wind, or a terrible sound of stones cast down, or a running that could not be seen of tripping beasts, or a roaring voice of most savage wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the hollow mountains, these things made them to swoon for fear." See Psalm Ixxviii. 49.

To this description nothing need be added except this circumstance, that the darkness, with its attendant horrors, lasted for three days.

All the children of Israel had light] By thus distinguishing the Israelites, God showed the Egyptians that the darkness was produced by his power; that he sent it in judgment against them for their cruelty to his people; that because they trusted in him they were exempted from these plagues; that in the displeasure of such a Being his enemies had every thing to fear, and in his approbation his followers had every thing to hope.

Verse 24. Only let your flocks and your herds he stayed] Pharaoh cannot get all he wishes; and as he sees it impossible to contend with Jehovah, he now shall not a hoof be left behmd; for A. m. 2513.

thereoi must we take to serve the

Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.

27 But the Lord ^hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, ^ I will see thy face again no more.

consents to give up the Israelites, their wives and their children, provided he may keep their flocks and their herds. The cruelty of this demand is not more evident than its avarice. Had six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, gone three days' journey into the wilderness without their cattle, they must have inevitably perished, being without milk for their little ones, and animal food for their own sustenance, in a place where little as a substitute could possibly be found. It is evident from this that Pharaoh intended the total destruction of the whole Israelitish host.

Verse 26. We know not ivith what loe must serve the Lord, dfc] The law was not yet given; the ordinances concerning the different kinds of sacrifices and offerings not known. What kind and what number of animals God should require to be sacrificed, even Moses himself could not as yet tell. He therefore very properly insists on taking the whole of their herds with them, and not leaving even one hoof behind.

Verse 27. The Lord hardened PharaoVs heart] He had yet another miracle to work for the complete conviction of the Egyptians and triumph of his people; and till that was wrought he permitted the natural obstinacy of Pharaoh's haughty heart to have its full sway, after each resistance of the gracious influence which, was intended to soften and bring him to repentance.

Verse 28. See my face no more] Hitherto Pharaoh had left the way open for negotiation; but now, in wrath against Jehovah, he dismisses his ambassador, and threatens him with death if he should attempt any more to come into his presence.

Verse 29. / xoill see thy face again no more.] It is very likely that this was the last interview that Moses had with Pharaoh, for what is related, chap. xi. 4-8, might have been spoken on this very occasion, as it is very possible that God gave Moses to understand his purpose to slay the first-born, while before Pharaoh at this time; so, in all probability, the interview mentioned here was the last which Moses had with the Egyptian king. It is true that in ver. 3 1 of chap. xii. it is stated that Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night, and ordered them to leave Egypt, and to take all their substance with them, which seems to imply that there was another interview, but the words may imply no more than that Moses and Aaron received such a message from Pharaoh. If, however, this mode

The Israelites commanded to ask CHAP. XI. gold and silver of the Egyptians.

of interpreting these passages should not seem satisfactory to any, he may understand the words of Moses thus: I will see thy face — seek thy favour, no more in behalf of my people, which was literally true; for if Moses did appear any more before Pharaoh, it was not as a supplicant, but merely as the ambassador of God, to denounce his judgments by giving him the final determination of Jehovah relative to the destruc- *tion of the first-born.

1. To the observations at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, we may add that at first view it seems exceedingly strange that, after all the proofs Pharaoh had of the power of God, he should have acted in the manner related in this and the preceding chapters, alternately sinning and repenting; but it is really a common case, and multitudes who condemn the conduct of this miserable Egyptian king, act in a similar manner. They relent when smarting under God's judgments, but harden their hearts when these judgments are removed. Of this kind I have witnessed numerous cases. To such God says by his prophet. Why should ye be stricken any morel ye ivill revolt more and more. Reader, are not the vows of God upon thee 1 Often when afflicted in thyself or family hast thou not said like Pharaoh, (ver. 17,) Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and take aivay from me this death only? And yet when thou hadst respite, didst thou not harden thy heart, and with returning health and strength didst thou not return unto iniquity? And art thou not still in the broad road of transgression ■? Be not deceived; God is not mocked; he warns thee, but he will not be mocked by thee. What thou sowest, that thou must reap. Think then what a most dreadful harvest thou mayest expect from the seeds of vice which thou hast already sown!

2. Even in the face of God's judgments the spirit of avarice will make its requisitions. Only let youi flocks and your herds he stayed, says Pharaoh. The love of gain was the ruling principle of this man's soul, and he chooses desperately to contend with the justice of his Maker, rather than give up his bosom sin! Reader, is this not thy own case 1 And art thou not ready, with Pharaoh, to say to the messenger of God, who rebukes thee for thy worldly mindedness, &c., Get thee gone from me. Take heed to thyself, and see my face no more. Esau and Pharaoh have both got a very bad name, and many persons who are repeating their crimes are the foremost to cover them with obloquy! When shall we learn to look at home? to take warning by the miscarriages of others, and thus shun the pit into which we have seen so many fall? If God were to give the history of every man who hardens himself from his fear, how many Pharaohlike cases should we have on record! But a day is coming in which the secrets of every heart shall be revealed, and the history of every man's life laid open to an assembled world.

God purposes to bring another plague upon Pharaoh, after which he should let the Israelites go, 1. They are commanded to ask gold and silver from the Egyptians, 2. The estimation in tvhich Moses was held amo7}g the Egyptians, 3. Moses predicts the destruction of the first-born of the Egyptians, 4—6, and IsraeVs protection, 7. On seeing ivhich, Pharaoh and his servants should entreat the Hebrews to depart, 8. The prediction of his previous obstinacy, 9, 10.

more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: ^ when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.

2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and

Verse 1. The Lord said unto Moses'\ Calmef contends that this should be read in the preterpluperfect tense, for the Lord h.\d said to Moses, as the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth verses appear to have been spoken when Moses had the interview^ with Pharaoh mentioned in the preceding chapter; see the note there on verse 29. If therefore this chapter be connected with the preceding, as it should be, and the first three verses not only read in the past tense but also in a parenthesis, the sense will be much more distinct and ilear than it now appears.

3 •= And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^ Moses ivas very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

4 And Moses said, Thus saitli the Lord,

Verse 2. Let every man borrow^ For a proper correction of the strange mistranslation of the word lii.\2f shaal in this verse, see the note on chap. iii. 22.

Verse 3. The man Moses was very great] The miracles which Pharaoh and his servants had already seen him work had doubtless impressed t^ am with a high opinion of his wisdom and power. Had he not appeared in their sight as a very extraordinary person, whom it would have been very dangerous to molest, we may naturally conclude that some violence would long ere this have been offered to his person.

* About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: 6 And *" all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-bom of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts. 6 ^ And there shall be a great cry throughout

God did this by the ministry of a good or of an evil angel is a matter of little importance, though some commentators have greatly magnified it. Both kinds of angels are under his power and jurisdiction, and he may employ them as he pleases. Such a work of destruction as the slaying of the first-born is supposed to be more proper for a bad than for a good angel. But the works of God's justice are not less holy and pure than the works of his mercy; and the highest archangel may, with the utmost propriety, be employed in either.

Verse 5. The first-horn of Pharaoh, dfc] From the heir to the Egyptian throne to the son of the most abject slave, or the principal person in each family. See the note on chap. xii. 29.

The maid-servant that is behind the mill] The meanest slaves were employed in this work. In many parts of the east they still grind all their corn with a kind of portable mill-stones, the upper one of which is turned round by a sort of lever fixed in the rim. A drawing of one of these machines as used in China is now before me, and the person who grinds is represented as pushing the lever before him, and thus running round with the stone. Perhaps something like this is intended by the expression behind the mill in the text. On this passage Dr. Shaw has the following observation: — " Most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having tioo portable mill-stones for that purpose, the uppermost of which is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron that is placed in the rim. When this stone is large, or expedition required, a second person is called in to assist; and as it is usual for women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over against each other with the mill-stone between them, we may see, not only the propriety of the expression (Exod. xi. 5) of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, (Matt. xxiv. 40,) that two ivomen shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."" — Travels, p. 231, 4to edit. These portable mills, under the name of querns, were used among our ancestors in this and the sister kingdoms, and some of them are in use to the present day. Both the instrument and its name our forefathers seem to have borrowed from the continent. They have long existed among the inhabitants of Shetland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, &c.

Verses. There shall be a great cry] Of the dyinoand for the dead. See more on this subject, chap. xii. 30.

Verse 7. Not a dog move his tongue] This passage has been generally understood as a proverbial expression, intimating that the Israelites should not only be free from this death, but that they should depart with-

all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

7 ^ But against any of the children of Israel ' shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

out any kind of molestation. For though there must be much bustle and comparative confusion in the sudden removal of six hundred thousand T^evsons with their wives, children, goods, cattle, &c., yet this should produce so little alarm that even the dogs should not bark at them, which it would be natural to expect, as the principal stir was to be about midnight.

After giving this general explanation from others, T may be permitted to hazard a conjecture of my own. And, 1. Is it not probable that the allusion is here made to a well-known custom of dogs howling when any mortality is in a village, street, or even house, where such animals are? There are innumerable instances of the faithful house-dog howling when a death happens in a family, as if distressed on the account, feeling for the loss of his benefactor; but their apparent presaging such an event by their cries, as some will have it, may be attributed, not to any prescience, but to the exquisite keenness of their scent. If the words may be understood in this way, then the great cry through the whole land of Egypt may refer to this very circumstance: as dogs were sacred among them, and consequently religiously preserved, they must have existed in great multitudes. 2. We know that one of their principal deities was Osiris, whose son, worshipped under the form of a dog, or a man with a dog's head, was called Anubis latrator, the barking Anubis. May he not be represented as deploring a calamity which he had no power to prevent among his worshippers, nor influence to inflict punishment upon those who, set his deity at naught 1 Hence while there was a great cry, D^TJ T\Ti\^^ tseakah gcdnlah, throughout all the land of Egypt, because of the mortality in every house, yet among the Israelites there was no death, consequently no dog moved his tongue to howl for their calamity; nor could the object of the Egyptians' worship inflict any similar punishment on the worshippers of Jehovah.

In honour of this dog-god there was a city called Anubis in Egypt, by the Greeks called Cynopolis, the city of the dog, the same that is now called Mcnich; in this he had a temple, and dogs, which were sacred to him, were here fed with consecrated victuals.

Thus, as in the first plagues their magicians were confounded, so in this last their gods were put to flight. And may not this be referred to in chap. xii. 12, when Jehovah says: Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment 1 Should it be objected, that to consider the passage in this light would be to acknowledge the being and deity of the fictitious Anubis, it may be answered, that in the sacred writings it is not an un-

down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people ' tint follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out rom Pharaoh in ™ a great anger. "» 9 And the Loud said unto Moses, " Pharaoh

common thing to see the idol acknowledged in order to show its nullity, and the moi-e forcibly to express contempt for it, for its worshippers, and for its worship. Thus Isaiah represents the Babylonish idols as being endued with sense, bowing down under the judgments of God, utterly unable to help themselves or their worshippers, and being a burden to the beasts that carried them: Bel boiveth djwn, Nebo stoopeth; their idols ivere upon the beasts and upon the cattle: your carriages luere heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity; chap. xlvi. 1, 2. The case of Elijah and the prophets of Baal should not be forgotten here; this prophet, by seeming to acknowledge the reality of BaaFs being, though by a strong irony, poured the most sovereign contempt upon him, his worshippers, and his worship: And Elijah mocked them, and said. Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, orperadventure he sleepeth and -must be awaked; 1 Kings xviii. 27. See the observations at the end of chap. xii.

The Lord doth put a difference^ See on chap. viii. 22. And for the variations between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuch in this place, see at the end of the chapter.

Verse 8. And all these thy servants shall come] A prediction of what actually took place. See chap, xii. 31-33.

Verse 9. Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you] Though shall and ivill are both reputed signs of the future tense, and by many indiscriminately used, yet they make a most essential difference in composition in a variety of cases. For instance, if we translate J.'Oiy' N7 lo yishma, Pharaoh shall not hearken, as in our text, the word shall strongly intimates that it was impossible for Pharaoh to hearken, and that God had placed him under that impossibility: but if w^e translate as we should do, Pharaoh will not hearken, it alters the case most essentially, and agrees with the many passages in the preceding chapters, where he is said to have hardened his own heart; as this proves that he, without any impulsive necessity, obstinately refused to attend to what Moses said or threatened; and that God took the advantage of this obstinacy to work another miracle, and thus multiply his wonders in the land.

Pharaoh will not hearken unto you; and because Ae would not God hardened his heart — left him to his own obstinacy.

To most critics it is well known that there are in several parts of the Pentateuch considerable differences

shall not hearken unto you; that ° my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

1 0 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: p and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

between the Hebrew and Samaritan copies of this work. In this chapter the variations are of considerable importance, and competent critics have allowed that the Samaritan text, especially in this chapter, is fuller and better connected than that of the Hebrew. 1. It is evident that the eighth verse in the present Hebrew text has no natural connection with the seventh. For in the seventh verse Moses delivers to the Israelites what God had commanded him to say; and in the eighth he appears to continue a direct discourse unto Pharaoh, though it does not appear when this discourse was begun. This is quite contrary to the custom of Moses, who always particularly notes the commencement of his discourses.

2. It is not likely that the Samaritans have added these portions, as they could have no private interest to serve by so doing; and therefore it is likely that these additions were originally parts of thie sacred text, and might have been omitted, because an ancient copyist found the substance of them in other places. It must however ~he granted, that the principal additions in the Samaritan are repetitions of speeches which exist in the Hebrew text.

3. The principal part of these additions do not appear to have been borrowed from any other quarter. Interpolations in general are easily discerned from the confusion they introduce; but instead of deranging the sense, the additions here make it much more apparent; for should these not be admitted it is evident that something is wanting, without which the connection is incomplete. — See Calmet. But the reader is still requested to observe, that the supplementary matter in the Samaritan is collected from other parts of the Hebrew text; and that the principal merit of the Samaritan is, that it preserves the words in a better arrangement.

Dr. Kennicott has entered into this subject at large, and by printing the two texts in parallel columns, the supplementary matter in the Samaritan and the hiatus in the Hebrew text will be at once perceived. It is well known that he preferred the Samaritan to the Hebrew Pentateuch; and his reasons for that preference in this case I shall subjoin. As the work is extremely scarce from which I select them, one class of readers especially will be glad to meet wdth them in this place.

"Within these j/?fje chapters, vii., viii., ix., x., and xi., are seven very great differences between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuchs, relating to the speeches which denounced seven out of the ten judgments upon the Egyptians, viz., tcaters into blood, frogs, flies, murrain, hail, locusts, and destruction of the first-bom. The Hebrew text gives the speeches concerning these judgments only once at each; but the Samaritan gives each speech twice. In the Hebrew we have the speeches concerning the Jive first as in command from God to Moses, ivithout reading that Moses delivered them; and concerning the two last, as delivered by Moses to Pharaoh, ivilhout reading that God had commanded them. Whereas in the Samaritan we find every speech twice: God commands Moses to go and speak thus or thus before Pharaoh; Moses goes and denounces the judgment; Pharaoh disobeys, and the judgment takes place. All tliis is perfectly regular, and exactly agreeable to the double speeches of Homer in very ancient times. I have not the least doubt that the Hebrew text now wants many words in each of the seven following places: chap, vii., between verses 18 and 19; end of chap. vii.; chap, viii., between 19 and 20; chap, x., between 2 and 3; chap, xi., at verses 3 and 4. The reader will permit me to refer him (for all the words thus omitted) to my own edition of the Heb7-eiv Bible, (Oxford 1780, 2 vols, fol.,) where the whole difl^erences are most clearly described. As this is a matter of very extensive consequence, I cannot but observe here, that the present Hebrew text of Exod. xi. did formerly, and does still appear to me to furnish a demonstration against itself, in proof of the double speech being formerly recorded there, as it is now in the Samaritan. And some very learned men have confessed the impossibility of explaining this chapter without the assistance of the Samaritan Pentateuch. I shall now give this important chapter as I presume it stood originally, distinguishing by italics all such words as are added to or differ from our present translation. And before this chapter must be placed the two last verses of the chapter preceding, Exod. X. 28: And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no?)iore; for in that day thou seest my face thou shall die. S9: And Moses said, Thou hast well spoken, I will see thy face again no more.

EXODUS XI. Hebrew text and pre- Samaritan text and new

1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt, afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.

2. Speak now in the ears of the people; and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jeivels of silver, d.n^ jewels of gold.

3. And the Lord gave the people favour in the eight of the Egyptians.

1. Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt, and afterwards he will send you out hence: when. he will send you away, he will surely drive you hence altogether.

2. Speak now in the ears of the people; and let every man ask of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold and raiment.

3. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so thai they shall give them ivhat they ask.

5. And every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh ivho sitteth upon his throne, unto the firstborn of the maid-servant that IS behind the mill, and even unto the firstborn of every beast.

6. And there shall be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

7. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or even against beast; that thou mayest know that Jehovah doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

8. And thou also shall be greatly honoured in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

9. Then Moses said unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born; and I said unto thee, Let my son go that he may sei~ve me.

10. But thou hast refused to let him go; behold, Jehovah slayeth thy son, thy first-born.

1 1. And Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go forth into the midst of the land

12. And every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, unto the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and even unto the firstborn of every beast.

Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

4. And Moses said,Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst

5. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts.

a great cry through all the a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it.

land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

8. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying. Get thee out and all the people that follow thee; and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

9. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or even against beast: that thou mayest know that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

15. And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, Go forth, thou and all the people that follow thee; and then I will go forth.

17. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh doth not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

Hebrew. 10. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Samaritan. 18. And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh: but Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's hes t, so that he would noi,et the children of Israel go out of his land.

" The reader has now the whole of this chapter before him. When, therefore, he has first read the 28th and 29th verses of the preceding chapter, and has then observed with due surprise the confusion of the Hebrew text in chap, xi., he will be prepared to acknowledge with due gratitude the regularity and truth of the Samaritan text, through these many and very considerable differences." — Remarks on select passages in the Old Testament, 8vo., Oxford, 1787.

The reader will pass his own judgment on the weight of this reasoning, and the importance of the additions preserved in the Samaritan text; a conviction of their utility has induced me to insert them

The month Abib is to he considered as the commencement of the year, 1, 2. The Passover instituted; the lamb or kid to be used on the occasion to be taken from the flock the ienih. day of the month, and each family to provide one, 3,4. The lamb or kid to be a male of the first year without blemish, 5. To be killed on the fourteenth day, 6, and the blood to be sprinkled on the side posts and lintels of the doors, 7. The flesh to be prepared by roasting, and not to be eaten either sodden or raw, 8, 9; and no part of it to be left till the morning, 10. The people to eat it with their loins girded, <^c., as persons prepared for a journey, 11. Why called the Passover, 12. The blood sprinkled on the door posts, dfc, to be a token to them of preservation from the destroying angel, 13. The fourteenth day of the month Abib to be a feast for ever, 14. Unleavened bread to be eaten seven days, 15. This also to be observed in all their generations for ever, 17-20. Moses instructs the elders of Israel how they are to offer the lamh and sprinkle his blood, and for ivhat purpose, 2 1-23. He binds them to instruct their children in the nature of this rite, 24-27. The children of Israel act as commanded, 28. All the first-born of Egypt slain, 29, 30. Pharaoh and the Egyptians urge Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites to depart, 31-33. They prepare for their departure, and get gold, silver, and raiment /ro??i the Egyptians, 34-36. They journey from Rameses to Succoth, in number six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, and a mixed multitude, 37, 38. They bake unleavened cakes of the dough they brought ivith them out of Egypt, 39. The time in which they sojourned in Egypt, 40-42. Different ordinances concerning the Passover, 43-49; which are all punctually observed by the people, ivho are brought out of Egypt the same day, 50, 51.

2 * This month shall he unto you the

Verse 2. This month shall be unto you the beginimg of months'] It is supposed that God now changed the commencement of the Jewish year. The month to which this verse refers, the month Abib, answers to a part of our March and April; whereas it is supposed that previously to this the year began with Tisri, which answers to a part of our September; for in this month the Jews suppose God created the world, when a the earth appeared at once with all its fruits in perfection. From this circumstance the Jews have formed a twofold commencement of the year, which has given rise to a twofold denomination of the year itself, to which they afterwards attended in all their reckonings: that which began with Tisri or September was called their civil year; that which began with Abib or March was called the sacred or ecclesiastical year. As the exodus of the Israelites formed a particular

A. M. 2513. Israel, saying, In the tenth day An. JExod. isr. 1. of this month they shall take to

Abib or Nisan. ^i^gj^j every man a ^ lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house:

4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it, according to the number of the

era, which is referred to in Jewish reckonings down to the building of the temple, I have marked it as such in the chronology in the margin; and shall carry it down to the time in which it ceased to be acknowledged.

Some very eminently learned men dispute this; and especially Houbigant, who contends with great plausibility of argument that no new commencement of the year is noted in this place; for that the year had always begun in this month, and that the words shall be, which are inserted by different versions, have nothing answering to them in the Hebrew, which he renders literally thus: Hie meyisis vobis est caput mensiimi; hic vobis primus est anni mensis. " This month is to you the head or chief of the months; it is to you the first month of the year." And he observes farther that God only marks it thus, as is evident from the context, to show the people that this month, which was the beginning of their year, should be so designated as to point out to their posterity on lohal month and on what day of the month they a*:,re to celebrate the passover and the feast of unlea\ ened bread. His words are these: " Ergo superest, et Hebr. ipso ex contextu efRcitur, non hic novi ordinis annum constitui, sed eum anni mensem, qui esset primus, ideo commemorari, ut posteris constaret, quo mense, et quo die mensis pascha et azyma celebranda essent."

Verse 3. In the tenth day of this mo7ith] In after times they began their preparation on the thirteenth day or day before the passover, which was not celebrated till the fourteenth day, see ver. 6: but on the present occasion, as this was their first passover, they probably required more time to get ready in; as a state of very great confusion must have prevailed at this time. Mr. Ainsworth remarks that on this day the Israelites did afterwards go through Jordan into the land of Canaan; Josh. iv. 19. And Christ, our Paschal Lamb, on this day entered Jerusalem, riding on an ass; the people bearing palm branches, and crying, Hosanna, John xii. 1, 12, 13, &c.: and in him this type was truly fulfilled.

A lamb] The original word Pits' sch signifies the young of sheep and of goats, and may be indifferently translated either latnb or hid. See ver. 5.

A lamb for a house] The whole host of Israel was divided into twelve tribes, these tribes into families, the families into houses, and the houses into particular persons; Num. i.. Josh. vii. 14. — Ainsivorth.

Verse 4. If the household be too little] That is, If there be not persons enough in one family to eat a whole lamb, then two families must join together. The

5 Your lamb shall be *= without blemish, a male '^ of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 And ye shall keep it up until the ^ fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole

rabbins allow that there should be at least ten persons to one paschal lamb, and not more than twenty.

Take it, according to the number of the souls] The persons who were to eat of it were to be first ascertained, and then the lamb was to be slain and dressed for that number.

Verse 5. Without blemish] Having no natural imperfection, no disease, no deficiency or redundancy of parts. On this point the rabbins have trifled most egregiously, reckoning fifty blemishes that render a lamb or a kid, or any animal, improper to be sacrificed: five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, &c., &c.

A male of the first year] That is, any age in the first year between eight days and twelve months.

From the sheep, or from the goats] The T\\i/ seh means either; and either was equally proper if without blemish. The Hebrews however in general preferred the lamb to the kid.

Verse 6. Ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day] The lamb or kid was to be taken from the flock on the tenth day, and kept up and fed by itself till the fourteenth day, when it was to be sacrificed. This was never commanded nor practised afterwards. The rabbins mark four things that were required in the first passover that were never required afterwards: 1. The eating of the lamb in their houses dispersed through Goshen. 2. The taking the lamb on the tenth day. 3. The striking of its blood on the door posts and lintels of their houses. And, 4. Their eating it in hastte. These things were not required of the succeeding generations.

The ivhole assembly — shall kill it] Any person might kill it, the sacrificial act in this case not being confined to the priests.

In the evening.] D'3"li'n r3 beyn haarbayim, " between the two evenings." The Jews divided the day into 7norning and evening: till the sun passed the meridian all was morning or forenoon; after that, all was afternoon or evening. Their fits t evening began just after tivelve o^clock, and continued till sun.iet; their second evening began at sunset and continued till night, i. e., during the whole time oUwilight; between twelve o'clock, therefore, and the termination of twilight, the passover was to be offered.

" The day among the Jews had twelve hours, John xi. 9. Their first hour was about six o'clock in the morning with us. Their sixth hour was our noon. Their Jiinth hour answered to our three o'clock in the afternoon. By this we may understand that the time

7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it,

"5 And they shall eat the flesh in that night.

in which Christ was crucified began at the third hour, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, the ordinary time for the daily morning sacrifice, and ended at the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of the evening sacrifice, Mark xv. 25, 33, 34, 37. Wherefore their ninth hour was their hour of prayer, when they used to go into the temple at the daily evening sacrifice, Acts iii. 1; and this was the ordinary time for the passover. It is worthy of remark that God sets no particular hour for the killing of the passover: any time between the two evenings, i. e., between twelve o'clock in the day and the termination of twilight, was lawful. The daily sacrifice (see Exod. xxix. 38, 39) was killed at half past the eighth hour, that is, half an hour before three in the afternoon; and it was offered up at half past the ninth hour, that is, half an hour after three. In the evening of the passover it was killed at half past the seventh hour, and offered at half past the eighth, that is, half an hour BEFORE three: and if the evening of the passover fell on the evening of the Sabbath, it was killed at half past the SIXTH hour, and offered at half past the SEVENTH, that is, half an hour before tioo in the afternoon. The reason of this was, they were first obliged to kill the daily sacrifice, and then to kill and roast the paschal lamb, and also to rest the evening before the passover. Agreeably to this Maimonidcs says ' the killing of the passover is after mid-day, and if they kill it before it is not lawful; and they do not kill it till after the daily evening sacrifice, and burning of incense: and after they have trimmed the lamps they begin to kill the paschal lambs until the end of the day.' By this time of the day God foreshowed the sufferings of Christ in the evening of times or in the last days, Heb. i. 2; 1 Pet. i. 19, 20: and about the same time of the day, when the paschal lamb ordinarily died. He died also, viz., at the ninth hour; Matt, xxvii. 46-50." See Ainsworth.

Verse 7. Take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts'] This was to be done by dipping a bunch of hyssop into the blood, and thus sprinkling it upon the posts, &c.; see ver. 22. That this sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb was an emblem of the sacrifice and atonement made by the death of Jesus Christ, is most clearly intimated in the sacred writings, 1 Pet. i. 2; Heb. ix. 13, 14; viii. 10. It is remarkable that no blood was to be sprinkled on the threshold, to teach, as Mr. Ainsworth properly observes, a reverent regard for the blood of Christ, that men should not tread under foot the Son of GOD, nor count the

9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but ^ roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10 'And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that Which remainetli

blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified a)i unholy thing; Heb. x. 29.

A^'erse 8. They shall eat the flesh — roast tvith flre] As it was the ordinary custom of the Jews to boil their flesh, some think that the command given here was in opposition to the custom of the Egyptians, who ate raiv flesh in honour of Osiris. The Ethiopians are to this day remarkable for eating raw flesh, as is the case with most savage nations.

U7ileavened bread] nii'O matstsoth, from nVO matsah, to squeeze or compress, because the bread prepared without leaven or yeast was generally compressed, sad or heavy, as we term it. The word here properly signifies unleavened cakes; the word for leaven in Hebrew is yon chamets, which simply signifies to ferment. It is supposed that leaven was forbidden on this and other occasions, that the bread being less agreeable to the taste, it might be emblematical of their bondage and bitter servitude, as this seems to have been one design of the bitter herbs which were commanded to be used on this occasion, but this certainly was not the sole design of the prohibition: leaven itself is a species of corruption, being produced by fermentation, which in such cases tends to putrefaction. In this very light St. Paul considers the subject in this place; hence, alluding to the passover as a type of Christ, he says: Purge out therefore the old leaven — for Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not loith old leaven, neither %vith the leaven of malice and ivickedness, but with the unleavened hredid of sincerity and truth; 1 Cor. v. 6— 8.

Bitter herbs] What kind of herbs or salad is intended by the word D'Tiro merorim, which literally signifies bitters, is not well known. The Jews think cichory, loild lettuce, horehound, and the like are intended. Whatever may be implied under the term, whether bitter herbs or bitter ingredients in general, it was designed to put them in mind of their bitter and severe bondage in the land of Egypt, from which God was now about to deliver them.

Verse 9. With the purtenance thereof] All the intestines, for these were abused by the heathens to purposes of divination; and when roasted in the manner here directed they could not be thus used. The command also implies that the lamb was to be roasted whole; neither the head or legs were to be separated, nor the intestines removed. I suppose that these last simply included the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, &c., and not the intestinal canal.

1 1 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: ^ it is the Lord's passover.

morning] Merely to prevent putrefaction; for it was not meet that a thing offered to God should be subjected to corruption, which in such hot countries it must speedily undergo. Thus the body of our blessed Lord saw no corruption, Psalm xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27, because, like the paschal lamb, it was a sacrifice offered to God.

It appears that from the Jewish passover the heathens borrowed their sacrifice termed propter viam. It was their custom previously to their undertaking a journey, to offer a sacrifice to their gods, and to eat the whole if possible, but if any part was left they burned it with fire; and this was called propter viam, because it was made to procure a prosperous journey. It was in reference to this that Cato is said to have rallied a person called Q. Albidius, who, having eaten np all his goods, set fire to his house, his only remaining property. " He has offered his sacrifice propter viam,'''' says Cato, " because he has burned what he could not eat." This account is given by Macrolius, Saturn., lib. ii., 2, edit. Bipont., vol. i., p. 333; and is a remarkable instance how closely some of the religious observances of the people of God have been copied by the heathen nations.

Verse 1 1. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded] As in the eastern countries they wear long loose garments, whenever they travel they tuck up the fore parts of their garments in the girdle which they wear round their loins.

Your shoes on your feet] This seems particularly mentioned because not customary. " The easterns throw off their shoes when they eat, because it would be troublesome," says Sir J. Chardin, " to keep their shoes upon their feet, they sitting cross-legged on the floor, and having no hinder quarters to their shoes, which are made like slippers; and as they do not use tables and chairs as we do in Europe, but have their floors covered with carpets, they throw off their shoes when they enter their apartments, lest they should soil those beautiful pieces of furniture." On the contrary the Israelites were to have their shoes on, because now about to commence their journey. It was customary among the Romans to lay aside their shoes when they went to a banquet. The servants took them off them when they entered the house, and returned them when they departed to their own habitations.

Your staff in your hand] The same writer observes that the eastern people universally make use of a staff when they travel on foot.

Ye shall eat it in haste] Because they were suddenly to take their departure: the destroying angel was at hand, their enemies were coming against them, and they had not a moment to lose.

1 2 For I ^ will pass through A. M. 2513. the land of Egypt this night, and An. JExod. isr. i will smite all the first-born in the Abib or Nisan. land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^ against all the ° gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: °1 am the Lord.

It is the Lord''s passover.] That is, Jehovah is now about to pass over the land, and the houses only where the blood is sprinkled shall be safe from the stroke of death. The Hebrew word nD3 pesach, which we very properly translate passover, and which should always be pronounced as tiuo words, has its name from the angel of God passing by or over the houses of the Israelites, on the posts and lintels of which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, while he stopped at the houses of the Egyptians to slay their first-born.

Verse 12. Against all the gods of Egypt, df-c] As different animals were sacred among the Egyptians, the slaying of the first-born of all the beasts might be called executing judgment upon the gods of Egypt. As this however does not appear very clear and satisfactory, some have imagined that the word TlSx elohey should be translated princes, which is the rendering in our margin; for as these princes, who were rulers of the kingdom under Pharaoh, were equally hostile to the Hebrews with Pharaoh himself, therefore these judgments fell equally heavy on them also. But we may ask. Did not these judgments fall equally on all the families of Egypt, though multitudes of them had no particular part either in the evil counsel against the Israelites or in their oppression ■? Why then distinguish those in calamities in which all equally shared? None of these interpretations therefore appear satisfactory. Houbigant, by a very simple and natural emendation, has, he thinks, restored the whole passage to sense and reason. He supposes that TlSx elohey, GODS, is a mistake for 'Shn ahley, tents or habitations, the n he and the 1 lamed being merely interchanged. This certainly gives a very consistent sensp, and points out the universality of the desolation to which the whole context continually refers. He therefore contends that the text should be read thus: And on all the tents (or habitations) of Egypt I ivill execute judgment; by which words the Lord signified that not one dwelling in the whole land of Egypt should be exempted from the judgment here threatened. It is but justice to say that however probable this criticism may appear, it is not supported by any of the ancient versions, nor by any of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi. The parallel place also Num. xxxiii. 4, is rather against Houbigant's interpretation: For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: vpon their gods also [Dn'nSN31 ubeloheyhem] the Lord executed judgments. But Houbigant amends the word in this place in the same way as he does that in Exodus. There appears also to be an allusion to this former judgment in Isa. xix. 1: Behold, the Lord — shall come into Egypt, and the idols ['S'Sx eliley] of

A. M. 2513. 1 3 And the blood shall be to An. Exod. isr". 1. you for a token upon the houses

the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you p to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt..

14 And this day shall be unto you i for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a "" feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast ^ by an ordinance for ever,

15 * Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away

Egypt shall be moved at his presence. And in Jer. xliii. 13: The houses of the gods [TlSx 'n3 bottei/ elohey] of the Egyptians shall he burn loith fire. The rabbins say that " when Israel came out of Egypt, the holy blessed God threw down all the images of their abominations, and they were broken to pieces." When a nation was conquered, it was always supposed that their gods had either abandoned them or were overcome. Thus Egypt was ruined, and their gods confounded and destroyed by Jehovah. See the note on chap. xi. 7.

Verse 13. The blood shall be to you for a token] It shall be the sign to the destroying angel, that the house on which he sees this blood sprinkled is under the protection of God, and that no person in it is to be injured. See on ver. 11.

Verse 14. A memorial] To keep up a remembrance of the severity and goodness, or justice and mercy, of God. Ye shall keep it a feast — it shall be annually observed, and shall be celebrated with solemn religious joy, throughout your generations — as long as ye continue to be a distinct people; an ordinance — a Divine appointment, an institution of God himself, neither to be altered nor set aside by any human authority.

For ever.] D7l>' T\T>T\ chukkath olam, an everlasting or endless statute, because representative of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world; whose mediation, in consequence of his sacrifice, shall endure while time itself lasts; and to whose merits and efficacy the salvation of the soul shall be ascribable throughout eternity. This, therefore, is a statute and ordinance that can have no end, either in this world or in the world to come. It is remarkable that though the Jews have ceased from the whole of their sacrificial system, so that sacrifices are no longer offered by them in any part of the world, yet they all, in all their generations and in all countries, keep up the remembrance of the passover, and observe the feast of unleavened bread. But no lamb is sacrificed. Their sacrifices have all totally ceased, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Even the flesh that is used on this occasion is partly roasted and partly boiled, that it may not even resemble the primitive •acrifice; for they deem it unlawful to sacrifice out of leaven out of your houses: for a. m. 2513. whosoever eateth leavened bread An. Exod. isr. 1. from the first day until the seventh Abib or Nisan. day, ^ that soul shall be cut off from Israel

1 6 And in the first day there shall 5e ' a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every ^ man must eat, that only may be done of you.

17 And ye shall observe the feast q/" unleavened bread; for '^ in this self-same day have

Jerusalem. The truth is, the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world has been offered, and they have no power to restore the ancient type. See on ver. 27.

Verse 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread] This has been considered as a distinct ordinance, and not essentially connected with the passover. The passover was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month; the feast of unleavened bread began on i\ye fifteenth and lasted seven days, the first and last of which were holy convocations.

That soul shall be cut off] There are thirty-six places in which this excision or cutting off is threatened against the Jews for neglect of some particular duty; and what is implied in the thing itself is not well known. Some think it means a violent death, some a premature death, and some an eternal death. It is very likely that it means no more than a separation from the rights and privileges of an Israelite; so that after this excision the person was considered as a mere stranger, who had neither lot nor part in Israel, nor any right to the blessings of the covenant. This is probably what St. Paul means, Rom. ix. 3. But we naturally suppose this punishment was not inflicted but on those who had showed a marked and obstinate contempt for the Divine authority. This punishment appears to have been nearly the same with excommunication among the Christians; and from this general notion of the cutting off, the Christian excommunication seems to have been borrowed.

Verse 16. In the first day — and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocatioii] This is the first place where we meet with the account of an assembly collected for the mere purpose of religious worship. Such assemblies are called holy convocations, which is a very appropriate appellation for a religious assembly; they were called together by the express command of God, and were to be employed in a work of holiness. N'lpO mikra, convocation, is a word of similar import with the Greek eKKlrjaLa, which we commonly translate Church, and which properly signifies an assembly convened by public call.

Verse 17. Self-same day] DV;'3 Jee/^em, in the body of this day, or in the strength of this day; probably thev began their march about day-break, called here

A. M. 2513. I brought your armies out of the An. JExod. isr. 1. land of Egypt: therefore shall ye Abib or Nisan. observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

18 y In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.

19 ''- Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, ^ even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land,

20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, '' Draw out and take you a ^ lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

22 '-^ And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop.

the body or strength of the day, and in Deut. xvi. 1, by night — some time before the sun rose.

Verse 19. No leaven found in your houses] To meet the letter of this precept in the fullest manner possible, the Jews, on the eve of this festival, institute the most rigorous search through every part of their houses, not only removing all leavened bread, but sweeping every part clean, that no crumb of bread shall be left that had any leaven in it. And so strict were they in the observance of the letter of this law, that if even a mouse was seen to run across the floor with a crumb of bread in its mouth, they considered the whole house as polluted, and began their purification afresh. We have already seen that leaven was an emblem of sin, because it proceeded from corruption; and the putting away of this implied the turning to God with simplicity and uprightness of heart. See on ver. 8, and the note on ver. 27.

Verse 21. Kill the passove?-.] That is, the lamb, which was called the paschal or passover lamb. The animal that was to be sacrificed on this occasion got the name of the institution itself: thus the word covenant is often put for the sacrifice offered in making the covenant; so the rock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4; bread and ivine the body and blood of Chnst, Mark xiv. 22, 24. St. Paul copies the expression, 1 Cor. v. 7: Christ our passover (that is, our paschal lamb) is sacrificed for us.

Verse 22. A bunch of hyssop] The original word 31TX ezob has been variously translated musk, rosemary, polypody of the wall, mint, origanum, marjoram, and HYSSOP: the latter seems to be the most proper. Parkhurst isays it is nam*^^ from its detersive and cleansing and dip it in the blood that is ip A. M. 2513. the basin, and « strike the lintel An. Exod. Isr.' 1. and the two side posts with the ^^'^ "' ^''^^■

blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

23 ^ For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and ^ will not suffer ^ the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.

25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, ' according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

26 '^ And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you. What mean ye by this service?

qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the b')od of the paschal lamb, in cleansing the leprosy. Lev. xiv 4, 6, 51, 52; in composing the water of purification, Num. xix. 6, and sprinkling it, ver. 18. It was a type of the purifying virtue of the bitter sufferings of Christ. And it is plain, from Psa. li. 7, that the psalmist understood its meaning. Among botanists hyssop is described as " a genus of the gymnospermia (naked-seeded) order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants. It has under-shrubby, low, bushy stalks, growing a foot and a half high, small, spear-shaped, close-sitting, opposite leaves, with several smaller ones rising from the same joint; and all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of flowers of different colours, in the varieties of the plant. The leaves have an aromatic smell, and a warm pungent taste. The leaves of this plant are particularly recommended in humoral asthmas, and other disorders of the breast and lungs, and greatly promote expectoration." Its medicinal qualities were probably the reason why this plant was so particularly recommended in the Scriptures.

Verse 26. What mean ye by this service?] The establishment of this service annually was a very wise provision to keep up in remembrance this wonderful deliverance. From the remotest antiquity the institution of feasts, games, &c., has been used to keep up the memory of past grand events. Hence God instituted the Sabbath, to keep up the remembrance of the creation; and the passover, to keep up the remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt. All the other feasts were instituted on similar reasons. The Jews never took their sons to the tabernacle or temple till they a

of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and deUvered our houses.

28 And the children of Israel Abib or Nisan.

went away, and ''did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

were twelve years of age, nor suffered them to eat of the flesh of any victim till they had themselves offered a sacrifice at the temple, which they were not permitted to do before the twelfth year of their age. It was at this age that Joseph and Mary took our blessed Lord to the temple, probably for the first time, to offer his sacrifice. See Calmet.

Verse 27. It is the sacrifice of the Lord^s passover^ We have already intimated that the paschal lamb was an illustrious type of Christ; and we shall find that every thing in this account is typical or representative. The bondage and affliction of the people of Israel may be considered as emblems of the hard slavery and wretchedness consequent on a state of sinfulness. Satan reigns over both body and soul, bringing the whole into subjection to the law of sin and death; while various evil tempers, passions, lusts, and irregular appetites, act as subordinate tormentors, making the lives of the vassals of sin bitter, because of the rigour by which they are obliged to serve. Reader, is this thy case? The mercy of God projects the redemption of man from this cruel bondage and oppression; and a sacrifice is appointed for the occasion by God himself, to be offered with particular and significant rites and ceremonies, all of which represent the passion and death of our blessed Lord, and the great end for which he became a sacrifice, viz., the redemption of a lost world from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin, &c. And it is worthy of remark, 1. That the anniversary or annual commemoration of the passover was strictly and religiously kept by the Jews on the day, and hour of the day, on which the original transaction took place, throughout all their succeeding generations. 2. That on one of these anniversaries, and, as many suppose, on the very day and hour on which the paschal lamb was originally offered, our blessed Lord expired on the cross for the salvation of the world. 3. That after the destruction of Jerusalem the paschal lamb ceased to be offered by the Jews throughout the world, though they continue to hold the anniversary of the passover, but ivithout any sacrifice, notwithstanding their deep-rooted, inveterate antipathy against the author and grace of the Gospel. 4. That the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted to keep this true paschal sacrifice in commemoration, and that this has been religiously observed by the whole Christian world (one very small class of Christians excepted) from the foundation of Christianity to the present day! 5. That the Jews were commanded to eat the paschal lamb; and our Lord, commemorating the passover, commanded his disciples, saying, Take, eat, THIS is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of ME. In the communion service of the Church of England, the spirit and design both of the type and antitype are most expressly con- VoL. T ( 24 ^ densed into one point of view, in the address to the communicant: " Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee; and feed upon him, in thy heart, by faith with thanksgiving." Thus God continues the memorial of that grand transaction which he has said should be an ordinance for ever; evidently meaning thereby, that the paschal lamb should be the significator till the passion and death of Christ; and that afterwards bread and loine taken sacramentally, in commemoration of his crucifixion, should be the continual representatives of that sacrifice till the end of the world. Thus the passover in itself, and in its reference, is an ordinance for ever; and thus the words of the Lord are literally fulfilled. Reader, learn from this, 1. That if thou art not rescued from the thraldom of sin, thou must perish for ever. 2. That nothing less than the power and mercy of God can set thee free. 3. That God will save thee in no other way than by bringing thee out of thy sinful state, and from thy wicked practices and companions. 4. That in order to thy redemption it was absolutely necessary that the Son of God should take thy nature upon him, and die in thy stead. 5. That unless the blood of this sacrifice be sprinkled, in its atoning efficacy and merits, on thy heart and conscience, the guilt and power of thy sin cannot be taken away. 6. That as the blood of the paschal lamb must be sprinkled on every house, in order to the preservation of its inhabitants, so there must be a personal application of the blood of the cross to thy conscience, to take away thy sins. 7. As it was not enough that the passover was instituted, but the blood must be sprinkled on the lintels and door posts of every house to make the rite effectual to the salvation of each individual, so it is not enough that Christ should have taken human nature upon him, and died for the sin of the world; for no man who has the opportunity of hearing the Gospel is saved by that death, who does not, by faith, get a personal application of it to his own heart. 8. That those who wish for an application of the atoning blood, must receive this spiritual passover with a perfect readiness to depart from the land of their captivity, and travel to the rest that remains for the people of God; it being impossible, not only to a gross sinner, continuing such, to be finally saved, (however he may presume upon the mercy of God,) but also to a worldly-minded man, to get to the kingdom of God; for Christ died to save us from the present evil ivorld, according to the will of God. 9. That in order to commemorate aright, in the sacrament of the Lorfs Supper, the great atonement made for the sin. of the world, all leaven of malice, bitterness, and insincerity, must be put away; as God wiU have no man to partake of this mystery who does not fully enter into its spirit and meaning. See 1 Cor V. 7, 8.

A. M. 2513. 29 ° And it came to pass, that An.Exod.isr'. 1. at midnight ^the Lord smote all Abib or Nisan. jj^g first-born in the land of Egypt, ^ from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that

Verse 29. Smote all the first-horn] If we take the term, first-horn in its literal sense o)ilj/,we shall be led to conclude that in a vast number of the houses of the Egyptians there could have been no death, as it is not at all likely that every first-born child of every Egyptian family was still alive, and that all the first-born of their cattle still remained. And yet it is said, ver. 30, that there was not a house ivhere there was not one dead. The word therefore must not be taken in its literal sense only. From its use in a great variety of places in the Scriptures it is evident that it means the chief, most excellent, best heloved, most distinguished, &c. In this sense our blessed Lord is called the firstborn of every creature. Col. i. 15, and the first-born among many brethren, Rom. viii. 29; that is, he is more excellent than all creatures, and greater than all the children of men. In the same sense.we may understand Rev. i. 5, where Christ is called the firstbegotten from the dead, i. e., the chief of all that have ever visited the empire of death, and on whom death has had any power; and the only one who by his own might quickened himself. In the same sense wisdom is represented as being brought forth before all the creatures, and being possessed by the Lord in the beginning of his ways, Prov. viii. 22—30; that is, the wisdom of God is peculiarly conspicuous in the production, arrangement, and government of every part of the creation. So Ephraim is called the Lord's firstborn, Jer. xxxi. 9. And the people of Israel are often called by the same name, see Exod. iv. 22: Israel is my son, my first-born; that is, the people in whom I particularly delight, and whom I will especially support and defend. And because the first-born are in general peculiarly dear to their parents, and because among the Jews they had especial and peculiar privileges, whatever was most dear, most valuable, and most prized, was thus denominated. So Micah vi. 7: Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Shall I give up the 7nost beloved child I have, he that is most dear and most necessary to me, in order to make an atonement for my sins! In like manner the Prophet Zechariah, speaking of the conversion of the Jews to the Gospel of Christ, represents them as looking on him whom they have pierced, and being as one that is in bitterness for his first-born; that is, they shall feel distress and anguish as those who had lost their most beloved chM. So the Church triumphant in the kingdom of God are called, Heb. xii. 23, the general assembly and Church of the first-born, i. e., the most noble and excellent of all human if not created beings. So Homer II. iv., ver. 102: kpvuv irpuroyovuv pe^eiv KXeirrjv iKato/iPtjv' " A hecatomb of lambs all firstlings of the flock." That is, the most excellent of their kind.

30 And Pharaoh rose up in Abib or Nisan. the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a ^ great cry

joined to another that signifies any kind of misery or disgrace, it then signifies the depth of misery, the utmost disgrace. So the first-born of the poor, Isa. xiv. 30, signifies the most abject, destitute, and impoverished. The FiRsr-BORK of death. Job. xviii. 13, means the?nost ho7-rible kind of death. So in the threatening again.st Pharaoh, chap. xi. 5, where he informs him that he will slay all the first-born, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitleth upon the throne, to the first-born of the maid-servant that is beJiind the mill, he takes in the very highest and lowest conditions of life. As there was no state in Egypt superior to the throne, so there was none inferior to that of the female slave that ground at the mill. The Prophet Habakkuk seems to fix this as the sense in which the word is used here; for speaking of the plagues of Egypt in general, and the salvation which God afforded his people, he says, chap. iii. 13: Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people — thou luoundedst the he.\d (lyxi rosh, the chief, the most excellent) of the house of the ivicked — of Pharaoh an»l the Egyptians. And the author of the book of Wis' dom understood it in the same way: The master and, the servant ivere punished after one manner; and like as the king, so suffered the common people — for in one moment the noblest offspring of them ivas destroyed; chap, xviii. 11, 12. And in no other sense can we understand the word in Psa. Ixxxix. 27, where, among the promises of God to David, we find the following: Also I ivill make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth; in which passage the latter clause explains the former; David, as king, should be the first-born of God, i. e., he should be higher than the kings of the earth — the most eminent potentate in the universe. In this sense, therefore, we should under-t stand the passage in question; the most eminent person in every family in Egypt, as well as those who were literally \\\e first-born, being slain in this plague. Calmet and some other critics particularly contend for this sense.

Verse 30. There was a great cry] No people in the universe were more remarkable for their mournings than the Egyptians, especially in matters of religion; they whipped, beat, tore themselves, and howled in all the excess of grief When a relative died, the people left the house, ran into the streets, and howled in the most lamentable and frantic manner.- See Diod. Sicul., lib. i., and Herod., lib. ii., c. 85, 86. And this latter author happening to be in Egypt on one of their solemnities, saw myriads of people whipping and beating themselves in this manner, lib. ii., c. 60; and see Mr. Bryant on the PIngues of Egypt, where many examples are given, p. 162, &c. How dreadful then must the scene of horror and distress appear, when there was not one house or family in Egypt

■3 1 And * he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, ^ both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.

32 ^ Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and ^ bless me also.

33 ^ And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, ^ We be all dead men.

34 And the people took their A.M. 2513. dough before it was leavened, An^E^od-kr'. 1. their ^ kneading-troughs being Abib or Nisan bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses: and they borrowed of the Egyptians ^ jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

36 ^ And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And ^ they spoiled the Egyptians,

37 And ^ the children of Israel journeyed from ^ Rameses to Succoth, about ^ six hun-

where there was not one dead; and according to their custom, all the family running out into the streets bewailing this calamity!

Verse 3 1. Called for Moses and Aaron] That is, he sent the message here mentioned to them; for it does not appear that he had any farther interview with Moses and Aaron, after what is mentioned chap. x. 28, 29, and xi. 8. See the notes there.

Verse 33. The Egyptians were urgent upon the people] They felt much, they feared more; and therefore wished to get immediately rid of a people on whose account they found they were smitten with so many and such dreadful plagues.

Verse 34. The people took their dough before it was leavened, dfc] There was no time now to make any regular preparation for their departure, such was the universal hurry and confusion. The Israelites could carry but little of their household utensils with them; but some, such as they kneaded their bread and kept their meal in, they were obliged to carry with them. The kneading troughs of the Arabs are comparatively small wooden bowls, which, after kneading their bread in, serve them as dishes out of which they eat their victuals. And as to these being bound up in their clothes, no more may be intended than their wrapping them up in their long, loose garments, or in what is stUl used among the Arabs, and called hykes, which is a long kind of blanket, something resembling a highland plaid, in which they often carry their provision, wrap themselves by day, and sleep at night. Dr. Shaw has been particular in his description of this almost entire wardrobe of an Arab. He says they are of different sizes and of different qualities, but generally about six yards in length, and five or six feet broad. He supposes that what we call Ruth's veil, Ruth iii. 15, was a hyke, and that the same is to be understood of the clothes of the Israelites mentioned in this verse. See his Travels, p. 224, 4to edition.

Verse 35. They borrowed of the Egyptians'] See the note on chap. iii. 22, where the very exceptionable term borrow is largely explained.

Verse 37. From Rameses to Succoth] Rameses appears to have been another name for Goshen, though it is probable that there might have been a chief city or village in that land, where the children of Israel rendezvoused previously to their departure, called Rameses. As the term Succoth signifies booths or tents, it is probable that this place was so named from its being the place of the first encampment of the Israelites.

Six hundred thousand] That is. There was this number of effective men, twenty years old and upwards, who were able to go out to war. But this was not the whole number, and therefore the sacred Avriter says they were about 600,000; for when the numbers were taken about thirteen months after this they were found to be six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty, without reckoning those under twenty years of age, or any of the tribe of Levi; see Num. i. 45, 46. But besides those on foot, or footmen, there were no doubt many old and comparatively infirm persons, who rode on camels, horses, or asses, besides the immense number of women and children, which must have been at least three to one of the others; and the mixed multitude, ver. 38, probably of refugees in Egypt, who came to sojourn there, because of the dearth which had obliged them to emigrate from their own countries; and who now, seeing that the hand of Jehovah was against the Egyptians and with the Israelites, availed themselves of the general consternation, and took their leave of Egypt, choosing Israel's God for their portion, and his people for their companions. Such a company moving at once, and emigrating from their own country, the world never before nor since witnessed; no doubt upwards of two millions of souls, besides their flocks and herds, even very much cattle; and what but the mere providence 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 1

Suppose we take them at a rough calculation thus, two millions will be found too small a number.

went up also with them; and flocks, and!ierds, even very much cattle.

39 And they baked unleavened 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

These, on an average, might have 5 children under 20 years of age, an estimate which falls considerably short of the number of children each family must have averaged in order to produce from 75 persons, in A. M. 2298, upwards of 600,000 effective men in A. M. 2494, o •T?'!':'^ of onl v 196 years....

Total.. 3,263,000 Besides a multitude of old and infirm persons who would be obliged to ride on camels and asses, &c., and who must, from the proportion that such bear to the young and healthy, amount to many thousands more! Exclude even the Levites and their families, and upwards of three millions will be left.

" In Num. iii. 39 the male Levites, aged one month and upwards, are reckoned 22,000, perhaps the females did not much exceed this number, say 23,000, and 500 children, under one month, will make 45,500." — Anon. 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, unconnected with all others, is an ample demonstration of the Divine mission of Moses, and of the authenticity and Divine inspiration 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 people, to lead them through a trackless wilderness, utterly unprovided for such a journey, to a land as yet in the possession of several powerful nations whom they must expel before they could possess the country, would have implied such an extreme of madness and folly as has never been witness' d in an individual, and such a blind credulity in the multitude as is unparalleled in the annals of mankind! The succeeding stupendous events proved that Moses had the authority of God to do what he did; and the people had at least S66

40 Now the sojourning of the Ab.b or Nisan. children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was * four hundred and thirty years.

4 1 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all ^ the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

such a general conviction that he had this authority, that they implicitly followed his directions, and received their law from his mouth.

Verse 40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, 4"C-] The statement in this verse is allowed on all hands to be extremely difficult, and therefore the passage stands in especial need of illustration. " That the descendants of Israel did not dwell 430 years in Egypt,'''' says Dr. Kennicott, "may be easily proved, and has often been demonstrated. Some therefore imagine that by Egypt here both it and Canaan are to be understood. But this greater latitude of place will not solve the difficulty, since the Israelifei^ingluding Israel their father, did not sojourn 430 years in botiV vfountries previous to their departure from Egypt. Others, faV^nsible of the still remaining deficiency, would not only havv? Egypt in the text to signify it and Canaan, but by a figun? more compre hensive would have the children of Israel^ to mean IsraeVs children, and Israel their father, and Isaac the father of Israel, and part of the life of Abra/ham, the father of Isaac.

" Thus indeed," says Dr. Kennicott, " we arrive at the exact sum, and by this method of reckoning we might arrive at any thing but truth, which we may presume was never thus conveyed by an inspired writer." But can the difficulty be removed without having re course to such absurd shifts'? Certainly it can. The Samaritan Pentateuch, in all its manuscripts and printed copies, reads the place thus: — ^

Umoshab beney Yishrael veabotham asher yashebu baarets Cenaan, ubaarets mitsraim sheloshim shanah vearba meoth shanah.

" Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, loas 430 years.'''' This same sum is given by St. Paul, Gal. iii- 17, who reckons from the promise made to Abraham, when God commanded him to go to Canaan, to the giving of the law, which soon followed the departure from Egypt; and this chronology of the apostle is concordant with the Samaritan Pentateuch, which, by preserving the two passages, they and their fathers, and in the land of Canaan, which are lost out of the present copies of the Hebrew text, has rescued this passage from all obscurity and contradiction. It may be

Au. Exod. Isr. 1. observed unto the IiORD lor AbiborNisan. bj-i,^gjng them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to 6e observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is ^ the ordinance of the pass-

necessary to observe that the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint has the same reading as that in the Samaritan. The Samaritan Pentateuch is allowed by many learned men to exhibit the most correct copy of the five books of Moses; and the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint must also be allowed to be one of the •nost authentic as well as most ancient copies of this version which we possess. As to St. Paul, no man will dispute the authenticity of his statement; and thus in the mouth of these three most respectable witnesses the whole account is indubitably established. That these three witnesses have the truth, the chronology itself proves: for from Abraham's entry into Canaan to the birth of Isaac was 25 years, Gen. xii. 4, xvii. 1—21; Isaac was 60 years old at the birth of Jacob, Gen. XXV. 26; and Jacob was 130 at his going down into Egypt, Gen. xlvii. 9; which three sums make 215 years. And then Jacob and his children having continued in Egypt 215 years more, the whole sum of 430 years is regularly completed. See Kennicoifs Dissertation on the Hebrew Text.

Verse 42. A night to be much observed] A night to be held in everlasting remembrance, because of the peculiar display of the power and goodness of God, the observance of which annually was to be considered a religious precept while the Jewish nation should continue.

Verse 43. This is the ordinance of the passover] From the last verse of this chapter it appears pretty evident that this, to the 50th verse inclusive, constituted a part of the directions given to Moses relative to the proper observance of the first passover, and should be read conjointly with the preceding account beginning at verse 21. It may be supposed that these latter parts contain such particular directions as God gave to Moses after he had given those general ones mentioned in the preceding verses, but they seem all to belong to this first passover.

There shall no stranger eat thereof] '^2l p ben nechar, the son of a stranger ox foreigner, i. e., one who was not of the genuine Hebrew stock, or one who had not received circumcision; for any circ^imcised person might eat the passover, as the total exclusion extends only to the uncircumcised, see ver. 48. As there are two sorts of strangers mentioned in the sacred writings; one who was admitted to all the Jewish ordinances, and another who, though he dwelt among the Jews, was not permitted to eat the passover or partake of any of their solemn feasts; it may be necessary to show what was the essential point of distinction through which the one was admitted and the other excluded.

44 But every man's servant AbiborNisan. that is bought for money, when thou hast ° circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.

45 "A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.

4 6 In one house shall if be eaten; thou

In treatises on the religious customs of the Jews we frequently meet with the term proselyte, from the Greek rrpoarjT^vTog, a stranger or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country to sojourn icith another. All who were not descendants of some one of the twelve sons of Jacob, or of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, were reputed strangers or proselytes among the Jews. But of those strangers or proselytes there were two kinds, called among them proselytes of the gate, and proselytes of justice or of the covenant. The former were such as wished to dwell among the Jews, but would not submit to be circumcised; they, however, acknowledged the true God, avoided all idolatry, and observed the seven precepts of Noah, but were not obliged to observe any of the Mosaic institutions. The latter submitted to be circumcised, obliged themselves to observe all the rites and ceremonies of the law, and were in nothing different from the Jews but merely in their having once been heathens. The former, or proselytes of the gate, might not eat the passover or partake of any of the sacred festivals; but the latter, the proselytes of the coveJiant, had the same rights, spiritual and secular, as the Jews themselves. See ver. 48.

Verse 45. A foreigner] ^tyin toshab, from 31?' yashab, to sit doion or divell; one who is a mere sojourner, for the purpose of traffic, merchandise, &c., but who is neither a proselyte of the gate nor of the covenant.

And a hired servant] Who, though he be bought with money, or has indented himself for a certain term to serve a Jew, yet has not become either a proselyte of the gate or of the covenant. None of these shall eat of it, because not circumcised — not brought under the bond of the covenant; and not being under obligation to observe the Mosaic law, had no right to its privileges and blessings. Even under the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is the author of eternal salvation only to them ivho obey him, Heb. v. 9; and those who become Christians are chosen to salvation through SANCTiFicATioN of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, 2 Thess. ii. 13; for the grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching ice should live soberly, righteously, and godly, m this present ivorld; Tit. ii. 1 1, 12. Such persons only walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called.

Verse 46. In one house shall it be eaten] In one family, if that be large enough; if not, a neighbouring family might be invited, ver. 4.

Thou Shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh] Every family must abide within doors because of the destroy-

A. M. 2513. shall not carry forth aught of the An. Exod. Isr. 1. flesh abroad out of the house; Abib or Nisan. q neither shall ye break a bone

47 'All the congregation of Israel shall *keep it.

48 And * when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord,

inpf angel, none being permitted to go out of his house tUl the next day, ver. 22.

Neither shall ye break a bone thereof. '\ As it was to be eaten in haste, (ver. 11,) there was no time either to separate the bones, or to break them in order to extract the marrow; and lest they should be tempted to consume time in this way, therefore this ordinance was given. It is very likely that, when the whole lamb was brought to table, they cut off the flesh without even separating any of the large joints, leaving the skeleton, with whatever flesh they could not eat, to be consumed with fire, ver. 10. This precept was also given to point out a most remarkable circumstance which 1500 years after was to take place in the crucifixion of the Saviour of mankind, who was the true Paschal Lamb, that Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; who, though he was crucified as a common malefactor, and it was a universal custom to break the legs of such on the cross, yet so did the providence of God order it that a bone of him was not broken. See the fulfilment of this wondrously expressive type, John xix. 33, 36.

Verse 48. And when a stranger — ivill keep the passover, 4"C.] Let all who sojourn among you, and who desire to partake of this sacred ordinance, not only be circumcised themselves, but all the males of their families likewise, that they may all have an equal right to the blessings of the covenant.

Verse 49. One law shall be to him that is home-born, 4"C.] As this is the first place that the term min torah or LAW occurs, a term of the greatest importance in Divine revelation, and on the proper understanding of which much depends, I judge it best to give its genuine explanation once for all.

The word miH torah comes from the root n"!' yarah, which signifies to aim at, teach, point out, direct, lead, guide, make straight, or even; and from these significations of the word (and in all these senses it is used in the Bible) we may see at once the nature, properties, and design of the law of God. It is a system of INSTRUCTION in righteousness; it teaches the difference between moral good and evil; ascertains what is right and fit to be dojie, and what should be left undone, because i?nproper to be performed. It continually aims at the glory of God, and the happiness of his creatures; teaches the true knowledge of the true God, and the destructive nature of sin; points out the absolute necessity of an atonement as the only means by which God can be reconciled to transgressors; and in its very significant rites and ceremonies points out the Son of God, till he should come to put 3.')8 let all his males be circumcised, a. m. 2513 and then let him come near and An. Exod. isr. 1. keep it; and he shall be as one Abib or Nisan. that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

49 " One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.

away iniquity by the sacrifice of himself. It is a revelation of God's wisdom and goodness, wonderfully well calculated to direct the hearts of men into the truth, to guide their feet into the path of life, and to make straight, even, and plai7i that way which leads to God, and in which the soul must walk in order to arrive at eternal life. It is the fountain whence every correct notion relative to God — his perfections, providence, grace, justice, holiness, omniscience, and omnipotence, has been derived. And it has been the origin whence all the true principles of law and justice have been deduced. The pious study of it was the grand means of producing the greatest kings, the most enhghtened statesmen, the most accomplished poets, and the most holy and useful men, that ever adorned the world. It is exceeded only by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is at once the accomplishment of its rites and predictions, and the fulfilment of its grand plan and outline. As a system of teaching or instruction, it is the most sovereign and most effectual; as by it is the knowledge of sin, and it alone is the schoolmaster, iratdayuyog, that leads men to Christ, that they may be justified through faith, Gal. iii. 24. Who can absolutely ascertain the exact quantum of obliquity in a crooked line, without the application of a straight one T And could sin, in all its twistings, windings, and varied involutions, have ever been truly ascertained, had not God given to man this perfect rule to judge by] The nations who acknowledge this revelation of God have, as far as they attained to its dictates, the wisest, purest, most equal, and most beneficial laws. The nations \ that do not receive it have laws at once extravagantly severe and extravagantly indulgent. The proper distinctions between moral good and evil, in such states, are not known: hence the penal sanctions are not founded on the principles of justice, weighing the exact proportion of moral turpitude; but on the most arbitrary caprices, which in many cases show the utmost indulgence to first-rate crimes, while they punish minor offences with rigour and cruelty. What is the consequence? Just what might be reasonably expected: the will and caprice of a man being put in the place of the wisdom of God, the government is oppressive, and the people, frequently goaded to distraction, rise up in a mass and overturn it; so that the monarch, however powerful for a time, seldom lives out half his days. This ivas the case in Greece, in Rome, in the major part of the Asiatic governments, and is the case in all nations of the world to the present day, where the governor is despotic, and the laws not formed according to the revelation of God.

The word lex, law, among the Romans, has been derived from lego, I read; because when a law or statute was made, it was hung up in the most public places, that it might be seen, read, and knoion by all men, that those who were to obey the laws might not break them through ignorance, and thus incur the penalty. This was called promulgatio legis, q. provulgatio, the promulgation of the law, i. e., the laying it before the common people. Or from ligo, I hind, because the law binds men to the strict observance of its precepts. The Greeks call a law vofiog nomas, from vefiu, to divide, distribute, minister to, or serve, because the law divides to all their just rights, appoints or distributes to each his proper duty, and thus serves or ministers to the welfare of the individual and the support of society. Hence where there are either no laws, or unequal and unjust ones, all is distraction, violence, rapine, oppression, anarchy, and ruin.

Verse 51. By their armies.^ DP\ii2'!£ tsibotham, from N3!!f tsaba, to assemble, meet together, in an orderly or regulated manner, and hence to war, to act together as troops in battle; whence niXUif tsehaoth, troops, armies, hosts. It is from this that the Divine Being calls himself mX32f niiT' Yehovah tsebaoth, the Lord of HOSTS or armies, because the Israelites were brought out of Egypt under his direction, marshalled and ordered by himself, guided by his wisdom, supported by his providence, and protected by his might. This is the true and simple reason why God is so frequently styled in Scripture the Lord of hosts; for the liORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

On this chapter the notes have been so full and so explicit, that little can be added to set the subject before the reader in a clearer light. On the ordinance of the PASSOVER, the reader is requested to consult the notes on verses 7, 14, and 27. For the display of God's power and providence in supporting so great a multitude where, humanly speaking, there was no provision, and the proof that the exodus of the Israelites gives of the truth of the Mosaic history, he is referred to ver. 37. And for the meaning of the term law, to ver. 49.

On the ten plagues it may be but just necessary, after what has been said in the notes, to make a few general reflections. WTien the nature of the Egyptian idolatry is considered, and the plagues which were sent upon them, we may see at once the peculiarity of the judgment, and the great propriety of its being inflicted in the way related by Moses. The plagues were either inflicted on the objects of their idolatry, or by their means.

1. That the river Nile was an object of their worship, and one of their greatest gods, we have already seen. As the first plague, its waters were therefore turned into blood; and the fish, many of which were a

51' And it came to pass the a. m. 2513. self-same day, that the Lord did An.kxod.isr. 1. bring the children of Israel out Abib or Nisan. of the land of Egypt ^ by their armies.

objects also of their adoration, died. Blood was particularly offensive to them, and the touch of any dead animal rendered them unclean. When then their great god, the river, was turned into blood, and its waters became putrid, so that all the fish, minor objects of their devotion, died, we see a judgment at once calculated to punish, correct, and reform them. Could they ever more trust in gods who could neither save themselves nor their deluded worshippers "?

2. Mr. Bryant has endeavoured to prove ihzt frogs, the SECOND plague, were sacred animals in Egypt, and were dedicated to Osiris: they certainly appear on many ancient Egyptian monuments, and in such circumstances and connections as to show that they were held in religious veneration. These therefore became an awful scourge; first, by their numbers, and their intrusion into every place; and, secondly, by their death, and the infection of the atmosphere which took place in consequence.

3. We have seen also that the Egyptians, especially the priests, affected great cleanliness, and would not wear woollen garments lest any kind of vermin should harbour about them. The THiftD plague, by means of lice or such like vermin, was wisely calculated both to humble and confound them. In this tney immediately saw a power superior to any that could be exerted by their gods or their magicians; and the latter were obliged to confess. This is the finger of God!

4. That flies were held sacred among the Egyptians and among various other nations, admits of the strongest proof. It is very probable that Baal-zebub himself was worshipped under the form of a fly or great cantharid. These, therefore, or some kind of winged noxious insects, became the prime agents in the FOURTH plague; and if the cynomyia or dog-fly be intended, we have already seen in the notes with what propriety and effect this judgment was inflicted.

5. The murrain or mortality among the cattle was the FIFTH plague, and the most decisive mark of the power and indignation of Jehovah. That dogs, cats, monkeys, rams, heifers, and bulls, were all objects of their most religious veneration, all the world knows. These were smitten in a most singular manner by the hand of God; and the Egyptians saw themselves deprived at once of all their imaginary helpers. Even Apis, their ox-god, in whom they particularly trusted, now suffers, groans, and dies under the hand of Jehovah. Thus does he execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. See ver. 12.

6. The SIXTH plague, viz., of boils and Mains, was as appropriate as any of the preceding; and the sprinkling of the ashes, the means by which it was produced, peculiarly significant. Pharmacy, Mr. Bryant has observed, was in high repute among the Egyptians; and Isis, their most celebrated goddess, was considered as the preventer or healer of all diseases. " For this goddess," says Diodorus, Hist., lib. i., " used to reveal nerself to people in their sleep when they laboured under any disorder, and afford them relief. Many who placed their confiden^ce in her influence wapaSo^ug iyiaivecrOai, were miraculously restored. Many likewise who had been despaired of and given over by the physicians on account of the obstinacy of the distemper, were saved by this goddess. Numbers who had been deprived of their eyes, and of other parts of their bodies, were all restored on their application to Isis." By this disorder, therefore, which no application to their gods could cure, and which was upon the magicians also, who were supposed to possess most power and influence, God confounded their pride, showed the folly of their worship, and the vanity of their depend ence. The means by which these boils and blains were inflicted, viz., the sprinkling of ashes from the furnace, was peculiarly appropriate. Plutarch assures us, De Iside et Osiride, that in several cities of Egypt they were accustomed to sacrifice human beings to Typhon, which they burned alive upon a high altar; and at the close of the sacrifice the priests gathered the ashes of these victims, and scattered them in the air: " I presume," says Mr. Bryant, " with this view, that where an atom of their dust was wafted, a blessing might be entailed. The like was done by Moses with the ashes of the furnace, that wherever any, the smallest portion, alighted, it might prove a plague and a curse to this cruel, ungrateful, and infatuated people. Thus there was a designed contrast in these workings of Providence, an apparent opposition to the superstition of the times."