until he is forty years old, educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. But "by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” (Heb. 11 : 24-26.) The impulse of his own feelings, without a special call, led him to assume the office of an avenger of his oppressed people; the humiliation which he incurred drove him into the desert, and was followed by a period of discipline of forty years. He marries Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, whose flocks he kept in the vicinity of Horeb, on the peninsula of Sinai (§ 41). In Horeb the Lord appears to him in the burning bush, and calls: "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." The same wilfulness which had once induced him to assume the office of an avenger, prompts him to decline the office now assigned to him; but his refusal is not admitted by the Lord. As a pledge of his success, and of the glorious progress of the work which is to be commenced, the Lord refers to his own name, JEHOVAH, the fulness and glory of which are now, first of all, to be properly unfolded and demonstrated (see § 3. OBS.); he likewise communicates to Moses a three-fold miraculous power, intended to be an attestation in the presence of the people and of Pharaoh, of his truth as the messenger of God. When Moses refers to his slowness of speech and tongue as a reason for declining the divine commission, the Lord designates his brother Aaron, and says: "He shall be thy spokesman- he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God."

OBS. 1.-The bramble-bush (seneh) is an image of Israel, enslaved, wretched, and despised. The fire is here, as in every theophany or manifestation of God, an image of his consuming and purifying holiness. Israel is now placed in the purificatory fire of affliction, which proceeds from the Egyptians, it is true, but which is sent by the Lord to his people, for the purpose of purifying them. For Pharaoh's hatred and oppression become, in the hands of God, simply the means of bringing salvation to Israel. All that is unholy

in Israel shall be consumed by the fire of affliction, but the kernel, the imperishable seed of promise, cannot be consumed. Hence, the bush burns indeed with fire, but it is not consumed (ch. 3: 2).

OBS. 2.-The three-fold miraculous power communicated to Moses, also has a symbolical meaning. 1. The rod cast on the ground, becomes a serpent, and when seized, becomes a rod again. The rod is the support of the hand, the instrument which gives it additional strength and vigor. The arm of Moses is appointed to become a formidable power, by the aid of God, bringing ruin and death to the Egyptians, for Moses can both send forth and also take these back. 2. The hand of Moses is leprous when put into his bosom — it is restored to purity and soundness when put into his bosom a second time. The call of Moses to be the avenger and deliverer of his people, is deposited in his bosom; when he put his hand in his bosom on the first occasion, he was excluded from communion with his people, like a leper. But on the second occasion, he is restored to that communion by the power of God, and fulfils the calling for which he is born, through the power of Him who calls him. 3. Moses is commanded to take of the water of the Nile, and pour it upon the dry land; it shall become blood. When the water of the Nile flows over the land on other occasions, the Egyptians find it to be the source of every blessing; but when Moses stretches out his hand (ch. 7: 19), the Lord converts the blessing into a curse. The three miraculous signs refer to the hand of Moses, which, through the power of God, is to accomplish the great work.

§ 40. The Plagues of Egypt, and the Departure of Israel.

1. Exodus, ch. 7-11.- Moses, accompanied by his brother Aaron as spokesman, appears before Pharaoh in the name of Jehovah, and asks that the people of Israel should be allowed to go three days' journey into the wilderness, that they may sacrifice to the Lord their God (3:18). It is already known to God that the king will harden his heart against the divine will; still, the Lord, who desires to render obedience easy, and who, therefore, reserves for a later day, the demand of an unconditional and entire release of the people, does not make the largest and most unwelcome demand at the beginning. Scorn and an aggravation of the burdens of the people are the results of the first effort of Moses; Pharaoh can be subdued, as the Lord had said to Moses,

by a mighty hand, and by great wonders alone. His magicians (Jannes and Jambres, 2 Tim. 3: 8) are, at the beginning, able to increase, but not to avert the misery which ensued, and on the occurrence of the third plague already confess: "This is the finger of God." God hardens the heart of Pharaoh, because he hardens it himself; since he steadfastly refuses, he is not permitted: and, as the grace of God cannot be glorified in him, divine wrath is glorified in him (Ps. 109: 17; 2 Thess. 2:11). The first nine plagues, consequently, produce no effect: the waters of the Nile turned into blood; the frogs; the lice (mosquito-gnats); the flies; the murrain; the biles and blains; the hail; the locusts; and the darkness of three days. It is only the tenth plague, the death of the first-born, both among men and among cattle, which impels Pharaoh and his people not only to dismiss the Israelites, but urgently to hasten their departure. The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; the former demand, and the latter give, jewels of silver and gold, and raiment. The Lord grants his people these things as an indemnification for the service which they had been unlawfully compelled to render to their oppressors.

OBS. 1.—The plagues of Egypt are founded on the natural features which Egypt presents, so that they are unprecedented and extraordinary, not so much in themselves, as on account of their power and extent, and their rapid succession when Moses simply gives the command. As they are, consequently, both natural and supernatural, they afford both to faith and to unbelief the freedom to choose (in Pharaoh, unbelief prevailed); they are, besides, adapted to convince the Egyptians that Jehovah is not merely the national God of the Israelites, but a God above all gods, who holds in his hand all the powers of nature likewise which Egypt was accustomed to deify.

OBS. 2.- The promise in Gen. 15: 14 was fulfilled when the Israelites departed: "they shall come out with great substance.” The original Hebrew text nowhere says that they borrowed, purloined or stole. (Exodus 3: 21, 22; 11:2; 12: 35.) Force was indeed employed, but it was employed, not by them, but by Jehovah, who, by his power over the hearts of men, compelled the unwilling Egyptians to yield to the request or demand of the Israelites. In this view, the sacred writer says: they spoiled the Egyptians" (ch. 12:36); the spoils are the sign of the victory which Jehovah granted to them.

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2. Exodus ch. 12.-The country and the people of Israel were exempted from the last plague, as well as from the former nine. Previous to the departure, the festival of the Passover (that is, the festival of the Lord's forbearing and passing over) was instituted and solemnly observed. The head of every household was directed to kill a lamb that was without blemish, on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, and strike the blood on the door-posts and lintel, in order that the destroying angel might pass over the house which was so marked; nothing leavened was permitted to remain. The members of each household, in travelling apparel, girded, with shoes on their feet, and a staff in the hand, ate the paschal lamb; immediately afterwards, all departed, carrying the bones of Joseph with them (§ 35. 3), (2728 years after the crea tion of man). Their way led through the desert of Arabia.

OBS.-The Paschal lamb was a sacrifice, and like all sacrifices, was appointed to be an atonement for sin (2 48). By the striking of the blood of the lamb on the door-posts, each house of the Israelites was designated as an altar of God, and its occupants were admitted as partakers of the atonement made by the sacrifice. This blood was, consequently, not intended to enable the destroying angel to recognize the houses of the Israelites as he passed by, but to make atonement for them, in order that he might pass over them. The Paschal repast, accordingly, belonged to the class of sacrificial repasts, and, like them, indicated an intimate communion with God, founded on the atonement which was made, as if the partakers were admitted to the abode and table of Jehovah ( 48. Oвs. 1). Unleavened bread alone was permitted to be eaten at this repast, for leaven is an image of moral impurity and depravation. In remembrance of Israel's exemption from the plague, and deliverance from bondage, the annual festival of the Passover was instituted (2 49. 2), but like all divine service ( 43. 2, OBS. 2; ? 45. 2, OBS.) had also a prospective reference, and indicated a future and more glorious deliverance. The true and original Paschal lamb is Christ, who is sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7); and that which is typically exhibited in the Paschal repast, is really presented in the Lord's Supper. ( 150. 3, OBS.)

§ 41. The Desert of Arabia.

1. A vast chain of deserts extends from the north-western coast of Africa (Sahara), in an easterly direction, through the whole of Northern Africa far into Western Asia, which is only once interrupted by an oasis (Egypt), of considerable length, but of limited breadth, formed by the fertilizing river Nile. The Desert of Arabia commences on the eastern side of the Nile, and extends to the banks of the Euphrates. It is divided into two parts by the mountains of Edom (mount Seir), which extend from the Elanitic gulf to the Dead Sea; the eastern part is called Arabia Deserta, and the western, Arabia Petræa. The latter is bounded on the north, as far as Gaza, by the Mediterranean Sea, and, thence, to the southern point of the Dead Sea, by Palestine (the mountains of the Amorites). On the south, it descends to a point between the two arms of the Red Sea (Arabian Gulf); of these, the eastern is the Ælanitic gulf (now called the gulf of Akabah), and the western, the Heroopolitan (now the gulf of Suez); this portion of Arabia is called the peninsula of Sinai. Mount Sinai rises in the southern part, in an almost circular shape, varying from thirty-five to fifty miles in length and breadth; it is characterized by lofty and sharp peaks, by vast masses of primitive rock (chiefly granite, together with porphyry), by a mild Alpine climate, and a cool and pure atmosphere, by abundant springs of water, fertile valleys, and a luxuriant vegetation. (See $43. PRELIM. OBS.)

2. The range of mountains called et-Tih (that is, wandering), rises from a barren plain of sand on the northern boundary of the Sinaitic peninsula, to a height of 4000 feet above the level of the sea, in a semi-circular shape; it is about two hundred and fifty miles in length, extending nearly from the northern point of the gulf of Suez to the gulf of Akabah; towards the north it descends into the wilderness of et-Tih; the latter extends on the north to the southern declivity of the mountain of Judah (§ 22. 3). It consists of naked limestone and sandstone, and extensive portions are covered merely with red sand and black flint. It is only in the depressions of the valleys or wadis