So ended the last Moses was assured would be known (Exod. xi. 1-6); while against the children of Israel, not only should not even the chief or the greatest of their dog-headed priests move his tongue; but the people of Egypt should gather round them, and bow down before them, and honour them as the protected of the Creator of the gods of Egypt. And when all this is done, said Moses, then, and then only, will I leave Egypt. (Exod. xi. 7, 8.) See my face no more, was the answer of the king. Thou hast spoken well, was the reply of Moses; I will see thy face again no more. I leave thee to perish in thine hardness of heart, and contempt of the message which my God has commissioned me to give thee. interview between Moses and Pharaoh. (Exod. x. 28, 29.) that Pharaoh would not send any word of repentance to bring him back, and that still further wonders would be therefore wrought in the land of Egypt. (Exod. xi. 9, 10.) By this time we have reason to believe the lamb of the Passover was eaten, and the doors of the houses were sprinkled with its blood. Both nations were prepared for the visit of the destroying angel, which at midnight was about to pass through the land of Egypt. The Egyptians, by their impenitence and hardness of heart, had made themselves and their first-born, vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction. The Israelites, by faith in the commandment, by the sacrifice of the lamb, and by the sprinkling of its blood, had prepared themselves for the long promised departure. Among which of the two should we be found, if the destroying angel were to pass over this house at midnight, to remove one of us from among the number which now hear, read, and meditate upon the wonders of the most High God, the Lord God Almighty? BEFORE CHRIST 1491. *ch. 9. 22. EXODUS X. 21-27. e 1491. little ones also go with ver. 10. you. 21 ¶ And the LORD said let your flocks and your CHRIST unto Moses, a Stretch out herds be stayed: let your thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, Heb. that even darkness which may be felt. ne may feel darkness. 22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaP. 105. 28. ven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: ch. 8. 22. ¿ ver. 8. VOL. II. 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. C our hands. 25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices + Heb. into and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God. 26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither. f 27 But the LORD 24 And Pharaoh called hardened Pharaoh's heart, ver. 20. unto Moses, and said, Go and he would not let them ye, serve the LORD; only go. PART IV. H 4, 8. EXODUS XI. 1-8. CHRIST BEFORE 1 And the LORD said die, from the firstborn of 39. 2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman b ch. 3. 22, & of her neighbour, h jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. 12. 35. i i ch. 3. 21, & 3 And the LORD gave 12. 36. Ps. 106. 46. BEFORE CHRIST 1491. 6 And there shall be a ch. 12. 30. great cry throughout all Amos 5. 17. the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. 7° But against any of ch. 8. 22. the people favour in the ye may know how that the * 2 Sam. 7. 9. Moreover the man Moses between the Egyptians and Esth. 9. 4. 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 1 ch. 12.12,23, saith the LORD,About Amos 5. 17. midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: 29. m ch.12.12,29. Amos 4.10. ch. 3. 19. & 7.4. & 10.1. t ch. 7. 3. 5 And all the firstborn went out from Pharaoh in 2 Kings 3. 9. in the land of Egypt shall† a great anger. EXODUS X. 28, 29. 28 And Pharaoh said face thou shalt die. unto him, Get thee from 29 And Moses said, Thou + Heb. heat of anger. hast spoken well, I will see Hebr. 11.27. see my face no more; for thy face again no more. in that day thou seest my S EXODUS XI. 9, 10. 27. Rom. 2. 5. & 9. 22. 9 And the Lord said un- did all these wonders before to Moses, Pharaoh shall Pharaoh : " and the LORD ch. 10. 20, not hearken unto you; that hardened Pharaoh's heart, t my wonders may be mul- so that he would not let the tiplied in the land of Egypt. children of Israel go out of 10 And Moses and Aaron his land. PRAYER.-LET US PRAY, that we may escape the darkness which will not, and therefore cannot, see the evil of sin, the danger of destruction, nor the truth of the threatenings of the Most High; that we may have the light of knowledge in our understandings; and offer to God the sacrifice of ourselves, our souls, and bodies, with faith in the passover, and with the sprinkling of its blood upon our consciences. ALMIGHTY GOD, Creator and Preserver of the souls of men, who hast taught us in Thy Holy Word, by the example of Thy servants, the spiritual Israel of God, the truth of Thy promises; and by the examples of the enemies of Thy Church, the truth of the threatenings Thou hast denounced against evil-give us, we beseech Thee, such grace and faith in Thee, that we never resist nor grieve Thy Holy Spirit, nor refuse to obey the warnings and remonstrances of the conscience which Thou hast instructed. Enable us ever to remember our solemn dedication to Thee. When the temptations of the world allure us, when the evil examples of those around us, or the corrupt nature of our hearts within us, would lead us away from Thee, keep us by Thy grace from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation. If we have fallen from our stedfastness-if our feet have well nigh slipped from Thee, and we have begun to walk in the ways that destroy the soul, oh! enable us, we pray Thee, to remember the example of the king of Egypt, and never go on to sin, till the god of this world hath blinded our eyes. Save us from the love of evil; from the resolution to go on to sin; from desiring that Thy Word be not true, because its threatenings render us miserable, and its precepts reproach our hearts. Save us from the sinfulness of hoping, and wishing, and endeavouring to believe that the infidel is wiser than the Christian. Save us from the worst of all evils-the darkness that hateth the truth, and rejecteth the truth, and denieth the truth, that the soul may sin without fear, without repentance, and without remorse. Save us from the blindness of the darkness of Egypt, which sees no evil in sin, no danger in the prophecies of the punishment and destruction of the wicked, no truth in the message of the ministers of the Church of God.-While thousands, and tens of thousands, become the victims of this worst of evils, give to us, that as we possess the light of the Gospel in our Church, and the light of Thy Word in our houses, so we may possess the light of Thy Holy Spirit in our souls. Lord! lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us, that, when the world around us still lies in darkness, our souls may possess the light, and improve the light, and walk in the light, and prepare the sacrifice for the Lord, as Thy Word and Thine ordinance hath commanded; that we may know within ourselves that the Lord hath put a difference between the Egypt of the sinful world, and the spiritual children of His people Israel. Enable us to prepare the twofold sacrifice which Thou hast commanded. By the mercies which Thou hast showed to us Thy servants, we pray Thee, we implore Thee, we entreat Thee, to enable us to offer that only sacrifice of atonement and propitiation, which Thou hast commanded us to prepare. As Thy people prepared the Passover while they had light in their houses, and slew the lamb of the fold, and sprinkled the blood of the lamb upon the lintel and sideposts of their houses, lest He that destroyed the firstborn should slay them also, --so enable us to approach to Thee, while we have the light of truth within us, with the blood of the true Passover-Jesus Christ the Righteous; so may our hearts be sprinkled and cleansed from the consciousness of the guilt of our sins past, from the dominion of sins present, from the fear and dread of the future destruction which all our sins have deserved. And as we thus pray to Thee, that we may offer to Thee the sacrifice of the precious blood of Christ, as of the lamb without spot or blemish, so also do we pray to Thee, by the same mercies of God which have provided the lamb for a burnt-offering, to enable us to bring to Thee that other sacrifice, which Thou hast not less commanded us to offer unto Thee. Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, as a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto Thee. Lighten our understandings, we beseech Thee, that we may know, and believe, and rejoice in believing, that this is our acceptable as well as our reasonable service. When the destroying angel shall pass over our houses, and our souls be required, let us not perish. Though we be unworthy to offer unto Thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech Thee to accept this, the blood of Christ, that our souls be pardoned; and to accept this sacrifice also, ourselves, our souls and bodies, that we may know within ourselves, by the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, that our souls shall be received at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment. So may we learn from the darkness of Egypt, to tremble at the worse darkness of infidelity and apostasy from Thee; so may we learn from Thy blessing upon Thy people Israel, rightly to rejoice in the light; so may we be prepared for the hour when the word shall be spoken, "This night shall thy soul be required of thee."-Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, hearken to these our prayers, which we offer to Thee, not in our own name, but in the name, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, the true paschal lamb, the only Mediator, Thy only Son our Lord. In His words we sum up all our petitions, saying, Our Father, &c. The Grace of our Lord, &c. NOTES. NOTE 1. On the position of Exod. x. 28, 29, and of Exod. xi. 9, 10. These two last verses of Exod. x. 28, 29, refer to the last interview between Moses and Pharaoh. They are inserted therefore after the 8th verse of ch. xi. See Hales' Analysis, vol. ii. p. 197. NOTE 2. On the darkness which might be felt. Exod. x. 21. Tony is the Hebrew, and it is rightly translated by Calasio -et palpabit obscuritatem-and he shall feel the darkness. The word is used in Judges xvi. 26, to describe the manner in which the totally blind grope their way, or feel with anxiety and alarm any object on which they may stumble. We must not, therefore, with Du Bois Aymé, and others, who would change the miracles of Egypt into the common phenomena of Egypt, impute the darkness to the Chamsin, as described by Sonnini, and Denon 2, but to the actual infliction of a darkness so thick, deep, and supernatural, that the light of the sun could not penetrate it, and the king and his people became as the groping, perplexed, and actually blind. This is the literal in 1 Romaine's edition of Calasio, in voc., vol. ii. p. 1218. 2 Hengstenberg's Egypt, &c. p. 126. terpretation of the word, and in this sense it must be received. They saw not one another, neither rose any person from his place during the time the darkness lasted. It is called also E, not merely thick darkness, but the word is used in Exod. ix. 32, to describe the plants which were still concealed under the ground-a darkness without the least ray of light to pierce through the gloom. I cannot place any dependence on the traditions of the Jews, referred to by all the commentators, and related in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, ch. xvii. 3-21, that the Egyptians were scared with strange apparitions and visions," &c. Their own consciences would people the darkness with "all prodigious things Abominable, unutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived, Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire." But we are not told that God sent apparitions. The expression in Psalm 1xxviii., “He sent evil angels among them," may be interpreted of those ministers of God's wrath, the stings of conscience and trouble, the "cruciatus et verbera" which the sinner bears in his own mind: yet the expression may also refer to that fearful state of darkness and terror which may open upon the souls of the impenitent, when, immediately that the body dies, the still conscious spirit may find itself among evil spirits and wicked angels, and all the outcasts from the light of heaven, which people the invisible world. It is possible that worse torments than their own consciences could inflict, made the Egyptian darkness the anticipation of the darkness of the world of sorrow. For a very curious analogy between the Jewish traditions of this darkness, and the ceremonies of the initiation into the Osirian Mysteries, see Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry, book v. c. vi. vol. iii. p. 156-159. I shall only add, that as the sun was the one great god of the Egyptians, whose emblem is so often found upon the sculptures given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson and others, we must agree with Bryant and his followers, that the object of the miracle was to prove the superiority of Jehovah above the one god of Egypt; and I believe that this impenetrable darkness came on instantly on the stretching forth of the hand by Moses, and that it was so thick and terrible, that neither the king nor his people dared to stir from the place he was then in. It is probable that when the darkness thus came on in a moment, the sun was shining in its most brilliant splendour and brightness, and that the cause of the obstinacy of Pharaoh after this wonderful miracle was, that the darkness disappeared as suddenly as it came. The sun again shone, and then both the king and his people could not and would not believe that the god whom they had so long worshipped, could be inferior to Jehovah. They could not explain the miracle; but like the resolute sinner in the present day, they refused to believe the truth, because such belief must be attended with the removal of a cherished vice, or of some worldly advantage. NOTE 3. Whether the rite of circumcision was performed by the Israelites during the darkness on the Egyptians, while the Israelites had light in their dwellings. Exod. x. 23. Lightfoot interprets the words of Psalm ev. 28, "They were not disobedient to his word," or, 66 they rebelled not against his word," to mean that the Israelites, during the time of the darkness upon the Egyptians, performed, as an especial act of obedience, the rite of circumcision. He supposes that the people had followed the idols of Egypt, and neglected circumcision; and he supposes further, that the darkness continued three days, that the Egyptians might not take the advantage of the helplessness of the Israelites. He refers to Exod. xii. 48, to prove that none who were uncircumcised might eat of the Passover, and consequently, that the people were thus prepared and made ready to partake of the sacrifice. 1 Handful of Gleanings from Exodus, Works, 8vo. edit. vol. ii. p. 373. To this it may be answered: 1. That it is very uncertain whether the words of the Psalm refer to the Israelites at all. Instead of "and they rebelled not," some would refer the words to the Egyptians, and place a before the 2, and thus the meaning would be, that though God sent darkness upon the land of Egypt, the Egyptians still refused to obey his word. If this criticism be rejected, and the expression applies to the Israelites, it may denote that during the darkness Israel rebelled not against their Lord, because they set apart the paschal lamb, and patiently in faith awaited their deliverance from Egypt. The command that an uncircumcised person might not eat of it, was given after the eating of the first Passover. This was probably eaten by many of the Egyptians who believed in the God of Israel, and with the Israelites made their escape from Egypt. There have always been proselytes from among the heathen, to the worship of the God of Israel. It is probable that the rite of circumcision had been very much neglected among the people during their dispersion over the surface of the land of Egypt, in their bondage; when they wandered about in search of stubble, and when also they imbibed many of the idolatrous notions, adopted many of the idolatrous customs, and practised many of the idolater's worst vices'. But the aposGod has always tasy was never universal. preserved in the visible Church of Israel, in all ages, however corrupt or apostate it may become, a spiritual Church, the Israel of Israel, a remnant to serve Him; and the rite. of circumcision would be carefully upheld among them. There is no allusion to the revival of the custom as if it had been discontinued, and was then renewed. And the same remarks will apply even to the certain revival of the custom by Joshua, before he led the people into Canaan. "The reproach of Egypt," that is, the neglect of circumcision, was upon the people 2; but Joshua and Caleb were exempted from the general omission. The leaders, Moses and Aaron, and the believing elders whom they were accustomed to summon together to communicate the commands of God (Exod. iii. 16, and xii. 21), were admitted, we may affirm, to all the privileges of the covenant; and though we must believe, on the evidence of Scripture, every miracle therein recorded, we are not required needlessly to multiply them, nor to invent them; nor, as in the present instance, to believe that the whole nation now underwent this painful and dangerous operation; and that, instead of being utterly helpless, or having their lives 1 Acts vii. 43, compared with Exod. xxxii. 6, and 1 Cor. x. 7; the vices referred to in these passages were learned in Egypt. 2 Joshua v. 9. |