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God, greatly displeased, appoints

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14 And the anger of the LORD thy mouth, and with his mouth, A. M. 2513. was kindled against Moses, and he and $ will teach you what ye

said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

shall do.

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16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and -17 And thou shalt take " this rod in thine 'put words in his mouth and I will be with hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.

Num.i. 9.- Deuteronomy v. 31. Chap. vii. 1; xviii. 19. " Ver. 2.

P Ver. 27; 1 Sam. x. 2, 3, 5.-9 Chapter vii. 1, 2.xxi. 38; xxiii. 5, 12, 16; Deut. xviii. 18; Isa. li. 16; Jer.

per and dangerous. I am firmly of opinion that Moses had no reference to the Messiah when he spoke these words.

Verse 14. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses] Surely this would not have been the case had he only in modesty, and from a deep sense of his own unfitness, desired that the Messiah should be preferred before him. But the whole connection shows that this interpretation is unfounded.

Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?] Houbigant endeavours to prove from this that Moses, in ver. 13, did pray for the immediate mission of the Messiah, and that God gives him here a reason why this could not be, because the Levitical priesthood was to precede the priesthood of our Lord. Is not Aaron the Levite, &c.

Must not the ministry of Aaron be first established, before the other can take place? Why then ask for that which is contrary to the Divine counsel From the opinion of so great a critic as Houbigant no man would wish to dissent, except through necessity : however, I must say that it does appear to me that his view of these verses is fanciful, and the arguments by which he supports it are insufficient to establish his point.

I know that he can speak well.] IT 7'7 'ny yadati ki dabber yedabber hu, I know that in speaking he will speak. That is, he is apt to talk, and has a ready utterance.

He cometh forth to meet thee] He shall meet thee at my mount, (ver. 27,) shall rejoice in thy mission, and most heartily co-operate with thee in all things. A necessary assurance, to prevent Moses from suspecting that Aaron, who was his elder brother, would. envy his superior call and office.

Verse 15. I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth] Ye shall be both, in all things which I appoint you to do in this business, under the continual inspiration of the Most High.

Verse 16. He shall be thy spokesman] Literally, He shall speak for thee (or in thy stead) to the people. He shall be to thee instead of a mouth] He shall convey every message to the people; and thou shalt be to him instead of God-thou shalt deliver to him what I communicate to thee.

Verse 17. Thou shalt take this rod] From the story of Moses's rod the heathens have invented the fables of the thyrsus of Bacchus, and the caduceus of Mercury. Cicero reckons five Bacchuses, one of which, according to Orpheus, was born of the river

Nile; but, according to the common opinion, he was born on the banks of that river. Bacchus is expressly said to have been exposed on the river Nile, hence he is called Nilus, both by Diodorus and Macrobius; and in the hymns of Orpheus he is named Myses, because he was drawn out of the water. He is represented by the poets as being very beautiful, and an illustrious warrior; they report him to have overrun all Arabia with a numerous army both of men and women. He is said also to have been an eminent lawgiver, and to have written his laws on two tables. He always carried in his hand the thyrsus, a rod wreathed with serpents, and by which he is reported to have wrought many miracles. Any person acquainted with the birth and exploits of the poetic Bacchus will at once perceive them to be all borrowed from the life and acts of Moses, as recorded in the Pentateuch; and it would be losing time to show the parallel, by quoting passages from the book of Exodus.

The caduceus or rod of Mercury is well known in poetic fables. It is another copy of the rod of Moses. He also is reported to have wrought a multitude of miracles by this rod; and particularly he is said to kill and make alive, to send souls to the invisible world and bring them back from thence. Homer represents Mercury taking his rod to work miracles precisely in the same way as God commands Moses to take his.

Έρμης δε ψυχας Κυλλήνιος εξεκαλείτο Ανδρων μνηστηρων εχε δε ΡΑΒΔΟΝ μετα χερσιν Καλην, χρυσείην, τη τ' ανδρων ομματα θέλγει, Ὧν εθέλει, τους δ' αυτε και ύπνώοντας εγείρει. Odyss., lib. xxiv., ver. 1. Cyllenian Hermes now call'd forth the souls Of all the suitors; with his golden WAND' Of power, to seal in balmy sleep whose eyes Soe'er he will, and open them again. CowPEr. Virgil copies Homer, but carries the parallel farther, tradition having probably furnished him with more particulars; but in both we may see a disguised copy of the sacred history, from which indeed the Greek and Roman poets borrowed most of their beauties.

Tum VIRGAM CAPIT: hac animas ille evocat Orco
Pallentes, alias sub tristia Tartara mittit;
Dat somnos, adimitque, et lumina morte resignat.
ILLA fretus agit ventos, et turbida tranat.
Æneid., lib. iv., ver. 242,
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Moses returns to Midian, and

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to

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18 And Moses went and returned 20 And Moses took his wife and A. M. 2513. Jethro his father-in-law, and his sons, and set them upon an ass, said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and and he returned to the land of Egypt: and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, Moses took the rod of God in his hand. and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.

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21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

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But first he grasps within his awful hand
The mark of sovereign power, the magic wand;
With this he draws the ghosts from hollow graves,,
With this he drives them down the Stygian waves;
With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight,
And eyes, though closed in death, restores to light.
Thus arm'd, the god begins his airy race,
And drives the racking clouds along the liquid space.
DRYDEN.

Many other resemblances between the rod of the poets and that of Moses, the learned reader will readily recollect. These specimens may be deemed

sufficient.

Verse 18. Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren] Moses, having received his commission from God, and directions how to execute it, returned to his father-in-law, and asked permission to visit his family and brethren in Egypt, without giving him any intimation of the great errand on which he was going. His keeping this secret has been attributed to his singular modesty: but however true it might be that Moses was a truly humble and modest-man, yet his prudence alone was sufficient to have induced him to observe silence on this subject; for, if once imparted to the family of his father-in-law, the news might have reached Egypt before he could get thither, and a general alarm among the Egyptians would in all probability have been the consequence; as fame would not fail to represent Moses as coming to stir up sedition and rebellion, and the whole nation would have been armed against them. It was therefore essentially necessary that the business should be kept secret.

In the Septuagint and Coptic the following addition is made to this verse: Mera de τas hμepas ras noλλas εκείνας ετελεύτησεν ὁ βασιλευς Αιγυπτου· After these many days, the king of Egypt died. This was probably an ancient gloss or side note, which in process of time crept into the text, as it appeared to throw light on the following verse.

Verse 19. In Midian] This was a new revelation, and appears to have taken place after Moses returned to his father-in-law previous to his departure for Egypt.

certainly required more than one to carry Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer.

The rod of God] The sign of sovereign power, by which he was to perform all his miracles; once the badge of his shepherd's office, and now that by which he is to feed, rule, and protect his people Israel.

Verse 21. But I will harden his heart] The case of Pharaoh has given rise to many fierce controversies, and to several strange and conflicting opinions. Would men but look at the whole account without the medium of their respective creeds, they would find little difficulty to apprehend the truth. If we take up the subject in a theological point of view, all sober Christians will allow the truth of this proposition of St. Augustine, when the subject in question is a person who has hardened his own heart by frequently resisting the grace and Spirit of God: Non obdurat Deus impertiendo malitiam, sed non impertiendo misericordiam; Epist. 194, ad Sixtum, "God does not harden men by infusing malice into them, but by not imparting mercy to them." And this other will be as readily credited: Non operatur Deus in homine ipsam duritiam cordis; sed indurare eum dicitur quem mollire noluerit, sic etiam excæcare quem illuminare noluerit, et repellere eum quem noluerit vocare. "God does not work this hardness of heart in man; but he may be said to harden him whom he refuses to soften, to blind him whom he refuses to enlighten, and to repel him whom he refuses to call." It is but just and right that he should withhold those graces which he had repeatedly offered, and which the sinner had despised and rejected. Thus much for the general principle. The verb pin chazak, which we translate harden, literally signifies to strengthen, confirm, make bold or courageous ; and is often used in the sacred writings to excite to duty, perseverance, &c., and is placed by the Jews at the end of most books in the Bible as an exhortation to the reader to take courage, it requires. and proceed with his reading and with the obedience It constitutes an essential part of the exhortation of God to Joshua, chap. i. 7: Only be thou STRONG, pin pr rak chazak, And of Joshua's

dying exhortation to the people, chap. xxiii. 6: Be ye Verse 20. His wife and his sons] Both Gershom therefore VERY COURAGEOUS, onpin vachazaktem, to and Eliezer, though the birth of the latter has not yet keep and to do all that is written in the book of the been mentioned in the Hebrew text. See the note on law. Now it would be very strange in these places chap. ii. 22.

Set them upon an ass] The Septuagint reads the word, in the plural, enɩ тa iñošvyιa, upon asses, as it

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to translate the word harden: Only be thou hard, Be ye therefore very hard; and yet if we use the word hardy, it would suit the sense and context perfectly

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a Hos. xi. 1; Rom. ix. 4; 2 Cor. vi. 18.- Jer. xxxi. 9; Num. xxii. 22. Gen. xvii. 14.- Josh. v. 2, 3. Or, James i. 18. Chap. xi. 5; xii. 29.

well: Only be thou HARDY; Be ye therefore very HARDY. Now suppose we apply the word in this way to Pharaoh, the sense would be good, and the justice of God equally conspicuous. I will make his heart hardy, bold, daring, presumptuous; for the same principle acting against God's order is presumption, which when acting according to it is undaunted courage. It is true that the verb p kashah is used, chap. vii. 3, which signifies to render stiff, tough, or stubborn, but it amounts to nearly the same meaning with the above.

All those who have read the Scriptures with care and attention, know well that God is frequently represented in them as doing what he only permits to be done. So because a man has grieved his Spirit and resisted his grace he withdraws that Spirit, and grace from him, and thus he becomes bold and presumptuous in sin. Pharaoh made his own heart stubborn against God, chap. ix. 34; and God gave him up to judicial blindness, so that he rushed on stubbornly to his own destruction. From the whole of Pharaoh's conduct we learn that he was bold, haughty, and cruel; and God chose to permit these dispositions to have their full sway in his heart without check or restraint from Divine influence: the consequence was what God intended, he did not immediately comply with the requisition to let the people go; and this was done that God might have the fuller opportunity of manifesting his power by multiplying signs and miracles, and thus impress the hearts both of the Egyptians and Israelites with a due sense of his omnipotence and justice. The whole procedure was graciously calculated to do endless good to both nations. The Israelites must be satisfied that they had the true God for their protector; and thus their faith was strengthened. The Egyptians must see that their gods could do nothing against the God of Israel; and thus their dependence on them was necessarily shaken. These great ends could not have been answered had Pharaoh at once consented to let the people go. This consideration alone unravels the mystery, and explains every thing. Let it be observed that there is nothing spoken here of the eternal state of the Egyptian king; nor does any thing in the whole of the subsequent account authorize us to believe that God hardened his heart against the influences of his own grace, that he might occasion him so to sin that his justice might consign him to hell. This would be such an act of flagrant injustice as we could scarcely attribute to the worst of men. He who leads another into an offence that he may have a fairer pretence to punish him for it, or brings him into such circumstances that he cannot avoid com

knife.- h Heb. made it touch.

mitting a capital crime, and then hangs him for it, is surely the most execrable of mortals. What then should we make of the God of justice and mercy should we attribute to him a decree, the date of which is lost in eternity, by which he has determined to cut off from the possibility of salvation millions of millions of unborn souls, and leave them under a necessity of sinning, by actually hardening their hearts against the influences of his own grace and Spirit, that he may, on the pretext of justice, consign them to endless perdition? Whatever may be pretended in behalf of such unqualified opinions, it must be evident to all who are not deeply prejudiced, that neither the justice nor the sovereignty of God can be magnified by them. See farther on chap. ix. 16.

Verse 22. Israel is my son, even my first-born] That is, The Hebrew people are unutterably dear to me. Verse 23. Let my son go, that he may serve me] Which they could not do in Goshen, consistently with the policy and religious worship of the Egyptians; because the most essential part of an Israelite's wor ship consisted in sacrifice, and the animals which they offered to God were sacred among the Egyptians. Moses gives Pharaoh this reason chap. viii. 26.

I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.] Which, on Pharaoh's utter refusal to let the people go, was accordingly done; see chap. xii. 29.

Verse 24. By the way in the inn] See the note on Gen. xlii 27. The account in this and the following verse is very obscure. Some suppose that the 23d verse is not a part of the message to Pharaoh, but was spoken by the Lord to Moses; and that the whole may be thus paraphrased: "And I have said unto thee, (Moses,) Send forth (w shallach) my son, (Gershom, by circumcising him,) that he may serve me, (which he cannot do till entered into the covenant by circumcision,) but thou hast refused to send him forth; behold, (therefore,) I will slay thy son, thy first-born. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, (when he was on his journey to Egypt,) that Jehovah met him, and sought (threatened) to kill him (Gershom.) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut away the foreskin of her son, and caused it to touch his feet, (Jehovah's, who probably appeared in a bodily shape; the Septuagint call him the Angel of the Lord,) and said unto him, A spouse by blood art thou unto me. Then he (Jehovah) ceased from him (Gershom.) Then she said, A spouse by blood art thou unto me, because of this circumcision." That is, I who am an alien have entered as fully into covenant with thee by doing this act, as my son has on whom this act has been performed. The meaning of the whole passage seems to be this :

Moses and Aaron meet at Horeb.

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A. M. 2513. 26 So he let him go: then she thered together all the elders of said, A bloody husband thou art, the children of Israel: because of the circumcision.

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30 And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the m signs which he had commanded him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and ga- and worshipped.

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The son of Moses, Gershom or Eliezer, (for it does not appear which,) had not been circumcised, though it would seem that God had ordered the father to do it; but as he had neglected this, therefore Jehovah was about to have slain the child, because not in covenant with him by circumcision, and thus he intended to have punished the disobedience of the father by the natural death of his son. Zipporah, getting acquainted with the nature of the case and the danger to which her first-born was exposed, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son. By this act the displeasure of the Lord was turned aside, and Zipporah considered herself as now allied to God because of this circumcision. According to the law, (Gen. xvii. 14,) the uncircumcised child was to be cut off from his people, so that there should be no inheritance for that branch of the family in Israel. Moses therefore, for neglecting to circumcise the child, exposed him to this cutting off, and it was but barely prevented by the prompt obedience of Zipporah. As circumcision was the seal of that justification by faith which comes through Christ, Moses by neglecting it gave a very bad example, and God was about to proceed against him with that severity which the law required.

The sharp stone mentioned ver. 25 was probably a knife made of flint, for such were anciently used, even where knives of metal might be had, for every kind of operation about the human body, such as embowelling for the purpose of embalming, circumcision, &c. Ancient authors are full of proofs of these facts. See the note on Gen. 1. 2.

It is probable that Zipporah, being alarmed by this circumstance, and fearing worse evils, took the resolution to return to her father's house with her two sons. See chap. xviii. 1, &c.

Verse 27. The Lord said to Aaron] See ver. 14. By some secret but powerful movement on Aaron's mind, or by some voice or angelic ministry, he was now directed to go and meet his brother Moses; and so correctly was the information given to both, that they arrived at the same time on the sacred mountain. Verse 30. Aaron spake all the words] It is likely that Aaron was better acquainted with the Hebrew tongue than his brother, and on this account he became the spokesman. See on ver. 8.

Did the signs] Turned the rod into a serpent, made the hand leprous, and changed the water into blood. See on ver. 8 and 9.

31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads.

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Verse 31. The people believed] They credited the account given of the Divine appointment of Moses and Aaron to be their deliverers out of their bondage, the miracles wrought on the occasion confirming the testimony delivered by Aaron. See a

They bowed their heads and worshipped.] similar act mentioned, and in the same words, Gen. xxiv. 26. The bowing the head, &c., here, may probably refer to the eastern custom of bowing the head down to the knees, then kneeling down and touching the earth with the forehead. This was a very painful posture and the most humble in which the body could possibly be placed. Those who pretend to worship God, either by prayer or thanksgiving, and keep themselves during the performance of those solemn acts in a state of perfect ease, either carelessly standing or stupidly sitting, surely cannot have a due sense of the majesty of God, and their own sinfulness and unworthiness. Let the feelings of the body put the soul in remembrance of its sin against God. Let a man put himself in such a position (kneeling for instance) as it is generally acknowledged a criminal should assume, when coming to his sovereign and judge to bewail his sins, and solicit forgiveness.

In

The Jewish custom, as we learn from Rabbi Maymon, was to bend the body so that every joint of the backbone became incurvated, and the head was bent towards the knees, so that the body resembled a bow; and prostration implied laying the body flat upon the earth, the arms and legs extended to the uttermost. the mouth and forehead touching the ground. Matt. viii. 2 the leper is said to worship our Lord, πрoσεкvveɩ avry but in Luke v. 12 he is said to have fallen on his face, Tεσwv εпι проowTOV. These two accounts show that he first kneeled down, probably putting his face down to his knees, and touching the earth with his forehead; and then prostrated himself, his legs and arms being both extended. Gen. xvii. 3.

See on

THE backwardness of Moses to receive and execute the commission to deliver the children of Israel, has something very instructive in it. He felt the importance of the charge, his own insufficiency, and the awful responsibility under which he should be laid if he received it. Who then can blame him for hesitating? If he miscarried (and how difficult in such a case not to miscarry!) he must account to a jealous

God's message to Pharaoh

CHAP. V.

He refuses to let the people go.

God, whose justice required him to punish every de- at the watchman's hands! Were these things duly linquency. What should ministers of the Gospel feel considered by those who are candidates for the Goson such subjects? Is not their charge more important pel ministry, who could be found to undertake it? We and more awful than that of Moses? How few con- should then indeed have the utmost occasion to pray sider this! It is respectable, it is honourable, to be in the Lord of the harvest, EKßahλeiv, to THRUST OUT the Gospel ministry, but who is sufficient to guide and labourers into the harvest, as no one, duly considering feed the flock of God? If through the pastor's unfit- those things would go, unless thrust out by God himness or neglect any soul should go astray, or perish self. O ye ministers of the sanctuary! tremble for through want of proper spiritual nourishment, or your own souls, and the souls of those committed to through not getting his portion in due season, in what your care, and go not into this work unless God go a dreadful state is the pastor! That soul, says God, with you. Without his presence, unction, and approshall die in his iniquities, but his blood will I requirebation, ye can do nothing.

CHAPTER V.

Moses and Aaron open their commission to Pharaoh, 1. He insultingly asks who Jehovah is, in whose name they require him to dismiss the people, 2. They explain, 3. He charges them with making the people disaffected, 4, 5; and commands the task-masters to increase their work, and lessen their means of performing it, 6-9. The task-masters do as commanded, and refuse to give the people straw to assist them in making brick, and yet require the fulfilment of their daily tasks as formerly, when furnished with all the necessary means, 10-13. The Israelites failing to produce the ordinary quantity of brick, their own officers, set over them by the task-masters, are cruelly insulted and beaten, 14. The officers complain to Pharaoh, 15, 16; but find no redress, 17, 18. The officers, finding their case desperate, bitterly reproach Moses and Aaron for bringing them into their present circumstances, 19-21. Moses retires, and lays the matter before the Lord, and pleads with him, 22, 23.

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c neither A. M. 2513.

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A. M. 2513. AND afterward Moses and Aaron | I know not the LORD, went in, and told Pharaoh, will I let Israel go. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my 3 And they said, d The God of the Hebrews people go, that they may hold a feast unto hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

Ime in the wilderness.

2 And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? a Chap. x. 9.- b2 Kings xviii. 35; Job xxi. 15. NOTES ON CHAP. V.

Chap. iii. 19. d Chap. iii. 18.

And sacrifice unto the Lord] Great stress is laid Verse 1. And afterward Moses and Aaron went] on this circumstance. God required sacrifice; no reThis chapter is properly a continuation of the preced-ligious acts which they performed could be acceptable ing, as the succeeding is a continuation of this; and to preserve the connection of the facts they should be read together.

How simply, and yet with what authority, does Moses deliver his message to the Egyptian king! Thus saith JEHOVAH, GOD of ISRAEL, Let my people go. It is well in this, as in almost every other case where Jehovah occurs, to preserve the original word: our using the word LORD is not sufficiently expressive, and often leaves the sense indistinct.

to him without this. He had now showed them that it was their indispensable duty thus to worship him, and that if they did not they might expect him to send the pestilence-some plague or death proceeding immediately from himself, or the sword-extermination by the hands of an enemy. The original word deber, from 17 dabar, to drive off, draw under, &c., which we translate pestilence from the Latin pestis, the plague, signifies any kind of disease by which an extraordinary mortality is occasioned, and which appears from the circumstances of the case to come immediately from God. The Israelites could not sacrifice in the land of Egypt, because the animals they were to offer to God were held sacred by the Egyptians; and they could not omit this duty, because it was essential to religion even before the giving of the law. Thus we find that Divine justice required the life of the animal for the life of the transgressor, and the people were conscious, if this were not done, that God would consume them with the pestilence or the sword. From Verse 3. Three days' journey] The distance from the foundation of the world the true religion required Goshen to Sinai; see chap. iii. 18. sacrifice. Before, under, and after the law, this was

Verse 2. Who is the Lord] Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice? What claims has he on me? I am under no obligation to him. Pharaoh spoke here under the common persuasion that every place and people had a tutelary deity, and he supposed that this Jehovah might be the tutelary deity of the Israelites, to whom he, as an Egyptian, could be under no kind of obligation. It is not judicious to bring this question as a proof that Pharaoh was an atheist: of this the text affords no evidence.

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