the character he was to assume, as far as depended upon human acquirements.

1531.

Moses, being grown up to manhood, became acquainted with the circumstances of his birth, and with the sufferings of his brethren; and observing one day an Egyptian cruelly beating a Hebrew, he slew the Egyptian. When this was known to Pharaoh, he sought to put Moses to death; but he fled into the land of Midian, and married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of that country, where, it appears, the worship of God was still retained. While Moses lived in Midian, the king of Egypt died; but the persecution of the Israelites continuing under his successor, they prayed unto God, and God was pleased to have compassion upon them, according to his promise to their fathers. When Moses, about forty years after he first came into 1491. Midian, was keeping the flocks of Jethro near Mount Horeb, "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed (z).”—“ And God called to Moses out of the midst of the bush," and declared himself to be the God of his Father, and of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a manner peculiarly solemn. "And the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them into the fruitful land of Canaan (a)." These words are remarkable, and seem to indicate that God had not vouchsafed to hold any visible intercourse with the Israelites during their long residence in Egypt, from the death of Jacob to this period of their sufferings. And God declared it his purpose, to make Moses his () Ex. c. 3. v. 2.

(a) Ex. c. 3. v. 7 and 8,

instrument to deliver his people from bondage, and commanded him to communicate this his gracious design to the elders of Israel. He farther directed that they should ask of Pharaoh permission to go three days journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice to the Lord their God, foretelling at the same time, that Pharaoh would not at first grant this request; but that after a variety of afflictions, which the Egyptians would suffer in consequence of his refusal, he would allow them to go. Moses, being "meek above all men," was at first unwilling to engage in this arduous business, and pleaded his unfitness for the employment, from the slowness of his speech, and want of authority to convince the people that he was sent to them by God. But God, though he expressed displeasure at his reluctance and distrust, condescended to promise him his constant presence and immediate direction, and the assistance of his brother Aaron, whom he knew to excel in eloquence, as his "spokesman;" and he also promised him the power of performing miracles, as a proof of his divine commission. To inspire him farther with confidence, God caused his rod to become a serpent, and the serpent again to become a rod: he then caused his hand to be "leprous as snow," and his hand was "turned again as his other flesh." Encouraged by these assurances of support and success, and convinced by the wonders he saw, that it was indeed the God of his Fathers who thus appeared to fulfil the promise of restoring the Israelites to the land of Canaan at the time (b) which had been appointed 400 years before, Moses was at

(b) Moses was great grandson to Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, who had removed into Egypt. God had promised (Gen. c. 15. v. 16.) that the Israelites should return into Canaan in the fourth generation.

length persuaded to undertake the great work of delivering his countrymen. He set out for Egypt; and in his way through the wilderness he met his brother Aaron, whom God had ordered to go thither, and told him "all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him."

When Moses and Aaron arrived at Goshen, they called an assembly of the Israelites, and Aaron informed them of the commands, and of the promises which Moses had received from God. And the people, hearing what the Lord had said to Moses, and seeing the miracles (c) which he was enabled to perform, believed, and worshipped God. Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh, and in the name of God required him to let the Israelites go into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord their God. Pharaoh treated the message with contempt, and enjoined the task-masters to lay heavier burdens upon the Israelites; and when they complained of the increased severity of their oppression, God commanded Moses to assure them, "that he would deliver them from the bondage of the Egyptians and give them the land of Canaan, as he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that he would be their God, and that they should be his peculiar people: but they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage (d).” Moses and Aaron, by the direction of God, applied again unto Pharaoh; and though they performed a miracle in his presence, yet he again refused to let the Israelites go. Then the country of Egypt was afflicted by a succession of plagues: the water of the

(c) Moses and Aaron, the lawgiver and priest of his chosen people, appear to have been the first persons whom God empowered to perform miracles.

(d) Ex. c. 6. v. 6. &c.

river Nile was turned into blood; frogs covered the whole land; the dust of the earth was converted into lice; an immense swarm of flies infested the whole land of Egypt; a murrain destroyed all the cattle; boils and blains broke out upon the Egyptians, both upon man and beast; the country was laid waste by a dreadful storm of thunder, rain, and hail, so that the fire ran along upon the ground; locusts destroyed every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail had left; and there was a thick darkness in the land of Egypt for three days. None of these plagues extended to the Israelites, or to the land of Goshen, where they dwelt. While Pharaoh and his people were actually suffering under these several plagues, he appeared to relent, and to acknowledge the power of God. He entreated Moses to pray to God for deliverance from the plague, and promised to let the Israelites go and sacrifice. But when the plague was removed by the prayers of Moses, Pharaoh constantly refused to fulfil his promise; and though threatened with another plague, he still detained the Israelites under the same cruel slavery. At length Moses declared to Pharaoh, in the name of God, that if he would not let the Israelites go, all the first-born in the land of Egypt should be destroyed. Pharaoh not only persisted in his refusal, but threatened Moses with instant death, if he presumed to appear again before him.

The execution of this last judgment, the destruction of the first-born of the Egyptians, was attended with greater solemnity than any of the preceding. About four days before it took place, all the families of Israel were commanded to prepare for a feast to the Lord, and to kill a lamb, without spot or blemish, on a certain evening, and "to eat it in haste, with their

loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hands; and to sprinkle the blood upon the lintel and side-posts of the doors of their houses. "And God said, the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you, to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.-And this day shall be unto you 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 (e)."—" 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. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the houses of the Egyptians, and delivered our houses (ƒ).” Thus did God institute the Feast of the Passover, and command that it should be kept every year by the Israelites, in memorial of his having passed over the houses of the Israelites when he destroyed the first-born of all the Egyptians. And the lamb sacrificed at this feast is to be considered as typical of the sacrifice of Christ, our great deliverer from more than Egyptian bondage.

The children of Israel were also directed by Moses "to borrow (or, as it should have been translated, to ask) (g) of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent Ex. c. 12. v. 13 and 14.

Ex. c. 12. v. 25. &c.

(g) Vide Shuckford, book 9. and Josephus, Ant. lib. 2. c. 14. and Whiston's note in loc.