LIFE AND MISSION OF MOSES-DEPARTURE FROM EGYPTOPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS

LIFE AND MISSION OF MOSES-DEPARTURE FROM EGYPTOPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS
The distinguished happiness which the descendants of Jacob had possessed during the power invested in their great protector Joseph, was, after his death, materially interrupted by the accession of a new king to the throne of Egypt. This monarch beheld, with a jealous eye, not only the prosperity, but also the great increase, of the Israelites, and began to fear that, in case of an invasion, they might possibly take part with the enemy, and thereby divest him of his regal dignity.
In consequence of these conjectures Pharaoh summoned a council of his principal nobility, to whom he stated the absolute necessity of taking some measures to lessen not only the power, but also the great increase of the Israelites, who were to be considered as strangers in the land where they now dwelt, and, in time, might be prejudicial to the public weal.
The council agreed in opinion with the king; upon which it was resolved not only to impose heavy taxes on them, but to confine them likewise to the hard labor of bearing burdens, digging clay, making bricks, and building strong fortresses in different parts of the kingdom; by means of which their spirits would be sunk, their bodies impoverished, and the great increase that had for some time taken place among them in a great measure stopped.[174]
[174] In our engraving on the previous page the woman in the foreground is employed in baking bread at the very usual kind of oven--a hole in the ground. The other women are weaving. Both are the principal employments of women among the pastoral tribes, and were such among the Hebrews. It will be remembered that the hangings for the tabernacle were woven by the women, in the wilderness.
No sooner was this resolution formed than it was carried into execution. The wretched Israelites were set about the laborious employ to which they were assigned, and that they might not be negligent in the execution of their business, taskmasters were set over them, whose natural dispositions were so cruel, that they did all in their power to make their lives truly miserable.
But such was the goodness of God in behalf of the poor Israelites, that Pharaoh's project was far from succeeding to his wishes; for the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. This so aggravated the king, and increased his jealousy to such a degree, that, in order to obtain his purposes, he hit upon another expedient. He sent for two of the most eminent of the Egyptian midwives (whose names were Shiphrah and Puah), to whom he gave a strict charge, that whenever they were called to do their office to any Hebrew woman, if the child were a male they should privately strangle it, but if a female, they might let it live.
The midwives, touched with the cruelty of this injunction, and fully satisfied in their minds that it was better to obey God than man, paid no regard to Pharaoh's orders, but saved both male and female alike. Irritated at their disobedience, the king sent for them, and reprimanded them for their conduct in very severe terms; but they excused themselves by telling him that the Hebrew women were so much stronger to their constitutions than the Egyptians, and so lively, that they were generally delivered before they could reach them.
PHARAOH ORDERS ALL MALE BABIES TO BE DROWNED
The judicious as well as humane conduct of the Egyptian midwives was very acceptable to God; but Pharaoh was highly incensed against them, considering the excuse they made as a mere evasion. He therefore determined not to trust them any longer, but to try another expedient, which might more effectively answer the intended purposes, and totally extirpate the whole male race of the Hebrews. To accomplish this end, he issued out an edict,[175] commanding that every male born among the Israelites should be thrown into the river and drowned, but that all the females should be saved.
[175] It is the opinion of most commentators, and the learned in general, that this inhuman edict was so abhorred by the Egyptians, that they scarce ever put it in execution; and that it was recalled immediately after the death of the king who enacted it; which time Eusebius and others place in the fourth year after the birth of Moses.
It is not to be wondered at that so barbarous an edict should greatly afflict the already distressed Israelites, and that they should concert various methods whereby they might secure their offspring from the consequences of so inhuman a decree. That methods of this nature were used, will appear from the following circumstances.
MOSES IS BORN
Some years before this cruel edict was published, one Amram, of the house of Levi, married a woman named Jochebed, of the same tribe. The first child they had was a daughter, whom they called Miriam, and about four years after she was delivered of a son, whom they named Aaron. In the time of this cruel persecution Jochebed was delivered of another son, who being a child of most exquisite beauty, she was particularly anxious for the reservation of its life.
MOSES IS HIDDEN IN ARK
In hopes of accomplishing her wishes, she concealed the child in her house for three months;[176] but, not being able to secrete him any longer, and fearful that he would fall into the hands of those appointed to drown the male children, she at length resolved to commit him to the Providence of God. Accordingly, having made a little ark or boat of rushes,[177] and well plastered it, both within and without, with pitch or bitumen, she put the child into it, and going privately down the river, left it among the flags by the bank, placing his sister Miriam at a proper distance to observe the event.
[176] Josephus, in speaking of this circumstance, relates the following story: “That Amram, finding his wife with child, and fearing the consequences of the king's edict, prayed earnestly to God to put an end to that dreadful persecution; and that God appeared to him and told him, that he would, in due time, free his people from it, and that the son, who shortly would be born unto him, should prove the happy instrument of their glorious deliverance, and thereby eternize his own name.” That this made him conceal him as long as he could, but fearing a discovery, he resolved to trust him to the care of Providence, arguing to this effect: that if the child could be concealed (as it was very difficult to do and hazardous to attempt) they must be in danger every moment, but as to the power and veracity of God, he did not doubt of it, but was assured, that whatever he had promised he would certainly make good; and with this trust and persuasion he was resolved to expose him.
[177] Though his ark, or boat, is said to have been made with rushes, it is most probable that it was formed with flags of the tree papyrus, of which the Egyptians made their paper, and which grew particularly on the banks of the Nile. Clemens Alexandrinus expressly says, that the vessel was made of papyrus, the product of the country: and his assertion is confirmed by several other profane writers.
MOSES IS FOUND
But the Providence of God soon interposed in behalf of the helpless infant. A short time after the mother had left it, Pharaoh's daughter;[178] attended by the maids of honor, came to the river to bathe herself, and seeing the basket at some distance, she ordered one of her attendants to go and bring it out of the flags. Her orders were immediately obeyed, upon which, no sooner did she uncover the child than it made its mourning complaint to her in a flood of tears. This circumstance, joined to the extraordinary beauty of the infant, so moved her heart with compassion, that (notwithstanding she perceived it was one of those children whom her father, in his edict, had ordered to be drowned) she determined to preserve it, and declared her intention of having it brought up under her direction.
[178] Josephus calls this princess Thurmuthis; and from him Philo, who adds, that she was the king's only daughter and heir; and that being some time married without having issue, she pretended to be big with child, and to be delivered of Moses, whom she owned as her natural son. That he was esteemed so is evident, from what the Apostle to the Hebrews says, namely, “That when Moses was grown up, he scorned to be thought the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” See Hebrews 11:24.
By this time Miriam, the child's sister, had mixed herself with the attendants of the princess, and observing with what tenderness she looked upon her brother, and at the same time hearing her intimate her desire of procuring a proper nurse for it, she very officiously offered her service to procure one. The princess accepted this offer, and ordered her to go immediately and bring the person with her, and she would wait her return. Accordingly, the girl hastened with all expedition to the mother, and soon bringing her to the place, the princess delivered the child into her hands, ordering her to take the utmost care of it, and at the same time told her, that whatever expenses attended the rearing of it, she would defray. This, no doubt, was a welcome bargain to the mother, who, taking the child home with her, nursed it openly, her fears being removed by having a royal protection for its security.
MOSES IS ADOPTED AND EDUCATED
When the child was of a proper age, his mother took him to court, in order to show him to the princess. The graces of his person, joined to the beautiful yet noble simplicity of his countenance, so engaged her attention, that she adopted him as her own son, and gave him the name of Moses.[179] That he might be perfectly accomplished, she kept him constantly at court, where he was instructed in all the learning and discipline, both civil and military, used among the Egyptians, and in every only respect treated in a manner becoming the dignity of a prince of the blood.[180]
[179] The word Mo, in the Egyptian language signifies water, and yses, saved; so that the name Moses was very suitable to the circumstance of his being saved from perishing in the water.
[180] It is uncertain at what age Moses was delivered to the princess. It is, however, reasonable to suppose that his parents had so well instructed him in their religion, and taken such care to let him know both what relation they bore to him, and what hope they had conceived of his being designed by heaven to be the deliverer of his nation; that he had made no other use of his education, which the princess gave him, than to confirm himself more and more against the superstitions and idolatry of the Egyptians; and to make himself fit to answer those ends, for which, by Providence, he seemed designed.
MOSES AVENGES HIS PEOPLE
Moses continued to live in Pharaoh's court till he arrived at the age of maturity, when he resolved to leave it, and associate himself with his persecuted brethren the Israelites. Observing their wretched state of servility, and the cruel manner tit which they were treated by their merciless taskmasters, he was greatly affected; and to such a degree was his indignation raised, that, seeing one day an Egyptian treat a Hebrew in a very cruel manner, he immediately stepped up to his assistance, and, not perceiving any person near, slew him, and buried his body in the sand.[181]
[181] We may reasonably suppose that the Egyptian whom Moses slew, through indignation at his brethren's wrongs, was one of the task-masters. It has been questioned how far this action of Moses was justifiable. Le Clerc observes, that, as the Egyptian king authorized the oppression of the Israelites, it was fruitless to apply to him for redress of their grievances. The civil magistrate, who ought to have protected injured innocence, was himself become the oppressor; and, consequently, the society, being degenerated into a confederacy, in oppression and injustice, it was as lawful to use private force and resistance, as against a band of robbers and cut-throats. However, we are to remember, that the Divine hand was to all this: and that thus the way was preparing for the grand deliverance of Israel from Egyptian oppression.
As he was walking out the next day he met with two Hebrews, in strong contest with each other; upon which he admonished them to consider that they were brethren, and endeavored to decide the quarrel between them. But he who was the aggressor, instead of listening to his advice, treated it with contempt, and upbraided him with having been guilty of murder in killing an Egyptian.
MOSES FLEES TO MIDIAN
Moses (little suspecting that any one had seen the transactions of the preceding day) was greatly alarmed at this circumstance, being apprehensive as it was known by one, it would circulate from him among the multitude, and that it could not be long before it reached the ears of Pharaoh, in which case it might be attended with the most fatal consequences. To remove, therefore, these disagreeable apprehensions, and secure himself from all danger, he resolved to leave Egypt, which he accordingly did, and fled into the land of Midian,[182] a beautiful and fertile country situated to the east of the Red sea.
[182] Midian is supposed to be that part of Arabia Petræa, which bordered on the land of Goshen, and whose metropolis (calls Petra) was situated not far from Mount Horeb. It is generally agreed that the people of this country originated from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, from whom they were called Midianites.
This was the happy spot where majesty, guarded only by rural innocence, submitted to the humble office of a shepherd, and a crook, instead of a scepter, graced the hand of the peaceful monarch. Here Jethro (the principal man of the country), in quality both of prince and priest, enjoyed the blessings of a quiet reign, and whose daughters (laying aside the distinction of their birth) took more delight in the innocent employment of tending their father's flocks, than in all the gayeties of a luxurious court.
MOSES HELPS WOMEN SHEPHERDS
In the plains of Midian was a well to which it was common for all the neighboring people to drive their flocks to water. Moses, having reached this spot, and being greatly fatigued, after quenching his thirst with the water, sat himself down to rest. He had not been long here before the seven daughters of Jethro came to draw water for their flocks; but they had no sooner filled their vessels than some rude shepherds, who came on the like errand, being resolved to have their turn first served, violently seized on the water drawn by the damsels, and thereby greatly frightened them. Moses, disapproving of such ill conduct in the men, interposed in behalf of the women, and, obliging the shepherds to retire, drew more water for them, and gave it to their flocks. The damsels, in the most engaging manner, made their acknowledgments to him for his services, after which they took leave and hastened home.
Jethro expressed, great surprise at the quickness of his daughters' return; upon which they informed him that they had met with a stranger at the well, who not only assisted them, but likewise protected them from the insults of several rustics, who had forcibly taken from them the water they had drawn for their cattle. After hearing this story, and not seeing the person who had thus gallantly defended them, Jethro reprehended his daughters for being guilty of ingratitude and incivility, and asked what had become of the generous stranger. They answered they had left him at the well, upon which he ordered them immediately to return, and invite him home.
MOSES AS SHEPHERD MARRIES.
The daughters obeyed their father's command, and Moses being introduced into the house of Jethro, he treated him with every mark of the most distinguished respect. And so pleased was Moses with the courteous reception he met with, that, after a short time, he expressed his willingness to take up his abode with him and become his shepherd. Jethro very readily accepted this proposal, and, to attach Moses the more strongly to his interest, gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. By this wife he had two sons, the eldest of whom he called Gershom, which signifies a “stranger,” alluding to his own condition in that country. The younger he called Eleazar, which signifies “God is my help,” in grateful acknowledgment of God's having delivered him from the hands of Pharaoh.
After Moses had been some few years in Jethro's family, the king of Egypt, who was upon the throne at the time he left the country, died; but this was not productive of the least benefit to the persecuted Israelites; his successor was no less a tyrant than himself, and their miseries, instead of being mitigated, were daily increased. At length their complaints reached heaven; the Almighty, remembering the covenant which he had made with their forefathers, looked upon them with an eye of compassion; and having resolved, in his secret providence, to make Moses the principal instrument in bringing about their deliverance, he began to prepare him for so distinguished an undertaking.
As Moses was one day attending his father-in-law's sheep, they happened to stray much farther than usual, upon which he followed them as far into the desert as Mount Horeb. He had no sooner arrived here than the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. So uncommon a sight greatly startled Moses, but what increased his astonishment was the continuance of the bush unconsumed, notwithstanding it appeared to be wholly encompassed with flames.
THE BURNING BUSH
After reflecting some time on this extraordinary circumstance, Moses resolved to approach nearer the bush, in order, if possible, to discover the cause of its seeming to burn and yet appearing not to be in the least damaged. But the Almighty, to prevent his irreverent approaches, and to strike the greater awe and sense of the divine presence into him, called out of the bush, and forbade him drawing near; and, to make him still more sensible of the sacredness of the place, commanded him to take off his sandals, because the ground on which he stood was holy.
Moses immediately obeyed the divine order, upon which the Almighty discovered himself to him in these words: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The frightened Moses was struck with such reverence of the divine Majesty, and fear of the effects of his presumption, that he immediately fell on the ground and covered his face, being unable to sustain the refulgency[183] Radiance of the divine presence.
MOSES COMMISSIONED
When Moses had a little recovered himself, the Almighty, in words to this effect, addressed him: “I have seen,” said he, “the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters: for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of their oppressors, and to conduct them to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Thee have I chosen to be the instrument in this great work: therefore be of good courage, for I will send thee to Pharaoh, to demand liberty of him for my people the children of Israel.”
Moses had long laid aside all thoughts of attempting to rescue his brethren, the Israelites, from their thralldom; nor had he any opinion of his own abilities, should he make the attempt, to succeed in so difficult an undertaking. Wherefore, when the Almighty proposed the thing to him, he endeavored to excuse himself, by urging his meanness and insufficiency to take upon him the character of a divine ambassador. “Who am I,” said he, “that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” But this difficulty the Almighty removed, by assuring him that he would be with him, and assist him in every step he took; that he would enable him, however perplexed and arduous the task, to accomplish it; and for a token of his veracity herein, told him that within a small compass of time he should see those very people, who were now in slavery, set free and worshipping him on that very mountain.
Still unwilling to undertake the task, Moses desired to know what he should say to the people, and by what name he was to call the person who sent him on the message. To which the Almighty replied, that he should tell him it was an eternal, independent, self-existing Being, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by which name he had ever gone, and by which he would continue to go, to all eternity. He then ordered him to go into Egypt, where, on his arrival, he should first assemble together the chief of the Israelites, and acquaint them with his business; after which he should go directly to the king, and demand of him their liberty, at least for three days, that they might retire into the wilderness, in order to sacrifice to their God. This request, he told Moses, the king would not at first grant, but in the end he would be glad to consent, when he should see the divine power displayed in a variety of miracles which would take place on sundry occasions. “I will exert myself,” said he, “in many miraculous operations on him and his subjects, and at last he shall permit you to depart; but you shall not go way empty, for ye shall be loaded with the spoils of the Egyptians.”
It might be thought that such solemn assurances, even from the mouth of God himself, would have been sufficient to have gained a ready compliance; but Moses, either from the ideas he entertained of the difficulty of the enterprise, or from diffidence of his own abilities, was still desirous of declining the task, and objected, that when he came into Egypt the people would probably doubt his word, and consider him as an impostor.
This objection God immediately removed by showing him a miracle. Asking him what he had in his hand, he replied, a rod; upon which the Almighty ordered him to throw it on the ground, which he had no sooner done than it was immediately turned into a serpent. Moses, frightened at this sudden change of his rod, attempted to run away; but God, to encourage him, bid him take it up by the tail, which he had no sooner done than it resumed its former shape; and to convince him, at the same time, that he should not want credit with the Israelites, he gave him a commission to perform the same miracle before them when he should get into Egypt.
Still farther to remove Moses' scruples, the Almighty was pleased to give him another instance of his great and distinguished power. He ordered him to put his hand into his bosom, which he accordingly did, and on pulling it out, it was covered all over with leprosy. He then told him to put his hand into his bosom again, which he likewise did, and on taking it out the leprosy was gone, and it became as clean as at first. This miracle he likewise commissioned Moses to show the Israelites; and moreover, to arm him sufficiently beyond all doubt, he was pleased to empower him with a third miracle. “If,” says he, “they will not believe these two former, thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon dry land, and the water shall become blood.”
Notwithstanding these solemn and repeated assurances of the Divine aid, favor, and protection, Moses still endeavored to waive the important office, urging as a farther plea that he wanted eloquence, the great qualification of an ambassador; and that since God had condescended to talk to him, he was much more deficient in his speech than before. But this obstacle the Almighty was likewise pleased to remove, by putting Moses in mind of his omnipotence. “Who,” said he, “hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”
Hitherto Moses had some shadow of pretence for his unwillingness to go into Egypt; but now, all his objections being answered, he, in very plain terms desired to be excused from the enterprise, and begged of God that he would be pleased to appoint some other person in his stead.
So long as Moses had anything to plead in excuse for not going, God heard him patiently, and graciously condescended to remove his doubts; but, when all this was done, and he at length gave an absolute refusal, the Almighty was greatly displeased, though at the same time he did not display any instance of his resentment. On the contrary, he resumed Moses' last objection (which he had already answered in general), and showed him, in a more particular manner, how he should supply that defect: “Is not,” said he, “Aaron, the Levite, thy brother? He is eloquent,
and I will appoint him to meet thee. Tell him what I have said; and be assured that I will always assist you both, and direct you what to say. He shall be the orator, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And to strengthen thy commission, and give thee credit among thy people, take this rod in thy hand, for with it shalt thou be enabled to perform many miracles.”
Every obstacle being removed, and the most evincing demonstrations of a miraculous power, together with the protection of Divine Providence, given to Moses, he was at length prevailed on to accept the commission. He accordingly went first to his father-in-law, Jethro, and, without telling him the occasion, requested permission to go and visit his brethren, who were then in the land of Egypt.
ZIPPORAH CIRCUMCISES ELIEZER
Jethro readily consented to Moses' request; upon which, taking his wife and children with him, he proceeded on his journey. He had not, however, gone far, when an angel appeared to him, and with a stern countenance, and flaming sword in his hand, threatened to kill him, because, either from the persuasions of his wife or from his own neglect, he had not yet circumcised his younger son Eleazar. As soon as Zipporah understood the cause of the Divine displeasure, she immediately took an instrument made of a sharp flint, and with it circumcised the child; which being done, the angry vision, after giving signs that God was appeased, disappeared.[185]
[185] The best interpretation that can be given of this extraordinary circumstance is, that Moses having deferred the circumcision of his youngest son (perhaps in compliance to his wife), God was peculiarly offended with him for such neglect; not only because Moses knew that no child could be admitted a member of the Jewish community, nor be entitled to the blessings of God's covenant with those people, without circumcision; but also because his example was of the greatest consequence: for who would have regarded the law, if the law-giver himself had neglected it? Zipporah, therefore, conscious of her husband's danger, as well as of her own negligence, immediately performed the office herself; in consequence of which the cause being removed, God's anger also ceased; and he suffered Moses to pursue his journey. Zipporah is supposed to have performed the office, because Moses was in too great a consternation to do it himself.
MOSES AND AARON MEET
While Moses was on his journey to Egypt, Aaron, by a Divine revelation, was informed thereof, and ordered to go and meet him in the wilderness. Aaron obeyed the Divine command, and met his brother at a small distance from Mount Horeb. After mutual embraces and endearments, Moses opened to him the purport of his commission, the instructions he had received from God, and the miraculous works he was empowered to perform.
The two brothers, being thus joined in the same commission (though Moses was the sovereign), repaired with all expedition to Egypt. Immediately on their arrival they called an assembly of the chief elders of the Israelites, to whom Aaron declared the message which God had sent by Moses; while the latter, to confirm the truth of his divine mission, wrought the several miracles which God had appointed in the presence of the whole assembly. In consequence of this, they all appeared fully convinced that he was a true prophet come from the God of their fathers, who had at length commiserated their afflictions, and sent him now to deliver them from their bondage; and, with this persuasion, they all knelt down and worshipped God.
PHARAOH DENIES REQUEST
A few days after this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaohs court, and, having obtained admission to the king, requested of him that he would permit the Israelites to go three days' journey into the wilderness, in order to perform a solemn service to the Lord their God. But the haughty tyrant not only refused complying with their request, but most impiously arraigned the divine prerogative, and called in question the existence of the only wise and true God in these presumptuous words: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”
PHARAOH STEPS UP REQUIREMENTS
Pharaoh suspected that the Israelites had a design of revolting from his service, and that they had been laying schemes to get out of his dominions. This to him was an argument that they had too much leisure time from business, and that the most effectual way to check their contrivances would be to curtail their vacant hours; he therefore ordered greater tasks and more work to be laid on them. He reprimanded Moses and Aaron for going among the people and interrupting them in their employments; and strictly charged the task-masters not to allow them any more straw, and yet to exact the same tale of bricks from them without abatement.
The task-masters acquainted their under-officers with this severe injunction, who immediately communicated it to the people, and they were accordingly forced to wander about the country to seek for straw, the task-masters, at the same time, exacting from them their usual number of bricks; and when they were unable to perform their task, the under-officers, who were Israelites, and whom the task-masters had set over them, were called to account and punished.
Not knowing whence this unreasonable severity proceeded, whether from the royal edict or the rigor of the task-masters, the under-officers addressed the king himself, and, in the most humble manner, laid their grievances before him. But so far were they from receiving any redress, that the answer returned them was--that “the king would have his edict fully executed, and insisted on having their full number of bricks, though he was resolved not to allow them any straw.”
This answer greatly afflicted the poor Israelites, insomuch that they were almost driven to despair. On their return from the king they happened to meet Moses and Aaron, and supposing them to be the cause of the additional burden laid on them, expressed their grief and resentment in words to this effect: “That they had taken care to infuse an odium into the king against them, and given him a plausible handle to destroy them, which they wished to God might fall on their own heads.”
MOSES' PRAYER TO GOD
These bitter expressions greatly afflicted Moses, who, retiring to a private place, addressed himself to God in this humble expostulation: “Why,” said he, “O Lord, hast thou thus afflicted the people? For since I spoke to Pharaoh in the name, he hath treated them with more severity than before, and they are more unlikely to be delivered than ever.”
The great concern Moses had for the oppression of the Israelites was certainly the cause of his forgetting the promise which God had given him, as also what he had foretold relative to the perverseness of Pharaoh. But, notwithstanding this, the Almighty was pleased to give him fresh assurances of his divine intentions of removing the Israelites from the state of bondage: “I am the Lord,” said he, “the Almighty God, that appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Was I not known to them by my name Jehovah? Be assured that I the Lord, who made a covenant with them to give their posterity the land of Canaan, have heard their complaints and remembered my promise. Therefore, say thus to the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, who exist only of myself, and give existence to all beings. Tell them I will deliver them from the Egyptian slavery, with the power of my Almighty arm, and inflict heavy judgments on them that oppress them. Nor will I only deliver you all from this bondage, but I will take you under my immediate protection: ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I am Jehovah, the Lord, that promiseth this, and that can and will do it.”
Encouraged by this gracious and divine declaration, Moses immediately repaired to the Israelites, to whom he delivered his message as God had commanded. But such was their affliction of mind, in consequence of the increase of their servitude, and which they attributed to have arisen from him, that they paid no attention to what he said. They were prejudiced against him, and rather looked upon him as an enemy then as one who was desirous of procuring their enlargement.
The Almighty, fully resolved to pursue the ends of his Providence, again commanded Moses to go to the king of Egypt and demand the liberty of the Israelites. Having been so roughly dismissed from Pharaoh's presence before, and so unkindly, rejected by the Israelites, Moses endeavored to decline the errand by drawing an argument from each circumstance: “Since,” says he, “the children of Israel, thine own people, would not hear me, though what I offered was so much to their advantage, how can I expect that so wicked a prince as Pharaoh is should pay any attention to so insignificant a person[186] as I am, and in a matter so much to his loss?”
[186] It is remarkable, that in the text Moses here calls himself an uncircumcised person, or rather a man whose lips had not been circumcised. See Exodus 6:12. By this we are to understand, that he meant no more than that he was not possessed of that fluency of speech which was necessary on so important an occasion. The word circumcised is phraseologically used by the Hebrews on several occasions, as when they call any one uncircumcised in heart, mind, or tongue, they mean no more than that the person spoken of is not so perfect in these particulars as might be wished. Besides, as circumcision was the first and greatest sacrament among them, so uncircumcision was esteemed the greatest scandal and disgrace. The phrase therefore, naturally and clearly expresses the humble opinion Moses had for himself, his unfitness for such an office, and his inability to persuade or prevail with so haughty a monarch as Pharaoh.
To remove this objection, the Almighty was pleased to address himself to Moses in words to this effect: “Consider,” said he, “I have made thee as a God[187] to Pharaoh and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy interpreter, or orator. Thou shalt tell him all that I have commanded thee, and ye shall demand of Pharaoh the deliverance of my people. And that thou mayest not be discouraged by a repulse, as before, take notice that Pharaoh shall give no credit to what thou sayest, that I may thereby show my power and wonders to him and his people, and deliver the children of Israel by the strength of my hand. For since Pharaoh has begun to harden his heart in contemptuously treating me and abusing my people, I will now permit him to go on in his obstinate humor, that I may exert my power in miraculous operations in the land of Egypt. Therefore, when ye come into Pharaoh's presence, and he shall demand a miracle of you, to convince him of the truth of your mission, thou shall direct Aaron to cast his rod on the ground before Pharaoh, and it shall be turned into a serpent.”
[187] The word here translated a God, signifies a prince, a counsellor, or governor; and as Moses was to work many wonders in the land of Egypt, so there is no doubt but Pharaoh would look upon him as a person endued with supernatural power. It was then beginning to grow common with the heathen nations, particularly the Egyptians, to rank their great men among the number of their gods; and, therefore, when the Lord here speaks to Moses, he does not say that he made him an object of worship, but only that he would endue him with so much power, that the Egyptians would look upon him as a God.
AARON'S ROD BECOMES A SERPENT
In consequence of these instructions, Moses and Aaron went again to the king, and repeated their demand of his dismissing the Israelites. Pharaoh desired them to show him some miracle, whereby he might be induced to believe, that the God, of whom they had so much spoken, had really sent for them. Upon this Aaron threw down his rod, which had no sooner touched the ground, than it was changed into a living serpent.
Though Pharaoh was somewhat surprised at this incident, yet he was determined, if possible, to make it appear of no great importance. To effect this, he sent for his principal magicians, whom he ordered to try, if, by their magical arts, they could cause the like transmigration. They obeyed the king's commands, and, to his great satisfaction, their attempts succeeded. They threw down their rods, which were immediately changed into serpents, only with this remarkable circumstance, that Aaron's rod swallowed up (while in the figure of a serpent) all those of the magicians, after which it resumed its accustomed form. It might have been supposed, that this would have been sufficient to have convinced the proud monarch of the superior power of the God of Israel; but his heart was so averse to the thoughts of parting with the Hebrews; that it did not in the least affect him.
THE NILE BECOMES BLOOD
As this miracle made no impression on the obstinate tyrant, the Almighty resolved to make use of more forcible scourges, and to afflict the Egyptians with such a succession of plagues as should compel them to dismiss the long-enslaved Israelites. Having observed to Moses, that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, he ordered him to take the rod, which had been turned into a serpent, and (in company with his brother Aaron) to throw himself in the way of Pharaoh, at his usual time of coming to the banks of the river Nile. That as soon as he saw the king, he should again demand of him the liberty of the Israelites; and that if he still continued obstinate, as a farther sign that they were messengers from God, he should give the rod to Aaron, who, by striking it on the water, should immediately change it into blood.
In obedience to the divine command, Moses, at the time appointed, went to the bank of the river, soon after which the king arriving, he accosted him in words to this effect: “That he was sent from the Almighty God of the Hebrews, to demand the release of the Israelites, and that if he did not comply with his request, but still remained obstinate, his God should not only afflict him for his perverseness, but bring down the most heavy judgments on his people.”
The infidel prince, regardless of the order of God, by these two appointed missionaries, still persisted in his resolution (so little did the first miracle operate on his mind) of detaining the Israelites, and continuing them in their wretched state of bondage. Finding all remonstrances in vain, Moses delivered his rod to Aaron, who, striking the water with it, as God had commanded him, it changed into blood, and so continued for the space of seven days, by means of which the fish were suffocated, and the inhabitants compelled to dig for water to allay their thirst. As it was known that Moses received his education among the Egyptians, Pharaoh concluded, that all this was performed by magic skill. Wherefore, calling for his magicians, he put them upon the like trial; who, taking some water out of the wells they had dug, so artfully changed its color, as to make it appear like blood. Though this was but a delusion, yet Pharaoh was satisfied in his own mind that what Moses and Aaron had done was not the effect of any supernatural power, but a mere trick of art; and therefore still resolved not to permit the departure of the Israelites.
FROGS
But the Almighty was pleased to display still farther miracles before this impious and obstinate tyrant. When the seven days were expired, and the waters had resumed their natural qualities, Moses, at the command of God, accosted Pharaoh again, and renewed his solicitations for the delivery of the Israelites, threatening, on his refusal, to bring upon the land such prodigious numbers of frogs, as should visit him and his subjects in their most private recesses.
Pharaoh, regardless of these threats, defied him; upon which Moses ordered Aaron to take his rod, and stretch forth his hand with it over the rivers, which in an instant affected all the waters of Egypt, that, not waiting for the slow productions of nature, the animated streams unburdened themselves upon the land in shoals of frogs, which immediately invaded all parts of the country, and infested even the royal palace itself.[188]
[188] This plague of the frogs, as well as that of the water being changed into blood, was excellently adapted to subvert the superstitions of Egypt, and to demonstrate the over-ruling power of the Almighty; for as the bank of the river Nile was the grand scene of the magical operations of the Egyptians, in which blood and frogs made a principal part of the apparatus; so, by commanding that river to produce such an infinite multitude of these creatures to annoy them, God, with wonderful propriety, adapted their chastisement to the nature of their crimes: for frogs were not only the instruments of their abominations, but likewise the emblems of those impure demons whom they invoked by their incantations.
The obstinate and perverse king had again recourse to his magicians, who, by their mimic power, so deluded Pharaoh as to make him believe they had wrought the like miracle. This hardened his heart for a time; but the loathsome plague continuing, and pursuing his people wherever they went, he was at length forced to apply to Moses and Aaron, to whom he promised that the Israelites should have their liberty, provided their God would remove so infestuous a plague. “Entreat the Lord,” said he, “that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.”
Moses demanded the time when this should be put to an issue, upon which the next day was conjunctively agreed on. Accordingly, Moses, in order to fulfill his part of the contract, after leaving Pharaoh, retired to a private place, and, addressing himself to God, humbly besought him to remove the plague of the frogs from the land of Egypt. The Almighty was pleased to listen to Moses' solicitations: the frogs soon died, which the people gathered together in heaps; but they were so numerous, that before they could be removed, the scent, which was exceeding obnoxious, spread itself throughout the whole country.
River Nile, under its usual appearance As Moses had now fulfilled his part of the contract, he naturally expected that Pharaoh would have performed his; but the impious monarch, vainly imagining that the artillery of divine vengeance was now exhausted, unfaithfully broke his word, and still reused to let the Israelites depart.
LICE
This breach of promise so offended the Almighty, that he resolved to treat the haughty tyrant in a more severe manner than he had hitherto done. As yet God had given him previous notice of the judgments he intended to denounce, that he might have the opportunity of escaping them; but now, without giving him the least intimation of his design, he commanded Moses to direct Aaron to stretch out his rod, and strike the dust with it, that it might become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Aaron had no sooner obeyed the divine command, than the animated dust was immediately turned into swarms of vermin, which not only infested the human species, but also the beasts of the field. Pharaoh again had recourse to his magicians, who (though they had faintly imitated the former plaques) now attempted this in vain: they owned their art outdone, and acknowledged this to be the inimitable work of a divine hand.
FLIES
But notwithstanding this, Pharaoh's heart was so hardened, that he would not pay the least attention to the solicitations of Moses; upon which the Almighty was pleased to give him another summons, in words to this effect: “Rise up,” says he to Moses, “early in the morning, and meet Pharaoh as he comes to the river: tell him, Thus saith the Lord: let my people go, that they may serve me, or I will send swarms of flies upon thee and thy people, which shall fill their houses, and cover the face of the earth. And that thou mayest know, that this is brought as a judgment upon thee and thy subjects, for oppressing my people, I will, on that day, separate the land of Goshen, in which my servants dwell, from the rest of Egypt, that the flies shall not molest them.”
Moses, in conformity to the divine command, delivered this message to Pharaoh, whose obstinacy and perverseness were so great, that he still refused the Israelites to depart. In consequence of this, the next day, clouds of swarming insects filled the air, which in numberless troops descended to the earth, and, with their unusual noise, surprised and affrighted the wretched inhabitants. All attempts to remove this dreadful calamity proved vain and fruitless; their most private recesses could not secure them from the poisonous stings of these obnoxious animals, and a succession of painful misery, invaded them on all sides. The magicians beheld, with confusion, this direful plague, and no more attempted to offer any imitation. A general horror was spread throughout the whole country, and every part echoed with the cries of tortured men and cattle.
Not being able longer to endure this dreadful calamity, and finding no likelihood of its being removed, the obstinate Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and, in a sullen dissatisfied tone, bade them go and sacrifice to their God; but with this injunction, that they should not pass beyond the bounds of Egypt. He was desirous of obtaining relief, but, at the same time, was unwilling to part with a people, from whose slavery he had reaped such great advantage. Being a stranger to the true God, he did not conceive that the Israelites could not acceptably sacrifice to their God while under Egyptian bondage.
Moses, desirous of convincing rather than inflaming, the infidel prince, prudently answered: “We can not sacrifice to our God in this land, for that would be an affront to the Egyptians,[189] and they will be revenged on us. Permit us, therefore, to avoid their resentment, by going three days' journey into the wilderness, where we can sacrifice to our God in the manner he hath commanded.”
[189] The meaning of this expression is, that the animals which they were to sacrifice to the Lord, being those which were worshipped by the Egyptians, it would be such an affront and abomination to them, as would endanger the lives of the Israelites. Herodotus tells us, that the Egyptians esteemed it a profanation to sacrifice any kind of cattle except swine, bulls, calves, and geese; and that heifers, rams, and goats (the usual sacrifices of the Israelites), were, by them, held sacred. It is, therefore, no wonder that the Israelites should wish to offer up their sacrifices in a place detached from the sight of the Egyptians, justly suspecting, that had they not, it might have been attended with fatal consequences.
In reply to this, the haughty monarch said, “If nothing else will serve you but to go into the desert, I will let you go; but remember, it must not be far. And in return for this concession, I desire you will entreat your God to remove the plague.”
Moses promised to intercede for him, but at the same time cautioned him to be sincere in what he said, and not violate his engagements as he had before done. Leaving Pharaoh, Moses retired to a proper place, where he addressed himself to God, beseeching him to remove the plague of the flies. His prayers were accordingly heard, and the insects soon took their flight. But this obstacle was no sooner removed, than the haughty tyrant reassumed his former obstinacy, and peremptorily forbid the Israelites worshipping their God in the way and manner he had directed.
MURRAIN
This additional provocation so incensed the Almighty against Pharaoh, that he again sent Moses to him with this message: “Tell him,” said he, “Thus saith the God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me, or be assured I will visit all thy cattle that are in the field with a grievous murrain; and to make thee still more sensible of in Omnipotence, I will, by a wonderful distinction, preserve the cattle of my people, while I destroy those of the Egyptians.”
Pharaoh paid no more attention to this message than he had done to the former, in consequence of which, the very next day, this awful threat was most severely executed. The generous horse loathed his full manger and loved pastures, and sunk beneath his rider; the ass and camel could no longer support their burdens, or bear their own weight; the laboring ox fell dead before the plough; the harmless sheep died bleating, and the faithful dogs lay gasping by them.
Though this was certainly a most horrid spectacle, yet it made not the least impression on the hardened Pharaoh, who still resolved to brave Heaven with his impious perverseness. Remembering what Moses had said of the preservation of the Israelites' cattle, he sent to Goshen to learn how it had fared with them, and was assured that not one of their cattle had died, or received the least infection. This circumstance was certainly sufficient to have convinced him that it was no casualty, but a direct judgment upon him, seeing that it exactly answered the divine prediction. But notwithstanding this, his heart was so callous, that he still preserved the resolution of not suffering the Israelites to depart.
SORES
These means proving ineffectual, the Almighty, in order to make some impression on the mind of this impious monarch, determined to afflict him and his people with a plague, and that without giving him the least notice of his intentions. He accordingly commanded Moses and Aaron to take ashes of the furnace, and throw them into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. This was accordingly done, upon which the ashes soon spread the dire contagion, and the tainted air infected the Egyptian blood with its pernicious influence. The most inveterate bites and ulcers appeared on their flesh, and their whole constitution became a noisome spring of sores. So universal was this plague, that even the magicians (who, it is probable, would willingly have once more tried their skill) were affected, and that in such manner, that they dared not appear in public.
HAIL
Pharaoh's obstinacy, which before proceeded from an implacable hatred to the chosen people of God, now arose from the mere hardness of his heart, and notwithstanding he must be sensible that the present plague was the immediate effect of a divine and supernatural direction, yet he continued firm in his resolution of detaining the Israelites. But the Almighty, determined to make some impression on him, rendered the very powers of Heaven subservient to his divine purpose, giving this charge to his servant Moses: “Go,” says he, “early in the morning, to the king of Egypt, and tell him, that I, the God of the Hebrews, demand the liberty of my people, that they may worship me; which; if he refuse, he may be assured that I will shower my plagues upon him and his people; and I will make him know that I am the only God on earth. Say farther to him: If, when lately I smote the cattle with a murrain, I had smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, thou hadst been cut off from the earth. But I have reserved thee to show my power, and by the judgments I shall inflict will I make known my name to all the world. Oppress not, nor detain my people; for if thou dost, to-morrow, by this time, unless thou submitteth thyself, I will send such a storm of hail from heaven upon Egypt as never was known since it has been a nation. And that thou mayest not lose what cattle the murrain left, which being not in the field escaped that plague, send thy servants, and let them drive them under shelter; for upon every man and beast, which shall be found in the field, the storm shall fall, and they shall surely die.”
So careless, as well as impious, was Pharaoh, that even this declaration would not make him submit, though, his own life, as well as those of his people, was in imminent danger. But some of them, who had been witnesses of the dreadful wrath of God, made a prudent use of the divine caution, and, housing their cattle in time, they were preserved from the general destruction.
The appointed time being come, Moses, in obedience to the divine command, waved his rod in the air, which soon began to murmur in imperfect sounds, till the full charged clouds, with impetuous force, burst and discharged themselves in such horrid peals of thunder, as to sake the whole frame of nature. This was succeeded by a stormy shower of hail, which covered the ground with the scattered remains of trees, and houses, and the dead bodies of men and beasts. Nor did the divine vengeance stop here: the heavens discharged a body of liquid fire, which, darting on the ground, glided over the waters, and filled every place with the most dreadful horror.
The haughty tyrant began now to be impressed with those sensations to which he had hitherto been a stranger. Seeing all nature, as he imagined, ready to dissolve, he melted into penitence, and, sending for Moses and Aaron, confessed himself guilty. “I have sinned this time,” said he; “the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.” Moses promised to comply with this request, but at the same time assured him, he knew there was no sincerity in his heart; and that his seeming repentance was only the effect of his fright.
Moses, however, in conformity to his promise, addressed himself to the Almighty beseeching him to remove the plague; which was no sooner done, than his prediction was verified: for, when Pharaoh found the storm was ceased, and all was calm and serene, his fears totally vanished, his perverseness returned, and he resolved still to keep the Israelites in a state of bondage.
LOCUSTS
The Almighty was now pleased to make another trial, and to send his servant Moses to apprize the haughty and perfidious tyrant of his intentions. The message he delivered to Moses was prefaced by his reasons (as, indeed, he had done before) why he permitted Pharaoh to continue in his obstinacy; the substance of which, together with the message itself, was to this effect: “I have,” says he, “hardened Pharaoh's heart, and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these my wonders before them, and that thou mayest tell, in the hearing of thy sons, and the Israelites to succeeding generations, what omens I have wrought in Egypt, that ye may all know that I am the Lord, the Almighty Jehovah. Wherefore, go to Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Why dost thou persist in thy obstinacy? Let my people go, that they may serve me, or I will bring the locusts into thy land to-morrow, which shall come in such swarms, as to cover the surface of the earth, and devour all the products of it that have escaped the former plagues. And this shall prove such plague as none of thy predecessors ever saw.”
This message Moses carefully delivered to Pharaoh in the presence of his nobles, and, not receiving any answer to it, he retired. As soon as he was gone, Pharaoh's courtiers, still sensibly impressed with the late calamities, and fearful that he was about to call down more plagues upon them, very roughly accosted their king, desiring him to let the Israelites go and serve their God, lest, for his obstinacy, not only him self, but also the whole people of his kingdom, should be totally destroyed.
The importunity of Pharaoh's courtiers prevailed more than God's threats and judgments. He immediately dispatched a messenger after Moses and Aaron, who accordingly returning, he told them they might go and serve their God; but under this limitation, that it should only be the men, for that all the women and children should be left behind. This, however, would not do for Moses: he insisted that all the Israelites should go, both old and young, sons and daughters; nay, and their flocks and herds; “for,” said he, “we must hold a feast to the Lord, and all must be at it.” Pharaoh considered this demand as not only peremptory, but insolent: he therefore bade them look to it, and consider well what they insisted on; after which, in a very threatening manner, he dismissed them.
This repulse occasioned another judgment to be inflicted on the miserable subjects of an infidel king; for Moses, by the divine command, stretched out his hand, with the rod in it, and immediately a scorching wind blew all that day and the succeeding night; the consequence of which was, the next morning there appeared endless legions of locusts, which, in a short time, so devoured the fruits of the earth, that it became, as it were, quite naked: the happy productions arising from the fertile Nile, and all that bountiful nature afforded, were carried off by these airy pillagers, and nothing appeared but horror and desolation throughout the land of Egypt.
The hardened Pharaoh was more sensibly affected at this plague, than he had been at any of the former. He plainly saw that the destruction of the fruits of the earth must be succeeded by the destruction of man and beast. Wherefore, sending for Moses and Aaron, he, in a more suppliant manner, addressed them in words to this effect: “I have, indeed, offended Jehovah your God, in refusing to obey his command, and you, in so often breaking my word with you: forgive me this offence, and entreat your God to avert this judgment, that I and my people perish not by devouring famine.”
Moses, once more compassionating the case of the justly afflicted king, addressed himself to the Almighty in his behalf, and the locusts, by the force of a strong westerly wind, were driven into the Red sea. But this plague was no sooner removed than Pharaoh's obstinacy and contempt of God's commands returned, and he again refused the departure of the Israelites.
DARKNESS
All these methods to reduce Pharaoh to an obedience of the Divine command proving ineffectual, the Almighty commanded Moses to stretch forth his hand toward heaven, that there might be a universal darkness, such as before had never been known, throughout the land of Egypt.
Moses obeyed the Divine command, immediately on which such solid and thick clouds of darkness invaded the sky, that nature seemed at once to be involved in one dreadful eclipse: the sun no longer enlightened the lower world with his cheerful beams; the moon, with the stars, no more illuminated the air; and so dismal was the aspect of all things, that nature appeared as if about to return to her original chaos.
This dreadful scene of horror lasted three days, and the haughty Pharaoh was so affected at it, that though he had long stood immoveable against the threats and judgments of God, yet he now, fearing a universal dissolution, and frightened at the continual terror of this long night, began seriously to relent, and sending for Moses, thus addressed him--“Ye may go,” said he, “with your little ones, and serve the Lord; but, for my security, I would have you leave your flocks and herds behind.”
But this not being absolutely consistent with the Divine command, Moses would not accept it. He told Pharaoh that it was the express command of their God to remove with all their substance; and that they knew not in what manner they were to offer sacrifice to their God, nor should they till they came into the wilderness.
The haughty tyrant, incensed at the non-compliance of Moses to what he esteemed a distinguished indulgence, commanded him to be gone, and, with great austerity, told him if he ever appeared before him again, it should cost him his life.
FIRST-BORN DIE
Moses promised Pharaoh he should never again see his face; but, by the Divine command, he once more visited him, and that with a message more severe than any he had yet delivered. “Tell him,” says the Almighty to Moses, “in the hearing of his people, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt. 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 female servant that is behind the mill;[190] and all the first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was never before, nor shall be again. But the children of Israel shall not be in the least affected, that ye may know the distinction made by the Lord between you and them. And all thy servants shall come down unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee; and after that will I go out myself.”
[190] It was usual for the lowest slaves to be employed in the drudgery of the mill; and therefore the prophet Isaiah uses this idea, to express the abject state of slavery to which Babylon should be reduced: “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, take the mill-stones and grind meal.” Isaiah 57:1-2. Dr. Shaw observes, that most families in those countries still grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable mill-stones for that purpose; the uppermost whereof is turned round by a small handle of wood, or iron, which is placed in the rim. When the stone is large, or expedition is required, then a second person is called in to assist; and, it is usual for the women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over against each other, with the mill-stones between them. We may see not only the propriety of the expression in this verse, of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, Matthew 24:41, that “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left.”
Moses delivered this message to Pharaoh in the manner he had been commanded. But the haughty tyrant defied his threats, and still persisted in his obstinacy that the Israelites should not depart from Egypt; upon which Moses, finding him inflexible, turned away and left him.
PASSOVER
Previous to the carrying of this last sentence into execution, the Almighty instructed Moses and Aaron in what manner to direct the people to prepare the passover, which was to be a feast in commemoration of their departure out of Egypt, and was to be held on the day preceding that event.[191] The directions which, by the Divine command, Moses gave to the people on this occasion, were to the following effect: that every family of Israel (or, if the family was too small, two neighboring families joining together) should, on the tenth[192] day of the month, take a lamb, or kid, and having shut it up till he fourteenth day, then kill it. That the lamb, or kid, should be a male not above a year old, and without any manner of blemish: that, when they killed it, they should catch the blood in a vessel, and, with a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, sprinkle the side posts of the outer door, after which they should not stir out of the house till the next morning. In the meantime, they were to eat the lamb, or kid (dressed whole and without breaking a bone of it), neither raw nor sodden, but roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; that if there was more than they could dispense with, they were to bury it; and, lastly, that the posture in which they were to eat it was to be in a hurry, with their clothes[193] on their shoulders and their staves in their hands, as if they were just upon the point of going to depart.
[191] These directions given by the Almighty to Moses are introduced by the following passage: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first day of the first month of the year to you.” The Jews, like most other nations, began their year, before this event, about the autumnal equinox, in the month Tifri, after their harvest and vintage: but that which was their first month, now became their seventh; as the month of Abib, which answers principally to our March, was, by God's appointment, and in commemoration of this their deliverance, constituted the first month of their sacred year. Abib signifies the green corn; and the month was so named, because, about this time, the corn in those countries began to ripen.
[192] The passover, or feast was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month, so that four days were allowed previous to its being held in after-times the Jews did not begin their preparations till the thirteenth, or the day preceding the passover: but here, they are ordered to prepare on the tenth day of the month, not only because this being the first time of the celebration of the passover, they might require more time to prepare for a ceremony entirely new, but because, being to depart from Egypt suddenly, and in great haste, they might be perfectly ready, and have no hindrance to make them neglect any part of the duty enjoined.
[193] These clothes were slight thin garments, resembling those which the Arabs now wear, and which they call hykes. “These hykes,” says Dr. Shaw, “are of various sizes, and of different qualities and fineness. The usual size of them is six yards long and two broad. It serves them for a complete dress in the day; and, as they sleep in their raiments, as the Israelites did of old (Deuteronomy 24:13) it serves likewise for their bed and covering at night.”
The tremendous night was not long delayed. While the Jews were celebrating this newly instituted feast--at midnight--the destroying angel went forth in a pestilence, and smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt--“from the first-born of Pharaoh, that sat on his throne, to the first-born of the captive that lay in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.” And there was a great cry in Egypt--lamentation and bitter weeping--for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.
BORROWED JEWELS
The effect of this dreadful blow was exactly such as Moses had foretold. The king, his nobles, and the Egyptian people, rose in sorrow from their beds that night. The shrieks of the living, with the groans of those about to die, breaking in upon the stillness of the night--the darkness of which must greatly have aggravated the horror and confusion of that hour--made the people fancy they were all doomed to destruction, and that the work of death would not cease till they had all perished. The king himself was filled with horror and alarm. Without truly repenting his obduracy, he bitterly lamented its effects. It appeared to him that the only method of arresting the progress of the destruction was to send the Hebrews instantly away--in the fear that every moment they tarried would prove the loss of a thousand lives to Egypt. He therefore sent to Moses and Aaron by that very night--that hour--to tell them, “Get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go and serve the Lord as ye said; take also your flocks and herds, and begone; and bless me also.” And the Egyptian people also, says the scriptural narrative, were urgent upon them, to send them away in haste; for they said, “We are all dead men.” In their anxiety to get them off, lest every moment of their stay should prove the last to themselves or those dear to them, the Egyptians would have done anything to satisfy and oblige them. This favorable disposition had been foreseen from the beginning, and the Hebrews had been instructed by Moses to take advantage of it, by borrowing ornaments of precious metal--“Jewels of gold and jewels of silver,” with rich dresses, from the Egyptians. On the principle that, “all that a man hath he will give for his life,” there can be no doubt but that, under circumstances which made them consider their own lives in jeopardy, and when the losses they had sustained were calculated to make their finery seem of small value in their sight, the Egyptians were quite as ready to
Ornaments of Egyptian Females lend as the Hebrews to borrow. The women also were authorized to borrow from the Egyptian females: and we may easily believe that their exertions added much to the large amount of valuable property which was extracted from the fears of the Egyptians. With whatever understanding these valuable articles were given and received, the ultimate effect is, that in this final settlement, the Hebrews received something like wages-though, as such, inadequate-for the long services they had rendered to the Egyptians.[194]
[194] The “Borrowed” Jewels--Much learning and labor have been bestowed on explanations of this transaction. The most general improvement which has been suggested is, that we should assign the sense of “ask,” or “demand,” to the word which most versions translate into “borrow:” and the meaning will then be, that the Hebrews availed themselves of the consternation in which they saw the Egyptians, to demand these valuable articles, in compensation for the long service they had rendered. In this explanation one little circumstance is forgotten, which is, the probability that these precious articles were obtained from persons who had never any direct benefit from, or interest in, their services. It seems to us that not so much as is commonly supposed is gained by this alteration. We prefer to adhere to the more received view of the case; because that seems more in agreement with all the circumstances which surround the transaction. The explanation proceeds on the notion that the Israelites had avowed their intention to escape; for had it been presumed that they intended to return, it would have been a piece of the grossest and most fatal madness in them to “demand” this valuable property from the Egyptians in a compulsory manner. But their intention to withdraw altogether was never avowed while they were in Egypt. Moses never avowed it. Even when rather closely pressed on the subject, he persisted, at least by implication. that there was no other object than that of holding a feast to Jehovah at the distance of three days, journey into the wilderness, and the ulterior intention was not distinctly avowed by the move which was made from “Etham on the edge of the wilderness.” Thus, therefore, only being the avowed object of the Israelites, it must have seemed perfectly natural to the Egyptians that they should wish to appear as richly attired as possible at the great feast they were about to celebrate; and as natural, that they should borrow such articles as they, in their state of bondage and poverty, did not possess. The consternation they were in at the death of their first-born, and their haste to get the Hebrews away, precluded much deliberation. By the time the Israelites moved from Etham there had been leisure for reflection, and they manifested their sense that the substance with which they parted on that occasion had only been lent, by the haste which they made to recover it, as soon as they became assured that the Hebrews intended to escape.
ISRAEL DEPARTS EGYPT
So eager were the Egyptians to get them off, that, between persuasions, bribery, and gentle compulsion, the whole body had commenced its march before daybreak, although it was not till midnight that the first-born had been slain. They had no time even to bake the bread for which the dough was ready; and they were, therefore, obliged to leave it in their dough bags, Which they carried away, wrapped up in their clothes, with the view of preparing their bread when an opportunity might be offered by their first halt. Hurried as they were, they forgot not the bones of Joseph, which they had kept at hand, and now bore away with them. On they marched, driving before them their cattle and their beasts of burden laden with their moveables and tents; and themselves, some, doubtless, riding on camels, some on asses; but, from the great number of these required for the women and the children, most of the men doubtless marched on foot. Thus, laden with the spoils of Egypt, they went on their way rejoicing, leaving the Egyptians to the things which belong to mourning and the grave.
We are told that the number of the Israelites who on this eventful night commenced their march was “about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.” The description of “men on foot” denotes, as elsewhere appears, men fit to bear arms, excluding therefore not only those who are too young, but those who are too old for such service. As this prime class of the community is usually in the proportion of one fourth of the whole population, the result would give nearly two millions and a half as the number of the posterity of Jacob. This number is so very high, that it has seemed incredible to many. We must confess, that it is difficult to realize the presence of so vast a host with their flocks and herds, and to form an idea of the immense area they would cover, were only standing-room given to them, much more where encamped under tents--and when we further consider the length and breadth of their moving body on a march, as well as the quantities of water they would require, we may be tempted to conclude that a much smaller number would amply justify the promises of God, and would render many circumstances in the ensuing portion of their history more easy to be understood. Besides this, the ancient manner of notation afforded temptations and facilities for the corruption of numbers, whence it happens that the most disputed texts of Scripture, are those in which, as the copies now stand, there are palpable contradictions, are those which contain numerical statements. We are not insensible to these considerations, and have endeavored to assign them all the weight which they are entitled to bear. But seeing that the present number, high as it is, has some support from collateral evidence, and from
Departure from Egypt the considerations to which we have already adverted, and, above all; reflecting that the present number is a positive circumstance, whereas all alteration could only be conjectural,[195] we deem it the best and safest course to take the number as we find it in the present copies of the Pentateuch. But besides the descendants of Jacob, there was a large “mixed multitude,” which went out of Egypt on this occasion. Who they were is not clearly stated; but it would appear that the mass was formed of foreign slaves, belonging to the principal persons among the Hebrews, with a good number, probably, belonging to the Egyptians, who were glad to take the opportunity of escaping with the Israelites. Besides this, there were manifestly a considerable number of Egyptians of the poorer class, who perhaps expected to better their condition in some way, or had other very good reasons for leaving Egypt: indeed, as it did not turn out that the Israelites were anything the better for their presence, we are free to confess that we think it likely they were chiefly such thieves, vagabonds, adventurers, and debtors, as could no longer stay safely in Egypt.
[195] So conjectural that while some strike off one cipher, reducing 600,000 to 60,000, others are not content without taking off two, thus reaching the certainty to the very convenient and manageable number of 6,000 Another conjecture has been that the 600,000 includes all the population, and not merely the men fit to bear arms; but this is precluded by the terms of the text, “besides women and children.”
The circumstance that Moses was so well acquainted with the number of the Israelites before they left Egypt, intimates that an account of their numbers had not long before been taken by the Egyptians. That ingenious people employed very early, if they did not invent, the practice of taking a census of what is called the effective part of the population; and from them, unquestionably, the Israelites, under the direction of Moses, adopted this useful custom. In all such enumerations, in ancient times, the women and children were not included, and their number is never stated. But probably they were able to form an estimate of the proportion which the numbered part of the population bore to the whole; although their conclusions in this matter must have been more uncertain than our own, which have been found on repeated actual enumerations of portions of the entire population which were never included in the ancient enumerations.
STARTING POINT OF ESCAPE
The point from which the Hebrew host started on their march was Rameses, one of the “treasure cities” which they had built for Pharaoh in the land of Goshen, and which seems to have become the chief place in the territory they occupied. The difficulties in tracing their march begin at the very first stage.
There are two preliminary questions, satisfactory information on which would much assist us in understanding the early part of their journey. The first is, the situation of Rameses, from which they started; and the second, the point to which their journey was, in the first instance, directed. On the first point no very satisfactory information can be obtained. It is, indeed, not quite clear that any particular locality is intended, or whether the land of Goshen, in the large indefinite sense, may not be denoted by “the land of Rameses.” But some information is reflected upon the first by the answer to the second of these questions, which answer is, that the destination which was in the first instance contemplated, was doubtless the wilderness of Sinai. The land of Goshen appears most evidently to have bordered on, if it did not include, part of the tract over which the nearest and most convenient road to the peninsula of Sinai from the banks of the Nile has always passed. This is nearly the line in which, in after ages, a canal was made connecting the Nile with the Gulf of Suez; and that, while it is the nearest route, it is the only one which offers a supply of water, is a consideration which doubtless as much recommended it in ancient times to those going from Egypt to Sinai or Arabia, as it does now recommend it to the great caravan of pilgrimage which yearly journeys from Cairo to Mecca. The route of this caravan is the same, as far as the head of the Gulf of Suez, as one would take which proceeds to the Desert of Sinai. We shall therefore presume that this was the route taken.
If the Hebrews were to have gone direct to take possession of the Promised Land, their nearest road would have been “by the way of the Philistines;” that is, by the usual route from Egypt to Gaza. But the Philistines were unquestionably the most powerful and warlike people then in Palestine, and there was already some ill blood between them and the Israelites, and would be likely to offer a most formidable opposition to them at the very first step of their progress. The Hebrews were in fact altogether unfit to face such enemies, or any enemies whatever: they were not yet even fit to be a nation; and therefore, instead of being at once led to their promised heritage, it was the divine will that they should be conducted into the desert, there to be trained, disciplined, and instructed, so as to fit them for their future destinies. Moses knew that their first destination was the wilderness of Sinai; for when the Lord appeared to him in Horeb, it was announced that the bondaged children of Abraham should be brought to worship God in that very mountain.
CLOUD & FIRE
The Hebrews left Rameses and proceeded on their way. And now it appeared that the Lord provided against their going astray, by placing a miraculous column of cloud to go before them by day and mark out heir road; while by night it became a column of fire, and gave light to all the camp. This was important, also, as evincing that Moses was not acting by his own authority, and that, however highly he was entitled to their confidence and respect, they had a more unerring Guide and a more exalted Protector.
Their first day's journey brought them to Succoth. We relinquish the notion which we once entertained that Succoth may have been at or near the place (Birket el Hadj, or Pilgrim's Pool) where the great pilgrim caravan encamps and makes its final arrangements for its journey. We think it, upon the whole, more likely that the point from which the Hebrews departed in the first instance may have been in that neighborhood. Succoth, therefore, must be sought somewhere about a day's journey in the direction toward Suez. The name denotes tents or booths, and it is useless to seek its site, as the name appears only to denote a place where caravans passing that way usually encamped.
Adjeround

WILDERNESS JOURNEY
Their next resting-place of which we are told was “Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.” But in this, as in other cases, we are not to suppose that the places which are named are the only places at which they rested; and in the present instance the distance may suggest that this Etham was the third rather than the second encampment. The halting-places of caravans are in these desert regions so much determined by the presence of wells, that, in connection with the circumstance of it being situated “on the edge of the wilderness,” there is not much difficulty in concluding that Etham is represented by the modern Adjeroud, which forms the third stage of the pilgrim's caravan, and where there is an old fortress, a small village, and copious well of indifferent water. This place is about eleven miles to the northwest of Suez. The neighborhood seems indeed to be on the edge of the wilderness: for what M. du Bois-Ayme says of Bir-Suez (which he identifies with Etham) is true also of Adjeroud, that, in effect, it appears to be toward the extremity of the desert: for hence the sea is seen to make a bend to the west, and by joining the high chain of Mount Attaka to terminate the desert to the south. The journey to this point had been for the most part over a desert, the surface of which is composed of hard gravel, often strewed with pebbles.
They had now arrived near the head of the Red sea, and also, as we suppose, at the limit of the three days' journey into the wilderness for which they had applied. It is therefore evident that their next move must decide their future course, and convey to the Egyptians a clear and decisive intimation of their intentions. If they designed to do as they had all along declared to be their only wish, they would stay at this place, and proceed to celebrate the feast to Jehovah, of which so much had been said: but, if they intended to escape altogether, they would resume their journey, and, passing by the head of the Red sea, strike off into the desert. And here God, who knew that the king of Egypt had so far recovered his consternation that he was determined to pursue and drive them back, if they made any move indicating an intention to escape, directed a move which must have been most unexpected to all parties, and which could not to any indifferent spectator have seemed the result of the most gross and fatal infatuation.
About the head of the Gulf of Suez a desert plain extends for ten or twelve miles to the west and north of the city of that name. On the west this plain is bounded by the chain of Attaka, which comes down toward the sea in a northeasterly direction. Opposite Suez this chain is seen at a considerable distance, but, as we advance southward, the mountains rapidly approach the sea, and proportionately contract the breadth of the valley; and the chain terminates at the sea; and seems, in the distant view, to shut up the valley at Ras-el-Attaka, or Cape Attaka, twelve miles below Suez. But, on approaching this point, ample room is found to pass beyond; and on passing he and we find ourselves in a broad alluvial plain, forming the mouth of the valley of Bedea. This plain is on the other or southern side nearly shut up by the termination of another chain of these mountains, which extend between the Nile and the western shore of the Red sea. Any further progress in this direction would be impossible to a large army, especially when encumbered with flocks and herds, and with women, children, and-baggage; and this from the manner in which the rocks, the promontories, and the cliffs advance on the western shore. And, besides, any advance in this direction would be suicidal to a body desiring to escape from Egypt, as they would have the Red sea between them and Arabia Proper, and could only get involved among the plains and valleys which separate the mountain chains of Egyptian Arabia.
The valley of Bedea, which opens to the Red sea in the broad plain to which we have brought the reader, narrows as it proceeds westward toward the Nile. It forms a fine roadway between the valley of the Nile and the Red sea, and, as such, has in all ages been one of the most frequented routes in all the country, being traversed by all parties and caravans which desire to proceed from the neighborhood of Cairo, on places to the south of Cairo, to Suez, or to places lying beyond the head of the gulf.
Now, the Hebrew host being at Etham, and their next step thence being of the utmost importance they were directed, not--as might obviously have been expected--to pass round the head of the gulf into the Sinai peninsula, but to proceed southward, between the mountains of Attaka and the western shore of the gulf, and, after
Suez passing the Ras-el-Attaka, to encamp in the plain into which the valley of Bedea opens. The more thoroughly any one makes himself acquainted with the topography of this region, the more obvious and reasonable, we are persuaded, will seem to him this explanation of the text--“Turn and encamp before Pi-ha-hiroth [the mouth of the ridge], between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it ye shall encamp by the sea.” As the names Migdol and Baal-zephon are not now recognizable anywhere about the head of the gulf,[196] no facts or inferences can be deduced from them; but an important confirmation is derived from the circumstance that we are told that, in consequence of the move which was made, the Hebrew host were shut up between the sea and the mountains, without any means of escape, unless through the sea, when the retreat in the rear was cut off.
[196] Migdol was probably a tower, as the name imports, and may seem to have been on the mountains which hem in the valley. Baal-zephon, meaning the Northern Baal or Lord, would seem to have been a town or temple situated somewhere in the plain of Medea, or over against it on the eastern shore of the sea.
Many have thought they found cause to wonder at this extraordinary movement, which placed the Hebrews in a position of such inextricable difficulty, forgetting that this was the very purpose of God, that the prospect of an extraordinary advantage might tempt the Egyptians on to their own destruction, and bring them within the reach of those agencies by which God intended, to act against them. The wonder which the reader may feel is exactly the wonder which the king of Egypt felt, and by which he was led on to his ruin.
The movement was made; and the thousands of Israel encamped in the plain of Bedea.
EGYPTIAN PURSUIT
The days which had passed had given the Egyptians time to recover from some portion of their panic; and their first feeling of unmixed horror and alarm gave place to considerable resentment and regret, on the king's part, that he had so suddenly conceded all the points which had been contested between him and Moses, and had allowed them all to depart; and as for his subjects, such of them as had a profitable interest in the labors of the Israelites would, to some extent, join in the king's feelings, as soon as their bondsmen took any course to intimate that they intended to escape; and the same intimation would not fail to alarm those who had “lent” to the Hebrews their “jewels of silver and jewels of gold,” and who by this time had found leisure to think that they had too easily parted with their wealth. Thus it seems that the course which the Israelites might take after their arrival at Etham was regarded with much anxiety by the Egyptians, who took care to be informed of all their movements.
When, therefore, the king heard not only that they had taken a decisive move from Etham, but, through some astonishing infatuation, had so moved as to become “entangled in the land,” and “shut in by the wilderness,” he hastened to avail himself of the extraordinary advantage which they had placed in his hands. “He made ready his chariot, and took his people with him.” He mustered not less than six hundred chariots, which are said to be “all the [war] chariots of Egypt.” This is in correspondence with the sculptures, which show that the Egyptians made great use in war of such chariots as our engraving exhibits. A large body of infantry[197] was also assembled, and the pursuit commenced. Their light, unencumbered march was no doubt much more quickly performed than that of the Israelites to the same place.
[197] These must be intended by “his army,” as distinguished from his “chariots and horsemen.” Our engraving, (see p161) composed from Egyptian sculptures and paintings, shows Egyptian soldiers with the equipments and arms of different corps. The man in the foreground with the round studded shield is, however, not an Egyptian, but belongs to a nation, the soldiers of which are often seen fighting as auxiliaries along with those of Egypt. A native Egyptian soldier, if he has any shield, has it round at the upper end and square at the lower. The charioteer in the background is known to be a king by his head dress.
One of the citations in Eusebius from the lost history of Manetho, the Egyptian priest, says: “The Heliopolitans relate that the king with a great army, accompanied by the sacred animals, pursued after the Jews, who had carried off with them the substance of the Egyptians.”[198] “Præp. Evang.” lib x. cap. 27. This takes notice of two facts not mentioned by Moses, but not at all disagreeing with his statement, namely, that, for their protection against the God of Israel, the Egyptians took with them their sacred animals, by which means the Lord executed judgment upon the [bestial] gods of Egypt, as had been foretold (Exodus 12:12); and then that to recover the substance which the Hebrews had “borrowed” was one of the objects of the pursuit.
Ancient Egyptian War Chariot

We do not agree with those who think that the king of Egypt came upon the encamped Hebrews through the valley of Bedea, in the plain at the mouth of which they were encamped. As he was so glad to find how they had “entangled themselves in the land” he was not likely to take a course which would deprive him of all the advantages derivable from their apparent oversight. This he would do by coming upon them through the valley of Bedea; for this would have left open to them the alternative of escaping from their position by the way they entered whereas, by coming the same way they had come, he shut up that door of escape, and, if they fled before him, left them no other visible resource but to march up the valley of Bedea, back to Egypt, before the Egyptian troops. That this was really the advantage to himself which the king saw in their position, and that it was his object to drive them before him back to Egypt through this valley, or to destroy them if they offered to resist, we have not the least doubt; and it is unlikely that he would take any road but that which would enable him to secure these benefits.
The Egyptians, being satisfied that they had secured their prey, and that it was impossible for their fugitive bondsmen to escape but by returning to Egypt, were in no haste to assail them. They were also, themselves, probably wearied by their rapid march. They therefore encamped for the night--for it was toward evening when they arrived--intending, probably, to give effect to their intentions in the morning.
As for the Israelites, the sight of their old oppressors struck them with terror. There was no faith or spirit in them. They knew not how to value their newly found liberty. They deplored the rash adventure in which they had engaged; and their servile minds looked back with regret and envy upon the enslaved condition which they had so lately deplored. Moses knew them well enough not to be surprised that they assailed him as the author of all the calamities to which they were now exposed. “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt,” said they, “that thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” This is one specimen of a mode of feeling and character among this spiritless and perverse people of which Moses had seen something already, and of which he had soon occasion to see much more. One might be disposed to judge of their feelings the more leniently, attributing them to the essential operation of personal slavery in enslaving the mind, by debasing its higher tones of feeling and character, did we not know that the same characteristics of mind and temper constantly broke out among this remarkable people very long after the generation which knew the slavery of Egypt had passed away.
CROSSING THE RED SEA
Moses did not deign to remonstrate with them or to vindicate himself. It seems that the Divine intention had been previously intimated to him; for he answered, with that usual emphasis of expression which makes it a pleasure to transcribe his words: “Fear ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you this day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day ye shall see no more again for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” They were pacified by this for the present; but there is good reason to suspect, that if measures of relief had long been delayed, they would have given up Moses and Aaron to the Egyptians, and have placed themselves at their disposal. But measures of relief were not long delayed. When the night was fully come, the Lord directed Moses to order the people to march forward to the sea; on their arriving at which, the prophet lifted up his rod upon the waters, over which instantly blew a powerful east wind, by which they were divided from shore to shore, so that the firm bottom of hard sand appeared; offering a dry road in the midst of the sea, by which they might pass to the eastern shore. At that instant, also, the pillar of fire which had gone before the Hebrews to guide them on their way was removed to their rear, and, being thus between them and the Egyptians it gave light to the former in their passage, while it concealed their proceedings and persons from the latter.[199]
[199] According to a well-known optical effect, by which we can see by night all that stands between us and the light, but nothing that lies beyond the light. No doubt the pillar gave good light to the Egyptians themselves, but did not enable them to see the Israelites. In like manner the Israelites, doubtless, could not see the Egyptians. A little attention to a matter so perfectly obvious would have spared us some speculations, such as that which gives the pillar a cloudy side and a flaming side, etc.
It thus happened that some time passed before the Egyptians discovered that the Israelites were in motion. When they made this discovery, the king determined to
Ancient Egyptian Soldiers follow. It is by no means clear that they knew or thought that they were following them into the bed of the sea. Considering the darkness of the night, except from the light of the pillar, with the confusion of ideas and indistinct perceptions of a people who had not been on the spot long enough to make particular observations, and most of them probably roused from sleep to join in the pursuit, it seems likely that they felt uncertain about the direction, and supposed that they were following some accustomed route by which the Israelites were either endeavoring to escape or to return to Egypt. They may even have thought they were going up the valley of Bedea, although that actually lay in an opposite direction. Anything, however improbable, seems more likely to have occurred to them than that they were passing through the divided sea.
By the time the day broke and the Egyptians became aware of their condition, all the Hebrews had safely reached the other side and all or nearly all the Egyptians were in the bed of the gulf; the van approaching the eastern shore, and the rear having left the western. The moment of vengeance was come. They found themselves in the midst of the sea, with the waters on their right hand and on their left, and only restrained from overwhelming them by some power they knew not, but which they must have suspected to have been that of the God of the Hebrews. The marine road, ploughed by the multitudes which went before them, became distressing to them; their chariot-wheels dragged heavily along, and very many of them came off from the cars which they supported. The Lord also began to trouble them with a furious warfare of the elements. The Psalmist more than once alludes to this. He exclaims: “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and were afraid:” and then speaks as if every element had spent its fury upon the devoted heads of the Egyptians. The earth shook; the thunders rolled and most appalling lightnings--the arrows of God--shot along the firmament; while the clouds poured down heavy rains, “hailstones, and coals of fire.”[200] It deserves to be mentioned that this strife is also recorded by the Egyptian chronologer, who reports, “It is said that fire flashed against them in front.”
[200] Psalms 18:13-15.
By this time the pursuers were thoroughly alarmed. “Let us flee,” said they from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” But at that instant the Lord gave the word, Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and the restrained waters returned and engulfed them all.
This stupendous event made a profound impression upon the Hebrew mind at large. From that day to the end of the Hebrew polity, it supplied a subject to which the sacred poets and prophets make constant allusions in language the most sublime. Its effect upon the generation more immediately concerned was very strong, and although they were but too prone to forget it, was more abiding and operative than any which had yet been made upon them. When they witnessed all these things, and soon after saw the carcases of those who had so lately been the objects of such intense dread to them, lying by thousands on the beach, “they feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses.”
SONG OF TRIUMPH
In the sublime song which Moses composed and sang with the sons of Israel in commemoration of this great event--their marvellous deliverance and the overthrow of their enemies--he, with his usual wisdom, looks forward to important ulterior effects, to secure to the Hebrews the benefit of which may not improbably have formed one of the principal reasons for this remarkable exhibition of the power of Jehovah, and his determination to protect the chosen race. These anticipations, which were abundantly fulfilled, are contained in the following verses:
“The nations shall hear this and tremble;
Anguish shall seize the inhabitants of Palestine.
Then shall the princes of Edom be amazed:
And dismay shall possess the mighty ones of Moab.
All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away;
Fear and terror shall fall upon them:
Through the greatness of thine arm
They shall become still as a stone,
Until thy people pass over [Jordan], O Jehovah,
Until thy people pass over whom thou hast redeemed.”
On this occasion the first instance is offered of a custom, learned most probably in Egypt, and ever retained by the Hebrew women, of celebrating with dances and
View of Ain Mousa timbrels every remarkable event of joy or triumph. They were now led by Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron; and they seem to have token part as a chorus in the song of the men, by answering--
“Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously,
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”
As the timbrels of the women were doubtless Egyptian, and the dresses of those of superior rank were probably Egyptian also, we have considered that a similar dance of females, from Egyptian sources, would form a satisfactory illustration.
It will appear, from the opinion we have been induced to entertain respecting the place in which the Israelites encamped, and from which they departed, on the western shore of the gulf, that we concur with those who regard Ain Mousa[201] as the place, on the eastern shore, where they came up from the bed of the sea, and where they witnessed the overthrow of their oppressors. That the site is thus distinguished in the local traditions of the inhabitants of Sinai, the name alone suffices to indicate; and, although undue weight should not be attached to such traditions, it would be wrong entirely to disregard them when they support or illustrate conclusions otherwise probable. We shall, however, content ourselves with adding, descriptively, that a number of green shrubs, springing from numerous hillocks, mark the landward approach to this place. Here are also a number of neglected palm-trees grown thick and bushy for want of pruning. The springs which here rise out of the ground in various places, and give name to the spot, are soon lost in the sands. The water is of a brackish quality, in consequence, probably, of the springs being so near the sea; but it is, nevertheless, cool and refreshing, and in these waterless deserts affords a desirable resting-place. The view from this place, looking westward, is very beautiful, and most interesting from its association with the wonderful events which it has been our duty to relate. The mountain chains of Attaka, each running into a long promontory, stretch along the shore of Africa; and nearly opposite our station we view the opening--the Pi-ha-hiroth--the “mouth of the ridge,” formed by the valley in the mouth of which the Hebrews were encamped before they crossed the sea. On the side where we stand, the access to the shore from the bed of the gulf would have been easy. And it deserves to be mentioned, that not only do the springs bear the name of Moses, but the projecting head-land below them, toward the sea, bears the name of Ras Mousa. Thus do the Cape of Moses and the Cape of Deliverance look toward each other from the opposite shores of the Arabian gulf, and unite their abiding and unshaken testimony to the judgments and wonders of that day in which the right hand of Jehovah was so abundantly “glorified in might.”[202]
[201] The Fountains of Moses.
[202] As Egypt has been the grand scene of the very important transactions related in this chapter, it may not be improper to close it with a few observations on its learning, language, religion, idolatry, etc. Egypt (that binds or troubles), an ancient country of Africa, peopled by Mizraim, a son of Ham, the son of Noah, from whom it received its name, and the Arabs still call it Mesr. Egypt is about six hundred miles long, and from one hundred to three hundred broad: it lies at the northeast corner of Africa, bounded on the north by the Mediterranean sea, on the east by the isthmus of Suez and the Red sea, which divide it from Asia, on the south by Abyssinia, and on the west by Libya. Egypt was divided into two districts, Upper Egypt, or Thebias, and Lower Egypt, or the Delta. The river Nile, running through the whole length of the land, from north to south, abounds with fish, crocodiles, and hippopotami ; and, by its annual overflowing, the country became one of the most fruitful in the world, so that its majestic waters formed the glory of the king of Egypt, Ezekiel 29:3-5. Egypt was, at an early period, famous above every other country, for its progress in the arts and sciences, Acts 7:22; 1 Kings 4:29-30, attracting thither the most celebrated philosophers and historians of Greece, to complete their studies. Pythagoras, Herodotus, Plato, and many others, sought instruction in Egypt, among its celebrated sages; yet idolatry was carried to such a height, by the wisest instructors of that country, that the Egyptians made gods for their religious worship, not only of the sun and moon, but of their various beasts, oxen, sheep, goats, and cats, and even of leeks, onions, and diseases, and of monsters having no existence, except in their own disordered imaginations. Divine prophecy has been strikingly illustrated in the history of Egypt, Ezekiel 29:8-15. Nebuchadnezzar conquered it, as foretold by the prophet; then it became subject to Persia; and in succession to the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Mamaluke-slaves, and Turks. Napoleon Bonaparte conquered it in 1798, in the hope of acquiring India; but the French were expelled by the British, who delivered it up to the Turks…. It has, therefore, had no prince of its own; and it has been “the basest of kingdoms:” the decrees of Heaven have been accomplished, and they will yet be fulfilled, in the triumphs of Christianity, Isaiah 11:9-16. Egypt still abounds with vast monuments of its former grandeur: the ruins of it ancient cities and temples attest its magnificence, riches, and populousness. The tombs of its kings, the stupendous pyramids alone, evince these things: the largest of three of them, situated a few leagues from Cairo, the site of the celebrated Memphis, according to the recent measurement of a French engineer, forms a square, each side of whose base is seven hundred and forty-six feet, covering more than thirteen acres of land: the perpendicular height of it is five hundred and forty-six feet; and it contains 6,000,000 of tons of stone, sufficient to build a wall ten feet high, and one foot thick, eighteen hundred miles in length! These prodigious monuments of the ancient glory of Egypt, at ones confirm and illustrate the truth and divinity of the Holy Scriptures.
Dance of Females, with Timbrels