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would be; that Pharaoh would, at length, let the Israelites go, and even thrust them out, as it were, with an anxious and impatient urgency.

There is much to admire in the conduct of Moses, during his various interviews with the king of Egypt. He boasts of nothing. He makes no ostentatious display of the important part which he is called upon to perform. He acts as the mere messenger and instrument of the Almighty. He would have Jehovah alone glorified in all that he says and does. He is faithful, too, to his trust. The divine injunctions are the rule of his implicit obedience. He will make no compromise with the avarice, or the policy of the king. The honor of the omnipotent Being whose message he bears, is to be maintained fully, serupulously, and fearlessly.

His deportment was calm, forbearing, and dignified. It indicated the high tone of self-possession and moral courage which he so eminently possessed. Doubtless it was this that contributed, for so long a time, and amid so many tremendous calamities, (of the bringing of which upon Pharaoh and his people he was the conspicuous instrument,) in no small degree, to secure him against their insults and persecutions. He did his duty in the fear of God, and feared not what man could do unto him.

Should you ever, my young friend, be placed in circumstances at all similar to these of Moses, remember and imitate his example. Crouch not, nor shrink, before the wicked, however conspicuous they may be in station, or high in office, when duty calls upon you to reprove or oppose their evil conduct. Let them see, and let the world see, that, calmly yet firmly, boldly yet meekly, you can do what God requires of you, relying on his strength, and leaving the issue with him.

CHAPTER XIX.

What is meant by the Israelites borrowing of the Egyptians. Of what the passover was a type.

Before the last interview of Moses with Pharaoh, which has just been described, God had made some very important communications to him. Be-、 sides telling him, that after the bringing of one more plague upon the Egyptians, the Israelites would not only be permitted, but even, as it were, forced to depart, he ordered Moses to give certain directions, or, perhaps more properly, to make certain suggestions to his countrymen. He was to let them know, that they would, at the time of their departure, have a good opportunity of obtaining

some small remuneration for the long, laborious, and unrequited services which they had rendered to their task-masters, the Egyptians. They might, every man, ask or demand, (for the original word in the Hebrew, may be as correctly thus rendered as it is now, "let every man borrow," in our English Biole,) they might, every man, ask or demand, " of his neighbor, and every woman, of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold."

The Egyptians, too, would be quite disposed to comply with this, (as, indeed, it proved to be the case,) of their own accord, and from various considerations. We read, that "the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians;" and that "the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." This would induce a compliance with their demand. Besides, as it was clearly shown afterwards in the transaction, the Egyptians were not only voluntary in the gifts which they made to the Israelites, but were ready enough to bestow them, for the sake of having no delay in their departure. They would even hope that it might be an additional inducement, to lead them to hasten it. For they were very anxious, at last, to get rid, as speedily as possible, of the men whose presence among them had proved the source of so many and terrible evils. The Israelites carried away with them nothing belonging to the Egyptians but what was freely given to them, and to which, indeed, and to a vast deal more, on the score of a fair remuneration, they had a most equitable claim.

As this whole matter has been often quite mis understood, and misrepresented by the enemies of the Bible, it was thought best to go into this explanation of it. It has been partly alluded to in a preceding chapter.

Another injunction which Moses received from God was, to direct the Israelites how to prepare and celebrate the Passover before their departure from Egypt. This was a very solemn and striking ceremony. It was instituted, at first, in connection with the singular preservation of all the first-born of the Israelites during the memorable night when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed. It was to be observed by them and their descendants, through successive generations, as commemorative of this event, and of the one immediately following it, their departure out of Egypt. And it was a type of that great atoning sacrifice, which Jesus Christ offered in his own person, on the cross, when he died, to save all who trust in him from a worse than Egyptian bondage, from the power and consequences of sin, and from everlasting ruin.

The month in which this religious rite was instituted, and when the departure of the Israelites from Egypt took place, answered to part of our March and part of April. It had been reckoned the seventh month from the commencement of the year, but was now, by the command of God, ever afterwards to be regarded as the first, both in point of order and of importance.

The directions for celebrating the passover wert these: On the tenth day of the month, each man at the head of a family, (or, if the household did not contain a sufficient number of persons, two families were to be united for the purpose,) was to take a young lamb or kid; separate it from its mother, and the rest of the flock; and keep it in some suitable place till the fourteenth day. It was to be a male; not more than one year old, and without blemish; that is, free from all imperfection or disease, and with no unnatural redundancy of any of its parts. It was to be killed between noon and the setting of the sun. For this is the meaning of the expression, "in the evening," as it stands in our English Bible. The Hebrew is between the two evenings, the Jews reckoning two evenings, the first beginning just after twelve o'clock, when the sun began visibly to decline, and the second at sunset, and continuing during the whole time of twilight. It ought not to be passed over without notice, that Christ, the true Passover slain for us, died on the cross soon after three o'clock, in the afternoon, the usual time, among the Jews, of offering up the paschal lamb in the celebration of the passover.

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