50. UNDERSTOOD NOT.-See page opposite. 51. SUBJECT UNTO THEM. according to the fifth commandment: Ex. xx. 12, Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God,' &c. the first commandment with promise:-Ep. vi. 1, 2. 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2, Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise.' well pleasing unto the Lord:-Col. iii. 20, Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well,' &c. KEPT ALL THESE SAYINGS. cast in her mind :-see page opposite.-Ps. cxix. 11, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." so the exhortation:-Pr. iv. 4-10, 20-.2. PROVERBS IV. Hear, ye children, the instruction 2 of a father, and attend to know understanding. For 31 give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the 4 sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me. Let thine heart retain my words: keep my 5 commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the 6 words of my month. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. 7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: 8 and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee 9 to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of 10 glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be il many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I 12 have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, 13 thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. 14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in 15 the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn 16 from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken 17 away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of vio18 lence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. 20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto 21 my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; 22 keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are 24 the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward 25 mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look 26 straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and 27 let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. 52. INCREASED IN WISDOM. compare with ver. 40, p. 40. and pray... as described:-Ep. iv. 13-.6-see ch. iv. p. (59). JEREMIAH XXIII. Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith 2 the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you 3 the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and 4 increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. 5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment 6 and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR 7 RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days corne, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. phets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, 11 and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found 12 their wickedness, saith the LORD. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visita13 tion, saith the LORD. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and 14 caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone 16 forth into all the land. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of 17 the LORD. They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination 18 of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his 19 word, and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it per21 fectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: 22 I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of 23 their doings. Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, 24 and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. 25 Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the de27 ceit of their own heart; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have 28 forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the 29 chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer 30 that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal 31 my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use 32 their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. 33 I And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? 34 I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that 35 man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD 36 spoken? And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living 37 God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered 38 thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall 39 not say, The burden of the LORD; therefore, behoid, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, 40 and cast you out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. GENESIS XLVIII. And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh 2 and Ephraim. And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strength3 ened himself, and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz 4 in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reu6 ben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in 7 their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of 8 Ephrath; the same is Beth-lehem. And Israel be9 held Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; 11 and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: 12 and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed." And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, 13 and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them 14 near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God 16 which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from 18 Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the 19 firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall beconie a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multi20 tude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim 21 before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you 22 again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. EZEKIEL XLVII. Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right 2 side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there 3 ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ancles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me 5 through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return 7 to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees 8 on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters 9 shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shaйl come thither: for they shall be healed; and every 10 thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding 11 many. But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to 12 salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. 14 17 13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for in15 heritance. And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of 16 Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And 18 this is the north side. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. 19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great 20 sea. And this is the south side southward. The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west 21 side. So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. PSALM CXXXVIII. I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will 1 sing praise unto 2 thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy 3 name. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, 4 and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when 5 they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of 6 the LORD. Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar 7 off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right 8 hand shall save me. The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. PSALM CXXII. I was glad when they said unto 2 me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Our feet 3 shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem 4 is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of 5 the LORD. For there are set thrones of judgment, 6 the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy 8 palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I 9 will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good. VOW, AND PAY UNTO THE LORD YOUR GOD: LET ALL THAT BE ROUND ABOUT HIM JERUSALEM (continued). hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them." And in Lam. ii. 15, All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? And in Mi. iii. 12, Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest-see Lu. xxi. 21, § 86. Jerusalem is to change her position. The call is yet to be heard, Mi. iv. 1, 2, It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established Marg. prepared] in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 2, And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.' Is. ii. 2, 3 So also the call is to be obeyed, and that in prepara tion for the coming of the Lord God with strong NAZARETH. NAZARETH.-See § ii. p. 14. The situation of Nazareth, as a frontier town, conduced much to its iniquity. By degrees it became a nest of evil doers, and was proverbially used to signify vileness and infamy. | At this day, the name for Christians in Arabic is en Nusara; . e., Nazarene, and given to the first followers of the Lamb in scorn.-Continued at Section xxxvii., p. 288. ADDENDA 'OUR LORD TAKEN UP TO JERUSALEM That the purpose for which our Lord was now taken up, was not to celebrate the passover, but to appear, as one of the male Israelites, at a stated time of sach appearing, before the Lord-to be made in short a disciple of the Law, and to undergo a ceremony something like to our confirmation-is presumptively certain even from what is recorded of his mode of employment in the temple, when he was found, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions;' and astonishing those who heard him by his understanding and answers. I think that Josephus had his eye upon this ceremony, and on the age of the party when it was usually undergone, to have made him tell us that Samuel, an eminent type of Christ, began to prophesy-πεπληρωκὼς ἔτος ἤδη δωδέκατον, (Ant. v. x. 4). He cannot mean the age of puberty, for that would have required ἔτος ἤδη τρισκαιδέκατον ; and though it is certain from 1 Sa. iii. 1, 19, that Samuel was comparatively still young when the word of the Lord was first revealed to him, we are not told he was only twelve years old. It follows, then, and this is what we are bound chiefly to attend to, that our Saviour was twelve at the passover; or that the passover was the first feast, after he became twelve years old, to which he could have been so taken up. If Maimonides is to be relied on, it must be demonstratively certain that, had he been of the same age at the feast of Tabernacles, he would have been taken up first to that in particular, above any other, (De Sacr. Soll. iii. Vide also Ant. Jud. iv. viii. 12). No feast was, otherwise, better calculated for such a ceremony, and such a purpose, than the feast of Tabernacles. It appears to me, then, a certain inference that Jesus was not twelve at the feast of Tabernacles, before he was taken up, and was twelve at the feast of the Passover, when he was taken up-and, if so, that he was born after a feast of Tabernacles, and before a feast of the Passover, at least. AT TWELVE YEARS OLD,' see p. 40. If our Lord was born U.C. 750, the twelfth year of his age complete was the same time U.C. 762. In that year the passover was celebrated on March 29: the fourteenth of Nisan, therefore, coincided with March 29: and if our Lord was born on any day prior to the fourteenth of Nisan according to the Jewish reckoning, though posterior to the 29th of March according to the Julian, it might still be said with truth, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning, that he was already twelve years old by the 29th of March, because he was actually so before the fourteenth of Nisan. According, however, to the same mode of reckoning, a person would be said to be twelve years old, who had just completed his eleventh year, and was barely entered on his twelfth. It is not improbable that this is what St. Luke means here; and, consequently, that the passover of U.C. 761, is the passover in question, not that of U.C. 762. This passover was celebrated on April 8: the superior advantages of which date will appear more fully by and by. The knowledge of the actual day, on which the nativity took place, may justly be ranked among the mysteries or secrets which are known, for certain, to God alone. Nevertheless I have advanced a conjec ture that it might possibly be the TENTH of the Jewish Nisan.' Greswell, vol. I. Diss. xii. pp. 397-400. St. Mark has omitted the private history of Christ before the commencement of his public, and St. Matthew has related no more of it, than what may be proved to have been subsequent to the third or fourth month after the conception, and not later than the return from Egypt, that is, no more than was comprehended within six months before, and twelve months after, the nativity. Each of these omissions, as far as they are supplied by any gospel, are entirely supplied by St. Luke's.'-Greswell, vol. I. Diss. i. p. 20. 'PASSOVER,' p. 40. • Moses instituted three Annual Festivals, viz. the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, (see Sect. liv.): these were denominated the Great Festivals, during which the Israelites were expected to rejoice before the Lord for all their deliverances and mercies, De. xvi. 11-.7. All the males, at a certain age (see above), of the twelve tribes were commanded to be present; and for their encouragement the Lord promised that no man should desire their land in their absence, Ex. xxxiv. 24. The first and most eminent of these festivals was the Passover. The etymology of the name is expressly given in Ex. xii. 27, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed (by, or leaped) over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, &c. The time when this feast was to be celebrated, is very particularly expressed in Leviticus, In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover, Le. xxiii. 5: wherein is remarked the month, the day, and the time of the day. Psalm 1xxvi. 11. The month.-It is called the first month, that is, of the ecclesiastical year, which commenced with the Israelites' flight out of Egypt, Ex. xii. 2. This month had two names; Abib, Ex. xiii. 4, and Nisan, [43 TRULY GOD IS GOOD TO ISRAEL.-Psalm 1xxiii. 1. BRING PRESENTS UNTO HIM THAT OUGHT TO BE FEARED. THE ABANDONMENT OF SIN, AND THE PRACTICE OF HOLINESS, IS NOT THE PROCURING CAUSE Ne. ii. 1; Est. iii. 7. It is called Abib, that is, the earing month, or the month of new corn; for Abib signifies a green or new ear of corn, such as was grown to maturity, but not dried or fit for grinding. In Le. ii. the offering of the first fruits is called Abib, and it is ordered to be dried by the fire, in order to its being beaten or ground into flour, Le. ii. 14; and in Ex. ix. 31, the barley is said to be smitten with hail, because it was Abib, that is, in the ear. The other name, Nisan, is derived by some from nus, fugere; and so it signifies the month of flight, namely, of the Israelites out of Egypt. As to the day of the month when this feast was to begin, it was ordered to be on the fourteenth at even, at which time the paschal lamb was to be killed and eaten, and from thence the feast was to be kept seven days, till the twenty-first, Ex. xii. 6, 8, 15; Le. xxiii. 5,6. The day preceding its commencement was called the preparation of the passover,' Jno. xix. 14, § 90. Sacrifices, peculiar to this festival, were to be offered on each of the seven days; but the first and last, namely, the fifteenth and the twenty-first, were to be sanctified above all the rest, as Sabbaths, by abstaining from all servile labour, and holding a holy convocation, Ex. xii. 16; Le. xxiii. 7, 8; especially the seventh, or last day, was called a feast to the LORD,' Ex. xiii. 6, and a solemn assembly,' De. xvi. 8. The reason of the first and seventh day being thus peculiarly consecrated above the rest, is, by Bochart, supposed to be, because the first was the day of the Israelites' escape out of Egypt, and the seventh that on which Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in the Red Sea. But the special holiness of the first and the last day being a circumstance common to the feast of tabernacles, as well as the passover, Le. xxiii. 39; Jno. vii. 37, § 55; for this reason others think it was intended to signify in general, that we should persevere in the diligent prosecution of the work unto which we are called; and, instead of growing more remiss, should be the more active and vigorous, the nearer we arrive to the end of our race, to our heavenly rest and reward.-See 2 Pe. iii. 14; also He. x. 25. the priests received the blood into a vessel, which was handed from one priest to another, until it came to him who stood next the altar, and by whom it was sprinkled at the bottom of the altar. After the blood was sprinkled, the lamb was hung up and flayed: this being done, the victim was opened, the fat was taken out and consumed on the altar, after which the owner took it to his own house. The paschal lamb was to be roasted whole; no part of it was to be eaten either in a raw state, or boiled, Ex. xii. 9. tion of the paschal lamb in a raw state will readily The propriety of the prohibition of eating any porappear, when it is known that raw flesh and palpitating limbs were used in some of the old heathen sacrifices and festivals, particularly in honour of the Egyptian deity Osiris, and the Grecian Bacchus, who were the same idol under different names. That no resemblance or memorial of so barbarous a superstition might ever debase the worship of Jehovah, He made this early and express provision against it. On the same ground, probably, He required the paschal lamb to be eaten privately and entire, in opposition to the bacchanalian feasts, in which the victim was publicly torn in pieces, carried about in pomp, and then devoured. Further, the prohibition of boiling the paschal lamb was levelled against a superstitious practice of the Egyptians and Syrians, who were accustomed to boil their victims, and especially to seethe a kid or lamb in the milk of its dam; as the command to roast and eat the whole of the lamb-not excepting its inwards-without leaving any portion until the following morning, was directed against another superstition of the ancient heathens, whose priests carefully preserved and religiously searched the entrails of their victims, whence they gathered their pretended knowledge of futurity. Those, likewise, who frequented pagan temples, were eager to carry away and devote to superstitious uses some sacred relics or fragments of the sacrifices. In short, the whole ceremonial of the passover appears to have been so adjusted as to wage an open and destructive war against the gods and idolatrous ceremonies of Egypt, and thus to form an early and powerful barrier around the true worship and servants of Jehovah. After the lamb was thus dressed, it was eaten by each family or paschal society. The FIRST passover was to be eaten standing, in the posture of travellers, who had no time to lose; and with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and no bone of it was to be broken, Ex. xii. 8, 11, 46. The posture of travellers was enjoined them, both to enliven their faith in the promise of their then speedy deliverance from Egypt; and also, that they might be ready to begin their march presently after supper. They were ordered, therefore, to eat it with their loins girded; for as they were accustomed to wear long and loose garments, such as are generally used by the eastern nations to this day, it was necessary to tie them up with a girdle about their loins, when they either Of the Ceremonies with which the Passover was to travelled or engaged in any laborious employment.' be celebrated. The paschal sacrifice was to be a male Thus when Elisha sent his servant Gehazi on a meswithout blemish, of the first year, either from the sage in haste, he bade him gird up his loins,' 2 Ki. sheep or the goats, * Ex. xii. 5: it was to be taken iv. 29; and when our Saviour set about washing his from the flocks four days before it was killed; and disciples' feet, he took a towel, and girded himself,' one lamb was to be offered for each family; and if its Jno. xiii. 4, § 87. Further, they were to eat the passmembers were too few to eat a whole lamb, two fami- over with shoes on their feet, for in those hot countries lies were to join together. In the time of Josephus they ordinarily wore sandals, which were a sort of a paschal society consisted at least of ten persons to clogs, or went barefoot; but in travelling they used one lamb, and not more than twenty, (De Bell. Jud. shoes, which were a kind of short boots, reaching a lib. vi. c. 9, § 3). Our Saviour's society was com- little way up the legs. Hence, when our Saviour posed of himself and the twelve disciples, Mt. xxvi. sent his twelve disciples to preach in the neighbour20; Lu. xxii. 14, § 87. Next followed the killing of the ing towns, designing to convince them by their own passover: before the exode of the Israelites from experience of the extraordinary care of Divine ProviEgypt, this was done in their private dwellings; but dence over them, that they might not be discouraged after their settlement in Canaan, it was ordered to be by the length and danger of the journeys they would performed in the place which the LORD shall choose be called to undertake;-on this account he ordered to place his name there,' De. xvi. 2. This appears to them to make no provision for their present journey, have been at first wherever the ark was deposited, particularly, not to take shoes on their feet, but to be and ultimately at Jerusalem in the courts of the shod with sandals, Mt. x. 10, compared with Mk. vi. temple. Every particular person (or rather a dele-9, § 39. Again, they were to eat the passover with gate from every paschal society) slew his own victim, staves in their hands, such as were always used by according to Josephus, between the ninth hour, or travellers in those rocky countries, both to support three in the afternoon, and the eleventh, that is, about them in slippery places, and defend them against sunset; and within that space of time it was, that assaults,' Ge. xxxii. 10; see Mk. vi. 8; Lu. ix. 3, Jesus Christ, our true paschal lamb, was killed,- § 39.-Horne's Introd., vol. III. pp. 306-.8.-(ConMt. xxvii. 46, § 91. The victim being killed, one of tinued, Sect. xii.) Although the whole time of the continuance of this feast is, in a more lax sense, styled the passover, Jno. xviii. 39, § 90; Lu. xxii. 1, § 86: yet, strictly speaking, the passover was kept only on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, and the ensuing seven days were the feast of unleavened bread; so called, because during their continuance the Jews were to eat unleavened bread, and to have no other in their houses. The children of Israel... kept the passover,... and the feast of unleavened bread seven days,' 2 Ch. xxxv. 17; and in Ezr. vi. 19, 22. 19, The children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. 22, And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy.' The Hebrew word W (SEH) means either a lamb or a kid: either was equally proper. The Hebrews, however, in general preferred a lamb. The area of the three courts of the temple, besides the rooms and other places in it, where the paschal victim might be offered, contained upwards of 435,600 square cubits; so that there was ample room for more than 500,000 men to be in the temple at the same time.-Lamy, De Tabernaculo, lib. vii. c. 9, §§ 4, 5. 44] DISTINGUISHING MERCY SHOULD BEGET DISTINGUISHING DUTY. OF OUR SALVATION; BUT THE BLOOD OF CHRIST WHICH CLEANSETH FROM ALL SIN. 11 EXODUS XII. And the LORD spake unto Moses and 2 Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fa 4 thers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make 5 your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out 6 from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall 7 kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat 8 it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs 9 they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and 10 with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of 13 Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to de14 stroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off 16 from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man 17 must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until 19 the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, 20 whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb ac22 cording to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the 23 morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to 21 come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy 25 sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this 26 service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 27 that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head 28 and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and 30 all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve 32 the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me 33 also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in 34 haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon 35 their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and 36 raiment: and the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. 37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that 38 were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even 39 very much cattle. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. 40 41 42 43 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger 44 eat thereof: but every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall 45 he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall 46 not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of 47 the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All 48 the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircum49 cised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that 50 sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so 51 did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. ISAIAH LXI. The Spirit of the Lord GoD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are 2 bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all 3 that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beanty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi ness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the 5 waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine6 dressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 4 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting 8 joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting 9 covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with 11 her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteous. ness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. |