with which they had been endowed. God had instructed them to say to Pharaoh, "Israel is my son, even my firstborn; let my son go, that he may serve me; and behold, if thou refuse to let him go, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born." This communication seems to have both surprised and angered the king; and he therefore replied, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, nor will I let Israel go." They then informed the king that the God of the Hebrews had met with them, and required that the people should go out into the wilderness and sacrifice to him. To this the king replied, "They be idle, therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Let more be laid upon them, and let them not regard vain words."

Perceiving the disposition of Pharaoh, and his determination not only to retain the Israelites in Egypt, but also to increase their burthens, Moses, under divine guidance, now commenced the performance of a series of miracles in the king's presence, and the infliction of a succession of plagues upon the land, that had hitherto had no parallel in the history of the world. All these, however, Pharaoh resisted, until, at length, the contest between the Almighty and the impious king reached its crisis. Moses, therefore, informed the people that, at about midnight, the Lord would go forth into the midst of Egypt, and would slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt, "from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne, to the first-born of the maidservant that sitteth behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts: but that against the children of Israel not a dog should move his tongue—against man or beast." Accordingly, at the appointed time, "the Lord smote all the firstborn of Egypt; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." This infliction of divine wrath had the desired effect; and

Pharaoh at once gave orders that Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel should depart from Egypt. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for, they said, "We be all dead men."

It was on this awfully impressive occasion that the

Jewish

passover was instituted, as a memorial of the deliverance of the children of Israel from the desolating plague which fell upon every house of the Egyptians. The sign of this deliverance was the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb

on the door-posts of the house of each Hebrew

family. This passover was to be celebrated annually, on

the same

day of the month in which it was instituted; that

all the Israelites, by families, should partake of it; but

that

were circumcised. children inquire, after they were settled in the land of

no stranger should be admitted, until all his males They were also directed, should their

Canaan,

"What mean you by this service?" to say to

them, "This 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."

The Israelites, in 1491 A. C., having left Rameses, in Goshen, marched to Succoth, and there, for the first time, stretched their booths. The number of men at this time in the camp, capable of bearing arms, was six hundred thousand; and if to these be added the women and children, the whole number of souls that escaped from Egypt must have exceeded three millions.

Moses here remarks

that the sojourning of the children of Israel had been four hundred and thirty years; but this, it must be remembered, included the whole period that elapsed from the calling of Abraham to the time when the Israelites finally left Egypt. The four hundred years of their bondage, so often mentioned in the Scriptures, commences with the birth of Isaac.

1892 A. C.; and the time during which the people actually dwelt in Egypt, was from 1702 A. C. till 1491 A. C., two hundred and eleven years. From Succoth the Israelites marched to Etham, on the borders of the wilderness; and thence they went southward to the Red Sea-God graciously preceding the camp in a pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day.

In the mean time, Pharaoh and his people, having recovered from the consternation into which the death of their first-born had thrown them, resolved to pursue the fugitives, and force them back again into bondage; and when the Israelites saw that the Egyptians were pursuing them, they became greatly alarmed, and, in their fear, cried unto the Lord. But Moses, in the fullness of his faith, said unto the people, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you to-day; for the Egyptians, whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. lift up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry land through the midst of the sea. And I, behold I, will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them, and I will get me honor on Pharaoh, and upon his host, and upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.'

But

Moses, in accordance with the divine command, stretch ed forth his rod, and the sea immediately divided and left a pathway through which the Israelites passed on dry land; but when the Egyptians attempted to follow them, the waters returned to their bed, and the whole Egyptian host was immediately overwhelmed and perished. "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyp

tians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea-shore; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses."

It was on this occasion that Moses composed the celebrated ode, or Song of Triumph, found in the first twentyone verses of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. This is

the earliest poem of which we have any knowledge; and it abounds with those sublime and lofty expressions which so important an occasion would naturally elicit.

"And

Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And they sang the song which Moses had composed, and accompanied it with their in

struments."

MOSES:

SECTION II.

given them for Bread - The Sabbath-The Pillar of Cloud - The Rock of Horeb-The Victory over the Amalekites-Vicinity of Mount Sinai Visit of Jethro-His Reception-Advises the Appointment of

-The Wilderness of Sin-Distress for Want of Water-Manna

Assistant Judges.

THE Israelites, being thus delivered from their cruel oppressors, immediately commenced their journey through the wilderness of Shur, which lay adjacent to that part of the Arabian coast of the sea through which they had just miraculously passed. But during the first three days of their journeyings in this barren and sterile land, they found

no water;

and forgetting, in their distress, all the recent

interpositions of God in their favor, they began to murmur against Moses, and to cry out, "What shall we drink?" At length, however, they discovered a pool near the camp; but when they came to taste the water, they found it bitter, and hence they bestowed upon the place the name of

3*

Marah. To sweeten this water, and to render it palatable, God directed Moses to cast into the pool the branches of a tree which grew adjacent to it; and the thirst of the people being now allayed, they left Marah and marched to Elim, where, finding twelve wells of water and many palm-trees, they rested for a number of days.

Having remained at Elim until the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from Egypt, the Israelites left that place and commenced their march through the wilderness of Sin towards Mount Sinai. While resting in the midst of this wilderness, the provisions which they had brought with them out of Egypt became exhausted; and as they began to be in want, they murmured against Moses, and even reproached him for having brought them away from the flesh-pots of Egypt. Under these trying circumstances, Moses had recourse to the Almighty for deliverance; and it was on this occasion that that miraculous supply of manna from Heaven commenced, by which they were daily sustained during the whole of their forty years sojourn in the wilderness. This manna was white, and, in appearance, like coriander seed; and its taste was like that of wafers made of honey. In imparting this food, in answer to the prayer of Moses, the Lord said, “I will rain bread from Heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day; that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall come to pass, on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."

In this passage, we have the first direct intimation found in the Scripture, of the observance of the Sabbath, after its institution; and as there was nothing in the circumstances of the people at that time, which can be assigned as a reason for setting apart the seventh day of the week