Aaron was to be the High Priest. God in consideration of having passed by the houses of the Israelites in their last night in Egypt, claimed all their first-born of man and inferior animals; but in place of the former, he took to himself the tribe of Levi, which was to furnish priests and attendants at his sanctuary. Moses and Aaron were of this tribe. The former at the beginning of this journey exercised the office of chief priest as well as legislator; but these duties were afterward transferred entirely to his brother. To go into a description of the dresses of the priests and their attendants and their various duties would require more space than can be given to it in the present work; but we notice a few items in the dress which should not be omitted. The ephod was a square piece of linen cloth, worn before and behind, the two pieces being joined together on the shoulders by buckles, and fastened to the body by a belt. In the case of the high priest it was of blue and purple and scarlet colors, and ornamented with gold, and the buckles were of onyx stones, having on them the names of the twelve tribes. Over the ephod was the "breast-plate of judgment," so called because the High Priest wore it whenever he went into the Tabernacle to consult God about the people. It consisted of twelve precious stones set in gold, in four parallel rows, each having on it the name of one of the tribes. It is added in the Scriptures, "And thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth

1 Supposed to be chalcedony.

2 Urim is the plural of 8, light or fire: Thummim the plural of on, integrity: the Septuagint has for them wors and dì¿081α, revelation and truth. Luther gives to the words the meaning Light and Right. Josephus and the Rabbins say that the Urim and Thummim consisted of the stones in the breast-plate. Others suppose that we are to understand by them small oracular figures derived from Egyptian usages; it is impossible to determine now what was meant. In the passage above quoted, (Ex. xxviii.

in before the Lord; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually."

Another striking object in the costume of the High Priest was the mitre, a high and ornamented turban, having in front of it a gold plate on which was inscribed Holiness to the Lord. Neither he, nor the inferior priests, appear to have used their sacred dresses except when on duty in the Tabernacle.

The erection of the Tabernacle, and with it the institution of various offerings and forms, led to complications in religious duties which put an end to the beautiful simplicity which had distinguished the heart-worship when Moses sang his impromptu hymn and Miriam led in timbrel music on the shores of the Red Sea, or when the congregation bowed awe-struck and in humiliation before the sacred mountain; but such spontaneity in the multitudes could not be always trusted. It was necessary that worship

30), where the words are used for the first time, they are introduced in the Hebrew with the definite article the, as if something previously known was spoken of. Diodorus Siculus, who flourished about 44 years B. C., in his history of the Egyptians, says of the president of the courts of justice, "He bore about his neck a golden chain, at which hung an image set about or composed of precious stones, which was called Truth" (Lib. i. CAP.75), and adds that as soon as the president put this gold chain about his neck, legal proceedings commenced, but not before; and that when the case of the plaintiff had been fully and fairly heard, the president turned the image of truth, which was hung to the golden chain about his neck toward the person whose cause was found to be just, by which he seemed to intimate that truth was on his side.

Elian (about A. D. 120) gives the same account. He says, "The chief justice or president was always a priest of venerable and acknowledged probity. He had always an image which he called truth, cut on a sapphire, and hung about his neck with a gold chain.”

The inference which seems to come from all this is, that the Urim and Thummim were something previously known to the Israelites, were probably connected with judicial awards, and were used by Aaron in signifying the Divine decisions which he received in the Tabernacle.

among such ignorant and irregular crowds should be systematized; and he found it necessary also to appeal to their feelings by outward show and to keep their interest awake by constantly recurring forms.

Aaron and his two oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were consecrated by Moses, and instituted into their offices of service at the Tabernacle, where the first sacrifices consisted of an atonement made for them. They were afterward to remain at the door of the Tabernacle, day and night, for seven days.

On the eighth day Moses called together the elders of Israel, and with them proceeded into the courts of the Tabernacle, where Aaron and his sons were to receive from the congregation animals to be offered to God, a sin-offering and a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering on the altar, as an atonement for all. The flesh was placed on the altar: "and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people, and there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: which when the people saw they shouted and fell on their faces."

But a terrible calamity broke now suddenly and most fearfully upon the family of Aaron! We know that long afterward the good Eli, judge over Israel, was afflicted with wickedness among his children; and many other good men have been so afflicted: was it that now these two young men were under the influence of wine?—for so an injunction immediately afterward may intimate; or what was the reason for their act? which was an evil one. Here, now, on this most solemn occasion, while the glory of God was specially in the Tabernacle and the people were on their faces before it, Nadab and Abihu took their censers and in them "strange fire"-not from the altar-and also incense; and they had started to offer the latter presumptuously, when "there went out fire from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord."

The spectators might well stand aghast, as they did, at the spectacle. Aaron and his two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar who were to succeed the deceased, were commanded not to make the usual outward demonstrations, probably because it might seem to be an official censure on the Divine act; "for the anointing oil of the Lord," they were told, "is upon you;" but the rest of the congregation were allowed the usual wailing over the dead. To the High Priest the heavenly injunction was given, "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean."

Another instance of severe retribution came not long afterward, adapted to make a strong impression on the minds of the people with respect to the reverence due to God. A man A man "blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed." He was not a full Israelite, being the son of a woman of this people by an Egyptian father, and probably belonged to that "mixed multitude" who had come with them in the Exodus, and were probably always more difficult to control than their own people, and apt to engender mischief. This man had a quarrel with an Israelite, and in the contest with him, broke out in blasphemy of the name of God. He was seized and put in confinement until a decision in the case could be received at the Tabernacle. We might indeed expect some strong example among a people so mixed as these were, so ignorant and ready to turn in rebellion against God. The sentence was that the man should be taken without the camp; those who had heard the blasphemy were there to lay their hands on his head, and then he was to be stoned to death by the congregation. The offence was thenceforward entered on the record, as an act to be considered in the Hebrew law as worthy of death.

During the progress of these events, the great leader, under the influence of the Divine inspiration, was completing that system of laws for the government of the Israelites, which from that time forward made them so unique and remarkable a people, quite distinct from all other nations, and gave them an impress which has come down to our own

time.

Their government was to be a Theocracy,-God was their king. There were to be subordinate officers, and many subordinate regulations, often very minute; but through all this was the great feature of a theocracy, in which God was the Ruler supreme.

This was indeed a strong demonstration of himself, by the Creator, before all the world. It was the object in all that had gone before; it was to be the object in all yet to come,-God manifest before the world. The whole world. sunk in idolatry, was a continued proof how much this was needed. Down to our day, indeed, we have proof yet remaining of such need. And the value of such demonstration then made, and of the key which it gives to us for unlocking and reading all history, is widely and clearly manifest to every thinking mind. In this manifestation of himself before. the world, God employed the Jewish nation, making use of miracles, and strange, mysterious power, and inspirations of prophets and writers. Then at last came the manifestation of the Deity, not by a cloud as at the Tabernacle, but by Himself in human form, the Perfect One, the Sacrifice for us through the mighty power of Divine love! After that the Jewish nation ceased to be. They are continued as distinct individuals, and are still, everywhere, witnesses for God, but of His retributive power; for in crucifying Christ, their rulers had prayed, "His blood be on us and on our children." Therefore, though this people are still a demonstration respecting God, it is one of retribution; and we see them "scattered and peeled and a by-word," as he had