final overthrow. Every display of the Lord's power on behalf of His people bears this double character. If He step in and vindicate them from the assaults of their enemies, He, by that same act, assures them of His continual protection and care. Every interposition therefore · of His between them and their foes should be rehearsed in their ears, and written on their hearts, both as the memorial of the past, and as the guarantee of His immutable defence. Hence when the Psalmist celebrates a past deliverance, he exclaims, “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Ps. xxvii. 3.) In the same confidence Moses built an altar. By it he gratefully owned the divine hand, as well as expressed that the praise of the victory belonged to the Lord. It is precisely here that so many fail. The Lord vouchsafes help and deliverance, but they forget to build their altars. Driven into the Lord's presence in their straits, they too often neglect to praise Him when relieved from their pressure. Not so with Moses. By building the altar he declared before the whole of Israel, It is the Lord who has fought for us and secured the victory. This is proclaimed by the title he affixed to it-"The Lord our banner." He therefore it was who led our hosts, and He it is who will lead our hosts; for His controversy with Amalek will never cease. As long as He has a people on the earth, so long will Satan seek to encompass their overthrow. We need to remember this, but with all the prospect it involves, our hearts will be confident, if we can but grasp in power the truth of Jehovah-nissi. The battle is the Lord's, we fight under His colours, and hence -whatever the stubborn persistence of the foe-the victory is assured.

CHAPTER XIII.

MILLENNIAL BLESSING.

EXODUS Xviii.

THIS chapter brings to a close the dispensation of grace in Israel's history. From, Egypt to Sinai all was pure grace. At Sinai they put themselves under law. Hence the special character of chap. xviii. The manna, as explained, presented Christ in incarnation, the smitten Rock His death, the streams that flowed from it the gift of the Spirit; and now, following the dispensation of the Spirit, we find in figure the blessing of Jew and Gentile, and the establishment of governmental order in Israel. Indeed, the Church, the Jew, and the Gentile, are all typically delineated. This will be perceived if the several points of the following Scripture are indicated:

"When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' fatherin-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land and the name of the other was Eliezer; For the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses

:

into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God and he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

"And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him : and they asked each other of their welfare and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them. And Jethro, Moses' fatherin-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God." (v. 1-12.)

Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, now appears. He had heard of all that God had wrought for His people, and thereon brought Zipporah and her two sons to Moses. The very names of the children explain the typical character of the whole scene. The first is Gershom; "for he said, I have been an alien" or a pilgrim "in a strange land." It is reminiscent therefore of the weary days of Israel's absence from their own land when they were scattered as strangers throughout the world. (See 1 Peter i. 1.) The name of the second is Eliezer; "For the God of my father was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This undoubtedly recalled the past;

but it is also a prophecy of the future, and therefore, interpreted typically, speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, preparatory to their introduction into blessing under the reign of Messiah. The two names thus mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel: the first covers the whole time that will elapse between their being carried away captive into Babylon; while the second points to that momentous hour in which the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy, when He shall go forth and fight against those nations who will be gathered against Jerusalem to battle. (Zechariah xiv.) But the sorrows of their dispersion, as well as their deliverance from the sword of Pharaoh, are looked upon in this scene as past, and they are now in possession, in figure, of their long-delayed and long-lookedfor blessing.

The Church is seen in Zipporah. She was the Gentile wife of Moses, and as such prefigures the Church. thus is in keeping with the millennial character of the picture; for when Israel is restored, and rejoices in the happy sway of Emmanuel, the Church will have her part in the gladness of that day, associated as she will be in the glories of the reign of the thousand years. It will be a day of unspeakable joy to Him who came of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and every pulse of His joy will awaken a response in the heart of her who will occupy the position of the Lamb's wife. He therefore, and she together with Him, whatever her lesser measure, will have fellowship in gladness over the day of Israel's espousals.

Next we have the Gentiles, as symbolized by Jethro's blessing, and confessing Jehovah's name. And observe how this is produced. Moses, the Jew, declares to Jethro

"all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them." This relation bows the heart of Jethro, and he rejoices because of the deliverance of Israel, praises the Lord for it, and confesses His absolute supremacy. We thus read in the Psalms, "Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; Thou hast made me the head of the heathen" (Gentiles): "a people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me." (Ps. xviii. 43, 44.)

Jethro then unites in worship with Aaron, and the elders of Israel, together with Moses, before God. Moses is here the king, and hence he with Israel, and the Gentiles (Jethro) eat bread before God. It is the union of Israel and the Gentiles in worship. It is the scene predicted by the prophet: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. ii. 2, 3.)

In the remainder of the chapter the establishment of judgment and government is recorded:

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' fatherin-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest