indefensible. Thus, for example, Jonathan paraphrases the passage as follows: "In omnia idola Aegyptiorum edam quatuor judicia: idola fusa colliquescent, lapidea concidentur, testacea confringentur, lignea in cinerem redigentur, ut cognoscant Aegyptii me esse Dominum."

§ 33. But certain important preparations were required, before this last decisive blow could be struck. As one of the leading features of this plague it is stated in chap. xi. 7: "Ye shall learn how that Jehovah doth put a difference between Egypt and Israel." The separation of Israel was the fundamental idea of the ancient covenant, the basis of its history. What, then, were the conditions and pre-requisites of this separation? They are to be found in the first stages of the history of Israel on the one hand the call of Abraham, the creation of his seed from an unfruitful body, and the appointment of this sced to bring salvation to the world; and on the other hand, the self-surrender and self-dedication of Israel to the purposes of Jehovah in faith and obedience to his will and guidance. But nearly four hundred years had passed since then, and during that time the natural side of Israel's character, that in which every other nation perfectly resembled it, had been almost exclusively developed and in active operation. In consequence of this, the other side of its character, by which it was distinguished from other nations, had retreated so far into the background, and in the process of development had been so completely left behind, that it was necessary to renew both the election and the covenant. Moreover, Israel in the meantime had entered upon a new stage; it had passed from the family to the nation, and the covenant made with the family had to be transferred to the nation into which it had grown. The covenant with the fathers was, no doubt, in existence still; for Jehovah still continued to be the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob (ii. 24), and Israel still bore the sign of this covenant in his flesh (xii. 48):

but the covenant itself had been in abeyance for four hundred years; it had not made the least advance during all that period; and in the sphere of life and motion, stagnation is equivalent to retrogression. The covenant, therefore, required to be resuscitated, enlivened, and set forth, and also to be confirmed and transferred to the nation, which now occupied the place of the family.-Moses had already been informed that this was to take place on Horeb, the Mount of God, (iii. 12); and for this very purpose Pharaoh was to be compelled to let the people go into the desert, that they might celebrate a festival to Jehovah. Hence, it was in Horeb, first of all, that the renewed and perfect seal of separation from the nations, the stamp, which henceforth distinguished it from all others, was impressed upon Israel. But the obduracy of Pharaoh, the hostility of his people to the nation, which Jehovah had begotten from the seed of Abraham to be his first-born son (chap. iv. 22), and the consequent necessity for executing judgment upon Pharaoh and his nation, had already shown the nature of that distinction which God was about to make between Egypt and Israel (chap. xi. 7). There had been a marked difference ever since the fourth plague (chap. viii. 22); but now at the tenth and concluding plague, it was to be practically demonstrated in a manner unparalleled before. The earlier plagues were chiefly intended to alarm and call to repentance; the tenth, on the other hand, was a pure act of judgment (chap. xii. 12). The fact that Israel was Abraham's seed, was sufficient protection from the former; but this no longer sufficed to defend them from the latter. Jehovah was now preparing to pass in judicial majesty through the land of Egypt. But judgment requires stern and impartial justice, fettered by no considerations, and admitting of no exceptions; and it is right that judgment should begin at God's own house (1 Pet. iv. 17). If, then, there was something ungodly in Israel itself; if the seal of its election and separation

was obliterated; if its sanctification was imperfect and faulty; if its natural character was stronger than that imparted by grace: the judicial majesty of God could not pass over Israel, although it was Abraham's seed, but his judgment would surely fall upon the Israelites as well as the Egyptians. Nevertheless Israel was to be saved. It was necessary, however, that before the judicial wrath of Jehovah burst forth, the Israelites should be prepared by grace, or they would be unable to escape the judgment; their sins must be expiated, all ground for the wrath of God must be removed, and their fellowship with God must be renewed and fortified. This was accomplished by the institution of the Passover. The feast of the passover was a precursor of that festival, which the nation was about to celebrate in the desert in honour of its God; the paschal sacrifice was an anticipation of the sacrifice about to be offered on the Mount of God in Horeb, a preliminary demonstration of its power and its effects, a guarantee for the future.

§ 34 (Ex. xii. 1-28).-The period fixed for the last plague that was to fall upon the Egyptians, and for the celebration of the passover (1) by the Israelites, was the fourteenth day of the month of green ears; but as early as the tenth, the father of every household was to select a lamb without blemish, and to keep it till the fourteenth day of the month (2), when it was to be slain between the evenings (3). The lintel of the door and the two posts were then to be marked with its blood; in order that, when Jehovah passed through the land of Egypt, to slay all the firstborn, he might pass over the houses of the Israelites, and not suffer the destroyer to enter them (4). The lamb was then to be roasted without breaking a bone, and to be eaten with bitter herbs. Whatever might remain was to be burned. The bread eaten at this meal was to be unleavened. Moreover they were to eat it, like persons in a hurry to depart, with a staff in their

hand, with their loins girded, and with their shoes on their feet (5). To commemorate the important design and grand results of this festival, their descendants were ordered to repeat it every year, and to keep it as a seven days' feast, neither eating leavened bread nor suffering any to be found in their houses, for seven days after they had partaken of the Paschal lamb. Foreigners, and servants who were not of Israelitish descent, were prohibited from taking part in the Paschal meal, unless they had been previously incorporated in the community by circumcision. The heads of families were required to instruct their children at an early age, as to the meaning of this solemn ceremony. Moreover this month was to be henceforth regarded as the first month of the year, because it was the period of Israel's redemption, and formed a fresh commencement to Israel's history. When Moses made this announcement to the people, they bowed and worshipped, and did as Jehovah had commanded.

N.B. It does not form part of our plan, to enter at present into a full examination of all the directions contained in the law for the observance of the passover, or of every typical and symbolical meaning which can be discovered in that institution. As we propose discussing the Mosaic legislation (including the rites and ceremonies of worship), not according to its gradual promulgation, extension, and completion, but in its systematic form as an organized whole, the only features to which we shall now refer, are those which are necessary for the elucidation of this portion of the history of Israel. See the elaborate treatise of Bochart de agno Paschali (Hieroz. i. 628—703, Rosenmüller's edition.)

(1). The solemn festival which immediately preceded the Exodus, is described as nimb nog (xii. 11), nimb noe-nat (xii. 27), and p (xxxiv. 25). In chap. xii. 27 the

derivation of the word

(Aramæan

Vulg. Phase, transitus) is thus explained, Jehovah "passed over () the houses of the children of Israel, when he smote the Egyptians." means to step or leap over anything. This leads to the notion of sparing, exempting; for he who steps over a thing, instead of treading upon it and crushing it, spares and exempts it. Hence, Onkelos has not hesitated to substitute (misericordia) for

חים

The phrase

not necessarily leads us, to regard the slaying of the Paschal lamb as a sacrificial act, and the eating of it as a sacrificial meal. And the fact, that the Paschal meal was considered (on scriptural authority, 1 Cor. v. 7) to be a type of the Lord's supper, led the theologians of the Catholic Church to seize with avidity upon the sacrificial dignity of the Paschal lamb, as a confirmation of their unscriptural theory of the repetition of the sacrifice of Christ whenever the Lord's Supper is celebrated, since it was not merely the first meal, but the first sacrifice, which was repeated at every subsequent celebration of the passover. Now, instead of contenting themselves with the reply, that the necessity for a repetition of the Paschal sacrifice, whenever the passover was celebrated, arose from the typical character, i.e., from the insufficiency of the Old Testament sacrifices, and that a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ is inadmissible on account of its absolute and perpetual validity (Heb. vii. 27, ix. 28), the earlier Protestant theologians (Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calovius, Dorschnus, Varenius, Quenstädt, Carpzov, and others), in order that they might take away every possible foundation from the catholic theory, denied in toto the sacrificial worth of the passover, and would only allow that it was a sacramentum not a sacrificium. There were, however, several of the earlier theologians (e.g., Hacspan, Dannhauer, Bochart, Vitringa, and others), who were impartial enough to admit the opposite. Among the more modern Protestant theologians, Hofmann is the only one, so far as we are aware, who has reproduced the denial of its sacrificial character (Weissagung und Erfüllung i. 123, and Schriftbeweis ii. 1, p. 177 seq.). Even M. Baumgarten differs from him in this respect (i. 1, p. 467).

So much must undoubtedly be admitted, that the name is not sufficient of itself to prove that the passover possessed a