CHAPTERXIII.THE PASSOVER.THEfirst of the three great annual festivals of Israel, and the one which above all was commemorative in character—a memorial service—was thePassover. It was designed to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage—the great birth-hour of the Hebrew nation. Especially did it commemorate the scenes of that last eventful night when God caused his angel of death topass overthe houses of Israel as he went through the land of Egypt, smiting the first-born in all her households.——The central thing in this institution was the slaying of the paschal lamb—one for each household—and the sprinkling of its blood upon the two side-posts, and upon the lintel over the door of each house. This sprinkled blood, seen by the destroying angel, became his authority forpassing overand by that house, sparing its first-born, while he spared not one first-born of all the families of Egypt.There were numerous collateral points in the institution, designed to fill it out more completely and make it most impressively a memorial service for all the future generations of Israel;e. g.the following:As totime; it was on the fourteenth day of the month Abib, corresponding to our March or April—the night next following this day being that of the last plague on Egypt—the night which broke their yoke of bondage.Henceforth, this was made the first month in the Hebrew year.The paschal lambs weretaken by households. If the family was large, it stood by itself; if too small to consume one lamb, then two or more were united, the aim being to have the flesh of the lamb eaten entire. If any thing remained, it was to be burned in the morning.—It was to be roasted with fire, not eaten raw, and not boiled in water. (Ex.12: 8, 9.) The arrangementby familieslooked toward the great fact of the original event—that Egypt wassmitten by families—there being not a house in which there was not one dead. Its influence must have been precious through all the ages of Hebrew history in cementing family ties and sanctifying the family relation.It was eaten withunleavened bread—the rule on this point being most stringent. No leaven might be eaten or even seen in their households during the entire feast of seven days. So prominent was this fact that the feast was called interchangeably, “The Passover,” or “The feast of unleavened bread.”——The original design of this prohibition seems to have been commemorative—the great haste of their departure precluding the preparation of leavened bread for their journey. The allusions to “leaven” in the New Testament (Matt.16: 6, 11, 12, and Luke 12 and1 Cor.5: 7) indicate that leaven was associated with “pride that puffeth up,” and is quite the opposite of that simplicity and purity of heart which God loves.It was also eaten with bitter herbs, the vegetable condiments of the supper suggesting the bitterness of that bondage in Egypt out of which they came (Ex.12: 8).——Yet another suggestive memorial usage was to eat with loins girt, shoes on, staff in hand (Ex.12: 11), and in haste, as men ready to start a journey at a moment’s warning.The feast continued seven days (Ex.12: 14–20), beginning with the evening of the paschal supper. The first day and the last were specially sacred, all labor being prohibited except that which was necessary in preparing their food (Ex.12: 16).——The object in allowing so much time was to provide for extended religious ceremonial services and for wholesome social communion, not to say also for cultivating nationalsympathy and patriotism. As all the males from every tribe in the whole land were required to come together on this great feast to the one place which God should appoint, the convocation was vast, and its social and religious influences were naturally both wholesome and great.In the original institution it was specially enjoined that the history and purpose of this great festival shouldbe made known to their children. “And thou shaltshow thy sonin that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Ex.13: 7). “And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage,”etc.(Ex.13: 14, 15.) How naturally would this wonderful story thrill the young hearts around the paschal board! How swiftly would the hours fly away while fathers rehearsed to sons the great national traditions, or read from the book of the law the narrative, and sung again and again the song of triumph over Pharaoh fallen with which this story closes! Jewish history has it that in ancient times it became the custom, after the paschal table was fully spread and the family had taken their places about it, for the servant suddenly to remove the prepared food away. Then when the hungry children opened their eyes wide and eager lips cried out—What does this mean? the head of the household rehearsed slowly and solemnly the meaning and purpose of the feast, with the history of its original institution; then when the curiosity of the little ones had been both aroused and enlightened, the provisions were replaced and partaken with a freshened sense of the grand significance of the Passover.Closely associated with this festival and fraught with solemn significance as a memorial institution was theconsecration to God of all first-born males, both the first-born of man and the first-born of beast (Ex.13: 11–16). Of the lower animals the first-born males, if without blemish and if suitable for sacrifice, were to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord. If not suitable (e. g.the ass), it must be redeemed with a lamb—in which case the lamb became the sacrifice, and the ass might be used at the pleasure of its owner.In the family, the first-born son was consecrated to God. In carrying out this principle, a substitution was made by which the entire tribe of Levi were put in the place of all the first-born males of Israel and held to be specially consecrated to God. The language (Num.8: 14–18) is—“Thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. They are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel, instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the first-born of Israel are mine both man and beast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levitesfor[in the place of] all the first-born of the children of Israel.”——The law prescribed the rites by which the Levites were set apart (Num.8: 5–15).The original institution of the Passover is rehearsed quite fully inEx.12 and 13; is referred to again brieflyEx.23: 15, and 34: 18–20—this last giving emphasis to the consecration of the first-born. A brief notice of it appearsLev.23: 5–8; the accompanying ritual services and offerings may be seen inNum.28: 16–25; and a brief resume of the institution as given in Exodus 12 and 13 stands inDeut.16: 1–8.The Paschal Lamb with its sprinkled blood became a pertinent and impressive illustration of the central idea of the atonement by the blood of Christ, the elements common to both being—the shedding of blood—the blood of an innocent one—and especially the passing over the sprinkled souls by the destroying angel, while the unsprinkled were smitten by God’s angel of death.——It is under the force of these and similar analogies that Paul speaks of Christ as being “our Passover”—[rather our Paschal Lamb], and as “sacrificed for us” (1 Cor.5: 6–8). Pushing the analogies of the Passover feast one step further, he thinks of the exclusion of all leaven; then of leaven as naturally diffusive, and so as representing the pernicious influence of bad men in the Christian church; and therefore exhorts the Corinthian church to cast out the man guilty of incest lest his influence work like leaven.——These remoter analogies were forcible to persons familiar withthe feast and its usages; yet we can not say they were properly involved in the typical significance of the Passover. The easy and natural manner in which Paul speaks of Christ as our Paschal Lamb shows that so far the resemblance was a well recognized fact, wrought into the current views of inspired men, not to say, of the church of that age. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission; with it and by means of it remission comes to the guilty, accepting it with penitence and with faith.The long route to Canaan.Scarcely had the Hebrew hosts set forth for Goshen before the question of theroute to Canaanmust be determined. That Canaan was their destination was settled long before. The first call of Abram designated the land of Canaan as the home of his posterity. Every renewal of that original promise specified the country which was given them. Now, for the course of their journey, the route along the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean through the land of the Philistines was short and direct; but it must have brought them into contact inevitably with those powerful tribes from whom their descendants suffered so much during all the centuries intervening between Joshua and David. Just emerging from a bondage which spanned several generations and which had emasculated them of all national courage and spirit—but slightly trained moreover yet into the moral heroism which comes of living faith in God—they were in no condition to encounter such enemies. The record puts these points briefly: “God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines although that was near, for God said—Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt;but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the RedSea”32(Ex.13: 17, 18). The long circuitous route is therefore chosen.——Wheeling suddenly to theright they put their faces squarely toward the Red Sea, beyond which lay the vast Arabian desert. Ultimately they entered Canaan on its Eastern and not its Western side—the quarter most remote from the Philistines.——In this wilderness route there were great purposes to be accomplished in the moral training and culture of the nation and in the manifestations of the God of their fathers before their eyes. That way lay the passage of the Red Sea which God provided as the burial-place for the proud hosts of Pharaoh: that way lay Sinai—those grand mountain cliffs which God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and the flame of his glorious presence that the law might be written in letters of fire upon the souls of the whole people: that way lay the long, breadless, waterless route of almost forty years wandering and sojourning in which the Lord fed the people with angels’ food—bread from the lower heavens—the manna of the desert, and with water once and again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river—that they might learn the power and the love of their God:—that way lay also their long tuition and training into their religious system—a wonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordinances for which the life-time of a generation was scarcely too long. All these great results and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this choice of the wilderness route as their way to the land of Canaan.The March and the Pursuit.The night of the fourteenth day of the first month was one to be long and gratefully remembered. Little sleep was there in the homes of Israel or in the dwellings of Egypt on that eventful night. The feast of the Paschal Lamb beginning with the early evening; the dread visitation upon Egypt of the angel of death at midnight; the hasty preparation for their journey throughout all the families of the children of Israel; the gathering and mustering of their hosts for the march of the next day:—such was the work of that memorable night. The stages of their march are definitely chronicled; one day from Rameses to Succoth (Ex.12: 37); another day from Succoth to Etham, “inthe edge of the wilderness” (Ex.13: 20); another from Etham to Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the Sea over against Baal-zephon (Ex.14: 2). The same stages appear in the official record (Num.33: 3–8) in which it is added that “Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, for the Egyptians buried all their first-born whom the Lord had smitten among them;upon the gods also, the Lord executedjudgment”33—so that the shock of such and so much death and their funeral services for the dead diverted their attention from Israel and detained them from the pursuit for a season, giving the slow moving hosts of Israel time to reach the Red Sea before Pharaoh’s swift chariots could overtake them.The guiding Pillar of cloud and fire.At this stage commenced that striking but most precious manifestation of God’s guiding presence, of which the first record is—“And the Lord went before them in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” (Ex.13: 21, 22). If the order of the narration corresponds in time to the order of the events, this manifestation of the pillar commenced on the second day of their march as they moved from Succoth to Etham “in the edge of the wilderness.” All through those otherwise dreary days of their marching and halting for forty years in the wilderness, this pillar was before them, appearing as a pillar of cloud by day but of fire by night—the symbol of Jehovah’s presence in all their way, leading their path as they journeyed; marking their place of rest where they were to halt and pitch their tents.——Subsequent allusions to this pillar of cloud or of fire are somewhat numerous,e. g.Ex.29: 43—showing thatinthis pillar God met his people and sanctified the tabernacle with his glory:Ex.40: 34–38,setting forth that when the tabernacle was in readiness, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the most holy place, making that henceforth his special locality. Yet the pillar of cloud was lifted above the tabernacle as the signal for striking tents and moving forward. Its service as the signal for marching or resting is detailed minutely and beautifully inNum.9: 15–23; and the prayer of Moses on these special occasions inNum.10: 35, 36. When the ark set forward—“Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee”; and when it rested—“Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.”——Other allusions may be seen,Deut.1: 23 andNeh.9: 12, 19 andPs.78: 14, and 99: 7, and 105: 39 andIsa.4: 5.Remarkably when the Egyptian chariots and horsemen drew near toward evening of the third days’ march, “the Angel of God, [embosomed in this pillar] which had been in front of their host, removed and went behind them”—putting himself thus between the men of Israel and the armed hosts of Egypt—“And it was a cloud and darkness to Egypt’s hosts but gave light by night to Israel, so that the one came not near the other all night.” Thus the angel of God in the cloud became, not their guide only, but their protector, their guardian angel.If there were godly men in Israel who like Moses could appreciate the salvation and the glory of Jehovah’s presence, their hearts must have been a thousand times gladdened, and inspired withinexpressiblehope and consolation as they lifted up their eyes in their otherwise deepest darkness to see the pillar of fire ever near, the witness that God was near in all their wanderings. But especiallytherewith the Red Sea before them and the chariots of Pharaoh behind—how safe they might have felt! for who is not safe under the wing of God’s pillar of fire?When Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen came in sight, rapidly gaining upon the slow-marching footmen of Israel’s host, the latter were sore afraid and cried unto the Lord (Ex.14: 10). This crying to the Lord would have been all right if only they had believed and trusted; for then they would have honored their great Protector, and they wouldnothave chided Moses for leading them out of Egypt, nor would they have thought so readilyof turning back to their cruel bondage.——With touching forbearance and grace the reply of Moses (from God) breathes scarce a whisper of rebuke: “Fear ye not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you to day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see no more again forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” The Lord did not propose to bring the people into direct battle with the trained hosts of Egypt at this early stage of their new life of freedom. They were in no manner prepared for the conflict of arms. This time the Lord alone would go into battle against Egypt. Israel might stand still and look on!Moses, it seems, cried unto God; but whether because there was some implied unbelief in it, or because there was no time and no further need of prayer, the Lord answered—“Why criest thou unto me?Speak unto the people that they go forward!” The time for action and for placid trust in God had fully come.——But that deep Red Sea lies across thy path; lift up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea anddivide it; let Israel march through it dry-shod. The uplifted rod of Moses was the signal for the uplifted hand of God by which he forced the waters from their channel by a strong east wind all that night and made the bed of the sea dry for his people to pass over. The miracle in this case was exerted upon the wind rather than upon the water. God caused the east wind to blow strongly just when its effect was needed for the end in view. He turned the wind and hurried the waters back upon the Egyptians just when the opportune moment came for burying them beneath its mountain waves. If his wisdom had chosen to do so, his Almighty hand could just as easily have annihilated so much of the Red Sea waters as lay in the way of his people till they had passed its dry bed, and then have reproduced them for the destruction of Egypt. But in his mighty works God does not seek display but rather results, and these ordinarily by using only the least amount of supernatural agency which will suffice. It is of little account to attempt to fix the law of miracles, yet we may not infrequently observe the same method as is apparent here.The historian alludes to yet another element of divine agency. In the morning watch as the host of Pharaohwere pressing on through the very midst of the bed of the sea, “the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and troubled [rather confounded, smote with panic] their marching hosts; and took off their chariot wheels that they drave them heavily;so that the Egyptians said—“Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovahfightethfor them against the Egyptians.”——It may not be possible, certainly is not specially important, to draw the line here between the natural and the supernatural. We may suppose that the pillar of cloud which had been darkness to them blazed forth fearfully in their faces, appalling the stoutest hearts with fear; that both horses and drivers were confounded; that wheel crashed into wheel and made advance impossible; that turning back for flight, their disorder and confusion became a rout, and that in this hour of crisis the returning waters surge and dash upon them and bury them en masse beneath the mountain waves! So perished the slave-holders and oppressors of God’s ancient people! Thus signally did Jehovah exalt his name and win glory to himself as the Avenger of the oppressed and the faithful God of his Israel.The case falls into the same class with the flood and the fires on Sodom, to show before the ages how readily the Lord can find fit instruments of retributive justice for the swift punishment of the wicked even in this world whenever examples are needed to set forth hisdispleasureagainst sin, and the certainty of his retributions upon the wicked. Under a system which normally puts over this retribution till after death, it might obviously be wise in the early ages of time to give some exceptional cases to stand as illustrations squarely before the eyes of living men, witnessing to the terrors of that retribution which can not linger long under the government of a just and holy God.The night of doom to Pharaoh was the night of redemption to Israel. With the morning light they “saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore”—men in their armor of battle; horses in the proud trappings of Egypt; broken chariots, all powerless now—are dashed up by the waves of the turbid sea and lie strewn upon the eastern shore—memorials at once of the danger that was and of the victory and triumph that are, and thatare to be, the joy of God’s redeemed people. Most fitly the deep emotions of the people seek expression in song. The oldest song known to history and one of the grandest, is here before us. “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:”—Ah, indeed, it was the Lord who wrought the victory; who went down alone into that eventful battle and who came back the mighty conqueror! “The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Over and over this central idea appears: “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; his chosen chariots also are drowned in the Red Sea.” “Thou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” Let the Great God of Israel be praised for all this! Appropriately this is the burden of the song: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.” “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders”?Let us hope that the hearts of the saved people were deeply moved in the spirit of this sublime song; that they saw God as never before, and gave him the homage of their hearts, grateful, trustful, and adoring!It may be noticed that Moses leads the thought of the people forward to the remote results of this redemption: “The nations shall hear and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; fear and dread shall fall upon them ... till thy people pass over and thou hast planted them in their promised inheritance.”The moral results of this scene, we may hope, were really wholesome and effective upon the multitude. It amazes us to find that so soon afterward there were some among them who murmured for water, rebelled against Moses, made and worshiped a calf of gold: but the young, less depraved by their Egyptian life and perhaps more impressible by such manifestations of God, seem to have drank in the solemn lessons of these grand events.The locality of the Red Sea crossinghas been not a little controverted—until the researches of modern times. SinceDr.Robinson’s personal examination of that region, including the site of Goshen, the route of their three days’ travel till they reached the sea, the widthof the sea at the various points between which the selection must be made, there has been a general if not universal concurrence in the conclusions to which he came. The location a little below Suez where the sea was supposably not far from one mile in width; where a strong easterly wind would drive out the waters from the channel—seems to fulfill all the historical conditions of the problem. See his Researches in Egypt and Palestine,Vol. I.pp.74–86.
THEfirst of the three great annual festivals of Israel, and the one which above all was commemorative in character—a memorial service—was thePassover. It was designed to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage—the great birth-hour of the Hebrew nation. Especially did it commemorate the scenes of that last eventful night when God caused his angel of death topass overthe houses of Israel as he went through the land of Egypt, smiting the first-born in all her households.——The central thing in this institution was the slaying of the paschal lamb—one for each household—and the sprinkling of its blood upon the two side-posts, and upon the lintel over the door of each house. This sprinkled blood, seen by the destroying angel, became his authority forpassing overand by that house, sparing its first-born, while he spared not one first-born of all the families of Egypt.
There were numerous collateral points in the institution, designed to fill it out more completely and make it most impressively a memorial service for all the future generations of Israel;e. g.the following:
As totime; it was on the fourteenth day of the month Abib, corresponding to our March or April—the night next following this day being that of the last plague on Egypt—the night which broke their yoke of bondage.Henceforth, this was made the first month in the Hebrew year.
The paschal lambs weretaken by households. If the family was large, it stood by itself; if too small to consume one lamb, then two or more were united, the aim being to have the flesh of the lamb eaten entire. If any thing remained, it was to be burned in the morning.—It was to be roasted with fire, not eaten raw, and not boiled in water. (Ex.12: 8, 9.) The arrangementby familieslooked toward the great fact of the original event—that Egypt wassmitten by families—there being not a house in which there was not one dead. Its influence must have been precious through all the ages of Hebrew history in cementing family ties and sanctifying the family relation.
It was eaten withunleavened bread—the rule on this point being most stringent. No leaven might be eaten or even seen in their households during the entire feast of seven days. So prominent was this fact that the feast was called interchangeably, “The Passover,” or “The feast of unleavened bread.”——The original design of this prohibition seems to have been commemorative—the great haste of their departure precluding the preparation of leavened bread for their journey. The allusions to “leaven” in the New Testament (Matt.16: 6, 11, 12, and Luke 12 and1 Cor.5: 7) indicate that leaven was associated with “pride that puffeth up,” and is quite the opposite of that simplicity and purity of heart which God loves.
It was also eaten with bitter herbs, the vegetable condiments of the supper suggesting the bitterness of that bondage in Egypt out of which they came (Ex.12: 8).——Yet another suggestive memorial usage was to eat with loins girt, shoes on, staff in hand (Ex.12: 11), and in haste, as men ready to start a journey at a moment’s warning.
The feast continued seven days (Ex.12: 14–20), beginning with the evening of the paschal supper. The first day and the last were specially sacred, all labor being prohibited except that which was necessary in preparing their food (Ex.12: 16).——The object in allowing so much time was to provide for extended religious ceremonial services and for wholesome social communion, not to say also for cultivating nationalsympathy and patriotism. As all the males from every tribe in the whole land were required to come together on this great feast to the one place which God should appoint, the convocation was vast, and its social and religious influences were naturally both wholesome and great.
In the original institution it was specially enjoined that the history and purpose of this great festival shouldbe made known to their children. “And thou shaltshow thy sonin that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Ex.13: 7). “And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage,”etc.(Ex.13: 14, 15.) How naturally would this wonderful story thrill the young hearts around the paschal board! How swiftly would the hours fly away while fathers rehearsed to sons the great national traditions, or read from the book of the law the narrative, and sung again and again the song of triumph over Pharaoh fallen with which this story closes! Jewish history has it that in ancient times it became the custom, after the paschal table was fully spread and the family had taken their places about it, for the servant suddenly to remove the prepared food away. Then when the hungry children opened their eyes wide and eager lips cried out—What does this mean? the head of the household rehearsed slowly and solemnly the meaning and purpose of the feast, with the history of its original institution; then when the curiosity of the little ones had been both aroused and enlightened, the provisions were replaced and partaken with a freshened sense of the grand significance of the Passover.
Closely associated with this festival and fraught with solemn significance as a memorial institution was theconsecration to God of all first-born males, both the first-born of man and the first-born of beast (Ex.13: 11–16). Of the lower animals the first-born males, if without blemish and if suitable for sacrifice, were to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord. If not suitable (e. g.the ass), it must be redeemed with a lamb—in which case the lamb became the sacrifice, and the ass might be used at the pleasure of its owner.
In the family, the first-born son was consecrated to God. In carrying out this principle, a substitution was made by which the entire tribe of Levi were put in the place of all the first-born males of Israel and held to be specially consecrated to God. The language (Num.8: 14–18) is—“Thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. They are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel, instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the first-born of Israel are mine both man and beast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levitesfor[in the place of] all the first-born of the children of Israel.”——The law prescribed the rites by which the Levites were set apart (Num.8: 5–15).
The original institution of the Passover is rehearsed quite fully inEx.12 and 13; is referred to again brieflyEx.23: 15, and 34: 18–20—this last giving emphasis to the consecration of the first-born. A brief notice of it appearsLev.23: 5–8; the accompanying ritual services and offerings may be seen inNum.28: 16–25; and a brief resume of the institution as given in Exodus 12 and 13 stands inDeut.16: 1–8.
The Paschal Lamb with its sprinkled blood became a pertinent and impressive illustration of the central idea of the atonement by the blood of Christ, the elements common to both being—the shedding of blood—the blood of an innocent one—and especially the passing over the sprinkled souls by the destroying angel, while the unsprinkled were smitten by God’s angel of death.——It is under the force of these and similar analogies that Paul speaks of Christ as being “our Passover”—[rather our Paschal Lamb], and as “sacrificed for us” (1 Cor.5: 6–8). Pushing the analogies of the Passover feast one step further, he thinks of the exclusion of all leaven; then of leaven as naturally diffusive, and so as representing the pernicious influence of bad men in the Christian church; and therefore exhorts the Corinthian church to cast out the man guilty of incest lest his influence work like leaven.——These remoter analogies were forcible to persons familiar withthe feast and its usages; yet we can not say they were properly involved in the typical significance of the Passover. The easy and natural manner in which Paul speaks of Christ as our Paschal Lamb shows that so far the resemblance was a well recognized fact, wrought into the current views of inspired men, not to say, of the church of that age. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission; with it and by means of it remission comes to the guilty, accepting it with penitence and with faith.
The long route to Canaan.
Scarcely had the Hebrew hosts set forth for Goshen before the question of theroute to Canaanmust be determined. That Canaan was their destination was settled long before. The first call of Abram designated the land of Canaan as the home of his posterity. Every renewal of that original promise specified the country which was given them. Now, for the course of their journey, the route along the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean through the land of the Philistines was short and direct; but it must have brought them into contact inevitably with those powerful tribes from whom their descendants suffered so much during all the centuries intervening between Joshua and David. Just emerging from a bondage which spanned several generations and which had emasculated them of all national courage and spirit—but slightly trained moreover yet into the moral heroism which comes of living faith in God—they were in no condition to encounter such enemies. The record puts these points briefly: “God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines although that was near, for God said—Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt;but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the RedSea”32(Ex.13: 17, 18). The long circuitous route is therefore chosen.——Wheeling suddenly to theright they put their faces squarely toward the Red Sea, beyond which lay the vast Arabian desert. Ultimately they entered Canaan on its Eastern and not its Western side—the quarter most remote from the Philistines.——In this wilderness route there were great purposes to be accomplished in the moral training and culture of the nation and in the manifestations of the God of their fathers before their eyes. That way lay the passage of the Red Sea which God provided as the burial-place for the proud hosts of Pharaoh: that way lay Sinai—those grand mountain cliffs which God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and the flame of his glorious presence that the law might be written in letters of fire upon the souls of the whole people: that way lay the long, breadless, waterless route of almost forty years wandering and sojourning in which the Lord fed the people with angels’ food—bread from the lower heavens—the manna of the desert, and with water once and again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river—that they might learn the power and the love of their God:—that way lay also their long tuition and training into their religious system—a wonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordinances for which the life-time of a generation was scarcely too long. All these great results and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this choice of the wilderness route as their way to the land of Canaan.
The March and the Pursuit.
The night of the fourteenth day of the first month was one to be long and gratefully remembered. Little sleep was there in the homes of Israel or in the dwellings of Egypt on that eventful night. The feast of the Paschal Lamb beginning with the early evening; the dread visitation upon Egypt of the angel of death at midnight; the hasty preparation for their journey throughout all the families of the children of Israel; the gathering and mustering of their hosts for the march of the next day:—such was the work of that memorable night. The stages of their march are definitely chronicled; one day from Rameses to Succoth (Ex.12: 37); another day from Succoth to Etham, “inthe edge of the wilderness” (Ex.13: 20); another from Etham to Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the Sea over against Baal-zephon (Ex.14: 2). The same stages appear in the official record (Num.33: 3–8) in which it is added that “Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, for the Egyptians buried all their first-born whom the Lord had smitten among them;upon the gods also, the Lord executedjudgment”33—so that the shock of such and so much death and their funeral services for the dead diverted their attention from Israel and detained them from the pursuit for a season, giving the slow moving hosts of Israel time to reach the Red Sea before Pharaoh’s swift chariots could overtake them.
The guiding Pillar of cloud and fire.
At this stage commenced that striking but most precious manifestation of God’s guiding presence, of which the first record is—“And the Lord went before them in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” (Ex.13: 21, 22). If the order of the narration corresponds in time to the order of the events, this manifestation of the pillar commenced on the second day of their march as they moved from Succoth to Etham “in the edge of the wilderness.” All through those otherwise dreary days of their marching and halting for forty years in the wilderness, this pillar was before them, appearing as a pillar of cloud by day but of fire by night—the symbol of Jehovah’s presence in all their way, leading their path as they journeyed; marking their place of rest where they were to halt and pitch their tents.——Subsequent allusions to this pillar of cloud or of fire are somewhat numerous,e. g.Ex.29: 43—showing thatinthis pillar God met his people and sanctified the tabernacle with his glory:Ex.40: 34–38,setting forth that when the tabernacle was in readiness, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the most holy place, making that henceforth his special locality. Yet the pillar of cloud was lifted above the tabernacle as the signal for striking tents and moving forward. Its service as the signal for marching or resting is detailed minutely and beautifully inNum.9: 15–23; and the prayer of Moses on these special occasions inNum.10: 35, 36. When the ark set forward—“Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee”; and when it rested—“Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.”——Other allusions may be seen,Deut.1: 23 andNeh.9: 12, 19 andPs.78: 14, and 99: 7, and 105: 39 andIsa.4: 5.
Remarkably when the Egyptian chariots and horsemen drew near toward evening of the third days’ march, “the Angel of God, [embosomed in this pillar] which had been in front of their host, removed and went behind them”—putting himself thus between the men of Israel and the armed hosts of Egypt—“And it was a cloud and darkness to Egypt’s hosts but gave light by night to Israel, so that the one came not near the other all night.” Thus the angel of God in the cloud became, not their guide only, but their protector, their guardian angel.If there were godly men in Israel who like Moses could appreciate the salvation and the glory of Jehovah’s presence, their hearts must have been a thousand times gladdened, and inspired withinexpressiblehope and consolation as they lifted up their eyes in their otherwise deepest darkness to see the pillar of fire ever near, the witness that God was near in all their wanderings. But especiallytherewith the Red Sea before them and the chariots of Pharaoh behind—how safe they might have felt! for who is not safe under the wing of God’s pillar of fire?
When Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen came in sight, rapidly gaining upon the slow-marching footmen of Israel’s host, the latter were sore afraid and cried unto the Lord (Ex.14: 10). This crying to the Lord would have been all right if only they had believed and trusted; for then they would have honored their great Protector, and they wouldnothave chided Moses for leading them out of Egypt, nor would they have thought so readilyof turning back to their cruel bondage.——With touching forbearance and grace the reply of Moses (from God) breathes scarce a whisper of rebuke: “Fear ye not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you to day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see no more again forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” The Lord did not propose to bring the people into direct battle with the trained hosts of Egypt at this early stage of their new life of freedom. They were in no manner prepared for the conflict of arms. This time the Lord alone would go into battle against Egypt. Israel might stand still and look on!
Moses, it seems, cried unto God; but whether because there was some implied unbelief in it, or because there was no time and no further need of prayer, the Lord answered—“Why criest thou unto me?Speak unto the people that they go forward!” The time for action and for placid trust in God had fully come.——But that deep Red Sea lies across thy path; lift up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea anddivide it; let Israel march through it dry-shod. The uplifted rod of Moses was the signal for the uplifted hand of God by which he forced the waters from their channel by a strong east wind all that night and made the bed of the sea dry for his people to pass over. The miracle in this case was exerted upon the wind rather than upon the water. God caused the east wind to blow strongly just when its effect was needed for the end in view. He turned the wind and hurried the waters back upon the Egyptians just when the opportune moment came for burying them beneath its mountain waves. If his wisdom had chosen to do so, his Almighty hand could just as easily have annihilated so much of the Red Sea waters as lay in the way of his people till they had passed its dry bed, and then have reproduced them for the destruction of Egypt. But in his mighty works God does not seek display but rather results, and these ordinarily by using only the least amount of supernatural agency which will suffice. It is of little account to attempt to fix the law of miracles, yet we may not infrequently observe the same method as is apparent here.
The historian alludes to yet another element of divine agency. In the morning watch as the host of Pharaohwere pressing on through the very midst of the bed of the sea, “the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and troubled [rather confounded, smote with panic] their marching hosts; and took off their chariot wheels that they drave them heavily;so that the Egyptians said—“Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovahfightethfor them against the Egyptians.”——It may not be possible, certainly is not specially important, to draw the line here between the natural and the supernatural. We may suppose that the pillar of cloud which had been darkness to them blazed forth fearfully in their faces, appalling the stoutest hearts with fear; that both horses and drivers were confounded; that wheel crashed into wheel and made advance impossible; that turning back for flight, their disorder and confusion became a rout, and that in this hour of crisis the returning waters surge and dash upon them and bury them en masse beneath the mountain waves! So perished the slave-holders and oppressors of God’s ancient people! Thus signally did Jehovah exalt his name and win glory to himself as the Avenger of the oppressed and the faithful God of his Israel.The case falls into the same class with the flood and the fires on Sodom, to show before the ages how readily the Lord can find fit instruments of retributive justice for the swift punishment of the wicked even in this world whenever examples are needed to set forth hisdispleasureagainst sin, and the certainty of his retributions upon the wicked. Under a system which normally puts over this retribution till after death, it might obviously be wise in the early ages of time to give some exceptional cases to stand as illustrations squarely before the eyes of living men, witnessing to the terrors of that retribution which can not linger long under the government of a just and holy God.
The night of doom to Pharaoh was the night of redemption to Israel. With the morning light they “saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore”—men in their armor of battle; horses in the proud trappings of Egypt; broken chariots, all powerless now—are dashed up by the waves of the turbid sea and lie strewn upon the eastern shore—memorials at once of the danger that was and of the victory and triumph that are, and thatare to be, the joy of God’s redeemed people. Most fitly the deep emotions of the people seek expression in song. The oldest song known to history and one of the grandest, is here before us. “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:”—Ah, indeed, it was the Lord who wrought the victory; who went down alone into that eventful battle and who came back the mighty conqueror! “The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Over and over this central idea appears: “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; his chosen chariots also are drowned in the Red Sea.” “Thou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” Let the Great God of Israel be praised for all this! Appropriately this is the burden of the song: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.” “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders”?
Let us hope that the hearts of the saved people were deeply moved in the spirit of this sublime song; that they saw God as never before, and gave him the homage of their hearts, grateful, trustful, and adoring!
It may be noticed that Moses leads the thought of the people forward to the remote results of this redemption: “The nations shall hear and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; fear and dread shall fall upon them ... till thy people pass over and thou hast planted them in their promised inheritance.”
The moral results of this scene, we may hope, were really wholesome and effective upon the multitude. It amazes us to find that so soon afterward there were some among them who murmured for water, rebelled against Moses, made and worshiped a calf of gold: but the young, less depraved by their Egyptian life and perhaps more impressible by such manifestations of God, seem to have drank in the solemn lessons of these grand events.
The locality of the Red Sea crossinghas been not a little controverted—until the researches of modern times. SinceDr.Robinson’s personal examination of that region, including the site of Goshen, the route of their three days’ travel till they reached the sea, the widthof the sea at the various points between which the selection must be made, there has been a general if not universal concurrence in the conclusions to which he came. The location a little below Suez where the sea was supposably not far from one mile in width; where a strong easterly wind would drive out the waters from the channel—seems to fulfill all the historical conditions of the problem. See his Researches in Egypt and Palestine,Vol. I.pp.74–86.
CHAPTERXIV.THE HISTORIC CONNECTIONS OF MOSES WITH PHARAOH AND EGYPT.THEthread of our history having now reached a point where we leave Egypt and have seen the last of that one particular Pharaoh, it is in place to take a final review of the questions—Who was this Pharaoh? Can he be identified in the annals of Egyptian antiquities? Have any points of chronological contact between the records of Egypt and the records of Moses been fixed reliably so that the one system can be laid alongside of the other and positive correspondence be made out?Comparing the Hebrew records with Egyptian monuments and history, the following points of coincidence may be regarded as established.1. That (as already observed) the kingdom of Egypt was thoroughly organized, was powerful, and had, apparently, the ripeness of age, in the times of Joseph and of Moses. In all these respects it was far in advance of the adjacent populations of Northern Africa and of South-western Asia.2. That the state of the arts, the attainments of the learned in science, the usages of the people, the reign of law and of social order, indicated a state of civilizationmuch in advance of any thing else known in that age.3. That all the minute references in sacred history to the common life of the people, to their occupations, to their skill in the arts, to the productions of the country, to their political relations with outside powers, are abundantly verified in the numerous monuments and authorities which testify what the Egypt of that age really was. The reference to many of these points in the history of the ten plagues admits of most ample verification from the ancient Egyptian authorities.4. Particularly we find in Egyptian history the means of explaining how a new king might arise who “knew not Joseph” (change of dynasty being a chronic infirmity); and how the monarch of an empire so magnificant, wielding a sway so despotic, might be tempted to defy Jehovah and proudly scorn to obey his command to “let the people go.”5. Yet again as to the sort of labor exacted unmercifully of the Hebrew people the evidence from Egyptian antiquities is fully corroborative. “They built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses,” and were put to the severest toil in making brick; in the erection of buildings, including the transportation of the heaviest materials; and to “all manner of service in the field” (Ex.1: 11, 14).——These treasure cities are identified with a high degree of certainty;and proximately some of the very kings by whom this service was exacted.Mons.Chabas34thinks he has found the Hebrews under name in official Egyptian records. He argues well that it must be in vain to look in the public monuments [e. g.in their temples] for any thing disastrous to the king or to his people—those monuments being consecrated to the triumphs and glories of the kingdom—official bulletins for this very purpose. This consideration rules out the ten plagues; the escape of the Hebrews; the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Events so disreputable and disastrous to Egypt need not be looked for on her sacred monuments.——But the records on papyrus, consisting of both official and private correspondence, military reports, surveys of public works, financial accounts,etc., may furnish their name. The Hebrews were an importantcolony, held forcibly upon the soil of Egypt, employed largely upon her public works. Consequently some notice of them may be reasonably looked for in the class of documents pertaining to the business of the realm.——Mons.Chabas maintains very sensibly that we should look for this people under the name “Hebrews;” not “children of Israel”—this being rather a religious than an ethnic designation; not “Israelites”—this name not having then come into use; not Jews, this name being first used many centuries later.Three documents have been recently discovered which speak of a foreign race under the hieroglyphic name “Aperiu.” On principles of comparative philology,Mons.Chabas makes this word the equivalent ofHebrew.——In the first document the scribe Kanisar reports to his superior: “I have obeyed the command which my master gave me to provide subsistence for the soldiers and also for the Aperiu who carry stone for the great Bekhen of King Rameses.I have given them rations every month according to the excellent instructions of mymaster.”35——The second is similar: “I have furnished rations to the soldiers and also to the Aperiu who carry stone for the sun of [the temple of] the sun, Rameses Meriamen, to the south of Memphis.”Furthermore, Egyptian records show that they put their prisoners of war to such labors; for their kings record on the temples the number of captives they have taken to labor upon the temples of their gods.Two of these documents on papyri belong to the reign of RamesesII, whomMons.Chabas assumes to be the king whose daughter adopted Moses and whose son and successor, Mei-en-ptah, experienced the ten plagues and fell in the Red Sea. (Bib.Sacra,Oct., 1865,p.685.)6. It is a well-established fact of history that at one period—not yet located definitely—Lower Egypt was subdued and held by a Shepherd race, called by Josephus, “Hyksos,” supposed to have come from adjacent provinces of Arabia or from Phenicia or both, and to have held the country from 350 to 500 years—a Vandal race, savagely desolating the noble monuments of Egyptian art and civilization, and known by the native Egyptiansas “the Scourge.” This Shepherd race was ultimately driven out by the kings of Upper Egypt (a Theban dynasty)—probably before the age of Moses; perhaps before Jacob went down into Egypt. It may be considered certain that Josephus and others err in confounding them with the Hebrew people.——Geo.Rawlinson [in Aids to Faith,p.293] says—“The period of the Shepherd Kings is estimated variously as continuing 500, 600, 900, and even 2,000 years; that historic monuments were generally destroyed during their dominion; that no reliable historic records exist older than the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty which expelled the Shepherd Kings; and that previously to their times, ‘Association’ in Royalty was practiced, two or even three kings sitting on the same throne at the same time, dividing its labors and its honors between themselves.”As to the date of this Shepherd rule, the diversity in opinion among the best informed students of Egyptian antiquity is by no means comforting or assuring.Dr.Lepsius and others have placed their invasion of Egypt directly after the twelfth dynasty (B. C. 2101), and their expulsion about B. C. 1591. In his chronology, Jacob went down into Egypt B. C. 1414; Moses led the people out B. C. 1314—neither date having the least regard to the scripture chronology.——Mons.Mariette dates it in the eighteenth century B. C.,i. e.between B. C. 1700 and B. C. 1800. With this we might compare the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt from B. C. 2033 to B. C. 1603; or on the chronology of Usher, from B. C. 1706 to B. C. 1491.——Brugsch dates their incursion B. C. 2115, and supposes them to have been Arabs from Arabia Petraea.——Bunsen’s latest recension places their invasion B. C. 1983; their expulsion, B. C. 1548; and the Exodus of the Hebrews B. C. 1320—the last date being certainly wide of the truth.——The evidence is conclusive that their expulsion preceded the resplendent eighteenth dynasty whose kings ruled over all Egypt, and among whom was the Pharaoh “who would not let the people go.”Dr.Thompson argues at considerable length that the entire occupation of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos must haveprecededthe residence of the Hebrews there; but feels the difficulties of the problem. He says—“As yet theterminus a quoremains in obscurity” [the point at which their occupation begins];“while theterminus ad quemis beginning to take a fixed place in history.” The date of their expulsion is mostly relieved of doubt. The war which resulted in their expulsion was begun by Seneken-Ra, about the commencement of the18thdynasty of Thebes [Upper Egypt], and was prosecuted by AhmesI, otherwise called Nebpeh-Ra, in whose fifth year they were finally expelled. The reign of AhmesIis proximately assigned to the17thcentury B. C.,i. e.from B. C. 1600 to B. C. 1700.——A curious inscription has recently been discovered byMons.Dumischen, referring to a brilliant triumph over the Lybians, achieved by a certain king Menephtah—this war being dated nearly 400 years after the expulsion of the Hyksos. The scribe appended the remark—“One could not have seen the like in the time of the kings of Lower Egypt when the country of Egypt was held by the ‘Scourge,’ and the kings of Upper Egypt could not drive them out.”——This authority seems to prove that the Hyksos held only Lower Egypt; that Upper Egypt was under another dynasty, for a time unable to expel the Shepherd race, but ultimately successful, and subsequently attaining much greater military power; also that the Hyksos people were accounted a savage and barbarous race.In conclusion I am constrained to say that the study of Egyptian antiquities, though richly remunerative and satisfactory in regard to almost every thing else, is still very dubious and perplexing in the point ofdefinite chronology. The views of the ablest scholars are widely conflicting; the original authorities still wait for some master mind to put them into system, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, for the discovery of competent data from which a system can be constructed which shall harmonize all the authorities in the case. We want to know the Pharaoh to whom the Lord sent Moses, whose reign synchronizes with the Exodus. We find a series of powerful monarchs in the eighteenth dynasty and also in the nineteenth; but which of them answers to this particular Pharaoh, it seems yet impossible to determine with satisfactory certainty. RamesesII, all agree, was a powerful king; built immense public works; reigned at least sixty, perhaps sixty-six years;—but some authorities place him in the eighteenth and some in the nineteenth dynasty, and the extremedifference in the assigned dates for his reign is three hundred years.The difficulties that invest Egyptian dates and dynasties seem at present to be aggravated rather than relieved by the progress of modern discoveries. Thus we find in theBib.Sacra,Oct.1867, (pp.773 and 774) four parallel lists of the first three Egyptian dynasties,viz:(1.) That of Manetho; (2.) The Turin Papyrus; (3.) The Tablet of Sethos; (4.) The Tablet of Sakharah or Memphis. Compared with Manetho, the last three are of quite recent discovery. They are somewhat defective; yet it is not specially difficult to discover a striking similarity and in many cases an obvious identity in the names given. But the names in Manetho’s list almost utterly lack even similarity; much more do they refuse to come into identity. The authority of the last three must, it seems to me, be decidedly greater than that of Manetho.——The same difficulty appears when we compare Manetho’s names in the later dynasties (e. g.18th–20th) with names constantly coming to light in recently discovered Egyptian monuments. I know not how this fact affects other minds. It can not but lessen my confidence in the lists of Manetho. It certainly goes far to lessen their practical value.——It is somewhat disheartening that these chronological difficulties clear up so slowly.It still remains to be hoped that light will yet break in and that conclusions will be reached in which all important authorities will be shown toconcur.36It would be a very great acquisition historically if we might know what Egypt was doing while the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness forty years. Various circumstances conspire to favor the opinion that during this period her king made a vast military crusade upon Palestine and the regions farther north, occupying several years and greatly crippling the powerful tribes [kingdoms so called] then in possession of the land of Canaan. Both Josephus and Herodotus give accounts of a great military expedition of this sort—leaving, however, the main chronological problemWhen?to be determined.——As to the great power of the kings of Canaan, the Lord said to Moses, “I will send a hornet before you to drive them out,”i. e.to break down their power and facilitate the subjection of the country before the arms of Joshua. The original word translated “hornet” does not suggest the insect now commonly known by that name; but is equivalent toscourge, yet not precisely defining of what sort. It is supposable that Egypt and her next kin after the Exodus, were more maddened than subdued by the escape of Israel and by the humbling disaster at the Red Sea; that this great expedition was inspired by the expectation of finding the Hebrew people in Canaan and of punishing them there; that God’s providence shielded them with perfect protection in the great Arabian desert where no Egyptian host could follow them or even subsist; and then with that marvelous wisdom which so often turns the wrath of man to his own praise, used their prowess in arms to break down the military strength of Canaan and prepare that land for easy conquest before the arms of Joshua. It seems obvious that in point of military strength a great change had come over the tribes of Canaan between the visit of the spies and the conquest by Israel. Did the Lord use the chariots and horsemen of Egypt to produce this result? To have done so would be quite in keeping with that great law of his operations in this sinning world under which he so often turns the wrath of wicked men to account most signally and even gloriously to promote the ends of his own kingdom.
THEthread of our history having now reached a point where we leave Egypt and have seen the last of that one particular Pharaoh, it is in place to take a final review of the questions—Who was this Pharaoh? Can he be identified in the annals of Egyptian antiquities? Have any points of chronological contact between the records of Egypt and the records of Moses been fixed reliably so that the one system can be laid alongside of the other and positive correspondence be made out?
Comparing the Hebrew records with Egyptian monuments and history, the following points of coincidence may be regarded as established.
1. That (as already observed) the kingdom of Egypt was thoroughly organized, was powerful, and had, apparently, the ripeness of age, in the times of Joseph and of Moses. In all these respects it was far in advance of the adjacent populations of Northern Africa and of South-western Asia.
2. That the state of the arts, the attainments of the learned in science, the usages of the people, the reign of law and of social order, indicated a state of civilizationmuch in advance of any thing else known in that age.
3. That all the minute references in sacred history to the common life of the people, to their occupations, to their skill in the arts, to the productions of the country, to their political relations with outside powers, are abundantly verified in the numerous monuments and authorities which testify what the Egypt of that age really was. The reference to many of these points in the history of the ten plagues admits of most ample verification from the ancient Egyptian authorities.
4. Particularly we find in Egyptian history the means of explaining how a new king might arise who “knew not Joseph” (change of dynasty being a chronic infirmity); and how the monarch of an empire so magnificant, wielding a sway so despotic, might be tempted to defy Jehovah and proudly scorn to obey his command to “let the people go.”
5. Yet again as to the sort of labor exacted unmercifully of the Hebrew people the evidence from Egyptian antiquities is fully corroborative. “They built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses,” and were put to the severest toil in making brick; in the erection of buildings, including the transportation of the heaviest materials; and to “all manner of service in the field” (Ex.1: 11, 14).——These treasure cities are identified with a high degree of certainty;and proximately some of the very kings by whom this service was exacted.Mons.Chabas34thinks he has found the Hebrews under name in official Egyptian records. He argues well that it must be in vain to look in the public monuments [e. g.in their temples] for any thing disastrous to the king or to his people—those monuments being consecrated to the triumphs and glories of the kingdom—official bulletins for this very purpose. This consideration rules out the ten plagues; the escape of the Hebrews; the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Events so disreputable and disastrous to Egypt need not be looked for on her sacred monuments.——But the records on papyrus, consisting of both official and private correspondence, military reports, surveys of public works, financial accounts,etc., may furnish their name. The Hebrews were an importantcolony, held forcibly upon the soil of Egypt, employed largely upon her public works. Consequently some notice of them may be reasonably looked for in the class of documents pertaining to the business of the realm.——Mons.Chabas maintains very sensibly that we should look for this people under the name “Hebrews;” not “children of Israel”—this being rather a religious than an ethnic designation; not “Israelites”—this name not having then come into use; not Jews, this name being first used many centuries later.
Three documents have been recently discovered which speak of a foreign race under the hieroglyphic name “Aperiu.” On principles of comparative philology,Mons.Chabas makes this word the equivalent ofHebrew.——In the first document the scribe Kanisar reports to his superior: “I have obeyed the command which my master gave me to provide subsistence for the soldiers and also for the Aperiu who carry stone for the great Bekhen of King Rameses.I have given them rations every month according to the excellent instructions of mymaster.”35——The second is similar: “I have furnished rations to the soldiers and also to the Aperiu who carry stone for the sun of [the temple of] the sun, Rameses Meriamen, to the south of Memphis.”
Furthermore, Egyptian records show that they put their prisoners of war to such labors; for their kings record on the temples the number of captives they have taken to labor upon the temples of their gods.
Two of these documents on papyri belong to the reign of RamesesII, whomMons.Chabas assumes to be the king whose daughter adopted Moses and whose son and successor, Mei-en-ptah, experienced the ten plagues and fell in the Red Sea. (Bib.Sacra,Oct., 1865,p.685.)
6. It is a well-established fact of history that at one period—not yet located definitely—Lower Egypt was subdued and held by a Shepherd race, called by Josephus, “Hyksos,” supposed to have come from adjacent provinces of Arabia or from Phenicia or both, and to have held the country from 350 to 500 years—a Vandal race, savagely desolating the noble monuments of Egyptian art and civilization, and known by the native Egyptiansas “the Scourge.” This Shepherd race was ultimately driven out by the kings of Upper Egypt (a Theban dynasty)—probably before the age of Moses; perhaps before Jacob went down into Egypt. It may be considered certain that Josephus and others err in confounding them with the Hebrew people.——Geo.Rawlinson [in Aids to Faith,p.293] says—“The period of the Shepherd Kings is estimated variously as continuing 500, 600, 900, and even 2,000 years; that historic monuments were generally destroyed during their dominion; that no reliable historic records exist older than the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty which expelled the Shepherd Kings; and that previously to their times, ‘Association’ in Royalty was practiced, two or even three kings sitting on the same throne at the same time, dividing its labors and its honors between themselves.”
As to the date of this Shepherd rule, the diversity in opinion among the best informed students of Egyptian antiquity is by no means comforting or assuring.Dr.Lepsius and others have placed their invasion of Egypt directly after the twelfth dynasty (B. C. 2101), and their expulsion about B. C. 1591. In his chronology, Jacob went down into Egypt B. C. 1414; Moses led the people out B. C. 1314—neither date having the least regard to the scripture chronology.——Mons.Mariette dates it in the eighteenth century B. C.,i. e.between B. C. 1700 and B. C. 1800. With this we might compare the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt from B. C. 2033 to B. C. 1603; or on the chronology of Usher, from B. C. 1706 to B. C. 1491.——Brugsch dates their incursion B. C. 2115, and supposes them to have been Arabs from Arabia Petraea.——Bunsen’s latest recension places their invasion B. C. 1983; their expulsion, B. C. 1548; and the Exodus of the Hebrews B. C. 1320—the last date being certainly wide of the truth.——The evidence is conclusive that their expulsion preceded the resplendent eighteenth dynasty whose kings ruled over all Egypt, and among whom was the Pharaoh “who would not let the people go.”Dr.Thompson argues at considerable length that the entire occupation of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos must haveprecededthe residence of the Hebrews there; but feels the difficulties of the problem. He says—“As yet theterminus a quoremains in obscurity” [the point at which their occupation begins];“while theterminus ad quemis beginning to take a fixed place in history.” The date of their expulsion is mostly relieved of doubt. The war which resulted in their expulsion was begun by Seneken-Ra, about the commencement of the18thdynasty of Thebes [Upper Egypt], and was prosecuted by AhmesI, otherwise called Nebpeh-Ra, in whose fifth year they were finally expelled. The reign of AhmesIis proximately assigned to the17thcentury B. C.,i. e.from B. C. 1600 to B. C. 1700.——A curious inscription has recently been discovered byMons.Dumischen, referring to a brilliant triumph over the Lybians, achieved by a certain king Menephtah—this war being dated nearly 400 years after the expulsion of the Hyksos. The scribe appended the remark—“One could not have seen the like in the time of the kings of Lower Egypt when the country of Egypt was held by the ‘Scourge,’ and the kings of Upper Egypt could not drive them out.”——This authority seems to prove that the Hyksos held only Lower Egypt; that Upper Egypt was under another dynasty, for a time unable to expel the Shepherd race, but ultimately successful, and subsequently attaining much greater military power; also that the Hyksos people were accounted a savage and barbarous race.
In conclusion I am constrained to say that the study of Egyptian antiquities, though richly remunerative and satisfactory in regard to almost every thing else, is still very dubious and perplexing in the point ofdefinite chronology. The views of the ablest scholars are widely conflicting; the original authorities still wait for some master mind to put them into system, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, for the discovery of competent data from which a system can be constructed which shall harmonize all the authorities in the case. We want to know the Pharaoh to whom the Lord sent Moses, whose reign synchronizes with the Exodus. We find a series of powerful monarchs in the eighteenth dynasty and also in the nineteenth; but which of them answers to this particular Pharaoh, it seems yet impossible to determine with satisfactory certainty. RamesesII, all agree, was a powerful king; built immense public works; reigned at least sixty, perhaps sixty-six years;—but some authorities place him in the eighteenth and some in the nineteenth dynasty, and the extremedifference in the assigned dates for his reign is three hundred years.
The difficulties that invest Egyptian dates and dynasties seem at present to be aggravated rather than relieved by the progress of modern discoveries. Thus we find in theBib.Sacra,Oct.1867, (pp.773 and 774) four parallel lists of the first three Egyptian dynasties,viz:(1.) That of Manetho; (2.) The Turin Papyrus; (3.) The Tablet of Sethos; (4.) The Tablet of Sakharah or Memphis. Compared with Manetho, the last three are of quite recent discovery. They are somewhat defective; yet it is not specially difficult to discover a striking similarity and in many cases an obvious identity in the names given. But the names in Manetho’s list almost utterly lack even similarity; much more do they refuse to come into identity. The authority of the last three must, it seems to me, be decidedly greater than that of Manetho.——The same difficulty appears when we compare Manetho’s names in the later dynasties (e. g.18th–20th) with names constantly coming to light in recently discovered Egyptian monuments. I know not how this fact affects other minds. It can not but lessen my confidence in the lists of Manetho. It certainly goes far to lessen their practical value.——It is somewhat disheartening that these chronological difficulties clear up so slowly.It still remains to be hoped that light will yet break in and that conclusions will be reached in which all important authorities will be shown toconcur.36
It would be a very great acquisition historically if we might know what Egypt was doing while the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness forty years. Various circumstances conspire to favor the opinion that during this period her king made a vast military crusade upon Palestine and the regions farther north, occupying several years and greatly crippling the powerful tribes [kingdoms so called] then in possession of the land of Canaan. Both Josephus and Herodotus give accounts of a great military expedition of this sort—leaving, however, the main chronological problemWhen?to be determined.——As to the great power of the kings of Canaan, the Lord said to Moses, “I will send a hornet before you to drive them out,”i. e.to break down their power and facilitate the subjection of the country before the arms of Joshua. The original word translated “hornet” does not suggest the insect now commonly known by that name; but is equivalent toscourge, yet not precisely defining of what sort. It is supposable that Egypt and her next kin after the Exodus, were more maddened than subdued by the escape of Israel and by the humbling disaster at the Red Sea; that this great expedition was inspired by the expectation of finding the Hebrew people in Canaan and of punishing them there; that God’s providence shielded them with perfect protection in the great Arabian desert where no Egyptian host could follow them or even subsist; and then with that marvelous wisdom which so often turns the wrath of man to his own praise, used their prowess in arms to break down the military strength of Canaan and prepare that land for easy conquest before the arms of Joshua. It seems obvious that in point of military strength a great change had come over the tribes of Canaan between the visit of the spies and the conquest by Israel. Did the Lord use the chariots and horsemen of Egypt to produce this result? To have done so would be quite in keeping with that great law of his operations in this sinning world under which he so often turns the wrath of wicked men to account most signally and even gloriously to promote the ends of his own kingdom.