1 Co 103- -». As Christ is the Bread of Life, so He is the Water of Life. The Israehtes, in the mind of St. Paul, did not eat and drink mere physical food and water, but spiritual. The two accounts of the striking of the rock by Jloses for the production of water (Ex 176, >fu 20ii) gave rise to the Rabbinic explanation that the rock which was struck followed th^m through the desert, affording a continual supply. That rock, says St. Paul, is t\-pical of Christ.
C7) Ac 3'22 "3". Besides the spiritual nourishment, which fosters the Divine life in the soul, Christians need a Teacher, who will at all times reveal the will of God. Both St. Peter and St. Stephen see in Christ the fulfilment of the declaration in Pt 1S'518 that God would raise up a prophet like unto Moses. And John the Baptist, in his truthfulness and self-effacement, declares that he himself is not ' the Prophet,' but onlv a voice heralding His coming (Jn l^iff). And see Jn 6^ 7-w [Lk 739].
(h) While the Israelites are the counterpart of the Christian Church, their enemies who opposed Moses (cf. 2 Ti 3*) afford a parallel to those who obey not the gospel. In Rev 85- '■ s 92-1 lotiff. 162-4. 10. 13. IS. 21 the symbolism of punishment is clearly based on the plagues of Eg>pt. On the other hand, those who have been redeemed from the slavery of sin can, like the Israelites rescued from Egj-pt, ' sing the song of Moses the servant of God ' (Rev 153).
LiTER.\TrRE. — Besides the works mentioned in the article, reference should be made throughout to the principal commen- taries on the XT. See also, for our Lord's relation to the Law, artt. AccoMMODATios, ArrHORiTT OF Christ, L.\w, Law of God.
A. H. M'Neile.
MOTE.— See Beam axd Mote.
MOTH ((TTjs). — The Bible frequently makes refer- ence to the destructive action of the moth as a fit symbol of the perishableness of man and his earthly possessions. In Oriental countries, where so large a part of ' treasure ' consisted of costly silken and woollen fabrics, the figure was peculiarly appro- priate and impressive. Specially referred to is the ' clothes' moth,' one or more (not readily identified as to its particular member of the family) of the genus Tinea, wiiich may be said to have an almost cosmopolitan distribution. The larva of this moth feeds on wool, silk, hair, fur, featliers, etc. Out of the material on which it feeds it forms a portable case or house, supposed to be alluded to as an image of instability (though Cheyne [EBi, ' Moth "] denies this) in Job 27'**. The moth first finishes its case, which is often motley-coloured on account of the variety of material from which it draws supplies, and afterwards feeds voraciously on the substance from which the tent or house has been produced. For building purposes it selects the long straight fibres, but for food the shortest and thickest, and in order to get the latter it eats down below the surface pile to the fabric itself. The feeding pro-
cess is therefore the most destructive to the fabric. The yellowish-brown pupa is either formed in this structure wiiich the larva constructs, or in a slight cocoon. Before the perfect insect appears the mischief is accomplished, for large patches are eaten in the clothes, carpets, or tapestry where the parent moth has laid its eggs. If the action of the insect is undiscovered, or by carelessness allowed to be completed, it makes the fabric into a mere fiimsy shell whicli falls into nothingness on the least touch or breath. ' Crushed before the moth ' (Job 4'^) is a faithful description of this most etl'ective destruction — an apt figure of the insidious, deadlj- work of evil in tiie human char- acter.
Our Lord refers to this well-known phenomenon in the teermon on the Mount ^Mt 6'^--", Lk 12^). Along with the corroding work of the rust — due to chemical action on metals left unused and ex- posed— He classes the ravages of the moth, as illustrations of the inevitable corruption and decay which overtake all earthly things apart from the heavenly and Divine. Men are not to set their afi'ectious on things that belong to the earth (things which contain no higher and heavenly element), are not to make these their treasures, for in that case tlieii" heart, the centre of theii' life, set upon these decajing, perishing thmgs, is itself sub- ject to similar destructive forces — ' Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' All earthly things are to be valued, not in themselves as ends, but as means to the higher spiritual life. The afl'ection is to be positively fixed on the en- during things of human virtue, knowledge, and character, formed and obtained by fellowship with the Divine — elements which all lower things are adapted to subserve, and which themselves ' neither moth nor rust can corrupt.' T. H. Wright.
MOTHER. — Concerning the relations of Jesus with His mother, and her influence upon His train- ing, we can but infer that the mother of such a son must herself have l>een an exceptional personality. See art. ^L\ry (Virgin). Professor W. M. Ramsay, in his Education of Christ, shows how thorough was the instruction given to the Jewish youth. With this the mother had much to do. Granted that religious genius is not to be accounted for by en's'ironment, there still remains the overwhelming probabilitj- that the feminine qualities in the character of Jesus — His graciousness, gentleness, and sjnnpathy — found a congenial setting in the home at Nazareth. Had it been otherwise, some hint of the fact must have been given in the records of His public ministry. It has been con- tended that such a hint is given in Mk 3^'^-, an incident whicli also finds a place in the other Evangelists. Another is Mt l(i^-^' Mk lO-'^, Lk 2253 14-6 Bu^ j(; should not be overlooked that these hyperbolical expressions by no means involve the repudiation of the filial tie. They are rather designed to mark the thoroughness with which the religious life should be embraced, the higher love absorbing and transforming the lower. The emphasis with which, in other connexions, Jesus denounces contemporary sins against the lilial rela- tionship is a proof that -tt-ith Him the ideal life did not consist with holding it in contempt (Mk 7'"''% ]Mt \b^'^). The filial relationship is to be super- seded only by the greater sacredness of the con- jugal (Mt 19^ Mk "10"). In His response to the question of the rich young ruler Jesus emphasizes the command to honour father and mother (Mt 19'* etc.), but (Mt 19^^ etc.) loyalty to the tnith as expressed in Himself is made to take precedence of all other ties. The reason for this insistence is ob\-ious, and has been abundantly illustrated in the history of the world's benefactors.