THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DE.lN OF GLOUCESTER;
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S, EXELL, M.A.
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS BY THE
VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWLINSON, M.A. REV. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
NEW EDITION,
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1906 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLl!S,
( Tiu rights oj'trt.ns!aliutr. and n, roduetion are rem ved. t THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER;
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
EXODUS. <!Sxposftion anlJ 1-tlomilrtics BY REV. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, AND CANON OF CANTERBURY.
1t1omilirs b!] Fatious ~utbors. REV. J. ORR, M.A., B.D. REV. D. YOUNG, B.A. REV. C. A. GOODHART, M.A. REV. J. URQUHART, 111.A. REV. H. T. ROBJOHNS, B.A.
VOL. I.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NE,V YORK 1906 THE
BOOK OF EXODUS. INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. TITLE AND CONTENTS. 'l'HE Hebrew-speaking Jews have always designated the five books of the Pentateuch by their initial word or words; and, as they called the fu-st book Bereshith, "In the Beginning," and the third Vay-yikra, "And he called," so they denominated the second Ve-eleh shemoth, "And these (are) the names." The title "Exodus" was first applied to the book by the Hellenistic, or Greek-speaking, Jews, who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek at Alexandria in the thh-d and second centuries B.c. Exodus ( Uoooc;) means "departure" or "outgoing," and was selected as an appro-- priate name for a work which treats I.ilainly of the departure of the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. The earliest Latin translation of the Old Testament, which was made from the Greek, retained the Greek title untranslated; and hence it passed into the Vulgate of Jerome, and into the languages of modern Europe. While the depart1ue of the Israelites out of Egypt, and the mode in which it was brought about, constitute the main subject of the book, and occupy its middle portion ( chs. ii.-xviii. ), two other subjects are also treated of, which form the prologue and the epilogue of the principal drama. The former of these--the subject-matter of eh. i.-is the increase and growth of tha Israelites--their development from a tribe into a nation. The latter, which in spiritual grandeur and importance holds a pre-eminent rank, is the adoption of Israel as God's peculiar people by the Law given and the Covenant entered into at Mount Sinai (chs. xix.-xl.). The contents are thus in part historical, in part legislative. Historically, the book contains the events of 360 years, which is the interval between the death of Joseph anrl the giving of the Law at Sinai. It embraces the formation of the people by a rapid increase, which may have been partly due to natural causes, but was also in some degree the result of God's blessing resting especially upon them; the alarm of the Egyptian mono.rch at their growing numbers; his plans for preventing their multiplication and the entire failure 488 ~ ii l:N'TRODUCTION.
of those plans; the birth and education of Moses ; his first unauthorised attempt to deliver his nation from oppression; his flight to the land of Midian, and Dh-ine appointment to be the deliverer of his nation; his communications with the Egyptian king on the subject of the people's release ; the ten successive plagues whereby the king's reluctance was ultimately overcome; the institution of the Passover, and the departure of the Israelites; Pharaoh's pursuit ; the passage of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian host ; the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai; the giving of the Decalogue and the acceptance of the "Book of the Covenant" by the people ; the lapse into idolatry and its punishment ( eh. xxxii.); the directions given for the construction of the Tabernacle, the freewill offerings made, and the €xecution of the work by Bezaleel and Aholiab (chs. xxxv.-xl. 33); followed by the Divine occupation of the new construction, and the establishment, in connection with it, of signs whereby the further journeyings of the people were directed (xl. 34-38). In its legislative aspect, the book occupies the unique position of being the very source and origin-Jona et origo-alike of the moral and of the cere- monial law, containing in the Decalogue an inspired summary of the first principles of pure morality, and in the directions given with respect to the Passover (xii. 1-50) and other feasts ( eh. xxiii. 14-17), the redemption of the fustborn ( eh. xiii. 11-16), the materials and plan of the Tabernacle ( eh. xxv. 10-ch. xxvii.), the vestments of the priests and high-priest {eh. xxviii.), the method of their consecration (eh. xxix.), and other similar matters, asserting and enforcing the necessity of a prescribed course of out- ward acts and forms for the sustentation of religious life in a community of beings so constituted as men are in this world. It has been well observed, that "the contents of the Second Book of Moses include an extraordinary variety of matter, and offer to the inquiring mind an unusual extent" of subjects for investigation. 1 The historical sketch of Israel's position in Egypt invites inquiry into the dark and difficult problems of Egyptian history and chronology: the Ten Plagues open up to us the consideration of the natural phenomena of Egypt and the East generally ; the journeyings of the Hebrews in Egypt and the Sinaitio peninsula lead the way t.o various geographical doubts and queries; the Decalogue and the Book of the Covenant give occasion for, if they do not necessitate, investigations connected with the sciences of ethics and jurisprudence; lastly, the account of the Tabernacle, the sacred utensils, and the sacerdotal dress and ornaments, involve the consideration of the previous hist.ory of art, and the existing state of proficioncy in such handi- crafts as weaving, embroidery, and metallurgy. Again, the language of Exodus, in common with that of the rest of the Pentateuch, has to some ' Ka.liJch, 'lfutorical aud Critical Comme,itary OD the Old Testament,' Introduction to Exdous, § 1, pa.r. 3. INTRODUCTION. iit