such a time," not much. If I say," William, a great warrior; Arthur, a great inventor," we feel at once that with them elements are introduced which may prove important. 1n these early times names are connected with the characters of the men who bear them. All these names are signifioont. Illustrate from their meaning ns given in Gan. xxix., etc., and expanded in Jacob's blessing, Gan. xlix. We are supposed, too, to know something of the men from the previous history. The whole, taken together, shows us, as it were, a nation in embryo-a. nation of which the characteristics were wholly different from those of the Egyptians. "Seventy souls," but-1. Seed souls; bound to develop through their offspring the characteristics they exhibited. 2. United, not isolated; a nation in embryo, not a collocation of units. II. ,VHAT HAPPE~'ED TO THE BEARERS OF TIIE NAMES, ver. 6. All died-Joseph and all that generation. The co=on lot, but, from God's standpoint, the ordained method of development (John xii. 24). What wailing, as each patriarch, in his own time, passed away! Yet with each death the harvest of the future was being ever more i:ecurely sown. Death, as it were, rounds off the life; pedestals it; sets it where it can become exemplary. So set it becomes fruitful; the old husk drops away, and the true life-grain is enfranchised. Gad, Asher, and the rest, very ordinary men, or, if not ordinary, not very high-class men; and yet, once dead, they are rightly reverenced as the fathers of their tribes. Which is better, the day of death or the day of birth? The day which makes life possible for us, or the day which, by sanctifying our memory, makes that life an ennobling influence for others? ill. How THE DESCENDANTS PROSPERED, ver. 7. So-through the vicissitudes of life; the varieties of character; the monotony of death-God works on, slowly but cer- tainly, to his destined end. New generations, each more numerous, succeed the old. Power and prosperity, for a time, go hand-in-hand with increased numbers-the people "waxed exceeding mighty." (The shepherd life, even in Egypt, ensured some know- ledge of warfare. Goshen, the border land-cf. "the borders" in the wars with Scotland. Perhaps Joseph had purposely placed his brethren as a defence to Egypt against raids from the desert.] Families grew into tribes, and the tribes learnt their first lessons in discipline and war. Egypt, God's Aldershot-the training-ground for his armies. Canaan had to be conquered and cleared, but God could take his own time about it. When at length the hour should come, it would find his preparations perfected. .Applica,tion:-Would that man-God's child-would be content to copy his Father's methods-slow; thorough; a definite end in view; quiet, persistent preparation. No haste, no hurry, no delay (Isa.xxviii. 16).-G.
EXPOSITION. Vers. 7-14.-Here the real narrative of not seem even to occur to him. And so it is Exodus begins. The history of the Israelites with the sacred =tive frequently-perhaps from and after the death of Joseph is entered we should say, generally. The chronological on. The fust point touched is their rapid element is regarded as of slight import.a.nee ; mulnplicati.on. The next, their falling UD.der " A thousand years in the Lord's sight are but the dominion of a new king. The third, hill as yesterday"-" one day is as a thousand years, mode of action under the ciroumstances. It and a thousand years OB one day." Where a is remark.e.ble that the =tive contains no profane writer would have been to the lOBt notes of time. How long the increase continued degree definite and particular, e. sacred writer before the new king arose, how long it went on is constantly vague e.nd indeterminate. We before he noticed it, how long the attempt was have in the Bible nothing like an exe.ct con- made to check it by mere severity of labour, tinuous chronology. Cert.a.in general chrono- we are not told. Some COilllidera.ble duration logical ideas may be obtained from the Bible; of time is implied, both for the multiplication but in order to coil!ltruct anything like a com• (vcr. 7) and for the oppression (ver. 11-14); plete chronological scheme, frequent reference but the narrator is so absorbed in the mattel'B hos to be made to profane writers and monu- which he hos to communicate th&t the ques- ments, and such a scheme must be me.inly tion what time these IIU1tters ocoupied does dependent on these references. Archbishop OR, I, 7-14.j THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 9