remarks of Keil and Delit.zsch, 'Biblical Com- time "prince of the tribe of Judah" (Num mentary,' vol. i. p. 470, E. T.; and compare ii. 8). Nadab and Abihu. On their fate, see Kurt.z.' Hist.oryofOld Covenant,' vol. ii. p.144, Lev. x. I, 2. Eleuar became high-priest a.nd Cook, in 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. i. upou the death of Aaron (Num. xx. 23-28). p. 274. Joohebed his father's Bister. Mar- His death is related in Josh. xxiv. 33. riages with aunts end nieces have been com- Ver. 24.-The sons of K.or&h. All Korah's mon in man, countries. e.nd are not forbidden sous were not cut off with him (Nmn. xni. by any natural instinct. They first became 11 ). Three at least surYived, nud becnme the nnlewful b)· the positive command recorded heads of "families of the Korhites." in LeY. :niii. 12 The name Jochebed is Ver. 25.-Eleuar ... took him one of ibe the earliest known compounded with Jah, or daughters of Pntiel to wife. Putiel is not J eh ovah. It means " the glory of Jehovah." elsewhere mentioned. The name is thought She ba.re him Aaron and Moses. Aaron is to be half Egyptian (compare Poti-pho.r) and plo.ced first, as being older than Moses (eh. vii. to mean "dedicated to God." She bare him 7). Miriam is omitted, since the object of the Phinehu. This Phinehas became high priest writer is confined to tracing descent in the on the death of Eleazar (Judg. xx. 28). The me.le line. heads of the fathers. I.e. " the patriarchal Ver. 21.-The sons of Izha.r. Korah is chiefs." n:entione~ as a "son (desce~dant) of lzha.r" in ; V ers. 26, 27.-The genealogy being concluded Nwn. x,1. I and l 0hr. n. 38. The other as a separate document, its author appends a " sons " arc not elsewhere mentioned. Zithri notice that the Aaron and Moses mentioned in in this \"erse should be Zichri. it (ver. 20) a.re the very Aaron e.nd Moses who Ver. 22.-The sons of Uzziel. Mishael received the Divine command to lead the chil- and Elzar,ha.n are again mentioned as "sons dren of Israel out of Egypt, and who appeared of Uzziel 'in Le\". x. 4. They were employed before Pharaoh, and·" spoke to him" on their by Moses to carry the bodies of Na.dab and behalf. As the heading of the document was Abihu out of the camp. Elzaphan, called ke,pt upon its insertion into the narrative of Elize.pha.n, is mentioned as head of the Ko- the Exodus (see the comment on ver. 13), so ha.thites in Num. iii. 30. its concluding sentences were kept, though Ver. 23. - Elisheba, daughter of Ammi- (according to modem ideas) superfluous. nadab. .Amm.ina.dab had not been previously Ver. 26.-According to their armies, The mentioned. He was a descendant of Judah, term "armies" had not been previously used of through Pharez and Hezron, and held a place the Israelitish people; but it occurs in eh. vii. 4, in the line of our Lord's ancestry. (See l Chr. which was probably in the mind of the writer ii 3--10 • Matt. i. 5.) Nushon was at this who drew np the genee.logy
HOMILETICS. Vers. 13-27.-The historical character of real revelation. Among the religions of the world which are based on the contents of a written volume, none has such an. hiJ;torical character as the religion of Christians. Most nations have evolved their religion out of their internal consciousness, and have then, after a certain lapse of time, thrown into a narrative form the supposed revelations made to this or that individual secretly, and by him committed to writing. These revelations-to give them the name -are not connected with any series of events, are not, properly speaking, historical at all, but belong to the domain of thought, contemplation, philosophy. It is quite other- wise with the religion of the Bible. Both in the Old Testament and in the New our attention is directed primarily and mainly to a series of facts. Religion is not put before us in an abstract, but in a concrete form. The Bible represents to us "God in history." We learn the nature and the will of God from his dealings with nations and individuals at definite times and in definite places. It is a necessary consequence of such a mode of inculcating religious truth, that very dry and mundane details must from time to time be obtruded upon the reader, in order that the narrative may be clear, and that he may understand the circumstances of time and place with which each writer in his turn has to deal. Jn this way genealogies come in. History cannot be understood without them. VI'e want to know who the individuals are who are intro- duced afresh at each new stage in the narrative, and in what relation they stand to those other individuals ,vith whom the narrative is concerned before and after. Genea- logies convey this knowledge. Many t~nk them uninteresting; but they a~e n~t so to any thoughtful person. For (1) they raLSe the salutary thought of the rapid flight of time and the soeedy passing away of one generation after another. O'l111rEp cpv">..">..;;,,, ,m. vr. 28-30.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 157
-y£vi'1, -roi'7li£ Kal dvlipwv. (2) They show us how good men and bad, great men and little, are intermixed in the world, arise under the same conditions, seem producecl by the same circumstances; and thus they force us to see what a vast power the human will has in shaping human character, and even in determining the course of earthly events. Hence they remind us of our responsibilities. (3) They hold up to us warnings and examples -warnings in the names to which there is attached the savour of evil deeds never to be forgotten so long as the world endures-Nadabs, Abihus, Korahs; examples in those, familiar to us as household words, which we no sooner hear or see than there rush to our thought a crowd of glorious and heroic actions. Being dead, these men still speak to us-theirs is a death "full of immortality."
EXPOSITION. Vcrs. 28 - 30 - The remainder of this let the children of Israel go out of his land" chapter is scarcely more than a recapitu- (ver. 11 ). lation. The author, or compiler, having in- Ver. 29.-I am the Lord. It is not im- terposed his genealogical section, ha.s to ta.ke probable that every revelation made to Moses up the narrative from verse 12, where he wa.s authenticated by these initial words- which have the force of that initial phrase, so broke off, and does so by almost repeating constant in the later prophets-" Thus saith the words of verses 10-12. The only im- the Lord." portant addition is the insertion of the words Ver. 30.-All that I say unto thee. To -" I am the Lord" (ver. 29), and the only the general co=and thus expressed, was important variation, the substitution of " Speak probably appended the particular injunction of verse 11, not here repeated-" Speak thou thou unto Pharaoh all that I say unto thee" unto Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel (ibid.), for "Speak unto Pharaoh ... that he go out of his land." The sacred historians continually abbreviate