The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 267

e. condiment, and "commnnicRtcd a more It is the Lord's Pu1over. Very emphatic e.grceable fla,·our to the food." Undoubtedlv words! " This _is ,no common meal,' they they were a disagreeable accompaniment, and seen:i ~o say, "1t 1s not even au ordinary represented at once the bitterness of the saerific1al repast. The lamb is Jehovnh's Egyptian bonde.ge (eh. i. 14) e.nd the need of It is his pass:sign-the mark of his protec- Bclf-deuial, if we would f~ed on Christ. t10n, the precious means of your preservation Ver. 9.-Eat not of it raw. The injunc- from death. As such view it; and though tion appears to modems superfluous; but e.n ye eat it in haste, eat it with reverence " wµoq,a-yi<>, or eating of the raw flesh of Ver. 12.-For I will pass through, etc vict.ims sacrificed, seems to have been priu:- God now proceeds to give the reason for the 1iscd bv several heathen nations in ancient institution of the new ceremony, and to ex- times, "more especie.lly in the worship of plain the new term pesach. " I have com- Dion:,--sus or Biu:chns. Its head with its legs. manded this rite," He says, "because I am The lamb was to he roasted whole-according about to go through the whole land of Egypt to some. as e. symbol of the unity of Israel, as a destroyer, executing judgment; I em and especie.lly of the political unit which they about to smite e.nd kill every one of the first- w~re t-0 become so soon as they quitted born both of me.n and beast. I shall enter Ei::-Yrt: but, as we learn from St. John (xix. into every house, and slay the first-born in it, 36). still more to prefigure the unbroken body unless I see upon the house the token of the of Him whom the lamb especially repre- blood of the lam~. In that case I shall pa88 sented. the true propitiation and atonement over the house, and you will escape the and deliverer of His people from the de- plague." It would clear the sense if the stroyer, our Lord Jesus Christ. The purte- opening words of verse 12 were translated nance thereof. Rather, "the intestines -" For I shall go through," instead of thereof." The Jewish commentators say that "pass through." The word translated " pass the intestines were first taken out, washed, through " has no connection at all with that and cleansed, after which they were repliu:ed, rendered "pass over." Against all the gods and the lamb roasted in a sort of oven. of Egypt I will exeonte jndgment. These Ver. 10.-Ye shall let nothillg of it re- words are exegetical of the word " beast," main till the morning. The whole of the which immediately precedes. Animal wor- flesh was to be consamed by the gnests, and ship was e.n important part of the religion of at one sitting, lest there sbonld be any even the Egyptians. At four great cities, Mem- accidental profanation of the food by man or phis, Heliopolis, Hermontb.is, a sort of suburb animal, if part were pnt away. The English of Thebes, and Momemphis in the Western Church, acting on the same principle of care- Delta, animals were maintained, which were ful reverence, declines to allow e.ny reserva- viewed es actual incarnations of deity-the tion of the Encbarist.ic elements, reqmr:ing Apis Bnll at Memphis, a bull called Mnevis the whole of the consecrated bread e.nd wine at Ileliopolis, one termed Biu:is or Pacis at to be consumed by the Priest e.nd communi- Hermonthis, and at Momemphis a White cants in the Church immediately after the Cow. If any of these were at the time service. That which remaineth-i.e., the animals that had "opened the womb," death bones, and any small fragments of the flesh must have fallen upon them. Thus would necessarily adhering to them. Ye shall bnrn judgment have been executed, literally, upon with fire. Thus only could its complete dis- Egyptian "gods." But, besides these, the appearance, and seeming e.nn.ih.i.le.tion be se- whole country was filled with sacred animals, cured. It does not appear that this burning regarded as emblematic of certain particular was viewed as a sacrificial aet. deities, e.nd es belonging to them. Sheep Ver. 11.-With your loins girded, etc. were sacred to Kneph, goats to Khem, cows Completely prepared, i.e., to start on your to Athor, cats to Pasht, dogs and jacke.ls to journey-with the loose wrapper (beged), Annbis, lions to Horns, crocodiles to Set e.nd ordinarily worn, collected together and fas- Saba.k, hippopotami to Taouris, cynocephalons tened by a girdle about the waist; with apes to Tboth, frogs to Heka A sudden sandals on the feet, which were not com- mortality among the sacred animals would be monly worn in houses; and with walking- felt by the Egyptians as a blow struck against sticks in the hand. There were same Jews the gods to whom they belonged, and as who regarded these directions as of perpetual a jndgment upon them. It is scarcely neces- obligation; but the general view was that sary to understand literally the expression they applied to the first occasion only, when " all the gods," and to defend it by the as- alone they would have answered auy useful sertion that " not a single deity of Egypt purpose. You shall eat it in haste. As not but was represented by some beast." Such knowing at what moment you may be sum- an assertion cannot be proved ; and is pro- moned to start on your journey, and as having bably not correct. It has often been re- to see to t,he burning of the bones e.fter the marked, and is generally allowed, that Scrip- flesh was eaten, which would take some time. ture uses universal expressions, where mosl, (JH, xn. 13-16.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 261