4£r,yptiacum, QT 0. Byriacum) common in both The change from the pluro.I to the singul11r is Egypt nod SJrin; the other that it was the curious. Perhaps, we a.re to understand tbe.t coper plant ( Oapparis spinosa), which abonnds Moses insisted on the perpetuity of the ordi• cspecinlly in the Desert. (Stanley, Sinai and no.nee to each of the elder~ severally. Palestine, p. 21.) It is in favour of this Ver. 25.-The land whioh the Lord will latter identifico.tion, that tho modern Arabic give you, aocording as he hath promised. nomo for the coper plant is aBa/ or wmf, 8ee above, eh. iii. 8--17; vi. 4; a.ml compare which excollently represents the Hebrew ezob, Gen. xvii. 8; xxviii. 4, etc. the word uniformly rendered in our version Ver. 26.-When your children shall ea.y by "hyssop." The blood that is in the basin. unto you, what mean ye by this service. The Septuagint and Vulgate render-" that Appe.rently, Moses adds these injunctions hy is on t/ie threshold." Saph--the word trans- bis own sole authority. He assumes that lated "bnsin" bas the double meaning. None curiosity will be a.roused by the strange and of you shall go out. Moses may well be.ve peculiar features of the Paschal ceremony, given this advice on his own authority, with- and that each generation in succession will out any Divine coilllllAlld. (See introductory wish to know its meaning and origin. pe.ragrnph.) He would feel that beyond the Ver. 27.-It is the aaoriftce. It has been protection of the blood of the lamb, there was denied that the Pasche.I Iamb we.s, in the true no assure.nee of safety. sense of the word, a sacrifice ( Ca.rpzov and Ver. 23.-Compare verses 12, 13 which others). But this passage a.Ione is decisive on are closely followed. The only important the question, and proves that it was. More- difference is, the new expression, " The Lord over, it was offered in the holy place (Deut will not suffer the destroyer to come in," xvi. 5, 6); the blood of it was sprinkled which has genero.lly been regarded o.s imply- upon the altar, and the fe.t was burnt (2 Cbr. ing, that the actual agent in the killing of the xxx. 16; ~x~ 11 ). Com~are a.Iso Ex. xxiii first-born we.s a " destroying angel." But it 18; Num. LX. , ; Deut. XVl. 2. The people is to be noted that elsewhere Jehovah himself bowed the head and worshipped. Rather, is everywhere spoken of as the sole a.gent ; "and made obeisance." Compe.re eh. iv. 31 and that in the present passage the word used By " the people• seems to be meant " the has the meaning of" destruction " no less than elders of the people.• (Seever. 21.) that of "destroyer." Bishop Lowth's idea of Ver. 28.-So did they. The long series of an opposition between God and the destroying miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron ba.d so angel ( Comment on Isaiah :xxxi. 5) is scarcely impressed the people, that they yielded 8.11 tenable undoubting and ready obedience Ver. 24.-To thee and to thy children.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 22.-No safety for man beyond the limits protected by the Lamb's atoning blood. No Israelite was to pass beyond the door of his house until the morning, lest he should be destroyed by the destroyer. Within the precincts, protected by the blood of the lamb, he was safe. Let Christians beware of stepping beyond the limits whereto the atoning blood extends. Those step beyond the limits- I. Wuo TEMPT GoD BY DALLYING WITH snr. Atonement has been made for us, we feel. We have had moments of assurance that atonement and forgiveness are ours. We have had an impression that we were safe. At once the Evil One begins to whisper to our hearts that there is no longer any need of our walking warily, of our being afraid to put ourselves in temptation's way, of our flying all contact with evil; and we are too apt to listen to his suggestions, to regard the danger of falling from grace as past, and to allow ourselves a liberty in which there is too often awful peril. We draw near the confines of sin, confident that we shall sin no more; and lo I we are entangled in the meshes. And why? Because we have gone beyond the limits protected by the atoning blood. We have opened the door and stepped out. We have turned our backs upon the redeeming marks and put them behind us. We have been over-trustful in our own strength. II. Wno ARE PUFFED UP BY rHE THOUGHT OF THEm SPIBITUAL ATTAINMENTS AND PRIVILEGES, "Pride goeth before a fall." Pride was the great temptation of the Jew, who felt himself one of God's peculiar people, to whom pertained " the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the givmg of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Hom. ix: 4). And pride often tempts the Chri~tian, who has re~sed ths work of Christ on his behalf, and the greatoess of the salvation wrought for him. But T 2 276 TIIE BOOR OF EXODUS. [err. xu. 22-27,