The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 287

in service. A question of this sort gave great opportunity. Happy those who could seize the opportunity at once, and use it to the full. IV. IT WAS A QUF.STION WHICH CAME TO CALL EVERY ISRAELITE, AT THE ANNUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER, TO A CAREFUL CONSIDERATION OF HIS OWN FEELINGS WITII RESPECT TO rr. lt was a question which helped to guard against formality. A little child may render a great service, without knowing it, even to a grown man. God can send the little ones, to test, to rebuke, to warn, to stir out of lethargy. "What mean ye by this serrice?" How is the Israelite of the grown generation to answer this question? He may tell the child what the service is intended for, the historical facts out of which it arose, and the Divine appointments concerning it ; but after all, this is no real answer to the question. It may be an answer to satisfy the inquiring child, and yet leave the person who has to give it, with a barbed arrow in his memory and con- ecience. Notice the precise terms of the question. What mean ye by this service? How should the child ask in any other terms ? It looks and sees the parents doing some- thing new and strange; and to them it naturally looks for e:ir.planation and guidance. The question is not simply, "Why is this thing being done?" but "Why are you doing it, and what do you mean by it?" J.t became only too possible in the lapse of ages, to go through this service in a cold, mechanical, utterly unprofitable way. Not so, we may be sure, was it observed the first time in Egypt, on the night of deliverance. Then all was excitement, novelty, and overflowing emotion. Be it ours, in considering all outward and visible acts in connection with religion, all symbolic and co=emorative institutions, to ask ourselves in great closeness and candour of personal self-application, " What mean we by this service?" Do we mean anything at all, and if so, what is it that we mean? To answer this is not easy: it is not meant to be easy. Perhaps one great reason why there are such marked and unabated differences of opinion with respect to Baptism and the Lord's Supper is, that we have never sufficiently considered the question, "What mean ye by these services?" It is hard work to be quit of mere superstition, mere clinging to outward observances as matters of custom, tradition, and respectability. It is very certain that to this question of the children, put in all its particular emphasis, only too many fathers in Israel would have been forced to reply, "We do this thing because our fathers did it." Remember that forms are, in themselves, nothing to the invisible, spiritual God. Their value is as containing, protecting and e:ir.pressing what we have to present. That which pleased Jehovah and profited Israel was not the outward passover service, but the intelligence, the perceptions, the gratitude, the aspirations, and the hopes that lay behind it.-Y. Vers. 21-28.-Jsrael and the sacrifir,e for sin. I. CHRIST BLAIN BY us. The lamb's blood was not only shed for them, but also by the1n. The crucifying of Jesus by the J ewe, the revelation of what lies in every unrenewed heart. " They shall look upon him whom they have pierced." II. WHAT IB ~""EEDFUL FOR SALVATION. 1. .Appropriating faith. It was the blood applied with their own hands to the door of the dwelling that saved those within. It is not enough that the blood be shed. Is it upon our gates 1 Have we set it by faith between us and destruction? 2. It must be applied as God directs us. It was sprinkled on the lintel and doorposts-not within, but without. It is not enough that we believe. We must make open profession of our faith. 3. We must abide within until the day dawn and salvation come. To put that blood (which should be between us and the world) behind us, no longer to hide within it but to forget it, is to renounce l!&lvation. Jue we without or within the blood-stained gateway? We are saved if we i:10ld the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. III. GoD's COVEN.U.'T GIVES PERFECT SECURITY (ver. 25). The shed blood st:i.nde between us and death. The awe and joy of redeemed Israel, a faint emblem of the awe and joy which we shall feel, who sh.a.11 see the judgment of sin but only from afar. IV. THE DUTY OF THE REDEEMED. 1. Perpetual remembrance (ver. 23). We must, in the ordinance of Christ's own appointment, shew his death till he come. 2. The handing down the knowledge of salvation (vers. 26, 27). Christians should glory in the lill,ory of the Cross. OH, xrr, 20, 30.J THE BOOK OF EXODUS.