gree.ter the.n e.11 gods. It would seem that Or "brought a burnt offering ;" as the same Jethro, like the generality of the heathen, verb is rendered in eh. xxv. 2. H iB not believed in a plurality of gods, and had di,1;inctly related that he offered the victim; hitherto regarded the God of the Israelites as but as no other offerer is mentioned, and as he merely one among many equals. Nm.o, he was a priest (eh. iii. l; xviii. I), we may renounces this creed, and emphatically de- assume that he did so. Moses, Aaron, clares his belief that Jehovah is above all other and the elders, partook of the sacrificial godB, greater, higher, more powerful. Com- meal, regarding the whole rite as one pare the confessions of Nebnchadnezzar (Dan. legitimately performed by a duly qualified ii. 47; iii, 26, 27) and Darius the Mede person, a.nd so as one in which they could (ib. vi. 26). P'or in the thing wherein they properly participate. Jethro, like Melchise- dealt wiokedly he was e.bove them. There is dek (Gen. xiv. 18), was recognised as a no " he was above them " in the original, nor priest of the true God, though it would seem is the clause a distinct sentence from the pre- that the Midianites generally were, a genera- ceding one. It is merely a. prolongation of tion later, idolaters (Num. xxv. 18; xxxi. that clause, without any new verb ; and 16). To eat bread . . . before God. should be translated, " Even in the very mat- This expression designates the feast upon a ter that they (the Egyptians) dealt proudly sa,:rifice, which was the universal custom of against them" (the Israelites). The superiority ancient nations, whether Egyptians, As- of Jehovah to other gods was shown forth syrians, Phenicians, Persians, Greeks. or even in the very matter of the proud dealing Romans. Except in the case of the "whole of the Egyptians, which was brought to burnt offering" ( dl\o,cai'n-r,,µ.a), parts only of shame and triumphed over by the might of the animals were burnt, the greater portion Jehovah. The allusion is especially to the of the meat being consumed, with bread, at a pass!!.ge of the Red Sea. meal, by the offerer and his friends a.nd rela- Ver 12.-lethro took e. "Urut o1fering. tives
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-12.-The blessedness of family reunions, when rightly ordered. The family is God's ordinance, and among the most sacred and blessed of his ordinances. All fatherhood is based upon his (Eph. iii. 15); and human family ties reproduce those of the celestial region. Upon earth partings must and will occur, the family bond being thereby not broken, but strained and impaired. Sometimes necessity breaks up the household. Wife and children may not go whither the husband and father is ordered to proceed, as in the naval and military services. Sometimes prudential considerations assert themselves, and the children must quit the domestic hearth to get their own living, or even the .ru'e and husband must seek separate employments with the same object. Occasion~y, the husband, having to go on a difficult or dangerous mission, where wife ani children would be encumbrances, has to part from them 'temporarily, and to provide for their support and sustenance during hi~ absence. This last was the case of Moses. In returning to Egypt, and coming forwanl as the champion of his nation, he confronted great dangers. The presence of wife and children would have hampered him, and, therefore, he resolved to return alone. Zipporah and his infant sons were left with her nearest male relative. But now the time had come for re-union. We may note as blissful elements in the re-union- !. '1.'HAT IT WAS COMPLETE, NO DEATHS HAVING OCCURRED SINCE THE PARTING. 'l'he bitterness of parting is especially in the uncertainty whether we shall ever see again in this life the individuals from whom we part. Death comes suddenly, and without warning; infants are especially subject to his attack; and when Moses, having recently parted from Jethro (eh. iv. 8), sent back his wife and two young sons to be under his charge, he must have felt that it was exceedingly doubtful wheth~r there would ever a<1ain be a meeting of the five near relations. But God brought 1t to pass. Jtithro, ~th a promptitude which indicates a warm heart, no sooner heard of his kinsman's safe arrival in the region ot the "wilderness," than he put himself to the trouble of a long journey, partly to congratulate him, but mainly to restore to him the wife and ch(h.lren, whom he had received as a sacred trust. He could not be content unless he himself delivered them safe into the hands of Moses, and thus "gave a good account of his stewardship." And he was fortunate in being able to deliver them all safe and sound, and apparently in good health. No insidious disease had nipped the life of eitrer cbilo. G 2 84 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [en. xvrn. 1--1:1.