ohjrrtro to the renderiuir, " he bonnd it. in a. forme<t a portion of their religiou8 svmbolism ? hll.!!, .. thRt that action is sotri,·i&] that it "·onld May it not have been this concep"tion whith hr super61101Ls to mention it (Keil). But it is lay at the root of the cherubic fonns, and the quite ronsone.nt with the simrlicity of Scrip- revive.I of which now seemed to Aaron t,be ture to mention verv trivia circumstRnctll!. eme.llest depa.rture from pure monotheiem with The act of putting uj, in h~ is mentioned 111·hich the people would be contented? hoth here and also in 2 Kings ,•. 28, e.nd 2 Ver. 6.-Ke built an a.ltAr before i\. Aa.ron Kingi: xii. 9. They ■Bid. The fashioners of thus proceeded t.o "follow a multitude to evil" the ime.ge said t,his. The■e be thy go4a. (eh. xxiii. 2), and encoure.god the idolatry Rather. "This is thy God." Why Aaron which he felt himself powerleSB to restre.in. selected the form of the co.If as that which he Still, be did not intend tbe.t the reople should would present to the Israelites to receive their drift away from the worship o Jehovah, or worship. ha• been generally exple.incd by sup- view the ce.lf e.s anything buta symbol of him. pos1111; that his thoughts reverted to Egypt, He therefore ma.de proolam11.tion and ea.id, and found in the Apis of Memphis or tbe Tomorrow is & fell.It to the Lord (litemlly, "to J\1neYis of Heliopolis the pe.ttem which he Jehovah"). thought it best to follow. But there a.re Ver. 6.-They ro■e op early on the morrow. Se\"eral objections to this view. I. The The people were like a child with a new toy. Egrytie.n gods he.d jlJSt been discredited by They could scarcely sleep for thinking of it. their powerlessness being me.nifested-it we.s So, 89 soon 89 it we.s day, they left their beds, an odd time e.t which to fly to them. 2. Apis e.nd he.stened to begin the new worship and Mnevis were not molten ea.Ives, but live :Burnt o ~ 1U1.d pee.oe oft'eringB. It is hulls. If the design be.d been to revert t.o evident that both of these were custome.ry Egypt, would not a living anime.l he.ve been forms of sacrifice-neither of them first intro- selected ? 8. The ce.lf when me.de we.s not duced by the Le.w, which he.d not-except so viewed as e.n ime.ge of any Egyptie.n god, but fe.r e.s the " Book of the Coveue.nt " WIIB con- as a representation of Jehovah (ver. 5). 4,. cerned-been promulge.ted. Compere Jethro's The Israelites are never taxed with having offerings (eh. xviii. 12). The people sat down worshipped the idols of Egypt anywhere else to ea.t IUld drink. A fea.,--t e.lmost e.lwe.ys than m Egypt (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek. xx. 8; followed upon a sacrifice, only certain portions xxiii. 8). To us it seems probable that Aaron of the victim being commonly burnt, while reverted to e.n earlier period than the time of the rest we.s consumed by the offerers. See the sojourn in Egypt, that he went back to the comment on eh. xviii. 12. And roae up to those " gods on the other side of the flood," play. This "ple.y" was scarcely of a harm- which Jo.5hue. warned the Israelites some sixty less kind. The sensn.e.lism of idol-worship years later, to "put away" (Jo.5h. l s. c.). constantly led on to sensue.lity; and the feasts The subject is one t.oo large far disc11S1ion upon idol-sacrifices termine.tcd in protlige.te here ; but me.y not the winged and human- orgies of a n&ture which cannot be described. headed bull, which was the emblem of divine See the e.pplication of the paese.ge by St. Pe.ul power from a very early date in Babylon, in the First Epistle to the Corinthi8.115 ( x 7), lu.ve retained a place in the recollections of 1U1.d compe.re vene 25 the people in all their wanderings, and have
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-6.-The Jw.nkerimg after idol,, and iu consequenca. There is a war ever goinu on in human nature between the flesh and the spirit (Rom. vii. 23; viii. 1-13). The two a.re" contrary the one to the other.n From the time of their leaving Egypt, the I.sraelit.es bad been leading a spiritual life, depending upon an unseen God-following his mandates-reposing under the sense of his protection. But the strain was too much for them. So long as they bad Moses with them, to encourage them by his exhortations and support them by his good example, they mana.g~ to maintain this higher life, to "walk in the spirit," to "live by faith and not by sight." When he was gone, when he seemed to them lost, when they bad no hope of seeing him again, the reaction set in. The flesh asserted itself. They bad given way to idole.try in Egypt, and worshipped, in part, Egyptian gods, in part, "the gods which their fathers served on the other side of the flood" (Josh. xxiv. 14, 15); they had, no doubt, accompanied this worship with the licentiousneas which both the Egyptians (Herod. ii. 60) and the Babylonians (ih. L 199) ma.de a part of their religion. Now the recollection of these things re- curred to them, their desires became inflamed-the flesh triumphed. The conseq uence1 \YCI'G- TUE ROOK OF ~xnnc~