festh·ity which was going on in the co.mp shut out from sight; and that sound~ would rear.hed their co.rs; o.nd Joshua, mistaking the be beard from it IL long time before the plain nRtul't' of the shouts. suggest.I'd tho.t fighting itself would open on the view (Stanley, Sinai and. Pal.eiitine, p. 44). Sounds, however, which 'l\'RB in progress (ver. 17). Moses, however, come circuitously, are always indistinct; and better instructed in the act.ual nature of the it is_ not surprising that Joshue, knowing proceedings (ven;. 7, 8), caught their cbll.ro.c- nothmg of the proceedmgs in the camp, ter more correctlv, end decle.rcd tbet what he should have fancied he hee.rd a ■ound of hee.rd was nothing but shouting (ver. 18). war. Ver. 18. This verse is difficult to translate, Soon o.fterwe.rds, the camp came into sight- being me.rkedly a.ntithetical &nd at the same & disorderly crowd, half stripped of their time idiomatic. Perh11ps it would be best to ge.rmenb; (ver. 25), was singing choruses render-" It is not the voice of them who and dancing round the figure which Ae.ron raiBe the cry of ,".ictory, nor is it the voice of h11d cs.st-the sights end sounds were those them who raise the cry of defeat-the voice of them who raise IL cry do I hes.r." The of a di88olute orgy-Moses w1111 strock with verb is the ea.me in all the three clauses ; and horror &ud in the frenzy of his indignation, it would seem that Moses simply denied that deshed the two t.e.bles to the ground end there was any sound of war without making broke them into fragments (ver. 19). The any clee.r suggestion 1111 t.o the reo.l che.ro.cter of people. he felt, were utterly unworthy of the the disturbance. hol~· lewi; which he had brought them-they Ver. 19.-The danaing. Rather" dancing." had " altogether gone out of the w11y "-they There is no article; and 1111 the subject had not been mentioned before, the use of the had become " abominable "--at the moment article would have been unmeaning. Dence., he perh11ps despaired of obt.e.ining mercy for were IL part of the religions ceremonial in them, end expected their entire destruction. most ancient nations. Sometimes they were God had not u yet told him whether he solemn end grave, like the choric dances of would "tum from his fierce wrath," or not. the ancient Dorians, and (probably) that of DaYid in front of the Ark (2 Sam. vi. 5-22); Ver. 15.-Th.e two iabl• . . . were in hil sometimes festive end joyous, yet not im- hand. In Dent. ix. 15, using gres.ter pe.r- modest, like the Pyrrhic and other dances at ticulerity. Moses says that they were " in his Sparta, end the dancing of the Se.Iii at Rome ; t,ro lllLnds." One wes in ea.eh hand probably. but more often, and especially among the Written on both their Bi.dee. This is the Oriental nations, they were of a loose end case generally with A.ssyrian and Babylonian lascivious che.re.cter. In Egypt, the dancers t.e.blets, but not with Egyptian ones, which 11ppes.r to have been professionals of a de- are moreover sce.rcely found &t this es.rly date. graded class, and the da.ncing itself to have Here we seem to have again an indication been always sensual end indecent; while in that some of the lsra.elitic civilisation had Syria., Asia Minor, and Babylon, dancing was come to them from" Or of the Chaldees." 11 wild orgy, at once licentious and productive Ver. 16.-The tables were the work of of a species of phrenzy. We must suspect God. Shaped, i.e., by the same power by that it was this sort of dancing in which the which the commandments were inscribed Israelites were engaged-whence the terrible upon them; not, necessarily, of matter newly anger of Moses. He saw idolatry before his cres.ted for the purpose. eyes, and idolatry with it.!i worst accom- Ver. 17.-WhenJ'Ollhuaheard. This abrupt paniments. In the extremity of his anger, introduction of Joshua, who hu not been men- he out the tablu out of hiB hands, dashed tioned for seven entire chapters, is curious. them violently against the ground, &11.d brake Frobably he had considered himself bound, as them. For this o.ct he is never reprehended. Moses' minister (eh. x.x.iv. 18), to await his It is viewed as the natural outcome of e. return, awl had rema.ined in the middle por- righteous indignation, provoked by the ex- tion of the mount, where he may have fed treme wickedness of the people. We must upon IWll1D&, until Moses came down from the bear this in mind when we come to consider top. The no• of the people. It is noted the justice or injustice of the punishment by travel.lem, that in all the latter part of the which he proceeded to infilct on them for descent from Sinai, the J?lain &t its base is their sin (vlll'li. 26-29).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 15--19.-The ad of Mosu i,n bren,king the tables. At first sight the act see!D! impiow;, and wholly inexcusable. Here wa.5 a marvel-the greatest marvel existing in all the world-transcending the finest statue, the most glorious picture-more v:onderful CII. XXXII. lo-'.?5] TIIF: BOOK OF EXODl.i8.