i1npli"' tl111t the relation hPtwern man and pR.'lt no rain can be looked for till the (k,d is analogous to that of the marrie.ge-bond. autumn. ~" that d,..erting him for other gods is a spoci!l!< Ver. 22.~f the flr■t-fruitl. There is of adult.Pry. Compare the frequent repre•en- here &n unfortnnete ambiguity. The English tahom ID the New Tetotament of Christ as reader naturally supposes that three festivals the "Bridegroom·• and t.be Church as his are ment.ioned-1. That of weeks ; 2. That of •· Bride." the fim-fruits of wheat harvest; and 3. Thnt Yt>r. li.-Thou ■halt make thee no molten of in-gathering. But in reality the feut of god1. An expreto~ allusion to the rocent sin weeks is thet of the first-fruits of wheat of tlw golden calf. h1.n•est. See Lev. xxiii. 17; Num. xxviii. VPr. lll.-The feut of unleavened bread 26. The obsen•nnce of this feast, 8.8 well 1\9 Bhalt thou keep. See eh. xxiii. 15, and that of the feast of in-gathering, WRS com- "ompare chs. xii. 14-20, and xiii. 3--10. manded in the" Book of tho Covenant" (eh. The month .A.bib. See the comment on eh. xxiii. 16). xiii. 4. Ver. 23-Thrioe in the year. Repeated Ven;. HI, 20.--All that openeth the matrix from eh. xxiii. 17. u mine, etc. This is &repetition of the com- Ver. 24.-1 will .... enlarge thy bordera. mand given in eh. xiii. 12, 13, which h&d not The original promise to Abraham W8.8 to give been inserted in the" Book of the Coven.ant." to his seed "the land of C&na&n" (Gen. xii. It is again enjoined in Lev. xxvii. 26, 27. 5-7). Afterwards this promise was enlarged, None ■hall appear before me empty. Re- and he was told that the l&nd assigned them peated from eh. xxiii. 15. was the entire tract between the Nile e.nd the Ver. 21.-lliz da:,a, et;c. This is repeated Euphrates (ib. xv. 18). And practically, they from the "Book of the Coven&nt" (eh. xxiii. took possession first of the one, ,vhile e.t e. 12), but with a r!markahle addition-in -.r- later date their border was enlarged, e.nd they ing time u.d in harvlllt thou llh< reet. became masters of the other. See 1 Kings iv " Earing time " is "ploughing time "-t.o 21, 24; 2 Chron. ix. 26. Neither shall e.ny " ear " being t.o " plough " in Old English, a ma.n desire thy land, etc. This promise is word cognate with the Greek lip<» &nd the nowhere else made. It would serve as a great Latin aro ; &nd the command t.o rest both encouragement to the proper observance of then and at harvest time is a comm&nd not to the festivals. break the Sabbath rert at the 1188Sons when it Ver. 25.-Repeated from eh. xxiii. 18. might aeem most necessary so to do The Ver. 26.-Bepeated from eh. xxiii. 19. It temptation to "save the harvest" is readily is remarkable that both legislations terminate int.elligible to Englishmen. To appreciate the with the same, somewhe.t strange, proviso. other temptation, we require t.o know the There must have been &n intention of im- peculiar circumstances of the East. It is pressiI1.g strongly upon the people the prin- necessary there to complete the ploughing ciple of tenderness involved in it. (See the before the spring rains are over. These last comment on eh. JI.Xiii. 19.) but a short time ; &nd when they are once
HOMILETICS. Vers. 9-26.-The covenant renewe-d. That God should have consented to renew the covenant with Israel after it had been violated so fia,,o-ra.ntly is evidence of two things : I. His faithfulness towards his true followers, which makes him " merciful unto thousands of those that love him," and renders him tender to the children for the sake of the fathers; 2. The value that he sets on intercessory prayer, when offered earnestly by a believer. In the renewal itself we may notice : - I. THAT THE PBOIU8E8 NOW llUDE EXCEED .ALL THOSE WRICH llAD BEEN JIU.DE TO THE PEOPLE PREVIOUSLY. Leadership had been promised; help in driving out the nation had been promised; the possession of Canaan had been promised. But not "marvels such a.s had not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation" (ver. 10)-not a.n enlargement of the nation's boundaries beyond the limits of Canaan (ver. 24)-not security against their land being invaded when they went up to the three great festival.s(ibid.). These, so far as the people were concerned, were new and additional pledges. God is api "to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think." He ties himeelf down to perform certain promises ; but he does not tie himself down not to do more than he has promised. He will give to man ulti.mat.ely, not only more tha.n he is bound to give, but more than " it has entered into the heart of man to cow:eivt:." Cl!. UXJV. ]0-29.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS, 371
II. THAT THE PROHIBITJONR ARE IN SOME CARES MORE HTRIN0P:N'r THAN IIIIP'ORI':. According to the former covenant, idoll\tr011s iml\ges were not to he 1parerl; :v:cordinc, to this neither iml\ges, nor 11,ltMs, nor groves (ver. 13); according to that, the 8ahhath rest was not to be infringed, as 11, general rule-according to this, not even on account, 0£ the most necessary operations of husbandry (ver. 21); according to thnt, trenties were n0 t to be mnde with the C1mMnitish nation&-according to this, neither trenties nnr matri- monie.l alliances. To bBle.nce the greater favours, there were imposed greater obligations, whereby was inculce.ted the lesson that the two are correlative. III. THE l'RECJl!:PTS REIMPOSED WERE, IN ADDITION TO THE DECALOGUE, CHIEl'LY THOSJ!: CONNECTED WITH WORSHIP. It was the attraction of a corrupt worship which had co.used Israel to fe.11 awe.y. Their best security against a second similar fall would be ce.reful and constant observance of the pure worship prescribed to them. If they kept properly the Sabbath, the great festive.ls, the laws of sacrifice, of redemption, of first fruits, and whatever was similar to these, it might well cont.ent their religious a11pi- re.tions, and leave no such vacuum in their lives as they had hoped to fill with their co.If-worship. True, that many of the precepts could not be observed until they reached Ce.nae.n; but, as a compensation, they would have in the wilderness the daily worship-- morning and evening-of the tabernacle, and the near preseL1ce of God in the pillar or the cloud, not henceforth to be withdrawn from them. The true spiritual life could be amply sustained on these-it was only a pseudo-spiritualism that the calf-worship would have exercised.