he reproaches them with havin~ "carried the in a.ny personal danger, because he ranked taberna.cle of" their " Moloch ' even in the and suffered as a father, not as a son. On, wilderness (A.mos v. 26), absolves them by im- the other hand, the majority of families in plication from any darker superstition ; and which the first-born was a daughter, or had the highly rhetorical passage Ezek. xx. 26 died, did not therefore escape : " there was, 11eems to refer to the consequences of dis- not a house where there was not one dead.,.. obedience at a later da.te, and ca.n hardly be Taking this as the only sure ground to go• pressed against the entire silence of the upon, we may conclude with some confidence· Pentateuch. Anyhow it does not seem pos- that the first-born now claimed by God in- sible, on the strength of a. supposed intention cluded all the eldest sons in the families or· on the pa.rt of Goil of which no trace appears Israel who were not themselves the heads or· in the text, to impose a narrow and arbitrary houses. These were the destroyed in Egypt limit upon the pie.in command to number -these the redeemed in Israel. How they '' all the first-born, from a month old and came to be so few in proportion is a ma.tter upwa.rd." If we turn from these speculations in itself of extremely slight importance, a.mi to the reason a.nd ground of the ma.tter as dependant, perhaps, upon causes of which sta.ted by God himself, it will a.ppear much no record was left. more simple. It was distinctly on the ground Ver. 47. - Five shekels apiece. Thi& of their preserva.tion from the destroying amount had already been fixed (Levit. xxvi1. angel in Egypt that the first-born of Israel 6, if indeed this chapter does not belong to were cla.imed as God's peculium now (see ver. a later period) as the commutation value of 13). The comma.nd in Exod. xiii. 1 was a ma.le child under five years old who had no doubt prospective, but the sanctification been vowed unto the Lord. If the redeeming of the first-born was ba.sed upon the deliver- of the first-born by the Levites began with ance itself ; a.nd this comma.nd was intended the eldest, those th3t were left over woulct not to limit tha.t sanctification for the pre- all be within this age. A shekel See sent, but to continue it for the future. Now Exod. xxx. 13. if we turn to Exod. xii 29, 30, a.nd ask who Ver. 51.-Gave the money . .. unto Aaron. the first-born were whom the destroying o.ngel The Levites were given to Aaron in lien of cut off, we see pla.inly enough that they in- the first-born. As, rowever, their number cluded the eldest son, being a. child, in every fell somewhat short, 1he redemption money house ; tha.t every family lost one, a.nd only taken for the remainder was due to Aaron one. On the one hand, Pha.ra.oh himself was as compensation, and was doubtless applied in all probability a. first-born, but he was not to the snpport of the tabernacle worship.
HOMILETICS. Ch. iii.-The ,ervanta of God, and the Church of the First-born. We may see in this chapter, spiritually, the obligation of the whole people to be the bond-servant& of Jesus Christ, and the dedication, as their representatives in the outward and visible service of God, of such as are separated unto the Holy Spirit at his call. For the- whole Church of JesUB Christ is the general assembly and Church of the first-born,, and they are all wholly his by right of redemption1 and ~e all priests .~to God ; nevertheless, for convenience, and almost of necessity, th~ir outwar~ m1metry and service in holy things is discharged by such as God's choice and their own aptness, have marked out therefor. Consider, therefore, WITH BEBPEar TO THE LEVITES- !. THAT THEY WERE II WHOLLY GIVEN '' UNTO A.ARON, THE HIGH PRIEST. EVEN B8' THEY THAT A.RE DEVOTED UNTO BA.CllED MINIBTBIEB A.RE "WHOLLY GIVEN" UNTO JESUS CHBIBT, the great High Priest, and are placed at his disposal, t~at h~ may 1;1se- their labours according to hie will ; and this is the one simple cons1derahon winch. muRt govern their life, unless they be rebellious. II. That they were given unto .Aaron II TO KEEP HIS CHARGE, A.ND THE CHARGE OIi'' TRE WHOLE CONGREGATION 1• " i. e. TO ASSIST HIM A.ND TO ASSIST THEM IN THE DIS-· CHARGE OF THEIR BEVERA.L Oll'll'ICEB A.ND DUTIES, 80 that they might be rendered: aright to the well-pleasing of God. Even eo it is in the deepest eenee tru~ (if rightly considered) that every one who has some special call is a partner partly m the wo!k: of Christ, partly in the duty of the Church; he helps to carry on the one or to dis- charge the other (or both). The atonement indeed was made by Aa:on-ae by Chri8t-himeelf, alone ; but the outward and subordinate mat~ers of hre. office he discharged by means of the Levites, and he could not otherwise have discharged:. them. Even so does ChriRt outwardly and vi.Hibly fulfil bis manifold office upon,. 1lR, Ill, 1-51.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 2(