Vers. 32-40.-The deliverance qf the l,ord's people unparalleled. Moses would have the Israelites to regard God's deliverance of them from Egypt as a matter for the most grateful admiration. There had been nothing like it Rince the beginning of the world. There was direct and immediate communion with God; there was deliverance of the people from Egypt by unexampled jucl.,,oments; and all was to show his character as a sovereign and loving God. The effect of such a discipline should be filial obedi- ence. It suggests the following lessons:- 1. THE LORD'S PEOPLE SHOULD GRATEFULLY STUDY TIIEm DELIVERAKCE. The mar- vellous Exodus from Egypt and communion at Sinai were deserving of the most faithful study. No people had ever been so favoured before. But our persoiial_deliverance from the bondnge of sin, our march through the wilder- ness of life, our fellowship with God from the mountain-top of ordinances, the entire experience of a spiritnal soul, combine to eclipse even the discipline of Israel. Each one is prepared, who understands his state, to say, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he bath done for my soul" (Ps. !xvi. 16). II. UNPARALLELED EXPERIENCE FROM Goo ARGUES AN UNPARALLELED Goo. For it is a revelation of his powers and character he makes in these matters, and we are expected to reason from our experience up to himself. "Unto thee it was showed," said Moses, " that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God ; there is none else beside him." He moves in an unparalleled fashion, that we may recognize in him the unparalleled One. '!'he use of personal experience is, therefore, to reach the Divine side of it, and see what reflection of Deity it presents. • III. IT WAS Goo's LOVE WHICH HE ILLUSTRATED IN BRINGING ISRAEL FROM EGYPT TO 9ANAAN. The casting out of the Canaanites, the extermination of the idolaters, was Juclgment jnstly exercised upon them; bnt it was love towards Israel. Hence one of the psalmists makes these conquests a proof that "his mercy endureth for e,·cr" (Ps. cxxxvi. 17-22). And God's dealings with his people always are to illustrate his love. They find how all things work together for good unto them (Rom. viii. 28). IV. 1T IS FILIAL OBEDIBNCE HIS PEOPLE SHOULD RENDER. The similarity between ver. 40 and the fifth commandment of the Decalogue is certainly remarkable. The idea of God's fatherhood is as certainly in the mind of Moses and of the filial obedience of Israel. Long life is attached to their filial obedience to God, as it is attached in tbt commandment to the filial obedience we render to man. _And indeed this "fatherhood of God," with its correlative "sonship of man," con- stitutes the crowning relation into which God and man come. How glorious it is! Earth becomes the school of God's children; the promise of the life that now is cheers them on, and heaven contracts the kindly light of home. We should never rest contented till our study of God's dealings leads us into assur- unccs and hopes like these. The Israelites were to be obedient, and in conseq uencs ~uccessful children; and the same blessed conditions become ours by faith !-R. hl. E.
DEUTERONOMY. G 82 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [cu. lV. 25-4U.
Y rrs. 41- 43.-The cities of refuge beyond the Jordan. After the discourse contained in the prc>ccding portion of this book, Moses seems to have taken a breathing time, during which he designated Bezer in the wilderness, R.amoth in Gilead, and Golan in Dashan, as cities of refuge. To these the menslayers were directed to flee, when they had been guilty, not of murder, but of manslaughter. In this way a distinction wns introducerl in the Mosaic code between manslaughter and murder, which did not obtain in the code of revenge among the other nations. And here kt ns observe- I. RETALIATION CONSTITUTED THE RUDE JUSTICE OF TlllS EARLY A0E. Vengeance seems dreadful to many because we live under an organized system of public justice. But if we were translated to some uncivilized country, where each one is forced to fight for bis own hand, we should regard it less painfully. We should recognize it, in fact, as a necessary assertion of justice. " ,engeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord," seems dreadful only to those who have not appreciated the need of a perfect public justice. The Divine vengeance will be public and perfect, from which there will and can be no appeal. II. RETALIATION, SUCH AS THE MOSAIC CODE PRESCRIBED, DEMANDED COURAGE AND SELF-DENIAJ,. The kinsman was directed to pursue the manslayer, and to seek the payment of life for life_ It was not one of those feats which would be lightly under- taken. In fact, it was one of those dangerous duties, which a person would shirk if he could. The command reinforced the courage and sustained the self-denial of the people (cf. Mozley's 'Ruling Ideas in Early Ages,' pp. 180-221). And in the Divine vengeance-with reverence would we say it-there is needed courage and self-denial. 'l'he infliction of it isfo1-ced upon him. Ill. THE CITIES OF REFUGE AFFORDED PROTECTION TO THE MANSLAYER WHO DID MOT JJELIBERATELY TAKE AWAY LIFE. Here the manslayer lived in lonely ~xile till the death of the high priest. This milder sentence, however, was preferable to a violent death. The opportunity was afforded of examining himself and of being penitent· for his sins. The sojourn in the city of refuge corresponds to the spiritual experience of those who have betaken themselves to Jesus under a sense of their sin and bloodguiltiness, to find under his wings freedom from condemnation (Rom. viii. 1), and the necessity of great watchfulness and circumspection. If the manslayer had left the city of refuge, he \vould still have been liable to the avenger. IV. BUT WREN THE HIGH PRIEST DIED THE MANSLAYER REGAINED LIBERTY AS WELL AS LIFE. "Life in Christ" is indicated by the sojourn in the cit,y of refuge. But liberty through the death of Christ is indicated by the release at the death of the high priest. It takes many relations to bring out the truth as it is in Jesus. He is our Goel, or Avenger, as we have seen where he says," Vengeance is mine." He is our City of Refuge; he is our High Priest, whose death secures the return of the exile. May Jesus be all rn all to us !-R. M. E.