2. Puriflcat_ory. It san~tified the people in vie':" o! their del?arture from Egypt; and soparat1on as a peculiar people to Jehovah-in view also of his peculiarly near approach to them in their deliverance. 3. Protective. As warding off the stroke of the destroying angel. Later Passovers, as the yearly presentation of the blood implied were not only commemorations, but in some sense also perpetuations of the originai one. 'l'he Passover, as observed from year to year, was- I. A MEMORIAL. It stood as :i,n ~istoric~l ~01;1ument, testifying to the reality of the events of the Exodus. In this view of 1t, 1t 1s of great value. No criticism of documents can impair its witness. It is a Bible outside of the Bible, confirmatory of the Bible narratives. No one has yet succeeded in showing how a festival like the Passover could have been introduced at any period later than that to which it histori- cally refers. It has, so far as we can make out anything in history, been observed by the Jews from the very beginning of their national existence. Note to what it testifies-I. To the fact of the Exodus. 2. That the Exodus was accomplished without warlike resistance from the Egyptians. 3. That it was looked forward to, prepared for, sacrifice offered, and a sacrificial meal eaten, in anticipation of it. 4. That the preparations for departure were hurried, yet orderly. 5. That on the night in question a judgment fell on Egypt, from which the Israelites were exempted-a circumstance which gives to the feast its name, the Passover. 'l'he festival has thus all the value of a contemporary witness, an,l fully corroborates the Scripture history. The Lord's Supper, in- like manner, is an historical witness, not to be got rid of, testifying to acts and words of our Lord on the night of his betrayal, and furnishing clear evidence as to the light in which his death was regarded by himself. II. A TYPE. Th~ typological features have often been dwelt on. 1. The lamb- select, unblemished, of full age, subjected to fire, unmutilated (John xix. 36), fitness of the victim to represent Christ (Isa. !iii. 7). 2. The blood-atoning, need of personal application, sole shelter from death, under its shelter inviolable security (Rom. viii. 1). 3. The/east-the slain lamb the food of a new life (John vi. 51-57); a feast of recon- ciliation and peace, with fellow-believers, with bitter herbs (affliction, repentance), and without leaven-memorial of haste (ver. 3), but also emblematic of spiritual incorrup- tion, of the purity which is to characterize the new life (1 Cor. v. 7-9); no part of the flesh to remain till morning (ver. 4), for same reason, to avoid corruption; the feast to last seven days-a week, an entire circle of time, symbolical of life-lc;ng con- secration to holiness of walk. 4. 'l'he redemption-great, once for all, a redemption by blood and by power, from wrath, from bondage. All these types are conspicuously fulfilled in Christ. III. AN ORDINANCE. 1. The first and chief of the feasts (ver. 1). 2. To be observed regularly (ver. 1). So now the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. xi. 25). 3. At the central sanctuary (vers. 2, 5, 6). Christians should seek to realize their unity with all saints at the Lord's table. 4. With due seriousness and solemnity (vers. 2, 6).-J. 0.
Vers. 9-13.-Pentecost. I. A SACRED RECKOJIING. "Seven weeks shalt thou num her," etc. (ver. 9). A week of weeks, seven times seven, hence the name, "Feast of Weeks " (ver. 10). The count began with the offering of the sheaf of firstfrnits on Nisan 16, the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. xxiii.11). Till that sheaf was offered, no Israelite was permitted to eat of the new corn (ver. 14). ·with the arrival of the fiftieth day, inclusive of the second of Unleavened Bread, the labours of the harvest were presumed to be ended, and this festival ensued, at which baken loaves were presented to Jehovah (Lev. xxiii. 17), in token of consecration to him of the fruits of the harvest, and of dedication of the life which bread sustained. There is, intended or unintended, a beautiful symbolism in this sacred count, the divinely allotted period for the labours of the harvest, its days reckoned by heaven's calendar, the end, an "appearing before God" in the sanctuary. The harvest began with con- secration (in the Passover sheaf), it ended with it (in the presentation of the wave loaves). So has the Christian his allotted work-time in the world, a sacred cycle of weeks, roun,lcd off in God's wisdom for tho work he means to be accomplished (John ix. 4); work in the Christian harvest-field, a work beginning in consecration, can-ied on in the spirit of consecration, and the termination of which is "entrance into the joy of tho Lord.'' 278 THE BOOJt or DEtr'l'EMNbMY.