2. The reler1se had been wilh ha.ite. This incident was deserving of commemorntl0n. So urgent waR Pharnoh'B desire that they should depart, that they had not time to bake their daily mtion of bread; hence the yearly commemoration was to be with "bread unlcavenctl." Bodily appetites must be forgotten when the golrlen moment of emanci- pation dawns. 3. The Bense of obligation should be deep and abiding. On this account, the commemoration was appointed to extend over seven days. Gladness was to be tempered with self-denial and pain. Ill. GnATEFUL COMME:MOr:ATION TAKES THE FORM OF DEEDS AND BELF-8ACRIYICE8, The gratitude that contents itself with words is cheap and shallow. God delights 'tc hear the language of deeds. This is the real language of the heart. It feels the pain of restraint and disappointment, if it may not bring some visible expression of its love or perform some service for its friend. In the case of the Hebrews, long journeys had to be undertaken, lambs had to be slain, much time had to be devoted to the sacred fostival. Yet all this was performed with radiant gladness. IV. 'l'HE COMMEMORATION OF THE PASSOVER WAS TO BE OBSERVED UNDER THE SOL= SANCTIONS OF RELIGION. Under the theocratic government, every public act was baptized at the fountain of religion. Religion was not simply a particular department of the State: it was a spirit ol' heaven that ennobled and beautified every public deed. The Paschal lamb might not be slain anywhere, it must be slain at the temple gate. It was an offering made to God, and God at once returned it, with added blessing to the oll'erer. Thus, year by year, they professed that their emancipation was a gift from God, that national life and earthly home and prospective hope came from the goodness of God. V. NATIONAL EMANCIPATION WAS A PROPHECY OF THE WOI\LD's REDEMPTION. A man is a type of a nation ; a nation is a type of the world. ·what God has done for a nation, he is prepared to do (if need be) for the race. We too are under bondage, in the grasp of a mightier tyrant than Pharaoh. "Christ our Passover is for us slain.~ From all on whom is the effectual mark of Messiah's blood, doom is removed. "They shall never· perish." Their destiny is the heavenly Canaan-the new Jerusalem. We too have our Paschal feast-the Eucharist. As the deliverance of the earthly Israel was complete, "not a hoof was left behind," so Christ Jesus shall eventually be Victor over all his foes. Redemption of the true Israel is in progress.-D.
Vers. 9-17.-The Feasts of Weeks and of 7'abernacles. For the moral improvement of the Hebrews, it was desirable to keep alive among them the recollection of their early history. Prior to the invention of printing, and when written records would be scarce, memory and affection and conscience were impressed by the annual festivals. The Passover commemorated the national birth; the Feast. of Tabernacles commemorated the tent 'life of the desert. 'l'he joys of harvest and of vintage were things unknown in the wilderness. I. MATEI\IAL DLESSmGs AFFORD PREGNANT REASO:t-."'S FOB RELIGIOUS JOY. A frequent effect upon the mind of some large influx of wealth is to produce a sense of independence and self-sufficiency. 'l'he very event which ought, most of all, to lead men's thoughts up to God, leads to seU-gratulation and self-trust. Now present need is met. "\Ve have stores of abundance. We can say to ourselves, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years." Therefore we must counteract this tendency. In very kindness to rncu's souls, God ordained this festival. He would have us to look from the gift to the Giver. It is his will that wo should rejoice abundantly, but that our joy should be religious joy-a joy consecrated at the temple gate. II. THE FESTIVE SEASONS ARE FIXED ACCORDING TO A RELIGIOUS MEASUREMENT. (Ver. 9.) The year is a measurement of time fixed by a natural cycle. So also is the month, so also the day. But there is nothing in nature that marks the comwencement and the close of the week. This is a measurement specially ordained of God. The visible universe is not the whole of existence. Another voice breaks upon the ear, softer than the music of nature, and more full of authority than the voice of Cresar- a voice which makes a new boundary in time, and bids us to count our days by sevens. III. REOEIVING SHOULD PROMPT us TO A PROPORTIONATE GIVING. (Ver. 10.) The gift to be brought to tho temple is not specified. It might be a gift of corn, or oJ 284 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [olt, X\TI, 1-1!8
fruit, or of wine, or of money. The form of the gift was left to the option of the husbandrnan; but some tribute wn.s required, and the amount must be proportionnte to lhe abundance of his crops. If plain and imperative law could make the Jews generous- hcarted, God did his utmost to cultivate in them this excellence. Avarice was scouted by Di\"ine Law. IV. RELIGIOUS JOY SHOULD BE DIFFUSIVE. This giving to God was to be an act of gladness. It was not n.llowed to be with grudging or with gloom (ver. 11). God hoo. no personal need for these material presents. They were expended at once in new blessing and joy. Not only wn.s the household to share in the festive gladness, in the banquet and the song; but the servant, the stranger, the poor Levite, the widow, and the orphan also. God's copious goodness in ibe harvest was designed to enh1rge nil narrow affections, and to thaw, in streams of kindness, all frozen sympathies. At such a season, they were reminded that they were not proprietors of anything, but put iu offices of trust as the stewards of God. Y. A SENSE OF OBLIGATION SHOULD INSPIRE OBEDIBNOE, (Ver. 12.) The hour of prosperity is the hour of reflection. By the law of associated ideas, the contrast is suggested. The mind, free from the pressure of care, retraces the past. We think of the "rock whence we were hewn, the hole of the pit whence we were digc,ed." The recollection of our lowly origin-the dust of the ground-ought to affect u: tenderly ; and our sense of devout obligation should stimulate new and larger obedience. If I owe so much to God, what can I otherwise do than keep his commandments with mind and heart and soul? Complete obedience is a dictate of earliest intelligence.-D.