bread, they were ordered to eat and to carry away with them unleavened cakes. At midnight the angel of the Lord would pass through the land, and slay the firstborn in every Egyptian house; but where he saw the blood on the door-posts, he would pass by without harming the Hebrews. Distinct were the commands of Moses, complete in every detail; they instituted the first of the festivals, the Passover of the Lord. For that night was to be sacred in all future ages; it was to be an ordinance for all generations. As years rolled on, and each brought back the bright spring time, rich with memories of the past, the Israelites were to assemble together, to recall by the paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and the seven days of thanksgiving and rejoicing, both their grievous bondage in Egypt and their wonderful departure from that inhospitable land. From their exodus, the political life of the Hebrews as a nation must be dated; until then they had only been a tribe or a number of families; they were now to be organised into a people, with a lawgiver unrivalled for wisdom in the history of the world, with warriors famous for wonderful feats of bravery, and above all, with prophets destined to be the guides and teachers of unborn ages. The chosen people became now signally God's nation, elected to transmit His truth from age to age, and certain to conquer all other nations, as long as they remained faithful to His worship.

To this character of the festival all individual ordinances were thoughtfully adapted. Hebrews alone were to partake of the paschal meal; for no stranger could properly share a repast designed to show the Hebrew families as organic parts of the Hebrew nation. The lamb was to be roasted whole, without a bone being broken; for it was to express the unity of the people of Israel, a unity most essential for the accomplishment of their great

mission, in enabling them to defend their pure faith against the idolatries of other nations.

It was furthermore enjoined that the firstborn of man and beast should be sacred to God. This law entrusted the control and responsibility in matters of religion to the head of the household; on him devolved the special care of the family, and it was his duty to attend to the exact fulfilment of all sacred observances.

Lastly, as a memorial of the exodus and of the new religious and political life of the Israelites, symbols were commanded to be worn upon the hand and on the forehead, pointing to deed and thought-so that the Law of the Lord may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand has the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.' These symbols, later called tephillin or phylacteries, consisted of certain important passages taken from the Law, written on parchment and enclosed in small wooden boxes; and unlike the charms and amulets of many eastern tribes and of most southern nations of the present day, they were merely remembrances of a wonderful redemption, signs of a solemn covenant with God, and monitors to a life of faith and virtue.

When Moses had explained all these injunctions, the people, deeply impressed, silently bowed their heads and prostrated themselves, and then hastened to their houses to prepare the paschal lamb. At midnight, the angel of the Lord passed through the land, smiting with death the firstborn of every Egyptian household. There was a loud and bitter wail in each house-a loved one lay fatally stricken. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in that very night, and said to them: among my people, both you and the and go, serve the Lord as you have said; and take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also. At last, then, the pride of the stubborn king

Arise, go out from children of Israel;

was broken. Meanwhile the Hebrews were preparing for their hasty departure. With beating hearts, they assembled in groups to eat the paschal lamb. They stood at the midnight meal, arrayed as they had been commanded. The women had taken from the ovens the unleavened cakes, which were eaten with the meat of the roasted lamb. The preparations were at last concluded, and all was ready: the tents were slung on poles; the animals bore on their backs women and children, or were laden with the possessions of the Hebrews, with the common necessaries of life, with the gold and silver treasures furnished by the Egyptians. At the word of command, the whole nation of the Hebrews poured forth in the cool still Eastern night. But not even amidst their trepidation and danger did they forget the pledge given by their ancestors to Joseph, and they carried his remains with them, to inter them later in the land of promise. They safely escaped out of the province of Goshen, where their race had dwelt for four hundred and thirty years; and led by Moses and Aaron, they wandered forth, a host of six hundred thousand armed men with their wives and children-a free nation.

34. PHARAOH'S PURSUIT AND DESTRUCTION.

[EXOD. XIII. XIV.]

It will be remembered that in the history of the patriarchs, the journey from Canaan to Egypt has repeatedly been mentioned. It was accomplished, in a comparatively short time, by Abraham and Joseph, then by Jacob's other sons, and finally by Jacob himself and his whole. family. But then the travellers defiled along the narrow mountain passes of Engadi, and keeping in sight of the waters of the Mediterranean, proceeded along the northern

coast of Egypt. Not so did Moses and the enormous host which followed his guidance. The land of promise was farther distant for them than it had been for Abraham, and no safe and straight caravan road was to lead them to the groves of Hebron and to the beautiful valley of the Jordan. They were, as yet, unable to stand against the powerful and warlike tribes, such as the Philistines, through whose territory they would have been obliged to pass. By forty long and weary years of wandering in the desert, they were to be trained, to become a brave and independent nation, and to deserve their distinction as the people of God.

During that fearful night when terror seized all Egyptians, the Israelites marched, or rather fled, from Rameses, their place of assembly, in a south-easterly direction, to Succoth, their first resting-place. One day's march more southward brought them to Etham on the edge of the wilderness; thence they had to turn back northward, in order to arrive nearer the northern extremity of the gulf of Suez, where the passage was practicable; and they encamped before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea against Baal-Zephon,' probably at the place of the later town Kolsoum, where subsequently Suez was built, surrounded on the north, west, and south by the desert, and on the east bordering on the Red Sea. This backward movement of the Hebrews appeared to the Egyptians like helpless perplexity, and suggested to them the idea'they are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.' But though the host was led by Moses, the Lord Himself guided them in a pillar of smoke by day, in a pillar of fire by night.

Meanwhile Pharaoh had recovered from the consternation of the tenth plague, and great was his dismay at the flight of the Israelites. There seemed but one course opened to him-to pursue the fugitives, and to force them

back, slaves for evermore. The will of a despot is law; six hundred chosen war-chariots, all equipped with the fleet Egyptian horse, driven by skilful charioteers, and bearing the flower of the Egyptian army, were instantly assembled. Headed by the king himself, they hastened on and overtook the Israelites at Pi-hahiroth. When these beheld in the distance the chariots and the warriors of their enemies, their fear was boundless. They turned to Moses, upbraiding him: Because there were no graves in Egypt,' they exclaimed, hast thou taken us to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou done this to us, to lead us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it is better for

away

us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.' They were ready to lay down their arms, and to take back their chains. But Moses, calm and firm in one of the most trying moments of his eventful life, said: Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day: for as you have seen the Egyptians to-day, you shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall keep yourselves quiet.'

Then Moses led the Israelites onwards until they came to the very borders of the Red Sea. The pillar of the Lord now changed its position; for retreating from the front to the rear of the Hebrew hosts, it floated between the two armies; over the Israelites it shed a brilliant light, while it spread a veil of darkness over the Egyptians. But the Israelites seemed now hopelessly hemmed in between overwhelming dangers: the Egyptians were close behind them, and the waves of the Red Sea were breaking at their feet; the steep mountain passes were threatening on the right, the wilderness on the left. But glorious was their deliverance. Moses, commanded by the Lord, raised