was to be a feast in commemoration of their departure out of Egypt, and was to be held on the day preceding that event.* The directions which, by the Divine command, Moses gave to the people on this occasion, were to the following effect: that every family of Israel (or, if the family was too small, two neighboring families joining together) should, on the tenth day of the month, take a lamb, or kid, and having shut it up till the fourteenth day, then kill it. That the lamb, or kid, should be a male not above a year old, and without any manner of blemish: that, when they killed it, they should catch the blood in a vessel, and, with a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, sprinkle the side posts of the outer door, after which they should not stir out of the house till the next morning. In the meantime, they were to eat the lamb, or kid (dressed whole and without breaking a bone of it), neither raw nor sodden, but roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; that if there was more than they could dispense with, they were to bury it; and, lastly, that the posture in which they were to eat it was to be in a hurry, with their clothes on their shoulders and their staves in their hands, as if they were just upon the point of going to depart. The tremendous night was not long delayed. While the Jews were celebrating this newly instituted feast-at midnight-the destroying angel went forth in a pestilence, and smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt,-" from the first-born of Phar aoh, that sat on his throne, to the first-born of the captive that lay in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle." And there was a great cry in Egypt-lamentation and bitter weeping-for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.

He

The effect of this dreadful blow was exactly such as Moses had foretold. The king, his nobles, and the Egyptian people, rose in sorrow from their beds that night. The shrieks of the living, with the groans of those about to die, breaking in upon the stillness of the night-the darkness of which must greatly have aggravated the horror and confusion of that hour-made the people fancy they were all doomed to destruction, and that the work of death would not cease till they had all perished. The king himself was filled with horror and alarm. Without truly repenting his obduracy, he bitterly lamented its effects. It appeared to him that the only method of arresting the progress of the destruction was to send the Hebrews instantly away-in the fear that every moment they tarried would prove the loss of a thousand lives to Egypt. therefore sent to Moses and Aaron by that very night-that hour-to tell them, "Get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go and serve the Lord as ye said; take also your flocks and herds, and begone; and bless me also." And the Egyptian people also, says the scriptural narrative, were urgent upon them, to send them away in haste; for they said, We are all dead men." In their anxiety to get them off, lest every moment of their stay should prove the last to themselves or those dear to them, the Egyptians would have done anything to satisfy and oblige them. This favorable disposition had been foreseen from the beginning, and the Hebrews had been instructed by Moses to take advantage of it, by borrowing ornaments of precious metal-" Jewels of gold and jewels of silver," with rich dresses, from the Egyptians. On the principle that, "all that a man hath he will give for his life," there can be no doubt but that, under circumstances which made them consider their own lives in jeopardy, and when the losses they had sustained were calculated to make their finery seem of small value in their sight, the Egyptians were quite as ready to

These directions given by the Almighty to Moses are introduced by the following passage: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first day of the first month of the year to you." The Jews, like most other nations, began their year, before this event, about the autumnal equinox, in the month Tifri, after their harvest and vintage: but that which was their first month, now became their seventh; as the month of Abib, which answers principally to our March, was, by God's appointment, and in commemoration of this their deliverance, constituted the first month of their sacred year. Abib signifies the green corn; and the month was so named, because, about this time, the corn in those countries began to ripen.

The passover, or feast was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month, so that four days were allowed previous to its being held. In after-times the Jews did not begin their preparations till the thirteenth, or the day preceding the passover: but here, they are ordered to prepare on the tenth day of the month, not only because this being the first time of the celebration of the passover, they might require more time to prepare for a ceremony entirely new, but because, being to depart from Egypt suddenly, and in great haste, they might be perfectly ready, and have no hinderance to make them neglect any part of the duty enjoined.

These clothes were slight thin garments, resembling those which the Arabs now wear, and which they call hykes. These hykes," says Dr. Shaw, "are of various sizes, and of different qualities and fineness. The usual size of them is six yards long and two broad. It serves them for a complete dress in the day; and, as they sleep in their raiments, as the Israelites did of old (Deut. xxiv. 13) it serves likewise for their bed and covering at night."

lend as the Hebrews to borrow. The women also were authorized to borrow from the Egyptian females: and we may easily believe that their exertions added much to the large amount of valuable property which was extracted from the fears of the Egyptians. With whatever understanding these valuable articles were given and received, the ultimate effect is, that in this final settlement, the Hebrews received something like wages-though, as such, inadequate-for the long services they had rendered to the Egyptians.*

So eager were the Egyptians to get them off, that, between persuasions, bribery, and gentle compulsion, the whole body had commenced its march before daybreak, although it was not till midnight that the first-born had been slain. They had no time even to bake the bread for which the dough was ready; and they were, therefore, obliged to leave it in their dough bags, which they carried away, wrapped up in their clothes, with the view of preparing their bread when an opportunity might be offered by their first halt. Hurried as they were, they forgot not the bones of Joseph, which they had kept at hand, and now bore away with them. On they marched, driving before them their cattle and their beasts of burden, laden with their moveables and tents; and themselves, some, doubtless, riding on camels, some on asses; but, from the great number of these required for the women and the children, most of the men doubtless marched on foot. Thus, laden with the spoils of Egypt, they went on their way rejoicing, leaving the Egyptians to the things which belong to mourning and the grave.

We are told that the number of the Israelites who on this eventful night commenced their march was "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children." The description of "men on foot" denotes, as elsewhere appears, men fit to bear arms, excluding therefore not only those who are too young, but those who are too old for such service. As this prime class of the community is usually in the proportion of one fourth of the whole population, the result would give nearly two millions and a half as the number of the posterity of Jacob. This number is so very high, that it has seemed incredible to many. We must confess, that it is difficult to realize the presence of so vast a host, with their flocks and herds, and to form an idea of the immense area they would cover, were only standing-room given to them, much more where encamped under tents;-and when we further consider the length and breadth of their moving body on a march, as well as the quantities of water they would require, we may be tempted to conclude that a much smaller number would amply justify the promises of God, and would render many circumstances in the ensuing portion of their history more easy to be understood. Besides this, the ancient manner of notation afforded temptations and facilities for the corruption of numbers, whence it happens that the most disputed texts of Scripture, and those in which, as the copies now stand, there are palpable contradictions, are those which contain numerical statements. We are not insensible to these considerations, and have endeavored to assign them all the weight which they are entitled to bear. But seeing that the present number, high as it is, has some support from collateral evidence, and from

* THE "BORROWED" JEWELS.-Much learning and labor have been bestowed on explanations of this transaction. The most general improvement which has been suggested is, that we should assign the sense of "ask," or "demand," to the word which most versions translate into "borrow:" and the meaning will then be, that the Hebrews availed themselves of the consternation in which they saw the Egyptians, to demand these valuable articles, in compensation for the long service they had rendered. In this explanation one little circumstance is forgotten, which is, the probability that these precious articles were obtained from persons who had never any direct benefit from, or interest in, their services. It seems to us that not so much as is commonly supposed is gained by this alteration. We prefer to adhere to the more received view of the case; because that seems more in agreement with all the circumstances which surround the transaction. The explanation proceeds on the notion that the Israelites had avowed their intention to escape; for, had it been presumed that they intended to return, it would have been a piece of the grossest and most fatal madness in them to "demand" this valuable property from the Egyptians in a compulsory manner. But their intention to withdraw altogether was never avowed while they were in Egypt. Moses never avowed it. Even when rather closely pressed on the subject, he persisted, at least by implication, that there was no other object than that of holding a feast to Jehovah at the distance of three days' journey into the wilderness, and the ulterior intention was not distinctly avowed by the move which was made from "Etham on the edge of the wilderness." This, therefore, only being the avowed object of the Israei ites, it must have seemed perfectly natural to the Egyptians that they should wish to appear as richly attired as possible at the great feast they were about to celebrate; and as natural, that they should borrow such articles as they, in their state of bondage and poverty, did not possess. The consternation they were in at the death of their first-born, and their haste to get the Hebrews away, precluded much deliberation. But by the time the Israelites moved from Etham there had been leisure for reflection, and they manifested their sense that the substance with which they parted on that occasion had only been lent, by the haste which they made to recover it, as soon as they became assured that the Hebrews intended to escape.

the considerations to which we have already adverted, and, above all, reflecting that the present number is a positive circumstance, whereas all alteration could only be conjectural, we deem it the best and safest course to take the number as we find it in the present copies of the Pentateuch. But besides the descendants of Jacob, there was a large "mixed multitude," which went out of Egypt on this occasion. Who they were is not clearly stated; but it would appear that the mass was formed of foreign slaves, belonging to the principal persons among the Hebrews, with a good number, probably, belonging to the Egyptians, who were glad to take the opportunity of escaping with the Israelites. Besides this, there were manifestly a considerable number of Egyptians of the poorer class, who perhaps expected to better their condition in some way, or had other very good reasons for leaving Egypt: indeed, as it did not turn out that the Israelites were anything the better for their presence, we are free to confess that we think it likely they were chiefly such thieves, vagabonds, adventurers, and debtors, as could no longer stay safely in Egypt.

The circumstance that Moses was so well acquainted with the number of the Israelites before they left Egypt, intimates that an account of their numbers had not long before been taken by the Egyptians. That ingeni

So conjectural that while some strike off one cipher, reducing 600,000 to 60,000, others are not content without taking off two, thus reaching the certainty to the very convenient and manageable number of 6,000. Another conjecture has been that the 600,000 includes all the population, and not merely the men fit to bear arms; but this is precluded by the terms of the text, "besides women and children."

ous people employed very early, if they did not invent, the practice of taking a census of what is called the effective part of the population; and from them, unquestionably, the Israelites, under the direction of Moses, adopted this useful custom. In all such enumerations, in ancient times, the women and children were not included, and their number is never stated. But probably they were able to form an estimate of the proportion which the numbered part of the population bore to the whole; although their conclusions in this matter must have been more uncertain than our own, which have been found on repeated actual enumerations of portions of the entire population which were never included in the ancient enumerations.

The point from which the Hebrew host started on their march was Rameses, one of the "treasure cities" which they had built for Pharaoh in the land of Goshen, and which seems to have become the chief place in the territory they occupied. The difficulties in tracing their march begin at the very first stage.

There are two preliminary questions, satisfactory information on which would much assist us in understanding the early part of their journey. The first is, the situation of Rameses, from which they started; and the second, the point to which their journey was, in the first instance, directed. On the first point no very satisfactory information can be obtained. It is, indeed, not quite clear that any particular locality is intended, or whether the land of Goshen, in the large indefinite sense, may not be denoted by "the land of Rameses." But some information is reflected upon the first by the answer to the second of these questions, which answer is, that the destination which was in the first instance contemplated, was doubtless the wilderness of Sinai. The land of Goshen appears most evidently to have bordered on, if it did not include, part of the tract over which the nearest and most convenient road to the peninsula of Sinai from the banks of the Nile has always passed. This is nearly the line in which, in after ages, a canal was made connecting the Nile with the Gulf of Suez; and that, while it is the nearest route, it is the only one which offers a supply of water, is a consideration which doubtless as much recommended it in ancient times to those going from Egypt to Sinai or Arabia, as it does now recommend it to the great caravan of pilgrimage which yearly journeys from Cairo to Mecca. The route of this caravan is the same, as far as the head of the Gulf of Suez, as one would take which proceeds to the Desert of Sinai. We shall therefore presume that this was the route taken.

If the Hebrews were to have gone direct to take possession of the Promised Land, their nearest road would have been "by the way of the Philistines;" that is, by the usual route from Egypt to Gaza. But the Philistines were unquestionably the most powerful and warlike people then in Palestine, and there was already some ill blood between them and the Israelites, and would be likely to offer a most formidable opposition to them at the very first step of their progress. The Hebrews were in fact altogether unfit to face such enemies, or any enemies whatever: they were not yet even fit to be a nation; and therefore, instead of being at once led to their promised heritage, it was the divine will that they should be conducted into the desert, there to be trained, disciplined, and instructed, so as to fit them for their future destinies. Moses knew that their first destination was the wilderness of Sinai; for when the Lord appeared to him in Horeb, it was announced that the bondaged children of Abraham should be brought to worship God in that very mountain.

The Hebrews left Rameses and proceeded on their way. And now it appeared that the Lord provided against their going astray, by placing a miraculous column of cloud to go before them by day and mark out their road; while by night it became a column of fire, and gave light to all the camp. This was important, also, as evincing that Moses was not acting by his own authority, and that, however highly he was entitled to their confidence and respect, they had a more unerring Guide and a more exalted Protector.

Their first day's journey brought them to Succoth. We relinquish the notion which we once entertained that Succoth may have been at or near the place (Birket el Hadj, or Pilgrim's Pool) where the great pilgrim caravan encamps and makes its final arrangements for its journey. We think it, upon the whole, more likely that the point from which the Hebrews departed in the first instance may have been in that neighborhood. Succoth, therefore, must be sought somewhere about a day's journey in the direction toward Suez. The name denotes tents or booths, and it is