THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. BOOK IV. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THINGS FROM THE ISRAELITES' DEPARTURE OUT OF EGYPT, TO THEIR ENTRANCE INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN, IN ALL FORTY YEARS. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. In contemplating the extraordinary deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, we must advert to the instrument employed by divine providence in its accomplishment. Moses, who was called to this difficult and perilous task, was pre-eminently fitted by his talents and his temper for its performance. There arose not a prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty land, and in all the great terror, which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.' He himself having been rescued when an infant from the most imminent danger, was preserved to be the deliverer of his nation. The redemption of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, is the greatest type of Christ's redemption, of any providential event whatsoever. It was intended to shadow forth that greater redemption from the captivity of sin and Satan, which was wrought out by the Son of God, when he destroyed principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross. Nor can we fail to observe in the narrative of the period on which we are now entering, how much the giving of the law at Sinai tended to prepare the way for the accomplishment of this great redemption. It is here seen how the covenant of works operates as a schoolmaster in leading us to Christ; how the law which is holy, just, and good, shuts us up to the faith of the gospel. That it might have full effect in this way, God was pleased to institute at the same time the ceremonial law-full of various and innumerable typical representations of good things to come; by which the Israelites were directed every day, month, and year in their religious actions-in all that appertained to their ecclesiastical and civil state, so that the whole nation by this law was, as it were, constituted in a typical state. The great outlines of gospel truth were thus held forth to the nation; and the people were thus directed, from age to age, to look for salvation to the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, We must also observe the wisdom and the goodness of God in giving, for the first time, a written communication from himself. That written and infallible word, with its subsequent accessions of infallible wisdom, was the means, as it was designed to be, of carrying on in the world the work of redemption. The word of God had previously been transmitted from age to age by tradition; but now the ten commandments, the five books of Moses, and probably the book of Job, were, by the special command of God, committed to writing, and were laid up in the tabernacle, to be kept there for the use of the church. That the church might derive instruction from typical representation, in the character and actions of intelligent beings, the progress of the redeemed through this world to that rest which remaineth for them in the heavenly Canaan, was shadowed forth by the journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness, from Egypt to Canaan. The low and wretched condition from which they are delivered, the price paid for their redemption, the application of that redemption in their conversion to God,-the various trials, difficulties, and temptations which they have to encounter in their christian course,—the manner in which they are safely conducted through this world by their great Leader, to their immortal inheritance, are all typified and represented in the history of Israel from their departure out of Egypt, to their entrance into the promised land. All these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.'1 These typical representations were at the time accompanied with clearer predictions of Christ than had before been given. I will raise up a prophet,' says God unto Moses, from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command him.' It is unnecessary to say, 1 Cor. x. 11 A. M. 2513. A. C. 1491; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3763. A. C. 1648. EXOD. CH. xiii-xxxiv. 24. how clearly the mediatorial office of the Redeemer is pointed out in this remarkable prophecy. Balaam, also, during this period bore testimony to Christ, in the sublime prediction which he uttered concerning him in the well known words- There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall arise out of Israel :—Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion.' Finally, we ought to notice in the narrative of God's procedure towards his ancient people, on which we are about to enter, the outpouring of his Holy Spirit on the young generation in the wilderness, or that generation which entered into Canaan. Concerning this generation God had said to their fathers- But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.' This generation was, accordingly, brought into Canaan. They were distinguished for their piety, and their zealous adherence to all the will of God. SECT. I. CHAP. I.—From their Departure to the Building of the Tabernacle. THE HISTORY. WHEN the Israelites set out from Egypt, they made Rameses, the chief city of Goshen, the place of their general rendezvous; and from thence, on the 15th day of the first month, they travelled about ten or twelve miles to Succoth, where they made a stop, and reviewed their company, which consisted of 600,000 persons, besides children and strangers; for strangers of several nations, having seen the wonders which were wrought for their deliverance, left Egypt at the same time, with a purpose to accompany their fortunes. fear that a people unaccustomed to war should, in case of any opposition, repent of their deliverance, and take it into their heads to return into Egypt, God ordered them to take their route along the coasts of the Red Sea; and for their greater encouragement and security, himself | undertook to guide and direct them, both in their marches and encampments, by the wonderful appearance of a cloud, in the form of a large column, which shaded them from the heat of the sun by day, and in the night-time became a pillar of fire, or a bright cloud, to supply the sun's absence, and illuminate their camp. By this means they were enabled, upon any occasion, to march both day and night and, under this auspicious guide, proceeding from Succoth, they came to Etham, which gives name to the wilderness on whose borders it is situated, and there they encamped. In the mean time the king of Egypt had information brought him, that the Israelites, instead of returning to his dominions, were attempting their escape into the deserts of Arabia, by the cape of the Red Sea; and therefore grieving at the loss of so many useful slaves, and supposing that by speedy marches he might overtake those who have wrote upon the subject is,―That though there are two places named Rameses, which are a little differently pointed, yet they are but one and the same, or, at the most, that they differ only in this, that the one was the province, and the other the chief city of it; that Succoth, not far from Rameses, the Hebrew word signifies) which the Israelites pitched here, as in the way to the Red Sea, had its name from the tents (for so we find upon the like occasion another place between Jordan and the brook Jabbock, so named: that Etham lay on the confines of Egypt and Arabia Petræa, not far from the Red Sea, and gave the denomination to the wilderness adjacent: that Pi-hahiroth, which in our English, and some other translations, is rendered as one proper name, is by the Septuagint made part of it an appellative, so as to signify a mouth, for so the word pi may mean, or a narrow passage between two mountains, lying not far from the western coast of the Red Sea: that magaol was probably a tower or castle, for the word carries that signification in it, upon the top of one of these mountains, which might give denomination to the While the sense of their deliverance, and God's judg-city, which, as Herodotus informs us, lay not far distant from it; ments was fresh in their minds, Moses was commanded to let the people know, that when they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, the first-born both of man and beast, in remembrance of God's having spared their first-born when he destroyed the Egyptians, should be set apart and dedicated to him and as Joseph, dying in the faith of this their deliverance, had laid an injunction upon his brethren, whenever they should go from thence, to carry his bones out of Egypt, so Moses a took care to have the coffin, wherein he had lain for above 140 years, not left behind. From Succoth their nearest way to Canaan was certainly through the country of the Philistines; but for a The Jews tell us, that upon the Israelites' departure out of Egypt, every tribe took care to bring along with them the bones of the ancestor of their family; but though they are not always to be credited in matters of this nature, and Josephus does not seem to have dreamed of any such act of filial piety, or else he would, in all probability, have recorded it; yet St Stephen, (Acts vii. 15, 16,) seems to allude to some tradition among them, when he tells us, that Jacob and the fathers went down into Egypt, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre which Abraham had bought of the sons of Emmor.'Universal History, b. 1. c. 7. It is somewhat difficult to make out the geography of the places where the Hebrews encamped, between their parting from Rameses and their arrival at the Red Sea; but the account of and that Baal-Zephon was by some learned men thought to be an idol set up to keep the borders of the country, and to hinder slaves from making their escape. Baal, indeed, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies lord; and hence the name is generally applied to the eastern idols; and the word zephon is thought to be derived from the radix zapah, to watch or spy; and from hence it is conjectured, and that the sacred historian particularly takes notice of it, to that this idol has its temple on the top of some adjacent mountain, show how unable it was, whatever opinion the Egyptians might have of it, to hinder the Israelites from going out of Egypt. There is but small certainty, however, to be gathered from the etymology of words; and therefore the authority of Eusebius should ponderate with us, who makes it not an idol, but a town, standing upon the northern point of the Red Sea, where the ancients, especially the Jews, think that the Israelites passed it, and where there stands to this day a Christian monastery.-Patrick's and Calmet's Commentaries, his Dissertation on the Passage of the Red Sea, and Wells' Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 2. c It is not unlikely, that some of the mixed multitude (Exod. xii. 38.) which went along with the Israelites, observing this alteration in their route, and not being able to perceive the reason of it, might forsake them, and returning to Pharaoh, inform him, that they had lost their way, and were entangled among the mountains; or, what is more likely, some spies, which Pharaoh had upon them, seeing them leave the way to Horeb, where they desired to go three days' journey, in order to offer sacrifices, concluded that they never intended to return to Egypt, but were running quite away, and might therefore bring Pharaoh the news thereof, as we may suppose, upon the eighteenth day. Patrick's Commentary. A. M. 2513. A. C. 1491; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3763. A. C. 1648. EXOD. CH. xiii—xxxiv. 24. and recover them, he mustered up what forces he could, advance along the coasts of it, until they came to Piand for the greater expedition, a considerable quantity hahiroth, which lies between Migdol and the sea, and of a chariots and horsemen, and with these put himself there to encamp. upon the pursuit. But God, who well understood what measures were taking in Pharaoh's court, instead of suffering the Israelites to march round the point of the Red Sea, as they probably intended, ordered them to a Josephus, who loves to magnify matters, when they tend to the glory of his countrymen, as well as conceal what would occasion their disgrace, tells us, that the Egyptian army consisted of 600 chariots, 50,000 horse, and 200,000 foot: but how so large a number could be raised in so short a time, or what need there was of so vast an armament against a weak and defenceless people, is hardly conceivable. As therefore we may presume, that the haste which the Egyptians were in, lest the Israelites should get out of the straights wherein they were entangled, or make their escape some other way, before they came up with them, made them pursue them with chariots and horsemen for the greater expedition; so we may observe, that the chariots they employed in this pursuit, are called chosen chariots, which most interpreters imagine to be such as were armed with scythes, which being drawn with horses, and filled with men, who threw darts and spears and other offensive weapons from them, could not but make a strange havock wherever they came; and the number which the Scripture mentions, under proper captains, who might have the direction of them, was enough to destroy all the Israelites, being worn with hard bondage, wearied with marching, destitute of arms, strangers to war, and now encamped in a very disadvantageous situation.-Josephus' Antiquities, b. 2. c. 15., Ainsworth's Annotations, and Howell's History. "Of all the infatuated resolutions," to use the words of the learned Dr Jackson, b. 10. c. 11., "that either king or people adventured on, the pursuing the Israelites with such a mighty army, after they had so irritated and urged them to leave their country, may well seem, to every indifferent reader, the most stupid that ever was taken." And so indeed the author of the Book of Wisdom, c. xix. 3., justly censures it: "For whilst they were yet mourning," says he," and making lamentation at the graves of the dead, they added another foolish device, and pursued them as fugitives, whom they had entreated to be gone." But how much soever it was that the Egyptians had suffered for detaining the Hebrews; yet, now that they were gone, they possibly might be of the same mind with the Syrians, (1 Kings xx. 23.) who fancied, that the God of Israel might not be alike powerful in all places; or, if he was, they might nevertheless think, that Moses' commission extended no farther than the meridian of Egypt, or that if it did, it might however have no power over mighty hosts and armies. They knew, at least, that the Israelites, as we said, had no skill in military matters, no captains of infantry, no cavalry at all, no weapons or engines of war; whereas they were well furnished and equipped with every thing of this nature; and upon these and the like presumptions, it was that they became foolhardy, and desperately resolute, either to bring back the Israelites to their slavery, or to be revenged upon them for all the losses they had sustained, and the penalties they had suffered. -Patrick's Commentary. By this time Pharaoh and his army were come up with them; and when the Israelites perceived themselves hemmed in on every side, with the sea in their front, huge mountains on their flanks, and the Egyptian army in the rear, they began to despair of any means of escape, and to clamour against Moses for having induced them to leave Egypt, and for bringing them into the wilderness to be sacrificed. Moses, however, being apprized of God's design, instead of d resenting their reproaches, endeavoured to comfort them by giving them assurance that God himself would certainly fight for them, and by his almighty power bring matters to such an issue, that these very Egyptians, of whom they were so much afraid, should not one of them live to molest them any more. With thes comfortable words, he ordered them to advance towards the sea-side; and as they were advancing, the miraculous cloud, we were speaking of, removed from the front to the rear of the Israelites' camp, and so turning its dark side towards the Egyptians, made them incapable of knowing what they were about; while by its bright or fiery side, which it turned to the Israelites, it gave them a sufficiency of light, and kept the two camps from joining that night. As soon as the Israelites came to the brink of the sea, Moses waved his sacred rod, and immediately a strong east wind blew, and drove the waves back from the land, and by dividing the waters, which stood suspended as it were a wall on each hand, made a dry and safe passage for the Israelites, until they had gained the other shore. The Egyptians, in the mean while, never suspecting but that they, with their chariots and horsemen, might safely follow, where they saw the Israelites go on foot, entered after them into the midst of the sea; but about break of day they began to see their error, and their whole army in memory of the fate of the Egyptians, who were drowned herein.-Wells' Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 2. d The words which Moses makes himself speak upon this critical occasion, (Exod. xiv. 13, 14.) discover a wonderful spirit and bravery; and it is no bad comment which the Jewish histo rian has given us of them. "Put the case" says he, "that you had deposited some great trust in the hands of a person that had hitherto managed all well and wisely for you, might not you reasonably depend upon that man for the same care and kindness, and in the same case too, over again? What a madness is it for you to despond then, where God himself has taken you under his protection, and of his own free bounty, performed every thing by me that can contribute to your freedom and security? Nay, the very difficulty of the case you are in, is an argument to inflame your hope rather than discourage it. He hath brought you into this distress, on purpose to show his power and kindness in bringing you out again, even to the surprise and admiration of yourselves, as well as your enemies. It is not God's time to interpose with his almighty power in small matters, but in great and trying calamities; when all hopes of human help fail us, that is the season for him to work out the deliverance of those who cast themselves upon him. And therefore fear nothing, so long as you have him for your protector and defender, who is able to raise the lowly and oppressed, and to lay the honour of their persecutors in the dust. Be not afraid of the Egyptian armed troops, neither despond of your lives and safeties, because you are at present locked up between the sea and the mountains, and have no visible way in nature to come off; for the God whom you serve, is able to level all these mountains, and lay the ocean dry. His will, in fine, be done."-Josephus' Antiquities, b. 2. c. 15. e The expression in the text is, that God troubled the host of c The Red Sea, called by the ancients Sinus Arabicus, and now Gulfo de Mecca, is that part or branch of the southern sea which interposes itself between Egypt on the west, and Arabia Felix and some part of Petrea on the east; while the northern bounds of it touch upon Idumea, or the coast of Edom. Edom, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies red, and was the nickname given Esau for selling his birthright for a mess of pottage. The country which his posterity possessed was called after his name, and so was the sea which adjoined to it; but the Greeks, not understanding the reason of the appellation, translated it into their tongue, and called it iguga laxaron; thence the Latins, Mare Rubrum, and we, the Red Sea. The Hebrews call it the sea of Suph, or Flags, by reason of the great abundance of that kind of weed, which grows at the bottom of it; and the Arabs at this day name it Buhr el Chalsem, that is, the Sea of Clysma, from a town situate on its western coast, much about the place where the Israelites passed over from the Egyptian to the Arabian shore. But as the word clysma may denote a drowning or overflowing with water, it is not improbable that the town built in this place, as well as this part of the sea, might have such a name given it, |