give, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto thee evil. So the sons' fear of Joseph's revenge had caused them to make a full confession to their father and to ask his advice in this difficult matter. Their repentance, their conversion, was now an accomplished fact: they had made a full and free confession. And now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. Thus the brothers received perfect assurance of the forgiveness of their sin, for it is by confessing and forsaking sins that mercy is obtained. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him, it grieved him to think that they believed him capable of such meanness, but he wept also tears of joy over this evidence of complete repentance. V. 18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. They freely offered what they had formerly resented with indignation. V. 19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God, to judge, to condemn, and to punish? God had brought matters to pass in this manner, and it was not for Joseph to change God's purposes. V. 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Their evil intentions the Lord had not only frustrated, but had turned them for the best, as they plainly saw before their eyes, their own lives being saved as a consequence of the Lord's providence. V. 21. Now, therefore, fear ye not; I will nourish you and your little ones. His kind favor would be with them as heretofore. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them, thus giving an example of true forgiveness for all times; for this is the disposition which all Christians should foster most diligently.

THE DEATH OF JOSEPH.-V. 22. And Joseph

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dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived an hundred and ten years, thus enjoying the love and the reverence of the Egyptians for eighty years. V. 23. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees. He lived to see grandchildren and great-grandchildren, thus experiencing what it means that God shows mercy to the third and fourth generation of them that love Him and keep His commandments. V. 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It was his dying message, prophetical in tone, breathing his faith in the fulfilment of the divine promise, chap. 46, 4. 5. V. 25. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. Like his father, he did not want his bones to rest in strange ground, but his very burial should express his faith in the patriarchal blessing and in the Messianic promise. He was sure that the Lord would visit His people with His grace and mercy. That is the final test, if a person retains his faith until the end. V. 26. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt, in a chest of sycamore wood such as was used to keep a mummy until the time of burial. The children of Israel kept the oath which their fathers had sworn to Joseph. When they left Egypt, they carried the mummy of Joseph along with them, Ex. 13, 19, and when they arrived in Canaan, they buried him in the field of Jacob at Shechem, Josh. 24, 32. From Joseph we learn to set our hope forward to the great Land of Promise above and patiently to await the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.

The second book of Moses, called Exodus (going out, departure), has been recognized as a distinct book since the time of the Jewish Church. It is not a continuation, but a sequel of the Book of Genesis, a long interval of time being passed over without record. The family of Jacob had now grown into a large nation, and the inspired author proceeds to show how the Lord carried out His promise of leading the children of Israel back to the land where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been strangers. Gen. 15, 13-16; 35, 11. 12; 48, 21. 22; 50, 25. The main purpose of the book is to relate how the

theocracy, the direct government of God, was established among the people of Israel by the solemn giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the act by which God made and confirmed the covenant which He had hinted at to the patriarchs. The book tells the history of Israel from the time that God arranged for their departure out of Egypt until the time that the Tabernacle had been dedicated near Mount Horeb. A large part of the book is devoted to the legislation on Mount Sinai, which included not only the giving of the Moral, or Natural, Law in the form of the Ten Commandments,

but also the Ceremonial, or Levitical, Law, which prescribed all forms of divine worship which were to be observed by the people of God in the centuries before the coming of Christ, and the Civil Law, which was given to the children of Israel as a separate people among the nations of the earth and which regulated their political affairs and provided for sanitary rules throughout the country.

The

"Exodus is the Book of Redemption. chosen people are in hopeless bondage in the land of Egypt, having no power to deliver themselves. But God says: 'I have seen the affliction of My people, I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows; I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up into a good land,' Ex. 3, 7. 8. It is a beautiful picture of the soul redeemed from the bondage of Egypt into the glorious liberty of the children of God. God is revealed to us as the Deliverer and Leader of His people, a God near at hand, dwelling among them, concerned with the affairs of their daily life." (Hodgkin.) The Book of Exodus is especially rich in Messianic types and symbols. The burning bush, chap. 3, is a picture of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb, chap. 12, is a type of Christ and His redemption, 1 Cor. 5, 7. 8; 1 Pet. 1, 18. 19. The manna, chap. 16, is a type which Jesus applies to Himself, John 6, 48-51, when He says: "I am the Bread of Life." The smitten rock, chap. 17, is referred to 1 Cor. 10, 4: "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was. Christ."

Moses himself, the central personage of Exodus, is a type of the great Prophet of the New Testament, Deut. 18, 15. 18. The high priest Aaron was a type of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, whose atoning sacrifice reconciled the whole world to God. The Tabernacle in the wilderness, built according to the design furnished by God Himself, was a picture and shadow of heavenly things, Heb. 8, 5. It was the outward sign of God's presence, God's tent in the midst of the tents of the children of Israel, the meeting-place between God and man.

The contents of the book may be briefly summarized: The departure out of Egypt, including the narrative of the oppression, of the birth and education of Moses, of his flight, call, and equipment, of the ten plagues, of the institution of the Passover, of the passage through the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh; the wilderness journey to Mount Sinai, including the stop at Marah, the quails, manna, water from the rock, the battle with Amalek; the solemn legislation on Mount Sinai, including the preparations, the Ten Commandments, the rights of Israel, and the making of the covenant; the building and the dedication of the Tabernacle, including the sin of Aaron and the people, the making of the Tabernacle coverings and appointments, the erection and the dedication of the Tabernacle.1)

1) Cp. Concordia Bible Class, Feb., 1919; Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 24. 25.

The Oppression of Israel in Egypt. THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE PEOPLE. V. 1. Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob: V. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, v. 3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, v. 4. Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. V. 5. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was in Egypt already. The order is: the sons of Leah, the son of Rachel, the sons of Rachel's handmaid, the sons of Leah's handmaid. As in Gen. 46, 27, seventy souls are mentioned as the forefathers of the children of Israel, it being expressly stated that the sons came, each with his family, with his wife and children. small number serves as a fine contrast over against the immense multitude that is spoken of at the time of the Exodus. V. 6. And Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation. Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years, Gen. 50, 26, apparently the first one of the brothers to be taken away; but he was soon followed by the other members of his own generation, Levy dying about twenty years after him, Ex. 6, 16. V.7.

The

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. The heaping of the expressions, five different terms being used to emphasize this point, indicates the extraordinary growth of the people, a factor brought about not only by natural fertility and the eagerness for children, but above all by the fulfilment of God's promise to all the patriarchs. They filled the entire land, particularly Goshen, so that the country swarmed with their numbers. God's promises never fail, and it is a matter of wisdom to trust in them with firm confidence. PHARAOH PLANS TO CURB THE GROWTH. V. 8. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. The expression "arose up" indicates either that the new Pharaoh adopted entirely new policies with reference to the strange people within the boundaries of his land, or that a new dynasty was founded by conquest or by the overthrow of that which had been friendly to the people of Joseph, the savior of Egypt. This new Pharaoh knew not Joseph, either because he was entirely unfamiliar with the history of the strange people in Goshen, or because he deter

mined to set aside the high regard in which the strangers had been held. A careful comparison of Biblical and secular history seems to show that Thothmes I must have been the Pharaoh of the oppression, while the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Amenhotep II. V. 9. And he said unto his people, to the high officials and representatives of the people, who were his counselors, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than

we.

This was an exaggeration to emphasize the unwelcome growth of the Israelites which showed the abject fear of the despot. V. 10. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, make use of political sagacity combined with despotic craftiness and malice, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. The children of Israel were no citizens of Egypt, they had never become Egyptianized, neither in language nor in religion nor in customs, and so the new despot scented a danger which his policy bade him remove in time. He did not fear the conquest of his own country, but merely the departure of the Jews in case of a war. He considered the Israelites subject to his jurisdiction to the extent of treating them as serfs and bondmen. V. 11. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. The counselors advised impressing the Israelites into peonage, practically into slavery, by setting officers over them, the purpose being to enfeeble the people, both in body and mind, by enforced labor, to take the heart out of them by the grievousness of their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Certain cities had been set aside as places to store the annual tax of the harvest which Joseph had introduced, Pithom, which was situated on the canal connecting the Nile with the Arabian Gulf, and Raamses, later known as Heroopolis, in Goshen, about twenty-two miles east of Pithom, as nearly as may be determined at the present time. V. 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. God spoiled the success of the Egyptians' plans by continuing to bless the Israelites in spite of all the measures intended to destroy their fruitfulness. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. They were not merely disgusted at them, but they felt an increasing horror of the mysterious power that was aiding the children of Israel. V. 13. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor; v. 14. and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. Chagrined at the failure of their first plan, the Egyptians added ill treatment and cruelty to oppression. Two new forms of service were Popular Commentary, Old Test., I.

laid upon them, brick-making, which included both the preparing of the clay and the drying of the brick, and the hard field labor on the soil which had to be irrigated. Thus all the work which the Egyptians performed through the Israelites was done under hard pressure upon the latter. To this day tribulation and persecution is the lot of the people of God, but such crosses bring them only blessing and gain. THE COMMAND TO KILL ALL THE MALE CHILDREN. — V. 15. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, their names being recorded to their lasting honor; v. 16. and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, in determining the sex; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, the male children should be killed right after birth; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. Whether these two women were the only midwives in Israel, or whether they were the heads of the order of midwives, is immaterial; the devilish command to use inhuman violence referred to all male children among the Hebrews. V. 17. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. They placed the reverential fear of God before the slavish fear of the tyrant. V. 18. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, he stormed at them with an angry cry, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? V. 19. And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, full of life and energy, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. This was not a mere evasion or deception, but agreed with the general experience, although in this case an untruth would have been defensible. V. 20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, gave them evidence of His goodness; and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty under their ministrations, the remarkable growth of the children of Israel continued. V. 21. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. He blessed them with abundant prosperity. V. 22. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born (to the Hebrews) ye shall cast into the river (Nile), and every daughter ye shall save alive. Since his first plan had failed, he made use of open, violent brutality in not only giving permission, but even a command that his people might at any time drown the male babies of the Israelites. No Christian will permit himself to be made the instrument of a tyrant who seeks to destroy the Church of God. And it will be found that it is to the advantage of believers to obey God rather than men, even here in time.

8

The Birth, Upbringing, Flight, and
Marriage of Moses.

THE BIRTH OF MOSES. - V. 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. Amram, a grandson of Levi, married his aunt Jochebed, the daughter of Levi; in spite of the troublous times he had dared to enter into the state of marriage, and the marriage, as the later history shows, had been blessed with a daughter and a son. The special reference is here to the time when the cruel mandate of Pharaoh went into effect. V. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, a handsome, well-proportioned baby, that also gave promise of fine development, she hid him three months, in the hope of saving his life somehow, Acts 7, 20; Heb. 11, 23. V. 3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. When it became increasingly difficult to hide the boy from the eyes and ears of prying Egyptians, the mother constructed for him a small chest, or ark, out of the papyrus reeds that grew on the banks of the Nile, making it water-tight by means of asphalt and pitch, and placed this in the rushes on the brink of the river. V. 4. And his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done with him. Miriam had thus reached an age at which she could volunteer to watch over the baby, to find out what would happen to him. The place chosen by the anxious mother was one frequented by the daughter of Pharaoh for bathing, and this fact entered into her plans. She trusted in the Lord that He would take care of her son, for faith will dare many things for the sake of a thing which has the approval of God.

MOSES ADOPTED BY PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER. V. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, for such bathing in the open stream accords well with the customs of ancient Egypt; and her maidens, the attending slaves, walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. The other maids being engaged in patrolling the neighborhood against any disturbance, the attendant of the princess was sent to get the chest which had aroused the curiosity of Pharaoh's daughter. V. 6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child; and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. She guessed the reason for the exposure of the child at once, but the natural motherly feeling asserted itself; she was filled with loving pity for the lonely, hungry child. V. 7. Then said his

sister, who had quietly drawn near during the excitement, to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee? She managed to make her question so casual that no one suspected her of being in the neighborhood by design, and her inquiry contained just enough of the suggestion necessary to direct the thoughts of Pharaoh's daughter as she wished matters to proceed. V. 8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. In her deep pity for the crying child she readily acted upon the suggestion offered her. And the maid went and called the child's mother, the best arrangement that could have been devised. V. 9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, carry it away with you, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. So the boy's own mother was engaged to be his nurse, obviously by the dispensation of God. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. V. 10. And the child grew, he reached the age at which he was weaned, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, was formally adopted by the princess, but not before he had been informed of his descent and of his deliverance, for with his mother's milk he drank in the Hebrew spirit. And she called his name Moses; and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. This Egyptian name, Mousheh, which means saved, that is, delivered from the water, became in the Hebrew Mosheh, which means deliverer, a name with prophetic significance. As the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter Moses was educated according to the highest Egyptian standards, and became mighty in words and deeds, Acts 7, 22. Thus God holds His sheltering hand over them that are His and saves them in the midst of great perils.

MOSES ATTEMPTS TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE. V. 11. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. Moses grew to manhood fully conscious of his derivation, and therefore an Israelite at heart, although a prince of the nation to all appearances. The Israelites were his brethren, as the text emphasizes by the repetition of the word, and the enforced labor under which they were groaning hurt him deeply. He restrained himself, however, until he saw an Egyptian overseer strike down a Hebrew workman. And he looked this way and that way, to be sure that there were no unwelcome witnesses present, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, thus avenging the murder which the latter had just committed, and hid him in the sand. Although the act of Moses cannot be labeled

V. 12.

murder, Acts 7, 24. 25, yet he anticipated divine providence by his rash act. V. 13. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together, they were engaged in a fight; and he said to him that did the wrong, the one that was in the wrong in the quarrel, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? V. 14. And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? He plainly told Moses that he had no business to interfere, not having any authority over the Israelites. Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian? So there must have been a witness on the previous day who had escaped the watchful eye of Moses. And Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known. How did this matter become known? V. 15. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses filed from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. The land of the Midianites had no definite boundaries, but may be said to have extended eastward from the Aelanitic Gulf; some tribes, however, were found on the Peninsula of Sinai. He chose this country for his sojourn, pitching his tent near a well, apparently the only source of water for a long distance. This experience of Moses was to serve him in good stead in later years, for it is God's way of preparing great men for their life's work.

MOSES IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN. V. 16. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. This man is called a priest, but the Midianites apparently had not retained the pure religion of Abraham, chap. 4, 25. 26, although the tradition of the true God persisted, as the name Reuel shows. The seven daughters of this priest, as dwellers in the wilderness, performed the work which the unmarried daughters of the Arab tribes do to this day. V. 17. And the shepherds came and drove them away, for the saying that might makes right held good in the wilderness; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. V. 18. And when they came to Reuel, their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? It seems that the shepherds made ungallant behavior their daily practise. V. 19. And they said, An Egyptian, for as such they regarded

Moses from his dress and probably from his speech, delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. In comparing this passage with Num. 10, 29 and Ex. 18, it should be noted that Reuel (friend of God) was the given name of this priest and Jethro, or Jether, his official title, while Hobab was the name of his son, the brother-in-law of Moses. V. 20. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. They had offended against desert hospitality in not inviting Moses to the home of their father, especially after he had shown them such kindness. V. 21. And Moses was content to dwell with the man, he consented to accept the urgent invitation; and he gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. V. 22. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom (always a sojourner, ever a stranger); for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. The birth of this son is of particular interest, inasmuch as at various times the Lord threatened to destroy the children of Israel and to make the descendants of Moses a great nation. Through the long period of trial and humiliation Moses clung to his faith in the true God and learned to submit unconditionally to the will of God.

THE LORD RESOLVES TO DELIVER ISRAEL. V. 23. And it came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt died, the Pharaoh on whose account Moses had found it necessary to flee; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. This was many days, about forty years, after the flight of Moses. The oppression of the children of Israel continued also under the new Pharaoh, and since they had hoped for some relief, their crying arose to heaven with all the greater fervency. V. 24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. He had, of course, never forgotten it, but He took occasion to reflect and to act upon it. V. 25. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. He looked into the case and was constrained to interfere in behalf of His people. When God's hour of deliverance has come, He always sees to it that the temptation is speedily brought to a close.

The Call of Moses.

THE BURNING BUSH.-V. 1. Now Moses kept, was pasturing, the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, whose given name was Reuel, chap. 2, 18; and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, beyond the wilderness which separated the coun

try of the Midianites from the Sinaitic mountain range, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb, named so here on account of its later importance in the history of Israel. Even after the lower valleys are dried up, the upper regions of these mountains are still green with rich pastures. V. 2. And the