THE JEWISH ADVOCATE. MAY, 1846. BIBLE HISTORY OF THE JEWS, CHAPTER XII. "Let Egypt's plagues proclaim The favours pour'd upon the Jewish name." AND now, even COWPER. as it had been foretold to Abraham in a vision, when an horror of great darkness fell upon him, (Gen. xv. 12,) that his "seed should be strangers in a land that was not theirs," even so it came to pass. On being settled by Joseph in that pleasant land of Goshen, the children of Israel multiplied greatly, and throve abundantly in flocks and herds, and became a great people. And now Joseph and all his brethren, and all that generation being dead, another Pharaoh ruled over Egypt. And he feared the Israelites because of their numbers and power, "lest," he said, "when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them out of the land." In truth, the people of Israel, in holding Goshen, held, as it were, the keys of Egypt on the very side where Egypt's most dangerous enemies, the Arab tribes, made their inroads upon her. So Pharaoh made slaves of the Israelites, and put task-masters over them, and "made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in brick and mortar, and in all manner of service in the field." They built treasure cities for Pharaoh, and were employed, as Josephus tells us, on great canals and embankments, and on some of those brick pyramids, the tombs of the Pharaohs, which remain a wonder of the world to this day. In some of these buildings there have been lately discovered paintings on the wall, representing the Israelites in the very act of working under their Egyptian task-masters: the countenances of the two peoples being as clearly distinguished in those pictures, as we now see it in the peoples themselves at this day. So the Egyptians made the Israelites to serve with rigour, "But yet, the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." Then Pharaoh charged his people to destroy every male child that was born of Israelitish parents, saying, "Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive." But this was not to be the end of the promises Imade to their fathers! The Almighty had declared to Abraham (Gen. xv.), "That nation whom they shall serve, will I judge and afterwards they shall come out with great substance.” And now, all being prepared in the providence of God, that dispensation that lay rooted in the beginnings of time, began to put forth visibly to the eyes of men. Now was to appear that Prophet, greatest of all the Prophets, who should deliver Israel from bondage, give them laws from the mouth of God, and ordain sacrifices that *I should be the type of that one great sacrifice, and which should endure till the Son of God himself came as a man to give them and all men the Spirit. For lo a son was born to Amram and Jochebed, who were both of the tribe of Levi. They were not afraid of the king's commandment, and continued to hide their child for three months. At length, when they could hide him no longer, his mother made a little ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with pitch to keep the water out, and in this she placed her child, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink, leaving his sister to watch what would befall. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river with her maidens: she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her maid to fetch it. And when she looked, "behold the babe wept, and she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children." And the babe's sister, Miriam, came forward, and asked if she should fetch a Hebrew nurse for it, and being bid to do so, she "went and called the child's mother." And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." And the woman took the child and nursed it; and he was called Moses, which signifies, drawn out of the water. So Moses was reared in his own home, amongst his own race, daily seeing the oppression under which they groaned. But afterwards, he was adopted by the king's daughter as her son, and instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and became "mighty in words and deeds." Josephus tells us that Moses was distinguished in his youth by his noble person, that he despised the pomps of the Court, and led the armies of Egypt against the Ethiopians. The Scriptures are silent about this portion of his life, and we read nothing of him there till we are told, that "when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel," when, seeing one of them smitten by an Egyptian, he slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. He supposed that no one had seen him do this deed. But some one had seen him, and Pharaoh was told of it. Then Pharaoh sought to slay Moses, but Moses fled into the land of Midian, which is about eight days' journey from Egypt. And there, as he sat by a well, the seven daughters of Reuel* the priest came to draw water. Some shepherds would have driven them away, "but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock;" so that when they came to their father, he said, "How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?" When they told him what had happened, he bid them go and call Moses. So Moses returned with them, and grew into favour with the priest of Midian, who gave him his daughter Zipporah to wife. "And Moses was content to dwell with the man," even for forty years. All that while the Israelites were tasked sorer and sorer, and "their cry came up to God by reason of their bondage." "And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." The time for Moses to begin his mission was ripe. And, lo! as he was keeping Jethro's flock in the desert, at the foot of Mount Horeb, the "angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a * Called also Jethro. See marginal references. bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." "And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And He said, Draw not hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." 66 Then did God declare that He had seen the affliction of Israel; and that the time was come when he would deliver them out of bondage, and bring them out of Egypt unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." And He had chosen Moses to lead them forth. "And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?' What token had he of divine authority? Nay, by what name should he name the God who now spoke to him, to the people, that they might believe in Him? "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." There was |