the future rather than the present; they are more abrupt and desultory manifestations than a permanent, ever ready, perfect communion; they are more important for the hopes and prospects which they open than for the immediate bliss they confer; they are a veil through which the first outlines of the world's history are dimly discernible. Genesis leads the thread of narration to that very point where the family begins to assume the importance, not of a tribe, but of a people; and Exodus carries on the account through the infancy and youth of the new nation; through the ignominy of Egyptian servitude, and the glory of heaven-wrought redemption; through the darkness of idolatrous aberration, and the light of revealed truth; the Israelites, physically and mentally released, are trained for the difficult warfare against opposing nations, and for a happy political existence in their own conquered land. But the political government of Israel is based on, or is rather indentical with, its religious organization; it is a theocracy,1 therefore our book contains also a full outline of the moral laws which man owes to God and to his fellowcreatures; and so admirable is their purport and so systematical their arrangement, that they form the eternal and infallible standard of human conduct.2 The Decalogue and the "Book of the Covenant," embodied in Exodus, render it with respect to Divine revelation, the most important volume which the human race possesses.

2. It is known that the name Exodus ("Egodos, departure, viz., from Egypt) was given to our book by the Hellenists, from the chief event therein narrated, whilst the Jews designate it by the two Hebrew words with which it commences, We-eleh Shemoth, or simply Shemoth.

3. The contents of the Second Book of Moses, which we have constantly developed in the Summaries before each chapter or section, inclose an extraordinary variety of matter, and yield to the enquiring mind an unusual extent of information. The narration of the fates of Israel yields ample and copious results for historical and chronological researches; the ten plagues, for the natural phenomena of the East; the Exode, and the journeys of the Hebrews, for geographical enquiries; the Decalogue, and the laws of the Book of the Covenant, for the most fertile philoso

1 See note on xix. 6.

2 See notes on xx. 1—14, and prefatory remarks to xx. 19, 20.

phical and legislatorial investigations; and the construction of the holy Tabernacle, and the sacred utensils, not only for the history of art and mechanical skill, but also for the innermost character of the religious ideas of Mosaism. This book is, thereforc, as interesting for the liversity, as it is important for the sublimity, of its contents.

4. Exodus may conveniently be divided into two chief portions:

I. The Historical Part: i.-xi. (Israel in Egypt); xii. 21-42,51. (Exode); xiii. 17-xix. 25. (Journeys and Wanderings to Mount Sinai); xx. 15-18. (Divine Revelation); xxiv. (Covenant concluded between God and Israel); xxxii-xl. (Its violation by the worship of the golden calf and its renewal; the erection of the Tabernacle and the inauguration of Aaron and his sons).

II. The Legislative Part: xii. 1-20, 43–50. (Abib appointed as the first month; Passover); xiii. 1-16. (Sanctification of the Firstborn and Phylacteries); xx. 1-14. (Decalogue); xx. 19. to xxiii. 33. (The Book of the Covenant); xxv.-xxxi. (Tabernacle and Sacerdotal Robes)

It will be seen that the first part of Exodus is predominantly historical; the second essentially legislative or dogmatical; but yet the former contains three important laws; and the latter, the history of a flagrant breach, on the part of Israel, of the promises made concerning the faithful observance of the Law, the erection of the holy Tabernacle, and the consecration of Aaron and his descendants.

5. The authenticity of Exodus has been less exposed to the attacks of criticism than that of the other books of the Pentateuch, especially Genesis. Even the most radical sceptics have admitted that a historical kernel lies at the bottom of the accounts concerning the Exode, and that Moses is the author at least of the Decalogue. It is generally admitted, that both the details of the Egyptian plagues and the journeys of Israel manifest the most accurate acquaintance with the phenomena and localities described. And that rare unanimity makes again this book one of the most interesting parts of the holy records. But its unity has been questioned, not only by that school

of Biblical critics which dismembers the sacred writings, quite as arbitrarily and blindly as many hypercritical philologists of the last century dissected Homer's songs into incoherent fragments; but even more moderate interpreters believe that our book is disfigured by spurious interpolations. We have in all such passages tried to refute this very questionable opinion. We see the completest harmony in all parts of Exodus; we consider it as a perfect whole, pervaded throughout by one spirit and the same leading ideas. As it is one of the chief objects of this commentary to prove that unity, we content ourselves here with referring, among other passages, to our notes on vi. 10, 26.; xi. 1.; xii. 1.; xvi. 35, 36.; xxiv. 1.

If really our book should, in some parts, have a fragmentary character, this would be far from proving a plurality of authors; it is, on the contrary, in perfect harmony with the nature of a historical work, the single events of which are recorded by a contemporary writer immediately after their occurence. In such cases we cannot expect a pragmatical digest of the historical facts; and that peculiarity which has been described as a defect in style and composition, constitutes certainly a strong proof of the truth and authenticity of the events narrated.

§ 2. THE CHRONOLOGY OF EXODUS.

THE chronology of the period comprised in Exodus, is, like almost all other epochs of Biblical history, involved in intricate and embarrassing difficulty; and it is by the most persevering patience only that we might at last succeed to bring the events related in our book in harmony both with each other and with profane history.

I. SOJOURN OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT.

1. The cardinal point of this important question is: how long did the Israelites stay in Egypt? or, how many years elapsed from the immigration of Jacob to the Exodus under the leadership of Moses? If we follow the clear Biblical representation, we find that the period is prophetically fixed at 400 years (Gen. xv. 13), and historically stated, in more accurate figures, at 430 years (Exod. xii. 40). Although this Biblical statement is sur rounded with perplexing difficulties, we are not justified

in deviating from it, as has been done by the traditional chronology, which assigns only 210 or 215 years to the sojourn of Israel in Egypt. We have explained this complicated subject fully in the larger edition of this work, to which we refer the inquiring reader.

II. BIRTH OF MOSES.

The next chronological question of interest is, to ascertain which interval lies between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, or between Gen. 1. 26, and Exod. ii. 2. Jacob was 130 years old when he came to Egypt (Gen. xlvii. 9, 28). He lived there 17 years, and died at the age of 147 years. Joseph survived him by about 54 years. Amram was, at the birth of Moses, married about 15 years (see note to ii. 8); and Moses was 80 years old at the time of the Exodus (vii. 7); we have, therefore, from the death of Joseph to the marriage of Amram 430 - (17+ 54+ 15 +80)=264 years; or to the birth of Moses 279 (264+15) years. And these numbers harmonize per. fectly with all the circumstances connected with the Egyptian bondage and the Exodus of the Israelites. That period was extended enough to allow the descendants of Jacob to increase to a dangerously numerous people, although it could not eradicate or even weaken among them those independent and bold habits which constitute the most prominent characteristics of nomadic tribes, and which their new rulers, themselves children of the desert, considered it the first dictate of policy to check and to subdue, the more so, as a certain tradition of the authority enjoyed by their ancestors in Canaan lived clearly in their recollection, and stimulated them to regain that ancient influence. During that period, it is likewise probable, that the memory of the eminent services of Joseph had faded away in Egypt, and that the Israelites had begun to be regarded with an invidious and suspicious eye. That the holy writer hastens over that protracted period of 264 years with a very few passing words, will be found but natural, if the chief character and end of the Pentateuch is considered, which is, to give a historical account of the facts and circumstances explaining how Israel became a people, and how it became the people of God, worthy of His revelation and special

And

providence. Everything, therefore, which has no reference to that end, is studiously omitted; the whole Pentateuch appears but a narration of the gradual fulfilment of the promises which God gave to Abraham. This can be substantiated by many instances, one of which will suffice, namely, the life of Moses previous to his appearing before Pharaoh, as the champion for Israel's deliverance. His education, and all his fates anterior to his first active interest for his brethren, and his flight to Midian, a period of at least 40 years (see note on ii. 11), are scarcely alluded to; the transition from his birth and childhood to that event, is merely introduced with the words: "And Moses grew, and he went out to see his brethren." so the interval between his flight to Midian and his return to Egypt, an epoch of about the same duration, is passed over with silence, because a detailed history of those times would have thrown no light upon the progress of Israel as the chosen people. Both the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt, the education and sojourn of Moses in Midian were times of preparation, the one for forming a people out of a family, the other for maturing the character and intellect of the chosen instrument of their mental and political elevation; but, as times of preparation, they required no specified description; and in this respect the historiography of the Bible is truly pragmatical and teleological, composed throughout with strict regard to means and ends, causes and effects. And from the same motive, no doubt, many facts, even such as would have added to the glory of Israel, have been omitted by the sacred writer, because they would have distracted the attention from the aim of the narrative. But other reasons co-operated to cause that long period of 264 years to be but summarily adverted to. It is an acknowledged truism, that slaves have no history; for history consists in the development of individual faculties or political institutions; but without liberty there can be no progress. Thus the bondage offered no subject or materials for the historian, and although we have strong reasons to believe that the Hebrews remained during a very considerable portion of that period unmolested by the rulers and the people of Egypt, and that they continued undisturbed their nomadic and agricultural pursuits (see note to i. 11), yet this uniformity and even monotony of their occupations, re