THE DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT.
(Lesson 6, February 16, 1889.) 1. WHAT was the last plague upon Egypt? 2. What were the Israelites required to do in order to escape it? 3. On what day of the month was the Passover? "And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Ex. 12:6. 4. At what time in the night were the first-born slain? "And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle." Verse 29. 5. When this great calamity came, what did Pharoah do? "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptains; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also." Verses 30-32. 6. Of what word of the Lord was this a fulfillment? "And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence; when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether." Ex. 11:1. 7. How did the people of Egypt feel? "And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men." Ex. 12:33. 8. What did the Israelites receive from the Egyptains? "And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required; and they spoiled the Egyptians." Verses 35, 36. See note. 9. With what word of the Lord was this in harmony? "But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." Ex. 3:22. "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance." Gen. 15:13, 14. 11. How large a company went out from Egypt? "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children." Ex. 12:37. 12. What did Moses take with him? "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you." Ex. 13:19. See Gen. 50:24, 25. 13. In exacting this promise, by what was Joseph actuated? "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones." Heb. 11:22. 14. What precaution did the Lord take against causing the Israelites to become discouraged? "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt." Ex. 13:17, 18. 15. What protection and guidance did he give them? "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Verses 21, 22. 16. What confidence may God's people ever have? "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever." Ps. 125:1, 2. 17. Then what should ever be their song? "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." Isa. 12:2. 18. What sustained Moses all through the contest with Pharaoh, and the departure from Egypt? "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them." Heb. 11:27, 28.75 "And they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment." Ex. 12:35. It may be noticed, in passing, that the word rendered "jewels," more properly signifies "vessels," "instruments," etc. But the object of this note is to disabuse the minds of any of the idea that the Israelites, according to the word of God, borrowed from the Egyptians that which they knew there was no possibility of repaying. They did not borrow these things, but demanded them, as the Hebrew word indicates. The Hebrew word here rendered "borrowed," is the same that is rendered "require," in Deut. 10:12: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways," etc. Here, it will be readily seen, the idea is not of asking something which should be returned, but of asking that which is justly due. So it is in Ex. 12:35. The Revised Version has it, "They asked of the Egyptians." The Israelites had been working for the Egyptians for many years, without compensation. They had added immensely to the wealth of Egypt (see Ex. 1:11); indeed, the Egyptians owed their very existence, under God, to the Hebrews, for if it had not been for the wise counsel and vigorous action of Joseph, they would have perished by famine. And now, when the Israelites were about to leave, they demanded of their former oppressors some little compensation; and the Lord had so moved upon the hearts of the Egyptians that they could not refuse. Just as his judgments had made them willing to let the Israelites go, so they had made them willing to pay something of what they justly owed. Dr. Clarke says that our common English version is almost the only transgressor in representing the Israelites as borrowing; that the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Samaritan, the Coptic, and the Persian, are the same as the Hebrew, and that the European versions are generally correct. GEN. 15:13 says: "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." Ex. 12:40 says: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." Mark that this latter text does not say that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt four hundred and thirty years; but that the sojourning of the children of Israel, "who dwelt in Egypt," was so long. Their sojourning was not alone in Egypt, but in Canaan, as Paul says of Abraham: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." Heb. 11:9. And in harmony with this is the reading of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint, which are believed to exhibit the most correct copy of the five books of Moses. They read thus:— "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan, and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." This four hundred and thirty years of sojourning dates from the promise to Abraham; for Paul speaks of the giving of the law, which was immediately after the deliverance from Egypt, as four hundred and thirty years after the promise. Gal. 3:17, 18. But while the sojourning was four hundred and thirty years, the affliction was only four hundred years. Gen. 15:13; Acts 7:6. Therefore, since the four hundred and thirty years of sojourn began with the giving of the promise, the affliction must have begun thirty years after the promise; and this was when Isaac was about five years old, for he was not born until twenty-five years after the promise. Compare Gen. 12:1-4 and 21:5. So the affliction dates from the time when Ishmael mocked Isaac (Gen. 21:9, 10), for Paul refers to this as the persecution of him that was born after the Spirit, by him that was born after the flesh.